The ‘War on Terror’ promotes a racist culture of suspicion towards migrant and Muslim communities. It generates and manipulates public fears to justify a perpetual state of war. ‘Terrorist suspects’ are created by several means:
* by redefining terrorism in broader ways, blurring any distinction between anti-government protest and organized violence against civilians
* by placing entire communities under suspicion of associating with such ‘terrorism
* by using ‘‘intelligence’ obtained by torturing detainees abroad by waging psychological warfare through disinformation and mass-media scares about ‘al Qaeda cells'
* by using anti-terror powers to detain people (especially refugees) for suspected activities which could just as well be handled under other laws
The ‘War on Terror’ at home started long before the 11th September attacks. The Terrorism Act 2000 had already extended the definition of terrorism to include simply 'the threat' of 'serious damage to property', in ways 'designed to influence the government' for a 'political cause'.
Organizations could be banned on the basis that their activities in other countries fit the broadened definition of terrorism. It extended police powers to detain ‘suspects’ incommunicado. In effect, that law created new crimes of association. It stigmatized a wide range of legitimate political activity as 'terrorism'.
Source: CAMPACC
To read the rest of this article, please visit: http://www.campacc.org.uk/state3.htm
0 comments:
Post a Comment