“Usually I get a lot of tourists from Switzerland, the Netherlands, from Scandinavian countries. It’s going to be a catacomb. I need to pay rent. It’s going to get a lot more difficult… We’re going to have to start getting used to the idea of living with the army.”
– shopkeeper Charlie Attar, in Brussels
This from the ‘everything-is-going-to-shit’ in terms of financial freedom and personal liberty department (officially an FT article):
“France’s finance ministry is seeking new authority to track the bank accounts of people who have merely come under the suspicion of the intelligence agencies as part of intrusive new plans to combat terror financing.
“The government will propose new measures in January to give Tracfin, the anti-money-laundering arm of the finance ministry, access to the finances of those listed on a database of people wanted by police, known as the FPR.
“This includes the roughly 10,500 people designated ‘Fiches S’, a controversial label given to those under suspicion by the intelligence services but who have not necessarily committed any crimes.”
This is the world we live in
In order to make us all safe from ‘terror’ it will be necessary for the police to conduct warrantless searches of your property, detain you on suspicion, and examine your financial affairs in detail.
It will be a brutal irony if the only way we can defend an illiberal order from a real menace is to turn modern society into a perpetual police state; a war of state against all and terrorist against all, with the ‘all’ being you caught in the middle.
Meanwhile, I got this note from a German friend in Brussels. The city has been on ‘lockdown’ (like a prison) for the better part of three days. Belgian and French officials were in search of one of the gunmen from last Saturday’s shootings in Paris. According to my friend:
“The city is more or less dead. Most things are closed. No metros going. People are afraid. Most offices are closed. But in the end I think it’s not that dramatic, as there is little danger of really falling victim to an attack so I am not afraid. Also – I see it the positive way. Now there is so much police and military around, that actual petty crime must plummet.”
He’s probably right about several things
First, you’re more likely to get killed slipping in your own bathtub than by a terrorist. But your bathtub is in your own house. And if you die of an accident, it’s bad luck; not a tragedy.
The fear of dying in public as you go about your normal life is something new to most people in major Western cities. That fear may be fleeting. Or, if there are more attacks, it may become a feature of modern life. And that’s when living in cities, crossing borders and travelling will change irrevocably. It may have already happened.
Or, this could be a transient period. Things may get worse in Syria before they get better. We may look back and say ‘what a close call it was’ that we nearly went full Police State in response to events, and sigh with relief at our calm, level-headed, and sensible response that you don’t destroy civil liberties permanently to make people safe. More on what level of fear is useful to survival tomorrow.
Category: Geopolitics