Taking Liberties

By Daniel Nelson Taking Liberties chronicles New Labour'’s destruction of civil liberties. Yes, it’s a polemic, and No, there’s little that’s revelatory. There are one or two Michael Moore moments, but although it’s fast-moving and entertaining, for the most part it uses actual footage and talking heads to make its case. They’re all featured - Brian Haw and his one-man Parliament Square protest, Boris Johnson for the libertarian right, the NatWest 3 (director Chris Atkins suggests that City anger over their extradition under a one-sided agreement with the US helped raised money for the film), the alleged ricin bombers (but no ricin), Moazzam Begg, evicted Labour Party protester Walter Wolfgang, self-styled civil liberties nerd Shami Chakrabarti, assorted grannies, lawyers, activists, students and their worried parents, Guantanamo guards and their hovering minders, an oh-so-sincere Tony Blair - the list goes on. There’s damning, infuriating footage of clumsy - often illegal - policing, and a number of moments of telling detail that surprise even when you know the overall story well. It’'s not perfect, it’s not balanced, it overstates the case: nevertheless it's a case that needs to be discussed. Part of the problem is that historically our liberties have been built up by curbing the powers of the state. Now the state is clawing back both its power and our liberties by redefining the threat as coming from terrorists and arguing that only the state can defend us. The result has been a 10-year epidemic of rushed, repressive and inadequately scrutinised legislation. The laws have been shocking and shabby, and the film grabs you by the collar and says, You can’t remain silent in the face of this assault. See it, and act. * A book has been published to accompany the film.

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