Any country has not only the right; but the moral obligation to combat terrorism which ever way it might present in their societies. But in that account, they also have the moral obligation to protect innocent people who could mistakenly be confused and be caught in the net intended to catch terrorists...!!!
There is an urgent need to generate a public debate about the definition of terrorism at a global level. The definition of terrorism changes from country to country, and even from person to person. Some of the characteristics of language that are useful for the purpose of what we are taking about are: 1) Language is arbitrary, 2) Language is conventional.... These 2 characteristics of language gives sense to the saying: "One Country's terrorist, can often be another country's freedom-fighter." Until there is a convention, a global agreement on what defines terrorism, no country can attribute the definition of such a concept... especially because since September 11th 2001, there have been so many attempts to incorporate new adjectives which would apply to the dictionary definition...
The following is a documentary of about 20 minutes based on the Canadian immigration case. Hopefully, this documentary would help to give light to the issues discussed in this immigration case, after you watch it, we would appreciate your input on this matter... (to view the video please click on this picture).
By now, what I wish you all Merry Christmas, ALL WE ARE SAYING.... IS GIVE PEACE A CHANCE!!
you can send your input to jfigueroa@shaw.ca; also be on the look out for more information and what you can do in the effort to up-hold the rights of Canadian-born children...
Keep well informed about the development of this case... become a follower for this web-site..
Wow great posting and incredible movie! I am so shocked and disapointed that my country that i thought was so strong for human rights is committing such a grave injustice against Jose Figueroa and his family. As Jose case illustrates -Canada's current definition of terrorism means that people who stood up for human rights are terrorists. So Not only is the definition so broad that Jose who was involved in legal democratic protest is mistakenly labelled a terrorist, but a legitimate opposition group such as the FMLN,is also wrongly accused of being terrorists. I'll explain a little more....
ReplyDeleteJose Figueroa, 20 years ago while in college, spoke up for human rights - against a violent military dictartorship. When he fled to Canada he was welcomed with open arms and now 13 years he's being kicked out because the government now claims he was a terrorist.
Why is the govt of Canada say Jose is a terrorist?because a terrorist according to Canadian law in Jose cases is someone who was part of a group that 'opposed a state government with armed force'. Jose was part of a political group associated with the FMLN, and although he was not a cobatant, the group the FMLN used armed resistance against the military dictatorship.
The problem with that definition of terrorism --is that in the El Salvador war in the 1980's someone who opposed the state government -was someone who was standing up for human rights.
The state government was violently repressive not democratic and killed any opposition. So people had no alternative to stop the repression but to oppose. Sure that definition of terrorism when applied in a democratic context makes sense. We want people to use democratic means of opposition in a democracy -but that law is wrong and infact unjust to apply in the El Salvdoran context when the state government was a brutally violent to any oppostion.
Why is this mistake happening? From reviewing the evidence that the Canadian government used in Jose's case - I have to say i was pretty shocked --it was obvious how this mistake occured -Because the Canadian government is using old and innaccurate and biased information provided by the supporters of the military dictatorship. See the US supported the violent repression used against civilians by the military dictatorship. And they tried to keep that killing secret and pretend that the El Salvador government at the time was a legitimate democracy. However the truth was revealed - only after one lone survivor of a violent attack in a village, of El Mizote, spoke to journalists did evidence get out of what was really happening. From that report led to the discovery of mass graves, than an UN investigation and subseqently the UN Truth report came out that told the reality and truth of what was really happening. Prior to that Truth report -the US was lying to Canada and we took their information and labelled the FMLN as a terrorist group -because the truth of what was really happening in El Salvador was only known by those in the country...that is until 1992 when the war ended and the Truth Commision report came out.
The UN report told of horrendous killing by the El Salvadoran government at the time with over 70,000 civilians deaths.
The problem is that Canada still uses old [pre-UN truth report] biased sources of information provided by the US and El Salvador governments both of who supported the human rights abuses at the time in El Salvador that did not acknwledge the truth about what the military dictatorship was doing. The biased sources of evidence provide inaccurrate info claming that the military state goverment was a democracy when in reality it was anything but.
People like Jose, who stand up for human rights should not be referred to as terrorists! Please stand up for human rights and ask the Canadian government to fix this mistake. Jose is not a terrorist and the FMLN is not a terorist organization. -Sasha [sashabwood@yahoo.com]