Taking Liberties [2007]
By Pat Harrington
The first casualty of war may be "truth" but the second appears to be "liberty". This fascinating film shows how our civil liberties are being slowly but surely curtailed in the 'war on terror'.
The film begins with our endangered right to protest. As a youth I was a member of the National Front having heeded the siren call of the far right. I voted to disband the NF in 1989. It was a case of deja vu for me when protestors on the way to a 'demo' were falsely imprisoned on a coach to prevent them protesting and escorted back to London. The police had done this to others and me years ago - no one spoke out against this (except us!). Then they did the same to striking miners and it seems they are still at it - just new targets in the shooting gallery. The arrogant attitude of the Police as they break the law and trample on the rights of non-establishment groups remains constant. Elsewhere in this documentary we are shown the way dissent is handled at a Labour Party conference and how our law has been twisted to create 'exclusion zones' which require you to obtain a license to protest (such as around the Houses of Parliament).
Not content with this the film details how civil laws have been used to curtail or limit protest (in close collusion with the Police) and the chilling effect of intimidatory surveillance.
Bad as restrictions on the right to protest are, worse is to come. Detention without trial and torture is now sanctioned openly by our establishment. The CIA torture flights to which our government turns a blind-eye and Blair standing silent next to Bush as he lies about Guantanamo. Then we are shown that even when the infamous Ricin threat that never was thrown out by a good British Jury a defendant has been tagged and imprisoned in his own home.
This is justified on grounds of public protection and defending democracy. The documentary, however, makes the case that we are not considerably safer but we are a lot less free as a result. One also is led to wonder if we would need all this 'protection' if we had a more reasonable and equitable approach to Muslim and Arab countries. Tony Blair knew that an occupation of Iraq would lead to an increase in terrorism. We have known for years that a slavish anti-Palestinian policy creates ill-will. Yet the same people who have created the problem now offer to protect us from the consequences - at a price.
I didn't like Blair before I saw this documentary. I liked him even less after. Only today I heard of his new job as an advisor to a US financial firm. No doubt he will gain more lucrative contracts from similar sources soon. After all, he has been a firm follower of a US agenda for some years. That agenda has certainly not been in our national interest as this documentary shows.
Doubtless Taking Liberties will be attacked as one-sided or partisan. It is definitely impassioned and argues a case. Yet it does interview other victims of policy (such as the Natwest 3 and Countryside Alliance supporters) who are probably not on the same political wavelength as the makers. It could also have been slicker in terms of production values. Yet this documentary holds your attention and serves to warn us all of the Police State that we may slide into. It also shows ordinary folk exercising good sense and standing-up for their rights. Far from being depressing it is inspiring - a clarion call to defend our hard-won rights.
[INDEX] [INTRO] [REVIEWS] [LINKS] [CULTURE] [SUBSCRIBE] [GUESTVIEW]