Iain Dalton, Yorkshire Socialist Party
One thing most people know about courts is that all witnesses are asked to swear to “tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth”.
But in a recent case of an Insulate Britain protester, David Nixon was forbidden by the judge, Silas Reid, to mention either climate change or the cost-of-living crisis when summing up his defence of the case.
How on earth are you supposed to tell the truth about your motivations if the judge instructs you not to talk about them?
Bravely, David did speak about those issues, reported as saying: “That’s before moving on to climate change. Posters around the court building are saying that we are on a highway to climate hell with our foot on the accelerator.
“You’ve not been able to hear these truths because this court has not allowed me to say them. Our safety is at risk, our society is at risk.”
After refusing to apologise, he was found in contempt of court by the same judge, and sentenced to eight weeks in prison.
This judgement, along with restrictions on the right to protest that the Tories plan to bring in, will be used against the workers’ movement.
We have already seen during the Covid-19 pandemic how temporary powers the government gave themselves were used to shut down pickets in a number of industrial disputes, and to impose a huge fine on a nurse for organising a protest over low pay and poor working conditions (later reversed). We’ve also seen attempts to bring in new legislation to restrict the right to strike in response to the cost-of-living strike wave.
Ultimately, for the capitalist class, its law and order isn’t about the truth or justice, but about protecting profits – such as the mouth-watering profits of Shell and other energy companies. The workers’ movement has to fight: to defend the right to tell the truth, the right to protest and the right to strike.
