Statement from Robert Cogswell
The 1st February 2007 will be a significant landmark for the future of protest in the UK. In a country once acclaimed for its democratic principles, individuals no longer have the right to protest against something with which they disagree. Those rights have been systematically eroded and replaced by an increasingly fundamentalist/conservative approach to problem-solving in the public and political domain, robbing the individual of their protection under the law, and bestowing that protection instead upon big business, safeguarding their interests and further empowering them.
The case against Mel and myself is typical of the trend that has developed since Labour took power nearly 10 years ago. Under this government, it seems that we could be imprisoned for committing no crime: that is to say, for the alleged ‘offence’ of not being able to hand over our subscribers’ details to Oxford University for the express purpose of providing the university with cannon fodder for intimidation.
Oxford University have claimed repeatedly to be a "bastion of free speech", yet their persistent attempts to silence protest and criticism from their anti-vivisection opponents have proved they are nothing of the sort. They have claimed that SPEAK has connections with terrorism, and that the campaign has adopted intimidatory tactics against them. The plain truth is manifestly different; our campaign has been conducted openly and within legal parameters from the outset and anyone who views the website can clearly see this to be the case. Yet such is the nature of the ‘legal’ system under Labour that we can never be sure when we wake in the morning, whether what was legal yesterday or even 5 minutes ago, is legal any longer.
Adding another important dimension to this whole situation is the fact that Oxford University is not exclusively an institute of learning: it is an institute with a well-oiled, profit-making nucleus, and the relentless drive to achieve greater profits means obstacles must be swept out of the way, preferably with as little noise as possi
