Thursday, September 18, 2008

the mutilation of bodily and political integrity

The events on Vestal Parkway on March 18, 2008, mean not only a violation of the sanctity of the protesters’ bodies, but ultimately a mutilation of each citizen’s right to freedom of political expression. The incrimination of the 9 anti-war protesters must moreover be understood as a legal borderline case: as the U.S. government is waging an illegal war overseas, the legal framework within which U.S. judiciary and executive practices operate ‘at home’ becomes itself questionable.

illegitimate war
The latest U.S. war against Iraq is unequivocally illegitimate under international law. The invasion of Iraq violates the United Nations Charter, which is a treaty signed by the U.S. government and as such part of the supreme law of the United States. As part of the U.S. Constitution (Art. 6, clause 2) the UN Charter had become “law of the land,” which the government of the United States is obligated to uphold.

state terrorism
The violation of the UN Charter serves the self-understanding of the U.S. as empire. Claiming the right to world domination, the U.S. government fabricates doctrines of a ‘preemptive war’ and the need to defend its ‘national security.’ For the sake of assuring its geo-political and economic interests, a sovereign nation is thus knowingly violating international law, willingly performing state terrorism, and coolly consenting to the slaughter of millions of people.

legitimate protest
As the government of the United States considers itself to be standing outside the law, can this government really tell us what is right and what is wrong? The U.S. government has created a ‘state of exception’ where law has become the framework that assists in the insult of the bodily and political integrity of its citizens, while civil rights are gradually being taken away.

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