"Let no one ever, from henceforth say one word in any way countenancing war. It is dangerous even to speak of how here and there the individual may gain
some hardship of soul by it. For war is hell, and those who institute it are criminals. Were there even anything to say for it, it should not be said; for its spiritual disasters far outweigh any of its advantages."
-- Siegfried Sassoon, WW I Veteran
So much fuss about photographs of our countrymen and women abusing prisoners – rather, “terrorists”. I don’t want to see photos of human beings with light-sticks shoved up their rectums…or beaten senseless…or raped… or photographed with their tormentors …or any of the other atrocities that President Obama insists are too sensitive to share with me -- and you, and “the Muslim world.” But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t see them: they illustrate what we have become.
The nonsense that these images would “inflame the Muslim world” is moot. After decades of war, that world knows far better than America the effects of war -- it is already inflamed! More Americans ought to be inflamed since our tax dollars pay our abusive countrymen and women. Instead of fussing about our visual sensitivities our president should focus on our moral and cultural insensitivities!
The fundamental issue is not whether these photos belong in the public domain but whether releasing them would realign mainstream American thinking about war: from the worldview that war is, somehow, “good” or “patriotic,” or “for national security” to the worldview that it is morally, legally, and financially destructive, debasing, and pornographic. Realigning our thinking would benefit this One Nation under God – or gods -- and empower our community to utterly refuse war.
This latest porn from the war zones is a distraction from the central questions: Why do We, the People allow our children and fellow citizens to be used up by war? Why do we bicker about seeing photographs of troops’ and contractors’ actions in prisons yet pay little attention to their day-to-day actions in Iraq, Afghanistan, and, now, Pakistan? Would We, the People have prevented the War on Terror if we’d seen photos of America’s last go-rounds of war? Do we even remember them? Bush senior’s tenure brought the abysmal destruction of Panama City, the “turkey shoot” massacres of Mutla Ridge, and the abandonment of south Iraq’s Shia to Saddam’s forces. Clinton’s tenure included a dozen years of devastating economic sanctions that killed half a million Iraqi children.
In our hearts and heads Americans know what war is about…and we choose to address the superficial symptoms and not the underlying pathologies.
We’ve known at least since Vietnam that troops and officers caught in war’s madness are implicated in horrors that far outstrip civilian imaginations. Yet we insist that my son, my husband, my friend, my neighbor… could not abuse prisoners, kill and rape civilians, or murder children. But they can…and they do.
We are shocked – shocked! - that our troops are killing themselves at sky rocketing rates. Yet we’ve known since the American Civil War about war’s psychological trauma – called “soldiers’ heart” back then, “battle fatigue” and “shell shock” during World Wars I and II, “Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome” during Vietnam, and, now, “Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.” Vietnam era veterans are still killing themselves decades after that war ended. We’ll see a lot more suicides and a lot more War on Terror veterans joining their Vietnam-era band-of-brothers on America’s streets.
The surprise is not that troops are killing themselves but that military training was unable to snuff out their humanity and their shame. To rectify this lapse, the military is turning to Unmanned Aerial Vehicles – UAVs or drones – to bypass the messy complexities of training that fails to numb trainees. There’ll be no bickering about photos when UAVs rule – out of sight, out of mind -- although we may reiterate the national lament of Bush junior’s tenure: “Why do they hate us?”
If President Obama wants to protect The American People from “anti-American sentiment,” let him orate about what really happens in war: we betray our children, our souls, our integrity, and our honor; we maintain the veneer of “freedom” to gloss over the reality that our economy depends upon war; we obfuscate our oligarchic imperialism by redefining democracy; we sacrifice our idealistic and vulnerable youth to the pentagon’s version of patriotism and an arms industry that enriches a few; we murder civilians and call it “collateral damage”; and we scapegoat our troops by acting as if there is something different, more heinous, about this war, this batch of photographs, and them.
Then let him support The American People as we grapple with real challenges: how to wrestle our tax dollars back from those who’ve bankrupted us; how to realign an economy focused on manufacturing weapons that pulverize human beings to one focused on enterprises that educate and empower human beings.
It is when we grasp what those photos say about what America has become that we can envision and co-create who we want to be.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Monday, June 15, 2009
Reflections of Fidel
Say what you will about Fidel Castro -- and We, the People, have a lot to say about him here in the US, little of it flattering -- but the man is a clear thinker. The following good example of his clarity deconstructs Obama's speech in Egypt. Now, Obama broke a lot of barriers with that speech...I was glad to hear it ... and it was also a nice layer of tasty sound bytes to cover over the reality of how the US actually works. Fidel Castro gets at that here ....
Reflections of Fidel - Obama’s speech in Cairo
Taken from Cuba Debate
On Thursday, June 4, at the Al-Azhar Islamic University in Cairo, Obama gave a speech of special interest for those of us who are carefully following his political actions, given the tremendous power of the superpower that he is leading. I am using his own words to note what, in my judgment, were the basic ideas that he expressed, thus synthesizing his speech in the interest of time. We need to know not just that he spoke, but also what he spoke about.
"We meet at a time of tension between the United States and Muslims around the world, tension rooted in historical forces that go beyond any current policy debate…
"The relationship between Islam and the West includes centuries of co-existence and co-operation, but also conflict and religious wars."
"…colonialism denied rights and opportunities to many Muslims… the Cold War in which Muslim-majority countries were too often treated as proxies without regard to their own aspirations.."
"Violent extremists have exploited these tensions…"
"…has led some in my country to view Islam as inevitably hostile not only to America and Western countries, but also to human rights."
"I have come here to seek a new beginning between the United States and Muslims around the world; one based upon mutual interest and mutual respect…"
"…they overlap, and share common principles of justice and progress; tolerance and the dignity of all human beings."
"No single speech can eradicate years of mistrust, nor can I answer in the time that I have all the complex questions that brought us to this point."
"As the Holy Quran tells us: ‘Be conscious of God and speak always the truth.’"
"I am a Christian, but my father came from a Kenyan family that includes generations of Muslims. As a boy, I spent several years in Indonesia and heard the call of the azaan at the break of dawn and the fall of dusk. As a young man, I worked in Chicago communities where many found dignity and peace in their Muslim faith."
"It was Islam at places like Al-Azhar University that carried the light of learning through so many centuries, paving the way for Europe's Renaissance and Enlightenment."
"…since our founding, American Muslims have enriched the United States."
"They have fought in our wars, served in government, stood for civil rights…"
"And I consider it part of my responsibility as president of the United States to fight against negative stereotypes of Islam wherever they appear."
"…America is not the crude stereotype of a self-interested empire."
"The dream of opportunity for all people has not come true for everyone in America…"
"Words alone cannot meet the needs of our people."
"When a new flu infects one human being, all are at risk."
"When one nation pursues a nuclear weapon, the risk of nuclear attack rises for all nations."
"…any world order that elevates one nation or group of people over another will inevitably fail."
"In Ankara, I made clear that America is not and never will be at war with Islam."
"…we reject the same thing that people of all faiths reject: the killing of innocent men, women, and children."
"…some question or justify the events of 9/11."
"The victims were innocent men, women and children from America…"
"Make no mistake: We do not want to keep our troops in Afghanistan. We seek no military bases there. It is agonizing for America to lose our young men and women. It is costly and politically difficult to continue this conflict. We would gladly bring every single one of our troops home if we could be confident that there were not violent extremists in Afghanistan and Pakistan determined to kill as many Americans as they possibly can."
"The Holy Quran teaches that whoever kills an innocent, it is as if he has killed all mankind; and whoever saves a person, it is as if he has saved all mankind."
"Unlike Afghanistan, Iraq was a war of choice that provoked strong differences in my country and around the world."
"…I also believe that events in Iraq have reminded America of the need to use diplomacy and build international consensus to resolve our problems whenever possible."
"Today, America has a dual responsibility: to help Iraq forge a better future - and to leave Iraq to Iraqis."
"I have made it clear to the Iraqi people that we pursue no bases, and no claim on their territory or resources."
"Iraq's sovereignty is its own. That is why I ordered the removal of our combat brigades by next August. "
"…combat troops from Iraqi cities by July, and to remove all our troops from Iraq by 2012."
"…9/11 was an enormous trauma to our country."
"…in some cases, it led us to act contrary to our ideals."
"I have unequivocally prohibited the use of torture by the United States, and I have ordered the prison at Guantánamo Bay closed by early next year."
"America will defend itself respectful of the sovereignty of nations and the rule of law.
"The second major source of tension that we need to discuss is the situation between Israelis, Palestinians and the Arab world."
"America's strong bonds with Israel are well-known. This bond is unbreakable."
"On the other hand, it is also undeniable that the Palestinian people, Muslims and Christians, have suffered in pursuit of a homeland. For more than 60 years they have endured the pain of dislocation."
"Many wait in refugee camps in the West Bank, Gaza, and neighboring lands for a life of peace and security that they have never been able to lead."
"…let there be no doubt: the situation for the Palestinian people is intolerable. America will not turn our backs on the legitimate Palestinian aspiration for dignity, opportunity, and a state of their own."
"…two peoples with legitimate aspirations, each with a painful history that makes compromise elusive."
"It is easy to point fingers, for Palestinians to point to the displacement brought by Israel's founding, and for Israelis to point to the constant hostility and attacks throughout its history from within its borders."
"But if we see this conflict only from one side or the other, then we will be blind to the truth…"
"…the only resolution is for the aspirations of both sides to be met through two states, where Israelis and Palestinians each live in peace and security."
"For centuries, black people in America suffered the lash of the whip as slaves and the humiliation of segregation. But it was not violence that won full and equal rights."
"Hamas must put an end to violence, recognize past agreements, and recognize Israel's right to exist."
"…Israelis must acknowledge that just as Israel's right to exist cannot be denied, neither can Palestine's. The United States does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements."
"This construction violates previous agreements and undermines efforts to achieve peace. It is time for these settlements to stop."
"Israel must also live up to its obligations to ensure that Palestinians can live, and work, and develop their society."
"Progress in the daily lives of the Palestinian people must be part of a road to peace, and Israel must take concrete steps to enable such progress."
"The Arab-Israeli conflict should no longer be used to distract the people of Arab nations from other problems."
"The third source of tension is our shared interest in the rights and responsibilities of nations on nuclear weapons."
"In the middle of the Cold War, the United States played a role in the overthrow of a democratically elected Iranian government."
"Since the Islamic Revolution, Iran has played a role in acts of hostage-taking and violence against US troops and civilians."
"Rather than remain trapped in the past, I have made it clear to Iran's leaders and people that my country is prepared to move forward. The question, now, is not what Iran is against, but rather what future it wants to build."
"It will be hard to overcome decades of mistrust, but we will proceed with courage, rectitude and resolve. There will be many issues to discuss between our two countries, and we are willing to move forward without preconditions on the basis of mutual respect."
"I understand those who protest that some countries have weapons that others do not. No single nation should pick and choose which nations hold nuclear weapons. That is why I strongly reaffirmed America's commitment to seek a world in which no nations hold nuclear weapons."
"…any nation - including Iran - should have the right to access peaceful nuclear power if it complies with its responsibilities under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty."
The fundamental objective of his visit to that Islamic University of Egypt is contained in these first three issues. One cannot blame the new president of the United States for the situation created in the Middle East. It is evident that he wishes to find a way out of the colossal mess created there by his predecessors and on account of the very development of events over the last 100 years.
Not even Obama could have imagined, when he was working in the African-American communities of Chicago, that the terrible effects of a financial crisis would be added to the factors that made possible his election as president in a heavily racist society.
He is assuming the post at an exceptionally complex moment for his country and the world. He is trying to solve problems that he possibly considers less complex than they really are. Centuries of colonial and capitalist exploitation have given rise to a world in which a handful of superdeveloped and rich countries coexists with another immensely poor majority, which supply raw materials and a workforce. If you add China and India, two genuinely emerging nations, the struggle for natural resources and markets is shaping an entirely new situation on the planet where human survival itself is still to be resolved.
Obama’s African roots, his modest origins and his amazing ascent are arousing hopes in many people who, like shipwrecked souls, are seeking salvation in the midst of the storm. His affirmation that "any world order that elevates one nation or group of people over another will inevitably fail" is correct; or when he states that "people of all faiths reject the killing of innocent men, women, and children;" or ratifies before the world his opposition to the use of torture.
Generally speaking, a number of the statements I have noted are correct in theory; he clearly perceives the need for all countries, without exception of course, to renounce nuclear weapons. Well-known and influential figures in the United States see in this a great danger, as technology and the sciences generalize access to radioactive material and ways of utilizing it, including in small quantities.
It is still early days to pass judgments on his degree of commitment to the ideas he is proposing and up to what point he is determined to sustain, for example, the intention to seek a peace agreement on just bases and with guarantees for all states in the Middle East.
The current president’s greatest difficulty is that the principles that he is preaching are in contradiction with the policy that the superpower has followed for close to seven decades, since the end of the final hostilities of World War II in August 1945. At this point, I will leave aside the aggressive and expansionist policy applied to the peoples of Latin America and in particular to Cuba, when it [the United States] was still far from being the most powerful nation in the world. Every one of the norms that Obama preached in Cairo is in contradiction with the interventions and wars promoted by the United States. The first of them was the famous Cold War, which he mentions in his speech, unleashed by the government of his country. The ideological differences with the USSR did not justify the hostility toward that state, which contributed more than 25 million lives to the struggle against Nazism. Obama would not be remembering in these days the 65th anniversary of the Normandy landings and the liberation of Europe without the blood shed by millions of soldiers who died fighting against the elite troops of Nazism. It was soldiers from the Soviet army who liberated the survivors of the famous Osviecim concentration camp. The world did not know what was going on, in spite of the fact that more than a few people in Western official circles were aware of the facts. Thus, millions of Russian children, women and the elderly lost their lives as a consequence of the brutal Nazi invasion seeking vital space. The West made concessions to Hitler and conspired to launch it: at the end of the day it launched it to occupy and colonize Slav territory. In World War II the Soviets were allies of the United States and not its enemies.
Two atomic bombs were dropped to test their effects on two defenseless cities, Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Those who perished there were, in the majority, Japanese children, women and elderly people.
If one analyzes the wars promoted, backed or carried out by the United States in China, Korea, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, many children, women and the elderly were among the millions who died.
The colonial wars of France and Portugal after World War II had the support of the United States; the coup d’états and interventions in Central America, Panama, the Dominican Republic, Grenada, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay, Peru and Argentina were all promoted and supported by the United States.
Israel was not a nuclear power. The creation of a state on territory from which the Jews were expelled to their exodus by the Roman Empire 2,000 years ago, was supported in good faith by the USSR and many other countries in the world. At the triumph of the Cuban Revolution we had relations with that state for more than 10 years, until its wars of conquest against the Palestinians and other Arab peoples led us to breaking them off. Total respect for the Jewish cult and religious activity has been maintained without any interruption whatsoever.
The United States never opposed Israel’s conquest of Arab territories, nor did it protest at the terrorist methods employed against the Palestinians. On the contrary, it created a nuclear power there, one of the most advanced in the world, right in the heart of Arab and Muslim territory, thus creating one of the most dangerous points of the planet in the Middle East.
The superpower likewise used Israel to supply nuclear weapons to the apartheid army of South Africa, in order to use them against the Cuban troops who, alongside the Angolan and Namibian forces, were defending the People’s Republic of Angola. These are relatively recent events that the current president of the United States is undoubtedly aware of. Thus, we are not so distant from the aggressiveness and danger that the Israeli nuclear power signifies for peace.
After the three initial points, Obama devoted his speech in Cairo to philosophizing and to establishing a professorship on U.S. foreign policy:
"The fourth issue that I will address is democracy," he said. "…let me be clear: no system of government can or should be imposed upon one nation by any other."
"America does not presume to know what is best for everyone, just as we would not presume to pick the outcome of a peaceful election."
"I do have an unyielding belief that all people yearn for certain things: the ability to speak your mind and have a say in how you are governed; confidence in the rule of law and the equal administration of justice…"
"Those are not just American ideas, they are human rights, and that is why we will support them everywhere."
"The fifth issue that we must address together is religious freedom."
"Islam has a proud tradition of tolerance… I saw it firsthand as a child in Indonesia, where devout Christians worshipped freely in an overwhelmingly Muslim country."
"Among some Muslims, there is a disturbing tendency to measure one's own faith by the rejection of another's."
"…And fault lines must be closed among Muslims as well, as the divisions between Sunni and Shia have led to tragic violence, particularly in Iraq."
"…it is important for Western countries to avoid impeding Muslim citizens from practicing religion as they see fit for instance, by dictating what clothes a Muslim woman should wear. We cannot disguise hostility towards any religion behind the pretence of liberalism."
"I reject the view of some in the West that a woman who chooses to cover her hair is somehow less equal, but I do believe that a woman who is denied an education is denied equality. And it is no coincidence that countries where women are well-educated are far more likely to be prosperous."
"…the struggle for women's equality continues in many aspects of American life, and in countries around the world." "Our daughters can contribute just as much to society as our sons, and
our common prosperity will be advanced by allowing all humanity, men and women, to reach their full potential."
"The internet and television can bring knowledge and information, but also offensive sexuality and mindless violence. Trade can bring new wealth and opportunities, but also huge disruptions and changing communities."
"…invest in online learning for teachers and children around the world; and create a new online network, so a teenager in Kansas can communicate instantly with a teenager in Cairo."
"…we have a responsibility to join together on behalf of the world we seek - a world where extremists no longer threaten our people, and American troops have come home; a world where Israelis and Palestinians are each secure in a state of their own, and nuclear energy is used for peaceful purposes…"
"That is the world we seek. But we can only achieve it together." "It is easier to start wars than to end them."
"…do unto others as we would have them do unto us." "We have the power to make the world we seek, but only if we have the courage to make a new beginning, keeping in mind what has been written."
"The Holy Quran tells us, ‘O mankind! We have created you male and a female; and we have made you into nations and tribes so that you may know one another.’"
"The Talmud tells us: ‘The whole of the Torah is for the purpose of promoting peace.’"
"The Holy Bible tells us, ‘Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.’"
"The people of the world can live together in peace."
As can be appreciated, on approaching the fourth issue of his speech at Al-Azhar University, Obama falls into a contradiction. After beginning his words with an apothegm, as is his habit, by affirming: "no system of government can or should be imposed upon one nation by any other," a principle enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations as a fundamental element of international law, he immediately contradicts himself with a declaration of faith which converts the United States into the supreme judge of democratic values and human rights.
He goes on to allude to issues related to economic development and equality of opportunity. He makes promises to the Arab world; he points to advantages and contradictions. It would really appear to be a public relations campaign with the Muslim countries on the part of the United States which, in any event, is better than threatening to bombard and destroy them.
At the end of the speech, there is quite a mix of issues. Taking into account the length of the speech, without using written notes, the number of lapses is negligible in comparison with his predecessor, who made mistakes in every paragraph. He has a great capacity for communication.
I am accustomed to observing with interest historical, political and religious ceremonies. That of Al-Azhar University seemed to me an unreal scene. Not even Pope Benedict XVI would have uttered phrases more ecumenical than those of Obama. For one second I imagined pious Muslim, Catholic, Christian or Jewish believers, or those of any other religion, listening to the president in the wide hall of Al-Azhar University. At any specific moment, they wouldn’t have known if they were in a Catholic cathedral, a Christian church, a mosque or a synagogue.
He left early for Germany. For three days he toured points of political significance. He participated in and spoke at all the commemorative events. He visited museums, received his family and dined in famous restaurants. He possesses an impressive capacity for work. A long time will pass before a similar case is seen.
Fidel Castro Ruz June 8, 2009 7:12 p.m.
Translated by Granma International
Reflections of Fidel - Obama’s speech in Cairo
Taken from Cuba Debate
On Thursday, June 4, at the Al-Azhar Islamic University in Cairo, Obama gave a speech of special interest for those of us who are carefully following his political actions, given the tremendous power of the superpower that he is leading. I am using his own words to note what, in my judgment, were the basic ideas that he expressed, thus synthesizing his speech in the interest of time. We need to know not just that he spoke, but also what he spoke about.
"We meet at a time of tension between the United States and Muslims around the world, tension rooted in historical forces that go beyond any current policy debate…
"The relationship between Islam and the West includes centuries of co-existence and co-operation, but also conflict and religious wars."
"…colonialism denied rights and opportunities to many Muslims… the Cold War in which Muslim-majority countries were too often treated as proxies without regard to their own aspirations.."
"Violent extremists have exploited these tensions…"
"…has led some in my country to view Islam as inevitably hostile not only to America and Western countries, but also to human rights."
"I have come here to seek a new beginning between the United States and Muslims around the world; one based upon mutual interest and mutual respect…"
"…they overlap, and share common principles of justice and progress; tolerance and the dignity of all human beings."
"No single speech can eradicate years of mistrust, nor can I answer in the time that I have all the complex questions that brought us to this point."
"As the Holy Quran tells us: ‘Be conscious of God and speak always the truth.’"
"I am a Christian, but my father came from a Kenyan family that includes generations of Muslims. As a boy, I spent several years in Indonesia and heard the call of the azaan at the break of dawn and the fall of dusk. As a young man, I worked in Chicago communities where many found dignity and peace in their Muslim faith."
"It was Islam at places like Al-Azhar University that carried the light of learning through so many centuries, paving the way for Europe's Renaissance and Enlightenment."
"…since our founding, American Muslims have enriched the United States."
"They have fought in our wars, served in government, stood for civil rights…"
"And I consider it part of my responsibility as president of the United States to fight against negative stereotypes of Islam wherever they appear."
"…America is not the crude stereotype of a self-interested empire."
"The dream of opportunity for all people has not come true for everyone in America…"
"Words alone cannot meet the needs of our people."
"When a new flu infects one human being, all are at risk."
"When one nation pursues a nuclear weapon, the risk of nuclear attack rises for all nations."
"…any world order that elevates one nation or group of people over another will inevitably fail."
"In Ankara, I made clear that America is not and never will be at war with Islam."
"…we reject the same thing that people of all faiths reject: the killing of innocent men, women, and children."
"…some question or justify the events of 9/11."
"The victims were innocent men, women and children from America…"
"Make no mistake: We do not want to keep our troops in Afghanistan. We seek no military bases there. It is agonizing for America to lose our young men and women. It is costly and politically difficult to continue this conflict. We would gladly bring every single one of our troops home if we could be confident that there were not violent extremists in Afghanistan and Pakistan determined to kill as many Americans as they possibly can."
"The Holy Quran teaches that whoever kills an innocent, it is as if he has killed all mankind; and whoever saves a person, it is as if he has saved all mankind."
"Unlike Afghanistan, Iraq was a war of choice that provoked strong differences in my country and around the world."
"…I also believe that events in Iraq have reminded America of the need to use diplomacy and build international consensus to resolve our problems whenever possible."
"Today, America has a dual responsibility: to help Iraq forge a better future - and to leave Iraq to Iraqis."
"I have made it clear to the Iraqi people that we pursue no bases, and no claim on their territory or resources."
"Iraq's sovereignty is its own. That is why I ordered the removal of our combat brigades by next August. "
"…combat troops from Iraqi cities by July, and to remove all our troops from Iraq by 2012."
"…9/11 was an enormous trauma to our country."
"…in some cases, it led us to act contrary to our ideals."
"I have unequivocally prohibited the use of torture by the United States, and I have ordered the prison at Guantánamo Bay closed by early next year."
"America will defend itself respectful of the sovereignty of nations and the rule of law.
"The second major source of tension that we need to discuss is the situation between Israelis, Palestinians and the Arab world."
"America's strong bonds with Israel are well-known. This bond is unbreakable."
"On the other hand, it is also undeniable that the Palestinian people, Muslims and Christians, have suffered in pursuit of a homeland. For more than 60 years they have endured the pain of dislocation."
"Many wait in refugee camps in the West Bank, Gaza, and neighboring lands for a life of peace and security that they have never been able to lead."
"…let there be no doubt: the situation for the Palestinian people is intolerable. America will not turn our backs on the legitimate Palestinian aspiration for dignity, opportunity, and a state of their own."
"…two peoples with legitimate aspirations, each with a painful history that makes compromise elusive."
"It is easy to point fingers, for Palestinians to point to the displacement brought by Israel's founding, and for Israelis to point to the constant hostility and attacks throughout its history from within its borders."
"But if we see this conflict only from one side or the other, then we will be blind to the truth…"
"…the only resolution is for the aspirations of both sides to be met through two states, where Israelis and Palestinians each live in peace and security."
"For centuries, black people in America suffered the lash of the whip as slaves and the humiliation of segregation. But it was not violence that won full and equal rights."
"Hamas must put an end to violence, recognize past agreements, and recognize Israel's right to exist."
"…Israelis must acknowledge that just as Israel's right to exist cannot be denied, neither can Palestine's. The United States does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements."
"This construction violates previous agreements and undermines efforts to achieve peace. It is time for these settlements to stop."
"Israel must also live up to its obligations to ensure that Palestinians can live, and work, and develop their society."
"Progress in the daily lives of the Palestinian people must be part of a road to peace, and Israel must take concrete steps to enable such progress."
"The Arab-Israeli conflict should no longer be used to distract the people of Arab nations from other problems."
"The third source of tension is our shared interest in the rights and responsibilities of nations on nuclear weapons."
"In the middle of the Cold War, the United States played a role in the overthrow of a democratically elected Iranian government."
"Since the Islamic Revolution, Iran has played a role in acts of hostage-taking and violence against US troops and civilians."
"Rather than remain trapped in the past, I have made it clear to Iran's leaders and people that my country is prepared to move forward. The question, now, is not what Iran is against, but rather what future it wants to build."
"It will be hard to overcome decades of mistrust, but we will proceed with courage, rectitude and resolve. There will be many issues to discuss between our two countries, and we are willing to move forward without preconditions on the basis of mutual respect."
"I understand those who protest that some countries have weapons that others do not. No single nation should pick and choose which nations hold nuclear weapons. That is why I strongly reaffirmed America's commitment to seek a world in which no nations hold nuclear weapons."
"…any nation - including Iran - should have the right to access peaceful nuclear power if it complies with its responsibilities under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty."
The fundamental objective of his visit to that Islamic University of Egypt is contained in these first three issues. One cannot blame the new president of the United States for the situation created in the Middle East. It is evident that he wishes to find a way out of the colossal mess created there by his predecessors and on account of the very development of events over the last 100 years.
Not even Obama could have imagined, when he was working in the African-American communities of Chicago, that the terrible effects of a financial crisis would be added to the factors that made possible his election as president in a heavily racist society.
He is assuming the post at an exceptionally complex moment for his country and the world. He is trying to solve problems that he possibly considers less complex than they really are. Centuries of colonial and capitalist exploitation have given rise to a world in which a handful of superdeveloped and rich countries coexists with another immensely poor majority, which supply raw materials and a workforce. If you add China and India, two genuinely emerging nations, the struggle for natural resources and markets is shaping an entirely new situation on the planet where human survival itself is still to be resolved.
Obama’s African roots, his modest origins and his amazing ascent are arousing hopes in many people who, like shipwrecked souls, are seeking salvation in the midst of the storm. His affirmation that "any world order that elevates one nation or group of people over another will inevitably fail" is correct; or when he states that "people of all faiths reject the killing of innocent men, women, and children;" or ratifies before the world his opposition to the use of torture.
Generally speaking, a number of the statements I have noted are correct in theory; he clearly perceives the need for all countries, without exception of course, to renounce nuclear weapons. Well-known and influential figures in the United States see in this a great danger, as technology and the sciences generalize access to radioactive material and ways of utilizing it, including in small quantities.
It is still early days to pass judgments on his degree of commitment to the ideas he is proposing and up to what point he is determined to sustain, for example, the intention to seek a peace agreement on just bases and with guarantees for all states in the Middle East.
The current president’s greatest difficulty is that the principles that he is preaching are in contradiction with the policy that the superpower has followed for close to seven decades, since the end of the final hostilities of World War II in August 1945. At this point, I will leave aside the aggressive and expansionist policy applied to the peoples of Latin America and in particular to Cuba, when it [the United States] was still far from being the most powerful nation in the world. Every one of the norms that Obama preached in Cairo is in contradiction with the interventions and wars promoted by the United States. The first of them was the famous Cold War, which he mentions in his speech, unleashed by the government of his country. The ideological differences with the USSR did not justify the hostility toward that state, which contributed more than 25 million lives to the struggle against Nazism. Obama would not be remembering in these days the 65th anniversary of the Normandy landings and the liberation of Europe without the blood shed by millions of soldiers who died fighting against the elite troops of Nazism. It was soldiers from the Soviet army who liberated the survivors of the famous Osviecim concentration camp. The world did not know what was going on, in spite of the fact that more than a few people in Western official circles were aware of the facts. Thus, millions of Russian children, women and the elderly lost their lives as a consequence of the brutal Nazi invasion seeking vital space. The West made concessions to Hitler and conspired to launch it: at the end of the day it launched it to occupy and colonize Slav territory. In World War II the Soviets were allies of the United States and not its enemies.
Two atomic bombs were dropped to test their effects on two defenseless cities, Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Those who perished there were, in the majority, Japanese children, women and elderly people.
If one analyzes the wars promoted, backed or carried out by the United States in China, Korea, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, many children, women and the elderly were among the millions who died.
The colonial wars of France and Portugal after World War II had the support of the United States; the coup d’états and interventions in Central America, Panama, the Dominican Republic, Grenada, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay, Peru and Argentina were all promoted and supported by the United States.
Israel was not a nuclear power. The creation of a state on territory from which the Jews were expelled to their exodus by the Roman Empire 2,000 years ago, was supported in good faith by the USSR and many other countries in the world. At the triumph of the Cuban Revolution we had relations with that state for more than 10 years, until its wars of conquest against the Palestinians and other Arab peoples led us to breaking them off. Total respect for the Jewish cult and religious activity has been maintained without any interruption whatsoever.
The United States never opposed Israel’s conquest of Arab territories, nor did it protest at the terrorist methods employed against the Palestinians. On the contrary, it created a nuclear power there, one of the most advanced in the world, right in the heart of Arab and Muslim territory, thus creating one of the most dangerous points of the planet in the Middle East.
The superpower likewise used Israel to supply nuclear weapons to the apartheid army of South Africa, in order to use them against the Cuban troops who, alongside the Angolan and Namibian forces, were defending the People’s Republic of Angola. These are relatively recent events that the current president of the United States is undoubtedly aware of. Thus, we are not so distant from the aggressiveness and danger that the Israeli nuclear power signifies for peace.
After the three initial points, Obama devoted his speech in Cairo to philosophizing and to establishing a professorship on U.S. foreign policy:
"The fourth issue that I will address is democracy," he said. "…let me be clear: no system of government can or should be imposed upon one nation by any other."
"America does not presume to know what is best for everyone, just as we would not presume to pick the outcome of a peaceful election."
"I do have an unyielding belief that all people yearn for certain things: the ability to speak your mind and have a say in how you are governed; confidence in the rule of law and the equal administration of justice…"
"Those are not just American ideas, they are human rights, and that is why we will support them everywhere."
"The fifth issue that we must address together is religious freedom."
"Islam has a proud tradition of tolerance… I saw it firsthand as a child in Indonesia, where devout Christians worshipped freely in an overwhelmingly Muslim country."
"Among some Muslims, there is a disturbing tendency to measure one's own faith by the rejection of another's."
"…And fault lines must be closed among Muslims as well, as the divisions between Sunni and Shia have led to tragic violence, particularly in Iraq."
"…it is important for Western countries to avoid impeding Muslim citizens from practicing religion as they see fit for instance, by dictating what clothes a Muslim woman should wear. We cannot disguise hostility towards any religion behind the pretence of liberalism."
"I reject the view of some in the West that a woman who chooses to cover her hair is somehow less equal, but I do believe that a woman who is denied an education is denied equality. And it is no coincidence that countries where women are well-educated are far more likely to be prosperous."
"…the struggle for women's equality continues in many aspects of American life, and in countries around the world." "Our daughters can contribute just as much to society as our sons, and
our common prosperity will be advanced by allowing all humanity, men and women, to reach their full potential."
"The internet and television can bring knowledge and information, but also offensive sexuality and mindless violence. Trade can bring new wealth and opportunities, but also huge disruptions and changing communities."
"…invest in online learning for teachers and children around the world; and create a new online network, so a teenager in Kansas can communicate instantly with a teenager in Cairo."
"…we have a responsibility to join together on behalf of the world we seek - a world where extremists no longer threaten our people, and American troops have come home; a world where Israelis and Palestinians are each secure in a state of their own, and nuclear energy is used for peaceful purposes…"
"That is the world we seek. But we can only achieve it together." "It is easier to start wars than to end them."
"…do unto others as we would have them do unto us." "We have the power to make the world we seek, but only if we have the courage to make a new beginning, keeping in mind what has been written."
"The Holy Quran tells us, ‘O mankind! We have created you male and a female; and we have made you into nations and tribes so that you may know one another.’"
"The Talmud tells us: ‘The whole of the Torah is for the purpose of promoting peace.’"
"The Holy Bible tells us, ‘Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.’"
"The people of the world can live together in peace."
As can be appreciated, on approaching the fourth issue of his speech at Al-Azhar University, Obama falls into a contradiction. After beginning his words with an apothegm, as is his habit, by affirming: "no system of government can or should be imposed upon one nation by any other," a principle enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations as a fundamental element of international law, he immediately contradicts himself with a declaration of faith which converts the United States into the supreme judge of democratic values and human rights.
He goes on to allude to issues related to economic development and equality of opportunity. He makes promises to the Arab world; he points to advantages and contradictions. It would really appear to be a public relations campaign with the Muslim countries on the part of the United States which, in any event, is better than threatening to bombard and destroy them.
At the end of the speech, there is quite a mix of issues. Taking into account the length of the speech, without using written notes, the number of lapses is negligible in comparison with his predecessor, who made mistakes in every paragraph. He has a great capacity for communication.
I am accustomed to observing with interest historical, political and religious ceremonies. That of Al-Azhar University seemed to me an unreal scene. Not even Pope Benedict XVI would have uttered phrases more ecumenical than those of Obama. For one second I imagined pious Muslim, Catholic, Christian or Jewish believers, or those of any other religion, listening to the president in the wide hall of Al-Azhar University. At any specific moment, they wouldn’t have known if they were in a Catholic cathedral, a Christian church, a mosque or a synagogue.
He left early for Germany. For three days he toured points of political significance. He participated in and spoke at all the commemorative events. He visited museums, received his family and dined in famous restaurants. He possesses an impressive capacity for work. A long time will pass before a similar case is seen.
Fidel Castro Ruz June 8, 2009 7:12 p.m.
Translated by Granma International
Monday, May 18, 2009
LA's Hammer Museum - It Is What It is...Conversations about Iraq
May 16 I was invited to LA's Hammer Museum to participate as a “guest expert" in Jeremy Deller's installation, " It Is What It is...Conversations about Iraq". With participants from diverse backgrounds participating in the 3 hour conversation, I shared my experiences of Iraq - and in my case, also Israel, West Bank, Lebanon, Syria, and Afghanistan as described in the book, Long Time Passing.
Prior to these Conversations, British artist Jeremy Deller and his colleagues had towed a rusted hulk of a suicide bombed vehicle (looked like it been a passenger sedan) around the US and engaged Americans about war and its consequences. (The vehicle can be seen in the foreground of a couple of photos.)
Asked why he chose to do an installation of this sort in the US and not in the UK, Jeremy Deller responded, "...I think there’s a massive gap in information and sensible discussion about Iraq. Still. It’s patronizing thing to say, I know, but it might be needed slightly more here. It’s not that Britain is better -- It’s not great, but I think Britain isn’t so oppositional in terms of discussion. ... It is your war, after all. It isn’t a British war. We just tagged along."
While this "massive gap in information" and the "oppositional" nature "in terms of discussion" is true at the US macrocosm, at the microcosm of the Hammer Museum courtyard, participants really reached out to engage one another and me.
I found this exhibit by British artist Jeremy Deller, true to how he envisioned and designed it. The diverse group of individuals who showed up to talk candidly and with real curiosity was most welcome.
It was, as we say, "a thing of beauty"!
What was beautiful about it? Discussion participants were random members of the local community visiting the museum. While the event was advertised and some participants came specifically to attend, many folks who joined in were simply passing by. They found a seat and joined a wide ranging conversation from:
military recruitment in middle and high schools: "When I was in high school military recruiters would come into our classes and could take up a whole hour handing out surveys (we had to put our contact info on the survey, name, email, and phone number) and talking to us about what a great career we faced in the military. Some days I'd go from one class to another and the same recruiter would be in the next class doing the same thing...."
mothers and women possess a huge untapped potential to end war and perpetuate peace: "we men have messed things up so badly - these wars, the economy, the environment, and so on - and I think it is time you women have a chance to rectify these male-dominated wrongs. I'm not suggesting that women simply take over but we need women to be more pro-active and forceful, not just to demonstrate and crowd into Congress but to really strategize for the long term...."
combat troops need to find a way to forgive themselves for what they've done in war: "I'm Israeli and I served in the IDF. In the US, one thing "we" ("average Americans") are not recognizing is that many troops have done things in the heat of combat that they recognize they should not have done...and they cannot forgive themselves for it. But "we" need to find ways to forgive them too...."
We ventured into many other topics (each "expert" had a three hour shift...and every idea is worthy of discussion). I'll surface more of these topics in future posts as they are drifting around in the American macrocosm at some level albeit with different levels of opposition. It is essential that we surface these topics and engage them in ways that accepts yet marginalized disrespectful opposition - since it is the way we Americans oppose ideas that is so damaging to ongoing conversations. (This takes a particular type of leadership...one that breaks the current mold and is more participative. More on that in future posts....)
The Hammer Museum event appeared to invigorate all participants and each of us was candid (no one was attacked for holding the 'wrong' view) and questioning. This allowed a blossoming of even further openness to engage 'hot' topics....
See pictures from the event.
Prior to these Conversations, British artist Jeremy Deller and his colleagues had towed a rusted hulk of a suicide bombed vehicle (looked like it been a passenger sedan) around the US and engaged Americans about war and its consequences. (The vehicle can be seen in the foreground of a couple of photos.)
Asked why he chose to do an installation of this sort in the US and not in the UK, Jeremy Deller responded, "...I think there’s a massive gap in information and sensible discussion about Iraq. Still. It’s patronizing thing to say, I know, but it might be needed slightly more here. It’s not that Britain is better -- It’s not great, but I think Britain isn’t so oppositional in terms of discussion. ... It is your war, after all. It isn’t a British war. We just tagged along."
While this "massive gap in information" and the "oppositional" nature "in terms of discussion" is true at the US macrocosm, at the microcosm of the Hammer Museum courtyard, participants really reached out to engage one another and me.
I found this exhibit by British artist Jeremy Deller, true to how he envisioned and designed it. The diverse group of individuals who showed up to talk candidly and with real curiosity was most welcome.
It was, as we say, "a thing of beauty"!
What was beautiful about it? Discussion participants were random members of the local community visiting the museum. While the event was advertised and some participants came specifically to attend, many folks who joined in were simply passing by. They found a seat and joined a wide ranging conversation from:
military recruitment in middle and high schools: "When I was in high school military recruiters would come into our classes and could take up a whole hour handing out surveys (we had to put our contact info on the survey, name, email, and phone number) and talking to us about what a great career we faced in the military. Some days I'd go from one class to another and the same recruiter would be in the next class doing the same thing...."
mothers and women possess a huge untapped potential to end war and perpetuate peace: "we men have messed things up so badly - these wars, the economy, the environment, and so on - and I think it is time you women have a chance to rectify these male-dominated wrongs. I'm not suggesting that women simply take over but we need women to be more pro-active and forceful, not just to demonstrate and crowd into Congress but to really strategize for the long term...."
combat troops need to find a way to forgive themselves for what they've done in war: "I'm Israeli and I served in the IDF. In the US, one thing "we" ("average Americans") are not recognizing is that many troops have done things in the heat of combat that they recognize they should not have done...and they cannot forgive themselves for it. But "we" need to find ways to forgive them too...."
We ventured into many other topics (each "expert" had a three hour shift...and every idea is worthy of discussion). I'll surface more of these topics in future posts as they are drifting around in the American macrocosm at some level albeit with different levels of opposition. It is essential that we surface these topics and engage them in ways that accepts yet marginalized disrespectful opposition - since it is the way we Americans oppose ideas that is so damaging to ongoing conversations. (This takes a particular type of leadership...one that breaks the current mold and is more participative. More on that in future posts....)
The Hammer Museum event appeared to invigorate all participants and each of us was candid (no one was attacked for holding the 'wrong' view) and questioning. This allowed a blossoming of even further openness to engage 'hot' topics....
See pictures from the event.
Friday, May 15, 2009
Petition First Lady Michelle Obama
Sign the Petition
Dear First Lady Michelle Obama,
We The People:
And we also recognize that there are hundreds of thousands of families - mothers and fathers, grandmothers and grandfathers, aunts and uncles, sisters and brothers - in the Middle East and, now, Afghanistan and Pakistan in Central Asia, who have lost their beloved children to war and its aftermath. They also need our support… our understanding…and our friendship.
Here are just four snippets from more than 30 verbatim stories shared in the book, Time Passing: Mothers Speak about War and Terror:
In the U.S., our young people -- as young as 17- and 18-years old -- can make legally binding choices independent of parents and family, to enlist in the military. As you know, many parents go along with this choice, believing that the military will somehow teach their child discipline. It may very well do that but it also teaches our children to kill. Or to be killed. This is what most Americans refuse to openly acknowledge: that they have allowed their child to learn how to kill other mothers’ children…or be grievously wounded or killed themselves. And for what?
First Lady Michelle Obama, be a true friend in the White House. Be a true friend to our military families and urge your husband to really bring loved ones home… no more subterfuge about ending the war in Iraq just to hand over its management to contractors while we ratchet up another war in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Be a true friend to families in America, Afghanistan, Iraq, Israel, West Bank and Gaza, Syria, Lebanon by reading the candid stories of mothers, fathers, troops, and bereaved families struggling with the effects of war and terror.
As First Lady you can help the American People understand the implications of war on our nation and on other nations. We urge you to raise your awareness about the plight of our military youth and families in other lands. Please
Then work with your husband to end the policies that perpetuate these wars….
Sign the Petition
Dear First Lady Michelle Obama,
We The People:
- Appreciate your message that you are our friend in the White House
- Appreciate your commitment to American military families and the mothers and fathers who have lost their beloved children to war...
- Appreciate your understanding how husbands and wives at home are keeping their families on track while their wives and husbands are deployed...and how grandparents, aunts and uncles, sisters and brothers are taking care of children while single moms or dads in uniform are away.
- ...and we agree with you that our nation must do everything in our power to support them.
And we also recognize that there are hundreds of thousands of families - mothers and fathers, grandmothers and grandfathers, aunts and uncles, sisters and brothers - in the Middle East and, now, Afghanistan and Pakistan in Central Asia, who have lost their beloved children to war and its aftermath. They also need our support… our understanding…and our friendship.
Here are just four snippets from more than 30 verbatim stories shared in the book, Time Passing: Mothers Speak about War and Terror:
- In Iraq, Anwar Jeward challenged:
"Tell Americans there is tragedy in Iraq!"
(Anwar's husband and three children were shot to death in a Baghdad street.) - In Afghanistan, Fatima Akbar suggests:
“The message I’d like to share is that women who want to do something should never think that we cannot do it. If we are willing to try it, we are always capable of doing it.”
(Fatima spent nine years as a refugee in Iran where she learned to make furniture.) - Israeli mother Nurit Peled Elhanan says:
“Bush, Saddam, Milosovic…they are all the same. These politicians have a mafia logic and they use our kids like chips in a gambling game…then, when our kids get killed they say, “Oops, sorry!” and they move on…”
(Nurit's daughter died in a suicide bombing; her two oldest sons are IDF refusers working with Palestinians as Combatants for Peace.) - In a small south Lebanon village, Elham asks:
“Why do American women send their children to die in Iraq? Is it for democracy? Shouldn’t democracy be built by the people? Shouldn’t it come from within and not be imposed from outside? If it is imposed by those outside, isn’t that occupation?”
(Elham's home was one of over 30,000 damaged or destroyed during the 33 Day War against Lebanon in summer 2006.)
In the U.S., our young people -- as young as 17- and 18-years old -- can make legally binding choices independent of parents and family, to enlist in the military. As you know, many parents go along with this choice, believing that the military will somehow teach their child discipline. It may very well do that but it also teaches our children to kill. Or to be killed. This is what most Americans refuse to openly acknowledge: that they have allowed their child to learn how to kill other mothers’ children…or be grievously wounded or killed themselves. And for what?
First Lady Michelle Obama, be a true friend in the White House. Be a true friend to our military families and urge your husband to really bring loved ones home… no more subterfuge about ending the war in Iraq just to hand over its management to contractors while we ratchet up another war in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Be a true friend to families in America, Afghanistan, Iraq, Israel, West Bank and Gaza, Syria, Lebanon by reading the candid stories of mothers, fathers, troops, and bereaved families struggling with the effects of war and terror.
As First Lady you can help the American People understand the implications of war on our nation and on other nations. We urge you to raise your awareness about the plight of our military youth and families in other lands. Please
- -- order an author autographed hardcover edition of Long Time Passing: Mothers Speak about War and Terror from the website
- -- order a hardcover edition from any bookstore or online
-- I feel so strongly that you must read Long Time Passing: Mothers Speak about War and Terror that I’m sending a copy to you at:
First Lady Michelle Obama
White House at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW
Washington DC 20500
Then work with your husband to end the policies that perpetuate these wars….
Sign the Petition
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Check out pix from the book tour for the variety of events and participants
See all the pictures from the different events and locations across the country.
The photo gallery will be amplified in the near future as we gather all the pix. Meanwhile, enjoy!
The photo gallery will be amplified in the near future as we gather all the pix. Meanwhile, enjoy!
Saturday, May 9, 2009
What if, this year, American mothers refused Mother's Day brunch and, instead, learned about war?
For the last four years I've traveled around the Greater Middle East gathering stories and bringing home messages of peace to American mothers.
My journey began when I met Amwar Jeward in Iraq in 2004. I was there to visit my son on a military base and to tell him, "Don't do anything in this country that you'll be ashamed of as it will haunt you for the rest of your life." Anwar related how her husband and three children were shot to death while driving in the family car in their Baghdad neighborhood.
The perpetrators of this "random shooting incident" were young Army personnel...those who now live with the shame of this event for the rest of their lives.
Anwar said, "Tell Americans there is tragedy in Iraq."
I took up her challenge and expanded it into a "big picture view" that includes Afghanistan, Lebanon and Syria, Israel and the West Bank, and the US.
In a small south Lebanon village, five months after the so-called "33 Day War" of 2006, Elham said, "Please, tell American mothers to try to feel how Arab women feel - Lebanese, Palestinian, Iraqi; like you, none of us want to lose our sons, our families, our communities to war."
In K'far Kila, on the Lebanon/Israel border, as I sat with her family watching "reality TV" showing American troops blown up by IEDs in Iraq, Fatima said, "We mothers have more in common with one another than we do with the policians that run our countries. Mothers must work together for peace."
Israeli mother Nurit Peled Elhanan, who lost her daughter to a suicide bomb yet continues to work for peace, concurs. "Bush, Sharon, Milosovic, Saddam, they are all the same. They share a Mafia logic and they use our kids like chips in a gambling game. Then, when our kids get killed they say, 'Oops, sorry!' and they move on. When this war is over, there'll be another war...because the politicians always need a war, a war on drugs, a war on poverty, a war on people who are different...."
Indeed, it is this Mafia logic that continues to send our American youth to wars perpetrated by the politicians of our country.
But it is We the People who stand by and let that happen. And we, the mothers, who can refuse our children to war.
Imagine if, on Mothers Day, American mothers said, "Thank you, but instead of going out for brunch this year, let us stay home as a family and, together, learn more about Afghanistan, Afghan culture, and why that war is raging. Why, for example, were 150 people, mostly women and children, killed by US bombs this week? How does the most powerful military in the world mistakenly bomb 17 civilians homes? Who will recompense those families? And how?
Imagine American mothers saying, "Instead of brunch, let us stay home and learn how the US military coerces our young people into enlisting. Let's learn how those young people are threatened with fines, law suits, and imprisonment when they want to break their flimsy contracts.
Imagine mothers saying, "This year let us see through the propaganda about the "right to defend oneself" and reach out to mothers in Israel and Palestine and listen to their stories. Let us listen to the stories of hundreds of thousands of refugee mothers in makeshift camps in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and Jordan, Lebanon and Palestine. Let us listen to them about who they are rather than to our politicians telling us who they are.
Imagine mothers saying, "This Mother's Day let us learn about war so that we can learn about how to create peace for all our communities."
My journey began when I met Amwar Jeward in Iraq in 2004. I was there to visit my son on a military base and to tell him, "Don't do anything in this country that you'll be ashamed of as it will haunt you for the rest of your life." Anwar related how her husband and three children were shot to death while driving in the family car in their Baghdad neighborhood.
The perpetrators of this "random shooting incident" were young Army personnel...those who now live with the shame of this event for the rest of their lives.
Anwar said, "Tell Americans there is tragedy in Iraq."
I took up her challenge and expanded it into a "big picture view" that includes Afghanistan, Lebanon and Syria, Israel and the West Bank, and the US.
In a small south Lebanon village, five months after the so-called "33 Day War" of 2006, Elham said, "Please, tell American mothers to try to feel how Arab women feel - Lebanese, Palestinian, Iraqi; like you, none of us want to lose our sons, our families, our communities to war."
In K'far Kila, on the Lebanon/Israel border, as I sat with her family watching "reality TV" showing American troops blown up by IEDs in Iraq, Fatima said, "We mothers have more in common with one another than we do with the policians that run our countries. Mothers must work together for peace."
Israeli mother Nurit Peled Elhanan, who lost her daughter to a suicide bomb yet continues to work for peace, concurs. "Bush, Sharon, Milosovic, Saddam, they are all the same. They share a Mafia logic and they use our kids like chips in a gambling game. Then, when our kids get killed they say, 'Oops, sorry!' and they move on. When this war is over, there'll be another war...because the politicians always need a war, a war on drugs, a war on poverty, a war on people who are different...."
Indeed, it is this Mafia logic that continues to send our American youth to wars perpetrated by the politicians of our country.
But it is We the People who stand by and let that happen. And we, the mothers, who can refuse our children to war.
Imagine if, on Mothers Day, American mothers said, "Thank you, but instead of going out for brunch this year, let us stay home as a family and, together, learn more about Afghanistan, Afghan culture, and why that war is raging. Why, for example, were 150 people, mostly women and children, killed by US bombs this week? How does the most powerful military in the world mistakenly bomb 17 civilians homes? Who will recompense those families? And how?
Imagine American mothers saying, "Instead of brunch, let us stay home and learn how the US military coerces our young people into enlisting. Let's learn how those young people are threatened with fines, law suits, and imprisonment when they want to break their flimsy contracts.
Imagine mothers saying, "This year let us see through the propaganda about the "right to defend oneself" and reach out to mothers in Israel and Palestine and listen to their stories. Let us listen to the stories of hundreds of thousands of refugee mothers in makeshift camps in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and Jordan, Lebanon and Palestine. Let us listen to them about who they are rather than to our politicians telling us who they are.
Imagine mothers saying, "This Mother's Day let us learn about war so that we can learn about how to create peace for all our communities."
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
May 5 - Some Thoughts
As the West Coast portion of the book tour ends and I head to the East Coast for the next phase, some thoughts....
Many of us who have been engaged with the Global War on Terror since its inception are still around, active, and just as resistant to war! As I did then, I still view the GWOT as propaganda for a nationalistic fervor that is a cover for activities that Naomi Klein identifies in her book, The Shock Doctrine. (Remember that litany of propaganda: "Saddam is responsible for 9/11" - some Americans still believe this; then "Saddam has WMD and is a direct threat to US," then "Saddam should be removed because he's killed so many of his people"?)
Over the last four years, my resistance took a slightly different form based upon my own particular worldview: that of an emigrant from apartheid South Africa, a sojourner in Israel during the late 1970s, and as a young adult immigrant to the US. When I understood that I'd assumed too much about what the US military is and does...and my own child enlisted... I also understood that, because I was "busy" with parenthood, school, work, and so on, I'd taken my eye off what I'd already learned in my homeland: that one needs to be vigilant about politics and politicians.
Accordingly, when I traveled to Iraq to talk to my son about the sorts of things that can happen in war...actions that can damage human psyches for a lifetime... I also determined to share the stories of other women and mothers...especially those of mothers in the Greater Middle East and Afghanistan. For there is a tendency in American mainstream culture - indeed, even in progressive political culture - to perpetuate an "out of sight, out of mind" attitude. This means that if it does not impact you and your family directly, why bother with it, why pay attention? (In progressive circles this showed up as labeling the war in Afghanistan "righteous" while the the war in Iraq was "illegal.")
A word about Attitudes
These short-sighted attitudes perpetuate the same kind of thinking that goes into attitudes about how we manage our trash. A mainstream notion holds that throwing trash into a "dump" magically "disappears" it into the great trash pile in the sky, that it is "taken care of" and that it won't come back in mutated form to haunt us.
Of course I'm not equating our military personnel with "trash" - my own beloved son served honorably in the military and I have a deep respect and compassion for our youth who serve.
What I'm surfacing is an attitude, a worldview, a set of unconscious assumptions that guide our thinking and that we take for granted.... In the case of trash, "we" in the West assume our trash magically disappears rather than, in the best case scenario, ending up as local landfill. Two worse case scenarios that we're beginning to recognize:
- that great trash pile in the sky is really a floating and growing Great Pacific Garbage Patch apparently hundreds of square miles wide....
- toxic dumping of used and "recycled" materials from Western countries litters developing nations. (A small number of journalists are reporting that the "piracy problem" touted as "a direct threat to "our" national security" is really an attempt by local seafarers to ensure that no more toxic trash is dumped on their lands. With the disintegration of these nation states there is no longer a system of defense against those dumping toxic waste ...so "pirates" try to protect their sovereign shores.)
Point is, just as many of us assume that trash magically disappears into thin air simply because we no longer see it, too many of us assume that youth enlisting in the military magically comes home healthy, wealthy, and wiser for the experience. That assumption continues to perpetuate the believe that there is no need to "support the troops" other than by slapping a magnetic yellow ribbon on one's car and letting the troops take care of themselves, when they get home let 'em eat cake ...and "pull themselves up by the proverbial bootstraps" as they're eating it....
Instead, our highly trained militarized youth returns to an environment that, frequently, refuses to hear their stories or hold their anguish and, often, their shame. The troops are often a source of deep truth when they tell their stories of war and a real inspiration.
As one Iraq war veteran told me, “Most people on the streets don’t want to know what has to happen for them to have one of the highest living standards in the world… just like you don’t want to see the back room of the butcher shop….”
Nevertheless, when they resort to violence at home, We the People are shocked! We wonder why. But in the worldview of those now trained as combat troops, violence is a solution that they've learned is sanctioned by their military and their government. Isn't this common sense?
In my book, Long Time Passing: Mothers Speak about War and Terror I explore the plight of military personnel. I also present the stories of real people affected by war and terror in the lands in which the US is carrying out an outmoded foreign policy. I bring verbatim stories of people "over there" in an attempt to recognize that I - with my Western worldview - cannot interpret their stories and 'make them fit' my own ideological system. Moreover, I want the women whose stories are shared in the book to recognize themselves, their words, their anguish... It is not up to me to "use" or co-opt their stories to fit a narrative that may not portray them wholly as who they are. Indeed, this has been done repeatedly to these women and I, as a woman and a mother, will not perpetuate a system of co-optation that is, essentially, exploitative - even when it is carried out for a "good" cause.
Let me clearly state that every time I approached a woman, man or young person to share her/his perspective - whether in Iraq, Israel, West Bank, Lebanon, Syria or in the US and Afghanistan - I began by ensuring that the potential narrator understood that my own son was active duty military. This because I wanted to approach them with full integrity and give each narrator the opportunity to share - or not - from her/his full integrity and understanding. There was never a single case that a narrator backed away from me because of my status as "military mom" (that is, in the GME or Central Asia; there were a few cases in the US). Most were voluble and, among other things, wanted to understand why, for example, "American mothers send their children to die in Iraq?"
We had deep conversations about the different concepts that guide our cultures - differences in how young people make decisions, why young men and women become "martyrs" and what that word means in the that specific region, why many Israeli mothers fear the day their children turn 18 years old (that is the age their children are conscripted to the Israeli Defense Force)... about occupation sold to citizens as "democracy"... and why we elect the leaders we do....
While Western and Middle Eastern and Afghan cultures are fundamentally different - essentially, the first is individualist while the other two are collectivist - those of us affected by war understand that we want the same essential things from life: healthy families, good educations for our children and our citizens, safety and security in our neighborhoods, and stable governments concerned with the needs of citizens, the environment, and the economy. These are the values that bind us as human beings beyond the local propaganda sold in the US as "they hate us for our freedoms"....
For none of us is safe if some of us are lacking these essentials. Here in the US, we must not "throw away" our young enlisted youth because it doesn't suit our schedules or worldviews to pay closer attention....
Why should it take a burgeoning suicide rate among active duty and veteran communities for Americans to acknowledge the effects of war?
After the horrors of Vietnam - over 50,000 dead Americans and millions of Vietnamese still suffering - what didn't We the People learn about war?
Why are military recruiters allowed to fulfill their enlistment quotas by resorting to lies and coercion to enlist our vulnerable youth ?
What is it about our system of defense and "national security" that is making all of us less safe... and more prone to dualistic, fundamentalist, black/white thinking?
As Americans we have some serious questions to ask ourselves and our culture.
Many of us who have been engaged with the Global War on Terror since its inception are still around, active, and just as resistant to war! As I did then, I still view the GWOT as propaganda for a nationalistic fervor that is a cover for activities that Naomi Klein identifies in her book, The Shock Doctrine. (Remember that litany of propaganda: "Saddam is responsible for 9/11" - some Americans still believe this; then "Saddam has WMD and is a direct threat to US," then "Saddam should be removed because he's killed so many of his people"?)
Over the last four years, my resistance took a slightly different form based upon my own particular worldview: that of an emigrant from apartheid South Africa, a sojourner in Israel during the late 1970s, and as a young adult immigrant to the US. When I understood that I'd assumed too much about what the US military is and does...and my own child enlisted... I also understood that, because I was "busy" with parenthood, school, work, and so on, I'd taken my eye off what I'd already learned in my homeland: that one needs to be vigilant about politics and politicians.
Accordingly, when I traveled to Iraq to talk to my son about the sorts of things that can happen in war...actions that can damage human psyches for a lifetime... I also determined to share the stories of other women and mothers...especially those of mothers in the Greater Middle East and Afghanistan. For there is a tendency in American mainstream culture - indeed, even in progressive political culture - to perpetuate an "out of sight, out of mind" attitude. This means that if it does not impact you and your family directly, why bother with it, why pay attention? (In progressive circles this showed up as labeling the war in Afghanistan "righteous" while the the war in Iraq was "illegal.")
A word about Attitudes
These short-sighted attitudes perpetuate the same kind of thinking that goes into attitudes about how we manage our trash. A mainstream notion holds that throwing trash into a "dump" magically "disappears" it into the great trash pile in the sky, that it is "taken care of" and that it won't come back in mutated form to haunt us.
Of course I'm not equating our military personnel with "trash" - my own beloved son served honorably in the military and I have a deep respect and compassion for our youth who serve.
What I'm surfacing is an attitude, a worldview, a set of unconscious assumptions that guide our thinking and that we take for granted.... In the case of trash, "we" in the West assume our trash magically disappears rather than, in the best case scenario, ending up as local landfill. Two worse case scenarios that we're beginning to recognize:
- that great trash pile in the sky is really a floating and growing Great Pacific Garbage Patch apparently hundreds of square miles wide....
- toxic dumping of used and "recycled" materials from Western countries litters developing nations. (A small number of journalists are reporting that the "piracy problem" touted as "a direct threat to "our" national security" is really an attempt by local seafarers to ensure that no more toxic trash is dumped on their lands. With the disintegration of these nation states there is no longer a system of defense against those dumping toxic waste ...so "pirates" try to protect their sovereign shores.)
Point is, just as many of us assume that trash magically disappears into thin air simply because we no longer see it, too many of us assume that youth enlisting in the military magically comes home healthy, wealthy, and wiser for the experience. That assumption continues to perpetuate the believe that there is no need to "support the troops" other than by slapping a magnetic yellow ribbon on one's car and letting the troops take care of themselves, when they get home let 'em eat cake ...and "pull themselves up by the proverbial bootstraps" as they're eating it....
Instead, our highly trained militarized youth returns to an environment that, frequently, refuses to hear their stories or hold their anguish and, often, their shame. The troops are often a source of deep truth when they tell their stories of war and a real inspiration.
As one Iraq war veteran told me, “Most people on the streets don’t want to know what has to happen for them to have one of the highest living standards in the world… just like you don’t want to see the back room of the butcher shop….”
Nevertheless, when they resort to violence at home, We the People are shocked! We wonder why. But in the worldview of those now trained as combat troops, violence is a solution that they've learned is sanctioned by their military and their government. Isn't this common sense?
In my book, Long Time Passing: Mothers Speak about War and Terror I explore the plight of military personnel. I also present the stories of real people affected by war and terror in the lands in which the US is carrying out an outmoded foreign policy. I bring verbatim stories of people "over there" in an attempt to recognize that I - with my Western worldview - cannot interpret their stories and 'make them fit' my own ideological system. Moreover, I want the women whose stories are shared in the book to recognize themselves, their words, their anguish... It is not up to me to "use" or co-opt their stories to fit a narrative that may not portray them wholly as who they are. Indeed, this has been done repeatedly to these women and I, as a woman and a mother, will not perpetuate a system of co-optation that is, essentially, exploitative - even when it is carried out for a "good" cause.
Let me clearly state that every time I approached a woman, man or young person to share her/his perspective - whether in Iraq, Israel, West Bank, Lebanon, Syria or in the US and Afghanistan - I began by ensuring that the potential narrator understood that my own son was active duty military. This because I wanted to approach them with full integrity and give each narrator the opportunity to share - or not - from her/his full integrity and understanding. There was never a single case that a narrator backed away from me because of my status as "military mom" (that is, in the GME or Central Asia; there were a few cases in the US). Most were voluble and, among other things, wanted to understand why, for example, "American mothers send their children to die in Iraq?"
We had deep conversations about the different concepts that guide our cultures - differences in how young people make decisions, why young men and women become "martyrs" and what that word means in the that specific region, why many Israeli mothers fear the day their children turn 18 years old (that is the age their children are conscripted to the Israeli Defense Force)... about occupation sold to citizens as "democracy"... and why we elect the leaders we do....
While Western and Middle Eastern and Afghan cultures are fundamentally different - essentially, the first is individualist while the other two are collectivist - those of us affected by war understand that we want the same essential things from life: healthy families, good educations for our children and our citizens, safety and security in our neighborhoods, and stable governments concerned with the needs of citizens, the environment, and the economy. These are the values that bind us as human beings beyond the local propaganda sold in the US as "they hate us for our freedoms"....
For none of us is safe if some of us are lacking these essentials. Here in the US, we must not "throw away" our young enlisted youth because it doesn't suit our schedules or worldviews to pay closer attention....
Why should it take a burgeoning suicide rate among active duty and veteran communities for Americans to acknowledge the effects of war?
After the horrors of Vietnam - over 50,000 dead Americans and millions of Vietnamese still suffering - what didn't We the People learn about war?
Why are military recruiters allowed to fulfill their enlistment quotas by resorting to lies and coercion to enlist our vulnerable youth ?
What is it about our system of defense and "national security" that is making all of us less safe... and more prone to dualistic, fundamentalist, black/white thinking?
As Americans we have some serious questions to ask ourselves and our culture.
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