DELAWARE COUNTY PLEDGE OF RESISTANCE
P.O. Box 309 ~ Swarthmore, PA 19081 ~ phone & fax: 610-543-8427 Spring 2004 Can Civil War in Iraq Be Averted? by Bob Neveln Sistani, has consistently been a force reaching prewar levels. Oil prices are for moderation. Also fortunately, Am- high. Iraqi government ministers are cur- Despite the relentless death toll of Ira- bassador L. Paul Bremer III, presiden- rently in Amman being trained on the qis killed in bombings, presumably by tial envoy and chief civilian U.S. official intricacies of World Bank loans. Debt outsiders for the purpose of instigating in Iraq, has been consistently concilia- forgiveness by several major creditor na- civil war, Iraqis have failed to succumb tory towards Sistani. tions is under discussion. Unemploy- to these terrible provocations. The day Probably the most optimistic sign ment has dropped. before the bombing of the two Shi‘ite is the upturn in the economy, which may In sum there is reason for hope that mosques on the holiest day of the Shi‘ite help create a situation in which all can civil war will be avoided. calendar, Sunni clerics issued a fatwa be passably content. Oil production is against killing other Muslims, a very well-timed measure indeed. Incitement of strife by the U.S. mili- tary between Kurds and Shi‘ites, although it has yet to bear fruit in violence, defi- nitely shows more promise. Oblivious to the potential harm to Iraq’s stability, the military started right after the war with the re-routing of electricity north- wards causing outages in Baghdad and has been rewarding the Kurds for their support during the invasion and pun- ishing Turkey and Syria for their lack of it. Retaliatory ousting of Arabs from homes taken in years past from Kurds is another example, never justified by reference to a “right of return,” of course. One wonders whether Kissinger is missed at times like this. The most obvious sign so far of this tension has been near failure of the provisional constitution due to the Shi‘ites balking at provisions very fa- vorable to the Kurds. Incidentally, among the five out of 13 Shi‘ites on the governing council who held up the sign- ing for a day was the ever-versatile disinformation profiteer Chalabi! Fortu- nately for Iraq, the most influential Shi‘ite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al- 1 Venezuela: The anti-neoliberal, democratic Bolivian revolution of Hugo Claiming Our Fair Trade Victory Chavez continues. New laws are aimed at redistribution of land, requiring banks to provide micro-credits to the poor, cre- by Paula Bronstein “… this strategy has significant ation of cooperatives, and restructur- limitations from the U.S. corporate per- ing the state oil industry. How long have we been struggling for spective. … The strategy requires too Brazil: The new leftist president of fair trade, fighting the injustices of the many negotiations with too many coun- Brazil has persuaded South Africa, In- World Trade Organization (WTO) and tries, and may leave the biggest mar- dia, and China to join the group of 22 Free Trade Area of the Americas kets out.” developing nations which weakened the (FTAA)? Yet our words and demonstra- Noting that Chile and Mexico al- WTO in Cancun, signed a commercial tions have been downplayed and dis- ready have free trade deals with the accord with China, urged Peru and Co- torted in the media. Now, our victories United States, Mark Weisbrot of the lumbia to help build Mercosur (south- have been silenced as well. The fact is Washington D.C.-based Center for Eco- ern common market), in competition with that the WTO conference in Cancun and nomic Policy Research points out that the proposed FTAA, given Venezuela a the FTAA conference in Miami pro- “70 percent of the remaining Latin billion dollar line of credit to buy Brazil- vided an exhilarating victory for Latin American market ... is attributable to ian exports, produced with Argentina’s America and a dismal failure for the U.S. Brazil, Argentina, and Venezuela—coun- new president the “Buenos Aires Con- government and its greedy corporate tries with no interest in signing onto sensus” impressed the U.N. General As- empire. The impertinence of the U.S. has bilateral agreements with the U.S. with sembly with a proposal to eradicate hun- provided the impetus for the countries NAFTA style provisions.” ger worldwide and make the U.N. more of the south to form a united opposi- As a result of this victory, partner- democratic, and helped weaken the tion. And our organized nonviolent re- ships between countries as well as pro- FTAA in Miami. sistance has provided southern nations gressive electoral victories have been Argentina: Argentina’s new presi- with the solidarity they needed in order taking place all over Latin America: dent, Nestor Kirchner, apparently is to defend themselves. Let us loudly Uruguay: On December 6, 62 per- struggling between pressures from the proclaim this victory for Latin America cent of Uruguayans approved a national IMF and anti-neoliberal grassroots and for solidarity, too! referendum to overturn a law that would movements. On September 9, he refused Lori Wallach, director of Public have opened the countries oil market to make a $9 million debt payment and Citizen’s Global Trade Watch, speaking and state owned oil refinery ... to for- thereby forced the IMF to accept his on the FTAA conference in Miami, said, eign and private investment. proposal that Argentina pay only inter- “All that was agreed upon was to scale Bolivia: Last October workers and est on debts for the next three years. back the FTAA’s scope and punt the the indigenous protested free market The IMF also agreed that they didn’t hard decisions to an undefined future policies and the plans to further priva- have to compensate banks for losses venue so as to not make Miami the tize the state oil company. … Soldiers incurred in peso-dollar conversions, Waterloo of FTAA.” were attacked with firearms and rocks. and that private utility companies could “Powerful social movements in After overwhelming protests on Octo- not unilaterally raise their rates. Latin America against the FTAA have ber 17 of last year, the Bolivian presi- My personal victory is the deep made it impossible for those govern- dent fled. The new president Mesa has satisfaction I gain as I watch the coun- ments to agree to a full NAFTA expan- abandoned the drug war’s “zero coca” tries of Latin America gather wisdom, sion,” said Wallach. “Thus the United goal and will study “the legal use of strength, and solidarity as they dance States chose this week to make the uber coca.” in the shadow of the U.S. menace. concession—to move away from its ‘single undertaking’ vision of the FTAA to an a’ la carte approach to ensure that the FTAA lives to stagger on another day. It is hard to overstate what a huge shift this is in the U.S. position.” “But even as the U.S. was forced to retreat in the FTAA negotiations, it announced an intensified strategy of negotiating bilateral and mini-regional agreements containing exactly the same proposals—on intellectual property, in- vestments, and other areas—that it failed to ram through in the FTAA.” 2 Oh, Haiti!! by Ronald Coburn
This could be a time to celebrate. It is the 200th anniversary of the Haitian slave revolt against their masters. Instead we are now mourning both the loss of the democratically elected Haitian president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who was forced from his position, and the hope of the poor of Haiti. And it is even sadder that our country was involved in this coup d’état. I have memories of my first trip to Haiti just after the 1991 military coup Some 50 protesters gathered outside the Federal Building in that removed President Aristide from Philadelphia on March 15 to denounce U.S. complicity in the office and from Haiti. I was told that a overthrow of Jean-Bertrand Aristide. They called for the Haitian first exposure to life in Haiti would bring president's return. The Ad Hoc Coalition against the Coup in tears, and this was correct. During this Haiti organized the rally and encourages interested people to trip, Amnesty International people took learn more about Haitian solidarity efforts at haitireborn.org. depositions that revealed all the horrible things that people can do to other people. The poor live in indescribable poverty. If you don’t work one day, your There was trouble almost immedi- of the elite opposed President Aristide, family doesn’t eat the next day. The situ- ately after Aristide returned to Haiti. The and the current coup can be viewed as ation seems similar now. I can remember World Bank-International Monetary a chapter in their class war. President the hope of the Haitian people and those Fund demanded privatization of the air- Aristide, trained as a Catholic priest, interested in helping Haiti, when Presi- port and postal service; Aristide refused. adopted liberation theology and was dent Aristide returned to Haiti in 1994 When the U.S. Marines occupied Haiti, defrocked by the Catholic Church. So with some support of the U.S. govern- they seized thousands of pages of docu- the church in this most Christian of ment and the U.S. Marines. There were ments that incriminated Haitians in- countries did not support him. Finally promises of generous economic aid that volved in the 1991 military coup as well the U.S. government has not been sup- would help make governing and devel- as human rights violations. For un- portive of President Aristide, as has of- opment of democratic institutions pos- known reasons, the U.S. State Depart- ten been the case with other democrati- sible. I can remember meeting Aristide ment refused to release these docu- cally elected leaders in our hemisphere. when he visited in Philadelphia, a mild ments to the Aristide government. The role of our government in Haiti mannered, likeable man who had the Aristide had abolished the army, but in the past, and at the present time, is a persona of a caring priest. He seemed, U.S. soldiers did not, or could not, help source of shame for U.S. citizens. Paul at that time, driven to help the poor in disarm Haitians involved in the coup. A Farmer notes that monetary aid flowed Haiti. Haitian people believed this, and police force was formed, but as time freely in the days of the Duvalier-U.S.- they elected him president twice, in le- went on, there was no money to sup- friendly-dictators period and ceased gal U.N. monitored elections, each time port it. entirely when Aristide was elected presi- with over 90 percent of the vote. Looking back, it is obvious that dent in 1991. Aid resumed days after What happened? You certainly Aristide had most of the cards stacked the coup, then ceased after President won’t find out from reading most of the against him. He was committed to so- Aristide was reinstated as president. U.S. press that seems to be written by cial programs aimed at the poor. His The promised economic aid never ma- people not familiar with Haitian history speech on land reform triggered the first terialized. Instead, our government or- or politicos who have a political agenda. coup. Haitian citizens are polarized in ganized an international aid embargo. For a truer understanding, I recommend that approximately 1 percent of their As a result, the Aristide administration two books: Rainy Season by Amy people, the “elite,” live in walled-in com- simply did not have the money to effec- Wilentz (Simon and Shuster) and Pa- munities, speak French (often not Cre- tively govern Haiti. thologies of Power by Paul Farmer ole), have access to medical and educa- First we heard that money trans- (Univ. of California Press), and any op- tional institutions in Miami and the U.S., fers were held up due to the rejection of ed pieces written by Tracy Kidder. and are comfortable with U.S. officials Continued on page 6. and corporation people. Of course, most 3 Peace, both of whom have made trips to Mourning Death in Iraq Iraq before and after last spring’s inva- sion; and Pat Gunn, a U.S. Navy vet- eran from Lansdowne, Pa., a USO vol- by Bob Smith Since the Vietnam war, military vet- unteer at the Philadelphia International Brandywine Peace Community erans have spoken out about U.S. war Airport, and the mother of a son seri- policies in increasing numbers. Veter- ously wounded in Iraq. The fact of the war in Iraq remains death, ans for Peace is now a vital part of the A litany of healing and peace was an occasion of mourning. The fact is peace movement landscape. But since offered by Rev. Frederick Boyle of that the war and the ensuing occupa- last spring’s invasion of Iraq, families Titusville, N.J., who was part of a Chris- tion were the result of lies. of troops in Iraq, including those who tian peacemaking team in Iraq a month The Dover-DC Trail of Mourning have lost loved ones, are also speaking before last spring’s bombardment. Then and Truth ended on March 15 at the out against the war and military occu- the Trail of Mourning & Truth took to White House where the deaths being pation. A wonderful association of sup- foot, walking 6 miles to LaFayette Park mourned, the war being protested, and port called Military Families Speak Out across from the White House which, the lies on which the deaths and the (MFSO) provided the moral authority with security construction surrounding war rested, all began. to begin the Trail of Mourning and Truth it, looks more like a fortress than “the The idea was to travel to Washing- at the Dover Air Force Base. people’s house” described by Thomas ton, D.C. and to the White House in rec- At noon on March 14, people began Jefferson. ognition of the unacknowledged toll of arriving at the Camden, Delaware Friends From LaFayette Park, the names of this war and military occupation. Hun- Meeting for the procession. A Muslim U.S. and Iraqi war dead were broadcast dreds of U.S. troops have died, as have iman and a Native American elder dedi- and placed in a coffin to be delivered to thousands of Iraqis. But where do the cated the opening procession with the White House. The hundreds of bodies come home—at least the U.S. prayers for the dead and for peace, and people gathered in LaFayette Park fell bodies— in their “transfer tubes”? several hundred people began the 3.5 mile in behind the coffin as we began to ne- The Dover Air Force Base is lo- walk to Dover Air Force Base surrounded gotiate our way out of the park, no easy cated 50 miles south of Philadelphia just by reporters, cameras, and TV crews. feat with numerous TV crews and pho- outside of Dover, Del. It is where all U.S. At the gates to the base, a service tographers surrounding the coffin. troops killed in action are returned in lead by Nancy Lessin of MFSO and Chanting “Mourn the Dead, End the anonymity. Since the end of the Viet- myself began with Jane Bright speak- War,” we arrived at the one narrow and nam war, the press has been banned ing of her son killed in Iraq. Bagpipes heavily guarded sidewalk from which from the base. Families of the dead, also played, and one by one mothers and one can approach the White House. barred from the base, must wait on the fathers read the names of their sons and There, we were met by uniformed secret military delivery plan of their loved ones. daughters and of Iraqis killed in Iraq. service police who announced that only Fernando Suarez, who was in Iraq as those with ID passes could proceed any part of a peace delegation last winter, farther. Pledge Movie Night read the first names: “Bush lied and who Ellen Barfield from Veterans for died? My son, Jesus!” Peace and I then proceeded to speak April 30, 7:30 pm Charles Rangel, representative from with the secret service police, who were At Peace Center of Delaware Cty. New York and chair of the Congressional shortly reinforced by district police with Black Caucus, was joined by a number of In our spirit of democratic participa- night sticks drawn. We demanded that speakers that included Michael Hoffman we be allowed to pass and deliver the tion, the audience will decide by ma- from Bucks County and a Marine veteran jority vote which film we run, followed names of the war dead to the White of last spring’s invasion. The service con- House. When asked if we had passes by a discussion. Coordinated by Bob cluded with a litany and a response of Small. to proceed, I said: “The names of the “We mourn, speaking truth to lies, for the war dead—U.S. and Iraqi—are our Duck Soup—the Marx Brothers sake of peace.” passes.” But we could not pass, so we present their brand of Marxism and Day two of the trail began with an waited and waited. After an hour, sit- politics early morning drive from Baltimore to ting before the police, with TV cameras Dr. Strangelove—the 1960s anti- the Walter Reed Army Medical Center and sound microphones overhead, we nuclear comedy in Washington, D.C. where many of the announced that the voice of democracy, U.S. troops wounded in Iraq are treated. The Day the Earth Stood Still— along with the fact of the war, had been Speakers included Bob McIlvaine, from barred from the White House just as 1950s Washington, alien friends or 9/11 Families for Peaceful Tomorrows invaders? democracy was sacrificed daily for the who lost his son in the terrorist attack sake of Bush’s war. We returned to Call 610-543-8427 or [email protected]. on the World Trade Center; Ellen LaFayette Park, carrying the coffin with Barfield and John Grant of Veterans for the names of the war dead inside. 4 of Israel are allowed to fly. Musings on Web News Buzzflash.com is a clearinghouse for information on the progressive movement that has the most links I’ve Second in a series on mass media com- Marilyn Lois Polak writes for ever seen on a website. Worthwhile munications www.wnd.com every Wednesday. websites recommended to me are Our local IMC website antiwar.org, AUG.Com.org, and by Bob Small (www.Phillly.IMC.org) can be good; oped.com. they have a variety of links including The World Socialist website is at The Internet is still the hardest to cen- Protest.Net (listing planned protests www.wsws.org. I personally enjoy sor of all media outlets. Any media worldwide). The main IMC website Workers World, www.workers.org, be- where both the American Nazi Party and NYC.Indymedia.org is the place to go cause I occasionally find news I don’t the RCP can coexist is probably too for IMC listings throughout the coun- hear about other places. They’re liter- much free speech for some people, but I try and the world. Democracy Now, ate and have a sense of history, even if find it exhilarating, even if some of the banned from Temple Radio’s WRTI they do occasionally get into PC Left opinions are disgusting. years ago, can now be found on rants. The Militant can also be rantful For mainstream (read center-right) democracynow.org. but again has news you can use at news, I became addicted to MSNBC, My choice for best British paper is www.militant.com. Almost every Left and I still find that while they try to give the London Independent, www. political party worth it’s Marxist salt has the best face to Bush—not an easy indymedia.org, and not just for Robert a website, and many have their own task—they generally get the facts more Fisk. It’s interesting to see how Blair is version of the news. correct than CNN or others. regarded in some circles. Another En- Lastly, two political party websites, I started perusing The New York glish paper worth reading or skimming, www.politics1.com and www/ Times once Rush Limbaugh ranted that is The Guardian, www.Guardian.co.uk. politicalresources.net are accessible it was “A Leftist journal.” Their top 25 For Middle East news, there is through Netscape. There you will find stories are worth keeping as a favorite. English.aljazeera.net for Al-Jazeera. It’s The Confederate Party of America along He’s mistaken again, of course, but both called the CNN of the Arab world though with The Pot Party next to The Prohibi- Maureen Dowd and Thomas Friedman I think it is slightly more objective than tion Party and The Puritan Party. These are wonderful writers, both going to bed CNN. There is also The Palestine are the two most complete listings I at night praying that Dennis Kuhinich Chronicle at palestinechronicle.com. have found for what is called alterna- does not, somehow, become the Dems For opinions on another side, there is tive political parties, which is what the candidate, as they might then have to The Jerusalem Post, www.jpost.com, Republicans were in 1856. make a very tough decision in ’04. and Ha’aretz at www.haaretzdaily.com, I can be reached at [email protected] Locally, we have a mixed bag. The one of the few places where the doves or P. O. Box 449, Swarthmore, PA 19081. Philadelphia Daily News and Inquirer websites are difficult to navigate. Since both the Philadelphia City Paper and Philadelphia Weekly are free, highly available, and open to a variety of opin- ions, they’re probably the best bet. I don’t know of any local TV web that’s not mainstream. The same can be said for our local radio webbies. One publication I haunt weekly is New York Press (www.newyorkpress. com) because the writing is uniformly fascinating. Whether it’s right-wing Russ Smith ranting or left-winger James Tabbi on Bush, the writing is barely short of inflammatory. Recently, they’ve added Paul Krassner, formerly of The Realist, to add some of that old Left Wing religion. Lastly, there’s Jim Knipfel, late of the late Welcomat (before it be- came the more refined Philadelphia Weekly) who writes perhaps the most consistently erratic column. Philly’s own 5
Address correction requested correction Address
Swarthmore, PA 19081 PA Swarthmore,
PO Box 309 Box PO Delaware County Pledge of Resistance of Pledge County Delaware
Haiti, continued all of whom were involved in the 1991 the embargo. But our Republican-domi- military coup. Now we are hearing alle- nated Congress never allowed these the privatization demand and the de- gations, still unproven, that the U.S. bills to get out of committee. mand for structural readjustment, later supplied arms and training via the Do- Finally, there is evidence of recent because of political instability. Finally, minican Republic that supported the coup direct U.S. actions aimed at overthrow- there were accusations of manipulations makers. ing the Aristide government. Secretary in the May 2000 parliament elections. Over the past years there have been of State Powell said, “Frankly there is About $500 million in transfers were political murders. The disputed election no enthusiasm for sending in military blocked, including loans that required led to the dissolution of the parliament. or police forces to put down the vio- interest payments and non-interest The failure of law enforcement led to lence,” tacitly giving permission for the grants directed to improve medical care, anarchy, and, finally, both pro- and anti- continuation of the insurrection. Our including an AIDS program, and for Aristide bands roamed, pillaged, and leaders than announced that President education. Certainly, economic sanc- terrorized. Officials of the Organization Aristide must resign. Then our troops tions and embargoes have been used of American States tried to mediate with intervened, resulting in the direct re- by the U.S. government in the past to both sides and recommended that the moval of President Aristide from the achieve political and corporate ambi- embargo be lifted. The U.S. House of National Palace and from Haiti. tions. Farmer has movingly described Representative’s black caucus intro- Kite Ayiti viv (Let Haiti Live) has the effect of the economic sanctions on duced legislation that would have ended been AMBU.S.HED. the Haitian people where the medical and educational programs and law en- forcement could not operate. Haiti’s fragile economy collapsed which engen- FORUM-TEACH-A-THON ON dered political chaos, starvation, and RECENT EVENTS IN HAITI health crises. In addition to this, ominously, it WHEN: Friday May 21, 2004, 7:30 pm became clear that the U.S. was support- ing a political party, the Democratic Con- WHERE: The Peace Center in Springfield, Pa. vergence, which opposed President SPEAKERS: Aristide and his base of support, the Franz Latour, columnist, NYC Progressive Newsletter, Lavalas Party. It is public knowledge that Philadelphia Haiti Community Center U.S. funds flowed to the Democratic Convergence Party, reputably made up, Lynn Biddle, Witness for Peace, Delco Pledge in part, of FRAPH people, the Ton Ton Ronald Coburn, Delco Pledge, Quaker Haiti Interest Group Macoutes who were loyal to the For info, call 610-543-8427 Duvalier dictators, and former soldiers, 6