Source: TMLD (The Marxist-Leninist Daily) No. 162 URL: [link] Date: October 15, 2007 Defend the Rights of All! Abolish Security Certificates! October 20 Day of Action Against Secret Trials • Defend the Rights of All! Abolish Security Certificates! • Toronto Says No to Secret Trials - Campaign to Stop Secret Trials in Canada • Decision to Refuse Freedom "Deeply Disappointing" - Coalition Justice for Adil Charkaoui • Challenging the Leak of Top Secret Information in Charkaoui's file Report of Federal Court hearings on 24 September - Coalition Justice pour Adil Charkaoui • Secret Evidence Again Used to Deny Bail to Secret Trial Detainee Hassan Almrei - Homes Not Bombs ===== October 20 Day of Action Against Secret Trials Defend the Rights of All! Abolish Security Certificates!

On Wednesday October 10, Justice Simon Noël of the Federal Court ruled that restrictions on Montrealer Adil Charkaoui, originally imposed by the security certificate process which has since been struck down, must remain in place to "neutralize" the potential threat represented by Charkaoui.According to news reports, while the judge conceded the "restrictions could be constraining, he said they have not stopped Mr. Charkaoui from finishing his master's degree, working as a grade-school teacher and fathering a third child."

This so-called balance between individual rights and collective security being promoted by the courts and the Canadian state is extremely dangerous and the Canadian working class and people must not be blinded to its actual content.

Hysteria is created about the threat of terrorism and all sorts of aspersions are cast on certain national minorities, especially those of Arab background or followers of the Muslim faith. This is done to create the necessary public opinion and justification for introducing and implementing anti-terrorism legislation or other exceptional measures ostensibly as a means to combat terrorism.

Through the work of activists including those of the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) it has been elaborated that such measures are a broad attack on the rights of all, which more and more are being rejected by the polity through protests, lobbying, petitioning and other means, until such time the necessary political power is wielded to outright repeal such legislation. The state then proposes a compromise, that the solution is that a better balance between individual rights and collective security be struck. Such is the case with the security certificate process which is on a temporary hiatus until a version that is "genuinely Charter-proof" is brought in by the Harper government this fall. However, no matter what attempts are made to reform the procedure, the people and their rights are ultimately worse off then when the whole process began, where the rights of all and thus the collective security of the society have been undermined in the name of protection from terrorism.

When Justice Noël said to Adil Charkaoui that the restrictions placed on him have not prevented him from working and having a family, this is an implicit message to all of society. The message is that violation of basic human rights is acceptable and that one can live a normal life under the circumstances. Or, to put it more bluntly, violation of rights is the norm -- live with it. In its essence, this is the same dictate imposed by the Zionists on the Palestinians, or by the Canadian military and other occupying forces on the peoples of Afghanistan. This is same fight that the workers have been waging in their struggles to defend their pensions, their right to a livelihood and safe working conditions, against the monopolies and governments in their service, who act with impunity to violate their rights.

TML calls upon the Canadian working class and people remain steadfast in all their struggles to affirm their rights and to go all out on the October 20 Day of Action against Secret Trials and demand that security certificates be abolished once and for all and that the detainees be immediately and unconditionally released or else charged and given a fair and open trial.