{"article":{"id":12598,"heading":"ANOTHER SIDE OF THE WAR (Mumia Abu-Jamal)","author":"Mumia Abu-Jamal","created":"2001-11-03 07:38:17","modified":"2005-08-15 00:42:39","last_modified":"Mon, 15 Aug 2005 07:42:39","article":"

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ANOTHER SIDE OF THE WAR<\/u><\/div>\r\n
[Col. Writ. 10\/25\/01] Copyright '01 Mumia \r\nAbu-Jamal<\/div>\r\n
 <\/div>\r\n
    ... [W]e have about 50% of the \r\nworld's wealth, but<\/div>\r\n
    only 6.3% of its population ... \r\nOur real task in the<\/div>\r\n
    coming period is to devise a \r\npattern of relationships<\/div>\r\n
    which will have to dispense with \r\nall sentimentality...<\/div>\r\n
    We should cease to talk about \r\nvague and... unreal<\/div>\r\n
    objectives such as human rights, \r\nthe raising of<\/div>\r\n
    living standards, and \r\ndemocratization.<\/div>\r\n
    --- George Kennan, U.S. State \r\nDept., Policy Planning<\/u><\/div>\r\n
        Study \r\n23<\/u> (1948)<\/div>\r\n
 <\/div>\r\n
    We live in an awkward age of \r\nwar, where discussion is<\/div>\r\n
curtailed by the iron curtain of fear, and the \r\nchoking fog of<\/div>\r\n
uncertainty.<\/div>\r\n
 <\/div>\r\n
    At this time, when the American \r\nmilitary is embarking on<\/div>\r\n
an open-ended, and virtually unlimited expedition \r\noverseas,<\/div>\r\n
in search of undefined 'enemies,' and in pursuit of \r\na goal<\/div>\r\n
that seems more appropriate for international \r\npolice than<\/div>\r\n
an imperial military, there is a strange \r\ncircumscription of<\/div>\r\n
national dialogue.  At this time, more than \r\nany other, U.S.<\/div>\r\n
foreign policy, which should be in the very \r\nforefront of the<\/div>\r\n
national debate, hides in the shadows, like sellers \r\nof <\/div>\r\n
illicit, somewhat tainted substances, like crack \r\ncocaine,<\/div>\r\n
or smut.<\/div>\r\n
 <\/div>\r\n
    Nations, no less than people, \r\ncan be caught up in the<\/div>\r\n
very real grip of madness, as Nazi Germany or \r\nFascist<\/div>\r\n
Italy well-proved over a half century ago.  \r\nApartheid South<\/div>\r\n
Africa, which waged armed war against children, \r\nwho<\/div>\r\n
were armed with little more than the righteousness \r\nof<\/div>\r\n
their African resistance, is yet another.  And \r\none need not<\/div>\r\n
go across the Atlantic to see similar instances of \r\n<\/div>\r\n
national madness, as evidenced by the notorious \r\nMOVE<\/div>\r\n
bombing in Philadelphia, where, as one cop said \r\nominously,<\/div>\r\n
\"We saw the children as combatants!\", or the \r\nequally<\/div>\r\n
mad expressions of state terrorism as shown in \r\nWaco,<\/div>\r\n
Texas, or the Ruby Ridge incidents.<\/div>\r\n
 <\/div>\r\n
    \"Power\", to paraphrase Lord \r\nActon's well-known axiom,<\/div>\r\n
\"does more than corrupts, it makes men \r\nmad.\"<\/div>\r\n
 <\/div>\r\n
    It is precisely in this time of \r\nmadness, of emotional depth<\/div>\r\n
and mental unhingement, that other voices need to \r\nbe heard,<\/div>\r\n
and other perspectives leavened into the \r\ndebate.  For, if <\/div>\r\n
madness has one cure, it is reason.<\/div>\r\n
 <\/div>\r\n
    Mr. Enver Masud may be one of \r\nthe voices that adds <\/div>\r\n
some of that reason.  An engineering \r\nmanagement consultant<\/div>\r\n
who once worked for the World Bank, USAID in Egypt, \r\nand<\/div>\r\n
in half a dozen countries over the earth, Masud can \r\nhardly<\/div>\r\n
be termed an 'Islamic fundamentalist' (what-ever \r\nthat is),<\/div>\r\n
or even a radical.  He seems to be a fairly \r\nbourgeois fellow,<\/div>\r\n
who grew up in an Indian Muslim family of wealth, \r\nmeans and<\/div>\r\n
influence, who never really engaged the deeper \r\nwaters of<\/div>\r\n
his faith, until later in life.  His father \r\nwas the Indian ambassador<\/div>\r\n
to Saudi Arabia, and his mother is the descendant \r\nof a noble<\/div>\r\n
family in India.<\/div>\r\n
 <\/div>\r\n
    A year ago, Masud wrote and \r\npublished a book that was the<\/div>\r\n
compilation of perhaps five years of commentaries \r\nwritten<\/div>\r\n
for the little-known Washington, D.C.-based \r\nnewspaper,<\/div>\r\n
Eastern Times<\/u>, called The War on \r\nIslam<\/strong> (Arlington, Va.:<\/div>\r\n
Madrasah Books, 2000).  In it, Masud \r\ncritically engages,<\/div>\r\n
questions, and controverts many of the big stories \r\nof the<\/div>\r\n
day, from the 1991 report that \"Libyan terrorists\" \r\nwere sent<\/div>\r\n
to the U.S. by President M. Ghaddafi to assassinate \r\nAmericans,<\/div>\r\n
including the President (in fact, these were 350 \r\nLibyans,<\/div>\r\n
*trained by the U.S. CIA to knock off \r\nGhaddafi!<\/u>*), to the <\/div>\r\n
massacre of hundreds of Palestinians in Lebanese \r\nrefugee<\/div>\r\n
camps under the direction of Israeli then-defense \r\nminister<\/div>\r\n
(now President) Ariel Sharon in 1982.<\/div>\r\n
 <\/div>\r\n
    Using American, British, and \r\nother sources, Masud raises<\/div>\r\n
important questions, and also provides remarkable \r\nanswers.<\/div>\r\n
 <\/div>\r\n
    While The War on \r\nIslam<\/strong> was published long before the<\/div>\r\n
events of 11 September, 2001, it still has \r\nimportant lessons<\/div>\r\n
for those who wish to examine an opposing \r\nview.  Consider<\/div>\r\n
the comments he prints of Americans who were \r\ncritical of<\/div>\r\n
the U.S. bombings in Sudan and (yes) Afghanistan in \r\n1998:<\/div>\r\n
\"It is dangerous to divorce terrorism from \r\npolitics, yet the<\/div>\r\n
U.S. media continue to talk about an abstract war \r\nagainst<\/div>\r\n
terrorism without mention of the issues or context \r\nthat lie<\/div>\r\n
behind them.\" ; or, \"Terrorism is a political act, \r\na response<\/div>\r\n
to U.S. foreign policy.  It is an act of war \r\nwaged by people<\/div>\r\n
too weak to have a conventional army or one large \r\nenough<\/div>\r\n
to take on the United States.\"<\/div>\r\n
 <\/div>\r\n
    The first quote was written by \r\nGraham E. Fuller, former<\/div>\r\n
vice-chairman of the National Intelligence Council \r\nof the CIA,<\/div>\r\n
for the L.A. Times<\/u> (8\/24\/98); the second was \r\nby Charley<\/div>\r\n
Reese, an ex-soldier who does a column for the \r\nOrlando<\/u><\/div>\r\n
Sentinel<\/u> (8\/18\/98), the title of which told \r\nthe story: \"Face It:<\/div>\r\n
U.S. Foreign Policy Contribute to Acts of \r\nTerrorism.\"<\/div>\r\n
 <\/div>\r\n
    One really wonders if these guys \r\ncould, or even would,<\/div>\r\n
write the same kinds of things today.<\/div>\r\n
 <\/div>\r\n
    What is perhaps more troubling, \r\nis not whether either<\/div>\r\n
man would write such thoughts today, but whether a \r\n<\/div>\r\n
publisher of a newspaper would print it \r\ntoday!<\/div>\r\n
 <\/div>\r\n
    As experience has shown, this is \r\na very real question,<\/div>\r\n
that becomes even more provocative in the face \r\nof<\/div>\r\n
reports that a number of newspapers in the nation \r\nhave<\/div>\r\n
withdrawn the wildly popular comic strip, \r\nBoondocks,<\/div>\r\n
because of some of its pokes at the National \r\nSecurity<\/div>\r\n
State.  Boondocks, for the few who don't \r\nknow<\/u>, is a<\/div>\r\n
daily feature which, ala Doonesbury, pokes fun \r\nat<\/div>\r\n
American political, cultural, and racial \r\nmores.  Its<\/div>\r\n
central character, a tiny revolutionary boy \r\nnamed<\/div>\r\n
Huey Freeman, raises the ire of the adults \r\naround<\/div>\r\n
him, with his questions, observations, and \r\nactions.<\/div>\r\n
In one banned strip, he calls up the FBI's \r\nso-called<\/div>\r\n
terrorist hotline, to tell them that he knows \r\nsomeone<\/div>\r\n
who is a terrorist, and proceeds to spell, \r\n\"R-E-A-G--\",<\/div>\r\n
for former U.S. President (and Libya bomber) \r\nRonald<\/div>\r\n
Reagan.<\/div>\r\n
 <\/div>\r\n
    Although Aaron McGruder's strip \r\nruns in over 200 <\/div>\r\n
U.S. papers, roughly a dozen have pulled the most \r\n<\/div>\r\n
recent strips since the events of the 11th of \r\nSeptember.<\/div>\r\n
 <\/div>\r\n
    Similarly, I doubt few of \r\nAmerica's papers would run<\/div>\r\n
the thoughts, opinions and ruminations of Enver \r\nMasud.<\/div>\r\n
It is indeed, for this very reason that his \r\nthoughts may<\/div>\r\n
prove valuable to thinking people in America, who \r\nreally<\/div>\r\n
take offense at how the corporate media treats \r\nadults<\/div>\r\n
like kids, who need to be protected, not from \r\nbombs,<\/div>\r\n
or plummeting planes, but from non-conventional \r\n<\/div>\r\n
ideas.<\/div>\r\n
(The War on Islam <\/strong>is published by \r\nThe Wisdom Fund,<\/div>\r\n
Madrasah Book Division, P.O. Box 2723, Arlington, \r\nVA<\/div>\r\n
22202.)<\/div>\r\n
 <\/div>\r\n
Copyright '01 MAJ<\/div>\r\n
===================================<\/div>\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
 <\/div>\r\n
\r\n
THEY ARE PLANNING TO MURDER \r\nMUMIA!!<\/strong><\/div><\/strong><\/div>\r\n
<\/strong> <\/div>\r\n
SAVE THE DATE - DECEMBER 8TH FOR \r\nMUMIA!  <\/u><\/strong><\/div>\r\n
PLEASE PASS THE \r\nWORD!<\/strong><\/div>\r\n

\"We are fighting the last battle to Free Mumia, and need \r\nsupport now <\/div>\r\n
more than ever.  We need donations of money, calling \r\ncards, copy cards, <\/div>\r\n
etc. and we really need manpower.  We need people to be \r\nin the streets <\/div>\r\n
every day putting out information, demonstrating, raising \r\nmoney, and doing <\/div>\r\n
whatever you can to help.\"

\"Tell judge pamela dembe to \r\nhold an evidentiary hearing and a new
post-conviction relief appeal, to hear \r\nthe confession of Arnold Beverly
and to let Mumia be at the hearings in his \r\n\"trial\".  Tell mayor john
street to keep his promise and do what he can \r\nto help Mumia receive a <\/div>\r\n
fair trial and to hold an independent \r\ninvestigation into the case.  (you <\/div>\r\n
can get a sample of both of these letters \r\nat http:\/\/www.freemumia.com)

pamela dembe: \r\n1417 criminal justice center 1301 Filbert St. philadelphia
pa, 19107 Phone \r\n215 683-7148 Fax 215 683-7150

john street: room 215 city hall \r\nphiladelphia pa 19107
Phone 215 686-3000 Fax 215 \r\n686-2170\"

PLEASE CONTACT:
International Concerned Family & \r\nFriends of MAJ
 P.O. Box 19709, Philadelphia, PA 19143
 Phone - \r\n215-476-8812\/ Fax - 215-476-6180\/
 E-mail - icffmaj@aol.com \/www.mumia.org
AND OFFER \r\nYOUR SERVICES!

Send our brotha some LOVE and LIGHT \r\nat:
    Mumia Abu-Jamal
    AM \r\n8335
    SCI-Greene
    175 Progress \r\nDrive
    Waynesburg, PA  15370

  !! \r\nPEOPLE GET READY !!
<\/strong><\/div><\/div><\/div>\r\n
 <\/div>
******************************************************
This \r\ncolumn may be reprinted and\/or distributed by
electronic means, but only for \r\nnon-commercial use, and
only with the inclusion of the following copyright \r\n
information:

Text (c) copyright 2001 by Mumia Abu-Jamal. All rights \r\n
reserved. Reprinted by permission of the \r\nauthor.
******************************************************

Mumia \r\nAbu-Jamal is the author of three books: 'Live
from Death Row', 'Death \r\nBlossoms', and 'All Things
Censored'.

Write to Mumia directly \r\nat:
Mumia Abu-Jamal AM 8335
SCI-Greene
175 Progress \r\nDrive
Waynesburg, PA 15370

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