>From the Electronic Disturbance Theater CALL FOR FLOODNET ACTION FOR PEACE IN THE MIDDLE EAST VITRUAL SIT-IN ON THE WHITE HOUSE WEB SITE Friday, December 18, 1998 FROM 10:00 AM TO 4:00 PM (Washington D.C. TIME) FROM 4:00 PM TO 10:00 PM (GMT- GREENWICH MEAN TIME) http://www.aurorablue.org/projects/rdom/zapsPublic/ddkfoyer.htm ******************************* We oppose the U.S. military attack on Iraq and believe that the timing of this assault is designed to detract attention from President Clinton's impending impeachment hearing in Congress. We do not accept the logic of the White House and the Pentagon that Iraq poses a national security threat. If any country is guilty of harboring weapons of mass destruction it is the United States. We know that the U.S. government views the Middle East as a strategic area because, in part, it is an oil rich region. And we know the United States consistently uses the veil of "national security" as a means to pursue and justify its agenda of global economic domination. We support the skeptical and angry views of the Russian, Chinese, and Iraqi ambassadors to the United Nations Security Council who strongly voiced their opposition to U.S. and U.K. aggression against Iraq. We are saddened by the images on CNN of the innocent people who were injured in the first hours of the aerial bombardment. Moreover, we are aware that these victims are just a few of the hundreds of thousands of Iraqis who have either died or suffered greatly since the first Gulf War in 1991 and under U.S. backed sanctions that have existed since then. We support the lifting of sanctions against Iraq. We support the efforts of international human rights organizations, groups like Friendship Across Frontiers, and other sectors of international civil society who have been working for years to help the Iraqi people. We do not support Saddam Hussein but we believe it is not our right as Americans to go beyond merely having opinion. It is up to the Iraqi people, and others in the Arab world, to remove Saddam Hussein from office, if that is their desire and will. We believe the age of imperialism should come to an end. It is quite telling that the imperial power of the 19th century, Great Britain, and the imperial power of the 20th century, the United States, have joined forces alone as we enter the 21st century. In one instance, we agree with a characterization of the United States, made by Iraqi leaders. The history of U.S. military and intelligence intervention, both covert and overt, in Latin America, Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and domestically within sovereign Native American territory, is enough evidence to support the classification of this country as an Evil Empire. We support all efforts to denounce, oppose, protest, and resist the joint U.S.-U.K assault on Iraq, both domestically within the United States and England, in other European countries, in Middle Eastern countries, and throughout the world. We recognize that resistance to the current bombardment of Iraq, and resistance to all future war, will take place in two spheres. One is on the ground, in the streets, in offices, in universities, in factories - in real spaces. The other is on the Net, in what the Pentagon now calls "battlespace.” And we support the development and practice of joint virtual-real actions of resistance. We do not believe that only nation-states have the legitimate authority to engage in war and aggression. And we see cyberspace as a means for non-state political actors to enter present and future arenas of conflict, and to do so across international borders. We do not know how long the current U.S.-U.K. aerial assault on Iraq will last. Indications are that it will be short-lived. It may therefore not be an appropriate or strategic moment to attempt to inspire, coordinate, and sustain a campaign of virtual-real actions of resistance. We do feel, however, compelled to take some action. And therefore we will use FloodNet, the same tool we have been using against web sites of the Mexican government, to now make a symbolic gesture of our opposition to the current assault on Iraq. We therefore urge all people of good conscience who have the clarity of mind to oppose these aerial assaults to join us in a ongoing, nonviolent, virtual sit-in on the White House web site. We urge you to join us in a FloodNet Action for Peace in the Middle East. ********************************** Friday, December 18, 1998 FROM 10:00 AM TO 4:00 PM (Washington D.C. TIME) FROM 4:00 PM TO 10:00 PM (GMT- GREENWICH MEAN TIME) http://www.aurorablue.org/projects/rdom/zapsPublic/ddkfoyer.htm The Electronic Disturbance Theater Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List http://www.alexia.net.au/~www/mhutton/
