Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
My name is Rob, and I'm posting a video response to the Convention on Modern Liberty
and to tell you why the threats to our liberties is something we should all care about.
The speakers in the other videos are right to say that freedoms are being taken away slowly.
A government doesn't go straight to abolishing parliament, bringing back the death penalty
and burning the Magna Carta. The changes are incremental.
There's a famous poem, I'm sure it will get posted at the convention.
Its by someone called Pastor Martin, I think.
I'm sure ypu've all heard it. Its the one that says
"First they came for the Communists. Then they came for the Jews"
"And when they came for me, there was no-one to speak up for me."
Or words to that effect.
Now its a really great piece of writing, but sometimes I wonder how effective it is
Because in the 21st Century I think a lot of people will say to themselves
"Yeah, but that's not going to happen to me!"
The other thing is, I'm sure we will be talking a lot about Guantanamo Bay
And the torture. And 42 Days.
But I think most people, especially from my background and colour
will think "Yeah but that's really not going to happen to me".
And when it comes to being imprisoned in Guantanamo, or Bagram or Diego Garcia
Then actually they are probably right!
And this is a difficult thing to say
But sometimes talking about the most extreme cases like innocent men in Gunatanamo, or an innocent person locked up for 42 days
Is not always something that we can relate to.
For a lot of people that is actually quite abstract.
So it is worth us thinking about those small libertie
Because those are the things where most people in this country might say
"Yes, that could happen to me"
So its a mother who can't get health insurance because
the insurance company have analyse at her DNA and did not like what they found.
Or maybe a traffic warden who abuses his power to give a fine to someone he doesn't like
Perhaps there is a child who doesn't trust authority
because their Dad or older brother is being pestered by the police.
Maybe a man or woman who cannot get a job as a teacher or a nurse
because they have a crimminal record because of some protest they went to when they were young.
Or maybe someone who always falls under suspicioun because they like to dress like a goth
or because they like to listen to hip-hop music
Or even someone like me who's internet connection is getting slower all the time
because all the data of where he is browsing is being sent back to be logged
on some government database!
Or maybe a musician or artist who can't distribute their work online in the way they would like
or perform the work in the way they would like
because performance laws are so inflexible.
So in all of these infringments of liberties
no-one is locked up.
no-one is tortured. There's no fascist state.
We probably wouldn't start a revolution over these things
It would be very difficult to get someone to attend a protest for those things
But
They make our lives a bit more miserable
They cost us money.
They cost us time.
And down the line they might cost us our career
Or our family
or our health.
They won't kill us. They won't imprison us.
We won't lose our formal liberty.
But they will take away
They life we want to lead
The life we deserve.
And that's not fair!
There's another saying, which is: "Look after the pennies
... and the pounds will look after themselves."
In the same way, I think we need to protect ourselves
against all these small infringments on our civil liberties
Protect ourselves now, so that hope fully in future
the big infringements won't happen.
Shouldn't happen.
Let's not forget that the small liberties are important in themselves
because they are what make life worth living
And they are under threat for everyone.