Trump’s attack on Muslims, Syrians, and Perpetuation of a Bloody US foreign policy
Trump’s attack on Muslims, Syrians, and Perpetuation of a Bloody US foreign policy
By Christine and Meredith, Pride 2018
Hey Trump Can’t You Hear ? Refugees Are Welcome Here!
Since being elected, President Trump has tried to implement his Muslim ban three times. Each time, we have taken to the streets to call Trump out on his attempt to put anti-Muslim bigotry into law. While the current version of the ban includes North Korea and Venezuela as window dressing, it primarily targets majority Muslim countries including Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Chad and Yemen. The immigration ban is a thinly veiled attempt to further demonize Muslim immigrants by saying the ban protects the US from “terrorists.”
It is not a coincidence that the targeted countries have a majority Muslim population (Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Chad and Yemen) and include countries that have stood firm against US aggression (Syria, Iran, North Korea,and Venezuela). The ban targets immigrants of color and people of Muslim faith. US foreign and immigration policies are interwoven, creating a racist, xenophobic system where the people that the US is displacing with war are the very same people prohibited from entering the US. It is a human rights violation to create humanitarian crises and then turn our back on refugees. Immigrant rights – human rights – are being completely disregarded. The ban is unconstitutional and is fundamentally against the ideals of this country.
No Ban on Stolen Land!
This ban is hypocritical in the extreme, given that most US citizens are originally themselves of immigrant stock. This land was stolen from Native Peoples, and it is not for the Trump administration to decide who is undesirable and who should be allowed to live here, when it is fundamentally not our land to begin with.
Stop US Attacks on Syria!
One example of how the U.S. has been a major cause of a current refugee crisis is the situation of Syria. The US has been militarily intervening there since the Obama administration, has at least 2,000 troops on the ground, and has been conducting almost daily air strikes and drone attacks. U.S. and U.S.-backed Coalition air and artillery strikes have killed around 6,000 Syrian civilians since August 2014. Most recently, on April 13th, Trump used a chemical weapons attack as a pretext to launch 112 tomahawk missiles at Syria– literally killing Syrian civilians to make the point that killing Syrians is wrong. Trump didn’t even let international inspectors get to the attack site to investigate before bombing the very evidence they were going to examine. This is hypocritical aggression, not humanitarian intervention.
It is reprehensible that the US launched these missiles at Syria in at a cost of $1.4 million each. We demand money for human needs like repairing Flint’s water pipes, investing in American schools, rebuilding Puerto Rico, and making sure that children don’t go hungry at night instead of for war.
(For more info on how the US is intervening in other countries on the racist Muslim ban check out other articles in our summer zine!)
Muslims are Under Attack! What do we do? Stand Up and Fight Back!
The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments regarding the Muslim Ban in April, and we expect to hear their decision this summer. We are worried they will not protect the rights of our immigrant neighbors, and are ready to protest an adverse decision.
It is important for all of us to come together and stand against human rights violations at home and abroad. Through escalating wars, displacing people from their homes, and barring immigrants and refugees from our country, the US continues to violate human rights everywhere. The Anti-War Committee continues to fight against these atrocities and we hope you will stand us with to show our community and political leaders that these injustices need to end! Follow us on Facebook and/or Twitter so we can let you know about future protests against anti-Muslim bigotry and against US wars!