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War on Terror: Code for the rise of state fascism
Harold Hark
17 May 2002

"The interests of corporate hegemony are best served when agent states provide citizens with as few freedoms as possible."
- Harold Hark

Like the children in the film "Village of the Damned," the free nations of this world are acting with uniform subservience to a greater power as they bulldoze the democratic foundations upon which they were built. With gratitude to the CIA's most successful pupil, Osama Bin Laden, the fascist elite in each of these nations have either gained or are about to gain absolute control over their populations.

Malaysia's Dr Mahathir Mohammed, who has for years gotten rid of his critics through the infamous Internal Security Act (which allows the detention of suspects without trial), is now the toast of nouveau-rogue governments rushing to match his zeal. Israel is using the excuse of the "war on terror" to crush their despised enemy, the Palestinians; the pogrom in Jenin will not be the last. The "Dr Strangelove's" currently ruling America are turning the land of the free into a Commissariat, and the increasingly foolish Tony Blair is marching beside them like a 1930s Disney cartoon character, all rosy cheeks and bug-eyed smiles.

Now Australia is about to hand over the rights of its citizens to John Howard and the clinically paranoid nutters at ASIO. As Jude McCulloch says in The end of our liberal democracy: "Groups such as ASIO tend to view all social movements with suspicion. The 1970s Hope Royal Commission on Intelligence and Security reported that ASIO had a 'tendency to think of anyone they chose to call "left wing" as subversive.'"

The nemesis of the left is fascism, and the greatest ally of fascism is a malleable, frightened and uninformed populace that wilfully allows its government to pervert natural human instincts by implementing laws that promote atavistic hatreds.

In the run-up to Senate debate of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Legislation Amendment (Terrorism) Bill--ASIOLAB--(it has already passed the lower house, of course), Peter "Border Patrol" Costello has strenthened his Illiberal credentials by laying into the old and crippled to finance the government's phantom war against the enemies of America. (Brother Tim, a Baptist Minister, must be writhing with shame. Peter, of course, switched to Anglican, a religion more suitable to his calling as Prime Swindler.)

Here are some of the bill's proposals:

• With hats off to Mahathir's Internal Security Act, ASIO will have the power to detain people incommunicado without trial, legal representation or the right to remain silent, even if they are not suspected of a crime. (We're wondering just how they're going to prevent suspects from remaining silent. Daryl Williams assures us that "cruel, inhuman and degrading" treatment will not be used. Oh? Truth serum, then. In fact, refusal to spill the beans, any beans, will result in a five year prison term.)

Let's run that through again: You will not have right to a lawyer or contact with your family or friends. You do not have to be suspected of terrorism itself, but if ASIO suspects that you may have information relating to terrorists, it's adios. Thus the families, including children, friends and colleagues of people labelled terrorists could all be locked up without a trial.

Let's run that through again. Darrin Farrant in Anti-terrorist or anti-democratic?: "Anyone aged 10 or over whom ASIO believes has information about a possible terrorist act could be detained for a 48-hour period that can be renewed again and again. This also means that anyone as young as 10 can be strip-searched." Not surprising, when you consider that this government has no qualms about incarcerating children in its concentration camps.

• The Attorney-General (that's Daryl "The Duffer" Williams, folks) will have the power to ban any organisation he and the triumvirate deem "likely to endanger the security or integrity of the Commonwealth or another country," a power which would extend to many organisations devoted to human rights and lawful protest. People who are members of such an organisation (including informal members) or who assist a proscribed organisation in any way would face up to 25 years imprisonment. Supporting the likes of Xanana Gusmao or Nelson Mandela would be illegal. Unions like the MUA, who fought the government's anti-democratic reforms on the wharves, or protest movements like the Refugee Action Committee, who are fighting the government's cultural racism in the concentration camps, would in all likelihood be banned as well.

In other words, the democratic rights of citizens will effectively be removed at the whim of Daryl Williams acting for anyone in the Illiberal Party (or among its think tank supporters) with a grievance.

• Activism will fall under the new rubric of domestic terrorism. The creation of new offences singling out activists who are opposed to gung ho border control or cultural racism or any other aspect of government ideology will result in swift arrest and prosecution behind closed doors. Those charged will face a reversal of the fundamental right of jurisprudence: they will now be treated as guilty until they can prove themselves innocent. If they can't, they face life imprisonment.

So long civil disobedience, so long dissent, so long democracy.

(When SCATT began as The Resign Jeff Review in 1994 (Jeff Kennett being the first of the neo-Fascist Illiberals with power), we did not call ourselves the "Political Prisoners of the Future" for nothing.)

There is little doubt the bill will be passed in some form. The onus of that decision will fall squarely on the sagging shoulders of Labor. For Labor to reject it, the party would need the courage of their once-upon-a-time convictions to withstand the inevitable campaign of patriotic outrage waged by the conservatives. Unfortunately Labor's recent track record--its stunning moral failure to stand up to Howard over asylum seekers--precludes any hope of them rediscovering their backbone. Labor's acquiescence will surely divest the party of any credibility with remaining supporters and so it will pass into obscurity. It may have recovered from the DLP split, but it won't recover from this. (If only Labor could cause me to eat these words!)

And so too will Australia pass into a new era that in many ways matches Hitler's. Based on the unchanged views of a majority of Australians since the Tampa incident, we must now conclude that a similar majority of Germans did indeed know what Hitler was doing and that they approved. People are, after all, the same all over the world.

Once the anti-terrorist bill becomes law the only thing ALL citizens of Australia will be able to do with impunity is to CONSUME. Thus, the single-minded goal of the greater power mentioned above, the Corporate Megalith--to extract our money to finance their pleasures--will be matched by laws making it illegal to do just about anything else.

Like the USA PATRIOT Act, John Howard's anti-terrorist legislation confers vast and unchecked powers upon the executive. The Westminster System (which Howard's executive triumvirate has bypassed for years now) will become the form of government we used to have. The Senate, already under pressure from conservative reforms meant to neuter it, will have committed bicameral suicide if it passes this law: the reforms will go ahead and it will become nothing more than an employment facility for rubber stampers.

(In case you didn't know, USA PATRIOT is an acronym. It means: Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism. Dubbya's "stupid white men" must have worked their little brains overtime to come up with that Sovietism.)

Senator Natasha Stott Despoja of the Democrats says: "The provisions of this legislation are exceptionally broad, and confer upon the Government the power to terrorise and oppress its own citizens. Under the detention power, ASIO will become a secret police force able to take people in the dead of night and force them to answer questions or face five years imprisonment."

Democrats' Justice spokesperson, Senator Brian Greig says: "This power could be used against any number of political and human rights organisations. The power is astonishingly arbitrary and lacks proper safeguards. The terrorism offence could see political activists and dissidents jailed for life."

Senator Stott Despoja said it was impossible to know how future governments would exercise these extraordinary powers. "Not since Menzies' Communist Party Dissolution Act has an Australian Government produced such profoundly undemocratic legislation. This legislation attacks the very way of life we are supposed to be defending."

So what are we dealing with here? Nothing less than a rabble-rousing, misanthropic, ethics-free government of contemptuous businessmen who have no interest in upholding democratic values and safeguards and who are wilfully using the misery of refugees and the tragedy of September 11 to permanently sideline all those who oppose them. In other words, John Howard's terror laws are the implementation of the right-wing dream of totalitarian control.

Comments by Democrat senators were taken from their Web site

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