The following open letter to David Cameron is in the Observer this morning. Its message - that the UK is undermining the freedom of the press which is the foundation of democracy - is sufficiently important that I think it should be shared more widely, a sentiment with which I think the Observer would agree:
We know that you will agree that one of the hallmarks of free and open democracies is a vivid public debate addressing all fundamental aspects of society, including the balance and possible conflict between the legitimate security concerns of governments and the protection of privacy and the free press. We all understand both the imperative to uphold domestic security and the equally important imperative to protect our open public debate about the limits to and legal implications of these efforts. The debate is not a sign of weakness of our democracies. It is the basis of our strength.
Against this backdrop, events in Great Britain over the past week give rise to deep concern. We may differ on where to draw the line and strike the right balance, but we should not differ in our determination to protect an open debate about these essential questions. Also, we should stand united to protect individuals engaging in such debates within the parameters of democracy and the rule of law.
The free press plays a crucial role in this regard, also in situations where information revealed by the press is most inconvenient to governments and the intelligence community. We are surprised by the recent acts by officials of your government against our colleagues at the Guardian and deeply concerned that a stout defender of democracy and free debate such as the United Kingdom uses anti-terror legislation in order to legalise what amounts to harassment of both the paper and individuals associated with it. Moreover, it is deeply disturbing that the police have now announced a criminal investigation. We hope this is not to be seen as a step against journalists doing journalism.
The implication of these acts may have ramifications far beyond the borders of the UK, undermining the position of the free press throughout the world.
Mr Prime Minister, we hope that you will soon act to rectify this and reinstall your government among the leading defenders of the free press and an open debate in accordance with the proud tradition of your country.
Bo Lidegaard
Executive editor-in-chief
Politiken, Denmark
Peter Wolodarski
Executive editor-in-chief
Dagens Nyheter, Sweden
Hilde Haugsgjerd
Executive editor-in-chief
Aftenposten, Norway
Riikka Venäläinen
Editor-in-chief
Helsingin Sanomat, Finland
I hope the letter is not being sent in vain. I fear it is. I think that the government's actions are meant to harass both the paper and individuals associated with it and are a step against journalists doing journalism. I fear that we now have a government that is not dedicated to free speech, on which I will write more today.
We should all be very worried.
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We a government that is not dedicated to free anything, speech or press or people.
Furthermore, neither was the last one. Nor the one before that. Etc.
That problem is endemic to governments everywhere. Nothing scares the wits out of government like a free press and a free people. So they neuter democracy, such as we have, by becoming clones of each other.
Still, as long as the box works……..
What else can you expect with a cheap thug like Cameron as prime minister? The man and his colleagues have nothing but contempt for anyone outside their tiny circle. Government for them is just the means to an end. We have handed the reins of power to a rabble of emotionally stunted children and now, clinically unable to see past the nearest pound sign, they’re using that authority to plunder the country. I fully expect things to get a thousand times worse before enormous civil unrest, years away yet, eventually restores s semblance of balance. Their absurd and juvenile attempts at censorship are just a portent of things to come.
This is well said, Bill. I think that we will probably see a generally lacky like craven populace for some years to come with the poor as the spittoon and no politcal alternatives emerging but at some point there will be a groundswell against the hegemony/kleptocracy/plutocracy and people will begin to see (even the narcoleptic English) that they have had the uric acid taken from them for years. The sadness is that the three (one in effect) parties are leading us there with utter irresponsibility! Expect more surveillance, vile propaganda, rentier rip offs, water cannon and reading of our e mails.
We should indeed, Richard. In fact, what we have learnt over the course of this year about the activities of the police and intelligence services in the UK clearly illustrates beyond any doubt that elements of both services are willing and able to initiate and maintain completely undemocratic practices with little or no fear of being held to account, or of any appropriate sanction or punishment being levied upon them. Add to this the events of the last week and it’s likely that in another year’s time no media organisation, blogger or any citizen will be able to report on such things for fear of harrasment, arrest and ruin.
Being of a generation that was brought up to understand the evils of totalitarian regimes, and the deeply chilling and corrupting influence on societies of organisations such as the KGB, Stasi, and so on, I find it amazing – but also deeply disturbing – that the men and women of my generation who now largely control our police and security services can so easily have sold out on the basic principles that underpin free, fair and democratic societies.
No doubt those concerned will argue that this is all about protecting “us” from terrorism and such like: the refrain we now hear on a daily basis as an excuse for any kind of state sponsored intimidation and control. And that to argue otherwise is somehow naive and/or amounts to support for terrorists and is, therefore, by definition, a threat to national security. How ironic that this refrain is used in such a similar way to those employed in the past by the KGB and Stasi, and nowadays by China and North Korea. And how doubly ironic it is that protecting our freedom from the real or perceived threats from “domestic” and external terrorism has so rapidly led to government and state agencies so ready and willing to destroy or renege on the core principles on which freedom and democracy is based.
The Manic Street Preachers once had a hit single with a song called ‘If you tolerate this then your children will be next.’ On the basis of the events of the past week that song may well be due for a re-release.
That looks like a song for the blog….
Here’s more evidence of their seeking to avoid all and any accountability http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/downing-street-hogs-the-remote-control-the-pms-use-of-tame-media-is-annoying-the-big-guns-at-sky-itn-and-the-bbc-8783680.html Interesting to see even The BBC’s Nick Robinson’s upset about this.
Sounds like the Tories want to disseminate a sort of vox populi propaganda via the local stations and set themselves up as the ‘common’ man’s (sic) voice of unexamined knee jerk – expect more opprobrium to be cast on the poor and needy as they channel the ire of the underpaid and mortgage-leveraged 48-hour a week worker.
Dissent across the political divide on this one. This from Janet Daley of The DT. “As regular readers will know, I do not balk at any opportunity to ridicule the self-regarding Left-liberalism of the Guardian. Nor do I support its attempt to place legal limits on the activities of the press — the irony of which is not lost on those who are now unconcerned about its fate. But that is neither here nor there.”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/terrorism-in-the-uk/10263356/Its-Left-wing-prats-who-are-defending-our-freedoms.html