Protecting Liberty, again

Ours is not the first generation to take up the cause of the protection of liberty. Whether Canadian or American, we are likely not the last. We typically associate such struggles with failed states often in the global south and elsewhere–Myanmar, South Sudan, Russia, El Salvador, China. We have memories of two world wars from the 20th century where the phrase “never again” was considered an essential forward-looking discipline.

But here we are, once again, wealthy countries in the industrialized north needing to revisit the struggle for basic human rights. We need once more to attend to the structures of law and to monitor its implementation and enforcement. As the United States administration looks increasingly like a fascist regime with dictator Donald at the helm surrounded by white-male sycophantic henchmen (to me, some even look like gangsters), many now question the US commitment to liberty, to freedom, and to the pursuit of justice for every human being.

We’ve heard similar stories before: Remember Anne Frank hiding in an Amsterdam attic shortly before her arrest in by the Gestapo on August 4, 1944. She was subsequently sent to Auschwitz, then later to Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, where she died (presumably of typhus) a few months later.

I remember first hearing the story of South African anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko. The apartheid-era government came to see Biko as a subversive threat and placed him under a banning order in 1973, severely restricting his activities. After numerous “knocks on the door in the middle of the night” he was arrested at a checkpoint on August 1977; Biko was subsequently beaten to death by state security officers.

In our own day, in a surprising number of countries, countless resisters—persons known, and at other times unknown, persons engaged in activism, and others not connected with any critical social or environmental movement–are detained on unjustifiable grounds by fearful and oppressive regimes. Such persons are abducted and imprisoned out of sight, without representation, often without charge or access to legal protection. Right now, in the United States, two recent cases stand out for me.

Becky Burke — Backpacking gone horribly wrong.

Her British father writes: “Our daughter Becky, a 28-year-old British tourist, has been caught up in the recent immigration crackdown in the US. What was meant to be a life-changing four-month backpacking trip across North America has turned into a nightmare. Despite being a tourist with no criminal record, she was handcuffed and taken to a detention facility in Tacoma, Washington.

Becky’s current conditions are deeply concerning. She is sharing a cell, surviving on a diet of cold rice, potatoes, and beans (she is vegan), and has limited access to phone calls. Visitors are restricted to speaking through a glass screen via telephone. All her possessions have been confiscated, and she feels isolated and desperate to come home.”

Mahmoud Khalil — Free speech anyone? Certainly not everyone.

“Mahmoud Khalil graduated from a leadership program at Columbia University in December, and is still in university housing. He’s married, and his wife is eight months pregnant. Mahmoud is passionate about education, and has had a variety of jobs involving education and disadvantaged youth. He’s particularly interested in creating programs that help educate out-of-school youth in developing countries. Mahmoud has a green card. He is a lawful, permanent resident of the United States. Remember that, it’s going to be important in what’s about to happen.

Recently as Mahmoud and his wife walked into their university-owned apartment building, two men in plain clothes slipped in the door behind them. The men claimed they were ICE agents. They also claimed that they had a warrant for Mahmoud’s arrest on their phone, and that his student visa was being revoked.

The agents refused to give Mahmoud’s wife a reason why he was being detained. When Mahmoud’s lawyer called, ICE refused to say why Mahmoud was being detained and that his “student visa was revoked.”

A federal judge has subsequently blocked ICE from deporting Mahmoud until a judge can hear his case. There is currently a wrongful detention challenge that will be heard by a judge while Mahmoud remains in a private prison in Louisiana.” [For more go here and here]

Now . . . back to the statue of liberty, and to the concept of liberty, to its practice and enforcement, you tell me. Are these images appropriate? Do they represent an abandonment of a much-loved national aspiration, itself etched into the pedestal on which Lady Liberty stands?:

“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”

How can things have fallen so far, so fast, so completely? Looking for answers. Maybe Trump will close the park and send the lady home to France? Your thoughts welcome. Of course, he will want France pay for return shipping.

AND THERE’S THIS

Following US Press Secretary Leavitt’s stunning response to French MEP Raphaël Glucksmann’s statement that France should reclaim the Statue of Liberty because the US no longer upholds its original values, Glucksmann doubled down last night.