Hello!
Now, it seems as though these days my posts are few and far between. I appear to be starting every new blog post with an apology for not writing anything for ages. Recently I have been feeling that my blog is being left by the wayside, I've just been so busy that I haven't had time to do anything political at all.
I'm going to start with an update on Richard O'Dwyer, whose case I have been following since I first heard about it. Just to recap, the powers that be in the USA have been trying to extradite him to face criminal copyright charges, because he used to run a website called TVShack, which provided links to copyrighted TV shows. It's actually rather good news for him... he has been called to America to pay a small sum of compensation and to swear not to break copyright laws again, before coming back to the UK. So, from his point of view, no harm done. I have a more negative view of this actually. While I think it's great that Richard isn't going to be extradited, it angers me that he is still being asked a) to pay any compensation at all and b) to promise not to do it again. How I see it, Richard hasn't actually done anything wrong. He has not been convicted of a crime, either in the UK or in the US, so I don't think he should be obliged to apologise, or to pay compensation. If anything, the authorities should be paying him compensation. If he was going to set up a website like that again, he should be well within his rights to do that - although obviously I wouldn't expect him to want to after the way he was treated the last time. As I said, it's only a minor gripe, because things are going to turn out fine for Richard, and the UK/US Extradition Treaty is being amended so that the US does not have so much power over UK citizens, so generally speaking things are turning out well. It just annoys me that in a sense, Richard is still being treated as though he has committed a crime.
Now for the main point of this blog. I went to a demonstration in Bristol, to save our amazing NHS from being privatised by the Government. We marched from College Green to Castle Park, where we gathered and listened to some speeches. The speeches were amazing - I can honestly say there was not one that did not impress me, and I really wish that I could remember the names of the speakers. The speeches summed up what we already know, but they did it better than I ever could. The fundamental point is that the reason the powers that be want to cut public services is because they can afford them, and they don't care about anyone else. Why can they afford them? Well, it's because they don't pay their taxes. There is a common misconception that they have amazing, luxurious lives that we can't dream of. I disagree. They do have amazing, luxurious lives, but we absolutely can dream of them. It's them that can't dream of the lives of the rest of us. It's easy to dream of luxury, but we cannot imagine what life is like for those less fortunate than ourselves. The decisions are being made by people who are completely out of touch with reality. But I will say this: we will triumph in this. The NHS has survived for 65 years, ever since World War II. Margaret Thatcher could not get rid of it, John Major could not get rid of it. I remain confident that David Cameron and Nick Clegg will not be able to get rid of it either. Right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil, triumphant.
Demos like this remind me of why I became a political activist. I love it. It really feels as though I am making a difference and changing the world. It was actually my anniversary the other week - I have now been a political activist for more than two years! Isn't that cool?
For my People To Respect And Admire section, I would just have to say all of the amazing speakers who spoke at the demo yesterday. Unfortunately I can't tell you who they were as I cannot remember them, but they were all wonderful and all made great points.
Well, that's all for this update. Hopefully, you will see more from me soon. Watch this space.
Cheerio!
