Murphy's letter from Edinburgh

 

Labours new zero tolerance policy

They apologised, they tried to dumb it down, but what they didn't do was stop it while they were all watching it from the stage at the conference.  Not one Cabinet Minister on the stage had the guts to try and prevent the manhandling of Walter Wolfgang the 82 year old rebel who dared to utter the word rubbish while Jack Staw - a government minister - was speaking.

What kind of government is running this country when their own party members can't utter a word of dissent if they disagree with the policy of the government in power?  What has happened to free speech?  And how much further is this government going to go to silence the electorate?

When I watched the removal of Walter Wolfgang from the Labour party conference I was reminded of the words by Pastor Niemoler before his death at the hands of the Nazis.  He is alleged to have said:  "First they came for the Jews and I did not speak out, because I was not a Jew.  Then they came for the Communists and I did not speak out, because I was not a communist.  Next they came for the Trade Unionists and I did not speak out because I was not a Trade Unionist.  Then they came for me, but by then there was no one left to speak out for me".

The Labour party can apologise all it wants as far as I am concerned, but it has shown up a more sinister side of this government and its policies.  Walter was a man who spoke up and was removed promptly by the Labour party heavies for daring to utter the word rubbish.  He was then held by the police under the Anti-terror laws, and no one is criticising them, because the government sitting on the stage was the same government  that brought these laws in and they were only using the powers that this government has given them.

Yet he had been scanned and searched before he went in to the conference too make sure he was not a threat, he also had a pass that allowed him access to the conference.  So we must all ask what was going on here?

The government ministers were all sitting on the stage facing the back of the hall watching what was going on at the back of the hall, but not one of them spoke up or tried to prevent the rough handling or rough treatment that this man was put through.  And one must ask is this really their type of Britain, and is this what they see as the Britain of the future?

My views are totally different from Walter Wolfgang who is opposed to the war in Iraq, but I respect his right to debate it, I also respect his right to say rubbish if he thinks that those who thought that it was right were wrong.  That is what democracy is about, and it always should be.

The papers, television and radio were quick to report what had happened, and if hadn't been for that, I doubt we would have heard any more about Walter being thrown out of the Labour party conference and having his pass removed for using his right in the use of freedom of speech.

I understand the threat of terrorism throughout the world, and I also understand the need to be alert.  But if this is the way they are going behave towards the citizens of this country, they might find a lot more dissent coming their way.  They just can't treat people this way and expect to get away with it.  The British people will just not accept it.

The Government who were on the stage could have stopped what was going on at the back of the hall because they were all facing the back of the hall watching what was going on.  But they decided not to get involved by keeping quite and not getting involved which indicates to me they were quite happy at what was going on.

Is this because this is their new policy?  If it is, I don't like it, and I hope I never see anything like this again at any political party conference.

One thing is for sure, it may show the electorate the way that this government is going and what its real policies are.  And I for one don't like it.

Written by Andrew Murphy 1 October 2005

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