Civil liberties

Articles

A new zeitgeist on rights by Stuart Weir (May 2009)

The Convention on Modern Liberty inspired a huge surge of energy around civil liberties, says Stuart Weir. Human rights campaigners could be on the verge of a historic breakthrough

Our job as citizens by Stuart Weir (October 2008)

Strengthening human rights laws, protecting civil liberties and combating the database state are all interlinked, says Stuart Weir

The left’s unlikely ally by David Beetham (August 2008)

David Davis’s by-election campaign against 42-day detention tapped into a widespread feeling that our traditional liberties are under threat from a much distrusted political class, says David Beetham. But don’t hold your breath for a more liberal Conservative administration

What price security? by Brig Oubridge (November 2007)

Brig Oubridge, Chair of the Big Green Gathering, reports on how new anti-terror laws may herald the end of outdoor festivals in the UK

G-Had In the UK by Angela Saini (August 2006)

The Sun dubs him the ‘suicide bomb rapper’, and two MPs have called for his arrest. But with the government and mainstream media limiting debate on the causes of terrorism, Aki Nawaz of Fun-Da-Mental tells Angela Saini he’s prepared to risk his liberty to challenge received wisdoms

A law unto themselves? by Oscar Reyes (October 2005)

The police shoot-to-kill policy that claimed the life of Jean Charles de Menezes was introduced without any democratic debate. Oscar Reyes asks where that leaves the notions of community policing and police accountability

Attacking the outside agitators by Mike Marqusee (September 2005)

Throughout the 1960s, volunteers who joined the struggle for African-American civil rights in the US southland were denounced as ‘outside agitators.’ The white establishment accused them of stirring up the local blacks, who of course would otherwise have remained content with their lot.

In the eye of the storm by Tariq Mehmood (August 2005)

Britain has changed since the outrages of 7 July. The bombs had hardly gone off in London when Tony Blair declared them to be the work of Islamic terrorists.

Institutionalised spite by Chris Quayle (April 2005)

Introduced by Labour largely to protect working class families on inner-city estates from the menace of antisocial behaviour, how could you not applaud Asbos? Because, writes Chris Quayle, they don’t work, have absolutely no regard for the niceties of normal legal process, and are an excuse for completely ignoring the causes of antisocial behaviour in the first place.

Judge gives green light to police containment tactics by Alex Nunns (April 2005)

Alex Nunns reports on the Mayday case in which he appeared as a witness for the prosecution

1 | 2