Our London Correspondent, Ben Scicluna, speaks out about yesterday's protests in London, at which he was present and suffered injury and concussion at the hands of the riot police...
9th December 2010.
'Man is born free – and he is everywhere in chains.' The words of Jean-Jacques Rousseau still resonate. Government exists solely for the protection of the people yet this has rarely been the case. The political elite is self-serving, self-preservering and the insatiable thirst for power is their only concern.
Salus populi est suprema lex? Think again.
With an electoral system rendering the average voter without any influence over the political system, direct action becomes the only way to ensure your voice is heard. Society is unlikely to change. Those with power and wealth shall keep it, those down-trodden shall remain so, the status quo shall remain.
However, it is right that you are counted. Complacency is guilt by association. Edmund Burke's comment on the flourishing of evil is ever true. If you do not take action over the issues you believe in you are giving a carte-blanche to those who would oppress you, you give them the right to do, with little consequence, that which satisfies them. Politicians will protect their interests, political parties will loyally serve their donors, they shall cling to power.
Stand up and be counted.
Stability is what those in power require. A population unwilling to act is a population willing to accept diktats from above. A population showing its anger through political action, peaceful or violent, shows that there will always be good people willing to defend their beliefs, and such a philosophy is venerable.
Yesterday thousands of people, not only students, took to the streets of London to show that they will not lay down and accept that which is reprehensible to them. This government is making the poorest of society pay for the mistakes of the very richest. Students and future-students ARE the future yet they are burdened with the past like never before.
The actions of protesters were valid. A political system which ignores the voice of the people justifies actions against it. The state and servants of the state become valid targets.
Yesterday I witnessed scenes unimaginable in a so-called 'free nation' so willing to preach the ideas of demos kratos around the world. The right of peaceful protest and lobby enshrined in law was denied, illegal containment implemented and protesters rightly vented their frustrations. A person trapped in a cage becomes violent. Unable to leave, attacked and oppressed by a police force unwilling to serve the people, otherwise peaceful people became desperate.
I witnessed children, on the verge of tears, begging to leave. The response? A man twice their size in armour, raising a baton and screaming at them to fuck off. I witnessed rational people attempting to reason with unreasonable people, hell-bent on exercising their authority. I witnessed men laughing at the discomfort of the youth, and happily attacking any who challenged them. I saw a girl falling to the ground attacked with a heavy downward blow from a full body shield, her only crime being losing her balance in front of a police line. People attacking with nothing but words were in turn attacked with truncheons. I witnessed a police column rampaging through a crowd, running at full speed, smashing or trampling any in their way. Were these the 'trouble makers'? No, they were the peaceful protesters of the centre. The violent protesters were primarily concerned with the damage of government property, the police response was the damage of the people. Surely this more than anything shows the true nature of our government and political system.
I praise those who defended themselves against police brutality. Self-Defence is not a crime. A blow to the face of a person beating you to the ground is justified. I am glad police were injured yesterday, for many certainly deserved it. Yet I also praise those police officers who were concerned, who were unhappy at the general strategy, or merely those who were willing to be polite and treat their fellow citizens like human beings. I am glad the vehicle carrying the Prince of Wales was attacked, the people's anger shown, just as I am glad no harm came to them for they themselves were innocent. I am glad the Treasury was attacked. Property is never paramount to human life.
This is the beginning. A generation is showing its anger, flexing its muscles and standing up for what they believe in. Yesterday I was happy to face lines of riot police. I shall do so again, and again, and again. When the people no longer stand up for their rights, what is left is nothing but a nation of sheep led to the slaughterhouse.
Ben Scicluna.
A poignant end to a good article. I have to say that I agree with most of that. I feel sorry for the police but also for the protesters, and it's time that our anger was directed, focused on those who betray - even if we have come to learn that politicians betray - and not those who, like the violent protesters, are angry and acting in the heat of the moment. Lawfully or unlawfully violent, it remains violent, and perhaps it is time for people to accept that the police are violent, the mob is violent, but being hit is far less damaging than being denied your rights.
ReplyDeletewell said!
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