The Global War on Terror as Experienced Around the World

[struggle4progress]

Written by Agence Global
Wednesday, 02 January 2008
Bush's Global War on Terror
by The Nation

Bush's Global War on Terror in Thailand
by Noy Thrupkaew
... The honeymoon is over, though. The economy is stagnant, the insurgency continues and the military is becoming more deeply entrenched every day ahead of national elections on December 23. Not content with expanding their budget from 86 billion baht before the coup to 143 billion now, the generals have issued a spate of bills targeting free speech and the right to assembly, including cybercrime and film censorship. Most troubling, the military produced a draft of an Internal Security Act (ISA) that would allow it to command government officials "not to perform any act or to perform any act" that would affect internal security. Human Rights Watch has criticized this provision as a blank check that could be used to overrule existing laws and human rights protections. The executors of ISA could also act as criminal investigators and sentence those deemed a threat to national security to "re-education camps" for up to six months. They can order curfews, prohibit demonstrations and public gatherings should they give rise to "public disorder" and suspend or alter communications and transportation systems. The military- and law-enforcement-based Internal Security Operation Command (ISOC), charged with overseeing the act, could seize state agencies and would be exempt from prosecution under the Administrative Court, the highest court to oversee human rights violations ...

Bush's Global War on Terror in The Philippines
by Luis H. Francia
... Those assassinated include pastors, labor leaders, student activists, farmers, workers and journalists -- at least thirty-two of the last have been killed for reasons directly related to their work, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, which ranks the Philippines as one of the most dangerous places for its profession. As veteran Manila columnist Luis Teodoro writes, "The killings are an integral part of the policy to dismantle whatever else remains of the democratic and populist legacies" brought about by the 1986 overthrow of the Marcos regime ...

Bush's Global War on Terror in Egypt
by Negar Azimi
... Torture continues to be rampant -- of alleged Islamists, of democracy and labor activists, of bloggers and journalists. Authorities have shut down two NGOs in recent months, one that worked on torture cases and another on labor rights. The former, the Association for Human Rights Legal Aid, had been involved in the first-ever lawsuit against a state security officer for torture. And at least ten journalists have been sentenced for various publishing offenses in the past months. Egyptian civil society has plainly seen better times ...

Bush's Global War on Terror in El Salvador
by Wes Enzinna
... Last July, I spent two weeks in San Salvador chasing down one of these ersatz outlaws -- Sandra Henriquez, a leader of the Salvadoran National Vendors Movement. On May 12 the National Civilian Police (PNC) raided vendors' stalls, including hers, in downtown San Salvador, attempting to confiscate the pirated goods they sell. The vendors resisted, and a group of angry onlookers -- some say provocateurs -- set fire to a police car. Shortly after, 150 riot police showed up and subdued the crowd with tear gas and rubber bullets ...

Bush's Global War on Terror in Pakistan
by Shahan Mufti ...

http://pacificfreepress.com/content/view/2081/81/

[Mr Rabble]

1. Great article.

Things look very different indeed from the other end of the club.

[ixion]

2. both the so-called 'wars' on terror and drugs are nothing more than an excuse

for governments world-wide to implement police states. Period.

[Orwellian_Ghost]

3. K&R n/t

[spanone]

4. war on terror is tantamount to the war on drugs...good slogans get shitloads of money