[Marxism] Safety Before Liberty: Blair Evokes 'Terrorist Attacks' To Advance Police State

[davidquarter@xxxxxxxxxxxx]

On 23 Feb 2005 at 18:04, Rick Rozoff wrote:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/02/24/nterr24.xml&sSheet=/news/2005/02/24/ixnewstop.html


The Telegraph
February 24, 2005


We must put safety before liberty, says Blair
By George Jones, Political Editor


[For the historical precedent to Blair's initiative,
see below*]



-[T]he Bill...gives the Home Secretary powers to
curtail the activities of individuals [and]
controlling where they live and work and the people
they can meet....
-Barbara Follett (Lab, Stevenage) said the control
orders proposed by Mr Clarke bore "an extraordinary
resemblance" to those used under apartheid in South
Africa.
-In his Telegraph article, Mr Blair makes clear that
he regards protecting national security as his "main
duty".



Protecting Britain against a terrorist attack must
take priority over civil liberties, Tony Blair states
today.

Writing in The Telegraph, he mounts a strong defence
of the Government's decision to take powers
unprecedented in peacetime to curtail the activities
of British citizens and foreign nationals suspected of
terrorist activities.

During last night's Commons debate on the Prevention
of Terrorism Bill, Charles Clarke, the Home Secretary,
disclosed that the Government was braced for an attack
during the election campaign.

Emphasising that it needed the ability to "move
rapidly" against terrorists, he said: "The Madrid
atrocity took place during the Spanish election
campaign and it may be that such things can also be
possibilities here too."

Despite his strong words, the Government's majority of
161 was slashed to 76 on the second reading of the
Bill. It was approved by 309 votes to 233. Thirty-two
Labour MPs voted against, including six former
ministers: Frank Dobson, Frank Field, Kate Hoey,
Glenda Jackson, Peter Kilfoyle and Clare Short.

The scale of the rebellion means that ministers will
have to make concessions and there remains a serious
question over whether it will get through the Lords.

Mr Clarke and Mr Blair were fiercely attacked by the
Conservatives, Liberal Democrats and some Labour
backbenchers over the decision to rush through the
Commons in two days the powers to order the house
arrest of terrorist suspects.
....
The debate on the Bill, which gives the Home Secretary
powers to curtail the activities of individuals -
controlling where they live and work and the people
they can meet - revealed deep concern among many
Labour MPs over the assault on traditional civil
liberties.

Mr Dobson, a former Labour health secretary, said he
could not support a law that would allow a British
citizen to be imprisoned without trial "on the say-so
of the Home Secretary".

Barbara Follett (Lab, Stevenage) said the control
orders proposed by Mr Clarke bore "an extraordinary
resemblance" to those used under apartheid in South
Africa.

Charles Kennedy, the Liberal Democrat leader, wanted a
judge rather than the Home Secretary to order
detentions.

Mr Blair said those were "genuine concerns". But he
said the power to impose the orders must remain with
the Home Secretary, who needed the ability to act
quickly to disrupt terrorist activity.

He told MPs that protecting national security must
take precedence over civil liberties because Britain
faced the prospect of "terrorism without limit" that
could result in "thousands" being killed.

"Were there to be a serious terrorist act in this
country and afterwards it was thought we had not taken
the measures necessary, believe me no one would be
talking about civil liberties: they would be talking
about why we had not done more to protect the security
of this country."

In his Telegraph article, Mr Blair makes clear that he
regards protecting national security as his "main
duty".

"We have to balance protection for the public from
terrorism with safeguarding civil liberties," he says.

"But there is no greater civil liberty than to live
free from terrorist attack. It would be the gravest
dereliction of duty to wait until we suffered a
terrorist outrage here and only then act."


*
http://www.weyrich.com/political_issues/reichstag_fire.html


Reichstag Fire


February 28, 1933:

President Hindenburg and Chancellor Hitler invoke
Article 48 of the Weimar Constitution, which permits
the suspension of civil liberties in time of national
emergency.

This Decree of the Reich President for the Protection
of the People and State abrogates the following
constitutional protections:


Free expression of opinion
Freedom of the press
Right of assembly and association
Right to privacy of postal and electronic
communications
Protection against unlawful searches and seizures
Individual property rights
States' right of self-government

A supplemental decree creates the SA (Storm Troops)
and SS (Special Security) Federal police agencies.




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