| Ivo Skoric on Thu, 13 Sep 2001 20:52:10 +0200 (CEST) |
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| [Nettime-bold] Atrocity in America |
Plenty of Americans opposed bombing of Iraq. Most of the Americans were suspicious about the need to bomb Yugoslavia. Essentially, living 11 years in this country, now, I came to the conclusion that if the real will of the people is let out, there would be no economic sanctions or bombing campaigns. Ordinary Americans are pacifist and isolationist. They believe in free trade, free speech and they are mostly curious when they see people in turbans. They do suffer of a hubris believing that their system is so much better than anybody's elses. But by large they do not believe into possibility of bombing democracy into other people's heads. There is about 1% of people in the U.S. who are not merely Americans, but rather the members of the caste of globally rich and powerful. Most of what American politics and official state policies are about is designed to please and conform the interests of that moneyed group. They, as a group, have the undeniable interest to dominate the world affairs - which is often, unfortunately, done at expense of others. They, also, think that they are invulnerable and god-like. Hits on WTC and on Pentagon were obviously designed to prove them wrong. Yet, it would be wrong to claim that all people who belong to the above-described group are evil or ill-meaning as individuals, although, perhaps, some of them are. This exactly is the problem with systems and networks - they are always more than a sum of the individuals that they are comprised of. Take Soviet Union as an example - Reagan called it Evil Empire - and not every member of Politbureau was evil, but the way how things were organized resulted in oppressing people and endangering the world. Take the terrorist network that is behind the destruction of World Trade Center as an example: there may be intelligent, well meaning, moral people among the terrorists, yet the resulting act endangers the safety and freedom of people around the world. This is what makes retaliatory strikes futile: destroying people and property means nothing to established systems and networks - kill Osama, there will be another Osama to replace him. Kill more Palestinians in Gaza, there will be more willing to die for the cause. Roman Emperors killed Christians routinely, and Christianity just grew stronger. The same analogy applies to that 1% America that "created such feelings of immense hatred against itself" - you can't destroy that America by killing its president or destroying its symbols of financial and/or military might. And by killing tens of thousands of innocent civilians - and 1500 people killed in the attack were reportedly Muslim, the rest were mostly support staff, that sees very little of the American wealth and power - you just make the worst instincts in America come more stronger to the surface. Now, local teenagers will chase people in turbans intending to hurt them. "What goes around, comes around" - works both ways, we should not forget. "Policy of co-operation, friendship, fair trade and justice with all foreign countries", on the other hand, would not only erode the psychological foundation of the terrorist network, but would also make the life better for Americans, at least, 99% of them. The rest 1% would soon find that the life is better for them too, without living in fear for themselves and their children. There is no money or worldly power that can substitute that calm of a simpler life. The 'justice' - of course - means that those countries that so far provided safe havens to terrorist network, should give that up as a step to becoming a part of happier and more fair world for everyone, kind of like Serbia gave up Milosevic. ivo Date sent: Wed, 12 Sep 2001 21:29:03 -0400 Send reply to: Tribunal Watch List <[email protected]> From: Dwight Van Winkle <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [TW] FW: Atrocity in America To: [email protected] Tribunal Watch archives since 1995 http://listserv.acsu.buffalo.edu/archives/twatch-l.html ====================================== "America is responsible for creating such feelings of immense hatred against itself and would be better protected in the future if it only pursued a policy of co-operation, friendship, fair trade and justice with all foreign countries. David Roberts" I agree with this completely. Which is not at all to say, and I doubt Roberts is saying, that yesterday's attack was in any way justified. A local columnist,Joel Connelly of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer wrote today: "A rule in dealing with evil in the modern world is that those who sow the wind must reap the whirlwind. The evil people responsible for yesterday's deeds must feel what Frederick the Great called 'the slashing sword of retribution.'" This kind of talk will lead to the deaths of thousands if not millions more innocent, powerless people, including more, not less, attacks on Americans. By Connelly's morality and logic, I must believe that yesterday's attack was justified retaliation, because I believe we as Americans, knowing that our government was killing hundreds of thousands of Iraqis yet doing nothing about it, are responsible for not trying to stop those killings. I don't accept Connelly's logic. Yesterday's mass murder was evil. Americans need to reflect, including self-reflection, on the causes of yesterday's violence, rather than act with mindless vengeance. But this is not happening on a mass scale, nor is it likely to. Instead the government and corporate authoritarians in our country will use this opportunity to increase the power of the military and intelligence agencies, and further decrease our civil rights. Dwight Van Winkle ================== To Unsubscribe: Send e-mail to [email protected] In your message, type in the command: SIGNOFF TWATCH-L Questions/Comments: Send e-mail to [email protected] _______________________________________________ Nettime-bold mailing list [email protected] http://www.nettime.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/nettime-bold