Madinat al-Muslimeen Islamic Message Board
| Will tears ever stop? |
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| Hania |
| 10/09/01 at 05:03:54 |
| >Gerassi is a professor at Yale University, with the following credentials: > > Professor John Gerassi received his Ph.D. from the London University. > Among his publications are: > > - New Studies in the Politics and Culture > of U.S. Communism, Monthly Review, (1993); > - Jean Paul Sartre: Hated Conscience of His Country (Univ. of > Chicago Press, 1989); > - The Premature Anti-Fascists: Oral History of American and Canadian > Volunteers in > the Spanish Civil War (New York: Praeger, 1986) > - The Comintern, the Fronts and the CPUS > > > Will Tears Ever Stop? > > By John Gerassi > > I can't help crying. As soon as I see a person on TV > telling the heart-rendering story of the tragic fate > of their loved-one in the World Trade Center > disaster, I can't control my tears. But then I > wonder why didn't I cry when our troops wiped out > some 5,000 poor people in Panama's El Chorillo > neighborhood on the excuse of looking for Noriega. > Our leaders knew he was hiding elsewhere but we > destroyed El Chorillo because the folks living there > were nationalists who wanted the U.S. out of Panama > completely. > > Worse still, why didn't I cry when we killed two > million Vietnamese, mostly innocent peasants, in a > war which its main architect, Defense Secretary > Robert McNamara, knew we could not win? When I went > to give blood the other day, I spotted a Cambodian > doing the same, three up in the line, and that > reminded me: Why didn't I cry when we helped Pol Pot > butcher another million by giving him arms and > money, because he was opposed to "our enemy" (who > eventually stopped the killing fields)? > > To stay up but not cry that evening, I decided to go > to a movie. I chose Lumumba, at the Film Forum, and > again I realized that I hadn't cried when our > government arranged for the murder of the Congo's > only decent leader, to be replaced by General > Mobutu, a greedy, vicious, murdering dictator. Nor > did I cry when the CIA arranged for the overthrow of > Indonesia's Sukarno, who had fought the Japanese > World War II invaders and established a free > independent country, and then replaced him by > another General, Suharto, who had collaborated with > the Japanese and who proceeded to execute at least > half a million "Marxists" (in a country where, if > folks had ever heard of Marx, it was at best > Groucho)? > > I watched TV again last night and cried again at the > picture of that wonderful now-missing father playing > with his two-month old child. Yet when I remembered > the slaughter of thousands of Salvadorans, so > graphically described in the Times by Ray Bonner, or > the rape and murder of those American nuns and lay > sisters there, all perpetrated by CIA trained and > paid agents, I never shed a tear. I even cried when > I heard how brave had been Barbara Olson, wife of > the Solicitor General, whose political views I > detested. But I didn't cry when the US invaded that > wonderful tiny Caribbean nation of Grenada and > killed innocent citizens who hoped to get a better > life by building a tourist airfield, which my > government called proof of a Russian base, but then > finished building once the island was secure in the > US camp again. > > Why didn't I cry when Ariel Sharon, today Israel's > prime minister, planned, then ordered, the massacre > of two thousand poor Palestinians in the refugee > camps of Sabra and Shatila, the same Sharon who, > with such other Irgun and Stern Gang terrorists > become prime ministers as Begin and Shamir, killed > the wives and children of British officers by > blowing up the King David hotel where they were > billeted? > > I guess one only cries only for one's own. But is > that a reason to demand vengeance on anyone who > might disagree with us? That's what Americans seem > to want. Certainly our government does, and so too > most of our media. Do we really believe that we have > a right to exploit the poor folk of the world for > our benefit, because we claim we are free and they > are not? > > So now we're going to go to war. We are certainly > entitled to go after those who killed so many of our > innocent brothers and sisters. And we'll win, of > course. Against Bin Laden. Against Taliban. Against > Iraq. Against whoever and whatever. In the process > we'll kill a few innocent children again. Children > who have no clothes for the coming winter. No houses > to shelter them. And no schools to learn why they > are guilty, at two or four or six years old. Maybe > Evangelists Falwell and Robertson will claim their > death is good because they weren't Christians, and > maybe some State Department spokesperson will tell > the world that they were so poor that they're now > better off. > > And then what? Will we now be able to run the world > the way we want to? With all the new legislation > establishing massive surveillance of you and me, our > CEOs will certainly be pleased that the folks > demonstrating against globalization will now be > cowed for ever. No more riots in Seattle, Quebec or > Genoa. Peace at last. > > Until next time. Who will it be then? A child > grown-up who survived our massacre of his innocent > parents in El Chorillo? A Nicaraguan girl who > learned that her doctor mother and father were > murdered by a bunch of gangsters we called > democratic contras who read in the CIA handbook that > the best way to destroy the only government which > was trying to give the country's poor a better lot > was to kill its teachers, health personnel, and > government farm workers? Or maybe it will be a > bitter Chilean who is convinced that his whole > family was wiped out on order of Nixon's Secretary > of State Henry Kissinger who could never tell the > difference between a communist and a democratic > socialist or even a nationalist. > > When will we Americans learn that as long as we keep > trying to run the world for the sake of the bottom > line, we will suffer someone's revenge? No war will > ever stop terrorism as long as we use terror to have > our way. So I stopped crying because I stopped > watching TV. I went for a walk. Just four houses > from mine. There, a crowd had congregated to lay > flowers and lit candles in front of our local > firehouse. It was closed. It had been closed since > Tuesday because the firemen, a wonderful bunch of > friendly guys who always greeted neighborhood folks > with smiles and good cheer, had rushed so fast to > save the victims of the first tower that they > perished with them when it collapsed. And I cried > again. > > So I said to myself when I wrote this, don't send > it; some of your students, colleagues, neighbors > will hate you, maybe even harm you. But then I put > on the TV again, and there was Secretary of State > Powell telling me that it will be okay to go to war > against these children, these poor folks, these > US-haters, because we are civilized and they are > not. So I decided to risk it. Maybe, reading this, > one more person will ask: Why are so many people in > the world ready to die to give us a taste of what we > give them? |
| Re: Will tears ever stop? |
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| solehah |
| 10/09/01 at 10:00:08 |
| Thank you Sis Hania I cried too. Have no more tears left. Have turned deaf to all reports. Have turned blind to all images on TV. Have hope still. Wassalam |
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