[Chomsky said that] although he learnt about and criticised the central Prevention of Terrorism Ordinance, nobody told him that a similar move
was going on even in Left-ruled West Bengal.
Read the story at the Times of India website.
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| | Chomsky learns about POCA
`Sorry I didn't find out in time' , Chomsky writes ...
[Chomsky said that] although he learnt about and criticised the central Prevention of Terrorism Ordinance, nobody told him that a similar move
was going on even in Left-ruled West Bengal. Read the story at the Times of India website.
In canada, it's loosely called the anti-terrorism act, or bill c-36 (see also c-35), which includes 'preventive arrest'. Last I checked it has presently passed the house and is under senate review. I guess the actual word 'terrorism' is what these items also seem to have in common (apart from the affront to civil liberties, for example). Which is rather interesting since no clear international definition of terrorism can be adopted for political reasons. (I can't help but wonder how long the u.n. can accept the u.s. as a member with all of the contradictions in policy and those acts considered 'terrorist'.) As for the whole connection to organized crime legislation, I haven't read any of these items yet to know for sure. Bad or good, it's perfectly conceivable that a governmental bureaucratic body would extend one from the other - that's kind of what they're good at. In a belated response to your post from last week, I'd just like to throw in a few points on fascism that were absent from the discussion, though more 'old' than 'neo' I suppose. That is that the complete crushing of all unions and the broad mistreatment of immigrants are two of it's hallmarks. This has been going on in regions of central and south america in recent history. Also, by design the racist views are accompanied with an overtly religious pretext. Good strategic judgment by the APDR! Congratulations to the ADPR for distributing the information
about POCA to Chomsky! Let us hope that this can be taken by ruling members of the Left Front as an opportunity for them to remember the policies they are supposed to be supporting, and not a way to refuse criticism. The Left Front had the courage to invite Chomsky and honour him as a guest: they should now listen to his words and accept that a truly left-wing front in W Bengal can only exist if it supports human rights, including *both* the freedom or political activity *and* the freedom from hunger and from landlessness... Previous POCA/POTO links on IMC India: POCA: http://india.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=350 POTO: list of POTO articles http://india.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=308 Tiruchi demo http://india.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=317 Delhi demo http://india.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=356 |