ITS A FUCKING LIBERTY THATS WOT IT IS

I was a bit slow to pick up on Chris Atkin's Taking Liberties but I finally got to see it this afternoon and really enjoyed it. You should see it just for the included footage of Walter Wolfgang's removal from the Labour party conference and the subsequent attempts to suppress filming of his friend getting hit by New Labour bouncers as well as the hilarious coverage of the EDO protest complete with a protester “serving” an angry Policeman who jumps out of his van and chases after him. The Ricin story is also collated very well here including its place in time as a device for Blair and Bush to crow about in Washington which proved to be empty. It was great also to see an extensive big up to Rizz MC's post 9/11 blues which should be a big hit. Rachel North (pictured) is also a fairly central character to the spirit of this film and it was great to see Rose Rickford, a fairly central character in my first attempt at film making (Day-X) still experimenting with direct action. She is one to watch.

I've caught up a bit with some of the reviews which are worth looking at. The only critical one seems to be this:

No, Labour has not turned Britain into a police state

I can see both sides in this and as usual take neither.

Chris looked at some footage I had of kids protesting a while back and we discussed his theories. I'm not sure if I also put him on to Barry, the grand designer of the FIT squad (looking a lot younger in the picture) who graciously admitted in the film that if his guys were acting like the paparazzi they were exceeding their remit. I remember the day very clearly because whilst we were in the pub waiting for his equipment to capture my tape Chris informed me about arrests he had heard about on the news in Borough which turned out to be Abdullah and co.

I don't think I was much help because at the time I didn't really agree with his premise, or rather my own experience didn't match it. As I have said before, the Police, by and large behaved extremely sensitively outside Finsbury park mosque over two years. I've got lots of filmed evidence of this. I have been extensively involved with people who are up on charges of incitement to commit murder and I've never been hassled by the Police about it once.

Sure, away from Finsbury park the FIT squad have spoken to me in a manner which made me irate, but, you know, its the fucking FIT squad. They can't help it. I answered their questions honestly and they didn't detain me. I am only briefly offended by being photographed by them and usually try and smile. Maybe I should be a bit angrier, I don't know. The FIT team all recognise me as I am a bit distinctive. I recognise them. I just don't give a flying fuck.

Seeing how the Police have behaved towards protesters elsewhere I can see a lot more why Chris holds the views he does. They have overstepped the mark, and assumed they were allowed to because of new laws. The FIT squad are an institutionalised bunch. This doesn't surprise me. They use a few laws which they think make their job a bit easier, a lot of people who have been victims of this have pursued them in the courts and won. Not easily, but eventually. That doesn't mean to me that the Blair government secretly want to control us. I think it is likely that they are obsessed with terrorism.

Maybe I should be worried about a Police state. I wonder sometimes whether “The powers that be” are aware of whats coming and are passing laws to be ready for some kind of "Children of men" nightmare scenario. The thing is I am the type of person who if I let such thoughts take hold would very quickly be driven mad by them. So perhaps for my own mental health I remain skeptical about a “Police state”.

Here Chris argues about phone tap evidence. As far as I know the laws about phone tap evidence are under scrutiny because of one guy- Abu Hamza. Same as the law about demonstrating outside parliament was brought in because of Brian Haw. Chris is right that people in government are remote and law obsessed and the wrong people are being caught up in these laws by over zealous Policemen, but I don't really believe it is their intention. I should imagine that going over to the States and being wanked off by Capitalists in Washington was just all too much for Blair and he can see a future as some sort of hero over there. Unfortunately in Britain today "Labour" have to behave like Thatchers teet suckers to stay in power, and thats a shame.

My guilty secret is that even before seeing Boris Johnson's performance in this movie I was dangerously close to wishing he was Prime Minister. Everyone must know that if he was leader of the Tory party no one else would stand a chance. Imagine that propelled onto the “World Stage”.