The thoughts expressed below have been much on my mind ever since September 11, and my thanks goes to Keltie Zubko, one of the unsung fighters of Freedom of Speech in Canada. Keltie has been in this struggle for decades on attorney Doug Christie's side - especially during the Keegstra Trial and the first Zündel Trial. She is a quiet but hard-working lady, and I don't know of anyone who does not speak of Keltie with genuine affection.
I borrow from her monthly letter of the Canadian Free Speech League:
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Terrorist Attacks to Result in Lost Liberty?
One of the gravest casualties of civil emergencies often is the liberty of citizens as governments cope with other "more pressing" threats. Suggestions for and implementations of much greater control over the North American citizenry followed almost as soon as the hijackers hit their aims onSeptember 11th. Fear, and its usual corollary, the desire for security, have taken a great toll in both the U.S. and in Canada.
It remains to be seen what the end result will be, but the prognosis is not good, as usually when governments implement emergency measures, they do not repeal them when the state of immediate emergency ends. Of course, the real necessity for such things is not easily measurable by ordinary citizens, who are not privy to all the government-held information, and emotions often reign. People often willingly resign their freedom, on faith.
In light of the quite justified intense emotions that resulted from the terrible attacks and the sad events following them, some interesting freedom-related facts emerge. One is the number of great writers who are emerging from the crisis, to help us all clarify our understanding --columnists and commentators who are doing their share to preserve freedom of speech by their thoughtfulness, their integrity and honesty, and often very moving, writing.
There is not a unanimity of opinion about the events, and there are some tremendously valuable voices who dare to speak their sometimes unpopular opinions. Reading the wide range of ideas, the different stories andperspectives from around the world (which can only result in deeper understanding) gives us great hope that the terrorists cannot destroy freedom in North America.
Another interesting feature of the past several weeks is the amazing resource of the Internet in providing ordinary people with information, bypassing the state authorities, or the often uniform presentations of the major media, but going directly from individual to individual. This always will have its downside, but on the whole, it is one more demonstration of the power of a free and unhindered media, in this case, a media which includes every citizen that has access to the Internet and cares to communicate.
Through the Internet a wide variety of views is available to the average person who desires to look, to read, to think. True, the harrowing electronic images of death and destruction will play and replay in the memories of our generation, as long as we will live, but the thoughts and ideas that can only contribute to more reason in our world, in the face of fear and anger, make a profound difference.
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Thought for the Day:
"The same people who left us vulnerable to the acts of Sept. 11 are now claiming they will solve our future problems."
Christopher Ruddy, October 2, 2001