Vivienne on Liberty

Posted on Sunday, January 16th, 2011 by Vivienne

Shami Chakrabarti, the Director of Liberty, is a great friend of mine – I’ve been a supporter of her work for a long time. I stopped by to visit her recently.

Anyone who listened to the discussion last week on BBC Radio 4 any Questions? will have heard my thoughts about the controversial scheme of control orders which gives the UK government the right to hold anyone suspected of terrorist activities under indefinite house arrest.

At present, control orders allow suspects to be indefinitely tagged, confined to their homes and prohibited from communicating with others – all without a police interview, trial or charges made against them. It’s up to all of us to put pressure on the government to scrap this system and replace house arrest with surveillance to gather evidence for prosecution.

We can’t all take part in radio discussions but you can have an effect by contacting Liberty, http://www.liberty-human-rights.org.uk, to make your voice heard.

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  1. I think this is a very difficult topic to truly make ones mind up about.

    I totally agree with you, Vivienne, and Shami, that Liberty is such a vital part of life and culture, and when we think of how many great artists have been imprisoned and had their human rights taken away from them because of their views it really does make us realise just how important Liberty is.

    The idea of innocent people being punished for a crime they haven’t committed is absolutely horrific and what you said about so called terrorists being under house arrest is actually quite anger provoking. I believe that if no conviction has been made then no punishment should be given.

    At the same time, however, I can see to a small extent why some of the measures might be in place. With terrorism being such a threat in society today, many of these terror regulations seem to adopt the ‘Better Safe than Sorry’ approach, and whilst I can see the mechanics behind this what Shami said about the death penalty rings true here; how could somebody give out punishment, any punishment let alone the death penalty, if there is no consequential proof.

    A really important cause and I am so glad that there are at least two people here who seem to have the right idea!

    Also, where could I get my hands on one of the ‘I Am Not A Terrorist’ t-shirts?

    Thanks for the video,

    James

    Comment by James Emmett on 16/01/2011 at 9:23 pm

  2. Thanks very much for your continuing interest in AR – I hope you’ve received your badge by now. To answer your question, you can get an ‘I am not a terrorist’ t-shirt from the Vivienne Westwood shop in Conduit Street. If you can wait a few months it will be available at a lower price from the World’s End shop (both in London).

    Comment by Vivienne on 18/01/2011 at 1:44 pm

  3. Thanks for your reply. I did receive my badge and I am very grateful! I might be making a trip to London near the end of this month so I will certainly pay a visit if I do!

    Thanks again, James

    Comment by James Emmett on 18/01/2011 at 4:21 pm

  4. Firstly, congratulations on being appointed to the committee of Liberty – it is so important that people with high profiles can use their influence to try and change the law, especially on such a sensitive issue such as control orders.

    On the issue of control orders, they should be scrapped. There is no justification for holding people for 28 days without any formal charge. The policy behind it gives police and government powers to detain people for no apparent reason apart from their race, religion or beliefs. Yes, it is important to protect ourselves from terrorism but control orders are a tad too far!

    We live in a very secretive society where big brother is constantly watching us for no real reason. To give an example, I was outside the Queen Elizabeth II Centre on Friday, peacefully demonstrating with approximately 100 people, when Mr Blair was giving evidence on the “illegal” invasion of Iraq (a war criminal, but that is my opinion). There were probably more police than protesters there, allegedly to protect us!!! The protest was peaceful but there were officers within the QE2 centre filming us. If they chose to, they could take our profiles and match them to government databases. Therefore, they could monitor your tube travel, intercept your telephone OR your internet use. They could then detain you for whatever they choose. You can argue that if you’ve done nothing wrong then you have nothing to hide. However, some people from certain walks of life don’t even get an opportunity to defend themselves.

    Anyway, enough ramblings. Good luck with the new t-shirt and hope it generates more interest in Liberty.

    Mark Jayatilake

    Comment by Mark Jayatilake on 26/01/2011 at 11:00 am

  5. Some good news at last today Vivienne. It may not be 100% what we want to see, but at least there is some progress being made with the control orders supposedly being completely eradicated by the end of 2011. I hope that this is good news for yourself and Liberty!

    James

    Comment by James Emmett on 26/01/2011 at 7:43 pm

  6. Hi Vivienne,

    Thank you for a very interesting blog!
    I really admire your engagement and involvement in questions regarding culture, climate change and human rights. The way you manage to communicate these issues through your design and through your Manifesto is very inspiring.

    It gives me inspiration to wear my AR badge, to do my own art and to be creative.

    This might be a bit shallow, but I wonder if it’s possible to buy the dungarees you were wearing when you visited your friend Shami Chakrabarti at Liberty? Are they your own design? I think they looked really good on you and would like to get hold of a pair myself.

    Thanks again and look forward hearing from you!

    /Lilly

    Comment by Lilly Kutti on 15/03/2011 at 6:25 pm

  7. It is ten years in 2012 since Guantanamo Bay was established as a prison camp by the Bush administration.

    Despite numerous protests and, more importantly, promises from the Obama administration to shut down the camp it is still functioning to this day. He seems to have, in my opinion ‘Pulled a Clegg’ and unwittingly it appears given the atrocities permission to continue, by approving bills such as the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 which he signed on the 31st of December 2011, he is essentially extending a ban on transfer from Guantanamo bay, almost guaranteeing that it will not and could not be shut this year.

    It worries me an enormous amount, especially seeing as though the Democrats were supposed to be the side most likely to shut down the camp.

    US Foreign Policy: Fuck Everyone Except Us.

    Comment by James Emmett on 21/01/2012 at 1:14 pm

  8. I am really lucky to say that Shami Chakrabarti is the Chancellor of my University, and I can’t wait to see her give another speech soon this year.

    I use this video as a basis sometimes to just come back and watch as even though it’s talking and discussing wider issues concerning freedom and liberty, in the video itself, it describes that when some of us are in prison, nobody is really free, and I think that is exactly the reason why we must fight and push Obama to free Leonard Peltier!

    Sam

    Comment by Sam on 23/01/2012 at 1:11 am

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