First they came for Damien Green...
Iain Dale writes that 'We don't yet live in a Police State, but one be forgiven on nights like this from wondering if we are headed that way', while commentators on politicalbetting say that Damien Green's arrest reminds them of Niemoeller's famous poem, 'First they came'.
All this days after the government announced an increase in the higher rate of tax, which as one blogger so rightly pointed out, 'is no more moral, and done for the same base reasons as the Soviet murder of the Kulaks'.
But really to comprehend the full horror of life in ZaNu Liebor's Britain, we need a modern version of Niemoeller's poem. After all, it is not communists, trade unionists or Jews who the police have been coming for in recent years, but Tory MPs. So here is an updated version, showing how far our government has been going to in order to silence its opponents:
First they came for Jonathan Aitken, and I didn't speak up, for I had no simple sword of truth.
Then they came for Jeffrey Archer, and I didn't speak up, for I thought his books were crap.
Then they came for Mark Thatcher, and I didn't speak up, for I had never funded a military coup.
Then they came for Andrew Pelling, and I didn't speak up, for I had never assaulted my wife.
And then they came for Damien Green, and I wrote that it showed the government was fascist, for I had an internet connection.
posted by donpaskini @ 10:31 pm
4 Comments
4 Comments:
No, it's :
"First they came for the BNP members, and I did not speak out, because I was not a BNP member. Then they came for the Tories .."
Vince Cable is probably reformatting his laptop hard disk and packing a toothbrush even as I type.
Tory hysteria. It doesn't get less amusing or clichéd. All their talk of the all-powerful state, all their talk of political correctness gone mad, all their talk of immigration problems - and they have the gall to wonder why the BNP is on the rise?
Don
Your post is amusing but unfortunately makes a bad point very well.
Mr Green's alleged 'crime' is not in the same category as those of the others you name. If he is guilty, the 'crime' was motivated for party political advantage, not by personal motives. His arrest is not seen to be even-handed as the use of leaks is widespread- therefore the fact that he was arrested (rather than Peter Mandelson for example)is viewed as an abuse of power by the ruling political party.
And thank God we have an internet connection as it is the only way we can attempt to organise resistance to an increasingly fascist government
I think the crucial point here is whether Green actively encouraged a civil servant to breach his duty of confidentiality. It's one thing to be a passive recipient of leaked information and to make a judgement about whether its release is in the public interest; it is quite another to solicit the leaks in the first place. We'll have to see whether any evidence emerges to substantiate the idea that Green was 'running a mole' within the Civil Service. It's far too early to start making definitive statements on what this arrest tells us about civil liberties in the UK. Of rather more concern I would say is the criminalisation of the possession of 'extreme porn', which makes the UK the only western democratic nation to have criminalised consensual adult sexuality in this fashion. But most Tories voted for that law which tells us how strong their commitment is to individual liberty
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