Works In Progress - September 2003 - Choosing Peace: A series for the whole community-2003

Glen Anderson wrote a very good article in last month’s Works in Progress explaining the 2nd Annual Choosing Peace Series to be held in the Olympia area this year. Like last year, it is to be held around the time of September 11th, since that has become a dividing line for many people as they try to make sense of the changing conditions in the world. 9/11/01 was indeed a traumatic time for many, but also, for many of us, it was a continuation of the shocking and horrifying events that have happen throughout history, especially U.S. foreign policy in the 20th Century. See my article "Shocked and Horrified" at http://192.211.16.13/curricular/nchomsky/shocked.htm.

To paraphrase Noam Chomsky, resistance to the current policies of the United States is not just the moral action to take, but may well be essential for human survival. Last year I noted that when the attacks on the World Trade Center occurred, the world suffered from shock at not only the enormity of the crimes, but also the possible reaction from the American government, as the Bush administration prepared to begin wars rather than pursue criminals. Numerous volumes have been written about the events of 9/11 and thousands of pages of articles and analysis have been done over the past two years. The mainstream media from the New York Times (with some exceptions) to the Olympian to the talk show pundits have largely been cheerleaders for the illegal Bush administration.

There were and are, however, a great deal of other sources of information available, if one searches them out. Many of the people of the South Sound area have seen through the lies of the Bush administration and the mainstream media. As was done last year, several representatives of many peace and justice activist groups, both religious and secular, have been meeting to plan and coordinate events around the commemoration of the anniversary of 9/11, so that it will not be dominated by the self –congratulatory, self-indulgent, jingoist messages from the Bush administration.

Chomsky has pointed out that the elites are very afraid of the "ultimate weapon," that is the power of the people of the U.S. and the world. Even the New York Times noted, after the massive antiwar demonstrations of February 15th around the world, that there were now two super powers in the world, the U.S. government and the anti-war/peace movement. Olympia is not an insignificant part of this world movement, especially after the murder of one our own, Rachel Corrie, by the Israeli government.

The CHOOSING PEACE events during September, October, and November of this year in the Olympia area are the result of a broad-based coalition of local community activists who will provide alternative venues and more accurate information for local residents than is provided by the mainstream media. The schedule for the events is listed elsewhere here in Works In Progress. Most events are free and open the public and all persons are invited to attend those events in which they have an interest.

(Since the coalition is quite broad based, it should be noted that the views and analysis presented in this article are those of the author, and all may not be shared by all coalition participants or their organizations).

CHOOSING PEACE as a concept would appear to be as natural a selection as Choosing Life over death, except in the Orwellian world (War is Peace, Ignorance is Strength, Slavery is Freedom) of the illegal Bush administration. The Afghan campaign was ironically titled "Enduring Freedom" (which means "Permanent War"). The illegal Iraq War of 2003 was/is called "Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF)," although originally one idea was to call it "Operation Iraqi Liberation (OIL)", but that idea was scarped for obvious reasons.

The so-called "war on terrorism" is no more than a continuation of the War OF Terrorism that the United States has been inflicting on the people of the world since at least the end of World War II. (Details of these events can be found in William Blum’s Killing Hope, Howard Zinn’s Terrorism and War, Noam Chomsky’s Deterring Democracy and 9/11, among others).

The U.S. "rationale" for destroying Iraq, i.e., that it possessed "Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) is not even believed by the Bush administration anymore, as it tries to justify it criminal past. See the Bush administration own plans for the current policies in the policy makers owns words in "Rebuilding America’s Defenses," published in September of 2000, well before the stolen elections, before 9/11, and before the administration invented the scare of WMD. The Bush plan can be accessed at

The Project For the New American Century at http://www.newamericancentury.org/publicationsreports.htm.

While the regime of Saddam Hussein had very few friends among the world’s people, the people of the world knew that a U.S. attack on Iraq, whether it is called "preemptive", "defensive strike" or whatever Orwellian doublespeak the Bush administration wishes to use, was going to be and was an international war crime.

The citizens and people of the South Sound are quite aware of the criminal activities of the Bush administration as demonstrated by last years CHOOSING PEACE series. This is truly an opportunity to choose peace over war, life over death, truth over lies. Local people can take pride in their work and opportunities as they struggle to do even more.

CHOOSING PEACE is truly "a series for the whole community". As the Calendar indicates, there will be over sixty events (at press time). Some will be large, such as the Teach-In on the continuing wars in Afghanistan and Iraq on October 8th or events at the Olympia Film Festivals and some will be small. Some will be solemn, such as the Vigil at Percival Landing on September 11th, and others will be festive such the celebrations of Peace art at Art Walk. At press time some of the events are still in a state of flux and new events are being added. Look for flyers and new information as it comes out and the word gets out. Also check out the OMJP and FOR Websites listed below. Please read the schedule over carefully and attend, contribute, learn, teach, and ask and answer questions. The fate of the world is in our hands; not necessarily those who claim to lead us.

In addition to the sources listed above, the interested reader may want to keep abreast of the following: 1) For regular news that has a great deal of alternative sources as well as links to mainstream sources see Common Dreams at http://www.commondreams.org ; 2) For more Alternative news see AlterNet at http://www.alternet.org ; 3) For professional critiques of the mainstream media see EXTRA, which is published by Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, whose website is available at http://www.fair.org : 4) For up to the date and reliable information on the Middle East see the Middle East Report or http://www.merip.org : 5) For local news and information see FOR at http://www.olyfor.org and the OMJP at http://www.omjp.org . This is a short and selective list. More information and sources will be available at many of the events of CHOOSING PEACE.