On Freedom
On Freedom
The year after Kent State (which was about 40 miles from my house) I was in 6th grade and a group of us refused to rise for or say the Pledge of Allegience on the basis that the US did not have “liberty and justice for all” and that we would not pledge allegiance to a rogue nation state which itself did not obey the laws of war or tell the truth to its people.
It was agreed with the school officials that we would stand respectfully and silently but would not have to say anything or make any worshipful gesture. And so it was for the rest of 6th grade. I wore black or white with red speckles arm bands to school most days that year (which my Mom helped me to make and safety-pinned onto my shirt). But I was also a safety patrol kid and put up and took down the flag and folded it properly and treated it with respect.
Americans each have a complex relationship with the flag and other national symbols. They have every right to express, or not to express their sentiments, without being accused of being unpatriotic or disloyal. We have the right to salute the flag, and we have the right to burn it. That is what freedom is.
Copyright © 2012 Henry Edward Hardy
UN Security Council Announces “No-Fly” Zone over the United States
UN Security Council Announces “No-Fly” Zone over the United States
Geneva November 15, 2011
The United States defiantly announced it would continue its crackdown on peaceful anti-government protesters even as warplanes of a dozen nations in a “coalition of the willing” prepared to enforce a “no-fly” zone over the entire United States.
Speaking for the Security Council after a 13-0 vote from which the US and China abstained by being not present, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, said:
“Russia is a democratic and peace-loving nation. Nonetheless, the international community cannot permit that the gross violations of human rights and international law by the United States against their own citizens, be allowed to continue. We have seen the arbitrary arrest and detention of thousands of protesters from the non-violent “Occupy” movement, plus numerous documented examples of excessive use of force against the protesters. The continued use of toxic chemical weapons is a clear violation of the 1925 Geneva Protocol on Gas Warfare. The documented use of lead shot filled “beanbags” fired from shotguns at non-violent protesters from point-blank range is an egregious violation of human rights and international law. The US has shown it is unable or unwilling to abide by its own Constitutional guarantees of freedom of speech and assembly.
“Consequently, today we have taken the following actions. All assets of the United States and US-owned corporations and persons around the world are frozen. A “no-fly” zone is in place over the United States and its dependent territories and colonies. We are establishing bases in Mexico and Canada to enforce this zone, including the option, if necessary, of destroying all land, sea and air-based defensive capabilities of the US. The United States has been placed on the list of terrorist nations, and a list of public officials and corporate leaders is being added to a sanctions list. The President of the United States, his cabinet, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff, as well as intelligence officials, are being referred to the World Court for possible war crimes prosecution. Our Spetsnaz forces are on the ground in the US assisting and supporting the dissident groups.”
In response, the US President, Barak Obama, released a statement saying, “The United States is a proud and independent nation. We do not accept that we should be dictated to by an arbitrary consortium of enemies and former allies who think that they can dictate the internal policies of the United States at gunpoint. We will crush these rats, these germs of internal dissent, and we shall never surrender to blackmail by foreign powers. Long live the United States of America!”
[yes this is satire! and hopefully remains so]
Copyright © 2011 Henry Edward Hardy
To: His Lordship, the Right Honorable Richard John Carew Chartres, Bishop of London Re: Occupy London
To: His Lordship, the Right Honorable Richard John Carew Chartres,
Bishop of London
Re: Occupy London
Your Lordship,
I read with concern in today’s New York Times* that you were quoted
regarding the Occupy London camp outside St. Paul’s, “the time has
come for the protesters to leave, before the camp’s presence threatens
to eclipse entirely the issues that it was set up to address.”
I respectfully assert that this is a morally and ethically incorrect
approach to this issue.
You are not behaving as a follower of Jesus; rather, you speak like a
Pharisee. Are you more concerned with making money than with serving
and advocating for the needs of the poor and oppressed?
If Jesus is among us today, he is outside on the lawn at St. Paul’s,
where you have shut the doors of the church against him.
3 Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy.
4 Deliver the poor and needy: rid them out of the hand of the wicked.
Psalms 82:3-4 KJV
sincerely,
Henry Edward Hardy
Somerville, MA USA
* http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2011/10/26/business/AP-Occupy-Glance.html?hp
Copyright © 2011 Henry Edward Hardy
Regarding the detention at UNDP Bahrain of three non-violent Human Rights protesters
Your Excellency Firas Gharaibeh, Deputy Resident Representative at UNDP,
I am writing to express my concern and consternation at the way the peaceful and non-violent protest of three citizens seeking freedom for their loved ones in detention in Bahrain today was handled. I am speaking of Asma Darwish, Sawsam Jawad, and Zainab Alkhawaja. Ms. Alkhawaja’s father, Abdulhadi Alkhawaja, is an internationally known human rights activist and is the former President of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights and is currently a member of the International Advisory Network in the Business and Human Rights Resource Center chaired by Mary Robinson, former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. He was taken along with Ms. Alkhawaja’s husband and brother-in-law in a raid by masked men on the night of April 9. He was brutally beaten into unconsciousness in front of his family before being abducted.
When Ms. Alkhawaja and her companions attempted to stage a non-violent sit-in at your office today, you called the Bahrani authorities and turned them over to them. If they are detained, raped, tortured, or murdered, you will be morally and legally responsible.
I want you to know that the whole world is watching. The whole world is watching *you*, your Excellency.
I look forward to your prompt reply.
sincerely,
Henry Edward Hardy
Somerville, MA, USA
UNDP Media Contacts
Women arrested in Hunger Strike in the UN Building – Manama
Bahrain arrests three women in UN sit-in, activist says
Three Bahraini women detained for ruckus in UN office
3 female activists arrested in Bahrain
Even in Custody, Bahrain Activists Use Twitter to Protest
Bahrain frees three women arrested for protesting at UN offices in Manama
Bahrain women arrested in sit-in released, says UN
Copyright © 2011 Henry Edward Hardy
Letter to the Ambassador from Bahrain to the US
Letter to the Ambassador from Bahrain to the US
To: Her Excellency Ms. Houda Ezra Ebrahim Nonoo, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Bahrain to the United States of America
Your Excellency,
It is with great concern that I have read of the suppression of peaceful protesters on Lulu Square by armed force. Such violent and extra-legal actions by the security forces damage the standing of Bahrain in the world community and threaten its internal stability.
I strongly urge you to inform the King and his Government of the concerns of the American people in this regard, and to urge His Majesty to step in to dismiss the current Government and to hold those responsible for the armed and violent attack on peaceful protesters in the square accountable to the full extent of the law.
I thank Your Excellency in advance for her prompt attention to these matters.
sincerely,
Henry Edward Hardy
(street address)
USA
Copyright © 2011 Henry Edward Hardy
About Scanlyze
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
Scanlyze is an online magazine of essays, commentary, satire, and analysis. Were we half as clever, for inspiration we would take Mark Twain, Ambrose Bierce, Swift, Montaigne, or Seneca.
“The men who create power make an indispensable contribution to the Nation’s greatness, but the men who question power make a contribution just as indispensable, especially when that questioning is disinterested, for they determine whether we use power or power uses us.”
John F. Kennedy, October 26, 1963
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