[sacw] SACW #2 (26 Oct. 01)

[Harsh Kapoor]

South Asia Citizens Wire | Dispatch #2.
26 October 2001
http://www.mnet.fr/aiindex

------------------------------------------

#1. Farewell to democracy in Pakistan ( Robert Fisk )
#2. The Relevance of Taslima Nasrin (I. K. Shukla)
#3. Transnational Feminist Practices Against War (Paola Bacchetta,=20
Tina Campt, Inderpal Grewal, Caren Kaplan, Minoo Moallem, and=20
Jennifer Terry)

________________________

#1.

The Independent (UK)

ROBERT FISK: FAREWELL TO DEMOCRACY IN PAKISTAN

'Far better to have a Mubarak or King Fahd than let
Muslims vote for a real government that might oppose US
policies'

26 October 2001

Armoured warefare schools, signals headquarters, artillery
ranges, military museums, cavalry lines, infantry battalion
compounds... every few hundred yards in every city, you come
across them. Driving around Pakistan is like touring a
barracks.

Cross the Indus river at Attock and the thump of shellfire
changes the air pressure as General Pervez Musharraf's tanks
move down the range. Along the roadsides are artillery pieces
dating back to the Raj, 45-pounders and French armour and old
Sherman tanks on concrete plinths to remind Pakistanis of
their heroic martial past.

Their national defence journal carries stirring tales by former
chiefs of staff and extracts from the 1962 war diaries of the
East Pakistan Rifles. And this is supposed to be a nation
threatened with Islamic revolution?

It's an odd phenomenon, but there are times when the West
seems to be more worried about the "Islamisation'' of Pakistan
than Pakistanis are themselves. For has a military dictatorship
ever been more blessed than that of General Musharraf?
General Zia-ul-Haq was held in contempt by the West when he
hanged prime minister Bhutto =96 but he was elevated to ally and
friend the moment that we needed his help in the anti-Soviet
war in Afghanistan. However, by 1993 Pakistan was almost
declared a "state sponsor of terrorism'' by the United States
because of its support for Kashmiri Muslim guerrillas.

When President Clinton arrived in the subcontinent last year,
he paid a state visit to India but gave General Musharraf =96 who
had still to declare himself president =96 only a few hours,
favouring Pakistan with a one-day return trip, a lecture on the
evils of Osama bin Laden and an appeal to General Musharraf
not to hang the prime minister, Nawaz Sharif.

Nor can General Musharraf have been too pleased with Colin
Powell's ode to liberty last January. "There should be no
question in any world leader's mind that the most essential
ingredient for success in this 21st century is a free people and
a government that derives its right to govern from the consent of
such people,'' the US Secretary of State announced:
"...America stands ready to help any country that wishes to
join the democratic world.''

Then came 11 September and General Powell produced a new
song sheet. "President Bush,'' he told us on 16 October,
"asked me... to demonstrate our enduring commitment to our
relationship with Pakistan... we are also looking forward to
strengthening our co-operation on a full range of bilateral and
regional issues... we're truly at the beginning of a strengthened
relationship, a relationship that will grow and thrive in the
months and years ahead.'' All of which just goes to show what
the loan of a few air bases and the arrest of a few
government-sponsored Islamists can do. General Musharraf
had taken "bold and courageous action" against "international
terrorism".

And in the blinking of an eye, there was General Powell
promising to take up the Kashmir dispute with India =96 the very
nation that almost persuaded America's State Department to
put Pakistan on its "terrorism" list in 1992. Newsweek outlined
the US government's view with alarming, if unconscious,
frankness. "It may be a good thing that Pakistan is ruled by a
friendly military dictator,'' the magazine concluded, "rather than
what could well be a hostile democracy.''

This, of course, is the very policy that dictates Washington's
relations with the Arab world. Far better to have a Mubarak or a
King Abdullah or a King Fahd running the show than to let the
Arabs vote for a real government that might oppose US policies
in the region.

Corrupt, lawless, drug-ridden, and inherently unstable Pakistan
may be, but General Musharraf allows a kind of freedom of
speech to continue. Anyone used to the arid wastes of Arab
journalism can only be surprised by the debate in the Pakistani
press, the often violent anti-Musharraf views expressed in the
letters pages and the columnists who argue forcefully for a
return to democracy. If General Musharraf has to allow
Islamists their freedom to "let off steam'' =96 as Pakistanis like to
say =96 then he has to give equal space to the democrats.

Aqil Shah put it very well when he wrote in Lahore's Friday
Times last week that, by allying himself with America's "War
on Terror'', General Musharraf had secured de facto
international acceptance for his 1999 coup. Suddenly, all he
had wished for =96 the lifting of sanctions, massive funding for
Pakistan's crumbling industry, IMF loans, a $375m (=A3263m)
debt rescheduling and humanitarian aid =96 has been given him.

While General Powell mutters a few words about political
freedom =96 and none at all about Pakistan's nuclear tests =96 we
hear no more of General Musharraf's widely publicised
"roadmap'' to democracy.

The problem, as Mr Shah points out, is that future peace and
stability requires sustained investment in solid secular
democracies =96 not in stable dictatorships. Yet the United
States is now laying the foundations of a long-term autocracy
in Pakistan, a dictatorship not unlike those that lie like a
cancer across the Middle East.

The United States likes to call this a "strategic engagement''
and is already, in its embassy's private press briefings,
reminding journalists of the corruption that smeared the
democratically elected Sharif government. Far better, surely, to
have an honest, down-to-earth, clean military man in charge.

Of course, we must forget that it was Pakistan's Interservices
Intelligence (ISI) outfits =96 the highest ranks of the country's
security agencies =96 that set up the Taliban, funnelled weapons
into Afghanistan and grew rich on the narcotics trade. Ever
since the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, the ISI has
worked alongside the CIA, funding the mullahs and maulawis
now condemned as the architects of "world terror''.

Most Pakistanis now realise that the ISI =96 sanctioned by
Washington rather than Pakistan's own rulers =96 turned into a
well-armed and dangerous mafia, and while money was poured
into its smuggling activities, Pakistan's people lacked
education, security and a health service. No wonder they
turned to Islam and the madrassa schools for food and
teaching.

But will anything really change? Pakistan's military is now
more important than ever, an iron hand to maintain order within
the state while its superpower ally bombs the ruins of
Afghanistan. Driving past all those compounds and cavalry
lines and barrack squares in Pakistan, one can only be
shocked by the profound social division they represent.

Outside in the street, Afghan refugees and Pakistan's urban
poor root through garbage tips and crowd on to soot-pumping
buses to work in sweatshops and brick factories. Inside,
behind the ancient, newly painted cannons and battalion flags,
rose bushes surround well-tended lawns and officers' messes
decorated with polished brass fittings.

No rubbish litters this perfect world of discipline. Why should
anyone living here want a return to corrupt democracy?
Especially when America is their friend.

http://argument.independent.co.uk/commentators/story.jsp?story=3D101459

______

#2.

THE RELEVANCE OF TASLIMA NASRIN
I. K. Shukla

I was born to sing these sorrows
to expose the destructive beasts...
I stir up the grief of my people,
.............................................
I water their subterranean hopes,
for to what purpose my songs,
the natural gift of beauty and words,
if it does not serve my people
to struggle and walk with me? -Pablo Neruda : I=20
Come From the South

In view of the serious rupture in the socio-political situation in=20
Bangladesh consequent upon the victory of Khaleda Zia's Bangladesh=20
Nationalist Party and the simultaneous spread of fundamentalist=20
carnage in the nation, it would be pertinent to read once again=20
Lajja, the novel
written eight years ago by Taslima Nasrin, the Bangladeshi writer now=20
in exile. The historical context of the novel was the demolition on 6=20
December 1992 of the 16th century Babri Mosque in Ayodhya, U.P.,=20
India, and its devastating fallout in Bangladesh where, in putative=20
retribution, temples were destroyed and the (minority) Hindus=20
overnight became victims of insensate and barbaric violence at the=20
hands of Muslim hoods on prowl. The same set of circumstances obtain=20
there again and vest the novel, retroactively, with a poignant=20
prescience. Some books acquire over time a piquant distinction and=20
abiding relevance in human affairs. Lajja is among them, at least in=20
so far as the sub-continent is concerned. It remains seminal and=20
singular.

Hindu women are being raped, Hindu males are being beaten, their=20
property destroyed or looted, their lives being made a nightmare of=20
random terror and orchestrated tyranny once again. Several women's=20
organizations, one headed by Rokeya Kabir, have brought to light the=20
atrocities being visited upon the hapless Hindus. This is courageous=20
solidarity and invites reprisals from the Razakars who are currently=20
on the rampage in Bangladesh, having distinguished themselves with=20
three hundred murders prior to the elections. Razakars are the=20
Islamic fanatics, who opposed the Liberation War of 1971, and who=20
were the militant fifth column of Pakistani army, wreaking havoc=20
with their brutalities and savageries in a nation that was struggling=20
to throw off the colonial yoke of an alien military dictatorship.=20
The USA was massively aiding the butchers of Islamabad and their=20
native death squads known as subhuman Razakars. With Khaleda Zia=20
government now in saddle again, the minorities, i.e., the Hindus,=20
face a long dark night of knives and dreadful days of rapine and=20
physical violations.

It was these inhuman atrocities that Taslima had used as the staple=20
of Lajja. It was her protest against and resistance to inhuman=20
injustice and feral blood lust. Then, as now, the government had=20
denied any such thing happening there, and called evidence and=20
reports detailing these crimes against humanity all exaggerated and=20
fabricated. The routine and reflexive response of the complicit=20
administrations. It is nothing new. Isn't there a sense of de ja vu=20
in the verbal veil of inanity that the states vainly but aggressively=20
seek to spread over their crimes? This is the banality Indians=20
regularly hear in exoneration of the saffronite criminals belonging=20
to the Hindu Taliban gangs, viz., BJP, RSS, Shiv Sena, Bajrang Dal,=20
Vishwa Hindu Parishad , Jan Sanskriti Manch, Vidyarthi Parishad,=20
etc., etc.

Before we read a few quotes from Lajja bearing on this discussion a=20
few cognate things need to be mentioned. Over 350 refugees from=20
Afghanistan, Iran, Palestine, seeking to escape terror, foreign and=20
native, met their watery grave on Friday 19 October in Indonesia when=20
their overloaded ship capsized. Over 900 Palestinians have died from=20
Israeli terrorism (weapons of mass destruction supplied by the US)=20
during the last several months. And, thousands of civilians have=20
been murdered by American bombs raining on Afghanistan now=20
(www.AlterNet.com). All these humongous numbers and numbing tragedies=20
have gone unreported in the Western media, hence remain unknown and=20
ignored, as designed. These dislocations stagger the imagination by=20
their magnitude. These abrupt disruptions of life disintegrate=20
individual human beings. The depth of their pain and rootlessness=20
remains unfathomable.

Equally abominable has been the blackout in the US media of massive=20
European demonstrations against the war on Afghanistan (30,000 in=20
Berlin, 20,000 in Britain). India did one better. It banned all=20
protests against the inhuman, imperialist war on Afghanistan and=20
arrested those demonstrating and leafletting! Can servility and=20
peonage go any further? This is the logical wages of a sin:=20
demolition of the Non-Aligned Movement by the BJP-led National=20
Disaster Alliance. Why? Among other things, the acronym, NAM, offends=20
the US by reminding it of Vietnam, which was known as NAM both in its=20
official records and popular parlance. It is a good example of how=20
master's wishes are anticipated and catered to by their slaves.

Should we expect Dhaka to arrest and punish the goons and gangsters=20
terrorizing the Hindus? No, to be honest. The creator is always=20
indulgent to its creatures. As in Bangladesh so in India.
Do we expect the BJP-led National Demolition Alliance to arrest and=20
punish the Hindu Taliban anti-socials guilty of rape, rapine, arson,=20
assassination that they commit with impunity against the Christians=20
and Muslims? Certainly not. Because they have been brainwashed and=20
convinced that their crimes constitute "cultural nationalism" and=20
real secularism, that these make them virile and patriotic. That=20
Surat, Bombay, Maliana, Asind, Pune, Muradabad, Muzaffarnagar are=20
just some of the pinions and pennants of their prowess. That these=20
bloody and tribal savageries have made them more and pure Hindus.

Muslims in Pakistan and Bangladesh paid a handsome tribute to these=20
Hindu Taliban pioneers by emulating them speedily and spectacularly.=20
If Dhaka can ban the Kolkata weekly Desh (Special Puja Number) for=20
featuring a story by Samaresh Mazumdar touching upon the misery of=20
the Hindus in Bangladesh, Bharat did one better by vandalizing the=20
sets of Water in Varanasi, a film on the plight of Hindu widows. Thus=20
the Hindu Taliban proved that there have been no Hindu widows in=20
Bharat, nor have they ever been treated inhumanely. The project of=20
cleansing, once it starts, won't discriminate, won't stop. It will=20
kill the "other" as gleefully as its own.

Taslima was ranged against a host of enemies: Islamic tribalism,=20
fossils of patriarchy, the privileged establishment, the traitorous=20
Razakars, the illiterate maulvis and the cynical elite. She, perhaps=20
unwittingly, took on all these monsters singlehandedly. She bore a=20
hole in their medieval egos and their pathological ignorance, as she=20
tore to shreds their age-old immoralities and traditional=20
hypocrisies. The only regret is that several other Taslimas in the=20
making, conscientious and capable, perhaps remained suppressed=20
because of the intimidating example of her travails as a woman, as a=20
writer, as a dissident, as an independent thinker. Perhaps=20
temporarily. Or, she opened the doors and windows for others to=20
breathe the fresh air of freedom of thought and expression and=20
venture forth, to stamp out the fog of obscurantism, and to get rid=20
of the choking miasma of inhuman and enslaving superstitions?

Just as we must recall Taslima and her writings to get a grip on=20
the extent of her persecution and the depravity of her tormentors, so=20
too we must recall Khaleda Zia's earlier stint in power in 1995.=20
Ansars, marginalized and economically deprived, suffering from=20
malign neglect by the government, had rebelled to protest their=20
inhuman existence. Beghum Khaleda Zia did not flinch from shedding a=20
lot of Ansar blood to smash the rebellion. Ansars were the Auxiliary=20
Police Force which had rebelled on 1 December 1994. The army under=20
Zia dispensation brutally crushed the revolt. With these credentials,=20
she must be dreaded, and not only by the minorities, progressives and=20
secularists in Bangladesh.

The assinine reaction of the Hindu Taliban to the Hindus fleeing=20
Bangladesh is : hound out the "illegal" Bangladeshis from India. They=20
are forgetting that the Razakar terror against Hindus may be their=20
belated but vengeful response to the incessant hurt and humiliation=20
heaped these several years on the unfortunate Muslims of India. And=20
the Razakar terrorism may not be limited just to the Hindus. There=20
are Muslim victims of the Razakar tyranny too. The stupidly myopic=20
attitude of the Hindu Taliban is manifest in their plea that Hindu=20
and Sikh Afghans be let into India but not Muslims. As a result, in a=20
perversion that is mind-boggling, the Afghan refugees in India are=20
now being harassed and deprived of their pitiable jobs. These Afghans=20
are not Taliban's proteges or followers, but either neutral or owing=20
allegiance to Rabbani's Northern Alliance to which Bharat pretends to=20
be friendly .

(Translations below from the Bangla original of Lajja are mine):

Do the protectors of Hindu interests know that there are two crore=20
Hindus in Bangladesh? Why in only Bangladesh, in every country of=20
West Asia are Hindus resident. Have the Hindu fundamentalists=20
pondered what their plight will be? - p.10.

They set fire to Dhakeshwari temple, and the police remained standing=20
inactive. It didn't stop it.
...The communal terrorists numbering 2 to 3 hundred looted the homes=20
of 25 families. - p.23.

When the campaign of the Committee to Uproot Traitors and Touts=20
reached its peak, exactly then, all of a sudden, sprang the episode=20
of the Babri Masjid. It was taken advantage of by the
anti-national communal forces. p.31.

>From the attacks of the communal forces 28,000 homesteads, 2500 commercial
establishments, 3500 temples have suffered damage. p.66.

Do we want more of these orgies of waste and violence? If not, it is=20
time, people and their well-wishers in the civil society -=20
progressives, liberals, secularists, independents should let their=20
voices be heard by the powers that be in the three countries of the=20
sub-continent. Natural calamities and man-made deprivations are by=20
themselves more than enough to render the lives of millions of fellow=20
human beings unbearable in this god-forsaken continent. Why compound=20
the tyranny by fanning communal fires?

And, will there be another Taslima to document in a fictional writing=20
the plight of the recent victims of Muslim fanatics of Bangladesh?

More implacable is the angst: will India ever have her own Taslima=20
documenting in a fictional work the tragedy of Indian Christians and=20
Muslims who have long been the silent victims of Hindu Taliban=20
depravity aided and abetted by their criminal godfathers in the state?

25Oct01.

______

#3.

TRANSNATIONAL FEMINIST PRACTICES AGAINST WAR
A Statement by Paola Bacchetta, Tina Campt, Inderpal Grewal, Caren Kaplan,
Minoo Moallem, and Jennifer Terry (October 2001)

As feminist theorists of transnational and postmodern cultural formations,
we believe that it is crucial to seek non-violent solutions to conflicts at
every level of society, from the global, regional, and national arenas to
the ordinary locales of everyday life. We offer the following response to
the events of September 11 and its aftermath:

First and foremost, we need to analyze the thoroughly gendered and
racialized effects of nationalism, and to identify what kinds of inclusions
and exclusions are being enacted in the name of patriotism. Recalling the
histories of various nationalisms helps us to identify tacit assumptions
about gender, race, nation, and class that once again play a central role i=
n
mobilization for war. We see that instead of a necessary historical,
material, and geopolitical analysis of 9-11, the emerging nationalist
discourses consist of misleading and highly sentimentalized narratives that=
,
among other things, reinscribe compulsory heterosexuality and the rigidly
dichotomized gender roles upon which it is based. A number of icons
constitute the ideal types in the drama of nationalist domesticity that we
see displayed in the mainstream media. These include the masculine
citizen-soldier, the patriotic wife and mother, the breadwinning father who
is head of household, and the properly reproductive family. We also observ=
e
how this drama is racialized. Most media representations in the US have
focused exclusively on losses suffered by white, middle-class heterosexual
families even though those who died or were injured include many people of
different races, classes, sexualities, and religions and of at least 90
different nationalities. Thus, an analysis that elucidates the repressive
effects of nationalist discourses is necessary for building a world that
fosters peace as well as social and economic justice.

Second, a transnational feminist response views the impact of war and
internal repression in a larger context of global histories of displacement=
,
forced migrations, and expulsions. We oppose the US and European sponsorshi=
p
of regimes responsible for coerced displacements and we note how patterns o=
f
immigration, exile, and forced flight are closely linked to gender
oppression and to the legacies of colonialism and structured economic
dependency. Indeed, history shows us that women, as primary caretakers of
families, suffer enormously under circumstances of colonization, civil
unrest, and coerced migration. Taking this history into account, we
critique solutions to the contemporary crisis that rely on a colonial,
Manichean model whereby "advanced capitalist freedom and liberty" is
venerated over "backward extremist Islamic barbarism." Furthermore, we dra=
w
upon insights from post-colonial studies and critical political economy to
trace the dynamics of European and US neocolonialism during the Cold War an=
d
post-Cold War periods. Thus questions about the gendered distribution of
wealth and resources are key to our analytical approach. Neo-liberal
economic development schemes create problems that impact women in profound
and devastating ways in both the "developing regions" as well as the
"developed world." So while middle-class Euro-American women in the United
States are held up as the most liberated on earth even while they are being
encouraged to stand dutifully by their husbands, fathers, and children,
women in developing regions of the world are depicted as abject, backward,
and oppressed by their men. One of the important elements missing from this
picture is the fact that many women in Afghanistan are starving and faced
with violence and harm on a daily basis not only due to the Taliban regime
but also due in large part to a long history of European colonialism and
conflict in the region. The Bush administration's decision to drop bombs at
one moment and, in the next, care packages of food that are in every way
inadequate to the needs of the population offers a grim image of how
pathetic this discourse of "civilization" and "rescue" is within the
violence of war. We see here a token and uncaring response to a situation t=
o
which the US has contributed for at least 20 years, a situation that is
about the strategic influence in the region and about the extraction of
natural resources, not the least of which is oil.

Third, we want to comment on the extent to which domestic civil repression
is intrinsically linked to the violence of war. Thus the effects of the
current conflict will be played out in the US and its borderzones through
the augmentation of border patrolling and policing, as well as in the use o=
f
military and defense technologies and other practices that will further
subordinate communities (especially non-white groups) in the US. Such stat=
e
violence has many gendered implications. These include the emergence of
patriarchal/masculinst cultural nationalisms whereby women's perspectives
are degraded or wholly excluded to create new version of cultural
"traditions." And, for many immigrant women, other devastating effects of
state repression include increased incidents of unreported domestic
violence, public hostility, and social isolation. In practical terms,
policing authorities charged with guaranteeing national security are likely
to have little sympathy for the undocumented immigrant woman who is fleeing
a violent intimate relationship, unless her assailant fits the profile of a=
n
"Islamic fundamentalist." Thus we need an analysis and strategy against the
"domestication" of the violence of war that has emerged in these last few
weeks and whose effects will be felt in disparate and dispersed ways.

Fourth, we call for an analysis of the stereotypes and tropes that are bein=
g
mobilized in the current crisis. These tropes support, sustain, and are
enabled by a modernist logic of warfare that seeks to consolidate the
sovereign (and often unilateral) power of the First World nation-state. Whe=
n
President Bush proclaims that "terrorist" networks must be destroyed, we as=
k
what this term means to people and how it is being used to legitimate a
large-scale military offensive. The term is being used to demonize practice=
s
that go against US national interests and it permits a kind of "drag-net"
effect at home and abroad which legitimates the suppression of dissent. We
also want to inquire into constructions of "terrorism" that continue to
target non-native or "foreign" opposition movements while cloaking its own
practices of terror in euphemisms such as "foreign aid." Deconstructing the
trope of "terrorism" must include a sustained critique of the immense
resources spent by the US in training "counter-terrorists" and
"anti-Communist" forces who then, under other historical circumstances,
become enemies rather than allies, as in the now famous case of Osama bin
Laden. We are concerned about the ways in which the "war against terrorism"
can be used to silence and repress insurgent movements across the globe. We
also emphasize how racism operates in the naming of "terrorism." When the
"terrorists" are people of color, all other people of color are vulnerable
to a scapegoating backlash. Yet when white supremacist Timothy McVeigh
bombed the Murrah federal building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 men, women=
,
and children, no one declared open season to hunt down white men, or even
white militia members. The production of a new racial category, "anyone wh=
o
looks like a Muslim" in which targets of racism include Muslims, Arabs,
Sikhs, and any other people with olive or brown skin, exposes the arbitrary
and politically constructed character of new and old racial categories in
the US. It also reveals the inadequacy of US multiculturalism to resist the
hegemonic relationship between being "white" and "American." Finally, the
short memory of the media suppresses any mention of the Euro-American
anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist "terrorist" groups of the 1970s and
1980s. A critical attention to the idioms of the present war mobilization
compels us to deconstruct other politically loaded tropes, including
security, liberty, freedom, truth, civil rights, Islamic fundamentalism,
women under the Taliban, the flag, and "America."

Fifth, we recognize the gendered and ethnocentric history of sentimentality=
,
grief, and melancholy that have been mobilized in the new war effort. We d=
o
not intend to disparage or dismiss the sadness and deep emotions raised by
the events of 9-11 and its aftermath. But we do think it is important to
point out that there has been a massive deployment of therapeutic discourse=
s
that ask people to understand the impact of the events of September 11 and
their aftermath solely as "trauma." Such discourses leave other analytical,
historical, and critical frameworks unexplored. Focusing only on the
personal or narrowly defined psychological dimension of the attacks and the
ensuing war obscures the complex nexus of history and geopolitics that has
brought about these events. We are not suggesting that specific forms of
therapy are not useful. But the culture industry of "trauma" leads to a
mystification of history, politics and cultural critique. Furthermore,
therapeutic discourse tends to reinforce individualist interpretations of
globally significant events and it does so in an ethnocentric manner.
Seeking relief through a psychotherapeutic apparatus may be a common
practice among Euro-American upper- and middle-class people in the United
States, but it should not be assumed to be universally appealing or
effective way to counter experiences of civil repression and war among
people of other classes, ethnicities, and cultural backgrounds. Signs of
the current trauma discourse's ethnocentricity come through in media
depictions staged within the therapeutic framework that tend to afford grea=
t
meaning, significance, and sympathy to those who lost friends and family
members in the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. By
contrast, people who have lost loved ones as a consequence of US foreign
policy elsewhere are not depicted as sufferers of trauma or injustice. In
fact, they are seldom seen on camera at all. Similarly, makeshift centers i=
n
universities around the US were set up in the immediate wake of 9-11 to hel=
p
college students cope with the psychological effects of the attacks. They
tended to assume that 9-11 marked the first time Americans experienced
vulnerability, overlooking not only the recent events of the Oklahoma City
federal building bombing, but moreover erasing the personal experiences of
many immigrants and US people of color for whom "America" has been a site o=
f
potential or realized violence for all of their lives.

Sixth, our transnational feminist response involves a detailed critical
analysis of the role of the media especially in depictions that include
colonial tropes and binary oppositions in which the Islam/Muslim/non-West i=
s
represented as "uncivilized" or "barbaric." We note the absence or
co-optation of Muslim women as "victims" of violence or of "Islamic
barbarism." We note as well the use of those groups of women seen as "white=
"
or "western" both as "rescuers" of non-western women but also as evidence o=
f
the so-called "civilizing" efforts of Europe and North America. We see thes=
e
discursive formations as a result not only of colonialism's discursive and
knowledge-producing legacies, but also of the technologies and industrial
practices that produce contemporary global media, and transnational
financing of culture industries. We seek especially to analyze the
participation of women in these industries as well as the co-optation of
feminist approaches and interests in the attack on a broad range of Islamic
cultural and religious institutions, not just "Islamicist/extremist" groups=
.
Thus we point out as a caution that any counter or resistance media would
need to have a firm grasp of these histories and repertoires of practice or
risk reproducing them anew.

Seventh, we call for a deeper understanding of the nature of capitalism and
globalization as it generates transnational movements of all kinds. Thus, w=
e
seek to counter oppressive transnational movements, both from the "West" as
well as the "Non-West," with alternative movements that counter war and the
continued production of global inequalities. We note in particular that
religious and ethnic fundamentalisms have emerged across the world within
which the repression of women and establishment of rigidly dichotomized
gender roles are used both as a form of power and to establish a
collectivity. Such fundamentalisms have been a cause of concern for
feminist groups not only in the Islamic world but also in the U.S.. Feminis=
t
and other scholars have noted that these movements have become
transnational, through the work of nation-state and non-governmental
organizations, with dire consequences for all those who question rigid
gender dichotomies. Since these movements are transnational, we question th=
e
notion of isolated and autonomous nation-states in the face of numerous
examples of transnational and global practices and formations. The recent
displays of national coherence and international solidarity (based on 19th
and 20th century constructions of international relations), cannot mask the
strains and contradictions that give rise to the current crisis. Thus, we
need an analysis of the numerous ways in which transnational networks and
entities both limit and at the same time enable resistance and oppression.
That is, the complex political terrain traversed by transnational networks
as diverse as al-Qaida and the Red Cross must be understood as productive
of new identities and practices as well as of new kinds of political
repression. Transnational media has roots in pernicious corporate practices
yet it also enables diverse and contradictory modes of information,
entertainment, and communication. Feminist analysis of these complex and
often contradictory transnational phenomena is called for.

In closing, we want to make it very clear that we oppose the US and British
military mobilization and bombing that is underway in Afghanistan and that
may very well expand further into the West, Central, and South Asian
regions. We are responding to a crisis in which war, as described by the
George W. Bush administration, will be a covert, diversified, and protracte=
d
process. At this moment we call for a resistance to nationalist terms and w=
e
argue against the further intensification of US military intervention
abroad. We refuse to utilize the binaries of civilization vs. barbarism,
modernity vs. tradition, and West vs. East. We also call for an end to the
racist scapegoating and "profiling" that accompanies the stepped up
violations of civil liberties within the territorial boundaries of the US.
We urge feminists to refuse the call to war in the name of vanquishing a
so-called "traditional patriarchal fundamentalism," since we understand tha=
t
such fundamentalisms are supported by many nation-states. We are also aware
of the failures of nation-states and the global economic powers such as the
IMF and the World Bank to address the poverty and misery across the world
and the role of such failures in the emergence of fundamentalisms
everywhere. Nationalist and international mobilization for war cannot go
forward in our name or under the sign of "concern for women." In fact,
terror roams the world in many guises and is perpetrated under the sign of
many different nations and agents. It is our contention that violence and
terror are ubiquitous and need to be addressed through multiple strategies
as much within the "domestic" politics of the US as elsewhere. It is only
through developing new strategies and approaches based on some of these
suggestions that we can bring an end to the violence of the current moment.

Paola Bacchetta
Tina Campt
Caren Kaplan
Inderpal Grewal
Minoo Moallem
Jennifer Terry

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