ATTENTION BRITS - Fight for FREE SPEECH on the 23rd of April 2018 (THIS MONDAY) in LONDON and NORTH LANARKSHIRE
For those of you not aware, Count Dankula (Mark Meechan) was recently convicted of a hate crime for making a joke video on YouTube. He taught his pug to make Nazi salutes and get excited to "gas the jews". It was an entirely satrical video to irritate his girlfriend. He may be looking at going to jail for 6 MONTHS because of this video.
Count Dankula convicted for Nazi pug antics
The loss of FREE SPEECH in the UK
Every day in the UK, we lose more privacy, more freedom. This sentencing may shake the last remnant of freedom of speech, and means we must live in fear of making jokes, dare it offend someone then we will be imprisoned.
On the 23rd of April 2018 (Monday), there will be two protests. One in LONDON to get the attention of MPs, the general public, and other government. The other in NORTH LANARKSHIRE (scotland) where he is being sentenced.
There are potentially 100s of people going to each protest. I hope that many of you here on Steemit are willing to fight for freedom of speech and will come to these protests.
Speakers Corner
In the UK, we've sadly been forced into "speakers corners" to be able to express ourselves, and even that isn't guaranteed.
The largest of such is Hyde Park in London, which has been visited by people such as George Orwell (the writer for the book 1984), Karl Marx, and Vladimir Lenin.
In 1999, a ruling based on the EU convention of Human Rights told the UK that we have the right to express ourselves freely, even if what we say is offensive.
The ruling famously established in English case law that freedom of speech could not be limited to the inoffensive but extended also to "the irritating, the contentious, the eccentric, the heretical, the unwelcome, and the provocative, as long as such speech did not tend to provoke violence", and that the right to free speech accorded by Article 10 of the European Convention of Human Rights also accorded the right to be offensive. Prior to the ruling, prohibited speech at Speakers' Corner included obscenity, blasphemy, insulting the queen, or inciting a breach of the peace.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speakers'_Corner
With this ruling on Monday, Speakers' Corners across the UK are at risk of being shut down, censored. Another piece of Free Speech in the UK chipped away. We move towards becoming China, North Korea, Iran. It's not okay.
End Quote
If you care about freedom of speech, you must FIGHT FOR IT. A famous quote from Martin Niemöller, relating to the Holocaust:
First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.
GIF Avatar by @stellabelle
Do you like what I'm doing for STEEM/Steemit?
Vote for me to be a witness - every vote counts.
Don't forget to follow me for more like this.
Have you ever thought about being a witness yourself? Join the witness channel. We're happy to guide you! Join in shaping the STEEM economy.
Are you looking for a new server provider? My company @privex offers highly-reliable and affordable dedicated and virtual servers for STEEM, LTC, and BTC! Check out our website at https://www.privex.io
You mentioned Orwell!
Here is a quote I often remember!
"A people that elect corrupt politicians, imposters, thieves and traitors are not victims, but accomplices."
That's why I stopped voting ages ago.
That is your personal PROTESST.
Fair enough, again a form of personal expression as are "Donkey votes" etc. etc. etc.
But never forget:
"It has been said that for evil men to accomplish their purpose it is only necessary that good men should do nothing."
or the more common use of that original 1916 version:
"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."
So your voice (vote) is extremely important.
So true @jackmiller. Good men doing nothing is how we got where we are now. 🐓🐓
(ICO) WELL - Airbnb of Healthcare
powered by blockchain
https://goo.gl/VtQ6rF ----- WEBSITE
Excuse me for advertising. It is necessary to earn. I'll try to stop soon. :)
No, because whoever gets voted, they're all part of the same club that perpetuates the same agenda. I don't want to be part of that. Even if I voted for a less-funded party with grandiose world-solving proposals, the evil ones still win. I refuse to stand in line with the sheeplings only to waste my time with this public charade. So when the status quo continues, I can truly bitch about it and say: I didn't vote for those jerks.
Carlin got it right. He expresses exactly my stance on the matter.
But would it not be better if you could have supported a lesser of two evils?
Ya. He was pretty far left of me, ideologically, but as much of a prophet as anyone ever has been, if there is such a thing.
I understand your protest, not knocking it. Just wanted to point out that your VOICE is just as important as every other voice out there.
Voting systems are put together by those who hold the reigns of power and often enough, as you just made it very clear they tend to abuse that power and make a "charade" out if it.
Hence your actions as an individual are those that can make a difference, no matter how you make your voice heard. The key is in making it heard and striving towards the implementation of changes that could bring about an end to the "charade".
i think i feel your pain. i can totally relate
i think i can relate. i feel your pain
There is only one happiness in this life, to love and be loved.follow me and show some love. ♥♥♥
That won my vote from the first quote. That said, if good men in small numbers do something. Good men are attacked and destroyed. There has to be huge numbers of very intelligent and corruptible men and women. To make a difference
although I wouldn't agree that registering your person, to a vote. Is a good idea. A vote is only there to keep track of people.
Voting is mandatory in Australia, and our politicians are all corrupt...
There you go, they put a gun to your head: VOTE BITCHES. So much for democracy and freedom.
they take power of military anyway
Thank you. These people did not get where they are by a coup. And as far as I am concerned they did not fall from the sky.
Who do you hate the most average Joe?
Average Joe: Politicians and lawyers!
Something happens.
Average Joe's Response: The government should do something to prevent this!!!!
Government gets bigger to "solve" the problem and forces itself into the peoples lives.
Average Joe Why can't the government leave us alone?
Love the quote because its scary accurate.
It is not now (if it ever was) the government's job to preserve free speech. It is to control thought.
If you want to know who is in charge, look at who may not be criticized.
At question time in House of Commons, no question may be asked about the Bank of England.
Now, apparently, anything bad said against jews may get you 6 months in jail.
& if it makes you feel better, Australia went through a similar thing back in the 1980's!
thanks for sharing this!
https://steemit.com/politics/@bgrerdgn/good-bye-donald-trump
how did you know?
Good people who do not vote deserve the representation they get.
Indeed, the UK is almost becoming a police state. Your government spy on you at a rate that would make the NSA cringe and hardly anyone seems to care. There have been numerous cases like this over tweets and such.
Freedom of speech is the corner stone of a free society, allow them to start by curtailing it when you speak about things like this that many agree are taboo, and the rest are slow to speak out about in case their arguments are twisted to make it appear they are agreeing with the content rather than someones right to speak. That's the thin end of the wedge, soon it will be complaints about the the authorities. Then you wont be able to speak out about politicians, then its game over...
Oh and since they are monitoring all of your communications (and doing their best to backdoor, outlaw and byass encryption), perfectly lawfully in many cases because no one seems to really speak out about that either, it won't be just publicly shared videos, next it will be whats app groups then private messages to your friends...
One persons rights don't stop where anothers feelings start
First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out
Because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.
As much as this joke may offend, censoring it isn't the right answer. In fact, just burying something instead of resolving it head on is the easy way out, not the right way out.
We all need to come together an create a system of our own that will overthrow this kind of Government and its laws to restrict our opinions, thoughts and facts. If we unite now we can illiminate this harsh reality of fighting for own voices to be heard..
That's called anarchy, which is rules without rulers which would likely follow natural / moral laws. Governments have a monopoly on the use of violence to enforce man-made laws that can turn totalitarian at any given time, as you are finding out with what words you can use and who you can and can't criticize!
Its not just the government's fault mate, its a huge bunch of these far-left socialists lesbians that are supporting all that
You believe far-left lesbians are the problem?
(ICO) WELL - Airbnb of Healthcare
powered by blockchain
https://goo.gl/VtQ6rF ----- WEBSITE
Excuse me for advertising. It is necessary to earn. I'll try to stop soon. :)
Sad state of affairs that we are now in where a joke is taken this far and a man risks imprisonment for satire. I upvoted and resteemed this important issue.
It is a if virtue signalling has been taken to a whole new level as we need to punish people who may offend others in order to not look bad. Little do they know...
Our country has become a sad joke.
Come on now. Pay your bills, embrace islam and shut up. Progressive western dream come true :)
/sarc
Silly me. People SHOULD be prosecuted for upsetting feelings.
/sarc +1
🎶 Feeeeeeelings 🎶
🤣
From my own perspective or opinion, freedom of speech gives every human a right to live life without the fear of the unknown. Every human must rise up and fight for its freedom because its is the real reason of our existence.
Yes, freedom, free will and love. These are the purpose and features of our lives.
Every human should love each other!
I am not from England, but I support all of you!
The reason of our lives is probably love. But we will eventually get to know the truth.
We are temporary visitors on this Earth.
All the always wanted are to shut us up. First they complained of North Korea being under Authoritative rule but yet they are doing thesame. We will stand cos our freedom cannot be taken away
I am totally in support of these protests. Something needs to.be done now and really fast. We can't sit and watch them take away our freedom of speech too after they have taken almost all our rights away from us. That's so bad.
You are speaking out. Many are not. Very sad indeed. Keet it up. Icu. Voted you for a witness.
I want to firstly acknowledge the poster, then go ahead to show the poster that i am fully in support of the protest. U see even in my own country you will be told.. "Freedom Of Speech is guaranteed but freedom after speech is not not guaranteed"
One thing should be clear here, nothing is free of criticism, even Jesus himself was a victim of this. But we need to change things, the fact that someone says his or her mind doesnt mean they will have to die for doing so.
Where is the freedom?.... We must fight for freedom, for freedom comes by struggle.
I fully support this demonstration. We can not sit and see that they have taken almost all rights from us. Very bad.