In a free country the government’s most important duty is to protect the civil liberties of its people. Secondary to that is the duty to protect its people. Countries where those two duties get mixed up quickly fall to fascism and dictatorship as civil liberties are destroyed in the name of “security”. The United States is already far down that path and today it appears the UK is following in our footsteps.

This morning I read on BBC News that Samina Malik, a 22 year old poet, was found guilty under UK’s anti-terrorism laws of having articles “likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism”. This comes after being found not guilty of the serious crime of “possessing an article for a terrorist purpose”. You see Samina Malik committed the grave crime of writing poems and possessing books supporting Osama Bin Laden, Al-Qaeda and Jihad. So despite having no proof of any intent to act on her feelings and thoughts the UK has found her guilty of having those feelings and thoughts.

Let’s focus for a second on the crime she was found guilty of; having articles “likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism”. Keep in mind she was found innocent of “possessing an article for terrorist use”, so her crime lacked any intent and was based solely on possession of these books and poems. I can think of hardly any crime that has greater impact on civil rights and freedoms as criminalizing the possession of a book. Through history the worst tyrannies always started by censoring the people and restricting their freedoms of expression.

When books are challenged, restricted, removed, or banned, an atmosphere of suppression exists…. The fear of the consequences of censorship is as damaging as, or perhaps more damaging than, the actual censorship attempt. After all, when a published work is banned, it can usually be found elsewhere. Unexpressed ideas, unpublished works, unpurchased books are lost forever. ~ Robert P. Doyle

For us here in America the threat is even greater. Unlike the UK where Samina Malik faces jail for owning books and writing poetry we live under threat of imprisonment without even those weak charges. At the word of our government any of us could be denounced as an enemy combatant and imprisoned or tortured, without any legal recourse. So I guess the bright side of this story is that Samina Malik lives in the UK and not America. There she gets a public trial where the world can hear her story. Had Samina the misfortune of living in America she would have disappeared into Guantanamo or been flown to Egypt or Syria for torture.

This brings us to the important question, what’s on your bookshelf? If the thought police bust down your door, or check your phone records, or snoop through your computer files and internet history, what can they find? Could they paint you as a terrorist or terrorist sympathizer? You see, it doesn’t matter what the answer is, the fact that you had to spend even half of a second thinking about the answer is proof that our freedoms are far from secure. If we don’t start taking a stand and fighting for our rights as people this country will fall quietly to fascism, with the whole world ready to peacefully follow under the false pretense of safety and security.