Kill The Bill: What You Can Do
Poster via Kill The Bill
Tomorrow in the UK the House of Lords will vote on the new Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill which, among other horrors, will:
Outlaw protesting whether online, in the streets, whether you're organising, marching or sharing resources.
Peaceful protesters can be imprisioned for "causing annoyance" or being "noisy", or even unknowingly by-standing (because you "should have known"). Activists can be banned from using the internet and social media, or slapped with a "protester's ASBO" and told who they can see and where they can go day-to-day.
Will criminalise the existence of Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller people.
Will allow police to Stop and Search people without any reason. The Bill also makes it an offence to challenge police on why they are doing so.
Will give further power to immigration officers to intrude upon, manipulate and coerce migrants into leaving the UK.
Simple actions that you can take today
Write to your MP. They Work For You is the most amazing resource where you can find your MP and their contact details, plus see how they have voted in recent debates. Looking through recent votes on the amendments to the Police Bill has given me a lot of hope, the numbers are falling on the right side but the gap is small so we still need to push.
Call, email, or tweet members of the House of Lords who are not affiliated with any party who may help swing the vote tomorrow. This is genuinely amazing - there are phone scripts, email templates and pre-populated tweets. It has never been easier to bug people in power!
Sign Liberty's petition to stop the bill.
Spread awareness on social media, especially if you don't usually get involved, and tell your friends and family. Share any of the links above or below, or share straight from @killthebill_official, @libertyhq, @extinctionrebellion.
Further reading and resources
Kill The Bill Resources including briefings and factsheets.
Guardian article - Psychiatrists warn of police and crime bill’s impact on young people
Independent article - More than 700 legal scholars urge Boris Johnson to ditch plan for ‘draconian’ restrictions on right to protest
Greenpeace article - Why You Should Be Worried About the New Policing Bill
Dealing with overwhelm
I know we're all feeling it at the moment. Things like this Bill can make us feel helpless and hopeless. It is only so if we don't act. Everything above is quick and simple to do, and there is still time to act.
To misquote an already misattributed quote, "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do nothing."
