A-list actress Angelina Jolie, who also works part-time for the UN, has spoken out critically against President Donald Trump’s recent ban of seven countries with predominantly Muslim populations. She argues that preventing refugees from entering the United States will not make the country safer. She wrote a piece for The New York Times in order to criticise the travel ban.
Travel ban to fuel extremism, says Jolie
Jolie wrote that Trump’s travel ban would throw fuel on the extremism fire, and that instead of fixing problems, the ban would instead create “more instability, hatred and violence.” She described refugees as “men, women and children caught in the fury of war,” and said that they are “far from being terrorists,” but quite the opposite in fact, saying that most refugees (more than 99% of them, actually) are “victims of terrorism themselves.”
The controversial ban, labelled by many as a “Muslim ban,” has provoked protests, not just in the US, but all over the world.
However, the Trump administration are calling the ban “a great success,” which is debatable. Jolie said that Trump’s motivations are “justifiable” by the threat of terrorism and the current refugee crisis, but did not condone how he went about it.
Jolie doesn’t hate Trump as much as you’d expect
Jolie wrote that the purpose of a Government is to “balance the needs of its citizens with its international responsibilities.” She says that the public’s response to the travel ban needs to be “based on facts, not fear.” Jolie also said that the six children she has with soon-to-be ex-husband Brad Pitt were “all born in foreign lands and are proud American citizens.”
Jolie called the discrimination involved in the ban “playing with fire,” saying that Trump is “lighting a fuse that will burn across continents,” effectively inviting in the extremism and terrorism that Trump is seeking to keep out with the ban.
Rather than taking the approach most other liberals are taking and attacking Trump, Jolie is instead calmly warning him of the consequences his actions are going to bring. She says that we should never sacrifice our values for “a search for greater security,” which according to her is what Trump is doing.
Jolie’s upcoming movies include starring in a “Maleficent” sequel and directing biographical drama “First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers,” about a Cambodian human rights activist who struggled under a ruthless dictator.
