The "War on Terrorism" actually started long before September 2001. A xenophobic and racist backlash against refugees and immigrants has been feeding an open attack on civil liberties as governments all over the world seize the opportunity to shift attention from failed domestic policies.

On February 17, the International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group, a project of the Canadian Council on International Cooperation (CCIC) held a Public Forum in Ottawa. Presenters from the UK, the US, Malaysia, and the Philippines talked about the corrosive effect of "antiterrorism" measures on democracy and political expression and the efforts of a wide variety of advocacy and grassroots groups to protect people's privacy and dignity.

MiningWatch Canada will continue to support efforts to protect our partners' - and our own - ability to travel, organise, and criticise government policy and actions.

For more information, see the website set up by the Canadian Association of University Teachers.