A Clockwork Orange : "Political Offenders"
 

So I was watching A Clockwork Orange again tonight (first time on HD-DVD) and a question struck me which I'm not sure I have the answer to.

During the scene where the PM inspects the prisoners and is commenting about 'outmoded penalogical theories,' he states that soon prisons will be needed more for 'political offenders' than for common criminals. I was wondering, considering the tone of the film, the director, and location of the film, what would 'political offenders' have actually referred to at the time. Considering this film is more a social commentary of what was going on at the time than any real futuristic predictions, I'm assuming this comment is more relative to England of 1972.

Today in America for instance, it probably would refer to Islamic or homegrown terrorists specifically.

Any thoughts or speculation?

Thanks
Michael

Enemies of the people are whoever the government says they are. It changes from year to year, but the effect is the same on those arrested. It doesn't really matter what the accusation is. All it takes is for some anonymous person to denounce you, then you get your 45 seconds before a judge and off you go.

See Punishment Park