AGAINST TERRORISM AND PATRIOTISM;
An Anarchist perspective on the recent terrorist attacks against the United States.

American flags abound; they appear on cars, on buildings, sewn onto clothing, tied into ponytails, draped from mailboxes, printed as full-page newspaper additions; they are inescapable.  Lighted signs along the freeways send out messages of patriotism and support for war.  ? Mr. Bush, take no prisoners,? ?Revenge.?  Millions around the nation attend candlelight vigils to mourn the death of the innocent at the World Trade Center towers and the Pentagon, and at the same time do not seem to see a contradiction with their unquestioning support of a massive strike against Afghanistan, which would undoubtedly kill many more innocent people than were killed in the recent attacks against America.  The country seems to suffer from a collective amnesia.

The constant bombardment of corporate media instills a sense of fierce patriotism as a response to the tragedy, but fails to give any thought to the possible reasons behind such an enormous and deadly attack.  As the warmongers spew forth their propaganda on one of the alphabet soup corporate conglomeration stations, the people seem to be falling in line.  As one woman who was interviewed on channel seven last night stated, ? We need to be putting our complete trust in our leaders and president, and trust them to do the right thing.?  Unfortunately, doing exactly that is what has made Americans the most hated people on earth, thus making America the logical target for attacks like the one that occurred on September 11th.

The President of the United States, to do his job, has been consistently producing unintelligent rhetoric in an attempt to make some sense out of the tragedy for the American people, and to unite us blindly behind a
veil of patriotism and lead us to war.  Our leaders would have us believe that America was attacked on September 11 due to religious intolerance; that America was attacked because our enemies are jealous of our freedoms and wealth and want to see our downfall as a result.  Well, one part of the last sentence is correct, a good portion of people the world over (not just the Arab world) would most definitely like to see the downfall of the American government and its imperialistic neo-liberal policies, though it is not due to any sense of jealousy or religious intolerance.

In order to understand why this attack has occurred it is essential to understand why America is so hated in the global community.  Yesterday, the front page of the Los Angeles Times carried a picture of George W. with the following quote, ? We?ve never seen this kind of evil before.  But the evildoers have never seen the United States in action before either, and they?re about to find out.?  Well, I hate to break the news to you Mr. Bush but we have seen this type of evil before, many, many times before.  And the United States government has been the mastermind behind it numerous times.

The history of U.S. military and corporate action around the world is the best example of terrorism the world has ever produced.  This is where the collective amnesia that the American public seems to be exhibiting right now is most disturbing.  ? Never seen the United States in action before,? how about when we killed off millions of Native Americans to steal their land, how about when we enslaved millions of Africans, how about when we dropped an atomic weapon on Japan killing hundreds of thousands of innocent people.  Remember the bombing of Vietnam, remember the invasion of Grenada, remember the thousands killed and disappeared in Chile when the U.S. supported Pinochet?s coup.  Remember the millions of Iraqi children who don?t have enough food or medicine, and are dying every day due to our blockade of Iraq.  Remember the thousands of Palestinians who are murdered every day by an Israeli government funded by the United States. Remember the thousands of innocent people killed in the carpet-bombing of Yugoslavia? The examples are endless, and these examples are just what the U.S. government and media hope you do not remember as they gear you up for a ? War against Terrorism.?  If we really to go to war against terrorism, the United States capitol building would be as legitimate a target for destruction as Osama bin Laden himself.  Clearly, if we want to end terrorism, the answer is not to destroy Afghanistan, or to drop bombs on Iraq.  Killing Osama bin Laden will not stop terrorism, nor will killing Saddam Hussein, in fact such actions will only increase terrorism; which may be exactly what the United States government wants to do.

The goal of the U.S. in this current disaster is not to save innocent life, or to bring peace to the world, or to end terrorism.  When the president and his staff talk of ending terrorism, what they really mean is ending terrorism against themselves and their state apparatus and economic system, not against innocent people the world over (who are always the main victims of State sponsored violence/terrorism/war).  What the leaders of the U.S. want is a world that is safe for capital, not a world that is safe for people.

Already we can hear talk in the United States of America being ?forever changed? by the S11 tragedy.  Our leaders talk of our freedoms, as being somehow responsible for the attack that we suffered.  Politicians all over the country have been talking about taking away many of the freedoms and liberties that the American people have fought so hard to hold on to.  Taking away our freedom, in exchange for safety, might sound like a fair deal to some, but if you take the time to examine this ?deal? for what it?s worth you will quickly see that we will gain nothing from this arrangement.

The freedoms that we do have in this country are not what caused people to be so angry at America that they took it upon themselves to take out the World Trade Center and Pentagon.  The F.B.I. and local police agencies can turn America into a fascist police state, and it will do absolutely nothing to stop terrorist attacks from happening again.  If we truly want to stop terrorist attacks from happening the first thing we need to do is stop blindly following our government and start questioning it.  The new world order plans of corporate globalization, spearheaded by U.S. supported organizations such as the I.M.F., World Bank, and World Trade Organization need to be scrutinized by those members of the American public who have not already done so, and once this scrutiny has been undertaken, people will understand how the policies of these institutions could drive someone or some group to desperate terrorist acts. The disbanding of such organizations would be a first step towards ending terrorism.

A call to all Americans; you may believe in freedom and justice, but your government does not, and never has.  You are being led into a war that will only cement the system that has caused the current crisis.  Do not allow or support a fascist police state to develop here at home, or you will find that when you do decide to question your government?s actions you will be prevented from doing so.  This is a turning point in history, and if freedom and peace is what you truly want in your heart then the road you must take is one that leads away from war and government, not the one that blindly follows it.

by, Resist and Exist

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