From hounding WikiLeaks’ Assange to stifling peaceful students protesting genocide, America has abandoned its democratic values along with all notions of decency.
Loving guns, hating free speech
It is absolutely amazing how the US government bows with such unquestioning fervour and reverence to the Second Amendment, while comfortably sticking its middle finger up to the First.
The Second Amendment, ratified in 1791, in the heyday of the Wild West and almost 100 years before the iconic gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1881), stipulates “the right of the people to keep and bear Arms”.
This was probably a good idea at the time, when self-defence was a serious consideration, but it seems rather outdated in 21st century America where gun ownership tends to only “benefit” suicides, who might well have had more time to reconsider if such an easy option were not available to them, as well as criminals and nutcases who plague society with gun crime and mass shootings that exploit the element of surprise.
According to Statista: “Averaging almost 50,000 deaths from firearms annually, the United States is the only high-income country to report such a high death toll from gun violence.”
The First Amendment, on the other hand, is founded on timeless ethical principles:
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
So why this favouritism? The answer is simple. Pro-gun lobbies like the NRA, spend millions of dollars a year funding senators who will do their bidding in defending mass gun ownership and the Second Amendment; while lobbies like the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) on the other hand, spends tens of millions supporting those who will undermine the Second, if it threatens Israeli interests in any way.
The problem, however, is that defending gun ownership through an unquestioning faith towards one Amendment, while blatantly undermining another, irredeemably exposes the hypocrisy of the political elite. Obviously, for individual politicians, the stakes are so high, that they prefer being exposed, rather than risk alienating their patrons. So much for integrity! So much for democracy!
Attacking the First Amendment
Whilst the genocide in Gaza has highlighted the extremes politicians would go to circumvent the First Amendment, the “credit” should not go to Zionist dominance alone.
The case of WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, is a case in point. He has been hounded since 2010 for exposing American war crimes; was stuck in the Embassy of Ecuador in London for seven years (2012-2019) where he had been granted asylum and, following a change of government in Ecuador, which led to the termination of his asylum status on 11 April 2019, he was immediately arrested and has been in Belmarsh Prison in London ever since.
Not only does the US government want him to be extradited for conspiracy to commit computer intrusion relating to the Chelsea Manning case and for espionage, the CIA even considered having him kidnapped and assassinated. He could even face the death penalty if he were extradited, despite guarantees that may be given to the UK government to the contrary. His Crime? Journalism.
Indeed, the atrocities taking place in Gaza and the West Bank, particularly after the Hamas attack of October 7, add a sinister new dimension to “abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government.”
It took a while, but the scale of the slaughter in Gaza was becoming more and more intolerable to anyone with even an ounce of decency. Calling out the crimes of Israel went totally unheeded as politicians like President Biden used the October 7 attack as screen and carte blanche for Israel’s atrocities. For many, it was like living in an alternate universe where innocent lives no longer mattered.
Then, on February 25, 2024, Aaron Bushnell, a 25-year-old serviceman of the US Air Force, made the ultimate sacrifice through an extreme act of protest:
“My name is Aaron Bushnell, I am an active-duty member of the United States Air Force and I will no longer be complicit in genocide, I am about to engage in an extreme act of protest but compared to what people have been experiencing in Palestine at the hands of their colonisers, it’s not extreme at all. This is what our ruling class has decided will be normal.”
Having uttered those words, he immolated himself just outside the Israeli Embassy in Washington DC as he shouted “Free Palestine!” for as long as he was able. Immediately, attempts to sully his reputation were springing up, but they did not stick.
As Bushnell’s fire caught on, and social media platforms became the new public squares, the US decided to curtail citizen journalism by compelling the popular social media app TikTok, used by roughly 170 million Americans, to divest or face a total ban.
In the shadows of Israel’s genocide in Gaza, TikTok has been key in exposing Isreali war crimes, many of which are posted by the perpetrators, Israeli Defence Fource soldiers themselves.
Violently stifling peaceful protestors
People were waking up and on April 17 the first major university protest began with the students of Columbia University in New York City. They too did not want to be complicit in genocide and demanded that their university divest from Israel and that the government stop aiding and abetting the genocide.
Being callous and self-serving, however, is not the prerogative of politicians alone, and that protest and the many others that soon followed, were often met with hostility from management, as well as with brutal violence and arrest from the police. So much for “the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government.”
Even professors who stood up for their students were not spared. Some resorted to social media to protest against the injustice inflicted on the students.
President Bidens justifications for the oppression and feigned indignation at the student tactics, while perfectly at ease with a genocide was particularly repulsive; all the more so because the students were exercising their constitutional right, while he was actively tearing up the First Amendment.
And just when one would have thought that things could not have got any worse, they did.
Seeing as the Government’s violent attempts at suppression were backfiring, with agreements being reached at a number of educational establishments, (at time of writing this includes Rutgers, Northwestern, Brown, Middlebury, Evergreen and Vassaron), on May 1, the House of Representatives passed a bill, with 320 in favour to 91 against, that would expand the definition of anti-Semitism to include criticism of Israel and Zionism.
If this were to become law, one would be in danger of committing a crime by simply speaking out against crime, namely the crimes of Israel; which is exactly what many decent Jews are actually doing. Are they anti-Semitic? A simple comparison of what is taking place in Gaza to what happened in Nazi Germany, could land you on the wrong side of the law.
Threatening judicial independence
Not content with trying to gag citizens at home, the US is also attacking Israel’s critics abroad and trying to silence them too. In a new low, 12 Senators wrote a threatening letter to the International Criminal Court (ICC), which was deliberating on whether to issue an arrest warrant against Netanyahu and other Israeli genocidaires.
Read more: What is the difference between the ICJ and the ICC?
The letter, dated April 24, and signed by well-known politicians, including Mitch McConnell, Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, was nothing short of blackmail. It concluded:
“The United States will not tolerate politicized attacks by the ICC on our allies. Target Israel and we will target you. If you move forward with the measures indicated in the report, we will move to end all American support for the ICC, sanction your employees and associates, and bar you and your families from the United States. You have been warned.”
Such bullying arrogance beggars belief, but sadly that is exactly where the US is heading.
Established in 2002 following the adoption of the Rome Statute, the US is not even a party to the ICC. This is because the Bush administration formally withdrew the US signature in 2002, fearing that the ICC would prosecute US soldiers for the country’s numerous war crimes in combat zones such as Afghanistan and Iraq.
While Israel is also not a signatory to the Rome Statute, Palestine, the zone in which Israel is conducting its war crimes, has signed and ratified the Rome Statute, thereby accepting the ICC’s jurisdiction over the Occupied Palestinian Territories as a state party.
For what reason and at what cost?
The description of the above attacks on the First Amendment linked to the political establishment’s unconditional support for Israel, begs the question as to why this is.
These concerns are underpinned by several factors.
- The powerful influence linked to pro-Israel lobbies, such as AIPAC, which sway political figures and suppress dissent through massive funds;
- The repercussions for politicians who criticise Israel with legal and social intimidation and labels such as anti-Semetic”;
- Economic incentives for the US government, such as Gaza’s rich oil reserves.
- Historical similarities in actions and mentality between American and European colonists and Israel’s apartheid, demonstrating a shared colonial mindset that drives continued support;
- The support of Christian Zionists who outnumber Jewish Zionists, reinforcing pro-Israel sentiment in the US foreign policy;
- Possible blackmail of US politicians by Mossad agents.
The good news, however, is that, as mentioned above, the First Amendment is founded on universal ethical principles; and as such, it cannot be crushed indefinitely.
The younger generation tends to be more aware of how the older ones are destroying their chances of a decent future through greedy and unfettered exploitation of the Earth’s resources, through a system that favours the super-rich and through a blatant abuse of power.
They will not go quietly into that good night. Freedom of speech and the right to protest will win the day and when they do, may the treacherous scum who betrayed citizens’ most sacred rights get their comeuppance.
