| Abstrakt: |
In this article, the author reviews the motion picture Do Not Enter: The Visa War Against Ideas, co-produced by Robert Richter and Catharine Warnow. The film is a documentary that effectively challenges the portrayal of the United States as a marketplace for ideas. The subject of the film is the McCarran-Walter Act of 1952, which states that the U.S. government can deny entry into the U.S. to any alien who might engage in activities which would be prejudicial to the public interest or endanger the welfare, safety, or security of the U.S. In the film, Richter and Warnow skillfully draw out these contradictions by interviewing a wide spectrum of individuals who have been excluded from the U.S. and by interspersing their comments with statement by U.S. State Department officials. We learn that our government's reason for keeping out a particular individual is considered classified information. The film gains its power by taking us to El Salvador, Nicaragua, Brazil, Mexico, Canada, Ireland, Belgium, France, Italy and Japan. To allow the U.S. public to ask questions to engage in dialogue with these persons would be to allow real questioning, not only of events and policies but also the authority of the state. |
