TERROR AS THE BASIC FUNCTION OF REACTIONARY & FASCIST STATES

Atty. Hakan Karakus, Turkey

Presented before the Public Forum of the IAPL 3^rd Congress

Davao City, Philippines; 14 October 2006

 

       In a speech he made in San Diego on February 1, 2005, Lt. General James Mattis, one of the top level Marine commanders leading the Iraqi invasion forces, described shooting people as “a lot of fun.” Speaking about this “fun job” at the Annapolis Naval Academy on November 30, 2005, Bush himself said that they were fighting the war   “on many fronts -- from the streets of Western cities, to the mountains of Afghanistan, the islands of Southeast Asia and the Horn of Africa. This war is going to take many turns, and the enemy must be defeated.” 

      Let me begin my words here as I will complete them:  the imperialist-capitalist system is itself the very source of the reactionary and fascist state terror existing in the world. Because this system relies on exploitation and domination in order to achieve increasing profits, it feels the need to continually keep the masses of the people under control. And without this control mechanism called the state there would be no way to continue the exploitation and plundering.

      With the control of the masses securely in their hands, the primary function of the state becomes the establishment of a system in which the means of production are geared towards capital.  Because this kind of organization relies on exploitation, it paves a way to injustice, poverty, hunger, death and misery.  Only a mechanism based on force can secure the continuation of a system bent on supporting a handful of millionaires. The name of this mechanism is state terror.  

      The most basic operations of state terror rest on legal prescriptions. When the laws at hand prove inadequate to the task, the state begins to turn to illegal activities. Actually, because they are based on the control of the masses, the reactionary states themselves are not legitimate, meaning that their laws also lack legitimacy.  Despite this fact, the laws must gradually become even stricter, so that eventually illegal practices come to the forefront.  

      The basic philosophies underlying the laws governing the majority classes-especially the criminal laws-are founded on preserving systems of oppression, exploitation, and tyranny, and those of taking precautions to protecting the state against any threats.  Constant variations in both legal and illegal operations are developed by the state to bolster these protective measures.  Just as methods head the list of these developed measures, we also see developments to preclude changes in the actors used—the civilian fascists.

      The laws enacted to circumvent all reactions undertaken by the oppressed peoples against state oppression; exploitation and tyranny have to become even stronger as they prove inadequate to the task.  The current laws themselves reflect the reactions against all the kinds of bourgeoisie state regimes—with all their shades up to fascism.  The end results are the “anti-terror” laws which represent a further development. This development represents an even louder warning bell for the ruling classes. 

      The primary function of much of the content included within the “Anti-Terror Law” is to label national and social freedom struggles in terms of “state terror.”   After September 11, this process led to a worldwide campaign propelled by US imperialistic forces and this, in turn, evolved into a process that has ignited a battle between imperialism and the world's people and oppressed nations. 

      Within the framework of “war of the jungle,” “battle against terror,” and “concepts of security” that US imperialism has imposed upon the rest of the world is the notion that anyone who doesn't agree with them, who doesn't obey them, or who doesn't think exactly the same as them is to be regarded as the “enemy” and therefore has no right to participate in the issues, and that being the case, within this same philosophy, all kinds of actions against these detractors—including torture leading to death—are entirely legitimate.  Using the principles and laws jointly stamped by first the UN and then the EU Ministers of States, the USA and the EU imperialists within their sphere have declared war against anyone who opposes the imperialistic system.   What we have seen in recent years, and are still seeing currently, is the great appetite with which the reactionary and fascist nations have joined in with this world-wide war.  

      The principle/tactic of “pre-emptive war” was actually an implementation developed to counter the “conceptualizations” and kinds of uprisings and revolutions that would put their mark on the 21^st century, and was conceived of the start of a kind of war that would continue for decades.  Using individual terror activities as their excuse, pre-emptive war is aimed at prohibiting and stopping the struggles for independence and socialism. For this reason, the subjects in this struggle and war (organizations and individuals) are declared to be terrorists, thus legitimizing all actions taken against them.  Within the scope of these actions are all kinds of practical implementations, both legal and illegal, ranging from outright execution to torture, imprisonment without time restrictions or trial, and disappearance.

      The activities being carried out at secret torture and imprisonment centres, ranging from Guantanamo to Ebu Garip and Bagram, and to the CIA torture planes--whose existence Bush admitted on July 9, 2006--give proof to the fact that the laws governing imperialism have now shifted into illegal realms.  These practices are being supported by a large number of reactionary and fascist states and individuals, chief among them the imperialistic USA and the EU imperialists, and these kinds of actions, especially the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan, are serving to undermine international laws.

      The law has always been the initial and the primary tool of state terror.  We are now faced with a body of laws that include illegitimate laws and implementations. As the laws are reshaped in an authoritarian and oppressive manner, human fundamental rights and freedoms are either being restricted or eliminated altogether.  The departure point for the kind of mentality working here is the sanctification of the state and the legitimatisation of its organization.  Any kind of opposition to this development is seen as dangerous, creating the concept of, and orientation towards, the enemy.

      Once the concept of enemy has been formulated, the debates of what kinds of tools need to be used to eliminate the threat are no longer of great importance.  At this point, abiding, or not abiding by, existing laws is simply a matter of power.  In point of fact, all of the murders carried out by fascist Nazi Germany in once sense rested on legal statutes that were accepted both in the country itself and across the globe as well.  Today we have the equation of the “good and the bad,” with American imperialists insisting they represent the good and thus legitimizing some of their actions in both international and national levels by enacting laws on which to base their actions. 

      Because state- terror ends up paralyzing all fundamental rights and freedoms, it proceeds hand-in-hand with a process of disinformation.   The most important tool of this activity is psychological warfare, conducted by using the media, which is often referred to as the fourth arm of power.  The media, both written and visual, have tremendous influencing power in society and play the determined role in the disinformation and manipulation of the masses.   A wide range of tactics, interpretations, and contortions of reasoning are used to inflate and impose this lie and all the other untruths, as the truth is turned inside out. 

      Another method used by state terror rests on the use of the relationships between the masses and religion.  Religion has a tremendous influence on the people of the world, be it Christianity or Judaism, Islam or Buddhism, or any of the other religious beliefs existing in the globe.   People can be highly influenced by efforts based on showing or manipulating the people by claiming that actions being undertaken are the word of God as shown in the sacred books or other sacred texts. It is no mere coincidence that minor and major dictators, from Hitler to Bush, have used these kinds of arguments.  We can easily see how important a role religion plays in state terror when we hear leaders assert that god is the source for their power and their domination.  

      The inquisition told the people, “If you comply with us we will cut off your heads, if you don't, we will burn you alive.” Who can say that this kind of understanding and imposition do not exist today?  Capital categorizes those they describe as terrorists as “non-persons” and create a legal framework in which every kind of activity, starting from elimination, becomes legitimate.  Efforts made in England, a country which took the first steps towards personal freedom and security 326 years ago, to increase the period of detention to 90 days have thus far proved unsuccessful and a period of 4 weeks was decided upon. This on its own is a record in terms of length of legal detentions in our world today. 

      Terror is an activity that is based on intimidating and instigating fear among the masses.  Its purpose is to suppress the world's growing anger and reaction.  While the bourgeoisie advertises the wonderful developments inherent in technology, they have actually succeeded in returning the common man to the darkness of the middle ages.   This is due to the unbearable pain and fear arising from the crisis and tremors that form the basis of an authority based on exploitation and tyranny. #