ZNET Q&A, about September 11 (www.zmag.org)

Q. Who did it?

A. The identity of the 19 individuals who hijacked the four planes is known, but what is not yet known is who provided the coordination, the planning, the funding, and the logistical support, both in the United States and elsewhere. Many indications point to the involvement of Osama bin Laden, but if his role is confirmed, this is the beginning, not the end, of the inquiry: Were any other organizations involved and, if so, which ones? Were any national governments involved and, if so, which ones? The danger here is that the U.S. government may answer these questions based on political criteria rather than evidence.

Q. How should guilt be determined and how should the punishment be carried out?

A. The answers to these questions are all important. In our world, the only alternative to vigilantism is that guilt should be determined by an amassing of evidence that is then assessed in accordance with international law by the United Nations Security Council or other appropriate international agencies.

Punishment should be determined by the UN as well, and likewise the means of?implementation. The UN may arrive at determinations that one or another party likes or not, as with any court, and may also be subject to political pressures that call into question its results or not, as with any court. But that the UN is the place for determinations about international conflict is obvious, at least according to solemn treaties signed by the nations of the world. Most governments, however, don't take seriously their obligations under international law. Certainly, history has shown that to U.S. policy makers international law is for everyone else to follow, and for Washington to manipulate when possible or to otherwise ignore. Thus, when the World Court told the U.S. to cease its contra war against Nicaragua and pay reparations, U.S. officials simply declared they did not consider themselves bound by the ruling.

Q. What should progressives do?

A. Change depends on organized resistance that raises awareness and commitment. It depends on pressuring decision makers to respect the will of a public with dissident and critical views. Our immediate task is to communicate accurate information, to counter misconceptions and illogic, to empathize and be on the wavelength of the public, to talk and listen, to offer information, analysis, and humane aims.

Reading 2

TRAGEDY IN AMERICA: Only Answer to Fundamentalism Is Humanism

Asian Human Rights Commission Human Rights SOLDARITY [Vol. 11 No. 10 - 11 OCT - NOV 2001]

People everywhere are sad about what happened in the United States on Sept. 11. Tears in the eyes of so many looking for their loved ones has brought tears to the eyes of everyone around the world. The pictures of the missing people exhibited by so many has touched the hearts of many in the world who have all too often seen similar scenes. Perhaps the most common factor in the human experience throughout the world today is tragedy.

During a tragedy, the best of humanity comes out even in societies which had previously been accused of being addicted to a consumerist culture. Even in a culture where, due to better economic circumstances, "love thy neighbour" had seemed to become irrelevant, tragedy has brought people together spontaneously and with great human warmth. Instead of being slavish to the market, human beings come face to face with each other, holding hands, lighting candles, singing songs, digging through rubble and fighting fires. Everyone is feeling the need to lighten the burden of the other.

It is at this moment that we must remind ourselves that the degeneration of the spirit due to the neglect of tragedies or the misuse of tragedies can have disastrous consequences to humanity. Terrorism, which brought about the present tragedy, is a consequence of such past tragedies and their misuse by various political elements. Fundamentalism in religion is essentially the separation of humanism from religion under the pretext of necessity. The religious rhetoric of appealing to the God of Vengeance to outsiders of such religions is a common element of fundamentalism. However, the God of Love is at the heart of humanising religion.

Grievances are on all sides. We can ruin ourselves by negative grieving or allow humanity to renew its human quality by dealing with these tragedies in a positive manner. People's response to tragedy is always positive. Meanwhile, the political manipulation of tragedy is always demeaning and is always negative.

People everywhere must safeguard themselves from "religious" leaders who cynically seek profit from tragedy. A common call for all victims to be united is an imperative of the day.

It is time to recall the spirit that prevailed at the end of World War II. It is time to assert justice as a common aim of humanity. It is time to say, "No more terrorism. No more war."

Victims themselves must redeem humanity from dehumanisation. Only they can do it. No one else can. No one can claim to hold a proxy for the victims or their families. This is too sacred a matter to be dealt with by proxies. All that others can do, and have a right to do, is to rally the support of the forces of humanism everywhere, to stand by and support the victims.

 
Reading 3

Excerpt from a poem by Eve Ensler, reflecting on Setember 11.

I have been thinking about why;
what would make people do that?
I have been thinking about
the words retaliation and punishment and
acts of war.

I have been thinking about violence,
what it feels like to be
nothing to someone else,
what it feels like to be
a consequence of someone else's
disassociated rage, disconnected fury.

I have been thinking about
the cycle of hurt for hurt,
nation against nation,
tit for tat.

I have been thinking about
how deeply something else is required.

I have been thinking about
the courage it requires
to think about something other than
violence as a response to violence.

I have been thinking about
the complexity of this and
the loneliness of this and
the helplessness and
the sorrow that would be felt in the
space where violence was once and the grief.

I have been thinking that
for those of us who are living on the planet
right here, right now,
nothing less will do if
we are to go on as a species.

I have been thinking that
we must live in this dangerous space,
allowing the helplessness, the grief, the sorrow
to create new wisdom that
can and will and must
free us from this terrible world of violence.

I urge you,
each one of you -
fall into this space, weep,
be lost, let go,
die into the grief -
on the other side it will be
revealed.

 
Introductory Questions

* What was your initial reaction to the attack on the World Trade Centre on September 11?

* Have your feelings and opinions changed since then? Why?

* What kinds of questions arose in your mind in the aftermath of the attack and the events that followed?

* Share with each other your general responses to the 3 readings presented above.