towards a better Europe   Return to the archives list This article was written by Hector McNeill and published on 10th October 2001. Hector McNeill is the manager of the Emancipation.org.uk America's response in the aftermath A significant demise in its image as a world leader As we journey onwards, still with heavy hearts and fear for the future, it is fitting that we look to Americans who, in the past, confronted serious challenges and overcame them. There is much in American history and the formation of the nation which sets examples for us on how to handle threats of real or potential aggression. The founding fathers of the nation, some 200 years ago, sought to free the States of America from the rule of the King of Great Britain and attain a "separate and equal station"....."that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." So the first items, the very justification for separation and the formation of an independent government was to protect the rights of all Americans to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. These were, and remain, a humane cause, they are the very foundation for the evolution of a sound civilization anywhere. "that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." Bitter complaints.... The complaints against the powers of Great Britain were that the King had..." quartered large bodies of troops among us, for protecting them by mock trial, from punishment of any murders which they should commit on the inhabitants of these states, for cutting off our trade with all parts of the world, for imposing taxes without our consent, for depriving us in many cases, the benefits of trial by jury, for transporting us beyond seas to be tried for pretended offenses, for abolishing the free system of English laws in a neighboring province, establishing an arbitrary government, and enlarging its boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule in these colonies, for taking away our charters, abolishing our most valuable laws, and altering fundamentally the forms of our governments, for suspending our own legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever." Failure to respond to pleas The Founding Fathers, stress that the King has ignored their several petitions to terminate this aggression and complain that his replies were to repeat injury. They conclude that the King is a tyrant and to be unfit to rule free people. Warfare as murder "There was no such thing as collateral damage, to kill such beings was, and is, murder..." So America's foundation was shaped by far sighted men and women who valued life, liberty and happiness and who, at the same time, strongly disapproved of the arbitrary and excessive sway of unrepresentative government and military campaigns. Indeed, the effective description of military operations in America are described as murder. People who value life, liberty and happiness cannot view deaths incurred by the public as a result of any military action as anything else but murder. There is little doubt that at the time of the War of Independence there would not have been claims that the murder of American citizens was justifiable or unavoidable 'collateral' damage. The Americans, in those days, were not so removed from the bloody business of warfare as to build up any groundless respect for the military or their deadly deeds. War, in those days, was a murderous bloody callous rampage, just as it is today. Yet an internal brutality The complaint covers an item which reflects a failure of the States to have managed some aspects of human progress. It is stated that the King.."has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian savages, whose known rule of warfare, is undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions." And in the Peace Treaty of 1783, Article 7 it is stated that, "All prisoners on both sides shall be set at liberty, and his Britannic Majesty shall with all convenient speed, and without causing any destruction, or carrying away any Negroes or other property of the American inhabitants, withdraw all his armies.." So in spite of the essential value placed in life, liberty and happiness it would seem that this was something, at that time, to be enjoyed only by those who held political sway. American pioneers in the pursuit of peace and liberty And yet it is important to note that some American communities had taken to heart the fundamental of right of all to life, freedom and happiness. Long before the Declaration of Independence and the Paris Treaty such communities had pioneered fruitful and peaceful relations with Indians. They did not consider them to be either savages or terrorists. They also recognized the injustice of slavery and became actively engaged in the freeing of slaves. William Penn understood, respected and treated Indians as equals Dealing with other cultures In 1681, the English Quaker William Penn obtained a charter to establish a colony in what was to become Pennsylvania. This colony maintained equality for women, banned capital punishment, a written constitution which limited the role of government and had trial by jury. In 1682 Penn signed a treaty with the Delaware Indians (Leni Lenape). Rather than consider the Indians to be uncivilized savages, Penn dealt with them as equals and moved unarmed and unharmed among them. Penn never even considered the common practice of removing 'savages' forcibly but he valued their lives, sought to maintain their freedom and their happiness. Penn was able to distinguish between the different types of Indians and learned of their customs. Penn also understood that the Indians held shared rights amongst themselves and therefore he had to pay several groups for the same land. It was not that he was duped, he has taken the trouble to understand and therefore respect the Indian's existing arrangements. Voltaire noted that this treaty was the first public contract which connected the inhabitants of the Old and New World together and the only one that had never been broken. During the widespread Seven Years war between American colonists and the native Indians (1755-62) it is notable that most of the unarmed Quakers, and their property, were spared by the Indians. This astonishing outcome placed before America the wisdom of the golden rule to always treat others as you would wish to be treated. Quaker principles however avoid the practice preaching and conversion, this being considered to be arrogant, but work by example and practical deeds to promote freedoms and happiness. The evolution of pacifism within the movement was essentially a reflection of the importance given to the preservation of life. There was also a strong belief that to witness an injustice, and to refrain from stopping it, is to condone such injustice and to become as responsible as the perpetrators for such injustice. Where laws or social conventions did not protect human life, liberty and happiness then Quakers had no problem with breaking such conventions and laws until such a time that they be changed to uphold and safeguard such rights. This was always undertaken without resort to violence. It was recognised that social structures and hierarchies create fear within many individuals so that people become capable of enduring outrages perpetrated against others rather than risk becoming conspicuous by rebelling against such injustice. Harriet Tubman risked her life to free slaves by returning to the United States on several occasions to lead slaves to freedom in Canada... An example, setting slaves free In the early eighteenth Century it became very clear to many that the lives of slaves were neither free nor happy and that their condition was unacceptable; indeed it was in direct conflict with Christian teaching. A group of Quakers in Pennsylvania organized an elaborate and secret scheme to assist slaves escape to freedom in Canada. This became known as the Underground Railway which was neither underground nor a railway. It consisted of a series of safe houses and conductors who knew the local terrain and helped get escaping slaves to the next safe house. Later many people from other groups joined and there were many heroes who were black Americans. Harriet Tubman was such a person. She escaped from Maryland in 1849 at the age of 29 and then made many return trips to America to help others to freedom. She is credited with having helped more than 300 slaves escape including her aged parents and family members. Lessons on social responsibility for Americans The significant lessons drawn from such events are that where a state of affairs can be recognized to be injurious to others, then work practically for an evolutionary change. When dealing with others treat them as equals and with respect. Beholding and witnessing a wrong as a passive bystander you become guilty of imposing such injustice. A leading injustice is to act in such a way which does not help safeguard life, freedom and the pursuit of happiness of all. Why have people attacked America with an intent to kill? In many parts of the world, Americans are not perceived to be people who value the life of others, their freedoms or happiness. This comes as a shock to many Americans and many Americans are affronted by such claims. How can people think this of well-meaning Americans living out honest lives throughout the States of the Union? An important oversight in the US Constitution is the management of foreign affairs and the military. These responsibilities have been handed over to the Federal government. The American public have very little say in what the American government decides in the field of foreign affairs or what military ventures it embarks upon. It is exactly this component of American power which many foreign communities have come to hate because of its arbitrary sway is seen as a form of tyranny. Because America proclaims that it is a democracy, many who are affected believe that what the federal government and the US military do is the specific wish of the American people. The Founding Fathers reacted against a murderous tyranny of the form America now imposes on the people of Iraq and, through the proxy of the Israeli military, upon the people of Palestine. The Founding Fathers complained bitterly that..."(they) have quartered large bodies of troops among us, for protecting them by mock trial, from punishment of any murders which they should commit on the inhabitants of these states. (They) have cut off our trade with all parts of the world...for taking away our charters, abolishing our most valuable laws, and altering fundamentally the forms of our governments, for suspending our own legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever." In the name of democracy & freedom During and since the Gulf War in Iraq over 300,000 civilians were killed, the majority have been children dying as a result of malnutrition and lack of medicines caused by the US led and United Nations sponsored sanctions against Iraq. But American diplomats have insisted that it is the leader Hussein who is allowing this to happen. If America knows that Hussein is capable of such attrocity, then why do they persist with sanctions, which knowingly throw innocent people against such a person's regime, and knowingly cause the suffering concerned. There is no question that American policy makers share the responsibility with Hussein's regime in equal measure. This Iraqi child has not been able to enjoy a right to life, freedom and the pursuit of happiness but is dying as a result of US-promoted sanctions The number of reported Iraqui children's deaths, in proportion to the Iraqi population would be equivalent in American terms to some 3,000,000 people. This is equivalent to a death rate generated by two World Trade Center attacks every day for the last year. At the time of the attack on the World Trade Center, in Gaza and the West Bank, during the previous 12 months, some 690 Palestinians have been killed and some 5,000 have a permanent serious disability or paralysis and another 15,000 have been injured. On an American scale this is equivalent to 530,000 people killed or permanently disabled in the last 12 months or a World Trade Center twice a week! Americans are different? These horrific and inexcusable murder rates leveled against the civilians of Iraq and Palestine have not attracted the disgust nor the global affront the United States wishes to sustain for the single day of murder leveled against American citizens. Militant action against Americans is unacceptable whereas far greater levels of murder and suffering leveled against Iraqis and Palestinians is tolerated. "Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home - so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. Yet they are the world of the individual person; the neighborhood he lives in; the school or college he attends; the factory, farm, or office where he works. Such are the places where every man, woman, and child seeks equal justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerted citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world." Eleanor Roosevelt An appeal to America's professed value for life, freedom and the pursuit of happiness Those who live outside America find it difficult to understand how Americans endure such outrages rather than working against them. Why do not the American States reign in the uncontrolled power of the military and the President to wage war or sponsor others who wage war. People outside American after all see these two elements as being those which are directly responsible for the murder of over quarter of a million people during the last decade. Americans need to exercise more democratic controls at home If the American states begin to control these excesses of their federal government they will begin to erode the causal factors which resulted in the attack on America. By exercising more control over the military, and the President, the American people could begin to gain some say in the matters which will influence the impact of American affairs on other peoples and this could spare them from future horrific attacks. Stop abusing the United Nations The United States, long a cynic concerning the United Nations, has enthusiastically used the UN as a means of orchestrating 'international' support for its military campaigns. The UN has become a vehicle for the support of the 'might is right' doctrine. It is unlikely that those Americans who were so instrumental in the foundation of the United Nations, such as Eleanor Roosevelt, would even have expected such a role for the United Nations to be even conceivable. Bad military doctrines - the end justifies the means As in all matters concerning people, the end does not justify the means. In other words, to weaken an undemocratic regime, the United States should not resort to increasing the misery of the population or, indeed, murdering them as a basis for destabilizing the regime. If one seriously values life, freedoms and the pursuit of happiness one cannot achieve this by killing people, restricting liberties and making people's lives a misery. To do this, or support this, for 10 years in the case of Iraq or for over 40 years in the case of Palestine, it is only natural that those whose families have been affected will become enemies of the USA. By believing in the doctrine of fighting a perceived evil with 'overwhelming force' Americans will continue to pay dearly. "We have a right to life, to freedoms and the pursuit of happiness be we American, European, Afghani, Iraqi, Palestinian or any other of the world's people.. what governments do is often beyond our control, what the military do, more so .. we should be protected from harm, it is surely a condition expected by any superior being, and by any society with any claim to civilization, that we should not be the collateral damage of military operations but rather should constitute the justification why all should value peace and mutual respect...." America as a world leader In the aftermath of the attack on the twin towers, the United States stood at the threshold of a new era in world development. America should have grasped the opportunity to review the causes of this recent tragedy and work to change those causal factors which are increasingly turning many against the people of the United States. Any other response, military or otherwise, will not achieve greater security for the people of the United States. Like the Founding Fathers, the current United States leadership has to define the right objectives and express to all how they mean to attain them. The objectives have not changed, they are the right to life, freedom and the pursuit of happiness. This has been achieved with outstanding success in America's past by those who worked towards such ends without employing aggressive means. Although America and Americans remain confused and frustrated in the aftermath, and will do so for some time to come, the people of America have often held the solution to ridding the world of this evil by promoting a peaceful resolution. America's great and substantive leads in world movements, to the benefit of mankind, seldom came from their governments, or their military, but came from dedicated individuals who really believed that the right to life, freedom and the pursuit of happiness were imperatives and a principal reason for the existence of America. Such an America must work to rid the world of tyranny and the murder of innocents. It therefore needs to work harder to demonstrate, in a practical manner, its ability to provide the necessary moral leadership. This can only be achieved by bringing to an end the tyranny of war, and the murder of innocents, carried out by its own policies, or military actions, directly or by proxy. It would have been virtually impossible for anyone to criticize America for initiating such a process. Unfortunately America threw up this opportunity. People, worldwide, rather than seeing immediately, as the dust from the World Trade center cleared, a strong and steadfast moral leadership, have witnessed more violence and a significant demise in America's image as a world leader. If American had taken the path to peace, it could have made no greater gift to mankind. This article was written by Hector McNeill, Coordinator of the Campaign for Jury Rights and Manager of Emancipation.