Industrial relations, war and civil liberties

Chris Johnson

The recent announcement that the number of ASIO agents is to be doubled in the next five years has fuelled the growing sense of alarm many feel at the extremes to which the Howard government will go to silence voices of opposition to policies designed to attack the democratic rights of working men and women, students and refugees.

Policies, which are presented as law-and-order measures to “protect” us from terrorists, in reality take away our right to speak out against injustice. Policies that are described as industrial relations “reform” are, in reality, a deregulation of the workplace, putting workers’ conditions, and sometimes even their lives, at risk.

No one will be safe from the effects of these policies. Under the proposed new anti-terror laws, not even your legal representative will be safe. They can be jailed for speaking to the press.

Under recently passed construction industry legislation, you can be fined and jailed for exercising your right to remain silent. The Howard government has set up a task force that is not governed by the same regulations as the federal and state police to administer these regulations. Is this task force a version of the secret police?

People in the street are talking about the country moving in the direction Germany did prior to the Second World War where you could be jailed for criticising government policy. No one was safe then. My grandfather was in Germany prior to the war, and you only criticised Hitler when you knew no-one could overhear you.

A friend travelling with him had a copy of Punch magazine, which had cartoons that were derogatory about Hitler and his government. They had to leave the country in a hurry because the secret police were after them for having material that did not show the Nazi government in a good light.

Will this government resort to locking up not just union leaders and social activists but also cartoonists and comedians who have made uncomplimentary comments about its policy? The uncomplimentary comments are many, and will become political slogans shouted in the street. The whisper will become a roar.

There are wars going on all over the world right now. In Iraq, for example, we are told that the invasion was necessary to topple a tyrant, and that the war must continue if terrorism is to be defeated. This is the hype we have been fed about war. The reality is that the tyrants and the terrorists are much closer to home.

My grandfather fought in the First World War, my father was a paratrooper in the Second World War and my older brother was conscripted into the Vietnam War. What were these wars about? The hype we have been fed is that they were about the right to freedom of speech, a life without tyranny and a fair go for all. The reality reveals the hypocrisy of this view. Wars are an excuse to rob us of our civil liberties and remove our rights as workers and women.

The Socialist Alliance will not be silenced by the Howard government’s extreme measures, and strongly urges all progressive-minded Australians to support the November 5 and 6 demonstrations against the war in Iraq and the attack on our civil liberties. “Touch one touch all!”

[The author is a member of the Geelong branch of the Socialist Alliance and of the Green Left Weekly Socialist Alliance editorial board.]

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