Olympic Oppression: London Games & Beijing Deja Vu?

The British Government in its appropriately sinister-sounding Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act are introducing a range of new powers for the police to ostensibly ensure security at the London Olympics next year, but which simply add to the increasingly intrusive arsenal of powers of surveillance and repression of political protest. The Independent newspaper published some details today.

Among other powers deemed essential to ensure athletes compete and corporate till ching to the sound of ticket price rip offs and assorted memorabilia scams, are - being able to enter private homes and remove political posters. As we know, posters are very threatening items in the wrong hands and someone displaying an anti- government poster in their home on a tourist route is frankly a clear and present danger to the national economic well-being. Suddenly aware of the Coalition Government's appalling record, some visitors may choose to not spend their cash - perhaps treason should be added as a potential charge to such subversive poster owners.

The laws will include a range of new methods for closing down protests like St Paul's and the one outside Parliament, where the late and much missed Brian Haw defied national and London authorities for years with his anti-war protest. Given that the camp in Parliament Square caused no issues during the Royal Wedding earlier this year, why are the Con Dems so concerned about a crackdown before the Olympics? Could it be because they know the economic news is going to be even worse by next spring?

It is chilling to read, on a day when Egyptian police have been trying to remove the camp in Tahrir Square, to read that the British administration is seeking to squash protest which in one report is deemed to be not only embarrassing to the authorities, but positively dangerous. But in our corporate-dominated world, sadly unsurprising.
The Olympics, a crackdown on political dissent on safety grounds....doesn't it sound rather familiar....?

2008 - 2012: Then & Now - Beijing & London Olympics...

Myth & Reality In The Land of the Free...

The Myth...

"In the Land of the Free, you can be what you wanna be..."

Holly Johnson's 1989 hit single "Americanos" was a paean to American consumerism and the concept of the land of opportunity and freedom. Tongue-in-cheek, it's snappy melody and mildly satrical lyrics captured the gauche optimism of the American Dream, an ideal sold to the world, with some success. Across the planet, other countries are shedding ancient cultures and beliefs to embrace the liberal economics that seemingly epitomise the USA.

Holly Johnson's American Dream

And yet, setting aside for a moment the domination of American society by huge mega-corporations for at least the last century, the last two decades have seen increasing assaults on freedom of speech and assembly. Rights which have allegedly been fundamental to the "American Way" for the nation's entire existence have come under assault through the all-embracing PATRIOT Act and its successors, and the Department of Homeland Security has a long reach.

And, as can be seen in the second video here, US authorities also have a quite ludicrous response to peaceful protest - rather adeptly making their opponents' point for them by arresting people for the dreadful crime of silent dancing.

The Reality...

An RT America television host Adam Kokesh was violently slammed and choked by police who arrested the host after he took part in a flash-mob at the publicly-funded Jefferson Memorial.

On May 28 Adam and other activists were arrested seconds after they started silently dancing in what they say was a celebration of the first amendment's champion.

www.rt.com