worst thing about it is its a “very British way” of dealing with things – its not absolute totalitarianism but “death by a thousand cuts” – basically making it illegal to be stubborn or awkward toward the plans of a Government department.
I’ve also always thought that although the UK does not assasinate activists, nor throw them indefinitely into gulags like some other countries, but it works by breaking them using the existing restraints of society and the penal system
Even using low level penalties an activist can be forced into submission by sapping their resources both material and spiritual – property seizures, arrests and detentions, being known as a “troublemaker” and finding it difficult to get employment or services because of this – and in many cases the activists become mentally ill and/or take their lives by their own hands… this legislation seems almost cynically engineered to facilititate this kind of “re-education”…
as an example I heard of a young lad caught up in the riot which occured last year in North Wales after conflict erupted at a rave. Although he wasn’t involved in the violence or even brought before Court, the seizure of his employers’ van cost him his job – even though he was using it with permission his employers had to let him go as the time the van was impounded for (about a week) caused lost business which wiped out any value he had brought to the company.
this had the knock on effect of him becoming estranged from his family, and leaving the family home as well – his whole life disrupted just after attending one rave
It has the potential to totally eliminate activism or dissent from anyone who has anything to lose by being processed through the criminal justice system – many people will simply think “its not worth it”
The increasing use of CRB checks for job applications, the fact that even a short sentence of imprisonment renders people virtually unemployable (66% of employers said they would refuse an interview to anyone who had been in jail without even asking what their crime was) and the obvious fact that prison breaks up families will in the short term make many “normal” people think twice about getting involved in “illegal activity”.
However it eventually means the only activists left will be mostly single males, perhaps those already involved in wider crime including violence – with the stakes raised so high, many will indeed decide to act “by any means necessary” -thus potentially creating a self-fulfilling prophecy that “activism = terrorism” and an eventual upsurge in violence…
the worst part of this is I fear many Middle Englanders (even if they have intital misgivings) will actually accept this legislation (as has happened in other countries) in return for “economic stability” or “less fear of crime” – however would expect the net result should this legislation pass may not be long-term stability but simmering resentment, increased crime and even the risk of civil war!
