Re: [Marxism] Not in Our Name Ad

["La Sainte" <lasainte@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Thank you for letting us know about the Not In Our Name ad. I just
contributed $50 towards it which will be published in NYC, San Francisco,
and in Baghdad.

Again, thanks for the heads up, Hans.

Cherie Pleau

----- Original Message -----
From: "Hans G. Ehrbar" <ehrbar@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <marxism@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sunday, May 16, 2004 11:27 AM
Subject: [Marxism] Not in Our Name Ad


>
> Not in Our Name
>
> http://www.notinourname.net/ad.htm
>
> is soliciting money for the following ad to be published in
> New York City, San Francisco, and Baghdad:
>
>
> > We believe that as people living in the United States it is
> > our responsibility to resist the injustices done by our
> > government, in our names.
>
> > The horrible photos of Iraqi prisoners being tortured by
> > U.S. soldiers have shown everyone what occupation really
> > is. This reality is shattering the U.S. government's claims
> > that it has brought "liberation" to Iraq.
>
> > Our government wants us to believe these acts are an
> > "exception." They are not. The International Red Cross and
> > others have long documented "systematic abuses" by
> > U.S. military and "contractors".
>
> > Such torture remains a part of the machinery of war and
> > repression designed to dehumanize and terrorize people into
> > submission. However, the Iraqi people have refused to submit
> > because it is THEIR country and they have no wish to become
> > subjects of empire.
>
> > We want the Iraqi people to know that many millions of
> > people living in the U.S. are outraged and deeply shamed by
> > the immoral and unjust war and occupation being carried out
> > in our namesdespite our continuing and growing resistance.
>
> > As people living in the United States we demand that our
> > government end its occupation of Iraq immediately and fully
> > respect the absolute right of self-determination of the
> > Iraqi people, free of foreign intervention and domination.
>
> > US out of Iraq now!
>
>
> This text is little more than imperialist damage control
> after the prison horrors have become public.  It calls the
> photos horrible, not the acts themselves.  It does not even
> say a peep about it that such acts of torture are the kind
> of things that necessarily accompany a colonial or
> imperialist system.  The US government does these things not
> only "in our names" but the US population has long been
> benefiting economically, at least in a short-sighted sense,
> from the imperialist system upheld by such actions.  It
> calls the war on Iraq "immoral and unjust", as if it was an
> aberration unrelated to the American way of life.
>
>
> It does not apologize for the failure of the left in the US
> to make the torture in the prisons an issue before the US
> ruling class themselves leaked the photos.  We need to be
> aware that these prison conditions were widely known in Iraq
> for a long time.  This ad is just another version of Bush's
> "this unamerican" slogan.  Its publication in Iraq will be
> an embarrassment for the US Left.
>
>
> I wish we would be able to tell the fighters in Iraq: the US
> left has been aware of the conditions in the prisons for a
> long time.  Now that they have finally grabbed the
> headlines we will use this uproar to educate the US
> population about the true nature of imperialism.  This
> scandal has made it possible to stop the war in Iraq, and we
> will go all out to seize this opportunity.
>
>
> There are other scandals waiting to happen in Iraq.  For
> instance we all know that many areas in Iraq are
> contaminated by Depleted Uranium.  Are we going to wait for
> the ruling class too before we raise a stink about this?
> How much has the US Left protested the privatisation of the
> Iraqi economy (and also very recently of the Haitian
> economy)?  The marxism list has over 500 subscribers, but
> nevertheless we are not leaders, we are followers of the
> latest fad.
>
>
> Hans G. Ehrbar
>
>
>
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