Miliband “get’s it”
Posted by Andrew Adams on January 15, 2009
Filed Under Human rights, Politics |
Sometimes bashing the government can be a bit boring - however much the latest idiocies from the likes of Blears, Woollas and Purnell deserve a good kicking it’s nice to actually be able to praise a government minister for making a serious and thoughtful statement, and on a topic of real importance. Which brings me to David Milliband’s piece in the Guardian today where he renounces the tired and discredited “war on terror” rhetoric of the last few years.
The whole piece is worth a read but there are two paticular paragraphs that stand out, and which may herald a turning point in governmnet policy at home and abroad. Firstly,
The more we lump terrorist groups together and draw the battle lines as a simple binary struggle between moderates and extremists, or good and evil, the more we play into the hands of those seeking to unify groups with little in common. Terrorist groups need to be tackled at root, interdicting flows of weapons and finance, exposing the shallowness of their claims, channelling their followers into democratic politics.
Exactly - many of us do not accept the manichean outlook where it’s us, the “good guys” against “them”. Some people have scorned any attempt to understand the background and motivations of those who want to do us harm, or differentiate between them, which they see as appeasement. This attitude has been translated into foreign policy over the last few years and has achieved little other than stir up even more resentment for the West, and the US in particular. With Obama soon to enter the White House many of us are hopeful that we will see a more thoughtful foreign policy pursued by the US, and Milliband’s remarks give me hope that we may follow suit.
Then there is this
We must respond to terrorism by championing the rule of law, not subordinating it, for it is the cornerstone of the democratic society. We must uphold our commitments to human rights and civil liberties at home and abroad. That is surely the lesson of Guantánamo and it is why we welcome President-elect Obama’s commitment to close it.
Again, this is a vitally important point. There are too many people who have been willing to sacrifice their own and others’ liberties in the name of fighting “terror” - the John Reid tendency who claim that those of us who claim that the worst possible way to react to attacks on our way of life is to undermine it ourselves by abandoning our liberal values and principles “just don’t get it”. Well, Milliband “get’s it” - let’s just hope that his colleagues in the government do as well and that we see an end to silly, illiberal laws which do little to prevent terrorism but undermine our own freedoms.
UPDATE:Justin at Chicken Yoghurt and Aaaron at Liberal Conspiracy are less impressed with Milliband. They make the not unreasonable point that he has been at the heart of the government for the last few years and could have come out with this before. That’s fair enough, but IMHO better the sinner that repenteth etc. (assuming he is speaking honestly and in good faith). On the other hand Mad Mel is distinctly miffed for different reasons.
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Nah, Miliband wants it, but he hasn’t got it - Brown’s job that is.
If he’d ‘got’ it in the sense you mean he would’ve known he was upsetting his hosts.
I think it’s too late for him to be going after Brown’s job now - he missed his chance last year.
Mind you, I confidently predicted Brown would be forced out before the party conference.