If the US empire were truly evil and nefarious, you might assume they would avoid attacking and imprisoning those who help starving people or house the homeless or give medical care to the needy. They would do their most despicably evil deeds behind closed doors, in the shadows, while publicly claiming to help the needy, the hungry, the less fortunate.
You would be wrong.
Our US imperial rulers are not smart enough to cover their true intentions. At no point has Trump said the hungry should be fed or the homeless housed. Meanwhile, his government blows up schools full of children, prosecutes those who protest genocide, and now attempts to imprison those who bring food and medical supplies to the persecuted.
Reports from Fox News and other outlets say the Justice Department has subpoenaed, or will soon subpoena, the co-founder of Code Pink Medea Benjamin and popular YouTuber Hasan Piker. The Justice Dept. claims it wants information about Benjamin and Piker’s trip to Cuba, but the Trump Administration’s real hope is to imprison anti-war, anti-genocide activists.
Medea Benjamin has stated clearly that she and the others did nothing wrong during their trip to Cuba:
We traveled to Cuba under the U.S. government-authorized category of providing humanitarian aid to the Cuban people. We brought desperately needed medicines and medical supplies at a time when Cuba is suffering catastrophic shortages caused by the crippling U.S. blockade. We stayed in hotels explicitly permitted under U.S. regulations.
As Caitlin Johnstone wrote:
“The empire is waging a relentless war on intellectual clarity and on moral clarity, because truth and morality are its enemies.”
Back when Obama was still in office, I went on a trip to Cuba with Medea Benjamin and a few others. Thanks to Medea and Code Pink’s organizing and planning, we saw amazing sights, tasted wonderful food, and met vibrant people who, despite 125 years of US oppression, maintain their dignity and culture.
Medea has devoted her life to ending US wars, rescuing the oppressed, and promoting peace, love, and ethical humanitarian treatment for all. For daring to do those things, she now has a target on her back. The US oligarchy wants to lock her up. They want to send a message to all Americans that you better get in line behind the morally bankrupt behavior of the US empire or you’ll be designated a criminal.
I am not shocked that the US government would try to arrest people for bringing food and medicine to the victims of the US empire. But if the rest of us let it happen — if we act like it’s okay or normal or acceptable — then we have all lost our humanity.
Perhaps that’s what the soulless US empire wants.