Debate on terrorism in the European Parliament on 5 September 2007 in Strasbourg

Tobias Pflüger for GUE/NGL

Dear Mr. President! I believe we are holding a debate which is essential with regard to the state of democracy within the European Union. We should take a look back. On 12 September 2001 a so-called “war against terrorism” has been initiated. At that time NATO declared that this was a situation of collective self-defence, because they wrongfully considered the events in New York and Washington as military attacks. Nobody knows how to revoke this state of collective self-defence.

In the meantime, this so-called “war against terrorism” is being waged on a global scale, for example in in Afghanistan. We are witnessing an increasing “Iraquization” there.

In the context of domestic policy more and more basic and civil rights are being abrogated. One could describe the situation as a permanent state of emergency.

There is a EU framework decision on the fight against terrorism. This document sets out several points, which the EU member states and the European Union itself have to implement.

At present we are experiencing extensive activism, particularly on the part of the German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schäuble. By now he is calling just anything “terrorism” and is doing much more than is necessary.

In Germany, we can see police state methods being applied increasingly often. Recently, people have been arrested in Germany and were accused on the basis of paragraph 129-a, since they were suspected of being terrorists. Some individuals are said to have set fire to an army truck. Some co-accused are facing trials because they wrote scientific papers, in which they were employing technical terms that were similar to those used in letters claiming responsibility for arson attacks. This is scandalous!

Following the terrorist acts in London, the author A.L.Kennedy made an interesting comment that I would like to quote in this context: “Nobody mentioned that the number of victims, as horrendous as it was, would be considered only moderate in Bagdad on most days. Nobody said that in deciding to send our soldiers to war for profits, Tony Blair also brought his entire country into danger, and at all times. Nobody mentions that our actions only increased the number and the intensity of terrorist acts. Nobody notes that even we justified the torturing of prisoners by saying that attacks could be prevented by this means. Nobody mentions that for vast parts of the worlds we are the terrorists.” (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 5 July 2005)

This is exactly what we must prevent.

It is wrong to speak of terrorism or terror as a coherent phenomenon, as my colleague Manfred Weber just did. There are different groups and people who, for different reasons, think they need to employ terrorist means. It is definitely wrong to generalize with regard to this topic. On the contrary, one has to analyze the different reasons and motivations involved.

We cannot accept that basic and civil rights are being invalidated any longer!

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