Friday, June 23, 2006

Apathy is the Leitmotif of the 21st Century

I was reading an article in this month's issue of The Monthly: The Punishment of David Hicks. And, of course, reviewing a few secondary sources on their claims about what's going on. It's...

Well, actually it's really terribly familiar territory to me, since I've studied the history of both Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, or at least up to a point; the Gestapo and the KGB only wished they were as good at torture as the CIA and the US military are. Of course, when I read about the kinds of things done by notoriously evil totalitarian regimes, that was history; it's a whole different feeling when you're reading about current events.

And the thing is...

I feel powerless.

I want to be angry at the American people for letting this happen. The American government has concluded that the Geneva Convention doesn't matter, that the rule of American law is to be avoided, that the US Supreme Court is something to get around, not to be subject to. Right now, this minute, as I'm typing this, the United States is torturing people, physically and psychologically; they have it down to a science.

And they break people. Even the ones who are still holding out on false confessions - like David Hicks, and even though he's someone I wouldn't have wanted to know before 2001, I kinda admire the guy for that - start manifesting signs of serious psychosis, induced by long-term torture. By Americans.

"1. Public reports have documented hundreds of cases of torture, cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment involving detainees in U.S. custody in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Guantánamo Bay. The military has admitted that at least 86 detainees have died in U.S. custody in Afghanistan and Iraq since 2002; 26 of these cases were determined to be homicides, and in almost all of these 26 cases, there is evidence indicating that the detainees were beaten or tortured before death." - Human Rights Watch Submission to The Human Rights Committee Regarding Post 9-11 Practices of the United States of America, September 2005 (source: here, from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights website

But you know, I can't be, because while America is letting this happen, Australia is letting this happen to an Australian citizen, when other countries are interceding for the protection of their own nationals. The Howard government happily accepts whatever the Bush government claims, despite all evidence to the contrary from bit players like the United Nations, the Red Cross, and Amnesty International.

Which is wrong. It's wrong of us, it's wrong of the American people, it's wrong of everyone that this is happening and no-one's stopping it. It's wrong that Bush was ever re-elected, frankly, but that's a whole different post. Humanity is letting itself down.

But you know... even though I think this is wrong, even though I, myself, know this is happening and sincerely believe it shouldn't be... it's not like I know how to stop it. I don't know how to change the world. I don't know how even to begin trying to make the Howard government uphold Australian sovereignty and demand that Australian citizens be treated in accordance with law, with the Geneva Convention, and with the United Nations Charter on Human Rights to which we are signatory. And if I don't know how to change Australia, my own country, I sure as hell don't know how to change someone else's.

5 Comments:

Blogger Sophie said...

This isn't a very interesting reply but..seconded. Absolutely. Guh. (Also, yay! A chance to use my neglected Blogger account)

9:57 pm  
Blogger Sami said...

You also get the chance to be the very first commenter on my blog!

11:14 pm  
Blogger Sophie said...

Yay!

7:41 am  
Blogger tflynch said...

It's strange to me that the Liberal government doesn't demand Hicks be turned over to a proper judicial process as Labour in England has done for British nationals at Guantanamo.

I don't believe it would detrimentally effect our diplomatic relations with the US, and I think it would play better domestically for Howard and co.

It's odd to me. It feels like there's actually a desire for Hicks to be tortured and mistreated, which strikes me as weird.

Hicks is the only person with a face for me at Gitmo. But the other inmates there surely deserve proper justice no less than he does.

Our main hope should be that the next president is a Democrat or a Republican who is more of a "classic conservative" (say a John McCain). I sincerely hope this open administrative support for breaches of the Geneva convention and international law ends with the next US cabinet.

3:29 pm  
Blogger Sami said...

Yeah. I'd like to see a liberal back in the White House, but I think that's only going to be a good thing when America's sick of conservatism instead of just sick of Bush.

12:23 am  

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