It was absolutely awesome and very inspiring yet also tragic and very shamefull (I'll explain in due course). I have to admit I was lazy as fuck and slept right through my alarm and woke up at 11 so I missed the entire morning session. Which I greatly regret as I missed Lord Bignham and Tony Benn who I'd love to have heard speak but on the plus side I dodged Yasmin Alibhai-Brown so every cloud and all that.
Anyway when I blundered my way through the door Nick Clegg was working his was through his Key Note Speech. I have to say I was very impressed by Mr. Clegg. He was clear, he was concise and I felt he was very honest. It felt like we were hearing from Nick Clegg the liberal not Nick Clegg the liberal democrat MP. The key points of his speech were about constitutional reform, changing to PR, fundemental human rights and Terrorism. This was very much a case of preaching to the converted but he still made some very good points. He made a scathing attack on Labour and a milder attack on the Conservatives. Clegg praised Purnell which was interesting but Shami would absolutely rip him to shreds later by comparing his actions to Obama's.
Samira Ahmed of Channel Four news fame was up next and she had a question and answer session with Clegg, he got a bit flustered under questioning but came up with a few good responses especially on the subject of the DNA database. I have to say though Nick Clegg really lacks humour but he seems like a nice guy and he seemed rather human in the Q&A session which was very endearing.
The absolute highlight of the day came at the Expert session on Terror with Patrick Mercer (Tory MP), Sonali Naik, Gareth Peirce, Isabella Sankey and John Yates (head of counter Terrorism for the police). However the show was stolen by Mamood I can't remember his second name but he told us his story, he was held at Belmarsh after September 11th for Several years before being place under the most sick and inhumane of all of the UK's police powers a Control Order. He and his family have been relocated, they have had their property taken, they can't interact with other human beings, no phones, no internet, nothing. The police come and strip search him and his family each and every day. He pleaded for help and told us how he had tried to commit suicide on several occasions. He also told us of how he'd struggled to get answers from the police and the government.
If you didn't know if your under a control order you get no trial, no evidence given against you and you are never informed as to your charge. Mamood after EIGHT YEARS still doesn't know why he's being treated this way, what he has supposedly done wrong and he can't even go home to Palastine even though the UN have cleared him to do so. It's sickening.
I joined Liberty after researching Control Orders and being throughly sickened by them. It's truly disgraceful the laws that have been allowed to come into existance in the name of the War on Terror. The normalisation process is horrible. I felt sickened when reading through the powers the government had introduced in print, I felt thoroughly ashamed to be a British Citizen when I heard Mamood's story first hand. Full credit to famous lawyer Gareth Peirce who helped the very emotional Mamood put forward his case, he wasn't a planned speaker, he just showed up to ask questions as a member of liberty. Gareth odly a girl, chose her words very wisely and does great work for the Liberty Cause.
Patrick Mercer MP said alot of the right things and his stories of being a soldier in Northern Ireland were very interesting but when a lady scrutanized him for misrepresenting the war on terror he slipped back into slimely politician mode.
John Yates the famed investigator of the Cash for Peerages scandal and now head of the counter terrorism wing of the police was a great speaker and did a really good job at the conference. He came under great scrutiny (and rightly so) but put himself forward clearly and made you feel a great sympathy for the police who are ordered to do some horrible horrible deeds in the name of counter terrorism. He even stayed behind to talk to one fellow who had specific questions. He definitely earned my trust, and I understand how complex a job he has to do.
Then things got really funny. We had a roundtable on Common Values and Culture chaired by Diane Abbott MP who is abosutely hilarious and a great great woman, probably my personal favorite politician. Diane is a great friend of liberty and has consistently voted against Control Orders, 42 Days, DNA databanks and all over ludicrious abuses of our civil Liberties. She's a great speaker and had the joke of the night when she said:
"I feel really sorry for Gordon Brown, honestly I do, I mean come on imagine it, your world is crumbling down around you and the one person left to turn to, the one person left to console you is.....Peter Mandelson"
Bwhahahhaa or words to those effects. She then introduce Kate Adie legendary BBC foriegn correspondent another great speaker, she spoke wisely about China portraying the good the bad and telling us the story of a famous artist. She talked about the importance of vigiliance and the dangers of apathy.
Next up was John Gaunt!!! Yes that John Gaunt, he was actually very humble, joked about how he called Shami the most dangerous woman on earth, but then admitted that you don't really understand the flaws in the system until they effected you yourself. He denounced the morose arguement "I do nothing wrong, I've got nothing to fear". Gaunty then talked about freedom of the Media and earned himself a round of applause. I was impressed by how humble he was, he's still a muggins but I have more respect for him now than I did before.
Vivienne Westwood was fabulous but all over the place, including saying that September 11th was a conspiracy, but she made one really good point that was supported by visual artist Mark Titchner and that was that we consider ourselves to have free speech but we don't. Not because of traditional censorship but because of something more subtle. The idea that on shows like question time and on the radio even in an art gallery you can't have free debate it's always shaped by social factors, and channelled by media organizations down "acceptable" lanes. It was an intriguing and nuanced argument. This was all alot of fun.
The best was saved till last with Shami Chakrabarti I won't go into great detail but she was honest, funny, clear, concise, powerful, inspirational and generally brilliant as she delivered what effectively amounted to a moral call to arms. She was never overbearing, never preachy, but always right on the money. I and many others gave her a standing ovation, she's a true tribute to our society, and in her own way has become an national institution.
She did make one really interesting point regarding the way that the youth of this country are becoming scapegoated. I felt her point that for a young black or muslim male their first contact with an instrument of the democratic state is usual being stopped and searched when their just trying to go to the shops, and asked what kind of message does this send. She made one awesome joke saying that Wolfgang had been searched, Tony Benn had beened caught by stop and search, she said she better hurry up and get stoped and searched for her credibilities sake.
All in all it was an absolutely awesome day, tremendous, I really wish I'd woken up early now, although I'd have been too sleepy for tomorrow night. I do suggest anyone interested in Human Rights and Civil Liberties join or take a look at Liberty there a lovely organization. On a side note I finally got my free shirt and badge from Aminesty today, the shirt doesn't fit but the badge is dope. Now I've got to go write a letter/email to our new Home Secretary, I'm sure he'll just ignore it like Jacqui before him.
8 comments:
Interesting read. Was this part of your dissertation or was it just a spontaneous decision to go?
No I'm a member of Liberty have been for a while.
I'm a member of Amnesty too.
Protecting Civil Liberties is very important to me. Plus Vivienne Westwood designs cool T-Shirts for them which is a bonus.
Cool.
Shame you missed Tony Benn, would have loved to have heard what he had to say.
Well you know I think he's a dingus but he speaks very well. As long as he doesn't bring his Karl Marx collectors plates with him.
Hmmmm, our lack of freedom was something pointed out by Erich Fromm as far back as the 1950s...but of course, being a German and member of the Frankfurt school...
'Man only wants what he thinks he wants' - not just supply and demand, but int he greater respect of freedom as well.
I have an art link I can write about if I start on these blogs; if I do, I'll reference this. On a very personal note, I think your portrayal of Mahmood was most interesting, but didn't deserve to be 'buried in the middle' of your text ;)
I'll have you know that my review was in Chronilogical order.
No one was buried.
Time buried him, if you thus choose not to bring him to the front.
Time is an even handed mistress, she knows no prejudice.
If someone was destined to shine, they will shine, regardless of where one was placed within the dialogue.
(Correction: time is even handed excepted to Gareth, he's so old)
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