From Burma to London - 27th September 2007

This week has seen the uplifting and extraordinary protests in Burma, led by thousands of peaceful Buddhist monks. But as I write the Burmese Junta is already starting to crack down on the protestors with tear gas, night arrests beatings and shootings. Burma is a country that has lived under a totalitarian regime for several decades, and both George Bush and Gordon Brown have publicly supported the pro democracy protests and have urged China to use it’s considerable influence over Burma to halt the brutal crackdown.



But how credible is Gordon Brown’s position that the peaceful demonstrations are allowed to continue, when right here in Britain people are also arrested – sometimes violently – for peaceful protests? Thanks to the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act, it is illegal to demonstrate within 1 kilometre of the mother of all parliaments, unless you get authorisation from the Police. This Kafkaesque law has resulted in dozens of peaceful protestors being arrested over the past 2 years for refusing to ask permission from the state, to demonstrate against the state. Milan Rai, committed peace activist and author, was the first person to be convicted of “organising an illegal demonstration” when he read out the names of the Iraqi dead outside Downing Street in October 2005. Milan has since spent several weeks in jail for this entirely peaceful act. Steve Jago was brutally arrested outside Downing Street for holding a sign that quoted George Orwell: “In times of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.” When taken to the police station Steve was found to have a copy of Vanity Fair (a magazine which contained an article accusing Tony Blair of leading us towards a police state), and the interviewing officer accused him of “possessing politically motivated material”.



Where we are in Britain is a long way away from what is happening in Burma, but the fact that we have the oppression of peaceful protest in both countries should give us cause for serious alarm. What is happening on the streets of Rangoon and the streets of London is the essentially the same, the difference is only in the severity of the oppression. How can Gordon Brown loftily boast about exporting democratic values, and admonish the Burmese for their totalitarian tactics, where we are guilty of the same actions at home, just by a lesser degree. How can Bush & Brown criticise Burma for locking people up without trial and for Human Rights abuses, while Guantanamo Bay is still open for business?

If the actions in Burma over the last week have shown us anything, it has shown us how vital peaceful protest is for genuine democratic freedom to endure. Which is why the Protest Exclusion Zone within the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act is a stain on our democracy and should be repealed. To find out how go here