[Peace] a modest alternative

[James Buell]

Martin Amis has a superb piece in today's Guardian (UK). The title, Fear
and Loathing, is entirely apt, but amid it there's a proposal that's
shocking in its simplicity and utter rightness, given what we know
about the abject misery, poverty and terror that is Afghanistan.
To wit:

   What are we going to do? Violence must come; America must
   have catharsis. We would hope that the response will be, above
   all, non-escalatory. It should also mirror the original attack in
   that it should have the capacity to astonish. A utopian example:
   the crippled and benighted people of Afghanistan, hunkering
   down for a winter of famine, should not be bombarded with
   cruise missiles; they should be bombarded with consignments
   of food, firmly marked LENDLEASE - USA.

Article URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,3604,553584,00.html

I can certainly think of worse responses to last week's ghastly events
than this. In fact, I can't think of a better one, or one more likely to
lead to truly transformative results.

"Bomb Afghanistan with food." Sounds a hell of a lot better than GW's plan
to immanentize the eschaton.

Jim



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|In light of the Sept. 11 tragedy, I invite you to consider:            |
|Alternative perspectives - http://www.commondreams.org                 |
|A personal response - http://www.students.uiuc.edu/~jbuell/911         |
|Peace will not come out of a clash of arms but of justice lived -Gandhi|
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