Preparing For The Next Health Crisis - Security Law To Allow Seizure Of Property

The prominent Spanish daily El País is reporting a hugely alarming scenario in which Spain's central government is mulling a national mobilization and "security law" which would compel citizens to "temporarily" give up their rights in instances of future public health crises or emergencies such as happened with the coronavirus pandemic.

The law is currently at the level of a mere proposal but worryingly it would elevate matters of public health to the level of 'national security' - as El País spells out based on a translation of its reporting:

Any person of legal age shall be obliged to carry out the 'personal obligations' required by the competent authorities, following the guidelines of the National Security Council, when a state of crisis is declared in Spain. In this case, all citizens without exception must comply with the orders and instructions issued by the authorities.

This sounds vague enough to suggest literally nothing would be off-limits in terms of state authorities' massive legally enshrined reach into people's personal lives on the mere bases of a national crisis. And further there's little or nothing which establishes a clear threshold for what legally would constitute such a crisis.

Throughout the pandemic we've already seen a number of places in Europe, also especially Canada, where government officials already essentially claim such far-reaching powers to force the citizenry to conform. Now Spain is looking to permanently enshrine this scenario into law.

Consider just how far this Orwellian proposal goes, as reported on in El País:

In the event that a state of crisis is declared in Spain ('situation of interest to National Security' is the name given by law), the authorities may also proceed to the temporary requisition of all types of property, at the intervention or provisional occupation of those that are necessary or the suspension of all kinds of activities.

The backers of the future legislation are seeking to assure the public that "compensation" would eventually follow; however, it would clearly given permanent and endless powers to any ruling government which decided to enact it based on a real or manufactured "crisis".

Here's more on private citizenry being viewed as 'militarized' under the proposed legislation:

The duty concerns not only all citizens but also companies and legal entities to collaborate with the authorities to overcome the crisis, through a provision of a personal or material nature. The text is based on article 30 of the Constitution, according to which "Spaniards have the duty and right to defend Spain."

It is the same article that regulates compulsory military service (suspended in Spain since 2001), although it does not refer to its 2nd section, which establishes the "military obligations of the Spanish", but to the 4th, according to which, "by law, the duties of citizens may be regulated in cases of serious risk, catastrophe or public calamity", a constitutional provision whose development has remained unpublished until now.

Another crucial detail relates to the media, which would essential be 'temporarily' transformed to exclusively serve official state propaganda in order to "defend Spain" as if in a wartime situation:

Among other novelties, the draft includes the obligation of the media to collaborate with the competent authorities in the dissemination of information of a preventive or operational nature. The most important thing, however, is that it incorporates measures to avoid the recurrence of shortages of products and critical goods to face a crisis, such as the lack of masks, respirators and PPE that occurred when infections began to spread massively.

The draft law had first been unveiled in a Council of Ministers meeting on June 22, according to the report. There's little doubt that should Spain actually adopt this ultra-controversial expansion of state powers for the sake of a vague "crisis" - other European countries will follow suit and perhaps already are.

We've seen some officials and political pundits actually push similar measures in the US and Britain... this looks to unfortunately be the "what's next" waiting for us during the next "global health crisis" on the horizon - however it gets vaguely defined.

Originally published at Activist Post - reposted with permission.