Saturday, September 23, 2006
Pacifica Commentary For September 20, 2006
If you are only in touch with commercial media, you probably won't know about the Declaration of Peace. There is a lot of money in war, so why would the commercial media want to speak of peace?
This week some 430 peace organizations throughout the United States have planned a coordinated 275 events. Here is a local example. On Monday, September 25th in Hollywood there will be a protest gathering from 10:00 AM until 1:00 PM at the military recruiting station, 7060 Hollywood Blvd. Some of the participants will engage in civil disobedience.
The Declaration of Peace was months in the planning, it was taken from the Pledge of Resistance which we used during the US wars in Central America. That pledge contributed to the United Nations conducting peace accords in Nicaragua, Guatemala and El Salvador.
Many peace organizations are faith based. The idea was to pull together both the many progressive religious peace groups together with the secular peace organizations. The unifying spiritual and political component is fasting. The month of August has been devoted to fasting, one of the most universal ecumenical practices. Hindus, Buddhists, Jews, Christian, and Islamic people all have fasting as part of their culture. Fasting is seen as a spiritual quest, and a prelude to historic or to prophetic action. The rules for the fast were completely open. Some chose to fast on water only, others on liquids only, other on lighter meals. Fasting is a time to focus attention on a mission and that is what took place.
Now the time for action has arrived. We are tired of an administration that hucksters torture while it knows that torture is simply a way of forcing people to affirm what the torturers want. Torture gave us a rationale for the Iraq war. Our tortured captives would affirm that Al Qaeda was in sync with Saddam Hussein.....this was a damn lie, but that is what everyone does under torture. That torture created lie led to the death of our troops and Iraqi people. We are tired of an administration that promotes kangaroo courts and denies all of our long-standing legal protections. We are tired of an administration that does not have a clue about diplomacy, dialogue or truth telling.
So welcome to the Declaration of Peace. If you treated your dog the way the CIA treats its victims, you would be convicted of a felony.
Many of you were in the service. Do you remember what you were told to do if you were captured? You were to give your name, your rank and your serial number...nothing else. By its mentally ill focus on torture and absence of any regard for legal procedures our corrupt leaders are endangering our troops, endangering our citizens and poisoning the soul of the United States of America.
For further information on Declaration of Peace events, call: 213/489-1900.
This week some 430 peace organizations throughout the United States have planned a coordinated 275 events. Here is a local example. On Monday, September 25th in Hollywood there will be a protest gathering from 10:00 AM until 1:00 PM at the military recruiting station, 7060 Hollywood Blvd. Some of the participants will engage in civil disobedience.
The Declaration of Peace was months in the planning, it was taken from the Pledge of Resistance which we used during the US wars in Central America. That pledge contributed to the United Nations conducting peace accords in Nicaragua, Guatemala and El Salvador.
Many peace organizations are faith based. The idea was to pull together both the many progressive religious peace groups together with the secular peace organizations. The unifying spiritual and political component is fasting. The month of August has been devoted to fasting, one of the most universal ecumenical practices. Hindus, Buddhists, Jews, Christian, and Islamic people all have fasting as part of their culture. Fasting is seen as a spiritual quest, and a prelude to historic or to prophetic action. The rules for the fast were completely open. Some chose to fast on water only, others on liquids only, other on lighter meals. Fasting is a time to focus attention on a mission and that is what took place.
Now the time for action has arrived. We are tired of an administration that hucksters torture while it knows that torture is simply a way of forcing people to affirm what the torturers want. Torture gave us a rationale for the Iraq war. Our tortured captives would affirm that Al Qaeda was in sync with Saddam Hussein.....this was a damn lie, but that is what everyone does under torture. That torture created lie led to the death of our troops and Iraqi people. We are tired of an administration that promotes kangaroo courts and denies all of our long-standing legal protections. We are tired of an administration that does not have a clue about diplomacy, dialogue or truth telling.
So welcome to the Declaration of Peace. If you treated your dog the way the CIA treats its victims, you would be convicted of a felony.
Many of you were in the service. Do you remember what you were told to do if you were captured? You were to give your name, your rank and your serial number...nothing else. By its mentally ill focus on torture and absence of any regard for legal procedures our corrupt leaders are endangering our troops, endangering our citizens and poisoning the soul of the United States of America.
For further information on Declaration of Peace events, call: 213/489-1900.
Sunday, September 10, 2006
Pacifica Commentary For September 6, 2006
Absolute Failure
Just what has the Israeli Government accomplished with its endless war crimes in Lebanon and Gaza? Here is an opinion which I share together with Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, Eduardo Galeano, Arundhati Roy and many others.
The US-backed Israeli assault on Lebanon has left the country numb, smouldering and angry. The massacre in Qana and the loss of life is not simply "disproportionate". It is, according to existing international laws, a war crime. The deliberate and systematic destruction of Lebanon's social infrastructure by the Israeli air force was also a war crime, designed to reduce that country to the status of an Israeli-US protectorate. The attempt has backfired. In Lebanon itself, 87% of the population now support Hizbullah's resistance, including 80% of Christian and Druze and 89% of Sunni Muslims, while only 8% believe the US supports Lebanon.
It has now become clear that the assault on Lebanon to wipe out Hizbullah had been prepared long before. Israel's crimes had been given a green light by the US and its loyal British ally, despite the opposition to Blair in his own country. In short, the peace that Lebanon enjoyed has come to an end, and a paralysed country is forced to remember a past it had hoped to forget. The state terror inflicted on Lebanon is being repeated in the Gaza ghetto.
Meanwhile, the rest of Palestine is annexed and dismantled with the direct participation of the US and the tacit approval of its allies.
We offer our solidarity and support to the victims of this brutality and to those who mount a resistance against it. For our part, we will use all the means at our disposal to expose the complicity of our governments in these crimes. There will be no peace in the Middle East while the occupations of Palestine and Iraq and the temporarily "paused" bombings of Lebanon continue.
Friends, the criminal actions of the United States and Israel are eternally marked as a moral failure, a political failure, and a military failure. The massacres of Lebanon, Gaza, Iraq and Afghanistan will be eternally remembered as the highest level of war crimes. The so called Official Story created by the United States and Israel will be remembered as a monument to disinformation and sheer militaristic war propaganda.
Just what has the Israeli Government accomplished with its endless war crimes in Lebanon and Gaza? Here is an opinion which I share together with Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, Eduardo Galeano, Arundhati Roy and many others.
The US-backed Israeli assault on Lebanon has left the country numb, smouldering and angry. The massacre in Qana and the loss of life is not simply "disproportionate". It is, according to existing international laws, a war crime. The deliberate and systematic destruction of Lebanon's social infrastructure by the Israeli air force was also a war crime, designed to reduce that country to the status of an Israeli-US protectorate. The attempt has backfired. In Lebanon itself, 87% of the population now support Hizbullah's resistance, including 80% of Christian and Druze and 89% of Sunni Muslims, while only 8% believe the US supports Lebanon.
It has now become clear that the assault on Lebanon to wipe out Hizbullah had been prepared long before. Israel's crimes had been given a green light by the US and its loyal British ally, despite the opposition to Blair in his own country. In short, the peace that Lebanon enjoyed has come to an end, and a paralysed country is forced to remember a past it had hoped to forget. The state terror inflicted on Lebanon is being repeated in the Gaza ghetto.
Meanwhile, the rest of Palestine is annexed and dismantled with the direct participation of the US and the tacit approval of its allies.
We offer our solidarity and support to the victims of this brutality and to those who mount a resistance against it. For our part, we will use all the means at our disposal to expose the complicity of our governments in these crimes. There will be no peace in the Middle East while the occupations of Palestine and Iraq and the temporarily "paused" bombings of Lebanon continue.
Friends, the criminal actions of the United States and Israel are eternally marked as a moral failure, a political failure, and a military failure. The massacres of Lebanon, Gaza, Iraq and Afghanistan will be eternally remembered as the highest level of war crimes. The so called Official Story created by the United States and Israel will be remembered as a monument to disinformation and sheer militaristic war propaganda.
