by Ibrahim Turner
Everywhere I look there are people and groups doing something about the warmongers and the arms manufacturers. Each group needs support, but as far as I can tell, there is no communication or co-operation between these various groups.
There was that group in France who went to the judge to get an indictment against Donald Rumsfeld when he visited Paris, forcing him to duck and dive to get back to the American Embassy.
There is that group of courageous Irishmen from Londonderry who raided the Raytheon corporation’s factory and trashed their main frame computer, because their bombs were used by Israel in Qana, Lebanon. You have all probably seen the pictures that were shown around the world. These people have been charged and are now referred to as the ‘Raytheon 9’. The powers that be first imposed a news blackout on the proceedings and made it illegal to demonstrate outside the court. This has now been lifted, but their case needs support. You can see a video on Palestine Think Tank today with an interview of one of them and also some comments by a member of the antiwar movement in Ireland.
In Spain there was a big story in the newspapers about a study by the University on the photographs of the second plane to hit the twin towers, which caused many people to send letters to the editor for more information, so much so that the Ombudsman had to intervene.
There are many demonstrations all across America, from Code Pink to Winter Soldiers who testified before Congress, people being arrested for occupying Senator’s offices demanding they adhere to the constitution, or calling for impeachment hearings for George Bush and Dick Cheney.
There was the writer Monbiot who tried to make a ‘citizens arrest’ of John Bolton in Hay on Wye when he was on a speaking engagement, frustrated by a couple of ‘security’ men, preventing him from getting near Bolton. Earlier in the week demonstrations and objections to John Bolton speaking in Bristol, which was so successful that there was a statement from the organizers that John Bolton was ‘too busy’ to visit Bristol.
For those of you that do not have friends in foreign lands or language skills, you may have missed the fact that there are massive demonstrations in Poland and Czechoslovakia against the US missile and radar sites, which their Governments have agreed to. And there is a hunger strike going on right now against the deployment of these missiles.
There was an article, which stated that there were rumors of Tony Blair being wanted for war crimes as Tariq Aziz is now being tried for war crimes in Iraq, along with ‘Chemical Ali’ and others.
People are ‘running’ against Nancy Pelosi in elections in California and then there is Cindy Sheehan and her run against Nancy Pelosi. And I’ve read about others who are running against ‘incumbents’ who support the war in various election districts.
Now I’m sure you know where I am going with this. All these disparate groups, and many I have no knowledge of, or have not mentioned, are working in isolation.
What better instrument than the Internet do we all have to build a network of contacts between these activists? But do we use it? Do we read about the French attempt to get Rumsfield and cheer and not even bother to try to contact them to show our support? I know I did not. Neither did I ever try to contact the Palestinian or Israeli groups that are working for peace in the Middle East. How many would do that, unless you were related to somebody there?
We are missing a great opportunity to consolidate and co-operate with each other. If the network can be built up, then when one group needs something, if only acknowledgement of their situation and support for their cause, then support can be given, in whatever way that is possible, relative to their needs of the moment.
Everything that happens in this sphere is routinely under reported in the complicit mainstream media or completely ignored. What’s worse is that when something does break into the open, there are a thousand pundits and nay sayers who denigrate the messenger in the most vile manner, calling into question his sanity and so on – in other words, he/she is a kook or a nut. Witness the firestorm surrounding Mr. McClellan’s book.
How can we possibly push back at all this organized and successful working of the media? The only thing that makes any sense is the power of numbers. From an old 1960’s comedy show, the slogan “Power to the people!’ comes to mind.
And of course, generating numbers is difficult. Many groups are isolated, even infiltrated by people with their own agendas, diluting the message, or even distorting it so that everybody dismisses their message as nutty. Witness what has happened to the 9-11 truth movement over the years. It is now full of disinformation, obfuscation and downright idiotic ideas. Some say deliberately corrupting the facts and promoting arguments and division amongst the believers – so much so that some sites ban any discussion of the 9-11 story.
