Brian Haw & Fighting For What You Believe In
I came across Brain Haw (http://www.parliament-square.org.uk, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Haw) while reading this http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7124575.stm BBC news story on the winner of this years turner prize. I hope the winner of the £25,000 prize, Mark Wallinger, gives it all to Brain Haw. It would be a crime to profit by doing otherwise. I mean sure, he probably shelled out a bit to employ the 15 people for 6 months to make it (sadly though I don’t see their names next to WINNER) but still, Brian has been sat in the centre of London for over 6 years.
Right here (it’s a Quicktime VR movie, drag the image around..):
I think what he is doing is great and under our laws he has the right to do what he is doing. Until now. The police came and took away everything in the image above; all his legal documents, his personal items - everything. This was done under anti-terrorism laws because the objects apparently posed a threat and could possibly conceal explosives. Why they chose to do this in the middle of the night, and instead of search for explosives or terrorist threats take everything it’s either easy or hard to say depending on your perspective, but what can be said is that now this brave man who is standing in the face of so much opposition while he is speaking out for what is fair and just, now has nothing. What little effect he was having has been diminished as much as possible. The law has been twisted to oppress the very people it serves, and more depressingly in a way which never fully confronts the issue justly. It speaks volumes on our country. I’ll say no more about it for the time being.It is also interesting to note that the subject of him being there is an issue in itself as the government passed a law effectively making it illegal to protest within 1km of the capital buildings. Check out http://www.markthomasinfo.com/demo/, theres a lot of other really good information on his site relating to the subject.