"When philosophy paints its grey in grey then has a shape of life grown old. By philosophy's grey in grey it cannot be rejuvenated but only understood. The owl of Minerva spreads its wings only with the falling of dusk." -- G.W.F. Hegel, 'Preface', Philosophy of Right.
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'Constant revolutionizing of production, uninterrupted disturbance of all social conditions, everlasting uncertainity and agitation distinquish the bourgeois epoch from all earlier ones ... All that is solid melts into air, all that is holy is profaned.' Marx
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governing terrorism
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September 16, 2006
Australia's new counter-terrorism laws (eg., Anti-Terrorism Act (No. 2) 2005) are designed to place Australia in a strong position to prevent new and emerging threats and to stop terrorists carrying out their intended acts. How are they put into practice? How is the terrorist threat governed to ensure national security? Though many would judge the anti-terror laws to be reasonable , since they have come at little cost to them, things are otherwise from the perspective of the Muslim community. They see the terrorism-laws being "100% directed at Muslims"; that there is some underlying assumption that Muslims are not wanted, that they are targeted by these laws, and that they are being used as scapegoats.
Consider two examples from this text by Agnes Chong in Borderlands. The first is a series of raids that happened in November 2002. Here:
The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) raided approximately thirty homes, all Muslim families, some with young children and babies, some with elderly men and women. As many as 30 men would surround a suburban Muslim home, all of them with black balaclavas, black flak jackets, with submachine guns ready to shoot. Sometimes they would knock first, but other times without warning, they would break down the front door of these homes with sledgehammers. They held grown men to the ground by putting their foot on their head, and confiscated those critical elements of terrorist activities: family videos, passports, birth and marriage certificates, scanners, printers, and in one case, the all-important tabloid newspaper. None of these raids led to any terror charges, but Muslims started feeling terrorised.
Such actions---no terrorism charges were even laid-- cause insecurity, of fear, or paranoia amongst Muslim communities. But more than that is involved. The personal impact of the losses of civil liberties, including freedom from arbitrary detention, the right to privacy, due process and freedom of association are very real for many Muslims in Australia.
Consider a second case:
Then there was the first arrest under the anti-terror laws, a 21-year old medical student called Izhar Ul-Haque in April 2004. His case is complex and interesting, but the odd thing was that for someone charged with a terrorist offence, it seemed that his activities were not really directly linked with a terrorist act. In his second bail hearing, the Court said that it was "important to note that it is no part of the Crown case that this young man poses any threat to anyone in this country". So what terror was there to end?.... treating him as a dangerous threat to Australia by putting him in maximum security made other Muslims feel rather insecure.
What we have is a discriminatory use of anti-terrorist powers in that that non- Muslim Anglo member of community person are not tried for terrorism offences but tried under the criminal law whilst Muslim community individual who has been picked up in similar circumstances are tried under terrorism legislation. Secondly, Muslim individuals can be charged with terrorist offences for their involvement in routine criminal activities.
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Well that's just too bad. For ASIO to take such drastic actions there must have been some threat to the immediate security of the nation. Ask someone raided in a drug raid how the police/ASIO handle themselves and I'm sure you will hear similar stories.
What this all boils down to is that it will ultimately fall to Muslims themselves to end the problem of Islamic extremism/terrorism. They may well feel violated, and persecuted. They need to do more within their own ranks to root out the extremists. Before the populous recognises that Islamic leaders are doing their utmost to remove these 'criminals' from society, they will continue to feel threatened and intimidated by, and consequently publicly persecute and target Muslims.