[pf] Fw. terrorism; the only remedy is to remove its causes.

· Passed on to me from someone in our local physics department.  D.

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Uri Avnery is an Israeli writer who has consistently spoken out 
against the illegal occupation of the West Bank, Gaza, 
home demolitions etc.
    ------------
Uri Avnery
15.9.01

Twin Towers

After the smoke has cleared, the dust has settled
down and the initial fury blown over, humankind will wake up
and realise a new fact: there is no safe place on earth.
A handful of suicide-bombers has brought the
United States to a standstill, caused the President to hide in a
bunker under a far-away mountain, dealt a terrible blow to the
economy, grounded all aircraft, and emptied government offices
throughout the country. This can happen in every
country. The Twin Towers are everywhere.

Not only Israel, but the whole world is now full
of gibberish about "fighting terrorism". Politicians, "experts on
terrorism" and their likes propose to hit, destroy, annihilate
etc., as well as to allocate more billions to the "intelligence
community". They make brilliant suggestions. But nothing of this kind
will help the threatened nations, much as nothing of this kind has
helped Israel.

There is no patent remedy for terrorism. The only
remedy is to remove its causes. One can kill a million
mosquitoes, and millions more will take their place. In order to get
rid of them, one has to dry the swamp that breeds them. And the
swamp is always political.

A person does not wake up one morning and tell
himself: Today I shall hijack a plane and kill myself. Nor does
a person wake up one morning and tell himself: Today I shall
blow myself up in a Tel-Aviv discotheque. Such a decision grows in
a person's mind through a slow process, taking years.
The background to the decision is either national or
religious, social and spiritual.

No fighting underground can operate without
popular roots and a supportive environment that is ready to supply
new recruits, assistance, hiding places, money and means
of propaganda. An underground organization wants to gain
popularity, not lose it. Therefore it commits attacks
when it thinks that this is what the surrounding public wants.
Terror attacks always testify to the public mood.
That is true in this case, too. The initiators of
the attacks decided to implement their plan after America has
provoked immense hatred throughout the world. Not because of
its might, but because of the way it uses its might. It is hated
by the enemies of globalisation, who blame it for the
terrible gap between rich and poor in the world. It is hated by
millions of Arabs, because of its support for the Israeli
occupation and the suffering of the Palestinian people. It is hated 
by multitudes of Muslims, because of what looks like its support for
the Jewish domination of the Islamic holy shrines in Jerusalem.
And there are many more angry peoples who believe that America
supports their tormentors.

Until September 11, 2001 - a date to remember -
Americans could entertain the illusion that all this concerns
only others, in far-away places beyond the seas, that it does not
touch their sheltered lives at home. No more.
That is the other side of globalisation: all the
world's problems concern everyone in the world. Every case of
injustice, every case of oppression. Terrorism, the
weapon of the weak, can easily reach every spot on earth. Every
society can easily be targeted, and the more developed a
society is, the more it is in danger. Fewer and fewer people are
needed to inflict pain on more and more people. Soon one single
person will be enough to carry a suitcase with a tiny atomic
bomb and destroy a megalopolis of tens of millions.
This is the reality of the 21st century that started this week 
in earnest. It must lead to the globalisation of all
problems and the globalisation of their solutions. Not in the
abstract, by fatuous declarations in the UN, but by a global 
endeavour to resolve conflicts and establish peace, with the 
participation of all nations, with the US playing a central role.

Since the US has become a world power, it has
deviated from the path outlined by its founders. It was Thomas
Jefferson who said: No nation can behave without a decent
respect for the opinion of mankind. (I quote from memory). When
the US delegation left the world conference in Durban, in
order to abort the debate about the evils of slavery and in order 
to court the Israeli right, Jefferson must have turned over in his
grave.

If it is confirmed that the attack on New York
and Washington was perpetrated by Arabs - and even if not!
- the world must at long last treat the festering wound of
the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which is poisoning the whole
body of humanity. One of the wise guys in the Bush
administration said only a few weeks ago: "Let them bleed!" - 
meaning the Palestinians and the Israelis. Now America is
bleeding. He who runs away from the conflict is followed by it, 
even into his home. Americans, and Europeans too, should 
learn this lesson.

The distance from Jerusalem to New York is small,
and so is the distance from New York to Paris, London and
Berlin. Not only multi-national corporations embrace the globe,
but terror organisations do so, too. In the same way, the
instruments for the solution of conflicts must be global.
Instead of the destroyed New York edifices, the
twin towers of Peace and Justice must be built.


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sent on to the Positive Futures list by David.
David MacClement [davd @ ihug.co.nz] (remove spaces)
http://davd.tripod.com/GrRR-010907_titles.html#top
http://www.geocities.com/davd.geo/index.html#top
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