globalloon wrote:
In the UK we’ve had the terrorism act used to remove an elderly hecker from the Neo Labour conference… and this in the USA
when did free speech become terrorism / criminal?
the paradox of many societies is that although they appear less regulated certain forms of speech can always be deemed to be criminal, unless those with power are prepared to indulge it.
the fundamental law (perhaps the only law) of captalism is to respect private property rights to resources.
this overrides any other laws in a market-led society, even the rights to life/freedom (as you no doubt have realised).
Part of these rights are that the owner can dictate what you can and can’t do with these resources if you are using them as a guest of the owner
so if the White House say she is not allowed to heckle people within their grounds they can have her nicked. Ditto the heckler at the Labour party conferences. its like if you have a teenagers party at a house and it gets out of hand, and the panicked kids dial 999 and have gatecrashers removed (or even someone invited who was “behaving inappropriately”).
there are no human rights to be entitled to attend any of these places, they are essentially private events where you need an invite or a press pass to get in.
she’d probably be able to get away with it in both the UK and the USA by shouting at the man on the public streets; but that is why these foreign guests are taken on prepared routes well away from any potential protestors..
the reality of the world is that the free market often stifles free speech as much as any totalitarian régime once did.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4931914.stm[/quote]
