White Terror laws
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The White Terror laws are a collection of laws in Belhavia that are designed to "protect Belhavian public safety, law and order, traditions, and laws." Formally called the National Harmony and Unity Act of 1854, the law emerged in reaction to the failed Revolution of 1854, although the act consolidated several existing laws on speech and conduct that dated as far back as 1576 into the new law. Since 1855, the law has been amended several times to incorporate new categories of criminalized advocacy and behavior. The Act is commonly referred to as the "White Terror" laws in reference to the White Terror by the victorious royalist forces in the wake of the 1854 revolution.
History
White Terror (1854 - 1857)
Late 19th century
As the 19th century marched on, the dominant Federalist-led government vigorously enforced the Act on the various and sundry radical political and social undergrounds that existed in the era, particularly against foreign intelligentsia-aided Marxists, socialists, and trade unionists. By the 1880s, much of these movements had been decimated, whether through mass arrests or failed violent uprisings such as the 1877 Dakos Dock Workers' Revolt and the near-assassination of the Emperor in 1881.
According to a declassified internal memo by His Majesty's Imperial Intelligence Service (the forerunner of DISE), between 1857 and 1886, over 63,000 persons were arrested, executed, killed resisting arrest, imprisoned, exiled, or deported. This represented over 70% of projected malcontents subject to the Act in 1885. Between 1886 and 1909, fewer than 5,000 people were charged under the Act following a steep decline in political and social violence, protests, revolts, assassinations, and other acts of radicalism.
The Act became a political issue again in the 1890s and throughout the early 1900s with the emergence of the Democrats, an agrarian populist party centered in Middle Belhavia that was accused of republicanism and anti-monarchism. Several of the party's founders were former political radicals in the 1870s and 1880s, and either served prison time or were deported abroad for a time before denouncing their old ties. Both the ruling Federalists, and their major opposition, the Liberals, had a political advantage in pushing the party into irrelevance, and a consensus of historians argue this political bias/vested interest motivation sparked several hundred HMIIS investigations into the Democratic Party for over two decades, though few were indicted and found guilty, but for other charges (See Controversy over the Democratic Party (1891 - 1909)).
Early-to-Mid-20th Century
Post-Galarian
Late 20th Century
Early 21st Century
Laws
The Act maintains several categories:
- Political Advocacy
- Public Safety & Order
- Sedition
- Subversive Social and Cultural Acts
Political advocacy
The Act has placed qualified limits on dangerous and/or violent political, social, or cultural advocacy. However, freedom of conscience has been protected.
| Prohibited Ideologies and Political Philosophies and all variants thereof | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Right | Left | ||||||||
| Fascism | Galarianism | Social democracy | Socialism |
Libertarian socialism | Citizenism | Republicanism | Anti-monarchism | ||
| Corporatism | Radical right selective variants only |
Marxism | Left-anarchism | New Leftism | Feminist movement | Trade unionism |
Keynesianism selective variants only | ||
Public Safety & Order
The Act has prohibited certain conduct, behavior, and advocacy that endangers public safety and law and order:
- Criminal anarchy: Any advocacy or conduct that the organized government should be overthrown by force or violence, or the assassination of the monarch, president, or of any of the officials of government, or by any unlawful means.
- Public panic and disorder: Any advocacy or conduct that sparks unnecessary public panic and/or disorder, whether the speech is true or false.
Sedition
The Act prohibits seditious speech and behaviors.
- Sedition: Any advocacy or conduct of seditious, subversive, or treasonous speech or actions.
Subversive Social and Cultural Acts
The Act, relying on Torahic and Talmudic prohibitions on deviationist thought and conduct and a strict adherence to tradition, prohibits large areas of advocacy and behavior that can be ancient (such as the longstanding prohibition on homosexuality), or modern (such as outlawing critical theories).
Enforcement
The National Harmony and Unity Act is enforced by the Department of Internal Security and Enforcement, a domestic investigative agency similar to the Emmerian CID, under the agency's Office of Homeland Security.
"Escape Hatch"
Belhavians reconciled the philosophical challenge of state-enforced social conservatism with constitutional protections by adopting in the late 19th century the policy of voluntary self-exile. At age 18, or if charged under the Act for a political advocacy or sociocultural act, a person may choose to renounce his citizenship, pay a fine, and be deported, with strict limits on visitation allowances.
The Imperial Belhavian Government has several special treaties for expedited deportation with several countries, including most of its chief allies.
Reaction
Domestic
The Act has enjoyed large-scale popular support for most of its existence, though it was challenged and had numerous attempts at repeal following the Galarian era in the late 1940s through the mid-1970s, when it enjoyed a rise in support due to the rise of the New Right, and in the late 1990s and early 2000s, when President Garrett Holleran refused to enforce it. However, by the late 2000s and early 2010s, the Act enjoyed renewed support following the rightward shift among the Belhavian public.
The Belhavian political and cultural left as well as the left-wing and mainstream of the Liberal Democrats oppose the Act or want to substantially reform it, while the Conservatives with the notable exception of its libertarian wing vigorous support and defend the law. A bipartisan sociopolitical movement called the Neo-Whites strongly support the Act and publicly lobby for its continued support.
The far left terrorist and insurgent group the Belhavian Democratic Liberation Front arose in part to the continued existence of the White Terror legislation since the 1980s.
International
Anikatia: The Government of Anikatia, has been a long standing and outspoken critic of the White Terror laws, calling them a "gross violations of human rights and serious breach of the essential elements of democracy." Particularly what it sees as a major restriction of political freedoms such as freedom of association, freedom of thought, and freedom of expression. There has also been outspoken criticism against the restriction of gender equality through the Subversive Social and Cultural Acts which prohibits the teaching or practise of feminism, gender studies and homosexuality. The Anikatian Government has long issued a strong travel advisory to the general population with explicit warning to those who identify with "feminist, socialist, or communist political affiliation and or those of homosexual sexual orientation" to avoid all nonessential travel to Belhavia. Anikatia, along with Eagleland, Emmeria, Arthurista, and Belfras, is one of the major destinations for asylum seekers deported under the White Terror laws.
Arthurista: In line with the nation's pioneering role in the enlightenment and the development of rationalism and modernism, Arthuristan private opinion, including prominent voices in the press and academia, have long expressed their strong opposition to the "White Terror Laws". Baroness Evelyn Longsdale, since 1992 chief editor of the Loweport Times, criticised Liberty Watch for categorising Belhavia among the 'free' nations of the world, while Richard Weiszman, current Leader of the Opposition in the House of Commons and whose father was exiled from Belhavia in the 1970s, once famously said in parliament that Belhavian 'repression' makes a mockery of the term 'Free Pardes'. However, apart a brief period in the 1940s, during which the Galarian Regime actively aided the Commonwealth's Fascist rivals and the White Terror Laws were used as political ammunition by the Commonwealth government, official criticism of the lack of civil liberties in Belhavia has generally been muted and low-key over the past decade. This has long been cited by commentators as evidence that Arthuristan foreign policy is fundamentally realist, despite the frequent invocation of idealist rhetorical devices in press statements and in the parliament chamber, and that the current alliance with Belhavia is maintained primarily because it serves Arthurista's national interest and overall geopolitical strategy. Among Belhavian exiles, Arthurista is a particularly popular destination for intellectuals, academics, journalists and artists.
- Template:Country data Austrasien: The Government of Austrasia has consistently declined to take a position on the "White Terror Laws" publicly. In 1994 the Emperor signed into law an act of the Diet making it illegal to deport an Austrasian citizen to Belhavia if it is believed they will be tried under the National Harmony and Unity Act notwithstanding any other treaty agreements with Belhavia; however the text of this act was sealed on the advice of the Senate External Affairs committee to prevent a diplomatic break. As no Austrasian citizen has, as of 2015, been indicted by a Belhavian court under the White Terror Laws the act remains sealed. As of 2015 is is not legal for a Belhavian citizen to receive asylum in Austrasia for any reason and all asylum seekers thus far have been repatriated to Belhavia.
Eagleland: The Eagleland Federal Government, because of its alliance and strongly positive stance towards the Belhavian Empire, has adopted no negative position on the subject, and advocates that "as a gesture of honour towards our allies, we respect their internal laws and regulations and the enforcement thereof, and we see no reasonable cause in dishonouring neither that stance nor our relations." However, at several segments within the Eagleland's political apparatus, primarily from the Eagleland Labour Party, the Eagleland Liberal Democratic Party, and, to a limited extent, the Eagleland Libertarian Party, harsh criticism is applied, given that the Eagleland does not prohibit homosexuality, feminism, or any other ideology other than far-right and far-left dogmas. Furthermore, the Eaglelander Government advises persons of "feminist, homosexual, socialist, national socialist, or communist ideological identifications" to avoid non-essential travel to Belhavia. The Eagleland, alongside Emmeria, Arthurista, and Belfras, is a destination for persons deported under the White Terror Laws, and special provisions, negotiated in common with the Imperial Belhavian Government, allow for speedy provisions of asylum status to persons prosecuted as defined.
- File:Flag of Rodarion.png Rodarion: Although the Government of Rodarion has never publicly addressed the White Terror Laws, numerous pro-State media outlets and academic institutions have used the Laws as a means to attack the notion of Free Pardes, claiming that the "White Terror Laws form the foundations of the monolithic structure of hypocrisy". The laws are also used to attack the CDI as a "force for liberty and freedom", when it allows the same issues that claim occur in Rodarion and other authoritarian states, when it takes place within one of its most powerful and important member-states. The Romulan Catholic Church in its religious capacity has spoken positively of the laws, especially in relation to the preservation of Belhavia's religious identity in the same manner that it does in the Papal Republic.
