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Taking Liberties

Posted on November 22, 2009 by Bendik Hansen in politics
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This comical documentary is a personal journey in the decline of civil liberties (with very strong language). It argues that civil liberties that have taken hundreds of years to build up are being eroded swiftly, and that a police state Britain is becoming a fact.

Millions of CCTV cameras up and down the country undermine our right to privacy. A series of measures has made it more and more difficult to exercise freedom of speech and already led to the arrest of a large number of peaceful protesters. Director Chris Atkins has assembled footage to demonstrate how oppressive these new powers can be. The 82-year-old holocaust survivor was lifted bodily from a debate at the Labour Party conference for, as talking-head Tony Benn points out, “rightfully” saying that Jack Straw is talking “nonsense” about Iraq. We see a man who tries to protest against the treatment of this old man also set upon by security, and learn that he was later handled roughly – and that poor old Wolfgang was next detained by the police under the 2000 Terrorism Act.

Many more cases are shown in Taking Liberties.

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Rating: 4.9/5 (18 votes cast)

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posted on March 07, 2010, 06:51:25 PM
comment #4132
cachalandran

im not european ... but this really got my attention..the "developed" first world countries are always talking about this horrible repressive, evil governments all over the world. it seems to me that they are the evil they want to kill. civil society should have the courage to go beyond all this and re gain their rights.

it concerns me so much. we are no longer protected by the state, but threatened.

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posted on February 05, 2010, 10:19:00 AM
comment #3627
James Campbell

There were too many feelings that arose in me the first 20 minutes of the Video to put in words. I know this in only but a very small slice of what is happening.
History is repeating its self.
My eyes started to water-up; everything we had in the past is gone.
Just go to work if you have a job, watch TV, Drink, smoke and keep your eyes and head down; you will be ok, Big Brother will love you.
Thank you to this website.

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posted on December 02, 2009, 06:08:44 AM
comment #2593
Tay.

If you have a logical inconsistency in the logic of your bridge, your bridge will hurt people. If you have a logical inconsistency in your medicine, you'll hurt people.

Why would it be any different in the realm of politics?

Until we address the core logical fallacy of statism, we'll get more and more of the same.

Look for the free audio book "Everyday Anarchy" for more.

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posted on December 02, 2009, 05:12:15 AM
comment #2592
Tay.

The only person who can make the decision between "liberty vs safety" is the individual himself.

The government has NO RIGHT to make that decision for you.

The government doesn't exist. It's just people...and no one has MORE rights than you.

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posted on December 02, 2009, 05:03:44 AM
comment #2591
Sam G.

Rights not not something granted by a government. A right is the absence of force.

By definition, a government is a violator of rights. The best thing a government can do is to disappear.

Afraid of criminals? Why are you giving a group of people the RIGHT to steal and use violence against you?

Isn't that like curing a headache by cutting off your head?

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posted on December 02, 2009, 04:08:06 AM
comment #2589
jm

People people people, listen- please stop it with the Democracy worship.

You CAN get tyranny with a democracy!!!

Nazism and Communism are all based on democratic principals.

If 9 people out of 10 say X is ok... it doesn't make it moral.

The ONLY principal that secures freedom and prosperity is PROPERTY RIGHTS.

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posted on December 01, 2009, 11:38:12 PM
comment #2587
jm

Politics is a distraction. It's an illusion to make you believe that the government evils are somehow the voters' fault.

Forcible government is a moral abomination and completely counterproductive to peace and prosperity.

It's time for a voluntary, free-market system of social organization.

End legal violence.

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posted on November 30, 2009, 03:13:07 AM
comment #2546
Patou Fathallah

What we all need is more information, like this film !
When a public is well informed, they can forget their daily preoccupations, for a while at least, and the shift in thought, responsibility and energy shifts..

it's usually misinformation and one sided media that creates the apathy..

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posted on November 26, 2009, 04:08:50 AM
comment #2488
The Tay
This is a reply to comment #2478

Thats true, i do what i can to try to spread that, but what i have seen is that most people are still including myself are still too busy with our lives to give it more than a passing glance, and a few whoas and wows. frankly the pacifying power of modern civilization is highly effective. there is always stuff you want, and food is one of those things, so put your nose to the grind stone and dont ask questions. i am pretty frustrated by it, being that i spent most of my adult life in the army, and frankly i am disappointed in what i was fighting for.

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posted on November 25, 2009, 09:51:05 AM
comment #2478
AdamTM

I think WE, and the host of this site, are already doing something.

I for one spread these documentaries amongst friends, and then we talk about them.

If all of us build a small community around ourselves, spread the knowledge, discuss, we've done our part.

No need to despair - yet.

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posted on November 25, 2009, 04:44:33 AM
comment #2476
The Tay

Thanks Phil88. I are good at english talking and smart making. lol. the sad part is that it is all just words. its tragic that we arent able to enact change. any of us, us included. we can complain about it, claim to see it all so clearly, but we have no way out of the fact that for at least the next ten years we are going to sit here looking at each other wondering what to do about the problem. its that whole fear of change thing. we are all guilty, and until something major happens like a zombie apocolypse or aliens landing, we probably wont be capable of bridging the education, nationality, race, sexuality gap.

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posted on November 24, 2009, 05:31:34 PM
comment #2468
phil88

@The Tay - Amen, couldn't have put it any better myself :)

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posted on November 24, 2009, 01:35:24 AM
comment #2461
The Tay

i agree with you wholeheartedly Phil88. america is like rome all over again. i would say, 'you would think people would learn after 2000 years', but i get the impression that that is the whole point of why these tactics are still in use. people dont care. self betterment, or more importantly racial(human) social and technological evolution are on the backburner. and yes, most of that ties into what AdamTM was saying about education. has anyone noticed that pop culture and what is 'cool' has gravitated towards being ignorant? the more ignorant a person is, it seems the more successful they are able to become. this is due to an ignorance is bliss stance of the western masses. lets face it. media and sex appeal has made us docile. (lol hey. i am a guy, i love my sex, and my action flicks, but it doesnt make it any less true.) we need to focus, as the human race, on what is important, before our collective ignorance and fear of change buries us.

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posted on November 23, 2009, 04:47:20 PM
comment #2454
AdamTM
This is a reply to comment #2449

You know what we need, we need a revolution, but a different kind of revolution.

I dont want communism, i dont want socialism, i dont want law over law of regulations forcing equality on everything.

What i want to see is education and reason.

Once the education takes root, democracy and capitalism will start working in ways you never imagined possible.

Of course as John Stewart put it, it would be a really unsuccessful revolution, nobody wants to go out on the street with signs reading:

BE REASONABLE!

or

I WANT TO LEARN MORE!

For all the technical advancements we had, for all the good positive changes we made during the past 100 years towards liberty and equality, most of our society ITSELF still behaves like sheep.

The revolution needs to come in the form of self recognition, or rediscovery, however you want to see it.
Society needs to reflect on what it is, and what makes it.

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posted on November 23, 2009, 11:52:04 AM
comment #2449
phil88

its funny because we are in need of a new world order, just not the monopolised oligarchy that the the politicians and big business are on about.

We need to start thinking like a race, not like countries, we gotta recognise everyone is human and we all have the same specific goal: survival. Until we recognise that politics is just an illusion to keep the real arbritors of power concealed, we will never create a free, truly democratic world. Wake up and read a fuckin history book, none of these tactics are new, boom/bust economics, wars over resources, false flag terrorism etc etc

I think if people learned more from the past our future would be very different, until we do, we're all doomed to repeat the same mistakes

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posted on November 22, 2009, 10:05:00 PM
comment #2443
Jack Mackenna

our rights aren't being eroded. they were never respected in the first place. the reason it appears they're being "eroded" is because we are growing up out of the delusion that they were.

Time to let go of the old government fantasy and begin with something new.

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posted on November 22, 2009, 08:51:24 PM
comment #2441
DK McGreeb

man when it showed the landsdowne road 'bomb factory' raid i had somewhat of an epiphany.
i've been prejudiced against muslims for so long, yet when i saw how the kahar brothers spoke i felt they are still just our brothers in the exact same struggle. they are just a group that have been given such a terrible public image that even i feel a personal justification for discrimination against them and i'm a very individual person.
muslims arent bad people, muslims are people and the bottom line is people are just people. this website has given me so much its kind of crazy, and to see it fully dash any and all personal discrimination of muslim people is extraordinary and profoundly good, so thank you.
sorry to the muslim people, truly you guys get it bad, i can see why you feel justified in burning representive stuff in the streets and going offit over attacks against islam.
im a stoner and i hate when dicks preach to me about not getting high because of what they believe, if you do the same to muslims just because some rich liers say that muslims are fundamental terrorists you're a dick too.
ive been a dick and i know alot of people who have too, i hope more people see stuff like this within this documentary. the beaurocracy is the only real enemy, different groups within citizens are mearly contrasted ideals culminated from what we've been told.

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posted on November 22, 2009, 07:51:57 PM
comment #2439
Inspired

Thats a real eye opener, I cant believe our government gets away with all this. I live in a small town where nothing EVER happens let alone anyone read anything or think for a second that something seriously wrong is going on here. It sickens me to see all these lazy fools in our country coasting through life blissfully unaware to these sorts of injustices and have the nerve to call me "crazy" or that I'm just boring whenever I try to inform people of these issues. I will be moving to London next year and will be there in the thick of it making my voice heard and I dearly hope more take the same attitude and get off their fat arses and get mad!!

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posted on November 22, 2009, 12:15:41 PM
comment #2434
Raged

Every British Citizen should watch this documentary to realise what our government has done in the name of so called anti terrorism.

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