A thought about fear, security & a way of life.

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Dear fellow Canucks,

The terrorist attacks in London have shaken and disgusted us all… from left to right and centre… from Halifax to Vancouver. We rightly want those responsible brought to justice and for all peoples of this world to be safe.

But we must not go down the path of fear. We have been reminded in the past few days by American “security experts” that Canada was on the Al Qaeda list back in 2002 for our support of the war in Afghanistan and told that we are not safe from an attack. They may be right. But I prefer to live as a decent, peaceful, open and hopeful person, not living in fear of death and destruction.

Could I be a target living in Toronto (the best bet for a strike in the country… hello CN Tower, Bay Street, Skydome & Queen’s Park…)? Probably. If a terrorist really wanted to blow our shit up then I’m positive he or she would find a way. Regardless of if we instituted a police state or ratted on our neighbours. Do I want a little bit more security in and around the country? Sure. Sounds like a good idea. But I certainly do not want to see people with machine guns at our airports or sporting events.

I love the fact that our politicians walk out amongst the crowds & that I’m not strip searched every time I go to a concert (as an example — at the “Concert for Toronto” last year that AC/DC & The Stones headlined we had 500,000 people in one place and our security guards main concerns were if we were bringing food into the event. The cops wandered alone in the massive crowds and didn’t give a damn if you were smoking a bit of grass… as Canadians are wont to do at concerts & cottages). I don’t want to change any of that. I do not want to give in to fear.

Frankly, I do not want to be a part of the “us against them” mentality that Blair & Bush are foisting on us. I am not against Islam. I am not against Muslims. I am against extremists, murderers, fundamentalists & thugs of all shapes, religions and sizes. That includes the terror inflicted against Iraqi’s and prisoners at Gitmo.

Canada is against those things too and that’s why I really don’t think we are as big of a target as the “security experts” are trying to make us out to be. I haven’t heard anyone threaten us since before the Iraq war that we were firmly against. The Aga Khan has spoken of Canada as an model of pluralism and peace and frankly us Canadians have developed a set of brass ones when it comes to speaking our minds about Bush, right wing wackery & religious fundamentalism emenating from south of the border.

Could we be hit? Sure. Anything is possible. I am not naive. But I prefer to keep on keepin’ on, institute sane and non-intrusive security precautions and continue to value diversity, other cultures, and promote equality. If some fucker wants to bomb us for that then shame on them & we will follow the course of law to bring them to justice. But I ain’t going down the road of fear & intolerance.

No way in hell. We would be handing them victory.

My thoughts, condolences and best wishes are with all victims of violence… let’s continue to work for peace and sanity in this world.

~ spiderleaf

Update [2005-7-10 0:31:10 by spiderleaf]: Thor Heyerdahl points me to an article by Robert Fisk yesterday that truly illustrates my own fears that prompted me to write this diary… Fisk says…

Trains, planes, buses, cars, metros. Transportation appears to be the science of al-Qa’ida’s dark arts. No one can search three million London commuters every day. No one can stop every tourist. Some thought the Eurostar might have been an al-Qa’ida target – be sure they have studied it – but why go for prestige when your common or garden bus and Tube train are there for the taking.

And then come the Muslims of Britain, who have long been awaiting this nightmare. Now every one of our Muslims becomes the “usual suspect”, the man or woman with brown eyes, the man with the beard, the woman in the scarf, the boy with the worry beads, the girl who says she’s been racially abused.

I remember, crossing the Atlantic on 11 September 2001 – my plane turned round off Ireland when the US closed its airspace – how the aircraft purser and I toured the cabins to see if we could identify any suspicious passengers. I found about a dozen, of course, totally innocent men who had brown eyes or long beards or who looked at me with “hostility”. And sure enough, in just a few seconds, Osama bin Laden turned nice, liberal, friendly Robert into an anti-Arab racist.

And this is part of the point of yesterday’s bombings: to divide British Muslims from British non-Muslims (let us not mention the name Christians), to encourage the very kind of racism that Tony Blair claims to resent.

Yup. Exactly.

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