I would encourage you all to make sure that you are firmly in your seats since I am going to begin this piece with a very short biblical quote. Never let it be said that I am an atheist that won’t stoop to manipulating Christians and Jews with their own theology.
“Do not forget to show hospitality to
strangers, for by doing so people have shown hospitality to angels without
knowing it”. Hebrews 13:2
I found this quote while surfing a Christian social justice sight called Isaiah One. I was at this site specifically researching this topic; it is not a site in my bookmark’s list. I do though think I have some common ground with this particular group of Christian activists who combine the necessity of good works with their faith. The current Pope does have a lot going for him and if he could just really get over the queer thing and let women have control over their own bodies we could really roll.
Just to make sure the message gets across let me quote again from this article entitled Biblical Hospitality and Asylum Seekers: “Biblical hospitality is a broadly inclusive obligation. Denying hospitality would only be conceivable in extraordinarily exceptional circumstances. Dubious character, alien culture or strange belief, or indeed other unpalatable social or spiritual qualities are not grounds for denying hospitality.”
Using this biblical interpretation of hospitality please explain to me how that would not apply to virtually anyone showing up on our borders seeking minimally an economic asylum, an escape from grinding poverty in their native land. And further more how the fuck can someone call themselves a Christian and deny legitimacy and citizenship to the people who for decades have been cleaning your toilets, cutting your lawns, building your homes, picking your food, cooking and serving your food, tending to your children and in countless other ways positively contributing to the fabric of American life? It is simply a mindboggling disconnect that quite frankly cannot be explained as anything but overt racism.
For any sensible person it seems to be a pretty easy and logical leap to extend hospitality in the form of citizenship to those already here and many for most of their lives. It gets a bit tricky for many though when we extend hospitality to include asylum. The United Nations in Article 14 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states “Everyone has the right to seek and enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.”
Which brings me to Edward Snowden who I not only view as a whistleblower but as a hero. In making his case for asylum he referenced the recent treatment of Bradley Manning the young gay man currently on trial for leaking classified documents to Wikileaks. Remember Manning was held for nine months in solitary confinement while being subjected to forced nudity, sleep and sensory deprivation and stress positions in the form of shackling. The United Nations rapporteur on torture issued a statement calling Manning’s treatment “cruel, inhuman and degrading” and then was denied a private interview with him to further explore the reality of his mistreatment. The kangaroo court currently hearing his case may reach a verdict this week and that it will be grossly unjust is a given. I have included a link to a recent piece in Salon suggesting that Manning was tortured for his gender identity: http://www.salon.com/2013/07/24/bradley_manning_was_wronged_by_a_world_where_he_was_weird_partner/
Another example of the toleration for torture in our country, though not stated by Snowden that I am aware of, are the thousands of prisoners on U.S. soil in solitary confinement. It would be another whole paper to discuss the institutional abuses around solitary confinement in the U.S. prison industrial complex but I would refer you to this recent video panel discussion from Al Jazeera where the issue is explored in depth:
Just to make sure the message gets across let me quote again from this article entitled Biblical Hospitality and Asylum Seekers: “Biblical hospitality is a broadly inclusive obligation. Denying hospitality would only be conceivable in extraordinarily exceptional circumstances. Dubious character, alien culture or strange belief, or indeed other unpalatable social or spiritual qualities are not grounds for denying hospitality.”
Using this biblical interpretation of hospitality please explain to me how that would not apply to virtually anyone showing up on our borders seeking minimally an economic asylum, an escape from grinding poverty in their native land. And further more how the fuck can someone call themselves a Christian and deny legitimacy and citizenship to the people who for decades have been cleaning your toilets, cutting your lawns, building your homes, picking your food, cooking and serving your food, tending to your children and in countless other ways positively contributing to the fabric of American life? It is simply a mindboggling disconnect that quite frankly cannot be explained as anything but overt racism.
For any sensible person it seems to be a pretty easy and logical leap to extend hospitality in the form of citizenship to those already here and many for most of their lives. It gets a bit tricky for many though when we extend hospitality to include asylum. The United Nations in Article 14 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states “Everyone has the right to seek and enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.”
Which brings me to Edward Snowden who I not only view as a whistleblower but as a hero. In making his case for asylum he referenced the recent treatment of Bradley Manning the young gay man currently on trial for leaking classified documents to Wikileaks. Remember Manning was held for nine months in solitary confinement while being subjected to forced nudity, sleep and sensory deprivation and stress positions in the form of shackling. The United Nations rapporteur on torture issued a statement calling Manning’s treatment “cruel, inhuman and degrading” and then was denied a private interview with him to further explore the reality of his mistreatment. The kangaroo court currently hearing his case may reach a verdict this week and that it will be grossly unjust is a given. I have included a link to a recent piece in Salon suggesting that Manning was tortured for his gender identity: http://www.salon.com/2013/07/24/bradley_manning_was_wronged_by_a_world_where_he_was_weird_partner/
Another example of the toleration for torture in our country, though not stated by Snowden that I am aware of, are the thousands of prisoners on U.S. soil in solitary confinement. It would be another whole paper to discuss the institutional abuses around solitary confinement in the U.S. prison industrial complex but I would refer you to this recent video panel discussion from Al Jazeera where the issue is explored in depth:
The endless propaganda trying to justify the treatment of Manning and the denial of whistleblower status for Snowden is that their actions have endangered American interests and are putting American lives in danger and therefore the “Espionage Act” is being invoked in both situations which contains the essential caveat of ‘aiding the enemy’. I’ll grant their actions may not be in the best interests of global corporate capitalism, but that may be a good thing. That the persecution of whistleblowers is motivated by concerns to keep us safe is quite frankly more incredulous than Congressman Steve King and his fears of marijuana mules with calves the size of cantaloupes streaming across our southern border by the thousands.
If our government officials, including the President and members of Congress and their corporate overlords, were really concerned about the safety and well being of Americans we might address the 40 murders per day and the over 70 deaths a day due to inadequate healthcare in this country. And if you want to discuss putting the men and women in our armed services at risk let’s discuss why no one in the Bush administration has been held accountable for the unjustifiable Iraq war that resulted in the deaths of thousands of our military to say nothing of the many hundreds of thousands of Iraqi’ deaths resulting from the invasion of a country that had nothing to do with 9/11. The risk of harm to me from a terrorist is much less than the likelihood I’ll die from a fall in my bathtub or be struck by lightening.
Perhaps I’ll address my opinions as to why the government is in such a tizzy about their extensive spying on us has been partially exposed at another time but please allow me to be very skeptical that it has little to do with their concerns for my safety, well being and protecting me from terrorists.
It seems only appropriate to include in this piece a quote from the great Noam Chomsky in a recent interview where he was asked directly about Snowden who he said should be honored for “telling”:
“The plea of the US government in this case for the surveillance and so on, is that it’s security against terror. But at the very same moment the US policy is designed in a way to increase terror. The US itself is carrying out the most awesome international terrorist campaign, ever, I suppose– the drones and special forces campaign. That’s a major terrorist campaign, all over the world, and it’s also generating terrorists. You can read that and hear that from the highest sources, General McChrystal and scholars and all, so on.” Noam Chomsky from a
recent interview in Geneva. http://antonyloewenstein.com/2013/07/29/chomsky-praises-snowden-and-condemns-us-hypocrisy/
© July 2013
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