The shocking Guardian report into the surveillance operations run by the police National Public Order Intelligence Unit makes it clear that the right of free protest in Britain now hangs in the balance, and that the very expression of opinion and attendance at meetings is enough for an individual to be categorised as an enemy of society.Not to forget that the police are busy arming themselves in order to patrol the streets of Britain and the government don't seem aware of it.
Anyone now who feels strongly about climate change or the Iraq and Afghanistan wars is now liable to be labelled a "domestic extremist" to be photographed and monitored and to be subject to automatic tracking by the number plate recognition system. There are few stories that capture the parlous state of Britain's democracy like this one, and I suggest none that portray the government's institutionalised contempt for rights and its casual attitude to unfettered growth of police powers.
A Tangled Web picks up on this, too.
Perhaps we should all declare ourselves enemies of the state. That way we'd fulfill the state's intention to criminalise all of us and at the same time overload the bastards with information so that THEY would start to feel outnumbered and threatened.
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