WebMink
Simon Phipps's personal commentary

... I did not speak out

As the American holiday of Thanksgiving breaks to the west, I am profoundly moved by this article in the Jewish magazine Tikken:

There is no more powerful expression of the universal character of liberty than the haunting words of Martin Niemoller.

In Germany, they came first for the Communists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time no one was left to speak up.

His message is unmistakable: If we grant to the State the power to deny liberty to unpopular minorities (now Muslims), we forfeit our own claim to liberty as well.

to which I was pointed by randomWalks along with a pointer to a Washington Post article about an American Muslim man being detained in Saudia Arabia apparently because the questioning the FBI want to do would be illegal in his home country. How can we, Americans (especially at Thanksgiving), British or whatever, stand by and watch so many of these things done in the name of liberty? I commend the Tikkun article to you, whatever faith you have (or reject).

posted at 11:57 PM (UK) | |