[pf] Brutality & peanut butter - Arundhati Roy, in Guardian Unlimited

· Read the whole lot, not just what I have here.  D.

http://website.lineone.net/~jon.simmons/roy/peanutb.htm
  starts:

Brutality smeared in peanut butter 

Why America must stop the war now. By Arundhati Roy 

Arundhati Roy; Guardian Unlimited 

Tuesday October 23, 2001 

As darkness deepened over Afghanistan on Sunday October 7 2001, the US
government, backed by the International Coalition Against Terror (the new,
amenable surrogate for the United Nations), launched air strikes against
Afghanistan. TV channels lingered on computer-animated images of cruise
missiles, stealth bombers, tomahawks, "bunker-busting" missiles and Mark 82
high drag bombs. All over the world, little boys watched goggle-eyed and
stopped clamouring for new video games. 

The UN, reduced now to an ineffective acronym, wasn't even asked to mandate
the air strikes. (As Madeleine Albright once said, "We will behave
multilaterally when we can, and unilaterally when we must.") The "evidence"
against the terrorists was shared amongst friends in the "coalition". 

After conferring, they announced that it didn't matter whether or not the
"evidence" would stand up in a court of law.
  Thus, in an instant, were centuries of jurisprudence carelessly trashed. 

Nothing can excuse or justify an act of terrorism, whether it is committed
by religious fundamentalists, private militia, people's resistance
movements - or whether it's dressed up as a war of retribution by a
recognised government. The bombing of Afghanistan is not revenge for New
York and Washington. It is yet another act of terror against the people of
the world. 

Each innocent person that is killed must be added to, not set off against,
the grisly toll of civilians who died in New York and Washington. 

People rarely win wars, governments rarely lose them. People get killed. 

Governments moult and regroup, hydra-headed. They use flags first to
shrink-wrap people's minds and smother thought, and then as ceremonial
shrouds to bury their willing dead. On both sides, in Afghanistan as well
as America, civilians are now hostage to the actions of their own
governments. 

Unknowingly, ordinary people in both countries share a common bond - they
have to live with the phenomenon of blind, unpredictable terror. Each batch
of bombs that is dropped on Afghanistan is matched by a corresponding
escalation of mass hysteria in America about anthrax, more hijackings and
other terrorist acts. 

There is no easy way out of the spiralling morass of terror and brutality
that confronts the world today. It is time now for the human race to hold
still, to delve into its wells of collective wisdom, both ancient and
modern. What happened on September 11 changed the world forever. 

Freedom, progress, wealth, technology, war - these words have taken on new
meaning. 

Governments have to acknowledge this transformation, and approach their new
tasks with a modicum of honesty and humility. Unfortunately, up to now,
there has been no sign of any introspection from the leaders of the
International Coalition. Or the Taliban. 

When he announced the air strikes, President George Bush said: "We're a
peaceful nation." America's favourite ambassador, Tony Blair, (who also
holds the portfolio of prime minister of the UK), echoed him: "We're a
peaceful people." 

So now we know. Pigs are horses. Girls are boys. War is peace. 

Speaking at the FBI headquarters a few days later, President Bush said:
"This is our calling. This is the calling of the United States of America.
The most free nation in the world. A nation built on fundamental values
that reject hate, reject violence, rejects murderers and rejects evil. We
will not tire." 

Here is a list of the countries that America has been at war with - and
bombed - since the second world war: China (1945-46, 1950-53), Korea
(1950-53), Guatemala (1954, 1967-69), Indonesia (1958), Cuba (1959-60), the
Belgian Congo (1964), Peru (1965), Laos (1964-73), Vietnam (1961-73),
Cambodia (1969-70), Grenada (1983), Libya (1986), El Salvador (1980s),
Nicaragua (1980s), Panama (1989), Iraq (1991-99), Bosnia (1995), Sudan
(1998), Yugoslavia (1999). And now Afghanistan. 

Certainly it does not tire - this, the most free nation in the world. 

What freedoms does it uphold? Within its borders, the freedoms of speech,
religion, thought; of artistic expression, food habits, sexual preferences
(well, to some extent) and many other exemplary, wonderful things. 

Outside its borders, the freedom to dominate, humiliate and subjugate ­
usually in the service of America's real religion, the "free market". So
when the US government christens a war "Operation Infinite Justice", or
"Operation Enduring Freedom", we in the third world feel more than a tremor
of fear.  ...

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
sent on to PF by David.
David MacClement [davd @ ihug.co.nz] (remove spaces)
http://davd.tripod.com/GrRR-011109_titles.html#top
http://www.geocities.com/davd.geo/index.html#top
***********************************************

==^================================================================
This email was sent to: csf@moscow.com

EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://igc.topica.com/u/?aVxifP.aVEN4x
Or send an email to: positive-futures-unsubscribe@igc.topica.com

T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail!
http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register
==^================================================================