13 February 2007
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Singer-songwriter and activist Billy Bragg will visit Bournemouth University on Wednesday February 28 to convene a Citizen’s Assembly.
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Bragg will visit the University’s Talbot Campus to advocate the formulation of a new Bill of Rights, a legal document which enshrines the fundamental principles on which our society is based.
During the session, from 5.00 – 7.00 pm, Bragg will gather the opinions of students, staff and people from the local community, asking them which freedoms they believe should be included in a British Bill of Rights.
During the writing of his recent book on Britishness, The Progressive Patriot, Bragg became aware that the liberties we take for granted are in danger of being eroded.
The Government seems intent on creating a surveillance society, one in which the moves we make and the details of our personal lives are logged into a centralised data system in the name of national security,” he argues.
Bragg’s book is also a response to the debate about ‘British values’.
“Both the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition have used this phrase in recent weeks when making speeches on the need for immigrant populations to integrate with our society.
"Yet where are these British values to be found?” he asks. “Where is the document which proclaims them to be our most cherished ideals?
"How can we ask people to integrate if we do not clearly define principles on which our society is based?”
Bragg believes that both these issues can be addressed by a new Bill of Rights, embedded in our constitution.
“What we need is a document capable of protecting the rights of the individual in the face of an ever more powerful state, while at the same time defining those values which unite us in our diversity.”
Billy Bragg’s ‘Citizens Assembly’
Lees Lecture, University’s Talbot Campus.
5.00pm Wednesday 28 February
Admission is free and all are welcome to attend but pre-booking is requested by emailing billybragg@bournemouth.ac.uk.
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