Why the protesters at Heathrow are in the right

It's blatantly obvious that I would side with the protesters at Heathrow's Climate Camp. I don't need the arguments of Johann Hari (click here) and George Monbiot (click here) to tell me it's the right thing to do from the planet's point of view. But maybe I need them to tell me that it's also the right thing to do from a democratic point of view. Since the mid-1980s peaceful protest has been stifled in this country under the pretence of "harassment" and "national security" among other reasons. I've blogged about this before, but when it's large corporations like BAA who are using the law to their advantage then something is seriously wrong with our system.

I shall chicken out of going to this protest camp, but in the years to come I will have to make harder choices than simply attempting to curb my own consumption and excesses, and make the effort to risk displeasing an increasingly authoritarian establishment by peacefully protesting against mankind's selfish rush to destruction - my children and grandchildren will deserve that effort at the very least.