Values

[flexibeast]

Summary of the state of play in the United States at the moment

The article refers to how the Nazi regime used the threat of 'communist terrorists' to gradually destroy civil rights and establish a totalitarian state. And of course, Our Great Leader here in Australia, Prime Minister Howard, recently "compared Islamist terrorism to Cold War communism as a threat to the values of free societies". So what values are they, Mr Howard?

• Legislation that indirectly harrasses a particular religious community? The Melbourne Times, in a recent article entitled "A foreign war's local fallout", noted that:

  Members of Darebin and Moreland's Muslim community feel caught in a worsening spiral of misunderstanding and suspicion.
  
  Under the new Anti-Terror legislation, families no longer no who they can safely socialise with, which charities they can safely donate to, what literature they can read. . . .
  
  Gaetano Greco, the chairman of the Darebin Ethnic Communities Council, . . . [said that] "Some of this legislation is so convoluted and complex that even lawyers find it difficult to define some of the issues involved, let alone people from a non-English speaking background . . . What, for example, is the difference between incitement and legitimate political protest? If I say 'Down with America' or possess anti-American pamphlets does that mean I am inciting terrorism or am I allowed to express an opinion?"

• Censoring science that doesn't fit in with the government's agenda?

  A leading Queensland academic says some of Australia's top scientists are resigning or moving overseas to avoid having their research censored by the Federal Government.
  
  Griffith University Professor Ian Lowe has accused federal ministers Tony Abbott and Brendan Nelson of stacking the boards of major research councils to ensure there are "no adverse research findings" that may embarrass the government.
  
  [ Govt censoring of scientists causing brain drain: Lowe ]

• Legislation that raises the barrier for registration of political parties?

  The new laws were pushed through in June without any publicity, public discussion or debate. In one fell swoop, they will remove 20 parties from the official register. All parties not currently represented in parliament will be automatically deregistered at the end of this year, six months after the legislation commenced. The only exemption will be for parties, such as the right-wing One Nation and the anti-communist Democratic Labor Party, that have previously had representation in federal parliament. In the meantime, the register has been frozen, stopping any new registrations before January 2007. . . .
  
  Without official registration, parties are denied the basic right to stand candidates in their name. Their members can nominate, but only as “Independents” or with no affiliation next to their names on the ballot paper. This deprives voters of the elementary right to identify the political allegiance and platform of the various candidates.
  
  [ "Electoral bill blocks registration of new parties" ]

• The signing of a "free trade" agreement that forces Australian law to harmonise with (at least some) US laws, such that, for example, the US Digital Millenium Copyright Act will effectively be introduced in Australia? An act which supports forcing consumers to use so-called "Digital Rights Management" technology to access digital books, music, movies, etc. - thus controlling what consumers can watch, when they can watch it, how often they can watch it, and with what technology?¹

Mr Howard, these things don't tally with my idea of "values of free societies" - but wait. i realise now. The 'values' you're probably referring to are the ones in which sport is more important than anything else, in which legislation is necessary to protect us from the 'threat' of same-sex marriage, in which people on disability benefits have to forgo food in order to purchase things like wheelchairs. Yes, that makes sense. But perhaps, in the future, you could be clearer regarding the values to which you're referring?

:-/

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1. Richard Stallman, with great prescience, wrote a dystopian short story called "The Right to Read", in 1997 - a story that becomes less outlandish every year.