A debate we need to have

These days, there are so many objectionable things happening in the world around us. People of conscience everywhere are in crisis, trying to find the best way forward in an terrifying environment of fascist repression. One recent example is the recent detention of Upper Valley resident Mohsen Mahdawi, merely for using his voice to oppose the genocide of his own people in Palestine.

The Hartford Selectboard recently again considered the idea of a resolution demanding a cease-fire in Gaza. I understand why many residents don’t want them to spend time on issues of world politics, and I’m not convinced that such a measure would have any real impact. But I reject the idea that taking a stand on this issue is difficult because the situation in Gaza is “too complicated.” It’s true that there is long history behind the current campaign of wholesale destruction and ethnic cleansing that is being openly pursued by the Israeli government with our unconditional support. The history provides context: The attacks of Oct 7 are one piece. The repeated Israeli attacks on Gaza, which killed thousands of Palestinian civilians over the previous 20 years, provide other pieces. The ongoing history of 50+ years of a brutal military occupation and the entrenchment of a racist apartheid system that would put South Africa to shame provides, in my view, perhaps the most important context.

But a full knowledge of the history of the Levant is not necessary to understand: The imprisonment of any person without due process is wrong whether it happens in Palestine or in Vermont. The detention of prisoners in dehumanizing conditions is wrong whether in Louisiana, El Salvador or in Israel. The destruction of civilian life as a form of collective punishment, ethnic cleansing and genocide we are currently sponsoring in Gaza and the West Bank are a moral abomination that should shock the conscience of every American. In my view, the journalist Omar El Akkad has put it best when he titled his recent book: “One Day, Everyone Will Have Been Against This”

Tim O’Hara

Wilder

Vermont should
stand up to ICE

I am increasingly alarmed by the blatantly unconstitutional actions of the rogue Trump administration. Masked police officers pulling people off the streets and then secretly moving them from place to place for incarceration and eventual deportation is behavior I associate with Putin’s Russia, not with the United States. But now that Trump, who seems to view himself as Putin’s soul mate, is ruling the country by executive order and beyond all constitutional restraints, we appear to be headed in the same direction as Russia.

On April 16, Mohsen Mahdawi, a green card holder, property owner in the neighboring town of West Fairlee, and a student at Columbia University, went to an appointment at an immigration office in Colchester. In a clear setup, Mahdawi was arrested there by masked agents from some federal law enforcement agency. He is now being held in the state prison in St. Albans, yet he has been charged with no crime.

In light of the lawless activities of federal agents here and in other states, I think Vermont should reconsider its contract allowing ICE to use our prisons. We need to stand up to Trump’s growing tyranny. We should refuse to be complicit in these unjust and illegal federal actions. We must demand that due process be upheld and be sure that our state plays no role in fast-tracking deportations of people who have broken no laws.

In the past, Gov. Phil Scott has made it clear that he is not a Trump supporter. Now it is more important than ever for Scott to voice his opposition to Trump and to the direction in which he is taking this country. I urge Scott to use his popularity in the state and his position as a Republican governor to speak out against the injustices emanating from Washington, D.C. Republicans in Congress are refusing to live up to their constitutional duty to check an executive run amok. The Supreme Court has done more to empower Trump than to rein him in. I truly fear for the future of this country and of the allies who once depended on us.

Stephen F. Crimmin

East Thetford