The United States wants to implement more and more security measures for international flights. After paying for a plane ticket, air passengers must also accept a drastic invasion into their private lives if they plan to travel to “the land of freedom and democracy.”
Anyone who has recently traveled to or from America has had to put up with offensive and frustrating airport security requirements. The U.S. citizen, who has grown accustomed to the “Western” methods used by Texas sheriffs, may not find this exercise of power unusual.
For the European citizen, however, these methods are reminiscent of the numerous limitations on freedom and private lives, of which Europe has seen enough. On top of it all, there is the almost shamanic visa issuance system, which includes so many screenings that one may be tempted to think it was actually invented by the KGB and not by freedom-loving Americans.
The Walk of Shame Through the Airport
The flight security measures adopted by the U.S. administration seem to belong in a Hitchcock movie. As an unfortunate tourist, you must go through numerous screenings, personalized interviews, background checks conducted in your own country and full body scans. These procedures make a simple flight from Amsterdam to New York (and back) seem like a journey of initiation, a Sisyphean challenge, when in fact it is a mere passage from one shore of the Atlantic to the other.
Additionally, members of the security personnel create an atmosphere of constant tension by displaying their guns in a manner similar to that of hip hop artists showing off their “bling.” In the waiting room, you have to watch your step in order to avoid tripping over the police dogs that are sniffing all the nooks and crannies or accidentally run into the heavily armed military personnel.
A cheap cigarette lighter forgotten in your pocket sounds the alarm, and you are immediately surrounded by a group of law enforcement officers who are dying to get their hands on you. Cell phones do not work in airports, nor do they work on a 5-mile radius around them. If you accidentally try to access the Internet on your laptop, you might fry it. If your complexion is darker, you are under close supervision. The brandy in your bag is immediately labeled as liquid hexogen and poured into the first bulletproof container available.
If you fail to answer a set of puzzling questions quickly, and in English, a guy chewing gum and wearing sunglasses will invite you to step into another room, where you will be questioned and scrutinized one more time. Another stubborn employee will use a knitting needle to pick through the hand moisturizer you bought in Duty Free as a gift for your wife.
If you cannot resist the urge to scratch some intimate place on your body, you will have to endure a full body search for hidden objects or explosives.
If you are unfortunate enough to have suffered an accident and you have a metal rod inside your leg, you should not be surprised if a doctor shows up holding another scanner and tries to figure out whether that thing inside your body is indeed an implant or the barrel of a gun cleverly hidden under your muscles.
The airport is no longer a public place. It has become a chamber of horrors. It has become a prison adorned with posters about democracy, free movement and the right to privacy.
Counter-Terrorism, a New Form of Paranoia
The accidental European tourist, as he passes through the magnetic gates, holding his head down, his shoes and belt in one hand and his trousers in the other, trying not to slip on the greasy floor, feels robbed of all traces of human dignity.
He is further humiliated by the contemptuous attitude of the customs officer, who has barely managed to graduate from a small-town high school but feels superior because he is a citizen of the “greatest democratic nation in the world.”
The presumption of innocence no longer means a thing, and all the naïve individuals who are brave enough to travel to America are gathered together indiscriminately and screened, just in case they might pose a threat to the continent of democracy and personal freedom.
In fact, the whole screening system used for the people who want to travel to the U.S. reminds one of the humiliations and abuses that European immigrants had to endure on Ellis Island, at the beginning of the 20th century.
Flight security must indeed exist and be visible because it applies to all travelers. However, what the Americans and their European “allies” understand by security requirements at the moment has gone beyond all decency and turned into a sad and ridiculous theater act, a full-fledged national psychosis.
These manifestations of psychosis and paranoia affect, in reality, only law-abiding American and European citizens. Possible terrorists will always find other means and other places to carry out their plans.
The definition of terrorism does not mention detonating bombs for the sake of the noise they make or the image of mutilated bodies. Its final purpose is that of creating fear, terror, panic and psychosis. From this perspective, Osama bin Laden has reached his goal and can sleep soundly from now on. He has won the war against the U.S.; he has spread terror!
SUA, intre antiterorism si paranoia
Statele Unite ale Americii doresc noi si noi masuri de securitate in transportul aerian international. Calatorul aerian trebuie sa accepte, pe langa plata biletului de calatorie si o drastica reducere a vietii lui private atunci cand se gandeste sa calatoreasca spre "taramul libertatii si al democratiei".
Cine a calatorit recent spre sau dinspre America a trebuit sa-si invinga cu greu repulsia si revolta privitoare la masurile de securitate de pe aeroporturi. Poate ca cetateanului american, obisnuit cu obedienta fata de sistemul de tip "western" al serifului texan, i se pare un lucru normal toata aceasta exhibare a fortei.
In schimb, cetateanului european toate aceste masuri ii aduc aminte tocmai de nenumaratele ingradiri ale libertatii si vietii private de care Europa este satula. Peste toate se adauga si ritualul samanic de eliberare a vizelor care, daca te iei dupa seria de verificari si para-verificari, parca ar fi fost inventat de fostul KGB si nu de catre americanii cei iubitori de libertate
Drumul patimilor prin aeroport
Masurile de securitate luate de administratia americana privitor la securitatea zborurilor par desprinse dintr-un film de Hitchcock. Controale peste controale, interviuri personalizate, verificari ale dosarului nefericitului turist tocmai in tara lui de origine, scanare corporala integrala, toate acestea fac ca un simplu zbor cu avionul de la Amsterdam la New York (si invers) sa para o calatorie initiatica, un drum al lui Sisif si nu o simpla "transbordare" de pe un tarm al Atlanticului pe altul.
Peste toate se suprapune si tensiunea pe care ti-o impun membrii echipelor de securitate care-si etaleaza puscoacele mai ceva ca Jean de la Craiova lanturile de aur. Prin sala de asteptare trebuie sa mergi atent ca sa nu te impiedici de cainii politisti care amusina pe la colturi si de militarii de toate neamurile inarmati pana in dinti.
Vreo amarata de bricheta uitata intr-un buzunar da alarma si imediat se aduna in jurul tau o intreaga gasca de "law enforcement officers" care te halesc din priviri. Telefoanele mobile nu mai functioneaza in aeroporturi si pe o raza de 8 kilometri in jurul lor, daca ai nenorocul sa-ti deschizi Internetul de pe laptop s-ar putea sa te trezesti cu el "prajit", tenul tau un pic mai bronzat te face subiect de atenta supraveghere, iar palinca pe care o transporti in papornita e automat catalogata ca hexogen lichid si rasturnata in primul container blindat.
Daca nu stii sa raspunzi repede, in limba engleza, la diferite intrebari naucitoare, apare imediat vreun nene mancator de "ciunga" si vesnic cu ochelarii de soare pe nas, care te roaga sa treci intr-o sala alaturata unde vei fi din nou chestionat si controlat. Crema de maini pe care i-ai cumparat-o nevestei de la Duty Free e scobita cu andreaua de catre vreo tanti mai incapatanata.
Daca ai ghinionul sa te scarpini in vreun loc mai sensibil al corpului trebuie sa accepti si ca vei fi controlat exact acolo ca, nu cumva, Doamne fereste, sa ai ascunse niscai obiecte sau substante explozive.
Daca, din nefericire, ai avut vreun accident si ai vreo tija de metal in picior, sa te astepti sa apara rapid un medic cu un alt scanner ca sa decida daca chestia aia de metal e intr-adevar o tija sau teava unei pusti ingenios ascunse sub muschii piciorului tau.
Aeroportul nu mai e un spatiu social, un spatiu utilitar, el devine o anticamera a ororilor. O mica inchisoare poleita cu afise despre democratie, libera circulatie si dreptul la intimitate.
Antiterorismul, o noua forma de paranoia
Trecand umil prin portile magnetice, cu pantofii si cureaua de la nadragi intr-o mana cu cealalta mana tinandu-si budigaii sa nu alunece pe podeaua unsuroasa, cetateanul european, turist de ocazie, are un sentiment al demnitatii umane calcat in picioare.
La toatea astea se adauga si atitudinea dispretuitoare a unui vames care cu greu a absolvit vreun liceu de provincie, dar a carui "superioritate" transpira prin totii porii lui de cetatean al celei mai "mari democratii a lumii".
Prezumtia de nevinovatie este lasata balta si toti naivii care se mai aventureaza sa viziteze America sunt luati de-a valma si scotociti sa nu fie vreun pericol pentru continentul democratiei si libertatii personale.
De fapt, intregul sistem de triere a doritorilor de calatorii in SUA aduce aminte perfect de umilintele si tracasarile la care erau supusi emigrantii europeni la ajungerea lor pe insula Ellis, la inceputul secolului XX.
Securitatea zborului trebuie sa existe si sa se manifeste vizibil caci, in definitiv, se adreseaza tuturor calatorilor si nu numai, dar, asa cum este ea inteleasa astazi, de catre americani si "partenerii" lor europeni, ea a depasit de mult stadiul unei minime decente, s-a transformat intr-un spectacol ridicol si trist si s-a instalat, cu surle si trambite, in categoria psihozelor nationale.
O psihoza si o paranoia care-i afecteaza tocmai pe proprii cetateni de buna credinta, americani si europeni. In nici un caz pe posibilii teroristi care intotdeauna vor gasi alte metode si locuri de manifestare.
Terorismul, asa cum este el definit de manualele de specialitate, nu urmareste declansarea unei bombe de dragul zgomotului sau al imaginii cadavrelor, ci scopul final: instalarea fricii, a terorii, a panicii, a psihozei. Din acest punct de vedere, eu ii urez un somn linistit lui Osama bin Laden, deoarece si-a atins scopul. A castigat razboiul cu americanii: a instalat teroarea!
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Time will tell whether the strategic ambitions of the French-German alliance, including those regarding the European army, will jeopardize the EU's cohesiveness, and especially how much longer they can work together within NATO.