life in the panopticon

Intervention begets intervention. When Canada's imperialist foreign policy stirs up domestic blow back rather than acknowledge that there are consequences to engaging in wars of aggression and adopting a foreign policy of freedom and peace the solution of national security experts at home has been to ramp up the surveillance state. With it's new anti-terror legislation the Harper government has granted an expansion of the already broad powers CSIS enjoys.

The Anti-Terrorism Act makes it a crime to 'promote terrorism', allows for sealed court proceedings, let's CSIS agents carry out arrests on the slightest inkling of nefarious doings, expands the no fly list and allows the spy agency a variety of new activities relating to internet and telecommunications (such as interrupting a phone call).

Instead of expanding the power of the state to spy on Canadians what we should do is cease our meddling in the affairs of other nations, withdraw from the middle east and maintain a foreign policy of non intervention. There is no need to sacrifice our freedom and privacy to stay safe.