UBC Day 12 - Right to Protest

In London yesterday, protesters gathered to march against new powers to be introduced in the planned Police, Crime, Sentencing and court Bill. The government is intending to continue with the restrictions on gatherings to protest introduced during the lockdowns, also the bill increases stop and search powers and includes provisions that threaten to criminalise the Gypsy Traveller community for their way of life. 

There have also been further proposed amendments to the bill which are further restricting people from protesting. The new additions to the bill would have outlawed the Suffragettes’ tactics - this link really explains all the concerns and highlights how the government is attempting to make additions to the bill and also push through several other pieces of legislation that will further restrict our rights. The link also provides a further link to the Liberty Website where you are able to sign a petition or email your MP. 

In further posts, am going to highlight a number of examples of historical protests that have changed history and enabled those without a voice to be heard. Both the link about and the quote below which is from an Al Jazeera news article, discuss the long tradition in this country of protest and point out how active democracy is and should continue to be a healthy part of politics and human rights. 

"During this time, Western governments started to swiftly move away from supporting active democracy, and tacitly created conditions for citizens to only participate in democracy passively. Eventually, popular participation in governance was reduced to the casting of a vote for one of a few preselected candidates every four or five years. The message that was being sent to the citizens was that after casting their vote, they should just stand aside and let elected officials do their work. The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill is nothing but an extension of this sentiment. It clearly tells the British public: after casting your vote, do not dare to interfere with the actions of those in power. But this is not democracy. The public should always maintain the right to correct the course of their governments through protests in democratic countries. The UK has a long and successful history of disruptive protests. For example, British protesters – using the very same tactics the Johnson government is now trying to ban – convinced then Prime Minister John Major to abandon the pointless and environmentally destructive road-building programme that began in the early 1990s." Al Jazeera

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:USMC-09611.jpg