Day 13: Security and Terror

Fifth day of class today! The session was called "Security and Terror" and we studied the issues of security in the post 7/7 period for England and 9/11 period for America. We examined terrorism, security, and surveillance debates and their relation to the "right not to be subjected to torture." Within this context, we looked at its prohibition under international law and within contemporary debates questioning whether or not the use of torture can be justified ethically and/or legally. Throughout the whole day we addressed the key question of the day:

In post 9/11 and post 7/7 realities, is there compatibility between the State providing security for its citizens and upholding the right not to be subjected to torture?

Through the "ticking time bomb" scenario, we debated the philosophical underpinnings of torture. Basically, the "ticking bomb scenario" illustrates a situation in which the police force have some sort of terrorist in custody who knows the location of a time bomb that will soon explode and cause great loss... the big question is: should this person be tortured or not for this information? To test the limits of moral theory, there are two main perspectives: consequentialism and deontology. Consequentialism argues that actions should be taken for the greater good, whereas deontology presses that doing the right, moral action is always the best choice. Again, we had one of our good debates, learning from each other's perspectives and different ways of thinking.

After our mid-morning coffee break, we touched on David Lyon's book Identifying Citizens: ID Cards as Surveillance. We all discovered that we're each carrying around 5-8 ID cards at any given time and explored how much information these cards contain about our movements and transactions. We looked at these issues in its regards to citizenship and the rights we have when it comes to surveillance. How many rights to privacy should we have as citizens? It was interesting to talk about this because as a group, we've noticed just how many cameras there are in London and in the UK. At first it seemed very strange to be constantly watched, but I'm almost getting used to it at this point and just accepting that my every move won't go unnoticed. Is that good or bad?

Over lunch I was able to really reflect on the fact that the coffee, sugars, and most of the fruits served in our dining hall are Fair Trade certified. I just thought it was really cool that Roehampton is making a significant effort to provide food for us that is prepared by people who are getting a fair wage for what they're doing. :)

When we got back to class, we watched "Outside the Law -- stories from Guantanamo," a documentary focused on Guantanamo Bay. Besides knowing the basics behind Guantanamo Bay, I wasn't very well-informed before. I can safely say that my eyes were definitely opened. I think I'll probably write one of my reflection essays on it!

We were lucky enough to have Andy Worthington, a writer and journalist of "The Guantanamo Files," come in to field questions from us. Andy was a director/producer of the documentary, so it was such a great and worthy experience to meet him first-hand!

After class, I finally made it to the post office to mail off my postcards! Took me long enough ;) After dinner and Skypeing, most of us headed to the University Library to work on our 3 reflection essays that are due Monday! We wanted to get as much as possible done because we go to Scotland tomorrow!!! I'm so excited :)