Mr. President, War Is Not Peace
By Norman Solomon
Solomon's ZSpace Page: Dec 11, 2009
Eloquence in Oslo cannot change the realities of war.
As President Obama neared the close of his Nobel address, he called for "the
continued expansion of our moral imagination." Yet his speech was tightly
circumscribed by the policies that his oratory labored to justify.
Lofty rationales easily tell us that warfare is striving for the noble goal
of peace. But the rationales scarcely intersect with actual war. The oratory
sugarcoats the poisons, helping to kill hope in the name of it.
A few months ago, when I visited an Afghan office for women's empowerment,
staffers took me to a pilot project in one of Kabul's poorest neighborhoods.
There, women were learning small-scale business skills while also gaining
personal strength and mutual support.
Two-dozen women, who ranged in age from early 20s to late 50s, talked with
enthusiasm about the workshops. They were desperate to change their lives.
When it was time to leave, I had a question: What should I tell people in
the United States, if they ask what Afghan women want most of all?
After several women spoke, the translator summed up. "They all said that the
first priority is peace."
In Afghanistan, after 30 years under the murderous twin shadows of poverty
and war, the only lifeline is peace.
From President Obama, we hear that peace is the ultimate goal. But "peace"
is a fixture on a strategic horizon that keeps moving as the military keeps
marching.
Just a couple of days before Obama stepped to the podium in Oslo, the
general running the U.S. war effort in Afghanistan spoke to a congressional
committee in Washington about the president's recent pledge to begin
withdrawal of U.S. troops in July 2011. "I don't believe that is a deadline
at all," Stanley McChrystal said.
War is not peace. It never has been. It never will be.
Actual policy always, in the real world, profoundly trumps even the best
rhetoric. And so, for instance, when President Obama's Nobel speech
proclaimed that "America cannot act alone" and called for "standards that
govern the use of force," the ringing declaration clashed with the
announcement last month that he will not sign the international Mine Ban
Treaty.
As Nobel Peace Laureate Jody Williams pointed out, "Obama's position on land
mines calls into question his expressed views on multilateralism, respect
for international humanitarian law and disarmament. How can he, with total
credibility, lead the world to nuclear disarmament when his own country
won't give up even land mines?"
At the outset of his speech in Oslo, the president spoke of his "acute sense
of the cost of armed conflict." Well, there's acute and then there's acute.
I think of the people I met and saw in Kabul who are missing limbs, and the
countless more whose lives have been shattered by war.
In the name of pragmatism, Obama spoke of "the world as it is" and threw a
cloak of justification over the grisly escalation in Afghanistan by
insisting that "war is sometimes necessary" -- but generalities do nothing
to mitigate the horrors of war being endured by others.
President Obama accepted the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize while delivering -- to
the world as it is -- a pro-war speech. The context instantly turned the
speech's insights into flackery for more war.
Norman Solomon is co-chair of the national Healthcare Not Warfare campaign,
launched by Progressive Democrats of America. He is the author of a dozen
books including "War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us
to Death." For more information, go to: www.normansolomon.com
From: Z Net - The Spirit Of Resistance Lives
http://www.zcommunications.org/zspace/commentaries/4073
***
On Sunday, December 13, at 8 PM Eastern and Pacific / 7 PM Central, THE
PEOPLE SPEAK -- the long awaited documentary film inspired by Howard
Zinn's A People's History of the United States, with Anthony Arnove. Voices
of a People's History of the United States will air on the History channel.
THE PEOPLE SPEAK is produced by Matt Damon, Josh Brolin, Chris Moore,
Anthony Arnove, and Howard Zinn, co-directed by Moore, Arnove and Zinn, and
features dramatic and musical performances by Allison Moorer, Benjamin
Bratt, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Chris Robinson, Christina Kirk, Danny
Glover, Darryl "DMC" McDaniels, David Strathairn, Don Cheadle, Eddie Vedder,
Harris Yulin, Jasmine Guy, John Legend, Josh Brolin, Kathleen Chalfant,
Kerry Washington, Lupe Fiasco, Marisa Tomei, Martín Espada, Matt Damon,
Michael Ealy, Mike O'Malley, Morgan Freeman, Q'orianka Kilcher, Reg E.
Cathey, Rich Robinson, Rosario Dawson, Sandra Oh, Staceyann Chin, and Viggo
Mortensen.
Narrated by acclaimed historian Howard Zinn and based on his best-selling
books, A People's History of the United States and, with Anthony Arnove,
Voices of a People's History, THE PEOPLE SPEAK illustrates the relevance of
these passionate historical moments to our society today and reminds us
never to take liberty for granted.
Buy the SOUNDTRACK, featuring new songs from THE PEOPLE SPEAK by Allison
Moorer, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Eddie Vedder, Exene Cervenka, Jackson
Browne, John Doe, John Legend, Lupe Fiasco, P!nk, Randy Newman, Rich
Robinson, and Taj Mahal.
http://www.peopleshistory.us/news/people-speak-soundtrack-CD-on-Verve
A two-disc special DVD set of THE PEOPLE SPEAK will be out in January!
More details soon at:
http://www.thepeoplespeak.com
NEW AND UPDATED edition of a source book for THE PEOPLE SPEAK just
released:
Voices of a People's History of the United States, by Howard Zinn and
Anthony Arnove
http://www.sevenstories.com/book/?GCOI=58322100808900
Sign up at http://www.thepeoplespeak.com
Join The People Speak on History on Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/thepeoplespeakonhistory
Follow us on Twitter @vph and @HISTORY_Daily
MORE INFORMATION
http://www.PeoplesHistory.us
http://www.facebook.com/Voices.Live
http://www.HowardZinn.org
http://www.facebook.com/HowardZinn
***
From: Terrence McNally
Sun-12/13-Rebecca Solnit-Hope, hell and paradise-1pm PT (4pm
ET)-90.7fm-kpfk.org
Now Sundays following Ian Masters.
FREE FORUM with TERRENCE McNALLY
Sunday December 13th
1-2pm PT (4-5pm ET)
REBECCA SOLNIT,
author, HOPE IN THE DARK;
STORMING THE GATES OF PARADISE;
PARADISE BUILT IN HELL
As we near the end of one year and beginning of another, not a bad time to
take stock. Today's guest, REBECCA SOLNIT, thinks and writes -- and acts -
about a lot of issues and ideas and their connections.
REBECCA SOLNIT is the author of 10 books, and a co-author of at
least 15 more. She is a journalist, essayist, environmentalist, historian,
and art critic; a contributing editor to Harper's, a columnist for Orion,
and a regular contributor to Tomdispatch.com and the Nation.
A reviewer of her newest book describes her as "the kind of rugged, off-road
public intellectual America doesn't produce often enough." Another writes,
"Although she has written on a vast array of subjects, all her books give
new ways to understand the passing world, and to glory in it."
I'll engage REBECCA SOLNIT in a wide ranging conversation about the past
year and future decades, about hope and action, and about paradise and hell,
among other things.
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