{"id":23036,"date":"2013-11-07T08:05:40","date_gmt":"2013-11-07T08:05:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/?p=23036"},"modified":"2013-11-07T08:05:40","modified_gmt":"2013-11-07T08:05:40","slug":"could-the-gagging-bill-be-the-tipping-point-where-people-say-no-to-neoliberal-politics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/2013\/11\/07\/could-the-gagging-bill-be-the-tipping-point-where-people-say-no-to-neoliberal-politics\/","title":{"rendered":"Could the Gagging Bill be the tipping point where people say no to neoliberal politics?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Gagging Bill on the UK's charity and NGO sector was 'paused' in the House of Lords on Monday<\/a> to avoid an almost inevitable defeat that would have otherwise occurred. As one of those who yelled long and hard about the chilling impact the Bill would have on freedom of speech in this country I am pleased.<\/p>\n

But it is only a pause. And we had one of those on the health and Social Care Bill and the NHS was then still privatised despite that pause. So we cannot take much comfort from the delay, and it is very short, of just five weeks.<\/p>\n

Is that long enough to consider the incredibly valuable work done by the\u00a0Commission on Civil Society and Democratic Engagement<\/a> that has reviewed this Bill? In the foreword Richard Harries says:<\/p>\n

There is no doubt, from the evidence that this Commission\u00a0has gathered, that Part 2 of the Lobbying Bill risks profoundly\u00a0undermining the very fabric of our democracy by significantly\u00a0limiting the right of organisations \u2014 from charities and\u00a0community groups to think tanks and blog sites \u2014 to speak out\u00a0on some of the most important issues facing this country and\u00a0the planet. Whether we agree with these organisations or not,\u00a0their role is essential in order to have an informed, engaged\u00a0electorate.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And then you wonder why Russell Brand might think politicians have lost it? As Zoe Williams puts it in the Guardian this morning<\/a>:<\/p>\n

[An idea] has come to fixate the Commons \u2014 the idea that \"other political or campaigning organisations \u2026 are competing with parties for members\" (House of Commons Library, 2012<\/a>). Is the National Trust seriously drawing away the Tory hardcore? Or is it possible that many people, beyond\u00a0Russell Brand<\/a>, think that if a conventional politician is the answer, you have asked a really weird question? Do people need some other outlet for their civic spirit and sense of exuberant possibility?<\/p>\n

Rather than asking these questions, politicians have determined that they can stave off this threat to their power by bringing down the third sector. Hubris combined with \u2014 in the kindest possible light \u2014 not giving themselves enough thinking time has resulted in a suggestion that, were charities sincerely to mobilise their supporters against it, it\u00a0would fuel the closest thing we've seen to a revolution since\u00a01651.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

She may just be right. Trying to achieve this goal of shutting up everyone whose opinion is of any worth in the country so that politicians can have unencumbered reign may just create the tipping point for that revolution of the spirit that I think Brand eludes t<\/a>o. Neoliberal politics is all about control by the few. Pushing on with this Bill in five weeks could create the tipping point where people say no to that. It would make 2014 a very interesting year if they tried, not least because I think mass civil disobedience - in the form of blogging - would follow.<\/p>\n

Jersey may try to imprison its bloggers<\/a>. Trying to do so in the UK may be a lot harder.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Gagging Bill on the UK’s charity and NGO sector was ‘paused’ in the House of Lords on Monday to avoid an almost inevitable defeat
 Read the full article…<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23036","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blogging"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23036","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23036"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23036\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23036"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23036"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23036"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}