Albert: Calamitous Perspective
"A simple chronicle of the day’s
events would be superfluous. Known facts are displayed on every TV station.
Reliable deductions are obvious...."
Chomsky: On the bombings
"...that this was a horrendous
crime is not in doubt. The primary victims, as usual, were working people:
janitors, secretaries, firemen, etc. It is likely to prove to be a crushing
blow to Palestinians and other poor and oppressed people. It is also likely
to lead to harsh security controls, with many possible ramifications for
undermining civil liberties and internal freedom."
Fisk: Awesome Cruelty
"So it has come to this. The entire
modern history of the Middle East - the collapse of the Ottoman empire,
the Balfour declaration, Lawrence of Arabia's lies, the Arab revolt, the
foundation of the state of Israel, four Arab-Israeli wars and the 34 years
of Israel's brutal occupation of Arab land - all erased within hours as
those who claim to represent a crushed, humiliated population struck back
with the wickedness and awesome cruelty of a doomed people.... "
Ansary: Afghan View
"And I thought about the issues
being raised especially hard because I am from Afghanistan, and even though
I've lived here for 35 years I've never lost track of what's going on there.
So I want to tell anyone who will listen how it all looks from where I'm
standing."
Pilger: Inevitable unimaginable
"If the attacks on America have
their source in the Islamic world, who can really be surprised? Two days
earlier, eight people were killed in southern Iraq when British and American
planes bombed civilian areas. To my knowledge, not a word appeared in the
mainstream media in Britain. ...."
Herman: Distaste for Civilization?
"One of the most durable features
of the U.S. culture is the inability or refusal to recognize U.S. crimes.
..."
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New York Indymedia
Extensive on the scene reporting...etc.
Ali: Political Solution
"On a trip to Pakistan a few years
ago I was talking to an ex-General about the militant Islamist groups in
the region. I asked him why these people, who had happily accepted funds
and weapons from the United States throughout the Cold War, had become
violently anti-American overnight. He explained that they were not alone."
Dominick: The Greatest Argument
"On Wednesday, September 12, I
was witness to the greatest argument against war the North American Left
has ever had."
Jensen: Why I Dissent
"We are told that in this time
of crisis, all good Americans should rally around the president and the
flag. I will rally, but not around a leader calling for war or a symbol
of nationalism. It is easy to understand the emotion behind the chanting
of "USA, USA." But I will not chant."
Avnery: Twin Towers
"After the smoke has cleared, the
dust has settled down and the initial fury blown over, humankind will wake
up and realize a new fact: there is no safe place on earth."
Ansary: Afghan View
"And I thought about the issues
being raised especially hard because I am from Afghanistan, and even though
I've lived here for 35 years I've never lost track of what's going on there.
So I want to tell anyone who will listen how it all looks from where I'm
standing."
Klein: The End of Video Game Wars
"Now is the time in the game of
war when we dehumanize our enemies.
They are utterly incomprehensible,
their acts unimaginable, their motivations senseless. They are “madmen”
and their states are “rogue.” Now is not the time for more understanding
– just better intelligence."
Zinn: Retaliation
"The images on television have
been heartbreaking. People on fire leaping to their deaths from a hundred
stories up. People in panic and fear racing from the scene in clouds of
dust and smoke...."
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Prashad: War Against the Planet
"President George W. Bush of the
United States appeared on television sets across the world on the 11th
of September and declared war against the planet. Not only will those who
committed the dreadful crimes of the morning be brought to justice, he
declared, but so too will those who once harbored and now continue to harbor
them."
Jensen: Doing Something
"We have to do something. In the
face of the unimaginable horror of the past week, it is easy to understand
why people all across the United States are crying out for action. But
we must remember that military action -- violence and more death -- is
not the only action available to us."
Solomon: Vengeance?
"...The greatest triumphs of propaganda
have been accomplished, not by doing something, but by refraining
from doing," Aldous Huxley observed long ago. "Great is truth, but
still greater, from a practical point of view, is silence about truth."
Ingalls: Terror Attacks
"The CIA assembled a terror network
that remains a cause of misery worldwide. CIA Director William Casey called
it "the kind of thing we should be doing. ..."
Sommers: Blowback
"In CIA parlance missions that
are “successful” create backlashes. The CIA aptly calls this `Blowback....'"
Cockburn/St Clare in CounterPunch
"Did Osama bin-Laden outwit US
intelligence agencies in a deadly game of decoy or double bluff? CounterPunch
has learned from two sources that a) three weeks before the attack of September
11 security at the World Trade Center was abruptly heightened and that
b) six weeks before the attack a US army base in New Jersey was placed
on top security alert."
Bennis: Interview on Terrorism
"Well, I think the very worst thing
would be responding militarily to the wrong country, as the U.S. has been
known to do, not too long ago, in fact, when it knocked out a vaccine company
in the Sudan claiming that it was tied to Bin Laden and only six months
later saying, whoops, I guess we got the wrong place. ...."
Schechter: Media Coverage
"Walking home through empty streets,
as New York shut down early on the day of the World Trade Towers apocalypse,
one was struck at how dazed and stunned people seemed. There was an eerie
silence punctuated by ambulances and police cars racing from place to place.
..."
Morris: Speech for Bush
Good evening, my fellow Americans.
St. Augustine said that “hope has
two beautiful daughters: anger and courage. Anger at the way things are,
and courage to struggle to create things as they should be.”
Bricmont: End of End of History
"Everything was going smoothly.
Serbia, on its knees, had just sold Milosevic to the International Criminal
Tribune for a fistful of dollars (most of which turned out to be earmarked
to pay debts going back to Tito's time). NATO was expanding eastwards toward
a powerless Russia. Saddam Hussein could be safely bombed whenever one
felt like it...."
Fisk: bin Laden...
"I can imagine how Osama bin Laden
received the news of the atrocities in the United States. ..."
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Personal
statements and thoughts against war and retaliation...
Personal
Statements
Click
Moore: Death downtown
"I was supposed to fly today on
the 4:30 PM American Airlines flight from LAX to JFK. But tonight I find
myself stuck in L.A. with an incredible range of emotions over what has
happened on the island where I work and live in New York City. ..."
Dominick: The Greatest Argument
"On Wednesday, September 12, I
was witness to the greatest argument against war the North American Left
has ever had."
Wise: To My Baby Girl
"I was not where I needed to be
last night. Not physically, and not emotionally. My daughter is ten weeks
old. And last night, and tonight as well, only her mother will be able
to hold her, and kiss her goodnight, and hug her, and wipe up her spit....
Jensen: Why I dissent
"We are told that in this time
of crisis, all good Americans should rally around the president and the
flag. I will rally, but not around a leader calling for war or a symbol
of nationalism. It is easy to understand the emotion behind the chanting
of "USA, USA." But I will not chant."
Flanders: Reports on the Scene
"I spoke with some outsiders just
now: a couple who live on the Upper West Side (usually it's 15 subway minutes
away.) They came south to Canal St., they said, because "everything's so
normal uptown." They wanted to see what it was like here, they said. They
wanted to take the reality in."
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By organizations
and writers, also helpful in talking about the war...
Immediate
Reactions
Click
Black Radical Congress Statements
"During this extremely sad and
traumatic time, we extend our sincere and ..."
Prashad: Nothing Good From Terror
"All our emotions amount to cliché.
There is little that can be said after one sees the image of the World
Trade Towers crumble. We don't know, and cannot fathom, the death toll.
The chaos on the streets of Manhattan was matched, yesterday, by the anguish
across the world. New York is a global city, and the grief was equally
global."
Schechter: Media Coverage
"Walking home through empty streets,
as New York shut down early on the day of the World Trade Towers apocalypse,
one was struck at how dazed and stunned people seemed. There was an eerie
silence punctuated by ambulances and police cars racing from place to place.
..."
Morris: Speech for Bush
Good evening, my fellow Americans.
St. Augustine said that “hope has
two beautiful daughters: anger and courage. Anger at the way things are,
and courage to struggle to create things as they should be.”
McReynolds: WRL Responds
"As we write, Manhattan feels under
siege, with all bridges, tunnels, and subways closed, and tens of thousands
of people walking slowly north from Lower Manhattan. ..."
Jensen: Sept 11
"It should need not be said, but
I will say it: The acts of terrorism that killed civilians in New York
and Washington were reprehensible and indefensible; to try to defend them
would be to abandon one's humanity. No matter what the motivation of the
attackers, the method is beyond discussion. ..."
Podur: On the Bombings
Please, first, I don't want to
hear how America has reaped what it has sown..."
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In depth discussions of
broader issues of activism...
Broader
Materials on Activism
-
One Minute You Are Changing Diapers
- Lydia Sargent
The activist's life journey...
-
Nonviolent Action - George Lakey
Good and relevant right now
-
It Should be Possible; It has to Be
Possible - Leslie Cagan
Lessons from the front.
-
Going South - Howard Zinn
The past in the present...
-
You Can't Stand Still on a Moving Train
- Howard Zinn
Finding and keeping hope.
-
Looking Back; Moving Forward - Michael
Albert
Taking lessons from movement past
for the movement's future
-
My Generation - Michael Albert
A message to anti-Vietnam War activists,
and others...
-
Resurrect the R-Word - Michael Albert
What do we want, when do we want
it?
-
The Stickiness Problem - Michael Albert
Building movements that last.
-
Autonomy Within Solidarity - Michael
Albert
Overcoming fragmentation without
sacrificing Integrity
-
Conspiracy Theory - Michael Albert
A problem to avoid.
Stop the Killing Train - Michael
Albert
Dealing with the horrors of war
and U.S. foreign policy...
-
Reinventing Anti-Poverty - Brian Dominick
A good example teaches better than
a thousand words.
-
An Interview with Manning Marable
Some Black Activist history...An
Interview with Manning Marable
-
Interview of Bernadine Dohrn
From the sixties to the present.
Interview of Bernadine Dohrn
-
Winona Laduke: Activism On and Off
the Reservation
A premier activist, interviewed.Winona
Laduke: Activism On and Off the Reservation
-
Hordes of Vigilantes - Noam Chomsky
Activism wins...
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Deeper forays
into the immediate issues, and beyond...
Some
in-Depth Materials
-
ZNet Mideast Watch
Much relevant material and many
links
-
A Foreign Policy and International
Relations Instructional - Stephen Shalom
The whole thing, take it a step
at a time...
-
The Rest of ZNet's Instructionals
Global economy, logic and arguments,
radical theory, political economy, economic vision...
-
A Selection of International Relations
Related Articles From Z
Many International relations and
other Z Magazine Articles
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