We should prize freedom over security and abolish anti-terrorism legislation

The intent of our satirical introduction to the debate is to show that there are actually striking similarities between the development in Nazi Germany and what is happening nowadays in our societies. The similarities are so striking, that we find it quite uncomfortable that current developments are so neglectful on fundamental liberties and criminal justice, just as it had been previously in the darkest moments of human history.

On proposition’s side, we do not deny the threat of terrorism. We concede that the threat is very real. Nevertheless, we believe that current measures of countering terrorism are ill-considered and highly inappropriate. Broad discretionary power of enforcement agencies is incompatible with the acknowledgement of human rights and the general notion of human justice.

We are abolishing anti-terrorism legislation. We define it as legislation which gives broad discretionary power to enforcement agencies, denies basic safeguards (access to lawyers) and contains ambiguously defined offences, all with the purpose of explicitly countering terrorism. Namely, we are abolishing anti-terrorism legislations which implicitly promote detention without trial, denial to legal defense, denial to independent and impartial court and other measures which are incompatible with the rule of law. We are abolishing laws which allow government agencies to intercept communication freely and read mails of the citizens for the sake of fighting terrorists. To make everything even more clearly, an example of a standard document that we are abolishing is the USA PATRIOT Act.

Instead of using anti-terrorism legislation, terrorism shall be countered using the conventional measures to counter other public offences, relying on standard criminal procedures to punish terrorists. The underlying premise of our case is that extraordinary measures are not needed to counter terrorism, because of the harms that these extra measures create by undermining democracies (and their efficiency is doubtful).

Our substantive case will begin at point 1.- really we would like to open with it, but in the spirit of the format we shall start with some rebuttal. 
 
The first point that Opposition wish to raise in rebuttal to the Proposition case is one of practicality. Let it be noted that the Proposition concede from the outset the threat that terrorism poses. We on the Proposition this against would qualify the threat of terrorism as one that has the capability to not only place those in a nation in a mindset of fear, which prevents them from acting ‘freely’, but the possibility that a group of people who wish to antagonise the state shall come together to exercise another event similar to the devastating proportion of 9/11.

The Proposition and Opposition also agree that the purpose of anti-terrorism legislation is to combat the threat of terrorism. However, the Proposition does not seem to explicitly state the grounds upon which they doubt the legislation’s efficacy, but instead use the supposed breach to “human justice” the anti-terrorism legislation commits as grounds to adopt the method of countering the threat of terrorism through “standard criminal procedures to punish terrorists”.

The Opposition hope that the Proposition does not wish to suggest that any punishment delivered through current judicial systems could in fact compensate for the onslaught an actualised threat of terror would entail. It should surely be accepted that the optimal way to deal with terror threats is to make sure that the threats do not actually turn into action, and this is what qualifies anti-terrorism legislation, a means to preventing a dreaded end.