Here I am making an illegal speech to an illegal gathering.
I was witness to an extraordinary example of the use of “anti-terrorist” laws to deny democracy. The whole of Parliament Square, College Green and Canning Green were closed off with high Harris fencing, as were other spaces nearby. These were protected by a huge police presence. I counted 37 police vans. All this to counter eighty “Occupy Democracy” protestors wishing to highlight the alienation of the political class from the rest of us. That MPs feel the need to make Westminster look like the Somme 1917, to defend themselves against a few ordinary people, is proof that the concept of “democracy” is now alien to the Westminster system.
Some of this was surreal. There were signs up stating that voice amplification was illegal as was “sleeping equipment”. Just what is sleeping equipment? I have managed to sleep my entire life without such equipment. I just close my eyes and it happens. I didn’t even know you needed equipment to sleep. It is a curious thing that officialdom, when it becomes unreasonable, inevitably resorts to poor use of language. Nobody in normal life speaks of “sleeping equipment”. There is a simple English word, “bedding”. If they mean bedding, why don’t they say so?
The happy band of demonstrators had gathered just outside the entrance to the Supreme Court, in a small unfenced area. I used to sing regularly and seriously. Fortunately this has left me with the ability to speak very loudly at length and still with some modulation. If you consider that video is in an area of very heavy traffic noise and with no (banned) amplification, I hope you are impressed! I started speaking in order to fend off what seemed an imminent move by police to start arresting protestors for breach of the peace. This followed an argument over whether an old sofa and rug constituted “sleeping equipment”. A policeman stated that there were legal rulings that “sleeping equipment” included anything that could be adapted for the purpose of sleeping. I suggested to him that he confiscate my trousers, as these were capable of being rolled up and used as a pillow.
The Police Superintendent had just stated that refusal to give up the sofa constituted behaviour likely to lead to a breach of the peace, when I decided to change the dynamic by giving a talk, which peculiarly led almost all the police to withdraw immediately to about a hundred yards away. If you are interested, you can see something of this, and get a tour of the fencing, from this video by one of the protestors.
I say “if you are interested”, but really you ought to be interested. The fact that in Westminster, people who are obviously very peaceful are not allowed simply to express their political view, ought to worry everybody in the UK very, very deeply. We have slipped away from the fundamental precepts of democracy – freedom of speech and assembly, habeas corpus, freedom from torture. None of those exist any more. Lulled by the mainstream media, most people have not even noticed.
I shall be speaking outside the Scottish Parliament on 29th November, and in Dundee, Perth (and possibly Ayr too if I can work it out) on the 30th. I shall be speaking again in Dundee at the March against Austerity on 6th December.
This year was the 30th anniversary of the Battle of Orgreave.
Last week was the second anniversary of South Yorkshire police reporting themselves to the IPCC saying they have evidence they broke the law.
The IPCC have not begun an investigation yet.
Phil’s point about police indoctrination and brutalization is a very good one but the shit he gives Craig doesn’t follow. Some of the regime’s worst enemies are former insiders, “disenchanted idealists,” in US government terms. People catch on at their own pace. What matters is whether the person is on the side of the subject population or the state.
Perfect timing Craig. You’ve cheered me up immensely & I thank you kindly for that.
Actually a UKIP supporter seemed to take some delight in telling me his knowledge about the Germans brainwashed people back then. It gives me a chuckle. Expect he also said “them ‘Germans’ had the right idea” witch is quite worrying.
Phil, City of London Delenda Est (3.33pm) has explained my position perfectly and in far fewer words than I would’ve managed.
Just one question: Do you know one single person in the whole wide world, either personally or through the media, who you totally agree with about the state of the world and what to do about it. I don’t.
Some of the regime’s worst enemies are former insiders, “disenchanted idealists,” in US government terms.
Many of the regime’s best friends are former outsiders. It’s a two-way flow.
Craig, nice #1 at a #47, now on a #10 but what if it was used against us?
the hard-working UK police force are just trying to protect the UK from an externally funded color revolution(*) Imagine if Putin somehow sold his new 50 tons of gold & spent it on covertly funding you, the Grauniad, subverting the SNP, making Mum’sNet a nest of Anarchists, getting Auntie Beeb to cover you, hence undermining our own special British democracy!
The color revolutions that work so well and hardly kill any (relevant) people, could equally well work in UK and the Establishment know it, so they have decided on zero tolerance! For those readers who don’t know what a color rev is – the Telegraph wrote about them last week, but only mentioned Georgia & Kyrgyzstan. I’ll write some of my random observations here
(*)color revolution: the overthrow of a (more or less legitimate) government by a minority interest that has been subverted, often externally funded ($5B?), with a particular theme – inspired the book ‘from Dictatorship to Democracy’(FDTD) by Gene Sharp. Is it true that the 1993 original ‘color’ revolution happened in Serbia? The book was first published in Bangkok in 1993 by ‘the Committee for the Restoration of Democracy in Burma’. It has since been translated into at least thirty-one other languages http://www.aeinstein.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/FDTD.pdf
FDTD has 198 non-violent ways to start a color revolution (with a few ultra violent snipery methods left in reserve in ‘special’ editions of FDTD)
the methods of nonviolent protest and persuasion include:
Formal statements
1. Public speeches
2. Letters of opposition or support
3. Declarations by organizations and institutions
4. Signed public statements 5. Declarations of indictment and intention
6. Group or mass petitions
Communications with a wider audience
7. Slogans, caricatures, and symbols;
8. Banners, posters, and displayed communications;
9. Leaflets, pamphlets, and books;
10. Newspapers and journals;
11. Records, radio, and television;
12. Skywriting and earth writing…
skipping a few for brevity…
Public assemblies
47. Assemblies of protest or support;
48. Protest meetings;
49. Camouflaged meetings of protest;
50. Teach-ins;
expanding (slightly) the Telegraph’s narrow focus, you can look-up as ‘color’ themes
Otpor Youth, Rose, Singing, Cedar, Orange, Yellow, Tulip, Purple, Green, Jasmine, Lotus, Sunflower, Umbrella etc etc
The BBC, from a few years ago when they used to do journalism, actually interviewed FDTD’s author
here http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12522848
Again summing up the Parliament Square Police, they can see that you are following many of Gene’s FDTD methods, I bet they are thinking: “This is not your revolution, not here, not now”; “go away”; “This is not Hong-Kong!” http://orientalreview.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/15385861261_c62d8c7006_b.jpg
A top Conservative MP invited a paedophile business consultant to the House of Commons for lunch meetings, it has been reported.
Sir Edward Leigh, 64, held meetings inside Westminster where he entertained an entrepreneur who has been convicted of making thousands of indecent images of children.
Businessman Duncan Breeze was given privileged access to parliament buildings as recently as a few months ago, it has been claimed.
The 39-year-old was jailed in 2007 for two years after 4,270 ‘sickening’ images of minors were found on his computers and placed on the Sex Offenders Register for 10 years.
Now out of prison, Mr Breeze – once a musician and actor – is a consultant to a company which provides income support for the unemployed, according to the Sunday Mirror.
Sir Edward, who is non-executive chairman for that company, has defended the meetings and there is no suggestion that by doing so broke any rules.
The MP for Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, would have had to approve Breeze’s attendance in the House of Commons under strict security rules, and special pass would have been issued.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2846185/Top-Tory-MP-invites-paedophile-business-consultant-House-Commons-lunch-meetings.html
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why on earth would this man be invited to Westminster, considering is prior convictions, what kind of message does that send out.
Then again to a certain degree he fits right in with the rest of the them, birds of a feather and all.
Unfortunately I am working so my responses must be quick.
Jesus, of course no one is perfect. If you want leaders, if you want politicians, surely the last thing you want are people who have already proven to have failed monumentally, murderously, to resist the lures of power.
I applaud Craig for his whistle blowing. But he is one of those people who think they should lead. He was a leader on the side of empire and now wants to lead you. You are fucking mugs for falling for this horseshit.
Britain approved the sale of arms to Israel worth £7m in the six months before its offensive on Gaza this summer, including components for drones, combat aircraft and helicopters along with spare parts for sniper rifles, according to figures seen by The Independent.
The government data will raise fresh concerns that British-made equipment was used by the Israeli military during Operation Protective Edge in Gaza in July and August, which led to more than 2,000 Palestinian deaths and 73 Israeli fatalities, 66 of them soldiers.
The Independent can reveal that ministers in the Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) have also ordered a fresh review of military export licences to Israel granted prior to the outbreak of the conflict after officials found 12 instances where arms containing British components may have been used in Gaza by the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF).
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/exclusive-uk-approved-7m-israeli-arms-sales-in-six-months-before-gaza-conflict-9878280.html
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No doubt some of the weapons or parts of the weapons were used to kill Palestinians, I suppose you could say that Cameron, Miliband and Clegg, to a certain extent have blood on their hands, but then again they couldn’t care less.
Node
“Just one question: Do you know one single person in the whole wide world, either personally or through the media, who you totally agree with about the state of the world and what to do about it. I don’t.”
Neither do I. So what? It is not that I disagree with Craigs politics that riles me, it is his arrogance and imperious nature. His lack of humility over his past crimes. Now he’s trying to crawl back into the establishment on an anti-establishment ticket! Most of us who have been fighting the good fight while Craig was organising sanctions against Iraqi do proper jobs for a living. I say fuck these born-again, careerist, leader types.
At a demonstration in support of the Elbit 9 I asked a very nice community support police woman, called Julie, whether she thought it was right for the police to be protecting manufacturers of drones. The Elbit 9 had climed onto the roof of UAV Engines, Shenstone, near Lichfield in peaceful support for Palestine. Julie was not allowed to have a political opinion she told me. It is a problem. Everybody knows the police are there to protect those with property – the rich – whatever criminal acts these rich commit. So the police are a bit like soldiers. They obey orders, regardless of whether those orders are moral or not. Otherwise Jean Charles de Menenez might still be walking the globe.
@ishmael
Would more state influence on the raising of children not be beneficial as current child care from family often entails totalitarian brutality combined with mass media brainwashing sometimes resulting in an industry society and tolerance to exploitation and violance.
Isn’t education a form of state input into child care and is often relationships found and social bonds with the educators have a lasting positive effect.
So I would be up for state education for children and re-education for guardians.
Is that sick or sick in the youth vernacular…
A controversial bill that officially defines Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people has been approved by cabinet despite warnings that the move risks undermining the country’s democratic character.
Opponents, including some cabinet ministers, said the new legislation defined reserved “national rights” for Jews only and not for its minorities, and rights groups condemned it as racist.
The bill, which is intended to become part of Israel’s basic laws, would recognise Israel’s Jewish character, institutionalise Jewish law as an inspiration for legislation and delist Arabic as a second official language.
Arab Muslims and Christians make up 20% of Israel’s population.
According to many critics, the new wording would weaken the wording of Israel’s declaration of independence, which states that the new state would “be based on the principles of liberty, justice and freedom expressed by the prophets of Israel [and] affirm complete social and political equality for all its citizens, regardless of religion, race or gender”
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/nov/23/israeli-cabinet-approves-bill-defining-nation-state-jewish-people
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I had to laugh, when I read the above chapter regarding the “Israels declaration of Independence” especially the equality bit it must have been a comedian who wrote it.
If the bill is passed through the Knesset, then Arabs and Christians will be at a disadvantage, nothing new there then.
“I say fuck these born-again, careerist, leader types.”
Maybe i’m getting old, though I see the issue I think we have to be pragmatic.
Craig offers a unique perspective, knowlage, and is an example of good moral behaviour on critical matters. He says things many would not even think. Things that I sometimes think are a bit out there, until I actually think about it, then realize that yea, that’s actually a quite moderate left position, He may not be far left but wed never get anywhere fast otherwise.
Myself I think he and many like him are people we really can learn a lot from, and it’s important we do. Let alone just basic respect for doing the right thing. And for me the odd comment of support is really enough. I won’t be voting for anyone any time soon.
But again, your welcome to your opinion.
“Would more state influence on the raising of children not be beneficial”
NO, It’s the trickle down of state violence and authoritarian behaviour that influences families in this negative way.
I was referencing the more public ‘schooling’ above (a very telling word) But as for normal state ‘education’ it’s all about creating conformity and following orders. So what do we expect of people who have been through such a system to be like to there kids?
Maybe if it was a real education system, really public, but we have a system of schooling. Arguably just a function of state power for it’s own domination. Or a bankers education as some have called it. The whole system was created in Europe because they found populations not sufficiently obedient for war.
Just look at history, many in the past have had far better real education, historical knowledge. etc. Schooling seems to have made many quite stupid.
Sure we could have an ok public education system, but not all this bells and whistles nonsense, and also not highly cherry picked, forced, and narrow subjects. That also seem to avoid any education on what real democracy is, No wonder when the police (ie, establishment) are so against it.
More important than the human voice laying claim to a leadership role, is the ideas behind the man. It’s impossible to find a human without feet of clay. Ideas, however are bulletproof. That’s the problem with campaigns. Even a newbie who has not tarnished his brand yet; one who clearly outlines a strategy going forward, should he/she be elected, finds those ideas being gradually dismantled and gutted like a fish when faced with the gauntlet of bureaucratic intransigence.
Reformulating extensions of state power via EU and their enforcement body ( NATO), certainly makes for a shaky foundation for any genuine progress going forward. But they are dug in tighter than a tick with a broad base of support from the deluded electorate, not to mention the whores who sell the package as the road forward. How does one fight that?
By not stipulating to that propaganda as a given, to start with.
MET POLICE LEAFLET. CITY OF LONDON POLICE. BRITISH TRANSPORT POLICE.
Together, we’ve got it covered.
Security operations like this help to keep you safe. You will see them across London
on a regular basis – they can happen anywhere and at any time. Today’s operation
is designed to help identify criminals.
Just come and chat to us if you have any questions or concerns.
For more information please visit
http://www.met.police.uk
Uniformed officers
Feel free to talk to these officers about our operation. They will be happy to answer questions about what we are doing and why.
Search dogs
Our dogs are highly trained. They can sniff out hidden drugs, firearms and explosive materials.
Plain clothes operators
They may be hard to spot, but they help us keep an eye out for people seeking to avoid our checks.
Metal detection arches
Security arches alert us to illegal objects, such as knives and firearms.
Searches
Officers have a range of powers they can use to stop and search individuals.
CCTV
Specially trained officers in our control room help us detect those intent on committing crime.
Other checks
We can also use other security measures that may not be visible. There are a range of security measures we can put in place. These might vary between operations, but here’s a quick introduction to some of them:
Together, we’ve got it covered.
For more information or to report a crime call 101. In an emergency always
dial 999. To contact the confidential Anti-Terrorist Hotline dial 0800 789 321.
Britain is facing an ‘almost inevitable’ attack by fanatics who have been ‘militarised’ by Islamic State, according to police and security officials.
In speeches today, Theresa May and senior police will warn that the ‘diverse’ terrorist threat posed by jihadis returning from Syria and Iraq is one of the greatest this country has ever faced.
Potential attacks could range from a ‘lone wolf’ beheading in a crowded shopping centre or street, to a bomb plot using fertiliser stolen from British farms. One Whitehall official told the Mail: ‘It is almost inevitable that something is going to happen in the next few months.’
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2846516/Jihadi-attack-UK-inevitable-Police-fear-beheading-lone-wolf-shopping-centre-farmers-told-lock-fertiliser-foil-bombers.html
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Oh! its inevitable, says I running around like Edvard Munch’s Scream.
What a load of old dogshit, if anything the government and the press are scaremongering, or they’re preparing another 7/7 type incident, which can be blamed on those pesky terrorists.
Pressure is mounting on British MPs to stand for the rights of Palestinians in a parliamentary debate on the ongoing tensions in the West Bank.
The parliament is set to convene on December 1 to discuss the rising tensions in the occupied Palestinian territories. This, in response to an online campaign which managed to gather over 124, 000 signatures from British citizens.
The petition has called on the British establishment to make efforts toward “saving lives” and resolving the conflict.
In line with that, the Palestine Solidarity Campaign has been asking the public to urge their representatives in the House of Commons to attend the debate.
“That will be the second debate in the matter of weeks demanding that justice is achieved and recognized by the British government. Everyday there are questions being asked in the parliament by supporters of Palestine,” Betty Hunter, the Honorary General Secretary of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign told Press TV.
“I think what the vote represents is the recognition by our elected representatives that the people who vote for them are demanding they stand up for justice for the Palestinians,” Hunter said in an interview with Press TV from the Welsh city of Abergavenny.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2014/11/23/387248/uk-mps-urged-to-defend-palestinian-rights/
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I hope that bunch of greedy fat troughing politicians at Westminster do the right thing and stand up for Palestinians rights.
But with Cameron and Co selling £7 million quids worth of death dealing weapons to Israel, I doubt very much if those sponging politicians will do the right thing.
Detectives investigating suspected terrorists and paedophiles will have the power to force internet companies to hand over details of computer-users under new laws being introduced by Home Secretary Theresa May.
The move is the latest round in a power battle between Mrs May and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg over the so-called ‘snoopers’ charter’, which would greatly increase the power of the police and intelligence services to monitor communications between suspects.
Last night, Mrs May said the move would boost national security, but complained that Mr Clegg was still blocking her from taking further vital steps on the grounds of civil liberties.’
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2845634/Web-firms-forced-reveal-terror-suspects-computer-trails.html
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So they want to know everything you do or say, then use it against you when it suits them, they want you to agree to it, on the pretence its for your own safety.
When British lawyer Maria Bamieh was given the chance to help rebuild war-torn Kosovo with an elite EU anti-crime and corruption unit three years ago she jumped at the chance.
Fifteen years after the conflict, Kosovo remains a lawless region, with gangsters, corrupt politicians and war criminals threatening the integrity of the EU borders.
But Bamieh could hardly have known she would soon be demanding a corruption investigation into her own colleagues – or that she would then be escorted out of her office after becoming a whistleblower, and abruptly suspended.
Today, six years after taking the job, the 55-year-old says the investigations unit, known as Eulex, failed to pursue her allegations thoroughly and instead chose to ‘punish’ her for speaking out.
‘I have been subject to a campaign of victimisation and my career with Eulex is over. I may well not work again,’ she told The Mail on Sunday.
‘More to the point this affair raises wider questions about what Eulex has achieved over the six years of its existence and at what cost to the EU and the British taxpayer.
‘Our money is going into this mission and most of the staff work part-time but get a full-time salary. They disappear on Thursday or Friday morning, fly home and reappear on Monday afternoon or Tuesday morning.
Her worrying story has not only rocked the anti-corruption unit, which has so far swallowed £750million of EU money, but could – if her allegations stick – envelop the EU in a major corruption scandal.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2845548/British-fraud-hunter-exposes-EU-staff-anti-corruption-unit.html
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I have always been of a mind that the EU is as or more corrupt than the House of Commons or the House of Lords, and as corrupt as the US Senate or House of Representatives.
“….Everybody knows the police are there to protect those with property – the rich – whatever criminal acts these rich commit. So the police are a bit like soldiers. They obey orders, regardless of whether those orders are moral or not….”
The truism that the role of the police is to act as ‘special bodies of armed men’ in defense of private property, was something that Marx and Engels grasped over a century and a half ago.
Emily Thornberry’s Islington home is at the heart of the liberal elite’s dinner party circuit. Directly next door is Margaret Hodge, who is expected to seek Labour’s nomination to be the next London Mayor.
Ms Thornberry’s home is a vast, four-storey Victorian townhouse in an area beloved of lawyers and bankers, where a similar property changed hands earlier this year for £2.9 million – £900,000 above the threshold for Labour’s planned ‘soak-the-rich’ mansion tax.
Hodge’s likely rival, Tessa Jowell, lives a couple of miles north. If Ms Thornberry ever needs to consult Tom Baldwin, one of Ed Miliband’s key advisers, he is only a short stroll away.
Mr Miliband can be found two miles away in a £2.6million townhouse, not far from his staunch supporter and former Labour leader Neil Kinnock.
Notorious Number 10 spin doctor Alastair Campbell has himself a £2million property within walking distance, while Miliband’s adviser Stewart Wood is not far away either.
Others nearby include Ed’s brother David, Lord Falconer, Shadow Education Secretary Tristram Hunt and Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls.
Ms Thornberry shares her home with Oxbridge educated lawyer husband Sir Christopher, a barrister at Wilberforce Chambers whose specialities included the lucrative field of off-shore trusts (which, among other things, help rich people avoid taxes).
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2845737/The-Thornberry-Set-million-pound-homes-Ed-s-elite-live-cheek-jowl-leafy-north-London.html
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Ah yes Labour the party for the people, Labour the party who have their finger on the pulse.
Labour the party who are out to get what they can for themselves more like. Champagne Socialists, scrap the word socialist Champagne Charlies more like.
To be alive today and within earshot of a radio was a truly disheartening experience. Just wall-to-wall terror porn all day. The gap between the normality of life and the Apocalyptic rhetoric of Theresa May and others makes me feel like I’m having tea with Alice in Wonderland.
The new “National” newspaper, sold out on its first day 60.000 copies gone, tomorrows publication has risen to 100.000 I hope it to sells out.
https://twitter.com/stavrosmct/status/536928519788691456
“Last night, Mrs May said the move would boost national security, but complained that Mr Clegg was still blocking her from taking further vital steps on the grounds of civil liberties.”
They’re playing the old trick.
They’ve decided what powers they want (for now), then they’ve added a couple more specifically so that Clegg can object to them and have them removed. Result: Theresa May gets the powers she wanted, Clegg gets to look like a liberal, and democracy gets to look like its working.
Blunkett was a master at it when he was home secretary.
@Phil: “This man was an enthusiastic beaureacrat for empire. He was complicit in murder long before he discovered murder was bad.”
Phil, I understand you are unhappy about the way the establishment has carried on, and sympathise greatly. But it’s a bit much to say that CM was “complicit in murder” in the course of his duties as a diplomat. Have you read his book, explaining in some detail how he spent his time as ambassador? He actually describes a fair bit about the rest of his career too, in Catholic Orangemen.
There are plenty of people who work for the state in one form or another. It’s a bit rich to accuse them of being murderers, particularly if they turned whistleblower because what they saw strongly contradicted with what they thought they were working towards. I mean, why blow the whistle, if you were confident nothing would happen as a result? CM was desperately disappointed by the Establishment, and still is.
Former Scotland Yard detectives say young boys were murdered by Westminster paedophile ring.