Campaigners unite to stand up for the public's
freedom to protest
- a report of Oct 23rd national Freedom To Protest conference
On October 23rd, 230 people from over 80 local and national
organisations took part in a historic Freedom To Protest conference
in North London. The conference was organised by and for campaigns
and groups affected by recent repressive laws and measures being
increasingly used by the government and companies to try to suppress
public protest and dissent. Participants pledged to help develop
and support effective strategies for standing up for the public's
freedom to protest against injustice and oppression.
There was a very wide and diverse range of local and national organisations
supporting and taking part, including: Aldermaston Womens
Peace camp; Birmingham Guatanamo Campaign; Campaign Against Criminalising
Communities; Campaign Against the Arms Trade; Campaign to Close
Campsfield; Cardiff World Development Movement; Corporate Watch;
Friends of the Earth; Gate Gourmet strikers; Genetic Engineering
Network; Haringey Against ID Cards; Hunt Saboteurs Association;
Legal Defence and Monitoring Group; London Rising Tide; McLibel
Support Campaign; Newham Monitoring Project; Parliament Sq Peace
Campaign and Brian Haw Supporters; Peace News; Rhythms of Resistance;
Schnews; School Students Against the War; Torbay & District
Trades Union Council; Trident Ploughshares; Undercurrents; and the
Veggies Catering Campaign. Full list of supporting
organisations here.
Those present shared their experiences and views in order to promote
mutual aid & co-ordination between organisations, and to inspire
and empower each other. At the end, participants sent out some positive
and determined messages:
- Wherever there is injustice or oppression, there is protest and
resistance
- Repression will never succeed in silencing public dissent and
protest
- Any oppressive laws can be rendered unworkable through increased
protest, non-co-operation and defiance
In depth discussions
The conference revealed that there are a whole range of measures
increasingly being used by police and companies to try to intimidate
and undermine public protest and dissent, including: protests being
banned; ASBOs against protestors; injunctions; 'anti-stalking' legislation;
frequent stops & searches; police encircling and detaining protestors
for hours on end; harassment from police 'intelligence' teams; road
blocks to stop protests; new threats from the government’s
Serious Organised Crime and Police Act; and even 'anti-terrorism'
laws.
The event was seen as a timely opportunity for galvanizing a much-needed
real fight back throughout the country over the coming months and
years, focusing on defending and extending everyone's freedom to
leaflet, picket, assemble, strike and march against injustice and
oppression. Such rights and freedoms have not been handed down by
the powers-that-be, but won through struggles over the last 100
years or more.
The conference began with a series of inspirational presentations
by campaigns and struggles which had successfully stood up to attempts
by the authorities to suppress them. The session was chaired by
one of the McLibel defendants, and included activists from the Gate
Gourmet strikers, Parliament Sq peace protestors, school walkouts
by School Students Against the War, Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty
protests, 20 yrs of anti-racist campaigning by Newham Monitoring
Project, anti-arms trade protests, and the 4-year long anti-apartheid
non-stop picket of the S. African embassy in early 90's.
During the conference a range of practical tactics and strategies
that have worked in the past, or that could be effective in the
future, were identified, discussed and encouraged. [See workshop
details below]. As well as a whole range of experiences being shared
by the diverse activists, organisations and campaigns present, participants
contributed well-known examples from UK history, and indeed from
throughout the world, of campaigns and movements successfully refusing
to be intimidated by legal threats. All kinds of totalitarian laws,
measures and systems have been imposed on people and eventually
defied and defeated. The message was that oppressive laws can be
made unworkable by determination and solidarity among those affected,
by mass defiance,
and by turning the tables on those who would try to silence and
suppress dissent.
At the end of the conference, participants agreed to support
the following:
- the continuing protests in Parliament Square in defiance of new
laws banning 'unauthorised' protest near Parliament
- an annual Freedom To Protest day of action on December 10th (International
Human Rights Day)
- regional Freedom To Protest events, solidarity networks and conferences
- a possible follow up conference in 2006
- widespread use of the 'Freedom To Protest' logo
on campaigns' leaflets
- the expansion of the Freedom To Protest email lists and website
Download
the workshop briefing papers - very useful information!
To be added to the FTP announcements list, send
an email to:
ftp-subscribe(at)freedomtoprotest.org.uk
To join an FTP discussion list (organisations only - please
send details), contact:
conference(at)freedomtoprotest.org.uk
The rest is up to you, and everyone....
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