Sep 29 2007
Burma - a thug state
Burma is an extreme version of a thug state, where those in power control far too many aspects of people’s lives and seek to strangle all opposition to their evil rule. They are prepared to gun down their own citizens just because they want to protest peacefully on the streets against their government. They combine protecting their own privileges with incompetence when it comes to maintaining or raising the living standards of their fellow citizens. It is good that all parties and people in UK politics can combine in condemning such a regime.
Unfortunately there are occasions when the urge to do down legitimate opposition or overuse state power can also afflict more civilised countries with democratic governments. This UK government has gone further than its predecessors in limiting free speech through political correctness, in using anti terror laws to take away the freedoms of people it does not charge with any criminal offence,and in restricting protests near Parliament and government offices. Too many people die in custody in the UK, where the UK government fought to exempt itself from anti corporate manslaughter provisions. Some Ministers and government supporters voted for a plan to exempt Parliament from freedom of information laws.
The EU is even worse when it comes to dealing with legitimate opposition. I remember one occasion arriving by car for a Council of Ministers meeting in Brusssels. I was not taken by the usual route to the usual door, because I was told there was a protest on the streets against the Common Agriculture Policy. I immediately felt sympathy with the protesters and asked if I could be taken to the front door to meet them and hear their grievances for myself. I was told this was impossible, and saw the way they had barricaded the streets. The EU governing class treated these protesters as if they were an enemy laying siege to the city, rather than as taxpayers paying for all this EU government who might have a legitimate criticism or two. No amount of persuasion gave me as Minister power to overrule and get to the front door.It was one of the defining moments which reinforced my dislike of the way the EU does its business, and ignores public opinion.
Contrast that with what I was able to do in the UK. One day as a Minister I was told there were protesters against the Common Fisheries Policy who had chosen to waylay me on a journey in Wales. I was advised to go by a different route. I said I would go by the agreed route, and would stop to talk to the protesters. I did so, despite some official misgivings about the wisdom of this course of action. I told them to park the car away from the protesters and I walked over to meet them. It was the right thing to do, and as it turned out I entirely agreed with the protesters and they were pleased I took the trouble to listen. The protesters behaved peacefully and had a justified grievance. My frustration was with the EU for having such a bad policy.
One of the things we could do in the west as a beacon for the protesters in Burma is to strengthen the rights of all our citizens to undertake peaceful protest and to challenge the assumptions of those in power, throughout the EU.
RSS Feed
John Redwood has been the Member of Parliament for Wokingham since 1987. First attending Kent College, Canterbury, he graduated from Magdalen College...
John, you are the sort of politican that commands respect. You have strong opinions, you don’t deviate under pressure, and you are prepared to face your critics head on. There is a word that sums all that up ‘Honesty’. If only more politicians were honest then faith in the political process would be restored.
On the subject of Burma, it is very sad that Gordon Brown and the rest of the world is doing nothing. If a brutal regime is shooting dead over a hundred of its own citizens in one day there is a word for that ‘Genocide’. The problem is the world won’t learn from this, just like it didn’t learn from the genocide in Rwanda. Gordon Brown needs to get out his moral compass and look up Burma and act decisively. Gordon Brown’s platitudes may play well on television but they don’t help the people of Burma.
Reply: I agree with you about Burma, and thanks for the kind words.
I find it very difficult to see an answer to the ongoing problems in Myanmar. I do not believe that there is a will amongst the west to intervene militarily. Both of the countries that seem to have set themselves up as the world’s policeman are still suffering fall out over Iraq and Afghanistan in their own countries and with elections coming up in both the UK and USA, politicians will be unwilling to get militarily involved.
I believe the key to this problem lies with China, they seem to have more influence over the problematic state and perhaps the UN needs to put pressure on China to assist to resolve this matter. As China’s economy has grown, it seems to me they long to be accepted by the international community as a major player, perhaps we could use this to apply the said pressure.
Reply: Yes China does have the most leverage of the larger powers and we need to persuade them to use it.
It’s simple really John. Think back to the 1980s - loud protesters everywhere, “maggie out!” and the rest of it. Maggie took all that with grace.
Now under New Labour protesting outside parliament is illegal.
Because the more tin-pot the dictator, the thinner the skin, I think.
Mr. Redwood,
I have always thought that you have been a huge asset to the Conservative party, and your pronouncements are always concise, thoughtful and measured. Long may you contribute and I hope to see you in cabinet soon!
Burma is a very sad case, and is typified by that wonderful lady, Aung. I do try, on my blog, in my own little way, to keep her, and Burma, in the readers’ thoughts.
Good article, John.