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Fall 2007

Maine Peace Action Committee Newsletter, October 2007

Maine Peace Action Committee

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This Newsletter is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@UMaine. It has been accepted for inclusion in General University of Maine Publications by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@UMaine. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Maine Peace Action Committee STATEMENT OF PURPOSE

he Maine Peace Action Committee If we direct our energy and other We find we can act effectively if we focus T(MPAC) was founded in 1974 with a resources into weapons systems, there is on a limited number of specific issues and special focus on ending the war in little left for creative solutions to problems campaigns. We need projects which can: Indochina. MPAC has been concerned with such as the world food and fuel shortages 1. unite people within our group our society’s violent and militaristic nature, which threaten our survival. which is manifested in a lack of humane 2. provide opportunities for action result- We have seen human needs are ing in measurable achievement and progressive values and a tendency neglected by an existing government, and towards solving problems via destructive when that government represses groups 3. link our efforts with national campaigns; means. attempting to meet those needs, violent and Our general orientation takes the double upheaval has resulted. Our government’s 4. demonstrate the dynamics of militarism focus of analyzing and opposing militarism, military economic support for such repres- and imperialism. or the efforts to use nuclear weapons and sive regimes has embroiled us in armed For our activities to be successful, we other military means to solve human prob- conflicts which have escalated to full scale need to educate ourselves about issues, lems, and imperialism, or the efforts by war and could mean inevitable global analyze the contributing factors, investigate powerful nations to use economic and mili- destruction. alternative solutions, decide strategy for tary means to impose their will upon less We support efforts to deal with each of implementing alternatives, and share our powerful peoples. these problems since we see them as result- understanding with the community to enlist Our nation’s pursuit of these policies ing and contributing to an economic and their support. undermines its ability to deal with the needs political system over which most of us have MPAC believes that people united and of its own citizens and places us in greater little control. working together can redefine our values danger of war. Our tax dollars are used to We in MPAC believe that while none of and change our approach to problems so develop first strike capable weapons and to these efforts by itself can bring about a that we shall be able to live in a free and support repressive regimes abroad. completely just society, together we can creative society; indeed, such efforts are Consequently, there are fewer dollars avail- work toward more comprehensive solu- imperative if we are to survive. able for needed human services both here tions. We feel that we can best contribute and abroad. by challenging militarism and imperialism and proposing alternatives to these policies.

Table of Contents Vol. 33, No. 1 • Fall 2007

Statement of Purpose ...... 1 The Iraq War and Occupation: What is to be done? ...... Doug Allen ...... 2 Why Universal Single-Payer Health Care is the Right Choice ...... Anna Sweeney ...... 5 Why IMMEDIATE Withdrawal? ...... Andrea Johnsen ...... 7 War Profiteering 101 Or: How I learned to stop worrying about war crimes tribunals and enjoy a good war ...... 8 Religion and Violence Today: Part II ...... Doug Allen ...... 10 Shadow of a Dictator: Reflections on Pinochet ...... Molly Haley and Jeff Hake ...... 13 Preoccupations ...... Adam Davis ...... 14 Ten Reasons Voting Democrat Isn’t Enough ...... David Reid ...... 15 Peace & Justice Film Series Available at Fogler ...... Martin Wallace ...... 15

What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty or democracy?

— Mahatma Gandhi, Non-Violence in Peace and War

Visit the MPAC website: http://www.umaine.edu/mpac/ Page 2 MPAC Newsletter

THE IRAQ WAR AND OCCUPATION: WHAT IS TO BE DONE? Note: On September 27, 2007, I presented the Also I want to note that recently there’s so corrupt and so beholden to sectarian reli- following information and analysis for the weekly been an upsurge in the position that gious forces and militias that there are limits Socialist and Marxist Studies Lecture Series that is Senator Olympia Snowe has now taken and to what we Americans can do. Our best are sponsored by the Marxist-Socialist Studies that many Democrats in the House and being sacrificed. It’s time to pull back. Interdisciplinary Minor and cosponsored by Senate now express and that is taken by the Let me make clear that I totally reject MPAC, Campus Activities and Events, and the media to be “antiwar.” These so-called anti- College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. In this this position that claims to be antiwar. It war politicians disagree with over 75% of article, I have retained the informal style of the places all of the blame for this disaster on what I’m going to present. Their recent presentation. the Iraqis. It reveals a lot of arrogance, “antiwar” position goes something like this. racism, and the typical colonial attitude toward the other. So let me indicate my position very briefly and then give you the lessons behind my position. My Position y position is we should end funding Mfor the Iraq War and occupation. My position is that we should remove all troops, and we should remove all private contac- tors, roughly the size of the U.S. military occupation force. This removal should take place as soon as possible, which can be done in a matter of months, not years. We should also eliminate the plans that call for perma- nent U.S. military bases in Iraq. Current plans are to have at least six major bases in Iraq, many of which have been removed from Saudi Arabia and will be established and maintained in Iraq permanently. We should cut back on the expensive and extravagant U.S. Embassy in Baghdad that Introduction is now being finished as the largest U.S. The problem in Iraq is the Iraqis. They embassy in the world. Of great significance, he Iraq war and occupation dominate don’t deserve our generosity. We have sacri- U.S. corporations do not have the right to the news but usually without any T ficed, through our blood and economically, control the oil of Iraq, which is what our understanding of the lessons of why I have but the Iraqis are so corrupt that they are government intends through their deter- arrived at my present position. It’s easy to unwilling to bring about the political mined attempts to push through oil legisla- be against the war. Polls show at least 70% changes required for stability, security, and tion that forces on Iraqis very profitable in the U.S. say they are against the war. The democracy. Those Iraqi politicians we are arrangements for foreign corporate inter- percentage of opposition globally is even now attacking are often our people; we put ests. higher. The current situation in Iraq is very into office, and they were supposed to messy. If I were presenting this ten years represent our interests. But in fact they are ago, five years ago, or three years ago, I could have more easily presented a position as to how we should change our policy with limited damage. It’s now very messy and violent, whether the U.S. military and corporations stay in or quickly leave, and it’s going to be very messy and violent in Iraq’s future. I think it’s unfair to ask of the antiwar movement that we must provide some noncontroversial blueprint—that’s going to guarantee, for example, that Iraqis aren’t going to slaughter each other—before we pull out. The assumption is that Iraqis are not already slaughtering each other and hundreds of thousands of people are not already dying in Iraq. Such a demand is an unfair burden placed on us, and is used by U.S. policymakers to perpetuate their war and occupation of terror, militarism, and imperial economic exploitation. But I’ll present what I think is the best course of action where there are no easy guaranteed Banners and Pictures of Iraqi Civilians at the End the War! Build the Peace! Rally on Sept. 29, 2007 in solutions. Bangor (All photos in this article are by Judy Rusk.) Fall 2007 THE IRAQ WAR AND OCCUPATION: WHAT IS TO BE DONE? (continued) Page 3

At the same time, I’m not an isolationist. you know more about Iraqi culture, history, So I support diplomatic efforts to deal with religion, and U.S. policies, you come up the crisis in Iraq. This should be done with different conclusions as to what needs through the United Nations. It should to be done. involve the neighbors of Iraq. It should Secondly, there are all kinds of lessons involve other Islamic countries. There about militarism. It’s very tempting for the should be all kinds of initiatives. There’s a U.S. to impose unilateral military force and, need for international peacekeepers. as with Iraq, preemptive military force. It’s There’s a need for Iraqi peace conferences very tempting because military force is the involving dialogue and negotiations. I one area where the U.S. has overwhelming believe in the need for multibillion-dollar superiority. We now spend more on the reparations. I believe there have to be all military than all the other nations in the kinds of efforts toward reconciliation and world combined. So it’s tempting to forgo trust building. diplomatic and other measures and simply So I do favor a proactive stance, but not use your overwhelming military superiority under the conditions that I am about to lay to impose your will on others. This is very out, which are conditions of U.S. domina- dangerous, for example, when we are now tion and control. And the most important talking about and planning for preemptive lesson in terms of what has to be done is to military strikes on and invasion of Iran. The change U.S. foreign policy. Iraq is a micro- same scenario is being played out among Gold Star Mother Mary Alice Horrigan, who lost cosm that illustrates general lessons of U.S. the planners. The same militarists who led her son in Iraq, addresses End the War Rally. priorities and policies at home and abroad us into the Iraq disaster are talking about that need to be changed. So what I now new preventive strikes and new militarist us are “evil.” Therefore, we are justified in intend to do is to delineate five lessons. My policies and actions. To do this they see the imposing our priorities, views, and values position is that you have to understand the need for permanent military bases in Iraq so on Iraqis and on the whole world. This is lessons of Iraq in order to understand what that the U.S. will be the dominant military really in the best interests of others whether needs to be done. force in the region. Instead, we must learn they know it or not. the real lessons of failed U.S. militarism in There are many lessons about U.S. impe- Five Lessons from the Iraq War and Iraq and the need to change such policies. rialism in Iraq that we must learn in decid- Occupation Thirdly, there are the lessons about ing what is to be done. There are clear ne lesson we can call ignorance. imperialism that to me are even more lessons of occupation that involve the OIgnorance of our policymakers and important and shape the first two lessons. lessons of resistance: that people don’t ignorance of the public. Ignorance about Here we find lessons about the imperialist simply submit to imperial domination and Iraq’s history. Ignorance about Iraq’s reli- imperative of global domination; lessons control. We continue to devalue and under- gions. Ignorance about Iraq’s culture. And about policies being driven by multinational estimate the resistance Iraqis have to occu- also, especially on the part of the public, and transnational, dominant, corporate pation by dismissing them as evil religious ignorance of past U.S. policies toward Iraq interests. In this case of the Iraq war and fanatics, “insurgents,” and “terrorists.” And and that region. We are a little better occupation, central are the interests and there are lessons in this regard about terror- informed than we were in l990–1 leading up power of the oil companies with their need ism, if you want to put it in the framework to the first Gulf War or in 2002–3 leading to control Iraqi oil. This is a key part of the of Washington’s “war on terror.” up to the latest invasion and Iraq war and need of the U.S. economic, military, and Before the U.S. invasion of Iraq in occupation, but there is still mass igno- political elite to build and maintain the U.S. March 2003, Iraq was not a center of terror- rance. As Santayana told us, those who do global empire as part of this imperialist ism. Saddam Hussein was a brutal dictator, not learn from history are doomed to repeat venture, where the whole world becomes including the period of the 1980s when he it. You hear leading media figures, politi- your “back yard” and you have vital inter- was a major U.S. ally and when he killed cians, and corporate leaders, as well as ordi- ests everywhere. As part of this imperialism, and tortured the most people. When the nary citizens, spouting the same self-serving as seen in U.S. policies toward Iraq, we arro- U.S. invaded and occupied Iraq, Saddam stereotypes and misinformed views. So we gantly proclaim we in fact have “the truth” Hussein did not have weapons of mass have to deal with the ignorance. Because if and we are “good” while those who oppose destruction, and Iraq had no connection with terrorist attacks of 9-11. As a matter of fact, Saddam Hussein was a secular leader, who suppressed religious Islamic forces and had little use for Al Qaeda and that kind of religious ideology. What we do know is that Iraq was not a center of terrorism, but it is now certainly a center of terrorism. The U.S. occupation of Iraq, rather than being a force of liberation, has served as a visible catalyst, a major source of recruitment, for creating, developing, and increasing anti- American terrorism. The fourth lesson is a very simple one that I’ll simply call lies and manipulation.We were lied to. You can use euphemistic language indicating that information was used selectively, that some information was suppressed, and that we were misled and not told the whole truth. But the truth is Mourning the Iraqi and U.S. dead that we were lied to right from the begin- Page 4 THE IRAQ WAR AND OCCUPATION: WHAT IS TO BE DONE? (continued) MPAC Newsletter ning. So we have to ask ourselves: “What tion of Iraq. One finds this anti-American have a responsibility to stay. We broke it, so are the real reasons for the invasion and feeling even among those who are supposed we need to stay to fix it. I’m not just talking occupation of Iraq?” What does this say to be traditional U.S. allies. This is why about the neoconservatives who took us about “democracy” in a society where those people throughout the world find George into the war and other hardliners who use in charge manipulate information, lie to us, Bush and his policies the greatest threat to this kind of argument as a pretense for and use the corporate media to mislead and world peace and a greater threat to the continuing with their objectives of U.S. to control us? Part of any vibrant democracy survival of humankind than the policies of militarism, imperialism, and empire. I’m is that the people have information and can Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaeda. also talking about genuinely well-inten- make informed decisions. There has to be a In terms of the disaster of the Iraq war tioned U.S. citizens who say we owe it to the decent level of trust. And one of the lessons and occupation, we should have learned Iraqi people to stay. Let me say that there’s of the Iraq war and occupation is that there the lesson that you don’t combat terrorism something here about this attitude that is no reason today for us to trust our politi- with more terror, including the intended always bothers me. Even when it’s well cal, military, and corporate leaders when U.S. shock and awe terror. You don’t terror- intentioned, it reflects a neocolonial, impe- they recycle and repackage their lies of the ize people into submission. Gandhi was rialist attitude. U.S. Americans talk about past and claim that staying the course and correct on that. You have to find ways to Iraq as “our problem” and how “we need to spending hundreds of billions of dollars break the causal links of violence and terror, fix it.” This often strikes me as similar to the more is in the best interest of the U.S. and rather than exacerbating the cause-effect, old colonial, imperialist attitude toward the Iraqi people. And what makes the means-ends, escalating cycles of violence “the natives” who had been colonized and deceiving, manipulating, and lying really and terror, as have the U.S. war and occu- then needed to be helped by those who had criminal and obscene is that they have led pation done in Iraq. dominated them. to the unnecessary death of hundreds of Yes, Iraq has a big problem, and it is up thousands of innocent human beings and And finally, when we think of the lessons of the disastrous war and occupation, are to Iraqis to fix it. It’s their country. No one the suffering of countless millions in Iraq, in gave the U.S. the right and the power to be the U.S., and throughout the world. we more secure? I think that most people would agree we are far less secure. And I in a position of domination determining And finally we have to learn many refer to real security on every level, not just what is best for Iraq. Such an attitude in the lessons from the disaster of Iraq. As previ- U.S. foreign policy, but as also including U.S. is arrogant and obscene, especially ously noted, more than 70% of Americans decent healthcare for all, a safe and sustain- when the U.S. has already been responsible are now against the war. It’s been a disaster. able environment, good jobs with adequate for killing hundreds of thousands of people Even increasing numbers of Republicans pay, and adequate funding of education and for so much suffering. Yes, we certainly and conservatives, who may only be necessary for a secure, meaningful, demo- do owe something to Iraqis. We owe a lot to concerned with U.S. economic and military cratic society. In all of these areas, we are the Iraqis because of all the damage and power and domination, grasp that the Bush much less secure than we were and that’s suffering we have created, but it’s not for us Administration policies toward Iraq have directly related to the costs of the war and to occupy and determine the future of Iraq. been a disaster. The war and occupation the priorities of those who promote and It’s for Iraqis to decide. In terms of the real have been a disaster in terms of the physical profit from war. lessons of the Iraq war and occupation, we cost. Let’s talk about close to 4,000 dead See WHAT IS TO BE DONE? on Page 7 Americans, although the figure is a lot Conclusion on the Iraq higher than that based on how officials War and Occupation calculate who actually counts as a war n concluding what needs death. Thousands more are physically to be done, it is important damaged and psychologically damaged for I to keep in mind that the life. But we rarely talk about the hundreds U.S. is involved in a foreign of thousands of Iraqis who have lost their occupation. The U.S. in Iraq lives, 90% of whom are children, women, has nothing to do liberation. and other innocent civilians. We talk about We are seen as an occupy- the financial costs. We now have spent 500 ing, not a liberating force. billion dollars on the war, and the What we’re doing in Iraq, as Administration is about to receive another seen in the results of our 200 billion dollars. So there’s physical, military force and the psychological, and financial damage. And private corporate contrac- I’m not even describing the disaster to Iraq tors, is to increase insecurity, where the real devastation has taken place. terrorism, suffering, and Another disaster is the erosion of our devastation. We are now rights and freedoms. We should be very part of the problem, not part worried about being pawns in the manipu- of the solution. The fact lated game of fear effectively used by policy- that polls consistently show makers to deflect our attention and to that 75% or more of Iraqis undermine basic principles of our U.S. want us to leave is revealing. Constitution and Bill or Rights. We are Even those Iraqis who supposed to give up more and more of our favored overthrowing rights and freedoms so that the Bush Saddam Hussein are now Administration can attack “the enemy” in telling us to leave. Iraq before “they” attack us here. This is a How do our policymak- big danger for American democracy if we ers, leading politicians, and don’t learn from this lesson of disaster. establishment media Another serious disaster, beyond respond? We are told that Lady Liberty was viewed as lying “in state” as we mourned our loss anything I’ve experienced in my lifetime, is we owe something to Iraq, of liberties. Then during a responsive reading of the Declaration of the level and extent of anti-American feel- Independence, she was revived and raised as we reclaimed our so we can’t leave now. We rights and freedoms. ing generated by the U.S. war and occupa- Fall 2007 Page 5

WHY UNIVERSAL SINGLE-PAYER HEALTH CARE IS THE RIGHT CHOICE n the United States 47 million people are Why are Americans Iuninsured and millions more are underin- spending so much on sured, with deductibles of over $5000 per health care? year per family member. In fact, studies by The myth is that the Institute of Medicine show that 18,000 consumers drive up the Americans die each year as a result of lack cost of health care by of health insurance. The sad fact is that overusing their benefits even though the United States spends far and insisting on the very more in terms of gross domestic product best care. This is far from (GDP) on healthcare than other industrial- the truth. Americans do ized countries, Americans are the least not have more frequent or protected in terms of health care rights. longer hospital stays or Our infant mortality and life expectancy visit the doctor more often rates, which are the generally accepted indi- than the citizens of other cators of health, lag behind comparable industrialized countries. industrialized countries with national Americans also do not health care systems. receive more highly tech- Why do most other industrialized nological care than people countries have well established in these comparable coun- national health care systems and tries. In fact Europeans the United States still does not? and Japanese get many more highly techno- What about rationing? logical tests, such as computed tomography The brief answer is that the U.S. does Many people are scared by the tales of (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging Canadian health care rationing. The truth not have a “labor party” or a strong labor (MRI) scans, than Americans do. The cost movement, representing the working class. is that health care is currently rationed in and the results just do not add up in any the United States. It’s just that in the U.S. This has been shown to be a common factor way that makes sense. in countries that adopt single-payer univer- it’s rationed on an ability to pay system. If sal health care plans. After World War II, The main cause for the exorbitant disso- you are rich or have good health insurance when other countries were building strong nance between American health care costs, you receive immediate care; if you are labor movements and struggling to create and the health benefits actually available to working class with bad health insurance you health and welfare promoting government most citizens has to do with our for profit wait until you are really sick and then you agencies, the United States was engaging in system. There is approximately $50 billion a go to the doctor and become debt ridden; if a cold war with the Soviet Union. The fear year in profit taken out of our health care you are poor, you never get treatment until mongering, most widely recognized in the system, and this figure is miniscule it’s an immediate life threatening situation McCarthyism of the 1950’s, part of the compared to the amount of money that is and maybe you die, you’re in debt, or your second red scare, caused many unions and spent extracting it. About $350 billion per bill is written off by the hospital. In fact, the labor movements to be gutted and forced year is spent on bureaucratic costs that major cause for personal bankruptcy in this them to operate in a survival mode, under perform non-health care related functions country is medical bill debt. constant attack as “communists”. Thus, to distribute health care according to ability Although Canada’s system is not perfect, money that could have been spent on estab- to pay and enforce the collection of profit it at least has a more equitable system for its lishing a world-class single-payer universal by insurance companies, for-profit hospitals, health care rationing, when it is necessary. health care system was then spent on an and the drug industry. In addition, insur- The rationing in Canada is based on the arms race with the Soviet Union leading to ance companies are unregulated in terms of urgency of the needed procedure, which is the military industrial complex. pricing and benefits, and any health care perhaps not ideal, but much more reason- plan that includes them will ultimately be able and humane than the current unaffordable. American system. In addition, the rationing And any plan that includes subsidizing in Canada appears to be caused by govern- individuals, a la Massachusetts and Mitt ment cuts in healthcare funding, leaving Romney, to get them to buy health insur- room for the private medical industry to ance plans, which are often limited in bene- grow. fits, with high deductibles and low total The current strategy in Canada seems to benefit ceilings, are essentially taking tax be similar to the strategy in public educa- payer dollars and giving them directly to tion in the U.S. The government under- insurance companies, who are taking a large funds it to the point of breaking down and percentage of each dollar for private profits, then attacks it for its inadequacies. and providing a poorer product in return. Canadians are struggling against these Basically, poor and working class people will changes because they appreciate having still have policies that have high universal health care. The reality is that, deductibles and low benefit ceilings. The even with its problems, Canada’s health bottom line is that health insurance premi- statistics are superior to U.S. statistics, and ums have risen 87% since 2000, while patient outcomes for those treated are basi- worker earnings have only risen 20%, so cally the same. Meanwhile the average even subsidized, good insurance policies will American spends about twice as much on be unaffordable for most people. medical care as the average Canadian. Page 6 UNIVERSAL SINGLE-PAYER HEALTH CARE (continued) MPAC Newsletter

What’s the role of inequality in Essentially, the gap, health and health care? consisting of the 17% and 19% now paid by individuals Health care is a human right, much in and employers, could be filled the same way that food, shelter, education, with a 7% payroll tax (paid by security, and liberty are. And access should employers) and a 2% income not be based on ability to pay. It’s not some- tax (paid by individuals). thing, like a cell phone or new car, that a These taxes would replace all person can reasonably decide not to current employer and individ- acquire. And in the United States, it is ual health care costs. For most incredibly expensive, out of the realm of people this tax increase would possibility for many people, even if they go be far less than they currently without any “extras” and work full time. spend on insurance premi- This is simply unacceptable in the wealthi- ums, co-pays, deductibles, or est nation in the world. waiting until their illness is One of the things that makes the U.S. severe before accessing health unique among the industrialized nations of care. And for businesses that are currently then paying again through the exorbitant the world is that it is the most economically providing or subsidizing health care this prices of many medications. Studies actu- unequal. Many believe that this, in addition would be a substantial savings. ally show that clinical research tends to to lack of access to health care, is a major It would be a shared responsibility with decrease when areas become more involved reason for the relatively poor U.S. health an equitable result because everybody with HMOs. statistics. Studies reveal that social inequal- would have the same access to health care. In a universal single-payer system where ity is an independent factor in determining This would include medical, hospital, eye, profit for companies is not a concern, we as health, and that as social inequality dental, long-term, and mental health care. a society can collectively decide which increases; health worsens for ALL members Plus we would be able to cut out approxi- areas of research are most important to us. of that society. As costs for basic necessities mately $200 billion per year of the current We could explore preventative and non- such as food, housing, education, childcare $400 billion ($50 billion of profit and $350 medication based treatments much more and health care have risen, wages have billion to extract the profit) spent in the thoroughly and frequently. Under the stagnated and benefits packages through elimination of profit and overhead which current system, because it is based on employers have shrunken or disappeared. goes to things like paperwork, CEO salaries, monetary profits for companies, these This inequality can be demonstrated by the profits, and other non-clinical costs. All of companies have no incentive to apply for average CEO to average worker pay ratio; this would keep quality of care up and government research funding grants that which is around 400:1, when in 1980 it was health worker wages at the current levels. study prevention, because ultimately the around 40:1. Medicare has only a 3% overhead, while companies only make a profit when people How will we pay for universal HMOs typically carry an overhead of 15- are sick and need health equipment or single-payer health care? 25%. And for every dollar spent on private medication. insurance, 85 cents is spent on care, while According to Physicians for a National for every dollar spent on Medicare, 97 cents Why is health care so important? Health Program, paying for universal is spent on care. The bottom line is that health is a single-payer health care could be quite Another cost saving and quality of life universal concern. Everyone needs access simple. Right now 64% of the U.S health- to health care in order to live a fulfilling life, care system is financed by public funds (e.g. enhancing product of single-payer universal health care is that people will seek treat- and in some cases, to live at all. Health is at taxes). This pays for Medicare, Medicaid, the core of who we are, how we see the VA, public employees, elected officials, ment early which is when diseases are more successfully and affordably treatable. ourselves, and what sort of life we will lead. military personnel, and large tax subsidies Everyone deserves to be as healthy as they to employers who help employees pay for Preventative care will become more preva- lent. A major problem with the current for can be, because without health, there is no their health insurance. Individual out-of- safety, no loving and belonging, no confi- pocket expenses account for 17% of U.S. profit health care system is that there’s not a lot of money to be made in prevention. dence and achievement, and no self-actual- health care costs. And private employers ization (from Maslow’s hierarchy of needs). pay the remaining 19%. But there is a lot to be saved when people seek care earlier and can access more Recently, I heard a Cuban doctor describe preventative care. health care, as a form of love, which makes the term health care make a lot more sense. What happens to medical In addition, health is a form of power, research and drug and the knowledge and provision of health research? care puts one in a position of power. And The truth is that much of history shows that power consolidated is medical and drug research done generally power abused. Health care should now in the United States is not be used as a tool to create profits for a already publicly funded by the privileged and wealthy minority, it should government through depart- be used to empower as many people as ments such as the National possible to become effective and fulfilled Institutes of Health. human beings. And effective and fulfilled Pharmaceutical companies are human beings are the basis for a safe, then invited in to market the productive, and enjoyable society. medication after the expensive — Anna Sweeney trials have taken place. So essen- tially tax payers are subsidizing research that is making drug companies extremely rich, and Fall 2007 Page 7

WHY IMMEDIATE WITHDRAWAL? e need to remove our military from is not working toward a stabilizing effect. WIraq now. Iraq is a mess, and we are We can’t do anything about religious responsible. Some feel that because we are tension that already exists. Iraq will be responsible for all of this devastation, we unstable, but it already is. have a responsibility to stay and “fix it”. We Iraq needs to rebuild Iraq. It is their do have a responsibility to acknowledge country. They must be in charge of rebuild- what we have done is wrong, and do every- ing it. They do not need our direct inter- thing we can to help Iraq. It is what will vention in their healing process. They need help Iraq that needs to be understood. their neighbors, not us. We have no busi- Our military occupation of Iraq does not ness telling them what to do with their help Iraq in any way. The military is not country. trained to rebuild Iraq. The military’s pres- We need to formally acknowledge that ence only maintains conflict. It is perpetu- what we have done is wrong; that we are According to a nationwide survey conducted ating “terrorism” we have created. We by the Pew Research Center for the People responsible for hundreds of thousands of and the Press October 17–23, 2007, cannot have five military stations (or the deaths, and massive destruction. We need world’s largest embassy) in Iraq. We have to stop using our country’s resources for 54 percent not been given permission by Iraq. What military occupation, and we need to start will we do without a stronghold in the giving them resources for reparation. of respondents think the United States Middle East? We won’t be able to attack should bring its troops home from Iraq Iran. What will we do without oil? It does- —Andrea Johnsen as soon as possible. This figure has remained consistent since July 2007. n’t matter because it is not ours. We have no right to be controlling Iraq’s oil. It’s not their fault that our country has developed to such a high level of oil dependence, and we need to address this issue with a new approach. Instead of stealing oil to continue our oil-dependent system, we need to address the issue of our oil-dependence. Opponents of withdrawal may argue that if we remove our troops, Iraq will become unstable, and the religious tension will esca- late. However, Iraq is already unstable. It is evident that our presence has not been and

WHAT IS TO BE DONE? (continued from Page 4)

owe Iraq billions of dollars in reparations. We should be working with others to try to restore the healthcare system and to rebuild the hospitals and medical facilities. We should be concerned about the need for clean water, electricity, education, job opportunities, and the infrastructure we have destroyed. That’s also the best way to deal with foreign terrorism and U.S. terror- ism that has devastated Iraq. But it’s not for us to impose our will. We can do all of this while removing our American military forces, closing down our military bases, cutting off military funds, and removing our corporate private contractors that have been essential to our failed Iraq war and occupation. —Doug Allen Page 8 MPAC Newsletter

WAR PROFITEERING 101 OR: How I learned to stop worrying about war crimes tribunals and enjoy a good war The following is a transcript from an address given 3. Don’t overlook the “poor” coun- by former Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, tries. These can be incredibly profitable. at Stanford University following his appointment Just because a country lacks the money to to the Hoover Institution. The title of the address provide basic necessities to its people does is: “War Profiteering 101: Or How I Learned to not mean that they do not have a military Stop Worrying About War Crimes Tribunals and budget. In fact, thanks to organizations like Enjoy a Good War.” the World Bank and the IMF, that may be Moderator: Tonight I am pleased to all they have. So don’t turn your nose up introduce to you a very distinguished war just because of famine or drought. profiteer. This person has been involved in a very direct way, with many of the great Case Study #3 U.S. Weapons sales war profiteering schemes of the late 20th to Third World Countries and early 21st centuries. He has recently According to a 2007 Congressional Study, retired from one of the preeminent war the U.S has maintained its position as the profiteering administrations in U.S. history number one supplier of weapons to third world where he was Secretary of Defense. In nations. In 2006, the U.S sold over $10.3 short, ladies and gentleman, along with Billion in weapons to developing nations. Vice President Dick Cheney, he is one of 4. Dictators are our friends. From the top war profiteers our country has Hitler to Saddam, dictators have been great produced. Ladies and Gentlemen, Donald Case Studies #1 Spanish American for the bottom line. If you’re really ambi- Rumsfeld. (applause) War, Vietnam tious, you can double up the profits just like Rumsfeld: Good evening Ladies and we did in Iraq. There is a certain beauty in Although certainly not the only two fabri- Gentlemen, Distinguished guests, major the simplicity of this type of operation. You campaign donors and, as I understand it, cated excuses for war, or the most recent, they there are even a few students in attendance are certainly two of the most infamous. In tonight. Thank you for inviting me to speak 1898, the USS Maine exploded in Havana bay on a subject that I have felt strongly about killing 266 crewmembers. The U.S. blamed the since my days in the Ford Administration. Spanish despite evidence that the explosion War Profiteering is often misunderstood by occurred internally. The Maine’s commander many people and I relish the opportunity cautioned against jumping to the conclusion tonight to set the record straight. that it was an enemy attack. U.S Newspapers, notably those owned by Hearst, called for war There are some basic fundamentals in with Spain. Two months later Congress war profiteering that I will try to touch base declared war. on tonight and then if there is time we can start out very simply, selling weapons to perhaps have a few questions from the audi- In Vietnam, it was the Tonkin Gulf incident. your friendly neighborhood dictator and ence. A U.S. destroyer, the USS Maddox was aggres- when profits begin to dry up or geo-political sively patrolling the North Vietnamese Tonkin factors shift, you simply attack that same 1. The biggest mistake that would-be Gulf trying to provoke an attack.. When none dictator. I’ve personally always considered war profiteers make is that they seem to came, the U.S. invented the attack as a pretext this more of a triple play, as it were, because believe that they have to wait for a war to for war leading the U.S. into a brutal and the new regime that you put in to replace start for the profits to start rolling in. This devastating war. the old dictator is going to need a strong couldn’t be further from the truth. In fact, if military to fight off the starving hordes of you’re waiting for a war to break out before 2. Don’t make the mistake of limiting citizens trying to survive. Don’t drop the you begin to make your move, you’re your profit potential to just one side of the ball too early and you’ll be glad you hung in already too late to the game. The experi- conflict. This “marketing myopia” is there. enced war profiteer does not sit back and common in newbies and it really doesn’t make any sense. I mean, it is incredibly diffi- wait. He sees opportunities before they Case Study #4 Iraq have fully developed, or better yet, he cult to fight a one-sided war, unless, of creates those opportunities from scratch. course, you control 100% of the media, so it During the 1970’s and 1980’s the United Creating a pretext for war is a time honored stands to reason that both sides will need States sold weapons to Saddam Hussein to help tradition in this country. Remember, a few weapons in increasing numbers as the him maintain control of Iraq with chemical thousand land mines or M-16 rifles can turn conflict rages on. weapons, as well as fight a war with Iran. In 1991, after Saddam had overstepped his a non-situation into a profit center for Case Study #2 The Iran/Iraq War generations to come. bounds by invading Kuwait, the United States Ronald Reagan wasn’t going to let a little invaded Iraq and controlled over half of the thing like “congressional oversight” prevent him country until the U.S decided to “invade” Iraq from reaching his full potential as a war profi- again to remove Saddam in 2003. teer and this is an important lesson that you can Subsequently, the U.S. is providing weapons use immediately in your own work. Don’t listen and training to the new Iraqi government. to the nay-sayers. Reagan was able to supply 5. Use fear to your advantage. I can’t weapons to both the Iraqis under Saddam stress this enough. Whatever you do to Hussein and the Iranians under the Ayatollah work the population into a fearful frenzy at the same time. Very few people in history will pay dividends almost immediately. A have had this type of drive and determination fearful population doesn’t question and it shows in the results. anything, especially spending. So keep your eyes open for opportunities to exploit the Fall 2007 WAR PROFITEERING 101 (continued) Page 9 fear that is out there. And if you take Tribunal at The Hague and anything with you as you leave the audito- the United Nations tend to rium this evening, remember this: The fear frown upon many of the that you are exploiting does not have to techniques you have have anything whatsoever to do with where outlined here. I certainly your profits are coming from. I’ll say that don’t want to end up in a again so you can have an opportunity to cell in some God-forsaken write this down. The fear that you are country. exploiting does not have to have anything Rumsfeld: (chuckling) whatsoever to do with where your profits You know your question are coming from. reminds me of the time Case Study #5 September 11, 2001 Hank Kissinger and I were on a plane heading to Spain In the spring of 2003, the United States, in for a spa treatment when response to the terrorist attacks of September the news hit that Hank 11, 2001, invaded and subsequently occupied would be too deeply involved in Iraq to might be wanted for crimes against human- Iraq claiming that they had weapons of mass even think about withdrawing. And we ity in the very country we were headed for! destruction. Iraq had no connections whatso- didn’t lose track of the bottom line. With (laughter from the audience) Luckily, for ever to the attacks and no weapons of mass one speech, we single-handedly drove up Hank anyway, we had a layover in London destruction have been found. the sales of duct tape and SUVs. Now and we simply got off the plane and had Moderator: I believe the Secretary has a that’s war profiteering! (applause) lunch with Tony Blair instead. But for few few minutes to take some questions from Second, keep in mind that you will not minutes there in the air it was touch and go. the audience. be able to convince everyone. There will be Seriously though, the War Crimes Tribunal liberals out there who and the United Nations and even the aren’t going to get Geneva Convention don’t really play an onboard with any war, no important role in the life of a war profiteer. matter how much you try They are quaint little organizations that to spin it and you need to keep up the appearance of International be prepared for that. You cooperation, but ultimately they just don’t have many tools at your have the teeth to try and convict an disposal to combat them. American. However, it is important to Call them un-American, remember that individual countries can say they don’t support the indict you in absentia and that sort of thing troops, basically just wrap can put a damper on your travel plans, but yourself in a flag and let ultimately the inability to travel to one or the chips fall where they two insignificant countries pales next to the may. massive profits one can make from war. Questioner #2: Mr. Thank you and good night. Secretary, thank you for speaking to us tonight. You have really given me Questioner #1: Mr. Secretary, thank some good ideas so that I can get out there you for your service to our great nation and and begin my career as a war profiteer, but I thank you for your talk here this evening. am still worried about one thing and would My question involves public opinion. How like your opinion. How do you handle the do you get past those in the public who potential war crimes charges that may result would question the legitimacy of say, from war profiteering? The War Crimes attacking Iraq despite the fact that they had nothing to do with September 11th? Rumsfeld: Thank you for your kind words and thank you for a great question. This is really a topic that would normally be discussed in a more advanced type of semi- nar, but I’ll do my best to lay some of the groundwork here. The first thing to remember is that many people will believe what they see on TV, so if you can control the messages the media is sending out, you can keep much of the public at bay for a long enough time to get the job done. This can be done by imbed- ding journalists with the troops, allowing military contractors to own the media, disinformation, or my particular favorite, distraction. When I said that the weapons of mass destruction were somewhere north, south, east and west of Baghdad, I was just trying to buy time so that the U.S. military Page 10 MPAC Newsletter

RELIGION AND VIOLENCE TODAY: PART II or the April 2007 issue of the Maine so much religious hate, especially toward the sacred is and what God has decreed and FPeace Action Committee Newsletter (Vol. those who do not agree with one’s religious commanded us to do. Such faith and 32, No. 3), I wrote an article entitled belief? If religions preach tolerance, why are certainty about our exclusive, absolute, “Religion and Violence Today: Part I.” At religions some of the major sources of intol- sacred truth and that God is on our side can the end of my article, after analyzing many erance toward others? If religions preach then be used to justify all kinds of violence ways that religion is a destructive and nega- justice, why do we have religions so often that we would not be able to justify in ethi- tive force, I arrived at the conclusion that it justifying and supporting unjust, exploita- cal and other human or secular terms. Any is tempting to evaluate religion as an essen- tive, oppressive, class, race, and gender religion that makes such a clear-cut, tial part of the problem, the crisis, of so relations of domination? absolute dichotomy between good and evil much violence in the world today; it is not invariably upholds the view that we the reli- part of the solution. I then indicated that in gious believers are good, and the others, not Part II of my article, I would examine ways believing what we do, are evil. that religion can also be a positive construc- Now with such a worldview, how do you tive force with regard to violence in the relate to the forces of evil? As I noted, it was world. In this article, I’ll offer several very important in Bush’s foundational State conclusions about the dynamic relations of the Union Address to focus on the Axis between religion and violence today. Using of Evil. You can deal with disagreement, the approach of Mahatma Gandhi and hate, conflict, etc., but evil is a theological others, I’ll propose several ways that all of term focusing on the sacred ground of real- us, whether religious or nonreligious, can ity. In such a religious framework, evil is relate to religious violence. I’ll propose a usually viewed as a kind of cancer that number of ways that we can incorporate threatens religious, political, economic, values of nonviolence, peace, loving kind- cultural, civilizational purity and goodness; ness, compassion, cooperation, justice, free- it threatens to tempt and destroy the true dom, resistance, and struggle in addressing religious, political, economic, cultural, civi- the most urgent existential and global crises Therefore, my major concern in this arti- lizational view unless it is eradicated. If you related to the topic of religion and violence. cle is whether religion today is more a don’t destroy this cancer, it will destroy you. Since I cannot assume that readers have source of the problems of violence or Throughout history, religions that have previously read Part I, I’ll begin with a whether it can be part of a constructive adopted such a clear-cut dichotomous posi- summary of my April 2007 article. For those solution to the crises of so much escalating tion of we, the possessors of truth and good- who would like to read the first part in its violence that threatens to destroy us and ness, versus the others, the possessors of entirety, the Maine Peace Action our planet. untruth and evil, have all too easily resorted Committee has copies of the April 2007 to intolerance, violence, and war in the issue in the Maples Building. I attempted to define and analyze “violence,” especially by deepening and name of their God or sacred reality. Background from Part I broadening our understanding by introduc- ing two concepts of the multidimensionality e cannot understand what is happen- of violence and the violence of the status ing in the world today and what will W quo. This was followed by my attempt at determine a very dangerous and insecure defining and analyzing the other key term: future without understanding the complex “religion.” I provided a universal phenome- and troubling relations of religion and nological model of religion as a way of violence. This topic of religion and violence analyzing specific religious attitudes, struc- often dominates the daily news about what tures, and values. is happening in Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, the Middle East, and other parts of the world, The longest section in Part I analyzed and it is also essential for understanding religion as a destructive and negative force what is happening politically, culturally, with regard to violence. After providing the economically, and militarily in the United familiar illustrations from contemporary States today. Islam and other examples of violent mili- tant fundamentalism found throughout the There are many confusing, contradictory world, I focused on the violent, often domi- questions that arise when trying to under- nant religious forces in the U.S. located in stand the relation between religion and the White House, the Congress, powerful violence. For example, there is no major think tanks and special interest lobbying world religion that has commandments groups of the Christian Right. such as “Thou shalt kill,” “Thou shalt be This is the mindset that is dominating so violent,” “Thou shalt be full of hate,” or I concluded that what needs to be much of religion in the world and in the “Thou shalt be intolerant.” In fact, you find emphasized is the following major danger. United States today. It is a major force the exact opposite, and all major religions The often-dominant, militant, U.S. reli- contributing to the perpetuation of escalat- have some version of the Golden Rule. If gious view, with other versions found ing violence. We must now consider the religions preach peace, why have most wars throughout the world, assumes that we the question as to whether religion can also be in history been given a religious justifica- true believers have an exclusive pipeline to a positive constructive force with regard to tion? If religions believe in nonviolence, the truth, goodness, and reality, and we are violence in the world. why do we have thousands of years of so prepared to use any means, including much religious violence? If religions preach violence and war, to defend and spread our love, why do we have thousands of years of belief in the one true reality. We know what Fall 2007 RELIGION AND VIOLENCE TODAY: PART II (continued) Page 11

topic. Gandhi, the Gandhi makes a basic distinction best-known propo- between the Absolute Truth and the rela- nent of nonviolence tive truth. As a religious or spiritual human in the twentieth being, Gandhi certainly upholds absolute century, writes at ideals, such as Truth, God, Self or Soul, length about religious Nonviolence, Love, and Religion. However, violence and is very he submits that human beings—including critical of much of himself—as finite, limited, fallible beings historical, traditional, with embodied consciousness, at most have hierarchical, institu- “glimpses” of the Absolute. We are relative tionalized religion beings moving at best from one relative responsible for caus- truth to greater relative truth. No one fully ing and justifying so knows Truth or God. Even when we uphold much violence and absolute ideals of Nonviolence, we cannot suffering. For Gandhi avoid all violence. A major danger, as seen Father Jim Gower carries one of 27 banners with names of war dead at Sept. there is much truth in in the history of religions, is to turn our rela- 29, 2007 End the War! Build the Peace! Rally. (Photos in this article are by religion, and one tive truths into the Absolute Truth. Anyone Judy Rusk.) should be proud of who then rejects our view of “the Truth” has Religion as a Constructive and what is best in one’s own religion. But one false views, is a sinner, is evil, and must be Positive Force with Regard to must recognize that all religions contain opposed, even if this sometimes requires Violence both negative and positive features in their war and violence. historical and institutional forms, and one ne can certainly find numerous For Gandhi, religious persons should should be humble, reflect critically on one’s resources in the history of religions uphold their higher ethical and spiritual O own religion, act to correct its defects, and that criticize violence, war, humanly-caused ideals and should be proud of what is best in work for its ethical and spiritual develop- suffering, greed, selfishness, hate, intoler- their relative formulations, but they should ment. ance, injustice, oppression and exploitation. recognize that other people and other reli- The Bible, the Koran, the Hindu scriptures, Gandhi upholds an organic, holistic view gions have their own relative truths; their the teachings of the Buddha and Confucius, emphasizing the interrelatedness of all of own relative imperfect paths to the and other scriptures and sacred texts are life. Truth, which he often equates with Absolute. This is the basis for Gandhi’s full of ethical and spiritual passages praising God, is that unifying ethical and spiritual famous nonexclusive, nonviolent tolerance, peacemakers and promoting nonviolence, justice, compassion, loving kindness, toler- ance, charity and selfless service to over- Gandhi upholds an organic, holistic view emphasizing the come poverty and suffering. One can cite interrelatedness of all of life. recent leaders—such as Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Dalai Lama—who were deeply religious and have force that allows us to engage in meaningful which involves respect for other ethical and lived remarkable lives inspiring millions of relations with other living beings, nature, religious positions, and which emphasizes people to embrace constructive and positive and spiritual reality. For Gandhi, true legitimate diversity and pluralism that is values with regard to violence. philosophy and religion must be grounded grounded in an underlying interreligious in ahimsa or nonviolence, which he often and intercultural interrelatedness and unity. For example, the Jewish Bible contains equates with love. Religious, economic, Indeed, for Gandhi, other religious paths the profound teachings of the Prophets political, and other forms of violence lead to have truths that we do not have, and we emphasizing the imperative of living our more violence and trap us in endless causal can even learn from them in developing our lives based on a commitment to justice and cycles of violence. Religious and other own ethical and spiritual position. to end war, to turn swords into plowshares, forms of nonviolence and love break the and to achieve harmonious, just, and peace- cycles of violence. Violence not only is ful relations on earth. The Sermon on the unethical since it leads to more violence, Mount contains some of the most profound but it also violates Truth, God, and Reality. teachings on love, how unearned suffering It emphasizes essential differences, since the can be both transformative and redemptive, dehumanized other who is evil and is the and how we should identify with the needs target of my violence, is falsely viewed as of the poor and downtrodden. The Koran fundamentally unlike me and my religion or repeatedly upholds the importance of group and is a threat to our true faith. justice and charity in our human relations. Nonviolence and love, on the other hand, The Buddhist Four Blessed Dispositions are not only ethical since they embrace emphasize profound ethical and spiritual positive values and intentions and lead to teachings on loving kindness, compassion, more positive results, but they also are sympathetic joy, and equanimity or consistent with Truth, God, and Reality. balanced serenity. In all of these key reli- Nonviolence, love, compassion, responses gious teachings, as well as numerous other to suffering, and egoless service to meet the examples, there is a strong and clear warn- needs of others are the unifying forces that ing about and rejection of the kinds of reli- hold us together; that bring us into relations gious violence that are so prevalent in emphasizing the interrelatedness of life and today’s world. the view that what unites or unifies us as In recent years, I’ve been doing much of part of the meaningful organic whole is my research and lecturing on the philoso- more fundamental than what divides us. phy of Mahatma Gandhi, so I’ll just share a little of what Gandhi says relevant to our Mary Perry at Sept. 29 Rally Page 12 RELIGION AND VIOLENCE TODAY: PART II (continued) MPAC Newsletter

Conclusions about Religion and violence and nonviolence. When we Violence Today contextualize religion, which is necessary for analyzing real religion and real religious here does this leave us with respect violence, and when we do not treat religion to the complex relations of religion W as a collection of detached, noncontextual- and violence and the prevalence of so much ized, abstract, absolute, spiritual and ethical religious violence in the contemporary truths and ideals, then we can address all world? There are no simple answers. I’ll end kinds of economic, class, caste, gender, by suggesting five conclusions and proposals racial, ethnic, environmental and other for relating to the crises of religion and contradictions that shape real religions. violence. Using such an approach, we find that reli- imperialistic violence that dominates so First, as seen in Part I, religion in the gions use and manipulate all kinds of much of our lives and our world. Or you can U.S. and throughout the world is more of a sacred, transcendent ideals and teachings as identify with religious and nonreligious negative and destructive force when it justifications for class exploitation, wealth orientations with pro-active positions that comes to conflicts of violence and war. and power, domination, sexism, homopho- are dedicated to exposing and resisting reli- Religion is more of the problem than the bia, racism, injustice, violence, and war. gious violence throughout the world and in solution. However, as seen in the previous providing constructive nonviolent alterna- Third, today we face the most urgent section, religion can also be a positive and tives personal, existential, and global crises constructive force emphasizing love, related to our topic of religion and violence. Finally, Mahatma Gandhi offers a These provide numerous profound view of human and cosmic evolu- opportunities for contra- tion that provides guidance when dealing dictory responses by reli- with religion, violence, and religious gious and nonreligious violence. As human beings, we have a persons. Unlike my experi- higher nature and a lower nature; values, ences in the Civil Rights motives, and actions that represent our Movement, in which reli- brute nature and others that bring out our gious voices were central, ethical and spiritual potential. History and in the books and media reports falsely emphasize Vietnam/Indochina that ends justify means, that might makes Antiwar Movement and right, and that the survival of the fittest is other struggles, in which determined by those with the most religious voices were economic and violent power. Gandhi submits that human beings have developed Members of Veterans for Peace and the Voices for Peace Choir read the important, I have found names off Mainers and Iraqis who have died during the war and occupation. that progressive religious and survived because of our capacity to be peace and justice voices touched by and respond to the suffering and have usually been barely audible, marginal- needs of others; to live lives full of compas- compassion, tolerance, respect, freedom, ized, or completely silent in the context of sion and loving kindness; and to base our human rights, nonviolence, and peace. the Bush Administration’s aggressive post- lives on ethical and spiritual principles and What we find—not only in every society 9/11 War on Terror and Iraq War invasion actions committed to Truth and and culture but also in every religion—is and occupation. By way of extreme Nonviolence. Religion can tap into our best the dynamic, contradictory, creative and contrast, the violent, warmongering, reli- nature, dimensions of our higher ethical destructive tensions that involve contesta- gious voices have been loud, aggressive, and and spiritual development. Or religion can tion, resistance, and struggle. Every religion central to the economic, political, and mili- tap into our brute nature, our worst nature, has war makers and peacemakers; those tary power structure. and thus become part of the problem of so who promote religious intolerance, hatred, much violence, hatred, intolerance, and For those who are religious or work with and violence and those dedicated to reli- war that causes and justifies so much people who are religious around issues of gious tolerance, nonviolence, compassion, preventable death and suffering and threat- violence and who do not want simply to and loving kindness; those who use religion ens the survival of humankind and the dismiss religion as a negative force in the to justify injustice, exploitation, and the earth. destruction of nature and those dedicated world today, we must contextualize in the to the struggle for justice, freedom from real world the positive religious and nonre- —Doug Allen exploitation and oppression, and the sanc- ligious values of nonviolence, love, compas- tity of all life and the planet earth. In short, sion, peace, and justice. As part of this every real religion contains both negative process, we must use these positive values and positive features, even if the violent to engage and resist those negative religious and destructive religious forces have been forces promoting violence, hatred, greed, predominant in the contemporary world. injustice, and war. Second, if we are to relate to real religion Fourth, what this means is that those and real religious violence, we must have a who are religious or are nonreligious but are dynamic, flexible, open-ended approach for concerned about religion and violence can analyzing the complex relations that hold be part of the problem or part of the solu- between texts, contexts, and interpretations tion. You can be part of religions that are of meaning. Such relations involve religious perpetuating violence, justifying violent and nonreligious texts, religious and nonre- conflict and war, all over the world today ligious contexts, and religious and nonreli- and threaten to destroy humankind. Or you gious interpretations of meaning. In such an can choose to do nothing and thereby be approach, we find that all religions in the complicit in perpetuating the life-threaten- world involve numerous real contradic- ing religious violence of the status quo and tions, including contradictions involving religious violence as part of linguistic, economic, political, cultural, militaristic, Fall 2007 Page 13

SHADOW OF A DICTATOR: REFLECTIONS ON PINOCHET n February 2007, Molly and I traveled to conversations and developed lasting rela- was human bodies, people that had been IChile as part of the direct exchange study tionships with both her host family and the captured and killed, being driven to a place abroad program at UMaine. We went with maid that had worked for them for nine to fade into thin air as people who “disap- only a scant understanding of Chile’s past years. peared”. or culture but intended to learn while we This is what she learned: She was one of many who were accosted were there. I managed to acquire a book (in I lived with a family of four in a part of during their everyday chores such as buying English) about the 1973 CIA-supported bread at the store, by the military that military coup that brought about the death Santiago called Las Condes, an area made up mostly of either high-rise apartment would ransack businesses and violently of socialist leader Salvador Allende and question and often capture civilians. She brought Augosto Pinochet to power, and buildings or beautiful neighborhood homes. My host parents worked in the center of the lay on the floor of the store with her hands Molly and even took an entire course on behind her back while guns were pointed at the subject. Without this academic prepara- city in an insurance and investments build- ing and my two host brothers were enrolled her and the others’ heads. Another time, tion, we never would have been able to the military burst into her house and threw understand the personal experiences we in private universities. They were busy, often at work or school from early morning her and her brother and sister into one heard from the friends we made in our five room while they accused their father of months abroad. until late at night. They had little to no time to do things around the house, so like being a socialist and pulled apart their home “Hey, look at that”, I said in Spanish to most middle-class or above families in looking for evidence. Once again, her our friend Juan Pablo, pointing at the gigan- Santiago, they had a maid. Her name was family barely made it out alive. tic graffiti of Salvador Allende and social- Luisa Viviana Tobar Garrido, but she went Thirty some-odd years later Luchita ismo on a nearby wall as Molly and I walked by Luchita. A lot of the time it would just recounted all of this to me in the dining with him to a market in one of the poorer be she and I in the apartment, and after a room of my host family’s fancy apartment. sections of Santiago, Chile. “Allende was a few weeks of me becoming somewhat sure A woman in her fifties, now with three chil- cool guy.” of my Spanish and Luchita becoming used dren and a grandchild of her own, she still “Maybe, but I don’t like communism”, he to having a new person in the house, we had to catch her breath during her story. said with a shy shrug. slowly began to get to know each other. She told me of man’s capacity to be cruel, of “Why not?” She grew up in Santiago in an area called the injustice done to her country, of the Santa Rosa, way in the south of the city, continuing mystery surrounding Pinochet’s “Because I believe in God. I am a era, the families who still know nothing of Catholic” about an hour away from where I called home. She had two siblings and a father and the whereabouts of their loved ones, of how Such is an example of the complex rela- they all lived simply together. much she loves her seven year old grand- tionship between religion, politics, and daughter, Janis. recent history in the minds of Chileans When she was about fifteen years old she wandered outside her home when she heard We went to Chile knowing little about today. The country is currently in a state of the coup, but believed that what we knew growth and positive national outlook. It is a loud gunshot from across the field. Her father called after her to come back inside, determined that Chileans would be over- considered the most stable and prosperous whelmingly against Pinochet and regretful country in South America. that it wasn’t safe, but her curiosity made her deaf to his request. As she peered of that entire era. But just as many Chileans “If it weren’t for Pinochet, Chile would through the trees across the clearing a assume that all Americans support George not be the country that it is today. We are bullet sped through the air and right above W. Bush and the invasion of Iraq, most much more advanced and sturdy on our her head. The bullet had strayed from a Americans assume that all Chileans must own two feet. I don’t exactly agree with the soldier’s gun not far from her family’s home have been anti-Pinochet. We found instead way he brought about this change, through during a raid. It was something completely that things are never so black-and-white, killing all of those people, but it had to unfamiliar to her and she was immediately and that Chile and its history are as happen somehow.” sobered by the fact that the distant coup complex as that of any other country, Molly’s host mother, Enriqueta, told her had come to her village, that it was real. including our own. during one of their few talks about Later that year she was walking down a —Molly Haley and Jeff Hake Pinochet’s military dictatorship and its ways street, a much more guarded person, as of provoking “change.” everyone had Even over 30 years after the coup, public become, when a opinion clearly is not completely against the large four-sided recently deceased Augusto Pinochet, as one truck drove by would imagine after the iron-handed man’s with the top open power managed to kill or “disappear” many to the air. thousands of innocent civilians. In our trav- Everyone on the els throughout Chile, we encountered street began to feel much evidence of the lasting influence of sick from an the military dictatorship, in people and in unbearable smell. places, but perhaps the most interesting was It wasn’t until from Molly’s host home. Luchita looked up We had similar situations where we at the truck pass- lived. An upper-middle class home, well-to- ing by and saw a do families, and each with a maid who lived limp forearm and in the poorer sections on the outskirts of hand hanging out From left: Luchita's son Pablo, her granddaughter Janis, her daughter Karina, Santiago, but Molly in particular had deep the top that she Luchita, her daughter Marcia, and Marcia's husband Hernan. This photo was taken realized the smell in March 2007, in Luchita's garden behind her house in Santa Rosa, Santiago, Chile. Page 14 MPAC Newsletter

PREOCCUPATIONS

“This is one issue on which, as Maryland and the support of American we have seen for the past one hundred you know, there is a left-right Jews was acquired smoothly. With the years. When indigenous persons are pushed break in America, there are still a collapse of Britain’s empire and America’s into powerlessness, and there is a domestic few people-like Chomsky, Gore already substantial immigration issues, as isolation of power, the body and the mind Vidal, or Alexander Cockburn- who are willing to raise it publicly. well as enormous western guilt for the become the weapon, the heart and its But most people tend to think that horrendous atrocities of World War II, the actions become suffused and bastardized by it is better left to the crazies.” international infrastructure was nailed the tools of forms of nationalism. Liberation tight. All that was needed was formal isn’t cheap, or easy. his remark comes from the American support for the commencement of a parti- literary flower of the Palestinian History and its dependant variables are T tioned state. Diaspora, Edward Said, and could not be of utter importance to all future actions more indicative of the state of mind of most The initial partition in 1947 afforded the that nation states proceed with; this is a fact concerning the occupation. America has Jews 5,500 square miles and the indigenous that few nation states allow themselves to had a twisting relationship with Israel since, Palestinians 4,500 square miles; even be reconciled with. The solution to the and before, its inception as a nation state, though Jews made up no more than 35 Israeli-Palestinian conflict is easy; restore this relationship is one that is indicative of percent of the population. The partition the UN partition of 1947, with the guaran- many factors concerning western influence was passed in the UN with heavy personal tee of citizenship and equal civil rights on the “Orientalized” countries of the pressure and intervention by President before the law in both nations. Will this Middle and Far East. Harry Truman; no Asian or African happen? It is impossible to say, regardless, nations-save for Liberia and the there will not be an absence of domestic Palestine’s demise is ultimately a story of Philippines-voted in favor of this resolution; prejudice for Jews or Arabs. Imperialism. Palestine was a member of the even the Canadian ambassador expressed Ottoman Empire until the end of the First Times progress swiftly and always regret with his vote in favor of the resolu- World War, while on the surface Palestine strongly, ethics and morals-especially politi- tion. On May 14, 1948 Israel came into seems simplistic in its domestic curves of cal tend to lag and perpetuate conservative existence at 6:01PM Washington time; change-even provincial, for the Arab tendencies. Discerning complicity with the Truman officially recognized Israel by world-there were numerous forces working past, as opposed to cretinous complicity, is 6:11PM. behind the scenes. Numerous powerful necessary; with power must come conscien- forces. America began insinuating itself into the tiousness, with action must come respect. colonial Middle East around the time of the America and Israel are bound, and they are The first Zionist colony in Palestine was Second World War. In America we suffer the most powerful entities in their regions founded in 1878; this colony was humble at from the disease of conflicting, and of the world. There must be the conscious first, yet in turn would sew the seeds of a dogmatic political entities. There is always a disjunction of the imperialist colonial cycle flood. In 1896 a German millionaire estab- polarized split and myriad institutional of destruction, there must be the actions of lished a branch of his Jewish Colonization inconsistencies. When thinking of the respect, human respect, respect for life and Association in Palestine; within one year United States of America’s actions in the its innate innocence. —Adam Davis Theodor Hertzl published the seminal world today it is undeniable that there is a Zionist text Der Judenstaat, and convened The sources which provoked and contributed to steel tether to the issue of Palestine and the first Zionist conference in Switzerland. this article include but are not limited to: Before Israel. These programs would extend to London by their Diaspora: a photographic history of the 1901, creating the Jewish National Fund, The Middle East was affected severely by Palestinians, 1876–1948; text by Walid Khalidi; Edward Said’s After the Last Sky: Palestinian which sought to buy land in Palestine to colonialism and imperialism, the exactness Lives, and The Politics of Disposession; The create exclusivistic Jewish settlements. with which resources and other profitable Jewish Virtual Library which includes Der entities were extracted and manipulated is With fast growing financial support and Judenstaat transl. Sylvie D’Avigdor. the cause of the continuing radicalism that theologically driven immigration, powerful British Zionist Baron Walter Rothschild was in correspondence with the British Secretary of State Arthur Balfour, and in 1917 received a secret letter promising the British support for a national home for the Jewish peoples in Palestine. In October 1918 the whole of Palestine was under British occupation, by 1920 there were approximately 36 Zionist settlements in Palestine. The escalation of Zionist pres- ence grew rapidly; 30,000 Jews immigrated in 1933, 42,000 immigrated in 1934, 61,000 immigrated in 1935. By this time there was a tangible Palestinian resistance to this rapid coloniza- tion, this generation of the colonized was one of very little influence and power. With the unwillingness of Americans and Britons to accept the mass amounts of Jewish immi- grants, Zionism felt the affects of a political ricochet in its favor. During the early forties there was a Zionist conference held in Fall 2007 Page 15

TEN REASONS VOTING DEMOCRAT ISN’T ENOUGH 1. Congressional leaders say impeachment of Bush is “off the table.” 2. Senate Democrats continued to support the war by not approving Sen. Feingold’s legislation that would have required the United States to begin a military pullout from Iraq with complete pullout by March 31, 2008 (S.Amdt. 1098 to S.Amdt. 1097 to H.R. 1495). 3. Democrats use language that blames Iraqis for the current situation, insinuat- ing they’re lazy and ungrateful rather than devastated by the U.S. destruction of infrastructure and subsequent corrup- tion. This shows either a lack of under- standing or cold political colonialism. 4. Democrats passed the Protect America Act permitting the National Security Agency to monitor large groups of people without obtaining individual warrants. In an amendment act, Democrats have caved on the White House’s request to grant immunity to the telecom corporations that aided the NSA in spying on Americans. 5. Special interests and corporate lobbyists are now giving more money to Democrats than Republicans after the 2006 switch. 6. In May of 2007, Democrats passed Bush’s request for more war funding without strings attached. 7. In September of 2007 the Senate with a vote of 72-25 passed a resolution condemning MoveOn.org for publishing a newspaper ad questioning the credibil- ity of Iraq war general David Petraeus. Corporate Colonialism Valuable time spent on discouraging freedom of speech. 8. The Senate passed a bill 76-22 that urges Peace & Justice Film Series the Bush administration to label the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, part Available at Fogler of Iran’s military, a terrorist organization. or the last 30 years, the Maine Peace Action Committee has organized the MPAC This bill sets the rhetorical groundwork Peace & Justice Film Series every spring semester at the University of Maine. This of a further escalation of war in Iraq to F series consists of weekly screenings of movies and documentary films covering a broad war with Iran. range of peace, social justice and environmental topics and facilitated discussions after 9. Democrats have not followed up on the each film. witnesses such as Harriet Myers and Karl Rove who blatantly refused to show for Now, for the first time, many of these videos and DVDs have been made available for congressional hearings. checkout at the Media Resource Center on the second floor of Fogler Library. Anyone with a valid MaineCard is eligible to check out the films for 48 hours. Currently 18 titles 10. Democrats continue to deny Habeas have been cataloged in URSUS, with more to be added each semester. Corpus rights, making them not fit to lead. Selected titles that are available include Iraq for sale: the war profiteers; Bush family Voting Democrat just isn’t enough. fortunes: the best democracy money can buy; The end of suburbia: oil depletion and the collapse of the American dream, and others. To see the full list of titles available in this series, please —David Reid visit http://ursus.maine.edu and do a keyword search for “MPAC”. George W. Bush is requesting $190 billion dollars to continue paying for the war up to Oct. 2008. These films are available for private screening only. Fogler Library does not own public Call, write, protest your Democratic Congress to performance rights and takes no responsibility for anyone who violates copyright restric- oppose the funding measures. tions by publicly screening these films. Anyone who wishes to publicly screen one of these Maine: Sen. Collins: (202) 224-2523 films should contact the Maine Peace Action Committee first to find out about public screening options. Sen. Snowe: (202) 224-5344 Rep. Michaud: (202) 225-6306 For more information, please contact Martin Wallace at [email protected] or at 581-1678. Rep. Allen: (202) 225-6116 Contributors Opinions expressed in this Newsletter are those of individual members of MPAC and other university and Doug Allen Maine Peace Action Committee community activists. They do not necessarily express the Adam Davis views of other MPAC members or of the group as a Jeff Hake whole. We know that other readers may not agree with Molly Haley all that is stated in this issue, and we encourage your NEWSLETTER Andrea Johnsen response. Jeff Lowell David Reid The Maine Peace Action Committee has its general Anna Sweeney meeting every Tuesday at 4:00 pm in the Virtue Room of Daya Taylor the Maples Building on the University of Maine Volume 33, Number 1 Martin Wallace Campus. Meeting times and dates may change. MPAC often has subcommittees working on topics of special Fall 2007 interest to current members. MPAC also organizes film series, speakers, teach-ins, workshops, concerts, reading Funded in part by University of Maine groups, demonstrations, and other peace and justice Student Government actions. For more information on MPAC, call 581-3860. If you are interested in peace education and activism, Publication services by Eric T. Olson please join us. http://www.umaine.edu/mpac/

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MAINE PEACE ACTION COMMITTEE PRSRT STD Memorial Union U.S. POSTAGE PAID University of Maine ORONO, ME 04469 Orono, ME 04469 (Change Service Requested) PERMIT NO. 34 Five of the 500 demonstrators at the “End the War! Build the Peace!” Rally on September 29, 2007 in Bangor (Photo by Judy Rusk)