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| Kathmandu, Sunday February 02, 2003 Magh 19, 2059. |
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‘We refuge to be party to
this war’
By Susan Sarandon and over 40,000 prominent
US citizens
Let it not be said that people in the United
States did nothing when their government declared a war without limit and instituted stark
new measures of repression.
The signers of this statement call on the people
of the US to resist the policies and overall political direction that have emerged since
September 11, 2001, and which pose grave dangers to the people of the world.
We believe that peoples and nations have the
right to determine their own destiny, free from military coercion by great powers.
We believe that all persons detained or
prosecuted by the US government should have the same rights of due process.
We believe that questioning, criticism, and
dissent must be valued and protected. We understand that such rights and values are always
contested and must be fought for.
We believe that people of conscience must take
responsibility for what their own governments do - we must first of all oppose the
injustice that is done in our own name. Thus we call on all Americans to RESIST the war
and repression that has been loosed on the world by the Bush administration.
It is unjust, immoral, and illegitimate. We
choose to make common cause with the people of the world.
We too watched with shock the horrific events of
September 11, 2001. We too mourned the thousands of innocent dead and shook our heads at
the terrible scenes of carnage - even as we recalled similar scenes in Baghdad, Panama
City, and, a generation ago, Vietnam. We too joined the anguished questioning of millions
of Americans who asked why such a thing could happen.
But the mourning had barely begun, when the
highest leaders of the land unleashed a spirit of revenge.
They put out a simplistic script of "good
vs evil" that was taken up by a pliant and intimidated media. They told us that
asking why these terrible events had happened verged on treason. There was to be no
debate. There were by definition no valid political or moral questions.
In our name, the Bush administration, with near
unanimity from Congress, not only attacked Afghanistan but arrogated to itself and its
allies the right to rain down military force anywhere and anytime...
The government now openly prepares to wage
all-out war on Iraq - a country which has no connection to the horror of September 11.
What kind of world will this become if the US government has a blank check to drop
commandos, assassins, and bombs wherever it wants?
In our name, within the US, the government has
created two classes of people: those to whom the basic rights of the US legal system are
at least promised, and those who now seem to have no rights at all.
The government rounded up over 1,000 immigrants
and detained them in secret and indefinitely. Hundreds have been deported and hundreds of
others still languish today in prison. This smacks of the infamous concentration camps for
Japanese-Americans in World War 2. For the first time in decades, immigration procedures
single out certain nationalities for unequal treatment.
In our name, the government has brought down a
pall of repression over society.
The President’s spokesperson warns people
to "watch what they say." Dissident artists, intellectuals, and professors find
their views distorted, attacked, and suppressed. The so-called Patriot Act - along with a
host of similar measures on the state level - gives police sweeping new powers of search
and seizure, supervised if at all by secret proceedings before secret courts.
President Bush has declared: "you’re
either with us or against us." Here is our answer: We refuse to allow you to speak
for all the American people. We will not give up our right to question. We will not hand
over our consciences in return for a hollow promise of safety. We say NOT IN OUR NAME.
We refuse to be party to these wars and we
repudiate any inference that they are being waged in our name or for our welfare.
We extend a hand to those around the world
suffering from these policies; we will show our solidarity in word and deed.
We who sign this statement call on all Americans
to join together to rise to this challenge. We applaud and support the questioning and
protest now going on, even as we recognize the need for much, much more to actually stop
this juggernaut. We draw inspiration from the Israeli reservists who, at great personal
risk, declare "there IS a limit" ...We also draw on the many examples of
resistance and conscience from the past of the US: from those who fought slavery with
rebellions and the underground railroad, to those who defied the Vietnam war by refusing
orders, resisting the draft, and standing in solidarity with resisters.
Let us not allow the watching world today to
despair of our silence and our failure to act. Instead, let the world hear our pledge: we
will resist the machinery of war and repression and rally others to do everything possible
to stop it.
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