 Arena has ruled El Salvador through democratic elections, but it remains a deeply authoritarian party. In October 2006, Arena received praise from the US ambassador for passing tough new anti-terrorism laws, which allowed penalties of up to 86 years for a range of 'terrorist' offences, which included blocking public roads. In July this year, 13 activists in the town of Suchitoto were arrested under the new legislation during a violent demonstration against a water privatisation project.
Only last weekend, in the midst of a spate of fuel protests by Buddhist monks in Myanmar, the country's ruling military junta accused 13 arrested dissidents of 'terrorism', including the prominent dissident leader Min Ko Naing.
Such accusations may appear meaningless coming from a regime that routinely murders and enslaves its own citizens, but democratic governments are equally susceptible to post-9/11 authoritarianism.
During last month's climate change protest at Heathrow, police used anti-terrorism |
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| During last month’s protest at Heathrow, anti-terrorism powers were used to stop and search protestors |
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powers to stop and search protestors. In Germany this July, a sociology professor, Dr Andrej Holm, and three other individuals were arrested on charges of 'membership in a terrorist organisation'.
The main reason for Holm's arrest appears to have been the fact that his academic publications used words like 'inequality' and 'gentrification', which police believe connect him to a 'militant group' responsible for a spate of arson attacks.
Elsewhere, the German authorities are currently threatening to prosecute 17 journalists for leaking information on the CIA's extraordinary rendition programme.
Al-Qaeda is often described as a unique threat to democracy and 'our way of life'. Six years after 9/11, however, anti-terrorism legislation continues to cast a sombre chill across the world that may well outlast the current state of emergency. As governments across the world continue to weaken civil society in the name of national security, it is worth asking whose interests the 'war on terror' really serves. 
FIRST POSTED SEPTEMBER 11, 2007
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