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I am increasingly convinced that "bread and butter"
issues like economics cannot cut through the fog of
the Culture War. The only thing to do is fight back
in their own coinage: their brand of religion is
the antithesis of America. Hence, this, as usual,
overly scholarly essay.
----
The War on Inquisitorial Terrorism
by arendt
...."The Dominican Inquisition was an instrument of terrorization, and
....could not give up its main function. For centuries to come various
....Popes continually upheld and defended the Dominicans against
....all the attacks of common people or civil authorities alike."
....the repressive terrorism which the Inquisition for several
....centuries imposed, as a policy, on the nations of the West -
....this was to undermine the Church's edifice from the inside,
....and to bring about a terrible lowering of Christian morality
....and Catholic civilization."
- Zoe Oldenbourg "Massacre at Montsegur: A History of the
Albigensian Crusade" , English Translation, 1961.
As the GOP takes us down the road to theocracy and corporate
feudalism, they have declared terrorists to be the new heretics -
beyond the pale of law, people to be fought by any means, even
inquisitorial, secret police methods.
But, just as the Inquisition blackened the reputation of the
Catholic Church and led a century later to the Protestant
Reformation, Bush's phony War on Terrorism (WOT) is blackening
the reputation of U.S. democracy and citizen rights dating back
to the Magna Carta.
One of the advantages the Catholic Church had in the Middle
Ages was that the average peasant was illiterate, superstitious,
and untrained in logical thinking. Another advantage was a
political climate of aristocracy and feudalism, in which peasants
believed that the nobles had more rights than them.
You would think that a literate 21st century democracy would
be smart enough and historically aware enough to not repeat
the obscene mistakes of the 14th century that led to the religious
wars of the 17th century. You would think that, but you would
be wrong.
Welcome to God's Own Planet, Planet Bush, where non-religious
education is the Devil's Work, intelligent women are witches,
and, as Thomas Frank recounts, Kansas farmers vote Republican
to "send a message to Wall Street".
In the corporate media-induced fever dream that is Culture War America
today, the same brand of power-hungry, ignorant, greedy, immoral religious
hypocrites who alienated their own believers seven centuries ago are
reaching anew for the only weapon left in their "spiritual" armory: the
Inquisition.
Having failed to convince any thinking person in America of any
of their increasingly counter-factual talking points, the sore winners
of the Fundamentalist Right, who have control of all branches of
government, have decided that they will no longer countenance any
kind of democratic dissent. They have decided that there is no such
thing as a loyal opposition when you are fighting the devil himself.
In fact, there is no such thing as democracy.
So, in response to an attack by terrorists whom the FBI claim are
Saudi Arabians, they attack Iraq - the most secular (if dictatorial)
country in the Middle East, a country that had no Weapons of
Mass Destruction, that had nothing to do with 911. Despite every
911/WMD argument being discredited, Cheney continues to repeat
these lies. But, of course, lies in the service of "God" are not lies.
Bush has declared the WOT. This has not captured very many
terrorists (and the few that have been tried have been either
acquitted or the trials have been declared to have been tainted).
This does not bother Bush or the GOP or the "faithful" fundamentalists,
because they know that the WOT is to be waged mainly against "godless
secularists, abortionist murderers, and filthy pervert homosexuals".
The WOT is to be waged at home by any means.
By means of the Orwellian-ly-named Patriot Act, the GOP has put
in place the machinery of Inquisition. The same secret trials, secret
denunciations, torture, and guilt by association that were used seven
centuries ago. As in the original inquisition, the guilt or innocence of
any one victim are irrelevant. What is important to the GOP is to stamp
out the heresy of "secularism". And they have the nerve to pretend
this is democracy. Just remember, the Inquisition invented the "thought
crime" 600 years before Orwell named it.
Before they come knocking at our door, it is time to declare War
on Inquisitorial Terrorism (WOIT). The Department of Homeland
Security bodes to be the New Inquisition. John Ashcroft's Department
of Christian Justice already behaves like some kind of Holy Office
for the defense of the fundamentalist faith, putting medical mari-
juana, strip clubs, and Art Deco statues above catching real terrorists.
Before America becomes as debased as the pre-de Gaulle French
Republic, which fought the Algerian terrorists thumbscrew-for-thumbscrew,
we must assert the basic democratic rights that the West has painfully
learned over the centuries since the original Spanish Inquisition. (It is
no accident that the U.S. military started showing "The Battle of Algiers"
to its officers in preparation for Iraq War 2.) If we do not invoke our
judicial heritage as Westerners, we will plunge headlong into the
post-Peak Oil world of scarcity armed to the teeth and at each other's
throats. This future does not bother rapture-addled fundies, but it
ought to terrify anyone who thinks that the human race has a future
on this fragile planet.
As Harry Truman was fond to say, "There is nothing new in the
world but the history you don't know." I do not have the details
or the names of those who would commit fresh atrocities in the
name of God. That is the history I do not know. But, I know for
certain what happened the last time religious insanity got loose
in the West, and I shudder to think what these kinds of people
could do with modern technology to back their medieval minds.
Secret police tactics are state terrorism. That's what we said about
the Communists for seventy years. It doesn't stop being true just
because its our secret police. The East German Stasi were
infamous for running informants. In Stalin's Russia children were
trained to inform on their parents. Just because we named our fink
program TIPS doesn't make it any less odious. Stalin ran a lawless,
arbitrary string of Gulags in Siberia, and we were outraged. Now
America runs Gitmo, and Abu Ghraib, and contracts out prisoner
torture to Syria and other places. Its the Globalized Gulag. And it
is more outrageous than ever. The end never justifies the means.
Read the history you do know, and be afraid. Then take action before
its too late. I'm with Solzhenitzyn on this one:
...."What would things have been like if every security operative,
....when he went out at night to make an arrest, had been uncertain
....whether he would return alive and had to say good-bye to his family?
....Or if, during periods of mass arrests, as for example in Leningrad,
....when they arrested a quarter of the entire city, people had not simply
....sat there in their lairs, paling in terror at every bang of the downstairs
....door and at every step on the staircase, but had understood they had
....nothing left to lose and had boldly set up in the downstairs hall an
....ambush of half a dozen people with axes, hammers, pokers, or whatever
....else was at hand…The Organs would very quickly have suffered a
....shortage of officers and transport and, notwithstanding all of Stalin's
....thirst, the cursed machine would have ground to a halt!"
- Alexander Solzhenitsyn, "The Gulag Archipelago"
For today, we need to take the media equivalent of hammers or whatever
to the GOP media thugs who are telling us to go quietly into that dark night.
The next time someone asks you if you're in favor of the way the WOT is
being fought, answer back with the question: are you in favor of the
way the Spanish Inquisition was run?
----
All quotes below from Oldenbourg, cited above. These words are almost
fifty years old, written by a Russian emigre who witnessed the Communists
at first hand. These quotes may also give insight as to why the French,
having been the victims of the original Inquisition, are none to keen to
join the American version. It isn't cowardice; its knowing all too well the
depths that mankind, especially religious fanatics, can sink to.
The general illegality of the Inquisition
...."Episcopal justice had always been extremely severe upon heretics.
....But Inquisitorial justice was no longer justice at all, in the strict meaning
....of the word: that is what made it so formidable."
Secret denunciations (ala Stalin)
...."It shook public confidence and undermined public morale; it bred an
....atmosphere of permanent anxiety throughout the country...the bulk
....of the population, heretical though it might be, was nevertheless made
....up of folk who wanted to go on living. The constant threat of arbitrary,
....unpredicatable prosecutions terrified and exasperated them. A people
....can fight for its liberty; but a man who is always wondering whether
....his neighbor across the way has denounced him, and whether he
....might not do better to go and accuse himself rather than wait for a
....summons, is disarmed in advance...."
...."The Inquisition's files which were guarded with great care, constituted
....a source of alarm for the larger part of the population: no one could be
....sure that they had not been the subject of at least one denunciation for
....harboring or abetting heretics. It was enough if they had greeted such-
....and-such a heretic in the street, twenty years before, or taken part in
....a meal where heretics were fellow guests, or done any other similar
....thing. Sometimes a wholly fictitious accusation did the trick: after all,
....it was impossible to refute. Who could prove that, at some time and
....place which was never (deliberately) made too clear to him, he had
....not been met in the company of a heretic, by some person whose
....name was never revealed..."
Ratting out others (TIPS, Justice Dept. pyramid against Arab-Americans)
...."...the repentant sinner was required, above all, to denounce persons
....whom he knew to be suspected heretics. If he revealed such information,
....his anonymity was guaranteed. However, the penance to be imposed
....on him was decided, not according to the gravity of his sins, but in
....proportion to the sincerity of his repentance; and his sincerity was
....calculated from the number and, above all, the importance of the
....heretics whom he denounced."
Secret trials without lawyers, guilt by association (Padilla, Hamdi, et al.)
...."Furthermore, accused persons could not enjoy the benefit of legal
....representation, even though they had a right to it in theory: the
....mere fact of wishing to defend a heretic, or supposed heretic, meant
....that the lawyer himself became suspect of heresy. His arguments
....then became indadmissable, and he exposed himself to considerable
....risks."
Secret evidence, dubious witnesses
(Closed military tribunals in violation of habeus corpus)
...."It seems as though hearing of evidence 'in camera' (in secret) was
....the Dominican Inquisition's major innovation...It was the first and
....almost the only reason for the terror which the Inquisitors inspired,
....and a prime factor in their ultimate success. By creating an atmosphere
....of suspicion and distrust in even the most united communities,
....this technique contributed to their moral disintegration...
...."At this period, criminal proceedings were governed by Justinian's
....Code, which laid down various measures, in respect of prosection
....that were designed to guarantee the rights of the accused person.
....The only way in which ( a heretic could be prosecuted) was by
....ignoring certain legal provisions...The testimony of heretics was
....deemed valid if it tended to inicriminate other heretics, invalid
....only if the witness were favorable to the accused. The evidence
....of 'infamous persons - thieves, crooks, prostitutes, and the like -
....was likewise admissable. As for 'deadly enemies', granted that the
....accused was unaware of the witnesses' identities, and that the
....judge was quite at liberty to ignore any connection between the
....witness and the accused, this restriction became almost meaningless."
Torture (Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib,
Justice Dept. memos denying Geneva Convention)
...."...prisoners might lawfully be tortured...in theory, the ecclesiastical
....courts were supposed to abstain from this...If the accused person gave
....in and talked after torture, he was made to repeat his declaration outside
....the torture chamber, and in the presence of a clerk; he had, at the same
....time, to state formally that his declaration was voluntary, and not
....obtained by force. If he refused...he fell under grater suspicion than before,
....being treated as a relapsed heretic and put to the torture afresh."
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