Britain's Democratic Deficit

And while I'm on the subject of democracy and human rights I would like to draw attention to our own government's rather sinister double-speak on the issue.

According to Gordon Brown and others, the anti-Olympic Torch protests were a symbol of Britain's vibrant democratic values.

Or something.

The fact of the matter is that the police are using new anti-terrorism legislation to arrest people for demonstrating democratically.

That's right, following the Labour Party's example (when an elderly delegate was expelled from its annual conference for heckling Jack Straw over the Iraq war, under the 'Prevention of Terorrorism' Act) the guardians of law and order are using their powers to suppress dissent.

Much, it must be said, like the Chinese everyone was protesting about.

According to journalist Paul Lewis: "from the outset, police identified anti-Chinese protesters and subjected them to different rules to red-flag waving spectators.

Before the relay had even properly begun, my colleague witnessed police removing T-shirts and flags from demonstrators. At Ladbroke Grove, spectators carrying Tibetan flags were relegated to a pavement across the road, kept apart from a carnival-style reception.

Several protesters were dragged away.

Demonstrators who did not obey police requests to stand in designated areas were repeatedly threatened with anti-terrorist legislationl".

A victory for democracy if ever I saw one...

As Dan Kieran points out in his magnificent call to arms I Fought the Law, Britain is swiftly becoming an authoritarian state. As such, it is definitely a suitable successor to Beijing for the next Olympic Games. And from there, onwards to Sochi, in Russia, bastion of democracy and Human Rights.

And this is what they call progress.

The Measure of Civilisation

Gandhi famously remarked that the way we treat minorities is the measure of civilization in a society. One of the most tragic effects of the rise of global religious fundamentalism is its impact on minority groups, like the Copts and Baha'i in Egypt, the Assyriac Christians in Turkey, or indeed the Muslims in Europe who are collectively suffering a constant barrage of negative criticism.

Rarely, however, are such groups threatened with treatment as extreme and brutal as the Sabians - followers of one of the world's oldest religions - of whom fewer than 5000 now remain in Iraq thanks to violence committed against them from all sides in the conflict.

Interviewing one of the five remaining Mandaen bishops, a BBC journalist discovered that - in a country operating without law and in the grip of religious extremism - they may well soon be destroyed.

"We are small in numbers, we ask all the governments of the world to extend a hand of help," Kanzfra Sattar says. He says he wants the West to accept his people as refugees.
I ask him what will happen if they do not - he replies simply: "Our ethnic minority and our ancient religion will die off."

see the link for the whole story: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6412453.stm

If we don't want to live in a brutalised world we should speak out against all such cases, in our own communities and beyond, and force our representatives to stand up for those who cannot stand up for themselves.