Unhappy
anniversary

>> What’s changed, for better and worse,
one year later

by PATRICK LEJTENYI

One year later, what did the attacks accomplish? Our society is less open but more paranoid and afraid. And while a war against Iraq is losing popularity among America’s allies, it remains a real possibility. The Middle East, the crux of the attacks, remains a violent, blood-soaked quagmire.

Here, the Mirror talks to several people whose lives and livelihood have taken major turns following September 11.

Jaggi Singh, Montreal activist and writer
There was a lot of basic human emotion that we all shared in the attacks, but in the uses of the tragedy we see some distinctions. It became an optimistic moment for U.S. foreign policy to assert itself. What we’ve seen is a series of laws, legislation and scapegoating to create a climate that’s far more repressive than it was a year ago.
As to the effects the attacks had on the activist left, that’s a huge question, and there are multiple responses.

First, the left is forced to confront some realities. It’s not enough to have political analysis, we now have to define the terms. The anti-global capitalism movement is forced to confront war and imperialism… It has to incorporate a deeper understanding of how military force determines economic domination.

[The left also] has to be more public, and mobilize more. It’s exactly in times of jingoism, or when our ideas are unpopular, that we have to take the public terrain. We can’t surrender it to the war and its apologists.

Bruce Katz, co-founder, Palestinian and Jewish Unity (PAJU)
What the whole situation highlighted, I think, is the fact that the Bush administration has no clear, delineated domestic or foreign policy. We still see the attempt to link the idea of terrorism to all things Arab in nature. Essentially, it’s one of the ways the Bush administration qualifies its excuses of an increased budget for the military. What September 11 has done is simply to have given the Pentagon full reign of the White House. Rumsfeld is calling the shots at the expense of the State Department. In the first year of this administration, there was a tug of war between the Pentagon and the State Department, and the Pentagon is winning hands down.

Julius Grey, human rights lawyer
In terms of human rights, I think the U.S. has started out in a much worse situation than Canada did. The U.S. has had some major violations, they’ve had prolonged detentions, detention of prisoners in Guantanamo Bay, the constant possibility of capital punishment and the passing of laws like the Patriot Act. And while I don’t like Bill C-36, I have to say that Canadian civil rights have not been significantly eroded. There has not been a generalized, widespread persecution of Muslims or people from the Middle East, and despite some isolated incidents of violence, they have not been victims of systematic discrimination.

However, I will say that our civil rights have been weakened in the long run. The Canadian government has attempted to reduce infringements as much as possible, but there are new laws on the books now that can be used when people are very angry or afraid, for instance of organized crime. I fear that civil rights in Canada has suffered not a fatal blow, but a weakening towards future threats. We have to be very vigilant.

Riad Saloogee, executive director, Council on American-Islamic Relations—Canada (CAIR)
The past year has been very challenging, and in some ways traumatic, for Muslims. We also felt anger and sorrow after the attacks, but we also felt victimized because of our faith and ethnicity. There was a hate-wave that spiked in the first few months after the attack, but that has since waned. We don’t receive the same number of complaints that we used to.

While there has been positive, fair coverage of, and a real effort to reach out to, the Muslim community, some running negative themes are recurring with alarming frequency. First, we’re seen as not being as loyal as other Canadians, that we didn’t speak out enough, that we were silently complicit. Second, that the Muslim community is like a fifth column in Canada. This has helped introduce a hysterical overall atmosphere.

Third, there is the question of racial profiling, which we’re obviously against. Fourth, there’s been a denial of hate activity completely. There are subtle signs that Muslims are fabricating it or crying wolf. And fifth, there is this concept of a clash of civilizations, that Islam is antithetical to the West and vice versa.

Janet Dench, executive director, Canadian Council for Refugees
The attitude in Canada towards refugees has not been welcoming at all this past year. There have been major moves to reduce refugee rights, with pretty disastrous consequences. There is a new refugee law that already passed in the House of Commons before September 11, and that is likely to be reopened to include harsher measures.

The government announced that they are not implementing the right of appeal for refugees, and this is very difficult for us to believe. They have also reduced the numbers of people on the board to hear cases. Now, a single board member will hear a refugee’s case, with no right of appeal. The government has decided that a refugee’s fate lies in the hands of a single decision-maker.

This is a complete betrayal to us. One can’t help but think that this has happened in the context of refugees being vilified because of their supposed connection to terrorism.

Dolores Chew, president, Centre d’études et recherches sur l’Asie du Sud (CERAS)
From what we have seen, the immigration has slowed down. There has always been a backlog (for processing immigrants, especially from South Asia), but now, even for family reunification, it’s become much slower.

There is also more concern that we and the South Asian Women’s Community Centre may be seen to have links to terrorist organizations. We find ourselves asking, “Should we get involved in this activity, or is it too political?” Many organizations that do community or social work have charity numbers for Revenue Canada, and the number can be revoked if they find that we have not been completely above board. After September 11, there’s been much more scrutiny, and some organizations are anxious not to get involved [in anything considered overly political]. We have been practicing some forms of self-censorship. :