Quo vadis USA?

The United States entered the turn of the 21st century feeling like it knew what it was doing. Communism had failed in Eastern Europe with little bloodshed; apartheid in southern Africa was overcome by decency; military dictators were appropriately ousted all over Latin American. The rule of law was spreading over the globe as never before. Many dissidents who had previously suffered from breakdowns of the rule of law went from jails into executive power to restore justice before the law. Torture was more of a trait of the struggling, poorer nations than the rich western ones. The Middle East had the attention of the American President. The long war in Ireland was slowly coming to an end.

American apologies for inaction and neglect were given for Rwanda and Bosnia. Some humility, rather than hubris, was showing up in American diplomacy. We had international support. The first war in Iraq had a coalition of some merit.

Artists showed citizen power and citizen leadership regarding many of the disasters in the world. They were using their talent and money to help fight poverty, hunger and human rights abuses. Celebrities were responding to each national and international need as it arose. Americans were a confidant people. Leading the world into a higher respect for the rule of law seemed to be a shared goal with the rest of the world. Primacy of human rights was a key part of US foreign and domestic policy. The future was bright for shared values.

The wake up call
Then the Supreme Court decided an American election. Five people with long judicial backgrounds decided they would pick the US president. The Supreme Court thrashed the rule of law in our democracy, which dictates that the majority wins in an election, and the voting of the nation was thrown out. An elite stepped in. Like many historic houses in Washington DC, the house walls of the Supreme Court were separating, splitting and showing wear and tear on the Constitution of this country.

The 9/11 strikes and the war in Iraq have left our country in a much different situation. We now have few, if any, answers to the issues before us as a nation. American credibility in our own system of justice is low due to secret wire-tapping, secret meetings with energy moguls, and the inability to explain our continuation in this Iraqi civil war. Billions of people on all continents question our pro death penalty and pro torture image as a government. They join millions of Americans in asking why or how we got into secret jails, secret torture cambers, secret administrators, and secret surveillance of our own people. We move prisoners from one place to the next, allowing the torturers to go to work. We want gay soldiers to fight but not tell their orientation. In short, we have become a people without answers. And sadly, not a lot of embarrassment about that lack of answers.

ACTION: do not vote for a candidate who says yes to torture.


A people without answers
Let me list just a few of the answers we lack. We are confused on what to do next in the Middle East. What to do on home security. What to do on immigration. What to do on how to find Bin Laden, though we know what area he is in. What to do for the millions of uninsured regarding health issues, especially the children. We have no energy policy. We have presidential candidates who would torture if they felt the nation were at risk and campaign on that platform. To simply blame all of this confusion on President Bush and Cheney is not enough. But it starts there.

The Democrats believes that it is ‘those guys’. The right, primarily the televangelists, are becoming convinced of the same, but therein lay the problem.

Furthermore, both Republicans and Democrats have candidates with very high negative ratings. The free-for-all for money for the candidates is embarrassing even to donors. Our army is brave and talented but tainted by accusations of torture and gratuitous killings. Our intelligence forces are scared by secret detention centers. The mercenary army that protects the non soldiers to Iraq is not responsible to any one for their killings. Blackwater and its record in Iraq is a black hole of irresponsibility. The Supreme Court is usually five to four, thus representing this deeply divided nation on many key issues like abortion, education, and rights of the detained, death penalty and health care. Abortion is the issue of the right, but they now know that their elected national leaders for 20 years have done very little to deliver anything real approaching their stated goal of stopping any of them. They are disappointed with their party. The Democrats got elected in 06 to stop the war. The war rages on. Independents are growing due to this betrayal. We are a confused nation on most key issues. Both parties are truly elites to their supporters.

ACTION: Give only to candidates that you deeply believe


Confusion Reigns
Television often follows the life of government and people who have done little for the common good. But it surely has mirrored the government in freezing out human rights issues. Few editorials speak of human rights. Few human rights activists are on television shows. If so, they need a celebrity to reassure the channel that all is well. If one were to look at the 80’s and 90’s for human rights articles and compare those periods to now, it would prove that human rights issues are easily passed over.

The left finds itself trying to stop a war but not ready to solve the fifty years of isolated camps for the Palestinians and safety for Israel. Africa looms into our focus through its own violence and hatred but with little understanding of the decency of most of its peoples and different regions. Asia has the present day Mandela in Aung San Suu Kyi and most Americans do not know her name or even pronounce it correctly. Latin Americans have shifted to the left, fearful of their northern neighbor. China and India took millions of jobs and are growing at a rate three times our GNP. We have few engineers and these nations are blessed with thousands of candidates.

At home, we watch the movie ‘Sicko’, which proves there is no answer for the uninsured, even for the insured at times. Social security may eat the young one-day. China has intimidated businesses to avoid close association with human rights organizations and human right advocates. That is the business deal, unsigned but very real. Millions and millions are poured into large human rights groups all the while the primacy of human rights has disappeared. The clarion call of the United States Congress to have a single standard for human rights has been muffled and submerged. Maybe even forgotten. If there is no massive turnout of demonstrators re torture in the Bush period, will there ever be a public outcry re torture by the American people?

A Coke or a Pepsi or a plastic bottle of water in a gas station costs more than the petrol that comes from far away, deep places and no one notices. Take a look next time when you are refueling and get a handle on the real price of a cola or a bottle of water. We aim at oil barons but not the water and cola barons. The gallon of sugar and caffeine soda from Atlanta is more expensive than the gallon of gasoline. Salt, sugar and cigarettes are killing us but their lobbies are strong and mighty and are generous to the candidates for office. American elections are moving to European type dynasties; we have Bushs, Clintons, Kennedys, Tafts, Chaffees, Sunonos, etc. The rich certainly have done well, along with those powerful families. Billionaires are pushing out millionaires in Aspen. The poor often welcome families falling out of the middle class by the tens of thousands to the lesser life. Is any one watching? Are there answers?

We Americans are governed by confused people. Both parties. Much like the time when FDR came to power. Quiet and real fear is adrift though out the land. We know we need a leader who can move this nation from problems and fears back to solutions and courage. From torture to the rule of law. From gun pointing democracy to international strength built on coalitions and a national unity of purpose. We need leaders who will find a secure path with the like minded to insure the world that the super powers both want human and commercial progress to benefit the majority if not the entire entire world. A president who invokes the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. One who has actually read it and wants others to read it as well.

ACTION: ask your government to print the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in your passport.


Clearing the fog
Simply letting this administration go into a corporate sunset will not clear up the fog generated by this administration. But looking at both parties closely is important to find solutions. Is there a way to secure some assurity that the next president will guarantee a few basic results? Can we find someone who is interested in making the USA do well but also this world of ours?

Looking at the candidates for the presidency of ‘08 demands that citizens seek a person who will seek a break from the past of both parties. The reason is that both parties got us to this point and they both are responsible for the mess. The world waits with trepidation for the next American President. Rebuilding respect for American diplomacy and people will take a long time, no matter the winner of the election.

Since not much is clear re issues with either political party, maybe what we do is ask for a few clearly stated commitments from the presidential candidates. And if these few serious commitments are not completed in their first four-year term, they automatically resign and not run again. Otherwise, any other political promise may seem like the last two terms and then where are we?

ACTION: Perhaps five guarantees to ask for might be:
1. health care for all children;
2. an end of the war in Iraq;
3. statehood for Palestine and safety for Israel;
4. printing of the universal declaration of human rights in American passports;
5. guarantee no torture of anyone.

Update on Burma and Aung San Suu Kyi

Dear all,

There is some news from Burma to report which has positive possibilities, though we are cautious. Today the military regime allowed Aung San Suu Kyi to leave her home to meet the leaders of the National League for Democracy, her political party. It was the first time she was able to see her friends since May 2003 after she survived the assassination attempt. That is very good for her personally. She is an incredibly strong woman (needless to say), but still everyone needs human interaction so we are very much pleased for her on a personal level.

The military regime also announced that it is willing to negotiate with her, and she responded by saying she is willing to negotiate with the military regime. Her statement was delivered through the United Nations. After seeing so many of her friends gunned down, her magnanimity and humility is breathtaking.

If the regime follows through on its promises, we should be seeing full-scale negotiations aimed a transition to democracy in the near future. Wow! However, the regime has made many similar statements in the past in order to decrease international pressure, so we are cautious. This is a regime that kills, so of course they tell lies too. Nevertheless, Aung San Suu Kyi believes in peaceful negotiations so she wants to give this a chance to see if it is real.

It is likely that the regime made these promises because of the heat from the UN Security Council. As you know, over the past two years we have led an effort to get the Security Council to require the regime to make changes. Unlike other parts of the UN system, the Security Council is the only body that can require a country a change -- such a requirement carries the full force of international law. We made a major step forward in September when the Council, for the first time in history, called on the regime to enter negotiations, free all political prisoners, and commence a transition to democracy.

The UN Secretary General then dispatched an envoy to travel to Burma to carry this message. He has been in Burma for the past week. If his trip would have been a disaster and the regime would have refused to budge, it was presumed that we could successfully press the Security Council to impose a global arms embargo on Burma in response. That would have made it illegal for all countries in the world to sell weapons to the military regime. However, since the regime promised to enter negotiations it will be easier for China to stop an arms embargo from happening. China can claim that as long as there is progress we shouldn't rock the boat.

So that is probably why the regime made these promises and allowed Suu Kyi to meet her colleagues -- to avoid the arms embargo. The intentions by the regime appear to be bad, although the outcome is good but small. Nevertheless, Suu Kyi wants to see what happens so she will attempt to proceed with the dialog process.

In the meantime, we have reached a tipping point on Burma and have to push forward. We are going to re-double our efforts at the UN Security Council, in the US Congress, and most importantly among people throughout the world. We hope that more and more voices will speak up calling for human rights in Burma and freedom for Aung San Suu Kyi. Our efforts are working, and now is the time to really turn things up.

In human rights work we have to savor the small steps forward, so wherever you are raise a glass to Aung San Suu Kyi tonight.

Jack and Jeremy

UN envoy in Myanmar after 4-year ban

"YANGON, Myanmar (AP) - A U.N. envoy who returned to Myanmar after a four-year ban visited a notorious prison for political prisoners Monday as he began investigating how many people were killed and detained in a crackdown on demonstrators.

Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, the U.N.'s independent human rights investigator for Myanmar, spent at least two hours at the Insein prison in Yangon, which over the years has held numerous political prisoners. Many former inmates describe torture, abysmal conditions and long stretches in solitary confinement. Details of his visit were not known.

Pinheiro had said said he was determined to gain access to prisons and other sites to assess allegations of abuse. In March 2003, the envoy abruptly cut short a visit to Myanmar after finding a listening device in a prison room where he was interviewing political detainees.

Later that year, Pinheiro accused the ruling military junta of making ``absurd'' excuses to keep political opponents in prison. He had been barred from the country since November 2003.

On Monday, Pinheiro also went to inspect the nearby Government Technical Institute ``where he met with the personnel in charge of the detainees held there during the days of the demonstrations,'' said a statement from the U.N. office in Yangon, Myanmar's largest city.

The institute was one of the major temporary detention centers set up to hold people seized in the September crackdown, as was the headquarters of a police regiment in Thanlyin, where Pinheiro also met with security forces.

The U.N. statement said Pinheiro ``is expecting to interview detainees before the end of his mission and receive further details on their records.''

Pinheiro also met with senior Buddhist abbots and visited two monasteries involved in the pro-democracy protests, the U.N. said. The protests were led by Buddhist monks.

State television Monday night showed Pinheiro visiting the Ngwe Kyar Yan monastery on Yangon's outskirts, which was raided by troops in late September.

The abbot of the monastery, U Yawata, said at the time that 70 monks and lay disciples were taken away during the raid, one of many in which monks were beaten and hauled off in trucks. U Yawata said there were bloodstains on beds as soldiers shot up the complex and stole gold during the raid.

Pinheiro also consulted with senior officials from the ministries of Home Affairs and Law Enforcement, the Yangon office of the ruling junta and Yangon General Hospital, according to the U.N., which added he expected to fly Tuesday to the capital Naypyitaw.

The junta, long criticized over human rights abuses, has come under renewed international pressure since crushing the pro-democracy demonstrations.

Myanmar authorities said 10 people were killed when troops opened fire on crowds of peaceful protesters in Yangon on Sept. 26 and 27. Diplomats and dissidents say the death toll was much higher and that an unknown number of people remain in custody.

Pinheiro cited unidentified persons as saying last month that between 30 and 40 monks and 50 to 70 civilians were allegedly killed.

Pinheiro's trip comes three days after the departure of U.N. envoy Ibrahim Gambari, who attempted during a six-day visit to kick-start talks between the junta and the pro-democracy opposition.

As a result of Gambari's trip, detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi was allowed to meet the leaders of her opposition party on Friday for the first time in three years. Suu Kyi said through a party spokesman that she was ``very optimistic'' about the prospects for dialogue with the government.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged all sides to step up efforts toward reconciliation, warning that Myanamar could not return to situation before the demonstrations.

``The secretary-general reiterates that the return to the status quo that existed before the crisis is not sustainable,'' said U.N. associate spokeswoman Marie Okabe.

Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party won elections in 1990, but the military did not honor the results. The Nobel Peace laureate has been in government detention for 12 of the past 18 years, and continuously since May 2003. "

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