HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK
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From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Saturday, January 12, 2002 6:20 AM
Subject: [LaborAgainstWar] Digest Number 58
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There are 7 messages in this issue.
Topics in this digest:
1. ANALYSIS--CIVILIAN CASUALTIES: THEIRS & OURS
From: William Blum
2. EVENT (NYC--1/17/02): COMMUNITY CIVIL LIBERTIES FORUM
From: Martha Cameron <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
3. EVENT (NYC/NJ--1/21/02): PROTEST ATTACK ON IMMIGRANTS
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
4. URGENT ACTION: NYT BURIES AFGHAN CIVILIAN CASUALTIES
From: FAIR-L
5. EVENT (NJ--1/21/02): DEFEND IMMIGRANT DETAINEES
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
6. REPORT: UK STOP THE WAR COALITION BRIEFING
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
7. STATEMENT: UAW LOCAL PRESIDENT'S ANTIWAR LETTER
From: hde_tollenaere [[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
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Message: 1
Date: Thu, 20 Dec 2001 16:31:12 -0500
From: William Blum
Subject: ANALYSIS--CIVILIAN CASUALTIES: THEIRS & OURS
The question is now upon us.
Who killed more innocent, defenseless people? The terrorists in the United
States on September 11 with their crashing airplanes? Or the American
government in Afghanistan the past ten weeks with their AGM-86D cruise
missiles, their AGM-130 missiles, their 15,000 pound "daisy cutter" bombs,
their depleted uranium, and their cluster bombs?
The count in New York and Washington is now a little over 3,000 and going
down steadily. The total count of civilian dead in Afghanistan has been
essentially ignored by American officials and the domestic media, but a
painstaking compilation of domestic and international press reports by
University of New Hampshire professor Marc Herold
(http://www.media-alliance.org/mediafile/20-5/casualties12-10.html),
hunting
down the many incidents of 100-plus counts of the dead, the scores of dead,
the dozens, and the smaller numbers, arrived at 3,767 through December 6,
and still counting.
Ah, people say, but the terrorists purposely aimed to kill civilians
(actually, many of the victims were military or military employees), while
any non-combatant victims of the American bombings were completely
accidental.
Whenever the United States goes into one of its periodic bombing frenzies
and its missiles take the lives of numerous civilians, this is called
"collateral damage" -- inflicted by the Fates of War -- for the real
targets, we are invariably told, were military. But if day after day, in
one
country after another, the same scenario takes place -- dropping lethal
ordnance with the knowledge that large numbers of civilians will perish or
be maimed, even without missiles going "astray" -- what can one say about
the intentions of the American military?
The best, the most charitable, thing that can be said is that they simply
don't care. They want to bomb and destroy for certain political ends and
they don't particularly care if the civilian population suffers grievously.
Often, the US actually does want to cause the suffering, hoping that it
will
lead the people to turn against the government. This was a recurrent
feature
of the bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999. US/NATO officials freely admitted
this
again and again (http://members.aol.com/superogue/warcrime.htm).
Now let's look at the September 11 terrorist hijackers. They also had a
political purpose: retaliation for decades of military, economic and
political oppression imposed upon the Middle East by The American Empire.
The buildings targeted by them were clearly not chosen at random. The
Pentagon and World Trade Center represented the military and economic might
of the United States, while the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania may well
> have been aiming for the political wing, the White House. Destruction of
these institutions -- powerful both symbolically and in actuality -- was the
> purpose of the operation. And the resulting casualties? In the hijackers'
view, these people could be seen as collateral damage. The best, the most
charitable, thing that can be said is that the hijackers simply didn't
care.
In reaction to some awful photos of Afghan victims of US bombing that
appeared in the US media, the host of Fox News Channel's "Special Report
with Brit Hume", in a November program, wondered why journalists should
bother covering civilian deaths at all. "The question I have," said Hume,
"is civilian casualties are historically, by definition, a part of war,
really. Should they be as big news as they've been?"
Mara Liasson from National Public Radio was direct: "No. Look, war is about
killing people. Civilian casualties are unavoidable."
Fox pundit and U.S. News & World Report columnist Michael Barone had no
argument. "I think the real problem here is that this is poor news judgment
> on the part of some of these news organizations. Civilian casualties are
not, as Mara says, news. The fact is that they accompany wars."
But, if in fact the September 11 attacks were an act of war, as we're told
repeatedly, then the casualties of the World Trade Center were clearly
civilian war casualties. Why then has the media devoted so much time to
their deaths?
William Blum is the author of Killing Hope: US Military and CIA
Interventions Since World War II and Rogue State: A Guide to the World's
Only Superpower.
Portions of the books can be read at:
http://members.aol.com/superogue/homepage.htm (with a link to Killing Hope)
________________________________________________________________________
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Message: 2
Date: Tue, 08 Jan 2002 09:54:50 -0500
From: Martha Cameron <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: EVENT (NYC--1/17/02): COMMUNITY CIVIL LIBERTIES FORUM
NYCLAW endorses the following event:
Brooklyn Parents for Peace, Brooklyn Heights Peace Action, Brooklyn
Bridges, and other community-based peace and social justice groups will
hold a forum defending civil liberties for all on Thursday, January 17, 7
p.m., at St. Francis College, 180 Remsen Street, between Court and Clinton
Streets in Brooklyn Heights (Subways: M,N,R to Court St; 2-3, 4-5 to
Borough Hall, A,C,F to Jay St.).
Featured speakers are Norman Siegel, American Civil Liberties Union; Abdeen
Jabara, Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee and the National
Lawyers Guild; and Chaumtoli Huq, South Asian Action and Advocacy
Collective. Q&A and action discussion to follow.
For more information, call 718-624-5921 or email [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Please post and circulate flyer (attached).
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[This message contained attachments]
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Message: 3
Date: Thu, 10 Jan 2002 11:51:11 -0500
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: EVENT (NYC/NJ--1/21/02): PROTEST ATTACK ON IMMIGRANTS
[NYCLAW has endorsed the following event]
STOP THE DISAPPEARANCES!
Martin Luther King Day Action at Union Square Park & at Passaic County Jail
to Protest Detentions
Since September 11, the INS and FBI have detained over 1,200 immigrants,
mainly of Arab or South Asian (especially Pakistani) origin. Most are
accused only of minor immigration violations, such as overstaying a visa.
Despite Attorney General Ashcroft's assurances to the contrary, many are
being held without access to legal assistance or proper care. This amounts
to the worst kind of racial profiling.
*Its is especially important that citizen allies support and attend this
action because many non-citizens members of our communites cannot*
JOIN US TO PROTEST THIS RACIST ATTACK ON IMMIGRANT COMMUNITIES
Martin Luther King Day
Monday January 21st Noon Union Square Park
Press Conference at 12:30 pm
Buses Loading to Passaic County Jail at 1pm (back by 4pm)
- county jail where over 350 detainees are being held -
Take the 4/5/6, L, N/R/Q/W to Union Square
(where possible we will be asking for a $5-10 contribution for the cost of
the bus
OUR DEMANDS
1. Release all detainees being held for immigration violations.
2. Repeal the racist Patriot Act, the 1996 Illegal Immigration Reform and
ImmigrantResponsibility Act (IIRIRA), and the 1996 Anti-Terrorism and
Effective Death Penalty Act.
3. Release a real list of detainees.
4. Provide detainees with immediate, full and proper access to legal
information and representation.
5. Ensure all facilities used for detention meet the INS standards for
detention.
6. Inform detainees of when they will appear before a judge, be released,
or
be deported.
7. Stop holding detainees who have been granted bond or ordered removed.
Organized by:
DRUM (Desis Rising Up and Moving)
212-631-3689, [EMAIL PROTECTED], www.drumnation.org
Coalition for the Human Rights of Immigrants (CHRI)
212-254-2591, [EMAIL PROTECTED], www.itapnet.org/chri
Prison Moratorium Project
646-486-6715 [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.nomoreprisons.org
____________________________________________________________________
For info on DRUM -Desis Rising Up & Moving,
email [EMAIL PROTECTED], or call 212.631.3689
Join our list-serve [EMAIL PROTECTED]
www.drumnation.org
>
________________________________________________________________________
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Message: 4
Date: Thu, 10 Jan 2002 11:59:32 -0500
From: FAIR-L
Subject: URGENT ACTION: NYT BURIES AFGHAN CIVILIAN CASUALTIES
FAIR-L
Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting
Media analysis, critiques and news reports
ACTION ALERT:
NYT Buries Story of Airstrikes on Afghan Civilians
January 9, 2002
On December 30, U.S. airstrikes hit the village of Niazi Kala (also called
Qalaye Niaze) in eastern Afghanistan, killing dozens of civilians. The
attack was major news in several U.K. newspapers, with the Guardian and the
> Independent running front-page stories. The headlines were
straightforward:
"U.S. Accused of Killing Over 100 Villagers in Airstrike" (Guardian,
1/1/02); "U.S. Accused of Killing 100 Civilians in Afghan Bombing Raid"
(Independent, 1/1/02); "'100 Villagers Killed' in U.S. Airstrike" (London
Times, 1/1/02).
In contrast, the New York Times first reported the civilian deaths at Niazi
Kala under the headline "Afghan Leader Warily Backs U.S. Bombing" (1/2/02).
The U.N. estimated that 52 civilians were killed by the U.S. attack,
including 25 children, and disputed Pentagon claims that those killed were
linked to Al Qaeda. According to the U.N., "unarmed women and children"
were
"chased and killed by American helicopters," some "as they fled to shelter"
and others "as they tried to rescue survivors" (London Times, 1/4/02).
Noting that "innumeracy, rapid burial, damage to bodies, propaganda" and
"remoteness" make it difficult to reach a precise count of any of the
civilian deaths in Afghanistan, the Guardian reported that surviving
villagers estimated anywhere between 32 and 107 dead, with the higher
number
coming from staff at the local hospital (1/7/02).
The Pentagon contends that the village was a legitimate military target
because it sheltered Taliban leaders, Al Qaeda fighters and an ammunition
dump, and reporters who toured the destruction saw evidence of a
substantial
weapons cache. But local residents denied links to the Taliban or Al Qaeda,
and said that in fact many of those killed were guests in town for a
wedding. As the Los Angeles Times has pointed out (1/8/02), the attack
"raises difficult questions about the accuracy of the local information the
United States is getting about the whereabouts of remaining Al Qaeda
fighters."
Descriptions of the destruction in Niazi Kala from reporters on the scene
have been shocking. Guardian correspondent Rory Carroll (1/7/02) reported
seeing "bloodied children's shoes and skirts, bloodied school books, the
scalp of a woman with braided grey hair, butter toffees in red wrappers,
wedding decorations." Similarly, the Los Angeles Times' Alissa J. Rubin
reported "fragments of skull with black braided hair decorated with silver
thread-- an accessory common among women in this region," a child's
"severed
shoe" and other evidence that "makes clear that women and children were
killed by the U.S. bombing" (1/8/02).
The New York Times, however, has shied away from such graphic accounts. In
its January 2 article, the Times treated reports that "up to 100 villagers
in Paktia Province had been killed" not so much as a story in its own
right,
but as background to the issue of whether Hamid Karzai, head of the interim
Afghan government, was holding firm in "his support for the war against
terrorism." Further details on the killings at Niazi Kala were scarce, but
Times readers did learn that "part way through the interview, an aide
entered carrying two scones" sent by Karzai's sister-in-law in Baltimore.
The Times apparently included this information to support Karzai's
contention that "things now seemed quite organized and civilized" in
Afghanistan.
The following day, the New York Times provided more information about Niazi
Kala, but once again nestled the story within an article on a related
topic,
this one about accusations that warlord Pacha Khan Zadran has provided
false
information to the U.S., leading to the airstrikes that last month struck a
convoy of tribal leaders (1/3/02). The attack on Niazi Kala-- which some
have suggested was also targeted on Zadran's recommendation (Independent,
1/4/02)-- came up when the Times reported Zadran's "assessment" that the
villagers had been linked to the Taliban and therefore legitimate targets.
Commendably, the Times did contrast Zadran's version on the story with the
U.N.'s "far more chilling account of the human cost of destroying the
weapons stash," quoting the report at some length. Unfortunately, these
important details were buried in the middle of the page A15 story,
reflected
neither in its headline nor its lead.
In response to international pressure, including a British Member of
Parliament's formal demands for an inquiry, the Pentagon has agreed to
investigate the attack on Niazi Kala (Guardian, 1/4/02, 1/7/02). So far,
the
New York Times has not reported this fact.
The Times' poor reporting of this story comes in the midst of a general
failure of the mainstream U.S. press to seriously investigate the extent of
civilian casualties in Afghanistan and the legality of the U.S. attacks.
ACTION: Please contact the New York Times and encourage it to cover
civilian
casualties caused by U.S. attacks on Afghanistan, like those at Niazi Kala,
as an important story in their own right. You might also ask them to follow
closely and critically the Pentagon's investigation into the attack on
Niazi
Kala.
CONTACT:
New York Times
229 West 43rd St.
New York, NY 10036-3959
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Toll free comment line: 1-888-NYT-NEWS
As always, please remember that your comments are taken more seriously if
you maintain a polite tone. Please cc [EMAIL PROTECTED] with your
correspondence.
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________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Message: 5
Date: Thu, 10 Jan 2002 12:02:50 -0500
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: EVENT (NJ--1/21/02): DEFEND IMMIGRANT DETAINEES
[NYCLAW endorses the following event]
YOUR HELP IS URGENTLY NEEDED!
DEFEND THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION
The Hudson County Correctional Center is one of the nation's largest
holding facilities for Muslim, Arab, South and Central Asian and
Middle-Eastern immigrants. Many of the people being held have had no
charges brought against them, have had no access to a lawyer and have
had no communication with their families.
JUSTICE MUST NOT TAKE A BACKSEAT TO FEAR!
> If the Constitution does not protect ALL of us, it does not protect ANY
of us.
Let your voice be heard!
March on the Hudson County
Correctional Center
January 21, 2002 at 12:00
For details, directions and carpooling information email:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Or call:
201-435-3804
Sponsored by: The Hudson County Green Party, Hudson County Coalition for
Peace and Justice, New Jersey Veterans for Peace, Vietnam Veterans
Against the War, Montclair State University Greens, World Peace 911,
Human Rights Education and Law Project, NJ Jobs with Justice, NY
Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador, Coalition for
the Human Rights of Immigrants, 9-11 Emergency National Network and NYC
Labor Against the War
________________________________________________________________________
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Message: 6
Date: Fri, 11 Jan 2002 09:13:13 EST
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: REPORT: UK STOP THE WAR COALITION BRIEFING
STOP THE WAR COALITION BRIEFING
www.stopwar.org.uk <http://www.stopwar.org.uk> 07951 235 915
War is continuing in Afghanistan, with hundreds of civilian lives being
lost
every week. War is threatened against Somalia, Yemen, Sudan and Iraq, with
potential for greater death, destruction and danger for the whole world.
Israel, with strong US support, is inflaming the situation still further by
trampling on the rights of the Palestinian people. And the "war on
terrorism" has helped inflame relations between Pakistan and India to the
point where these two nuclear powers are on the brink of war.
The need for an anti-war movement putting the case for peace and justice as
an alternative to the Blair-Bush policy of international aggression is
greater than ever. Millions of people throughout Britain want to make their
voices heard in support of this alternative and to fight for a peaceful,
safer world. We must make the best use of every partial pause in military
action to develop our campaign.
As the Coalition warned from the beginning, the war has also been used as a
pretext to attack civil liberties here at home. At present, many
individuals
are being detained indefinitely without trial, and many more are
threatened.
We must not let this issue be forgotten.
There is therefore every need to build and strengthen the Coalition, and
step up our actions to oppose government policy.
Plan of Action
The Stop the War Coalition steering committee has outlined a programme of
action for the next two-to-three months to build the anti-war movement in
this fast-changing international situation. Taking account of the
perception
that there is a lull in the war in Afghanistan at present, the Coalition
has
agreed with CND that the demonstration provisionally planned for January 26
should be put on hold.
It is now hoped to hold the next national demonstration against the war
early in March, following discussions with CND. This will allow time for
the
widest possible mobilisation. However, we will be ready to call a
demonstration sooner if events in the world demand it.
Over the next eight weeks, we will be working to broaden and deepen the
anti-war movement in various ways:
On January 26 the Coalition is calling a mass protest at 12 pm (time to be
confirmed) outside the Israeli Embassy in South Kensington in London to
highlight Sharon's war against the Palestinians. We would urge as many
supporters as possible to come.
On February 9 we will be organising a teach-in in London to help get to
grips with some of the underlying issues behind the "war on terrorism".
Details, with confirmed speakers, will be announced shortly. We would also
urge local Coalitions to consider holding similar events - contact the
Office or one of the Officers if you would like assistance or suggestions.
The Coalition is also supporting a conference on the situation in South
Asia, to be held in April (check date), with speakers from all communities
in the sub-continent. For more details please contact Mike Marqusee
([EMAIL PROTECTED]) and Suresh Grover (020 8843 2333/07903 931 365/
[EMAIL PROTECTED]). More materials are being produced to help local groups
build for these events and organise their own activities. Please contact
the
office for details of what is available.
Finance
If we are to maintain our activites, it is essential that we continue
fund-raising. It is important that we seek affiliations - always a good way
of raising the discussion on the current situation at meetings - that we
make a large effort to get standing order forms completed (please see
attached), that we continue to seek donations and where possible hold fund
raising events. Unless we make this a priority our potential for responding
to events will be curtailed.
Officers
The steering committee has elected several additional officers to help
strengthen our work. Asad Rehman, Shahed Saleem and Chris Nineham are
organisers and Andrew Burgin and Mike Marqusee are our new media officers.
They join Andrew Murray (chair), Lindsey German (convenor) and Jane
Shallice
(treasurer) on our officers' group.
In solidarity,
Stop the War Coalition
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Message: 7
Date: Sat, 05 Jan 2002 10:20:10 +0100
From: hde_tollenaere [[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Subject: STATEMENT: UAW LOCAL PRESIDENT'S ANTIWAR LETTER
FROM A UAW LOCAL PRESIDENT:
"WORKERS SHOULD NOT SUPPORT THIS WAR"
[The following letter on the current war was sent by the president of a
United Auto Workers local in Detroit, USA, to the UAW International
Executive Board and President Stephen P. Yokich in early December. It was
also mass distributed to a UAW Region 1 leadership meeting of several
hundred local union officers.]
> Dear Brother Yokich and members of the International Executive Board:
The war against Afghanistan holds great dangers to workers, our families
and our unions. The politicians and mass media promote the war, declaring
it will "end terrorism." But the labor movement should know better than to
support this war.
Remember how on Sept. 10 most people in this country saw George Bush and
his appointees as labor haters, racists, anti-women, anti-gay bigots,
pro-big business and a vote-stealing gang? UAW's Solidarity magazine was
filled with articles exposing Bush & Co. Did Sept. 11 change their
character?
No one can seriously argue that Bush cares anything for the working people
of this nation. He has hijacked the horror of Sept. 11 to ram through his
anti-labor, anti-people program. No wonder UAW President Stephen Yokich
noted that, "even before the dust had settled in lower Manhattan, some
conservatives and corporate executives were trying to exploit this national
crisis" (Solidarity, November 2001, p.4).
With almost no opposition Congress voted to let Bush raid Social Security
for military spending. Fast Track for the Free Trade Area of the Americas
bill is being pushed in Congress even though it has nothing to do with
domestic security, and will hurt workers in the U.S. and Latin America. The
"Patriot Act" was rammed through curtailing long cherished civil liberties.
>
Attorney General Ashcroft (the guy who admires the slave-driving
Confederacy) is in charge of our civil rights! That should make us all
nervous. Racist murders have occurred; places of worship have been
attacked; racial profiling is being defended; over 1,000 people have
disappeared into jail with no charges. Strikers have been vilified as
unpatriotic. Ashcroft intends to intensify surveillance of peaceful, legal
organizations committed to peace and social justice.
The Bush Gang is giving billions in bailouts to the airline industry and
the stock-jobbers on Wall Street. But when it came to helping the airline
and aircraft workers who have lost their jobs, Bush & Co. said "NO!"
So what is the war really about? A top oil executive testified before
Congress back in 1998 that the oil industry wanted to put a pipeline
through Afghanistan and needed a more pliable regime in Kabul. The big oil
companies and Bush, who serves them, are out to grab the vast oil wealth of
the former Soviet Central Asia. This is a war for OIL PROFITS and profits
for the military-industrial complex.
The war has nothing at all to do with terrorism. The U.S. government
trained, financed and armed bin Laden and the Taliban to overthrow a
progressive, secular government. Anti-union death squad regimes around the
world keep getting U.S. support. September 11 hasn't changed U.S.
sponsorship of terrorist training at the Army School of the Americas
("School of the Assassins") at Fort Benning. It hasn't changed the U.S.
> plans to send $7 billion to Colombia where death squads have murdered
4,000
union leaders in the past 15 years! It hasn't changed U.S. policy to starve
> the civilian population of Iraq even though the UN has shown that nearly 1
million children have died as a result of U.S. sanctions.
It is a sad commentary that most U.S. labor leaders were slow to oppose the
Vietnam War. We must not be silent now. Labor must join the youth, church
leaders and community leaders who are demanding an end to the bombing and
an end
to this war. Calls to patriotism cannot mask the real intentof Bush & Co.
to crush civil rights, fill the pockets of the super-rich and destroy the
labor movement. We should not help them. We need money for jobs, education
and health care. We need a foreign policy based on justice for all people
and nations. Only this can remove the roots of international violence.
I urge the International Executive Board to take a stand against Bush's
war.
Sincerely,
David Sole
President, UAW Local 2334
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