The crackdown on civil liberties that accompatruly unprecedented. The US detention of 600 without trial at the Guantanamo bay gulag has been its clearest symbol. But Blair has been running to catch up, with a series of draconian anti-terrorism laws and the detention of a number of men indefinitely without trial, six of them for two years now.
The latest threat in Britain is the proposed Civil Contingencies Bill. Described as the biggest shake-up of emergency laws since the early 20th Century, it will give the government power to suspend parts or all of the Human Rights Act without a vote by MPs. Once an "emergency" has been proclaimed by the Queen, the government can order the destruction of property, order people to evacuate an area, ban them from travelling or prohibit specified kinds of assemblies and other activities.
But recent months have seen the start of a more visible fightback. In October the use of anti-terror powers to stop and search protestors at an international arms fair in London led to well-publicised protests. The legal challenge that followed may have failed but the police were forced to reveal in court that a rolling series of such blanket powers had been in place in London since April 2001. The political use of the anti-terror laws to routinely suppress and control ordinary protest had been exposed.
Then in November there was a wave of 23 arrests across the country of supposed "terror suspects" most of whom were eventually released without charge. It was accompanied by a massive media campaign about alleged threats. After the most high-profile arrest (of Sajid Badat), David Blunkett was widely reported commenting that "this individual posed a very real threat to the life and liberty of our country ... this person has connections with the network of al-Qaida groups"
he patter an ig expeditions public comments by government leaders - is a regular of bein feature of the way, these laws operate. They are intimi-s Blue dating, criminalising and witchunting the Muslim community.
That was new was the very prompt and pubing legal figures - before Badat had even been charged. The fact that the Attorney General exonerated Blunkett should not hide the fact that he was forced to investigate his close colleague's comments so soon after an arrest,
This was soon followed by a Muslim protest campaign, involving hundreds of mosques, against the treatment of British Muslims targeted in the "anti-terror" sweeps. Massoud Shadjareh, chair of the Islamic Human Rights Commission commented: "The police force is behaving more like a vigilante force. Organisations have come together to say enough is enough".
And Aafreen Khan, a spokeswoman for the Muslim Public Affairs Committee added: "out of 500 arrests since September II, only 77 have been charged and two convicted. That leaves 400-odd British Muslims who, through no fault of their own have had their lives ruined with loss of jobs and local harassment. We are wondering whose son and husband will be next".
Home Office figures published at the same time underlined that there had been a massive escalation in the anti-terror sweeps with 32,100 Terrorism Act searches in 2002-3 of which less than 2 per cent led to an arrest, compared to 10,100 in 2001-2 and 2,100 in 1999eeps that are raigely fish-nt
C-CHESTE outrageousy prejudicia-al pail 1o 2e
196 90 2000.
revoked
Finally there have been major protests at the power to intern without trial on the second anniversary of the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act. Amnesty International denounced the legislation as a "perversion of justice"; a broad coalition of faith groups, leaders of the legal profession and others wrote a letter to the Guardian attacking the draconian powers and a parliamentary committee of Privy Councillors, chaired by former Tory Minister Lord Newton called for them to be
These developments, and others such as the mounting campaign against the US detentions at Guantanamo, are highly significant. For the first two years after September | the anti-war movement grew, but the government was able to pass and use its repressive laws with little hindrance. The beginnings of a powerful public campaign, although as yet far from stopping the government and police action, is the first step to successfully defending its victims and ultimately getting the laws scrapped
When the Prevention of Terrorism Act was passed in 1974, it took over a decade or more to reach this position - the Irish community was, with notable exceptions, cowed and criminalised.
The liberal establishment shied away for fear of being painted with the "terrorist" brush. Many people - like the Guildford 4 and the Birmingham 6 - spent nearly two decades wrongfully imprisoned before there was sufficient momentum to force their release.
This time, thanks largely to the massive and internationally organised anti-war movement, the Muslim community seems more self-confident to speak out. Nothing symbolises the change more dramatically than the Archbishop of Canterbury using his Christmas Day sermon to attack the anti-terrorist legislation.
The aim now should be to spread the campaign beyond the Muslim community, religious leaders and legal organisations. In particular the trade unions that have played an important role in opposing the war in Iraq and the broader anti-war movement itself must be mobilised to defend the victimised communities and scrap these repressive laws. • See www.cacc.org.uk for more information.
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clalist re tance January 2004 7 Iraq: the crisis continues