These begin with what I posted on 11/01/01, with the newest entries being at the
bottom of the page.
Security and justice are mutually reinforcing goals that ultimately depend upon the promotion of all human rights for all people.
A Statement of Principles for responding to the September 11th attacks by a diverse coalition of 45 humanitarian, religious, human rights and civil liberties organizations http://www.alchemind.org/News/hrw1.htm
In Time Magazine's special issue about the terrorist attacks, the concluding
essay was titled, "The Case for Rage and Retribution." The author of this
piece, frequent Time contributor Lance Morrow, called for "hatred," and "a
policy of focused brutality." He was far from alone in speaking of the
virtues of rage and retaliation. On Fox News Channel, Bill O'Reilly said, "The U.S. should bomb the Afghan infrastructure to rubble - the airport,
the power plants, their water facilities and the roads." As far as the civilian
population of Afghanistan, O'Reilly said, "If they don't rise up against
this criminal government, they starve, period." Calling for the U.S. to
massively attack not only Afghanistan, but also Iraq and Libya, he added,
"Let them eat sand." Meanwhile, the former executive editor of the New York
Times, A. M. Rosenthal, said we should issue ultimatums to six nations,
including Iran, Syria and the Sudan, and then, if they don't comply to our
satisfaction within 72 hours, follow up with massive bombing. New York Post
columnist Steve Dunleavy was also something besides coolheaded, saying, "As
for cities or countries that host these worms, bomb them into basketball
courts." The editor of National Review, writing in the Washington Post,
concurred, adding, "If we flatten part of Damascus or Tehran or whatever it
takes, that is part of the solution."
With the sounds of such war drums reverberating through the American
psyche,
polls show that 80% support not only the use of ground troops in
Afghanistan, but also military action against other countries in the
Middle East...
But at such times, when our hearts are filled with outrage and our eyes
look
everywhere for revenge, it is extraordinarily important that we remember
the
awesome truth behind Gandhi's prophetic statement: "An eye for an eye will
only make the whole world blind."
While the vast majority of Americans care deeply about the welfare of their
fellow human beings, the foreign policies of the U.S. Government have for
some time now been seen by much of the rest of the world as arrogant and
selfish. And it is a sad fact that we have far too often given them cause
for such a view...There is an enormous disconnect taking place between the will of the
American people and the foreign policy of our government...
President Bush began his term by withdrawing from almost every multilateral
agreement and international treaty that came up, except those that in the
short term served to enhance American profits and power. From the outset,
his administration angered and alienated the world community by disengaging
from treaties attempting to deal with global warming, nuclear disarmament,
population control, trafficking in small arms, and chemical and biological
weapons, to name just a few...We'll know we've begun to create a safer and kinder world when we design our
public policies and personal lifestyles not just for individual advantage,
but for the greater good of the whole Earth community.
I'm depressed and hallucinating again,
and need my doctor's help.
I see things on TV
that aren't really there,
or at least I hope not.
Strange bursts of light on the dark screen
over some place they call Kabul,
which as far as I can tell
is not in Kansas.
I see bearded men in turbans
who seem angry with me.
I see grim workers in bulky clothing and odd hats
picking through mounds of dusty rubble
in what the announcer claims
is downtown New York.
At the commercial break
I'm told that depression
is a biological illness,
and I'm reassured by the hearty announcer
that Prozac will cure me.
Because I'm such a coward
I'm grateful to be living
in this brave new world
where doctors really care,
and I must say that
when my TV plays tricks on me
even the look of those pretty little pills
cheers me right up.
...civilian deaths are happening daily, and the rest of the world is seeing them daily in the context of a campaign where nobody can really shoot back – and attacks that prevent the delivery of food to millions of people who need to get it in the next week or two or face a slow death by starvation this winter. Pres. Bush, on Monday [11/5], finally acknowledged the obvious – that the U.S. is badly losing the truly important part of the "War on Terrorism," the campaign for the hearts and minds of both Muslims and the rest of the world.
But then Bush went on, as if by an inexorable law of physics, to draw exactly the wrong conclusion: that the problem was the America wasn't making its case well enough, that we needed to do better spin.
Franklin D. Roosevelt's "Four Freedoms" are: Freedom of speech. Freedom of religion. Freedom from fear. Freedom from want.
Sixty years later, how is it that these four freedoms have been distilled into two – freedom of speech and religion – with a third – freedom from fear – rearing its head in the shadow of Sept. 11? What has happened to the fourth freedom? Where is freedom from want in our national dialogue?...Despite the fact that he spoke at a moment when American security was threatened, Roosevelt understood that freedom from want had to be a cornerstone of our policy...
In its 1998 annual report, the United Nations Development Program calculated that it would take less than 4% of the combined wealth of the 225 richest individuals in the world to achieve and maintain access to adequate food, safe water, basic education and health care, and adequate sanitation for all people.
The words we use to describe a situation affect our immune responses. The
word "tragedy" implies sadness and promotes helplessness. The word
"terrorism" promotes fear. The word "event" sanitizes the action and
promotes indifference. The word "infamy" however, triggers righteous anger
and action against evil...
Using acts of infamy as opportunities to assess how we neglect those we
love is a powerful tool to fight fear...
To deny anger and suppress your feelings of aggression toward acts of
infamy, weaken natural protection against illnesses and germs.
To deny fear during acts of infamy is as destructive as suppressing
anger...
The September 11 attack constitutes a crime against humanity and cannot be
justified, and the bombing of Afghanistan is also a crime, which cannot be
justified...
When our bombers deliberately destroy, as they
did in the war against Iraq, the electrical infrastructure, thus making
water purification and sewage treatment plants inoperable and leading to
epidemic waterborne diseases, the deaths of children and other civilians
cannot be called accidental...the history of bombing – and no one has bombed
more than this
nation – is a history of endless atrocities, all calmly explained by
deceptive and deadly language like "accident," "military targets," and
"collateral damage."
...in both World War II and in Vietnam, the historical record shows
that there was a deliberate decision to target civilians in order to destroy
the morale of the enemy – hence the firebombing of Dresden, Hamburg, Tokyo,
the B-52s over Hanoi, the jet bombers over peaceful villages in the Vietnam
countryside.
...a fundamental change in foreign policy is hardly to be expected. It
would threaten too many interests: the power of political leaders, the
ambitions of the military, the corporations that profit from the nation's
enormous military commitments. Change will come, as at other times in our
history, only when American
citizens – becoming better informed, having second thoughts after the first
instinctive support for official policy – demand it. That change in citizen
opinion, especially if it coincides with a pragmatic decision by the
government that its violence isn't working, could bring about a retreat from
the military solution.
...greed and petroleum addiction have seriously corrupted American foreign policy to favor the few over the many. And we will say nothing here about the devastating effect this addiction and its associated greed have had on the earth itself. As an historian my bet is that within 25 years current policies will be seen as amongst the most benighted in American history – comparable to the South's addiction to slavery.
During the weeks following September's terrorist attacks, two leading
dailies used their op-ed pages as an echo chamber for the government's
official policy of military response, mostly ignoring dissenters and
policy...More than any other newspapers, the New York Times and the
Washington Post – with their unmatched influence in the nation's capitol and in U.S.
newsrooms – have a duty to provide readers with a wide range of views on how
to deal with terrorism, its causes and solutions. If the purpose of the
op-ed page is to provide a vigorous debate including critical opinions, both
papers failed their readers at a crucial time.
This process of manipulating the media and creating a policy-lock-in on war
is of course quite normal in authoritarian regimes; but it also is typical
of what has happened in even nominally democratic "Great Powers" at the peak of
their dominance in world affairs...the media become lap-dogs of power,
and agents of the diplo-military political sector...Their excuse is that
"defense of the nation" takes precedence over minor matters like "truth," which they
come to see as infinitely negotiable.
Civil society movements need to face the fact that what they hear in the
mainstream media on this is not an accurate reflection of reality, but a
part of the propaganda of a war machine. We need access to our own data and
polls, and a way to disseminate those results.
Paul Ray
Co-Author (with Sherry Ruth Anderson) of The Cultural Creatives: How 50 Million People Are Changing the
World
...the Bush Administration is treating Afghanistan like a PR problem. Afghanistan and several million people on the edge of entirely preventable deaths isn't just a matter of spin...There is a direct connection between the number of innocent Afghan civilians who will die in the coming months and the number of innocent U.S. civilians who will likely die in terrorist attacks later."
A situation is unfolding in which there is absolutely no moral ambiguity at all, and for which many people will want to hold each of us as accountable as the world held post-war Germans. Where were you?
...On our newscasts, it's politely referred to as a "humanitarian crisis." That's a euphemism that makes "collateral damage" seem humane.
Seven and a half million people at risk of dying in a matter of months. That's almost four times the number of people Pol Pot took years to kill. Thirty-five times the number that died in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, combined. If 5,000 died on September 11, we're talking the equivalent number of deaths to ten World Trade Centers every day, for 150 days. Slow, painful deaths. Entirely avoidable deaths...
It repulses me to say this, but I suspect a lot of Americans don't care. They'd rather see the United States "get" Osama bin Laden...A lot of people in this country do not care that a staggering number of innocent people are on the verge of being condemned to death, or that most of the world will blame the United States. Correctly...
In less than two months, the United States government has gone from the moral high ground of being victimized by one of the most heinous crimes in world history, to being within a week or two of quite visibly committing a crime so much larger as to obliterate the world's memory of September 11.
We have bonded against a common enemy, [terrorism]...It’s time for all of humanity to acknowledge and bond against other common enemies such as ignorance, poverty, disease, injustice, and environmental degradation. These enemies, not as visible or dramatic as airplanes plowed into office buildings, are just as present and just as lethal. It’s time for people of all countries to raise an additional flag. One that celebrates our common humanity, purpose and potential. And for all of us to honor and rally around that flag. For now and forever.
Some of Dubya's duly assembled hawks have a long list of countries they'd
like to invade and, Cold War style, "stabilize" with one of our tyrants. And
one of the most remarkable aspects of such talk, as with the anti-Taliban
campaign, is that almost nobody in this country has thought (publicly,
anyway) to ask what, exactly, these campaigns contribute to the goal of
ending terrorism...the United States has a large and very expensive hammer,
and as a result is viewing the world as an endless succession of nails...
For twelve years – and nearly as many interventions – the United States
has already been in a permanent war against an unknown enemy, the enemy
being anyone judged to be acting in a way that (for whatever reasons)
displeased American leaders. The most remarkable feature of this permanent
war is that almost every single person in the United States considered it a
time of unparalleled peace – until September 11...
So far, the Dubya pronouncement has been that this war "is over when we say
it is." One can almost hear the egg frying in his brain, and in the brains
of an entire economy and policy establishment literally addicted to war...
Those of us who find this whole exercise counterproductive, dangerous,
appalling, and insulting to the ideals of our country need to get busy and
figure out how ending this permanent war might happen.
What astonishes me is not that the Powers That Be would want to stifle any talk that doesn't assert lock-step "patriotism," but that so many weak-kneed progressive leaders have counseled hiding our light under a bushel and withdrawing from the noble field of protest.
For example, an internal memo to Sierra Club leaders mewed, "We strongly need to avoid any perceptions that we are being disrespectful to President Bush." Hello? Protest is not disrespectful. It is the essence of American democracy, of America itself, and it is especially essential when a muddleheaded guy like George W. sits in the President's chair, totally dependent on the military establishment and corporate elite, thrusting our sons and daughters (theirs won't have to go) into an unlimited and secretive world war against terrorists supposedly entrenched in 60 nations, while simultaneously rushing to Congress with a package of 51 "emergency" antiterrorism bills to put some convenient crimps and cuts in America's Bill of Rights...
Since September 11, I find a deep hunger among most Americans for serious discussion (including hearing dissent). This gives me great hope in such a horrible time. Contrary to the media's portrayal of Bellicose America, the people I've encountered in meetings, in cafes and bars, and elsewhere (including the majority of people writing letters-to-the-editor in papers from coast to coast) are expressing anger, grief, and shock – but they oppose the hush-hush and rush-rush we're getting, and they want us to talk and think as a democratic community.
What each side says about the other is true. What they say about themselves is not. Each maximizes the sins of the other, while minimizing their own. Both sides commit atrocities. Each justifies its actions while vilifying
the actions of the other...
Articulate the "third way" position that is against VIOLENCE, not against
either of the parties to the conflict...
Help all parties understand that it simply doesn’t matter who "started" the
conflict. The willingness to use violence creates the "aggressor". There
are no innocents in modern warfare...
Do not allow extremists on either side to dictate the dialog on war and
peace. Understand that the purpose of violence is polarization and
separation – refuse to be separated from "the Other"...
War cannot end by the consciousness that creates and maintains it. War will
end only with a profound shift in consciousness...
More violence creates more killing, not resolution. The only way the
conflict can end is by both sides talking to each other.
All violence is injustice. The fire of hatred and violence cannot be extinguished by adding more hatred and violence to the fire...
America is burning with hatred. That is why we have to tell our Christian friends, "You are children of Christ." You have to return to yourselves and look deeply and find out why this violence happened. Why is there so much hatred? What lies under all this violence? Why do they hate so much that they would sacrifice their own lives and bring about so much suffering to other people? Why would these young people, full of vitality and strength, have chosen to lose their lives, to commit such violence? That is what we have to understand...
When we feel sorry for them, the drop of compassion is born in our hearts and we feel so much happier and so much more at peace in ourselves. That [empathy] produces the nectar of compassion within ourselves...
It is said clearly in the Bible, "Forgive them for they know not what they do." This means that an act of evil is an act of great ignorance and misunderstanding. Perhaps many wrong perceptions are behind an act of evil; we have to see that ignorance and misunderstanding is the root of the evil...When you understand the suffering of others, you do not have to force yourself to feel compassion, the door of your heart will just naturally open.
The point is not that I agree or disagree with all of her sentiments, or think they are accurate or inaccurate – it's that not only are Americans being given an inaccurate, censored picture of how many other people are responding to this war, but this inaccurate picture is affecting what people in our country think should be done, in disastrous ways.
[What follows are quotes from a Muslim journalist in South Africa.]
The U.S. attacks on Afghanistan have only rekindled the spirit of Islam in
the hearts of Muslims. Most Muslims consider this to be a Jihad (holy war),
and many would give anything to be able to participate...
The U.S. government should (re)define the word terrorism. I have heard that
WAMY, the World Association of Muslim Youth, is on their list of terrorist
organizations around the world. That is downright ridiculous. The South
African organization PAGAD (People Against Gangsterism and Drugs) is also on
this list. The local branch of PAGAD concentrates solely on the prevention
of drug abuse and the rehabilitation of drug addicts...
Perhaps the government needs to ask itself what exactly made him a terrorist
in the first place, and how to prevent such uprisings of terrorists in the
future, instead of bombing defenseless people, who don't even know what they
are being bombed for. I'm sure that in asking itself this question it may
very well find that many of its own policies suspiciously reeked of
terrorism, and that the first step towards preventing terrorism would be to
reevaluate these very policies...
Most Muslims think CNN is hilarious to watch. I sometimes watch it purely
for entertainment, and then get the real news behind the CNN news, on
Islamonline.net...Most Muslims think that CNN is a vehicle for the U.S.
government to propagate and justify its attacks on an innocent people.
Journalists and International Red Cross representatives reported a horrific scene of carnage Wednesday as they entered the prison compound near Mazar-i-Sharif, where up to 800 foreign Taliban prisoners were slaughtered during a three-day siege of the fortress directed by US special forces and CIA operatives...
An Associated Press photographer who wandered into the area saw the dead bodies of 50 prisoners, who appeared to have been executed with their hands tied behind their backs with black scarves...the bloodbath in Mazar-i-Sharif was a massacre, directed and chiefly carried out by the US—a war crime recalling such atrocities as the Nazi slaughters of World War II and the My Lai Massacre...The major preoccupation of the US media, however, has been to cover up the direct role of the CIA, the US military and the Bush administration in the slaughter.
...the so-called uprising was provoked by US forces and their Northern Alliance proxies as a pretext for the massacre of foreign Taliban prisoners...There is little doubt that similar massacres are taking place in the south of Afghanistan, where US Marines have begun a search and destroy mission in Kandahar, the Taliban’s last stronghold...160 captured Taliban fighters who refused to surrender were executed with machine guns before the eyes of US military personnel, according to a Reuters news dispatch.
The whitewash of US war crimes by the American media has included the so-called liberal press, such as the New York Times and Washington Post, which have not even published editorial comments on the prison massacre. On the contrary, in a cowardly editorial Tuesday, the New York Times gave backhanded support to the Pentagon’s cold-blooded policy, writing, "One problem left over from earlier combat is the fate of foreigners who fought for the Taliban in northern Afghanistan and have now been defeated. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is right to demand that they not simply be allowed to drift away..."
IT'S A HELLUVA war our government has gotten us into. It could go on for
years, we're told. There's no end in sight.
I'm not talking about the war against terrorist networks in Afghanistan and
beyond. I'm referring to another troubling conflict: the crusade against
civil liberties on the domestic front.
...let's proclaim him King George. It's a fitting appellation for a
sovereign
who rules by capricious whim and exercises power without judicial scrutiny
or statutory authorization...
Feingold, the only senator who opposed the
draconian legislation, accused the Justice Department of exploiting "the
emergency situation to get some things they've wanted for a long time."...
In recent weeks, student demonstrators, civil libertarians, global justice
workers, and peace and animal rights activists have all been pegged as
terrorist sympathizers...If you question official policies, you run the risk
of
being labeled an apologist for terrorism...the American
Council of Trustees and Alumni, a right-wing academic group founded by
Lynne Cheney (the veep's wife), released a report accusing 40 college
professors of not showing enough patriotism since Sept. 11.
...what we have to fear from September 11 is not just Islamist
fanaticism, but the US response to it. Indeed, the
latter could well prove a far greater threat to the stability of many
countries, further stoking the Islamist fanaticism it seeks to extinguish.
The template has been developed in Afghanistan: lavish bribery of
neighbours, unchecked deployment of vicious military hardware, keep US
soldiers out of it and use others to do the fighting. It is a foreign
policy of brute force and it draws legitimacy within the US from a lethal
combination of three factors: a profound sense of righteous anger, the
reality of unchallenged economic and military power and a pervasive
ignorance of and indifference to the rest of the world.
To increase the danger, the US actions are unchecked by fear of another
superpower and, at present, unchecked by its usually vibrant civil society
where debate about the purposes or methods of the war against terrorism has
been cowed into virtual silence in the mainstream.
...the manipulation of the CIA in Central America could come to seem like
child's play compared with what we are likely to glimpse over the next
decade.
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