Dear RN list, What a coincidence it was when, having just written (to a "Left Bio" list) that "enemies seem to create each other", I got Carol Brouillet's book review (next message) which gives further evidence about real and dangerous links between criminals on "our side" & those on the "other" side. In this message, I'll assemble a few items which speak to this point. all the best, Jan ********************************************************************* From: "Robert Stewart" <•••@••.•••> http://www.peace.ca Subject: Fw: Arundhati Roy on The algebra of infinite justice Date: Mon, 1 Oct 2001 14:26:04 -0600 The Guardian (UK) Saturday September 27, 2001 The algebra of infinite justice As the US prepares to wage a new kind of war, Arundhati Roy challenges the instinct for vengance <snip> But who is Osama bin Laden really? Let me rephrase that. What is Osama bin Laden? He's America's family secret. He is the American president's dark doppelg"nger. The savage twin of all that purports to be beautiful and civilised. He has been sculpted from the spare rib of a world laid to waste by America's foreign policy: its gunboat diplomacy, its nuclear arsenal, its vulgarly stated policy of "full-spectrum dominance", its chilling disregard for non-American lives, its barbarous military interventions, its support for despotic and dictatorial regimes, its merciless economic agenda that has munched through the economies of poor countries like a cloud of locusts. Its marauding multinationals who are taking over the air we breathe, the ground we stand on, the water we drink, the thoughts we think. Now that the family secret has been spilled, the twins are blurring into one another and gradually becoming interchangeable. Their guns, bombs, money and drugs have been going around in the loop for a while. (The Stinger missiles that will greet US helicopters were supplied by the CIA. The heroin used by America's drug addicts comes from Afghanistan. The Bush administration recently gave Afghanistan a $43m subsidy for a "war on drugs"S.) Now Bush and Bin Laden have even begun to borrow each other's rhetoric. Each refers to the other as "the head of the snake". Both invoke God and use the loose millenarian currency of good and evil as their terms of reference. Both are engaged in unequivocal political crimes. Both are dangerously armed-one with the nuclear arsenal of the obscenely powerful, the other with the incandescent, destructive power of the utterly hopeless. The fireball and the ice pick. The bludgeon and the axe. The important thing to keep in mind is that neither is an acceptable alternative to the other. President Bush's ultimatum to the people of the world-"If you're not with us, you're against us"-is a piece of presumptuous arrogance. It's not a choice that people want to, need to, or should have to make. (c) Arundhati Roy 2001 -- from a friend in Cuba: Who Is Who? Confused? Having difficulty telling the good guys from the bad guys? Use this handy guide to differentiate between terrorists and the U.S. Government. TERRORISTS Supposed leader is the spoiled son of a powerful politician, from extremely wealthy oil family. U.S. GOVERNMENT Supposed leader is the spoiled son of a powerful politician, from extremely wealthy oil family. TERRORISTS Leader has declared a holy war ("Jihad") against his "enemies" and believes that any nation not with him is against him, god is on his side and any means are justified. U.S. GOVERNMENT Leader has declared a holy war ("Crusade") against his "enemies" and believes that any nation not with him is against him, god is on his side and any means are justified. TERRORISTS Supported by extreme fundamentalist religious leaders who preach hatred, intolerance, subjugation of women, and persecution of non-believers. U.S. GOVERNMENT Supported by extreme fundamentalist religious leaders who preach hatred, intolerance, subjugation of women, and persecution of non-believers. TERRORISTS Leadership was not elected by a majority of the people in a free and fair democratic election. U.S. GOVERNMENT Leadership was not elected by a majority of the people in a free and fair democratic election. TERRORISTS Kill thousands of innocent civilians, some of them children, in cold-blooded bombings. U.S. GOVERNMENT Kills (tens of) thousands of innocent civilians, some of them children, in cold-blooded bombings. TERRORISTS Operate through clandestine organization (al Qaeda) with agents in many countries; use bombing, assassination and other terrorist tactics. U.S. GOVERNMENT Operates through clandestine organization (CIA) with agents in many countries; uses bombing, assassination and other terrorist tactics. TERRORISTS Using war as a pretext to clamp down on dissent and undermine civil liberties. U.S. GOVERNMENT Using war as a pretext to clamp down on dissent and undermine civil liberties. (I've also been sent a "map" of "Afghanistan after the war," with a tiny bit up north held by the Northern Alliance and all the rest turned into one big parking lot with McDonald "Ms" scattered liberally--oops! wrong word!--throughout.) This war is no laughing matter, but, if you don't hang on to your sense of humor, it's just too grim to bear. . . . ************************************************************** from Jan's message to the Left Bio list (info: http://fox.nstn.ca/~greenweb/): " It is fascinating to see how enemies seem to create each other: eg. Bush & bin Laden, more fundamentally: Muslim fundamentalism & Christian/consumerist fundamentalism. (sort of like how Mafia bosses can be best buddies one day and killing each other the next).) Up till now I've never insisted that nonviolence must be part of Left Biocentrism. I guess I hope that eventually it will become obvious, as it is to me. On one extreme is always blaming someone else for whatever is going wrong and attacking them. On the other is always finding ways to take responsibility ourselves for what is going wrong, always striving to find ways to be, as Gandhi said, "the change we seek for the world". With the one paradigm, everything else, all "Other" becomes eventually the "enemy". With the other paradigm, the aim is to transform enemies into friends, to find ways to make love so real that it is stronger than even the violence of those who would attack us."
