Skip to content or view mobile version

Home | Mobile | Editorial | Mission | Privacy | About | Contact | Help | Security | Support

A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

US Refugees: Casualties of the 'War Against Dissent'?

Ritt Goldstein | 13.04.2005 18:19 | Anti-militarism | Migration | Repression

As part of the 'War Against Dissent', extraordinary events can occur within the US, life threatening events. But has so-called 'realpolitik' effectively denied Americans the right to political asylum. There have been legitimate cases, including one based on torture and attempted murder.



US Refugees: Casualties of the 'War Against Dissent'?
by Ritt Goldstein

As part of what some see as the 'War Against Dissent', a decision by Canadian immigration officials on the political asylum application of US soldier and war-resister Jeremy Hinzman was made March 25th, his application denied. But was that decision based solely upon the merits of his claim, or rather upon what has been perceived as the current sway of so-called 'realpolitik', effectively denying Americans the right to asylum, regardless of their claim's legitimacy. And there have been legitimate cases.

Whereas once Americans could flee to Canada or Europe if their nonviolent politics had prompted 'problems', the safety net exile once afforded is in serious danger of disintegrating. Even in America, sometimes extraordinary events can occur, life-threatening events, and mainstream European media did a good job of highlighting one late-1990's incident in particular.

In light of the Iraq War's alleged 'illegality', a number of international law experts have been reported as perceiving the validity of Hinzman's claim. But another US asylum case exists, the one European media highlighted, and it is one with a basis in both torture and attempted murder, not war.

That case also met 'problems', doing so despite national and international law.

It was June 2001 when the UK's 'Guardian' headlined, "European Parliament committee urges Swedes to rethink". What the Swedes were supposed to "rethink" was an application for political asylum, one that was my own.

While now a freelance journalist, once I was a successful businessman and political figure, had a net worth of about $1 million, and also wrote US police accountability laws. My scope was national; I lived in Connecticut.

The police accountability work received a fair amount of publicity, and one of America's top-fifty papers, the 'Hartford Courant', even editorialized supporting my efforts, printing "Consider a statewide review board" in January 1997. That editorial followed a police accountability hearing I chaired in Connecticut's legislature the prior month.

Most police were not among my supporters.

It is a matter of record that I was shot at, had the steering purposefully unscrewed on my car, had my home and offices destroyed, and was attacked multiple times daily with items such as MACE and pepper spray. A victim of rogue officers, I endured attempted murder and torture.

Friends urged me to flee while I could, and on July 3, 1997, I boarded a flight for Sweden, seeking political asylum.

My asylum application was summarily rejected that September, the grounds being that the US is an internationally recognized democracy with a just legal system. Expulsion from Sweden was ordered, forcing me underground where I exist still.

In February 1998, Reuters reported that a Swedish immigration spokesman explained the country's decision by saying, "it was by individual police and not authorized by police authorities". Though both Sweden's official decisions and spokesperson acknowledged the violence I endured, it was decided my persecution simply didn't count.

The European Parliament differed, noting the Geneva Conventions on refugees did as well.

Amnesty International's Swedish section later wrote that Sweden's decision went against Swedish law. Off the record, an immigration official told me the matter was simply one of politics and its expedients, what some refer to as the 'politicization of justice'.

Swedish "rethinking" of my circumstances never occurred.

Underground, life is 'harsh'. I have little money, no free meals or lodging, no medical care, just the constant threat of being discovered. Having no official identity or work permit, my life and future are pretty grim. But in some ways I'm lucky.

It was early April 1997 when I spoke with another non-violent activist, Emma Jones. She was distraught, telling me, "they're (rogue police) after my children, they're after my children!". On 14 April, her son was shot to death by an officer claiming that he had tried to run him down with his vehicle.

In July 2003, a Connecticut jury awarded Jones $2.5 million for her son's 'wrongful death'. And the threat of death did accompany being a police accountability activist in Connecticut, in fact, I received an anonymous phone call saying only "you're a dead man", before the caller disconnected.

Another activist's similar plight was reported by the 'Courant', the headline reading, "Colchester officers accused of death plot", detailing how the officers' 'paid informant' revealed that he had been approached to pursue the alleged killing. The officers were never charged, though they later resigned their positions.

Following the destruction of my home, I tried to flee within the US, finding myself attacked wherever I went. A private detective wrote how my car was mysteriously emitting electronic tracking signals, allowing me to be followed.

I introduced my legislation to lawmakers in a number of US states, working towards a Congressional police accountability hearing. But though the media hailed my efforts, I was sometimes attacked over twenty times in a day. It was 'fun' for my assailants; on occasion, there was even laughter - that's how 'funny' torture is for some.

The Geneva Conventions were created following what many consider the world's worst refugee crisis - the effects of Fascism and W.W.II. Today, as many progressives increasingly draw parallels to the nightmares of that period, perhaps it's worth recalling how so many good people once made such tragic errors, and the cost.

Ritt Goldstein can be reached at  ritt_goldstein@hotmail.com

Ritt Goldstein

Upcoming Coverage
View and post events
Upcoming Events UK
24th October, London: 2015 London Anarchist Bookfair
2nd - 8th November: Wrexham, Wales, UK & Everywhere: Week of Action Against the North Wales Prison & the Prison Industrial Complex. Cymraeg: Wythnos o Weithredu yn Erbyn Carchar Gogledd Cymru

Ongoing UK
Every Tuesday 6pm-8pm, Yorkshire: Demo/vigil at NSA/NRO Menwith Hill US Spy Base More info: CAAB.

Every Tuesday, UK & worldwide: Counter Terror Tuesdays. Call the US Embassy nearest to you to protest Obama's Terror Tuesdays. More info here

Every day, London: Vigil for Julian Assange outside Ecuadorian Embassy

Parliament Sq Protest: see topic page
Ongoing Global
Rossport, Ireland: see topic page
Israel-Palestine: Israel Indymedia | Palestine Indymedia
Oaxaca: Chiapas Indymedia
Regions
All Regions
Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World
Other Local IMCs
Bristol/South West
Nottingham
Scotland
Social Media
You can follow @ukindymedia on indy.im and Twitter. We are working on a Twitter policy. We do not use Facebook, and advise you not to either.
Support Us
We need help paying the bills for hosting this site, please consider supporting us financially.
Other Media Projects
Schnews
Dissident Island Radio
Corporate Watch
Media Lens
VisionOnTV
Earth First! Action Update
Earth First! Action Reports
Topics
All Topics
Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista
Major Reports
NATO 2014
G8 2013
Workfare
2011 Census Resistance
Occupy Everywhere
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands
G20 London Summit
University Occupations for Gaza
Guantanamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
COP15 Climate Summit 2009
Carmel Agrexco
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Stop Sequani
Stop RWB
Climate Camp 2008
Oaxaca Uprising
Rossport Solidarity
Smash EDO
SOCPA
Past Major Reports
Encrypted Page
You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.
If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

Global IMC Network


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech