Anti-Terror Bill
Hackney Gazette
It isn’t easy to vote against one’s own government. However, last month our Parliamentary democracy was put to the test. I am referring of course to the Commons vote on the anti-terror Bill. The government was proposing to intern terror suspects for 90 days without charging them. I felt I had no choice but to go against the proposals. For me, and I think many others, the decisive factor was the effect of such a rule on minority communities and on our human rights record.
Hackney, of course, has one of the largest immigrant communities in the country, including a very large Muslim community. I have always thought Hackney was a unique place in that we have Mosques sitting next to synagogues and evangelical churches. We are used to living peacefully side by side and drawing together as a community. I thought the terror Bill would jeopardise this. It would have alienated some minorities and would have jeopardised local relations.
We all want to keep the country safe. I believe that this poorly drafted Bill would have done exactly the opposite. 90 days detention without charge would have had an explosive effect on Britain’s minority communities. The police already have ample powers to deal with suspects. This Bill would have licensed them to go on ‘fishing expeditions’ in the Muslim community and lock up people without any evidence at all. Ultimately this would have made the task of defeating terrorism much more difficult. Police need the co-operation of all sections of society, they certainly will not be helped by alienating the Muslim community.
There is no denying that aggressive British foreign policy has contributed to the heightened threat of terrorism in the UK. Measures like 90-day detention would only have aggravated the status quo. Even the government’s own advisers were warning of the ‘chill factor’ that the Terror Bill would have on particularly the Muslim community. An excessive anti-terror regime will only serve to further radicalise vulnerable elements within British Muslim youth and force terrorist elements deeper underground. This would further complicate the task of defeating terrorism.
Moreover, I am concerned that activists could be criminalised simply for supporting liberation movements which are fighting against brutal dictatorships if further proposals to make “inciting, justifying or glorifying terrorism” a criminal offence are passed. For instance, the difference between empathising with the Palestinian cause and justifying the actions of suicide bombers could not be identified with legal certainty. This would undermine democracy.
It may be true that ‘our enemies’ see our preoccupation with personal freedom and diversity as a weakness. But I think it is our strength. We pride ourselves on our human rights record and condemn others for theirs. 90-day detention without charge would not only have compromised our ‘free society’; it would also have been a terrible example to set for other countries throughout the world and would certainly have lost us any moral high ground.
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