Yes. Thank you.

 

Tina

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> Date: Sat, 28 Feb 2009 11:24:28 +1100
> From: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: pullman on liberty
> To: [log in to unmask]
>
> Quoting Tina Bass <[log in to unmask]>:
>
> > It's very strange the way this article has disappeared. I linked to it quite
> > soon after the message about it was posted here. I went straight to it. I
> > read it. I thought it was interesting and planned to go back to it later
> > today. And now it has gone!
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Tina
>
> Umm, is this it? from modernliberty.net
>
> Philip Pullman
> Are such things done on Albion’s shore?
>
> The image of this nation that haunts me most powerfully is that of the sleeping
> giant Albion in William Blake’s prophetic books. Sleep, profound and inveterate
> slumber: that is the condition of Britain today.
>
> We do not know what is happening to us. In the world outside, great events take
> place, great figures move and act, great matters unfold, and this nation of
> Albion murmurs and stirs while malevolent voices whisper in the darkness - the
> voices of the new laws that are silently strangling the old freedoms the nation
> still dreams it enjoys.
>
> We are so fast asleep that we don’t know who we are any more. Are we English?
> Scottish? Welsh? British? More than one of them? One but not another? Are we a
> Christian nation - after all we have an Established Church - or are we something
> post-Christian? Are we a secular state? Are we a multifaith state? Are we
> anything we can all agree on and feel proud of?
>
> The new laws whisper:
>
> You don’t know who you are
>
> You’re mistaken about yourself
>
> We know better than you do what you consist of, what labels apply to you, which
> facts about you are important and which are worthless
>
> We do not believe you can be trusted to know these things, so we shall know them
> for you
>
> And if we take against you, we shall remove from your possession the only proof
> we shall allow to be recognised
>
> The sleeping nation dreams it has the freedom to speak its mind. It fantasises
> about making tyrants cringe with the bluff bold vigour of its ancient right to
> express its opinions in the street. This is what the new laws say about that:
>
> Expressing an opinion is a dangerous activity
>
> Whatever your opinions are, we don’t want to hear them
>
> So if you threaten us or our friends with your opinions we shall treat you like
> the rabble you are
>
> And we do not want to hear you arguing about it
>
> So hold your tongue and forget about protesting
>
> What we want from you is acquiescence
>
> The nation dreams it is a democratic state where the laws were made by freely
> elected representatives who were answerable to the people. It used to be such a
> nation once, it dreams, so it must be that nation still. It is a sweet dream.
>
> You are not to be trusted with laws
>
> So we shall put ourselves out of your reach
>
> We shall put ourselves beyond your amendment or abolition
>
> You do not need to argue about any changes we make, or to debate them, or to
> send your representatives to vote against them
>
> You do not need to hold us to account
>
> You think you will get what you want from an inquiry?
>
> Who do you think you are?
>
> What sort of fools do you think we are?
>
> The nation’s dreams are troubled, sometimes; dim rumours reach our sleeping
> ears, rumours that all is not well in the administration of justice; but an
> ancient spell murmurs through our somnolence, and we remember that the courts
> are bound to seek the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, and we
> turn over and sleep soundly again.
>
> And the new laws whisper:
>
> We do not want to hear you talking about truth
>
> Truth is a friend of yours, not a friend of ours
>
> We have a better friend called hearsay, who is a witness we can always rely on
>
> We do not want to hear you talking about innocence
>
> Innocent means guilty of things not yet done
>
> We do not want to hear you talking about the right to silence
>
> You need to be told what silence means: it means guilt
>
> We do not want to hear you talking about justice
>
> Justice is whatever we want to do to you
>
> And nothing else
>
> Are we conscious of being watched, as we sleep? Are we aware of an ever-open eye
> at the corner of every street, of a watching presence in the very keyboards we
> type our messages on? The new laws don’t mind if we are. They don’t think we
> care about it.
>
> We want to watch you day and night
>
> We think you are abject enough to feel safe when we watch you
>
> We can see you have lost all sense of what is proper to a free people
>
> We can see you have abandoned modesty
>
> Some of our friends have seen to that
>
> They have arranged for you to find modesty contemptible
>
> In a thousand ways they have led you to think that whoever does not want to be
> watched must have something shameful to hide
>
> We want you to feel that solitude is frightening and unnatural
>
> We want you to feel that being watched is the natural state of things
>
> One of the pleasant fantasies that consoles us in our sleep is that we are a
> sovereign nation, and safe within our borders. This is what the new laws say
> about that:
>
> We know who our friends are
>
> And when our friends want to have words with one of you
>
> We shall make it easy for them to take you away to a country where you will
> learn that you have more fingernails than you need
>
> It will be no use bleating that you know of no offence you have committed under
> British law
>
> It is for us to know what your offence is
>
> Angering our friends is an offence
>
> It is inconceivable to me that a waking nation in the full consciousness of its
> freedom would have allowed its government to pass such laws as the Protection
> from Harassment Act (1997), the Crime and Disorder Act (1998), the Regulation of
> Investigatory Powers Act (2000), the Terrorism Act (2000), the Criminal Justice
> and Police Act (2001), the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act (2001), the
> Regulation of Investigatory Powers Extension Act (2002), the Criminal Justice
> Act (2003), the Extradition Act (2003), the Anti-Social Behaviour Act (2003),
> the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act (2004), the Civil Contingencies Act
> (2004), the Prevention of Terrorism Act (2005), the Inquiries Act (2005), the
> Serious Organised Crime and Police Act (2005), not to mention a host of pending
> legislation such as the Identity Cards Bill, the Coroners and Justice Bill, and
> the Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill.
>
> Inconceivable.
>
> And those laws say:
>
> Sleep, you stinking cowards
>
> Sweating as you dream of rights and freedoms
>
> Freedom is too hard for you
>
> We shall decide what freedom is
>
> Sleep, you vermin
>
> Sleep, you scum.
>
>
>
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