The Law Society tweeted this yesterday:
We condemn a Home Office video referring to immigration lawyers who provide legal advice to migrants as ‘activist lawyers’.
Solicitors advise their clients on *their rights under the laws created by parliament*
https://t.co/4FHvIJ1RW5 pic.twitter.com/WcgCm7RzdM— The Law Society (@TheLawSociety) August 27, 2020
It is now apparent that this claim by the government was not a ‘one off'. Note the quotes in this tweet:
If you wanted proof that the @ukhomeoffice deleting "that tweet" doesn't mean the damage isn't already done, just look at how often the term "activist lawyer" is used alongside terms such as "scupper" and "thwarted" in the Times today, rather than "Barristers upheld the law". pic.twitter.com/M0NAyMkezO
— Dan Sohege (@stand_for_all) August 28, 2020
That The Times is using the same language as the Home Office is not by chance: the aim is to discredit those lawyers who are doing what we expect lawyers to do in in a society that upholds the rule of law, which is to defend their clients' rights as defined by law.
To vilify those lawyers who are defending human rights that are enshrined in law is deeply dangerous.
It suggests that the government sees lawyers as an enemy. That, of course, is part of the route to fascism.
It suggests that some people do not deserve the rights the law provides to them, as others do, but which only those others are entitled to enjoy. That, of course, is also part of the route to fascism.
And it eventually says that only those who conform to the government's expectations should think of practising law. Again, that is part of the route to fascism.
And I think that if we have a government that is clearly on the path to fascism we have a duty to say so. So I am doing so.
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There is a systematic attack underway on the legal system. One saw it quite clearly when judges were accused of ‘thwarting’ the will of the people’ during the (ongoing) Brexit debacle and it has intensified under the Johnson/Cummings leadership. The judiciary is another pillar of society that needs ‘sorting’ according to Cummings.
This article from the Secret Barrister is enlightening on this topic
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/aug/22/against-the-law-why-judges-are-under-attack-by-the-secret-barrister
The right-wing MSM are only too happy to facilitate the stripping away of public protections.
Clearly the United Kingdom well on its “indirect and less blatant” social security way to the current United States which has a president and a virus that openly thinks it acceptable to act like a private army and kill and maim people at random!
And for more information on the attack on the judicial review system see:
https://www.thenational.scot/news/18681649.snp-warns-westminster-changing-scots-law-will-turn-every-lawyer-yes/
Thanks
And I agree
The road to Fascism is a process, rather than events over a short period, according to Chris Hedges, an award winning journalist, who is also a Christian pastor working in a prison. He quotes Robert O Paxton, who wrote on Fascism. His thesis is that Fascism is individual to each country and is not a list of characteristics, although many things are held in common.
So in this country, religion (except, perhaps, islamophobia ) is not an important aspect on our road to Fascism.
Hedges sees things is rather stark terms but the USA is, I would contend, further along the road to Right wing dominance.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TP5gjrh-3Ew
I’ve just received the following email from ‘Democracy Unleashed’ and I thought reproducing it here was apt.
What Democracy Meant To Me
I grew up in a dictatorship and politics was real to me on every level, every day. I try to think back to a time when politics started to matter to  me  and I can’t. Politics has always mattered to me, it impacted the exchange rate, my freedom, my ability to make choices — everything.  
Politics to me is so personal. And yet in the UK I often see that in a democracy people forget what it means to them. Because of the processes, politics ticks over and people forget that it is personal. Political decision affects every part of your life whether you choose to engage in it or not — it will continue affecting you. 
There are few things about Covid-19 and the divisiveness in our politics that has come from  Brexit  that are good. However, one positive thing that has happened as a result of these crises is that they have made politics personal. The government has made life changing and economic decisions that impact every aspect of our lives and it is personal.  
People are starting to wake up and  realise  what I have known all my life, the political decisions made at the top will impact every aspect of my life.  
People often say that being in a democracy is a privilege, but I disagree. It is a  functioning  democracy which is a privilege, not just a democracy. If we lose focus  now,  we will lose it,  it can be taken away. 
It is time to stand up and fight for what many of us have taken for granted our entire lives. Join the fight.
Geeta Sidhu-Robb
I agree, wholeheartedly
It is surely obvious now that for all its lauding of ‘democracy’ and the ‘will of the people’, particularly when discussing Brexit, this government, more than even its predecessors, is utterly contemptuous of democracy, the judiciary and the mass of the public generally. Its main purpose seems to be simply the transfer of as much money as it can create to the already wealthy businesses and individuals whilst cynically peddling austerity as soon as its spending provides an excuse for it. It’ll no doubt figure large as an excuse to continue the underfunding of the NHS and other vital services and to justify asking the US to ‘save them’ in the coming trade talks. ‘Fascism’ doesn’t go halfway to describing the contemptible behaviour of this ‘government’.
I was pleased to read, here at last, your clear opinion about the nature of this government. I think we are too late now, we all lost the Last Election. This government will attempt and probably succeed in ensuring that it was the last (through compulsory ID for voting, boundary changes, and some last minute wheeze that prevents key votes being counted). People will be shocked, but the government will be ‘re-elected’ and we won’t be on the path anymore, we will have arrived.
In reply to an earlier question of mine about where to report impropriety, you suggested the NAO. I do not think that the NAO is equipped to tackle fascism, but who is?
Democracy exists by consent
Likewise all governments
This corrupt government will not last forever
Nor Trump, come to that
Does democracy exist in the UK? I say that a functioning democracy doesn’t exist, but that it could be introduced (arguably re-introduced). The first step is to recognise, and call out, the threat. So well done, use your platform, keep saying it. You are not alone, but few are speaking so clearly about the path we are being led along.
And this from Nick Cohen of the Guardian.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/aug/29/how-fitting-for-the-tories-to-hire-a-worthless-former-australian-pm-tony-abbott?utm_term=3edd0ae2055e5091e9fa8a83b58112a1&utm_campaign=GuardianTodayUK&utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&CMP=GTUK_email
That is Cohen at his rare best
I don’t seem to be able to leave this theme alone!! Here is another article of relevance, again from the Guardian and authored by George Monbiot, on how protections for the common good are eroded.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/sep/01/no-10-lobby-groups-democracy-policy-exchange