Terror legislation may end up being used against you

As a former nurse, 57-year-old Emma Kamio, said recently, “I disappeared from my family for five days… My story can happen to anyone…” [1]

This is something the Muslim community — upon whom these draconian laws were experimented and sold to the masses against — have said all along.

And we are tragically vindicated again and again, but is it too late?

BACKGROUND

In August, Welsh former nurse Emma Kamio was detained with no access to the outside world for five days
Her 'crime' was having a daughter accused of engaging in direct action against the notorious Israeli arms maker, Elbit Systems
She was cuffed and taken away in front of her son and neighbours, with three laptops and mobile phones among other belongings seized
In what she described as 'psychological torture', Kamio was held in a dirty cell with lights left on all night; she soon entered into a state of shock
During her detention, she was subjected to repeated searches and given no apology upon her release
Action on Armed Violence (AOAV) has found that Elbit makes M339 120mm tank shells; a 'Laser and GPS-Guided Mortar Kit'; and anti-personnel mines, among other weaponry being used in Gaza

How many “terrorism” offences need creating?

For years, legal experts have argued that the entirety of terrorism legislation needs to be scrapped, and for a variety of reasons.

Such authorities on the matter include the government’s own appointed “Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation”, Max Hill KC, in office from 2017-18. [2]

This may sound shocking to a layperson — who would want terrorism to be legal?

But the problem is the vast majority of what the average person regards as “terrorism” is already illegal under existing (and sometimes centuries-old) legislation.

In the wrong place at the wrong time

In reality, people suspected or deemed guilty of “terrorism” offences are normal everyday citizens.

They may have written poems, refused to give a password for a device, tweeted something politically incorrect, checked out a library book for a course, or generally been in the wrong place at the wrong time.

When it was affecting marginalised and racialised minorities, it was largely going ignored, apart from rights groups and the occasional journalist animated by ethics, rather than manufacturing consent for the latest invasion or genocide.

But since their inception at the turn of the millennium (before 9/11), it was only a matter of time before these laws and policies widened to apply to anyone causing a nuisance to powerful interests.

Speak out before you’re impacted

This is what anti-fracking demonstrators, animal rights protesters, climate activists, and, of course, those carrying out direct action against the Gaza genocide, have in common.

History has warned us what happens after voluntarily handing over our hard-won rights and powers to authorities to arbitrarily exercise.

If you are silent when such legislation is being applied against people you don’t like, it is only a matter of time before it is used against you.