Moon Duo - Occult Architecture Vol. 2
3 hours ago
Wednesday, 13 July 2011
Assange faces enforced leisure to ponder folly of a law passed in haste
As Julian Assange's extradition appeal begins today in London, the British government is considering a parliamentary review which recommended drastic changes to the European Arrest Warrant legislation. Widely regarded as a seriously flawed instrument, the extradition mechanism that will decide Assange's immediate future was agreed to immediately after September 11, 2001. Its purpose was to enable speedy prosecution across Europe of suspects wanted for terrorism and serious crime under a warrant that could be honoured with minimal scrutiny.
There are two serious problems with the way this law operates: the failure to protect the human rights of the accused, such as a guarantee of a fair trial; and its misuse. A vast number of warrants have been issued, predominantly to prosecute trivial offences or matters that would be regarded as civil matters in Britain.
Requesting states do not even need to provide any evidence. And for 32 listed crimes there is no requirement to prove double criminality. That is, the alleged conduct need not be regarded as a crime in the country from which an accused is extradited. If one European Union state provides a different definition of an offence but the same conduct would not meet the definition of the offence in the other country, the person will still be extradited.
Poland issued 5000 warrants in 2008. People have been trawled through the legal system for crimes such as stealing chickens - as in the case of a person extradited to the Czech Republic.
Clearly there has been no respect for the principle of proportionality in the application of the law. David Blunkett, the British home secretary who presided over the law's introduction, says the system needs reform: ''When we agreed to the system we believed people would act rationally.''
A British resident, Jacek Jaskolski, successfully defended a warrant issued by Poland for exceeding his overdraft limit, but the warrant has not been withdrawn, limiting his ability to visit other European countries without fear of arrest.
Even if an individual can successfully defend a warrant, the country seeking his surrender is under no obligation to remove the outstanding warrant. Should Assange successfully resist the warrant issued by Sweden, there is no guarantee he would not face a similar fate.
The treaty needs to be amended to remove this adverse consequence.
The human rights group Fair Trials International says there are many cases in which serious injustices have resulted, such as people serving prison sentences after an unfair trial or being held in detention for years before they can appear before a court to establish their innocence.
A British citizen, Andrew Symeou, was extradited to Greece in 2009 and charged with manslaughter over the death of a man two years earlier. Despite compelling evidence of mistaken identity and the retraction of statements by witnesses who alleged police intimidation, Symeou remained in jail for 11 months before he was released on bail and bound to remain in Greece awaiting his trial.
Two weeks ago, after a four-year ordeal, he was acquitted by a jury, his parents having spent their savings to support his case in the intervening years. The prosecutor himself recommended Symeou be acquitted.
In Assange's case, the original prosecutor, Eva Finne, declared there was no rape case to answer, despite the far broader definition of rape in Swedish law than in Britain. There is no provision for bail under Swedish rape laws, so Assange would remain in jail until the Swedish prosecution case is heard, however long that takes. The miscarriage of justice in Symeou's case would have been avoided if appropriate scrutiny of the evidence by a court in the country granting the extradition were a requirement.
Assange is fighting extradition for a crime that does not exist in Britain. Under Swedish law, rape is not about the withdrawal of consent but rather is defined by the use of physical force in acts of sex. Rape is a category one crime under the European Arrest Warrant regime, though Assange's case involves the most minor version of this charge under Swedish law.
Assange's lawyers say it is unlikely he could be prosecuted on the alleged facts under British law. The magistrate who heard the case said the behaviour would be an offence in Britain, but Britain's leading criminal lawyer, Professor Andrew Ashworth, disagreed.
Only proper scrutiny of the evidence could determine who is right. But that would be immaterial in any case, as there is no double criminality requirement for rape. If a country ticks the ''rape'' box, it doesn't matter if ''minor rape'' as defined by Sweden is not a crime in Britain. Moreover, Assange will be tried in a closed court in a case he believes is politically motivated. How will the world scrutinise proceedings under those circumstances?
Blunkett admits he was not sensitive enough to potential problems. Such oversights have taken a terrible toll on people caught in a system with no proper safeguards, including Assange, an Australian citizen.
Mary Kostakidis @'National Times'
There are two serious problems with the way this law operates: the failure to protect the human rights of the accused, such as a guarantee of a fair trial; and its misuse. A vast number of warrants have been issued, predominantly to prosecute trivial offences or matters that would be regarded as civil matters in Britain.
Requesting states do not even need to provide any evidence. And for 32 listed crimes there is no requirement to prove double criminality. That is, the alleged conduct need not be regarded as a crime in the country from which an accused is extradited. If one European Union state provides a different definition of an offence but the same conduct would not meet the definition of the offence in the other country, the person will still be extradited.
Poland issued 5000 warrants in 2008. People have been trawled through the legal system for crimes such as stealing chickens - as in the case of a person extradited to the Czech Republic.
Clearly there has been no respect for the principle of proportionality in the application of the law. David Blunkett, the British home secretary who presided over the law's introduction, says the system needs reform: ''When we agreed to the system we believed people would act rationally.''
A British resident, Jacek Jaskolski, successfully defended a warrant issued by Poland for exceeding his overdraft limit, but the warrant has not been withdrawn, limiting his ability to visit other European countries without fear of arrest.
Even if an individual can successfully defend a warrant, the country seeking his surrender is under no obligation to remove the outstanding warrant. Should Assange successfully resist the warrant issued by Sweden, there is no guarantee he would not face a similar fate.
The treaty needs to be amended to remove this adverse consequence.
The human rights group Fair Trials International says there are many cases in which serious injustices have resulted, such as people serving prison sentences after an unfair trial or being held in detention for years before they can appear before a court to establish their innocence.
A British citizen, Andrew Symeou, was extradited to Greece in 2009 and charged with manslaughter over the death of a man two years earlier. Despite compelling evidence of mistaken identity and the retraction of statements by witnesses who alleged police intimidation, Symeou remained in jail for 11 months before he was released on bail and bound to remain in Greece awaiting his trial.
Two weeks ago, after a four-year ordeal, he was acquitted by a jury, his parents having spent their savings to support his case in the intervening years. The prosecutor himself recommended Symeou be acquitted.
In Assange's case, the original prosecutor, Eva Finne, declared there was no rape case to answer, despite the far broader definition of rape in Swedish law than in Britain. There is no provision for bail under Swedish rape laws, so Assange would remain in jail until the Swedish prosecution case is heard, however long that takes. The miscarriage of justice in Symeou's case would have been avoided if appropriate scrutiny of the evidence by a court in the country granting the extradition were a requirement.
Assange is fighting extradition for a crime that does not exist in Britain. Under Swedish law, rape is not about the withdrawal of consent but rather is defined by the use of physical force in acts of sex. Rape is a category one crime under the European Arrest Warrant regime, though Assange's case involves the most minor version of this charge under Swedish law.
Assange's lawyers say it is unlikely he could be prosecuted on the alleged facts under British law. The magistrate who heard the case said the behaviour would be an offence in Britain, but Britain's leading criminal lawyer, Professor Andrew Ashworth, disagreed.
Only proper scrutiny of the evidence could determine who is right. But that would be immaterial in any case, as there is no double criminality requirement for rape. If a country ticks the ''rape'' box, it doesn't matter if ''minor rape'' as defined by Sweden is not a crime in Britain. Moreover, Assange will be tried in a closed court in a case he believes is politically motivated. How will the world scrutinise proceedings under those circumstances?
Blunkett admits he was not sensitive enough to potential problems. Such oversights have taken a terrible toll on people caught in a system with no proper safeguards, including Assange, an Australian citizen.
Mary Kostakidis @'National Times'
The Dirty Nil - Fuckin' Up Young
How could you NOT like a band that like fuzz, pizza, vinyl, bad habits, beer, power chords, stompin' tom, feedback, fuzz, anything with big knobs and blinking lights, dogs (fuck cats/fuzz cats), coffee, haters, beer, fuzz bass, the replacements, not remembering the night before, quentin tarantino, tube amps, waffles, analog, swearing, distorted anything, willie nelson, bacon, soda pop, french fries, and noise.
Via
Via
Luke, Dave, and Kyle, keep on rockin' in a free world XXX
Real Scenes: Bristol
The eyes of the world have turned to the UK in recent years and have found some of the most exciting, genre-defying young artists to emerge from electronic music. But while London's scene can be fractious and hard to pin down, there seems to be something in the air in Bristol that unites its participants. Whether they're creating dubstep, house, techno or something else entirely, the cross-pollination in Bristol is unique. In RA's first official entry into video, we journey to Bristol to explore how the city has flourished in recent years, discovering why this small metropolis is one of the most influential electronic music outposts in the world today.
Visit the feature page on RA: residentadvisor.net/feature.aspx?1360
Tuesday, 12 July 2011
Operation Julie: How an LSD raid began the war on drugs
A new book casts fresh light on an undercover operation that smashed one of the most extraordinary drug rings the world has ever seen and changed British policing forever. What was Operation Julie?
It was hardly a typical drugs bust. When police from around the country swooped before dawn one morning in 1977, dozens of the 800 officers working the case looked like unshaven, long-haired hippies plucked from the audience of a Pink Floyd gig.And the vast LSD co-operative they were targeting was, if anything, even more unconventional.
Its leading members included doctors, scientists and university graduates - motivated, they insisted, by an evangelical drive to transform human consciousness itself.
But for all their peace-and-love ideals, their conspiracy was, at the time, the biggest drug ring the UK had ever seen and one of the world's largest. After officers seized a haul large enough for six million trips, the price of an acid tab on Britain's streets reportedly leapt from £1 to £5 overnight.
The investigation, codenamed Operation Julie, didn't just destroy one cartel.
It arguably represented the final death throes of the 1960s counterculture, conclusively shattering the idealism with which many had once viewed the drugs scene and marking the start of a harsher, more brutal era for the narcotics underworld.
In addition, its unprecedented scale and co-operation between forces changed forever the way Britain was policed and set the tone for the so-called war on drugs of the 1980s.The inquiry led to raids on 87 homes, resulting in more than 100 arrests and 15 ringleaders being sentenced to a combined 120 years in jail.
But it began in the unlikely setting of Cambridge University's radical academic fringe, inspired by LSD pioneer Timothy Leary's belief that the drug broadened the mind and could transform society for the better.
The catalyst was David Solomon, a Californian bohemian intellectual and associate of Leary's who came to Cambridge in 1967. Two years later he was introduced to Richard Kemp, a Liverpool University chemist. Soon Kemp was meeting others in Solomon's circle and their first LSD production runs began at the American's home, a former vicarage.
One of the radicals who came to assume a key role within the organisation was Leaf Fielding, an anarchist former public schoolboy who had dropped out of university following his introduction to acid at the age of 18. He began as the tabletter, turning the raw chemicals into individual doses, and later took over the distribution network.
As he recounts in his newly released memoir, To Live Outside the Law, the fullest account yet of the Operation Julie story by a conspiracy insider, it was the promise of building a new society and seeking a way out of the cold war's nuclear stand-off that drove the gang at first rather than money."We were all extremely idealistic," he recalls. "I was convinced that this was the answer to the world's problems.
"We saw it as a new awakening out of the terrible impasse that the world had got itself into."
In 1973, fearful of police attention, one wing of the co-operative led by Kemp and Solomon moved to west Wales while another branch remained in London.
The influx of these counter-cultural figures into villages and towns like Llanddewi Brefi - later the fictional home of Little Britain's Dafydd - and Tregaron was less conspicuous than might be imagined.
Ceredigion's natural beauty and low cost of living had already attracted a sizeable hippy population, according to Lyn Ebenezer, author of Operation Julie: The World's Greatest LSD Bust, who was working as a local freelance journalist at the time. The likes of the Rolling Stones, John Lennon and Jimi Hendrix had all made pilgrimages to the area.
The LSD ringleaders all held down jobs, mixed with their neighbours and stood their rounds in local pubs. As a result, Ebenezer says, they quickly became popular figures.
"They were great characters," he says. "They added colour.
"Yes, they were differently attired to the locals. But most country dwellers knew they weren't the archetypal hippies who don't do any work and just pick up their Giros [benefit payments]. They were part of the community."
Indeed, like many in the ring, Fielding did not need to take the risks he did. By the time of the raids, he had built up a thriving legitimate business, a healthfood shop, in Reading. Shortly before the bust he told his co-conspirators that he wanted out."We began as idealists but then paranoia crept in," he recalls.
They had good reason to be paranoid. After police discovered a torn-up piece of paper spelling one of the ingredients of LSD in Kemp's car following a crash, an unprecedented multi-police force drugs investigation began. It was codenamed Operation Julie after one of its officers, Sgt Julie Taylor, and later name-checked in the Clash song Julie's Been Working for the Drug Squad.
Listening devices were installed in the ringleaders' home and dozens of undercover officers were sent into west Wales posing as hippies to place them under surveillance during a 13-month operation.
Dai Rees, then a drugs squad inspector with Dyfed Powys police, was one of those who transformed themselves.
"We grew long hair, we wore jeans, we looked quite scruffy," he remembers. "To have worn a stiff collar and tie would have been impossible."
On 26 March 1977, detectives finally swooped. They uncovered evidence of a massive operation, exporting to 100 countries and, according to some reports, supplying 90% of the UK's LSD.
Share certificates and details of Swiss bank accounts provided further evidence that the ring had come a long way from its early, idealistic roots - it was now a multi-million pound, multi-national corporation.
For the police, halting the gang and jailing its leaders was viewed as a massive achievement and subsequent investigations would follow the cross-force example of Operation Julie.
Dai Rees remains proud to have played a role in this collective effort."We were totally convinced that we were doing the right thing," he says. "I think every police force in the country at that time had some experience of individuals who had ended up in mental hospitals or been involved in serious crime as a result of of LSD."
But, nonetheless, he couldn't help seeing the incarceration of such intelligent and a well-educated people as a tragic waste.
"When you see such talent going down the stairs from the dock to start a term of imprisonment, you don't leap around with joy," Rees says.
Kemp was sentenced to 13 years in prison and his partner Christine Bott, a qualified doctor, to nine years. Their convictions led to the end of the ring's LSD-manufacturing activities.
Fielding, who was sentenced to eight years in prison, observes that the drugs gangs who stepped into the vacuum were far nastier than his own.
Having built up another food business and opened an orphanage in Malawi following his release, he says he has no regrets. Nonetheless, he no longer believes in the capacity of LSD to transform the planet.
"I now realise how unrealistic that was - you can't solve the world's problems with a pill," he acknowledges.
"Obviously some people did suffer and I don't feel great about that. But some drugs work for some people and others don't - I like a drink with my meal but I'm not an alcoholic."
Views about the war on drugs, in which Operation Julie can be seen as the opening campaign, will remain divided. But the legacy of a group of hippies in rural Wales lives on.
Jon Kelly @'BBC"
As The Clash sang:
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