by Arundhati Roy

This is an edited extract from the 2004 Sydney Peace Prize lecture delivered by Arundhati Roy at the Seymour Center last night.

Sometimes there’s truth in old cliches. There can be no real peace without justice. And without resistance there will be no justice. Today, it is not merely justice itself, but the idea of justice that is under attack.

The assault on vulnerable, fragile sections of society is so complete, so cruel and so clever that its sheer audacity has eroded our definition of justice. It has forced us to lower our sights, and curtail our expectations. Even among the well-intentioned, the magnificent concept of justice is gradually being substituted with the reduced, far more fragile discourse of “human rights”.

Proud people don’t like to be occupied. Nor do they relish their own genocide.

From a speech Ed Kinane gave regarding Iraq and the question, “What next?”
Clinton Square, downtown Syracuse
Noon to 1pm, November 3, 2004
By Ed Kinane

Friends, if - as seems likely — Mr. Bush is finally elected President, he will move very quickly to consolidate his agenda. Given this frightening prospect, let me recall three classic words of advice: illegitimus non carborundum, don’t let the bastards wear you down. Mother Jones said it even more proactively, Don’t mourn, organize. When we leave this rally today, we have no choice but to get back to work.

Now, just because the candidate many of us voted for may still be in the running doesn’t mean the election wasn’t stolen from us. Fact is, the corporations stole our elections and our democracy decades ago…. But if we found ourselves voting for a candidate whose major policies we majorly disagreed with, this election was further stolen from us.

Our task, beginning today, regardless of who wins, is to retrieve our stolen goods, to retrieve our democracy. The first step, I believe, is to work like hell to end the US war on Iraq. It is that war I want to talk about today.

Mr. Kerry frames his policy toward the war not as a matter of conscience. This, I believe, has been his fatal flaw. His policy was to outflank Mr. Bush, to steal Mr. Bush’ thunder. Mr. Kerry decided to show the US power structure that he’s reliable, that he can be counted on to defend the US empire’s interests, especially its oil interests. That he too - and this is using his own language — could be a killer. But in doing so he failed to show the electorate that he had an authentic vision, that he had authentic values of his own.

In Iraq US forces are besieged and spread thin. The Iraqi resistance is growing ever more confident. The Iraqi people are becoming ever more hostile to US occupation.

How could it be otherwise? Last week Lancet, the British medical journal, published a study. It concluded that 100,000 Iraqis have been killed or have died prematurely because of the US invasion and occupation. Proud people don’t like to be occupied. Nor do they relish their own genocide.

Let’s profile this war, which now rages with increasing fury:

Elderly man killed in crossfire, Najaf - photo by Kael Alford

For months on end, seven independent photographers and filmmakers have worked exclusively in Iraq documenting US troops and Iraqi civilians, resistance fighters and child laborers, imprisoned women and incarcerated youths. Using varied media and narrative styles ranging from photojournalism to first person narratives, cinema verite and found photography, Iraq Uncensored photographers present insights and subtleties beyond what daily news reporting can provide.

Together they will present rare windows on Iraq, the land that cradled what we now call civilization.

by Riverbend
from her blog Baghdad Burning
Riverbend is an Iraqi living in Baghdad. Juan Cole of Informed Comment has this to say about Riverbend, “the young woman computer systems analyst in Baghdad, Riverbend, who is in her views closer to the Iraqi opinion polls, especially with regard to Sunni Arabs, but who is not being feted in Washington, DC.

The sky has been overcast these last few days. It’s a smoggy, grayish combination of dust, smoke and humidity. I guess it has matched the general mood in many ways- somewhat dark and heavy.

I’ve been very worried about Falloojeh. So worried, in fact, that I find it hard to sleep at night, wondering how the situation will unfold in that troubled area. Things are bad in Baghdad, but they are far worse in Falloojeh. Refugees have been flowing out of the area for weeks now. They’ve been trying to find havens in Baghdad and the surrounding regions.