It's certainly been a frightening month. On 8 December, amendments to the
infamous Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill made their way into the Houseof Lords, where they have been debated by everyone's favourite unelected chamberof aristocrats. It was at this late stage in the process that the Home Office'spersonal patrician Susan Frances Maria Williams, the Baroness of Trafford,attempted to force through a number of despicably despotic amendments that wouldhave made a bad bill even worse. Lock-ons and roadblocks were to be banned.Police were to be granted the ability to stop-and-search anyone for no reason atall. And the simple act of attempting to protest was to be met with a criminalrecord and years in prison.This devious, underhanded attempt to subvert democracy through alreadyundemocratic means was no less than terrifying. But despite the best efforts ofthe Tories to push it through, it was thankfully rejected by a broad coalition ofpeers from Labour, Liberal Democrats, Greens and Crossbenchers. On 17 January,Baroness Williams' legislative coup was defeated by the very institution she hadhoped would pave the way for her own authoritarian ambitions. The government wasbeaten at its own silly game.[1]The is undoubtedly a great victory for all lovers of liberty, one worthcelebrating. But this was just one battle, the war is far from over. Theamendments that did make it through[2]will be added to the Bill and debated onelast time by the Lords next week, on 25 January. This provides one finalopportunity for the government's petty peers to amend the Bill as they see fit.The amended Bill will then be returned to the House of Commons for one finaldebate. We can only hope that Her Majesty's Most Loyal Opposition pulls its headout of its arse long enough to actually oppose something for once.With all this being said, the Bill still has a very good chance of making its wayinto law, even in an amended form. While the more horrific elements of it willnot be included, it still effectively criminalizes any protest that the policedeem "annoying". Given annoyance is almost fundamental to protests, which canannoy anyone from random passers-by to even the protesters themselves, it shouldbe clear that freedom of assembly is still very much under attack. After all, itwasn't Baroness William's shocking amendments that got us up in arms in the firstplace and we shouldn't forget that. We still need to Kill the Bill.We also shouldn't neglect that this is far from the only threat to freedom thatSusan Williams is trying to force through Parliament. The disgusting Nationalityand Borders Bill, which would put millions of people at risk of losing theircitizenship and would sanction the murder of refugees in the Channel, is makingits way into Committee Stage. On 27 January, the Lords will be able to startamending this lethal legislation and you can all bet that the Baroness ofTrafford has some even more despicable ideas up her sleeve.While the entire political and media establishment is working itself up into afrenzy over some farcical scandal, burying tyranny beneath the low-hanging fruitof hypocrisy, it may be easy to forget about our continued slide intoFascism.[3]But we cannot allow ourselves to look away at the spectacle andoverlook what it is deliberately obscuring. We cannot allow ourselves to shrug atslightly-milder despotism and concede our freedoms to it. We cannot just give upand go away.We are Anarchy. We are the Mob. We will not yield. We will not break. We arecoming. ?Emma HayesEmma is a nomadic Scottish anarchist with a creative passion for destruction.[1]It should be noted that these amendments weren't the only ones that weredefeated. One proposing the establishment of a "Women's Justice Board" andanother demanding an inquiry into the death of Sarah Everard were both struckdown by the Tories, with the help of nearly 100 Labour Lords that didn't evenbother to show up. The defeat of these amendments paint a grim picture of the twomajor parties: the Conservatives are against justice for women and Labour doesn'teven care.[2]Many of these amendments notably scrap some of the Bill's more draconianclauses, granting some respite for those fearing a dramatic increase of policepowers. The Vagrancy Act may also finally be repealed after nearly 2 centuriesand misogyny could soon be considered a hate crime.[3]This is not hyperbole and should not be taken as such. The PCSC Billrepresents a violent hostility to dissent and the NB Bill displays a chauvinisticfear of difference, both key characteristics of Fascism. Have yourself a read ofUmberto Eco's Ur-Fascism, see how many of the boxes you have seen our governmenttick.https://organisemagazine.org.uk/2022/01/19/lordy-lordy-havent-you-been-naughty-current-events/_________________________________________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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