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LETTER
Bagging the baddies?
25/08/2005 14:31 - (SA)
"A range of see-through rucksacks and cases have been launched for Tube users in an attempt to reduce fear in the wake of the London bomb attacks. The Freedom Bags, which are made out of clear vinyl, are being sold on the internet by the Assist Safety Project, a private, non-profit organisation." - BBC, August 24.
Call me a cynic, but this latest brainchild, borne out of the aftermath of the London bombings, makes me shake my head and laugh. See-through rucksacks? Bought voluntarily?
Come on now, surely the baddies who have something to hide would never buy a see-through rucksack in which to place their explosives? So what's the point then?
Although the idea is well meaning, I don't think there is a point really, unless it is to perpetuate the "guilty until proven innocent" mantra that seems to have pervaded London post 7/7.
As a South African living in London, I find this place truly scary right now. Not in a "there-could-be-more-bombings" kind of way, but in the way average Londoners have so quickly and willingly given up their personal freedoms that, just a few months ago, they would never have allowed.
Nowadays, the sight of policemen in and around tube stations searching those they deem to appear "suspicious" (dark skinned?) has become a common sight.
The country is on the brink of accepting the introduction of ID cards to be carried by every citizen in a bid to "prevent terror". UK Home secretary Charles Clarke just yesterday published new rules for deporting foreigners in the UK who "foment, justify or glorify terrorist violence".
Amend human rights?
One of the most worrying points of the document is the one that outlines plans to be able to "amend human rights laws, if necessary, to prevent legal obstacles to new deportation rules". Amend human rights? I thought we were supposed to be defending human rights through this whole "war on terror" fiasco?
And this is my point. Before our eyes, this country (and others like it) is willingly giving up the very principles of freedom it so ardently claims to defend.
These personal freedoms are now giving way to a climate of suspicion, mistrust, and in many cases, paranoia.
Just a couple of weeks ago I witnessed a young Burkha-clad Muslim woman getting on a tube and sitting down opposite me. As she sat down, most eyes around me fell upon her in cold, suspicious stares. I know this hostility was just masking their fear, but I really felt for this woman.
It seems then that the bombings have also resulted in a newly intensified xenophobia to which London has always been prone, being such a diverse cultural melting pot.
No one, least of all me, is trying to lessen the seriousness of what happened on the 7th July. It shocked and saddened me just as I'm sure it did most others living in this city.
What I am saying though, is that it is astonishing how much people will sacrifice when they are feeling collectively scared and insecure as a society.
Fear makes us do funny things. I just hope it doesn't make us give our personal power away to such an extent that this city, country and world becomes an unrecognisable place.
South African living in London
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