One day late.

Following a link from Digby, i was brought to this article by Harper's Magazine's Scott Horton about celebrating Counterterrorism Day.

On November 5, Britain remembers Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plot. Fawkes, an ensign, had taken the lead in a 1605 plot to blow up the houses of Parliament at Westminster as part of a Catholic effort to bring down the Protestant monarchy in England. He was apprehended--allegedly in the act itself--taken to the Tower, and subjected to torture. For centuries, Guy Fawkes Day marked the event. Englishmen were taught of the need to be vigilant in the defense of the realm, and particularly to remember the threat from within, from the disloyal Catholics. But mostly they enjoyed the privilege of lighting bonfires and engaging in pranks on a chilly autumn evening.

But today Britons have a take on Guy Fawkes that is much at odds with the historical one. Once Fawkes was a symbol of the traitor within. The people were called to be on guard against his like. No longer. Today Guy Fawkes is increasingly viewed as the heroic figure prepared to stand against an unjust and oppressive state, as a martyr and a victim of torture. What are the lessons of Guy Fawkes Day for 2007? I propose three:

...

1. Torture Never Works and is Always Wrong


2. Beware the Government that Rules By Fear


3. A Government That Stereotypes Is Unjust

I fear that Americans won't learn these lessons until they or their friends or their family get accused by this government of being a Guy Fawkes and by then it will be much too late.