Freedom
dies quietly
The bill marks the end of true parliamentary democracy; it is
as significant as Congress abandoning the Bill of Rights
By John Pilger
04/13/06 "ICH" -- -- People ask: can this be happening in
Britain? Surely not. A centuries-old democratic constitution
cannot be swept away. Basic human rights cannot be made
abstract. Those who once comforted themselves that a Labour
government would never commit such an epic crime in Iraq might
now abandon a last delusion, that their freedom is inviolable.
If they knew.
The dying of freedom in Britain is not news. The pirouettes of
the Prime Minister and his political twin, the Chancellor, are
news, though of minimal public interest. Looking back to the
1930s, when social democracies were distracted and powerful
cliques imposed their totalitarian ways by stealth and silence,
the warning is clear. The Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill
has already passed its second parliamentary reading without
interest to most Labour MPs and court journalists; yet it is
utterly totalitarian in scope.
It is presented by the government as a simple measure for
streamlining deregulation, or "getting rid of red tape", yet the
only red tape it will actually remove is that of parliamentary
scrutiny of government legislation, including this remarkable
bill. It will mean that the government can secretly change the
Parliament Act, and the constitution and laws can be struck down
by decree from Downing Street. Blair has demonstrated his taste
for absolute power with his abuse of the royal prerogative,
which he has used to bypass parliament in going to war and in
dismissing landmark high court judgments, such as that which
declared illegal the expulsion of the entire population of the
Chagos Islands, now the site of an American military base. The
new bill marks the end of true parliamentary democracy; in its
effect, it is as significant as the US Congress last year
abandoning the Bill of Rights.
Those who fail to hear these steps on the road to dictatorship
should look at the government's plans for ID cards, described in
its manifesto as "voluntary". They will be compulsory and worse.
An ID card will be different from a driving licence or passport.
It will be connected to a database called the NIR (National
Identity Register), where your personal details will be stored.
These will include your fingerprints, a scan of your iris, your
residence status and unlimited other details about your life. If
you fail to keep an appointment to be photographed and
fingerprinted, you can be fined up to £2,500.
Every place that sells alcohol or cigarettes, every post office,
every pharmacy and every bank will have an NIR terminal where
you can be asked to "prove who you are". Each time you swipe the
card, a record will be made at the NIR - so, for instance, the
government will know every time you withdraw more than £99 from
your bank account. Restaurants and off-licences will demand that
the card be swiped so that they are indemnified from
prosecution. Private business will have full access to the NIR.
If you apply for a job, your card will have to be swiped. If you
want a London Underground Oyster card, or a supermarket loyalty
card, or a telephone line or a mobile phone or an internet
account, your ID card will have to be swiped.
In other words, there will be a record of your movements, your
phone calls and shopping habits, even the kind of medication you
take. These databases, which can be stored in a device the size
of a hand, will be sold to third parties without you knowing.
The ID card will not be your property and the Home Secretary
will have the right to revoke or suspend it at any time without
explanation. This would prevent you drawing money from a bank.
ID cards will not stop terrorists, as the Home Secretary,
Charles Clarke, has now admitted; the Madrid bombers all carried
ID. On 26 March, the government moved to silence parliamentary
opposition to the cards, announcing that a committee would
investigate banning the House of Lords from blocking legislation
contained in a party's manifesto. The Blair clique does not
debate. Like the zealot in Downing Street, its "sincere belief"
in its own veracity is quite enough. When the London School of
Economics published a long study that in effect demolished the
government's case for the cards, Clarke abused it for feeding a
"media scare campaign".
This is the same minister who attended every cabinet meeting at
which Blair's lies over his decision to invade Iraq were clear.
This government was re-elected with the support of barely a
fifth of those eligible to vote: the second-lowest proportion
since the franchise. Whatever respectability the famous suits in
television studios try to give him, Blair is demonstrably
discredited as a liar and war criminal.
Like the constitution-hijacking bill now reaching its final
stages, and the criminalising of peaceful protest, ID cards are
designed to control the lives of ordinary citizens (as well as
enrich the new Labour-favoured companies that will build the
computer systems). A small, determined and profoundly
undemocratic group is killing freedom in Britain, just as it has
killed literally in Iraq. That is the news. "The kaleidoscope
has been shaken," said Blair at the 2001 Labour party
conference. "The pieces are in flux. Soon they will settle
again. Before they do, let us reorder this world around us."
With thanks to Frances Stonor Saunders and Hanna Lease. John
Pilger's new book, Freedom Next Time, will be published in June
by Bantam Press
Click below to read or post comments on this article
