Dear Editor,
In response to Dave Rendle’s ‘Against Gagging Law’
on the 26th September, can I add that recent reassurances from the
government have been a long way short of encouraging.
Green MP Caroline Lucas has said, “The Bill would have
horrifying implications for the way politics – and political campaigning – are
practised in this country. Outrageously, it would suppress a range of
legitimate voices, while doing very little to expose the murky world of
lobbying.”
As someone who regularly gets into political debates, I am
personally very troubled about these laws. While I do a fair bit as a member of
the local Green Party, I’m also actively involved with 38 Degrees, I support a
group campaigning for the rights of live aboard boaters, and I’m a blogger.
Much of my work has a political angle. I am not a lawyer, nor can I afford to
spend the year before each election checking with one to make sure I stay on
the right side of the law!
This new legislation will make people who are political and
independent of parties nervous about raising their voices and engaging in
public debate. That is not democracy. Yet a wealthy businessperson with private
access to the ear of an MP will likely suffer no setbacks at all. Who gets to
decide what counts as political lobbying, even? How can an ordinary person who
wants to connect with other people to raise an issue, even tell if they’re
about to fall foul of the legislation? The fear caused by lack of clarity is as
big an issue as anything else here.
Speaking for the local Greens, John Marjoram said, “The Greens have long been worried about how democracy is being closed down in this country. We need to watch this very carefully.”
If we lose the right to protest, to speak out, to campaign
over issues we care about, to object to what our governments do and to
peacefully challenge authority, we cease to be a democracy. When that happens
in other countries, we call them oppressive regimes.
Nimue Brown.
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