Category Archives: Government Oppression

By Kadida Kenner

As a descendant of enslaved people in America, I felt compelled to pay homage to 19th century orator, abolitionist, and womens suffrage supporter, Frederick Douglass on the 169th anniversary of his address to a mostly white, anti-slavery activists audience.

Douglass What to the Slave is the Fourth of July? is an important piece of Americana delivered on July 5,1852 in Rochester, New York.

Douglass masterpiece reminds us that as our nation celebrates its independence and political freedom from tyranny, it is on this July 4, 2021 that the descendants of formerly enslaved people in America recognize that the freedoms our nation celebrates are in constant peril.

Im penning this op-Ed to bring attention to the current and urgent need to secure and defend democracy during these turbulent times.

On July 1, 2021, the majority conservative justices of the United States Supreme Court handed down their ruling dismantling most of the provisions in the Voting Rights Act, making it easier for state legislatures to disproportionately disenfranchise and suppress the votes of the descendants of enslaved people in America.

I want readers to understand that the struggle to maintain our Constitutional rights, including our voting rights, are at stake even in the 21st century, especially for Black people. This is the new Jim Crow and we demand the passage of the For the People Act.

July 4th was initially celebrated during a time when not every person in America was free from oppression and chains.

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When it was first observed, Black people in America were not even considered a whole person, but three-fifths of a person, with no Constitutional rights or citizenship.

Not until the last enslaved person was notified of their freedom from bondage, on Juneteenth (June 19, 1865), the same year the 13th Amendment was passed and ratified by Congress were all people truly free. Hypocritically, our nation celebrated its freedom and independence of its people for nearly a century before my ancestors were released from chattel slavery and considered free people.

And while now physically free from bondage, our civil and voting rights are at risk in this country.

According to research conducted by the Brennan Center, At least 61 bills with restrictive provisions in 18 states are moving through legislatures: 31 have passed at least one chamber, while another 30 have had some sort of committee action (e.g., a hearing, an amendment, or a committee vote). Overall, legislators have introduced at least 389 bills with restrictive provisions in 48 states.

To make this more clear, following the 2020 election, 48 states have either drafted or passed some form of restrictive voter suppression bills disguised as election reform or election integrity, including the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

In reality, these bills are designed to create unjust barriers to the voting rights of Black, brown, marginalized, disabled people, and consequently most voters.

Incited to act on behalf of Donald Trumps Big Lie, ultra-conservative right-wing extremists in legislatures across the country are sowing the seeds of distrust in our voting systems and processes.

[Your forefathers] went so far in their excitement as to pronounce the measures of government unjust, unreasonable, and oppressive they felt themselves the victims of grievous wrongs, wholly incurable in their colonial capacity. Frederick Douglass

All Americans should take heed. Restrictive voter suppression bills will also affect you.

The voting rights of formerly enslaved people in America are currently under attack. I demand access to the ballot without any undue hindrance to the right to vote.

To protect voting rights in Pa., for us all, the Senate needs to pass the For the People Act | Opinion

Now is the time to speak up and speak out for our freedoms. We must demand the passage of H.1/S.1 (For The People Act) and secure and protect our voting rights in this Nation for generations to come. As a descendant of enslaved people denied basic human dignity, I urge everyone to register to vote, and then also cast your ballots in every single election.

I encourage every American to spend this 4th of July checking in with your friends and family to ensure we are all exercising our franchise in honor of our ancestors who heroically fought and died for that right.

In the words of Georgias former gubernatorial candidate, and voting rights trailblazer, Stacey Abrams, Silence is not only dangerous, it is corrosive.

As a descendant of formerly enslaved people, I am the culmination of our ancestors wildest hopes and dreams. The hardships our ancestors endured is ingrained in my DNA, and although, today, I am physically free, I dont feel free while restricted by voter suppression laws.

Jim Crow is alive and well in the 21st century but more suave as it takes the form of James Crow, Esquire.

So I ask again, what to the descendants of enslaved people is the Fourth of July? I say it is a day to recognize that our freedoms are fragile and not fully realized, and we must continue to advocate for the continued advancement of all people.

Freedom isnt free.

Kadida Kenner is the executive director of the New Pennsylvania Project, a voting rights and registration organization. Most of her enslaved ancestors were born and enslaved on plantations in South Carolina, Louisiana and Mississippi. She writes from Harrisburg.

Excerpt from:

What to the descendants of enslaved people is the Fourth of July? | Opinion - Pennsylvania Capital-Star

When John Adams returned to Massachusetts after the First Continental Congress, he discovered growing public opposition to the work of that Congress. Beginning in December 1774, a British Loyalist published political essays in Boston newspapers, under the name Massachusettensis, arguing that the Colonies were part of the British Empire and thus subject to rule by Parliament.

Adams responded with his own series of articles, written under the name Novanglus (Latin for New England). Adams wrote that the provincial legislatures should have ultimate authority over the Colonies, and that Great Britain was not truly an empire, but more in the nature of a republic; a government of laws, and not of men.

Two months later, on April 19, 1775, shots were fired in Lexington and Concord. Support for British rule began to evaporate, and on Tuesday, July 2, 1776, the members of the Second Continental Congress voted to approve the Lee Resolution, which formed the basis for what we now call our Declaration of Independence.

Adams predicted that July 2 would be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade with shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this continent to the other from this Time forward forever more. Adams was almost correct. The parades and barbeques are all held two days later.

Fast forward 245 years. On June 30, 2021, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court announced its decision in the matter of Commonwealth v. William Henry Cosby, Jr. In its 79-page opinion, the Court discussed the facts of the case, in great detail. On January 24, 2005, Montgomery County District Attorney Bruce Castor issued a press release that Cosby was under investigation for sexual assault.

After that investigation, D.A. Castor concluded that a successful prosecution was unlikely, and that the alleged victim would be better served by a civil suit against Cosby, seeking money damages. D.A. Castor advised Cosbys lawyer that Cosby would not be criminally prosecuted, and therefor he could be forced to testify in a civil suit filed by the victim. Cosbys lawyer agreed.

Shortly thereafter, D.A. Castor issued a second press release, stating that Cosby would not be prosecuted criminally, but that a civil action, with a much lower standard for proof, could follow. By making that decision, D.A. Castor deliberately decided to strip Cosby of his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination, so that he could be forced to testify in a subsequent civil case.

A few weeks after the second press release, the alleged victim sued Cosby. In the course of the civil litigation, Cosby was required to sit for four depositions. Since the threat of criminal prosecution had been lifted, Cosby never asserted his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination. Over the course of those four depositions, Cosby provided incriminating testimony. Eventually, the civil litigation settled for $3.38 million.

Nearly 10 years after D.A. Castors press release that Cosby would not be charged, new Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin R. Steele undertook a criminal prosecution of Cosby. Cosbys deposition testimony, which he gave in reliance upon the statement that he would not be prosecuted, was used against him.

Although his defense attorneys repeatedly sought to have the prosecution dismissed, based upon the decision of former D.A. Castor, both the trial court and the Pennsylvania Superior Court held that any agreement with former D.A. Castor was not binding on current D.A. Steele, and not enforceable by Cosby.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court disagreed. The Supreme Court held that D.A. Castor made a deliberate decision to strip Cosby of his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination, in order to put him in the position that he could be forced to give testimony. In fact, he was forced to do so in four depositions, and gave incriminating testimony. Based in part upon that testimony, Cosby agreed to settle the case, by paying money damages of $3.38 million.

Over the course of its detailed opinion, the Supreme Court pointed out that Cosby and his lawyers were deliberately told that no criminal prosecution would take place, in order to force Cosby to cooperate in the victims civil prosecution.

For that reason, his criminal prosecution after the fact was a fundamental violation of his right to due process of law. In other words, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court took 79 pages to say A deal is a deal.

Over the next few months, politicians, newspaper editors, pundits, and bartenders will weigh-in on this decision of the Supreme Court.

Many will argue that Cosby escaped justice, and that a serial abuser was set free. Perhaps that is true.

Far more important, however, is the fact that our laws do not sanction government oppression. Our laws do not permit one elected official to punish us merely because we complied with the decisions of another.

Now, 245 years after the signing of our Declaration of Independence, we still have a government of laws, not of men.

William P. Carlucci is a local attorney and past president of the Pennsylvania Bar Association.

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John Adams, Bill Cosby, and our nation of laws, not men - Williamsport Sun-Gazette

Thomas R. Oldt| Special to The Ledger

When we consider our countrys treasured independence, achieved through war, death and sacrifice, our thoughts this Independence Day turn to the freedoms individuals seek in becoming United States citizens economic opportunity, social justice, domestic tranquility and the pursuit of happiness. In short, those blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity the Constitutions preamble so eloquently envisions.

Most of us included in that posterity gained our citizenship through the happy accident of birth that is, our personal civic fortune is derived from nothing more than good luck. Our parents or grandparents, great-great grandparents or ancestors from many generations ago made the journey to this country and thus assured their progeny of citizenship, requiring nothing of their offspring but a heartbeat in order to share in those blessings.

Excepting native Americans, we are all either immigrants or descended from immigrants unwillingly in the case of enslaved Africans, out of dire circumstances for others, a leap of faith for most of the rest. But whatever the path, Americas strengths have always been elevated by the energy, initiative and creativity of those who came to our shores from afar.

Today, with birthrates among the native-born insufficient to sustain population growth, thus eventually aging the country out of financial support for its social welfare programs hello, Social Security it is more important than ever that we continue to welcome immigrants so that America may constantly renew itself.

We cant do that if we close our shores. We will deprive ourselves not just of growth but talent, ideas, youth, idealism, and the strong work ethic that is almost a universal trait among those who arrive with little in the way of material resources but much in the way of hope and ambition.

Such describes the family of Tonmiel Rodriguez, who emigrated from Cuba when he was seven. Now 39, Rodriguez is a University of Florida and Stetson Law School graduate whose Bartow law firm is primarily devoted to criminal defense work.

Q. Why did your family decide to leave Cuba?

A. My family on both sides were ministers of evangelical churches, very involved in church leadership roles, especially on my dads side. The revolution was very anti-religion and they viewed us as a threat. And so my dad was very much persecuted he and other people in the church. He was sent to work camps, was arrested and harassed continuously by the communist government for things that would seem totally ridiculous to us wanting to observe the sabbath, or preaching, or just congregating. It was difficult for a person to exercise their religion freely and still is, though it has eased up somewhat from the aggressive anti-religion of the young revolution.

Its long been clear that the governments political oppression extended to many other aspects of Cuban life.

I grew up with those stories and to a certain extent experienced it. I remember as a child being at the dinner table and if you wanted to say something that was even mildly critical of the government you had to speak in very hushed tones. You felt like Castro could hear what you were saying or a neighbor would hear and you would potentially get in trouble. So you grew up with a fear of the government, a fear of your neighbor because they had and still do, I believe designated neighborhood communist party people so that if anyone was talking anti-revolutionary ideas it would be reported. You grew up with caution, fearful to speak your mind. That fear, the lack of the ability to express yourself, to do and think what you wanted, was always present.

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Q. Given the governments stance and your own familys circumstances, how were they able to leave?

A. My dad didnt have much of a formal education, but when he was younger he was able to find a good music teacher. He developed the ability to play violin and direct courses and he had a gift for that. The church here in the United States would visit from time to time and wanted my father to come over to help with their music program. There was some sort of special status Cubans had at the time and so we ended up arriving here and being able to stay permanently.

Q. Did you or your parents speak English when you arrived here?

A. No. No English.

Q. How did you become an American citizen?

A. Our status when we got here was permanent residents. My parents became citizens before I did. Like them, I went through the process I applied, filled out the application and passed the examination, which for me was very easy. There were a lot of civics-type questions, and at the time I was in my twenties and had my bachelors in political science.

Q. If a citizenship-type exam were required before even native-born Americans were able to vote, what percentage of this country do you think would be eligible to cast a ballot?

A. Id say less than 15%. Those are pretty basic questions, but if youre not exposed to that history, that kind of education, you may not pass.

Q. Why did you decide to become a lawyer? Did it have anything to do with your upbringing?

A.It had a lot to do with it. Rights and the law were always something that intrigued me. You cant overstate the appreciation that I had and have being here in the United States, even though I was young, but especially as I grew older and understood American history, the founding fathers and democracy. I was a history buff when I was very young. There wasnt a lot to do in the little town I grew up in near Miami, but there was a public library. So after school I would go there and just read history books. Even at that stage I began to appreciate American history. It was very emotional for me, appreciating the rights of citizenship I saw in the United States, and so there was always this attraction to the law. Thats one thing. The other was I grew up seeing my dad with books of biblical analysis. He would be reading and studying and preaching and analyzing things, so it was just very natural, based on that upbringing, to read and try to understand history.

Q. How would you compare the rule of law in Cuba to the rule of law in the United States?

A.There is no comparison. In Cuba there are laws and there is a constitution and years later I actually read it. It says a lot of beautiful things rights they give citizensthough in the United States we have a different idea. We dont believe the government gives you liberties, that we have God-given rights. Regardless, they have some version of it but the reality is that its a one-party system. The law is what the communist party says it is and it is applied in a way they want it applied. So for the most part trials are show trials the idea of a jury trial is very foreign. The idea that a judge might come to conclusions different from the party line doesnt exist over there.

Q. The communist party permeates the entire system, so words in the constitution really have no practical meaning.

A. No. Can you imagine here in the United States having one party able to dictate to the courts what a rule should be?

Q. Do you fear that could happen here?

A.Its always a possibility. Were only human, and its the adherence to those constitutional principles that can save us from that. To the extent we adhere to the founding fathers ideas of liberty and the rule of law, we will be fine.

Q. When we dont even agree on basic facts, how is it possible to adhere to those standards?

A. At the end of the day there has to be a consensus around basic principles. Once that consensus breaks down, then society as we have known it could very well crumble because in a democratic society its that consensus around very basic ideas that keeps things going as far as our institutions and rights and liberties are concerned.

Q. A disturbing percentage of voters do not believe the current president is serving legitimately. What does that say about our consensus around basic principles and the state of our democracy?

A.It says we are a divided country in terms of who we trust and the sources of information we consume as citizens. Does the media have responsibility to provide accurate information? Yes. Would that help alleviate a lot of political problems we have today? Yes. But the history of the media is rooted in opinion and punditry. Having read history, I dont know thats ever going to change. It wasnt that much different in the 1700s, in revolutionary times. There were many different pamphlets and newspapers, each with their own ideas, very slanted views.So in some ways things havent changed very much from back in the day.

Q. As much as America is a geographic location, its also an idea. What is that idea to you, and has it changed during your lifetime here?

A. I still see the United States as the land of liberty that concept is still there. Theres been an attempt to tarnish it somewhat. But its still very much a reality. People want to come here because as an immigrant with zero money, zero background, no means whatsoever you can work hard, apply yourself, create wealth and make something of yourself. Thats still very much a reality here, even today.

Q. Does July 4th have a special significance to you, apart from the obvious?

A. When I think of July 4th, I think of the founding fathers, who they were as individuals especially John Adams, a lawyer who had everything to lose except his very strong principles. One of the stories thats always impacted me is as a young lawyer, Adams decided to represent the British soldiers who were responsible for the Boston Massacre, one of the most dangerous moves he could have made for his career. No one wanted to do it.The respected, experienced lawyers didnt want to touch it. He took the case and the jury found them not guilty. He believed deeply in the American Revolution, yet he defended the British soldiers. The founders put it all on the line. They could have been executed, but they had this belief in liberty. Its very popular to point out their faults, but at the end of the day they were men living in their time and they were excellent, given the circumstances in which they lived.

Q. What do you think are our greatest challenges as Americans and what are our greatest strengths as a country?

A.The greatest challenge is to protect those core principles that have defined the United States since the founding freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom to pursue your calling. Our biggest strengths are that we have a constitution, the rule of law. You can go to court with your complaint and have a fair shake, have a judge or a jury hear your case and trust that their decision is not based on bias, financial interest or political interest. Look at other countries that have great material resources Brazil, Mexico, many others but dont have the same rule of law. That makes all the difference for commerce and that, in turn, influences the standard of living of the individual, which influences everything else.

Thomas R. Oldt can be reached at tom@troldt.com.

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'I still see the United States as the land of liberty' - The Ledger

The Declaration of Independence.

Millions of people around the world know the stirring words of the Declaration of Independence announcing that "all men are created equal" and that they have the rights to "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." But relatively few know that, among the grievances the Declaration enumerates as justification for renouncing allegiance to King George III is the following:

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither.

This complaint against the King was aimed at a series of royal orders issued in 1772 and 1773, which forbade the colonies from naturalizing aliens, banned the passage of any laws facilitating that purpose, including laws promoting migration, and overrode a North Carolina law exempting immigrants from Europe from taxation for a period of four years.

It's tempting dismiss this as just a disagreement over policy. But it actually goes further than that, since it is one of the items on the list of "repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States."

The King's efforts to restrict immigration to Britain's American colonies were not just a flawed policy, the Declaration claims, but a step towards the "establishment of an absolute Tyranny."

Nor was it merely a tyranny over the colonial governments' supposed right to determine immigration policy for themselves. It was also a tyrannical action towards the would-be immigrants.

Many of the leaders of the American Revolution saw the new nation as a refuge for the oppressed of the world. In his famous General Orders to the Continental Army, issued on the occasion of the end of the Revolutionary War in 1783, George Washington stated that one of the reasons the United States was founded was to create "an Asylum for the poor and oppressed of all nations and religions." He expressed similar views on other occasions, including writing to a group of newly arrived Irish immigrants that "[t]he bosom of America is open to receive not only the opulent & respectable Stranger, but the oppressed & persecuted of all Nations & Religions."

Thomas Jefferson, the principal author of the Declaration, similarly wrote, in 1781, that "It [has] been the wise policy of these states to extend the protection of their laws to all those who should settle among them of whatever nation or religion they might be and to admit them to a participation of the benefits of civil and religious freedom." Other leading Founders expressed similar sentiments, including James Madison and James Wilson, among others.

The idea of accepting immigrants without regard to their national origin and religion was an extension of the more general principle that the United States was founded on the basis of universal liberal principles, not ties of ancestry, culture, or faith. This is what the Declaration refers to in the famous passage avowing that all men are created equal and have the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

There can be no such liberty and equality if where people are allowed to live is limited by their parentage and place of birth. Just as the leaders of the Revolution rejected more traditional hereditary aristocracy, their principles were also at odds with what we might today call the hereditary aristocracy of citizenship, under which only those born to the right parents or in the right place have a right to live in the United States, while all others can be excluded for virtually any reason the government might come up with.

The Founders established a Constitution under which, Madison and most others argued, the federal government had no general power to exclude immigrants. When the Federalist Party pushed through the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798, giving the president broad power to deport immigrants he deemed "dangerous," Jefferson and Madison denounced the law as both unjust and unconstitutional. They and their allies mobilized such strong resistance to the Alien Friends Act that the federal government never actually managed to deport anyone under it.

When Jefferson became president in 1800, he allowed the Act to expire, and federal immigration policy remained almost completely free of restrictions until the enactment of racially motivated exclusionary laws targeting Chinese immigrants in the 1870s and 1880s. The successful resistance to the Alien Acts was a triumph for liberty and equality that deserves to be far better known than it currently is.

None of this proves that America's founding generation was free of prejudices against immigrants. The Federalist Party, as noted, sought to use the Alien Friends Act to deport many immigrants, fearing that they might spread French revolutionary ideas to the United States andperhaps even worse from the Federalist point of view support the rival Democratic-Republican Party.

Despite his defense of open immigration on many occasions, Thomas Jefferson wrote, in his 1782 Notes on Virginia, that America had reason to fear immigrants from "absolute monarchies," because "[t]hey will bring with them the principles of the governments they leave, imbibed in their early youth; or, if able to throw them off, it will be in exchange for an unbounded licentiousness, passing, as is usual, from one extreme to another." As with many later Americans who feared that immigrants would spread harmful political political values, Jefferson did not give sufficient weight to the reality that people fleeing oppressive regimes usually do so precisely because they abhor those governments, not because they want to recreate them elsewhere.

But even in that same passage, Jefferson rejected the idea of barring immigrants from oppressive governments, instead recognizing that "[i]f they come of themselves, they are entitled to all the rights of citizenship." He merely "doubt[ed] the expediency of inviting them by extraordinary encouragements." Later, of course, Jefferson took a more favorable view of the political impact of immigrantsperhaps, in part, because many of them supported him and his party!

As on many other issues, particularly slavery, the Founders didn't always live up to their own principles when it comes to immigration. The Federalist advocates of the Alien Acts obviously did not. Nor did Congress when it enacted the Naturalization Act of 1790, and limited eligibility for citizenship to those immigrants who were "free white person[s]." Black immigrants were not made eligible for citizenship until 1870. Explicit racial restrictions on naturalization were not fully ended until 1952.

Restrictions on naturalization did not amount to restrictions on immigration itself. Black immigrants came to the United States in substantial numbers even when many of them were ineligible for citizenship, beginning with numerous refugees from Haiti in the 1790s. Still, black immigrants in this era suffered severe discrimination, as did native-born free African-Americans (to say nothing of the millions of slaves).

But despite these unjust limitations, the principles of the Declaration of Independence did lead to the establishment of a nation that, for the first century of its history, had very few limitations on immigration, and thus became a refuge for millions of people fleeing poverty and tyranny.

Washington's vision of a refuge for "the oppressed & persecuted of all Nations & Religions" was never fully achieved. But the early United States did realize it to a astonishingly impressive degree. In some important ways, the early republic was actually more enlightened on these matters than we are today. Our immigration policies bar the vast majority of those seeking refuge from oppression, and even include such perversions as barring escaped slaves on the grounds that the forced labor they performed for terrorist organizations qualifies as "material support for terrorism" rendering them ineligible or asylum.

Jefferson and Washington were not far from the only ones who saw a connection between openness to immigration and America's founding principles of liberty and equality. The great African-American abolitionist Frederick Douglass made much the same point in an 1869 speech, in which he compared immigration restrictions to racial discrimination, and argued that America must be a "composite nation" open to to people of all races and cultures who wished to settle there.

Abraham Lincoln, who was a strong supporter of open immigration, also saw the connection between immigrant rights and the Declaration of Independence:

When [immigrants] look through that old Declaration of Independence, they find that those old men say that "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal"; and then they feel that that moral sentiment, taught in that day, evidences their relation to those men and that they have a right to claim it as though they were blood of the blood, and flesh of the flesh, of the men who wrote that Declaration; and so they are.

The America of Founding era and of Lincoln's day didn't fully live up these high ideals. The same remains true even today, in some respects even more so. But, at its best, the nation has indeed been a refuge for the oppressed, and they have been major contributors to its growth and success. Immigrants and natives alike have much to gain from a more consistent adherence to the principles of the Declaration of Independence.

On immigration, as elsewhere, we would do well to heed Lincoln's admonition that the Declaration "set up a standard maxim for free society which should be familiar to all: constantly looked to, constantly labored for, and even, though never perfectly attained, constantly approximated, and thereby constantly spreading and deepening its influence and augmenting the happiness and value of life to all people, of all colors, every where."

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Immigration and the Principles of the Declaration of Independence - Reason

Maxine L. Bryant| For Savannah Morning News

In 1852, Frederick Douglass agreed to speak at a July Fourthcelebration in New York. He recognized the holidayas the birthday of this nations political freedom. He noted that this nations founding fathers pronounced the restraints, burdens, and limitations imposed on them by the British Parliament as acts that were unjust, unreasonable and oppressive.

He applauded the perseverance of the founding fathers who saw the colonies as victims of grievous wrongs that needed to be righted and who earnestly sought to end their oppression.He called them brave and congratulated them for declaring the united colonies as free and Independent States. He reminded his audience that the courage of the nations founding fathers allowed them to reap the benefits of freedom.

He urged his listeners to stand by the principles stated in the Declaration of Independence and to always be true to those principles at whatever cost. He spoke of the hope of possibilities associated with a young nation that was only 76 years old.

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I can imagine the thunderous applause he received as his audience hung on to every word.I can imagine the crowd standing to their feet in agreement with his statements.I, too, agree with his words.

Then, in the middle of Douglass'great speech, he asked a rather peculiar question, …Why am I called upon to speak here today? What have I, or those I represent, to do with your national independence? You see, Douglass, a previously enslaved Black man, was speaking in 1852.Slavery wasnt abolished until 1856.His question required a response.None was given.

July 4, 2021, denotes 244 years that this country has been independent of British rule. The annual holiday celebrates freedom freedom from British tyranny and oppression.

Yet, the unanswered question from Douglass remains profoundly true for Blacks in the 21st century, What is the Fourth of July to us? Are the principles of political freedom and natural justice embodied in the Declaration of Independence truly extended to Black Americans? While chattel slavery was declared abolished in 1856, political, social, financial and legal disenfranchisement of Blacks remains a challenge in 2021 across the nation and right here in Savannah.

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During the 1930s, West Broad Street was a thriving, happening place for Blacks. Black-owned businesses lined that street (now Martin Luther King Boulevard). To name a few:fine clothing stores; restaurants; Royall Funeral Home; Wage Earner Bank, the second largest Black bank in America and one of the most profitable banks in the entire U.S. during the early 20th century, and Dunbar Theatre and Hotel, the first air-conditioned building in Savannah.

Even River Street had a prominent Black presence. Capt. Sam was one of the most respected men associated with Savannahs Harbor (Black Enterprise, 1977). Capt. Sam owned and operated the first riverboat touring company in Savannah.

What happened to these thriving Black businesses? For Capt. Sam, it was strategic maneuvers that resulted in him being incarcerated and ushered into the phenomena of mass incarceration in the late 1980s, thus he lost his business. For others, political, social and financial disenfranchisement contributed to their demise. The obvious dehumanizing Jim Crow-era policies ripped political power from Blacks.The opaque urban renewal practices veiled within the banner of growth and development robbed Blacks of financial opportunities and created social barriers. Racial inequities abounded.

It has been 244 years sincethe colonies gained freedom from the British Crown and 165 years sinceslavery was abolished; Blacks are too often still victims of unjust, unreasonable and oppressive practices and policies. The unanswered question remains unanswered, What is July 4th to us? It is now couched differently: When will Black lives matter?

Like Douglass, many people hope for a unified country and government where everyone, regardless of race, can enjoy the benefits of freedom in the U.S.Abolishing slavery required actions from Blacks and from white allies.Ending Jim Crow required actions from Blacks and from white allies.Freedom from contemporary institutionalized racism requires actions from Blacks and from white allies.

Like Frederick Douglass, I cling to the hope that together we will change the course were on, eradicate the trauma of centuries of wrong, and celebrate true freedom.

Maxine L. Bryant, Ph.D., is an assistant professor, Department of Criminal Justice & Criminology, and interim assistant director, Center for Africana Studies, at Georgia Southern University, Armstrong Campus. Contact her at 912-344-3602 or email dr.maxinebryant@gmail.com. See more columns by her at SavannahNow.com/lifestyle/.

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What is the Fourth of July to Black Americans? - Savannah Morning News

Blasting the government for its policies taking the country to the brink of destruction, opposition leader in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif on Sunday said the Naya Pakistan of PTI government's era was in fact far behind the 'purana (old) Pakistan'.

Addressing a rally of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) a multiparty alliance of the opposition in Swat, Sharif said the present state of affairs was "not the country envisioned by our founders who sacrificed their lives for it" and that a revolution was needed against poverty, inflation, oppression and the current system.

If this resolution doesnt come about, then we wont be able to get ourselves accepted at the international level, he added.

It was the first public gathering of the PDM in several months as attempts were reportedly underway by the PML-N and Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl to revive the alliance and unite all opposition forces especially after the PPP quit it in the mid of April.

In his address to the rally today, the PML-N president said the incumbent government had claimed to build five million houses for the poor, and also promised to create 10m jobs, but in fact hundreds of thousands of people lost their jobs in PTIs three years of power. He said Prime Minister Imran Khan had vowed to bring prosperity to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, but all his promises have turned out to be hollow.

He also took exception to the premier's absence from the parliament, saying he was never seen in assembly sessions which were called to discuss matters of public importance. The people of KPK are generous and literate and its surprising to note as to what prompted people who voted Khan into power, he added.

He alleged that while loadshedding had virtually ended during the PML-N tenure, all of the PTI governments pledges to rid the country of power outages proved to be an eyewash.

Hitting out at the prime minister for his recent statement in which he had said there would no longer be any need for nuclear deterrents once the Kashmir issue was resolved, Sharif said atomic power is our defence. The enemy who wanted to raze us is now scared just because it knows we can trample it."

Also taking a dig at the premier for his popular catchphrase Ghabrana Nahi Hai (Do not worry), he told the rally participants that it was high time to be worried and send the government packing.

If you do not vote this government out, it will destroy the country, he alleged.

Sharif said Imran used to claim that disbursement of laptops among students was a bribe. But the same laptops are now helping students in their studies and professional work, he maintained.

He said the PML-N with the collaboration of the PDM will take KP ahead of Punjab.

Sharif said the Peshawar Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project often faced different issues and alleged that several billion rupees were looted under this project in Peshawar. If this BRT was conceived under the leadership of Mian Nawaz Sharif, it would have been built much earlier, he claimed.

He also criticised the government for getting most of the Covid-19 vaccines in the country through donations, saying it was due to its unwise policies that the country had been left "at the mercy of others".

He recalled that medicines were provided free of charge to people across Punjab during PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif's tenure, saying a hospital built by the PML-N in Lahore was made a central vaccination centre by the PTI. He further said that the PML-N government's efforts had led to the production of 14,000MW electricity through different sources which helped the country overcome the loadshedding crisis.

Sharif said Prime Minister Imran had claimed that his government would build 350 mini dams across KP to provide people with cheaper electricity, but they are nowhere to be found.

Meanwhile, JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman began his address by calling the government illegitimate, saying it should quit in the greater interest of the public.

He said he had been insisting for a long time that Imran Khan is an unnecessary component of Pakistani politics. Referring to the recent meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on National Security, he claimed that the premier had not been invited to the important huddle, and that showed the actual worth of his government.

He said such governments should not be imposed on independent people. Our ancestors fought against the British rule and we will not accept this government, he added.

He claimed that the governments days were numbered, and alleged that Prime Minister Imran spoke against the United States and United Kingdom in some of his speeches "only to popularise himself among the public".

But I must say that he is a fired cartridge that has no life, he alleged.

He mocked the premier for speaking against former military ruler retired Gen Pervez Musharraf, saying it was the same man who supported Musharraf when he was in power.

He further said that the policies of the current government had led to a reduction in foreign investments in the country.

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'Revolution' needed against govt policies of destruction, Shehbaz tells PDM rally in Swat - DAWN.com

Express News Service

Last week a remark made by the Chief Justice of India, NV Ramana, elections no guarantee against tyranny, went viral. This was said by the Chief Justice while delivering a memorial lecture in the national capital and the qualifying lines of this expression are very relevant to illuminate on the pattern of governance in the national capital, which some also consider to be a microcosm of the Indian political system.

Chief Justice Ramana said, The idea that people are the ultimate sovereign is also to be found in the notions of human dignity and autonomy. A public discourse, that is both reasoned and reasonable, is to be seen as an inherent aspect of human dignity and hence essential to a properly functioning democracy. In the current context of administrative chaos, to use the expression of Chief Justice Ramana, in the absence of reasoned and reasonable public discourse, governance has touched nadir and dignity gone abegging while seeking accountability of the rulers.

The gruesome crime of stealing, hoarding and black-marketing life-saving oxygen goes unregistered by police and other law-enforcing agencies as political rivals bury hatchet and decide to work together what they call the betterment of people. Governance today, and Delhi being a role-model, has come to depend much on the social media energy. A very well-documented news report in The Morning Standard on how Delhi government has frittered away tax-payers money in the name of cleaning Yamuna doesnt trend on thesocial media but a speculative story on Mamata Banerjee being in trouble because Uttarakhand Chief Minister Tirath Singh Rawat couldnt get elected to Assembly becomes viral.

To this too, the Chief Justice had a take, The new media tools that have enormous amplifying ability are incapable of distinguishing between right and wrong, good and bad and the real and fake. So, the social media-obsessed governance has left people in a state of phantasm. They are increasingly losing the ability to sift between the right and wrong.

The Chief Justice specifically mentioned the role of social media and cautioned brother judges against getting swayed by the emotional pitch of public opinion either, which is getting amplified through social media platforms. Judges have to be mindful of the fact that the noise thus amplified is not necessarily reflective of what is right and what majority believes in.

Coming to the oppression of elections, a phrase used by the learned judge, it gets reflected best in the manifesto of the political parties, who try to outdo each-other on promising whats free that they could give it to voters. For the people driven by easy returns on investments, as in the case of lottery, are unable to distinguish between the right or wrong and they mostly end up voting for the freebies.

No wonder, for the past few days there has been a skirmish between the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Congress as to who subsidises power tariff more Delhi (ruled by AAP) or Punjab (ruled by Congress). And when the question of taking credit for free vaccines arises, can the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) be far behind.

A senior Delhi BJP functionary recently put up a hoarding taunting on Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwals media campaign captioned Have you got vaccinated? The BJP leader claimed that the free vaccines for inoculation were made available courtesy benevolence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The middle-school texts justify taxation saying the money is used for building infrastructure and extending welfare activities. Delhi has been nada in the matters of adding to existing infrastructure in the past seven years, and electoral bribery has been tom-tommed as welfare schemes. In the absence of health infrastructure people died of Covid-19, and now the victims next of kin are being monetarily compensated, a more palatable expression for rank bribery.

This can only happen when the political class comes to treat people as cipher, that is a group of people without power but used by others for their own purposes. That should explain Justice Ramanas erudition on tyranny of elections.

Sidharth MishraAuthor and president, Centre for Reforms, Development & Justice

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Tyranny of elections manifested in agenda of political parties - The New Indian Express

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, July 2

To counter the protests organised across the state over the prevailing power crisis, the leaders of the ruling Congress today attempted to negate it by holding agitations on fuel price hike.

The Congress leaders held protests in almost every Assembly constituency. The women wing of the Congress, too, raised their voices riding on a cart from Tehsil Complex Chowk to BMC Chowk as a symbolic protest against the rising prices of cooking oils, petrol, diesel and the LPG. While Mahila Morcha chief Dr Jasleen Sethi rode the cart, her team members walked along carrying banners, placards and raising slogans against the Centre on a mike.

The women then sat on a dharna at BMC Chowk and alleged that the uncontrolled fuel price hike had shaken the monthly budget of all families that too in the pandemic times when incomes had fallen to an all-time low. They blamed the PM Narendra Modi-led government for benefiting the big corporates and not paying a hoot about the average families across the country.

Phagwara: Congress leaders led by former minister and chairman Punjab Agro Industries Corporation Joginder Singh Mann on Friday rode a horse cart to oppose the frequent hike in petroleum products by the Centre.

Regressive policies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government aims at taking back people to medieval times by stalling economic growth and breaking the backbone of residents, said Mann.

He said unprecedented hike in petroleum products has put an extra burden on the pocket of a common man. He said instead of reducing or controlling the prices, the Centre has been on a continuous spree to enhance prices just to corner the benefit to their blue-eyed private petroleum firms.

Mann said hike in petrol, diesel and LPG has escalated cost of every essential commodity thereby ruining a common man.

The chairman of the Punjab Agro Industries Corporation said the Congress would oppose this draconian move of the Central Government tooth and nail. He said this was open loot of general public and the Congress would not remain a mute spectator.

Mann also urged people to support the Congress in this fight against the Modi governments oppression so that unprecedented hike could be rolled back. If this is acche din of Modi sahib, then I wonder what will be the situation otherwise, he said.

Congress district coordinator Daljeet Singh Raju and youth wing leader Harji Mann also slammed the Centre for putting tremendous burden on the pocket of masses.

Phillaur: Former Punjab Youth Congress president and Phillaur Assembly constituency in charge Vikramjit Singh Chaudhary on Friday organised a protest against the Central Government over the rising prices of essential commodities here.

He said the people of the country are suffering from GDP contraction in last one year, and on the other, the prices of petrol, diesel, edible oils, LPG cylinders, pulses, milk, etc have increased significantly severely impacting the budget of every household.

Referring to the RBIs recent notification allowing banks to raise charges on using ATMs, the Congress leader said under Modi government, not only the burden on peoples wallets has increased, but now they would have to pay more to keep their own money in banks.

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Congress ups the ante against fuel price hike to counter power crisis protests in Jalandhar - The Tribune India

Ken Endo. (Kyodo)

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- A good interference is hard to come by. A government might be able to properly deal with issues in its own country, but there are only limited options for what it can do when carnage and oppression are taking place in remote nations.

Does that mean we should just ignore them? What is happening in Myanmar imposes that question on us.

Since the Myanmar military's coup in February, over 800 people have been killed in crackdowns by the military and hundreds have gone missing. Security forces have been arbitrarily detaining and torturing people.

It is abnormal in the first place for a military, existing to defend the country, to slaughter its own people. Besides, what those citizens demand are just fundamental rights, such as the right to take part in free and fair elections, as well as freedom of assembly and speech, which the military has taken away through the coup. Their reckless actions are inexcusable and unjustifiable.

That said, Japan has been weak to show its diplomatic presence against what is going on there and even worse, seems to be lending a hand to the military. The situation is nearly identical to its response to the Tiananmen Square incident that occurred more than 30 years ago in Beijing.

It is already known from disclosed diplomatic records that the Japanese government systematically supported right after the incident China's Communist-Party ruled government, which was responsible for the massacre of its own people, and later lifted sanctions ahead of others so that it would not fall into a predicament.

The action by the Japanese government greatly helped the Communist Party-ruled Chinese government and spoiled it as a result.

The Japanese government boasts of its "own channel of communication" with the Myanmar military, but it is not willing to stop atrocities by using this channel.

Japan, as one of the leading donor countries to the Southeast Asian nation, is supposed to exercise its influence through actions such as a total suspension of aid.

But Japan is anxious about pushing Myanmar closer to China and ruining its positive bilateral relations, if it imposes sanctions together with the United States and European nations.

The military regime appears to take advantage of Japan's concern.

China is not the only concern of the Japanese government. Japan's hands seem to be tied over Japanese companies' rights and interests developed in partnership with the Myanmar military.

The Myanmar military is also an industrial conglomerate and a major recipient of aid from Japan, with senior officers making personal profit out of it.

The post of the Japan Myanmar Association chairman is currently filled by former Posts and Telecommunications Minister Hideo Watanabe. His son Yusuke, secretary general of the association and vice president of Japan Myanmar Development Institution Inc., is an enthusiastic supporter of the military.

In addition to the institution, many Japanese firms including general contractor Kajima Corp. and trading house Marubeni Corp. are involved in massive projects related to aid to Myanmar.

That is how Japan's political business circles and the Myanmar military have turned into a politico-economic complex that shares the same interests.

In early May, I took part in a support rally for the democratization of Myanmar in Sapporo, northern Japan, on the urge of an acquaintance.

I was amazed that participants at the rally were predominantly young people. Many of about 900 Myanmar residents in Hokkaido are technical interns under the government-sponsored training program, and I believe at least one third of them must have been there.

While protests are suppressed in their home country, those young people denounced the clampdown by the military. They sought the release of democratic leaders and called on the Japanese government to intensify pressure on the military regime by clearly showing their desire for democracy. Such demonstrations were carried out across Japan.

In the world of diplomacy, it must be impossible to reflect such voices in policies as they are. There is a wide range of national interests that should be protected, including interests of Japanese companies.

There is always criticism of arbitrariness in human rights diplomacy, such as questioning the reason for choosing to tackle the human rights issue in Myanmar while human rights are violated in a vast area from Russia to Sierra Leone.

However, we must at least avoid lending a hand to injustice when economic profits are produced through inhumane massacres.

Japanese taxpayers very much lack awareness (over how their tax money is spent). Japan has provided over 100 billion yen ($900 million) a year in assistance to brutal military-ruled Myanmar, while their loans are often written off.

Although new loans have been suspended, projects which are already under way are continuing.

I also believe we should list up companies which maintain relations with the Myanmar regime and put them under surveillance.

Kirin Holdings Co. cut its joint-venture partnership with a Myanmar firm, which provides welfare fund management for the military. The Japanese government should press other companies to follow suit as well.

Lastly, as technical interns from Myanmar accepted by the Japanese government are in effect turning into asylum seekers who are likely to face persecution if they go back home, the government has to secure their living and places for them to stay.

The government can do many things right now in addition to extending their visas, such as finding temporary accommodation for them and mediating their re-employment.

Authoritarianism is rampant across the globe. What is happening in Myanmar will serve as a touchstone for Japan, a country seeking to maintain freedom and democracy, with respect to how the country can progress from now on.

(Ken Endo is a professor at Hokkaido University's Graduate School of Public Policy. Born in Tokyo in 1966, he earned a doctorate in politics at the University of Oxford and was a researcher at Harvard Law School, and a visiting professor at Institut d'etudes politiques de Paris as well as at National Chengchi University in Taipei. He is also the author of numerous books, including "Togo No Shuen" (The End of Integration), and a commissioning editor of eight volumes on Japan's security.)

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OPINION: Japan lends hand to injustice in Myanmar - The Mainichi - The Mainichi

The calamity and carnival of fascist oppression, corruption, decadence and degeneration under Hasina are of catastrophic proportions.

They are so devastatingly widespread, ubiquitous and overwhelming that one can only describe the nations plight the way English Romantic poet Coleridge describes that of his ancient mariner:

And now there came both mist and snow,

And it grew wondrous cold:

And ice, mast-high, came floating by,

As green as emerald.

And through the drifts the snowy cliffs

Did send a dismal sheen:

Nor shapes of men nor beasts we ken

The ice was all between.

The ice was here, the ice was there,

The ice was all around:

It cracked and growled, and roared and howled,

Like noises in a swound!

The entire nation of Muslim Bangladesh is held hostage by the kulangar pro-Hindu Hasina regime as the ancient mariner and his entire crew were by ice, mist and snow in the open seas. It is also held hostage as the black sheep of the old nursery rhyme, Ba Ba Black Sheep. Though fun to recite with children, the rhyme, as do many other childrens literature materials, does not have so pleasant a political and economic background. Its origin lies in the 13th century King Edward Is painful exploitation of the poor sheep growers by imposing unjust wool trade taxes upon them. In todays context, the whole country of Bangladesh is made to capitulate to the Awami regimes terror, torture, and tyranny. Only one example of how it continues to hack the nation to annihilation is its cutthroat method of repression in the illegal and unelected Awami parliament, which provides a glimpse into the regimes chokehold oppression outside the parliament, in the rest of the country. Take the case of only one of the great and glorious opposition speeches made in that Awami parliament by no other than the heroic, patriotic and nationalist DeshKonnya Barrister Rumin Farhana (www.facebook.com/108991054079710/posts/191822665796548/?sfnsn=mo). In a blatant suppression of freedom of speech, which, like the suppression of votes and opposition programs (meetings, assemblies, processions, demonstrations, and all other activities), is a characteristic hallmark of this hellish and Hecatine Hasina regime, the loyalist and cowardly Deputy Speaker expunged Barrister Farhanas golden speech from the proceedings. But who cares for the mean and myopic Awami buffooneries, shallow and superficial, false and frivolous, petty and paltry as they are? The excellent speech by Rumin Farhana, one of the finest and greatest Daughters of the Land, has gone viral on social media reaching out to millions across the world for their lasting record and reference.

What follows is that, from the Mujib period of 1972-1975 to the fetid and fascist Hasina times since 2009 it is like out of the frying pan into the fire, from one party rule to one person rule, from an autocrat on the rise to an awfully brutish autocrat dug in with the help of the police and RAB. Critics have compared the police-dependent Hasina regime by saying that without the force of the politically Awamicized and unpatriotic police/RAB, it is like men without genitals. There are tons of writings and documentaries, including thousands on social media outlets, on the misdeeds and mischiefs committed by both the father-daughter duo, along with their, particularly the daughter Hasinas shameful support base in the neighboring, yet foreign country India of hegemonic designs.

Socially, politically, and culturally, the weary and weird Hasina era is full of choking, parching, and suffocating smoke on the ground, with the sky of Bangladesh overcast with the darkest clouds ever. In just one example, its increasing authoritarian behavior [] deaf to domestic cries and international shame, as the author of the piece, Is Bangladeshs Deepening Political Crisis Sinking into Totalitarianism? suggests, is manifest in the degradation of freedom of the press in Bangladesh is blatant, with prominent journalists being brutally attacked, murdered, imprisoned, or mysteriously disappearing. The enduring political repression has caused the republic to take to the streets crying for reform, driving the current state of Bangladeshs self-proclaimed democracy to extreme volatility.Similarly, Dr Ali Riaz puts it this way, very mildly though: in Bangladesh, [] legal and extralegal measures are used rampantly to curtail freedom of speech and [] the democratic space is shrinking fast. The overall political environment has created a situation where the pattern of media ownership facilitates ongoing democratic backsliding.

The degraded and degenerated Hasina and her crooked cohorts have been threatening and throttling the countrys freedom and independence, not only from within but also from without, with the communal Hindu nationalist and Hindu fundamentalist India exercising its strangulating RAW influence to the fullest extent to fast gobble up Bangladesh with no let up in sight. The doll dance of Indias puppet Hasina to the tune of the Muslim killer Narendra Modi is like the way Kazi Lhendup Dorji also danced only to have his small kingdom of Sikkim taken away by India in 1975.

The case of the present-day Bangladesh under Hasina, whose role is analogous to that of the evil Ghoseti Begum, is also very similar to what happened when the great Bengal, through a series of inside-and-outside palace conspiracies and betrayals, lost its independence to the British East India Companys Robert Clive and William Watts in 1757. During those fateful years, there were many unfaithful Hindus who, like todays high density of Hindus under Hasina, held key influential positions in the Nawabs Government, side by side with many unfaithful Muslim relatives. Those Hindus were all rich bankers, merchants, political advisers, royals, and high-ranking military commanders. Mention may be made of Swarupchand Jagatsheth (who was the main betrayer), his brother Mahtab Chand, Umichand, Raja Rajballav (Chief Manikchand, Deputy Chief Raidurlov), Nandakumar, Krishnachandra Rai Chowdhury of Nadia, Rani Bhabani of Natore, Maharaja of Kashimbazar, Dewan Ramjibon, and Bhikhanlal Pandey of Dhaka and Narayanganj. Except a few, most of these leading Hindu beneficiaries of Muslim administration turned against the Nawab and conspired with the British against him. It is they who betrayed the Nawab the most. Without their treachery, others such as Mir Jafar, Miron, Mir Qasim, Yar Lutuf Khan, Mohammadi Beg, and Danesh Fakir could not succeed the way they did.

Using the all-enveloping and all-devastating support of the Hindu Zionist India, which has taken control of all the key affairs of Bangladesh, Hasina has deformed and demonized herself into a small but brutal dictator and ruthless tyrant tearing up the nation and all its institutions into their decomposing rags and pieces, particularly since 2009. Described by talk show participants as a Matarani Mafia Queen, Hasina has taken the country backward into the infamous Tower of London, Gitmo, and Abu Ghraib torture cells and execution chambers. The country has become a Soviet-style gulag labor camp used against her popular democratic opponents. Like the post French Revolution violence under Robespierre, there is a reign of Awami guillotine terror going on in Hasinas police and prison state. There is an ongoing bloody Awami Khmer Rouge cultural revolution of massacres and killing fields, as was the case with the ideological cleansing purges in China and Indochina in 1960s and 1970s. Hasinas Bangladesh is a fertile ground where secret police, death squads and disappearances flourish as they did in Reza Shahs Iran during those times (1960s and 1970s), and Leopoldo Galtieris Argentina in early 1980s.

The regressive and retrograde Hasina has imposed divisive and detrimental Berlin walls across the country, instead of building the wonderfully protective and patriotic Wall of China to safeguard Bangladeshs sovereignty from the despoiling Indian elephant. A treacherous tigress like Shakespeares Goneril and Regan (in King Lear), the hyena in Hasina has left no institution, be it state, business, political, educational, or cultural, free from being diminished, distorted, and demented. The I in Hasina and the we/us in her heinous Awami gangs have otherized the country into the you and they of the 170 million-strong population. Despite being vastly popular, the other is helpless and useless to encounter the fascist onslaughts of the regime, which is as utterlycorrupt, fascist, despotic, autocratic, authoritarian, bloody, beastly, vindictive, venomous, poisonous and deadly as what beggars description, above and beyond delineation and demonstration.

The horribly ruling Hasina is already more than an age into her mafia-style reign, which is also colonial permanent settlement style, pharaonic dynasty style, and medieval manorial style. In her monstrous misdeeds and mischiefs and the dystopian disasters she has caused to the country, Hasina is worse and more dangerous thanNorth Koreas Kim, Nicaraguas Daniel Ortega, Cambodias Hun Sen. Syrias Bashar Al-Assad, Iraqs Saddam, Libyas Gaddafi, Egypts Hosni Mubarak and Al-Sisi, Tunisias Zein Al-Abedin, Sudans Omar-al Bashir, Zimbabwes Robert Mugabe, Ethiopias Mengistu Haile Selassie, former East Germanys Erick Honecker, Rumanias Nicolai Ceausescu, Cambodias Pol Pot, and the Philippines Ferdinand Marcos and Imelda Marcos. A concentrated dose of evil incarnate in the form of Awami Nazism, pretentious and petulant Hasina has been committing Awami racism and Awami holocaust to her political opponents, who are facing gas chamber remands, detentions, disappearances, and imprisonments, many of them dying in custody of inhuman physical torture, isolation, loneliness, privation, and deprivation. The awfully Modi-fied and Hindutva-indoctrinated Hasina has created an Awami personality cult resulting in hundreds of totem figures in the likes of Mujib, Fazilatunnesa Mujib, and herself. She has been involved in carrying out an Awami Baksali RakkhiBahini ethnic cleansing the way the Serbians were doing in Bosnia in 1990s.

A spate of recent publications (see the authors bio at the end of this book) bears evidence that Bangladesh, under Awami terror and tyranny, has become a safe haven for corruption, oppression, repression, persecution, bribery, extortion, rape, casino, crazy drug Yaba, and prostitution (physical, moral, political, intellectual, cultural, educational, academic, police, military, judicial, so on) all widespread, rampant and reckless. The publications provide a reliable and authentic narrative of the political situation in Bangladesh under the iron curtain of the heavy handed fascist Awami regime led by the horrific and horrendous Hasina. The mean and monolithic Hasina has imposed a horribly burdensome rule upon the nation with the instrument of her most hated and feared Gestapo-and-SAVAK-type police force consisting of Panama Papers elements (such as the Hasina lackey Benzir Ahmad) from her greater Gopalganj and other Hindu Gopals. In her cruelties she is also aided by a docile and passive army, which under the anti-state influence of India and business corporation-like mercantilism, has lost all its military character now buried under the bunker.

Apart from the police and the military, all other state organs, entities, institutions and organizations alsoparliament/legislature, cabinet of ministers, bureaucracy, election commission, public service commission, judiciary, planning commission, banks and businesses, directorates and stock exchanges, office of the President, office of the Speaker, and office of the Prime Minister all have been politicalized into a set of crude and coarse Awami gopals and buffoons, who, in the manner of former Awam-BAKSALi-MujibBahini-RakkhiBahini outfits and outlets, accompany Hasina the way the fools, though in a way wise, do their kings and dukes in Shakespeares plays.

With billions stolen, elections rigged, hundreds of thousands of people remanded, imprisoned, abducted, and killed. freedom of speech and expression in all forms, including creative arts like cartoons, snatched away (as do the extortionists with money, wallet, and handbag from the people on the streets of Dhaka), no words, however loaded and laden with protest they may be, can adequately describe the malicious misdeeds and mischiefs committed by the hellish Hasina in her gulag state of Bangladesh.No criticism (as done by many great fighters for freedom and democracy such as late Dr KMA Malik, Mahmudur Rahman, veteran actor Ariful Haque, Dr Taj Hashmi, Col Shahid Uddin Khan, Cap Shahid Islam, Maj Delwar, Dr Kanak Sarwar, Elias Hussain, Nayeb Ali, Oliullah Noman, Minar Rashid, Monir Haider, Tito Rahman, Nazmus Sakib and many more) is strong and scathing enough to describe the fascist Hasina bent upon destroying Bangladesh in whatever values and ideals it has had, and whatever democratic politics, human rights, and Muslim culture it was cultivating. It is only very welcome that many international organizations are holding the security forces of Bangladesh accountable for their continuing murderous and inhuman acts of cruelties meted out to the innocent people of the country. Urging the UN to take action and making specific recommendations, they have extensively documented crimes of torture, extrajudicial killing, and enforced disappearances, in particular by the Detective Branch of police and the RAB, a paramilitary force notorious for committing acts of torture, extrajudicial killings, and enforced disappearances, and have called for RAB to be disbanded.

As has been pointed out by the author of, Bangladesh: Political and Literary Reflections on a Divided Country (p. 162), Hasina has had many young men and women unjustly locked up, as it happens in a totalitarian regime, for their fun and freedom of posting creative and expressive comments and pictures of her and her father. Is she a royal Sultana or a Queen or an Empress or a Tsarina that she cannot be criticized? Is she the Supreme Ayatollah of Bangladesh, or like the Emperor of Japan, Agong of Malaysia, or the King of Thailand that she cannot be criticized by any means, including artistic sketches and expressions? Only God/Allah the Almighty and His prophets are above criticism. In fact, even an emperor like Napoleon used to be a common and constant target of criticism through satirical drawings and caricatures by the famous artists of the time, such as James Gillray of England. Napoleon said that caricaturist Gillray contributed more to his downfall in 1815 than all the armies of Europe. In his more than 1,000 etchings of caustic humor, Gillray courageously caricatured monarchs, politicians, and warlords, including the Prince of Wales (later King George IV of the UK) and the young British Prime Minister William Pitt, apart from his most famous subject, which was of course the young French emperor.

So, the thinking, reflective, observing, and rationally oriented people say, hell with the horrible and horrendous Hasina regime. They double down saying, down with the Awami regime, which is corrupt to the core, fascist to the extreme, tyrannical from top to bottom. The hyena in Hasina is a Modi-fied Indian stooge, Hinduized puppet, vote dakat (dacoit/robber), illegal occupier of the stateseat and power grabber by force turning the country into both an omnivorous and a carnivorous Awami carnival, unleashing state terrorism right and left, and having billions looted, plundered, smuggled and unaccounted for. Hasina must be held responsible for every penny stolen, every vote rigged, every person disappeared, every opposition or innocent person imprisoned, every act of political suppression, every person beaten/hacked/slashed to death, every person dead in police custody, ever person killed at home or outside with the killer still at large, every massacre committed with national and international conspiracies, every anti-state step taken at home, and every anti-state agreement made with the communal and sectarian India.

Awami fascists led by their sole supremo Hasina have been forcibly and illegally holding on to power since 2009 as they have been stealing elections as massively as their lootings of state monies are humongous. Beastly brutes of the Awami axis or otherwise under the Awami shelter and support have been killing, torturing, and abducting innocent people; and raping women of all ages day in and day out as much as they rape their own country by destroying all its institutions and its entire moral fabric for 13 years now. Fascist Hasina has been reigning supreme as she has been politically and economically devouring and scavenging Bangladesh with her jungle rule for the last 12-13 years.

The ongoing Hasina fascism. her state terrorism, her swooping down on the popular and patriotic but awfully weak and miserable opposition (in the same way as does the fox on the lamb at any excuse however remote or improbable that excuse may be), her bending and bowing to Indian hegemony, and her daily age-old abhorrent and abominable atrocities as far as oppression, persecution, discrimination, and corruption are concerned know no limits. Under Hasina, Bangladesh has become a fertile ground for all democratic and freedom loving writers to write their bitter protests, satires and dystopias about Hasina the tyrant and her all-out tyranny: let there be a Jonathan Swift to write another Gullivers Travels (with the Awami Hasina men as small and small-minded as the Lilliputians and the Zia-Khaleda men as big and broad-minded as the Brobdingnagians); a Shelley to write another A Mask of Anarchy; a Nazrul to write another Bidrohi; an Arthur Koestler to write another Darkness at Noon; a George Orwell to write another Animal Farm and another 1984; an Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn to write another Gulag Archipelago; and a Margaret Atwood to write another Handmaids Tale, for example.

[Here one must hasten to note that, apart from the Indianized and Modi-fied Hasina police horror and terror (worse and deadlier than Covid-19, SARS, and Chikungunya viruses) to rein in the BNP, the BNP leadership itself, suffering from severe political arthritis, is responsible for its knee-broken weaknesses and drawbacks. For instance, it is difficult for the people of Bangladesh to comprehend what Tarique Rahmans stand is. Who or what is greater and more important to himhimself, his family, his mother, his party, or his country? Whatever it may be, it seems he is weak and cowardly from within, exacerbated by his own intense and excruciating physical suffering caused to him back in 2006/2007 by the Moinuddin Masududdin gang. He seems to be idling away his time in a London bower. But he needs to be more forthcoming with his anti-Indian and pro-Nationalist patriotic action program. At the same time, he needs to fight the disinformation spread against him by the Awami propaganda machine. His worthless and unimpressive Mirzas and Fakhruls, dumb and dry and drab as they are, need to come out of their state of passivity in their cozy and compromising cocoon to forge ahead with only one demand:

Things went straight downhill in an extremely unexpected manner for the worst since 2009, to the extent that the situation now seems to be totally beyond Tarique Rahmans control or repair. He got his backbone broken and his old and ailing mother thrown into jail, confined to her office or home, or ousted from her home by the Hasina orchestrations. He got his party leaders shrunken to the point of being reduced to non-existence, totally obliterated into nothing less than oblivion (like the Jamaat and the Hefazat) by the macabre Hasina manipulations. He saw how the Caretaker government system got scrapped and how elections after elections got rigged. The most negative factor is the state of complete inaction, cowardice, and passivity of the BNP leaders who have all proved to be absolutely useless and ineffectual in the face of Hasinas rollercoaster whirlpool. For 13 years they could not organize even a mega million-man march in Dhaka, despite the fact that they are the largest party. Dozens of chances and opportunities threw themselves on their way only to get missed without being seized upon by the lost BNP men in the front suffering from suicidal lack of leadership. Many of them are allegedly on Awami payroll, as many of them are on the big buck nomination business during elections, letting year after year pass by and Hasina grow into the horrible and horrendous size of Frankensteins hideous monster.

Tarique Rahmans own immediate family too his wife and daughter seems to be a discouragement, a stumbling block. They may be thinking they are fine the way they are. Like the useless and unimpressive Mirza Fakhrul and the rest of the so-called Standing Committee, they are also weak and cold and passive and useless sitting home idle with no public relations drive and no public relations network built. Since Tarique Rahman is politically #1 person of Bangladesh today, neither he nor his family members should remain inert and inactive. Their medical or legal education is not worthwhile if they live in a bower or a cocoon. They should come forward to direct the party from abroad with courage, resistance and resilience with the intention of taking the country back from Hasina. From their highest and most popular political position, their love and risk for the country should take precedence over their personal family relationships, of which they have had enough already.

The idea of the local commander on the ground in Bangladesh itself as suggested by somebody is a lame and loose one. Tarique Rahman cannot afford to go back to hurl himself into the mouth of the horrible RAW hyena in the Hasina regime. If he goes back, he is between the jaws of the crocodile and, when he is, his party becomes divided into many factions. He should never jump into the mouth of the Indian-propelled tigress. However, he needs to overcome all his drawbacks and deficiencies as best as possible (as Prince Hal did only to become the great Henry V of England), distance and dissociate himself from Hindu fundamentalist India only to nationalistically side with the people of Bangladesh, as his great father and great mother did. It is the Bangladesh masses who are his main support base.

All he needs to do is to fire the entire standing-cum-sitting-cum-shitting-cum-snoring committee and replace them with a broad alliance of those who are daring, dynamic and charismatic such as (Salahuddin Ahmad, a leader of fantastic caliber and courage, but, alas, exiled in India due to Hasina machinations), Major Hafizuddin Ahmad, Dr Col Oli Ahmad, Dr Engr Mahmudur Rahman of Amar Desh, ASM Abdur Rob, Shaukat Mahmud, M H Alal, Barrister Rumin Farhana, Ashrafi Papia, Nipun Roy Chowdhury, Nagorik Manna, Barrister Andalive Partho, Junaid Saki, VP Noor, Reza Kibria, Barrister Boby Hajjaj, Shama Obaid, Nilufar Chowdhury Moni, and many Islamic leaders from Jamaat, Hefazat, and Chor Monai. There are many more out there like them with commitment and determination. In that case, Tarique Rahman can lead and direct the re-energized and rejuvenated party from where he is.

The problem is, Tarique himself seems to be too weak without much steam, let alone esteem. Maybe he has become too old and scared even before he is going to turn 60. However. he can still directly call for another November 7 of people-army uprising, but only after he fires the dull and drab Mirza Fakhrul and all other useless and ineffectual guys, all of them embodying the spirit of one no better than the late Mannan Bhuiyan and, so, being in the likes and reincarnations of him. Tarique Rahman, still the best hope for the unified opposition alliance in Bangladesh, needs to kick them out and put new and notable faces of dignity, integrity, courage and charisma, as mentioned above, in the front.]

There are many alternatives to this strangulating Awami police/RAB ferocity, totalitarian tyranny and choking and suffocating fascism. Either a powerful movement led by the opposition alliance to topple the regime, or a patriotic military take over towards a peaceful return to democracy, or a direct free and fair election under a neutral national or international body for the people to decide without fear or favor, without outside influence, hindrance or interference. Very simple.

The Awamis are the only stumbling blocks; they are a bunch of rapacious crooks and thugs; they are a past master in thuggery, racketeering, and in persecuting people in a pharaonic manner. The only solution is a direct, clean, impartial, and participatory election for the people to decide freely and widely. Hasina the fascist must go as the first order of business towards the restoration of democracy, normalcy, freedom, dignity and decency. The entire nation should join together in combating fascism and state terrorism unleashed by Hasina with the help of her lord and master and savior and protector Hindutva India which, like the Zionist Israel, has turned Bangladesh into a slavish and servile vassal state. Bangladesh must, therefore, be rescued from the Indianized and Hinduized Awami crooks and clowns.

As just been said, the main stumblingblock to Bangladeshs return to sense and sanity and balance and stability is the nuisance that is the Awami fascism destroying the country in all its institutions for years now. Regardless of whoever comes to power, the country needs to be brought back on track for which it needs a free and fair and credible election in the first place. Let the political parties or alliances come to power by turns for a forward-looking balance and reckoning. Let everyone have a chance to contribute to the building of the nation, let the Awami-led corruption and repression be stopped once and for all and lets have honesty, sincerity, integrity and patriotism back in place to play their part functioning well and ensuring accountability and transparency at every level. The horribly Indianized and Hinduized Hasina, baneful and belligerent and malicious and malevolent as she is, has completely destroyed the nation and the society. Her fascist course of action needs to be reversed in no time and the country must be taken back from under her yoke. The whole nation must shoulder a responsibility to do so. The people cannot just idly watch the country of their birth go down the drain like that under the clutches of crippling Awami control. They must do their part and get united tobuild a greater future together

Every government, democratic or dictatorial, does something good in terms of development and general welfare during its rule for whatever period, with the fascist governments like Hasinas lasting longer, the worst and most fascist, since 2009.That toadish and tawdry development by her should not count or compensate for the totalitarian destruction of values, systems, and institutions committed by her in a fascist way. Hers is a government that is bent upon hoodwinking people, legitimizing its humongous corruption by allowing the corrupt to whiten their black money by a token sum in taxes, engaging in widespread smuggling, massive election rigging, and overwhelmingthuggery. It is an autocratic government committed to its course of full and complete annihilation of the entire social, moral and political fabric of the country. As if she is licking her own wounds, dry and drab Hasina the fascist is wallowing in the sea of her persecution, oppression, tyranny, torture, strangulation, abduction and imprisonment of the people of Bangladesh for years. All the devilish, dastardly, shitty and sluttish means by which the monstrous dictator Hasina brought all branches of the government to their knees are absolutely repugnant and reprehensible, abhorrent and abominable. Longevity of a government, especially when it is fascist and corruption-ridden, cannot be a factor for the cause of development, which under such an illegal and illegitimate government is already tainted, defective, dented and demented.

The so-called development scheme under Hasina is as scheming as she herself is. It means a floodgate open for her awfully autocratic government to resort to corruption, which has been as corrosive and calamitous as it has been massive and mischievous under her all along. In the Western and Asian democracies, governments last for four to eight years at a time, then to be replaced by another democratically elected newgovernment, and they are still the most highly developed nations of the world ineverysense oftheterm. They enjoy peace, freedom, liberty, education, equality, human rights, social justice and harmonious development as best as humanly possible, all of which are largely free from violence and vitriol. While corruption and repressionare the main negative factors (an abundance of which fantastically populate the political and economic landscape under the horribly ruling Hasina), honesty, transparency, accountability, and the rule of law are the main positive criteria for the overall upwardmobility of a nation. These ever-sought-after goals and ideals are conspicuous by their utter absence in Bangladesh under the rogue Hasina regime,which, therefore, needs to be toppled in no time in the permanent interest of the country. The country needs to be on the necessary reversegear to curb and control the Hasina hooliganism and be put back on track to be a member of the responsible and respectable family of nations in the civilized world.

People of Bangladesh are in 2021 when anything that is applicable to the West can also be applicable to them. They are a part of the globalvillage, where there is no dearth of money, men, education and modern technologyfrom the smartest mobile phones to Mercedes-Benz to Mitsubishi Pajero to BMWs to all kinds of SUVs to 5-star hotels and high-rise buildings with many in possession of their (black and corrupt) mega millions to billowing billions. So, why shouldnt there be a culture and tradition of democratic freedom, fairness, transparency and accountability and rule of law? Why cant the monstrouslymassive corruption and election rigging and oppression and repression under the naughty Hasina and her nasty regime be brought to book? Our children born on the cutting edge of technology, fromthe late 1980s/1990s onwards, know amazingly better than we did in our time (when we were their age). Similarly, Bangladesh born in the modern times of fantastic political progress should have been ahead of many old democracies, instead of being far behind with the ugly head of horrible hyena Hasina fascism creeping and crawling and climbing to the top, to the point of destroying the country morally and politically and economically. Let there be a drastic change to bring Bangladesh back from below-zero-minus to zero to above-zero-plus.

In London, one of his best-known short poems about corruption, suffering, protest, resistance and empowerment in the 1800s, English Romantic poet William Blake says:

I wander thro each charterd street,

Near where the charterd Thames does flow.

And mark in every face I meet

Marks of weakness, marks of woe.

In every cry of every Man,

In every Infants cry of fear,

In every voice: in every ban,

The mind-forgd manacles I hear.

The same applies to todays Bangladesh under the control of India through Sheikh Hasina, who is the worst woman in the history of Bangladesh. Everything is going abysmally bad under her hissing hood and that of her regime. People of Bangladesh got to fight her back as hard as possible by demolishing the big and baseless myths she is propagating in all fields, from politics to parliament to economy to development to education to elections to the number of the war dead to the Awami creation of a cult hero. The diseased body politic of the nation under her needs to be duly vaccinated and administered antibiotic through a mass movement of millions getting out and taking control of Dhaka streets and marching on to Gonobhabon that has been defiled and desecrated by the monster Grendel and the giant goliath in Hasina. Her coal black rule will not take any other hue. It is beyond description in terms of all kinds of social and political misdeeds and mischiefs that are countless and boundless with no end in sight.

As fascistically dictated and determined, the Hasina years are replete with daily occurrences of dirty works and incidents. They are both topless and bottomless in terms of rape, corruption, repression, discrimination, persecution, terror, tyranny, election rigging, enforced disappearances, loot, plunder, and smuggling, absence of rule of law and lack of social justiceall recklessly let loose with no bounds and barriers, to the total and complete destruction and demolition of the entire moral, social and political fabric of Bangladesh that was in the making, through error and trial though, during the period of 1975-2006.

One of the means to fight Hasina is to start a campaign through a Radio Free Bangladesh organization (in the manner of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty that used to be directed at the Soviet iron curtain over Eastern Europe and that are still directed at countries with no free press and free flow of information). The program may broadcast strongly worded hard hitting Chorom Patro (extreme/radical letters), in the manner of M R Akhtar Mukul in 1971, with the intention of toppling the fascist Hasina and directly calling upon the military to descend on the seat of her fascist power and the masses to take to the streets in millions, in a repetition of what was 7 November 1975.

Bangladesh needs to ensure equal social and economic justice for all, including the minorities, and still be officially and practically a great Muslim country. Secularism is grossly abused by promoting other religions and anti-Islamic forces/elements and demoting and suppressing Islamic culture and values in Bangladesh. Like the Hindu, Christian, Buddhist, and Jewish countries all over the world, Bangladesh should become a mainly Islamic/Muslim country in its ethos and spirit and orientation. Without diluting its Islamic tradition and culture, Bangladesh can at the same time properly take care of the minority interests. Why should the wrong notion of secularism and its widespread abuses replace, displace, substitute, efface, occlude, and erase the Islamic environment in a Muslim majority country? After all, religion is the deepest bond and impulse in the human beings, as the English Victorian poet and critic Matthew Arnold once said. (Although Arnold himself was kind of agnostic suffering his ownreligiousdoubts, he sought to capture the true essence of Christianity in much of his work and admired the Catholic John Henry Newman for his spirituality). Majority of Bangladeshis are Muslim first, then only Bangladeshi. Therefore, Bangladesh needs an Islamically oriented democratic tradition to be established before the close of day with a farewell to bogus secularism as it is in practice in what has now become a totally Hinduized country under the Awami BAKSAL Hasina.

Any party, political or military, who would declare Bangladesh to be a just and fair Islamic Republic, with equal rights for all, under a presidential form of government (not parliamentary, which is a joke under Hasina) and reverse all slavish and servile anti-state agreements with India (Tajuddins infamous 7-point agreement in 1971 and Mujibs unequal 12-point agreement the next year and Hasinas over a hundred nefarious, notorious and nihilistic agreements) can rest assured that they will secure an immediate and spontaneous overwhelming support from the people of Bangladesh overnight. Tarique Rahman cannot afford to lose the chance of being politically pragmatic, expedient, and, at the same time, farsighted.

*Q M Jalal Khan is the author of Bangladesh: Political and Literary Reflections on a Divided Country and Bangladesh Divided: Political and Literary Reflections on a Corrupt Police and Prison State. Due out in March 2020 is his Sheikh Hasinas Brutal BNP-Phobia and Her Scandalous Midnight Power Grab Through Vampire Vote Dacoity and Villainous S/Election Rigging With an All-Time High Record of Humongous White-Collar Corruption.

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The Calamity And Carnival Of Fascist Oppression And Corruption Under Sheikh Hasina OpEd - Eurasia Review