Europe Anti-Terror Scare
I do understand the British need for safety after the bombings of the London tube. We all want to live safely and what happened in London is probably hard to imagine for somebody that has not lived through it. However, there is one thing we must not forget: if you are giving up your liberties trying to protect your freedom, you have already lost. In the end, terrorism is about fear: fear of being bombed, fear of being abducted, fear of falling victim to whatever act of terror. But what good does it do if you swap your fear of terrorists for fear of police?
This Guardian Unlimited story recounts a troubling incident on the London tube where a Tube customer was arrested for the following profane reasons:
- they found my behaviour suspicious from direct observation and then from watching me on the CCTV system;
- I went into the station without looking at the police officers at the entrance or by the gates;
- two other men entered the station at about the same time as me;
- I am wearing a jacket “too warm for the season”;
- I am carrying a bulky rucksack, and kept my rucksack with me at all times;
- I looked at people coming on the platform;
- I played with my phone and then took a paper from inside my jacket.
I do sincerely hope that we Europeans do not fall prey to the same kind of political and inefficient security actionism that we see in the US. Always remember Benjamin Franklin’s famous quote: “They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”
