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Описание: I loathe fly-posting on litter bins, lampposts, windows and other street furniture. That applies to campaigns which I personally support. But I also understand the frustration of local residents who see their taxes abused by Haringey Council. With public money routinely wasted on shameless one-sided propaganda. In this case, the Haringey Development Vehicle (HDV). A so-called "partnership" which - if it goes ahead - will lead to demolition of publicly-owned homes, schools and many business premises. With large-scale displacement of residents and weakening of local communities. We need new and workable agreements and rules about Freedom of Speech and places and spaces where opposing views can be freely debated. Unfortunately, in Haringey my own local borough, Council democracy is seriously weakened. There is an undue influence of fear, threats, punishments and rewards. There are undemocratic mechanisms of surveillance and reporting by Party "whips". Attempts to secure the appearance of unity, stifle free speech, and enforce silence on anyone who might disagree. All within a bureaucratic structure which controls large sums of public cash and funds communication tools used to encourage acceptance of the official 'line'. This may be presented as "Reality", in contrast to the views of critics which may be misrepresented and labelled as "Myths" to be "busted". The link above illustrates a good example. It takes you to a four-page A4 leaflet in full colour described as "Tottenham News". It was written, published and printed by Haringey Council, which also spent public funds to ensure a door-to-door distribution. Some of the content is actually news. Two items are advertising: for a business called 'Create'; and another named 'Five Miles'. However, the entire back page is the misuse of public funds for political propaganda about the Haringey Development Vehicle. § Department for Communities and Local Government. Code of Recommended Practice on Local Authority Publicity. Explanatory Memorandum on the Code of Recommended Practice on Local Authority Publicity. ______________________________________ Below: Extracts from the U.S. Supreme Court judgement of Justice Louis Brandeis in the Supreme Court case of Whitney v. California. “If there time to expose through discussion the falsehood and fallacies, to avert the evils by the processes of education, the remedy to be applied is more speech, not enforced silence.” "Those who won our independence believed that the final end of the State was to make men free to develop their faculties, and that, in its government, the deliberative forces should prevail over the arbitrary. They valued liberty both as an end, and as a means. They believed liberty to be the secret of happiness, and courage to be the secret of liberty. They believed that freedom to think as you will and to speak as you think are means indispensable to the discovery and spread of political truth; that, without free speech and assembly, discussion would be futile; that, with them, discussion affords ordinarily adequate protection against the dissemination of noxious doctrine; that the greatest menace to freedom is an inert people; that public discussion is a political duty, and that this should be a fundamental principle of the American government. They recognized the risks to which all human institutions are subject. But they knew that order cannot be secured merely through fear of punishment for its infraction; that it is hazardous to discourage thought, hope and imagination; that fear breeds repression; that repression breeds hate; that hate menaces stable government; that the path of safety lies in the opportunity to discuss freely supposed grievances and proposed remedies, and that the fitting remedy for evil counsels is good ones. Believing in the power of reason as applied through public discussion, they eschewed silence coerced by law -- the argument of force in its worst form. Recognizing the occasional tyrannies of governing majorities, they amended the Constitution so that free speech and assembly should be guaranteed."

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