Much will be written over coming months, as in the past, over the departure of America from its values of acceptance of those in need, and of promoting tolerance and freedoms. Over the broken promise of the American dream. The question is no longer one of where America is today but where it is heading.
Amnesty International, a group supported by 7 million grass roots members, issued its latest report stating that Europe is now in crisis, with 14 EU member states in a position of increased securitisation, mass surveillance and curtailment on press freedoms and civil liberties. On a variety of measures, judicial oversight is diminished, state control increasing, and the targeting of migrants, refugees, Muslims and journalists is at levels not seen since the 1930s. This is not merely Europe but a pan-Western movement back to a new dark age.
Few of us thought we would see an era where a global trade war and looming security crisis would be our reality, with NATO and EU troops massing on borders to match Russian forces, where US troops would be stationed in Norway, and strategic missile plans and military operations would be underway on the grand chessboard.
The problem is that we have not yet reached peak Trump. In his first week in the White House we have seen a raft of Executive Orders limiting female reproductive rights, establishment of a wall and a new war on Muslim and refugee civil rights. This is from a white fascist child of fascist immigrants to the USA. The repeal of Obamacare will now potentially affect the health care of 20m of America’s poorest and neediest citizens. All because rich not-sick people don’t want to pay into a system to support the poorest who need help, and it’s an easy open goal for Trump to kick the ball into. States which provide services and status to "illegals" (NB. often indigenous American peoples from central and southern Americas) will now be denied billions in federal funding. Trump’s gag order to deny climate change means federal agencies are unable to support any positive climate change action. Trump’s inauguration saw the arrest and charging of six journalists who were covering the anti-Trump demonstrations. For Christ’s sake, even Shia LaBeouf who invited the public to chant “He Will Not Divide Us” on Livestream was later arrested.
It is a time when an Iranian national on holiday in the Americas, Dr Hamaseh Tayari, is denied permission to fly home to Glasgow from Costa Rica via New York because of her country of birth. In an unsurprising tit-for-tat measure, Iran has stated its outrage and intends to ban US citizens from entering the country. It is a time where British Conservative MP, Nadhim Zahawi, an influential Prime Ministerial Policy Committee member, tweets disapproval at being denied entry to the US as consequence of him being born in Iraq. In key conflict zones around the world, we rely on the support of local activists and organisations to bring about democratic and peaceful change; often they are assured relocation to the US for their services. That has all now come to an end placing the lives of troops and peace keeping operations abroad at greater risk.
Trump has banned Muslims via a 'religious test' from eight nations, whilst US terror attacks connected to Lebanon, Egypt, Pakistan, UAE and Saudi Arabia have resulted in no bans from these nations (image courtesy of The Daily Show).
Indeed, the same Saudi Arabia which is currently backed by the British to massacre innocent Yemenis, and the home of Wahhabism across the globe, one certain Osama Bin Laden and a sprinkling of 9/11 hijackers. It’s also home to eight Trump companies. If that doesn’t have your juices flowing, Trump is considering making good on his pledge to reintroduce torture. Despite all evidence to the contrary that torture simply doesn’t work. It delivers unreliable intelligence and harms operations.
This isn't about extremists or a terror threat. It is absolutely about fear.
The American experiement has finally failed. The Roman system of citizenship of plenty-for-a-few elevated citizens, with suffering-for-the-many, is in its death throes. The greatest economy in the world which provides a quarter of global GDP, half of global arms sales, with 800 military bases in more than 70 foreign countries across the globe (UK, France and Russia total 30); it is an empire which has at its head has the worst amongst us. The promise of America, which came at such cost in lives and riches, one which many consider was one not worth paying, with the New Colossus standing aside the mouths of the Hudson and East Rivers to the west of Brooklyn, was this
"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!"
In the hands of a liar, beyond shame and honour, this promise had become a worthless plaque on a statue. A trinket. Cheap merchandise to assuage the mass misinformed.
The future will be one made up of small battles in a greater struggle for freedoms and civil liberties. The American turn to fascism is here for all to see. Post truth is disinformation. Alt right is racism. Populism is merely bolted horses through barn doors.
It's easy to sit in comfortable chairs and wax lyrical from afar, when the fuse has been lit in another place. First they came for the Mexicans and we did not speak. Then they came for me and my ilk. Then 'twas you. The end is being televised after all. Or we gather together like the crowds at JFK to stop the hate. To stop the pillage of our intellectual heritage; a collective riches of freedoms and liberties forged from a fire of religious, secular and philosophical ideals and consensus. Through history we reach milestones where people are asked not by design but by circumstance, to choose a side. And so now, we must choose a side. Either we give in to the forces of darkness and division, of hate and intolerance, or we stand united in our love for humanity, setting aside our differences and we work to repair the road before us. This is the time for building. Alliances and friendships. To reach out. Beyond. Time is precious.
The Chinese say that how we choose to spend our life and our contribution in this world is measured by a finite resource: heart beats. Since the heart is the centre of consciousness, life is a case of how we choose to spend our heartbeats. History is calling but right now we must use our voices and mobilise our communities. We needn't slip away into the annals of history as another failed peoples enslaved to a failed system. We can overcome. We are no less than those who have.
In the Muslim tradition, one of the greatest and most dignified things is to speak a word of truth to an oppressive tyrant. It is to change things with your hand, or with your speech or failing that, hate it in your heart - it's the least of all the things one can do when facing oppression but it unites us in a cause, together, and gives reassurance to others who are prepared to stand and make a difference. It all makes a difference. Don't turn away. We need each other.
Unite. Challenge the #MuslimBan. Challenge the wall. Push back the dark clouds. Be heard.
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Updates. #PeoplePower
- Humza Yousaf, Scottish Government Minister for Transport and the Islands confirms “After hearing Iranian woman who lives in Glasgow affected by Trump’s #MuslimBan @WomenForIndy raised money cover her flight home in 35mins!”
- UK e-petition launched to stop Trump’s state visit to the UK, as Jeremy Corbyn calls for Trump to be denied entry until he lifts the #MuslimBan.
First published 29 January 2017: Medium