What trash. This isn't Capitalism. This is skinhead kind of stuff. As far as the courts go, this dog won't hunt:
Sign the Petition in Defense of the Rights of Elian Gonzalez
Communism is Physically Harmful to Human Life
The INS ruled that in the name of "family reunification" Elian must return to Cuba. Most media commentators have praised this decision. Would such a decision be tolerated if it involved, say, a young black boy who had escaped to the North from a Southern plantation 150 years ago? Or a Jewish boy who had come to America from Nazi Germany during the 1930s? Would he have been sent back if the father ? who has a gun pointed to his back -- declared his desire to have his child returned to slavery or to a concentration camp? Would editorialists argue that the child's best interests are served by "family reunification"? Certainly not. Why, then, is Elian's situation any different? Life in totalitarian Cuba, after all, is life in slavery.
Parents Have No Right to Enslave Their Children
A parent has the right to determine his child's upbringing -- but not to inflict physical harm. A parent has no right to beat up a child, or to keep a child imprisoned in a cell. That becomes a violation of the child's individual rights. But a communist state is simply one huge jail, where the citizens are under the physical control of their wardens. That is what Elian faces if he goes back.
Elian's Father May Only Speak Castro's Words
It is absurd for the INS commissioner to assert that the father is "expressing his true wishes" regarding his son. Mr. Gonzalez is not free to say anything else. If he displeases the state, his job, his home -- his life -- can be summarily taken from him. If Castro orders him to ask for the return of his son -- or, conversely, to renounce any interest in the boy -- the father has little choice but to obey. Like the slaves on a Southern plantation, the citizens of Cuba exist at the whim of their rulers.
Who is Really Guilty of Playing "Politics"?
The INS and its supporters pretend that communism is not a system of enslavement, and that the difference between America and Cuba is merely one of "lifestyle." This Administration orders the Coast Guard to physically repel Cuban refugees who approach our shores, resulting in the disgraceful sight of American officials firing water cannons upon Cubans to keep them from reaching U.S. soil. The zealous advocates of Elian's deportation are clinging to a discredited philosophy that refuses to acknowledge the tyrannical nature of life under socialism. They are playing "politics".
Elian's Right to His Own Life Comes First
Keeping Elian in America is no violation of the rights of the father (who--if he has any genuine affection for the boy and were free to express it--would announce his fervent desire to have his son live in freedom). Anyone concerned with the actual rights of the father should be demanding, not that Washington return Elian, but that Havana let the father go. It is Castro who is preventing family reunification by keeping his borders closed to those who wish to flee his dictatorial rule. We should demand that Castro permit Mr. Gonzalez to leave Cuba permanently and unconditionally (along with all his relatives, so that none can be held hostage against him). He can then live here, or in any free country he chooses, and take custody of his son. Both his and his son's rights would thereby be upheld. Elian's mother willingly risked death on a desperate voyage to liberty. She was drawn by the American principle that each individual has an inalienable right to be free. This is a principle that I hope you will defend by ensuring that Elian Gonzalez is not returned to a life of totalitarian slavery in Cuba. |
