"The
hippies and beatniks of the '60s called for nothing but 'sit-ins' or
peaceful protests against the Vietnam War. The Tea Party and its backers call
for armed struggle and constantly refer to the 'tyranny' of the White
House. Perhaps the bullets of Tucson will cause some reflection among those who
call for murder, unless their violence is only beginning."
By Véronique Saint-Geours
and Jean-Sébastien Stehli
Whatever his motives, 22-year-old attacker Jared Loughner didn't differentiate between the parties of his victims. U.S. Federal Judge John Roll, a Republican and friend of Congresswoman Giffords, was one of those killed in the attack.
The mid-term election campaign
underscored the extreme violence that is part of daily life in Arizona, a state
where immigration is an infected abscess that Republican Governor Jan Brewer
has fashioned into a permanently live grenade. The well-known anti-immigrant
laws have inflamed the spirits (including the very feeble minded). And the unconstitutionality
some of them decry is fanning murderous hatred. From now on, contrary to the
American Constitution, police may question any person who appears illegal,
even though in the United States, one cannot be arrested without "probably
cause," as the Supreme Court has reaffirmed.
Bill Clinton, at the time of the
anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing, warned his
fellow countrymen against the verbal avalanche that is irrigating the country.
During the midterm campaign,
several representatives and Democratic members of Congress reported serious anger
at their appearances and even threats to their lives. Some found coffins in
front of their homes. The Republicans spoke of paranoia. Above all, the
inflammatory speech of the Tea Party, which considers the government tyrannical,
the elected as sodomites, and the country's demographic changes as a menace to
be fought by force of arms if necessary (one of the slogans regularly seen is
that "the tree of liberty must be regularly
watered by the blood of [patriots and] tyrants") contributed to
an explosive atmosphere. The Secret Service that protects the
president has never received as many death threats against an occupant of the
White House. In this unhealthy climate, GOP leaders failed to hear the voice of
reason, but sought instead to ride the wave of discontent with institutions.
The Tucson tragedy is the
practical result of the words of Sarah Palin. In recent months, she asserted that
some elected officials who are too far to the left were "in her crosshairs,"
and she published a list of those who were in those crosshairs.
Gabrielle Giffords was on
that list. Curiously, the map disappeared in the minutes that followed the
assassination of six people in a Safeway parking lot in Arizona. Arizona is a
state that sees itself on the front line against immigration. It is also the state
that began the [Republican] reconquest of the White House during the 1960s. It
is the state of Barry Goldwater, father of today's conservative movement long
before Ronald Reagan. It's also the state of John McCain. It could also soon be
a state for the Palin family, since Palin's daughter recently bought a residence
in that state.
The events in the United States
since the election of Barack Obama look like the clashes of the 1960s. But
what differentiates the two eras is the arrival of the Internet and Twitter, social
networks that disseminate ideas and watchwords at the speed of light. And the
hippies and beatniks of the '60s called for nothing but "sit-ins" or
peaceful protests against the Vietnam War. The Tea Party and its backers call
for armed struggle and constantly refer to the "tyranny" of the White
House. Perhaps the bullets of Tucson will cause some reflection among those who
call for murder, unless their violence is only beginning.
