23 August 2006
Written by Jakob
Should we burn some crosses now?
This is an absolutely appalling news story:
British holidaymakers staged an unprecedented mutiny – refusing to allow their flight to take off until two men they feared were terrorists were forcibly removed. The extraordinary scenes happened after some of the 150 passengers on a Malaga-Manchester flight overheard two men of Asian appearance apparently talking Arabic.
Passengers told cabin crew they feared for their safety and demanded police action. Some stormed off the Monarch Airlines Airbus A320 minutes before it was due to leave the Costa del Sol at 3am. Others waiting for Flight ZB 613 in the departure lounge refused to board it.
This is nothing but vigilantism. Mob mentality. A frightened group of people – with no legal authority, and certainly no evidence – accuses a few people of being criminals, and promptly – forcibly – ejects them from a flight that they’ve paid good money for. The describtion that best fits a group of people who do this is “lynch mob”. What next? Mobs of Underground passengers in London throwing arabs off trains in order to “prevent bombings”? Companies finding themselves under pressure to not hire people belonging to certain categories that are deemed scary? Restaurants not serving them? Real estate prices dropping in areas where there are large arab minorities? Maybe we’ll even see neighbourhood militias harassing “undesirables” to make them move?
Think I’m going too far? Well, just go watch “Mississippi Burning” then – this was after all more or less standard operating procedure no more than 50 years ago. Rosa Parks must be turning in her grave, because all that she stood for is at stake here. Everybody involved in this should be ashamed. First of all: the airliners. If they have any faith at all in the security procedures at airports, they must rise up and say so. If they do not trust the decisions of airport security staff, they should get into another business. Second of all: the mobsters themselves. They should sit down, have a drink, and think long and hard about what democracy is about, what we’re actually fighting terrorism for, and what many, many years of struggle against racism, homophobia, segregation and prejudice was about. Third of all: the politicians and the media. They’ve indoctrinated us with fear for too long now, telling us with drooling excitement what threat level is currently active, what the evil-doers are plotting next, and above all, “stressing the need for vigilance”. Sure, the terrorists need to be dealt with. But media as well as official spokesmen must make it clear that a decent society is one that does not belittle, demonize and humiliate it’s citizens. That means that we must leave the terrorist-hunting to the ones we have charged with the task.
And, last of all: the rest of us. We’re the ones who have the greatest responsibility to stop these KKK-esque bastards. Every time we let them get away with this, we are sending them a validation; telling them that they are in the right. We need to stand up, all of us, and say: “You do not represent my values. You are not protecting anyone. You are the spreaders of fear, racism, isolation and all that is bad to Man. And there’s no fucking way we’re putting up with ya langers anymore.”
Can we just have our fucking principles back, please?