Shirking Civil Rights in the post-9/11 era
In post-9/11 America, all citizens have witnessed a gradual erosion of their civil rights. According to Paul Craig Roberts, a generation of Americans has been born into a police state in which privacy and constitutional protections no longer exist. He wrote on the 13th anniversary of September 11 tragedy: "9/11 was used to fundamentally alter the nature of the US government and its relationship to the American people. Unaccountable executive power has replaced due process and the checks and balances established by the US Constitution. In the name of National Security, executive power knows no restraints. Essentially, Americans today have no rights if the government targets them. Those Americans born after 9/11 were born into a different country from the rest of us. Having never experienced constitutional government, they will not know what they have lost."
Perhaps George Orwell's worst nightmare has come true in the wake of NSA whistle blower Edward Snowden's revelations. Writing under the title, "So Are We Living in 1984?" Ian Crouch of The New Yorker argued that Edward Snowden, sounded, in the Guardian interview in which he came forward, like he'd been guided by Orwell's pen. The book aims to serve as a warning for what can happen when government overextends its powers; the term "Orwellian" has become associated with the idea of a totalitarian society. The haunting, but much-loved, book celebrated its 60th anniversary on June 6 last year amid the backdrop of real-life controversy that made the novel seem more prophetic than fictional.
Thanks to NSA surveillance, Americans are now more worried about civil liberties than about terrorism. A Pew survey in July last year finds that "a majority of Americans -- 56% -- say that federal courts fail to provide adequate limits on the telephone and internet data the government is collecting as part of its anti-terrorism efforts." And "an even larger percentage (70%) believes that the government uses this data for purposes other than investigating terrorism." But the most striking finding is this one: "Overall, 47% say their greater concern about government anti-terrorism policies is that they have gone too far in restricting the average person's civil liberties, while 35% say they are more concerned that policies have not gone far enough to protect the country. This is the first time in Pew Research polling that more have expressed concern over civil liberties than protection from terrorism since the question was first asked in 2004."
Dissent is the highest form of patriotism?
It is a common adage that "dissent is the highest form of patriotism," however in the post-9/11 America, dissent has become unpatriotic.
In May
2012, three NATO protesters in Chicago were charged with terrorism under a
rarely tested Illinois state terrorism law. Prosecutors described the men as
dangerous anarchists who were plotting to throw Molotov cocktails at President
Barack Obama's campaign headquarters and other Chicago sites during the 2012
summit. Undercover officers infiltrated the group and the men were arrested
before the summit began. Fortunately, a jury in February this year acquitted
the three NATO summit protesters of
breaking the terrorism law. They were convicted on lesser arson counts.
In January 2014, two environmental protesters were charged with terrorism for unfurling a tribute banner and dropping glitter in the lobby of the offices housing oil and gas company Devon Energy in Oklahoma.
Prof. Gary Orfield of the UCLA Civil Rights Project wrote in May 2003: "The loss of civil rights often begins with the reduction of rights in a time of crisis, for a minority that has become the scapegoat for a problem facing the nation. The situation can become particularly explosive in a time of national tragedy or war. But when civil rights for one group of Americans are threatened and the disappearance of those rights is accepted, it becomes a potential threat to many others."
Prof. Orfield wrote this while commenting on the plight of Arabs and Muslims who were the immediate targets of Patriot Act provisions and other legislation in the aftermath of 9/11. However his prediction proved correct about the erosion of civil rights of all citizens. In the last thirteen years we have seen a steady erosion of the fundamental rights and civil liberties, all in the name of national security.
Paul Craig Roberts is right when he says that for thirteen years a new generation of Americans has been born into the 9/11 myth that has been used to create the American warfare/police state.
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