[APR-news] Alternative Press Week in Review - November 18, 2003

Tue Nov 18 09:04:11 EST 2003

www.altpr.org

Alternative Press Week in Review

Your Guide Beyond the Mainstream 

November 18, 2003 

A weekly roundup of news, announcements, articles and other items of interest.

Articles of the Week

http://www.altpr.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=30&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0

Leaving the Left Behind: Prologue to Post-Left Anarchy
Jason McQuinn, Alternative Press Review

In the end, the biggest difference is that anarchists advocate self-organization while leftists want to organize you. For leftists, the emphasis is always on recruiting to their organizations, so that you can adopt the role of a cadre serving their goals. They don't want to see you adopt your own self-determined theory and activities because then you wouldn't be allowing them to manipulate you. Anarchists want you to determine your own theory and activity and self-organize your activity with like-minded others. 

http://www.counterpunch.org/goff11142003.html

An Open Letter to GIs in Iraq
Stan Goff (US Army Retired), CounterPunch
They are your enemies--The Suits--and they are the enemies of peace, and the enemies of your families, especially if they are Black families, or immigrant families, or poor families. They are thieves and bullies who take and never give, and they say they will "never run" in Iraq, but you and I know that they will never have to run, because they fucking aren't there. You are.. So if your rage needs a target, there they are, responsible for your being there, and responsible for keeping you there.

http://slingshot.tao.ca/displaybi.php?0079001

Reject the Iraq Quagmire
PB Floyd, Slingshot
As cracks in the facade develop, its up to radicals to widen the cracks, turn them into gaps and holes, and do our best to push the rotting structure over. 

http://www.nationinstitute.org/tomdispatch/index.mhtml?emx=x&pid=1070

Assassins R Us
Chalmers Johnson, TomDispatch
As the Iraqi resistance expands and perfects its attacks, the American military, like so many occupying armies before it, is turning to methods of warfare long outlawed by civilized nations -- assassinations and reprisals against civilians.

http://www.antiwar.com/justin/j111203.html

It's getting ugly: U.S. threatens 'harsh measures,' while Iraqi insurrection spreads

Justin Raimondo, Antiwar.com

It's funny, but we often hear the War Party bloviating about how the current conflict is like World War II - yeah, but which side are we? It is positively eerie that a real life American general sounds like nothing so much as a German officer in some World War II movie set in occupied France: "Zere vill be reprisals!" 

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2003/nov2003/iraq-n17.shtml

US media sanctions campaign of atrocities in Iraq
Patrick Martin, WSWS
All indications are that the White House and Pentagon are preparing an onslaught of military violence against the resistance in Iraq that will include the most barbaric methods, including mass killings and the establishment of concentration camps for
suspected opponents.

http://www.consortiumnews.com/2003/111303.html

Iraq: Quicksand & Blood
Robert Parry, Consortium News
George W. Bush and his top advisers learned little from the Vietnam debacle of the 1960s, since most avoided service in the war. But many top Bush aides played key roles in the repression of leftist peasant uprisings in Central America in the 1980s, a set of lessons the Bush administration is now trying to apply to the violent resistance in Iraq.

http://argument.independent.co.uk/commentators/story.jsp?story=463172

There are so many echoes of Vietnam in Iraq

Charles Glass, The Independent
It took two years for US deaths to reach 324 in Vietnam. It passed that figure in seven months in Iraq.

http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=51&ItemID=4481

The Tip of the Iceberg: Toledo Blade Report on Vietnam War "Tiger Force" Atrocity is Only the Beginning
Nick Turse, ZNet

As a historian writing his dissertation on U.S. war crimes and atrocities during the Vietnam War, I have been immersed in just the sort of archival materials the Toledo Blade used in its pieces, but not simply for one incident but hundreds if not thousands of analogous events. I can safely, and sadly, say that the "Tiger Force" atrocities are merely the tip of the iceberg in regard to U.S.-perpetrated war crimes in Vietnam.

http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=17192

The scalping party

Mike Davis, Alternet

Early on, Tiger Force began scalping its victims (the scalps were dangled from the ends of M-16s) and cutting off their ears as souvenirs. One member - who would later behead an infant - wore the ears as a ghoulish necklace (just like the character Toadvine in Blood Meridian, while another mailed them home to his wife. Others kicked out the teeth of dead villagers for their gold fillings. 

http://www.commondreams.org/views03/1117-11.htm

Resistance to US Military Occupation: The Case of the Philippines
Heather Gray, Common Dreams
It is baffling that any American might not understand the Iraqi disdain of a US military occupation. How would Americans like being accosted by another country's military...being arrested by them, controlled by them, dictated to by them, tortured by them, killed by them.... exploited by its corporate entities and losing sovereignty? Americans should look at the Philippines' century long struggle for some answers to that question.

http://www.flonnet.com/fl2023/stories/20031121008100400.htm

DOMINANCE AND ITS DILEMMAS
Noam Chomsky, Frontline (India) 
Violence is a powerful instrument of control but the dilemmas of dominance are formidable. The U.S. is discovering this in its pursuit of a `grand imperial strategy' that incorporates the doctrine of preventive war, the `supreme crime' condemned in Nuremberg.

http://www.freepress.org/columns.php?strFunc=display&strID=788&strYear=2003&strAuthor=7

Bush to Veterans: Drop Dead

Harvey Wasserman, Free Press

In an astonishing series of cynical attacks on veterans rights, benefits and sanctity, the administration has shortchanged our military personnel on their medical care, pensions, compensation for having been tortured, access to vital information about health dangers suffered in service, and even their body armor.  

http://www.counterpunch.org/lindorff11112003.html

The White House Attack on the Troops
Dave Lindorff, CounterPunch

Conservatives have been quick to cry "Support the troops!" at anti-war demonstrators, but the Bush administration and its supporters in the Republican dominated Congress have meanwhile been busy screwing both veterans and active duty troops with a vengeance this year. The hypocrisy of this administration, when it comes to veterans and active duty military, is truly staggering.

http://www.strike-the-root.com/3/frederick/frederick1.html

Joe's story

Joe Frederick, Strike the Root
The next day at school, I turned my chair around with my back to the flag and sat during the pledge of allegiance. This was my symbolic protest against a school administration that clearly lacked common sense and abused its power to retaliate against anyone who dared question their authority. The high school contacted my father and advised they were going to suspend me for ten days for turning my back on the flag and refusing to say the pledge after instructed to do so. 

http://slingshot.tao.ca/displaybi.php?0079003

Chistianity and Empire
Moly Bdenum, Slingshot
Any critique of capitalism is incomplete without analysis of the Christian empire, its history, and its goals. From 300 CE on, empire and religion have intermixed in Europe and eventually the US with disastrous consequences. Many aspects of capitalism used to oppress today were instituted by Christianity, including emotional advertising, creation of markets through military conquest, and control of public services. Because of these features, we can consider the Christian church (in both Catholic and Protestant manifestations) the first multinational corporation.

http://www.yellowtimes.org/article.php?sid=1658&mode=thread&order=0

Neo-cons: the modern day Bolsheviks
Raff Ellis, YellowTimes
Consider that since the events of 9/11 we have had an administration empowered to seize people, citizens or not, and incarcerate or deport them without charge, without due process, without legal representation and without familial notification. We've created our own Gulag called Guantanamo and others we know not of. Our Justice Department is "disappearing" people and blocks all attempts at accountability in the name of security. We even send people off to countries where we know they will be tortured. The president, who has been given and has assumed dictatorial powers, decides whether a person has rights or whether enacted laws apply to them.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article5203.htm

In a Police State Atmosphere, Fascists Will Rise to the Top
Jay Shaft, Coalition For Free Thought In Media
In a nation where a police state atmosphere is permitted, the fascists will rise to the top. This may sound like a crazy, radical statement, but it is going on in America right now with the current Ashcroft led Justice Department.

http://www.laweekly.com/ink/printme.php?eid=48666

Interview with Gore Vidal: The take-no-prisoners social critic skewers Bush, Ashcroft and the whole damn lot of us for letting despots rule
LA Weekly 
In one of my earlier books, Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace, I show how the language used by the Clinton people to frighten Americans into going after terrorists like Timothy McVeigh - how their rights were going to be suspended only for a brief time - was precisely the language used by Hitler after the Reichstag fire.

http://www.moscowtimes.ru/stories/2003/11/14/120.html

Global Eye -- The Inhuman Stain
Chris Floyd, Moscow Times
Silence. Inattention. Indifference. Acquiescence. State terrorism -- lawless seizure, filthy torture, official murder -- is simply accepted, a part of "normal life," as in Nazi Germany or Stalin's empire, where "decent people" with "nothing to hide" approved and applauded the work of the "organs" in "defending national security."

http://www.yourmailinglistprovider.com/pubarchive.php?montrealmuslimnews+817

Facility 1391: Israel's Guantanamo
Johnathan Cook, Le Monde Diplomatique
Although Facility 1391 has received none of the publicity of the US prison, it more flagrantly violates international law. Unlike Camp X-Ray, its location is not publicly known; there aren't even long-distance photographs of its inmates of the kind taken at Guantanamo Bay. Unlike the US prison, Facility 1391 has never been independently inspected, not even by the International Red Cross. What happens there is a mystery.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,1084796,00.html

Facility 1391: Israel's secret prison
Chris McGreal, The Guardian
It has been removed from maps and airbrushed from aerial photographs. But Facility 1391 certainly exists - you just have to ask the Palestinians and Lebanese who have been imprisoned and tortured there.

http://usa.mediamonitors.net/content/view/full/2049/?PHPSESSID=0a163d86b925d88452bbb082454934a6

The Palestinian Resistance: Its Legitimate Right and the Moral Duty
Samah Jabr, Media Monitors
Why is the word "terrorism" so readily applied to individuals or groups who use homemade bombs, but not to states using nuclear and other internationally prohibited weapons to ensure submission to the oppressor? Israel, the United States and Britain should top the list of terrorism-exporting states for their use of armed attacks against non-combatants in Palestine, Iraq, Sudan and other parts of the world. But "terrorism" is a political term used by the colonizer to discredit those who resist-as the Afrikaaners and Nazis named the Black and French freedom fighters, respectively.

http://www.aljazeerah.info/Opinion%20editorials/2003%20Opinion%20Editorials/November/12%20o/Breaking%20the%20silence%20surrounding%20the%20Zionist%20movement%20Tamara%20Mattar.htm

Breaking the silence surrounding the Zionist movement
Tamara Mattar, The Daily Star

Every time the imposed silence on the topic of Zionism is broken, a lot of noise is made. Little wonder then, that an Arab TV series which touches upon the most taboo of all political issues is subjected to the usual barrage of accusations from Israel and its defenders. 

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2003/nov2003/miam-n14.shtml

War on terror methods for Miami anti-globalization protests
Patrick Martin, WSWS
The Bush administration and local authorities in Miami are treating the anti-globalization protests as though they were a military engagement. Thousands of police are being mobilized, and the $8.5 million cost of the heavy police presence was included in the $87 billion supplemental appropriation passed by Congress last week to fund the occupation of Iraq.

http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?itemid=15984

They blinded me with pseudo-science

Amanda Griscom, Working for Change
The Bush administration is jettisoning real scientists in favor of yes-men.

NewsWire

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/editorandpublisher/headlines/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=2027078

30 Media Outlets Protest Treatment in Iraq

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-3381543,00.html

U.S. Troops More Hostile With Reporters

http://estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=17997&archive=true

Some Army troops unpaid for weeks, denied medical care

http://abcnews.go.com/sections/Nightline/World/wounded_reservists_031115-1.html

Shattered Lives: Wounded Reservists Back From Iraq Face Uncertainty, Bitterness

http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20031113-074311-4128r

U.S. casualties from Iraq war top 9,000

http://www.antiwar.com/blog/comments.php?id=P268_0_1_0

US death toll reaches 400

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20031113/ts_nm/iraq_usa_vietnam_dc&cid=564&ncid=1480

US Death Toll in Iraq Exceeds First Three Years of Vietnam War

http://www.antiwar.com/ips/lobe111203b.html

Iraq War Killed 21,000-55,000 Iraqi Civilians

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/1112-01.htm

CIA report warns growing numbers of Iraqis conclude U.S.-led coalition can be defeated and are supporting the resistance

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1083847,00.html

'We could lose this situation'

http://www.news.scotsman.com/opinion.cfm?id=1248812003

Post-war Iraq a catastrophe in the making

http://www.menewsline.com/stories/2003/november/11_17_1.html

U.S. Army quietly preparing for a stay in Iraq until at least 2006

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20031117/wl_mideast_afp/iraq_blast_pipeline&cid=1514&ncid=1480

Rash of incidents hit Iraq's pipeline network

http://www.truthout.org/docs_03/111403B.shtml

Insurgents Gain a Deadly Edge in Intelligence

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/allnews/content_objectid=13631331_method=full_siteid=50143_headline=-BUSH-PULLS-OUT-OF-SPEECH-TO-MPS-name_page.html

Chicken George: Scared of dissent, Bush cancels his speech to Parliament

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/story.jsp?story=464815

Unprecedented security operation: President will be protected by 16,000 police officers

http://education.independent.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=463862

UK students threatened with crackdown if they attend anti-war demos

http://www.sundayherald.com/38076

Armed US Secret Service agents have the right to "shoot to kill" during Bush UK visit

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/story.jsp?story=464783

Livingstone says Bush is 'greatest threat to life on planet'

http://www.knoxstudio.com/shns/story.cfm?pk=PEACEGROUPS-11-16-03&cat=AN

Officials step up monitoring of anti-war groups

http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/111203/met_14020003.shtml

Anti-Iraq war veterans pulled from parade

http://nyc.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=81719&group=webcast

NYPD Thugs Attack APOC Fundraiser

http://www.sltrib.com/2003/Nov/11152003/commenta/commenta.asp

All of a sudden the Patriot Act isn't just about terrorists anymore

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L1738920.htm

Greek police battle protesters: Annual rally marking 1973 pro-democracy revolt snowballs into violent anti-war, anti-American protest 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A42606-2003Nov14?language=printer

Attacks in Afghanistan on the Rise: Combat Situation 'Every Bit as Difficult' as in Iraq

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/13/technology/circuits/13kick.html

Peeking behind the curtain of secrecy

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20031114/D7UQJ2A00.html

Personal Bankruptcy Filings Jump 7.8 Pct

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article5219.htm

Where are all these jobs everyone (media) is so ecstatic about?

http://www.vdare.com/guzzardi/chao.htm

Bush's "New Jobs" Mostly Low-Paying

http://www.sunspot.net/business/bal-bz.longhours12nov12,0,1053336.story?coll=bal-business-headlines

Consumed by work

http://money.cnn.com/2003/11/11/pf/q_iquit/index.htm?cnn=yes

I quit! Survey finds employees overworked, streesed out, fed up

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A33847-2003Nov12.html

Hidden Face of Homelessness: In Outer Suburbs, Growing Population Eludes Public Awareness

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/1115-03.htm

Israel on Road to Ruin, Warn Former Shin Bet Chiefs

http://www.antiwar.com/ips/lobe111203.html

Israel's Wall Sparks Worldwide Protests

http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2003/Nov-10-Mon-2003/news/22546246.html

Student punished for comments made in online journal

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2003/nov2003/raid-n12.shtml

US: Gunpoint police raid at South Carolina school

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