08/08/2024
The UK Government is using 'for your safety' to introduce draconian measures to destroy our Freedom of Speech and Protest Rights. Let your local representative know how you feel and ask them what they are doing about it. Use and adapt this Template: -
YOUR ADDRESS
Dear [Add Elected Member Name],
PROTECTION OF FREE SPEECH AND PROTEST RIGHTS
I understand that as a Member of [Enter Elected Institution], you individually and collectively may not have due influence on matters national and international. But mindful of the old saying, 'all politics is local', I am reaching out to you regarding the very real threats to our freedom of speech and protest rights being rammed through by the UK government.. Having a local voice does not relinquish you of your responsibilities as a representative of the communites in Mid Ulster to protect our fundamental human rights.
It is deeply concerning that recent civil disorder in the UK, the Republic of Ireland and in parts of the North, which has been variously framed as 'anti-immigrant' or ‘racist’ or ‘far right', should be used as a cynical and dangerous pretext for the curtailment of free speech and protest rights. When individual civil liberties are lost, they are lost for everyone, forever. I am among many in Mid Ulster and across the North who saw such brutal suppression of free speech and protest during the period known as 'The Troubles'. The leadership of the UK government are pushing a similar - if not even more draconian - aganda on the pretext of 'curtailing violence'. Now where have we heard that before?
It is offensive and unacceptable that hard-won freedoms and liberties fought for by our forebears and handed down to us should be removed in the name of perceived ’safety’ - language synonymous with the Stalin and N**i regimes. We need to be much more vigorous than that. Much as we may wish them to, difficult and somewhat intractable issues relating to immigration do not go away just because debate is censored, or people are frightened and coerced into silence. In fact the issues only smoulder, and always get worse. There is no ‘safety’ in a state that does not allow for open and honest debate, as history - particularly Irish history - has shown us repeatedly.
Prime Minister Starmer and his cabinet automatons repeatedly invoke sweeping, oppressive censorship, particularly online; increased use of facial recognition technology, which has never been debated in Parliament, at Stormont or with the public at large; as well as attacks on the very concept of anonymity, which goes hand in hand with privacy and protects whistleblowers, political dissidents and victims of domestic abuse to name just a few.
We are now bombarded on an hourly basis with anti-free speech propaganda via the mainstream media and figureheads from the judiciary and the police. Even our own Chief Constable is on record as offering his unbridled support to a minority community in the North on the basis of what can only be described as minor street altercations and isolated incidents of alleged racist behaviour. Of course, these have been latched onto by our disgraceful local media with wolf whistle soundbites, sloganeering and incitement to hatred of a fictional ‘far right’ - this latter used to vilify those of us who question the government approved narrative.
Free speech and protest rights have already been diminished in recent times, particularly during the covid debacle. We already have huge numbers of laws that can be used by police and the judicial system. We don’t need more.
I trust that as an elected Member for Mid Ulster in the Assembly, representing the free speech and right to protest of your community, you agree we actually need more open and honest debate on the key issues facing the United Kingdom and Ireland, not less, and therefore stand against censorship, and for free speech and protest rights?
I look forward to hearing how you personally and collectively intend to convey these serious matters to fellow members of the Assembly, the Executive, your officials and how you personally will take forward the many and very real concerns of your constituents regarding these serious attacks on our freedoms.
Yours sincerely
[Your Name]
You can find all details of your elected representatives online.
