My Ten New Year Resolutions for 2010

By Curtis Doebbler

ccun.org, January 4, 2010

Dear Editor,
 
The New Year is a time for making resolution for the year ahead. Mine are as follows:
 
1. I will refuse to believe what my government tells me, merely because it tells me something, and I will  judge its actions international law.
 
2. I will support people who fight for their independence against foreign occupiers as this is a moral duty and legal right.
 
3. I will continue to reject violence, but at the same time try to understand the point of view of people who hate my country's violations of their rights to such an extent that they might turn to violence as the only way they think they can respond to our violence against them.
 
4. I will laugh and then cry when I hear our leaders speak as if we are better than others because I will remember that we are all created equal, but some of us have had unfair advantages.
 
5. I will remember how my ancestors, and I, have exploited our environment to such an extent as to make it unlivable for future generations in some parts of the world.
 
6. I will do everything I can to ensure that support the efforts of those who have suffered and will suffer damages from our pollution and other destruction of our planet's environment are able to get restitution from us.
 
7. I will support the human rights of all, realizing that these rights include communal rights and social and economic rights for which other states, like my own, might be responsible for violating even in distant parts of the world.
 
8. I will uphold the law in the interest of the least wealthy and most vulnerable among us, realizing that the rich and powerful don't need the law to protect them.
 
9. I will daily remind myself that just because George W. Bush is no longer President does not mean that the US will stop using violence in its foreign policy
 
10. And, I will remember that terrorism is not merely the work of deviant minds, but also of our unfair and often illegal treatment of other around the world.
 
These are the New Year's resolutions of an open-minded, internationally conscious American.
 
Regards,
Curtis Doebbler
Lawyer
Washington, DC, USA
Tel: +39-041-937664
Tel: +41-79-304-4654