A call to action?

from another home educator:

Fellow parent,

There are two related events that are underway right now that are going to change our lives forever for the worst, if we do not act immediately. One is the deployment of the database of all children and parents in the UK called ContactPoint, and the other is Graham Badman's Home Education review.

Graham Badman's report is going to be released shortly. New Labour has just been eviscerated at the polls, and at the next general election, they will be eliminated from Parliament.

The electorate has comprehensively rejected New Labour and its police state agenda; we all know that the expenses scandal was merely the needle that pricked the festering boil. Everyone in Britain has been pushed to the limit of what they can take and now everything must change or all bets, and the gloves, are off.

Now is the time for all Home Educators and parents in the UK to move to ensure that their rights are protected. We need to ride the wave of popular discontent with this corrupt and evil government and use the momentum to protect ourselves and our families from the very real threats that are upon us.

No Tory run council (and that now means every council in England) will be sympathetic towards ContactPoint; in fact, the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea has been openly hostile to it. This means that for our purposes, they are on our side. We must now write to the councils en-masse and inform them that if they do not give a public undertaking that they will not switch on ContactPoint, we will all withhold our rates indefinitely. If all parents in the UK do this, they will have no choice but to back down and scrap the system.

The pilot's union BALPA refused to be used as guinea pigs for the ID Cards scheme; they threatened to strike if the government tried to force them to take ID Cards. On June 4th, the government backed down completely and the pilots won.

The same thing will happen for ContactPoint; if we all threaten to 'go on strike' they will have no choice but to back down. The only way they can govern is with our consent. Absent of that, all they can do is throw their hands up and concede that the situation is completely unworkable. In any case, they should be in service to us, and not behaving as if we were their wards or property.

As for Graham Badman's review, The Guardian has claimed that it will contain a recommendation that all Home Educators register with the government, and accept state defined standards. The government PR machine is already positioning the 'horror story as pretext' to swing public opinion against Home Educators, as well as other Orwellian doubletalk phrases like 'children's rights agenda'. Whatever is contained in the review, we must all refuse to comply with anything that is in it, no matter what is in it, unless it contains nothing more than a statement that the status quo should continue. This refusal must be absolute, unwavering, unequivocal and without exception.

ContactPoint will be used to generate reports of who is not registered at a school. This is why it absolutely must be destroyed; it is the central tool that the state is going to use to end Home Education in the UK. If we do not take a stand against it right now, Home Education as we have known it will be effectively if not explicitly outlawed.

It does not have to be this way.

We can seize this moment to dismantle the apparatus they are building to control us and our families, or we can give in and allow the state to become the parents of our children.

I urge you to forward this letter to any parent that you know, and to convince them to join this boycott. If you have received this letter from a friend, send it to any parent that you know and ask them to follow suit. Write to your council, anonymously if you like, saying that you will not be paying your council tax going forward unless they make a public statement that ContactPoint will not implemented.

Remember, this is not just about Home Educators; it is about every parent and family in the UK, wether they have chosen Home Education or not. ContactPoint will violate the privacy of all parents in the UK. One million public servants will have access to your family's private details, wether you Home Educate or not. This is about our sacred family bonds, the proper role of government, our right to privacy and our right to control our destinies.

I urge you to make a stand for your family, by refusing to comply with anything or anyone that destroys our inalienable right to be parents and to live undisturbed, uncontrolled and with privacy and dignity, as human beings have done for thousands of years.

Please do not delay in sending this letter out. We need to reach every parent in the UK as quickly as possible, so that we can head off these two threats and send the strongest possible signal to the Tories and the Councils that the New Labour police state is now effectively dead; we will not participate in any part of it, we are putting our foot down, and that a very real and significant sea change has come to this country, that they would be well advised to not resist.

If we all act in concert the only possible outcome is victory. The time is ripe for it. All we have to do is take this golden opportunity that has landed at our feet.
Alexander de Large