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Posted by: Vicki on 31/03/2011

Census 2011 civil disobedience by the editor

For about a year now I have known that US arms manufacturer Lockheed Martin has the contract to do this year’s census. During that time I have wavered between not filling it in, filling it in but including a covering letter to state my objections, or defacing the form altogether.

I am just sickened that a purveyor of death would profit from an exercise that used to be carried out by civil servants. I have great respect for those prepared to face a criminal record and a fine of £1,000 like Quaker friends of mine in Stroud, but I’m not as brave as that. I’ve also read that not filling it out won’t affect Lockheed Martin as they pass on the addresses where no form has been returned to civil servants, who then do the follow-up visits – at the taxpayer’s expense.

Finally two days ago I decided I would complete it, mainly because I have researched my family tree and have found the census returns to be invaluable, but I felt I had to offer some form of civil disobedience. Thanks to blogger Random Blowe for his or her advice, I’ve blanked out the bar codes and written outside the white boxes so that a Lockheed Martin employee will have to key all the details in manually rather than my form being fed through a machine that can read it cheaply (and profitably) in seconds.

I’ve also included a supplementary sheet which asks questions like:

“How do you feel about being legally obliged to give your personal data to international arms dealers?

• Angry and upset
• A little bit uncomfortable
• Grudgingly accepting
• It doesn't bother me at all”

Now that sheet I have filled out in the white boxes!

So this blog is my proof that I have filled in and sent the census form before the deadline of April 6. I'm not the only member of the team at The Spark to do this. Let’s hope hundreds of thousands of others have done the same!

 

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