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A Day For Remembering

Today is Memorial Day in America; a day to remember those who have suffered and died because of war.

Today, I will pause and remember. I will remember the tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of innocent Iraqi citizens killed, maimed, tortured, and bereaved, because of the immoral and illegal invasion of that country by the United States and its satellite nation, the United Kingdom.

I will remember the five million children orphaned by that invasion. Five million young lives shattered forever at the whim of power-crazed politicians.

I will remember the innocent Pakistani people annihilated by the simple press of a button in some corner of a faraway nation. The US killing-machine drones delivering death from the sky to anyone ‘thought’ to be a potential enemy of that same distant superpower.

I will remember the hundreds of victims held in indefinite detention at the now infamous US military base at Guantanamo Bay, all of whom are innocent of any crime, if for no other reason than they have never been fairly tried and found guilty.

In particular, I will remember Shaker Aamer, a British resident detained in Guantanamo since February 2002. The Bush administration admitted they had no evidence against Aamer and cleared him for release in 2007. Five years later he is still there. The US won’t release him because they fear the story he has to tell about the hellhole that is Guantanamo.

Clive Smith, his lawyer, said in February 2010:

“I have known Shaker for sometime, because he is so eloquent and outspoken about the injustices of Guantanamo he is very definitely viewed as a threat by the US. Not in the sense of being an extremist but in the sense of being someone who can rather eloquently criticise the nightmare that happened there.”

I will remember Abu Zubaydah, another detainee in Guantanamo Bay Detention Center. Donald Rumsfeld described him as a: “…very senior al Qaeda operative.”

Former President George W Bush called him: “…one of the top operatives plotting and planning death and destruction on the United States,” and, “…al Qaeda’s chief of operations.”

Abu Zubaydah was water-boarded eighty-three times and suffered unbelievably harsh interrogation techniques during four and a half years in secret CIA prisons, and finally in Guantanamo Bay.

The CIA have now admitted that Abu Zubaydah was never even a member of al Qaeda. He has never been charged with any offence, yet still languishes in Guantanamo’s infamous ‘Camp 7’.

I will remember the many innocent Afghan people caught up in yet another invasion. The women and children gunned down recently by an American soldier, supposedly there to protect them. How many Americans, if asked why they are at war in Afghanistan, could provide any definitive answer?

You may ask why, on this American Memorial Day, I am pausing to remember these people.

It is because, on this Memorial Day, out of three hundred million Americans, I am probably the only one who will.

The Clowns Are Already On

If ever there were evidence needed of the irresponsibility of our politicians, the latest round of climate talks in Bonn, Germany, must surely provide it.

Apparently, unable to work together, leaders of nations have split into three separate camps: rich nations like the United States; industrializing nations like China and India, and those most impacted by the early effects of climate change, such as the Alliance of Small Island States (Aosis).

As the world’s climate deteriorates rapidly, these political clowns bicker and argue. Their only agreement is to meet again in six months for ‘further discussions’. Nothing is ever achieved.

This week the the International Energy Agency has announced that global emissions are now higher than at any time in history. In the fifteen years since Kyoto was adopted, much has been discussed, yet nothing has been achieved. We are continuing to poison our environment at an ever more alarming rate.

Opening the Bonn session, UN climate convention (UNFCCC) executive secretary Christiana Figueres told negotiators that progress depended on ambition – “ambition to support developing countries, ambition to mobilise finance and… ambition to decisively and tangibly reduce emissions according to what science demands”.

By the end, several observers including Tove Maria Ryding of Greenpeace International concluded that ambition had been largely absent.

“It’s absurd to watch governments sit and point fingers and fight like little kids while the scientists explain about the terrifying impacts of climate change,” she said.[1]

It is now obvious that we, the people, cannot rely on our political leaders to solve the major threat to our existence on this planet. They will still be arguing with each other as the sea washes away New York and tornadoes, ten times bigger than the worst ever experienced, ravage the countryside.

The question then remains: what do we, the people, do about it?

The answer is obvious. We’ll do nothing. We’ll still drive our gas-guzzlers, demand more and more fossil fuel energy to power our desires, and complain of the legacy being left for our grandchildren as we purchase yet another big-screen TV (“Well, we don’t have one in the bathroom yet, do we, dear?”)

For that’s our nature. We are the only creature on the planet with the ability to foresee the future, but our innately selfish character prevents us from doing anything to change it.

We are just as much the clowns as the politicians who represent us.

[1] “Climate talks stall with nations ‘wasting time'” BBC, May 25th 2012

America – Something Is Sadly Lacking.

For me, September of this year marks a decade of life in the United States of America. It’s not been a very comfortable experience. For ten long years I’ve been unable to precisely pin down what it is about this country that makes me nervous and uneasy.

On Sparrow Chat, I’ve written much about what I see as wrong in American society – the obsession with firearms, religion, and race; a lack of proper medical care for the disadvantaged; the sheer evil of out and out capitalism left to run rampant like some rabid beast loose among prey.

Perhaps I should have reached a conclusion a long time ago. After all, with hindsight, it was staring me in the face all the time. Maybe I just couldn’t – as the old saying goes – “see the wood for the trees”.

It took a simple segment on the CBS Evening News tonight to bring it all into focus. The answer was obvious.

Take a few moments to read the CBS transcript, entitled, “Life after deportation for U.S.-born children.”

(CBS News) TIJUANA, Mexico – The U.S. Border Patrol announced a new strategy Tuesday for catching illegal immigrants from Mexico: using improved intelligence to target repeat offenders.

These days, though, many Mexicans heading home outnumbers those coming to the U.S. Many of them had been deported, the result of stepped-up enforcement. CBS News correspondent Bill Whitaker reports what happens when families are forced to leave.

Every day Patricia Herrera walks her three children — 12-year-old Yasmin, 10-year-old Elizabeth, and 8-year-old Vicente — to school.

But these days, this familiar routine is on unfamiliar terrain. This family from Salt Lake City — these American children — have been uprooted to Tijuana, Mexico. These English-speaking children struggle to learn in Spanish.

“It’s different and it’s hard for me to understand what they’re saying here,” said one of the Herrera children.

Right across from the house they share with relatives is the fortified fence that marks the U.S. border. When Patricia was a baby, her mother sneaked her across. She grew up thinking she was a U.S citizen until she was stopped one day by federal agents. Caught a second time last October, she was deported. To keep her family intact, she brought her children — U.S. citizens — over in February.

“I was sad,” said one of the Herrera children.

“I was scared, I was shock, I was nervous,” said another.

Patricia Herrera said she is not adjusting well. “I never thought it would come to this, but it has. And it’s hard for them.”

Four years ago, Tijuana schools started seeing a steady flow of American students whose parents had been deported. When the U.S. economy fell into deeper recession, that flow became a flood. The schools are overwhelmed.

This school, Francisco Villa, is a prime example of what’s going on. Two years ago, there were no U.S. students enrolled. Last year, six enrolled; this year, 35. In all Tijuana schools, 2,000 students from the U.S. have enrolled so far this year.

Most feel trapped between two worlds. Cesar was born in Washington State. “I feel more American, he said, “because all my life I was over there.”

Jasleen was born in California. Whitaker asked her how is it different in Mexico than the U.S. “Like over there is cleaner,” she said. “Here, it’s kind of dangerous, like when it’s dark.”

Patricia can’t work because she can’t speak Spanish well enough. She studies every night with her children. She survives on money her family sends from Utah every week.

“I live right here on the borderline too,” she said. “And it’s hard to know that I look over there and [I say], ‘Oh, my God, if I could only get through there.’ But I know I can’t. So I have to accept and learn to live my life here.”

It’s a hard lesson many families from north of the border are having to learn.”[1]

At first, you may think that segment (the video is available online) is about Patricia Herrera and her three children. It’s not. It’s about the United States of America. It’s all about what this nation has become.

Read the last paragraph again:

“It’s a hard lesson many families from north of the border are having to learn.”

‘A hard lesson’ – like maths, or Spanish?

There was no sympathy for the plight of Patricia and her kids in that report. Sure, it went through the motions, but the real point of the story was how well America was doing at getting rid of those it no longer wants. What it was really saying was, “Aren’t we suddenly so good at enforcing our immigration laws?”

And why not? After all, it’s what the majority of Americans have said they want to happen.

That one segment of a US evening news program clarified for me exactly what is missing throughout this country. It’s the reason for the fear-mongering that has persisted, and torn this nation apart for the last eleven years – since 9/11/2001. What’s missing from this country today can be summed up in one simple word:

Compassion.

There is no compassion in America today.

Oh, sure, you can all jump up and down and yell about how you did old Mrs Beidmeyer’s shopping for her, or, hey, what about those ‘Making A Difference’ segments on NBC News? Aren’t they about Americans being compassionate?

No, they’re not. They’re about Americans telling themselves how wonderful they are. They’re about ego-inflation. When the going gets a bit tough, you yell, “Look at us! We’re having it rough, yet we Americans are still wonderful people!”

No, you’re not. There’s not an ounce of compassion in you – unless it’s for yourselves. You’re very good at weeping, particularly when the news camera’s pointed in your direction. You wail and wallow when your kids get killed at the latest schoolhouse shooting, then go home and polish your AK47s.

You’d rather berate socialism, sneer at words like ‘welfare’, ‘benefits’, and ‘social medicine’ than help solve the problem of poverty in your own country.

“Let ’em die! They’re no good. Let them get a job and pay their way if they want a doctor. It’s what we had to do.”

Of course, it’s easy to forget your father paid your way through college and got you that fancy, well-paid, position with his company that provides you with generous medical insurance and a nice private pension when you retire. It’s easy to forget the guy across town – you know, the area you never go to because it’s a bit dodgy and people sometimes get mugged – he’s dying and can’t afford a doctor because he never had a father…yes, it’s easy to forget him, isn’t it?

America is deporting its own citizens to another country, with a language they don’t understand, just so you can tune into Rush Limbaugh and pretend to nod sagely while he rants on about illegal immigration and “what are we going to do about it?”

Patrica Herrera didn’t come to America illegally. She was smuggled in as a small baby. She believed she was a US citizen. Suddenly, out of the blue, a load of stiff-necks chuck her out on her ear to appease the Limbaugh’s of this great nation, or some hard-boiled politician who knows just how to whip up your ego until you have less regard for a fellow human being and her children than you have for a desert jack-rabbit.

There is no compassion in the United States of America. That’s what is wrong with this country. That’s why I’ve felt nervous and uneasy for the last ten years.

Where’s there’s no compassion, there’s no humanity.

And when a nation has no humanity, it has nothing.

[1] “Life after deportation for U.S.-born children” CBS News, May 8th 2012

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