7) Gov't Policy Puts the People in Harm's Way
by [EMAIL PROTECTED]
8) Lone Standout on War Resolution
by [EMAIL PROTECTED]
9) Anti-War Forces Call for National Action
by [EMAIL PROTECTED]
10) Baltimore Meeting: "Unite against War, Racism"
by [EMAIL PROTECTED]
-------------------------
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the Sept. 27, 2001
issue of Workers World newspaper
-------------------------
THE BITTER BUT INESCAPABLE TRUTH: GOV'T POLICY PUTS
THE PEOPLES IN HARM'S WAY
By Fred Goldstein
Thousands of people are struggling to pick up their lives
and recover from the trauma of the horrific Sept. 11
attacks. Grief over lost friends and relatives, co-workers
and just general sympathy for all the victims pervades the
spirit of the people. There's anxiety about how to help
children deal with the crisis. Questions about the future,
about jobs and many other concerns weigh on thousands of
survivors.
The countless consequences of the attack weigh especially
hard on the workers, not only on those who lost their work
places but the thousands who are being laid off elsewhere or
are working short hours and losing money. Little is being
done, either by the government or the media, to find out
about all the workers and their families who are affected by
this crisis and help them through it, not just
psychologically but materially.
While all this is happening to the workers, they are being
bombarded with war talk 24 hours a day. The Bush
administration is taking advantage of the grief and sorrow
of the people to create a war hysteria, to strengthen the
military at the expense of the people, and to threaten civil
liberties by expanding police powers everywhere.
Despite all the pronouncements by the government and the
media about being against prejudice toward Arab and Islamic
people, the racism that is the inevitable product of their
long history of demonizing the people of the Middle East is
now surfacing in mob attacks, drive-by shootings, attacks on
stores and mosques around the country. There are no special
task forces, special granting of powers or government
mobilizations to quell this wave of racism.
GOV'T POLICY PUTS PEOPLE IN HARM'S WAY
Progressives everywhere have been horrified by the massive
destruction of innocent and unsuspecting civilians in the
Sept. 11 attack. This attack not only caused enormous
suffering among the people but also put the U.S. government
into a militaristic posture. And this plunge towards war by
Washington is a threat, not only to the people of the Middle
East, but right here at home. If followed through, it will
only lead to an escalating cycle of violence.
Indeed, it is the cumulative policy of decades of previous
U.S. administrations that has led to the present situation
and has put the people of the U.S. in harm's way. This is
what is not being told to the people.
Secretary of State Colin Powell has labeled Osama bin Laden
the "primary suspect" in the bombing. Of course, the people
do not know who did it and the government is in control of
all the information.
The U.S. government has a history of using false stories to
start wars, going all the way back to the sinking of the
Maine in 1898, to start the Spanish-American War, to the
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution in 1964, which began the
escalation of the Vietnam War.
Certainly no worker should prepare to go to war in the
Middle East, where the gigantic oil companies have billions
of dollars in investments, based on what the Bush
administration says.
But if, in fact, this attack did come from some forces in
the Arab world or from Central Asia that are trying to stop
U.S. domination over the peoples of the region, the Bush
administration knows full well why. But it won't tell the
people of the U.S.
An essay in Middle East News on Line of Sept. 15 by Ramzy
Baroud, the editor, and entitled "America, We Feel Your
Pain, Do You Feel Ours?," tried to give the people of the
U.S. some insight into how the event is viewed in other
parts of the world. He condemned the attack and then noted
that it lasted for several hours and that Congress had
immediately assigned $40 billion to rebuild what was
destroyed.
"But the Palestinian tragedy," said Baroud, has lasted "for
53 years now. Palestinians have been subjected to some of
the most notorious military police ever used; for 53 years
they were forced to live in concentration camps, to drink
polluted water, to have their loved ones killed, their homes
razed, their futures shattered, deprived of all God-given
rights, and even UN-given rights. They were forced to flee
for their lives from one place to another, they were
imprisoned, tortured, and assassinated....
"You might think," wrote Baroud, "I am already overwhelmed
by my own grief, why should I worry about yours? The answer
is simple. Every bullet that killed a Palestinian was 'Made
in the USA,' every shell, missile and tank was 'Made in the
USA.' Every massacre was financed by America....
"When three thousand Palestinians were killed in the refugee
camps of 1982," said Baroud, referring to the massacres at
Sabra and Shatila, "the killers left ... thousands of empty
bullet shells, also 'Made in the USA.'"
Baroud notes that during the Iraq war the U.S. military
"bombarded every city, town and village in Iraq, south and
north. They used every weapon, they experimented with the
highest killing technology against a largely defenseless
nation, they bombed, killed and sometimes ridiculed their
victims."
After the bombings, Iraqi "houses were in rubble, their
dearest possessions were sold in the black market to buy
some bread and milk, and their electricity was cut off, for
it was too, like their water supplies, hospitals, schools,
and everything else 'bombed back into the stone age.'"
Robert Fisk, Middle East correspondent for the London
Independent, who interviewed bin Laden in 1998, wrote in a
Sept. 12 article that "this is not really a war of democracy
versus terror that the world will be asked to believe in the
coming days. It is also about U.S. missiles smashing into
Palestinian homes and U.S. helicopters firing missiles into
a Lebanese ambulance in 1996 and American shells crashing
into a village called Qana and about a Lebanese militia-paid
and uniformed by America's Israeli allyand raping and
murdering their way through [Palestinian] refugee camps"
during the 1982 Israeli war against the Palestine Liberation
Organization and Lebanon.
Fisk, an experienced correspondent in the region, is of the
opinion that the Arab peoples in general regard thoussands
of innocent deaths as "an unspeakable crime. But they will
ask why we did not use such words about the sanctions that
have destroyed the lives of perhaps half a million children
in Iraq, why we did not rage about 17,500 civilians killed
in Israel's 1982 invasion of Lebanon."
LONG HISTORY OF U.S.-SPONSORED TERRORISM
Viewpoint-Radio Havana Cuba carried an item on Sept. 13
entitled "A Call for Reflection, Restraint and
Responsibility."
The piece points out that the long list of U.S.-backed
military efforts in Latin America and other regions
"represents the obliteration of hundreds of thousands of
civilian lives. In Panama 2,000, in Nicaragua 30,000, in El
Salvador 75,000, in Guatemala over 150,000, in Indonesia
300,000.
"There is no joy here in Cuba at the events of Tuesday,"
states the piece. "There is, instead, a profound
apprehension about the cries for vengeance that emanate from
every corner of the White House and the U.S. Congress.
"The most powerful nation on earth has been put on a war
footing and history has taught us all what to expect when
Washington starts waving the cudgel self-righteously. The
families of almost a million Japanese, four million Koreans,
three million Vietnamese, and thousands of Iraqis and
Yugoslavians can all attest to what occurs when the Oval
Office scrambles its bombers.
"The saber rattling is deafening and very frightening to us
all. U.S. mainstream media is stirring the hatred by airing
statements from 'people on the street' calling for an
immediate strike, an immediate all-out war against the
'enemy.' But who is the 'enemy'?
"The enemy are successive Washington administrations that
have for more than five decades promoted terrorism on an
enormous scale across the globe."
It is the knowledge of this history that is now causing a
contradiction within the Bush administration and the entire
establishment. They feel the urge to lash out with a massive
demonstration of force, probably a bombing attack, but it is
difficult to define a course of action.
This has caused Vice President Dick Cheney to balance
President Bush's "bring them back dead or alive" tough talk
with notions of patience, difficulty, the long haul, etc.
While the ultra militaristic forces within the
administration may prevail in pushing the government into an
immediate adventure, at the moment they are mired in a
dilemma.
DILEMMA FOR BUSH
The Bush administration knows that if the attack came from
the Middle East, it is because of the history of the U.S.
military committing horrible, massive war crimes against
innocent civilians all over the region, either directly or
indirectly through the Israeli government. Bush, all of his
advisors, and all the experts with even the most cursory
knowledge of U.S. government actions in the Middle East know
that hundreds of thousands of Arab civilians have died in
the last decades because of U.S. policy.
All the belligerent talk about war is leading them in the
direction of carrying out some bombing attack, either on
Kabul or some other target where civilians would inevitably
be killed.
The Bush administration's dilemma is that it is
contemplating committing a repeat of the very crimes that
may have brought about the attack in the first place.
It is for this reason that the administration has dropped
the language about "eliminating states" enunciated by Deputy
Secretary of State Paul Wolfowitz and is trying to pull the
Ariel Sharon government in Israel back from its recent
escalation of the war against the Palestinians.
Ironically, it is the people of the Middle East who are in
the best position to understand and sympathize with the
victims in the World Trade Center, for they have experienced
this horrible tragedy many times over for decades.
What should emerge as a byproduct of this crisis, in the
wake of the grief and loss, is for all progressive forces to
help the people of the U.S. understand the plight of the
peoples of the Middle East and resist the drive towards war.
- END -
(Copyright Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to
copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but
changing it is not allowed. For more information contact
Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail:
[EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send message to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org)
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: torstai 20. syyskuu 2001 08:38
Subject: [WW] Lone Standout on War Resolution
-------------------------
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the Sept. 27, 2001
issue of Workers World newspaper
-------------------------
HERO FROM OAKLAND: LONE STANDOUT ON WAR
RESOLUTION
By Monica Moorehead
Barbara Lee from California was the sole member of the U.S.
House of Representatives to vote against giving open-ended
approval to U.S. military action after the devastating Sept.
11 attacks that took 5,000 lives in New York.
The House vote was 420 to one.
Over the past three years, Lee has developed a reputation of
going against the tide of political reaction. She has
especially opposed warlike actions.
In 1998, she cast one of five congressional votes against
the bombing of Iraq. In 1999, she was the only member of
Congress to vote against the U.S./NATO bombing of
Yugoslavia.
Lee, who is African American, said: "I don't think that we
should take any action that should cause any more loss of
life. Violence begets violence and we don't want that to
happen. That kills people."
She represents the heavily Democratic Ninth Congressional
District. This district includes Oakland and Berkeley,
Calif.
Oakland, a predominantly Black city, was home to the
founding of the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense in
1966. During the 1960s and 1970s on the campus of the
University of California at Berkeley, militant struggles
took place against the genocidal U.S. war in Vietnam and in
solidarity with the struggle for Black, Native and Latino
studies.
Lee was once an aide to Ronald Dellums, who represented the
same district. Dellums also took progressive stances against
militarism during his tenure in office until his retirement.
Lee has been an outspoken opponent of any increases in the
U.S. military budget. She especially opposes the National
Missile Defense program.
On her web site, Lee states: "Taken as a whole, the
continued increases in defense spending are deeply
disturbing. The FY01 Defense Appropriations bill runs $4
billion over the president's request, while at the same time
Congress cuts funding for education, health, and social
programs. Added to that, much of our defense spending goes
to dubious, inefficient projects that serve the defense
industry, not the national interest. ...
"Our defense budget can and should be more efficient and
must be re-designed for the Twenty-first Century, post-Cold-
War world. To be secure in this world, we must educate our
children, house the homeless, and feed the hungry. We must
work to promote peace and attack fundamental threats to
global security such as AIDS and other profound health
threats."
The representative's stance recalls an earlier experience.
In 1964, Sens. Wayne Morse of Oregon and Ernest Gruening of
Alaska came under political attack when they were the only
two in the Senate to vote against the Gulf of Tonkin
resolution. This infamous resolution gave the green light
for the U.S. government to broaden its military intervention
into the Vietnam War.
While these senators were not consistently progressive,
their courage as a minority of two helped galvanize a
nascent anti-war movement. The alleged attack on U.S. ships
in the Gulf of Tonkin was later shown to be a phony incident
used by the administration to press its aims of expanding
the war.
Lee has been more consistent in her anti-war actions. By
saying no to war in this key vote, Lee carried out what
amounted to a revolutionary act within a dangerous
atmosphere of warmongering on the part of the U.S. ruling
class and its willing servants, the Bush administration and
big-business media.
Her vote has symbolically helped to give voice to millions
of people in the United States who are against a bloody war
being carried out in their name.
To send letters of support, write to
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
- END -
(Copyright Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to
copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but
changing it is not allowed. For more information contact
Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail:
[EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send message to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org)
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: torstai 20. syyskuu 2001 08:38
Subject: [WW] Anti-War Forces Call for National Action
-------------------------
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the Sept. 27, 2001
issue of Workers World newspaper
-------------------------
IN WAKE OF TRAGEDY: ANTI-WAR FORCES CALL FOR
NATIONAL ACTION
Say No to Racism, Aggression, Xenophobia
By Teresa Gutierrez
New York
In response to the Bush administration's drive toward a new,
open-ended war, a broad coalition of anti-war groups has
called for a national demonstration in Washington, D.C., on
Sept. 29 at the White House.
Permits for a mass rally at Lafayette Park and the White
House sidewalk, plus for a march route to the Capitol, were
secured on Sept. 19. The demonstration will begin at 12
noon.
The International Action Center, one of the sponsoring
organizations, had planned a demonstration that day as part
of many protest events to take place from Sept. 25-Oct. 2
during planned meetings of the International Monetary Fund
and the World Bank. Those meetings have now been canceled,
and the focus of the protest has shifted.
In the face of the new war crisis, the expanded coalition
for Sept. 29 has two major demands: Stop war and end racism.
Racism includes the xenophobic attacks on Middle Eastern and
South Asian people that have accompanied the drive to war.
Organizers in New York and Washington expect the protests to
attract thousands. They report that the call for this
refocused Sept. 29 demonstration has aroused support in
almost all the 70 existing organizing centers that had been
mobilizing for the earlier march.
IAC organizers in Los Angeles and San Francisco, where local
demonstrations are planned for Sept. 29, report a similar
interest.
The broad coalition, called International A.N.S.W.E.R. (Act
Now to Stop War & End Racism), is already gathering
endorsers for the Sept. 29 action and projecting further
Oct. 12-13 demonstrations all over the world.
Former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark, Bishop Thomas
Gumbleton, Rev. Lucius Walker of Pastors for Peace, Samia
Halaby of Al-Awda, Barbara Lubin of the Middle East
Children's Alliance, poet Martin Espada and Pam Africa of
the International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-
Jamal were among the first U.S.-based signers.
Wolfgang Richter and former Admiral Elmar Schmaehling of the
European Peace Forum, the Korea Truth Commission, the Arab
Cause Solidarity Committee in Spain, peace activist and
journalist Michel Collon from Belgium, and former Italian
parliamentarian Falco Accame and the Nino Pasti Foundation
of Rome have signed on, with more individuals and groups
supporting from Europe, Africa, Latin America and Asia.
This demonstration takes place in the midst of a political
mood completely altered by the horrific loss of life on
Sept. 11.
The people of New York City and Washington, D.C., where most
of the lives were lost, were particularly affected. The
devastation touched millions.
With a frenzied war drive emanating from the White House, it
was no small thing that a voice emerged from around the
country, especially from those two cities, that called
instead for peace.
An even more widespread sentiment has emerged around the
country. There is a strong desire to prevent attacks on
Middle Eastern peoples living here. People from many walks
of life across the country are not only denouncing racist
attacks on Arab and Middle Eastern people, they are
organizing to stop them.
To mobilize these signs of progressive sentiment into a
movement requires both firmness in standing up to pressure
and flexibility in tactics as the situation changes day by
day.
It is important to maintain a focus for the progressive
sentiments of the grieving masses, who have been expressing
anti-war and anti-racist feelings spontaneously, in quiet
gatherings, as they light candles to mourn the dead.
Organizer Dick Becker from the Washington S29 office
reported, "The IAC believes it is critical to hold this
action in D.C. Even the polls show that millions of people
in this country disagree with the course taken by the Bush
administration toward imminent war."
MOOD IN NEW YORK
In New York City a pervasive cloud of smoke still hangs in
the air a week after the catastrophe, reminding even those
who choose not to look up at the skyline. In all the
boroughs pictures of missing New Yorkers cover walls,
lampposts and store windows.
U.S. flags are all over. But these flags, which so often are
the sign of militarism and pro-war sentiment, stand in the
midst of makeshift monuments to the missing, with candles
surrounding them. Whether they are carried to express
militarism--or simply solidarity with the victims--is still
to be determined.
There is not the kind of war frenzy in the population that
Bush and his cronies might have hoped for. In New York City,
where over 5,000 workers are dead or missing, one can still
safely hand out a leaflet against the drive for war.
Almost daily at places like Union Square or Washington
Square Park, thousands gather because everyone feels the
need to connect, to grieve, to talk. You can learn about
that in the media. But the media has avoided reporting that
when you talk to the people there, they tell you they want
no further war.
They sing, "Give Peace a Chance." This is a far cry from the
"dead or alive" saber-rattling of the president.
The capitalist government and media minimize this anti-war
sentiment. Instead, since Sept. 11, the Bush administration
has moved swiftly to strengthen its war machine and police
apparatus, assaulting civil rights at home.
The task of the anti-war and progressive movements is not
only to merge with the popular anti-war mood but to
encourage it, give it a clear focus, help strengthen it and
spread it nationally.
"This is why it is so important to go all out for S29 in
Washington," said Larry Holmes of the New York office of the
IAC. "The Bush administration is on a course to destroy our
civil liberties and democratic rights. There is an epidemic
of racist attacks. The only way to counter all this is to
take a stand and take it now. It is dangerous to wait."
Holmes went on to explain that without an open protest
people can feel isolated, can think there is one, pro-war
view that is the only acceptable position. A strong protest,
on the other hand, can break through the isolation and
encourage further resistance to war.
PROTEST GATHERS STEAM
Almost all of the already existing 70 organizing centers
across the country have agreed to shift gears. They are now
fervently organizing to send one message to the U.S.
government: War and racism is not the answer.
>From the national office of the S29 demonstration,
organizers report a dramatic increase of interest in the
protest.
Sarah Sloan, youth organizer for the IAC, reports that many
high school students in Washington, D.C., who had expressed
some interest before Sept. 11, are now coming in and
actively organizing for the demonstration. There are a
flurry of calls, she says, from throughout the country.
In Salem, Mass., the organizing center put out a call to
discuss the changed protest. They expected a dozen friends
to come. Instead, 150 people turned out and they all wanted
to go to Washington.
San Francisco and Los Angeles organizers have called local
demonstrations, given the difficulties in travel at this
moment. Responses at the IAC offices in those cities
indicate the demonstrations will be large.
Already in these California cities, as well as in other
cities throughout the country, sizable gatherings have taken
place. They are all saying no to war and the racist attacks.
The call issued by International A.N.S.W.E.R. for the Sept.
29 demonstrations and the international Oct. 12-13 actions
contained the following statements:
"We join with people all over the world in condemning the
horrific killings of thousands of persons in the Sept. 11
attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Our most
heartfelt sympathies and condolences are with those whose
loved ones were lost or injured on Sept. 11, 2001.
"At this moment, we would all like to take time to reflect,
to grieve, to extend sympathy and condolences to all. But we
believe that we must do more. We must act now.
"We are assembling International A.N.S.W.E.R. to call for
worldwide rallies against war and racism. On Sept. 29, there
will be a national march and rally at the White House in
Washington, D.C., as well as marches on the West Coast of
the U.S. and around the world. We call on all people of
conscience and progressive organizations to take up this
call and organize rallies around the world.
"Unless we stop President Bush and NATO from carrying out a
new, wider war in the Middle East, the number of innocent
victims will grow from the thousands to the tens of
thousands and possibly more. A new, wider U.S. and NATO war
in the Middle East can only lead to an escalating cycle of
violence. War is not the answer."
The call also protested the wave of attacks on immigrants
and the usurpation of civil rights and liberties by the
government and police.
Readers can contact International A.N.S.W.E.R. at (212) 633-
6646 or (202) 543-2777. For Los Angeles, call (213) 487-
2368, for San Francisco, (415) 821-6545. The
www.iacenter.org web site will carry updated information.
- END -
(Copyright Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to
copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but
changing it is not allowed. For more information contact
Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail:
[EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send message to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org)
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: torstai 20. syyskuu 2001 08:38
Subject: [WW] Baltimore Meeting: "Unite against War, Racism"
-------------------------
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the Sept. 27, 2001
issue of Workers World newspaper
-------------------------
BALTIMORE COMMUNITY MEETING SAYS: "VICTIMS UNITE
AGAINST WAR, RACISM"
By Workers World Baltimore bureau
The All Peoples Congress community and student meeting was
packed.
Young people, unionists, seniors, students from local
colleges and community activists representing the fight
against high utility rates and police killings gathered just
two days after the Sept. 11 disaster to share solidarity and
plan action.
Sharon Ceci, volunteer organizer for the APC and local
International Action Center coordinator, expressed the shock
and pain of the disaster.
She included how the Palestinians, Iraqis and so many of the
world's people have felt as they suffered from war and
terrorism at the hands of U.S. imperialism.
She called on the group to resist war and racism,
proclaiming, "We will not be swept into the pro-war
hysteria; we will not capitulate to vile racism against our
Arab brothers and sisters."
Those gathered responded with a standing ovation.
The group passed a resolution to form a network to oppose
the war drive; everyone present volunteered to defend any
person of Middle Eastern descent under attack.
Mary Jackson, mother of Joe Wilbon who was killed by the
police, said she had relatives working in the World Trade
Center and was frantic during the initial hours.
Fortunately, they were uninjured. She described how we are
all victims--her son, those who died in the collapse of the
World Trade Center, and the people of the Middle East. She
asked the group to work for unity.
Bill Goodin, president of Unity for Action, said the
definition of terrorism must be broadened to include those
who have had their gas and electric shut off. "Aren't these
people terrorized by [the utility company] BGE? Many of them
face death this winter."
Radio talk show host Nzinga Anon from WEAA of Morgan State
University vowed to get out the word.
The Baltimore group is organizing buses for a Sept. 29
protest against war and racism in Washington, D.C. They are
also going forward with a local rally to "Support the
victims--Say no to racism and war" for 7 p.m. on Sept. 25 at
300 W. Preston Street. For information on buses from
Baltimore to the Sept. 29 D.C. rally, call (410) 235-7040.
- END -
(Copyright Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to
copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but
changing it is not allowed. For more information contact
Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail:
[EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send message to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org)
