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Canada: a galloping police state?
by Marjaleena Repo
After five years of what can only be described as
intense "terrorism envy" by our security establishment –
with their repeated predictions of terrorist acts in
Canada – the country has moved up a notch, to terrorism
frenzy. The discovery of an alleged conspiracy by 17
Muslim men to attack facilities in Toronto and kidnap
parliamentarians (as well as beheading the prime
minister) – ostensibly to get Canada to withdraw from
Afghanistan – came just in time before parliament
debates the renewal of our post-2001 anti-terrorism
legislation, and when support for Canada's all out
military involvement in Afghanistan is softening by the
day.
The June 2 arrests were done with massive police
involvement. Snipers on rooftops, in full glare of the
notified-in-advance media, guaranteed 24-hour TV
coverage and screaming headlines, topped off by a full
court press conference by the CSIS and the RCMP. A
full-fledged national crisis was born, fueled by rumours
and fear. Our whole national security was at stake, and
Islam, and to a lesser degree, multiculturalism, was to
blame, for enabling such individuals to function
underneath our very noses. A new term, "home-grown
terrorists," was slammed into our vocabulary overnight.
While the frightening picture of religion-driven
extremists was bombarding our senses, the lawyers of the
accused complained that they could not find out what the
evidence against their clients was, could not even talk
to them without armed police presence. Two weeks after
the arrest, the accused and their lawyers are still in
the dark about what led to the extreme charges. The
accused are kept in solitary confinement, forced to
sleep with lights on and woken every half-an-hour during
the night. A media ban has been imposed, preventing the
press and the lawyers from exposing the exact nature of
the information or discussing the court proceedings. The
initial horrific rumours are left standing, fueling more
fears of all things Muslim (now interchangeable with
"extremist"). Some of the Muslim community were also
pulled into this vortex of hysteria, trying to do the
impossible: disassociating themselves from "bad" Muslims
and pledging to do "house cleaning," to rid their
mosques and communities of such individuals. For this
they have received many pats on the back (and head) from
the amen-corner in the media and security establishment.
Two weeks after the spectacular arrests, Canadians
still know next to nothing of the doings and utterances
of the 17: they were on chat lines (watched by the
police), they played paint ball and did target practice
in the woods (watched by their neighbours), they wore
camouflage and military style boots, they had ordered a
large amount of ammonium nitrate, a potential component
of bombs, some of it delivered to their door by a police
agent. We don't know how many were involved in any of
the above. Five pairs of boots were displayed for the
cameras, six flashlights, one walkie-talkie set, one
voltmeter, eight D-cell batteries, a cell phone, a
circuit board, a computer hard drive, one barbecue
grill, a set of barbecue tongs, a wooden door with 21
bullet marks and a 9 mm hand gun. That should do it –
clear proof that they were up to no good!
But wait a minute, is this scenario not deja vu from
August 2003, when 24 Muslim men were taken down in an
similar early-dawn police action, apprehended for
planned terrorist acts such as bombing the CN Tower and
nuclear facilities in Ontario, their names and faces
plastered on the media, far and wide? Much mutual
congratulation among the intelligence community, the
police and security forces ensued. Project Thread, as it
was called, however, turned soon into Project
Threadbare: nothing was found on the men, no evidence,
no plans, no conspiracy, no tools to accomplish their
dastardly deeds, and no membership in an "Al Qaeda
sleeper cell," as was initially claimed. They were
cleared but not before being incarcerated, some for
months. In the end, a couple of the men were found
guilty of minor immigration infractions and deported.
Others left the country, disgraced, their lives in
tatters, only to find their "terrorist" reputations
following them to Pakistan, where some ended up being
interrogated and jailed before being released. They have
received neither an apology nor a penny of compensation
from Canada.
Is it possible that the CSIS and the RCMP have learned
their lessons, that they have worked harder to make the
charges stick this time? Having watched the 17 men and
boys for several years, with no terrorist acts having
occurred, they appear to have helped the suspects along
by entrapping them, including delivering an order of
ammonia nitrate to one of the suspects (although with
contents substituted). Perhaps we will find out that the
purchaser was reluctant but the agent was ardent in his
determination to make the terrorist charges hold, at
last.
With the defence of the current accused already
thwarted, we can expect a show trial and a kangaroo
court to justify the terrorism hysteria that is so
aggressively being cultivated, day in and out, by
authorities and much of the media. With several other
Muslims being held for years on dubious "security
certificates" – challenged now in the Supreme Court of
Canada – we will likely see more Muslim men end up in
the no-man's-land of Canadian justice, without trial and
due process. A galloping police state is emerging, in a
fashion, familiar to those who know their history, of
1930's Germany.
It is time for Canadians, living blindfolded and
silenced in a fool's paradise, to remember Pastor Martin
Niemoller's famous warning to his fellow Germans, here
freely paraphrased: "When they came for the Muslims/I
remained silent/I was not a Muslim. //When they locked
up the Aboriginals/defending their ancient lands/I
remained silent/I was not an Aboriginal// When they came
for the brown-skinned immigrants/ I did not speak up /I
was not one of them// When they came for the critics,
the dissidents, and the protesters/I did not speak out/I
was not one of them// When they came for me/There was no
one left to speak out."
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