“Are you a terrorist?”

That’s the subject line of an e-mail making the lefty circuit, a link to a pageon the American Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) Web site thatcontains a statement from FBI director Louis J. Freeh, made on May 10, 2001,defining terrorism and terrorist groups.

Included in the description are “left-wing groups (that) generally professa revolutionary socialist doctrine and view themselves as protectors of thepeople against the dehumanizing effects of capitalism and imperialism. They aimto bring about change in the United States through revolution rather thanthrough the established political process. Anarchists and extremist socialistgroups  many of which, such as the Workers’ World Party, Reclaim theStreets, and Carnival Against Capitalism  have an international presence and,at times, also represent a potential threat in the United States.”

I’m not sure whether the people forwarding this e-mail are amused orparanoid. Probably a mixture of both. After all, this definition is so broad itcould include anyone who protested at Seattle or Quebec City, catapulted a teddybear or marched with a giant puppet.

And who isn’t feeling paranoid these days? Not only are dissenting voicesbeing silenced, but the U.S. and Canada are enacting anti-terrorism securitymeasures that gravely compromise civil liberties. And as they undermineindividual privacy, they are increasingly operating under a cloak of secrecy,protected from public scrutiny.

In the U.S., Tom Ridge has just been sworn in as Homeland Defence Secretary, ajob with sweeping powers to fight terrorism on U.S. soil and with U.S. troops,warplanes and law enforcement agencies at its disposal. What the jobdoesn’t have yet is a clearly defined description or specific mandate.

Meanwhile, the Patriot Bill, a broad-based piece of anti-terrorism legislation,is about to be taken to a vote in the House of Representatives. Civil rightsconcerns about the bill include increased power of electronic surveillance,greater powers for secret investigations against foreign nationals and U.S.citizens and a broadened definition of terrorism.

Canada is putting the finishing touches on its own anti-terrorism legislation,which is bound to be as compromising of personal freedoms as the U.S. bill.

And the Canadian Armed Forces have just joined the U.S.-led military actionagainst terrorism with almost no information offered by the Prime Minister or byDefence Minister Art Eggleton. Jean Chrétien even refused to recall MPs from aweeklong Thanksgiving hiatus to discuss the deployment of Canadian troops.

Both nations are planning a tightening of security at airports, including havinga military presence at airports and armed guards on planes and both areconsidering the institution of mandatory I.D. cards. The latter initiative wouldmake it possible for police to stop you on the street without cause and demandto see your papers.

To imagine what life under this kind of scrutiny is like, just ask anyone who isalready routinely harassed by police just for being black, or brown, or young,or poor. Mandatory I.D. cards are nothing more than a licence for racialprofiling.

If polls are any indication of anything, the people are for it. Fifty-six percent of Americans and 80 per cent of Canadians have recently said they are infavour of mandatory I.D. cards.

The politicking has worked, creating a fear in people so great that they’rehappy to give up their freedoms, while obfuscating the fact that sophisticatedand extensive security and surveillance measures already in place failed toprevent a devastating attack by a bunch of terrorists (many of whom were alreadyknown to law enforcement agencies) armed with exacto knives.

As U.S. military strikes displace thousands more Afghans, millions alreadysuffering the ravages of civil war and drought and hundreds of thousands alreadyliving as refugees, an innovative, refugee public awareness project is beingerected in Nathan Phillips Square.

A Refugee Camp in the City is an interactive exhibit created by the Nobel PeacePrize-winning, international humanitarian group Médecins sans frontières /DoctorsWithout Borders. It’s already toured 12 countries and opens today in Toronto,running until October 15.

Recreating a refugee camp, the exhibit is complete with makeshift huts,rudimentary latrines, giant bladders of drinking water, a land mine display, ahealth clinic housed in a tent, a vaccination area and a food distributioncentre. The goal is to raise awareness about the 39-million people worldwidewho’ve been displaced by war or disasters. Though primarily targeted at schoolgroups, the exhibit is open to the public.

For more details, Médecins sans frontières’s Web site at http://www.msf.ca or call Médecins sans frontières Torontoat 416-964-0619.