Story Archives 2001

pstrong Crisis dialogues from grassroots community based organizations, community leaders, conscious adults and youth, artists and folk on the crisis of September 11, 2001.br / /strong/p pDIV align="left" TABLE cellpadding="5"TR VALIGN="TOP"TDIMG SRC= "../sites/default/files/arch_img/476/photo_2_supplement.jpg" //td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TDTR VALIGN="TOP"TD pby PNN Staff/p pEditor’s Note: The mainstream media promotes WAR through its standard, yellow journalism process—calling for WAR before BUSH even called for it, promoting the amorphous notion of WAR on a vaguely defined “enemy”. With this column we hope to honor the lives lost and to promote understanding and empathy for all people in an attempt to deconstruct the notion of PEACE in the 21st Century. We hope to accomplish this through the sharing of ideas, information and action from a broad range of grassroots organizations, artists and citizens. To participate in the community dialogue, submit your words, opinions and ideas via email to a href="mailto:poormag@sirius.com"poormag@sirius.com/a./p p We are also updating our bCalendar for Conscious Citizens/b daily to include all peace rallys, actions and events related to the Crisis. To submit information for publication please email or fax information to POOR at least one week before the event./p pFinally, the writers and artists of POOR Magazine, as very poor adults and youth, are always fighting our own personal, family, and community based battles just to stay alive and housed, attain healthcare, food, and basic services—one of our ways of surviving these assaults is to heal, grieve, and resist through the creation of words and images, poetry, and art as well as journalism, so we will be publishing a series of poetry, entitled Peace NOT War!! available on the Po' Poets Project page. To submit poetry or art for publication, please email us your words and/or images to:tiny@poormagazine.orgbr / /p/td/tr/td/tr/table/div/p

pstrong pbInnocent Children Threatened,br / Deadly Shootings, Hero's, Heroien'sbr / in Washington./b/p pbTwo Hatemonger's drapedbr / in America's Flag Fan Flamesbr / Of Hatred./bbr /bbr / Have A Nice Day./b/p/strong/p pDIV align="left" TABLE cellpadding="5"TR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TDTR VALIGN="TOP"TD pby Joe. B./p pOn Monday, Sept. 17, 2001 America supposedly United States isn't./p pAs I look at tv's talking heads, listen to voices up and down AM, FM dial and the abc websites. /p pIts good to know there are some level and thoughtfull persons thinking what the word b"WAR"/b really means./p pWe've heard of hero's, heroine's of Flight '93 crashing in Pennsylvania thwarting suicidal terrorists, giving their own lives in the process sobr / lives in Washington were saved./p pFiremen, police die as the second unstable tower fell burying men trying to rescue and save lives trapped inside, individual heroism from the most unlikely people all over New York./p pBut a darkling shade is also showing itself as America is shown how destructable and mortal its citizens are./p pA few hours after Tuesday, September, 11th. Highjack suicide bombing of the World Trade Center, a smoldering fury begins as a phone call from an angry man threaten's the Islamic Institute of New York. /p p45 children in the school saying b"He was going to paint the streets with our children's blood."[Instructors of the school said.]/b /p pThe school is closed because of continued threats./p pA mosque in Denton, Texas, was firebombed, in Oklahoma City's own home grown American Terrorist Timothy McVeigh, a white racist was at first not thought as Arabs were first blamed may have helped cool some hot heads. /p pBut too late for Mr. Balbir Singh Sodhi, a 49-year old Sikh, an Indian Immigrant killed by Mr. Frank Silva Roque, 42, in a drive by shooting outside the gas station he operated. /ppMr. Roque's motivation, hate./p pThis nutcase drives 10 miles to a second gas station firing several shots through a window at a Lebanese-American clerk, then into a home of a family of Afghani decent. /p pHe's was arrested on a $1,000,000 bond. /p pWhat I worry about is this concentrated hate, rage, drowning out cool, level, clear thinking, minds like (D) Represenative Barbara Lee's lone vote against Last Friday's Authorization of force resolution./p pDeath threats in the thousands are emailed to her but supportive calls came to her also./p pAlong with the brave souls of Flight '93, fire and police personnel, Ms. Barbara Lee's name should also be added to the roster. /ppHer independant, true opinion should not garner death threats./p pWhile Fundamentalist Minister's Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell's hate filled dialogue about Gay, Lesbian, Anti Abortion tirade as fuel to anyone with the slightest homo/xenophobic streak into a full blazing molten fire./p pThen he, [J. Falwell] apologize after spewing filth on the 700 Club reads like an 'X File's b[APOLOGY AS POLICY SHOW].br / /b/p pIf Mr. P. Robertson did the same it only means they said what they meant and on international televison has already spread their airborne poison to minds susceptible to their brand of angry, smite 'em all justice.br /b/b/p pI wonder if was just a cynical way of beefing up ratings, both men could've sat privately in each others homes debating the issue as normal adults would - BUT NOOOOO, they spewed their bloody rag view across our airwaves, which is their right but morally... minds dim all over America unlike The Honorable, bRev. Amos Brown, Cecil Williams, and Mayor Willie Brown's/bbr / br /b call to decency, fairness, and standing up to bigotry is the very Essence of Spiritual Enlightened Humanity./b/p pCall me a moth b let me seek the luminous glow of hard trueth/b than easy retoric of two televised leader leading many into bleak, blank, darkening hues of ignorant dunce headed sheets of fear and hatred./p pWe know Allah, or all the thousand names of the Lord this is an aspect but not the only aspect of the holy eternal one. /p pI tend to think b'ole 'G, JC/b is a forgiving deity with a sense of irony and humor if not we'd all be dead, our souls forever burning./p pOur Father gave us free will to chose or own lives and lifestyles the, evil and good is in the eyes of the beholder and not those using the pulpit as a fearfull, psychotic call to arms of angels and devils with them being the former./p pFolks, we cannot let the knuckle dragging hatemonger's among us pull us backward. /p pIf we are American's united then these evil fractions must be isolated from freedom lover's everywhere. bCOME ON, WE'RE BETTER THAN THIS! Yes, a red-white-and blue flag with stars is taped from my window, I'd also where a ring and armlet the same colors because pI am essentially an American but that doesn't mean I'll blindly do a "Desert Shield/Storm lock step dance but will think of why, how, this happened and ways that it won't ever again if that's ever possible. /p pCould it be it's time for America as young as She/He is to grow the fuck up and deal with other countries large, small, or emerging with equality and humanity? /ppTell me your views people, I'd like to know. Bye./p pbr /Please donate what you can to Poor Magazinebr / br /C/0 Ask Joe at 255 9th. br /St. Street,br / br /San Francisco, CA. 94103 br /USA /p pbr /For Joe only my snail mail:br / br /PO. Box 1230# 645br / br /Market St. San br /br / br /Francisco, CA. 94102br / br /Email to:askjoe@poormagazine.org /p p/p/b/p/td/tr/td/tr/table/div/p

pstrong pbIt happens, Perfect itbr / ain't me. I'm in a process ofbr / fixing my work./b /p pbSometimes I cannot getbr / to them. So Look and knowbr / errors will occur, you getbr / the main point./b/p/strong/p pDIV align="left" TABLE cellpadding="5"TR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TDTR VALIGN="TOP"TD pby Joe. B./p pI make mistake, never admit to perfection. But you get the jist of my meanings./p pThis is a bad time to be either a gung-ho, super patriot, pacifist, or questioner of America's right or wrong sentiments.br / Logic, understanding, and controlled directed fury may help us find the real 'perps./p pLives have already been lost in the service of our country. In this dire time we must not repeat history pointing fingers at American's not looking, acting as everyone else - We American's are the ultimate Hibrid selfmade experiment and what may wipe some of us out will not kill us all./p pLet not our true strength, diversity of thought, ideals, ideas, and people be our ruin./p pEvolution and the Lord has made it possible that dispised, hated, lucky, and many called cursed amalgum of people as we.br / Forerunners of a new futuristic society. /p pLike it or not we are like those comicbook X-factor humans bMUTANTS/bbr / to be precise./p pI believe America and other countries like ours are the living enbodiment of the future.b[Normal Mutations is normally a slow process taking aeon or millions of years.]/b America may be if not the first then a modern version of natural selection by humans themselves when they came from all the old world to us the new and the experiment is still in a process of flux. If any readers came from other lands or are born here in the USA, you're already part of this grand X-Periment and even if you move back to your mother country if you are not first generation the genetic dice from generations past has been thrown - inside you are a hibrid, no longer of pure stock, 'um-sorry about that./p pSo American's mutations all. U.S. Constitution, Bill of Rights, England and France with their rights, also South Africa, Brazil, and others not named are also part of this changling family./p pWe made mistakes this could be the bill to be paid. But we've aged, matured by a quickening because of this, may this begin a true dawming of a new age so America and no other emergin nation go through this. Bye./p/td/tr/td/tr/table/div/p

pstrong pbHow do we tell honest, loyal,br / innocent Middle Eastern American'sbr / hurting and angry as most American'sbr / are from others fermenting, chaosbr / and death?/bbr / br / /p pbWho are these sleepers,br / moles, and living weapons primedbr / for self sacrifice forbr / Allah,br / The One True God?/b/p/strong/p pDIV align="left" TABLE cellpadding="5"TR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TDTR VALIGN="TOP"TD pby Joe B./p pSoon it will be October but the September 11th. Tragedy is still to close to America, some of us draw back, want to know more, or want to move on. /p pOur Flag is no longer at half mast, which means as an entity our government is getting on with the business of running itself, but for families friends, and many individual citizens there is still a grieving, emotive turmoil, and months, years to reflect, to work through a heart rending, physical process and children of varying ages losing of one or both parents, or friends in a sudden flash of explosive fire, smoke, concrete, metal, and glass. /p pGetting through it should be the main goal, simply getting over it should not./p pThe latter is a mistake of emotional overload./p pWe can step back, have a breath slowly distance ourselves, but not too quickly because if we do, like any mentally ill patient this nation will relive that moment over and over as a deep memory scars that never completely heals echo's onto other generations after us will suffer for what they had no part of and also carry this wound./p pThe nation will heal both slow and quick letting it go as time rubs smooth rough edges, aches of national pain./p pYes, America suffered greatly but this is an international wound as other countries lost leaders, friends, and loved ones ñ it will take time, so let's not get over this one too quick./p pI went about my business at work rewriting letters, mailing some, making coffee, and thinking "what a mundane, ordinary job I've got." But after hearing and seeing the World Trade Center Twin Towers rammed into by three American commercial Jet planes by suicidal bomber with captive American citizens on board instantly whatever I was doing is not worth thinking about./p pImages of New York streets, falling human debris, burning building, loss of firemen, police, and rescue workers trying to save survivors, - being buried by the second tower building falling on them killing many of them at once. /p pPrivately one tends to reprioritized or at least stop and rethink about how frail we human's are in the face of on-going death that couldn't be avoided or imagined by government defenders./p pTrue closure will take many years of inner reflection, self doubt, survivor guilt, triggering different job/career changes, and/or directions people until now have never thought of or imagined./p pThe Market Street Mess Series is still important as working poor, homeless are again pushed aside as this horrifying human event continues unfolding. /p pTime, for me was skewed, out of synchronization since 9-11-2001 and like multitudes I'm reassessing my future, present, and past clearer than I otherwise would. /p pMy thinking while being homelessness, living in a shelter, and now with a regular job is quiet panic. b[ONLY WORKING AT POOR MAGAZINE KEEPS THAT REALITY AWAY]./b/p pI dislike - the personal/political ideology even if it its a logical endpoint of politics. I can think of multiple solutions: br /1) For homeless people, working poor-single or families, many minds acting together, or Critical Brain Mass saving our money to buy cooperative housing, also properties near or around housing is imperative.br / br /2) Join A Collective, b["RESISTANCE IS FUTILE"]/b I couldn't resist - no pun intended. This collective, as I've said before pool their monies together to invest, and reinvest in domestic, national, and international taking 5 to 10 percent for, financial or other needs the rest reinvested by dollar-cost-investing -b [getting more stocks with the same amount or choosing to sell or invest in other items like real estate properties buying them from owners, paying off mortgagees, or resale.]/b/p pI believe real estate or land is whatís needed for weíre always having our rental space bought out from under us because of land speculation, greedy business persons, land owner/developers profit motives./p pbWe Must Co-op, keep our neighborhoods from rampant speculation reselling homes and other properties to each other.br / /bbr / Business people do it all the time among themselves - its our turn now./p pOnly with economic clout can our words and action be heard over the din of cash registers and automatic money counting machines. /p pWe should also get those too, so weíll know exactly how to long we can fight off getri-monied, legal land buying, 21st. Century fat cat, robber barons./p pIf readers have any other ideas of how this can be accomplished inform me please because is seems money speaks to money and ignores human need for human greed. Bye./p pPlease send donations tobr / Poor Magazine or in C/0br / Ask Joe at 255 9th St. Street,br / San Francisco, CA. 94103 USA/p pFor Joe only my snail mail:br / PO Box 1230 #645br / Market St. San Francisco, CA 94102br / Email:askjoe@poormagazine.br / orgbr / /p/td/tr/td/tr/table/div/p

pstrong p Davey D writes the FNV Newsletter. The following is an interview he did with Congresswoman Barbara Lee./p/strong/p pDIV align="left" TABLE cellpadding="5"TR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TDTR VALIGN="TOP"TD pby PNN Staff/p pYesterday, Monday, September 17th we had an opportunity to catch up withbr / Congresswoman Barbara Lee and talk to her about her decision to castbr / the only vote opposing President Bush's war resolution. Not even herbr / fellow colleagues from the Congressional Black Caucus voted with herbr / on this one. That includes such notable people like Maxine Waters,br / Charles Rengel, Jesse Jackson Jr., Cynthia McKinney to name a few.br / What is this all about?/p pIs Congresswoman Lee out of step with reality and the rest of thebr / country? Or is she ahead of her time? Some people are saying she isbr / unpatriotic for not supporting Bush on this one. They are angry withbr / her to the point that she now needs police protection. Others arebr / saying she did the right thing by not only following her conscience,br / but also bringing to the floor and public discussions, an alternativebr / viewpoint that has been all but locked out of this past week'sbr / conversations. Many are claiming something is wrong with you if youbr / are not advocating war. Here's what Congresswoman had to say...Let usbr / know what you think./p p /pPDAVEY D: They took this vote in Congress about what should be thebr / response to the tragedy this week...and elected to take militarybr / action. In a vote 420 to 1 you were the lone dissenting voice thatbr / said no, we should not go to war./p pBARBARA LEE: First, our nation is in grieving, we're all mourning,br / we're angry; there are a range of emotions taking place. Myselfbr / personally, I am also grieving and I believe fully and firmly that thebr / Congress of the United States is the only legislative body that canbr / say, "Let's pause for a moment...and let's look at using somebr / restraint before we rush to action." Because military action can leadbr / to an escalation and spiral out of control. So, why I voted no, wasbr / one, the president already has the authority to execute a militarybr / action. He doesn't need Congress; under the War Powers Act he hasbr / that authority. But Congress is the people's house, and the Congressbr / is responsible for providing checks and balances, and you cannot justbr / allow the administration to run ahead with a strategy withoutbr / reporting back and without having some oversight./p pNow we must bring the perpetrators to justice. Internationalbr / terrorism is upon us—this is a new world and we cannot make anybr / mistakes in dealing with it. We do not want to see our reaction leadbr / to another reaction which could allow this to spiral out of control.br / So while we grieve and while we provide assistance—and I did votebr / to provide assistance for the families and communities that have beenbr / devastated and also providing funding for anti-terrorist activitiesbr / for securing our own country—we've got to conduct a fullbr / investigation and be really deliberate about how we move forwardbr / militarily. We cannot make any mistake about this, this is anbr / unconventional war and we have to fight it in an unconventional way. /p pDAVEY D: We're talking about the nature of terrorism and whether itbr / could be a tit-for-tat type of scenario if we go out and retaliate andbr / hit the wrong targets or capture the wrong people, the next thing youbr / know we could be involved in a situation where a can of worms has beenbr / opened that we just can't close it up. /p pBARBARA LEE: We don't know the real nature of terrorism in the truebr / sense of the word. We have not invested in combating terrorism thebr / way we should have, which involves many issues. It involves ourbr / foreign policy, it involves multinational cooperation, it involvesbr / diplomatic efforts. It involves pulling all of these verybr / multifaceted areas together to come up with a real way to deal withbr / terrorism. I don't believe we have faced the fact that terrorism isbr / the new war that this country is going to have to fight. We'rebr / looking at putting up billions of dollars for national missilebr / defense. Well, anti-ballistic missiles—that would not have savedbr / the lives or prevented the horrible morning that we saw last Tuesday,br / it just wouldn't have done it. So, we're looking at putting militarybr / money into the wrong areas. We need to look at what this means inbr / terms of securing our country, securing our world, and how to use ourbr / tax dollars toward that purpose. I am convinced that military actionbr / alone will not prevent further terrorist attacks./p pDAVEY D: One of things I'm concerned about is the number of people ofbr / color who will be on these front lines. A third of the army is madebr / up of people of color, because of the economic conditions we're in.br / If we have to go out there and fight a war, how is this going tobr / impact our communities disproportionately—and are we going to havebr / some dire effects that will be with us for generations? /p pBARBARA LEE:Certainly, that's always the case—our communities arebr / always disproportionately represented in the military and we'll bebr / called to serve and fight. Whenever that happens, whomever it is, webr / have to be very careful. We don't want our young men and women put inbr / harm's way. I am a very patriotic person, and I support the Unitedbr / States and our government. And I believe that my support for ourbr / country and for our people dictates that I be prudent, that I not rushbr / to judgment on any decisions, and that we step back for a minute andbr / realize any impact that this could have on young men and women ofbr / color, and all young Americans as we move forward. Fighting abr / terrorist war...I'm not sure our young people are prepared for that,br / and we've got to stamp out terrorism in the world but it's verybr / complicated./p pDAVEY D: I've got the sense that people think that this will be overbr / in a hurry, almost like you're playing a game, and I'm trying to tellbr / people, that this is real stuff. You've got people that havebr / committed themselves to dying, and that's kind of scary. /p pBARBARA LEE: We're all in trauma right now, in a state of disbeliefbr / and mourning. A member of my staff had a family member killed in onebr / of the planes. This catastrophe has touched the lives of so manybr / people. Going back to why I said "No, let's use restraint,"—it'sbr / for that reason. My professional training is as a social worker, andbr / I understand the human psyche, and the community psyche, and ourbr / country's psyche. Right not, were dealing with recovery, and we'rebr / dealing with mourning, and there's no way until we settle in, shouldbr / we deal with decisions that could escalate violence and spiral out ofbr / control. We just all must be reasoned and reasonable about this.br / When we bring these terrorists to justice, we have to be pointed andbr / know what we're doing. The world is a dangerous place. /p pDAVEY D: With all the money that we pay in tax dollars directed towardbr / intelligence gathering, the CIA, the FBI, the racial profiling atbr / airports and the like, how could we have someone come in to thisbr / country, learn to fly from our own schools, and fly an airplane forbr / 20, 30 minutes and not be detected? Was this a breakdown in thebr / intelligence community? /p pBARBARA LEE: Obviously, that money has not been spent properly and Ibr / think that one of the reasons I did vote for the $40 billion is thatbr / there's money in there to really look at how we increase the publicbr / safety of our people in this country, within the confines of civilbr / liberties. We have to find that balance. Protecting the public,br / protecting the country, and not allowing our civil liberties to bebr / eroded. That's where we need to put the funding and resources, andbr / that's why I did support that money. But something went terriblybr / wrong, and we'll see how these investigations go. But we have tobr / insist on a full and thorough investigation. /p pDAVEY D: Do you think with all the concern right now, we will bebr / finding our civil liberties actually taken off the paper altogether inbr / the name of national security? Will people be pulled over, profiled,br / searched more? If I'm a part of an organization that says "Peace notbr / war," will they label me a potential terrorist?/p pBARBARA LEE: Certainly we have to fight against that trend. There arebr / those who would like to see that happen. They will overreact to abr / tragedy and use this opportunity to do just what you said. That'sbr / part of the danger in rushing to judgment. As a branch of thebr / government that's responsible to the people, it's up to Congress tobr / execute our Constitutional responsibilities to ensure that there'sbr / checks on policies that could be put in place under the name ofbr / national security. This is very serious. /p pDAVEY D: You've come from an era of the Black Panthers, from thebr / Vietnam era, when there were a lot of groups that found themselvesbr / subjected to the Cointel policies of the FBI. They were harassed bybr / the various government agencies, from the local police to the CIA,br / their patriotism was questioned. If we don't keep that in mind, dobr / you think it might lead to us just falling in line and maybe notbr / questioning government when we have a right to do so?/p pBARBARA LEE: We better understand the history, and I'm very on top ofbr / my own history with these agencies and I know what can happen. So webr / must be vigilant right now, because under the cloak of nationalbr / security, many of our civil liberties could be just wiped off thebr / floor. There are those of us who are going to fight to make surebr / that's not going to happen, but we're also going to fight to make surebr / justice is served by making sure that the people and organizations whobr / did this are brought to justice. We also have to begin to look at ourbr / foreign policy, our diplomatic efforts, and some of the reasons why webr / don't engage in dialogue with certain countries and individuals andbr / organizations. This is a very complex issue in the US, and we shouldbr / be right now leading the world in showing our children how in the facebr / of adversity we respond and minimize the loss of life. We don't wantbr / to see any more people lose their lives. We cannot tolerate anotherbr / terrorist attack, and we certainly cannot tolerate any loss of lifebr / any more in our country, and anywhere in the world. /p pDAVEY D:Many are painting a picture that, "if you're not with the US,br / you're against us. " They would take a look at your dissenting votebr / and say, "Congresswoman Barbara Lee is not patriotic, she's notbr / supporting the president, she's making it difficult for us to do whatbr / we need to do." How do you respond to that type of criticism? /p pBARBARA LEE:People have said that. And in my response, I tell thembr / that I'm very patriotic. As a citizen, I have the right to representbr / a point of view. That's central to our democracy -- the right tobr / dissent, the right to provide a different point of view that's out inbr / the open, in the full view of the American people. I did not makebr / this decision behind closed doors; I've explained my decision. Ibr / think the beauty of democracy, and one of it's fundamental principles,br / is the right to free speech and the right to disagree. I support thebr / administration in their actions; that's not the point. Their role isbr / this, they're moving forward. What we have to understand, is that thebr / Congress is a body that represents the people in our country. It's upbr / to us to step back and say, "Okay, now we have an additionalbr / responsibility." We must make sure that the president reports to us,br / so that we can report back to our constituents what's going on. Youbr / donut want to not know, do you? /p pCongress has a very critical role in this. So if I am going to bebr / patriotic, and I am, and if I am going to be a good American, which Ibr / know I am, I am going to make sure that our democracy works and I'mbr / going to hold it accountable, and make sure that it works not only forbr / my constituents, but for the whole country. You don't want to rush tobr / judgment while we're depressed and angry and frustrated. That's likebr / herding cattle in one direction. You want people who are thinkingbr / clearly, who are working with the president, and giving them differentbr / ideas and insights. I'm an African-American woman, I'm on thebr / International Relations committee. I have a point of view...as anbr / American...that may be useful when we talk about internationalbr / terrorism. There are many people who have different points ofbr / view...that's America. So to those people who say those things, theybr / better check their own credentials. They may need to become morebr / participatory in our democracy. /p pDAVEY D: That's a key word—participatory. I come across a lot ofbr / people who are waving the flag, but aren't registered to vote. Allbr / this information about foreign policy and our government's role hasbr / been out there, but a lot of people have ignored it until now. All ofbr / a sudden, they're out for blood, and don't even understand wherebr / Afghanistan is and what it would take to defeat it. This is a countrybr / that beat back Russia, a couple of times. It's not going to be anbr / easy haul, and I'm afraid people aren't really thinking long term. /p pBARBARA LEE: Being patriotic at this moment in our history meansbr / participating in decisions about the future of our world. It meansbr / participating in decisions that will hopefully bring us to peace, andbr / ensure that these terrorists are brought to justice and that no man,br / woman, or child, ever gets killed in such brutal assaults ever againbr / That's what participatory democracy is about at this moment. Peoplebr / should feel understand and feel empowered that it's through theirbr / members of Congress that represent them, that they can make theirbr / voice be heard. Not just react, but engage./p pDAVEY D: People would question, would you acting on behalf of Barbarabr / Lee or were you acting on behalf of the Berkeley-Oakland district youbr / represent when you decided to be that lone dissenting vote againstbr / Bush's resolution for war? /p pBARBARA LEE: First of all, this was not a poll-driven vote. This wasbr / the most painful vote I have taken in Congress, really in all 12 yearsbr / that I've been in elected office. It was a grueling experience forbr / me. I have been in many briefings, classified and unclassified. Ibr / have been in so many meetings. I was in the Capitol when the planebr / went into the Pentagon, and we had to evacuate. It's been abr / nightmare. I went through the intellectual process, through thebr / fact-gathering, through the policy analysis, looking through thebr / foreign policy and intelligence and military implications of our move.br / It weighed heavily on me. I was not going to the National Cathedralbr / for the prayer service..because I wanted to continue in mybr / discussions, and reflect on the resolution that was coming up. But atbr / the last minute, I decided to go, that I had to pray over this. Ibr / realized I had to settle down and say some prayers, to try to get somebr / strength to help me through the rest of the week. /p pIt was a very powerful, very beautiful prayer service, very painful.br / I listened to the prayers, and prayed, and listened to the commentsbr / and the sermons. One of the clergy, very eloquently said, in hisbr / prayer, "As we act, let us not become the evil that we deplore, " Andbr / at that moment, I knew what the right vote was, and what I had to do.br / So it was a combination of factors that brought me to that place.br / There are very few times when there are votes of conscience that yourbr / moral compass must guide you, very few times that there's some bottombr / lines. And this was one of those times. I talked to my colleagues,br / and believe me, there are many members of Congress who feel as I feel,br / who are raising questions about not having the President report backbr / on military action. People are concerned. I think my votebr / represented my week of deliberations, my discussions, my thoughts, mybr / analysis, and my conscience, and I voted 'no.' I believe it was thebr / right vote. I still say, and I said on the floor that night, "We mustbr / step back." We must allow time for the grieving, and the mourning.br / Congress has got to be the body that says, "Let's use some restraint,br / lets make sure that our actions lead to what we want to accomplish,br / and that's to make sure their are no more attacks on our people and onbr / our country" We've got to make the most deliberate strategies that webr / can that are going to be effective./p pDAVEY D: There's been a number of attacks throughout our country onbr / our Arab brothers and sisters...even on those who look like they mightbr / be Arab. Sadly, some of this abuse has come at the hands of black andbr / brown folks, who have gotten caught up in the wave of patriotism thatbr / has swept the country. What are your thoughts on this?/p pBARBARA LEE: This is very a serious problem. We passed a resolutionbr / on that same night that condemned attacks on Arab-Americans andbr / Muslims and all those who could be under attack as a result of this.br / What we see now is an environment of fear. The worst is coming out inbr / people. We've never had a war on our land before -- other countriesbr / have, the US hasn't. Were vulnerable. When people react in fear,br / what do they do? They turn on each other. The person who looks thebr / wrong way receives the brunt of your anger and fear. So I'm urgingbr / and encouraging young people to please understand that when thesebr / planes crashed into the towers, they killed people of all colors,br / ages, races. creeds. It was an equal opportunity destroyer./p pDAVEY D: It just seems a shame that people who have been persecuted,br / especially blacks and Latinos, who have been the brunt of abuse by thebr / military, are turning around and attacking people in our ownbr / communities. Once upon time Latinos in LA were attacked by US Sailorsbr / in what is now known as the Zoot suit riots. African Americans werebr / at the short end of the stick in numerous situations and scenarios. /p pBARBARA LEE: We've got to pause and understand the moment that we'rebr / in. Moving forward, whether it's on a political level, or in ourbr / communities, against each other, there's some serious implications ofbr / this. If we donut understand that were grieving, we're baffled, we'rebr / afraid, this behavior is going to escalate. I'm trying to help youngbr / people understand who their enemy is and who it is not. In thisbr / moment of all moments, we should be embracing each other. Mybr / constituents are as conflicted and upset in California as people arebr / all over the East Coast and the country. /p pDAVEY D: Do you think when you get back to Bay Area, you'll have somebr / kind of a town hall so that those people that voted you into officebr / can come on down and build with you?/p pBARBARA LEE:We' re definitely going to be holding events in ourbr / community to try and help sort though this grieving process. In termsbr / of future direction, we want to bring some clarity and understandingbr / as to how the Congress should function when we're in a vulnerablebr / state, when we've been attacked and what our role is in terms ofbr / checks and balances. I want to do some education and forums and basicbr / discussions with young people about their fears. I know children arebr / scared about what they're seeing on TV But the way our countrybr / responds to it will ensure as they grow up that they are able to dealbr / with their problems in a way that is appropriate. It's important thatbr / they see that rage and war gets out of control and leads to morebr / violence. We have to be very measured in our response as we go afterbr / the perpetrators of this horror, and make sure that our children knowbr / that in the face of adversity, America can rise up and be the greatbr / democracy that it is, and deal with all these problems immediately. /p pDAVEY D: Have you heard from any high ranking officials about yourbr / vote. Also, Bush has two daughters who are college age...do you thinkbr / that they would be on the front line? How do you think it willbr / perceived if 19 and 20 year olds are being asked to serve this countrybr / and his daughters are still making headlines getting drunk at ratbr / parties?? /p pBARBARA LEE: That poses the kind of questions and dilemmas before us.br / There are many questions that have to be asked..the kind of terrainbr / ahead of us in a country we don t know, how much collateral lossbr / will we be inflicting in terms of innocent women and children? Lossbr / of life is loss of life. The Congress needs to ask these questions,br / force the administration to answer these questions. That does notbr / mean that we, and I, are not unified. I'm sure I will hear from thebr / administration, I'm on the foreign affairs committee. I see Secretarybr / Powell fairly frequently. I haven't talked to him. Hess been fairlybr / measured in his response, I think Hess trying to bring some balance tobr / the policy. But in terms of supporting the President, that Congressbr / has to make sure that he is successful, that any reaction to thisbr / horrible attack does not come back in terms of any spiraling out ofbr / control. If you have nobody to check that, it could be very scary./p pDAVEY D:Congresswoman Lee thank you so much for taking time out ofbr / your day to break it down for us. /p pTo reach Barbara Lee call her at 510-763-0370br / Send comments, questions and concerns tobr / a href="mailto:misterdaveyd@aol.com" title="mailto:misterdaveyd@aol.com"mailto:misterdaveyd@aol.com/abr / a href="mailto:mrdaveyd@aol.com" title="mailto:mrdaveyd@aol.com"mailto:mrdaveyd@aol.com/abr / The FNV Newsletter is written by Davey Dbr / a href="http://www.daveyd.com" title="http://www.daveyd.com"http://www.daveyd.com/abr / a href="http://www.rapstation.com" title="http://www.rapstation.com"http://www.rapstation.com/abr / /p/td/tr/td/tr/table/div/p

pstrongLocal and global news related to 9-11-01 from alternative media and grassroots organizations and affilitates of PNN/strong/p pDIV align="left" TABLE cellpadding="5"TR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TDTR VALIGN="TOP"TD pby PNN Staff/p pbSTOCKS TRADED ON AIRLINES AND WORLD TRADE CENTER BUSINESSES THREE DAYS PRIOR TO CRISIS/b/p p The Chicago Board Options Exchange, the World's largest options market, has joined a widening probe of bearish trades in airline, insurance and brokerage stocks prior to the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon./p p Officials with the exchange said Tuesday that they are investigating an unusually high volume of sales "put" options on stocks such as UAL Corp. and AMR Corp. parent companies of United Airlines and American Airlines in the days before their jets were used to destroy the World Trade Center./p pbDANGEROUS CHANGES IN IMMIGRATION LAWS/b/p pThe Bush Administration announced changes in Justice Dept Guidelines that will allow the government to detain indefintely legal immigrants suspected of crimes during a "national emergency" without bringing charges against them. Previously, the Justice Department could detain immigrants for only 24 hours unless they were charged with a crime or held on Visa violatons. /p pbINFORMATION ALERT: ISRAELI ARMY KILLS 11 PALESTINIANS/b/p pISRAEL ATTEMPTS TO USE ATTACKS IN USA TO JUSTIFY INCREASING AGGRESSION AGAINST PALESTINIANS/p pThe Palestine Monitor, A PNGO Information Clearinghousebr / br /12 September 2001/p pWith world attention focused on the shocking situation in the United States,br / Israeli attacks on Palestinian civilian areas have already escalated inbr / severity, with Palestinian groups also fearful that certain Israeli attemptsbr / to exploit the tragedy in America to dehumanize the Palestinians will bebr / used to justify expanding the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land andbr / peoples./p pJenin and its environs in particular are under sustained and serious attack,br / with the death toll from here alone reaching eight. At 2 in the morning, the Israeli army invaded Jenin, and has now placed it under siege, with tanks positioned strategically on hill tops circling the area./p pIsraeli forces are currently shelling the city and refugee camp. Thebr / villages of Qabatiya, Tammoun, and Toubas have come under heavy attack, andbr / it has just been reported that the Israeli army has attempted to stormbr / Tammoun./p pAttacks on the Araba area of Jenin blasted the home of Asad Adaqa, killingbr / him immediately, as well as Waíil Multaq Isaf, and a small girl, Balqisbr / Arda. In Libqaya, shelling from tanks and helicopters killed Tawfiq Abu Sharar,br / Thair Mahdawiy and Shahr Bani Audeh. Israeli tank shelling in Jenin Refugee Camp killed Iyad Al Masri and Ibrahim al Fayd. Three more Palestinians also were killed by the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip./p pThe Israeli attacks have wounded over one hundred Palestinians, the woundedbr / are in serious threat as the continuous bombardment prevents medical teamsbr / and ambulances from reaching them. The siege on Jenin, isolating itbr / completely from surrounding villages, also means that the injured are unablebr / to reach Jenin hospital for urgently required medical care./p pThe situation is likely to deteriorate: Israeli military troops and tanksbr / already surround Nablus, and there is widespread fear of what moves thebr / Israeli army will make in the next few hours. With attention deflected tobr / the United States, Israel is trying to act with carte blanche in thebr / Occupied Palestinian Territories./p pFor more information, contact Mustafa Barghouthi, 059-254-218, and seebr / www.palestinemonitor.org/p/td/tr/td/tr/table/div/p

pstrongCoordinator John Vance offers information, insight, and reading recommendations /strong/p 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 pMEMORANDUM: ATTACK ON THE USS LIBERTRY JUNE 8, 1967br / br /Date: June 8, 1997br / br /From: Admiral Thomas H. Moorer/p pI have never believed that the attack on the USS Liberty was a casebr / of mistaken identity. That is ridiculous. I have flown over thebr / Atlantic and Pacific oceans, thousands of hours, searching for shipsbr / and identifying all types of ships at sea.br / The Liberty was the ugliest, strangest looking ship in the U.S. Navy. As a communications intelligence ship, it was sprouting every kind of antenna. It lookedbr / like a lobster with all those projections moving every which way.br / Israel knew perfectly well that the ship was American. After all, thebr / Liberty's American flag and markings were in full view in perfectbr / visibility for the Israeli aircraft that overflew the ship eightbr / times over a period of nearly eight hours prior to the attack.br / I am confident that Israel knew the Liberty could intercept radio messagesbr / from all parties and potential parties to the ongoing war, then inbr / its fourth day, and that Israel was preparing to seize the Golanbr / Heights from Syria despite President Johnson's known opposition tobr / such a move. I think they realized that if we learned in advance ofbr / their plan, there would be a tremendous amount of negotiating betweenbr / Tel Aviv and Washington. And I believe Moshe Dayan concluded that he could prevent Washington from becoming aware of what Israel was up tobr / by destroying the primary source of acquiring that information thebr / USS Liberty. The result was a wanton sneak attack that left 34br / American sailors dead and 171 seriously injured.br / What is so chilling and cold-blooded, of course, is that they could kill as manybr / Americans as they did in confidence that Washington would cooperatebr / in quelling any public outcry. I have to conclude that it wasbr / Israel's intent to sink the Liberty and leave as few survivors asbr / possible. Up to the point where the torpedo boats were sent in, youbr / could speculate on that point. You have to remember that the Libertybr / was an intelligence ship, not a fighting ship, and its only defensivebr / weapons were a pair of 50-caliber machine guns both aft and on thebr / forecastle. There was little the men could do to fight off the airbr / assault from Israeli jets that pounded the Liberty with bombs,br / rockets, napalm and machine gun fire for 25 minutes. With the Libertybr / riddled with holes, fires burning, and scores of casualties, threebr / Israeli torpedo boats closed in for the kill. The second of threebr / torpedoes ripped through a compartment at amidships, drowning 25 ofbr / the men in that section. Then the torpedo boats closed to within 100br / feet of the Liberty to continue the attack with cannons and machinebr / guns, resulting in further casualties. It is telling, with respect tobr / whether total annihilation was the intent, that the Liberty crew hasbr / reported that the torpedo boats' machine guns also were turned onbr / life rafts that were deployed into the Mediterranean as well as thosebr / few on deck that had escaped damage. As we know now, if the rescuebr / aircraft from U.S. carriers had not been recalled, they would havebr / arrived at the Liberty before the torpedo attack, reducing the deathbr / toll by 25. The torpedo boat commanders could not be certain thatbr / Sixth Fleet aircraft were not on the way and this might have led tobr / their breaking off the attack after 40 minutes rather than remainingbr / to send the Liberty and its crew of 294 to the bottom. Congress tobr / this day has failed to hold formal hearings for the record on thebr / Liberty affair. This is unprecedented and a national disgrace. Ibr / spent hours on the Hill giving testimony after the USS Pueblo, abr / sister ship to the Liberty, was seized by North Korea. I was askedbr / every imaginable question, including why a carrier in the area failedbr / to dispatch aircraft to aid the Pueblo. In the Liberty case, fightersbr / were put in the air not once, but twice. They were ordered to standbr / down by Secretary of Defense McNamara and President Johnson forbr / reasons the American public deserves to know. The captain and crew ofbr / the Liberty, rather than being widely acclaimed as the heroes theybr / most certainly are, have been silenced, ignored, honored belatedlybr / and away from the cameras, and denied a history that accuratelybr / reflects their ordeal. I was appalled that six of the dead from thebr / Liberty lay under a tombstone at Arlington Cemetery that describedbr / them as having "died in the eastern Mediterranean," as if diseasebr / rather than Israeli intent had caused their deaths. The Naval Academybr / failed to record the name of Lt. Stephen Toth in Memorial Hall on thebr / grounds that he had not been killed in battle. I intervened and wasbr / able to reverse the apparent idea that dying in a cowardly, one-sidedbr / attack by a supposed ally is somehow not the same as being killed bybr / an avowed enemy. Commander McGonagle's story is the stuff of navalbr / tradition. Badly wounded in the first air attack, lying on the deckbr / and losing blood, he refused any treatment that would take him frombr / his battle station on the bridge. He continued to direct the ship'sbr / defense, the control of flooding and fire, and by his own examplebr / inspired the survivors to heroic efforts to save the ship. He did notbr / relinquish his post until hours later, after having directed thebr / crippled ship's navigation to a rendezvous with a U.S. destroyer andbr / final arrival in Malta. I must have gone to the White House 15 timesbr / or more to watch the President personally award the Congressionalbr / Medal of Honor to Americans of special valor. So it irked the hellbr / out of me when McGonagle's ceremony was relegated to the obscurity ofbr / the Washington Navy Yard and the medal was presented by the Secretarybr / of the Navy. This was a back-handed slap. Everyone else receivedbr / their medal at the White House. President Johnson must have beenbr / concerned about the reaction of the Israeli lobby. The Libertybr / Veterans Association deserves the encouragement of everyone who wantsbr / the facts of the Liberty incident revealed and proper homage paid tobr / the men who lost their lives, to their families, and to thebr / survivors. I have attended many of their reunions and am alwaysbr / impressed with the cohesion of the Liberty family. They arrive inbr / town with their whole entourage grandmas, grandpas, grandchildren.br / They promote the memory of the boys who were killed and I respectbr / them for that. They are mostly from small country towns, probably abr / lot like Eufaula, Alabama, where I grew up, and they represent thebr / basic core of America that has enabled us to be a superpower for sobr / long. These are the kind of people who will make certain that ourbr / liberty and freedom survive if fighting is what it takes./p pBR /POSTSCRIPT BY JOHN VANCE, COORDINATOR OF A FIRST AMENDMENT CENTER/p pi have submitted this information because i am very disturbed butbr / not completely surprised by its revelations. i cannot vouch withbr / complete authority for the complete veracity of this revealing newsbr / but as an individual seeking the truth, i am convinced that thebr / facts contained herein that i have read about the USS Liberty are,br / in my own personal opinion, very highly probable.br / i would say that i would support a Congressional investigation ofbr / this attack on the USS Liberty that has been and is continuing to bebr / called for by the survivors of the USS Liberty attack. i would urgebr / my readers very strongly to visit the USS Liberty website at:br / a href="http://208.56.153.48/jim/ussliberty/" title="http://208.56.153.48/jim/ussliberty/"http://208.56.153.48/jim/ussliberty//a/p pJust as i am horrified and saddened at what has happened on the eastbr / coast to all of the innocent people that have been killed, i ambr / just as horrified and saddened about what i have been learning aboutbr / this equally despicable action. Just as we should seek justice forbr / those whose lives have been taken on September 11, 2001 on the eastbr / coast, so should we seek equal justice for those who may have been sobr / brutally murdered on June 8, 1967./p pno peace without justice,/p pjohn vance, Coordinatorbr / a href="http://www.freezepeach.cjb.net" title="http://www.freezepeach.cjb.net"http://www.freezepeach.cjb.net/a/p p/pPP.P.S.There is also an excellent book that was just written by Jamesbr / Bamford, "Body of Secrets" , that also speaks of this despicable act.br / The specific title of that chapter in the book is "BLOOD" - pgs. 185-br / 239./p p /pPThe cover of the book reads "A no-holds-barred examination of thebr / National Security Agency --- packed with the startling secrets aboutbr / its past, newsbreaking revelations about its present-day activities,br / and chilling predictions about its future powers and reach./p p /pPThe NSA is the largest, most secretive, and most powerfulbr / intelligence agency in the world. With a staff of thirty-eightbr / thousand people, it dwarfs the CIA in budget, manpower andbr / influence. Recent headlines have linked it to economic espionagebr / throughout Europe and to the ongoing hunt for the terrorist leader,br / Osama bin Laden./p p/pPJames Bamford first penetrated the wall of silence surronding thebr / NSA in 1982, with the much-talked-about bestseller "The Puzzlebr / Palace". In "Body of Secrets", he offers shocking new details aboutbr / the inner workings of the agency, gathered through unique access tobr / thousands of internal documents and interviews with current andbr / former officials. Unveiling extremely sensitive information for thebr / first time, Bamford exposes the role the NSA played in numerousbr / Soviet bloc Cold War conflicts and discusses its undercoverbr / involvement in the Vietnam War. His investigation into the NSA'sbr / technological advances during the last fifteen years brings to lightbr / a network of global surveillance ranging from on-line listening postsbr / to sophisticated intelligence-gathering satellites. In a hard-br / hitting conclusion, he warns that the NSA is a two-edged sword.br / While its worldwide eavesdropping activities offer the potential forbr / tracking down terrorists and uncovering nuclear weapons deals, itbr / also has the capability to listen in on global personalbr / communications.br / /pPLike the breakout bestsellers on Cold War espionage "The Sword andbr / the Shield" and the "Shield and Blind Man's Bluff", "Body of Secrets"br / is must-reading for people fascinated by the intrigues of a shadowybr / underworld. As one of the most important works of investigativebr / journalism to come out of Washington in years, it should be read bybr / everyone concerned about the inevitability of Orwells' "Big Brother""./p p/pPJAMES BAMFORD is the author of "Puzzle Palace", a national bestsellerbr / when it was first published and now regarded as a classic. He wasbr / until recently Washington Investigative Producer for ABC's World Newsbr / Tonight with Peter Jennings and has written investigative coverbr / stories for the New York Times Magazine, the Washington Post Magazinebr / and the Los Angeles Times Magazine. He lives in Washington, DC./p p/p/td/tr/td/tr/table/div/p

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

pDIV align="left" TABLE cellpadding="5"TR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TDTR VALIGN="TOP"TD pby PNN Staff/p pbACTION ALERT FROM MEDIA ALLIANCE/b/p pTuesday’s attacks were a horrible tragedy. They are to be condemnedbr / by all peace-loving people in the world. In order for people to bebr / able to think critically about what happened and make informedbr / decisions about what the U.S. government’s response should be, theybr / need to hear a diversity of voices and perspectives in the mediabr / coverage of these events. Many of those voices have been missing;br / for example, the mainstream media has, by and large, not includedbr / the points of view of people who support non-violent responses tobr / the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon./p pWe encourage Media Alliance members and other media activists tobr / hold the mainstream media accountable for its problematic coverage.br / Right now the mainstream media is encouraging an environment inbr / which war or some other form of violent restribution is inevitable. /p pWe also encourage people to seek out a variety of perspectivesbr / from alternative media sources.o Contact CNN and Fox News Channel.br / br /CNN, Washington Bureau, 202-898-7900 (ask for the news room)br / br /CNN News President, Walter Isaacson, 404-827-1500br / br /Fox News Channel, 212-301-3100 (Jama Vitale), FAX 212-301-4224br / br /Fox News Channel Comment Line: 888-369-4762; a href="mailto:comments@foxnews.com"comments@foxnews.com/a/p pFollowing are some talking points for your calls to these outlets:/p p1. Their coverage needs to include pacifist perspectives. So farbr / the discussions in the mainstream media have centered on which formbr / of violent retribution is preferred. Avoiding discussion of otherbr / responses, including non-violent ones, contributes to an atmospherebr / that further perpetuates the cycle of violence that manifestedbr / itself on Tuesday./p p2. Their coverage needs to include perspectives that opposebr / racist and xenophobic stereotyping and behavior, especiallybr / against Arabs and Arab Americans. Although outlets have coveredbr / the recent spate of hateful attacks on Arab Americans, therebr / need to be voices included that explicitly defend immigrants.br / Immigrants of all backgrounds have always been, and are today,br / a central part of U.S. society and our many communities./p p3. Their coverage needs to include analysis of the root causesbr / that led the people who perpetrated the attacks on Tuesday tobr / want to kill thousands of civilians (and themselves too). Onebr / such root cause is the longstanding, widespread, and devastatingbr / violence that has been the result of U.S. foreign policy. Somebr / recent examples include the U.S.-driven sanctions on Iraq whichbr / have killed more than 1.5 million children, the billions of dollarsbr / in military aid to Colombia which the U.S. has used to fuel abr / deadly civil war, and the hundreds of millions of dollars inbr / military aid to Israel to enforce an occupation in violation ofbr / numerous U.N. resolutions. /p pAdditionally, reporters should acknowledge the role of the Unitedbr / States in training and aiding many parties that the U.S. governmentbr / subsequently has labelled as "terrorists" (e.g. Saddam Hussein,br / Osama bin Laden, etc.). Reporting that the terrorists "are againstbr / American values" and "hate our freedom" is inadequate./p p4. Their coverage needs to include perspectives that oppose newbr / policies that will use the recent attack as a pretext to increasebr / military spending, fast track Star Wars, and curtail civil liberties. /p pPeople who can speak to these topics can easily be found by CNNbr / and Fox News Channel through the websites listed above or throughbr / the Institute for Public Accuracy, a href="http://www.accuracy.org" title="www.accuracy.org"www.accuracy.org/a./p poOther possible actions:/p pForward a list of alternative news sources (above) to friends andbr / family who aren’t already familiar with these media outlets./p pWrite a letter to the editor of a newspaper (SF Chronicle,br / letters@sfchronicle.com; NYT, letters@nytimes.com; LA Times,br / a href="mailto:letters@latimes.com"letters@latimes.com/a)./p pCall in to radio talk shows that don’t include the perspectivesbr / described above (AM: KGO 810 AM, 415-808-0810)./p p/pPbRESOURCES/ALTERNATIVE MEDIA/b/p pYou can find a variety of analytical articles and news stories onbr / the following websites: a href="http://www.commondreams.org" title="www.commondreams.org"www.commondreams.org/a, a href="http://www.alternet.org" title="www.alternet.org"www.alternet.org/a,br / a href="http://www.zmag.org" title="www.zmag.org"www.zmag.org/a, a href="http://www.indymedia.org" title="www.indymedia.org"www.indymedia.org/a./p pOn radio, tune in to KPFA 94.1 FM in the San Francisco Bay Area. Inbr / other parts of the country, tune in to Democracy Now! at your localbr / Pacifica affiliate station; or check out your community radio station.br / You can hear Democracy Now on the web at a href="http://www.wbix.org" title="www.wbix.org"www.wbix.org/a. (If you wantbr / to know why you can't hear the show in New York City, Los Angeles,br / Washington, DC, and Houston, see a href="http://www.pacificacampaign.org" title="www.pacificacampaign.org"www.pacificacampaign.org/a. Then dobr / something about it!)/p pThe Detroit Free Press has put together an excellent guide for journalistsbr / titled, "100 Questions and Answers About Arab Americans." The guide isbr / available online at a href="http://www.freep.com/jobspage/arabs/index.htm" title="http://www.freep.com/jobspage/arabs/index.htm"http://www.freep.com/jobspage/arabs/index.htm/a. /p pThe following web sites and published articles can also serve as valuablebr / resources for journalists covering this national tragedy: /p pArab American Anti-Discrimination Committee - a href="http://www.adc.org/" title="http://www.adc.org/"http://www.adc.org//abr / br /Arab American and Chaldean Council - a href="http://www.arabacc.org/" title="http://www.arabacc.org/"http://www.arabacc.org//abr / br /Arab American Chamber of Commerce - a href="http://www.arabchamber.org/" title="http://www.arabchamber.org/"http://www.arabchamber.org//abr / br /Arab American Institute: a href="http://www.aaiusa.org/" title="http://www.aaiusa.org/"http://www.aaiusa.org//abr / br /Arab Film Distribution: a href="http://www.arabfilm.com" title="http://www.arabfilm.com"http://www.arabfilm.com/abr / br /"Arab - Americans, Muslims Fear Backlash" by the Associated Pressbr / br /-http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Attacks-Arabs-and-Muslims.html?sebr / br /"Bay Area Muslims fear reprisals, misplaced blame" by the San Jose Mercurybr / br /News - a href="http://www0.mercurycenter.com/premium/local/docs/backlash12.htm" title="http://www0.mercurycenter.com/premium/local/docs/backlash12.htm"http://www0.mercurycenter.com/premium/local/docs/backlash12.htm/a/p p/p/td/tr/td/tr/table/div/p

pstrongTHE ASIAN AMERICAN JOURNALISTS’ ASSOCIATION ADVISES ON COVERAGE OF ARAB AMERICANS/strong/p pDIV align="left" TABLE cellpadding="5"TR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TDTR VALIGN="TOP"TD pby PNN Staff/p p(San Francisco) - As we cover the horrific events of Sept. 11, the Asianbr / American Journalists Association urges the nation's news media to continuebr / the responsible reporting on our nation's Arab American communities thatbr / has marked coverage so far. /p pOur profession has the opportunity and the responsibility to inform thebr / public about the many facets of this national tragedy. At the same time, webr / can help ensure that the devastating events in New York, Washington D.C.br / and Pennsylvania do not lead to further injustices against other Americans.br / Arab Americans, along with all of us, are victims of this attack. /p pAlready, there is much concern within Arab American communities in ourbr / nation about the backlash that might result from Tuesday's attacks. Thesebr / fears are fueled by reports that link these attacks to Arab or Islamicbr / terrorists./p/td/tr/td/tr/table/div/p