CovertAction QUARTERLY Number 76 www.covertactionquarterly.org Spring 2004 lsrael's lnsecurity Disorders & Check Points Edward Said Presente! Haiti's Murderous Army Reborn "Gene Bombs" Guantanamo Detainees Racist War /Media on lraq IBM and Apartheid Racism, Sexism, Militarism and John Kerry 3 4> World Social Forum, lndia CAQ • Number 76 Spring 2004 ln This lssue RACISM: Our National Disease 1. Edward Said Husseiп !Ыsh 3. Haiti's Murderous Army Reborn Jеап Charles Moise 4. Race, Ethnicity and the "Gene Bombs" Johп Н Moore 11. Road Мар to Sharonville lsraeli Apartheid Nabeel Abraham а С5 t3 .о 16. lsrael's Wall: an Analysis of lts legal lnvalidity о Q. < >­ Under U.S. and lnternational law .о Zaha Hassaп апd Steveп Go/dberg - с 21. The Concentration Camp at Guantanamo - --- ··- -----·----"-- ·-- _?_:,_~ .J ! Marjorie Cohn 28. Demonize to Colonize CovertAction Quarterly The Racist War оп lraq Contributors.: Nabeel Abraham, Thomas F. Ramsey Clark Barton, Alejandro Bendana, Ramsey Clark, Marjorie 31. Divide to Conquer Cohn, Heather Cottin, Gregory Elich, Steven Goldberg, Zaha Hassan, Hussein lbish, Kathy Kelly, The Racist Media оп lraq Richard Knight. Jean Charles Moise. Bill Montross. CAQ John Н Мооге. Dolores Neuman, Apollo GТ. Philip 32. Assault on lraqi Women Wheaton. S. Brian Willson. Louis Wolf. U.S .-Made lslamism Targets Womeп CovertAction Quarterly: (ISSN 1067-7232) is Gregory E/ich puЫished quarterly Ьу CovertAction Pu Ы i catio ns, lnc, 35. lnternational Business Machines and Apartheid 1500 Massachusetts Ave, NW, # 732, Washington, О С. 20005, USA. а Oistrict of Columbia not-for-prof­ 1ВМ iп South Africa it corporation. Member of the lndependent Press Richard Kпtght Association. lndexed Ьу Alternative Press lndex. 41. John Kerry's Obsession University Microfilms. © 2004, Copyright Ьу CovertAction PuЫ i cations, lnc. All rights reserved. No S Briaп Willsoп article may Ье reproduced. in part ог whole, without prior written permi ssion from the СА PuЫ i ca t i ons, lnc. 44. John Kerry - а Tragic Mistake Johп Н Moore PuЫisher: Covert Action PuЫicat i ons , lnc. 1500 46. Mumbai Diary Massachusetts Avenue. NW, # 732. Washington, ОС 20005, USA. World Social Forum. lпdia 2004 A/ejaпdro Вепdапа Subscription lnformation: On the cover: phone.· 202 33 1 9763 • fax. 202 33 1 975 1 Jayyous, West Вапk. Nov. 2003: lsraeli soldiers verify email: [email protected] that а Palestiпiaп farmer апd his doпkey аге поt car­ visit. www.covertactionquarterly.org riпg а пу explosives, w еаро п or Ьаппеd materi als before a llowiпg the farmer to cross the f е п се. Farmers have to cross over from their village of Jayyous east of AПENTION SUBSCRIBERS : the fепсе (the Wall) to their olive groves оп the westerп Send us all address chaпges. USPS does side of the fепсе (the Wall) siпce the fепсе separates Baghdad, lraq п оt forward them! Coпtact us Ьу telephoпe, their village from the agricultural areas. Womeп's protest agai п st email, fax or mail u si пg the iпformatio n war оп lraq а пd the above. Th aпk you. photo Ьу Eyal Dor-Ofer occupa ti o п of Palestiпe. Edward Said, an lrreplaceaЫe Treasure Hussein lbish With the passing of Edwaгd Said. the United States. the АгаЬ woгld and the 1935 - 2003 human family have lost а гаге puЫic intel­ lectual who was both а gгoundbгeaking scholaг and а champion of decency and г humanity. Said was fiгst and foгemost а teacheг , who woгked not only in the class­ гoom and campus, but who also taught entiгe peoples on seveгal continents and in seveгal languages how to think about each otheг and themselves. Не was Univeгsity Pгofessoг of English and Compaгative Liteгature at Columbia Univeгsity, past е' о Pгesident of the Modeгn Language Association and one of the most influential ~ ~ liteгaгy cгitics of his geneгation. Certainly, no one did mоге than Said to .> :у !f: 11 F " ~ teach the Westeгn puЫic, especially in the United States. about the гeality and expeгi­ Edward Said Speaks on Human Rights, Divestment. ence of the Palestinians. Не theoгized the February 19, 2003 - Edward Said, а leading Palestinian intellectual and Palestinian pгedicament in "The Question of activist, spoke at UC Berkeley on the U.S., the lslamic World and the Question of Palestine. During his talk, he stated "divestment campaigns reminiscent of Palestine," humanized it in "Afteг the Last the anti-apartheid movement have become an important item on American Sky," and peгsona li zed it in his moving campuses. Berkeley has а place of honor in this effort." memoiг "O ut of Place.'' ln the 1970s and ·aos. when the woгd "Palestinian" conjured no images in the West otheг than hooded www.ucdivest.org thugs, Edwaгd Said - bгilliant, urbane, pol ­ ished and eloquent - came foгwaгd as liv­ ing ргооf that the steгeotype of the Palestinian teггoгist was as cгude а pгeju ­ and place of maximum unpopulaгity, won acknowledge not only that such dissent is dice as any otheг. His semina l woгk. Said many bitter and vitгiolic opponents. in the highest tгadition of Ameгican civil and "Oгientalism," is widely cгedited with inau ­ Some cast him as а "professor of terror," or intellectual life, but that Sa id was equally meг ­ gurating the Postcolonial Studies movement denied that he was а Pale stinian at all, while ciless in his judgments of Arab governments. in the humanities. His collections of essays, others bombed his office at Columbia His scathing attacks оп leadeгs such "The Woгld, the Text, the Cгitic," and University. as Yasseг Aгafat, Geoгge W. Bush and Aгiel "Reflections on Exile" аге among the most Through it all, Said гemaiпed commit­ Sharon, to name only three but not entirely influenti al in contempoгary liteгa1y scholaгship. ted to гecoпciliation betweeп l sгaelis and at random, were informed Ьу an intellectual ln his columns in the l a гgest АгаЬiс Palestinians ba sed on mutual respect апd ethic that demanded speaking truth to language daily A/-Hayat and in the Egyptian гecognition. Не was one of the fiгst pгomi ­ power and telling people what they needed newspaper Al-Ahram. as well as in count­ nent Palestinians to еmЬгасе the notion of а to hеаг, whetheг they liked it ог not. less lectures and speeches. Said devoted two-state solution, arguing in the 197Ds for Perhaps mоге than any otheг contemporary him self to explaining aspects of Western the recogпition of lsrael. Маге recently, he scholar, Said presented his students, col­ culture. especially the Ameгican political came to believe that the only viaЫe solutioп leagues and the puЫic with а poweгful sensibility. to Arab audiences. Although he was а siпgle state fог both lsrael is and understanding of m1s sion and puгpose of was thoгoughly immeгsed in both Western Palestinians that cou ld tгansfoгm rivals into the engaged intellectual. and АгаЬ culture. Said often remaгked that рагtпегs and allow each to express their Peгhaps Edwaгd Said's most important he felt completely at home in neither. Fгom natioпal identity without excluding or achievemeпt as а puЬlic scholar was his this de-centered perspective. he attempted oppгessing the other. champioпing of secularism as а critical, to serve as а bгidge between increasingly His cгitics often accused him. quite political апd philosophical oгientation. Н е alienated АгаЬ and Ameгican societies. falsely, of being "anti-American," because taught seveгal generations of literaгy critics His consistent Ьгаvегу, especially in of his stauпch opposition to many aspects а form of "secular cгiticism." Ьу which he defending the Palestinian cause at а time of U S. foreign policy. Such cгitics fail to meant, in effect. cultivating the ability to Number 76 Spring 2004 read texts with а full appreciation of how and foe alike. mainly from Giambattista Vico - the notion other cultural and historical narratives Said, а multi-talented renaissance man, that human history is shaped Ьу а genealo­ inform, inflect and intersect with one's own. was also Music Editor for the Natioп maga­ gy of human choices. This version of secu­ Н е called this deeply influential critical zine in the 1990s, and an accomplished lar history rejects divine intervention ог tele­ methodology reading "contrapuntally" ог pianist. Не was а champion of political sec­ ology, the primacy of economic forces "against the grain." His 1993 lectures, pub­ ularism. as opposed to religious ог ethnic whether the "hidden hand" of the market ог lished as "Representations of the lntellectual," chauvinism, which he rightly viewed as а the inevitaЫe victory of the proletariat. biol­ explained in detail his vision of the puЫic siпe qua поп for coexistence with respect ogy as destiny, and any other form of deter­ minism. in favor of the self-conscious agency of collective and individual human actors. HIS CRITICS OFTEN ACCUSED HIM, QUITE FALSELY, OF As religious fanaticism deepens around the globe and turns mass-murder­ BEING "ANTl-AMERICAN," BECAUSE OF HIS STAUNCH ous. globalization increasingly subjects every villager оп the planet to the whims of OPPOSITION ТО MANY ASPECTS OF U.S. FOREIGN POLl­ transnational and transhistorical economic forces. and biotechnology and genetic CY. SUCH CRITICS FAIL ТО ACKNOWLEDGE NOT ONLY engineering prepares to alter our very con­ ception of what constitutes the human. ТНАТ SUCH DISSENT IS IN ТНЕ HIGHEST TRADITION OF Edward Said's empowering but generous secular vision seems all the тоге precious AMERICAN CIVIL AND INTELLECTUAL LIFE, BUT ТНАТ а contribution. lt is. perhaps. for explicating the genuinely redemptive and liberatory SAID WAS EQUALLY MERCILESS IN HIS JUDGMENTS OF spirit of secularism that we owe the great­ ARAB GOVERNMENTS. est dеЫ of thanks to the late, great teacher. Не is an irrepl a ceaЫe treasure. and we shall miss him beyond measure.