SANTA MONICA COLLEGE TEACH-IN EXPLORES ALTERNATIVES TO WAR

“American foreign policy must change from bipolar, a remnant of the Cold War, to proactive, exploring all possible solutions to the present terrorism crisis”, an Afghani political science professor told students at the conclusion of a twelve hour peace teach-in Wednesday at Santa Monica College. “US leaders ignore the fact that there are moderates Talibans in Afghanistan to whom we could make overtures. Instead, we are considering helping the opposition Northern Alliance, whose 1993-1994 rule was worse than that of the present Talibans. We’re repeating the mistakes we made during the 1980’s in backing factions against the Soviets.”

Throughout the day, students, teachers, college staff members and guests discussed the possibility of peaceful solutions to the present situation spawned by the September 11 hijacking attacks on New York and Washington D. C., and explored the root causes of terrorism.

As the marathon confab ended at dusk, about 100 of the remaining attendees conducted a candle light march from the campus’ amphitheater to the Santa Monica beach. Political Science professor Richard Tahvildaran-Jesswein, who helped organize the event, estimated that as many as 1,500 had participated throughout the day.

The speakers that this reporter heard in the last hours of the teach-in emphasized that the crisis stems largely from the great economic disparity between the United States and the non-Western world, which includes the Middle East.

“While we mourn the loss of over 6,000 in New York and Washington, most Americans don’t realize that about 40,000 people in the world die each day of malnutrition.” Bill Selby, one of the concluding panelists said. “We refer non-Western states as ‘developing nations’, but this is a lie,” he added. “ In fact, most of them are deteriorating.”

Student Rudy Almeida chided US leaders for advocating that we go to war to prop up a faltering capitalist economy. "The current war mentality targets anyone who is not pro capitalist, a minority, gay or an environmentalist. Increased military expenditures will use up our limited resources”, he said.

An Afghani woman commented “As a Muslim, I join with all religions in condemning all terrorist acts. I do not distinguish between those in Oklahoma City, New York City, Jerusalem or Kabul. In the present atmosphere, I do not feel as free to criticize the President as I did when I first came here in the 1980’s.”