Crimes Against Humanity by WCN 6:26pm Wed Aug 20 '03 Garry Davis sues George W. Bush print article Crimes against Humanity. WCL 411 Like Howard Dean, who is now campaigning for the nomination of the Democratic party to fight the next Presidential elections, an eminent world citizen also lives in Vermont, where Dean is the Governor. The state is not only a beautiful place, it also seems to breeds some of the most outspoken and radical politicians in the US. What is coming from there and its federal court is of significance to the whole world. Garry Davis, "a stateless World Citizen", celebrated for over 50 years as 'World Citizen no. 1', despite his own disclaimer, is suing an American citizen, George W. Bush, for a "crime against humanity" as defined by the Nuremberg Tribunal of 1945. In 1985, Garry submitted a brief to the International Court of Justice at The Hague charging citizens Ronald Reagan and Mikhael Gorbachev as "war criminals" in accordance with the Nuremberg Principles and, as he says now, the "same charge obviously applies to citizen George W. Bush, who has at his command 6,000 plus nuclear "weapons" and has publicly announced his intentions as US Commander-in-chief to use them in a so-called preventive war against any other nation of his choosing.". Garry Davis's statement continues by pointing out that the indiscriminate destructive power of nuclear bombs, being genocidal, determines their illegality and thus identifies those responsible for their threat and use as a "crime against humanity." Garry, as a plaintiff citing The Alien Tort Claims Act, enacted by the US Congress in 1789, declares that his life is threatened - as is humankind itself - by George W. Bush¹s nuclear policy and he is seeking judicial relief from this felony before it is too late to protest. The obvious truth of this is not likely to be the issue, however. Rather the question will be whether the US legal system will face the issue and relate it to international law or will evade it and declare that the action is non-justiciable in a domestic law-court. Garry has continued in his statement to explain how he comes to be an (octogenarian) protester: 'I served as a B-17 bomber pilot in the 8th Air Force in WWII. After dropping my bombs (illegally) on civilians in Germany, and after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August, 1945, I decided that I could not participate again in the war-making of any nation-state, morally, politically or actually.' Like me, at the end of the war, Garry read 'The Anatomy of Peace' and was convinced by it. His story explained: 'As Einstein, Emery Reves and others claimed: "World peace requires world law." World law, however, begins with world citizens. Therefore, I declared myself a World Citizen on May 25, 1948 and simultaneously legally renounced my nationality to the United States thus becoming "stateless."' Garry fought the US government in the courts for several years, with the result that the Immigration and Naturalization Service has neither deported nor detained him, which are, he states, its only two legal options. Thus Garry still remains "physically" in the United States since then, still legally classified by the government as an "excludable alien", who they do not wish to exclude because the publicity would be so extremely uncomfortable. Garry has braved imprisonment in numerous countries during his years of greatest personal activity and won both support and obloquy in large measure for his outstanding diligence as a world citizen activist. Were that there were a thousand others as determined! Garry Davis has usually been a loner, striking out on his own followed only by a small group of supporters. Yet time and time again, despite the fears and doubts of less radical souls, he has shown a way of bold action and principle. This legal action is timely and worthy of support. If political opposition and legal chicanery doom it, that will not diminish the value as a landmark for others who should - and will - take it as an example. Anyone wishing to offer immediate support to Garry can contact him at World Government House, World Legal Fund, POB 9390, S. Burlington, VT 05407 by letter or checks. Encouragement by email to [email protected] could also be useful. There are others also suing over the illegal actions by American and British governments in Iraq and sooner or later they will have their effect. John Roberts 7/03 THE ANTIDOTE TO RACISM AND NATIONALISM - WORLD CITIZENSHIP NOTE - This series of World Citizen Letters presents an individual world citizen viewpoint that may also suit world federalists and other activists for peace and human unity. You are welcome to use material here for sending to others who may be interested. If you have received this World Citizen Letter from a friend and would like to receive others, please request to [email protected] Please note that two web-sites so far contain World Citizen Letters. The World Citizen Foundation (http://www.worldcitizen.org) is planning to put all the 350 plus World Letters on its website and on (http://www.vanguardonline.f9.co.uk/jrarchiv.htm) World News and Vanguard Online offers an edited selection. www.worldcitnews.org add your comments Source file