Freedom for Sale

A book by a liberal journalist turned Human rights campaigner gives a good view of the current political reality. Taking in Singapore, USA, Russia, China, Italy, UAE and Britain it shows generally what we all know already. Britain, the surveillance state is one we know about already. The author asked to have a look at the place in London that is the  headquarters for camera surveillance. He didn’t think they’d be to eager to show him but they were delighted. Inside a shabby building he was brought down through a maze of dingy corridors. Then there’s a new wooden door sort of like a portal to another world, remember Bosco if you’re of a certain age?

Beyond is a mass of screens and people watching them, that bit is like it’s out of a film. They’re very proud of all this. Then there are towns where the camera has a speaker so the watcher can blurt out “pick up that litter and put it in the bin”. The watcher is also meant to say thank you, just like the way they’re meant to say it in Lidl.

The USA, Russia and China are what you might expect. The patriot act in the USA was by any measure unconstitutional, just like I would say that Lisbon was unconstitutional for Ireland. With Russia you have Putin, but they Russians never really did live under a democracy for long. When the did they found they were looted on a scale unlike anything the world has seen in recent decades. Putin was the puppet of the robber barons but he cut away the strings. In China people wonder is democracy worth having anyway as it is in the West. You need a bit of dictation to keep things going well because it would fall apart otherwise.

The most interesting part of the book concerns Singapore, the multicultural dictatorship that you might well never have heard was a multicultural dictatorship. The people and the government have “the pact”, they’re free to make money and live well as long as they don’t question the Government. Instead of putting people in jail, fines are doled out and a novel way of ruining someone exists, you are taken to court for the purpose of being driven to bankruptcy.

An offshoot of Malaysia, Singapore is made up of ethnic Malaysians and Chinese. The Chinese are a more influential group and thats a cause of tension in Malaysia  but not Singapore. Malaysia is where the powers that be would have us believe is our destination.