Crackdown on Civil Liberties in the UK

"I don't destroy civil liberties, I protect them" - that's the title of an article by British Prime Minister Tony Blair published last month in the Observer newspaper. In it, Blair suggests that critics of recently-passed anti-terror measures do not understand the nature of crimes in the modern world. Blair writes "The question is not one of individual liberty versus the state but of which approach best guarantees most liberty for the largest number of people. In theory, traditional court processes and attitudes to civil liberties could work. But the modern world is different from the world for which these court processes were designed." The prime minister concludes by saying "If the nature of the threat changes, so should our policies. That is not destroying our liberties, but protecting them." Blair wrote the piece in defense of several sweeping anti-terror measures passed in the wake of the subway bombings of last July.

The measures include deportation and exclusion of foreigners who are accused of "condoning and inciting violence." They also incorporate closing worship places used for "fomenting terrorism" and stripping people of their British nationality if proved acting against British interests. He is currently also fighting to pass an amendment through parliament that would making "glorification of terrorism" a crime.

Other issues at the forefront of national debate in Britain are a proposed new points-based immigration system as well as the introduction of a national identity card. Britain's role in the CIA's practice of "extraordinary rendition" is also coming under scrutiny. In Parliament, lawmakers are debating legislation that would grant the British government new authority to search any aircraft thought to be carrying terror suspects. Advocates of the proposed measure say the bill would help prevent British complicity in the practice of flying detainees to countries where they face torture. Just this week, government officials admitted CIA aircraft made at least 14 landings at two local airbases between October 2003 and May 2004.

Today we host a roundtable discussion on how these issues are being dealt with in Britain today.

* Milan Rai, founding member of Voices in the Wilderness, formed in the mid-1990s to draw attention to the effects of the US-British led economic sanctions on Iraq. He is currently coordinating the group Justice Not Vengeance. Milan Rai is also the first person charged with "organizing an unauthorized demonstration" under the new "Serious Organized Crime and Policing Act." Rai and another protester were arrested at an anti-war demonstration in London last year as they read out the names of British soldiers killed in Iraq. He is also the author of "7/7: The London Bombings, Islam and the Iraq War" and "Regime Unchanged."

* Shami Chakrabarti, an attorney and director of the British civil rights group Liberty. She sits on the Advisory Board of the British Institute of Human Rights and the Executive Committee of the Administrative Law Bar Association.

* Brian Barder, retired British diplomat with decades of experience in government service at home and abroad. His posts include serving as British ambassador to Ethiopia, Poland and the Republic of Benin. He has also served stints as British High Commissioner in Nigeria and Australia. In January 2004, Brian Barder resigned from the Special Immigration Appeals Commission over his objection to laws allowing the indefinite detention and deportation of terrorist suspects without trial.

LISTEN ONLINE:
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/03/09/1428227