NOTE FROM THE EDITOR
Dear readers:
Much has been written in the media about the caravan of people – mainly from Honduras and other neighbor nations – who have left their Central American countries and seen walking on highways – in pursuit for a new beginning in their lives, as their own homelands have not been able to provide them with the security one needs to live as a human being.
They lack what we in the US have, the means for Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness,” which is a well-known phrase in the United States Declaration of Independence. The phrase gives three examples of the “unalienable rights” which the Declaration says have been given to all human beings by their creator, and which governments are created to protect.
But those rights are absent there. Instead, you’ll find: criminal gangs, government violence, poverty, lack of jobs and opportunities. This has pushed many to leave their homes and are now heading to the US, even if it means risking their own lives.
Although it is suspected that there is a hidden agenda behind the caravan that has been called an invasion, and that George Soros is responsible for promoting and channeling the funds to pay for many of the expenses associated with the travesty in order to destroy Donald Trump’s goverment, the truth is, the US has a big responsibility for those countries’ failures and plights for supporting corrupt military governments that have abused their power for decades, while they ransacked the coffers of their nations.
Written by Matt Agorist, from the Free Though Project, the following article gives us a deep analytical point of view of who is right and who’s wrong in the debate of the caravan that is slowly travelling north of Mexico toward the border of the US, to request for political asylum. – Marvin Ramírez.
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No, the 5,000 people fleeing violence—created by the United States—is not an invasion, but US tanks rolling through the streets of Syria certainly is
by Matt Agorist
Depending on which side of the TV you get your information from, you’re either waiting for thousands of migrant women and children seeking their part of the American dream to show up in Arizona, or, you are waiting for armed terrorists sent here by George Soros on an invasion mission ready to kill you and take your job. The reality, however, is neither of these.
On Monday, President Donald Trump tweeted out that the “migrant caravan” is “an invasion of our Country and our Military is waiting for you!” This rhetoric is not only dangerous, but it’s entirely inaccurate.
It is a verifiable fact that roughly 5,000 men, women, and children are making a northward trek by foot, bus, and any other means, through Mexico. The reason for their trip, however, is not to “invade” the United States but rather to seek asylum from an assault originating in Washington DC that has long been perpetuated against the people of Central and South America by both parties.
The reality is that these folks are not “moving” or “migrating,” rather they are fleeing the violence in their homeland that is a direct result of American policy in that region. While the United States does not have a migrant crisis, we most assuredly have a refugee crisis—and it’s our fault.
Starting under Ronald Reagan, the US has been funding extremist military regimes who’ve carried out mass murder, kidnappings and tortures in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Nicaragua.
US-backed military coups, exploitation of resources, and America’s history of spreading economic neoliberalism in El Salvador have sent the entire region into chaos—just like what happens in all the countries who’ve been unfortunate enough to receive some “freedom” from the US. What’s more, it’s effectively created a climate where paramilitary-aligned drug cartels can and do thrive.
People fleeing conflict in their country—that is a direct result of bipartisan American policy—does nothing for either of the parties’ platforms. However, when you can spin what’s happening to make “the other guys” look bad by lying to Americans about why there are thousands of people walking through Mexico, then you have the makings of a political campaign.
To call this an “invasion” is not only entirely inaccurate, but it’s insanely hypocritical. Even if the majority of this caravan does make it to the US border, there is absolutely no way that they would or could invade us—even without the US military that Trump is sending that way. To be entirely clear on that notion, here is the definition of “invasion”:
NOUN
1. an act or instance of invading or entering as an enemy, especially by an army. (They have no army)
2. the entrance or advent of anything troublesome or harmful, as disease. (They are human beings, not a disease)
3. entrance as if to take possession or overrun: (5,000 people could never take possession or overrun anything in such a well armed country)
Fleeing to another country because your children are being kidnapped, murdered and tortured as a direct result of foreign governments meddling in your country is not an invasion.
On the contrary, however, flying tanks, bombs, jets, and troops overseas and stationing yourself inside the borders of a sovereign nation—without being invited—is an invasion.
Democrats and Republicans are all for invasions when it’s the US who is carrying them out. One need only look at the nearly 800 military bases in more than 70 countries across the planet that the US maintains to prove this point.
Moreover, one need only look at list of countries the United States has entered without permission over the last two decades—like Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya, to name a few—and laid waste to their infrastructure, populations, and environments.
US tanks rolling down the streets of southern Syria in At Tanf is what an “invasion” looks like—not men, women, and children feeling US-created violence.
Drones flying overhead, dropping hellfire missiles on hospitals, blowing up dozens of innocent children is what an invasion looks like.
Troops raiding homes in the middle of the night, holding entire families at gunpoint while searching the house for non-existent evidence of ties to Al-Qeada is what an invasion looks like.
Currently, the only country raiding homes in America and holding entire families at gunpoint, spying on them with unethical technology, and killing innocent people is the United States. Until that changes, any talk of an actual invasion is merely that, talk.
In 2009, Ron Paul summed up American foreign policy and the direct impact it has on creating terrorism, fostering refugees, and stoking hatred toward the US. Although the speech below is over nine years old, it still holds true today. If you really want to know what creates problems around the world, like refugees and terrorism, you need to imagine what it feels like if it actually happened to you.
