Editorial

PATRIOTism

On February 26, 2003, government agents arrested Dr. Rafil Dhafir of Manlius, New York. Founder of the charity Help the Needy, Dr. Dhafir had been raising money to send relief to the poor in Iraq. His action was in defiance of the sanctions imposed on Iraq. So were the FOR-sponsored delegations to Iraq and the funds raised for water purification by the Campaign of Conscience. Like FOR and other peace and relief groups, Help the Needy put humanitarian compassion higher than the cruel sanctions that for over a decade starved the Iraqi people.

Supporters of Dr. Rafil Dhafir rally outside the federal building in Syracuse, New York, to demand that he be freed.

Dr. Dhafir has lived in the Syracuse area for more than twenty years and is a respected member of the community, an oncologist with a long-established medical practice. He is also a faithful Muslim. When he was arrested, 150 Muslim families in the area were visited by federal agents and subjected to frightening interrogation. Like the Japanese-Americans in World War II, many Muslims in this country, particularly those of Middle Eastern or Asian origin, since September 11, 2001 have felt like a community under siege, thought to be somehow linked to the “enemy.”

All of Dr. Dhafir’s assets were seized, including his passport. He has been incarcerated and repeatedly denied bail even though a growing community of support has pledged over one million dollars in collateral on his behalf. Government representatives claim Dhafir will try to flee the country if he is released, even though he would be monitored by the police and would have to wear a location device fixed to his ankle. Meanwhile his Constitutional rights have been denied, his medical practice stopped, and the charity he founded shut down. So far he has not been formally charged with terrorism, but rather with overcharging for Medicaid. That, however, is a very different matter and appears to be a ploy to go after Help the Needy. At any rate it is no excuse for denying Dr. Dhafir his Constitutional rights.

For several days after his arrest there was no news coverage of this assault on the Muslim community. Eventually, however, thanks to strong ecumenical and interfaith support by local religious leaders and the persistence of a local reporter, the sordid news finally became public, demonstrating the essential importance of people willing to speak out for anyone or any group that has been marginalized and had their rights denied.

Another example of Homeland Insecurity is found in the article in this issue by Karen Cunningham, professor at Kent State in Ohio. Since May 4, 1970, when four students were killed and nine wounded by the National Guard during a peace protest against the Vietnam war, Kent State has been a reminder that we must be vigilant in standing up for our rights and that we must hold our officials accountable for their actions. A peaceful demonstration planned for May 4, 2003 was disrupted and broken up by police-state tactics that violated even the sacred space of the memorial built to commemorate the events of 1970.

Such incidents are a troubling echo of the McCarthy era that many of us lived through, a time when Cold War hysteria and irrational anti-Communism swept the country. People were blacklisted, jobs and careers were lost, progressive and even moderate voices were brought under suspicion.

I was a seminary student at Southern Methodist University in Dallas when I had a letter to the editor published in the Dallas Morning News in 1954. In the letter I criticized Senator Joseph McCarthy. That morning the president of the university, Willis Tate, received forty phone calls telling him there was a Communist in the seminary!

Dr. Tate invited me to his office that afternoon. He said that SMU was firmly committed to academic freedom and would support the right of students and faculty to say what they thought. He only admonished me to make sure I always had the facts when I went public—good advice and encouragement that has stayed with me all these years.

Rather than being intimidated by this assault on our freedom, the present situation is a challenge to each one of us to speak out and to support the right of others to do likewise. The truth shall make us free.

 

Richard Deats

editor@forusa.org