Skip to main content

Howard and Ruddock eroding our rights

John Howard had Australia join the US and the UK in fighting for democracy in Iraq and Afghanistan. Howard and Ruddock proclaim that by introducing various laws they are protecting Australians' way of life and keeping us from terrorist attack.

However, the reality is that our freedoms and democratic rights are not only being challenged by the Federal Governments' various new laws but our rights and freedoms curtailed. As Richard Ackland writes in the SMH:

"Like the three witches from Macbeth, Messrs Howard, Downer and Ruddock have been issuing prophetic and repetitive chants designed to lull and confound us. It goes like this: These are serious charges against David Hicks, citizen of Australia and Guantanamo Bay. David Hicks is to have a fair trial. We have always said we want David Hicks to be brought to trial speedily.

Hicks is the hobgoblin of the war on terrorism. He is meant to be terrorism itself, so properly understood the chants mean that it would be good if he was found guilty as quickly as possible."


Ackland's article reveals matters which should be of utmost concern to Australians. As the Federal Government increasingly infringes on our rights and liberties, the time has come to say STOP! - loudly and clearly. Read Ackland's article here.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Robert Fisk's predictions for the Middle East in 2013

There is no gain-saying that Robert Fisk, fiercely independent and feisty to boot, is the veteran journalist and author covering the Middle East. Who doesn't he know or hasn't he met over the years in reporting from Beirut - where he lives?  In his latest op-ed piece for The Independent he lays out his predictions for the Middle East for 2013. Read the piece in full, here - well worthwhile - but an extract... "Never make predictions in the Middle East. My crystal ball broke long ago. But predicting the region has an honourable pedigree. “An Arab movement, newly-risen, is looming in the distance,” a French traveller to the Gulf and Baghdad wrote in 1883, “and a race hitherto downtrodden will presently claim its due place in the destinies of Islam.” A year earlier, a British diplomat in Jeddah confided that “it is within my knowledge... that the idea of freedom does at present agitate some minds even in Mecca...” So let’s say this for 2013: the “Arab Awakening” (the t...

Palestinian children in irons. UK to investigate

Not for the first time does MPS wonder what sort of country it is when Israel so flagrently allows what can only be described as barbaric and inhuman behaviour to be undertaken by, amongst others, its IDF. No one has seemingly challenged Israel's actions. However, perhaps it's gone a bridge too far - as The Independent reports. The Foreign Office revealed last night that it would be challenging the Israelis over their treatment of Palestinian children after a report by a delegation of senior British lawyers revealed unconscionable practices, such as hooding and the use of leg irons. In the first investigation of its kind, a team of nine senior legal figures examined how Palestinians as young as 12 were treated when arrested. Their shocking report Children in Military Custody details claims that youngsters are dragged from their beds in the middle of the night, have their wrists bound behind their backs, and are blindfolded and made to kneel or lie face down in military vehi...

Wow!.....some "visitor" to Ferryland in Newfoundland