Source: Calgary Herald (Canada)
Contact:  http://www.calgaryherald.com/
Pubdate: October 6, 1998
Author: Catherine Ford
GLOBAL FIGHT AGAINST OPPRESSION

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL BITES THE HAND THAT FEEDS IT

New campaign against the United States for rights abuses ignores the real
brutes of the world

Amnesty International opens a world-wide, morally sound but realistically
questionable year-long campaign against the United States today.

It must have its own peculiar death wish, something along the lines of
biting the hand that feeds it.

Not that the London-based human rights watchdog is wrong in its assessment
of life in the underbelly of America; but when it comes to the systemic
abuses, the U.S. is a haven by comparison.

Indeed, citizens of truly repressive regimes, from North Korea to Iraq to
Yugoslavia are clamouring at the gates to get into the U.S., where they
stand a chance of having a voice, of living free of fear and intimidation,
and making a living regardless of their race, religion, gender or ethnic
background.

For Amnesty International to target the U.S. puts in jeopardy the continued
support of that country against the true brutes of the world.

Around the world are countries that routinely abuse, brutalize and torture
their own citizens with little - if any - regard for the due process,
international conventions or their own laws. Standing between them and
complete breakdown of civilized actions - along the lines of what is
evolving in Afghanistan daily - is the U.S. and its western allies who can
exercise moral authority and the economic might of power, privilege and
position.

(By way of analogy, if you know the difference between swatting a kid on his
well-padded backside and beating him senseless, you understand the problem
with Amnesty's campaign: both methods of child discipline are wrong, but
only one demands the immediate attention of authorities.)

Why would Amnesty jeopardize its good work to take on a campaign that might
do more damage than good? According to reports in the press, particularly
from Terry Atlas of the Chicago Tribune, Amnesty cites widespread and
persistent police brutality, `endemic' physical and sexual violence against
prisoners; `racist' application of the death penalty and use of `high-tech
repression tools' such as electro-shock devices and incapacitating chemical
sprays. Amnesty accuses the United States of a `double-standard of
criticizing human-rights abuses abroad while not doing enough to remedy
those at home.'

If all one looks at are the abuses, then the U.S. can be portrayed as the
Great Repressor of its own citizens, a picture that will play well in
regimes that could give the U.S. a lesson or two in how to stomp on
protests, oppress entire categories of citizens, regardless of their
behaviour, and how to celebrate brutality.

For every criticism leveled by Amnesty, there are hundreds of U.S. citizens
who routinely report on and complain about their country's faults. That the
U.S. does not heal itself does not mean an ignorance of the abuses.

If U.S. citizens remain ignorant of their country's human rights abuses, it
isn't for lack of publicity or opportunity. The knowledge and the facts are
there for all to see, should an American citizen wish to see it.

In fact, reports quote State Department spokesman James Foley as responding
to the Amnesty campaign by: 'We welcome their scrutiny..In keeping with our
recognition of the universality of human rights and our openness as a
democratic society, we are proud of our political and judicial systems,
which we believe are the envy of the world.'

They are the envy of the world. It would be easier to count the countries
that honour open opposition in politics and follow a rule of law than to
list the ones that routinely flout human rights, morally or legally.

Amnesty's campaign may result in a heightened awareness on the part of some
Americans about what goes on in their prisons or the discrimination that is
routinely meted out to racial minorities. They may learn - if they don't
already know - that African-American men make up a disproportionate
percentage of the prison population and that their country is only one of
six to execute juveniles.

But it's a safe bet those who should know about these abuses already do.
There are dozens of organizations and thousands of citizens working
tirelessly to change the reality of life for the disadvantaged, the
dispossessed and the discriminated against.

The United States is an open society with a press that is the freest in the
world, a political system that encourages and abets dissent and opposition,
and a solid democracy with a system of checks and balances that is the envy
of the world.

No, it certainly isn't perfect. But in the lexicon of human rights abuses,
the United States is close to the bottom of the brutality list.

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Checked-by: Don Beck