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Terrorism and Civil libertiesTerrorism and civil liberties With an apparent rise in violent attacks against state institutions and civilian populations, governments all over the world have found an excuse to strip their citizens of long cherished personal rights and freedoms. The sad but obvious fact of the matter is that if there are people out there who want to blow us up that much they will find a way of doing it no matter what preventative measures we take. Just look at Israel. A fully militarised state with In the end society is based on a level of trust and cooperation. If governments really cared about their citizens they wouldn’t be trying to further oppress them by stripping them of their rights. What they would be doing is trying to work out who they have pissed off and why and start building bridges so the alienated people among us don’t feel like they have to blow anyone up in the first place. That’s why its better to have dole queues than massive jails, isn’t it? This is not a fantasy about an ideal world - it is the only possible solution to the problem.
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D. Altman - right on!
Further to the comment about education of females, see Dennis Altman on Why our children should go to state primary schools
... Where religion begins to inform everyday values and practices, and leads believers to impose their beliefs on others, there is an unavoidable tension with principles of democratic government. This is as true of Catholics who wish to criminalise abortion, or fundamentalist Protestants who want to ban sex education, as it is of Muslims who oppose the rights of women to be regarded as equal citizens. ...
... Liberal democracy rests on certain agreed values that recognise that individuals deserve equal treatment in all areas of social life. This does not exclude committed believers from active participation in political life, but it does require them to acknowledge that particular religious beliefs not shared by the majority cannot determine their policies.
Hmmm - what if the goal is to provoke conflict? ...
One wonders...
Lock up your daughters
After looking again at The Power of Nightmares, I offer as witness for the prosecution this letter to The Age 24/7/05
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For your information Terry Lane (17/7), we immigrants are here in your society to enjoy the two, the only two, positive aspects of Western culture — namely the high standard of living and democracy.We are not here to get drunk, take drugs, remove our clothes, sleep with anyone, terminate relationships at whim, idolise people simply because they kick a ball, sing, dance, act or write fantasies, dump our young in day care and our old in homes for the aged and so on.
Only a fool would believe that the two positive aspects of the West are a direct result of the numerous negative aspects. Dr Amirudin Ahamed, Oakleigh South.
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He is saying they want to get rich, and to live in the democracy of the rich, where money buys a better kind of democracy, for those that can afford it.
But he doesn't want the other pillar of Bush's mission - freedom - because that leads to all the excesses of the West, as listed in his second paragraph.
This is the essence of the message of the fundamentalist Muslim, Sayyid Qutb, who was executed by the Egyptian regime in 1966, on Aug 29th.
As the BBC documentary (another one that will not be mentioned, let alone reviewed, by Gerard) explains, Qutb was the godfather of Zawahiri, Usama, and two, maybe three, generations of radical Islamists.
Finally, I am comfitted by the surreal posture exhibited in this piece of flummery.
Shoot to kill not necessary: Beazley
Well, just take head-shots out of the training manuals.
Dreaming of civil liberties...