Welcome to the age of fear. Nothing is more corrosive of the democratic impulse than fear. Left unaddressed, it festers, eating away at our confidence and empathy.<\/p>\n
We are now firmly in a time of fear \u2013 not only of the virus, but of each other. Fear destroys solidarity. Fear forces us to turn inwards to protect ourselves and our loved ones. Fear refuses to understand or identify with the concerns of others.<\/p>\n
In fear societies, basic rights become a luxury. They are viewed as a threat, as recklessness, as a distraction that cannot be afforded in this moment of crisis.<\/p>\n
Once fear takes hold, populations risk agreeing to hand back rights, won over decades or centuries, that were the sole, meagre limit on the power of elites to ransack the common wealth. In calculations based on fear, freedoms must make way for other priorities: being responsible, keeping safe, averting danger.<\/p>\n
Worse, rights are surrendered with our consent because we are persuaded that the rights themselves are a threat to social solidarity, to security, to our health.<\/p>\n
It is therefore far from surprising that the UK\u2019s draconian new Police and Crime Bill \u2013 concentrating yet more powers in the police \u2013 has arrived at this moment. It means that the police can prevent non-violent protest that is likely to be\u00a0too noisy<\/a>\u00a0or might create “unease” in bystanders. Protesters risk being charged with a crime if they cause “nuisance<\/a>” or set up protest encampments in public places, as the Occupy movement did a decade ago.<\/p>\n And\u00a0damaging memorials\u00a0\u2013 totems especially prized in a time of fear for their power to ward off danger \u2013 could land protesters, like those who toppled a statue<\/a> to notorious slave trader Edward Colston in Bristol last summer, a 10-year jail sentence.<\/p>\n Police & Crime Bill allows for:-<\/p>\n \u2022 Gypsy & Traveller vehicles to be seized; Dangerous, totalitarian legislation.<\/p>\n — Howard Beckett (@BeckettUnite) March 15, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n
\u2022 3 months jail or \u00a32.5k fine for a nomadic life without a travellers passport;
\u2022 Banning of \u201cdisruptive\u201d protests;
\u2022 Up to 10 years jail for damage to a statue;<\/p>\n