Douglas Alexander
I love the US enough to protest
Ex-International Development Secretary
OVER the past three decades, I’ve studied in the US, travelled in the US, and now spend part of my time teaching at a US university.
I’ve sat with US presidents, vice-presidents and secretaries of state.
Today, I’ll be standing in George Square to protest against Donald Trump.
As a Foreign Office minister, I understood that diplomacy involves meeting those who have repellent views and repressive policies, but higher standards apply to the US president.
High office doesn’t change your character – it reveals it.
Only last month, Trump ordered US Government agents to separate migrant children from their parents. Frightened, helpless toddlers were held in wire cages.
Trump’s response? He said: “These aren’t people, these are animals…” Neutrality in the face of such immorality is the coward’s choice.
Of course, demonstrations alone will not stop Donald Trump but as Dr Martin Luther King taught us: “The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over this by the good people.”
Our silence would represent a moral failure.
I draw my inspiration from the words of a very different Donald – our first first minister, Donald Dewar.
On the day the Scottish Parliament opened in 1999, I heard him say: “This is about more than politics and laws. This is about who we are, how we carry ourselves.”
So let’s come together to oppose Trump and uphold the timeless values carved into the mace of the Scottish Parliament – wisdom, justice, compassion and integrity.