Another nail in the coffin of freedom...

Most of us here are fond of referring to the current sociopolitical climate as 'orwellian', but it seems that we may not be able to for much longer...

Henry Porter
Sunday July 2, 2006
The Observer


The sign that Steve Jago held on 18 June in Whitehall carried a quote from George Orwell. 'In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.' It comes from Nineteen Eighty-Four...

...Mr Jago, who will appear in court in September on charges of mounting an illegal demonstration prohibited by the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act (Socpa ), was searched and found to have three copies of an article from Vanity Fair.

Entitled 'Blair's Big Brother Britain', the article happens to be by me and puts together much of what I have written in this paper. But this is not really relevant. What matters is that one of the officers stated for the record that he was showing the defendant these copies and described them as 'politically motivated' material.

Full article at: observer.guardian.co.uk...

Is it just me or does this go totally against the grain of 'free speech' and the right to protest? Can you now be arrested for carrying a copy of 1984 inside one of the so called 'SOCPA designated areas'? It seems that this alone is now sufficient 'evidence of 'criminal intent', smacks of 'thought crime' does it not?

Please take the time to read the full article, also the comments if you have the time. I am particularly amused by one commenters contention that we should all "Get a life,go down the pub,watch the football", my apologies to all you hard-drinking footie fans out there but to me that statement is so oxymoronic it defies belief!

Regards,
Q

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[edit on 3/7/2006 by Mirthful Me]

Wow thats sad he was arrested for holding a sign, and it didnt even have profanity, sexually explicit images etc.. just a political message if you even want to call it that.

'In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.'

One thing the article made no real mention of was the guys demeanor. Was he screaming and yelling, or doing anything that could in anyway be viewed as hostile or even potentially hostile? This will be interesting to see how it plays out.