At NY meeting on U.S. terror at home and abroad
Ramsey Clark warns of plutocracy
By Deirdre Griswold
New York
Whether you're a long-time anti-war activist, a Muslim
community leader, an immigrant professor, a high-school student
looking at the future, or a working person trying to make ends
meet in a climate of war and recession, you need to understand
the swift political and legal changes made in recent months by
the Bush administration.
The International Action Center on Dec. 13 presented a panel
of thoughtful and diverse speakers who analyzed the vast
campaign of war and repression unleashed by Washington on this
country and the world. An overflow audience at midtown
Manhattan's Community Church hall responded warmly to the IAC's
founder, former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark, and to the
other panelists as they laid out the dangers of this period
from a perspective of how to broaden and deepen the struggle
against war and for economic justice and civil liberties.
Some dealt with the impact of Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft's
"Patriot Act" on political and human rights here.
Asha Samad-Matias is Professor of African and Caribbean
Studies at the City College of New York. She was attacked in
the Murdoch-owned New York Post as "unpatriotic" for pointing
out at a teach-in after Sept. 11 how great the suffering of
African and Middle Eastern people has been. There is pressure
on campuses everywhere to make teachers and students toe the
line, she reported.
Peta Lindsay is a dynamic high school organizer with the
ANSWER coalition who laid out a campaign of noncooperation with
Ashcroft's witchhunt. The FBI has been pressuring schools to
turn over names of Arab students--a direct violation of their
right to privacy. Students will be resisting assaults on their
civil liberties and the militarization of the campuses.
The CEO of The Arabic Channel, Gamil Tawif, spoke on the
government's targeting of Arabs, and reported that
Arabic-speaking people dispute the Bush administration's
translation of the purported Osama bin Laden videotape.
Larry Holmes and Teresa Gutierrez of the International
Action Center raised cases of domestic repression that predate
9-11. Holmes spoke of the importance of the struggle to free
Mumia Abu-Jamal. He contrasted the hype around the dubious bin
Laden tape to the way the media has virtually ignored the
videotape of confessed mob hitman Arnold Beverly, whose
testimony exonerates Abu-Jamal.
Gutierrez gave a vivid description of the case of the Miami
5, the five Cubans convicted of espionage in Florida because
they penetrated right-wing terrorist organizations and warned
Cuban authorities of their plans.
Two very different
attorneys general
Atty. Mara Verheyden-Hilliard of the Partnership for Civil
Justice summarized the significance of the new legislation.
Atty. Gen. Ashcroft took it even further when he told the
Senate Judiciary Committee that those who dissent are helping
terrorists. While Bush's attack was echoed by some liberals,
that fever will fade, she said, as the movement mobilizes
against the "Patriot Act" as a mass violation of everyone's
rights, including unions, civil rights and anti-war
movements.
The "Patriot" bill puts the CIA back in the business of
domestic spying, she said. It allows Ashcroft to override
judges. But this people's attorney was confident that a mass
mobilization can beat back the right-wing.
Ramsey Clark, who once occupied the cabinet post now filled
by Ashcroft, put the present tumultuous period in historical
context, quoting Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous judgment
that "The greatest purveyor of terror on earth is our own
government."
"Talk about terror!" said Clark. "The nuclear warheads on
one Trident submarine can destroy a whole hemisphere. What
conscience could ever permit the creation of such omnicidal
weapons?"
In a compact history lesson, Clark touched the highlights of
U.S. aggression around the world in recent decades, pointing
out that the misery created by the bombing of Iraq or
Yugoslavia, or the overthrow of governments in Congo and
Guatemala, "endures for a long, long time." He urged the
movement to have "foresight." "We can't just react," he
said.
But his message to the hall full of activists was basically
optimistic. Those responsible for the world's misery, like the
CEOs and heads of state coming to the World Economic Forum in
February, are "a small plutocracy," said Clark. Armed with that
thought, the audience gave Clark a standing ovation and signed
up for future activities outlined by Brian Becker of the
IAC.
Reprinted from the Dec. 27, 2001, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011
Email: ww@workers.org
Subscribe wwnews-subscribe@workersworld.net
Support independent news http://www.workers.org/orders/donate.php)
HOME
:: U.S. NEWS ::
WORLD NEWS ::
EDITORIALS ::
SUBSCRIBE ::
DONATE
Email
this article
Printable
page