Fw: Sisters of Fire - Speech by Linda Burnham

["Macdonald Stainsby" <mstainsby@xxxxxx>]

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Subject: [R-G] Sisters of Fire - Speech by Linda Burnham

http://www.coloredgirls.org/proj/proj_sisters01_linda.html

Women of Color Resource Center

21 October 2001

[The following speech was delivered by Linda Burnham at Women of Color
Resource Center's 3rd Annual Sisters of Fire Awards and Reportback from the
UN World Conference Against Racism. The Sisters of Fire Award for Courage
and Conscience was presented to Congresswoman Barbara Lee.]

Sisters of Fire

Speech by Linda Burnham <lburnham@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>

     That light of outrage is the light of history springing upon us when
     we're least prepared

  --Adrienne Rich, "Through Corralitos Under rolls of Cloud"

And oh, how unprepared we were for September 11th.

In many ways, the United Nations World Conference Against Racism seems like
a lifetime ago. Those of us who participated in the conference did so in the
hopes that we could help create new conditions, new understandings and new
strategies for the struggle against racism. That we could help move the
international community another step forward in its fitful efforts to
eradicate racism, ethnic conflict and xenophobia. Our time in South Africa
was intense and we came home intending to work together to evaluate what was
gained and what was lost, and to share our rich experiences with all of you
here at home. Instead, we, along with the rest of the world, were overtaken
by the horrific, unconscionable acts of 19 desperate and murderous men. The
light of history did indeed spring upon us when we were least prepared, and
the shape of the world shifted dramatically on that September morning.

The UN Conference was rapidly overshadowed, relegated to a dim, possibly
irrelevant pre-September 11th past. For our delegation, part of the struggle
to find our bearings in the these deeply unsettling times has been to cull
some of the lessons of Durban and link them, as best we can, to current
circumstances.

If it was about anything, Durban was about how the past bears down upon the
present, about how unevenly the weight of history is borne. The battle over
reparations was central. It widened out from compensatory measures for
descendants of the African slave trade in the Americas -- an issue that made
its way in from the outer margins of political discourse due principally to
the dogged persistence of African American activists in the US -- to include
the full legacy of colonialism in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle
East, the Caribbean and the islands of the Pacific.

The yawning, ever-widening gap between the nations of the north and the
nations of the south raised the question of debt relief -- who owes what to
whom, and why. In Durban the question was asked: Having been robbed for
centuries, are not the nations of the south due restitution from their
assailants? Can the appetite for gobbling up the wealth of other nations and
peoples to support the ill-gotten prosperity of North American and Europe
ever be curbed? And the answer from the North: The US, fattened on the land,
lives and liberty of conquered nations and enslaved peoples, said no -- not
today, not tomorrow, not in this millennium. What is on offer is not
compensation, restitution, reparations and heartfelt regrets but new forms
of global plunder. And Belgium, head of the European Union, its hands still
damp and sticky with the blood of the Congo, said no, we don't want to talk
about it. The legacy of colonialism is not relevant to our discussion of
current day racism and we won't have it mentioned in the final document.

This was not simple recalcitrance. It was willful, shameful denial of the
past in the service of preserving racist, profoundly unequal relations
between nations and peoples in the present and far into the future. The US
and Israel, unprepared to face the horrendous consequences of past or
present policy turned on their heels and walked out. Convened in South
Africa, guests of the people whose recent triumph over a most egregious form
of 20th century racialism we all celebrate, it was not lost on many of us
that the US and Israel had also stood arm in arm -- until the bitter end --
in providing support and encouragement to the terrorists of the apartheid
state.

What has this to do with September 11th and its aftermath? The US impulse to
"rule and rule without end, forever and ever" (the phrase is W.E.B. DuBois')
is not an impulse to dominance simply for its own sake, but dominance for
the sake of the protection of wealth -- wealth already stolen and wealth
anticipated. If that dominance requires alliance with unsavory despots,
corrupt regimes and fanatical reactionaries, so be it.

The deal struck with the Taliban, through Pakistan and the CIA, must have
seemed like a thousand others made round the world: We will turn a blind eye
to the imposition of repressive, theocratic decrees. We will turn a deaf ear
to the torment of girls, women and homosexuals. We will ensure that the
American public remains comfortably ignorant of the bargain struck and its
terrible toll on the suffering Afghan people. And in exchange, with the
abundance of armaments our taxpayers provide, you will keep at bay any and
all forces viewed as hostile to US interests in the region. Though the
details may differ, such deals are operative worldwide, backed by massive
military presence on every continent and all the seas. But this deal turned
sour as fundamentalist tyrants, encouraged, armed and emboldened for 15
years developed their own fearsome agenda.

The Soviet Union was brought to its knees in part due to its defeat in
Afghanistan. But the US had only 12 short years to revel in the downfall of
its enemy and enjoy the pleasures of capitalism triumphant. And then the
fundamentalist fanaticism and patriarchal warlordism it had so generously
subsidized turned round to seize it by the neck.

An aside that is not beside the point: As those jets screeched toward the
World Trade Center and the Pentagon, some people in the Americas
commemorated another September 11th, 28 years ago. On that day in 1973,
US-trained military commanders, under the leadership of Augusto Pinochet --
yet to be brought to justice for his crimes against humanity -- toppled the
democratically elected president of Chile, Salvador Allende. The US could
not abide the tenure of a socialist reformer who put the interests of his
people before the interests of corporate America -- as it could not abide
Lumumba in Congo or Arbenz in Guatemala or Sandino in Nicaragua or Bishop in
Grenada. And what the US cannot abide, it attempts to destroy.

Ruth Manorama, a fierce advocate for the rights of India's Dalits, spoke
with passion at a Women of Color Resource Center workshop in Durban. The
Dalits were a huge presence at the UN Conference, insisting that thousands
of years of caste discrimination be brought to an end. Ruth and other Dalit
leaders reminded us that while religion may bring solace, comfort and a
moral compass to some, it can be, at the very same time, an instrument of
repression and degradation for others. Those others may be co-religionists,
those of other faiths, or secularists. And often enough it is women who
suffer. Millions of crimes against women are committed each day in the name
of religion, custom and tradition. Religious fundamentalism -- whether
Christian, Islamic, Judaic or Hindu -- constitutes a mortal threat to women.


If the events of September 11th represented an awful, imaginative leap
toward previously unimaginable terror, the response represented a massive
failure of the imagination -- a fallback to the military option and a
reckless willingness to join in the spiral of violence. Apparently not a
moment's thought was given to alternatives. To working within the framework
of international law. To using the mechanisms of the United Nations. To
accepting the authority of the International Criminal Court. To convening
and international tribunal to consider right action.

Instead, with a consensus built on fear, racism and heightened xenophobia,
we descend into war without borders and without end. New "terrorist havens"
are added to the potential hit list on a regular basis -- Iran, Iraq,
Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines. And the national security state
institutes measures constricting civil liberties that we will all live to
regret.

And now anthrax. I think we need no further proof that fortress America is
not a viable strategy. Neither the gated communities of the upper classes,
nor the star wars missile defense shield, nor the ominous Office of Homeland
Security can protect us from the consequences of a world overflowing with
men women and children whose fate, from cradle to grave, is grinding
poverty, crushing labor, and crippling disease. Let us remember that with
two weeks of the Twin Towers tragedy the airline industry had managed to
squeeze $15 billion out of the sides of the federal budget. The insurance
industry is in line to get its share and others line up at the trough -- the
very same trough that can't provide funds for women on welfare or free
medical care for seniors on fixed incomes.

$15 billion. Could the US not survive the demise of one or two of our
multiple airline carriers? What if that $15 billion were devoted to
eliminating infant and maternal mortality worldwide? Or to AIDS treatment
and prevention. Or to water, sanitation and electrification. Or to
eliminating school fees, raising teachers' salaries, building schools and
buying books and computers. To the education of the girls of Afghanistan. Or
to adequately housing the homeless and those who find shelter in the shanty
towns, favelas and migrant shacks around the world. What if that $15 billion
and another $15 billion after that were devoted to finding a truly just
solution to the unending crisis in the Middle East.

Dream on girl. Is that what you say? Well we must dream on because the dream
of endless greed, aggression and world dominance has been revealed for the
appalling nightmare it always was. The fortress has been breeched. And it
will be breeched again and again as long as we have a hand in feeding the
desperation, alienation and disillusionment that stoke the myriad forms of
murderous male rage. Either we walk out of the fortress together into the
sunlight of our creation, or we shall be tethered together deep in the
shadows, vulnerable and permanently afraid.

Our time in Durban did give us hope, despite the actions of the US
government and others who refused to honestly engage the struggle against
racism. We marched through the streets with thousands upon thousands of
energized, organized, politically conscious South Africans determined to
hold their government accountable to their needs. We met with incredible
women in Durban and in Johannesburg -- women who are leaders in their
communities and nations, leading the fight for the rights of girls and
women, for the rights of racial, ethnic and religious minorities. Our hopes
were raised and our vision expanded in intense exchanges of experiences and
strategies with dedicated activists from around the world whose lives are
committed to the struggle for justice. So Durban was both an encounter with
the ugly face of racist resistance and a source of sorely needed optimism.

I got an e-mail from a friend the other day. The subject line read: "Trying
to wrap my soul around all this," and my friend talked about how profoundly
unsettled she has been over the past weeks. I think that this true for most
of us. If our souls are not slipping toward despair, they are restless and
agitated. It is time, then, to turn to whatever it takes to steady your soul
and keep your spirit in touch with the generosity of our planet and with all
that is creative and transformative in the human species. Hug your children,
your grandchildren or your neighbor's children and promise them a future.
Dig in the earth and plant some bulbs as a token of faith in the coming of
spring. Turn to the musicians, poets and artists who restore your optimism
in the ultimate capacity of humankind to co-evolve in peace. Learn from the
spiritual leaders whose lives are dedicated to being, seeking and teaching
peace. For you will need steady souls and buoyant spirits in the difficult
days ahead.

And, as you draw on sources of strength and inspiration, remember Barbara
Lee's courage. Remember the heart it took to stand up and say, "I must vote
my conscience." Remember the backbone it took to resist the craven consensus
of 421 of her colleagues. Remember that each of us must struggle, as she
did, to live up to the true definition of a patriot:

"A patriot is one who wrestles for the soul of her country as she wrestles
for her own being. A patriot is a citizen trying to wake from the burnt-out
dream of innocence to remember her true country."
     --Adrienne Rich, "An Atlas of the Difficult World"

Stand for peace as Barbara Lee did, as though the future of the planet
depended upon it. For indeed, it surely does.

[Speech by Linda Burnham]

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

*The Women of Color Resource Center (WCRC) is a non-profit, non-governmental
education, community action and resource center working on social justice
issues that affect women of color. Established in 1990, WCRC publishes and
distributes educational and information resources; conducts workshops on
women and the global economy; organizes community events and conferences;
and creates links among organizers, researchers, and activists. An integral
part of the social justice community, WCRC is committed to creating a
society that promotes the well-being of women and girls of color.