Even the United Nations Is Disgusted With America & Donald Trump!

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By James “Giacomo” Gatto

Last week the United Nations Human Rights Committee issued a statement condemning the Trump Administration for civil rights violations against its own people. This is the first time in its history the UN has issued a statement citing the US for violating the rights of its own citizens. The recent events in the wake of the murder of George Floyd has sparked protests in Portland, Oregon against police brutality. The protesters have been tear-gassed and shot at with rubber bullets—many of whom have been severely injured. Journalists have been harassed and silenced by the heavy-handed tactics used by law-enforcement.

Also cited in the UN statement is the use of military and para-military forces should only be used as a last resort, “ the panel said military or para military forces should not be used to police gatherings except in extraordinary circumstances and that concealing the identity of the police, a practice followed by federal agents in unmarked vehicles in Portland, undercut accountability.” The fact that the US is being condemned for these tactics is quite disturbing, and frighteningly reminiscent of 1930’s Germany—one of the main reasons an organization like the UN was deemed necessary.

Over the past seventy-five years the United States and the UN have had their differences. Since 1992, for example, the UN General Assembly has condemned the US embargo against Cuba. In fact, in 2010, the UN condemned the embargo 192-2. We don’t always agree. The United States is one of five permanent members of the UN. In fact, it was the US, in large part, that was instrumental in forming The United Nations in 1945–The Russian Federation, China, The United Kingdom, and France are the others. The United nations was to replace the largely ineffective League of Nations. In post-World War II, as most of the war-weary world was all for such an institution.

Since 1945, many treaties have been adopted by the United Nations General Assembly. One of which is the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, signed by 173 countries, and its violation the basis for the recent condemnation of the Trump Administration. This arm has served as a buttress for civil rights around the world. It is ironic that the United States, a leader for the protection of civil rights, is now being called out as a violator. One could argue that the US has been guilty of violating the rights of the citizens of other nations, as a result of wars and police actions around the globe, where the US has intervened for the perhaps thinly veiled reasons. Among those reasons being either to slow the proliferation of nuclear arms, thwart the advancement of Communism, and in general, to protect the rights of citizens being oppressed by dictatorships or autocracies–governments not recognized as valid by our standards. However debatable the justification for any one of these engagements may be, never before has the US been accused of civil rights violations, and especially disturbing, First Amendment violations against its own people. Please pause for a moment and think about that. The very foundation on which our great country stands is being attacked by the people we have elected to protect it.

Also, ironic, is the timeline in which The United Nations was formed. In the summer of 1945, the United Nations and Donald Trump were both in their fetal stages, figuratively and literally, respectively; and, from then to the present developing in opposite directions and culminating in the current paradox we are all witnessing today. When you consider that around seventy-five years later one body and its ideals, and the antithesis incarnate of those ideals are juxtaposed on the world stage. That they would be juxtaposed, in such opposition, is quite stunning. Yet here we are.

As a fervent supporter of civil rights, especially those protected by our First Amendment, I am appalled by such a development in my country. Moreover, I am saddened that America is no longer the bellwether for what is right. The leader of the world, respected as the protector of nations from the bad actors, trusted with our military might, because we were the “good guys”. American hegemony was a badge of honor we once wore proudly. In only three plus years we had become the laughingstock of the free world. But the events of the past few months has turned that snickering into an anticipatory jitter. The global community is beginning to quake in its boots as embark into uncharted waters….

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