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Rebuttal to Translators Who Object to
President Trump's Travel Ban
by Gloria Merle Huffman
2/1/2017
(669 words)
Wed., 2/1/2017 1:40 am EST - Six foreign language translation organizations' leaders have issued a Joint Statement, dated 1/31/2017, objecting to President Trump's executive order on travel from seven countries to the United States. They have no right to use their position to speak as though on behalf of their combined memberships in this partisan fashion. See their letter online at the link below.[1]
My reply to them is as follows:
I was unprepared to receive a political email said to be a joint statement from six language translation organizations posing as a mouthpiece for all of their members regarding President Trump's recent three-month temporary travel moratorium.
A "Joint Statement?" Jointly declared with whom? The leadership of the six signatories? Do you speak for everyone? Or are you just a close-knit club, infatuated with your own point of view? I strongly suggest that you all issue an apology for this foray into partisanship.
The world of translation organizations is not the vehicle for erecting barriers to efforts to make the United States and other countries safer from radical Islamic terrorism.
The bigger picture is not the inconvenience suffered in the short term: missed appointments, or separation of friends, family members and employees/employers. The bigger picture is that temporary separation is far preferable to the eternal separation of death as meted out by terrorists who operate in a wholly unacceptable new way: warriors in the guise of ordinary civilians.
If you are not old enough to remember anything about the clearly-marked national insignia of World War II soldiers and their equipment, or do not recall the new fighting style of guerrilla warfare in the jungles of Southeast Asia and the new tactics needed to fight against soldiers cloaked in camouflage, perhaps you do not see the need for a new response to sudden terrorist shootings and bombings of innocent civilians here in America and around the world. You are taking a short-sighted view of Trump's temporary travel policies.
I will translate your current stance into an analogy with recent history: your words are like those of young French people who thought La Marseillaise was indeed too bloody to be their national anthem in this modern and enlightened age ... until the bloody shootings at Charlie Hebdo in Paris on November 13, 2015. Then, in shock, they walked tearfully through the streets of the City of Light, arm in arm, singing La Marseillaise with new insight and the spirit of resistance in their hearts.
"... See the bloody flag of oppression
raised against us, tyranny's near ...
raised against us, tyranny's near.
O can you hear how in the fields
the dread clamor of soldiers alarms?
They're coming straight into our arms,
sworn to kill our husbands, wives and children. ...
O sacred love of country, guide us,
our arms avenging yet sustain.
Blessèd Liberty, blessèd Freedom,
fight beside your defenders again,
fight beside your defenders again. ..." [2]
We are at war. Do not use emotional language to try to neutralize wise efforts to find effective ways to resist the avowed enemies of the United States.
I enjoy hearing the opinions of people opposed to Trump's executive order on this matter, and would not object to your statement if it were correctly identified as coming from specific individuals who signed their names, not from the six groups listed.
Did you ask the entire membership of your groups to vote on your personal statement before you emailed it? Of course not. You simply hijacked your mailing lists to spread your own point of view in their name, hoping to put clout into your demand that the President rescind his order by making it look like an official proclamation with the backing of your hundreds of members. Shame on you.
Just apologize before you cause a political rift in these organizations. Let's get things back into their proper relationships.
Respectfully,
Gloria Merle Huffman
[1] http://us2.campaign-archive1.com/?u=e0cb770c6c7128538f3b265d7&id=bf71f3c2a6&e=57e72054e2
[2] From "La Marseillaise (The Spirit of Marseille)," 2016 metric match English singing translation by Gloria Merle Huffman.
© 2017 Gloria Merle Huffman
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