english
nederlands
Indymedia NL
Vrij Media Centrum Nederland
Indymedia NL is een onafhankelijk lokaal en mondiaal vrij communicatie orgaan. Indymedia biedt een andere kijk op het nieuws door een open publicatie methode van tekst, beeld & geluid.
> contact > zoek > archief > hulp > doe mee > publiceer nieuws > open nieuwslijn > disclaimer > chat
Zoek

 
Alle Woorden
Elk Woord
Bevat Media:
Alleen beelden
Alleen video
Alleen audio

Dossiers
Agenda
CHAT!
LINKS

European NewsReal

MDI klaagt Indymedia.nl aan
Rechtszaak Deutsche Bahn tegen Indymedia.nl
Onderwerpen
anti-fascisme / racisme
europa
feminisme
gentechnologie
globalisering
kunst, cultuur en muziek
media
militarisme
natuur, dier en mens
oranje
vrijheid, repressie & mensenrechten
wereldcrisis
wonen/kraken
zonder rubriek
Events
G8
Oaxaca
Schinveld
Schoonmakers-Campagne
Hulp
Hulp en tips voor beginners
Een korte inleiding over Indymedia NL
De spelregels van Indymedia NL
Hoe mee te doen?
Doneer
Steun Indymedia NL financieel!
Rechtszaken kosten veel geld, we kunnen elke (euro)cent gebruiken!

Je kunt ook geld overmaken naar bankrekening 94.32.153 tnv Stichting Vrienden van Indymedia (IBAN: NL41 PSTB 0009 4321 53).
Indymedia Netwerk

www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa
ambazonia
canarias
estrecho / madiaq
kenya
nigeria
south africa

Canada
hamilton
london, ontario
maritimes
montreal
ontario
ottawa
quebec
thunder bay
vancouver
victoria
windsor
winnipeg

East Asia
burma
jakarta
japan
manila
qc

Europe
alacant
andorra
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
bristol
bulgaria
croatia
cyprus
estrecho / madiaq
euskal herria
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
lille
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
netherlands
nice
norway
oost-vlaanderen
paris/île-de-france
poland
portugal
romania
russia
scotland
sverige
switzerland
thessaloniki
toulouse
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia
west vlaanderen

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
brasil
chiapas
chile
chile sur
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso

Oceania
adelaide
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
oceania
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india
mumbai

United States
arizona
arkansas
atlanta
austin
baltimore
big muddy
binghamton
boston
buffalo
charlottesville
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
danbury, ct
dc
hampton roads, va
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
idaho
ithaca
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
omaha
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
seattle
tallahassee-red hills
tampa bay
tennessee
united states
urbana-champaign
utah
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
armenia
beirut
israel
palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
discussion
fbi/legal updates
indymedia faq
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech
volunteer
Credits
Deze site is geproduceerd door vrijwilligers met free software waar mogelijk.

De software die we gebruiken is beschikbaar op: mir.indymedia.de
een alternatief is te vinden op: active.org.au/doc

Dank aan indymedia.de en mir-coders voor het creëren en delen van mir!

Contact:
info @ indymedia.nl
Where Now, America
Ramzi Kysia - 12.04.2003 23:37

There are no words to describe this disaster. When I close my eyes, an apocalypse rolls on in rough flashes.
 http://electroniciraq.net/news/1.shtml
12 April 2003


Where Now, America? E-mail this
Print this
Ramzi Kysia, Electronic Iraq

12 April 2003

There are no words to describe this disaster. When I close my eyes, an apocalypse rolls on in rough flashes: the as-Sheb marketplace bombing, the Karadat Miryam neighborhood bombing, Nahrawaan Farm, an-Naser marketplace, Palestine Street. Scores of human beings killed, scores more injured, a wealth of human misery deposited at al-Kindi and al-Yarmouk - Baghdad's two, major trauma hospitals. Across all of Iraq, thousands murdered, at least ten-thousands maimed.

The scenes flicker faster: Baghdad's skyline filled with collapsed buildings bellowing plumes of dirty smoke. Massive looting in Umm Qasr, in Nassirya, in Basra. The Damascus-line bus bombings. The Hilla City cluster bombing. Revenge killings. Suicide bombings. U.S. soldiers executing entire families out of fear. Al-Jazeera's offices bombed. Abu Dhabi TV's offices bombed. Reuters bombed. The Red Cross announcing that Baghdad's hospitals are overrun with more than 100 casualties arriving every hour. Over 1 million people in Basra without water for a week, then for two weeks, then...

A dog and pony show in Paradise Park briefly interrupts the panorama: flanked by American tanks and soldiers, surrounded by absolutely empty streets, in a city of five million, two or three hundred Iraqis dance and cheer as Americans pull down a statue of Saddam: Baghdad is liberated! The tanks quickly move to guard the Ministry of Oil, as all other government buildings are looted and destroyed. UN buildings are looted, Red Cross headquarters looted, stores looted, schools looted, museums looted - al-Kindi hospital stripped bare.

Liberation has a sting to it.

This is not an accident. It is not a mistake. War is a deliberate thing, carefully crafted and intentionally executed. And there is a word missing from our lexicon of liberation: Responsibility.

America, we bombed the civilian infrastructure in Iraq in 1991, and blockaded its repair for twelve long years. We forcibly impoverished an entire nation. Hundreds of thousands of human beings died as a result. We started another war on March 20th for no other reason than to further U.S. supremacy over the world. Thousands were killed. We are now occupying a devastated nation, and moving to collect the spoils that to "victors" always go. Iraq will spend a hundred years paying off odious debt incurred by Saddam Hussein and much multiplied by our sanctions. How many more will die? How much further impoverishment will we impose? As we privatize Iraq's former, spirit-crushing bureaucracy, will free public education through University be erased as well? Will the free, universal health care Iraqis formerly enjoyed be denied?

I am frustrated, I am angry, and I don't know what to do.

I was in Iraq for the first two weeks of the war before being expelled, along with 8 other members of the Iraq Peace Team. I broke a curfew, and spent too much time with journalists at the Palestine hotel. Paranoia raged. The Iraqi secret police were suspicious of everyone and everything, and the block-long walk from our hotel to the Palestine became an impassible excursion.

I think of my time in Palestine/Israel last year, and how huge a country Palestine seemed to be, with countless miles between every town. But the eight-hour journey between Ramallah and Jenin is but 50 miles on our poor maps that show only the distance laid upon the land by God, and not by men.

Today, the Palestine hotel is a "secure" facility, and our team in Baghdad are still prevented from approaching the media - this time by American soldiers, and their fears.

I think of the violence of September 11th, the loss of life, and the loss of our liberties imposed by a security-obsessed government, wielding the massive power of panic and paranoia. I think of the fear Arab- and Muslim-Americans today feel, that they will be summarily persecuted, arrested, expelled, or even killed. I think of the fear "White" America feels, wrapping their homes in ridiculous plastic sheeting against the possibility of terrorist attacks, wrapping their hearts against the misery their fears have wrecked upon Afghanistan, upon Iraq.

Where now, America?

When will realize that we are not the only real people on this planet, and that our security cannot depend on the insecurity of everyone else?

It is unsafe for our team still in Baghdad to visit our Iraqi friends, the families we've come to love. Where Iraqi government paranoia confined us during the last days of the war, street violence confines the team today. A short walk is now a death-defying expedition. People have been shot short yards from our team's hotel. Violence has strained the ties we've worked so hard to maintain. Beyond its physical misery, the loss of those you love, the destruction of community is violence's most devastating consequence.

I think of streets incredibly full of cars, during "shock and awe's" day and night bombings: marketplaces still open, soccer games still being played. It's frightening how quickly incredible levels of violence become normalized within our lives. But it's also quite beautiful - the heartfelt attempt to continue community in the middle of war.

Iraq is not a war-zone. Baghdad is not a war-zone. Baghdad is a city of shops and restaurants, homes, hospitals, museums, schools, parks and playgrounds - Iraq is a place of human devotions. War is a thing that was brought to Iraq, imposed by amoral and irresponsible governments, in our names. In our names.

Iraqis are not our enemies. Iraqis are our allies against the destruction of our common lives, the devastation of our common world. They are our common allies against the violence resident in every human heart.

This has not been a short war. It has been storming since Aug. 6th, 1990, the day we first imposed sanctions on the Iraqi people. Hundreds of thousands are already dead. Millions are already devastated.

This will not be a short war. The Six-Day War in 1967 became a 36-year war. It brought Israel military supremacy over the West Bank and Gaza, and ruined both nations, both peoples. It rages on today.

Saddam Hussein devastated Iraq. But Saddam is gone now. America devastated Iraq as well - and now we remain.

The peace movement must not constrain itself to what happens in Iraq. We must advocate for the absolute right of Iraqis to create and inculcate their own destiny, as they define it for themselves, without interference, intimidation, or control. But we must do more than talk. We must take Iraq with us, as an example, as a call. We must work as hard as the war makers do.

If there is any hope at all, then we ourselves must overcome the institutions within our own society which further violence. We must overcome our own militarism, and the materialism that drives it. We must stop paying taxes, we must risk arrest, we must shut down a government in Washington D.C. that is illegitimate and absolutely out-of-control.

And we must overcome our anger at the mass killers of the world, the Saddam Husseins and George Bushes, even as we overcome their tyrannies. That anger is playing itself out today in the streets of Iraq - further wrecking lives already crushed by violence.

Please God, we must learn how to heal ourselves of all our delusions.

Where now, America? As the jubilations over the downfall of one tyrant are replaced by bitterness toward another, as thousands of modern-day carpetbaggers - good- and ill-willed foreigners alike - descend on Iraq to impose their versions of reality, as the corporatization of Iraq maintains the impoverishment of sanctions, as U.S. occupation increasingly becomes governed by fear and resentment -- where now? Where now? Where now?


Ramzi Kysia is an Arab-American peace activist and writer who has spent 7 months in Iraq over the last two years. He is currently in Amman, Jordan with expelled members of the Iraq Peace Team.


Page last updated: 12 April 2003, 14:10 CST



This page is part of Electronic Iraq/electronicIraq.net, a joint project from Voices in the Wilderness and The Electronic Intifada. Views expressed on this page may or may not be representative of Electronic Iraq or its founders. All material on this website is copyright ©2003 of the author or original source.



 

Lees meer over: vrijheid, repressie & mensenrechten

aanvullingen
Kunnen de verkiezingen even wachten 
Ingrid Vercamme - 13.04.2003 00:22

Terwijl de verkiezingskoorts toeneemt in België en de nieuw-opkomende lijst Resist het moet ontgelden, is de ellende in Irak nauwelijks in woorden te omschrijven.
aanvullingen
> indymedia.nl > zoek > archief > hulp > doe mee > publiceer nieuws > open nieuwslijn > disclaimer > chat
DISCLAIMER: Indymedia NL werkt volgens een 'open posting' principe om zodoende de vrijheid van meningsuiting te bevorderen. De berichten (tekst, beelden, audio en video) die gepost zijn in de open nieuwslijn van Indymedia NL behoren toe aan de betreffende auteur. De meningen die naar voren komen in deze berichten worden niet zonder meer door de redactie van Indymedia NL gesteund. Ook is het niet altijd mogelijk voor Indymedia NL om de waarheid van de berichten te garanderen.