February 20, 2011. Exactly five years ago. That's when I wrote about Hillary Clinton's democratic credentials. Today, Hillary is once again trying to get the Democratic Party's nomination for the US Presidential Election. Once again, she is 'front-runner'. Once again she's tripping. Why this happens to her can perhaps be found in the incurable deceit that plagues her. This article refers to some of the issues. Read on.
A few weeks ago an organization with a dubious track record,
especially with respect to Sri Lanka, Reporters Sans Frontiers (RSF) along with
an equally shady outfit called Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka (JDF,
made up of LTTE-backers, money-launderers and petty thieves) called for a
boycott of the Galle Literary Festival, citing issues pertaining to freedom of
expression. Well known personalities
like Noam Chomsky and Arundathi Roy signed the relevant petition. Of all the
authors appealed to, just one heeded the call, discovered something called a
conscience while partying in Sri
Lanka, and left. We are yet to hear if this
man has reimbursed costs incurred by the organizers.
That little ‘nothing’ was duly overshadowed by events in Tunisia and Egypt. When Egyptians took to the streets and the
end of 30 years of tyrannical rule by Hosni Bubarak seemed imminent, the United States of America,
realizing that their darling dictator’s use-by date was approaching expiry,
adopted the language of democracy, transition, freedoms etc. Washington
called for similar demonstrations in other Middle Eastern countries, being
careful to exclude tyrannies friendly to US interests in the region. Just as things being settling down in Egypt with no outward sign of US interests
suffering any damage, protests erupted in Libya
and Bahrain.
We are yet to hear wild applause from Washington
regarding Bahrain;
the tone is still cautionary. The
Washington-friendly media is however all over Muammar al-Gaddafi.
Mark LeVine in a piece titled ‘Here we go again: from Egypt
to Bahrain,’ points out that ‘if the US is Egypt's primary patron, in Bahrain
it is among the ruling family's biggest tenants, as the country is home to the
Fifth Fleet, one of the US military's most important naval armadas, crucial to
protecting Persian Gulf shipping and projecting US power against Iran’. Bahrain
is considered, LeVine argues, relatively moderate compared with Saudi Arabia, the ouster of whose ruler by a
popular uprising Washington
will not hear of. To put things in
context, Bahrain
is repressive and far from free and even the State Department acknowledges that
civil liberties, press freedom, speech, assembly, association and some
religious practices are restricted. What
Washington’s Plan B for Bahrain is we do not know yet;
these are after all and it is left to be seen whether things will be played
according to the Washington Script for the Region.
What is pertinent, however, is the consistency shown by
Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, with respect to democracy-speak. Freedoms are spoken of. The sanctity of life is stressed. The right to protest is championed. When things seem slanted towards script-flip,
there is appeal for calm, reason and better judgment. The importance of freedom of expression is
mentioned. And there’s the quiet,
behind-the-scenes grooming of successor or blueprinting of
succession-roadmap.
The sanctimony of it all is galling and this is not on
account of the Wikileaks regurgitation of what most people who peruse media
sources different from the Washington-guided already knew. If anyone has any doubts about how
two-tongued the United States is about democracy, justice, freedom,
humanitarian concern and so on, the US vetoing a UN resolution on February 18,
2011 that would have condemned Israeli settlements in the West Bank as
‘illegal’ and called for an immediate halt to all settlement building, these
can low be laid to rest.
All 14 other Security Council members voted in favour of the
resolution. The US position
was that while opposing settlement in principle, the Security Council was not
the appropriate venue to resolve the Israel-Palestinian ‘Conflict’ (they don’t
call it the occupation of Palestine). So it’s ‘yes-on-principle’ but
‘no-in-practice’. Susan Rice, busybody
personified, says the Council should not attempt to resolve the core issues. It was not about resolving core-issues Susan
knows very well; it was statement of position, nothing more and nothing
less. Then again, that’s typical Washington
language-skill or lack thereof!
So expect in the coming weeks and months a lot more of ‘more
of the same’. In other words, hypocrisy,
feigned language-ignorance, selective umbrage at tyranny, clearing dictator
shelves and replacing expired items with fresh ones, the celebration of some
protests and cautioning of others, the switch from Plan A to Plan B or Plan C
or D if necessary and so on.
The world will hear countless lectures on freedom and
democracy, decency and justice, civilization and humanity. Some will listen, some will not. Some may
applaud and others will smirk. They’ll
all be lectured to, nevertheless. But
there is one person that Hillary Clinton will not dare to lecture to. His name is Ray McGovern.
On February 15, 2011, even as this lady was acting as
though she was some Special Rapporteur on Goodness, she saw an infringement of
all things she claims to hold sacred. Right before her eyes. She was speaking at George Washington
University condemning
governments that arrest protestors and do not allow free expression. A
71-year-old man, Ray McGovern was grabbed from the audience in plain view of
her by police and an unidentified official in plain clothes, brutalized and
left bleeding in jail. She never paused speaking. When Clinton began her speech, McGovern remained
standing silently in the audience and turned his back. Mr. McGovern, a veteran
Army officer who also worked as a C.I.A. analyst for 27 years, was wearing a ‘Veterans
for Peace’ t-shirt.
Blind-sided by security officers who pounced upon him, Mr.
McGovern remarked, as he was hauled out the door, "So this is America?"
Mr. McGovern is covered with bruises, lacerations and contusions inflicted in
the assault.
Listen to the lady folks.
She’s entertaining. As is her boss, Barack Obama.
Malinda Seneviratne is a freelance writer who can be
reached at malindasenevi@gmail.co
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