Politics: Justice in Cold Irons Bound
This morning's Salon.com has an excellent item by Tim Grieve recapping the threats to liberty imposed under the USA Patriot Act and the power grabs that have occurred since. Of course, Senator Orrin Hatch's attempt to eliminate the sunset clauses on the USA Patriot Act (20 months before they expire) is mentioned as a surefire way to end any and all oversight of the government's actions. FAS' Steven Aftergood calls Hatch's proposal a "direct assault" on Congress' ability to monitor the Justice Department. "If it goes through, we might as well go home. The administration will have whatever authority it wants, and there won't be any separation of powers at all."
Numerous references have been made to Orwell's haunting vision of the future, but the sickness overtaking our reality is almost too on point to not seem a parody of 1984. America is precariously teetering on the brink of a horrifying future. As this Salon piece outlines and the earlier-referenced Alternet item (on corporate discrimination encouraged by government zealousness about treating Muslims and Arabs as second-class citizens) demonstrates, we are about to lose the diverse, free, independent spirit of America. It would seem we've lost our way.
Never has there been a more frightening time. Right wing pundits and the White House continually reinforce a message about our international foes in the endless war on terror: "They hate us because of our freedom." But the freedom they supposedly hate us for is being squandered. The "us" in that statement should not just be white Americans without foreign-sounding last names, but everyone. When I read about the American citizens born in Pakistan who lost their American Express cards because of "security concerns", I half-grinned because American Express "hates them because of their financial freedom."
How can the American government not think it is moving backwards? How can we be sanctioning racist mistreatment of American citizens, locking American citizens up for indefinite periods of time, illegally stealing constitutional rights from American citizens and not believe we're creating more enmity, not less. What is the final phase of this incredibly racist government's policy? When does the war on terror, which is really a war on freedom, end?
Does it end when our movie stars and newspaper editors don't question the policy of the government? Is the war over when the White House doesn't have to pressure a federal judge, but instead has any lawsuits questioning its behavior dismissed without pressure? Is it over when no Muslims or Arabs feel free in America? How does our government presume to separate the dangerous from the millions who represent no threat?
Looked at one way, it seems clear that the government (without completing a single major trial) has decided that every Muslim is a suspect and could therefore be subject to indefinite detention. Why would Muslims think that this is a life worth living? How can this nightmare for Americans (who happen to be Muslim) end?
In our recent history, we've endured a similar nightmare, and its end is still in dispute, but the critical progress made so far has been bloody, and exacerbated by race-baiting, lies, and violent absolutism like Ashcroft's amazing intimidation of religious minorities today.
If the American government continues to inspire and exemplify hatred against Muslims and Arabs, then we may be headed to a period of turbulence, mistrust and violence similar to the civil rights era in America. There are many differences; Blacks in America were more uniformly oppressed, living remarkably poor in America's rural south or shuffled into inner-city slums, left with garbage for schools, and essentially told that drug life was their only way out. Meanwhile, Arabs and Muslims were buying businesses in these neighborhoods, taking advantage of a knee-jerk American reaction to treat anyone better than they were treating African Americans.
Now the Arabs and Muslims are subject to detentions and extreme justice actions, like the African Americans then. They are lumped together, uniformly feared, and routinely intimidated. White people shout "Go home, terrorists" when they see them. Every day in America, a Muslim family is subject to some hateful behavior. A Muslim student is called names at school, a person in line behind a Muslim at a convenience store mumbles, "fuckin' Arabs" under his breath. And things get worse. The government pays lipservice to the efforts by Muslim and Arab public interest organizations to remedy these violations, all the while tacitly informing the populace that suspicion of everyone -- and action against Arabs and Muslims -- is perfectly acceptable, and even encouraged.
Think of the perilous words of Alabama Governor George Wallace: "I draw the line in the dust and toss the gauntlet before the feet of tyranny, and I say, segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever." How long do Arabs and Muslims wait with this oppression before we hear these words from Christian evangelists who serve as the defacto voice of the Bush administration on cultural issues?
While the millions of Arabs and Muslims who live in America have enjoyed freedoms for a long time, all that seems to be changing. No civil rights movement for America's Arabs and Muslims will rise like that of the middle of the 20th century in America, but some endpoint must be reached. America can't continue like this. The assault on the freedoms of a few of us only presages the loss of liberty for us all.
This morning's Salon.com has an excellent item by Tim Grieve recapping the threats to liberty imposed under the USA Patriot Act and the power grabs that have occurred since. Of course, Senator Orrin Hatch's attempt to eliminate the sunset clauses on the USA Patriot Act (20 months before they expire) is mentioned as a surefire way to end any and all oversight of the government's actions. FAS' Steven Aftergood calls Hatch's proposal a "direct assault" on Congress' ability to monitor the Justice Department. "If it goes through, we might as well go home. The administration will have whatever authority it wants, and there won't be any separation of powers at all."
Numerous references have been made to Orwell's haunting vision of the future, but the sickness overtaking our reality is almost too on point to not seem a parody of 1984. America is precariously teetering on the brink of a horrifying future. As this Salon piece outlines and the earlier-referenced Alternet item (on corporate discrimination encouraged by government zealousness about treating Muslims and Arabs as second-class citizens) demonstrates, we are about to lose the diverse, free, independent spirit of America. It would seem we've lost our way.
Never has there been a more frightening time. Right wing pundits and the White House continually reinforce a message about our international foes in the endless war on terror: "They hate us because of our freedom." But the freedom they supposedly hate us for is being squandered. The "us" in that statement should not just be white Americans without foreign-sounding last names, but everyone. When I read about the American citizens born in Pakistan who lost their American Express cards because of "security concerns", I half-grinned because American Express "hates them because of their financial freedom."
How can the American government not think it is moving backwards? How can we be sanctioning racist mistreatment of American citizens, locking American citizens up for indefinite periods of time, illegally stealing constitutional rights from American citizens and not believe we're creating more enmity, not less. What is the final phase of this incredibly racist government's policy? When does the war on terror, which is really a war on freedom, end?
Does it end when our movie stars and newspaper editors don't question the policy of the government? Is the war over when the White House doesn't have to pressure a federal judge, but instead has any lawsuits questioning its behavior dismissed without pressure? Is it over when no Muslims or Arabs feel free in America? How does our government presume to separate the dangerous from the millions who represent no threat?
Looked at one way, it seems clear that the government (without completing a single major trial) has decided that every Muslim is a suspect and could therefore be subject to indefinite detention. Why would Muslims think that this is a life worth living? How can this nightmare for Americans (who happen to be Muslim) end?
In our recent history, we've endured a similar nightmare, and its end is still in dispute, but the critical progress made so far has been bloody, and exacerbated by race-baiting, lies, and violent absolutism like Ashcroft's amazing intimidation of religious minorities today.
If the American government continues to inspire and exemplify hatred against Muslims and Arabs, then we may be headed to a period of turbulence, mistrust and violence similar to the civil rights era in America. There are many differences; Blacks in America were more uniformly oppressed, living remarkably poor in America's rural south or shuffled into inner-city slums, left with garbage for schools, and essentially told that drug life was their only way out. Meanwhile, Arabs and Muslims were buying businesses in these neighborhoods, taking advantage of a knee-jerk American reaction to treat anyone better than they were treating African Americans.
Now the Arabs and Muslims are subject to detentions and extreme justice actions, like the African Americans then. They are lumped together, uniformly feared, and routinely intimidated. White people shout "Go home, terrorists" when they see them. Every day in America, a Muslim family is subject to some hateful behavior. A Muslim student is called names at school, a person in line behind a Muslim at a convenience store mumbles, "fuckin' Arabs" under his breath. And things get worse. The government pays lipservice to the efforts by Muslim and Arab public interest organizations to remedy these violations, all the while tacitly informing the populace that suspicion of everyone -- and action against Arabs and Muslims -- is perfectly acceptable, and even encouraged.
Think of the perilous words of Alabama Governor George Wallace: "I draw the line in the dust and toss the gauntlet before the feet of tyranny, and I say, segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever." How long do Arabs and Muslims wait with this oppression before we hear these words from Christian evangelists who serve as the defacto voice of the Bush administration on cultural issues?
While the millions of Arabs and Muslims who live in America have enjoyed freedoms for a long time, all that seems to be changing. No civil rights movement for America's Arabs and Muslims will rise like that of the middle of the 20th century in America, but some endpoint must be reached. America can't continue like this. The assault on the freedoms of a few of us only presages the loss of liberty for us all.
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