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<font size=4 color="#808080">OTHER WORDS PORTO ALEGRE 2002 SITE UPDATE
NEWSLETTER -- SEPTEMBER 25, 2001 -- Nº 5 <br>
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See in this issue:<br>
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<b>I. NEW WRITING AGAINST THE WAR:</b> <br>
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<b>Eduardo Galeano denounces the Empire s military offensive </b>Where
would Good be without Evil? , he asks. Religious fanatics are not the
only ones who need enemies to justify their madness. Also in need of
enemies to justify their existence are the United States arms industry
and their gigantic military apparatus
(<a href="http://www.portoalegre2002.org/publique/cgi/public/cgilua.exe/web/templates/htm/portugues/view.htm?user=reader&editionsectionid=69&infoid=1101"><i>in
Spanish</a></i>).<br>
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<b>Chomsky demystifies: War against terror is misleading publicity</b>
The e-zine <i>Z-Net</i> has brought together in a single article the main interviews on the war granted in the last few days by the North American linguist and political activist. He argues: Under the (admittedly, unimaginable) circumstances that Western intellectual culture were willing to adopt the literal meaning [of terror], the war against terrorism would take quite a different form Unfortunately, what is under way is the radicalization of an age-old formula of Empires: the threat, and often the use, of violence for what would be described as terroristic purposes were it not great powers who were pursuing the very same tactic <i>(<a href="http://www.portoalegre2002.org/publique/cgi/public/cgilua.exe/web/templates/htm/portugues/view.htm?user=reader&editionsectionid=69&infoid=1092">in English</a></i>).<br>
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<b>Augusto Boal warns: do not invoke the Law of Talion </b>he recalls that the retaliation the US is preparing is a step backwards to a time even more remote than Law of Talion. As primitive as that may be, it nonetheless still requires a judge and a judgement... (<a href="http://www.portoalegre2002.org/publique/cgi/public/cgilua.exe/web/templates/htm/portugues/view.htm?search_by_field=tax&query=simple&editionsectionid=69&search_by_year_to=&search_by_section=all&search_by_month_from=&x=10&search_"><i>in Portuguese</a></i>).<br>
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<b>II. THE STRUGGLE FOR PEACE MAKES HEADWAY (IN THE USA TOO):<br>
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There are reasons for optimism, says Michael Albert</b> The director of <i>Z-Net</i> points to the signs that White House war plans are having difficulties, even amid the great wave of patriotism in the United States. His text includes an account of the first demonstration by the North American peace movement (in Portland) and the experience of a militant pacifist who resolved to dialogue with the participants in an act of jingoism (<a href="http://www.portoalegre2002.org/publique/cgi/public/cgilua.exe/web/templates/htm/portugues/view.htm?search_by_year_to=&search_by_month_from=&search_by_month_to=&search_by_priority=all&infoid=1072&keywords=percepción&user=reader&"><i>in Spanish</a></i>).<br>
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<b>Rally called in front of the White House</b> -- Former United States Attorney General, Ramsey Clark, dared challenge the climate of alienation and passivity encouraged by the media, and called a demonstration against the war for September 29 in front of the White House. He warns: A new and widespread war by the USA in the Middle East can only lead to a spiral of violence . At the same time, he reveals: The Bush government is trying to limit civil liberties and to create a climate where it will be impossible for progressives to speak out (<a href="http://www.portoalegre2002.org/publique/cgi/public/cgilua.exe/web/templates/htm/portugues/view.htm?search_by_field=tax&search_by_state=all&search_by_year_to=&search_by_month_from=&search_by_section=all&search_by_priority=all&user=r"><i>in Spanish</a></i>).<br>
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<b>International coalition forms against the war </b>Inspired by Clark s example, organizations from a number of countries around the world have started to network against war and racism. In São Paulo, three political rallies are scheduled, the first on September 28 (<a href="http://www.portoalegre2002.org/publique/cgi/public/cgilua.exe/web/templates/htm/portugues/view.htm?user=reader&infoid=1063&editionsectionid=61"><i>in Spanish</a></i>). More details in the next issue of <i>Other Words</i>.<br>
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<b>III. THE US STIRS UP A HORNETS NEST:<br>
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What is the answer to Bin Laden and the Taliban? A massacre? -- </b>Roger Normand writes: Afghanistan is a country that is already so devastated, and the targets chosen by the USA are so inaccessible, that the only [&] is to kill everyone in the much larger region within which the targets are presumed to be hiding In addition, he describes the instability of the Arab countries whose governments have allied with the USA, and he possibilities of uprisings throughout the Middle East <i>(<a href="http://www.portoalegre2002.org/publique/cgi/public/cgilua.exe/web/templates/htm/portugues/view.htm?search_by_field=tax&search_by_month_to=&search_by_day_from=&search_by_headline=false&search_by_section=all&search_by_authorname=all&">in English</a></i>).<br>
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<b>Two Brazilians throw out a question to the world: what of the dead in Afghanistan? -- </b>Marcos Arruda and Sandra Quintella, of the Brazilian Solidarity Economy Network, point to a reality that few are prepared to see. By abandoning programmes of humanitarian aid to the Afghan people, the UN and other agencies may have condemned millions to death. Marcos and Sandra propose a daring alternative. What if a great front of personalities and organizations connected with the struggle for a new world were to travel to Afghanistan, pick up the effort to stave off death and, at the same time, serve as a human shield against the war? (<a href="http://www.portoalegre2002.org/publique/cgi/public/cgilua.exe/web/templates/htm/portugues/view.htm?user=reader&infoid=1107&editionsectionid=69"><i>as yet, available in English</a></i>).<br>
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