IP: PRAVDA can see the disaster of the PATRIOT Act?

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

> From: "RV Head" <4whp () home com>
> To: "Farber () Cis Upenn Edu" <farber () cis upenn edu>
> Subject: Wow - PRAVDA can see the disaster of the PATRIOT Act?
> Date: Sat, 3 Nov 2001 23:21:05 -0500
>
> http://english.pravda.ru/main/2001/11/01/19832.html
>
> THE TREE OF FREEDOM HAS FADED FOREVER
>
> Mark Twain once said: "The citizen who sees his society's democratic
> clothes being worn out and does not cry out is not a patriot but a
> traitor." America now seems to be ready to sacrifice its liberal values for
> the sake of the "victory" over terrorism.
>
> No,it is not a script for another Hollywood thriller picturing futuristic
> scenes of America's upcoming totalitarianism. All this is happening here
> and now. Of late, heated debates are going on in the mass media over the
> possibility of the present-day democratic society's victory over world
> terrorism. The majority of the respondents arrive at the depressing
> conclusion that the Western democracy is unable to tackle such a threat.
> Developed 200 years ago in a different time frame and under a different
> system of values, it does not seem to be able to adequately respond to
> today's situation. Hence, one should make it capable of working. To do so,
> one should only slash some "minor" civil rights and freedoms. Meddling with
> one's private life, searches and detentions, telephone tapping, and opening
> and inspecting of correspondence is just an incomplete list of rights and
> freedoms to be laid on the altar of fighting terrorism. The US Congress and
> Senate are ready to sign this into law at any moment. Ordinary citizens,
> scared by terrorist threats, are ready to "temporarily" give up their
> rights to address new challenges.
>
> Unfortunately, they do not know that all things temporary eventually
> becomes standing. The US administration explains this by saying that only
> this way it can successfully counter terrorism. It may be so. An example
> taken from out recent history can corroborate this. The Stalinist political
> machinery operated without a hitch in the USSR. Among the arrested "spies"
> and "saboteurs" were millions of innocent people. Who was guilty and who
> was not? How can one find the right criterion of the selection, and who is
> to conduct it?
>
> Fighting terrorism is not a matter of one day or one year. Yet, when it is
> over, the rulers will be highly tempted to leave it the way it is.
>
> P.S. Yesterday, the French parliament was discussed measures that are
> similar to those approved of in the USA. It looks like the crash of the
> liberal democratic system is spreading all over the world.
>
> DMITRI LITVINOVICH
> PRAVDA.Ru
>
> +++


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