What if Donald J. Trump had his positive effects?
After having spent the last few days, as I believe (almost) everyone, incredulous, heartbroken and shocked at the havoc that the new President of the United States of America is doing - of international law, human rights, principles of civilization, tolerance and freedom, in short, of the democratic achievements of our age, and all this with a few quick leaps made in a few frantic hours - today I started to see things from a different perspective.
I do not know if it is one of what psychologists could call survival techniques, mechanisms put in place by the psyche to gild the pill (by ourselves) and move forward in difficult situations that would otherwise undermine morale.
But Trump, so at least today it seems to me, is succeeding in various rare and commendable feats: revitalizing the civic conscience of the so-called West, the sense of indignation of the sleepy and opulent bourgeoisie, the spirit of resistance of the apathetic young people, as well as, last but not least , to spur the policies of our European governments.
In these days in the squares (including media, from social networks to television) the value of legality, solidarity, hospitality towards immigrants, respect for religions and foreigners, the affirmation of the inviolability of freedoms has been staged individuals, anti-racism, the defense of women ... It was probably since the 70s that such a mobilization was not seen, and moreover on a planetary scale!
But beyond the squares, what seems significant to me and gives me hope today is the fact that an independent and progressive organization such as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which deals with the protection of civil and constitutional rights, a single weekend has collected six times on-line as it normally does in a year! The record amount raised is $ 24 million in online donations from over 356,000 people.
Aclu, to be clear, is the organization that within a few hours of its enactment managed to partially suspend Trump's executive order that blocks access to the United States for citizens of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Yemen , Syria, Somalia, Sudan. Upon appeal by Aclu's lawyers, the judge stopped the deportation of some people, including a Syrian woman who risked being sent back to Syria. A few hours later another judge in another court blocked the deportations of those in possession of the "green card" and ordered them to have access to lawyers.
Certainly the cases are destined to multiply in the coming days. What the final overall results will be is not yet known, as the Trump administration insists it will go straight ahead in its line. But yes, today I am optimistic, like the director of Aclu, who ironically declared (mocking Trump): "I hope Trump loves to lose [in court], because he will lose so much that we will be sick of his defeats".
For the record, the total number of refugees welcomed into the United States after September 11, 2001 from the 7 countries affected by the presidential access ban is less than the number of people who donated to Aclu over the past weekend: 335,000 refugees in all. the United States for the past 15 years. To have a comparison, just think that Angela Merkel's Germany in recent years has already welcomed one million Syrian refugees. It is no coincidence that it is precisely the German Chancellor, among the political leaders, who reminds the President of the United States that his executive order, which blocks indiscriminate access to all citizens of the aforementioned countries on the sole basis of their citizenship, affixing a sort of presumption of generalized danger, violates not only the American Constitution, but also international law and in particular the Geneva Convention on refugees.
Germany has already announced that it will consider what legal actions to take to protect citizens with dual citizenship, German and "banned" countries, before US and international courts. Certainly rejecting a refugee / asylum seeker just because he comes from a particular country is a serious violation of international law, all the more so if he is sent back to a country where his fundamental rights are in danger (so-called principle of non-refoulement).
In short, something is moving, and it is no small thing, especially in light of the hypocritical immigration policy that has characterized our governments in Europe over the past 15 years. Donald J. Trump is also having this paradoxical effect, throwing our outraged European leaders into much more progressive and principled positions than they actually ever wanted and could do.
