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The Internet Anti-Fascist: Tuesday, 12 October 1999
Vol. 3, Numbers 83 (#341)
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ARCHIVES REVEAL U.S., BRITAIN KNEW ABOUT NAZI DEATH CAMP: REPORT
AFP (no author)
2 Oct 99
LONDON -- Evidence unearthed from British archives shows that Britain and
the United States knew of the existence of a Nazi death camp at Auschwitz
up to 18 months earlier than previously believed, The Independent daily
reported Saturday.
The paper said the discovery will reopen debate about whether more could
have been done to hinder Hitler's plan to exterminate Europe's Jews,
including whether Auschwitz should have been bombed once its true purpose
was known.
Some experts estimate that tens of thousands of lives might have been saved
had action been taken earlier.
The daily said a newly uncovered 20-page document, found in Foreign Office
archives by research student Barbara Rogers, shows the situation at
Auschwitz was spelt out at a meeting between Jewish leaders and US
President Franklin D Roosevelt at the White House on December 8, 1942.
The information was also passed to the British government.
Previously it was thought the gas chambers at Auschwitz in Poland came to
light when a report compiled by two escapees was circulated in June 1944.
Earlier this year, other research on the World War II era showed
underground reports were sent to the Polish government-in-exile in London
during 1943.
The document opens with the statement that almost two million Jews had
already been killed, the daily said.
It goes on: "The five million Jews who may still be alive inside Nazi-
occupied territory are threatened with total extermination under the terms
of an official order by Hitler calling for the complete annihilation of the
Jews by 31 December 1942."
The daily said the findings would prompt the question; why was the
information never disclosed and never acted upon?
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FALWELL, AGAIN
by Henry Messer (Triangle Foundation)
14 Oct 99
The Rev. Jerry Falwell is not one to mince words when it comes to gay
people.
Writing to supporters recently, Falwell thundered, "[T]hese perverted
homosexuals absolutely hate everything that you and I and most decent, God-
fearing citizens stand for. Make no mistake. These deviants seek no less
than total control and influence in society, politics, our schools and in
our exercise of free speech and religious freedom…. If we do not act now,
homosexuals will own America!"
From: Church and State, October, 1999: THE RELIGIOUS RIGHT'S GAY AGENDA
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CONNED IN KOSOVO: A C.B.C. REPORTER'S DILEMMA
Tom Regan (The Christian Science Monitor)
13 Sep 99
HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA -- When Nancy Durham first discovered that she had
been lied to, her reaction was "the most incredible sinking feeling."
Ms. Durham, a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) television reporter,
had returned to Kosovo in June of this year, to do a follow-up piece on an
18-year-old girl who had joined the Kosovo Liberation Army after her young
sister had been killed by Serbs. The girl's story had been part of a larger
piece that aired on the CBC in January, to much critical praise. Yet as
Durham stood in the doorway of the family's home in Skenderaj, the sister
who was supposed to have been killed was standing there, alive and well.
Rather than trying to excuse or brush off the lie, or have the CBC do a
simple correction, Durham decided to do a full story - not only about the
girl who told it, but what it said about how news is reported from a war
zone.
The result is a 16-minute report: "The Truth About Rajmonda: A KLA Soldier
Lies for the Cause." It's being hailed by many media observers in Canada as
a breakthrough piece that should serve as a model for other news
organizations.
Durham's involvement with Rajmonda Rreci began in September 1998 while she
was filming a piece on an Albanian doctor. Rajmonda, a patient, told Durham
on camera that she was joining the KLA to avenge the death of her six-year
old sister. Durham (who works as a one-woman reporting "team") returned in
December 1998 and tracked down Ms. Rreci. During that
interview, Rreci said that her sister was fortunate to die for Kosovo, and
that she would do the same.
Then in June, almost as soon as NATO-led peacekeeping troops went into the
region, Durham went back. It was during this trip she learned that Rreci
had lied. When confronted, she told Durham that she had actually thought
her sister was dead, but wasn't sure, and that doctors in the hospital had
encouraged her to tell the story because other girls had lost sisters to
the Serbs.
"My first thoughts were 'This is a disaster,' " says Durham. "I had this
passion for the people in the story. I felt really depressed. If this
happens to me, I thought, and I go back again, and again, and again, how
many other journalists has this happened to?"
Durham returned to her home in Oxford, England, and thought about what she
wanted to do. And although some media critics have said that the CBC pushed
her to go back to do the report, Durham says this is untrue. She says she
needed to go back, find Rajmonda Rreci again, and this time tell the true
story.
It turned out that most of what the teenager had said wasn't true. She had
actually been a member of the KLA before she went to the hospital and had
known all along that her sister was alive. But Rreci continued to stress
that other Kosovar girls had lost their sisters, and why shouldn't she do
it for them? Ultimately, Rreci did admit that what she said was just KLA
propaganda.
For Steve Kimber, director of the school of journalism at the University of
King's College in Halifax, Nova Scotia, what Durham and the CBC did was
critical. "It's very important to make journalism more transparent to the
public. Particularly with a story that deals with 'heartstrings' like this
one. And if it's not true, to give it just as much time as the story you
had broadcast earlier."
John Allemang, media critic for the Toronto Globe and Mail, says that while
he feels the CBC has "overreacted," he's proud of the broadcaster for
airing Durham's report. "But the question is, are they applying it across
the board? There are lots of other situations where we're aware that we're
not being told the complete truth. Is the CBC going to now start going back
to check on other stories? The truth is, that it's hard for the media to
check up on these things."
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PUBLISHER'S ANNOUNCEMENT:
THE ANARCHISTS IN THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR
Much has been written about the Civil War in Spain. This is however, the
first comprehensive analysis of the part played by the Anarchists both
during the conflict and in their unique social and economic experiments
behind the lines. On the emergence of new evidence, Professor Alexander has
been able to cast fresh light into many areas, notably their defence of
Madrid and also of life in the worker-controlled rural and urban
collectives. Substantiated throughout and enlivened by interviews with
surviving anarchists, this study certainly fills a gap in our limited
understanding of one of the major events of the Twentieth Century.
Vol. 1 1-85756-400-6 and Vol. 2 1-85756-412-X
£16.95 each for paperback original
* * * * *
In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is
distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a
prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and
educational purposes only.
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FASCISM:
We have no ethical right to forgive, no historical right to forget.
(No permission required for noncommercial reproduction)
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