[sixties-l] Regression

From: Jerry West (record@island.net)
Date: Wed Nov 21 2001 - 20:05:11 EST

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    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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