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A new film about the erosion of human rights in the UK under Tony Blair is being released to coincide with his stepping down as prime minister.
From the film website:
The shocking truth about the erosion of our fundamental civil liberties by Tony Blair’s government will be exposed this summer in TAKING LIBERTIES, released in UK cinemas by Revolver Entertainment June 8th 2007.
Right to Protest, Right to Freedom of Speech. Right to Privacy. Right not to be detained without charge, Innocent Until Proven Guilty. Prohibition from Torture. TAKING LIBERTIES will reveal how these six central pillars of liberty have been systematically destroyed by New Labour, and the freedoms of the British people stolen from under their noses amidst a climate of fear created by the media and government itself.
TAKING LIBERTIES uncovers the stories the government don’t want you to hear – so ridiculous you will laugh, so ultimately terrifying you will want to take action. Teenage sisters detained for 36 hours for a peaceful protest; an RAF war veteran arrested for wearing an anti-Bush and Blair T-shirt; an innocent man shot in a police raid; and a man held under house arrest for two years, after being found innocent in court. Ordinary law-abiding citizens being punished for exercising their ‘rights’ – rights that have been fought for over centuries, and which seem to have been extinguished in a decade.
Trailer here. It's got Tony Benn and Mark Thomas in (of course) and even (gasp!) Boris Johnson and takes an "irreverent but revelatory, outrageous but true" approach. Apparently there are stunts involvbed, including a campaign to issue Home Secretary John Reid with an ASBO.
Shadows On The Wall said:
As our politicians talk about liberty, democracy and the war on terror, we are ignoring what's actually happening here at home. Our own freedoms have been completely eroded by governments willing to shred history. This film examines how Britain's government has undermined five key civil rights guaranteed by the Magna Carta and the European Convention on Human Rights. Everything is shown straight from the headlines, and yet the real truth overturning nearly a thousand years of freedom and democracy. And opening us up to a real possibility of ruthless tyranny.
It shows in no uncertain terms that the British public no longer has the right to protest, freedom of speech, the right to privacy, the assumption of innocence until proven guilty, the guarantee not to be detained without charge or protection from torture. It's impossible to over-stress the importance of this film. Government leaders claim that "we won't let the terrorists change our way of life", then they proceed to dismantle that very way of life. And we let them.
Each example shown in this film is harrowing and unnerving, never exaggerated to manipulate our opinion--from the two people repeatedly arrested for daring to read out names of dead Iraqi civilians to two young sisters locked up in isolation for 36 hours while the police raided their family's home in the middle of the night.
We meet Mouloud Sihali, acquitted of involvement in the fabricated "North London ricin plot", and yet still under house arrest today. John Catt was charged under the Terrorism Act for wearing an anti-Blair t-shirt. Moazzam Begg was tortured in Bagram and Guantanemo without charge for three years. Walter Wolfgang, age 82, was arrested as a terrorist for shouting, "Nonsense!" at the 2005 Labour Party Conference. These are things we expect from a totalitarian dictatorship, not our leaders.
The filmmakers tellingly weave in historically relevant events like the Suffragette movement, Hitler's rise in the late 1930s, and Britain's 1990 poll-tax riots. There's also contemporary footage that clearly shows how our leaders have changed before our eyes. This is far more than shameful; this is horrific material, assembled with clarity and skill in an engaging, riveting way. We must open our eyes. And raise our voices.
So what do we think? Will it be a UK equivalent of Michael Moore's polemical films (the producer of Bowling for Columbine is involved) as the filmmakers are suggesting? Will it make a difference? Anyone fancy going to see it?
The film opens nationwide today. |
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