validation

I want to share an article from UN Wire which I think needs to be repeated:

World leaders urge reform in United Nations speeches A series of speeches by heads of state at the United Nations this week contained calls for broad reform of the international body, with Canada's Paul Martin laying out a vision of a stronger, more active UN. Chilean President Ricardo Lagos said the world needed "a better United Nations," with more transparency and accountability. Robert Mugabe, the controversial president of Zimbabwe, used his speech to denounce U.S. President George W. Bush and U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair, who he called Bush's "prophet," while Pakistani Prime Minister Pervez Musharraf warned against an "iron curtain" descending "between the West and the Islamic world." The Globe and Mail (Toronto) (free registration) (9/23), BBC (9/23), The Santiago Times (Chile) (9/23), The Boston Globe (9/23)


I especially find the accusation/contemplation of an "iron curtain" descending most interesting.
But I would take that a bit further, in calling it a noose of "terrorism" strangling reason and rational/proportional precautionary measures to prevent further terrorist attacks. This veil of fear is designed to keep people too distracted by that fear to examine gross structural inequality that creates the conditions of terrorism. It is also attempts to limit/silence criticism of blanket surrendering of civil and human rights to yet another omnipresent spectre. Yes terrorist attacks are a very real threat and always changing in intensity BUT where do you draw the line between legitimate fear and fearmongering? For me, that line must be drawn at the point to which the spectre overshadows the reality or overpowers it, transforming grief and legitimate grievance into a rallying call for war, torture, and illegal imprisonment. How does the U.S. response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks differ from that of Spain, Bali and Russia (to list a few recent examples)? This little brief though that I posted here is immensely gratifiying to see but you also have to consider where these critiques are coming from (notice none are from France, Germany, England, China, Russia) and wonder why.

Peace!


"She is running to stand still"--U2