Let a Great Assembly Be . . . ! | by Andy Wastling

Verse : 65 :

`Let a great Assembly be Of the fearless and the free On some spot of English ground Where the plains stretch wide around.'

The Masque of Anarchy

Percy Bysshe Shelley ( 1819 ) following the Peterloo Massacre of that year.

In his call for freedom, it is perhaps the first modern statement of the principle of nonviolent resistance.

Let a Great Assembly Be . . . ! | by Andrew Wastling

It's entirely understandable that a widespread national campaign is rapidly developing amongst campaign organisations , activists , academics and individuals. Patel might have inadvertently created a united front against this rogue government as an entirely unintended consequence.

It's heartening to read in yesterday's Independent that : More than 700 of the UK’s leading legal academics have signed a stinging open letter urging Boris Johnson to ditch draconian restrictions on the freedom to demonstrate, in one of the largest protests of its kind in decades. ( https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/police-bill-academics-letter-priti-patel-b1818695.html)

The attack on traditional Gypsy and Romany Travellers is straight out of the Tory Attack Handbook on New Age Travellers in the Public Order Bill of the 1980's which also generated a huge popular backlash. Some of us will also remember attending the huge and lively demonstration against the Criminal Justice Bill in the 1990's . The government is clearly expecting widespread expressions of popular discontent post Covid and are accordingly rigging the courts and legislature well in advance .

Murdoch of course has never forgiven Extinction Rebellion from preventing his newspapers being delivered and will no doubt have demanded an appropriate government response to ensure it won't happen again. Patel will as they say : Just be following ( Murdochs ) orders !

Unsurprisingly there are a large number of public petitions circulating on this huge attempt to marginalize and reduce the right to protest as follows:

House of Commons : Do Not Restrict our Rights to Peaceful Protest

https://petition.parliament.uk/signatures/108799139/signed

Friends , Families & Travellers : Stand Against Harsh New Laws for Roadside Camps

https://action.gypsy-traveller.org/page/78097/donate/1?locale=en-GB&en_chan=tw&ea.tracking.id=Twitter_crim_tres&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&utm_content=Email%20To%20Target%20_%20Crim%20Trespass&en_ref=207204871

Netpol : Netpol's Charter For Freedom of Assembly Rights

https://netpol.org/charter/

38 Degrees : Protect the Freedom to protest

https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/protect-the-freedom-to-protest

Liberty : Stop The Policing Bill

https://action.libertyhumanrights.org.uk/page/78339/petition/1?ea.tracking.id=twitter

Protect Everyone Bill : ( email your MP )

https://action.libertyhumanrights.org.uk/page/77270/action/1?ea.tracking.id=twitter

Global Justice Now : Defend the right to Protest

Defend the right to protest | Global Justice Now

Friends of the Earth : Defend Your Right to Protest

Add your name to defend the right to protest | Friends of the Earth

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The Radical North & Melvyn Bragg

TODAY, Melvyn Bragg explores the radical movements that sprang from the North - Chartism, the campaign for women's votes, anti-slavery protests, the birth of the Labour Party.  The programme begins outside Manchester's Midland Hotel where Mr Rolls met Mr Royce.  It's also near the site of the Peterloo Massacre - one of the defining moments in British social history.  People had gathered here in their thousands from the city and surrounding towns and villages - protesting for parliamentary reform. fifteen were slain and hundreds wounded by charging cavalry troops.  Melvyn visits what one contributor Dr Robert Poole describes as Democracy Wall - it runs alongside of the nearby Quaker Meeting House - many people were crushed against it at the time of the Massacre. The wall is the only structure left from the period.  The massacre inspired the poet Shelley to write the Masque of Anarchy, part of which is read for us by the actor Maxine Peake.
Melvyn goes on to describe the rich history of dissent nurtured in the north - the women's suffrage movement, the campaign to abolish slavery, chartism, and the founding of the Independent Labour Party.
Why the north?
Was it Methodism, the size of the population, the isolated landscapes, the topography of the cities or even the weather?