Sept. 11: The
Aftermath
The suicide attack on the World Trade Centre in New York
on Sept. 11, with the thousands of deaths it caused, was one of the worst
atrocities in
recent memory. While the nature and scale of this act are almost
unprecedented, the underlying fanaticism of the perpetrators--whatever
their exact affiliation-was similar to that of such movements as the
right-wing militias in the U.S.; Hamas; and Kach. Such movements, in all
societies where they have been active, have spread immense misery in the
name of their "ideals."
The atrocities of Sept. 11 have been followed by a brutal
military attack
on Afghanistan by the United States, directed ostensibly at the Taliban
regime, to force them to surrender Osama Bin Laden, accused of
masterminding the Sept. 11 attacks. (The targeting of the Taliban is
ironic, given the U.S. role in creating this benighted regime through
its
support for fundamentalist "freedom fighters" against Soviet forces in
Afghanistan.) From the beginning, the threat to innocents was ignored
in
the heat of jingoist threats to "smoke them [terrorists] out." The bombing
and ground attack on Afghanistan have inflicted immense misery on an
already impoverished country, not only in direct civilian casualties,
but
also in the disruption of the infrastructure needed to supply food to
a
population on the brink of starvation. One observer has pointed out that
the U.S. attack began not with the bombings on Oct. 5, but when the U.S.
announced Afghanistan as a target, thereby precipitating a massive flight
of refugees, as well as the departure of foreign aid agencies-a
humanitarian catastrophe not diminished by the hypocritical dropping of
food shipments amidst the U.S. bombardments.
A reasoned response to the Sept. 11 attacks would have been
to try to
contain terrorism, and prosecute those responsible for terrorist acts,
through international venues such as the UN. (The U.S. has consistently
blocked the establishment of a world criminal court.) Instead we have
seen
the U.S. acting as both judge and executioner, in a pattern familiar from
the wars in Iraq and Yugoslavia. To put this in perspective: the U.S.
and
other Western powers have perpetrated or supported aggression and
state terrorism in Vietnam, Cambodia, East Timor, Central America, Sudan,
Lebanon, and elsewhere; yet the suggestion that these countries have the
right to "strike back" militarily against the U.S. or its allies would
be inconceivable.
The U.S. war is motivated less by the goal of containing
terrorism or
protecting potential victims, than by a desire to avenge the humiliation
stemming from the fact that for the first time it is the U.S. that has
been
the victim. Another likely motive that has been overlooked is the rich
oil
resources in the area around Afghanistan, and the U.S. desire to maintain
its control of oil in the region.
Since Sept. 11, there has been a wave of racism and xenophobia
directed
against Muslims, Arabs, or anyone of Middle Eastern origin, often taking
the form of violent attacks, including the firebombing of a mosque in
Montreal, and the beating of a 15-year-old boy in Ottawa-racist brutality
all too familiar to Jews in the past. To his credit, Prime Minister Jean
Chretien has spoken out against this ugly trend. Unfortunately, however,
his government has supported the U.S. war uncritically, in its usual
fashion, with Chretien saying that "innocent lives might well be lost"
in
the "war against terrorism," and not only sending troops, but also
expressing support for possible U.S. attacks against Iraq or other
countries suspected of harbouring terrorists. In the face of this spineless
acquiescence, it has been heartening to witness the courageous opposition
of NDP leader Alexa McDonough.
The war has been accompanied by a general hardening of attitudes
on dissent and civil liberties. U.S. President Bush set the tone with
his
McCarthy-like dictum, "if you're not with us, you're with the terrorists."
Our government has prepared an "anti-terrorism" bill which contains some
frightening aspects, such as the lack of any time limit on its powers
and
its provisions for "preventive arrests" allowing for the detention without
charge for 72 hours of individuals suspected of being "about to" commit
a
terrorist act. Even more disturbing is its convoluted definition of
terrorism, which includes not only the use or threat of violence for
political ends, but also the "disruption of an essential service or
facility Š other than as a result of lawful [our emphasis] advocacy [or]
protest", which could be applied to non-violent civil disobedience or
"wildcat" strikes.
The Sept. 11 attacks and U.S. war have also aggravated the
crisis in
Israel/Palestine. Israel followed the attacks with the invasion of areas
of
the West Bank controlled by the Palestinian Authority, as well as renewed
expansion-the beginning of four new settlements. The conflict has reached
a new level with the assassination of Israeli Minister of Tourism (and
advocate of mass "transfer" of the Palestinians) Rehavam Ze'evi, apparently
murdered by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine in retaliation
for Israel's earlier assassination of its leader, Mustafa
Zibri. We condemn assassinations on all sides, including Israel's
extrajudicial "executions." However, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has used
Ze'evi's murder as a pretext for further massive military attacks on and
reoccupation of Palestinian towns and cities, an act of overwhelming
"collective punishment" which has resulted in the deaths of dozens of
Palestinians. Several members of the Israeli Labour Party-excluding Shimon
Peres, Sharon's "dovish" fig-leaf-even threatened to pull out of the "unity
government."
In the long term, the crisis of terrorism can only be dealt
with by working
for a world free of injustice and inequality, and by finding peaceful
solutions to the various national, ethnic and religious conflicts around
the world. In the Middle East, one of the most urgent conflicts is that
of
Israel and Palestine, which can only be resolved by guaranteeing the human
and national rights of both peoples. This will require an end to Israel's
long occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. In a more immediate sense,
a humane approach requires condemning all attacks on civilians, whether
Americans in New York, or Afghans, Iraqis, Palestinians, and Israelis
in the Middle East, instead of upholding the Manichean view of "the
West vs.terrorism."