The news no one is reporting:
American political refugees flee abroad

By Wayne Madsen

Chalk up another first for the Bush regime. For the first time in America’s history, US citizens and legal residents are fleeing the so-called “land of the free” in anticipation of a further erosion of civil liberties, martial law, or mass detention. From across the United States reports are filtering in about families and individuals who are selling their homes, packing their bags, and making arrangements to leave.

A number of Americans have already left for places as far away as Australia and New Zealand but many are opting for Canada, Europe, and Latin America.

Some people are declining to purchase homes even with the lowest interest rates in recent memory. Instead, they are using their savings to arrange for moving abroad. “Two families I know have just moved overseas,” a leading Democratic politician confided with apprehension.

With recent reports that Republicans in some states are introducing bills to cancel their 2004 presidential primaries, a number of people fear the introduction of a rule by decree regime.

New Jersey’s Homeland Security director recently stated that in the event of a Code Red terrorist alert, he would implement virtual martial law, arresting those who leave their homes without official sanction. The FBI recently said those it may single out for questioning and detention might include “disgruntled individuals.”

Supreme Court Associate Justice and Opus Dei member Antonin Scalia recently remarked that in wartime, some constitutional rights could be restricted.

A number of H1 visa holders working in the US high-technology sector are also fearful of John Ashcroft’s alien registration program and are planning to depart for other countries. A number of Asian-born or Asian-descent H1 visa holders from the United Kingdom and Canada are making plans to move back home.

In addition to Americans fleeing their country, a European tourism official recently revealed that tourist travel to America from Europe is off by hundreds of thousands. Many Europeans are aware of the strong-arm tactics of the US authorities and are opting to take their vacations in southern Europe, Canada, the Pacific, and Latin America.

The following example is all-too-commonplace for Europeans. Last week, a young Finnish mother and housewife was arrested at JFK airport after flying from Helsinki. She was taken to a Queens police station and held in jail as a criminal for two days. US immigration claimed that in 1995 the woman had been in the United States 13 days longer than the 90 days her visa permitted. However, the woman had visited the US several times since 1995 without any problem. The woman had no criminal background and was not linked to any terrorists. Two days later, after the Homeland Security goons could find no reason to hold her, the woman was taken back to JFK in handcuffs to board a Finnair flight back to Finland. After her handcuffs were removed, Finnair personnel treated the traumatized woman as an ordinary passenger. Arriving in Helsinki, the woman had no problem with local authorities and the Finnish Government dispatched a scathing demarche to the US Government and New York Police Department complaining about their citizen’s harsh treatment.

Add the Finnish woman’s story to that of former British Member of Parliament Bernadette Devlin and her similar treatment by Ridge’s thugs at O’Hare Airport in Chicago and a picture emerges that the United States is no longer a country worth living in.

By forcing so many Americans to leave their country, the Bush regime may actually be helping to establish a potent force that could eventually seal its own fate. Americans abroad, living in political exile, will be a vocal voice against the US regime. When exiled Americans begin to flex their muscles with the backing of supportive governments in France, Germany, Canada, New Zealand, Greece, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, and soon, post-Blair Britain, post-Aznar Spain, and post-Berlusconi Italy, the Bush regime will be forced to explain to the United Nations and the court of world opinion why there are American political refugees. Just as Iraqi exiles will soon form the new government of Iraq, one day American exiles may come back to de-Republicanize the United States and return the nation back to operating under its original set of democratic ideals.

Until then, Americans in exile will be free to enjoy French fries, French toast, French wine, German chocolate cake, Russian vodka, civil liberties, freedom of speech and religion, and freedom from constant fear. Let us not forget that in Paris, next to the Pont de Grenelle, a bridge crossing the Seine, is a small replica of the Statue of Liberty. And let us not forget the poem by Emma Lazarus that reflects the meaning behind the Mother of Exiles: “With silent lips. ‘Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free...’.”

Considering the state of the Constitution and economy under the Bush regime, “tired,” “poor,” and “masses yearning to be free” are apt descriptions of the American people.

Source: CounterPunch

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