Dear John
Our planet is facing catastrophic climate and nature emergencies.
But despite all the warnings about mass extinction and escalating loss of lives and livelihoods due to climate breakdown, politicians are still dodging their responsibility for taking action.
That’s why our right to protest is more important than ever. Speaking out can sometimes feel like an uphill battle, but we’re powerful when we do it together. As history has shown, our ability to protest is a key part of making change happen.
However, Home Secretary Priti Patel keeps adding repressive amendments to the government's new policing bill – which includes authoritarian measures that will make it harder for you to hold power to account. In the words of journalist George Monbiot, this is proper police state stuff [1].
We urgently need to protect everyone’s right to protest and we need your help to do it. So please make a one-off donation today to help make sure this vital freedom isn’t lost.
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We need your support to stop the hostile parts of the policing bill and fight back against growing authoritarianism. Together we must:
- Continue our legal and parliamentary scrutiny of the bill.
- Raise public awareness of these attacks on our freedoms.
- Persuade politicians to reject the Home Secretary’s latest changes – like banning individuals from protesting even when they haven’t broken the law.
Without peaceful protest, we wouldn't have many of the rights and freedoms we take for granted today.
Had Priti Patel’s bill been law at the time, crucial protests like the women’s suffrage marches and the first Gay Pride demonstrations could have faced restrictions and further criminalisation.
With the current threats that people and our planet are facing, our voices must be heard.
So please consider making a one-off donation today, to help our lawyers and campaigners stand up to the government – and push back against this threat to our rights.
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Thanks for reading and for all your support.
Best wishes,
Dave Timms
Heads of Political Affairs, Legal and Planning
NOTES:
[1] Jailed for 51 weeks for protesting? Britain is becoming a police state by stealth, The Guardian.
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