[sacw] SACW | 19 Feb. 03

[Harsh Kapoor]

South Asia Citizens Wire | February 19, 2003

#1. Funding violence in India and Pakistan (edit, Daily Times)
#2. Anti-war rallies in Pakistan (B.M. Kutty)
#3. The Other Front (Ahmed Rashid)
#4. Salaam: A Joint Tribute to Gujarat's Caring NGO's (25th Feb, 03 ,=20
Ahmedabad)
#5. Public screening of Kashmir film: 'Paradise on a River of Hell'=20
(March 1, New York City)
#6. invitation To An Evening Of Songs, Poetry, Dance And Drama
To Protest The US Push For War Against Iraq (Feb. 19, Hyderabad, [India])
#7. Press conference - Message From U.S. to Rest of World to oppose=20
Military Action Against Iraq

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

#1.

The Daily Times
February 18, 2003
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=3Dstory_18-2-2003_pg3_1

Editorial: Funding violence in India and Pakistan
Daily times

According to reports from India, the jihad in
Indian-held Kashmir is being internationally funded by
expatriate Kashmiris, and Muslims in general who
sympathise with the Kashmiri people and are offended
by the atrocities committed by the Indian army in the
region over the last 12 years. According to Indian
intelligence sources, the Pakistani share in this
funding is minuscule, only 10 to 25 per cent. The
total amount that comes in from international
charities and support groups annually is estimated to
be around four to five billion Indian rupees. To
counter the Kashmiri movement and try to win hearts
and minds as well, India ends up spending nearly Rs
450 billion annually on its troops, security agencies,
relief, rehabilitation, compensation and
infra-structural repair and development. This is about
100 times as much money as that spent by the
insurgents.

This cost-benefit ratio is ominous. It reveals the
real odds that would continue to confront India even
if Pakistan were to stop abetting cross-border
infiltration. The Punjab insurrection in India in the
1980s, on the contrary, was poor in funding sources.
Sikh militant organisations were perennially strapped
for cash and had to plunder the population in the
state to keep themselves going, which resulted in
their losing credibility and standing among a
community otherwise alienated from New Delhi. The Sikh
diaspora was in fact not able to contribute funds to
their =ECKhalistan=EE movement back home as effectively as
the Kashmiri-Muslim diaspora has done for the freedom
movement in Kashmir. According to Indian reports, the
jihadi organisations are so well-heeled that they
don=EDt have to lean on the local Kashmiri population
for their sustenance. While ideologically demanding in
certain cases, they normally pay for any boarding and
lodging facilities they seek. What is bad news for
India is that an economically dysfunctional region is
being provided with a crucial injection of
=ECinternational=EE funds while India is having to offset
the disadvantage by spending as much money as
Pakistan=EDs yearly budget.

On the Pakistani side, things are no better. In Azad
Kashmir regular bombing from the Indian side of the
border has destroyed the subsistence agriculture that
existed in the border regions in the past. But despite
efforts from Pakistan =F3 under international pressure =F3
militant infiltration across the Line of Control (LoC)
cannot be altogether stopped because sections of the
local population now rely on 'fees' for working as
'guides', 'porters', 'procurers', etc for the jihad
being waged in Kashmir. In Pakistan too money is being
received from abroad by organisations banned by
Islamabad. How this money is spent is anybody=EDs guess.
Nor is all this money going into Kashmir. According to
an estimate that appeared in the British press, one
'banned' organisation in Pakistan received two million
pounds from the UK in one year alone, and much of it
came from Muslims living on social security. The
leader of the said organisation is known to have
acquired expensive properties all over Pakistan
ostensibly for the purpose of extending his
=ECeducational=EE facilities across the country.

Pakistan seems to be fighting a losing battle against
militancy, somewhat like India. It all started back in
the 1990s when sectarianism was backed by competitive
funding from abroad. The militants were better armed
than the local police and had money enough to create
vested interests in the population. The linkages
developed by the now-banned jihadi organisations in
Afghanistan were also anointed with copious Arab
funds. Benazir Bhutto has claimed that her political
opponent Nawaz Sharif actually received funds from
Osama bin Laden to help get rid of her and defeat her
party at the polls. Also, the operations of Al Qaeda
in Pakistan are so well funded that the localities
harbouring such terrorists are loath to report them
for fear of losing the money they receive from them.
That is how the supra-nation-state doctrine of jihad
actually persuades the population to go against the
law of the land without any compunction. Because of
this generous external funding in an otherwise
recessive economy, the seminaries in Pakistan are
doing roaring business. This year the Deobandi
'madrassas' headquartered in Karachi have inducted a
record number of pupils and turned back thousands
because of lack of space. This growth industry has now
spread to Barelvi and Shia seminaries too where
inductions have broken all old records.

Both India and Pakistan are in trouble. India accuses
Pakistan of stoking the trouble in Kashmir, but the
pattern of funding going into the region is
increasingly beyond the control of either India or
Pakistan. In fact, a part of this money has weakened
the hold of the state of Pakistan over its own
population. Looking at the continuing wave of
terrorism in Pakistan, it is difficult to say which
out of the two countries is suffering more. What India
and Pakistan need is not mutually damaging policies
that benefit the militants and the terrorists, but
sufficient bilateral normalisation to discuss the
problem seriously. For that to happen, they have to
engage in talks without preconditions, which means
that India must understand the problem of
=ECcross-border=EE infiltration also in light of the
funding that Kashmiri militants receive from all over
the world. India needs to realise that what they have
in Kashmir is a dangerous global investment in
militancy that cannot be ended by merely killing the
Kashmiris; and that, like the Tamil problem in Sri
Lanka, it can spread to the rest of India. *

______

#2.

Date: Tue, 18 Feb 2003 09:34:12 +0500

Subject: Anti-war rallies

Dear Friends,

All over Pakistan, in all the big and small cities and towns, there were
rallies in which the old and the young including girls, children and
women took part to protest American threat of war against Iraq. Among
the large number of organisations taking part in the rally held in
Karachi were: Pakistan Peace coalition (PPC), Pak-India Peoples Forum
for Peace and Democracy (PIPFPD), Pen for Peace, Women Action Forum,
Aurat Foundation, Progressive Writers Association, Human Rights
Commission of Pakistan, Karachi Union of Journalists, Association of
Peoples of Asia, PILER, National Workers Party, Labour Party Pakistan
and Communist Party of Pakistan, besides representatives of trade
unions, students, lawyers, doctors and writers organizations.
The Karachi rally marched through the busiest shopping centres of
Saddar where shopkeepers and General public nodded their approval
of the anti-war, anti--Bush-Blair, pro-peace slogans raised by the
rally's participents and written on the placards and
banners. The national newspapers gave wide coverage to the rallies.

A committee called "Citizens Committee Against War" was formed at
the conclusion of the Rally, to continue the campaign against US
war threat to Iraq.

It was decided that a bigger rally will be organised on Saturday 28th
February and if USA attacks Iraq earlier, then the citizens are called
upon to assemble in large numbers the next day at the Karachi Press
Club to join a big anti-war rally.

Meanwhile, thousands of leaflets would be distributed in the city
besides posters in different localities condemning the American war
threat.

B.M.Kutty

PILER Centre:
Pakistan Institute of Labour Education & Research
ST-001, Sector X, Sub-Sector V,
Gulshan-e-Maymar,
Karachi-75340
PAKISTAN.

______

#3.

The Wall Street Journal
Feb. 11, 2003
COMMENTARY

The Other Front

By AHMED RASHID
Mr. Rashid, a contributing writer at the Wall Street Journal, is the
author of "Taliban" (Yale, 2000) and, most recently, of "Jihad: The Rise
of Militant Islam in Central Asia" (Yale, 2002).

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Lest we forget the other front, pay heed to this:
For the last few weeks, American B-1 heavy bombers and helicopter gunships
have been fighting the largest force of Afghan rebels to have surfaced in
nearly a year in southern Afghanistan. The battle, which began on Jan. 27,
now involves some 400 U.S. and Afghan government troops, who are looking
for the remainder of a force of 80 rebels. At least 18 rebels have been
killed so far.

The ominous issue is not that they are there, but that they assembled in
Pakistan with heavy weapons, sophisticated communications equipment for a
clandestine radio station, posters and pamphlets announcing a jihad
against U.S. forces and the government of President Hamid Karzai, and
enough supplies to set up a base camp (and a medical clinic) in the
mountains south of Spin Baldak just 15 miles from the Pakistan border.
Their objective was clearly to harass the 82nd Airborne division camp near
Kandahar -- some 120 miles to the west.

Hundreds more extremists are mobilizing in Waziristan, in the Pakistani
tribal belt adjacent to eastern Afghanistan, for a spring offensive
calculated to coincide with a U.S. assault on Iraq. They come from a
variety of groups: a few Arabs from al Qaeda, former Taliban, Afghans
loyal to the renegade commander Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, members of the
Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, as well as Pakistani extremist groups.

U.S. Special Forces camps along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border have been
rocketed almost daily. Mines and rockets have exploded near the U.S. army
headquarters at Bagram outside Kabul. In the capital young men have thrown
grenades at guards and vehicles belonging to the 8,000-strong U.S. army
and the 4,800 soldiers of the International Security Assistance Force
(ISAF), which provides security in Kabul.

So what is going on? Is Pakistan, from where these attacks are being
coordinated and launched, a friend or foe of terrorism ?

Pakistan is a frontline U.S. ally against terrorism. President Pervez
Musharraf has delivered more than 400 al-Qaeda terrorists to U.S. security
agencies and the majority of al-Qaeda leaders now in Guantanamo Bay were
arrested by the Pakistanis over the past 14 months. There are some 60,000
Pakistani troops and militia on the Afghanistan border with about a dozen
U.S. Special Forces advisers, who are supposed to be stopping anyone
trying to cross into Afghanistan.

But Western diplomats in Kabul, Afghan leaders, and secular Pakistani
politicians are convinced that Pakistan is now pursuing a dual strategy
which constitutes another U-turn on top of the U-turn after Sept., 11,
2001, when Gen. Musharraf dumped the army's support for the Taliban and
sided with the U.S.

In a long conversation with President Karzai last month in Kabul, he made
clear to me that Pakistan's policy is giving him sleepless nights --
despite his excellent personal rapport with Gen. Musharraf, who telephones
him frequently. Mr. Karzai says he cannot understand why Gen. Musharraf is
allowing these extremists, who have been living in Pakistan since the
defeat of the Taliban, to undermine his government and the Pashtun belt;
nor can he comprehend why these rogue elements have not been arrested or
handed over to the Afghan government.

Western diplomats in Islamabad and Kabul, Afghan officials, and U.S. army
officers at Bagram now strongly believe that elements of Pakistan's
intelligence services and its religious parties are allowing the Taliban
to regroup on the Pakistani side of the border. U.S. officers at Bagram
say 90% of attacks they face are coming from groups based in Pakistan. "I
think the security situation in eastern Afghanistan is going to be a
problem for some time to come just because of the freedom of operating
back and forth from the Pakistan border," said Gen. Richard Myers,
chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff at Bagram in an address to U.S.
troops on Dec. 21.

Simply put, Pakistan's strategy appears to be to continue hunting down
non-Afghan members of al Qaeda hiding in Pakistan, so a level of
cooperation with the U.S. continues, while at the same time allowing the
Pashtun Taliban and others to maintain their presence in Pakistan.

Pakistan has strongly denied such charges and says it is still a reliable
ally in the U.S.-led war against terrorism. The U.S. has not raised this
issue publicly, fearing that it would destabilize Gen. Musharraf's
government and open another front in a Muslim country where
anti-Americanism is already high, just when U.S. forces prepare for Iraq.

However, over the weekend of Jan. 26-27, Gen. Tommy Franks -- the head of
the U.S. Central Command who will lead a possible invasion of Iraq -- was
in Islamabad for two days of talks with Gen. Musharraf and senior army
officers. A British delegation led by Britain's special representative for
Afghanistan, Tom Phillips, was also in town. Western diplomats said that
both delegations gingerly raised the issue of the continued Taliban
presence in Pakistan.

Pakistan's strategy in Afghanistan remains dominated by its b=EAte noire --
India. Pakistan is extremely apprehensive of the increasing influence in
Afghanistan of India and Russia, who are arming and funding several
non-Pashtun warlord armies as well as giving support to Afghanistan's
ethnic Tajik defense minister, Mohammed Fahim, who has the largest
factional army in the country and is regarded as an ally by the U.S.

Russia has promised to deliver $100 million worth of weapons to Mr.
Fahim's army, which is outside the U.S.-led initiative to build a new
multi-ethnic Afghan national army that will be loyal to the central
government. Several U.S. demarches to Moscow to stop such arms deliveries
have met with no response from the Russians.

Interference in Afghanistan's affairs by all of its neighbors is once
again increasing, but while other states -- India, Russia, Iran, the
Central Asian Republics -- back this or that warlord or ethnic group,
Pakistan is seen to be once again backing extremists. Pakistan wants to
retain a major influence in the Pashtun belt in the south and east of
Afghanistan, as millions of Pashtuns also live in Pakistan. But its
actions are ensuring that those Pashtun tribal chiefs who have been
sitting on the fence since the defeat of the Taliban gravitate back to the
Taliban and al Qaeda.

Pakistan's military has failed to see that its role should be to moderate
Pashtun extremism, so as to strengthen Mr. Karzai's hand as he tries to
provide Afghanistan with a genuinely multi-ethnic government. Instead,
while promising support to him, Pakistan is undermining him and the effort
to erase terrorism from Afghanistan. American silence is only encouraging
Pakistan's Islamic parties, who now govern the North West Frontier
Province, to extend an even greater helping hand to Afghan and Pakistani
extremists. The Pakistani army has willingly played into their hands,
rigging last October's general elections so that the Islamic parties were
unprecedently successful, releasing from jail leaders of banned terrorist
groups and encouraging them to mount pro-Iraq demonstrations.

All this is part of a larger power play where Gen. Musharraf can claim to
the Americans that he needs greater U.S. support because he is threatened
by fundamentalists. This is a game that every Pakistani regime since the
1980s has played with Washington, and it has always worked. Western
silence on these latest antics of the military is deeply demoralizing for
Pakistan's liberal forces and secular democratic parties, not to speak of
the hapless Afghans, who want to see stability and economic development.

______

#4.

Dear Friend,

SPRAT, in association with a number of leading NGOs, is organizing an=20
award giving function, SALAAM, to which all are invited. This is for=20
your information and circulation, if you please.

Kind regards,

M H Jowher
SPRAT
[Society for the Promotion of Rational Thinking]
Adm. Office:
SF-8, Rajnagar Complex, Narayan Nagar Road,
Paldi, AHMEDABAD 380 007

Regd Office:
A-1, Moonbaker Duplex, Rajnagar Complex, Vishwakunj,
Paldi, AHMEDABAD 380 007 INDIA

Tel: +79-663 46 55 /66 /77 [1000-1800 Hrs]
Tel: +79-661 40 95 / 20 45 [2000-2100 Hrs]
Fax: +79-661 20 49
Web: www.mysprat.org <<http://www.myusprat.org/>http://www.mysprat.org>

Salaam
10:00 - 1:30 Tuesday 25th Feb, 03
Narottam Zaveri Hall, Nr Museum, Paldi, Ahmedabad -7 [India]

SCCI/0463/P1

15 Feb,03

A Joint Tribute to Gujarat's Caring NGO's

1. BACKGROUND: As the anniversary of the carnage approaches=20
haunting memories return to remind us of the gruesome injustice,=20
utter deprivation and entrenched biases. While the struggle for=20
justice and compensation will continue, it is time also to recount=20
and salute the spirit of courage, solidarity and sacrifice shown by=20
the ordinary men and women, the duty-conscious govt servants and=20
journalists, enlightened corporates and the like. Before the year is=20
gone let us together celebrate the humanness alive in our society and=20
offer our Salaam.

2. ORGANIZERS: Though SPRAT is organizing and hosting the event,=20
all the NGOs committed to justice, peace and communal harmony are=20
generously supporting and guiding it. And who will not? The earlier=20
major public functions of SPRAT were similarly supported by virtually=20
all concerned NGOs. A Salaam Coordination Council [SCC] has been set=20
up comprising the representatives of related leading NGOs. It has=20
shaped the contours of the programme and is authorized to take all=20
major decisions.

3. SPRAT: SPRAT is a registered trust and society qualified for=20
IT exemption and foreign contributions. It is managed by a=20
distinguished Board of Governors headed by Shri Yoginder Alagh. Its=20
earlier participatory functions include a tripartite convention=20
addressed by Mr K P S Gill, the Sah Nirman Rally attended by over=20
3000 victims, educational workshops with experts, campaign for=20
responsible democracy etc.

4. AWARDS: Various categories have been created from different=20
sections of society for choosing those that showed exemplary courage,=20
took risks or offered significant sacrifices. Awards - basically,=20
society's token of appreciation - are due to the common men, women=20
and children, doctors, lawyers, police officers, bureaucrats, media=20
persons, relief camp organizers etc. Detailed criteria have been laid=20
down and panels of distinguished experts in the field have been=20
formed to choose from candidates nominated publicly. Besides, all the=20
valid nominees will be presented certificates of appreciation.

5. Awards, however, are merely representative gestures of=20
appreciation. They leave many more unsung than they honour. Hence one=20
chief award [represented perhaps by a fountain, a large vessel, a=20
sculpture et al] will be dedicated to the Unsung Heroes, to the very=20
spirit of solidarity and courage. We shall try to persuade the city=20
municipal corporation to house it at a traffic junction or in a city=20
museum.

6. FORMAT:

a. Public Session: 10:00 AM to 1:30 PM. Inauguration by a=20
nationally renowned Chief Guest who will also dedicate the award to=20
the Unsung Heroes followed by felicitations / awards to chosen=20
individuals by two or three dignitaries. A working lunch will be=20
hosted at 1:30 PM

b. Technical Session: 2:30 PM to 4:30 PM. For NGOs /=20
activists only, to take stock of the current situation.
Saluting the spirit of humanity, solidarity and courage

Enquiries: Ms Sudha Pandey / Mr Jatin Jadav / Ms Zakia Jowher

______

#5.

We would like to inform you about the screening of our film, Paradise=20
on a River of Hell at Asia Society, 725 Park Avenue, New York City on=20
Saturday, March 1 in the South Asia Human Rights Film Festival at=20
1:00 PM. Please forward the invitation to those of your friends in=20
New York who might be interested in the film.

Paradise on a River of Hell a film by Meenu Gaur & Abir Bazaz

The violence Kashmir witnessed in the 1990s shattered human dignity=20
and changed everyday life beyond recognition. Years of insurgency and=20
counterinsurgency not only interrupted the continuity of Kashmiri=20
lives but forced Kashmiris into roles in which they no longer=20
recognize themselves. Not attempting to situate the 1990s in this or=20
that event, person, space or time, the film=92s mappings of personal=20
and collective memories bears witness to Kashmir=92s historical=20
solitude.

The film has been screened at a Film Festival on Human Rights in=20
South Asia, Illuminating Oppression at the Syracuse University,=20
International 1001 Documentary Films Festival, Istanbul and=20
PSBT-UNESCO Film Festival 2002.

Warmly,
Meenu Gaur Abir Bazaz

______

#6.

INVITATION TO AN EVENING OF SONGS, POETRY, DANCE AND DRAMA
TO PROTEST THE US PUSH FOR WAR AGAINST IRAQ.
The entire world is standing up to oppose the US proposal to bomb and=20
invade Iraq. From Iceland to New Zealand, from Japan to Chile million=20
of people have come out to say "No to War". An estimated 10 million=20
people were on the streets of about 60 countries on Saturday opposing=20
this war which is being thrust on us.
If the US ruling clique's attempt to bomb and invade another=20
sovereign country shows their arrogance of power and contempt for=20
both public opinion and rule of law, then the unprecedented show of=20
people's unity across the world indicates that this shall not remain=20
unchallenged.
We invite the citizens of Hyderabad to come and join an evening of=20
songs, poetry, dance and drama to join our voices with the million=20
calls for peace from all lands.
Venue: Public Gardens
Date: Wednesday, February 19, 2003
Time: 5.00 pm onwards
The programme will include, among other things:
=85 Solo Dance by Ananda Shankar,
=85 Street Plays by Nishumbita and AP Praja Natya Mandali,
=85 Songs of Peace by students of Hyderabad Central University, Manju,=20
AlterEgoz and Mala Bararia
=85 Friendship games by Play4Peace,
=85 Poetry Recitation by Yakoob, Silalolita, C. Satyanarayana,=20
Jwalamukhi, Devi Priya, Sonya Prof. Yousuf Kamaal, Rahmat Yousufzai,=20
Aliuddin Naveed, Ali Zaheer and Khalid Quadri.
Please do come with friends and family. Do get your children too. And=20
please inform as many people as possible. Also print out as many=20
copies of this notice as you can and display it at your place of=20
work, residence, other public places where people can see and join.
This is a completely non-sectarian initiative. All people against war=20
are welcome whatever your reasons for opposing it maybe!! We=20
encourage you to get posters, banners and other publicity material=20
against the war but No organisation names please, just the slogans=20
for peace.
Manjari Katju R.=20
Uma Maheshwari
Lecturer,=20
Freelance Journalist,
Dept. of Political Science, Hyderabad.
Hyderabad Central University.

______

#7.

For further information, contact [ in the US]
Arjun Makhijani: 301-270-5500
Bob Schaeffer: 941-395-6773

M E D I A A D V I S O R Y

Open Letter From U.S. to Rest of the World Opposes Pre-emptive=20
Military Action by the United States Against Iraq

Nearly 2,000 Signatories Cite Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King,=20
Jr., Express Solidarity Across National Borders in Opposing U.S. War=20
Policy

WHAT: In an open letter, a large number of people in the United=20
States are sending an open letter to people everywhere openly=20
proclaiming their differences with US policies on a number of fronts.=20
The letter criticizes the United States for putting itself above the=20
law. It eschews support for a U.S.-led war even if inspections=20
should fail =93in part because the United States insists on a=20
prerogative of using nuclear weapons, and because it may have=20
ulterior motives, unrelated to the issue of disarmament.=94 It also=20
outlines alternative courses of action that would increase global=20
stability, open a way to end the era of weapons of mass destruction,=20
and promote international rule of law.

WHERE: Murrow Room, National Press Club, 13th Floor, 529 14th=20
Street, NW, Washington, DC

WHEN: Wednesday, February 19, 2003 at 10 a.m.

WHO:

Dr. Daniel Ellsberg, author of Secrets: A Memoir of Vietnam and the=20
Pentagon Papers (by telephone)
Dr. Michael Klare, Five College Professor of Peace and World=20
Security Studies at Hampshire College (by telephone)
Dr. Arjun Makhijani, president of the Institute for Energy and=20
Environmental Research (IEER).

WHY: To counter a misperception abroad, created in part by loud=20
and repeated calls for war, that the U.S. population largely supports=20
a U.S.-led war against Iraq. Also to indicate that a growing number=20
of people in the United States are expressing solidarity across=20
national borders with people who want to work non-violently for peace=20
and disarmament. The open letter calls the disarmament of Iraq and=20
also for the rule of law to apply to the powerful and the weak=20
equally and calls weapons of mass destruction illegal and immoral in=20
any hands. It rejects the idea that a country like the United=20
States, which does not subject itself to the jurisdiction of the=20
International Court of Justice or the International Criminal Court,=20
could be a leader in peacemaking or disarmament. It appeals to the=20
ideas of Mahatma Gandhi and Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. in rejecting=20
a patriotism that =93sought to mount the distress, or exploitation, of=20
other nationalities." The signatories of the letter believe that the=20
people of the world need to work together to make the 21st century=20
one where the principles of Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King=20
will triumph over hate greed and violence.

--30--

Visit IEER's web site www.ieer.org for:

Open letter from people in the United States to people all over the=20
world www.ieer.org/openletter (sign-ons still being gathered)
Letter to the United Nations Security Council based on the Open=20
letter www.ieer.org/openletter/unsc.html
Press release to be posted Wed., Feb. 19 at www.ieer.org/openletter/pr.html

2s

Lisa Ledwidge
Outreach Director, United States, and Editor of Science for Democratic Acti=
on
Institute for Energy and Environmental Research (IEER)
2104 Stevens Ave. South | Minneapolis, MN 55404 USA
tel. 1-612-879-7517 | fax 1-612-879-7518 | ieer@i... |=20
http://www.ieer.org

IEER's main office: 6935 Laurel Ave. Suite 204 | Takoma Park, MD=20
20912 USA | tel. 1-301-270-5500 | fax 1-301-270-3029

Open letter
from people in the United States
to people all over the world

------------------------------------------------------------------------
To sign on to this letter, email your name and organizational=20
affiliation if any (please indicate if it's for identification=20
purposes only) to openletter@i...

It is a troubled time. The drums of war, already loud, are daily=20
being amplified by the megaphones of modern media. The U.S.=20
government is adopting a doctrine of "pre-emptive war." There are=20
large numbers of people in the United States who do not agree. We=20
want to extend our hands to people all over the world to work=20
together for peace, justice, economic equity, and environmental=20
sanity.

The United States government is, sadly, behaving like a global=20
bully-- a role that alarms us greatly because of the threat of war=20
and the destruction that it may rain down on children who have too=20
long suffered for the fights of their fathers. It also increases the=20
risks of terrorism here and all over the world because it is likely=20
to further inflame angry passions, which are already too high.

Our goal is to seek peaceful resolution of conflicts. We also want to=20
strengthen international institutions so that they can accomplish=20
that goal. The United States, against its own best traditions, is=20
undermining the rule of law internationally by trying to muscle other=20
countries as well as the United Nations to bend to its will by=20
threatening the unilateral use of force.

We have also been stunned by the speed and depth with which civil=20
liberties at home have been eroded in the name of the War on Terror.=20
U.S. citizens as well as immigrants who are not citizens are being=20
deprived of the most elementary and long-standing freedoms.

We are determined to resist these trends. Hundreds of thousands of=20
people, young and old, have demonstrated in the streets, including=20
many who have never before done so. Local governments are enacting=20
laws that call for non-cooperation with unconstitutional federal=20
procedures to arrest or spy on immigrants as well as citizens.

We know we need to do more. The immense consumption of petroleum in=20
the United States contributes both to the danger of climate change=20
and the risk of war. While the U.S. government resists its=20
obligations to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, California has=20
enacted standards that will help move us there. We must wean the=20
United States away from its most dangerous addiction - vast amounts=20
of oil.

There are also problems we must try to solve together. Specifically,=20
the problem of weapons of mass destruction is a stubborn and=20
difficult reality. We are painfully aware that most of the rest of=20
the world regards the loud U.S. calls for war on Iraq as hypocrisy or=20
worse because the United States itself is refusing to give up its=20
nuclear weapons and abide by its treaty obligations to abandon=20
reliance on nuclear weapons. The United States incinerated two cities=20
with atom bombs in 1945, the only government ever to have done so.=20
Osama bin Laden has, more than once, including after September 11,=20
2001, used that fact to rationalize his own violent ambitions for=20
wreaking mass havoc upon innocents.

There are no good or pious hands that can be allowed to wield these=20
terrible, illegal, and immoral weapons. They must never again be used=20
by anyone. There are eight countries with nuclear weapons -- the=20
United States, Russia, Britain, France, China, Israel, India and=20
Pakistan -- and two others, who have broken their Non-Proliferation=20
Treaty commitments to try to acquire them, North Korea and Iraq.

The illegitimacy of the weapons of the great powers does not and=20
cannot make the weapons of North Korea or Iraq legitimate. We must=20
end the era of weapons of mass destruction in the world. The day when=20
governments can rationalize their use to their people by trading the=20
lives of children of any nationality against the lives of soldiers=20
engaged in war must end. It is time to round up all nuclear weapons=20
and nuclear weapons-usable materials and put them under verifiable=20
international control. It is time to strengthen existing=20
international treaties that ban chemical and biological weapons with=20
strong institutions and authority for inspections everywhere.

In that spirit, we support the U.N. inspections in Iraq. We do not=20
endorse a U.S.-led war on Iraq even if they should fail, in part=20
because the United States insists on a prerogative of using nuclear=20
weapons, and because it may have ulterior motives, unrelated to the=20
issue of disarmament. The better course would be to strengthen the=20
U.N.-based structure by investing it with sufficient authority and=20
technical capability to verifiably sequester all nuclear weapons and=20
weapons-usable materials. A similar approach could also be used for=20
other weapons of mass destruction and to arrest persons who are=20
alleged to have committed crimes against humanity, such as the one on=20
September 11, 2001.

Any country that claims leadership in peacemaking or in disarming=20
others must subject itself to the jurisdiction of the International=20
Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court. Some of the=20
most powerful countries do not qualify today. No country should set=20
itself above the law. Unfortunately the United States is among those=20
that is doing just that. At the Nuremberg trials of the Nazis, U.S.=20
jurists promised the world that it was not witnessing the justice of=20
victors, but a victory for justice, and that, for crimes against=20
humanity, all the accused, independent of nationality, would stand=20
equally at the bar of justice. In withdrawing from the general=20
jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice and in resisting=20
and undermining the International Criminal Court, the United States=20
has broken that promise. We want to redeem it.

We will not allow the ill-considered and short-sighted military and=20
energy policies of the U.S. government to separate us from the=20
fellowship of other human beings across national borders. We write to=20
you to let you know that we stand in solidarity with all those who=20
are working non-violently for peace and justice, independent of=20
nationality, to struggle against the terrible violence that still=20
envelops the world and threatens to engulf us all.

We believe we need to work together to make the twenty first century=20
one in which the principles of Mahatma Gandhi and Rev. Martin Luther=20
King, Jr., will triumph over hate, greed, and violence. Even as he=20
led the struggle for India's independence and believed that India had=20
a great deal to offer the world, Gandhi said: "My patriotism is not=20
an exclusive thing. It is all embracing and I should reject that=20
patriotism which sought to mount the distress, or exploitation, of=20
other nationalities." We extend our hand to you in that spirit.

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

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--=20