This story
was taken from Bulatlat, the Philippines's alternative weekly
newsmagazine (www.bulatlat.com, www.bulatlat.net, www.bulatlat.org).
Vol. V, No. 37, October 23-29, 2005
Europeans Pledge to Defend
Civil Liberties and Democracy
“We are living at
a moment in history when civil liberties and democracy are under attack as never
before and the need for a collective response to counter these threats has never
been greater.”
By D. L.
MONDELO BRUSSELS,
Belgium – “We are living at a moment in history when civil liberties and
democracy are under attack as never before and the need for a collective
response to counter these threats has never been greater.” Thus stated
the launching statement of the European Civil Liberties Network (ECLN), a
progressive network of organizations and individuals committed to defend civil
liberties and democracy and to confront the “war on terror” that is engulfing
Europe. ECLN was launched Oct. 19 at the International Press Center in this
city. Tony Bunyan,
ECLN joint coordinator and Director of UK-based Statewatch, said the launching
of the ECLN is urgently needed to counter unprecedented attacks on democratic
freedoms as a consequence of the “war on terror.” In a separate
statement, Ben Hayes, also a joint coordinator of ECLN, also said, “We want the
people of Europe to understand and question what is being decided and done in
their name.” “With policies
on the surveillance of all telecommunications, the wholesale surveillance and
restriction of movement, mandatory population registers and security files, the
European Union is starting to display some of the worst excesses of the Cold War
era,” Hayes said. During the
launching press conference, UK-based black lawyer Courtenay Griffith of the
Garden Court Chambers, a supporting organization of the ECLN, said that the war
on terrorism has become a war against immigrants and people of color. Citing the
case of the recent London bombings, Griffith said the ideologues of the
so-called war on terror are trying to push the line that the suicide bombers
were an “alien infection,” to drive a wedge between whites and non-whites. He
said the London bombers who were non-white British were bred by the “racism that
has made them aliens in their own country.” Several
measures and laws being implemented on the European Union and national levels,
Griffith said, have nothing to do with terrorism, but are meant to control and
discipline the population in the face of the disintegration of the welfare
system, pension and wage cuts, massive unemployment and the economic and
political crises of European Union states.
Time for
solidarity This is not a
time to be despondent, he said however, but a time to show solidarity, to
educate and to ensure that information filters down to the people. “Once
anti-terrorism legislation is used, it will be used against the general
population,” he stressed. Aidan White,
secretary-general of the European Federation of Journalists, noted the rise in
the level of intolerance and racism in many European countries as a result of
the anti-terrorism campaign. White also opposed an EU proposal to impose a code
of conduct among journalists, that he revealed, is a veiled plan to ban the
transmission of statements from extremist groups. Representing
the American Civil Liberties Union at the press conference, Jay Stanley
expressed solidarity with his European counterparts for defending civil
liberties and democracy threatened by the U.S.’ war on terror. Stanley mentioned
the cruelty of racial profiling and the listing of individuals supposedly
threatening the security of the United States. He cited the “no fly list” in the
U.S. that has victimized no less than Democratic Sen. Ted Kennedy (brother of
U.S. President John F. Kennedy), who was not allowed to board his flight because
his name was erroneously included in the list. During the
discussions after the press conference, an EU insider also told those present
that many EU ministers and policy-makers are probably praying for another
bombing in Europe so that they could move ahead with their so-called
anti-terrorist legislations.
Sison case A
representative from the Committee DEFEND, a Netherlands-based committee to
defend civil and democratic rights, who attended the launching, called attention
to the case of Prof. Jose Ma. Sison who was unjustly included in the EU’s list
of so-called terrorists. Reacting to
the Sison case, Hayes lamented that the EU does not observe due process in
including 47 individuals and 47 groups in its list of “terrorists.” He also said
that there is no mechanism for those accused to challenge their inclusion in the
list. Among the
founding groups of the ECLN are: Statewatch (founded in 1990); European Race
Audit; Institute of Race Relations (founded 1956); CILIP which covers civil
liberties and policing and is based at the Free University of Berlin (founded in
1975); Mugak which deals with immigration, racism and xenophobia; Komitee gegen
Schnueffelstaat, Bern, Switzerland which works on democracy and civil liberties;
Hellenic League for Human Rights, Greece (founded in 1953); Access to
Information Programme in Sofia launched in 1996 by journalists, lawyers and
academics working on human rights; VD AMOK, Netherlands which is anti-militarist
and a conscientious objectors organization; and the Komitee fur Grundrechte und
Demokratie (Committee for Fundamental Rights and Democracy), Germany. Founding
individuals include: Thomas Mathiesen, Professor Sociology of Law, Oslo, Norway;
Liz Fekete, IRR European Race Audit; Mads Pedersen, co-editor “Salt”,
Copenhagen; Aidan White, Secretary-General European Federation of Journalists,
Brussels; Professor Wolf Dieter-Narr, Berlin; Gareth Pierce, lawyer, London;
Heiner Busch, CILIP, Berlin; Lorenzo Trucco, Italy; Deirdre Curtin, Professor
and Chair of School of Governance, University of Utrecht, Netherlands; Tony
Bunyan, director Statewatch; Professor Steve Peers, University of Essex, UK: Ann
Singelton, University of Bristol, UK; Gus Hosein, Privacy International; A.
Sivanandan, Director of the Institute of Race Relations; Helmut Dietrich,
Forschungsgesellscahft Flucht und Migration, Berlin, Germany and Paddy Hillyard,
Professor, Queens University, Belfast, Norther Ireland. In their
mission statement, the founding organizations and individuals put forward their
principle: “We share
common objectives of seeking to create a European society based on freedom and
equality, of fundamental civil liberties and personal and political freedoms, of
free movement and freedom of information, and equal rights for minorities. This
entails defending, extending and deepening the democratic culture – a concept
not limited to political parties and elections but embracing wider values of
pluralism, diversity and tolerance. And we share too a common opposition to
racism, fascism, sexism and homophobia.” The ECLN
webpage may be accessed at:
http://www.ecln.org. Bulatlat © 2005 Bulatlat
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Alipato Publications Permission is granted to reprint or redistribute this article, provided its author/s and Bulatlat are properly credited and notified.
Political Correspondent for Europe
Bulatlat