Transformational Windmills of Freedom and Independence
By: Leila Diab/Arab America Contributing Writer
In the United States of America, the Fourth of July holiday is a day to celebrate freedom, rights and mainly independence from the colonial power of England in 1776. However, there is more to the story for the celebration of Independence Day than is realized.
When there was no recourse for the peoples’ recognition of their rights, equal government representation under the law, or logical political comprise, the struggle for American independence from England erupted into an American Revolution.
Looking back to the 18th century, the United States was non-existent–an extension of England. What we now call states were the thirteen colonies.
These New England colonies were made up largely of British Puritans. English, Swedes, Dutch, Germans, enslaved Africans, Scots-Irish, and French were among the settlers present in the diverse cultural flood that arrived in these colonies on the Motherland of Native Indians. The new immigrant arrivals from England had a catastrophic interaction with the Native Indian givers’ population, the original inhabitants of the land.
After years of settlement in the colonies, people could freely develop without any interference from the British. But along the way, the reigning King of England imposed strict laws and orders over the colonies to further assert control over their concerns for governmental inclusion. The colonies did not agree to these new laws. Ultimately, it was a matter of mutual acceptance by Britain of their differences in cultural traditions and interests, compounded by economic, social, and political thoughts that shattered the colonies’ relationship with England, as well as with the Native Indians.
Unequivocally, in the 21st century, a nearly identical set of circumstances is waiting to erupt in an ultimate change for independence and freedom in the world. No change could be more appropriate in the name of justice, freedom, and human rights than for an independent Palestinian state to prevail after 70 years of illegal occupation.
When the people of the thirteen colonies deliberated on their dire need to be independent of England, their outrage galvanized them into a united resistance effort against the British occupiers’ unjust tax laws and tyrannical practices with slogans like, “No taxation without representation.”
On this Fourth of July, as in 1776 when history changed the course of independence and the people strove for democracy, both moderates and radicals declared that enough was enough. People such as John Adams, Samuel Adams, and Ben Franklin, as well as a group called the Sons of Liberty, decided that it was time to unite all the colonies and stand together against the British usurpation of their well being and rights.
The Declaration of Independence was drafted by John Adams, Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Robert R. Livingston, and Roger Sherman. After the first draft was written by Thomas Jefferson, it was revised by Ben Franklin, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson before it was sent to Congress for approval. All thirteen colonies stood behind the Declaration of Independence and adopted it in full on July 4, 1776. This Fourth of July should be celebrated with a tribute to the men and women who discreetly imbued the moral conscience of humankind. Albeit, the battle continues.
These are the transformational windmills of freedom and human rights in a nation’s cycle of independence.
Unemphatically, what conjures up in many Palestinians’ thoughts of Independence Day on this July 4th, 2018 is their own government’s documentation on a state of independence with the support of the United Nations.
In the Palestinian preamble on independence, it states,
“On the November 15, 1988, the independent state of Palestine was proclaimed by the Palestine National Council (PNC), meeting in Algiers, by a vote of 253 to 46, as well as in front of Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, the capital of the new state, after the close of prayers, in testament to the monumental importance of Al Aqsa Mosque to the Palestinian people. A remarkable opportunity for peace was created by the Palestinian Declaration of Independence because the PNC officially endorsed a two-state solution to resolve the basic conflict.”
According to United Nation sources, this Palestinian Declaration of Independence explicitly accepted the UN General Assembly’s Partition Resolution 181(II) of 1947, which called for the creation of a Jewish state and an Arab state in the former Mandate for Palestine, together with an international trusteeship for the City of Jerusalem. The significance of the PNC’s acceptance of partition in the Palestinian Declaration of Independence itself cannot be overemphasized.
“The metaphor for Palestine is stronger than the Palestine of reality” –Mahmoud Darwish, Palestinian Poet
When there was no hope for leadership for the people, by the people, recognition of their rights, equal government representation under the law, or any logical comprises, that is when the struggle for American independence from England abrupted into an American Revolution. The same holds true today for a revolutionary, nonviolent Palestinian resistance movement of independence to unhinge 70 years of an immoral and endless assault on the Palestinian existence under an apartheid system of injustice. This Fourth of July should be celebrated with a tribute to the men and women who discreetly imbued the moral conscience of humankind. Albeit, the battle continues.
Why do we celebrate the Fourth of July Independence Day?
This Fourth of July should be celebrated with a tribute to the men and women who have discreetly imbued the moral conscience of humankind. Albeit, the battle to speak out and make a difference continues as we raise the American flag with pride for those who have sacrificed their lives with human virtues for scrupulous moral change.
“May it be to the world, what I believe it will be … the signal of arousing men to burst the chains … and to assume the blessings and security of self-government. That form, which we have substituted, restores the free right to the unbounded exercise of reason and freedom of opinion. All eyes are opened, or opening, to the rights of man. … For ourselves, let the annual return of this day forever refresh our recollections of these rights and an undiminished devotion to them.” Thomas Jefferson.
Yes, these are the transformational windmills of freedom, democracy and the everlasting cycle of independence in any nation’s will of the people.