Is Democracy Under the Siege Since 9/11?

In an open letter to John Howard in 2005, the Law Council of Australia stated, “The Government is using the threat of terrorism to introduce laws that put our most basic civil liberties under threat. The ramifications have the potential to be as terrifying as terrorism itself.” This statement was the result of a policy that existed in Australia toward immigrants and refugees. In this respect, it is necessary to discuss the challenges to democracy and the claim that democracy has been under siege since 11 September 2001. Most measures were targeted at safety measures and peace-keeping activities, whereas the events that are now referred to as “terrorist attacks” shifted the priorities and introduced new challenges for democracy.

It is obvious that no authority wants to promote illegal immigration or be the reason for immigration of “terrorist threats,” but the policy that existed in Australia was aimed at protecting of rights of refugees and providing them with asylum in one of five detention centers though many people who sought for protection an asylum were denied those measures detailed in the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol. In this respect, the promotion of fear can be considered the driving force for the destruction of democracy and passing the laws and acts that can facilitate and justify the invasion of Iraq, and manipulation of information and intelligence to keep the population in fear. As people are often afraid of the unknown, they can agree that the destruction of the unknown threats can facilitate the promotion and development of democratic political regimes in areas where traditions differ greatly from those liberal views in the West. People that live in the occupied territories can consider democracy as an “undefined threat” and oppose it strongly.