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Note: Following is
another column of mine the editors of the Pacific
Daily News decided not to run. First, I was told
that they couldn't run the column because it seemed
to advocate civil disobedience, and they said the
PDN has an ethics policy against advocating civil
disobedience. That's an amazing policy that means
the PDN would have censored the writings of Gandhi,
Thoreau, Martin Luther King Jr. and many others who
fought oppression with non-cooperation. When I
asked, as a columnist for the PDN, if I could see a
copy of that ethics policy, I was told that they
couldn't give copies of the ethics policy to the
public. So much for being open and accountable to
the Guam community. I was further told that my
calling the colony of Guam a metaphorical prison
was misleading, because we can all "fly 12 hours to
the states and vote for president". I guess people
in colonies are free after all. I'd like to note
that in this column I am not endorsing (nor am I
condemning) the actions and politics of Angel
Santos. I am merely pointing out that his actions
point to flaws in the system. Leo Babauta
leo@malafunkshun.com
-----second
censored column follows-----
A cramped,
claustrophobic feeling trembles inside you, barely
contained. The jail cell you're in isn't
particularly clean, but it isn't that that bothers
you. You've lived in an apartment as tiny as this
prison cell, so it isn't the size that's so
horrible. It's the iron bars, covered in peeling
orange paint that you've helped chip off in your
boredom. The boredom is almost as bad -- only
reading, push-ups and finding someone to play cards
with have kept you from insanity. The initial rage
of being caged like an animal fades, fades, and
your life becomes one of quiet desperation.
------
Jail is one of the
worst things we do to our fellow citizens. But
other societal forces cage many people as well.
Racism and ghettoization are iron bars around
certain minority groups. Colonialism on Guam is a
prison, though perhaps many view it as a
white-collar prison -- it's benign, and if you were
to spend time in any prison, an American colony
isn't a bad choice.
The frustration of
being trapped, with only a few lucky people able to
escape the iron bars, can cause other major
problems by itself, such as crime. Other people
ignore the problem, and turn to sports, movies, and
other distractions. But there is hope.
Whether you agree
with his politics or actions, Angel Santos exposed
a fundamental injustice with the colonial justice
system by being sentenced to federal prison. It is
bad enough that the people of Guam are voiceless
and powerless in the Congress and with the U.S.
President that control us, but to be locked up in
prison and to have your liberty stripped by a
system in which you have no voice or participation
is philosophically unjustifiable.
Santos violated
laws made by a Congress he's never had the right to
vote for, and was sued by a presidential
administration he's never had the right to vote
for. He was forced into a court system put into
place by the same Congress he can't vote for, and
judged by a person appointed by a presidential
administration he can't vote for. And this is the
same federal system he feels has wronged his family
for years. It's pure colonialism.
But there is hope,
and daylight, and freedom, outside of these
metaphorical jail cells. It is in the realization
that all government, colonial or not, is derived
from the consent of the governed. Gandhi realized
this in colonial India with his non-violent
non-cooperation with the British government, and
wrote some advice to the Blacks in America:
"The moment the
slave resolves that he will no longer be a slave,
his fetters fall. He frees himself and shows the
way to others. Freedom and slavery are mental
states. Therefore, the first thing is to say to
yourself: 'I shall no longer accept the role of a
slave. ...' This may mean suffering. Your readiness
to suffer will light the torch of freedom which can
never be put out."
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