133 lines
6.7 KiB
Plaintext
133 lines
6.7 KiB
Plaintext
England's Criminal Justice Bill: More criminals, less justice
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By Mitzi Waltz
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She had long blond hair and skin like Devonshire cream, all
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fetchingly displayed beneath a sweeping black witches' cape and
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traditional pointed hat. On stage at The Underworld in London as
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part of a "politicized porn" road show called Smut Fest '94,
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Daisy was making a speech against the Criminal Justice and Public
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Order Bill a damn sight more mesmerizing than listening to some
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political hack ramble on. "It's more criminals, less justice,"
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she purred, "it's about fear and subversion - they're so
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transparent." Her cape, hat and teeny weeny black-leather bikini
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came off one by one as she compared the likely effect of the
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Bill, which that evening was poised to become law, to the English
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witch hunts of long ago. Down to a pair of tall boots and a
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suspiciously phallic broom, Daisy shouted out "express yourself -
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it's a birthright. Do what you will!" and, to rousing (and no
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doubt aroused) applause, proceeded to express herself in several
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ways that lived up to the Smut Fest name.
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Stripping away rights. So what's this law that's got strippers
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hitting the soapbox along with ravers, musicians, sound-system
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operators, squatters, travellers, hunt saboteurs, eco-freaks and
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a good portion of "average Brits"? The CJB was cooked up at the
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Conservative ("Tory") Party's 1993 convention as the centerpiece
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of a "crackdown on crime" campaign strategy. Like the American
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Omnibus Crime Bill that it resembles, the actual law is an inch-
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thick book that combines dozens of proposals into one easier-to-
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sneak-through package. Here's just a few of its low points:
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% Abolishes the right to silence at arrest. % Reinstitutes the
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"sus laws," allowing cops to stop, search and arrest anyone based
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on undefined suspicion. % Gives police broad new powers to
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criminalize any assembly, rave, party or protest and arrest
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participants or even those suspected of being on their way to
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such an event. % Turns trespass from a civil matter into a
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criminal offense, with obvious implications for squatters, hunt
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sabs, protestors and strikers. % Allows for 24-hour evictions -
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aimed at squatters, but as easily used on anyone who's gotten
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behind on their rent. % Broadens anti-terrorism and anti-porn
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laws to allow search and confiscation of any home or business
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that a cop (not a court) suspects of such activities. BBS sysops
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bewareI % Puts the burden of proof under its anti-terrorism
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provisions on the arrested party, not the courts - you must prove
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that seized items were not for use in banned activities. %
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Criminalizes the nomadic "new age traveller" lifestyle via its
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the trespass and assembly provisions, and by closing current
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legal campsites. % Lets cops take "intimate samples" such as
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blood, hair and semen, from anyone arrested, even if not
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convicted of any crime, and add the info derived to a national
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database.
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That's only the ugliest half of it, but it's enough to scare the
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bejeezus out of anyone in the UK who's ever tried to block a
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bulldozer, walk a wildcat picket line or get muddy at one of the
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infamous mega-raves that have been happening on countryside
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summer nights near London for several years now.
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Countering the crime scare. Opposition from the counterculture,
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which has its own media and picked up the CJB story much earlier
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than the mainstream press, was immediate. In the weeks and days
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before the bill became law, news of its provisions began to push
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October's Chuck vs. Di chucklefest off Fleet Street's front
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pages, particularly when an October 9 demo turned rowdy, then
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downright nasty. Several police officers were injured, and dozens
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of arrests were made. After that, the government was faced with a
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rising tide of protest - but in not in time to stop the CJB's
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passage. Inner-city blacks and Asians, Irish immigrants and
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renters have just begun to realize that the new law's potential
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for harm includes them. The emerging opposition coalition has
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been anything but predictable. In fact, since the government
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framed the debate as being about combating crime, creative
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tactics ranging from the black magic of Daisy's stage show to a
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festive attempt to levitate the Parliament have been a must. Even
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soccer fans have gotten into the act, producing flyers and zines
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to be handed out at games and pubs. A travellers' group collected
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signatures from representatives of everything from Earth First!
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to BBC Wales at the June 1994 Glastonbury festival, attached
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them to a "Notice of Redundancy" (pink slip), and delivered it to
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Parliament. Both serious violence and serious silliness (fire
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eating, juggling, spiral dancing) have marked most demos. Now
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that the bill has become law, a campaign to make it ineffective
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through mass civil disobedience has been put into effect.
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Travellers have threatened mass encampments, squatters' rights
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groups have issued a call to occupy large abandoned buildings en
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masse, and organizations opposing a government road-building
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project that would displace thousands of working-class residents
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said they will will step up, not back away from, confrontational
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tactics like work-site takeovers and blocking machinery.
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Protesters are emboldened by the success of a popular effort
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against the Poll Tax, which was eventually withdrawn due to a
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combination of quiet non-payment and street action. As to the
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levitation effort, it seemed like a bust at the time but a week
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later a spokesman for the engineers handling a nearby subway
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tunneling project confirmed reports that Big Ben, Parliament's
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famous clock tower, had shifted by two to three millimeters
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sometime within the past two weeks. Far be it from me to suggest
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a causal relationship between a crowd of hippies, zippies, punks
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and Temple of Psychic Youth-niks zapping the place with negative
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energy and this movement, but immediately the joke going around
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London about "levitation" being a code-word for Semtex explosives
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gave way to jibes about the weight of sleaze being all that had
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held the government's headquarters on its foundations.
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For more info about the fight against the CJB:
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football@agog.demon.co.uk - Football Fans Against the Criminal
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Justice Bill Liberty, 21 Tabard St., London SE1, 071 378 8659,
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ACLU-style civil-rights group freedomnet@gn.apc.org - The Freedom
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Network, green/pacifist types Advance Party, PO Box 3290, London
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NW2 3UJ, 081 450 6929, represents civil rights of ravers and
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other party-goers Friends and Families of Travellers, 33
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Bryanston St., Blandford Forum, Dorset DT11 7BS, 0258 453 695,
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traveller contact network
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-- 30 --
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