The real threats to national security and constitutional rights: the Philippines after September 11, 2001

Abstract

State terror in Asia has long been used to fight what governments have unilaterally declared as terror. Wars and counterinsurgency have long been pursued as a strategy against terrorism in Asia, and the war against terrorism has always been made an excuse by states to promote militarist and authoritarian dictatorships supporting Western expansionist, strategic and economic objectives. Today, the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and the subsequent declaration by the United States of a global war on terrorism has created a pretext for governments to extend and justify the use of draconian national security laws and measures to suppress movements for democracy and human rights. The common features of such laws and actionspast and present-- include: · arbitrary detention without charge or trial; · the criminalization of communities, organizations and individuals by labeling them as terrorist; · the undermining of due process; · the reinforcement of repressive practices, including torture, by state authorities; · restrictions on freedom of movement and return to asylum; · the intensification of all forms of racism and discrimination--including those based on gender, caste and religion--against migrants, refugees and minorities; and · the invasion of privacy through activities like increased surveillance. In responding to perceived threats to national security, the security of individuals, communities and societies are often neglected by the state. There is no mention of the terrorism of poverty which, as Aruna Gnanadason, head of the Justice and Peace Unit of the World Council of Churches, notes, kills more people than any war. It is a form of terrorism that is often neglected, especially in the present era where neo-liberal globalization has worsened the conditions of the already marginalized peoples of the world. Neo-liberal economic policies have resulted in the erosion of Asian peoples standards of living and created structural inequality, insecurity, tensions and conflict brought about by the yawning gap between the rich and the poor. Social injustice and inequities, including state policies that exacerbate poverty, unemployment, landless-ness and lack of social services, are the No. 1 recruiters and breeding ground for so-called terrorists. Thus, when people face severe threats to livelihood, rights and living standards that have been greatly eroded by neo-liberal globalization (it used to be colonialism and feudal oppression), their protests and demands, particularly when voiced by peoples movements, are treated as security threats by the state. The state increases its reliance on the use of force through police/armies that inflict violence on the people. The exercise of state violence is even legalized and justified through national security laws that are meant to establish order. As more and more people resist and seek alternatives to the dehumanizing world order resulting from the policies and practices of neo-liberal globalization, there is a need to widen the democratic space, not restrict it or shrink it further. In this situation, more democratic space is needed for the expression of grievances. Oftentimes, however, the peoples mass organizations, social movements, labor unions, grassroots citizens groups and non-government organizations that articulate peoples demands and alternatives, become the targets of anti-terrorist legislation. Militarism and the adoption and use of draconian laws and measures as a reaction to peoples demands have often been resorted to by states under the garb of curbing terrorism.