Visit our website: HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --------------------------------------------- ----- Original Message ----- From: V S C Sent: Friday, September 21, 2001 8:31 PM Subject: [C-I] VSC Statement Against War & Terror Vieques Support Campaign http://palfrente.tripod.com E-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] ___________________________________________________ NO TO RACISM & IMPERIALIST WAR! U.S. NAVY OUT OF VIEQUES & ALL OF PUERTO RICO! ___________________________________________________ V.S.C. Statement Against War and Terror The Vieques Support Campaign mourns the loss of life of every nationality as a result of the tragic events on September 11, 2001. We send our deepest condolences across the country and the world to those who have lost loved ones or await word on their fate. Given the diversity of workers who toiled at the targeted institutions, every single person throughout the world has been affected. We condemn the use of terror and urge the United States government not to continue with further acts of war and bloodshed. The VSC is an organization that has worked alongside the popular people's struggle in Vieques, Puerto Rico, to end U.S. Navy military bombings that have left the population riddled with cancer and plagued with numerous health problems and irreversible environmental damage due to the use of live ammunition and illegal chemical weapons. The use of live ammunition in April of 1999 caused the "accidental" death of David Sanes. The VSC urges all people of conscience to question why this tragic event has happened. This question is one that the government and the media have yet to acknowledge. Just as importantly, we call on all to stand up and stop the cycle of war that the U.S. has pledged to continue. Over the last 60 years alone, the United States government has found one reason or another for military interventions and wars that have resulted in the deaths and terrorizing of hundreds of thousands of people, almost entirely in Third World countries. Pursuing its own political aims, the U.S. government has sacrificed innumerable lives in Latin America, South Asia, the Pacific, the Caribbean, Africa, and of course, the Middle East. The U.S. has supported fascist military regimes, from Chile to Indonesia. It has waged war in the Middle East to support its oil interests, demonizing a whole race of people in the process. And now, the U.S. government has called upon us to unite under a banner of hate. In a country where Native peoples faced genocide and where Black Americans have suffered under racist segregation and discrimination, reinforced by Jim Crow laws - the basis for South Africa's apartheid -we must ask why these events have occurred and be prepared for the answer. It is certainly not difficult to understand that from a country plagued with police brutality and racism that the U.S. government would carry out similar policies on a global scale. As a result of this history of racism, residents of the United States are acting out of fear and targeting their Arab sisters and brothers. After the bombing of the Federal building in Oklahoma City the media flooded the air waves accusing bin Laden of being behind that attack, only to find out it was Timothy McVeigh, a U.S.-born White Christian. Regardless of who is responsible, anti-Arab attacks took place then and continue now and are never justified. There have already been fatalities as a result of anti-Arab violence - South Asians, Native Americans, Puerto Ricans and other brown-skinned people - have been attacked by angry individuals under the banner of patriotism. There has been minimal official warning to practitioners of hate crimes to stop the wave of hate crimes that have infested the country thus far. There have already been reports of police questioning whether individuals were of Arab descent and asking accusingly, at least one woman we know of, whether her religious scripture was the Koran. During World War II, there was the vicious roundup of Japanese Americans and their placement in internment camps. Following this precedent, the INS is staging roundups and has the authority to hold immigrants indefinitely. People of diverse nationalities ranging from Mexican to Ethiopian have already been arrested. This terrorizing of domestic populations must end. Under the guise of security, civil liberties are under attack, and such a dangerous assault on our freedom must be stopped. The Vieques Support Campaign asks everyone to stand up to such an assault on civil rights and liberties, to demand that the U.S. government stop its retaliatory war drive and stop encouraging racist hate crimes against Arabs and all people of color. We stand with the people of Vieques who do not support U.S./NATO "military exercises" and especially oppose practice bombings for another impending war. We call on communities across the globe to support these demands. Long Live International Solidarity! Stand Up Against Racism! Defend Arab and Muslim Peoples of the World! U.S. NAVY/NATO out of Vieques! 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