The right to protest is under attack in Britain where their rights are more implied than enumerated in a document like ours. They have even made it a crime to walk slowly and another to ban the accused from telling juries in court the circumstance of their protest.
Right wing government leaders (in power from Europe's push back against immigration) say laws are to limit protests impact on public transit and curtail jury nullification based on protesters' goals. It looks alot like Desantis' blueprint in Florida, doesn't it?
Our government framework is much more resistant than UK's is to right wing state authoritarianism but even here it relies on a neutral court. The undermining of that could be our undoing. Is Britain erosion of freedom the the right wing blueprint?
Havent seen @LimeyGator in a while but would be interested in his opinion here as well.
This Basic Right Is Under Threat In Britain
LONDON (AP) — For holding a sign outside a courthouse reminding jurors of their right to acquit defendants, a retiree faces up to two years in prison. For hanging a banner reading “Just Stop Oil” off a bridge, an engineer got a three-year prison sentence. Just for walking slowly down the street, scores of people have been arrested.
They are among hundreds of environmental activists arrested for peaceful demonstrations in the U.K., where tough new laws restrict the right to protest.
The Conservative government says the laws prevent extremist activists from hurting the economy and disrupting daily life. Critics say civil rights are being eroded without enough scrutiny from lawmakers or protection by the courts. They say the sweeping arrests of peaceful demonstrators, along with government officials labeling environmental activists extremists, mark a worrying departure for a liberal democracy.
Britain is one of the world’s oldest democracies, home of the Magna Carta, a centuries-old Parliament and an independent judiciary. That democratic system is underpinned by an “unwritten constitution” — a set of laws, rules, conventions and judicial decisions accumulated over hundreds of years. The effect of that patchwork is “we rely on self-restraint by governments," said Andrew Blick, author of “Democratic Turbulence in the United Kingdom” and a political scientist at King's College London. “You hope the people in power are going to behave themselves.”
Britain may stand alone next year in lurching to the left
For the first time it is quite possible that a majority of MEPs will be Eurosceptic right-wingers. While the European Parliament does not have much law-making power in its own right, it does exert massive influence on other EU institutions and its complexion will be a key indicator of which way the political wind is blowing across the continent.
There is no doubt that public unease about mass immigration, particularly of minority groups who show little desire to integrate into European values, is the main driver of right-wing support. Could the Schengen Agreement that renders most of Europe a single domain without internal frontiers be about to collapse? The European elections will determine that.
Right wing government leaders (in power from Europe's push back against immigration) say laws are to limit protests impact on public transit and curtail jury nullification based on protesters' goals. It looks alot like Desantis' blueprint in Florida, doesn't it?
Our government framework is much more resistant than UK's is to right wing state authoritarianism but even here it relies on a neutral court. The undermining of that could be our undoing. Is Britain erosion of freedom the the right wing blueprint?
Havent seen @LimeyGator in a while but would be interested in his opinion here as well.
This Basic Right Is Under Threat In Britain
LONDON (AP) — For holding a sign outside a courthouse reminding jurors of their right to acquit defendants, a retiree faces up to two years in prison. For hanging a banner reading “Just Stop Oil” off a bridge, an engineer got a three-year prison sentence. Just for walking slowly down the street, scores of people have been arrested.
They are among hundreds of environmental activists arrested for peaceful demonstrations in the U.K., where tough new laws restrict the right to protest.
The Conservative government says the laws prevent extremist activists from hurting the economy and disrupting daily life. Critics say civil rights are being eroded without enough scrutiny from lawmakers or protection by the courts. They say the sweeping arrests of peaceful demonstrators, along with government officials labeling environmental activists extremists, mark a worrying departure for a liberal democracy.
Britain is one of the world’s oldest democracies, home of the Magna Carta, a centuries-old Parliament and an independent judiciary. That democratic system is underpinned by an “unwritten constitution” — a set of laws, rules, conventions and judicial decisions accumulated over hundreds of years. The effect of that patchwork is “we rely on self-restraint by governments," said Andrew Blick, author of “Democratic Turbulence in the United Kingdom” and a political scientist at King's College London. “You hope the people in power are going to behave themselves.”
Britain may stand alone next year in lurching to the left
For the first time it is quite possible that a majority of MEPs will be Eurosceptic right-wingers. While the European Parliament does not have much law-making power in its own right, it does exert massive influence on other EU institutions and its complexion will be a key indicator of which way the political wind is blowing across the continent.
There is no doubt that public unease about mass immigration, particularly of minority groups who show little desire to integrate into European values, is the main driver of right-wing support. Could the Schengen Agreement that renders most of Europe a single domain without internal frontiers be about to collapse? The European elections will determine that.
