Yesterday was United Nations day. I spent a fair part of it sitting outside the Ministry of Justice where the Attorney General is based. The Ministry has various justice-relevant historical statements emblazoned on its windows, including John Locke’s famous saying from 1689: “wherever law ends, tyranny begins”.
I was there with about 500 colleagues supporting the Free Political Prisoners campaign, organised by the redoubtable Defend Our Juries. And we were there because the Labour Government’s new Attorney General, Richard Hermer, has, refused to meet with Defend Our Juries and others. We’re keen to discuss what Labour is going to do to reverse the terrible damage done by the Tories in terms of oppressive new laws specifically designed to crush protest, as well as the new “hostile environment” when cases get to trial, and a sequence of outrageous sentences imposed on peaceful protesters.
And that’s the problem with John Locke’s aphorism. Yes, of course, that’s when tyranny begins, but what if the laws by which you as a citizen are bound are themselves tyrannous? In other words, “using power or authority in a cruel and oppressive way”. Because that’s exactly what’s happening here in the UK today,
We’re in this for the long haul, obviously. But I would have so loved to see more support for this action (and for the work of Defend Our Juries) from mainstream environmental organisations. There comes a point where “not rocking the boat” and “steady she goes” (doubling down on well-behaved incrementalism) is little more than the latest variant of denialism. You only need to listen to the meaningless hubbub at CoP16 (the latest Biodiversity conference going on in Colombia) to see where that has got us – with more than 70% of biodiversity lost between 1970 and 2020.
There was another aphorism on the window of the Ministry of Justice immediately opposite from where I was sitting:
“That excessive bail ought not to be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual Punishments inflicted”.
Is it possible, right now, to think of crueller and more unusual punishments than those inflicted on the “Whole Truth 5” (Cressie Gethin, Roger Hallam, Lou Lancaster, Daniel Shaw and Lucia Whittaker De Abreu) back in July, with Roger Hallam getting five years and the others four years for planning the subsequent disruption on the gantries above the M25. These are far harsher sentences than those handed down to the vast majority involved in the violent and abhorrent race riots in the summer, after the killings in Southport.
That’s why this is on the Attorney General’s desk. And on the Home Secretary’s desk, who has taken a predictably non-committal stand so far on repealing the Tories’ repressive laws. It fills me with dread that we might end up with a “bystander Government” when it comes to justice and the uncompromising defence of the rights to freedom of speech and peaceful assembly.
So, I hope people won’t be offended if I gently build on John Locke’s timeless aphorism:
“Wherever tyrannous law obtains ………………… rebellion begins”.
Jonathon Porritt
