A
Safer World Requires Real Solutions
The grassroots peace movement in
the US has mobilized admirably since the horror of September 11th,
speaking forcefully and passionately for justice and against war
and vengeance. We have organized rallies, vigils, teach-ins, fasts
for peace and acts of solidarity with Muslims and Arab-Americans
in communities, and on campuses, all over the country. Peace Action
affiliates have been leaders in the effort, as has the burgeoning
Student Peace Action Network (SPAN).
We continue to speak out for an end
to the war on Afghanistan and against widening this ill-defined
war to Iraq, Sudan, Somalia, the Philippines or other countries.
We advocate feeding desperate refugees and rebuilding war-ravaged
Afghanistan, and are working to expose the cynical use of September
11th to justify the pre-existing agendas of the Bush Administration
and its allies. The Administration calls for more money for the
CIA and the alphabet soup of intelligence agencies, fast track
trade negotiating authority for the president, even drilling for
oil in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge as justified responses
to terrorism in a post September 11th world. Other items the Bush
Administration justifies by September 11th include a Pentagon
budget that could soar to over $400 billion annually and a junked
Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.
The government's approach makes no
one and nothing more secure except for the profits of Boeing,
Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, and TRW. These and other weapons dealers
will get even fatter gorging on tax dollars appropriated to wage
this war. Star Wars is a perfect example of the waste Bush justifies
in the name of September 11th. The attacks demonstrated that Star
Wars couldn't possibly be more irrelevant to the threats this
country faces. Yet the program will get a 57% increase (to $8.3
billion) in next year's budget.
Waging open-ended war on some of
the poorest countries on Earth only increases the suffering, anger
and frustration that lead some to conclude they have no hope for
justice and nothing left to lose. This approach creates the conditions
for more acts of terrorism against the US.
While there are no easy answers,
we offer real solutions for a safer world. We must support
international law enforcement and judicial cooperation to prosecute
terrorists, and institute more just policies in the Middle East.
We must also demilitarize our foreign policy by restraining the
arms trade and make serious progress on nuclear nonproliferation
and disarmament. These are more practical, effective and sustainable
approaches than the "permanent war footing" the government
promises.
Admittedly, our agenda would require
patience, but so does the government's. By it's own admission,
its open-ended war could take ten years or more and could expand
to any of the 60 countries the administration alleges to support
terrorism.
The Administration asks us to be
patient while they wage an open- ended war against amorphous enemies
all over the world. At the same time they expect us to stand mute
while thousands of innocent people are being killed and they shovel
our tax dollars at the military and intelligence establishments.
Certainly a less violent approach,
one that has a better chance of
apprehending terrorists and addressing the root causes of terrorism
is more deserving of our patience.
While the government's approach is
based on cynical political opportunism, our approach is based
on understanding that we have a teachable moment. The American
people are concerned about their security, and about our country's
place in the world. Our answers, our solutions are better than
the government's.
In thinking of the way forward in
the brave new post-9/11 world, we should be guided by the words
of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. It is truly no longer a
choice between violence and nonviolence, it is a choice between
nonviolence and nonexistence.
-Kevin Martin, Executive
Director
December 2001
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