[NYTr] "Hmegrown Terrorism" - Rotten New Bill Threatens Harman Civil Liberties

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

Workers World - Dec 20, 2007 issue
http://www.workers.org/2007/editorials/rotten-1220

EDITORIAL

A rotten new bill

Earlier this fall the House of Representatives passed, by a ridiculous
vote of 404-6, a thoroughly reactionary bill known as the “Violent
Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act.” Introduced by
California Democrat Jane Harman, HR 1955 would set up commissions
called “Centers of Excellence” to study what “radicalizes” people and
how to prevent it. The Senate has yet to produce its version of the
legislation.

While HR 1955 is supposed to be directed against “terrorism,” its
language is so vague and broad that civil liberties activists rightly
note that these “Centers of Excellence” could be turned against any
direct action and even against dissenting speech or writing on the
Internet. HR 1955 is a preliminary step for more state repression.

To keep its threat in perspective, and to see how to fight it, it’s
useful to recall the history of the House Un-American Activities
Committee or HUAC. Created in 1934, allegedly to fight the KKK and
German Nazis, HUAC quickly became an instrument to investigate
communists. When the Cold War peaked, from about 1948 to 1960, it had
the weight of a modern Inquisition. If you were called before it, you
could lose your job, be outlawed from your profession, and find your
reputation ruined with neighbors and friends. If you stood strong and
defied HUAC, you might do jail time for contempt of Congress.

By the early 1960s, young people by the thousands protested against
HUAC when it started to investigate the anti-war movement. Its power
was already beginning to wane. By the late 1960s, radicals looked
forward to being called before HUAC. The more flamboyant protesters
like Jerry Rubin and Abbie Hoffman ridiculed the committee. People
laughed at it. Everyone had contempt of HUAC.

It was not any change in laws that altered the threat of HUAC but a
change in the level of struggle and of mass consciousness.

In a similar way today, HR 1955 threatens dissent not just because of
its wording but because it signals the intention of the capitalist
state to find ways to crack down on opponents. It is important to try
to stop it in the Senate, but also to prepare a popular struggle
against it, should it pass.

Imagine this scenario. A “Center of Excellence” (it’s hard to write
that phrase without quotes) hearing is held to investigate why people
become “radicalized.” Protesters are there with picket signs: “I was
radicalized when my job was outsourced after 20 years on the production
line.” “I became a radical when my home was repossessed.” “I turned
left when I was ethnically cleansed from New Orleans.” “I found myself
considering violence when I was sent to Iraq to kill civilians.”

It’s a rotten bill. But if it passes -- don’t moan, organize.


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