From Lawrence to Iraq: American Freedom Marches On

On July 4, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was signed. When the ink dried on this document, it sealed the collective fate of not only the people residing in North America, but of people all over the world. In the two hundred and twenty-nine years since dozens of men that owned other men signed that document, the world has come to know the true meaning of American-style Freedom.

From Native Americans to Black Slaves, from Chileans to Iraqis, from working class mothers to prison inmates, the ordinary people of this world have continually suffered while the rich back in the United States profit. Since this country's founding by slave owners and rich colonialists, nothing has changed. The relatively small percentage of people with real wealth in this country still control the rest of us.

Today, with the United States engaged in two ongoing deadly wars halfway across the globe, the people of Lawrence and the rest of this country feel the burden. While our social programs have their budgets slashed, the United States military continues to get the billions of dollars necessary to murder more and more Iraqis, while also getting more and more Americans killed in the process.

In Lawrence, hundreds go hungry every night. Thousands will never be able to attend college, or will receive a substandard education. Most families will struggle to ensure that their children have their basic needs met. Many more will never have health insurance. While it is we, the people of this city and of this country, that make the products, transport the goods, keep communication running, serve the food, and clean up the mess, the few of this country will reap all the benefits of our work. We will die, with barely pennies to show for our hard work, while others will have more products and commodities than they could use in hundreds of lifetimes.

What is it that we're celebrating today? With each firework that explodes in the sky, another life is lost in Iraq. With each burst of color, another child will go hungry here in this country. With each oooh and awww that we shout out during this spectacle of a pageant, our chances of ever seeing what freedom really looks like shrink ever smaller. The patriotism we show today will only be a reminder to those in charge of our fates, just how easily we can be used. How easily we can become their under-paid work force, or the cannon fodder needed for their next offensive.

Our blind allegiance makes this horror that fills our lives possible. Only our collective refusal will make that horror go away. In 1775, after the first draft in this country's history took place (one might wonder why people would have to be drafted to fight in a revolution...), a major riot of workers and the poor took place in Boston. Fighting against the draft, the workers yelled at the rich “patriots” gawking out their windows, “Tyranny is Tyranny! Let it come from whom it may!”

Whether tyranny is called Fascism or American Democracy, it still remains tyranny. What is it that we are celebrating? When we celebrate today, we celebrate our own betrayal and our own suffering. When we celebrate American Freedom, we ensure American Tyranny.