WHO'S THE TERRORIST? It might be you!

Notes on a potluck picnic with alleged terrorist Mohamed Harkat

Walking around downtown Ottawa, I often see the words, "You might be a terrorist" stenciled on newspaper boxes. It makes me smile sometimes, and other times it makes me feel sad because those few words tell a dangerous story for us all.

Who is a terrorist and who is not is more and more becoming a political rather than a factual decision. Sooner or later Canadians will have to awake to the fact that if President Bush can exploit the constantly reinforced fear of terrorism to arbitrarily establish "Executive Orders" that override the American Constitution, it is only a matter of time before it happens here.

What am I saying? It has already happened here. The Security Certificate is in direct contravention of Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Like the Soviet Union of old that we used to love to sneer at, Canada has secret police who can nab anybody they wish by manufacturing evidence and then invoking "National Security" when asked to reveal it.

These secret police are no smarter than anyone else, yet they claim to see things no one else does. Things that even seasoned grannies, with child rearing experience who can spot a lie a mile off, cannot for the life of them detect. I am one such grannie, no longer the pushover I was in my youth, and I am seldom wrong about character.

I mean really. Take a close look at this photo. Click on the picture to enlarge it. Which one is the terrorist? Is it the fellow with the the clear, gentle and direct gaze, or is it the lady with the pursed lips and the shifty, narrowed eyes?

Moe et moi

Well, silly, that's not how you tell who's a "terrorist". You have to look at the ankular region.


See the black bracelet the nice fellow is wearing? He also has a black box attached to his belt under his shirt, the weight of which surely must help him to empathize with pregnant women.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the only indication that Mohamed Harkat is a terrorist. Everything else is in the minds of the CSIS guys who live in a murky underworld and aren't squeaky clean themselves, no sirree.

Other than the stigmata Canada has forced upon him, Harkat comes across unfailingly as kind, friendly, sensitive to others, and a loving, affectionate husband and son-in-law. My own mother, pushing 90, exhibits far more calculating and crafty turns of mind. She keeps her family on its toes, but around Moe Harkat you can relax.

Moe, wife Sophie, mother-in-law Pierrette

When Harkat cooks something up, he does it literally; in fact he could find employment as a fine chef - if only he were allowed to work. He provided many of the tasty dishes at a potluck supper recently, and the only thing he demolished was his dinner - just like everybody else.

Visible social activists from foreground to back : Rosalie, Jan, Kevin, Benoit, Bill

Well, maybe not exactly like everybody else. Some of us forgot to pick up napkins at the buffet table, but Moe didn't. So he did out-class us a bit.

Sophie, Moe, Carleton Prof. Bill Skidmore

Okay, as a Muslim he doesn't drink alcohol. That's water in his glass. A bad sign right? Not right! The so-called 9/11 terrorists were reportedly seen carousing drunkenly in pubs the night before the dastardly deed, so Moe's abstention is hardly a factor.

CSIS has its reasons, of course, but doesn't want to bring them into the light of day in a fair trial. Their fear of terrorism is apparently exceeded by their fear of being cross-examined in court. Well, how safe does that make us, I ask you?

Many thanks to Ottawa activist and retired Carleton Prof. Jo Wood for hosting the lovely outdoor potluck picnic for Moe, his family and friends. Jo's not in the photos because she was busy directing activities in the kitchen most of the time. Everyone enjoyed a pleasant summer evening, a delicious dinner and the animated conversation typical of social activists. The only fly in the ointment was that Moe had to be home by 9 PM sharp. Some little kids would be happy with a curfew like that, but it's hardly dignified for an adult.

Nor did it seem dignified that the ubiquitous "tails" - four tough guys sitting in white vans outside on the street - had nothing more edifying to do with their time. All that money spent on high tech tracking equipment, and still these very visible enforcers are needed?

No they are not. Intimidation is the name of that particular game, and eventually everyone in Canada is going to have to learn how not to be intimidated, because greater restrictions on ordinary freedom - freedom of assembly and of association for instance, and what activities might arbitrarily be construed as acts of terror against the state - are coming for all of us unless we the people get busy and halt the erosion of justice and democracy in our country.

The invisible stenciler is correct: "You might be a terrorist".

Matthew Behrens of Toronto Action for Social Change has written an excellent, extremely timely article on the subject of the Security Certificate and the changing face of government that I hope you will take the time to read and heed:

SECRET TRIALS AND A BINGE OF GOVERNMENT SECRECY SET FOR FALL PARLIAMENTARY SESSION -- UNLESS WE STOP IT... New Security Certificate Legislation Planned ... Federal Court of Canada Already Shaping the Process Before Anything Tabled in Parliament ... An Iron Curtain of Secrecy Descending in Federal Government

You'll find it at the Justice for Mohamed Harkat website.

Related:
OTTAWA - August 18 - "Whose Security?"
Please join the Mohamed Harkat Committee in conjunction with protests against The Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) meetings being held in Montebello, Quebec - Music & Speakers - at: Human Rights Monument Elgin/Lisgar (Rain Venue: PSAC building 233 Gilmour/Metcalfe)
Stop the SPP
From August 19 to 21, Stephen Harper, George Bush, Mexican President Felipe Calderón and 30 corporate CEOs from Canada, Mexico and the US will meet in Montebello, Quebec, where they will continue to hammer out the so-called Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP) or deep integration - behind closed doors!