… is society regressing 90 years?
So I finally got annoyed enough to get my rear in gear and start blogging again. Slightly different content to 15 years ago mind you. Back then it was pictures from festivals and parties. Then I got older, got offspring, and got busy with work.
I’m still busy with work, and, contrary to what former blogger me thought, will probably be so well into my 70s now. But these days I’ve got somewhat more politically aware. And increasingly politically concerned. Still, nothing much got me further than the odd Twitter post. Or occasional thread.
Then last week happened.
None of it was a surprise, its all been coming for some time, and I’ve certainly lit up Twitter and Facebook with my concerns about the increasing slide to the right, populism, Brexit, Trump, wedge politics, Partygate, and the ‘Illegal Immigrant’ Rwanda deportation policy to name but a few. But then came the introduction of the UK Bill of Rights. The UK government deciding that enough was enough, these requirements to adhere to internationally recognised standards for human rights was cramping their style. More than that, a bill effectively instructing UK Judges to find in favour of the government when their legislation could be deemed to be incompatible with human rights. This is a road that previous democracies have walked on the path to autocracy. Add on the Police Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act, an act that has Amnesty International has flagged as a ‘hugely worrying and widespread attack on human rights‘, and we’re starting to see a deeply disturbing trend.
But then, just when you thought the week couldn’t get any better, the US Supreme Court, stacked to the gunnels by Trump with hard-line Republicans, did what it had been threatening to for some time and reversed Roe vs Wade. US States are no longer prevented from passing legislation effectively removing women’s bodily autonomy. And a large number of (unsurprisingly red) states have jumped at the opportunity.
This is a major step back for human rights in the US, enforcing a minority view on the majority of citizens and effectively allowing states to rule that women do not, in effect own their own bodies. But it only gets worse. Because one of the judges responsible for the reversal of Roe vs Wade has opined that the court should should reconsider in future cases the eligibility of laws establishing the rights to contraception, same-sex marriage and the right to privacy between consenting partners.
So after last week, I don’t think that pithy 280 character comments really cut it any more. A little more noise needs to be made.
I don’t think (re)starting a blog is nearly enough to start addressing the steady erosion of hard-fought civil, human, and equality rights won over the last century or so. But for me at least, its a start.
If you want to know a little more about me and this shiny new blog, please take a look at About me (and this blog). It should give you some idea of what I might ultimately put on here.