Brown: the death toll will rise.

a bit busy to blog so here something from Peter.

Michael Finucane's piece in the Guardian about the killing of his father by a British death squad says it all, remember in times of crisis and civil strife they will come knocking at your day.

Happens less than in El Salvador but we have our dirty wars and disappearances

The official version was that state agents were infiltrating Loyalist paramilitary organisations in order to prevent what they were planning to do. There are problems with this explanation. Firstly, the activities continued despite the existence of agents, and many people were still being murdered. Secondly, this explanation conflicts with the internal reports of one of the main agencies responsible for running the agents.
State collusion with paramilitaries remains a festering sore in the way of rehabilitation from conflict-riven wasteland to modern, autonomously governed democracy. The responsibility here lies firmly with the government, which has never accepted that the state was a participant in the conflict.

Here is Peter's comment



Time for Green, not Brown

New Prime Minister, same old policies

Brownism is a continuation of Blairism by another name

London – 27 June 2007

"Prime Minister Gordon Brown has backed every Blairite blunder," said
Peter Tatchell, the Green Party candidate for Oxford East. He was
speaking on the occasion of Mr Brown taking over the premiership from
Tony Blair.

"Brownism is a continuation of Blairism by another name. Different
Prime Minister, same old policies," added Mr Tatchell.

"It is time to move on from the tainted Blairite policies of the past,
but Gordon Brown has given no indication that he will give a lead.

"The Greens offer a progressive alternative to Brown and New Labour.
We are the anti-war party that champions public services, human
rights, social justice and environmental protection. It's time for
Green, not Brown.

"Gordon Brown is planning to waste £100 billion on Trident nuclear
missiles, ID cards, new road building, more nuclear power stations,
further privatisation of public services, and the continued occupation
of Iraq.

"This enormous sum would be far better spent on affordable housing,
improved schools and hospitals, renewable power generation, and cheap,
safe and reliable public transport.

"Climate chaos is the single biggest threat to British and
international prosperity and security. The Greens are the only party
with serious, credible policies to halt global warming.

"While Brown is making loud green noises, his policies to tackle
climate change are weak and contradictory. Carbon emissions have
increased since Labour came to power in 1997.

"Gordon Brown is supporting new motorway and airport expansion. He has
allowed huge hikes in public transport fares, which discourage people
from leaving their cars at home.

"As Chancellor, he imposed the air passenger duty but he is not using
it to fund carbon cuts. The money raised by this tax - nearly £2
billion a year - is just disappearing into the exchequer.

"The hope that Brown will return the Labour party and government to
its left-wing roots is, frankly, delusional. He has said there will be
no back-tracking on Blair's agenda. No surprise there. After all, he
was the co-architect of New Labour.


"Look at Brown's past record and his recent pledges to maintain
Blair's key policies.

"He was the prudent Chancellor who stuck with Tory spending limits at
a time when the poor and public services were crying out for action.

"He insulted our senior citizens with his miserly 75p pension
increase, at a time when the national insurance budget had a £7
billion surplus.

"Two years earlier, he abolished tax relief on dividends paid into
pensions funds, which reduced their value by a staggering £5 billion a
year. This contributed to dozens of pension schemes collapsing and
resulted in many retirees getting much lower pensions than expected.

"Brown has promoted Labour's creeping privatisation of health and
education, including foundation hospitals and city academies. In
contrast, the Greens believe public services should serve the public,
not enrich consultants and private corporations.

"The new Prime Minister has acquiesced with the biggest-ever peacetime
erosion of civil liberties. He not only endorses the police having the
right to detain people without charge for up to 28 days (the
equivalent of a two month prison sentence), he has indicated his
willingness to consider extending the detention period, perhaps up to
90 days - despite parliament less than a year ago rejecting such
draconian incarceration measures, and despite no evidence that longer
detention will be useful in curbing crime or terrorism.

"We have witnessed Brown supporting the ban on protests near
parliament without prior police permission; echoing the old Soviet
system where citizens had to get official authorisation to demonstrate
outside the Kremlin. This ban has resulted in peace campaigners being
arrested in Whitehall for reading out the names of the Iraq war dead.

"Brown also backs the inhumanity of the asylum system; whereby
innocent asylum seekers who have fled jail and torture are
incarcerated like common criminals, with fewer legal rights that
people charged with rape and murder.

"Mr Brown has reiterated his approval of the war in Iraq. He has no
exit strategy; and no plan to rebuild the country's shattered
infrastructure – a devastation that has fuelled the insurgency and
left many regions with no welfare provision for jobless and homeless
refugees, and no fully operational phone and sewage systems, and water
and electricity supplies.

"He lacks any proposals for a negotiated settlement to the
Israel-Palestine conflict. The suffering of the Palestinian people is
the major cause of violence in the Middle East and acts as a
recruiting sergeant for international terrorism. Securing a just peace
settlement is crucial for global peace and stability," said Mr
Tatchell.

Further information: Peter Tatchell 0207 403 1790

www.greenoxford.com/peter

www.petertatchell.net


--
Peter Tatchell is the Green Party parliamentary candidate for Oxford East
http://www.greenoxford.com/peter and http://www.petertatchell.net


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