Greetings USED KARMA readers - and those of you who access this column through John Derrickson's PsyPlan(tm) site (http://www.psyplan.com)! The month of February was truly exciting in terms of growing U.S. sentiment against war with Iraq. Here in New York City there were many protests and growing solidarity as disparate groups of activists increasingly unite against an unjust and hypocritical U.S. Iraq policy.
The entire peace activist community glowed with delight as a small but dedicated band of students disrupted the U.S. Government's CNN dog and pony show at an Ohio university. The entire affair was staged, down to the commercial breaks. Due to CNN's global grip on television news, the Administration expected to use the affair to propagandize its atrocious Iraq policy and show the world that the American people were solidly behind this travesty. That notorious war criminal Madeline Albright (AKA "Mad With Lies All Dark") was drowned out by students shouting "ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR! WE DON'T WANT YOUR RACIST WAR!"
The news media blatantly lied by saying there were only a dozen students. Mad With Lies All Dark actually had the temerity to claim that the reason the students were so loud was because the meeting was being held in a gymnasium instead of an auditorium (and she said she's been in a lot of them so she knows - how stupid does she think we are?) She seemed genuinely surprised at the idea that anyone in this country would disagree with her about bombing innocent civilians who have already been starved and tortured through that notorious weapon of mass destruction, UN sanctions.
Arrogance such as that displayed by our mendacious Secretary of State (or is that "Spite?") is a cover of colossal incompetence and ineptitude. Given her obvious romance with gluttony, how could she possibly have compassion for starving children in Iraq? For the sake of argument, let's review the facts here. The United States is in no way shape or form threatened by Iraq, so talk of bombing them for anything is clearly insane. The sanctions against Iraq have been an act of war, leading to the deaths of 1.5 million Iraqi citizens, 500,000 of whom were children. Currently 4,500 Iraqi children die each month, and 1.5 million Iraqi children under the age of five are chronically malnourished. If they survive to adulthood, they will be permanently damaged.
The damage inflicted by that notorious war criminal and scourge of humanity George Bush in the Persian Gulf War led to the destruction of Iraqi sewer and water systems. Famous Iraqi actors are working 20-hour days selling cigarettes and soda in kiosks, while Iraqi doctors work in restaurants just to feed their children. Schoolchildren go without books. Even though the UN has finally increased the amount of oil Iraq can sell to feed its people, the country's infrastructure is so decimated from lack of equipment maintenance that they cannot pump the amount of oil they are allowed to sell even if they wanted to. They breathe air heavily polluted by automobiles that have not seen maintenance in seven years, their drinking water is contaminated by American-made depleted uranium weapons and the sense of despair amongst a once thriving, intellectual and cultured people is palpable.
An Iraqi friend of mine recently spoke with his niece in Baghdad. He told her that the U.S. was planning to bomb Iraq. She said, "It doesn't matter, Uncle - we are dead already." And for what? For the outsized egos of ignorant American foreign policy makers? We as Americans must confront head-on the institutionalized racism in our culture as reflected by our Government's policy toward Iraq. What would be the point of bombing? We don't know where the weapons are stored, so we can't take them out. We would just be killing more innocent civilians so that Wall Street bankers can make more money from the defense industries they have financed, while the death manufacturers get to test out their latest immoral weapons of mass destruction. We have simply got to let our legislators and policy makers know that we do not believe that American life is more important than Iraqi life.
The International Action Center, founded by that great humanitarian Ramsey Clark, has been coordinating demonstrations in 30 cities across America against the war in Iraq. Of course, you probably didn't hear about these demonstrations because the military-controlled media refused to cover it. Remember, CBS and NBC are owned by major military contractors Westinghouse and General Electric, which are unofficial branches of the federal government. ABC is owned by Disney, a totally fascistic, paramilitary, anti-labor organization.
There were three IAC demonstrations here in New York City in February. The first was on February 3 in Times Square right next to the United States Armed Forces Recruiting Center. Approximately 100 people showed up in the cold rain to carry signs, march around the little concrete island between Broadway and 7th Avenue, chant "NO ATTACK AGAINST IRAQ! END THE SANCTIONS NOW!" and listen to speakers from various organizations, including Ramsey Clark. The only television camera present at that event was from a local Spanish language station. There appeared to be a few reporters from local papers.
The next demonstration occurred on February 17. This time 300 people gathered in heavier rain. There was no room to march around the little island next to the Armed Forces recruiting center, so we gathered without marching to listen to the speakers. There was a blind man with his seeing eye dog, a man in a wheelchair, and people of all ages, races, ethnic backgrounds and walks of life. There was a television camera operator and reporter from the local New York City cable news station, New York 1, but they showed up at the beginning and only stayed for 20 minutes. There was also a radio reporter from the local CBS news radio affiliate, but he did not appear to be speaking to anyone. My friend Paul Calabro brought his digital video camera and filmed the event. He gave an edited copy of the tape to the IAC, so it may be up on their website by the time you read this. After the speakers finished we marched in front of the New York Times building and then to the Port Authority Bus Terminal to make our point to tired commuters wending their way home at rush hour. The energy in this group was palpable.
But the real excitement was the February 28 demonstration. Because this event was held on a Saturday, there were between three and four thousand people at this demonstration. Naturally I arrived early and positioned myself at the police barricades right in front of the speakers' platform. This time there were more television cameras and they actually hung around for a while. I was interviewed on camera by Reuters News Service, the Associated Press, New York 1 and some peace activists from Long Island. I met a few people at this demonstration who had come from Philadelphia, and one woman who had come all the way from Minneapolis, Minnesota!
First we were serenaded by a group of children from a pacifist Christian commune in upstate New York. (There were several children at the protest. They understand what is going on and are very upset about the harm being done to Iraqi children.) We listened to several excellent speakers from all kinds of organizations - Arab groups, Puerto Rican groups, Socialist Workers, the head of the clerical union from New York University, Veterans Against War - it was truly amazing. Then we all marched en mass past the United States Mission to the UN, past confused-looking tourists and onlookers. The speakers' platform was set up again about a block from the United Nations. Chants of "NO BLOOD FOR OIL" were reminiscent of the Viet Nam and Persian Gulf Wars. The energy was amazing.
As long as the sanctions persists there is indeed a war, even if master diplomat Kofi Annan has forestalled bombing by U.S. forces for now. Become an organizer. Find out how you can start something in your community. Visit the IAC website at: http://www.iacenter.org.
Just when you thought the Monica Lewinsky bimbroligio could not get any more surreal, special prosecutor Ken Starr not only lost his copy of the U.S. Constitution, but seems to have had his memory of it erased by space aliens. Last month Starr subpoenaed presidential advisor and former journalist Sydney Blumenthal to "name journalists that have talked to me about Ken Starr" and demanding "any records of conversations I have had with journalists about Ken Starr." Evidently Starr was absent from his law school Constitutional Law class the day they covered the First and Fourth Amendments. Since when is it a crime to express your negative opinion about someone, especially a public figure?
In the March 16, 1998 issue of that fine journal The Nation, to which I urge all of you to subscribe (check out their website at: http://www.thenation.com), editors Katrina vanen Heuvel and Victor Navasky urged the journalistic community to help Ken Starr save taxpayer money by signing the following petition:
SAVE KEN STARR MONEY
ARE YOU NOW OR HAVE YOU EVER BEEN,
A CONVERSANT WITH SIDNEY BLUMENTHAL?
YES! I do hereby admit to exercising
my First and Sidney Blumenthal's Fourth
Amendment rights by engaging in acts of
journalism and conversation with him.
It was signed by Katrina vanen Heuvel and Victor Navasky. You go, Nation editors!
Last month a Turkish man attempted to hijack a domestic Turkish flight by claiming that the teddy bear he was carrying contained a bomb. The airport security forces, dressed as caterers, boarded the plane and with the assistance of three passengers apprehended the hijacker. It turned out that there was no bomb in the teddy bear. This incident highlights the need for law enforcement to employ psychics. Most competent psychics would have been able to tell whether or not the teddy bear contained a bomb, since bombs contain Plutonian energy, which is quite powerful.
Here's another strange and wonderful news item that snagged my attention last month. Apparently Austria has passed a law requiring married men to do half of the housework. The public policy behind the legislation was Austria's concern about its rising divorce rate. The idea is that couples will be more likely to stay together if men are legally obliged to share the housework equitably. Of course, this legislation doesn't really have any sort of egalitarian teeth, since under Austrian law a man can still legally prevent his wife from having a job. While it's great that hubby has to share the housework, he can still manipulate his wife economically.
Of course, such legislation should not be limited to married couples but should be extended to all domestic partnerships - spouses, lovers and roommates. Imagine being able to take your roommates to court for sticking you with their dirty dishes! I wonder if delivering your domestic partners' telephone messages constitutes housework? How about bringing in the morning paper and making the coffee?
Let me know what you think of this and anything else. Open your hearts to love, and pray for lasting peace for the Iraqi people and the rest of the world.
Copyright 1998 Marcy J. Gordon. All rights reserved. The author wants you to know you are free to copy and distribute this article for noncommercial purposes, provided you reproduce it in its entirety and credit the author. For quotation permission, please contact the author at mgordon@pipeline.com.
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