|
January
7, 2001
Philip
Farruggio
Better
Medicine
January
6, 2002
Ralph
Nader
Students
Put the Heat on Foreign Sweatshops
Tariq
Ali
Battleground
Kashmir
January
5, 2002
Mark Schneider
Kifah:
The Movie Star
Israel Killed
Edward
Said
Is
Israel More Secure Now?
January
4, 2002
CG Estabrook
Anti-War
= Anti-Globalization
Jordan
Green
What's
Changed in New York
January
3, 2002
Walt Brasch
Exit
Cheney, Enter Ridge
Mokhiber
and Weissman
The
10 Worst Corporations
of 2001
Robert
Hunter Wade
America's
Empire Rules an Unbalanced World
Shahid
Alam
Is
There an Islamic Problem?
January
2, 2002
Ross Regnart
Patriot
Act Redefines the Mob as "Terrorist Associates"
John Chuckman
The
Republicans' Secret Plan X
David
Vest
Turn,
Turn, Turn
January
1, 2002
Kathy
Kelly
Iraq's
New Year
December
31, 2001
John Absood
An
Alternative to War in Iraq
Ramzi
Kysia
Iraq
Goes Radioactive
December
28, 2001
John Chuckman
Observing
George Bush
Suren
Pillay
Civilian
Bodies
Aaron
Lehmer
Inviting
Future Terrorism
December
27, 2001
Patrick
McNamara
Palestinian
Children Bear Brunt of Mideast Violence
Nelson
Valdés
A
Possible Scenario on the Location of bin Laden
Jensen
and Mahajan
Remember
the Afghan Dead
Philip
Farruggio
A
New Year's Resolution
Ramzi
Kysia
The
People of the Valley
December 26, 2001
John Chuckman
In
Praise of the Unspeakable
Sam Bahour
2002:
Year of the Twos
December 25, 2001
Jennifer Loewenstein
Israel's
Human Rights Record
December 24, 2001
Sam Bahour
It
Happened One Morning
Yair Khilou
Why I Resisted
Being Drafted into the Israeli Army
Michael
Chisari
War
as Diversionary Tactic
Cockburn/St. Clair
Enron
and the Green Seal
A Photographic Journal of Life
in an Afghan Refugee Camp
By Judith Mann
Resources:
100s of Links
About 9/11
CounterPunch:
Complete
Coverage of 9/11 and Its Aftermath
Five
Days That
Shook The World:
Seattle and Beyond
By Alexander
Cockburn
and Jeffrey St. Clair
Photos by Allan Sekula
(Click Here to Order from CounterPunch
Online at 20% Off Amazon.com's price!)
INSIDE
EXCLUSIVE
TO
COUNTERPUNCH
SUBSCRIBERS
Published Oct. 15, 2001
8-Page Special Issue
War Diary
CIA's Assassination Plan a History of
Torture in US Prisons
bin Laden and Bush
Business Connections
Aisha Ikramuddin on the Hidden Hype
of US Food Bombs
Peter Linebaugh on
Pakistan
Christopher Hitchens' Love for Mrs. Thatcher
Jiang Zemin Tells Bush:
Nuke 'Em
Search
CounterPunch
Read Whiteout and Find Out
How the CIA's Backing of the Mujahideen Created the World's Most
Robust Heroin Market and Helped to Finance the Rise of the Taliban
and Osama bin Laden
Whiteout:
CIA, Drugs & the
Press
by Alexander
Cockburn
and Jeffrey St. Clair
The Memphis Blues Again:
Six Decades of Memphis Music Photographs
Photos by Ernest Withers
Text by Daniel Wolff
The New Intifada:
Resisting Israel's Apartheid
Edited by Roane Carey
A Pocket Guide to
Environmental Bad Guys
by James Ridgeway
and Jeffrey St. Clair
The
Phoenix Program
by Douglas Valentine
Al Gore:
A User's Manual
by Cockburn
and St. Clair
Buy
This Explosive
New Book at an
Amazing Discount!
Reviews of Gore:
a User's Manual
|
January
7, 2002
Leaving Our Rights Behind
By Wael Masri
Sometimes life mirrors the comic strips. The recent
"Doonesbury" series on ethnic profiling was frighteningly
accurate and reflective of our current reality.
I should know; on Oct. 12, I was ordered
off a Delta Airlines flight at Raleigh-Durham International Airport
because a panic-stricken passenger seated to my immediate right
said I made him nervous.
The plane's captain explained that he
was removing me because I had created an "uncomfortable"
environment. He refused to hear my explanation, and I was quickly
escorted off the airplane.
Had he listened, he would have learned
that the fear and discomfort the complaining passenger apparently
felt were in response to discovering that I'm originally from
Lebanon. As in the comic strip, I was guilty of "flying
while Arab" (akin to "driving while black"). As
one who teaches children to respect differences, recognize similarities
and appreciate connections between peoples, I was shocked and
insulted by this xenophobic discrimination.
Given the horrific hijackings of Sept.
11, and last month's attempted attack using a shoe bomb in mid-flight,
the need for heightened security at airports is painfully obvious.
Yet racism and hatred of foreigners must not be allowed to replace
good judgment and wise security measures.
The most recent high-profile example
is the case of the Arab-American Secret Service officer, entrusted
with protecting the life of the president, who was taken off
a commercial flight on Christmas Day, in part because he "looked
suspicious." Vigilance is good, but racism is bad; let's
not let one become the other.
Incidents like these illustrate how quickly
civil rights can be lost. After the passage of the USA Patriot
Act and the planned military tribunals, fundamental civil liberties
are being violated.
Ignore your rights, and they will go
away -- for all of us, immigrants and citizens alike. We must
protect our freedom, not sacrifice it through fear. And it is
precisely during a time of national emergency when abiding by
our valued American principles is most critical. If we believe
in the principles symbolized by our flag, "liberty and justice
for all," then Attorney General John Ashcroft is wrong in
suggesting that some people do not deserve due process of the
law. Just as we have zero tolerance for terrorism, we must have
zero tolerance for violations of civil and human rights for all
residents of the United States.
It is not possible to have racial profiling,
ethnic/religious discrimination, arbitrary arrests and detentions
-- and then expect to return to the principles of our Constitution
and Bill of Rights. Today, people of Middle Eastern descent,
including some congressmen (one of whom was also refused a seat
on a commercial flight), are part of "the other" being
targeted. An injustice against one violates all of our rights
as it damages protections we each cherish. We must raise freedom's
torch higher instead of letting go of our civil and human rights
to quench our anxieties.
The abridgment of civil rights has too
often been deemed acceptable during times of war, as evidenced
by the internment of American citizens of Japanese heritage during
World War II. Are we to believe that after the war everything
was made right again, even though there are many stories to the
contrary?
This war on terrorism is open-ended,
much like the everlasting war on drugs. When will it be possible
to declare victory? Can we risk waiting that long while civil
rights continue to be eroded? Shall we wait until our Bill of
Rights becomes a relic and our freedoms a mere memory? When and
how will we regain our squandered rights?
We are a proud nation and we must remember
who we are. Except for the indigenous peoples, we are all immigrants
or descendants of immigrants, and we have all gained much from
the continuing diversity and varied contributions that all have
carried with them and passed on to this great nation.
Thus, racial profiling ultimately affects
us all -- Native American, Asian-American, African-American,
Arab-American, Latin-American, Euro-American or any other flavor
of law-abiding person -- and regardless of the popularity of
one's socio-political views.
United We Stand must bring together people
of diverse ethnicities and persuasions with respect, tolerance
and true allegiance to our Constitution and Bill of Rights. Otherwise,
fear and ignorance will prevail, and there will be no real peace
and security to enjoy in the New Year.
Wael Masri lives
in Raleigh, North Carolina.
|