Stop Demonising the Muslims

Title:	Stop Demonising the Muslims (A Response to Mr. Gilder)
Posted:	23 March 2006
Author:	Moulana E I Bham
Agency:	The Star
The comments made by the National Intelligence coordinating committee director-general, Barry Gilder, concerning terrorist training camps and foreigners with “terrorist links” in South Africa calls for a critical response. Although the comments do reflect a degree of balance, it should be noted that the global anti-terror industry, chaired by the USA, has led to many unfortunate assumptions made by governments and the public alike. History has shown that today's illegitimate organization and suspected terrorist (the example of the ANC and Mr. Mandela would suffice) may just become tomorrow's hero. There is a need for a major reality check when it comes to assumptions made about the nature of terror threats, especially in a global context where countries such as the USA use the global war of terror as an ideological excuse to pursue national and other resource interests. In order to come to terms with the way in which terror witch-hunts may go horribly wrong , one need look no further than the history of the mis-application of anti-terror legislation in the UK since 9/11. Since 9/11 and the adoption of new anti-terror legislation in the UK, several high profile “terror-plots” leading to raids and arrests have occurred across Britain. BBC Security correspondent, Frank Gardner notes that, “The way this shadowy war on terror works is authorities in Britain try to crack a plot early on, before they can get enough evidence, to stop it and disrupt it.” This approach has led several Human Rights organizations, the Institute for Race Relations, and State watch to warn that the UK is being turned into a police state. In 2004, the UK-based group Campaign Against Criminalising Communities (CAMPACC) drew a stark comparison between the experience of Irish people during the IRA’s war with the British government, and the current experience of Muslim communities in the UK. Similar to the Irish experience, Muslims are currently bearing the brunt of unjust targeting, harassment, and victimisation under sweeping powers given to police under its new anti-terror legislation. In recent years there has been a constant flow of breaking news stories relating to high-profile “terror plots” being uncovered by police. Such cases usually receive major media attention, while police swoop down on communities to arrest suspects. It has been noted, however, that by 2005 a total of 701 arrests have been made under anti-terror legislation, of which 119 people have been charged, and only 17 convicted of terrorist related activities. Of the seventeen convictions only three are related to cases of “Islamic” terrorism. In most cases there is no media coverage of the outcome of such arrests. In some instances “suspects” are held for up to 14 days, upon which they are released and charges against them dropped. There is no media coverage of the wrongful arrests, or the injuries and discomfort endured by individuals, families and whole communities when police sweep neighbourhoods in raids to catch would-be terrorists. In September 2004 the UK-based Institute of Race Relations published a report wherein it examined 287 arrests made under UK anti-terror legislation. The report’s author, Harmit Atwal, notes that there are two criminal justice systems in the UK today. The first is characterized by the usual balance between the rights of citizens and that of the state. Whereas the second is shaped by provisions of the anti-terror legislation where, “…you can be arrested, questioned and publicly accused of being a threat to civilisation on the thinnest of pretexts, detained without fair trial and go slowly mad in the cells of Belmarsh, Woodhill or the immigration detention centres.” Atwal concludes that the first system applies to white Britons, while the second applies to foreign nationals, and British Muslims. If the media hype and the large amount of anti-terror arrests are weighed against the low rate of convictions, then it may be necessary to ask whether this does not constitute a clear case of prejudice, and unnecessary demonisation of Muslims in the UK. In one of the worst cases thus far this year in the UK, a man was shot in a dawn raid on his family home in Forest Gate when police were searching for a bomb. Following on this incident Deborah Glass, Commissioner of the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) stated that “intelligence is not evidence… Where as a result of a high profile operation innocent people are injured or publicly branded as terrorists, the police should make an equally high profile public apology.” The bomb the police were searching for was never found. THE GLOBAL CONTEXT Anti-terror legislation in countries such as the UK and the USA should not be seen as being separate from military operations in Muslim lands. The obvious injustices committed in many of today's unwarranted and unjust wars (wherein I include Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, and Somalia) is contributing to the ghettoisation of the Muslim communities around the world. Several civil and human rights organizations in Europe, the US, and the UK have expressed their deep concern about the internal security apparatuses that have been put in place in the past few years. This raises the spectre of the development of draconian and invisible security measures aimed at the constant surveillance of populations. The South African government should take heed of such examples. It should also see the inconsistencies in the ideological bulwark of the global anti-terror ideologies promoted by unjust and “freedom-loving” regimes, who bomb their notions of freedom and democracy into the minds of nations that are being turned into collateral damage. The first decade of the 21st century is proving to be a trial of major proportions for Muslims and non-Muslims alike. There is an urgent need to interrogate the deeper roots of authoritarianism, racism, and prejudice that underlies current security practices in Western democracies. Although the examples from the UK may seem irrelevant to the South African experience, I'd like to contend that it is an example of where we do not want to go as South Africans. If South Africa and the world needs anything at this time it is honest assessments, and not innuendo’s and thumb-sucked accusations based on pre-emptive intelligence failures. We need a robust and far-reaching political, or ideological, debate on the structural conditions of economic, political and military violence that characterise today's world. It is only on the basis of such an approach that a more realistic and productive engagement can be forged to deal with threats of terrorism and the ultimate outcome of the political cul de sac humanity is in. The South African government could, if it wants to, assist in the formulation of another discourse concerning these issues, without falling victim to the dictatorial traps laid out in the shady lanes of the “Global War on Terror.”
Source:	The Star

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