THE FREEDOM ASSOCIATION

Demonstrate FOR capitalism

Join other supporters of the market system which has brought prosperity to bilions of people across the world.  Pro-capitalist demonstrators will be holding a peaceful demonstration in support of the market system from 11.00 a.m. to 5.00 p.m. (at the latest) on Wednesday 1 April, outside the Bank of England.  MORE

The European Union: a recipe for disaster

Email from America (6)

What does all this add up to?

The Obama administration plans to cut the US defence budget; announces an ideal aim of  ‘denuclearizing ‘ the US; cancels new weapons, warships, and fighter aircraft, some of which are almost combat-ready; refuses to modernize the existing US arsenal; changes the name of the ‘War on Terror’ (admittedly never a good one – it should always have been the ‘War against the Islamic Jihad’) to the trivializing ‘overseas contingency operations’; declares that it will negotiate with (entirely imaginary) ‘moderate Taliban’ to end the fighting in Afghanistan; sets a deadline for the withdrawal of most US forces from Iraq - without acknowledging that they have won a brilliant US victory;  announces the closure of the prison at Guantanamo Bay where enemy combatants (America-hating jihadis) are held, and considers giving  some of them asylum and welfare in America; revokes measures taken by the Bush administration to keep America safe (and have done so); diminishes the honour of serving in the armed forces in various ways, including having disabled veterans pay for their own medical insurance (a requirement that brought such an outcry that it’s been withdrawn, at least temporarily).  

In foreign affairs, the President of the United States has the powers of a monarch. Obama can decide, and has decided, that America must atone for its might, and deal with its enemies in a new spirit of ‘humility and internationalism’. He proposes to Russia that arms control be negotiated, as if the Cold War had not been won by President Reagan and Prime Minister Thatcher twenty years ago. To propitiate Russia, he reneges on promises to the Poles and Czechs to provide them with a defensive shield. He says it will not be necessary because it was to protect these Europeans from Iranian missiles (likely to be armed with nuclear warheads that Obama’s intelligence chiefs deny will ever be acquired), and he is going to hold talks with the Iranians that will entirely pacify them. In doing so he will be trashing the policy of the last four administrations, but far from seeing anything wrong with that, it is precisely what he means to do. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton duly tries her hand at the new tactics of diplomacy - she calls it ‘smart power’ - by presenting her Russian counterpart with a conciliatory toy: a red button labelled ‘re-set’. But with the typical incompetence of the new leadership the word has been mistranslated into Russian as ‘overcharge’. O gosh! Are our faces red! How the Secretary of State giggles!

Russia’s response? President Medvedev announces a policy of comprehensive rearmament; the re-equipment of the Russian armed forces with ’the newest weapons systems’; a raising of his country’s defence budget by 30%; the signing of a highly lucrative contract to sell advanced surface-to air missiles to Iran, plus arms of various sorts to China, Syria, and Venezuela; the dispatching of warships and bombers to the immediate region of the US, with the hospitable co-operation of Venezuela and Cuba; a threat of force to keep NATO defence systems out of Poland, the Czech Republic, the Ukraine and Georgia (already invaded and robbed of territory by Russia with complete impunity); the continued blocking of US supply lines into Afghanistan.

Like the Russians, the Chinese are hugely increasing their defence budget. They are acquiring cruise missiles; building up an arsenal of short-range missiles (ominously, on the coast opposite Taiwan); modernizing their long-range ballistic missiles; developing aircraft carriers; enlarging their fleet of attack submarines; constructing a new naval base on the southern island of Hainan giving them direct access to international sea lanes. What to do? Hillary tries to re-set US relations with China, going to Beijing to chat amicably and smile, to say that the economies of the US and China sink or swim together; and, ignoring the unfreedom of the Chinese people and the inhumanity of the regime, to display the new spirit of humility and internationalism. China’s response? Its ships aggressively harass an unarmed US naval vessel in a region of the open seas that China likes to call its ‘exclusive economic zone’.

Next Obama begins the pacification of Iran by sending a fawning televised message in the spirit of humble internationalism to America-hating President Ahmadinejad and the murderous mullahs. It is scornfully rejected by (what we sceptical conservatives believe to be) that bunch of evil-minded genocidists. But Obama declares he will persist in wooing them. He makes a great virtue of persistence.  

While  ‘reaching out’ to America’s enemies, including Islamic powers and terrorist organizations, how is he treating America’s long-time allies? Off-handedly, to judge by his manner towards the visiting Prime Minister of Great Britain. His childish excuse for this, on being mildly reproached, is that he was ‘tired’. And he did, after all, give the man – in return for unique and historically significant gifts - some DVDs of old movies. Too bad they can’t be played outside North America. Anyway, the State Department curtly informs the people of the United Kingdom (who have actively supported with blood and treasure every war America has fought in the last sixty years), there’s nothing special about Britain. ‘You’re just the same as the other 190 countries in the world. You shouldn’t expect special treatment.’

So when North Korea launches its long-range missile, as it will do any day now, will Obama respond by sending Kim Jong Il a cheap set of DVDs that cannot be played in East Asia?   

Altogether it adds up to a policy that weakens America and its role as the guardian of freedom and civilization in a largely unfree and barbarous world. These may be unintended consequences, happening because Obama is merely inexperienced, naïve, ignorant, foolish, out of his depth. But it could also be because he is a far-left radical,  ideologically against American hegemony and aiming to create an international socialist ‘utopia’, under world government. Too fantastic and terrifying a suspicion? Aren’t we hearing suggestions that a world government and a world currency could be the solution to the global economic crisis? Hasn’t Prime Minister Gordon Brown said something of the sort? And the Chinese? And, most recently, Obama’s own Secretary of the Treasury? Why, the idea may even be proposed at the forthcoming G20 summit. 

Jillian Becker                                     visit my website: www.theatheistconservative.com

The long sleepwalk to serfdom

Have you used the internet, sent an email, made a phone call or sent a text message in the last week? Almost certainly. Did it seem any different? Probably not. But there has been one major change behind the scenes over the last week. For 15 March 2009 was the deadline for EU member states to implement EU Directive 2006/24/EC.

"What is that?" you say. This is the Directive concerned with the retention of communications data relating to Internet Access, Internet telephony and Internet e-mail. It is the EU charter agreed by member states to afford governments the right to scrutinise your electronic communications activity as a matter of routine. There is no need to go to court for a warrant to monitor details of the people you have been in contact with, this EU Directive makes it necessary for your service provider to log all your activity and hand over the full details when asked to do so.

"What about my rights?" you ask. After all, does the European Convention on Human Rights - which does so much to protect people who break our laws and undermine our safety - not safeguard us too and prevent the state from intruding in our private activities? Well as we know it is supposed to do that. But there is a convenient get-out clause which basically tosses our rights out of the window. You can see it explained early in the EU Directive itself in paragraph 9:

Under Article 8 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (ECHR), everyone has the right to respect for his private life and his correspondence. Public authorities may interfere with the exercise of that right only in accordance with the law and where necessary in a democratic society, inter alia, in the interests of national security or public safety, for the prevention of disorder or crime, or for the protection of the rights and freedoms of others.

So there you have it. You have the right to a private life and the state can only interfere with that in accordance with the law or in the interest of national security and public safety. So the member states claim this is all about protecting us from a dangerous enemy, change the law and et voilà, they hand themselves the right to trample over our privacy and individual freedoms. Do not count on our Parliament to reject this measure, the EU has taken the power from us to determine laws of this kind. This is one small element of the infamous 70% of our laws and regulations handed down to us from Brussels/Strasbourg that we must implement.

Do you feel comfortable knowing that your visit to this blog to read this posting has been logged, and will be kept for at least one year, for government agencies to look up should they ever decide that you or I represent a threat of some kind? Or that the next phone call you make will be logged for checking should an agency decide you need investigating? Or that your SMS messages and emails this morning are all on record? More importantly, do you think it is right for the state to have such power to invade our privacy?

This is what passes for freedom and democracy in the United Kingdom in the year 2009.

The real crime and the real damage

Often it is the case that less is more and that selective use of words that give pause for thought, or illustrate an important point, is far more effective. It is with this selective focus in mind that I approach a story reported in the Telegraph yesterday. The arrest and prosecution of a student, Paul Saville, for nothing more offensive than chalking a message on a pavement in protest at the state's wanton assault on individual freedoms defies common sense and underlines the extent to which our public servants now act as our masters.

Paul Saville will face a court charged with criminal damage “under the value of £5,000” for writing in chalk:

"Liberty. The right to question it. The right to ask: "Are we free?"

The irony of course is that the actions of the police on that day answered Saville's rhetorical question for him more clearly than any verbal response. As always, stories in the media should be accompanied by a health warning to remind us that there is probably more to the story and that we do not know all the facts. But even so, the gist of what happened does add to an undeniable pattern of overbearing reactions by government and the agents of law and order to dissent and peaceful protest.

If chalking amazing drawings on a pavement (like the one below) is considered to be art worthy of great praise, how can chalking several words on a pavement considered to be criminal damage? Just what damage can chalk do to a pavement? What repairs up to a value of £5,000 were necessitated by Saville's actions? I will wager the answer is 'none'. It seems reasonable to conclude that it was Saville's act of dissent rather than use of chalk on a pavement that led to his arrest. He was asked to stop but was arrested when he continued writing.

Any lawyer worth their salt should be able to get this case thrown out of court in moments. If Saville really had commited criminal damage why was he only arrested when he defied a police officer's instruction to stop writing? All they need to do is ask the prosecution to prove what criminal damage was caused. No damage = no case to answer.

In the increasingly important campaign to defend and strengthen privacy and individual freedom in the United Kingdom, legal restrictions to our fundamental rights are frequently described as 'Orwellian'. In response to stories where restrictions have been reported we see references to Orwell used so frequently they have the effect of cheapening or diluting the seriousness and gravity of the message about what is happening to our rights as individuals in this country. Less really is more in such circumstances. But this is one of those cases where a reference to an Orwell quote seems wholly appropriate:

"If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear."

It now appears that an attempt to say something the authorities may not want people to hear, by chalking a message on a pavement, can result in arrest and charges of criminal damage. In the Saville case the real crime is the concerted - perhaps even unthinking - effort to silence dissent and limit our rights, while the real damage is to our hard won and defended liberty. Paul Saville asked, 'Are we free?' Decide for yourself - while you are still allowed to.

(Cross posted from Tony Sharp's blog - http://tonysharp.blogspot.com/)

BBC poll shows most British voters want to leave EU

A sensational poll commissioned by the BBC's Daily Politics programme has found that 55% of British voters want to leave the corrupt, anti-democratic and costly European Union.  Watch Daniel Hannan MEP, a Freedom Association Council Member, explain how British politicians have failed to represent the public's view that Britain would be BETTER OFF OUT  MORE

Are they by any chance related?

We have been sent the above photographs of President Klaus and Roger Helmer MEP, asking if they are, by any chance, related.

When Roger met Václav

Roger Helmer MEP, Hon. Chairman of The Freedom Association, is shown here with Václav Klaus, President of the Czech Republic, at the Heartland International Climate Conference in New York 8 March.  The Czech Republic currently holds the rotating Presidency of the European Union.  MORE

EU costs every family £4,700

According to a new study, the European Union (EU) costs every family £4,700 a year: that's the cost of Britain’s membership of the EU to the average household, according to new research by the TaxPayers' Alliance.  That's £2,000 for every man, woman and child in the country.

Roger Helmer MEP, Hon. Chairman of The Freedom Association, has launched a hard-hitting advertising campaign across the East Midlands, to highlight the huge cost of the EU to taxpayers.  Featuring the slogan: "The EU: It'll have the shirt off your back", it focuses on the massive economic penalties of EU membership.  MORE

FREEDOM TODAY - latest issue

The latest issue of FREEDOM TODAY - currently at the printers - is, in the opinion of Simon Richards, who edits, designs and produces the magazine, the best edition he has produced since taking on the magazine in December 2002.  The cover (above) includes a new masthead and an eye-catching photograph, featuring a brilliant article by Jean-Paul Floru in defence of capitalism.

The bumper double issue celebrates the free market and the thirtieth anniversary of Margaret Thatcher's great 1979 General Election victory.  A host of new regular columns include Don Briggs, a former Daily Mirror journalist, on the plight of local newspapers, Rupert Matthews looking at current events from a political perspective, Tony Sharp on the surveillance state, Donal Blaney's "Blaney's Blarney" and a new "Freedom Diary" by Namedropper.

All the magazine's established columnists feature as usual: Roger Helmer MEP on Václav Klaus, the Rt. Hon. John Redwood MP on the different forms "the right" takes, Gerard Batten MEP on the cost of European Union (EU) membership, Sean Melody on troughing politicians in Wales, John and Laura Midgley on golliwogs and the Rev'd Dr. Peter Mullen with some fascinating reflections on the recent bout of snow.

Feature articles include Robert Halfon with the first in a series of four pieces on what Conservatism means to him, Nigel Hastilow on the need to make the case for the free market, Madeleine Westrop on e-government, Adrian Owens on intolerance of smokers, Judith Holt with a teachers' view on what's wrong with our schools, Rebecca Harding on the dumbing down of academic qualifications, Lindsay Jenkins on the Eurozone, Russell Lewis on the need to cut taxes, Christian May on training the next generation of Thatchers and Reagans, Air Chief Marshal Sir Michael Graydon on the need to provide adequate resources for the Armed Forces, Ann Winterton MP on defence procurement, Philip Hollobone MP on the difficulties small businesses face in the current economic depression, Bryan Smalley on the EU and the Royal Mail, Gerard Batten MEP on Islamism and Philip Lardner on Scotland's energy choices.

In addition,you can enjoy Roger Helmer's new advertisement, see a fine photograph of Lady Thatcher, learn about the new Freedom Association branches being set up across the country and find out about future TFA events featuring Syed Kamall MEP in Kingston upon Thames, the Australian High Commissioner in London, Gerald Howarth MP delivering the Norris McWhirter Memorial Lecture, the Rev'd Dr. Peter Mullen in Somerset, Jeffrey Donaldson MP MLA in Ulster and a celebration of the 1979 General Election victory in Scotland - that's right, Scotland!  With quotes from Karl Marx and Lady Thatcher, a report on the successful launch of the University of York Freedom Association Society and much more besides, you really shouldn't miss this issue of FREEDOM TODAY.  All Freedom Association Members receive a copy.  If you're not yet a Member, just see here for how to obtain a complimentary copy.  Enjoy!