The Global Community Tribunal

In a beautiful article written by Araun Shrivastava in The Peoples Voice under the heading “We have no right to steal our children’s future” and for which he must be congratulated, he makes the following remarks:

“At the end of World War II the nature of governance was fundamentally transformed. Fascism did not die. Fascism was actually reinvented: couched in the language of freedom and democracy of rightists and centrists, and of anti-imperialism and freedom from exploitation of the Leftists….

Powerful corporations engineered the election, selection and nomination of the complicit politicians to power, not only in Britain and the US, but virtually in every country that mattered. And every country mattered to the Anglo-American ruling cabal not for establishing democracy, freedom and peace but to control their resources. Today, the US has over 750 airbases around the world; it controls the government of 192 countries. And a small group of super rich European families control the US Government and its military might. The world was slowly enslaved.”

The reality of this situation dawned on the world the day Iraq was invaded by Coalition forces. Although we protest the atrocity of the event, it is the realization that a monster, that has been posing as the defender of democracy, liberty, human rights and prosperity for all, has all along been a hostile demon that has now come alive.

The US has discarded all the decency and civility it had to display whilst there was any semblance of a balance of power. Except for keeping up the charade towards its own constituency, the US government has dispensed will al the niceties. It has shoved the rest of the world aside and is pursuing a new quest-for-resource imperialism with defiance, arrogance and brutal force. In the process it is paying scant respect for the very same international laws they enforced when it suited them. Protected by its super power status and the fact that it has not subscribed to the International Court of Justice, the US is on the rampage and has developed into a very real and serious threat to world peace. I haste to say that the threat of Osama bin Laden and Al Quada are nothing in comparison to the danger George W Bush and America pose to the rest of the world. Terrorism can be contained whilst the US is as unopposed and rampant as the wild fires of California. It threatens to consume and destroy everything in it path.

The anti-war movement has done nothing to change the aggressive spirit of Washington. The problem is just escalating and we now have Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Syria and Turkey all involved.

America has become a rogue state and the enemy of peace, freedom and human rights. Where in the past it at least conducted its international crimes covertly or by proxy, it now exhibits no scruples in the atrocities it is openly involved in. Its founding fathers are turning around in their graves as their Constitution is trampled into the mud. Our fear for the Soviet Union has been replaced by our fear and distrust for the United States of America. Where once it represented freedom, equality and prosperity it is now associated with arrogant aggression and wholesale slaughter of innocent people.

This brings me to the point I wish to make. In the Cat’s Blog the following quote can be found:

“Is it a perfect resistance? No. How could a resistance be pretty when the occupation is so brutal and ugly. The senseless violence inflicted upon the Iraqi people by the occupation results in a violent response. It was no different when the Algerians fought the French to a standstill in the early Sixties of the last century. When a leader of the Algerian resistance was asked why they often bombed cafes and killed civilians, he replied: ‘Give us planes and helicopters and then we will only target French troops” - Tariq Al.

The Iraqi resistance, the Taliban and the so-called anti-war or peace movement are all fighting the same battle. They are opposing the will of the US-that-became-the-Devil. The only difference is that the first mentioned are resisting with blood and life whilst the rest of us are following the road of safety and convenience.

Most Americans, being good and decent people, do not even realize what is happening and that they have become part of a global horror story. They think in terms of ‘left’ and ‘right’, ‘liberal’ and ‘conservative’, ‘democrat’ and ‘Republican’. All issues are immediately categorized and labeled within in one of these two opposing moulds. In this scenario anti-war is leftist and liberal and is dealt with accordingly. ‘You always take them with a pinch of salt. They are a lot of sneeky bastards which you can not always trust with the best interests of the USA.’

To press the Iraq issue in isolation is the wrong approach. Americans should be shown the broader picture. They should be made to understand that the whole world has not suddenly changed and become American or Bush haters and ‘Arab lovers’. We are still the same peace loving people who would like to continue with our lives in dignity and with the understanding that all humanity shares this condition with us. They should be shown the holistic picture of a world under threat of US domination.

We should also focus on the military, which is the tool being used to establish this world domination.

George W Bush and Dick Cheney are not just freeks who have appeared on the scene, soon to disappear in thin air. No. I think they are the same symptoms all great super powers before them showed. If that be the case, nothing much is going to change under future presidents, who ever they may be. We are in for the longhaul and things are still going to become much worse. What has been an anti-war movement up to now need to be up-graded to a full scale resistance.

In the Cat’s Blog you’ll also find the following statement: ”What is called the “anti-war movement” doesn’t even consider to use the word “resistance” while we are presented, day after day, with the compassionate side of patriotism. As US peace movement’ spokesperson (by the way, by whom and when she was elected?) Phyllis Bennis recently wrote, “I don’t think we gain strength by making sympathy with resistance fighters a demand of our movement.”

But that sympathy is always granted to the mass murderers, our troops.

I guess our boys and girls in Iraq and Afghanistan must feel comforted by so much sympathy. It probably helps them to better carry on the carnage.”

It is for this reason that I am convinced that the drive to stop the Iraq War and prevent an Iran/Syria war need to be taken to the US military directly. It is they who execute the orders. It is they who commit the war crimes on the behest of their supreme commander and his evil mentor. We need to confront these young men and women with the facts. They must know what the law is. They must know that, by executing the orders to invade, assault, kill and destroy, they are committing war crimes. From the moment it became known that the pretence for war was false, they were no longer war hero’s. They are war criminals and many soldiers like them were hanged and shot in history for committing precisely the same acts.

To these soldiers we say: The fact that you are not yet indicted and convicted of war crimes, do not make you lesser of a criminal than those that were tried and punished for their crimes. The fact that you are praised and commended by an equally criminal supreme commander, should be of little or no comfort to you. Your medal is soaked in the spilt blood of many thousands of Iraqis. The deaths, injury and sorrow you have caused to people who have done you no harm, should weigh heavy on your conscience. If ever there were such thing as carma or natural justice it will haunt and eventually destroy you! When you go home you will detect the changed expression in the eyes of relatives and neighbors – expressions that say “You were once a promising youth of our neighborhood. One of us. But things have changed. The world classifies you as a war criminal.” When you wish to visit another country you will have to fill in on your visa application that you were involved in an illegal war and that you are a war criminal awaiting indictment and trial. You are a disgrace to humanity and all the values of pride, honor, chivalry and bravery that have made our race great.

We need to communicate with the US military. We should not allow a single one of these young men and women to go into battle without knowing what the law says. They must know that they have the right to disobey illegal orders. We must help them to get the support of the courts. If they refuse to fight Bush’s illegal wars, we will again have peace and be safe.

In the final analysis no American should arrive abroad without receiving a loud and clear message that, unless the USA change course, we no longer wish to be associated with them. If need be, we can do business with India, China or Russia. At least we then know with whom we are dealing with.

J.C.Grobler.

PS. This is a blog. It is designed to facilitate interaction and communication. If you have an opinion (and I sincerely hope you do), please share it by leaving a comment. It will really be a nice thing to do!

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This entry was posted on Saturday, October 27th, 2007 at 9:24 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.