Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
SHAME OF THE STATUE OF LIBERTY63Bartholdi had constructed with the assistance <strong>of</strong> Alexandre-GustavEiffel, the famous engineer and builder <strong>of</strong> the Eiffel Tower. ThisStatue <strong>of</strong> Liberty became world famous as a symbol <strong>of</strong> human freedom.It inspired freedom movements all over the world. Emma Laurus, anAmerican poetess’ poem, The New Colossus, celebrating the spirit <strong>of</strong> Liberty,was chosen to be inscribed on the base <strong>of</strong> the Statue <strong>of</strong> Liberty, reading:“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries sheWith silent lips, “Give me your tired, your poor,Your huddled masses yearning to breath free,The wretched refuse <strong>of</strong> your teeming shore,“Send these, the homeless, tempest-lost to me,I light my lamp beside the golden door!”And incidentally, the Universal Declaration <strong>of</strong> Human Rightswas adopted by the founding member nations in Paris itself on 10thDecember, 1948. However, contradiction <strong>of</strong> France on human rightscontinued – one policy for internationally supporting the human rightsand the other domestic one, curtailing the human rights <strong>of</strong> the people.Frederic Bastiat, one distinguished jurist <strong>of</strong> France, has clearly said,“It is not true that the function <strong>of</strong> law is to regulate our conscience,our ideas, our wills, our education, our opinions, our work, our trade,our talents, or our pleasures. The function <strong>of</strong> law is to protect the freeexercise <strong>of</strong> these rights, and to prevent any person from interferingwith the free exercise <strong>of</strong> these same rights by any other person”.However, in 21st Century, France is doing exactly the opposite –trying to regulate the conscience <strong>of</strong> the people through the force <strong>of</strong>law. Lady Liberty, looking at France across the Atlantic, must be feelingashamed <strong>of</strong> the new concept <strong>of</strong> liberty in France. Alas! the nation,which took pride in celebrating the independence <strong>of</strong> an other nationby constructing such a colossal symbol <strong>of</strong> Liberty, has come to thelevel <strong>of</strong> forfeiting the liberty <strong>of</strong> others – forgetting the Voltaire spirit – bypassing such retrogressive laws which humiliate the people by removingtheir turbans. This unfortunate repetition <strong>of</strong> history is really agonizing.The lesson which disillusioned Napoleon the Great left for hisson in his Will needs to be re-read by the French: “To govern is toincrease and spread morality, education, and happiness,” if they wantto avoid such disillusionment in times to come.¤
Change language