Re[2]: David Davis' Resignation and fight over civil liberty

[Chris Salter]

Hello David and UKCrypto,

Thursday, June 12, 2008, 8:15:52 PM, you wrote:

> On 12 Jun 2008 at 13:48, James Cox wrote:

>> I think it's not really a party political issue as much as it's a  
>> citizenship issue - and i would encourage you all to pledge to get  
>> involved in any way you can: this has to be the time to show that we  
>> care about the future of our liberties... :)

> I watched the debate on television. As I expected the Labour Party's 
> arguments consisted of the usual bluff and bluster. The only people 
> with good arguments were those opposed to it, including some Labour 
> MPs.

> It seems that the Labour Party will be unwilling to take up the 
> challenge and are instead proposing to run away by not putting up a 
> candidate. That may not be fatal to getting the mass media to discuss 
> the increasingly repressive regime, but it is a cunning trick.

> It is not just 42 days either. There are many problems with coroner's 
> courts, but the idea that the Home Secretary should be able to put in a
> Home Office stooge whenever it suits her is reminiscent of a banana 
> republic.

Is it also not a 'blind spot' with all Governments that they are
unable to conceive a time that they may no longer be in power, a time
when all those Draconian powers *they* forced through on the basis
*they* would only be used 'in extremis', will fall into the hands of a
'less democratic' bunch of individuals. I'm being generous of course
in assuming for the sake of argument the best possible motives
underlying this present Government's actions.

Martin Bell writes in "Through Gates of Fire":

"What we are engaged on in the long haul is not a war [on Terrorism]
but a campaign for survival - the survival of our values as much as
ourselves. The values of liberal democracy are strong, and will
prevail - but only in the long term, and if we don't betray them by
our manner of defending them, in the course of events that will test
our deepest reserves of patience and courage."

He continues:

"I used to give a lecture to military academics entitled (not very
elegantly) 'Shit happens and how to deal with it'. I feel the same
about terrorism. From time to time its agents will penetrate our
defences, especially of the softer targets, however well we organize
them [our defences]. That is no reason for us to lead timorous lives,
or to turn our societies inside out and upside down for fear of what
the enemy at the gates may do to us. That gives him the victory
without a shot being fired. Instead, we should understand that there
are no quick fixes or silver bullets available. Terrorism is a fact of
twenty-first-century life. We shall have to learn to take the
casualties that it inflicts, to curb it where we can, and to live with
it where we cannot, for many years to come."

I do not have an 'inside track' on David Davis's motives in the
decision that he has taken. The Media commentators would have us
believe that honour and politics are strange bedfellows if today's
reactions are anything to go by. I choose to believe otherwise, at
least as far as David Davis is concerned.

Chris

-- 
 Chris Salter                      mailto:ukcrypto@originalthinktank.org.uk
 Cornwall United Kingdom        http://www.originalthinktank.org.uk/