Shortly after the McLibel defendants won the right to legal aid and a retrial, the British government is making sure that something like that doesn't happen again, by pushing to criminalise the handing out of leaflets, along with many other forms of protest (now redefined as harassment).
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Adelaide residents might be familiar with the "Dancing Preacher" - an old man in army uniform who stands in Rundle Mall, swaying gently to patriotic music and handing out bibles. He apparently lives in an unpowered shack in the hills, and spends every penny he gets his hands on buying bibles to give away.
Fine if that's what you're into, but the Adelaide City Council now wants to charge him $20 a year for a "Preacher's Permit". Their reasoning? "We can't allow just ANYONE to hand out printed material on the streets - what if they hand out something we don't want them to?"
Well, hardly the first time that Pamphleteering is being outlawed in GB. Think of Swift.
As for those McLibel people, they had it coming with their inciteful INTELLIGENCE-mongering.
Adelaide residents might be familiar with the "Dancing Preacher" - an old man in army uniform who stands in Rundle Mall, swaying gently to patriotic music and handing out bibles. He apparently lives in an unpowered shack in the hills, and spends every penny he gets his hands on buying bibles to give away.
Fine if that's what you're into, but the Adelaide City Council now wants to charge him $20 a year for a "Preacher's Permit". Their reasoning? "We can't allow just ANYONE to hand out printed material on the streets - what if they hand out something we don't want them to?"