Convention comes to Birmingham

by Newswire
11:01 pm - February 23rd 2009

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Convention on Modern Liberty, Birmingham Event (with video-links to London speakers)
28th February 2009, 9.30am to 12.45pm

Aston University, Main Building, G11 (ground floor – enter through main reception)

Opening Keynote: 09.45 – 10.00
Shami Chakrabarti, director of Liberty.

10.00 – 11.30
Plenary: Citizens and the state: the crisis of liberty
The crisis of fundamental rights and freedoms
The last decade has seen an unprecedented attack on Britain’s fundamental rights and freedoms. Not even in wartime has a government removed so many defining qualities from the stock of British liberty. As 28-day detention without trial was introduced in the wake of 9.11 and 7.7, together with wide stop and search powers and control orders, the more general rights of assembly, protest and free speech also suffered. Some 3,000 new crimes were created and in the courts there has been persistent attempt to reduce the rights of defendants. The principle of trial by jury is constantly under attack. Hearsay evidence was introduced for the first time and the hugely symbolic convention, which held that an Englishman’s home was his castle, was abandoned after 400 years. Nothing is sacrosanct to a government that evidently believes Tony Blair’s dictum that “civil liberties arguments were made for another age.” British democracy is in crisis and it now seems likely that the constitutional rights that we all believed were our birthright will not be our children’s.

If all of the above is true, as it is, certain questions arise which go to the heart of the way we allow ourselves to be governed. Are Parliament and the parties failing in their duty? If that is the case and the government is the source of the problem, where do we look to protect our liberties?

11.45-12.45 – workshop
Preventing Violent Extremism? State surveillance and community organisation
In April 2007 the Government launched its action plan ‘Preventing violent extremism (PVE): winning hearts and minds’, identifying four key responses: promoting shared values; supporting local solutions; building civic capacity and leadership; strengthening the role of faith institutions and leaders. At least £76 million has been earmarked to “support local authorities and community groups in improving the capacity of local communities to resist violent extremism” with initiatives including: developing leadership programmes for young people; strengthening the capacity of women’s groups; local projects to build citizenship.

Birmingham has been identified as a priority area for this work and many community groups have been approached to participate in the programme. This workshop considers the background to PVE as a government intervention and asks what are the risks and opportunities for community organisations.

Speakers from local community groups and campaigns, including discussion of the history of state interventions in Irish, Black and Muslim communities, a critical account of government funding of PVE initiatives and linking to debates about ID cards and database Britain.

For further information contact Gargi Bhattacharyya at

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