Over the weekend, Edinburgh Western MSP Alex Cole-Hamilton went to his second protest of the week against Donald Trump’s travel ban in Edinburgh. This time, he spoke to the 1500 strong crowd. Here’s what he said:
Edinburgh I’m proud to know you.
You’re in great voice and that matters because we are here, we are unified and we are part of a global resistance to the biggest threat to humanity since the Second World War.
Now I don’t know about you but I settled down to watch the US election results with hope in my heart. Hope that I could look my two year old daughter Darcy, who’s here today, that I could look her square in the eye and say Darcy, let there be no limit to your ambition, let there be no limit to your feeling or self worth or your position and safety in our new society. (At this point Darcy clambered on stage and into his arms)
But as the night wore on, I had to drastically rethink what I would say to her. A cold misogyny, a new paradigm of racism and homophobia was taking hold of a country that I have long admired and I couldn’t believe it. I still can’t.
So, I got out of my chair and I stood up. Like all of you here, I stood up. In the months before Inauguration when Trump took shots at the freedom of the press, I stood up. When he started to fill his White House with white male bigots I stood up and when he closed the border to families from Syria on their knees in search of sanctuary, I stood up. I’m proud to stand with you today Edinburgh, we are part of a global movement and we will not sit down, let me hear you!
We will not, we utterly refuse to sit down, because apathy and fatigue is what he wants that’s what they want. They want to test us now and tire us out so that ultimately we’ll go back to what we were doing, buckle in and accept what ever comes next.
Instead, today we follow the example of those lawyers hunkered down in JFK international airport filing Habeas Corpus petitions for travellers affected by the Muslim ban last weekend. In the shadow of the Statue of Liberty- mother of exiles they turned the weight of the law against Trump so that the US could fulfil the pledge made to refugees etched I stone at her feet:
“Give me your weak and your poor, your huddled masses yearning to be free”
Today we march for our brothers and sisters of Islam, but tomorrow it could be the gay community, or rape survivors; the African American community or climate change scientists, whatever the frontier we will hold the line and show Trump, his puppet masters and the watching world that we will not tire we will not sit down we will only resist.
Now I’m a Liberal Democrat, but that doesn’t matter today, I’m proud to stand with people of all parties and of none, but I’m going to finish with a message for the prime minister. Theresa May when you clasp hands with this man and offer him the full pomp and majesty of a state visit, you diminish yourself, you diminish the office you hold and you diminish our nation.
Rescind the invitation today, remind yourself that no trade deal is worth a fire sale of our values or our respect for human rights and the rule of law. Send him a message that ours is a decent, open tolerant country, our nation, like his is a tapestry of immigrants.
Keep fighting Edinburgh we have a long road to travel, but we will prevail.
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6 Comments
The epistrophe is a tad self-aggrandising, no?
The act of protest is not only legitimate, but I would say it is probably the duty, of all citizens in a free society, to at times display their displeasure against some or other political Act, policy, or politician, who it is felt, is not acting in their, or their society’s best interests.
The CND rallies of the 1960’s, . the Poll Tax protests,.. the anti Iraq war protests, … Black Lives Matter, … all legitimate and worthy protests within a healthy democracy.
But something different,… dark,.. and frankly very dangerous has shown its intolerant face in the last 12 months, both in relation to the Brexit referendum result, and the Trump presidency.
As part of Alex Cole-Hamilton’s statement he says :
“A cold misogyny, a new paradigm of racism and homophobia was taking hold of a country that I have long admired and I couldn’t believe it. I still can’t.”
This comment, both in style and content, is a very recent and a simulacrum response, to both the Brexit result and the Trump presidency, and is simply not acceptable, within the defines of an otherwise legitimate protest.
Protesting against unwanted policy is acceptable, but what is not acceptable and indeed antagonistic, [to the point of enticing civil disturbance], is this coarse denigration of voters who deviate [for valid legitimate concerns!], from the ‘preferred’, but failed 25 year western liberal narrative.
Let’s just reflect that the liberal narative over 25 years, in the guise of the Clinton(s) and the Blair(s), have failed huge swathes of the population very badly. Those who feel left-behind, haven’t just rejected liberal Clinton~ism and Blair~ism on a mere whim,… they are angry at the constant rejection of their concerns and demise.
You failed them… and they are determined to get even!
I don’t fear genuine protest,…. but I do fear that this is becoming a visceral, personal, tribal and very close to ungovernable impasse on both sides of the Atlantic. It may not have been what you wished, but the reality is that Brexit won the democratic test, as did the Trump presidency. If democracy matters to you,…then its result, however distasteful, must be adhered to, because to reject democracy, as appears to be occuring amongst some sour liberals, is to precipitate something far worse.?
What must surely be undeniable, is that if the people, are not on-board with your views, then your politcal voice is lost.
Sorry, J Dunn, are you saying that Trump is not racist or sexist, or are you saying that opposing racism and sexism amounts to coarse denigration of the voters and is therefore not acceptable in a democracy?
Why do people have to overdo it ? “The biggest threat to humanity since the second world war !” Could someone , perhaps the speaker of this explain.
That’s from a good , apparently measured, Liberal politician.
Trump and his ilk have no sterner critic than I. But I have the ability to see things straight. Trump is many things . According to this article , he and all he represents is a greater threat to human beings than…
Stalin…Mao… Pol Pot…Franco…Pinochet…Amin… Mengistu…Mugabe…the mafia… the IRA…the Red Brigade…Al Quaida… ISIS…?!
I know this decent man didn’t mean it that way . So why say it ?
We have no claim to measured or moderate and cannot be taken seriously if we overblow language !
I just cannot get dewy-eyed over Hilary Clinton. She has presided over invasions, stoked up wars, interfered in the running of other countries to the detriment of the local people, supported murderous despots, stood by whilst democracy campaigners were killed and launched attacks that have killed vast numbers of non-combatants. Donald Trump is dangerous, no doubt, but it’s not like Hilary was trying to spread worldwide liberty, equality and fraternity, either.
Ah, Mr. Shepherd, you and many others cannot go for Clinton, who was in my view better than many think, but what of our msp and Trump , herein ?
I was very interested to find out how he , the subject of the article , would justify his claim on Trump et al , that I mention, earlier, or if misunderstood , how so ?