Reflections on 7/7

Written by Stephen Clarke on Fri 7th Jul 2006

A year on it is necessary and right to remember those who died, those who were maimed, and those who lost loved ones. It is also essential however that we uphold those memories by ensuring they did not suffer or die in vain and that the free country they lived in is not allowed to die now that they are gone.

This means refusing to give in to those politicians who would seek to use the fear of another atrocity, and inevitably at some point there will be another atrocity, to take away our civil liberties. We must fight against detention without trial however it is dressed up, Whether as control orders or holding people for prolonged periods without charging them not just because it is morally wrong, although it is, but because short of locking up everybody it cannot work. We must fight I.D. cards for the same reasons they are wrong, they expensive and they cannot work. All the bombers a year ago could have carried I.D. cards and still carried out their evil deeds.

So how can we win I hear you cry. The answer is this, we win if don't give in. We must neither give in to the murderers who seek to sow terror or to the politicians who seek to pander to that fear. We win if we remember that freedom is indivisible we are either free or we are not. We win if we don't give into the climate of fear and hate either by surrendering our liberties or voting for extremist parties like Respect or the BNP. We win if we keep a sense of perspective and remember that unfortunately more people die on the roads each day than were slaughtered a year ago Ultimately a free society is the only fitting tribute to the victims. A police state would be an outrage upon their memories and a surrender to the terrorists