Re: OT:9/11/01

[roberto <roberto@nomade.worldonline.co.uk>]

Dear loopers

I apologise in advance for the length of this message. If you are not
interested in the debate that has started following the unspeakable horror
of Tuesday's massacre hit the delete button now. I dare put forward my
opinion as I believe this discussion to be very important and this group of
so many different people an example of how civilised coexistence is 
possible
and fruitful.

People in the USA have access to information and education, one would 
expect
them to be able to look at reality with their own eyes, yet the majority
seem to believe the most incredible lies their leaders tell them. How could
you expect people who have been born in total ignorance and misery to do
better than that? They believe what their leaders tell them.
Their leaders tell them that the west is the enemy and the responsible for
the desperate situation they live in.

>From the beginning of time powers have needed an external enemy to justify
their existence and make their people obey. Societies NEED an enemy, that's
too often what keeps them together and what enables whoever is in power to
keep the position. As long as people are scared of an external enemy that 
is
threatening to destroy their way of life, they stick together and are
willing to fight and die, without questioning.
It is too easy to believe that a group of people, another nation or
religious group, is responsible for our problems. It allows us to avoid
looking at our own faults.
Highly civilised Germans in the '30s were made to believe the crisis in
their country was the fault of the Jews, and we all know the results. That
is only one of countless examples history has to offer. Despite the
historical lesson Israel has been applying more or less the same principles
to the Palestinians.
Were Germans evil? Are Israeli evil? Are the Palestinian evil?

Reality can be looked at from many angles. From the point of view of people
who were born in poor, hopeless and deprived countries it is very difficult
to feel sympathy for the Americans and people from western countries in
general. If you go to any of these countries and live with the people for a
while you may catch a glimpse of the reasons why.
This doesn't justify killing or terrorism, but it helps understanding the
roots of the problem and, possibly, finding real solutions.
Until the day these roots will be eradicated there will be no chance for
peace.
We can kill every terrorist on the planet, more will take their place
immediately, with even more hatred for those who killed the ones before
them.
If the same young person who is trained to become a terrorist in some Arab
country were to be born in the States he would probably end up in the
Marines, being trained to become a killer of terrorists, a paladin of
freedom, or maybe he would become one of the many serial killers, child
abusers or drug dealers we too often hear about.
Or maybe he would find a job, buy a house, have childrenŠ

As soon as we resort to killing to revenge or defend ourselves we create
more reasons and opportunities for more killing and revenge.
This doesn't mean one should accept and become a victim. It means that as
long as the reasons, social, political, economical, that are at the origin
of this perverse system aren't removed there is no retaliation that will
work, no forceful solution to the problem.
Making a scarecrow of Islam (or any other generalised group) is wrong. If
you get to know Muslim people you soon realise that most are wonderful 
human
beings. Just like most Christians, Jews, Hindi and so on.
Most Muslim people are peaceful, love and respect their family; their ways
are just different from ours, we weren't all made in one factory!
On the other hand there are plenty of "good God-fearing Christians" in
civilised western countries who abuse their wives and children, who steal,
rape, torture, kill, commit all sort of atrocities; just as many as from 
any
other part of the world, of any religion and culture.

The problem is that we don't realise how much our lives are conditioned by
the choices of a few shrewd people who only care about their power and
wealth.
Who profits from wars if not those who produce weapons, those who gain new
trades from the defeated countries and new power in the winning ones?
President Kennedy's assassination and the plot around it should have been
enough to hint to the American public that they had very dangerous enemies
amidst them. It should have been a sufficient indication of how far
economical and political powers can go to achieve their goals.

I don't know who is behind this latest and most gruesome attack against
humankind, but I will find it difficult to believe when someone will be
pointed at as the culprit. This is pure speculation, but I wouldn't be
surprised if behind some fanatic mad terrorist who acted as the killing 
hand
there was the cold brain of someone not too far from us, someone with a 
very
respectable public image, someone known as a benefactor. Someone who will
remain unknown to us all.

We can justifiably feel horror for the Taliban, what they are doing to 
their
own people is horrific enough. But we should also question why the Taliban
is there, who allowed them to gain power. There are many indications
pointing to several multinationals, mainly oil companies, who secretly
supported the Taliban as it was the most "controllable and predictable" of
the groups that could have gained power in Afghanistan. Myth or frightening
reality? Whatever it is, wars or indeed terrible acts of terrorism like the
one is now in front of our eyes are useful and profitable to some people. 
It
may well be a young crazed Islamic terrorist who ultimately carries out the
carnage, but killing any number of these will not remove the problem and
avoid similar or worst cases in the future.

We can give a name to some individuals like Saddam Hussein or Gheddafi but
we can't even imagine who makes them possible. Most of these are puppets,
extremely dangerous, nevertheless they wouldn't exist without the support 
of
international capital.
Hitler wouldn't have been able to do anything without the support of the
German industrialists.
Most of the modern wars wouldn't be waged without the support of those who
handle economic powers (and keep their money in respectable Swiss banks), 
of
those who produce weapons, of those who mass market heavy drugs.
Does anybody know how many small but lethal atomic bombs are in the hands 
of
several fanatic terrorist groups? How many have means of producing lethal
chemical weapons? How easy it is for these to slip unnoticed and be 
deployed
anywhere anytime? 

Ideas like Bush's "Star Wars" sound so pathetic that it's hard to believe
that anybody in their right mind could take them seriously.
There is a network of very practical and real connections that can explain
wars and terrorism. It may be beyond our comprehension, but we can't be so
blind as to accept the stories we are told and support acts that will only
make things worst.

As long as "developing countries" are kept underdeveloped through the
stranglehold of international debt we will see the situation deteriorating.
More and more people will hate us living in the western countries, more and
more people will leave those countries, running away from war and
starvation, to come and try to be part of the dream we sold them wholesale
over the last 50 years: Come to the land of freedom, where your human value
is measured in terms of your purchasing power, where you exist only if you
consume, buy, own.
The lands where people have forgotten they are mortal, where everything is
planned, assured and insured. Nothing left to chance, nothing left to
natural course. Powerful man against nature.
Powerful man that feels so vulnerable when the dream shatters like it did
Tueday in a matter of minutes and at the cost of so many lives!
Death is present in everyday  life in most of the world. In the west we 
have
removed it, we see it enacted in movies, it almost doesn't touch us, it's
always somewhere else, sanitised and surreal.

The images of the towers collapsing and the chilling sensation of knowing
that in that instant thousands of lives were being crushed before of our
eyes will remain with us forever. Let it be at least a reason to think and
do the little we can to avoid anything like that ever happening again.

Roberto


______________________________________________
Roberto Battista
http://www.robat.scl.net
http://www.robat.scl.net/lectures/index.shtm
Tel. 0044 020 8449 1995
Mobile 0775 960 4344
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