Opinion The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com 4 — Tuesday, November 15, 2016 EMILY WOLFE | CONTACT EMILY AT ELWOLFE@UMICH.EDU Human rights: not just an issue abroad ADITHI REDDI | OP-ED L ook at the person sitting next to you. Who are they? You question yourself: Are they different from you because of some physicality, some accent, or maybe they are just like you — human. That person might not be treated with the same respect and freedom as you. The year of 2016 has seen its fair share of human mistreatment — not just physically, but even verbally, considering our new president, Donald Trump, set his campaign platform on the misrepresentation of various minority groups. I can also say this as a student at the University of Michigan since I have seen the racist statements made about the Black and Muslim communities on campus. On Oct. 11, Kathryn Sikkink, the Ryan family professor of human rights policy at the Harvard Kennedy School, spoke at the University, discussing the human rights retrogression in which certain areas of human rights violations are suffering more than others. Disappointingly, Ms. Sikkink focused more on developing countries such as Syria and Rwanda, whose governments commit human rights violations than on developed countries that commit such violations as well — including the United States and its lack of human sensitivity or empathy, which I attribute to post-9/11 paranoia. There is not enough focus on developed nations committing human rights violations even though their governments blatantly carry them out. The United States is not the angelic nation of equal human rights that it is made out to be. If that were true, Amnesty International would not have urged President Obama to close Guantanamo Bay or even stop the arms supply to countries committing the human rights violations. One prisoner was held at Gitmo for 14 years without coviction. Further, some claim these prisoners have never been convicted because Congress has prohibited the White House from financing the trials of these prisoners. While Obama issued an executive order back in 2009 directing that the prison be shut down within one year, the question of when it will actually close remains open. Though some or many of these prisoners could hold vital information about terrorism, the torture they endure can never be justified as humane. In the initial chapters of “Human Rights in World History,” Peter Stearns discusses the U.S. intervention in the Middle East after 9/11 and questions whether the interrogation tactic and prisoner treatment of suspects violates the Geneva Code. This is one human physically and emotionally attacking another human to receive information. Such coercion leads to torture and therefore should never be justified. No matter what the suspected human being has done, how can you sit back in your chair and not even question their innocence? While the United States continues to keep these prisoners indefinitely — some of whom might be innocent — in what is considered the gutter of all prisons, the U.S. government continues to supply weapons to the Egyptian, Israeli, Saudi Arabian and other Middle Eastern governments. In another Time article, Jared Malsin writes about how the Saudi Arabian military coalition has killed an estimated 10,000 Yemenis since the start of their intervention in Yemen in March 2015 using the $20 billion arms deal they signed with the United States the same year. However, while the United States is monetarily backing countries with little regard for human rights, the White House administration continues to state that they have had “serious concerns about the conflict in Yemen and how it has been waged.” This shows that the United States has also waged this war simply by supplying the weapons. The focus of the American government and military cannot solely rely on extracting information to make the world a safer place. The government cannot strategize how to achieve its stated goals without considering how they treat the human beings. As individuals seek to educate themselves on current events, they must not look at a problem as solely happening in “another” part of the world. People must remember that the United States is a problem in foreign relations and the preservation of human rights, as exemplified in our country’s actions surrounding Gitmo. People living in this country must acknowledge its flaws. So look back at that person next to you. Have they been denied basic human rights as a direct or indirect result of the United States’ actions? With Donald Trump holding executive decision, the person next to you and many others like him or her could possibly lose a chance to use and vocalize their basic rights when necessary. Hold this country accountable for selectively choosing who joins the melting pot of the United States and selectively choosing who should receive what rights and when. Every human right should be a fixed one, not a conditional one. LAURA SCHINAGLE Managing Editor 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 tothedaily@michigandaily.com Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan since 1890. SHOHAM GEVA Editor in Chief CLAIRE BRYAN and REGAN DETWILER Editorial Page Editors Unsigned editorials reflect the official position of the Daily’s Editorial Board. All other signed articles and illustrations represent solely the views of their authors. Carolyn Ayaub Claire Bryan Regan Detwiler Brett Graham Caitlin Heenan Jeremy Kaplan Ben Keller Minsoo Kim Madeline Nowicki Anna Polumbo-Levy Jason Rowland Ali Safawi Kevin Sweitzer Rebecca Tarnopol Ashley Tjhung Stephanie Trierweiler EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS We are not defeated MELISSA STRAUSS | COLUMN E arly last Tuesday morning, I woke up at the crack of dawn, walked the five minutes from my house to Angell Elementary School and eagerly hopped in line to vote in my very first presidential election. I was giddy at the prospect of finally getting the chance to not only perform my civic duty, but also to cast my vote for the first female presidential nominee in our nation’s history. Afterward, I displayed my “I Voted” sticker on my shirt with a sense of immense pride. I spent the rest of the day a bundle of nervous energy, but unequivocally hopeful and excited for my country’s future. Later in the evening, as I watched the numbers roll in on CNN’s numerous screened walls, my elation from earlier in the day began to wane. As Wolf Blitzer frantically flitted across the room reporting Florida, Ohio, Virginia, Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and even New Hampshire as too close to call, I grew wary. As I saw the polling data from The New York Times and FiveThirtyEight slowly take her chance of winning from around 70 percent down to less than 30 percent, I was overcome with dread. And then they called Florida. And Ohio. And Pennsylvania. And Wisconsin. And most likely, Michigan. All in his favor. I felt a combination of soul-crushing devastation and paralyzing fear I never imagined I would experience in my lifetime. When my dad called me late Tuesday night, I couldn’t hold back my grief. I cried real, gut- wrenching tears I didn’t know I could muster in response to a political election. He comforted me, telling me again and again that I would be fine, my family would be fine. But I wasn’t crying just for myself. Despite the fact that I am a woman, I am a white, educated, middle-class person whose life will most likely not significantly change in the next four years. But so many millions of people in this country may not be fine. I cried for the Muslims in this country — built on freedom of religion — who are terrified they will be banned for their faith. I cried for the immigrants who helped build this country who don’t know whether to pack their bags now or hope they won’t be deported. I cried for the LGBTQ community who must now endure a vice president-elect who has advocated for increased funding to “institutions which provide assistance to those seeking to change their sexual behavior,” otherwise known as conversion therapy, to cure their supposed moral wrongs. I cried for the women in this country — myself included — who have been told that even if you rise to the highest ranks of your profession, you will still be beaten out by a man with fewer (or no) credentials for the job. And I cried for the half of this country that is so unhappy with our system of government that they felt the need to overhaul it completely by voting for the new president-elect. And yet, I realize my empathy is not enough. Writing this article and speaking with my other privileged friends is not enough. Posting messages of solidarity on Facebook and Twitter and Instagram is not enough. While it is true that we must come to terms with a president- elect many of us so vehemently opposed, we do not have to accept the bigotry, violence and hatred that has erupted in the wake of his victory. Things such as “daily lynching calendars” at the University of Pennsylvania, swastika graffiti on numerous storefronts nationwide and also the Muslim student forced to remove her hijab at the threat of being set aflame on this very campus are completely, incontrovertibly unacceptable. We — especially those of us who are privileged enough not to face prejudice and intolerance on a daily basis — must not fall silent. We must join in the protests, stand up as allies and hold each other accountable for our actions. Failing to act is an act in and of itself. Complacency is acceptance. Looking around campus on Wednesday and speaking with a number of students, I realize many people share my pain. This has been a difficult pill to swallow for so many of us at this university. Ninety percent of votes from student-heavy precincts in Ann Arbor were against the winning candidate. But despite all of this, if we also lose our faith in humanity, we let them win all over again. The messages chalked on Wednesday throughout the Diag of “You Belong Here,” “You Are Loved,” “You Matter” and more reminded me that there is still so much good in this country. We must work together to fix the major social, economic and political problems that led half of our country to vote against the system. We must work together to guarantee the safety and freedoms of all Americans — white, Black, immigrant, Christian, Muslim, Jewish, gay, straight, trans, young, old and every single person far and in between — because these people are the very foundation upon which our nation stands. It may seem like there is nothing we can do now, but I assure you this is far from the truth. Action starts today. Tell someone you love them. Take a look around and find the beauty in this world because there is still so much of it. Stand up for all of those facing growing marginalization and suffering from despicable acts of hatred we have seen increase in the past few days. Participate in protests and sign petitions. Write letters to your representatives. Regardless of their side of the aisle, remind them of your values, your priorities and that they represent you. Take action for social change, whether that be by donating to an organization, joining a campaign, participating in a movement or anything else that drives a cause you care about. Think critically about blindly following party lines. Though they seem a lifetime away now, midterm elections take place in two years. Think about your personal values and how to pick candidates — on either side — that actually represent these values. And finally, find your passion and pursue it vigorously. We all have so much to offer, and together we can work for a better tomorrow. Today we are afraid. Today we are hurt. But today and every day, we are not defeated. MELISSA STRAUSS Melissa Strauss can be reached at melstrau@umich.edu. Now is not the time for BDS JESSE ARM | OP-ED A round this time a year ago, the Daily, as well as many other publications throughout the country, covered the University of Michigan Central Student Government’s first-ever Ethics Committee investigation. It was a probe to determine if I, an elected member of CSG at the time, was guilty of committing an unprecedented ethical violation because of my public and civil condemnation of an anti-Israel apartheid wall erected on campus. Eventually, I was vindicated of any wrongdoing after a long, stressful process that included numerous threats and harassments by classmates and online trolls that went on for weeks after the investigation ended. Because of this horrifically negative experience and the unwanted attention paid to me in both the CSG weekly agenda and in The Michigan Daily, I have refrained from writing about my experience or matters pertinent to this subject. Today, I no longer feel I can remain silent. On the night of Tuesday, Nov. 15, CSG will vote on a measure dealing with the proposed imposition of boycotts, divestment and sanctions against Israel, and Israel alone. This legislation is being brought forth by the same student organization that led the failed effort demanding my removal from the assembly, Students Allied for Freedom and Equality. This political organization has brought forth what I believe to be immoral legislation. The resolution is not an accurate representation of the University student population’s views on human rights violations, but is merely packaged and presented as such. In reality, it is a position offering only one narrative in the incredibly complex Arab- Israeli conflict, chock-full of regressive solutions that will only impede dialogue and aggravate tensions. It has been a difficult few weeks and months leading up to the proposition of this boycott declaration. Following the 2016 election cycle, there has been a deplorable uptick in Islamophobia, anti-Semitism and other hateful rhetoric that brings toxicity to this campus and across our nation. However, the University’s student government is attempting to place all the blame for a continuing Israeli presence in the West Bank on Israel, without any acknowledgement of Palestinian leadership’s rejection of Israeli peace proposals. Had they been considered, these proposals would have brought an end to the alleged occupation on at least three separate occasions (1967, 2001 and 2007). For CSG to impose a boycott on the nation state of the Jewish people at this juncture in history, without any suggestion of boycotting those who have rejected peace time and again, is immoral and a targeted attack on the Jewish people. Israel holds a special place in my heart as the ancestral homeland of my long-displaced, nomadic people. All Jews share this historical connection to the land of Israel. But even if we set history and the well-documented, unbroken 3,000-year-old Jewish presence in the land of Israel aside, Israel today is a beacon of liberalism, freedom and democracy. Arab citizens in Israel, both men and women, have rights unparalleled to most places in the world. They serve in the national legislature, the Supreme Court, in academia, business, medicine, law and in virtually every other professional sphere. Israel’s record on rights for women and LGBTQ people is among the most progressive in the world. The nation’s ability to keep civilian casualties low throughout its history, despite wars with enemies who hide their soldiers behind their citizenry, is also unprecedented. And most critically, any Arab or other citizen of Israel is free to take up any grievance he or she has with his or her government or larger society in the courts or in the international media, because the right to access the courts and speech are unabridged in Israel. These are liberties that not as widely held in the rest of the Middle East and across much of the world at large. When a boycott movement is targeted exclusively at the world’s sole Jewish nation, a nation with an incomparable commitment to the protection of human rights, one must consider the prospect of bigotry at play. Equally important, a boycott of Israel would irrevocably damage the lives of Palestinian workers who rely on Israeli firms for economic sustenance (in the West Bank and in Israel proper). It would damage the lives of all citizens across the globe who enjoy the benefits of Israeli technological and medical innovation. And it would damage the lives of Muslims, Christians and Jews who rely on the state of Israel for protection from radical terrorist groups seeking as much bloodshed as possible. Now is not the time to focus our attention away from what is happening on our campus, in our country and in other corners of the world where real injustice, bigotry and even genocide is occurring. Now is not the time to overemphasize flaws and promulgate lies about the world’s sole Jewish nation. Now is not the time to propel a BDS movement endorsed by terrorist sympathizers, Holocaust deniers and noted bigots like David Duke, former Ku Klux Klan imperial wizard, according to The Algemeiner and Israel National News, respectively. Now is not the time for capitulation to clear double standards. Now is not the time for further division within our deeply fractured nation and campus. Now is not the time for BDS. Jesse Arm is in an LSA junior. Adithi Reddi is in an LSA junior.