Bombs have been dropped and lives shattered. Much of Iraq lies in ruins, smashed, looted and then occupied by a hostile and unwanted invasion force. In the face of the human suffering caused by the war on Iraq we must act now against the crime of silence and impunity to write a counter-history. Could the doctrine of "preventive war" ever be legal under international law? Can we record the crimes committed in launching this war of aggression, during the military campaign and ongoing occupation? Can the initiation of any war be legitimate when overwhelmingly opposed by a global anti-war movement that includes the citizens of every state involved? Can there be a grassroots space where we can initiate the process of providing justice and accountability?
PRESENTATIONS, TESTIMONY AND VISUALS WILL INVESTIGATE
* The U.S.-led war of aggression against Iraq
* Crimes committed during the declared military campaign
* Crimes committed during the ongoing occupation
JURY OF CONSCIENCE: Rabab Abdulhadi, Sinan Antoon, Dennis Brutus, Hamid Dabashi, Bhairavi Desai, Eve Ensler, Jenny Green, Lisa Hajjar, Elias Khoury, Robert van Lierop, Motarilavoa Hilda Lini, Kiyoko McCrae, Ibrahim Ramey.
New York PREMIERE of "ABOUT BAGHDAD", an independent film by InCounter Productions, to be screened at the end of session. World Tribunal on Iraq is a project of the global anti war movement with sessions and events held in London, Mumbai, Copenhagen, Brussels, Hiroshima, Paris, Monterrey, Munich, Seoul, Barcelona, Istanbul, Rome, Berlin, San Jose, Stockholm, Lisbon, New York.
Saturday, May 8, 2004 Cooper Union, Great Hall
7 East 7th Street at 3rd Av, NYC
ALL DAY - Starts 10:00 a.m doors open 9:30 a.m.
FREE - donations welcome
For more information: www.worldtribunal-nyc.org ... info@worldtribunal-nyc.org ... www.worldtribunal.org
| "We reject the false doctrine that the church could have permission to hand over the form
of its message and of its order to whatever it itself might wish or to the vicissitudes of the prevailing ideological and political convictions of the day." |
| You are Karl Barth! You like your freedom, and are pretty stubborn against authority! You don't care much for other people's opinions either. You can come up with your own fun, and often enough you have too much fun. You are pretty popular because you let people have their way, even when you have things figured out better than them. |
What theologian are you?
A creation of Henderson
A MESSAGE FROM MOVEON.ORG ... DISNEY - DON'T SILENCE MICHAEL MOORE
Oscar-winning director Michael Moore has finished his latest documentary, but The Walt Disney Company is refusing to let the American public see it. The film, "Fahrenheit 911," is critical of President Bush's actions before and after Sept. 11 and describes Bush's relationships with powerful Saudi families, including that of Osama bin Laden. According to the New York Times, Moore's agent says embattled Disney chief Michael Eisner feared the documentary could endanger the company's tax breaks in Florida, where Bush's brother, Jeb, is governor. [Duchess Note ... To damn bad Eisner! The truth must come out and Americans need to know of the deep corruption, not only in the Bush Administration, but Walt Disney Company too. The lies and deception must not continue ... we want truth & democracy.]
We can't let corporate favors for politicians dictate what movies we see. Tell Disney to show us Michael Moore's documentary:
Thomas Staggs
Chief Financial Officer
The Walt Disney Company
Phone: (818) 560-1000
If the line is busy, call a Disney store near you. The salespeople aren't responsible for this decision, but ask them to pass your concerns on to the manager:
http://www.moveon.org/r/?r=498&AD3=11222&sPaMw=e
Finally, if you own any Disney stock, call:
Wendy Webb, Investor Relations
The Walt Disney Company
Phone: (818) 560-5758
Let us know that you've called:
http://moveon.org/disney_moore.html?id=2791-2148547-ZUZOg3XZEIDfqBxT0675wA
The documentary, which heads to the prestigious Cannes film festival next week, was expected to be distributed by Miramax this summer. But Disney, which owns Miramax, blocked the plan. Denying allegations of political favoritism, Disney said it doesn't want to be involved with a partisan film. Moore responded, "If this is partisan in any way it is partisan on the side of the poor and working people in this country who provide fodder for this war machine." The film details financial connections between the Bush family and powerful Saudi Arabian families over the last thirty years, including the evacuation of Osama bin Laden's relatives from the United States two days after Sept. 11. Also included are American soldiers in Iraq describing their doubts about the justification for war.
Michael Moore has commented, "At some point the question has to be asked, 'Should this be happening in a free and open society where the monied interests essentially call the shots regarding the information that the public is allowed to see?' " Today, we will tell Disney the answer is no!!
BUSH DEMOCRACY: DO YOU RECOGNIZE HIS AMERICA? By Arianna Huffington
Welcome to George W. Bush's version of America. "Bush Democracy. Apparently, he's had his fanatical neo-con programmers working overtime to iron out all those bothersome bugs and kinks that have been holding the United States back for the last 228 years" exasperating glitches like openness, integrity, accountability, responsibility and the value of an informed public. I have to admit, this new edition has been a little hard for me to get used to; it's a lot different than the America that I grew up studying and revering. You might be having a similar problem, so, as a public service, I've decided to provide this helpful primer. Think of it as Bush Democracy for Dummies.
In Bush Democracy, the messy concept of the public's right to know has been replaced by the far more user-friendly "don't worry, we know what's right for you." Why clutter up the citizenry's hard-drive with all sorts of unimportant facts and information? Which is why, just to be on the safe side, Bush Democracy comes with a helpful, one-step fact-check-and-delete program. No need to bother with taping or even transcribing important meetings like the president's three-hour appearance in front of the 9/11 Commission last week — Bush Democracy decides what's pertinent and discards the rest into the unrecoverable recycle bin of history.
That's why the White House helpfully confiscated the notebooks of the 9/11Commissioners as they were leaving the Oval Office. Hard copies are so 20th century. To see how liberating this kind of updated Democracy can be, look no further than the reports of the frequent laughter that occurred during the Commission's two-birds-with-one-stone questioning of Bush and Cheney. No longer burdened with having to fill the public in on whether our leaders did all they could to prevent 9/11 — and have done all they can to make sure something like it never happens again — the president and his inquisitors were free to trade quips and zingers like a gang of Borsht Belt second bananas at a Friars Roast. "The president got off a couple of good shots," said Commission member John "Shecky" Lehman, while Commissioner Jim "Soupy" Thompson labeled the president a "bit of a tease." We don't know the specifics of anything important that was said, or if anything important was said at all, but, hey, at least they had some fun. For his part, the president stressed the importance of his and Cheney's tandem testimony: "I think it was important for them to see our body language . . . how we work together." Body language experts agree that subtle shifts in physical positioning — such as
Cheney sticking his hand up the president's back and making his mouth move — can often provide significant behavioral clues.
Bush Democracy also automatically eliminates a number of pesky problems historically associated with that overrated First Amendment. For example, this convenient feature allows President Bush and his Man in Mesopotamia, Paul Bremer, to tout the freedom of speech now permitted in post-Saddam Iraq while simultaneously shutting down Iraqi-run newspapers and radio and television stations. And whereas previous versions of Democracy were systemically incompatible with the quashing of dissent, Bush Democracy makes clamping down on the free flow of information as easy as hitting a hot key and issuing a Pentagon ban on media coverage of flag-draped coffins arriving at Dover Air Force Base.
What's more, Bush Democracy's state-of-the-art media manipulation software makes it incredibly easy to get away with misstatements, half-truths and out-and-out lies. Witness the lack of outraged coverage of Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz's astounding assertion in front of Congress last week that the U.S. death toll in Iraq was "approximately 500" — when, in fact, at the time of his testimony, the correct number was 722. But what are a couple hundred dead Americans among friends? Especially when they're other people's children? Or observe the scarcity of critical voices when,
on the anniversary of Bush's infamous "Mission Accomplished" photo op, the president boldly declared that, as a result of the removal of Saddam, "there are no longer torture chambers or rape rooms or mass graves in Iraq" — a statement directly contradicted by a top-secret Army report completed two months before the president indulged in his soaring rhetoric. And last week we had the ultimate contradiction: the release of enough vile, barbaric and disturbing photographs to stock a triple-X S&M Web site.
But Bush Democracy's killer app has got to be its ability to retain the outward appearance of unabashed patriotism while sacrificing the lives of American soldiers on the altar of its tax-cutting fanaticism. Thus, candidate Bush is able to cloak his campaign in red, white and blue at the same time a defense industry study concludes that major budgetary shortfalls have left U.S. soldiers seriously under-equipped — leading to the preventable deaths of close to 200 brave Americans, and the maiming of thousands more. Shortfalls caused, in large measure, by the president's tax cuts. So while many of our soldiers have to make due without body armor, combat helmets and properly protected vehicles, America's millionaires are receiving an average tax cut of $130,783. And yet Bush is still able to continue painting himself as the war president. How's that for performance? The guiding principle behind George Bush's rebooted Democracy is a deep mistrust of the American people and an undying faith in the ability of "the elites" to decide what is best for America — and the world. Call me old-fashioned, but I prefer the old 1776 version, where We the People get to make up our own minds. Bush Democracy has crashed in Iraq and crashed here at home. I personally can't wait for November to press the Escape Key and shut it down for good.
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