(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)
And USA – the land of the free and home of the brave - there is hardly a term that has more definitions than 'freedom'. It was a cornerstone of the then thirteen British colonies' Declaration of Independence of 4 July 1776, with the formulation "We hold these to be self-evident truths: that all men are born equal, and that they have been given certain inalienable rights by their Creator. Among these is the right to life, to freedom and to seek happiness.” There were truths with modifications. The 'Creator' had little control over the fact that male Americans from First Nations and African Americans were not counted among 'all people'. A large part of these groups were slaves, including workers on Thomas Jefferson's plantation. Jefferson was the author of the declaration, America's third president and otherwise of the opinion that blacks and whites could not live together as equals. Women were naturally a non-topic in the context. Among other things, they had to rein in their patience until 1920 before they got the right to vote.
The extraction of phosphate is considered one of the dirtiest industries in the world.
The freedom struggle, in all its forms, has retained its luster as well as its divisive spark. Former President Donald Trump is building its new campaign on this fight. After he has been legally accused of various illegalities, he has trumpeted on his media platform that “they want to deprive me of my FREEDOM; I will NEVER allow them to take away your FREEDOM”. Trump has understood this: Hardly any topic gets him as many supporters as promises of this type.
Equality ideal and slavery
Journalist Julian Heißler's starting point in the book is how central the concept of freedom is to the self-image of US Americans Solo è il coraggio Giovanni Falcone Il romanzo. In a mixture of reportage and analysis, he illuminates the complexity of this concept. Despite the obvious contradiction between the Declaration of Independence's ideal of equality and slavery, it took a civil war and the approval of an addition to the constitution
the law in 1868 for African Americans to be accepted as American citizens. The indigenous population, on the other hand, was barred from civil rights until Congress in 1924 finally passed the Indian Citizen Act. The statutory discrimination against Asian immigrants (through the Chinese Exclusion Act) on the other hand, applied until 1943. Ethnic discrimination in the USA persists despite improvements on paper, not least the murder of George Floyd in 2020 and the following riots evidence of.
Heißler quotes Sheyann Webb: As a five-year-old, in 1965, she participated in Martin Luther King jr.'s civil rights march in Selma, Alabama: "Things have progressed, but that doesn't mean things are getting better." That Barack Obama was succeeded by Donald Trump was, according to her, a sign that hateful racists had now got their long-awaited arena. In King's more conciliatory language it would probably say that setbacks were part of the arc of the moral universe. In any case, a sharpened ethnic or racial conflict probably also has something to do with a year. 2044 is considered to be the year that white Americans lose their majority status.
Free abortion
The right to decide freely over one's own body is a topic many of us became familiar with during the covid-19 pandemic. What was more important, your own body or that of others – which you exposed to infection by not wearing a mask or by not respecting distance rules? The body is the embodiment of the self. Nothing can be more than one's own inviolable property. Therefore, physical abuse is punishable. There are therefore separate rules for people in war. This is why abortion is so controversial.
The most frequent cause of death for children and young people in the USA is weapons.
In a divided America, the issue of abortion is a particularly divisive issue – ethically, politically and religiously. It says about the woman's right to decide over her own body; the state's right to prevent her from doing so; and the unborn person's right to life. One freedom means another's unfreedom. According to OECD statistics, less than a third of the American population trusts their government. Nevertheless, people – mainly in the conservative southern states – voted for their state governments, which in 2023 introduced abortion bans. For almost fifty years, women had had access to free abortion until the moment when the fetus would have been viable, around the 23rd or 24th week. Now the procedure was banned in thirteen states, even where the woman was the victim of rape, incest or where her life was in danger. The Washington Post have calculated that over 21 million women between the ages of 15 and 44 were already barred from access to terminated pregnancies in 2022. The number has almost certainly increased since then. Julian Heißler allows a pro-abortion spokeswoman to state: "The women are harassed, and they are denied the necessary medical treatment. It goes against human rights.”
Violence and weapons
As for the fight against vold, the definitions of this one word – freedom – have
diametrically opposed content, depending on political camp. Citizens' right to self-defense through armed resistance has strong and long traditions in the United States. Many consider the right to bear arms one of the pillars of the American freedom movement. To many outsiders, the Americans' love of guns seems almost absurd, not least on the basis of statistics: The most frequent cause of death for children and young people in the USA is guns. Between 2009 and 2018, 288 occurred shooting incidents in schools. Surveys show that more than 70 percent of the population wants more restrictive gun laws. But the gun lobby has more weight. For it, opposition to a stricter law is the first priority. It fights for the freedom to kill. Heißler concludes: "Considering those who have survived deadly assassinations and live with deep trauma – not to mention those who were killed – the trade-off between freedom and security here is a failure."
Nature is destroyed
The young German writer Heißler has traveled all over the United States and met people in different life situations, with different beliefs, in order to approach the explanation of the deep divide in society, in matters such as freedom of expression, the electoral system, the economy and the environment. It is an effective approach. For example, in the meeting with John Carter, an 80-year-old exceptional person in a green-stained vest, with a southern accent and a depressing knowledge of everything at stake. He is an environmentalist and thus – where he lives – about as rare as the animals and the nature he wants to save from extinction. Historically, no nation has blown so much harmful CO2 into the air like the US, although China is now surpassing them. In an increasingly polarized and flammable world, investment in own raw materials and independent industry is more important than ever.
Over 21 million women between the ages of 15 and 44 were already barred from access to terminated pregnancies in 2022.
The Carter standing and letting his gaze sweep over a depleted, poisoned patch of land in southeastern Idaho, the effort for flora and fauna is a David-versus-Goliath battle. Because beneath the slopes here, an expensive raw material slumbers: phosphate. This has been dug up for over a hundred years and is used for the production of fertilizers and herbicides, which American agriculture will not give up. The price is high. The extraction of phosphate is considered one of the dirtiest industries in the world. Nature is destroyed. Toxic heavy metals spread over the landscape, making people and animals sick. This conflict – the need for a healthy economy and jobs on the one hand and the need for a healthy nature on the other – is in John Carter's mind. At least Carter can debate freely, at least with himself.
Julian Heißler gives an orientation in the wilderness. He does that well and thoroughly. Without index finger.
