/** Tools */

03 December 2008

"Terrorist" Damian Green & Antagonista Radio Pick of the Week

Nobody listened much to the protestations of those who raised their objections to the manifold proposals of loosely worded "anti-terrorist" legislation of the last seven years. Nobody cared enough to do anything when that loosely worded "anti-terrorist" legislation was passed into their law books. Nobody cared enough to do anything when loosely worded "anti-terrorist" legislation was used to justify Muslims being lifted off the streets for the crime of being Muslim or possession of a CD, the contents of which they had never looked at. Nobody cared enough to do anything when the true scope of the loosely worded "anti-terrorist" legislation was realised again as the assets of an Icelandic bank were frozen under the same anti-terrorist legislation. Or so it seemed.

But when a member of the establishment, Tory front-bencher Damian Green -- in an operation overseen by the most senior "anti-terrorist" officer Assistant Commissioner Bob Quick -- then becomes a target of the State bootboys and their "anti-terrorist" laws, liberal middle-England sits up and takes notice.

BBC Radio 4's Any Answers, presented by Jonathan Dimbleby, received a bit of coverage here before when a member of the unruly and unwashed masses placed Dimbleby on the back foot with regard to the truth about The Troubles. Last Saturday the incensed outrage of telephone-calling Middle England gave Dimbleby another run for his money. Listen again while you can:
Tony Benn, the Labour former cabinet minister, said this on BBC Radio today: "I may sound strangely medieval, but once the police can interfere with parliament, I tell you, you are into a police state. Parliament is a safeguard against the abuse of power and once you start clamping down on it you are saying goodbye to the freedom that parliament gives you."
Gotta love Lord Tony Benn, his words sound emptier and hollower than ever before. Unless of course when he says "you" he means "us" and is referring solely to serving members of parliament. The rest of the general populace is afforded no such comfort by the "safeguard against the abuse of power" that is fondly held by some as the Palace of Westminster, quite the opposite in fact.

For the "lower orders", it is more than a little amusing that the Metropolitan jackboots have ruffled a few feathers in the selectively-bred ruling class nest. Turf wars between ruling class factions and groupuscules.

When all is said and done it is the State that removes our freedoms by word and it is the police that removes our freedoms by deed. The bootboys busting the boot polishers confirms with renewed vigour and finality that the State entity, of which the police are an intrinsic part -- in the midst of the global, manufactured economic crisis that is the last capitalism in its current incarnation will ever see -- offers the greater majority of people nothing other than further subjugation and ever greater wage slavery in the subservient interests of the only thing that matters to the rich; the system; the economy.

This is a round up, who will speak for you?

--
Further reading:
And, courtesy of J7: The July 7th Truth Campaign:

7 comments:

steve said...

Great post - you're right to point out the discrepancy between the round ups of 'Asians' that are censored and/or ignored by the media and the hoo ha this little tickle produced. I have only had the time to listen to a snippet of the phone in thing - some posh arsed voice of a woman bemoaning the arrival of a police state. on the evidence of nicking one slime oozed Tory snout. Makes you laugh. But in the wrong way. . . Keep up the site - I look forward to reaing your posts.

The Antagonist said...

Thanks Steve.

You're right, it's definitely no laughing matter. And, when the posh arses are bothered enough to start complaining, you know the brown stuff's really hit the fan.

The Antagonist said...

History repeats itself, first as tragedy, then as farce....

"In February 2008, news broke of conversations between Tooting MP Sadiq Khan and Babar Ahmad being bugged whilst Mr. Ahmad was detained at Woodhill Prison. Ahmad and Khan were being covertly recorded by anti-terror operatives, allegedly without government knowledge. At the time, much was made of how terrible it was that anyone might dare to bug an MP, thereby contravening the Wilson Doctrine which dictates that MPs and peers not be bugged. At least, not without the express permission from the Prime Minister. Mr Khan was not pleased and threatened to take his evidence of bugged meetings, phone taps, and being followed, to the European Court of Human Rights. Levels of left, right, liberal and libertarian outrage were raised by the idea that an MP might be treated as a common criminal, or a 'terrorist' by association, yet barely a murmur was heard about the other focus of the story, prisoner Babar Ahmad. As if further evidence were required to suggest that, while the bugging of an MP might be a rare exception, the bugging of prisoners is a rather more routine function of the State, Harry Roberts' solicitor, Simon Creighton, said that a government lawyer had inadvertently sent two transcripts of covertly recorded telephone conversations between he and his client. This was in addition to revelations that hundreds of lawyers and prison visitors had been secretly recorded, cases which didn't feature MPs and therefore didn't warrant similar levels of outrage." -- J7

What news of Harry's appeal against 13 years detention without charge?

Anonymous said...

"But when a member of the establishment, Tory front-bencher Damian Green -- in an operation overseen by the most senior "anti-terrorist" officer Assistant Commissioner Bob Quick -- then becomes a target of the State bootboys and their "anti-terrorist" laws, liberal middle-England sits up and takes notice." - 'Anger' was my initial reaction at the fact only now they said something about what's going on and only because it happened to an MP.

On longer thought and observation it occured to me that it could be a masterstroke. It may have been planned {it does seem very much 'artificially blown up - storm in a teacup jobbie' e.g. the crap about the kween Elizardbeth Regina's speech being disrupted - utter lobbox!} because it's only pubically being discussed in terms that ONLY POLITICIANS 'should' be exempt from the torrent of Terrorism laws.

Me reading too much into it? - perhaps, but don't tell me that if it isn't planned, then bastards didn't realise it could be spun that way, and the the scummy BBC etc are helping in that process.

Sneeky Bastards.

And when the fears are put to rest over our glorious intelligent people serving MP's one again being able to do what the hell they like, the transient and anomalous noise from the mouths of mouths of Middle England, will doubtless diminish into nothing.

I smell essence of poo about this.

And Murray/StefZ about the 'not allowed to find unlawful killing' re the annhilation of JCDM and it's quite acceptance amongst those same Middle Englanders is nothing but a total and utter disgrace.

Something needs to be donw.

Anonymous said...

And Murray/StefZ about the 'not allowed to find unlawful killing' Re:the annhilation of JCDM are absolutely spot on and its quiet acceptance amongst those same Middle Englanders is nothing but a total and utter disgrace.

Something needs to be done.

---> (have a heart, it's difficult for a scent to press keys, let alone the right ones!)

scentoflwtc247

The Antagonist said...

Craig Murray, while all he says about Sir Michael Wright is justified, lost me here:

I still do believe that we will come to recover from the terrible poison of the New Labour years, and return to being a liberal society. We will look back at all this as Americans now look back at McCarthyism, with horror and shame.

Problems, piece by piece:

"the terrible poison of the New Labour years"

As opposed to the fantastical curative elixir of the Thatcher years? The Churchill years? The Cromwell years? The only thing that has changed is the attire, not the political reality. And who's going to help us on this path to recovery? The Tories? The LibDems? Or will it just happen by magic?


"and return to being a liberal society"

Excuse me? Return? Have we all missed something?


"We will look back at all this as Americans now look back at McCarthyism, with horror and shame."

Just because it's not called McCarthyism any more doesn't mean the sentiment has gone away.

Still, it's all good for a bit of drama on the day old Liz did spake.

The Antagonist said...

Murray bowls another blinder:

"If our New Labour governors had in their youth read Mill rather than pretending to read Marx and Trotsky, we would not be under such an assault on our civil liberties."

McCarthyism is alive and well and, as mentioned above, just because it's not called McCarthyism any more doesn't mean the sentiment has gone away.