[Peace] Speaker co-sponsorship opportunity

[C. G. Estabrook]

Nick--

You are of course welcome at the next AWARE meeting: it's an open
organization, and the people who attend are indeed concerned about the
matters you raise.

I and a number of others in AWARE will be something less than enthusiastic
about co-sponsoring Michael Ruppert, however.  At the heart of his work is
the conviction that the Bush administration consciously contrived the 9-11
attacks, and the bulk of his analysis follows from that.  I think that's
overwhelmingly unlikely, however much the Bush administration has profited
from its own Pearl Harbor.

I do think it's important to rethink what we know about American politics
and institutions in the light of "War on Terrorism," but I'm not so
optimistic as to think that the discovery of a plot will be the end of it.
If we could show conclusively that all our problems arise from the
machinations of a little group of evil people, we could line them up and
shoot them; but, as you know, that's been tried at various times, with a
notable lack of success...

I think our problems are deeper, more structural and institutional. "The
history of all hitherto existing society," it has been famously said,
"is the history of class struggles."  The American ruling class is today
in a unique position, unexampled in history, and the only agent that can
restrain that group -- in fact the only thing thing they fear -- is an
aroused American public. I think talking to that public about plots that
almost certainly didn't happen is at best a waste of our energy.

You no doubt know of the hostile accounts of Ruppert's work from two years
ago by people associated with ZNet, Norman Solomon of FAIR
<http://www.zmag.org/Sustainers/content/2002-04/28solomon.cfm> and Stephen
R. Shalom and Michael Albert of Z Magazine
<http://www.zmag.org/content/Instructionals/shalalbcon.cfm>.  I suggest
that members of AWARE look at those articles along with the web resources
you mention.

Regards, Carl Estabrook


On Mon, 12 Apr 2004 ndahlhei at uiuc.edu wrote:

> Dear AWARE peace list,
>     My name is Nick Dahlheim, a junior in political science.  This
> past year I have devoted a great deal of my time to educating myself
> on matters of public policy, particularly the world events surrounding
> 9/11, Iraq, and "The War on Terror."  Given the fact that this
> government led by a corrupt George W. Bush administration has lied
> consistently since the beginning.  The war on Iraq is a racket for the
> international banks, Wall Street, oil companies, and the
> military-industrial complex.  It's very important for people in
> college with the future of the country and maybe the peace of the
> world in doubt in this crucial time to be informed as to how the
> government works and what a racket the "War on Terror" is for those
> bankers and oilmen at the top.  In the past year, I have found an
> alternative to the mainstream corporate-run media who protect the
> bankers and oilmen who control the government for their own interests
> at the expense of ordinary people.
>     That alternative news source is Micheal Ruppert and his excellent
> publication From the Wilderness which exposes much of the government
> corruption behind the war on drugs, Wall Street, insider trading,
> 9/11, Iraq, and the mother of all issues facing the future of our
> society: Peak Oil and the future of industrial society.  This guy is
> right on target about many issues, and he reports the news without the
> propaganda of the mainstream corporate-controlled media.  He is an
> excellent speaker.  His video from a speech given in Nov 2001 at
> Portland State University is advertised on his website
> www.copvcia.com.  I am trying to get as many people concerned about
> this War on Terror on this campus and in the community interested in
> potentially helping me get him to visit campus before the 2004
> elections where many of our freedoms will likely be at stake.  I will
> be at the next AWARE meeting at 5PM at the IMC to bring more
> information about Ruppert and some of my ideas for getting the people
> of this campus informed about the reality of the way this corrupt
> government works and why we need to organize for our rights and our
> democracy.  Please feel free to contact me at this listserve or e-mail
> me backt at ndahlhei at uiuc.edu or give me a call at my home at (217)
> 255-6415 or my cell # which is (630) 476-0803.  Take care and look
> forward to hearing thoughts and discussions about my idea.
>                            Sincerely,
>                            Nick Dahlheim
>