[Peace-discuss] Arundhati roy speaks

[Morton K. Brussel]

Below is an excerpt. The full speech given at the World Social Forum in 
India is to be found at

  http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0122-14.htm

MKB

…
If all of us are indeed against imperialism and against the project of 
neoliberalism, then let's turn our gaze on Iraq. Iraq is the inevitable 
culmination of both. Plenty of antiwar activists have retreated in 
confusion since the capture of Saddam Hussein. Isn't the world better 
off without Saddam Hussein? they ask timidly.

Let's look this thing in the eye once and for all. To applaud the US 
Army's capture of Saddam Hussein, and therefore in retrospect justify 
its invasion and occupation of Iraq, is like deifying Jack the Ripper 
for disemboweling the Boston Strangler. And that after a 
quarter-century partnership in which the Ripping and Strangling was a 
joint enterprise. It's an in-house quarrel. They're business partners 
who fell out over a dirty deal. Jack's the CEO.

So if we are against imperialism, shall we agree that we are against 
the US occupation and that we believe the United States must withdraw 
from Iraq and pay reparations to the Iraqi people for the damage that 
the war has inflicted?

How do we begin to mount our resistance? Let's start with something 
really small. The issue is not aboutsupporting the resistance in Iraq 
against the occupation or discussing who exactly constitutes the 
resistance. (Are they old killer Baathists, are they Islamic 
fundamentalists?)

We have to become the global resistance to the occupation.

Our resistance has to begin with a refusal to accept the legitimacy of 
the US occupation of Iraq. …
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: text/enriched
Size: 1844 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://lists.cu.groogroo.com/mailman/archive/peace-discuss/attachments/20040122/a8d0b2b8/attachment.bin