Fighting for solidarity with Gaza can make you a bit paranoid if you live in Britain.
This morning we hear the police - presumably led by the same territorial support group racists that beat up Babar Ahmad and whose minders have now lost 'sackfuls of evidence' concerning that arrest and detention - have rounded up six people who took part in demonstrations in London during the Gaza War. The six have been arrested on the basis of 'intelligence gathered', in other words photographs taken of peaceful protesters at those gatherings.
Just yesterday a parliamentary report challenged the police handling of demos as often provocative, and including the targeting of journalists as well as peaceful protesters. The police modus operandi on demos now seems to be: attack - as they did in the underpass near Hyde Park on the second large demo in December - and when people fight back take a picture of them 'attacking the police'.
The police say that these six arrests are just the beginning of their campaign of intimidation - of Muslim kids in particular and protesters in general. According to police they have 40 people in their sights.
In a carefully orchestrated pincer movement (if you're a bit paranoid that's how you could see it) the Charity Commission has opened an investigation into how the Viva Palestina aid convoy spent its money. Well I for one think the commission is welcome to go to Gaza and see what the use the fishing communities are making of the boat that was delivered, or how the kids are playing with their new toys and the medical aid in use in the hospitals. But this investigation, like all the others in the past that found no wrong doing (Mariam Appeal, InterPal), has nothing to do with good regulation and everything to do with intimidating people who might be inclined to give money to Muslim or Pro-Palestinian charities.
And these two initiatives from on high come in the wake of the UK government's 'revised' counter terrorism strategy that aims to 'confront the ideology behind extremism' by highlighting our 'shared values' of 'democracy, tolerance and human rights'. The democracy of going to war against Iraq in defiance of the wishes of the majority of the population, the tolerance of allowing an Israeli war criminal into the country but not a journalist from a Hezbollah-leaning title in Lebanon, and the human rights that allow the British government and its agencies to direct torture operations in various locales around the globe.
And Sky News reports today that the CIA sees UK Muslims as the prime candidates for launching an attack on the US and is co-operating with UK intelligence services in surveillance of the 'Pakistani Muslim' population. So if any followers of Islam you know disappear rather abruptly, don't blame it on the rapture that 40% of the US population believe will whisk the 'saved' up to heaven, blame it on rendition. Despite claims of wanting to engage with the 'Muslim community' the government also made it known today that it doesn't like who the Muslim Council of Britain has appointed as its deputy general secretary and so has broken off contact with the organisation. The MCB is the largest such entity in the country. What a joke.
While the UK 'trains' caretakers, sanitation workers and other ordinary people to spy on others and learn how to spot 'extremists', we need to be getting organised politically. That's the best defence against the ever shriller tones of the witch hunters.
So please understand our cynicism when we are told that the new watchwords of the UK version of the war on terror are: prevent, pursue, protect, prepare (Protect and Survive was the title of a laughable little manual from HM Government during the Cold War with handy - but useless - little tips on how not to get radiated). What the government's latest 'Ps' mean is prevent dissent, pursue protesters, protect the abusers and torturers and prepare for the next war.
This morning we hear the police - presumably led by the same territorial support group racists that beat up Babar Ahmad and whose minders have now lost 'sackfuls of evidence' concerning that arrest and detention - have rounded up six people who took part in demonstrations in London during the Gaza War. The six have been arrested on the basis of 'intelligence gathered', in other words photographs taken of peaceful protesters at those gatherings.
Just yesterday a parliamentary report challenged the police handling of demos as often provocative, and including the targeting of journalists as well as peaceful protesters. The police modus operandi on demos now seems to be: attack - as they did in the underpass near Hyde Park on the second large demo in December - and when people fight back take a picture of them 'attacking the police'.
The police say that these six arrests are just the beginning of their campaign of intimidation - of Muslim kids in particular and protesters in general. According to police they have 40 people in their sights.
In a carefully orchestrated pincer movement (if you're a bit paranoid that's how you could see it) the Charity Commission has opened an investigation into how the Viva Palestina aid convoy spent its money. Well I for one think the commission is welcome to go to Gaza and see what the use the fishing communities are making of the boat that was delivered, or how the kids are playing with their new toys and the medical aid in use in the hospitals. But this investigation, like all the others in the past that found no wrong doing (Mariam Appeal, InterPal), has nothing to do with good regulation and everything to do with intimidating people who might be inclined to give money to Muslim or Pro-Palestinian charities.
And these two initiatives from on high come in the wake of the UK government's 'revised' counter terrorism strategy that aims to 'confront the ideology behind extremism' by highlighting our 'shared values' of 'democracy, tolerance and human rights'. The democracy of going to war against Iraq in defiance of the wishes of the majority of the population, the tolerance of allowing an Israeli war criminal into the country but not a journalist from a Hezbollah-leaning title in Lebanon, and the human rights that allow the British government and its agencies to direct torture operations in various locales around the globe.
And Sky News reports today that the CIA sees UK Muslims as the prime candidates for launching an attack on the US and is co-operating with UK intelligence services in surveillance of the 'Pakistani Muslim' population. So if any followers of Islam you know disappear rather abruptly, don't blame it on the rapture that 40% of the US population believe will whisk the 'saved' up to heaven, blame it on rendition. Despite claims of wanting to engage with the 'Muslim community' the government also made it known today that it doesn't like who the Muslim Council of Britain has appointed as its deputy general secretary and so has broken off contact with the organisation. The MCB is the largest such entity in the country. What a joke.
While the UK 'trains' caretakers, sanitation workers and other ordinary people to spy on others and learn how to spot 'extremists', we need to be getting organised politically. That's the best defence against the ever shriller tones of the witch hunters.
So please understand our cynicism when we are told that the new watchwords of the UK version of the war on terror are: prevent, pursue, protect, prepare (Protect and Survive was the title of a laughable little manual from HM Government during the Cold War with handy - but useless - little tips on how not to get radiated). What the government's latest 'Ps' mean is prevent dissent, pursue protesters, protect the abusers and torturers and prepare for the next war.
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