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Statement by Tim Robbins
National Press Club, Washington, DC
April 15, 2003
I had 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. Just
kidding. Sort of.
I can't tell you how moved I have been at the overwhelming support
I have received from newspapers throughout the country these past
few days. I hold no illusions that all of these journalists agree
with me on my views against the war. While the journalist's 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 the ugliness and tragedy of 9-11 there was a brief period
afterwards where I held a great hope. In the midst of the tears
and shocked faces of New Yorkers, in the midst of the lethal air
we breathed as we worked at Ground Zero, in the midst of my children's
terror at being so close to this crime against humanity, in the
midst of all of this I held onto a glimmer of hope in the naive
assumption that something good could come out of all this. I imagined
our leaders seizing upon this moment of unity in America, this moment
when no one wanted to talk about Democrat vs. Republican, white
vs. black or any 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 is needed to be done all over America.
Our help is needed at community centers, to tutor children, to teach
them to read, 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 into 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, 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 re-born.
And then came the speech. "You are either with us or against
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 democracy compromised
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 to Florida
for a family re-union of sorts. Amidst the alcohol and the dancing
sugar rushing children there was, of course talk of the war. 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 their
own life. "Keep talking. I haven't been able to open my mouth."
A relative tells me that a history teacher tells his eleven year
old son, my nephew, that Susan Sarandon is endangering the troops
by her opposition to the war. Another teacher in a different school
asks our niece if we were coming to the school play. "They're
not welcome here", said the molder of young minds. Another
relative tells me of a school board decision to cancel a civics
event that was proposing to have a moment of silence for those who
have died in the war because the students were including dead Iraqi
civilians in their silent prayer. A teacher in another nephew's
school is fired for wearing a t-shirt with a peace sign on it. And
a friend of the family tells of listening to the radio down south
as the talk radio host calls for the murder of a prominent anti-war
activist.
Death threats have appeared on other prominent peaceniks doorsteps
for their views against the war. Realtives of ours have received
threatening e-mails and phone calls. My 13-year-old boy, who has
done nothing to anybody, has been embarrassed and humiliated by
a sadistic creep who writes, or rather, scratches, his column with
his fingers in the dirt. Susan and I have been listed as traitors,
as supporters of Saddam, and various other epithets by the Aussie
gossip rags masquerading as newspapers and by their “fair
and balanced” electronic media cousins 19th Century Fox. Apologies
to Gore Vidal. Two weeks ago, the United Way cancelled Susan's appearance
at a conference on women's leadership and both of us last week were
told that both we and the 1st Amendment were not welcome at the
Baseball Hall of Fame. A famous rock and roller called me last week
to thank me for speaking out against the war only to go on to tell
me that he could not speak himself because he fears repercussions
from Clear Channel. "They promote our concert appearances,"
he said. "They own most of the stations that play our music.
I can't come out against this war." And here in Washington
Helen Thomas finds herself banished to the back of the room and
uncalled on after asking Ari Fleisher whether our showing prisoners
of war at Guantanamo Bay on television violated the Geneva Convention.
A chill wind is blowing in this nation. A message is being sent
through the White House and its allies in talk radio and Clear Channel
and Cooperstown. "If you oppose this administration there can
and will be ramifications." Every day the airwaves are filled
with warnings, veiled and unveiled threats, spewed invective and
hatred directed at any voice of dissent. And the public like so
many relatives and friends that I saw this weekend sit in mute opposition
and in fear.
I'm sick of hearing about Hollywood being against the war. Hollywood's
heavy hitters, the real power brokers and cover of the magazine
stars have been largely silent on this issue. But Hollywood, the
concept has always been a popular target. I remember when the Columbine
high school shootings happened President Clinton criticized Hollywood
for contributing to this terrible tragedy. This as we were dropping
bombs over Kosova. Could the violent actions of our leaders contribute
somewhat to the violent fantasies our teenagers are having? Or is
it all just Hollywood and rock and roll? I remember reading at the
time that one of the shooters had tried to enlist to fight the real
war a week before he acted out his war in real life at Columbine.
I talked about this in the press at the time and curiously no one
accused me of being unpatriotic for criticizing Clinton. In fact,
the same talk, radio patriots that call us traitors today engaged
in daily personal attacks on their president during the war in Kosova.
Today, prominent politicians who have decried violence in movies,
(the blame Hollywooders if you will), recently voted to give our
current president the power to unleash real violence in our current
war. They want us to stop the fictional violence but are OK with
the real kind. And these same people that tolerate the real violence
of war don't want to see the result of it on the nightly news. Unlike
the rest of the world our news coverage of this war remains sanitized,
without a glimpse of the blood and gore inflicted upon our soldiers
or the women and children in Iraq. Violence as a concept, an abstraction.
It's very strange. As we applaud the hard-edged realism of the opening
battle scene of Saving Private Ryan, we cringe at the thought of
seeing the same on the nightly news. We are told it would be pornographic.
We want no part of reality in real life. We demand that war be painstakingly
realized on the screen but that war remain imagined and conceptualized
in real life.
And in the midst of all this madness, where is the political opposition?
Where have all the Democrats gone? Long time passing, long time
ago? With apologies to Robert Byrd, I have to say it is pretty embarrassing
to live in a country where a five foot one comedian has more guts
than most politicians. We need leaders, not pragmatists that cower
before the spin zones of former entertainment journalists. We need
leaders who understand the Constitution, Congressmen who don't,
in a moment of fear, abdicate their most important power, the right
to declare war, to the executive branch. And please, can we stop
the congressional sing a longs?
In this time when a citizenry applauds the liberation of a country
as it lives in fear of its own freedom, when an administration official
releases an attack ad questioning the patriotism of a legless Vietnam
veteran running for Congress, when people all over the country fear
reprisal if they use their right to free speech, it is time to get
angry. It is time to get fierce. It doesn't take much to shift the
tide. My eleven-year-old nephew mentioned earlier, a shy kid who
never talks in class, stood up to his history teacher who was questioning
Susan's patriotism. "That's my aunt you're talking about. Stop
it!" and the stunned teacher backtracked and began stammering
compliments in embarrassment. Sports writers across the country
reacted with such overwhelming fury at the Hall of Fame that the
president of the Hall admitted he made a mistake and Major League
Baseball disavowed any connection to the actions of the Hall's president.
A bully can be stopped. So can a mob. It takes one person with the
courage and a resolute voice. The journalists in this country can
battle back at those who would re-write our Constitution in the
Patriot Act II or Patriot, the sequel, as we would call it in Hollywood.
We are counting on you to star in that movie. Journalists can insist
that they not be used as publicists by this administration. The
next White House correspondent to be called on by Ari Fleischer
should defer their question to the back of the room to the banished
journalist de jour. Any instance of intimidation to free speech
should be battled against. Any acquiescence to intimidation at this
point will only lead to more intimidation. You have whether you
like it or not an awesome responsibility and an awesome power. The
fate of discourse, the health of this republic is in your hands,
whether you write on the left or the right. This is your time and
the destiny you have chosen. We lay the continuance of our democracy
on your desks and count on your pens to be mightier. Millions are
watching and waiting in mute frustration and hope. Hoping for someone
to defend the spirit and letter of our Constitution and to defy
the intimidation that is visited upon us daily in the name of national
security and warped notions of patriotism. Our ability to disagree,
and our inherent right to question our leaders and criticize their
actions define who we are. To allow those rights to be taken away
out of fear, to punish people for their beliefs, to limit access
in the news media to differing opinions is to acknowledge our democracy's
defeat. These are challenging times. There is a wave of hate that
seeks to divide us, right and left, pro-war and anti-war. In the
name of my 11-year-old nephew and all the other unreported victims
of this hostile and unproductive environment of fear, let us try
to find our common ground. Let us celebrate this grand and glorious
experiment that has survived for 227 years. To do so we must honor
and fight vigilantly for the things that unite us. Like freedom,
the first amendment and yes, baseball.
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