We Demand Human Rights – at Home and Abroad!

Speech given by Tracy Molm, member of the Anti-War Committee, on 12/10/19 at our Human Rights Day rally

On Human Rights Day we come together to call attention to human rights abuses at home and abroad. At the same time the U.S. government talks about human rights abuses and lack of democracy in places like Iran, Venezuela and Cuba; the U.S. government runs concentration camps on the U.S.-Mexico border where horrific conditions and abuse are rampant and President Trump’s spouts hate speech against Muslims and immigrants.

In addition to this hypocrisy, the US government uses SANCTIONS and blockades to create starvation and inflation in other countries, then it blames the elected government like President Maduro in Venezuela for this starvation. Meanwhile sanctions are touted as the ‘humanitarian option’ – ignoring that sanctions overwhelming affect children and elderly. Ignoring that sanctions KILL.

In May I was on a delegation to Venezuela, where I witnessed first hand the atrocities of a coup attempt funded by the U.S. government. The forces the US government supports in these cases are well known in their home countries for inciting violence against indigenous people like Áñez in Bolivia and Guaido & Lopez in Venezula.

And in Israel the U.S. government outright funds the apartheid government, ignoring it’s abuses against the Palestinian people.

But we are here today to declare human rights should have meaning – like for universal health care, housing and education. Now these things that should he universal rights, are debate topics for political candidates. But we will continue to fight for human rights at home and abroad, and against U.S. intervention.