Defend democratic rights!
In the last month it has become clearer than ever that the so-called war on terror is being used as a pretext to destroy civil liberties and democratic rights in Australia.
The "national security" and "anti-terror" laws passed by state and federal governments in recent years have given ASIO and the police forces the power to harass, persecute, prosecute and imprison people with impunity. Now John Howard is mooting even more draconian laws, this time against "advocacy of terrorism". The government has also floated the possibility of banning Australian Muslim organisations, such as Hizb ut-Tahrir, despite that group's clear and repeated condemnations of terrorist acts.
The "anti-terror" laws have done nothing to reduce the risk of terrorist attack, here or in any other country. In fact, the real purpose of the laws is to intimidate and silence dissent. In particular, they aim to gag opposition to the imperialists' wars on Iraq, Afghanistan and any other poor
country the US and its allies decide to invade. That is why Howard targeted Hizb ut-Tahrir — it has declared its solidarity with the movements resisting occupation in Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine.
At present the laws are being used most against Muslim Australians, the scapegoats in governments' fear-mongering campaign. But there is every reason to believe that these laws will soon be used against anyone who disagrees with the government — striking workers, anti-corporate protesters,
critical journalists, and so on. The campaigns against the escalating persecution of Australian Muslims — to stop the police raids on Muslim families' homes in Melbourne and Sydney, to drop the charges against Jack Thomas and to end the harassment of Mamdouh Habib — are critical to
defending freedom of speech and association for all in Australia.
Exercising the fundamental right to free speech is not a crime, and the Socialist Alliance joins with all those calling on the Australian government to:
- Repeal all "anti-terror" laws;
- Stop the raids on the homes of Muslims, and launch a public education campaign to stop the racist attacks on the Middle Eastern and Muslim communities;
- Demand that the US government immediately return David Hicks, and any other Australians imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay, to Australia;
- Drop the charges against Jack Thomas, which are based on "evidence" extracted under torture;
- Not ban any political or religious organisation in Australia;
- Withdraw its national identity card proposal, and guarantee that the new Medicare card not be used to introduce a national ID card by the back door; and
- Reduce the threat of a terrorist attack by immediately withdrawing all military personnel from Iraq and Afghanistan.
Further, we call on the federal Labor opposition and all state Labor governments to act decisively to stop the decimation of democratic rights in Australia by:
- Repealing state "anti-terror" laws;
- Reversing their support for the federal ASIO bill and "anti-terror" laws;
- Committing to not use state police forces to deny civil liberties or silence dissent;
- Ending "random" police searches of individuals at train stations and all public places;
- Opposing the introduction of a national identity card in any form.
Download the civil liberties petition from:
[Lisa Macdonald is a member of the Socialist Alliance national executive.]
From Â鶹´«Ã½ Weekly, September 14, 2005.
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