The self-sacrificing and inspiring struggle by relatives of
the Merseyside fans who needlessly died at Hillsborough in 1989 to establish
the truth, must add to the erosion of public confidence in state institutions
of rule and power.
It was an independent panel, not the state, that finally exposed
the large-scale conspiracy to cover up police and emergency service failures at
the FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest
Panel members fought for the disclosure of the documents
that revealed that police altered witness statements and ran a concerted
campaign to denigrate and blame the fans for their own deaths.
But we’re not just talking about the police here. Other key
sections of the state were involved in allowing the police smear story to stand
for nearly a quarter of a century.
The judicial system and the coroners’ court also closed
ranks to block the real story from coming out. And Margaret Thatcher, then
prime minister, was briefed that "the defensive – and at times
close to deceitful – behaviour by senior officers in South
Yorkshire sounds depressingly familiar".
The executive arm of
the state under the Tories did not want to upset a relationship with the police
that had served them well.
The same South Yorkshire police force brutally attacked miners at
Orgreave, not far from Hillsborough, during their great strike in 1984.
Undoubtedly, the contempt of the police for the working class was a factor in
their shocking treatment of the Liverpool fans
five years later.
What is at stake
here is the nature and role of the state, what and who it serves and what can
be done to transform how we are ruled.
Lord MacDonald, former Director of Public Prosecutions and
now a Liberal peer, knows more than most about the power of the state to rule
through secrecy. He told Radio 4 Today’s programme that the “real lesson is the
inability of our state”, after an “operational catastrophe is to be truthful
about what happened”.
There is a “tendency”, he added, for “British public
authorities to see themselves as apart from the public” added to which was a “very
deep and long-standing corruption within our police services”.
But MacDonald’s view of a “a culture of deceit” within the
police which is “quite breathtaking” still doesn’t get to the nub of things.
The police reflect the nature of the whole
state, not just its repressive arm.
State secrecy and deceit is the norm, whether it’s the cosy
relationship with corporate and financial power, the lies over the invasion of Iraq , or the
hidden agenda over issues like nuclear power or the break-up of the NHS. Vital
documents are simply kept under lock and key.
The “public
authorities” don’t just see themselves as something separate. They are, in
practice, just that. Just ask people with disabilities facing gruelling and
distressing “assessment” by the Atos corporation.
Our present state
system is alienated from society precisely because it exists not to serve
people as a whole but to enforce the status quo. It is more accurate,
therefore, to describe it as a capitalist state with institutions that
ultimately reinforce each other in defence of privilege and power.
Former New Labour home secretary Jack Straw has blamed
“police impunity” on Thatcher. That’s only part of the story. This impunity is
to be found in the very nature of a force that is effectively the strong arm of
the state. Think about Jean Charles de Menezes or Ian Tomlinson. Or Mark
Duggan.
The Hillsborough report will impact on millions of people, not
just football fans. Confidence in the police and other sections of the state is
already at an all-time low.
A state that cannot and will not protect its citizens,
economically, socially or physically, does not deserve our endorsement. Hillsborough
is the case for a deconstruction of the present state system and its
reconstruction along truly democratic, transparent, accountable lines.
Paul Feldman
Communications editor
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