The Police and the Democratic Crisis

Dan Glass and other members of Plane Stupid had a plan, but they would need the bravery of Tilly Gifford to pull it off.

Arrested while protesting the proposed extention to Aberdeen airport, Plane Stupid member Matilda (Tilly) had been ordered to report to Partick police station (and later met with the officers at a supermarket cafe). Plane Stupid, at the time, were aware of efforts being made by the police to recruit activists as informants and Tilly had volunteered to obtain recordings of her dealings with the Glasgow constabulary. The result was an exclusive story subsequently covered in the national press. It featured two unnamed police officers, one a detective constable the other his assistant, offering Tilly hard cash to turn informant for them. "

It comes as no surprise to discover that police employ such tactics" Dan Glass, Tilly's fellow member, Plane Stupid activist and spokesperson, said openly. "Plane Stupid is taking the the issue of climate change very seriously and using peaceful and non-violent means to tackle the root causes of climate change. We know that aviation is the fastest growing cause of co2 emissions. So, we are not a threat to people but we are a threat to business as usual...police are there to protect the state and to protect big business - which is carbon intensive - rather than people and the future generations. What I am horrified about is that they use taxpayers money to protect corporate and business interests."

A police strategy to recruit peaceful activists as informants, of course, raises significant questions about the democratic process and the purpose of the police service in the modern democratic state. The revelations of attempted bribery also came in the wake of heavy criticism of police handling of the G20 protests.

Shocking images of newspaper vendor Ian Tomlinson - unconnected to the April demonstrations - being pushed to the ground by a police officer brought a global outcry after he died. Mr Tomlinson was making his way home from work when the incident happened. Footage also appeared of a woman being slapped across the face by another officer and then struck on the legs with his baton, as well as a young man being thumped across the head with a riot shield.

Many of us wondered about all the above incidents and what they might mean for modern British democracy and the freedoms we supposedly enjoy.

"Democracy in the UK is a sham" Dan Glass told me candidly. "What we are seeing is collusion with the state to protect business interests rather than their own people and environment. Human democracy, ecological democracy, intergenerational democracy what we are seeing is that there isn't one. A few people in today's society are lining their pockets with as much money as they can at the expense of our generation and future generations...that's not democracy!"

The Plane Stupid activist went on to tell me that of the 70,000 who were consulted on the proposed extra runway for Heathrow airport only 11% were in favour of expansion. Despite this the government pushed on with the development. "In Scotland" Dan continued. "What we are seeing is that the government haven't even met their own criteria on community engagement on airport expansion. So, you know, the government make the decisions and then decide they want to do a consultation when they've already got the answers. We don't live in a democracy at all."

Dan Glass' analysis brought to mind Robert Reich's premise in his book Supercapitalism. Reich, former United States Secretary of Labor under President Bill Clinton, has argued that the rise of corporate globalisation has reduced the efficacy of democracy in modern western society. He states that while capitalism has become increasingly dominant across the globe, democracy, simultaneously, has become 'enfeebled'. Power, he tells us, has shifted from 'citizens' to 'consumers' and 'investors'.

So, has democracy really become no more than a vehicle for unrestrained capitalism and globalisation?

"The representative system of government doesn't work" Dan Glass chimed. "People are losing faith and people are looking to their neighbour, their families, their friends and their communities to actually decide for themselves what is right for their community and this is going to increase."

Individual voters losing faith in their elected representative? Losing trust in what they (their elected representative) can actually do, or - indeed - what they want to do or how they might be able to change things, is a somewhat sad indictment on our contemporary democratic system.

Conversely, are we really expected to believe that ordinary citizens becoming increasingly active and joining together with fellow discontents to challenge an unpalatable authority is ever going to work? Their union solidified in a new and bold attempt to broker 'real' change. Are more and more people really coming together to tackle the modern evils of our world? Famine, injustice, exploitation, climate change,war?

After all, the media has portrayed the G20 protestors - rather patronisingly - as a well-intentioned 'ragbag' of disparate, unstructured and unco-ordinated groups with unique and exclusive agendas. Could they ever be a structured coalition for real change?

"Yes, I think they are" Dan Glass told me with some certainty. "And, it's only going to intensify as we...see the absolute confusion and miscommunications of the mainstream capitalist press. It is not in the press' interest, it's not in the capitalist press' interest to really show the true strength of community and grassroots strength."

So what is he saying? Without a media willing to search in the darker corners of existence for answers and understanding - or indeed with a media taking a one dimensional establishment view of the world - human society is really incapable of making progress? Maybe he's right. And, perhaps, it is this belief which has become the force behind Dan Glass' political conviction.

"There is something wrong" he told me simply of his need to be active. "So...how can I resist?"