Recently there were 100 thousand Burmese marching against the military junta in control of their country. They were led by Buddhist monks, and marched in defiance of the pronouncements of Brigadier General Thura Myint Maung:
People are not to follow, encourage or take part in these marches. Action will be taken against those who violate this order
In 1988 the action
taken was to shoot as many as 3000 protesters, primarily students and monks, so it’s clear to everyone that these were no idle threats. Reports are coming in as I write this of tear gas, baton charges, and arrests.
These people deserve our respect and support. They are risking their lives to try to recover their freedom and their democracy.
In contrast, we in the west have given up a number of important civil rights in order to – possibly – increase our personal safety. Or perhaps more accurately we have given up these freedoms for the illusion of improved protection against terrorist attack.
Amnesty International documents the following concerns in relation to the USA Patriot Act:
- Creates a broad definition of “domestic terrorism” that may have a chilling effect on the U.S. and international rights to free expression and association.
- Allows non-citizens to be detained without charge and held indefinitely once charged.
- Infringes on the right to privacy and removes many types of judicial review over intelligence activities.
In the United States in particular, the use of signing statements have been an extreme example of a trend throughout the west for concentration of power in the hands of the executive, and a weakening of the ability of parliaments to moderate the actions of Presidents and Prime Ministers. The people of the west have acquiesced as warrantless domestic wiretapping measures were introduced, Habeus corpus put under threat:
“It allows the government to seize individuals on American soil and detain them indefinitely with no opportunity to challenge their detention in court,” Feingold said. “And the new law would permit an individual to be convicted on the basis of coerced testimony and even allow someone convicted under these rules to be put to death.”
Elsewhere sedition has been revived as an offence, and police given powers to stop and question without the need for reasonable grounds.
There are many more examples, but the climate is even more important. Police, secret police, and even private security companies act as if they have the right to push people around – act as if they are operating in a police state in which civil liberties do not exist. The public still has the right to protest, within limits, but there is no great upswelling of dissent.
We have become complacent. We care more about prosperity than freedom, and we care more about security than democracy.
I want to know if we would have anything like the courage of those brave Burmese who are facing the guns and batons of SLORC’s soldiers. Do we deserve the rights our ancestors fought so hard for?