Fwd: [Peace-discuss] what Bush knew & what to do

[Alfred Kagan]

Ricky, Well said.  I think we can ask about putting some of our stuff 
in the Public i.

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>Thanks, Susan, for posting the articles on what Bush knew before 
>Sept. 11 about the attacks.  All of us are pleased to see W's 
>unthinking support unravel.  Unfortunately, as Carl indicated at the 
>meeting, the government now has us asking the wrong questions. 
>Worse, I think this small feeding frenzy only serves to strengthen 
>the war hysteria and further justify what Ashcroft & Co. have been 
>doing in rolling back the civil rights that so many people fought so 
>long and so hard to win.  Now even the Admin's critics are clamoring 
>for more "security" measures - essentially demanding to know why the 
>government didn't start rounding up Arabs sooner.
>
>As David Green said last night at the meeting, we can't consistently 
>criticize the Admin. for not doing enough before Sept. 11 and still 
>criticize them now for going too far.  The fact is, regardless of 
>how often and how conveniently the Admin. manufactures or 
>exaggerates threats, there are always actual threats.  Why?  Because 
>US foreign policy ensures that there will be threats.  So, in fact, 
>we don't need to know any more about what Bush knew before Sept. 11. 
>We already know all we need to know: the US is the biggest sponsor 
>of international terrorism in history, and inevitably there will be 
>blowback.  Bush and every president for at least a couple of 
>generations has known this.  Do they see it as an "acceptable risk"? 
>Maybe, but it's also a very useful one, in terms of justifying more 
>of the same (in the style of the old lady who swallowed a fly, then 
>swallowed a spider to catch the fly...)
>
>Rather than spending our time learning the details of the most 
>recent conspiracy theories, I suggest we take this opportunity to 
>educate people about what we already know - and to move them to 
>action.  Right now, I think we do a great many things well. 
>Enlisting new folks and getting them active is not one of them, in 
>my opinion.  We do a great job of informing people, I think, and we 
>are very active, ourselves.  The LLAW demos, the speakers' bureau, 
>the teach-ins, and the fundraisers, are all wonderful examples of 
>agitation and education.  Indispensable.  What we are missing, I 
>think, is the third step: organizing.  I don't mean organizing 
>events, which we do, but organizing people.  This is why we inform 
>them, not just to depress them, right?
>
>But irritating platitudes aside, I think we already have much of 
>this in place - we just need to make it a priority.  I believe we 
>have sign-up sheets at our events - do we provide them to the folks 
>we send out for the speakers' bureau?  We should make doubly sure 
>they're always available, and that speakers and MC's invite people 
>to sign up to be contacted about future events.  And then we should 
>call them.  Invite them to pitch in with LLAW, with building the 
>July 4th float... tell them we need someone to write a letter to the 
>editor about x, y or z, and could they help, or start a 
>letter-writing campaign, etc.  And always build the lists.  I also 
>think a newsletter would be helpful, maybe just one sheet of 
>upcoming events (AWARE and others), a report on something that just 
>happened (AWARE or other), and a commentary - with good contact 
>info, not just the time and place of our meeting.  I'd be willing to 
>serve on a commit! tee that would work on all this.  I just think 
>otherwise, we're just talking to ourselves.
>
>Well, that's what a nerdy fanatic like me thinks, anyway.
>
>Ricky
>
>"Every time you think, you weaken the nation." - Moe Howard
>
>
>
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-- 


Al Kagan
African Studies Bibliographer and Professor of Library Administration
Africana Unit, Room 328
University of Illinois Library
1408 W. Gregory Drive
Urbana, IL 61801, USA

tel. 217-333-6519
fax. 217-333-2214
e-mail. akagan at uiuc.edu
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