This is no time for war
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Angana Chatterji, Electronic Iraq
11 February 2003
I write this to echo a million voices resolutely calling for
peace. I write this in dismay as the United States
prepares for another racist and futile war. Why is this
administration so eager to bomb Iraq? Is it the
insatiable, unsustainable hunger for oil? Is it its
misguided attempt to eradicate terrorism through
enhanced state violence? Is North Korea next? Iran?
Where does it end? If President Bush scorns the United
Nations, ignores international criticism, and acts
unilaterally in Iraq, we will bear testimony to the
continued desecration of democratic process in the 21st
century. In the current global order the United States is
failing to act for justice, peace and real economic
improvement. Democracy is a hollow phrase in these
times, bankrupt of meaning for those without privilege.
The United States is a magnificent land, of courage,
freedom, resilience, and enormous genius. It is as well
an imperial democracy; a state built on genocide and slavery, sustained through inequity
and dominance. It is a society divided by history, race, class, religion, gender, and
isolationism. Freedom here is made up of increasingly private dreams that remain distant
for so many. Freedom is a condition to which they aspire, with their bodies, imaginations,
hopes. This nation relies on their labour, often forgetting its promises to them.
The present government in the United States makes peace and justice increasingly
vulnerable. It has elected to assail civil rights and affirmative action and remain inattentive
to the suffering of Native nations within its borders. The United States, 4.6 percent of the
world's population, houses 25 percent of the world's prisoners. 37.6 percent of those
incarcerated are African-American males, even as African-Americans are just 13 percent of
the population. More than 300,000 women are raped each year. This government has
supported the campaign for a right-wing judiciary, and the privatisation of healthcare and
social security. It has exhibited contempt for environmental sustainability and safeguards,
remained silent on affordable housing, and shown support for anti-abortion. This
government has blurred the lines between 'safety' and 'freedom'. The ethnic profiling of
Muslims, registration programs, searches and detentions without charge or due process
threaten the civil liberties of all. Such disfigurement of human rights. This administration
has participated in the collapse of the economy, offered tax breaks to the rich and
inadequately addressed corporate crimes. In the last two months the economy has lost
189, 000 jobs. There is a dramatic increase in homelessness. 41.2 million remain without
healthcare. The country's foreign debt totals $2.5 trillion. The world's most affluent nation is
the largest defaulter to the United Nations owing more than a billion dollars. Is war this
administration's strategy to divert public attention from domestic ills?
Amidst the staggering magnitude of internal disarray, the United States struggles to create
support for its war with Iraq. Stories of imminent danger circulate freely. Yet, the dominant
'truths' that American actions are beyond reproach, driven only by good intentions, are
frayed. The people are fatigued. Discontent reigns. The health of the union is falling apart.
In response, the administration advocates irresponsible corporate and military globalisation
that persists through class wars, fomenting the very conditions that breed despicable acts
of terrorism.
'Shock and Awe'? 800 cruise missiles in two days to asphyxiate Baghdad? The United Sates
is bankrolling international support. Turkey, a critical ally whose citizens are vigorously
opposed to the war, was offered a $16 billion loan through the International Monetary Fund
and a $4 billion grant. The United States is preparing to attack Iraq not because there is
substantial evidence of Iraq's immediate danger to the 'free world', or because UN
inspections inscribe it. Neither can this war be a pretext for avenging the horror of
September 11. No convincing evidence links Iraq to al Qaeda. The reason offered is that
Iraq poses a long-term threat. Yes, Saddam Hussein is contemptible. Yes, that regime must
turn. But does the Unites States reserve the right to bomb Iraq? Will the United States
sanction all states that attack each other based on potential threat? What about other 'evil'
regimes whose power the United Sates is committed to enhancing? What about states
whose foreign or military policies the United States does not support? Such arrogance of
empire.
If there is a war, what of the aftermath? As the military withdraws while innocent bodies
are shovelled into mass graves, the living will face new wars of poverty, disease and rage.
Is the United States able to honour its promises for a better tomorrow to those whose lands
it invades? Let us ask this of the women in Afghanistan today. What about
self-determination for the dispossessed in Iraq? Will the United States uphold the demands
of the Kurdish people for a separate state in northern Iraq? Turkey would not approve. Let
us remember how the Kurdish people were abandoned to the slaughterhouse when the first
Bush administration retracted its support for the Kurds after encouraging their revolt in
Baghdad.
What will President Bush's war get America - more hatred? Is violation the only
intervention that nations can dream? Destruction and brutalisation the only pathways to
'justice'? The Progressive Caucus, co-chaired by Democrats Barbara Lee and Dennis
Kucinich, deserves America's support in its efforts to halt the government's plans to play
war without the consent of its people. Can the United States uphold democracy elsewhere if
it is incapable of practising it within its borders?
Hundreds of thousands march in protest across the United States. Even the corporate
media is increasingly critical of Bush's plan. There is no support for terrorism and little
support for state terror. Broad based coalitions for peace are emerging in strength. 'Code
Pink' is leading a women's delegation to Iraq. Even those frightened of the wrath of their
government refuse to let fear stifle protest. There is a movement, growing, reverberating,
louder and louder. Dissent, palpable and enduring. This is no time for complicity. This is no
time for war.
Angana Chatterji is a professor of Social and Cultural Anthropology at the California
Institute of Integral Studies. This oped was first published in The Daily Times (Lahore) on 4
February 2003. |
