Det danske Fredsakademi
Kronologi over fredssagen og international politik 15. januar
2005 / Time Line January 15, 2005
Version 3.5
14. Januar 2005, 16. Januar 2005
01/15/2005
Martin Luther King-dagen i USA.
Martin Luther King fødselsdag i 1928 fejres som national
helligdag i USA efter 1982.
01/15/2005
U.S.-Led Troops Have Damaged Babylon, British Museum
Says
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/16/international/middleeast/16britain.html?th=&pagewanted=print&position
=
http://www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk/newsroom/current2005/Babylon_Report04.doc
LONDON, Jan. 15 (AP) - American-led troops using the ancient Iraqi
city of Babylon as a base have damaged and contaminated artifacts
dating back thousands of years in one of the world's most important
archaeological sites, the British Museum said Saturday.
For example, military vehicles crushed a 2,600-year-old brick
pavement, and archaeological fragments, including broken bricks
stamped by King Nebuchadnezzar II, were scattered at the site, a
museum report said. The dragons at the Ishtar Gate were marred by
cracks and gaps where someone tried to remove their decorative
bricks, the report said.
John Curtis, keeper of the British Museum's Near East department,
who was invited by the Iraqis to study the site, said in the
report, "This is tantamount to establishing a military camp around
the Great Pyramid in Egypt or around Stonehenge in Britain."
Note by the editor: In March 2003, the UNESCO has urged the US
authorities to observe The Hague Convention and do everything to
protect the country's cultural heritage.
01/15/2005
Defend the right to protest in Parliament Sq - 18 Jan
The government is rushing ahead to try to END the RIGHT TO PROTEST
in Parliament Square with the Serious Organised Crime and Police
Bill. Many of you have signed the Global Women's Strike petition
against the proposed ban which targets anti-war protesters Brian
Haw, who has been there continuously for over three year, and the
Strike's weekly Community Speakout.
The Committee stage of parliamentary debate of the Bill is taking
place this week and next week. We invite you to a briefing of MPs
on TUESDAY 18 JANUARY, 1-2 pm in the House of Commons, Committee
Room 14, which will be chaired by John McDonnell MP, who has also
issued an Early Day Motion opposing the ban.
It is vital that the level of public concern about this be made
visible to the MPs. The petition has been signed by many people and
organisations, including a number of prominent individuals. We will
shortly forward the list so far.
Speakers will include Brian Haw and his lawyer Michael Schwarz who
have won many previous eviction attempts. We hope that a number of
those who have signed the petition or the EDM will come and speak.
Please try to come if at all possible.
And whether or not you can make it yourself, please contact your
MP, or any MP or peer you are in touch with and get them to come as
well!
We are attaching Legal Action for Women's briefing on the issue,
and a list of MPs who signed the EDM.
It would be helpful if you can let us know if you're planning to
come.
For those who haven't signed the petition this is you chance to
return your signature.
For the right to protest,
Kay Chapman
Parliament Square Anti-war Community Speakout
Parliamentary briefing on the Serious Organised Crime and Police
Bill:
Defending the right to protest in Parliament Square
In one huge sprawling Bill the government is again trying to rush
through legislation which erodes basic human and legal rights. We
focus here specifically on their proposal to ban ongoing anti-war
protest in Parliament Square.
It targets, first of all, Brian Haw's extraordinary and visually
impressive three-and-a-half-year, 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week
peace camp, and the two year old weekly Community Speakout of the
Global Women's Strike. Both bear witness to the appalling suffering
and death of children, women and men in Afghanistan and Iraq by the
US-UK governments. They also give voice to veterans and refuseniks
of these and other wars, and remember the many slaughters in
Palestine, the Congo, Sudan, Uzbekistan and elsewhere which are
being allowed to continue.
The excuse for the proposed ban is that the protesters' noise is
preventing Parliament from working! In fact loudspeakers are used
only on Wednesdays from 5.30-7pm. The police have repeatedly
checked noise levels and found that the speakout cannot be heard
from inside Parliament, and no one has commented on Parliament
Square's on-going loud traffic.
This attempt to ban anti-war protest must be seen in the light of
the illegal war in Iraq and of Belmarsh, the British Guantanamo
ruled illegal by the Law Lords. It has wide implications for
everyone's legal and human rights and is being widely opposed by
organisations and individuals - see separate list.
A deliberately misnamed government consultation document,
"Modernising Police Powers to Meet Community Needs," with a
deliberately short consultation period, included a proposal to
"impose conditions on all demonstrations in the vicinity of
Parliament Square".
The proposal has now been incorporated into a revised Sessional
Order (passed 23 November 2004) and into new anti-mafia
legislation, the Serious Organised Crime and Police Bill, not only
criminalising peaceful, principled, political protest but
conflating it with "serious organised crime".
Without any reference to the European Convention on Human Rights,
the Sessional Order gives police powers to prevent any activities
that "hinder Members by any means in the pursuit of their
Parliamentary duties in the Parliamentary Estate".
Peter Hain, speaking for the government in the debate about the
Order, said, "a change of law is needed, particularly to deal with
the noise." A number of MPs challenged the assertion that
loudspeakers and megaphones could be considered to "hinder" MPs,
and that the Order referred not to Parliament but to "the
Parliamentary Estate," that is including Parliament Square
(Hansard, 3 November 2004).
The Serious Organised Crime and Police Bill's committee stage began
on 11 January, immediately after the Christmas recess. There will
be another session on 13 January 2004 -- further sessions have not
yet been announced, but we have been told that the government
intends to guillotine discussion on or before 20 January. Why the
haste? Is that part of preparation for the election?
With the Bill, the government proposes to give the police new
powers to control protests that "hinder" access to or are
disruptive of the workings of Parliament, or which "spoil the
visual aspect or enjoyment" of Parliament Square (Clause 123 (2)
(a), (b) and (c)), or within one kilometre of the Square (Clause
123 (10)).
The police would have the power to prevent protests, or specify the
period of time that they may happen and the noise level (123 (4)
(a), (b) and (c)). If found guilty of organising an "illegal"
demonstration, a person could be imprisoned for up to a year
(Clause 124 (4) (b)).
The government's attempts to stifle dissent and protest have
escalated over the last couple of years. A raft of repressive laws
makes it less than "respectable" and even criminal for the public
to protest. Demonstrators are routinely corralled and photographed
even though the courts have ruled some such police actions illegal.
The right to travel freely has been curtailed.
Parliament Square has seen many long-running demonstrations,
starting with the picket for the extradition and trial of Chilean
dictator Pinochet (shamefully freed by then Home Secretary Jack
Straw).
Other long-term demonstrators, outside South Africa House and
Greenham Common, exercised the right to protest against apartheid
and a US military nuclear presence. In common with other long-term
demonstrations in Parliament Square, it is right, and must remain
legal, that people protest outside the institution held responsible
for injustice.
Government attempts to prevent long-term demonstrations in
Parliament Square are despite "Mr. Justice Gray's judgment on 4
October 2002, in whch he declined to give Westminster Council an
injunction [to prevent Mr Haw from pursuing his protest] citing
article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights", (Alex
Salmond MP, Hansard, 3 November 2004).
Despite this precedent ruling based on freedom of speech which was
won by Mr Haw, and despite support for Mr Haw and the Community
Speakout from within and outside Parliament, and internationally,
the police have often refused to protect Mr Haw or his property
from attack (Mr Haw has had his nose broken twice), and have in
fact attacked him and his property.
"Opposition to what [Mr Haw] is doing out there has arisen because
some Members do not like to be reminded of what they have done in
this Chamber in terms of voting for war and the deaths." John
McDonnell MP (Hansard, 3 November 2004).
They "want to create an antiseptic tourist attraction that has
nothing to do with democracy or participation". (Jeremy Corbyn MP,
Hansard, 3 November 2004).
The Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers points out that there is a
substantial arsenal of police powers to regulate all forms of
protest - the Public Order Act 1986, the Protection from Harassment
Act 1998, the Trade Unions and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act
1992, the Criminal Justice Act 1994, and the Justice and Police Act
1991.
Yet ex-Home Secretary Blunkett said, "It is daft that we should
have to pass a law for the purpose, but that is what happens when
people make a monkey of the existing law." (Hansard, 7 December
2004). The existing law includes the European Convention on Human
Rights.
Others have less contempt for the law: "As far as I am concerned,
introducing legislation to outlaw such behaviour [long-term protest
in Parliament Square] is in itself a crime." (Lembit Opick MP,
Hansard, 3 November 2004).
The final word goes to Brian Haw: "What is the sound level that is
permissible to cry out against genocide?"
For more information attend the Briefing meeting in the House of
Commons on Tuesday 18 January, 1-2pm, Committee Room 14
Or contact Legal Action for Women: law@allwomencount.net 020-7482
2496 EDM 299
PARLIAMENT SQUARE PEACE PROTESTS
06.12.04
McDonnell/John
That this House expresses deep concern at the Government's renewed
attempts to stifle protest, by proposing to impose conditions on
all demonstrations in the vicinity of Parliament Square and to ban
permanent encampments and the use of megaphones; notes previous
unsuccessful attempts to remove anti-war protester Mr Brian Haw,
who has been there in all weathers for over three years, and the
Global Women's Strike weekly picket, which has been there for a
year and a half; considers it misleading and inappropriate to use
anti-gangster legislation such as the Serious Organised Crime and
Police Bill against peaceful, principled political protest; and
calls upon the Government to guarantee the democratic right of all
to protest where they can be seen and heard by honourable
Members.
Signatures: Barrett/John, Cable/Vincent, Clapham/Michael,
Cohen/Harry, Corbyn/Jeremy, Cryer/Ann, Doughty/Sue, Hancock/Mike,
Harvey/Nick, Hopkins/Kelvin, Jackson/Glenda, Keetch/Paul,
Lewis/Terry, McDonnell/John, Price/Adam, Robertson/Angus,
Russell/Bob, Salmond/Alex, Simpson/Alan, Singh/Marsha, Smith/Llew,
Stunell/Andrew, Thomas/Simon, Tonge/Jenny, Tyler/Paul,
Weir/Michael, Wishart/Pete.
01/15/2005
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