Police are to demand new powers to arrest protesters for causing offence through the words they chant and the slogans on their placards and even the headbands they wear.
The country's biggest force, the Metropolitan police, is to lobby the attorney general, Lord Goldsmith, because officers believe that large sections of the population have become increasingly politicised, and there is a growing sense that the current restrictions on demonstrations are too light.
Are our political leaders now seeking to deny freedom of expression to those they disagree with through forcible means? Have they become so afraid of their own "politicised' people, that the only way they can control them, is to create a society where anyone can be arrested for the slightest unlicensed expression of dissent?
Of course the arguments for such proposals will be crafted in such a way, that they appear to be directed at restricting the freedom of those people who express views that the majority of decent people find repugnant.
Indeed it would not be surprising, if the weeks and months ahead managed to produce a number of high-profile examples of these kinds of views being aired, (to great annoyance and discomfort) in public places.
This will ensure that the widest possible chorus of consent can be obtained for what is essentially a law that would censor the public voice still further. However, having placed such a power upon the statute books, there are strong precedents to indicate that these same powers will end up being used in a far more expansive and sinister way at a future date.
We are heading ever nearer the perilous rocks of dictatorship and totalitarianism in this country. Only the fact that so many of us are asleep at our watch enables this suicidal course to continue unchecked and unopposed.
On Thursday the 23rd of November 2006, Brian Haw will have been living and demonstrating outside Parliament for 2000 days. On November the 19th, Dissident Vox visited Parliament Square and handed him a microphone.
Listen to the voice of one of this countries great Britain's, as he talks about his protest, the actions of the state he is standing up against, and why it is more important than ever to stand together for freedom and peace.
So once again the pendulum has swung in American political life. Where exactly it will end, now that it has begun swinging, is anybodies guess. Given the severity of the last decade under President George Walker Bush, the reaction unleashed by the momentum of the swing is likely to be severe. The sad fact is that this does not bode well, for the American people, or for the world in general.
It may seem for a while, to those enthused by the prospect of getting rid of an odious dictatorial regime, that the coming change's can only be positive. Before anybody gets too excited though, lets wait and see exactly what's coming the round the corner.
The balance between governements, and the people they claim to represent is wildly out of whack, not just in America, but in the world in general. This lack of balance, will only continue to serve those who understand how to manipulate the swinging ebb and flow of political and social life.
The community cards have been shuffled, the Joker has been played, and the latest round of U.S. political elections are over. As the winnings are scooped from the table, the American people need to realise, nothing has changed. The same political card-sharks hold the winning hand at the gamblers table of American political life.
Despite all protestations, misdirections, and bluffs to the contrary, the elite remain, 'ahead after the flop' and all that has occurred is the public launch of a propaganda campaign, that will likely result in a Democratic President being elected to the White House in 2008.
This Democratic President will differ only in style of play from his or her Republican predecessor. He/She may go easy on the early rounds, and the tone may be softer as they settle in for a long slow play, but underneath the poker-face facade, the same cruel tournament game will be crafted, the same dominating agenda of deceit.
Watch out America, you're playing political poker with your future. If you're not careful, you'll wind up broke, bruised and flat out busted, still holding the losing hand you had when you started the game.
You will be scanned when you enter a store, your clothing
will recognised, by RFID tags embedded in it. This will be matched with
your loyalty card data to determine your relationship to the store.
Your relative economic worth will determine how you are treated during
your 'shopping experience'.
Your car
will be tracked by a global satellite navigation system which will
provide you with the quickest route to avoid current congestion. Money
will be automatically removed from your bank account for fines,
congestion charges and any infringements. The police will be
empowered to monitor and track your movements, should they choose to do
so.
You will be subjected to biometric
and psychometric testing, lifestyle profiling and diagnostic health
testing. You will be refused employment if you are seen as a health
risk, or you refuse to submit to the testing procedure. Your work
benefit packages will be drawn up with any potential future health
problems factored in.
Your child's
school will introduce an electronic system to allow monitoring of what
your children eat, their attendance, record of achievement and drug
test results.
Facial recognition
systems using tiny cameras embedded in lamposts and walls will be
used to monitor your every movement.
The elderly will become more isolated as friends and family feel
increasingly able to rely on remote monitoring and contact systems to provide
support.
Wealthy people will use
personal information management services to monitor their ‘data shadow’
and to ensure they are not disadvantaged by any of the vast quantities
of information held about them being incorrect or out of date.
The poor will be unable to afford this., they will increasingly suffer the consequences of poor quality
information being used to make decisions affecting their
lives.
A report published this week by the Surveillance Studies Network states that Britain is now one of the five most watched societies on earth, and that it has a culture of "endemic surveillance".
The report highlights an increasing use of militarized surveillance technology in civilian life; a widespread sharing of data and technology between private companies and the military; the heavy interpenetration of transnational communication systems such as GPS and the Internet by the military; and the convergence of telephony technologies and the internet in ways that make surveillance operations easier as some of the main causes behind this.
It also argues that the war on terror has produced "a drive to security" which has given rise to new civilian markets for what were previously military products, and that the networked systems we now use to communicate can be altered "in certain places and times when it suits military objectives."
The process of "function creep" is also highlighted, whereby networked personal data collected for one reason, is used for numerous other purposes. This extends and intensifies its surveillance value and has serious implications for personal privacy. This aspect of data sharing by stealth the report states, is also one of the most often overlooked.
