Oppose Clarke’s ‘hideous experiment’

HOME SECRETARY Charles Clarke’s draconian new ‘anti-terror’ laws have been
passed through Parliament after the longest sitting so far this century.
British subjects as well as foreign nationals can now be subject to ‘control
orders’ without a trial.

These orders allow for measures such as the house arrest and electronic
tagging of suspects. In fact, by the Friday after the Lords debate, tagging
equipment was being prepared, ready to install in the homes of those subject
to control orders.

These measures, rushed through Parliament, eat away at our hard-fought
democratic rights. They won’t succeed in fighting the ‘terrorist threat’ any
more than internment without trial or the brutal jury-less Diplock courts that
replaced internment in Northern Ireland in the 1970s. These harsh measures
actually fuelled, for many years, support for terrorist groups in Ireland.

In a warning to the trade union movement 30 years on, many of those
arrested under the 1974 Prevention of Terrorism Act were innocent trade
unionists of Irish origin.

The Blair government is widely suspected of lying and duplicity after the
experience of the weapons of mass destruction saga. Many people are asking: if
the government has real evidence of the suspects’ involvement in terrorist
activity, why don’t they take their suspects and their evidence to court?

Already, injustices are arising. The mother of one former detainee visiting
from abroad was thrown out of the family house because she wasn’t on a list of
people authorised to visit her son under the control order.

Solicitor Gareth Peirce, who represents many detainees said: "Another
hideous experiment has begun and again the government is using human guinea
pigs."

The Socialist Party calls for the repeal of this legislation. We oppose any
curtailment of the right to jury trials. We also fight for the democratic
election of judges. Moreover, in a capitalist society where wealth and power
are controlled by a tiny minority of rich and powerful people, that same
minority fundamentally control the forces of the state – the courts, judges
and police.

That’s why the fight for a socialist society – organised to meet the needs
of the millions rather than the profits of the millionaires – is so vital in
all questions of democratic rights and civil liberties.