September 22, 2001
To the Editor;
Even as we grieve for the appalling loss of life at the World Trade
Center and feel dismay at the targeting of innocent people by terrorists, it
is imperative that we recognize the underlying cause of such attacks. It is
the hatred that US government policies engender in the Mideast and around
the world. At the same time that we denounce terrorism, we need to
acknowledge that it would have no soil to grow in were it not for the
oppressive foreign policies of our own government:
* Uncritical support of Israel, to the tune of $2 billion in annual aid,
even while it is exterminating and dispossessing the Palestinians,
* Ongoing bombing of Iraq and embargoes against the entire populations of
Iraq and Cuba because of opposition to their leaders. The actions against
Iraq have caused the deaths of more than 1.5 million people-which I can only
call terrorism,
* Financial and military support of rightwing dictatorial regimes that
torture and impoverish their own people throughout the Mideast, South and
Central America, Asia and Africa,
* Ruthless promotion of corporate globalization, which is impoverishing
the Third World at an astonishing rate, through institutions like the World
Bank and World Trade Organization, and escalating brutality against the
anti-corporate movement,
* Contempt for the imperative of ending racism by US officials who walked
out of the recent World Conference Against Racism.
Martin Luther King Jr. once said, "riot is the language of the
unheard." So too, terrorism arises when people see no means or hope of
gaining basic human rights or necessities of life by democratic, peaceful
means. If we are unable to learn this simple and oft repeated lesson of
history, we are doomed to witness tragedies like that of September 11 again.
Sincerely,
Jordana Sardo
4320 NE 88th
Portland, OR 97220
503-255-5776
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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