Last week USA celebrated it's last Independence Day. Last week Edward Snowden spent another day not knowing if he would continue being free. Last week Julian Assange spent another day holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy. Last week more prisoners in Gitmo were force-fed to break their hunger strike. The world’s champion of Liberty and Democracy, last week, seemed even more tarnished than ever.
In 1865, the people of France decided to gift the people of the United States of America with a statue to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the American War of Independence in 1876. Obviously, when the people of two countries are involved, so are their governments. It is little surprise, therefore, that a project that involved the French funding the statue and the Americans funding the base went over budget and got delayed by a decade. When it was finally installed it became the symbol for Liberty. The iconic statue that holds the torch of liberty in one hand, and the American Declaration of Independence in the other, and a broken chain at her feet, symbolized hope, freedom and liberty from persecution.
Poet Emma Lazarus wrote a sonnet called The New Colossus in which she described what the statue meant in one of the most poignant lines with respect to freedom and a safe harbour: “Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she with silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” It became the hope for safe harbour for almost a century, a promise of safety, a place to escape from oppressive governments and systems.
For all those who grew up in the last century, United States of America remained the place where the persecuted could claim asylum. The most powerful nation on earth also had that wee bit of compassion, often taking up cudgels for what it termed ‘prisoners of conscience’. It gave refuge to religious minorities, political activists, actors, ballet dancers, whistleblowers, scientists, the dispossessed, the persecuted and more. People went to the US to escape from tyranny.
The other way was rarer. There were young men who sought refuge in Canada to escape military conscription to fight in Vietnam — but the government and the military heeded the protests and dispensed with conscription. This is not to say that the US government was kinder, more compassionate than others. It is more to say that the people of America took their freedoms seriously and fought to ensure that the government did not impinge on their rights.
The turning point in the intense love affair between the Americans and Freedom came with 9/11. The events of that day devastated their sense of security and well being to such a level that the emotional and psychological devastation wrought by the terror attack has made the citizens of the US immune to the human rights abuses that are being perpetuated in their name.
The first was the giant prison camp at Guantánamo Bay, popularly called Gitmo.
Thousands suspected of being terrorists were picked up and are held without trial. There are reports of human rights violations, torture and the sort of behaviour that one expects from a South American military dictatorship — not the nation that claims it is the champion of liberty and democracy. While President Obama promised to shut not just Gitmo but also the remaining worldwide secret network of prison camps, and signed a directive to that end, nothing has come of it.
Recently, human rights activists and Muslim leaders appealed to the President not to force-feed prisoners, who have been on hunger strike, during the holy month of Ramzan. A nation which prided itself on religious and political tolerance is today, possibly, the greatest human rights violator. The excuse given is simple: national security trumps human rights. That the war against terror is greater than the right to life or liberty. That the state has the right to take pre- emptive action against terror suspects, and label those who question it as not acting in national interest.
Read more at :-
http://dnai.in/bxNX
There are far more human rights abuses than mentioned in the article :-
Indefinite detention without trial or access to a lawyer (including American citizens), effectively rendering Magna Carta redundant and setting back human rights 800 years.
The list of previous regimes that conducted indefinite detentions is small (none of them codified it into law).
They include Nazi Germany, the USSR, Communist China, Cuba, North Korea and Myanmar (Burma).
In 1865, the people of France decided to gift the people of the United States of America with a statue to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the American War of Independence in 1876. Obviously, when the people of two countries are involved, so are their governments. It is little surprise, therefore, that a project that involved the French funding the statue and the Americans funding the base went over budget and got delayed by a decade. When it was finally installed it became the symbol for Liberty. The iconic statue that holds the torch of liberty in one hand, and the American Declaration of Independence in the other, and a broken chain at her feet, symbolized hope, freedom and liberty from persecution.
Poet Emma Lazarus wrote a sonnet called The New Colossus in which she described what the statue meant in one of the most poignant lines with respect to freedom and a safe harbour: “Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she with silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” It became the hope for safe harbour for almost a century, a promise of safety, a place to escape from oppressive governments and systems.
For all those who grew up in the last century, United States of America remained the place where the persecuted could claim asylum. The most powerful nation on earth also had that wee bit of compassion, often taking up cudgels for what it termed ‘prisoners of conscience’. It gave refuge to religious minorities, political activists, actors, ballet dancers, whistleblowers, scientists, the dispossessed, the persecuted and more. People went to the US to escape from tyranny.
The other way was rarer. There were young men who sought refuge in Canada to escape military conscription to fight in Vietnam — but the government and the military heeded the protests and dispensed with conscription. This is not to say that the US government was kinder, more compassionate than others. It is more to say that the people of America took their freedoms seriously and fought to ensure that the government did not impinge on their rights.
The turning point in the intense love affair between the Americans and Freedom came with 9/11. The events of that day devastated their sense of security and well being to such a level that the emotional and psychological devastation wrought by the terror attack has made the citizens of the US immune to the human rights abuses that are being perpetuated in their name.
The first was the giant prison camp at Guantánamo Bay, popularly called Gitmo.
Thousands suspected of being terrorists were picked up and are held without trial. There are reports of human rights violations, torture and the sort of behaviour that one expects from a South American military dictatorship — not the nation that claims it is the champion of liberty and democracy. While President Obama promised to shut not just Gitmo but also the remaining worldwide secret network of prison camps, and signed a directive to that end, nothing has come of it.
Recently, human rights activists and Muslim leaders appealed to the President not to force-feed prisoners, who have been on hunger strike, during the holy month of Ramzan. A nation which prided itself on religious and political tolerance is today, possibly, the greatest human rights violator. The excuse given is simple: national security trumps human rights. That the war against terror is greater than the right to life or liberty. That the state has the right to take pre- emptive action against terror suspects, and label those who question it as not acting in national interest.
Read more at :-
http://dnai.in/bxNX
There are far more human rights abuses than mentioned in the article :-
Indefinite detention without trial or access to a lawyer (including American citizens), effectively rendering Magna Carta redundant and setting back human rights 800 years.
The list of previous regimes that conducted indefinite detentions is small (none of them codified it into law).
They include Nazi Germany, the USSR, Communist China, Cuba, North Korea and Myanmar (Burma).
Indiscriminate killing, including women and children, via drone strikes - double tap drone strikes, "signature strikes", cluster bombing of Yemeni villages etc.
Presidential Kill Lists - Americans are on them
The preference to kill suspected terrorists when they could easily be captured
Mass Surveillance on hundreds of millions of people, including EVERY American, collecting every form of electronic communication, directly opposing the UN convention on human rights as well as the United States Constitution.
Previously only authoritarian states have kept surveillance dossiers on every citizen.
Previously only authoritarian states have kept surveillance dossiers on every citizen.
The torture of political prisoners such as Bradley Manning
The persecution of journalists who dare to do their job in modern America - e.g. Barrett Brown is threatened with 105 years in jail for daring to report on the private intelligence industry
An EO to seize control of ALL communications in an area at Presidential whim
A change of regulations to let the Pentagon unilaterally take control of a city or state, even if the local Mayor or Governor objects to it. Law Enforcement is no longer controlled by the civil authorities (if the President chooses to make it so).
The jailing of over 1 million poor people for non-violent offenses while the very wealthy can get away with pretty much any crime scott free.
No senior bankers are doing 30 years in jail for the various frauds they committed and still are committing. They haven't even been prosecuted.
No senior bankers are doing 30 years in jail for the various frauds they committed and still are committing. They haven't even been prosecuted.
The total ABSENCE of the RULE of LAW.
America has the highest incarceration rates in the entire world, by FAR.
It's to feed the private prison industry - not to reduce crime or make anyone safer.
It's to feed the private prison industry - not to reduce crime or make anyone safer.
The interference in the political processes in more than half the countries of the world.
EVERY country has the right to self determination.
The denial of airspace to the President of Bolivia - a direct violation of International Law.
There are still a small number of cases of extra ordinary rendition for torture in places like Somalia.
There are still a small number of cases of extra ordinary rendition for torture in places like Somalia.
The above is not an exhaustive list.
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