the following transcripted tim robbins speech is a bit long, but it’s well worth reading. we currently have an administration who, along with their private sector cronies, are riding rough-shod over the constitution. if we do not vigorously oppose the people who are trying to obliterate our constitutionally defined rights we will find ourselves living in a country that will increasingly resemble an iron-curtain police state.
thanks,
mobytim robbins: thank you. and thanks for the invitation. ihad originally been asked here to talk about the war and our current political situation, but i have instead chosen to hijack this opportunity and talk about baseball and show business. (laughter.) just kidding. sort of.
i can’t tell you how moved i have been at the overwhelmingsupport i have received from newspapers throughout the country in these past few days. i hold no illusions that all of these journalists agree with me on my views against the war. while the journalists’ outrage at the cancellation of our appearance in cooperstown is not about my views, it is about my right to express these views. i am extremely grateful that there are those of you out there still with a fierce belief in constitutionally guaranteed rights. we need you, the press, now more than ever. this is a crucial moment for all of us.
for all of the ugliness and tragedy of 9-11, there was abrief period afterward where i held a great hope, in themidst of the tears and shocked faces of new yorkers, inthe midst of the lethal air we breathed as we worked atground zero, in the midst of my children’s terror at beingso close to this crime against humanity, in the midst of all this, i held on to a glimmer of hope in the naive assumption that something good could come out of it.
i imagined our leaders seizing upon this moment of unityin america, this moment when no one wanted to talkabout democrat versus republican, white versus black, orany of the other ridiculous divisions that dominate our public discourse. i imagined our leaders going on television telling the citizens that although we all want to be at ground zero, we can’t, but there is work that isneeded to be done all over america. our help is neededat community centers to tutor children, to teach them toread. our work is needed at old-age homes to visit the lonely and infirmed; in gutted neighborhoods to rebuild housing and clean up parks, and convert abandoned lots to baseball fields. i imagined leadership that would take this incredible energy, this generosity of spirit and create a new unity in america born out of the chaos and tragedy of 9/11, a new unity that would send a message to terrorists everywhere: if you attack us, we will become stronger, cleaner, better educated, and more unified. you will strengthen our commitment to justice and democracy by your inhumane attacks on us. like a phoenix out of the fire, we will be reborn.
and then came the speech: you are either with us oragainst us. and the bombing began. and the old paradigm was restored as our leader encouraged us to show our patriotism by shopping and by volunteering to join groups that would turn in their neighbor for any suspicious behavior.
in the 19 months since 9-11, we have seen our democracycompromised by fear and hatred. basic inalienable rights, due process, the sanctity of the home have been quickly compromised in a climate of fear. a unified american public has grown bitterly divided, and a world population that had profound sympathy and support for us has grown contemptuous and distrustful, viewing us as we once viewed the soviet union, as a rogue state.
this past weekend, susan and i and the three kids went toflorida for a family reunion of sorts. amidst the alcohol and the dancing, sugar-rushing children, there was, of course, talk of the war. and the most frightening thing about the weekend was the amount of times we were thanked for speaking out against the war because that individual speaking thought it unsafe to do so in their own community, in t