I have quite a few things I'm going to talk about in this one actually, and while we're on the subject of New Year, I think I may as well start with that. I went to a friend's house for New Year, and we watched the countdown to 2014 on television, and it made me think that these celebrations are really over the top. The amount of money that must be spent on fireworks and music and all the other things that are part of the celebration is astonishing, and it isn't as though anyone will remember it in the future. It is exactly the same every year; in five years time, no one will remember the countdown to 2014 specifically. I think for a really big event, like for the new Millennium, such a huge celebration would be very appropriate, but just for an ordinary New Year, I think that it is incredibly disproportionate. I had a rather interesting conversation with my mum about this; she said that she went to the celebrations in London once, a long time ago, and it was much less glamourous - just a group of people in Trafalgar Square, counting down and then walking home, and there were none of the big musical acts or anything. I wonder when it all started the way that it is? I suppose it was probably around the new Millennium. Once you have a big event like that, then anything less becomes an anti-climax in future years. You cannot have an event that wasn't as glamorous as the year before. I just find it pretty sickening that we spend this much money on foolish New Year celebrations that help pretty much nobody, given the amount of poverty and debt that we have in this country. I recently learned that our debts are so huge, we owe nine times what we are worth. Why are we spending money on utterly useless celebration events?
For a while now, I have been planning to blog about IPNAs (Injunctions to Prevent Nuisance and Annoyance) and PSPOs (Public Space Protection Orders). These are the new behaviour orders which are being rushed through Parliament, and for all intents and purposes, they are the new ASBOs. According to Scriptonite Daily, IPNAs are applicable where on the 'balance of probabilities', a person has or might engage in behaviour 'capable of causing annoyance' to another person. Personally, I think that that is absurd, as that could pretty much apply to any of us at any time. It makes no sense; you can't say or do anything that might annoy someone, even if no one is actually annoyed. Besides which, you could argue that the Injunction itself annoys people, so it entirely contradicts itself.
The orders can be issued to anyone aged 10 or over, and there is no limit to how long an IPNA can be applied for. Hypothetically, a person could receive an IPNA aged ten and retain it for their entire life. The subject of an IPNA can be found in breach not simply for doing things that they have been banned from doing, but also from not doing things that the IPNA states that they must. An IPNA can be applied for by Local Authorities, police, some transport bodies and some NHS authorities. The consequences of breaching an IPNA are serious. The breaching of an IPNA has been added to the conditions for securing possession of a home - meaning a ten-year-old child breaching an IPNA could result in the entire family being evicted from their council house. Breaching the orders can also result in jail time for anyone over fourteen.
PSPOs are, for me personally, even more worrying. According to Scriptonite Daily, they will replace Public Space Orders, Dog Control Orders, Gating Orders and a host of other orders intended to keep aggressive drunken people, drug dealers and dog poo off our streets. But it is plain that the actual targets are people like myself; people who carry politically challenging ideas. These new present a huge threat to the freedom of lawful assembly.
PSPOs will be granted where ‘activities carried on or likely to be carried on in a public place will have or have had a detrimental effect on the quality of life of those in the locality’ (p21). They can be used to restrict an activity or require people to perform an activity in a certain way. They require substantially less consultation than current alcohol free zones or dog control zones and rather than applying to everyone, they can be applied to specific groups of people (the homeless, the unemployed, racial/religious groups etc.) – opening the door for discrimination. These rules could see homeless people or young people lawfully excluded from public spaces. These orders could apply for up to three years, and be extended by another three years at the end of their term.
There is one more new power which I need to blog about. I am talking of dispersal orders for groups of two or more people thought to be antisocial. Under the current Direction to Leave powers, anyone over 10 years of age can be asked to disperse from a ‘locality’ and stay dispersed for a period not exceeding 48 hours. Current Dispersal Orders mean a Police Superintendent (or an officer with specific written authority from the SI) can disperse groups of two or more people in areas where there has been ‘persistent anti-social behaviour’ or take home any young person under the age of 16 who is in a dispersal zone between 9pm and 6am. Anyone failing to comply with a Dispersal Order faces a fine of up to £2,500 or up to three months in prison.
Under the new Dispersal Powers, police constables and even Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) can issue dispersal orders if they think a group of two or more persons might harass, alarm or distress others in the vicinity (p16). The PCSO or constable can specify how long the person/group must remain out of the designated area, and by which route they must leave, and also confiscate any items of their property which they deem anti-social. Failure to comply with any element of these orders results in a fine of up to £5,000 or three months in prison.
I find these things to be entirely erroneous actually. I feel that the technicalities behind them all are so incredibly broad that they could ultimately be brought in to silence anyone for pretty much anything. For me as a political activist and architect of social change, this is obviously very worrying. If I'm being completely honest, Bills such as this make me genuinely quite frightened of what the future has in store for me. Whilst political campaigning is a huge part of my life, I have a separate life to lead outside of this, and I worry that the consequences for me if I carry on the line of campaigning that I have been involved with since 2010 may prevent me from having the freedom to do the other things with my life that I want to do. On the other hand, this is exactly how these things are supposed to make me feel, and I'm not willing to be intimidated into keeping myself quiet about such things. They can take my civil liberties if they want to - although I'd really rather they didn't! Ultimately, while I obviously want to feel safe and secure, there are people like myself in this world for a reason, and if everyone let the powers that be dictate their lives over and above what is right - well, then no progress would be made.
Whilst writing this blog, I have had quite a long online chat with an acquaintance of mine who I have worked with on social change issues in the past, and I feel that I understand it a lot more now than I did when I started typing this out. As the Bill has now got as far as the House of Lords, there is very little that can be done to prevent it, and we'd be wasting our time to try. However, all is not lost. Here is the list of the things that I intend to do to sort this out in the future months and possibly years:
1) I will make sure that as many people as possible actually know about this. It seems to me that this is rather little-known - possibly as a deliberate strategy - and I think that the more people know about this, the easier it will be to create an outcry.
2) I will contact the police forces in the areas where I live (Colchester, and possibly my hometown of Bristol) and determine what their policies are regarding this, if they intend to implement these powers, and if they do, to what extent. I will put pressure on them to use common sense regarding people's individual freedom over and above all else. I recommend everyone does this in their own neighbourhood.
3) I will read through the legal material concerning this legislation, and determine which parts I want to change. There is no point focussing on repealing the entire Bill, but it can be changed so it is not so broad.
4) Having done the previous three things, I will focus as much of my attention as I am physically able to do petitioning Parliament to amend the Bill with regards to the sections that I will by then have specified.
I will of course continue to blog about this issue throughout.
I'd just like to say one more thing about this. There is a song that I sing to myself sometimes. I saw it in a theatre production of Franz Kafka's The Trial by the theatre company Splendid, and it is The Ballad For The Blissfully Ignorant. It goes like this:
They tell me when
They tell me how
I never question why
I trust what I read
I trust what I hear
Why would our leaders lie?
I'm all right, Jack
Though I don't know Jack
But one thing I have found:
If we know our place
And we don't speak out
They'll keep us safe and sound!
I find this song quite comforting, because I never want to be that person, and singing it reinforces that notion. I may personally be able to keep myself more comfortable by following that mantra, but it ultimately does not help anyone. I could not live with myself knowing that I had things that I could do to help people, and didn't do them. I will never lose my enthusiasm and optimism for social change. I think that's an attitude that I can be proud of, and I'd encourage everyone to look on things with the same viewpoint. After all, if you don't, who will?
Right, I think that this blog has been quite negative, so I'll leave you on a really positive note. 2013 was a great year for the LGBT community. The below link will bring a smile to your face as you read about the amount of progress that was made in securing people's freedoms. May the good work continue across 2014, and the years to come.
http://www.policymic.com/articles/76835/46-most-iconic-lgbt-moments-of-2013
Thanks for reading this! I think it was one of the most exhausting blogs I have ever written - but possibly one of the best. Having finished it, I think it was well worth the time I spent!
Watch this space for more political blogs soon.
