Drawn by the anarchist Clifford Harper. ---- Authoritarianism darkens the horizon
of our not so green and pleasant land. Over the past couple of decades we haveseen the development of mass surveillance programmes, the building of newmega-prisons designed for forced labour, counter-terrorism measures such asPrevent seeping into our everyday lives, more brazen overreach and impunity ofpolice forces, restrictive trade union laws, ever more oppressive immigrationenforcement measures and the opening of detention centres. A rhetoric of"extremism," "terrorism," and migrant "invasions" has been used by governmentsand media to justify brutal and repressive policies. Ethnic minorities aresubjects of permanent suspicion and discriminatory policing. More recently wehave seen the demonisation and repression of peaceful and reformist movementssuch as Extinction Rebellion and Black Lives Matter, while pre-emptive arrests,bigger fines and longer sentences for political action become the norm.The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill currently passing through the Houseof Lords will be a significant development of this authoritarian trend. To takeone small example, a protest will face being broken up, and organisersimprisoned, for breaching arbitrary conditions over things such as loud noise,under the new law.Many people tell themselves that if they have nothing to hide, they have nothingto fear. But if they go on strike, resist being evicted or even defend theirlocal park from being "developed", they could end up being singled out astroublemakers.Those who fear a one-party state and collapse of democracy are looking the wrongway. Representative democracy proves a useful facade behind whichauthoritarianism can flourish. The British state prefers to uphold and championvarious rights and freedoms in the abstract, while restricting and withholdingthem through a thousand regulations in practice. For example, the right toassemble amounted to little when, facing a protest against the arms fair inLiverpool last month, a dispersal order was put in place around the venue,allowing police to arrest and force away protesters. Members of Palestine Action,some with small children, were even subject to night-time house raids and arrests.The kinds of opposition that are permitted, and even facilitated, are preciselythose that are entirely powerless to bring about change. Anything that poses areal threat is quickly legislated away, as we saw in the past with sympathystrikes and flying pickets.The reality of the state is power, not law. Civil rights are temporaryconcessions that the state revokes or ignores whenever it finds it necessary. Butthe power of rulers is limited and can be overcome by our rebellion, class powerand collective action. History shows as much.We may not be able to stop the Crime Bill from being passed into law, but we canresist its implementation in practice. If we obey increasingly authoritarianrestrictions out of fear or excessive caution, we will allow them to becomeentrenched. An active yet intelligent resistance, widespread and normalised, onthe other hand, can make of the law a dead letter. On October 29th, agency dockworkers in Liverpool and Birkenhead acted beyond the law through unofficiallystriking over unpaid wages, and they won.Ultimately, we can't get stuck merely defending the illusory civil rightsconceded to us by the very state that oppresses us. We need to fight for genuinefreedoms in our everyday lives, and for a world without exploitation.https://liverpoolanarchist.wordpress.com/2021/10/31/rising-authoritarianism/_________________________________________A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C EBy, For, and About AnarchistsSend news reports to A-infos-en mailing listA-infos-en@ainfos.ca
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