From the Black Radical Congress

pDIV align="left" TABLE cellpadding="5"TR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TDTR VALIGN="TOP"TD pby Staff Writer/p pbTERROR ATTACKS OF SEPTEMBER 11, 2001/bbr / br /Opinion Statement from The Black Radical Congress (BRC)br / br /September 13, 2001/p pDuring this extremely sad and traumatic time, we extend ourbr / sincere and heartfelt condolences to the families and lovedbr / ones of all those who lost their life on September 11th. Webr / also wish for the speedy and full recovery of those who werebr / injured, and we hope and pray that in the aftermath of thebr / attacks, rescue crews can find as many people still alivebr / as possible./p pThe Black Radical Congress (BRC) strongly condemns thebr / horrific terror attacks which occurred on September 11th,br / 2001. The brazen murder of countless thousands of civiliansbr / cannot be supported or condoned./p pIt is without question that US imperialism has broughtbr / genocidal levels of death and destruction to people aroundbr / the world. Whether one looks at the situation in Iraq withbr / the continual blockade and air bombardments, the situationbr / in Palestine where the US continues to give virtuallybr / uncritical support to the Israelis in their nationalbr / oppression of the Palestinians, the economic blockadebr / against Cuba which aims to undermine its economy andbr / weaken its population, or any number of other places,br / one clearly sees the callousness and evil intent withbr / which US imperialism treats the lives and property ofbr / others, especially non-white peoples around the globe./p pYet, even with a firm understanding of the causes of thebr / desperation, fury, and hatred of US imperialism, turning tobr / terrorism to fight global oppression and exploitation is notbr / an acceptable strategy. A clear and unambiguous distinctionbr / must be made between radical/revolutionary political actionbr / on the one hand, and terrorism on the other, regardless ofbr / whether the causes that *appeared* to inspire the terroristbr / action(s) are just. Open and unmitigated attacks on civilianbr / targets do not advance radical/revolutionary causes and mustbr / be repudiated. Rather, such attacks inevitably antagonize thebr / populace, weaken any existing popular support, and helpbr / legitimize heightened levels of repression by the imperialistbr / state against *all* progressive/radical/revolutionary politicalbr / activity, including increased restrictions on the civil rightsbr / of the people./p pWe already hear, in the voices of those in power, calls forbr / war and vengeance. War and vengeance without a precise target,br / but striking out blindly, is nothing more than self-servingbr / jingoism. Given the track record of the US, this couldbr / include indiscriminate bombings or missile attacks, such asbr / the attack against the Sudanese pharmaceutical laboratorybr / two years ago, which was later found *not* to have beenbr / connected with any sort of terrorist activity./p pThe dangers presented by the September 11th terrorist actsbr / do not restrict themselves to the external threat. We hearbr / on television and radio calls for changing the laws andbr / regulations in order to make it easier to conductbr / surveillance and to carry-out covert operations againstbr / potential opponents of the US. Rather than accomplishingbr / anything in terms of reducing the threat of terrorism, suchbr / steps will eliminate basic civil liberties and strengthenbr / the existing tendency toward a racist and classist policebr / state. The police are already out of control and on thebr / rampage in communities across the country. We cannot affordbr / to further unleash their undemocratic and frequentlybr / murderous behavior in the name of national security./p pWe should add here that the terrorist attacks have alsobr / brought potential damage to the growing anti-capitalistbr / globalization movement. The ruling class has been makingbr / noise for months about the demonstrations that accompanybr / the gatherings of capitalist globalizers. They have inferredbr / that these demonstrations will get increasingly out of control.br / There is no question that the events of September 11th willbr / be used as a pretext to both discourage activity, as well asbr / to clamp down on any and all popular outrage with neo-liberalbr / globalization./p pIt is also critical in moments such as these that webr / as human beings fight and resist popular impulses towardbr / scape-goating and racism. From almost the moment of thebr / first attack on the World Trade Center, there has been anbr / assumption floated within the media that Arabs or Muslimbr / fundamentalists were behind the attacks. The reaction tobr / the attacks is reminiscent of what we witnessed immediatelybr / after the Oklahoma City bombings. There was a widespreadbr / assumption that Arabs or Muslims were behind the attack onbr / the Federal Office building. Few establishment observersbr / expected, or led any of the public to expect, that thebr / terrorist could be -- and was -- a homegrown, whitebr / American right-winger./p pTherefore, it is important to reserve judgment until a morebr / thorough investigation is conducted. This is particularlybr / important given the anti-Palestinian/anti-Arab/anti-Muslimbr / bias of the media. The automatic assumption of the US mediabr / is that Palestinians specifically, and Arabs generally, arebr / animals, or at best, fanatics with no concern for humanbr / life. The just and righteous Palestinian cause is rarelybr / given credible time, and when offered, generally dismissedbr / by allegedly objective (but really pro-Israeli) commentators.br / Therefore, in the current situation of horror following thesebr / criminal acts, we must actively oppose any and all witch-br / hunting and stereotyping which is bound to emerge./p pYet another danger we currently face will be xenophobiabr / and, general anti-immigrant sentiment. This will almostbr / inevitably be directed at immigrants of color andbr / particularly those who "look" like they might be of Middlebr / Eastern (North African) origin. The attacks on immigrantsbr / and the condemnation of entire communities must be stoppedbr / before they escalate out of control. We already see some ofbr / this happening with numerous reports of anonymous deathbr / threats sent to Arab and Muslim institutions, as well asbr / the spray painting of racist slogans and direct, personalbr / threats and attacks on individuals who are assumed to bebr / from the Middle East (North Africa). We call on allbr / clear-thinking people to be especially vigilant at thisbr / time in making sure that in the aftermath of this tragedy,br / another tragedy born of pain, anger, and hatred does notbr / occur. True anti-racism may require us to put ourselvesbr / at risk physically in order to defend Arabs and Muslimsbr / from unwarranted attacks./p pLastly, Black America must not condone or be indifferentbr / to the horrendous loss of human life resulting from thisbr / tragedy, nor can we allow these horrific acts to be usedbr / as an excuse to further repress Arab-Americans, Muslims, orbr / those perceived to be opponents of capitalist globalization.br / As a people that has survived over 400 years of genocidalbr / oppression on these shores, we are all too familiar with thebr / human suffering caused by both terrorism and racial hatred.br / From the amputations, beatings, and rapes of Chattel Slavery,br / to the New York City Draft Riots of 1863, to the post-br / Reconstruction terrorism of the Klu Klux Klan, to thebr / Tulsa Race Riots of 1921, to the government sponsoredbr / Counter-Intelligence Program (COINTELPRO) of the 1960s,br / to the contemporary state-sanctioned police murder andbr / brutality we are fighting today, we as Black people havebr / lots of experience with the horrors of terrorism in thebr / US, as it has too frequently been directed against us. Thatbr / is why we must show our full and unqualified support andbr / compassion for all those suffering as a result of thisbr / horrible tragedy, most of whom have come to experiencebr / terrorism for the first time, as we continue our 400+br / year struggle to rid ourselves of this evil, bothbr / domestically and around the world./p pNOTE: When responding or sending us feedback aboutbr / this statement, please indicate whether we have yourbr / permission to share your comments publicly, as partbr / of a broader discussion and debate. Thank you./p pBlack Radical Congressbr / br /National Officebr / br /Columbia University Stationbr / br /P.O. Box 250791br / br /New York, NY 10025-1509br / br /Phone: (212) 969-0348br / br /Email: a href="mailto:blackradicalcongress@visto.com"blackradicalcongress@visto.com/abr / br /Web: http://www.blackradicalcongress.org/p/td/tr/td/tr/table/div/p