On September 1, Voices in the Wilderness participants will begin a ten day public fast in Chicago. This fast is in support of Iraqis and Palestinians who are utilizing nonviolent means to resist unjust conditions. Palestinian detainees are engaged in a hunger strike to demand an end to inhumane treatment in prison. Iraqis entered Najaf to nonviolently interpose themselves between two warring factions and to reclaim the Shrine of Imam Ali for peace.

by Scott Coleman Blackburn

Let’s exercise a thought experiment for a moment. 9-11-2001 was just a normal day and not a tragic historical event, we do not have a presidential election in less than three months, Bush’s only lead in the polls is not in regard to the fight against terrorism, and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq never occurred. Let us further pretend that Homeland Security was still formed for some reason. Today is September 1st, 2004. In eight days Homeland Security will announce that September is “National Preparedness Month.” Does it seem odd to announce a national month long campaign 9 days into that very month? Does that sound prepared? Does that sound like a month? Last time I checked the calendar September has 30 days. 22 days isn’t even a month on a lunar calendar. Politics aside, it is still odd.

Let’s get back to reality. To make ready beforehand is to be prepared. Homeland Security put out their press release on August 10th so they have been in the planning stage for quite sometime. It’s not likely that they came up with the idea on August 9th of this year. In looking at the calendar (pdf) put together by the America Prepared Campaign for this month there are events planned before September 9th, so why, according to the American Red Cross, is there a “planned nationwide announcement on September 9th by Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Tom Ridge declaring September as ‘National Preparedness Month’”? It is all too obvious just how prepared they really are.

Public Power in the Age of Empire
Transcript of full speech by Arundhati Roy in San Francisco, California on August 16th, 2004.

If you would like to listen to or watch the speech please visit Democracy Now!

I’ve been asked to speak about “Public Power in the Age of Empire.” I’m not used to doing as I’m told, but by happy coincidence, it’s exactly what I’d like to speak about tonight.

When language has been butchered and bled of meaning, how do we understand “public power”? When freedom means occupation, when democracy means neo-liberal capitalism, when reform means repression, when words like “empowerment” and “peacekeeping” make your blood run cold - why, then, “public power” could mean whatever you want it to mean. A biceps building machine, or a Community Power Shower. So, I’ll just have to define “public power” as I go along, in my own self-serving sort of way.

By Milan Rai
Justice Not Vengeance

Terrorism - The Bush Doctrine

President Bush said at the Republican National Convention in New York, ‘We are staying on the offensive - striking terrorists abroad - so we do not have to face them here at home.’ http://tinyurl.com/55ad3

The tragedy in North Ossetia in Russia, where several hundred people have died in a school siege, demonstrates the end result of such an attitude.

The Bloody Week
‘Yesterday’s seizure of a school in the southern town of Beslan, about 30 miles west of Chechnya, caps a bloody week for Mr Putin, whose usual take on the [Chechnya] conflict is that it is “getting better”. Two planes and a metro station have been attacked, and now he must achieve what seems impossible: the safe extraction of up to 400 schoolchildren [actually more than twice that number] from a mined gymnasium.’ (Guardian, 2 Sept., p. 4)

By Milan Rai
Justice Not Vengeance

US Broke Ceasefire Immediately:
‘Truce’ Merely A Stage In The Conflict

Before The Ink Was Dry
The Najaf ceasefire did not resolve the conflict in Najaf. Before the ink was even dry on the agreement signed by militant Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and the supreme Shia religious leader Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the United States and its client forces were breaking the terms of the truce. In particular, US Marines refused to withdraw from Najaf, as required by the Sistani peace deal. Muqtada al-Sadr may wish to move the conflict over the occupation to the political sphere, but the US and the Allawi do not.