The following is an editorial on the current move by some western
governments to roll back civil rights gains under the guise of
anti-terrorism.
THE RECORD
November 21, 2001
Editor's Corner
How many people feel like terrorists?
Official reaction to the September 11 disaster
is taking us down a road where everyone who has
any kind of dissenting idea from what the government
and its corporate sponsors determine is acceptable
can be treated as a terrorist. The thin line
that separates us from the Germans and Italians
of the 1930s, the Spanish, Chileans, Argentines,
Soviets and others of the more repressive
regimes of the 20th Century, is being eaten away
with new laws that restrict civil rights and
hand over greater power to bureaucrats and other
government officials.
What is worse, some of these laws are being established
not to meet our own considerations, but in response to
foreign treaties and agreements. Not only are our civil
rights being eroded, so is our national sovereignty as
we surrender the right of self determination on domestic
policy to the dictates of elitist entities such as the WTO,
IMF and other transnational organizations.
The Canadian Parliament is now considering Bill
C-36 and other laws that restrict or remove
rights that our ancestors fought for. Stephen
Owen, Liberal MP from Vancouver Quadra said of
the bill "We need the authority of it in order
to implement twelve (12) international treaties
that Canada has entered respecting terrorism."
Owens went on to say that "Bill C-36 is aimed at
political, ideological, and religious
motivations and perversions that intimidate and
move governments." All of this being sold under
the guise of the threats that have become
apparent from the events of Sept. 11, but in
fact claiming that this is a response to attacks
on that date is nothing more than a red herring
to distract from the real international agenda.
The issue here is not the occasional terrorist
act by Al Qaeda, fundamentalist Christian
paramilitary groups, Sikh extremists or other
assorted nut bars, but growing world wide
protest against globalization as defined by the
New World Order.
Hundreds of thousands if not millions around the
globe are now protesting this undemocratic, socially
regressive program that threatens human rights and
loss of local and national control over almost all aspects
of society. Witness the demonstrations in Seattle,
Genoa and Quebec City, and just recently in
Ottawa and dozens of other cities around the
world.
The issue here is not to protect us from
terrorism, but to crush dissent. The events of
Sept. 11 are proving to be a handy tool, the use
of which would have made Nazis like Hermann
Goering proud.
The new laws that are being proposed and passed
here in Canada, Britain, the US and other
countries are a regression from the principles
of freedom and democracy, of civil rights and
the rules of law upon which we have built our
civilization. They are indeed a return to more
darker times where the presumption of guilt
replaces the presumption of innocence, where the
right to counsel becomes arbitrary, and where
rights to fair trial and other safeguards become
things of the past for any act from simply
speaking out to picket lines to going on strike
that might be considered an act of terror.
Historians one day may consider this period
under these laws as the new Inquisition.
One definition of Fascism is control of
government by private interests, particularly
corporate interests. My father and mother's
generation made great sacrifices to combat
Fascism in Europe, it is a tragedy that my
generation is now engaged in re-establishing
Fascism as the New World Order and reversing
many of the democratic and socially progressive
gains that have been fought over and died for
during the past 250 years.
Jerry West
Copyright 2001, West's International
http://www.rabble.ca/columnists_full.shtml?x=4516
-- Jerry West Editor/publisher/janitor ---------------------------------------------------- THE RECORD News and Views from Nootka Sound & Canada's West Coast An independent, progressive regional publication http://www.island.net/~record/
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