[From the diaries by susanhu.] According to the Italian newspaper L’Unita, France has decided to temporarily suspend its adherence to the Schengen agreement. The Schengen and Dublin agreements are legal accords adopted by several member states of the EU in 1985 and ratified by the majority of nations in 1991. They are concerned essentially with allowing for the free movement of citizens of the EU, as well as goods and services, from one nation to another without having to go through the hassle of passports, border check identifications and other bureaucratic obstacles. The goal was to achieve a greater degree of integration and unification in such maters as immigration policy and to eliminate different tariffs on good and services.
An article in l’Unità, however, informs us that:
While still searching for a common European strategy againt terrorism, the single member states are beginning to take action on their own account. The call to order of “security” (and the anti-communitarian reflex following on the “no” vote on the EU Constitution) has pushed a France to unilaterally suspend the Schengen treaty on the free circulation of citizens between EU nations.
The right wing leader and probable candidate for the premiership of France in the elections of 2007 Nicholas Sarkozy, who has been campaigning on a strongly anti-immigration platform, has been the strongest backer of the move to unilaterally withdraw and reestablish the old European barriers.
Holland also initially announce its intention of withdrawing from Schengen but eventually decided against it.
In Italy,the Northern League has applauded the move, but minister of the Interior [Guiseppe] Pisanu insists that Italy will not follow the Franco-Hollandese example.
We shall see how long the Berlusconi government can continue to resist this golden opportunity to exploit the popular hysteria about the invading Muslim hordes passing through the border with Slovenia.
These actions on the part of the French government follow immediately on the heels of a widespread crackdown on “alleged” terrorist front organizations and mosques in Italy. At least 200 to 300 immigrants of Muslim descent have had their homes sequestered and perquisitoned without warrant or judicial authorization based on allegations which, in some case, go back three to four years.
The Minister of Interior, Giuseppe Pisanu, has also recently proposed the implementation of laws modeled on the USA PATRIOT act of 2001.
I firmly believe that all of these developments should be carefully reflected upon, especially by those who call for a pause in the “politicization” of the discussion of the London bombings, within the context of this provocative observation made by the historian Juan Cole today on his blog:
One key al-Qaeda goal is to topple Western democracies and push them into fascism so as to punish Westerners for having supported authoritarian regimes in the Muslim world.
The important thing to note is that this strategy works, in part, by inducing the populations of Western nations into adopting submissive and supine attitudes of “national unity” based on fear of a common enemy (external and now even internal), exaggerated alarmism in the media and from the propaganda outlets of Western governments, and silencing of dissenting voices which will speak out loudly against the rising fascism.
