The Celtic League Director of Information, Bernard Moffatt, has welcomed the climb-down of the United Kingdom government on the universal national identity card system.

He said that the League had a sense of deja vu over the issue having submitted views on several occasions to both UK Labour and Conservative government and having opposed similar moves being touted over the years by successive UK Home Secretaries including Michael Howard, Jack Straw and David Blunkett.

Both Straw and Blunkett were also forced into humiliating climb-downs and it seems that the UK Labour government has learned nothing from the previous fiascos.

Identity cards have been mooted as an important weapon in the fight against terrorism but the truth is they are essentially aimed at targeting minority communities, which the UK government has stigmatised as being communities which harbour terrorists in their midst.

Again, the UK government has learned nothing. Over thirty years ago it was the Irish community in Britain that was the 'bete noire' singled out for stigmatism. Today it is sections of the Muslim community which have to endure this institutionally racist focus.

Announcing the decision to back-peddle on the national ID card system Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith, did not have the humility to admit that the system was fundamentally flawed from the outset. Instead she opted to further confuse the issue by suggesting the system would be introduced in 'security sensitive' areas, this from a Minister whose own Department recently had to admit to employing illegal immigrants with no documentation as cleaners.

Successive UK Labour governments have eroded fundamental liberties by introducing draconian measures. It was a Labour government in the 1970s that allowed torture to be used at interrogation centres in Northern Ireland. They also introduced the discredited Prevention of Terrorism Act which resulted in many people enduring long years of false imprisonment.

Successive British Home Secretaries, particularly Labour ones, have probably been a greater threat to principles of liberty and democracy in these Islands than forces they aspire to protect us from!

See also related article on Celtic News at:

(voir le site) (voir le site)

Also brief article on older Celtic News archive at:

(voir le site)

Please note unfortunately the Celtic League paper 'WHOSE NATIONAL IDENTITY' prepared and submitted to the UK government in the 1990s is no longer in print

J B Moffatt Director of Information Celtic League

06/03/08

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