================================================
01 Zwischen Hoffen und Angst
Von: Wadi e. V. <wadi_wien@hotmail.com>
================================================
In der Zeitung UNIQUE, der ÖH-Uni Wien, erschien folgendes Interview mit
Thomas von der Osten-Sacken von Wadi e.V.:
Zwischen Hoffen und Angst
UNIQUE im Gespräch mit Thomas von der Osten-Sacken, Aktivist der
Hilfsorganisation WADI (Verband für Krisenhilfe und solidarische
Entwicklungszusammenarbeit) über die Lage im Irak, die Friedensbewegung und
amerikanische Außenpolitik.

UNIQUE: Auf der Website von WADI e.V. steht ein Beitrag, in dem andere NGOs
sehr stark kritisiert werden, vor allem deutsche NGOs - kannst du ausführen,
was die Hilfsorganisation, für die du arbeitest, anders macht als andere
NGOs?
Wir sind nun seit 13 Jahren auch NGO und haben sehr kritisch die Entwicklung
verfolgt, speziell dessen, das sich humanitäre Intervention nennt und
letztlich im Irak nach der großen Massenflucht der irakischen Kurden in die
Berge begonnen hat. Statt einer von den Kurden geforderten Anerkennung der
dortigen Regionalregierung als autonome Teil eines zukünftigen
demokratischen Staates Irak wurde die Region damals quasi überflutet von
Hilfsorganisationen, die nicht mit den sich bildenden staatlichen Strukturen
zusammengearbeitet haben, sondern mit regionalen, an den Parteien hängenden
NGOs, kleineren Gruppen. Damit ist letztlich zu einer unglaublichen
Destabilisierung beigetragen worden.
Um das an einem Beispiel zu verdeutlichen: Die Genfer Flüchtlingskonvention,
die aussagt, dass in dem Moment, wo ein Mensch eine internationale Grenze
übertritt, er in den Status eines internationalen Flüchtlings kommt, ist
1991 auf Wunsch der Türkei und des Irans ganz gezielt unterlaufen worden,
als man die Kurden gar nicht über die Grenze kommen ließ, sondern im Irak
quasi eine sichere Zone geschaffen wurde. Genau so willigen jetzt NGOs, die
einerseits hinter der deutschen Bundesregierung und deren Antikriegskurs
stehen, ein in eine Politik, die vorsieht, dass man wieder verhindert, dass
Leute aus Angst vor Racheakten der irakischen Armee - die es in der
Vergangenheit immer gegeben hat - über internationale Grenzen fliehen und
damit in den Status internationaler Flüchtlinge kommen. Das ist einer
unserer Kritikpunkte. Das andere ist die völlige Missachtung der irakischen
Opposition. In ihrer großen Mehrheit strebt diese einen
föderal-demokratischen Staat im Irak an. Wir fürchten jedoch, dass, sollte
Saddam gestürzt werden, statt der Unterstützung eines Nation-Buildings
einflussreiche Hilfs-organisationen wie "Cap Anamur" die Ethnifizierung des
Irak anstrengen werden und damit dieses Projekt zerstört wird.

Gibt es dafür wirklich Anzeichen?
Es gibt eindeutige Anzeichen in der Ignoranz der großen Organisationen. Die
treffen sich nicht mit der irakischen Opposition, um abzusprechen, was die
Irakis wollen, sondern legen ihr altes Raster etwa vom Balkan auf Kurdistan
an. Das könnte sehr gefährlich werden, weil klar ist: Wenn man
Partikularinteressen finanziell unterstützt, finden sich viele Leute, die
diese Interessen stark machen. Die französische Regierung hat in Ansätzen
schon gezeigt, was für Modelle sie für die Zukunft im Irak präferieren
würde, etwa ein libanesisches Modell, also eine Ethnifizierung des Landes.
Da geht es dann auch um Einfluss und Machtstellung. Man weiß aus der
Erfahrung der Arbeit der Hilfsorganisationen, die in der Regel stark von
staatlicher Finanzierung abhängig sind, dass sie sehr gern und unkritisch
derartige Modelle exportieren.

Du bist auch ein Sprecher der Koalition irakischer Oppositioneller, was ja
ein explizit politisches Unterfangen ist, und außerdem auch als Journalist
tätig. Dabei trittst du als vehementer Kritiker des irakischen Regimes auf.
Was macht den aktuellen Irak noch mal anders als andere Diktaturen?
Es fällt schwer, ein anderes Land zu nennen, in dem fünf Prozent der eigenen
Bevölkerung massakriert worden sind. Man schätzt bei einer Einwohnerzahl von
23 Millionen Irakis, dass über eine Million Opfer von
Menschenrechtsverletzungen sind, Kriegsopfer nicht dazugezählt. Vier
Millionen sind vertrieben, 1,5 Millionen sind innerhalb des Iraks
zwangsweise umgesiedelt, was insgesamt fast 20 Prozent der Gesamtbevölkerung
ausmacht. Das nur mal als statistisches Material. Wer den Irak kennt, weiß,
dass das die momentan schlimmste Diktatur ist, die es auf der Welt gibt,
nicht nur, was riesige Bevölkerungsvernichtungsaktionen in den 80er Jahren
im kurdischen Nordirak betrifft - wo der Irak als einziges Land nach 1945
mehrmals gezielt Giftgas gegen die eigene Bevölkerung eingesetzt und 4000
Dörfer dem Erdboden gleichgemacht hat, Leute zu Hunderttausenden
verschwunden sind; und dasselbe wurde im Südirak in den 90ern wiederholt.
Aber der Irak hat auch ein hochgradig aggressives, antisemitisches Regime,
in dem sich die destruktiven Widersprüche des Nahen Ostens bündeln, und von
dem man weiß, wenn es nicht klein gehalten worden wäre, hätte es versucht,
den gesamten Nahen Osten zumindest militärisch zu kontrollieren.

Kann man ungefähr sagen, wie die Stimmung in der Bevölkerung ist?
Der Irak ist quasi zweigeteilt. Der Süden und der Zentral-Irak steht unter
Saddam Hussein, und wird zurecht als "Republik der Angst" bezeichnet. Jede
Regung, jede Äußerung wird drakonisch kontrolliert von einem der insgesamt
sieben Geheimdienste. Es gibt keine einzige Familie im Irak, die nicht ein
Opfer des staatlichen Terrors zu beklagen und zugleich einen Kollaborateur
des Regimes in ihren Reihen hat. Das Land ist völlig paralysiert von der
Angst vor dem Terror. Das ist in Kurdistan nicht so. Trotz schlechter
Ausgangsstellung in den letzten 12 Jahren ist dort der freieste Ort im Nahen
Osten neben Israel entstanden. Verglichen mit dem Rest-Irak ist es
paradiesisch, was Freiheit, die Möglichkeit, sich zu äußern, und so weiter
betrifft. Die Irakis haben als allererstes Problem nicht die USA oder Israel
oder den Iran, sondern das eigene Regime. Das haben sie auch 1991 schon
gezeigt, als es nach dem Golfkrieg und dem Dauerbombardement Aufstände gegen
das eigene Regime gab, als 14 von 18 Distrikten schon befreit waren. Es
waren damals die USA, die diesen Aufstand nicht unterstützt haben.
Aber im Moment, was wir aus Kurdistan hören, herrschen große Hoffnung und
große Angst nebeneinander.

Nun würde zum Beispiel jemand von der Friedensbewegung entgegenhalten, ein
Krieg ist schon deshalb zu verhindern, weil durch den Kriegseinsatz der USA
gar nicht klar ist, dass das Ba'ath-Regime diesmal gestürzt wird. Im
Gegenteil, es kann doch diesmal genauso wieder passieren, was 1991 passiert
ist: Niederschlagung des Aufstandes durch Duldung der AmerikanerInnen.
Man kann von amerikanischer Außenpolitik halten was man will: Die Amerikaner
sagen im Gegensatz zu den Europäern, was sie wollen. Es ist daher idiotisch,
die Lage jetzt mit dem Golfkrieg 1991 zu vergleichen. Damals haben die
Amerikaner gesagt, sie wollen Kuwait befreien, das heißt, die "Balance of
Power" wiederherstellen. Aus Befreiungsrhetorik ist damals zum Aufstand
aufgerufen worden, was kriminell gewesen ist, und die Streitkräfte sind
dann, als es den Aufstand gab, den man überhaupt nicht wollte, sofort
zurückgerufen worden. Heute ist das erklärte Ziel der USA, Saddam Hussein zu
stürzen. Sie wollen einen Regimewechsel im Nahen Osten, da sehe ich kein
Argument, warum sie es nicht tun sollten. Man hat seit 1945 zum ersten Mal
in der amerikanischen Außenpolitik einen Paradigmenwechsel.
Alle irakischen Oppositionsparteien haben vor zwei Dingen Angst: Dass Saddam
Hussein sich an ihnen rächt, wie er das bisher immer gemacht hat, und dass
die Amerikaner nicht wirklich einen neuen Irak wollen. Also wäre eine
vernünftige Position, die Amerikaner ernst zu nehmen. Sie kritisch zu
beobachten und die irakische Opposition zu unterstützen. Wenn der ganze Irak
sich entwickeln würde wie im Norden, dann wäre das eine Wandlung ums Ganze.

In Wien findet nun in einigen Wochen eine Veranstaltung von Oppositionellen
statt, die gegen den US-Krieg eintreten …
Davon habe ich gelesen (lacht). Grundsätzlich unterscheidet sich der Irak
von vielen Ländern in der Region, weil er trotz des Terrors eine sehr aktive
Opposition hat, die sich mit ihren verschiedenen Interessen trifft, seien
das kurdische, schiitische, kommunistische, oder aber auch ganz säkular
westliche Interessen. Trotz dieser Zersplitterung und Mangel an
internationaler Unterstützung hat die Opposition große Fortschritte gemacht.
Sie hat sich darauf einigen können, die Schaffung eines föderalen,
demokratischen Staats, in dem Staatsbürgerrechte vor Gruppenrechten kommen,
anzustreben. Weiters, dass dieser Staat entarabisiert werden muss, weil der
Irak kein arabisches Land ist und aus der panarabischen Ideologie und aus
dem ganzen Wahnsinn, der in der Region noch vorherrscht, heraus gebrochen
werden muss. Aber es gibt auch Splitterorganisationen der Ba'ath-Partei, die
nachweisbar aus Bagdad bezahlt werden und so tun, als wären sie eine
Opposition. Und die sind es, die hier einige Linke unterstützen. Da soll man
sich nichts vormachen: Die sind ein Sprachrohr Saddam Husseins.

Die europäischen Medien müssen ja, um ihren Kurs zu halten, sehr viel
ausblenden. Zum Beispiel muss verschwiegen werden, dass die irakische
Opposition mit den USA in großen Teilen "gut kann", wie du sagst. Warum?
Zum Großteil ist es einfach eine ungeheure Ignoranz und Unwissen, das über
die Region herrscht - und ganz speziell über den Irak. Auf der anderen Seite
gibt es konditionierte Abwehrreflexe. Das ist ja fundamentaler Bestandteil
des Antiamerikanismus, dass man sagt: Was die Amerikaner sagen, ist eine
Lüge, eine Kriegspropaganda. Das heißt, die Projektionsleistung, die
Verschiebung, die Abwehrreflexe, die im Moment brauchbar sind, können
jeweils aufgegriffen werden, so dass eben der "Stern" etwa von Ausgabe zu
Ausgabe zu einem antiamerikanischen Hetzblatt wird und sich dann ein
"Stern"-Redakteur mal hinsetzt und Irakis in Deutschland interviewt. Und
plötzlich ist ein Artikel drin, der völlig herausfällt aus der restlichen
Berichterstattung, weil jemand sich die Mühe gemacht hat, nachzufragen.
Sobald man sich ein bisschen mehr mit dem Irak beschäftigt, merkt man, das
europäische Narrativ ist nicht aufrecht zu erhalten. So kommt es, dass Leute
in Redaktionsstuben oder im Fernsehen, die zu stark gegen das europäische
Narrativ schießen, nicht die erste Geige spielen.

------------------------------------------------
Wadi e.V. - Aussenstelle Wien
Spendenkonto in Österreich:
Kontonummer 56001 069 352
Bank Austria Creditanstalt BLZ 12000
Spendenkonto in Deutschland
Kontonummer 612305-602
bei der Postbank Frankfurt/M. BLZ: 500 100 60
Website mit weiteren Informationen zu Projekten von Wadi e. V. und
politischen Hintergrundinfos: www.wadinet.de

================================================
02 PUK besiegt Ansar al-Islam
Von: Wadi e. V. <wadi_wien@hotmail.com>
================================================
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/iraq/ny-wokurd0402,0,546323.story?coll=ny-nationworld-world-
Kurds' Costly Win Over Islamic Group
By Mohamad Bazzi
Middle East Correspondent
April 1, 2003, 9:30 PM EST
Biyara, Iraq -- It took less than three days for Kurdish guerrillas backed
by American B-52 bombers and U.S. Special Forces troops to rout a militant
Islamic group that has controlled a sliver of northern Iraq for 18 months.
Kurdish leaders and the U.S. forces that backed them declared victory over
Ansar al-Islam (the Partisans of Islam) on Sunday, saying the group was
dislodged from the 12 villages along the Iranian border that it has
dominated since September 2001.
But the U.S. bombardment took a harsh toll on this village of brown stucco
and gray stone buildings, which had been at the center of a small civil war
between Ansar and the secular Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, or PUK. With
U.S. involvement, the range of firepower changed from mortars and machine
guns to cruise missiles and laser-guided bombs.
Villagers who returned to Biyara Tuesday found their streets littered with
twisted metal, chunks of concrete, shards of glass and burst water pipes. In
one quarter of the village, about 10 stone houses were flattened and the
wooden roofs and several walls of another 15 had been blown off, exposing
mangled refrigerators and stoves.
"Our village has been destroyed," said Rizgar Abdullah Nader, 40, as he
surveyed the damage to his three-room house. The doors and windows were
blown off; one wall cracked; and parts of the roof fell down. "First, we had
to suffer under the rule of Ansar, and now when we finally got rid of them,
we can't live here anymore."
Ansar imposed a Taliban-like system on its fellow Kurds: music was
forbidden, women had to wear black shrouds, men were required to grow beards
and satellite dishes were confiscated. The group, which had about 700
fighters, also pioneered the use of suicide bombings against other Kurds, a
tactic never before seen in this battle-hardened region. More than 1,000
villagers fled from the group's austere interpretation of Islam and the
bloody war it sparked.
The Bush administration accuses Ansar of having ties to Osama bin Laden's
al-Qaida terror network. For months, Washington has maintained that Ansar is
a bridge between bin Laden and the government of Iraqi President Saddam
Hussein. Although largely unproven, that link has been a major part of the
administration's argument that war against the Iraqi regime is justified.
Kurdish officials had been asking for American assistance in their battle
with Ansar for months. At first, U.S. military planners appeared reluctant
to get involved in a local fight between two competing Kurdish factions. But
as Washington began arguing a case that the Iraqi regime was connected to
al-Qaida, it homed in on Ansar. In a presentation to the United Nations in
February, Secretary of State Colin Powell said Ansar members were operating
a poison factory in this region under al-Qaida's direction.
U.S. forces launched the first volley of cruise missiles on Ansar bases on
March 22. By the time the ground assault started three days later, the
United States fired more than 100 missiles and laser-guided bombs on Ansar
positions. The ground offensive involved about 6,000 PUK fighters and 100
U.S. Special Forces troops, according to Kurdish officials.
Between 250 and 300 of Ansar's guerrillas were killed in the fighting that
continued through Sunday morning, PUK officials said. An additional 300
fighters, including four of the group's leaders, fled to Iran. Kurdish
officials said the PUK is negotiating with Iran to have them extradited.
Other militants scattered to three mountain pockets, where they have
continued to fire machine guns and mortars at U.S. and Kurdish forces.
"It was a very good success against Ansar," the PUK's leader, Jalal
Talabani, said Sunday, on a tour of the region. "Our people are free. They
can breathe easily ... Day by day, we are discovering Ansar had a strong
relationship to al-Qaida."
A U.S. Special Forces commander said several dozen Ansar fighters have taken
refuge in the mountain slopes near the Iranian border, with a striking view
of the Halabjah Valley below.
"We still got a couple of them holed up in caves," said the commander, who
asked not to be named. "We got guards outside. They'll either come out, get
blown up or starve to death."
In Biyara, Ansar fighters left behind bomb belts for suicide attacks, a
crude lab where experiments with chemical weapons and poisons apparently
were under way and piles of documents that Kurdish officials said supported
U.S. assertions that Ansar was tied to al-Qaida.
At the village's municipal building, a fallen sign read, "In the name of
God, the most gracious, the most merciful. God loves those who kill for His
sake."
Inside a gutted Ansar base, Kurdish officials pointed out a suicide bomber's
belt and a green canvas bag with three sticks of TNT wired with a triggering
device. In a garage adjacent to the building were three plastic sacks of TNT
and stacks of mortars.
There was a suicide note left behind by an apparent suicide bomber. It was
written on white notebook paper: "I ask my family for forgiveness for any
errors I have made. Dear Father, what shall I write to you when I have only
tonight before my body is to be covered with TNT? Father, what can I write
to you when my body will be shattered tonight? My spirit will last, but my
body will not ... I pray you accept me as a martyr."
For two years, Ansar had carried out guerrilla hit-and-run attacks, suicide
bombings and assassinations in its war against the secular PUK. After the
Taliban was dislodged from power in Afghanistan and al-Qaida members fled
throughout the Middle East, Kurdish and U.S. officials say more than 100
Arab fighters joined Ansar. These "Arab Afghans," trained at al-Qaida camps
in Afghanistan, were believed to form the nucleus of Ansar's most hardened
fighting units.
In his Feb. 5 presentation to the United Nations, Powell showed a satellite
photo of a half-finished complex of cinder block buildings in the town of
Sargat, where he accused Ansar of producing toxins and training terrorists.
The photo clearly unnerved Ansar's leaders, who expected they would be
targeted once the United States invaded Iraq.
Three days after Powell's speech, Ansar opened its bases for the first --
and only -- time to foreign journalists and led them on a tour of the
alleged poison factory. Ansar leaders denied connections to al-Qaida or any
foreign countries.
They also rejected reports that more than 100 of Ansar's fighters were Arabs
who had fled to northern Iraq after the Taliban's fall. During the tour,
journalists found no visible traces of chemicals and no signs of laboratory
equipment or industrial capability at the site.
Most of the cinder block buildings at the Ansar base in Sargat were
destroyed by missiles. The rubble was scattered with mines, grenades,
mortars, rockets, medicine vials, strands of videotape, a twisted Jeep and a
life preserver meant to double as a suicide-bomb vest.
Three fortified bunkers survived: Two held mortar shells and
rocket-propelled grenades; the other was strewn with Islamic books and
pamphlets. In the bombed ruins, an overturned metal cabinet bore the crude
lettering "TNT."
Amid the debris, a smattering of what appeared to be red playing cards stood
out. But this was not a typical deck of Poker cards. It was a trivia game
with questions about Islam's history and its holy book, the Quran.
One question said, "What is the first mention of battle in the Quran?" The
answer: "Those who are wronged can fight a just battle."
Copyright © 2003, Newsday, Inc.

------------------------------------------------
Wadi e.V. - Aussenstelle Wien
Spendenkonto in Österreich:
Kontonummer 56001 069 352
Bank Austria Creditanstalt BLZ 12000
Spendenkonto in Deutschland
Kontonummer 612305-602
bei der Postbank Frankfurt/M. BLZ: 500 100 60
Website mit weiteren Informationen zu Projekten von Wadi e. V. und
politischen Hintergrundinfos: www.wadinet.de

================================================
03 "The whole world is watching us die"
Von: RAWNEWS <rawnews@btopenworld.com>
================================================

"The whole world is watching us die"
APRIL 12:
The World Stands Together Against War
In the face of Iraqi resistance to the invasion, the U.S.
military strategy has abruptly shifted in the last few
days. Instead of posing as liberators, the U.S. high
command has called for open warfare against the Iraqi
civilian population. In the last 48 hours, hundreds of
civilians have been shot down on the roadways, in their
homes, on their farms. The aerial bombings are becoming
more indiscriminate as missiles land in markets and
residential neighborhoods.
The Iraq war has suddenly taken on the worst features of
the U.S. war in Vietnam. Facing a defiant and resisting
population, U.S. troops, under the direction of their
officers, treat all members of the population as suspect
and decide to shoot first and ask questions later. The
U.S. soldiers have been lied to about their mission. They
have been sent to kill and be killed in a war for empire
and conquest, not liberation. U.S. casualties are mounting
in this war that need not have happened.
On March 31, there was a massacre of civilians, mainly
women and their children, whose crime was that they were
driving on a roadway in their own country. As their van
approached a checkpoint, U.S. soldiers destroyed their
vehicle with a barrage of 25mm cannon fire from one or
more of their M2 Bradley Fighting Vehicles. The Washington
Post quoted Capt. Ronny Johnson of the Army's 3rd Infantry
Division in his series of orders to the troops present:
- "Fire a warning shot"
- "Stop [messing] around!"
- "Stop him, Red 1, stop him!"
- "Cease fire!"
- "You just [expletive] killed a family because you didn't
fire a warning shot soon enough!"
The "shoot first - ask questions later" strategy is not
the result of spontaneous actions by scared and edgy
troops. These are orders given the troops from the
Pentagon high command.
"Everyone is now seen as a combatant until proven
otherwise," a Pentagon official is quoted in the
Washington Post of April 1, 2003. The Pentagon recognizes
that the shift in tactics will be understood as a brutal
escalation of force against the civilian population and
that their earlier posture as "liberators" will be
exposed. "You'll see acts of kindness, medical care and
the like, but the large scale aid effort will have to
wait," a Pentagon official told the Washington Post. In
fact the new U.S. strategy now is deliberately preventing
Iraqi civilians in Nassiriya and other towns from
receiving food and water unless they cooperate with the
occupation forces.
U.S. Marine Operations Commander Lt. Colonel Paul Roche
told reporters on March 31 that the U.S. strategy towards
the people of the city of Nassiriya included the use of
food and water as a weapon to terrorize and break the will
of the civilian population.
In the April 1 front page of the Washington Post, the
Pentagon's new strategy is euphemistically referred to in
the headline "U.S. troops instructed to use tougher
tactics."
The assault against civilians is being reported in greater
detail and honesty by the world media outside the United
States. This change in U.S. tactics is, as the following
report shows, encouraging the most racist and homicidal
tendencies among U.S. soldiers at the front.
It is important to read the following passage from the UK
Times of Sunday, March 30. It reports of a gruesome scene
outside of Nassiriya. Some fifteen vehicles, including a
minivan and a couple of trucks, were found destroyed and
riddled with bullets by the Times UK reporter Mark
Franchetti:
"Amid the wreckage I counted 12 dead civilians, lying in
the road or in nearby ditches. All had been trying to
leave this southern town overnight, probably for fear of
being killed by US helicopter attacks and heavy artillery.
"Their mistake had been to flee over a bridge that is
crucial to the coalition's supply lines and to run into a
group of shell-shocked young American marines with orders
to shoot anything that moved.
"One man's body was still in flames. It gave out a hissing
sound. Tucked away in his breast pocket, thick wads of
banknotes were turning to ashes. His savings, perhaps.
"Down the road, a little girl, no older than five and
dressed in a pretty orange and gold dress, lay dead in a
ditch next to the body of a man who may have been her
father. Half his head was missing.
"Nearby, in a battered old Volga, peppered with ammunition
holes, an Iraqi woman - perhaps the girl's mother - was
dead, slumped in the back seat. A US Abrams tank nicknamed
Ghetto Fabulous drove past the bodies.
"This was not the only family who had taken what they
thought was a last chance for safety. A father, baby girl
and boy lay in a shallow grave. On the bridge itself a
dead Iraqi civilian lay next to the carcass of a donkey."
The UK Times article also documents that in Iraq, just as
in Vietnam, the U.S. soldiers are being trained to wage
war against a civilian population by dehumanizing those
whom they are killing.
"I'll Just Kill Him"
"As I walked away, Lieutenant Matt Martin, whose third
child, Isabella, was born while he was on board ship en
route to the Gulf, appeared beside me.
" 'Did you see all that?' he asked, his eyes filled with
tears. 'Did you see that little baby girl? I carried her
body and buried it as best I could but I had no time. It
really gets to me to see children being killed like this,
but we had no choice.'
"Martin's distress was in contrast to the bitter
satisfaction of some of his fellow marines as they
surveyed the scene. 'The Iraqis are sick people and we are
the chemotherapy,' said Corporal Ryan Dupre. 'I am
starting to hate this country. Wait till I get hold of a
friggin' Iraqi. No, I won't get hold of one. I'll just
kill him.' "
Crimes Against Humanity
George Bush and the high command are guilty of crimes
against humanity and war crimes. What we are witnessing is
a full-scale massacre carried out from the land, the air
and the sea assault. The U.S. media presents the war as
carefully packaged propaganda and trivializes the actual
human costs of the war by turning it into something of a
spectator sport. But the Iraqi people cannot escape this
war and they cannot turn off their television to make it
go away.
Again, it is the non-U.S. press that reveals the extent of
the criminality of the war.
A March 29 Reuters article entitled "Iraqis Delirious with
Grief After Missile Attack" described the Friday night
attack by U.S. bombs in a poor section of Baghdad. Arouba
Khodeir, 39, while "wailing hysterically and hitting
herself in the face and chest, as women around her were
trying to calm her down," spoke of her 11-year-old son
Karar who died outside the house with his friends: " 'My
son had his head blown off,' screamed Khodeir. 'Why are
they hitting the people? Why are they killing the
children? Why are they doing his to us? Why are they
attacking civilians? Didn't Bush say on TV that he won't
attack civilians. But these people who died are all
civilians? Is this a target?' she wailed, pointing at the
dried blood of her son still splashed on the walls."
"The Whole World is Watching Us Die"
The report also described the killing of Shaza Shallum,
20, who was "holding her baby and walking with two
relatives when the explosion sent a shard of shrapnel
through her neck. Six-month-old Fatma was found alive in
her dead mother's arms and brought by neighbors to her
grandmother. The wails of the mourners drowned the cries
of the hungry infant."
One of the people living in this neighborhood told
Reuters: "We are helpless people. It is all out of our
hands. Why cannot the world find a solution? The whole
world is watching us die and is doing nothing to help us."
The full article can be found at
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=AIXRWPJ3C5TXOCRBAEOCFFA?type=topNews&storyID=2471290
On April 12, people of conscience all over the world are
marching, rallying, and carrying out massive protests in
solidarity with the suffering people of Iraq. The people
who are being killed are not our enemies, they are our
sisters and brothers. They must not be allowed to think
that the world is "doing nothing" as the violence is
inflicted upon them. Thousands of young men and women in
the U.S. armed forces either oppose the war or are going
through a process of questioning about the mission. It is
crucial that the people of the United States come together
to demand: Stop the War Against Iraq / Bring the Troops
Home Now.
MORE INFORMATION ABOUT APRIL 12
In Washington, huge numbers of people will gather at the
Washington Monument at 12 noon. Joint U.S. actions will
take place in San Francisco and Los Angeles.
BUSES, VANS AND CAR CARAVANS WILL TRAVEL FROM THE EAST
COAST, MIDWEST AND SOUTH to be at the White House on
Saturday, April 12. For a listing of transportation being
organized from cities around the country, go to:
http://www.internationalanswer.org/campaigns/a12/a12transp.html
If you are ORGANIZING TRANSPORTATION, fill out the
easy-to-use form at
http://www.internationalanswer.org/campaigns/a12/index.html#a12transp
so that we can help spread the word to others (if the link
does not take you directly to the form, scroll down)
To DOWNLOAD LITERATURE, go to
http://internationalanswer.org/campaigns/resources/index.html
If you cannot download and print the flyers and stickers,
you can pick up stacks at A.N.S.W.E.R. offices around the
country, or you can call us at 202-544-3389 and request a
packet of flyers. Please make your request immediately so
they can be sent in time for massive distribution.
To make a tax-deductible DONATION to support the work of
the anti-war movement, go to
http://www.internationalanswer.org/donate.html
Please check the April 12 page on the A.N.S.W.E.R. website
at
http://www.internationalanswer.org/campaigns/a12/index.html
frequently for additional organizing information. This
will include additional pieces of downloadable literature;
a daily update to the list of cities organizing
transportation; logistical information; & more.
*The National March to Stop the War on Iraq comes in the
midst of the long-planned Latin America Solidarity
Coalition (LASC) Mobilization Against Military and
Economic Intervention in Latin America and the Caribbean.
A.N.S.W.E.R. encourages participation in the LASC public
plenaries including major Latin American speakers on
Friday and Saturday at 7:00pm and the LASC rally and
demonstration ending at the World Bank and IMF on Sunday,
April 13. Visit the LASC web page at
http://www.lasolidarity.org for details.*
-------------------------------------
FOR MORE INFORMATION
http://www.InternationalANSWER.org
http://www.VoteNoWar.org
info@internationalanswer.org
New York 212-633-6646
Washington 202-544-3389
Los Angeles 213-487-2368
San Francisco 415-821-6545
To make a tax-deductible donation, go to
http://www.internationalanswer.org/donate.html
Sign up to receive updates (low volume):
http://www.internationalanswer.org/subscribelist.html
------------------
Send replies to answer@action-mail.org
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list. Anyone can subscribe by sending
any message to <answer.general-subscribe@action-mail.org>
To unsubscribe <answer.general-off@action-mail.org>

================================================
04 Does the West understand how this hated war is altering the Arab world?
Von: RAWNEWS <rawnews@btopenworld.com>
================================================

Does the West understand how this hated war is altering the Arab world?
Al-Jazeera has changed everything: the agenda is no longer dominated by
Western news outlets or state-controlled media
By Fergal Keane
29 March 2003
The Independent (London)
This is the incoherent account of an incoherent week. It started in
Ruwayshid, in Jordan, near the Iraqi border. It continued amid the hundreds
of reporters imprisoned in the luxury hotels of Amman and ended up here in
Cairo. I've just come from a huge demonstration against the war. It took
place after Friday prayers at the Al-Azhar mosque.
So the voices of my week have a competing music: the anger of the Arab
street and the whingeing of the correspondents forced to follow the war on
cable television. If there is a pattern, it is one familiar to all who
report on war and its consequences. Long, long periods of tedium and
waiting, interspersed with short bursts of frantic activity. So regard the
following as the snapshots of life on the war's edge.
We are close to it but we do not feel the bombs trembling the ground or the
cries of the wounded. It is a strange feeling. I sense that all around me a
new history is being written, wrenched from the hearts of people across
this region. But try to capture it on film and you falter. Yes there are
the crowds with their banners, the cries of "Death to America" and "Down
with Bush and Blair". But the story we cannot reach is happening as a kind
of internal, very personal revolution. I caught a glimpse of it at the Abu
Sayef café in Ruwayshid. It was the first night of Donald Rumsfeld's "shock
and awe". Baghdad was being bombed and Al-Jazeera was carrying the
spectacle live. The bombing began in the time it took us to drive from our
house on the outskirts of town to the café.
The Abu Sayef is usually a relentlessly cheerful spot. The owners are
classic border traders. They know exactly who is in town and why. They
listen a lot and - when the mood takes them - they reveal a little. So if
you want to know who has just crossed from Iraq today, or who is heading
back up the road, the Abu Sayef is the place to be. Drink tea or very sweet
coffee and be patient. Some useful nugget of intelligence will usually come
your way.
The taxi drivers who ply the main Amman-Baghdad use it as their last
watering hole before the border. When we walked in last Wednesday night the
place was packed. Locals, drivers and foreign journalists stood crowded
around the big television set near the charcoal grill. The missiles were
pounding official buildings five hours up the road. I don't know if
Al-Jazeera pointed out what was being hit, but the locals weren't
impressed. They saw flames and smoke and heard the powerful detonations.
They were, literally, rendered speechless by the effect.
I looked around me and saw several of the Jordanian men with tears in their
eyes. One of them, a man I'd been talking football with the day before,
took me by the arm. He spoke quietly, without malice: "Why are your
governments doing this to us? Why?" I did my journalistic best to occupy
the middle ground. I tried to explain how the war was seen in official
circles in London and Washington, but there wasn't any point. It was time
to just listen, to let the man have his say.
I know that there are people in London, some of them close friends of mine,
who would have argued the point with passion, who believe that sooner or
later Saddam would have developed a destructive capability that would have
threatened the peace of the region. Yet I wonder if they understand how
dramatically this war is altering the human landscape of the Middle East?
Do those who have written in other publications about the need to get
tougher in Iraq â€" bomb more in other words â€" follow the logic of such
advice.
I have written on this subject for over a year without stating a political
point of view on this war. Sure I have views but I am a BBC correspondent
and hold to the notion that my personal opinion on such an intensely
divisive issue should remain personal. Actually, it isn't a case of having
one opinion but a whole bag of them, fighting with each other from morning
to night. But I try to stick to being as aggressively factual as possible.
There is plenty of opinion and passion in the air already, at times an
ecstasy of righteousness among opponents and supporters of war alike.
What I try to do here is look at acts and their consequences. So when I say
that Arab opinion is enraged by the war, that Arabs regard Mr Blair and Mr
Bush as the leaders of an invading and occupying force, it is merely to
reflect how things are. If there is a silent Arab majority - or even
minority - who believes the war is a good thing, I have yet to find it. If
it exists it is so minuscule as to be politically irrelevant.
I was in Cairo by the time the marketplace bombing had taken place. The
steward on the Air Egypt flight also asked me what the West thought it was
doing bombing civilians. I told him that if it was Western aircraft, it
surely hadn't been deliberate, and that there were some in the West who
were criticising Allied commanders for not being more robust in their
attacks. Again I faced a disbelieving stare.
Who did do it? I don't know for sure yet, but the people of the Arab street
have no doubt. All the explanation or spin from Allied spokesmen could not
persuade the citizens of Amman or Beirut or Cairo that it was anything else
but an Allied missile.
So much has changed in this Arab world since the last Gulf War. The arrival
of satellite television stations such as Al-Jazeera has transformed the
information landscape: the agenda is no longer dominated by Western news
outlets or by the craven and awful state-controlled media. Hour by hour,
Arab families follow the progress of this war, and it is being mediated for
them by Arab reporters. The information war is being lost in the Arab
world, partly because the old sources of information no longer hold sway,
and at least partly because nobody here wants to give the coalition the
benefit of the doubt.
In Cairo I've been debating a lot. People here are just as angry about the
war but they are not as close to it as the Jordanians of the border region.
In Ruwayshid it can often feel like intruding on a personal grief when you
argue. So in Cairo when I am assailed as a Westerner (never violently or
aggressively), I tend to ask why Arabs never did anything about the regime
of Saddam Hussein. "You say you don't like Saddam and want to see him gone
but why have Arabs never acted against him?" I ask. I know the answer and
so do they. Fear. Fear of their own governments, fear of Saddam, the
overwhelming sense that removing a leader is an impossibility in a world
that is so politically sclerotic.
But the invasion of Iraq may change all that, and not in a way that those
optimistic warriors in the White House imagine. Paul Wolfowitz and Mr
Rumsfeld imagine an Arab world remade in the image of the West. With the
voices of the street still ringing in my ears, I would suggest the new Arab
world may be anything but friendly to their vision. Far from it.
The writer is a BBC Special Correspondent. He was awarded the Index On
Censorship Inaugural Award for Outstanding Commitment to Journalistic
Integrity this week
30 March 2003 09:20

© 2003 Independent Digital (UK) Ltd

================================================
4a Aznar faces 91% opposition to war
Von: RAWNEWS <rawnews@btopenworld.com>
================================================
Aznar faces 91% opposition to war
Giles Tremlett in Madrid and Sophie Arie in Rome
Saturday March 29, 2003
The Guardian
The Spanish prime minister, Jose Maria Aznar, the third man on the
international stage beside George Bush and Tony Blair in the run-up to
war, was staring at political disaster yesterday as anti-war
demonstrations spread and opinion polls revealed 91% of Spaniards
against the war.
Madrid, Barcelona and other cities resounded to the noise of people
beating pots and pans out of their windows on Thursday night in the
latest of a series of anti-war demonstrations that have also seen
violence between police and protesters.
The Alhambra Palace in Granada, symbol of Spain's Islamic past,
switched off its lights during Thursday night's protest and, in
Barcelona, firefighters sounded their sirens in support.
The scale of opposition to war has forced the People's party
government on to the defensive. Mr Aznar has not dared to back his
pro-Bush stance before the war with combat troops. Even the sending of
900 troops for "humanitarian work" has provoked the fury of the
anti-war camp.
The most recently published opinion poll on attitudes to war, by the
state's own official pollsters, showed 91% opposition. Recent polls of
voting intention show that, over two months, the People's party has
gone from running neck-and-neck with the anti-war socialists to
trailing them by six points. A clear majority of people now expect the
socialists to win next year's election.
The government has responded by saying it is thinking "not of future
elections but of future generations."
Mr Aznar's one-time political mentor, Felix Pastor, a former party
president who still sits on its ruling committee, yesterday broke
ranks to accuse him of destroying the years of hard work put in to
creating a moderate, centre-right party.
"The idea of a moderate, humanitarian, Christian People's party has
been blown away," he told El Mundo newspaper. "The Spanish people have
the right to expect their government to keep them away from all wars
... Bush's policies are so detestable that we should keep well away."
His words followed a slow drip-drip of resignations that include a
former minister and several lower ranking party members.
Ministers are now shadowed by groups of protesters. People's party
offices up and down the country are being vandalised or plastered with
anti-war graffiti.
In Italy, the government is facing political repercussions after 1,000
US paratroopers landed in northern Iraq on Wednesday having set off
from a US base at Vicenza. Prime minister Silvio Berlusconi had
promised that Italy would not be used as a launching pad for attacks
on Iraq. Italy officially supports the allies and has offered its
military bases and air space for US military use but not in direct
attacks.
Mr Berlusoni has been accused by the opposition of taking an
"ambiguous" position, at once assuring the US and Britain of his
support and insisting, amid widespread public opposition to the war,
that international institutions must be respected.Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2003

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05 Antikriegsdemonstration/Linz/4. April
Von: Friedenswerkstatt Linz <friwe@servus.at>
================================================
Plattform Stoppt den Krieg
p.A. Friedenswerkstatt Linz
Waltherstr. 15b
4020 Linz
Tel. 0732/771094
e-mail: friwe@servus.at
Web: www.friwe.at
Linz, 3. 4. 2003
Medieninformation
Sternmarsch und Antikriegs-Kundgebung/Linz
STOPPT DEN KRIEG!
Kein Blut für Öl! Für eine aktive Antikriegspolitik Österreichs!
Freitag, 4. April 2003
Treffpunkte:
- Schillerpark/Linz
- Eisenbahnbrücke/Urfahr
jeweils 17 Uhr
Kundgebung mit Reden und Kulturprogramm
Linzer Hauptplatz
ab 18 Uhr
Die zentralen Forderungen der Plattform Stoppt den Krieg sind:
- Sofortiger Stopp aller Kriegshandlungen!
- Beendigung des Embargos gegenüber dem Irak!
- Keine Kolonisierung des Irak durch die Großmächte!
In diesem Sinne fordern wir die österreichische Regierung auf, endlich
eine aktive Antikriegspolitik zu betreiben, statt friedenspolitisch
auf Tauchstation zu gehen. Ein ensprechender Aufruf der Plattform
Stoppt den Krieg wurde mittlerweile von über 3.000 Menschen
unterschrieben.
Programm:
Es wird Statements geben von:
Margit Hauft (Präsidentin der
Katholischen Aktion), Alfred Leiblfinger (Gewerkschaft der
Eisenbahner), Haythem Sardest (Exil-Iraker), Boris Lechthaler
(Friedenswerkstatt Linz), Doris Eisenriegler (Landtagsabgeordnete,
Grüne OÖ), Leo Furtlehner (KPÖ) sowie Vertreter von ATTAC, der
Sozialistischen Jugend OÖ und kurdisch-türkischer Gruppen
Kulturprogramm:
Für die Antikriegskundgebung am 04. April 2003 hat
unter anderem die kurdisch- irakische Sängerin PANAH ihre Teilnahme
zugesichert. Die 17- jährige Panah hat bei dem Giftgaseinsatz 1988 in
Halabja ihre gesamte Familie verloren. Gemeinsam mit der Rockgruppe
"HAIKU" wird sie am Hauptplatz ihre Hymne gegen den Krieg "WAR IS NO
ANSWER!" singen.
Der Videoinstallationskünstler Shahin Charmi hat Filmdokumente zu
einer erschütternden Videoinstallation verarbeitet. In Zusammenarbeit
mit den Musikern von "Dezibel" wird er am Hauptplatz unter dem Titel
"Orgnung" einen "audio-visuellen Protest gegen die amerikanische
Aggression und Kriegslust den Völkern gegenüber" präsentieren.
Auch eine Reihe von kurdisch - türkischen Künstlern, die Sambagruppe
"La Guarana", sowie österreichische Rockgruppen wie "The Moochers"
oder "Music Rebels" haben ihre Teilnahme am 04. April zugesichert.

Wir ersuchen um Ankündigung dieser Veranstaltung und laden Sie recht
herzlich dazu ein.

mit freundlichen Grüßen
Gerald Oberansmayr

================================================
06 Bulgarien Aktionstag
Von: Clemens Czurda <eeran@blackbox.net>
================================================

Liebe Mitmenschen!
Am Montag den 7.4.2003 findet von 9:00 - 11:00 Uhr Ecke
Schwindgasse/Prinz-Eugenstraße - gleich beim Schwarzenbergplatz - eine
Mahnwache zur katastrophalen Situation von Menschen in
Behindertenheimen in Bulgarien statt.
Wenn Ihr zu diesem Zeitpunkt in Wien seid und Zeit habt, kommt hin und
unterschreibt dort den Brief an die bulgairschen Arbeits- und
Sozialministerin.
Wir hoffen außerdem, an diesem Tag einen Termin bei der bulgarischen
Bothschafterin zu bekommen und die Petitionen, die wir gesammelt
haben, an sie zu übergeben.
Also nochmals für den Terminkalender:
Termin: 7.4.2003 - 9:00-11:00 Uhr
Ort: Ecke Schwindgasse/Prinz-Eugenstraße
Wir freuen uns auf Euer Kommen.
VLG
Clemens Czurda
ai Osteuropakoordination

================================================
07 Minorities & Gender / Minderheiten & soziales Geschlecht
Von: GenderLink Diversity Centre <sensenig@cyberia.net.lb>
================================================
Al-Raida (The Pioneer) special spring issue on "Non-Arab Women in
the Arab World"
Greetings from Beirut, Last call for papers!
(and please excuse this generic mail)
I am writing you, as a member of the editorial board and the editor of
the upcoming spring special issue of Al-Raida on non-Arab women in the
Arab world. In case you are not familiar with our journal see:
http://www.lau.edu.lb/centers-institutes/iwsaw/raida.html
Al-Raida is the quarterly journal of the Institute for Women's Studies
in the Arab World located at the Lebanese American University in Beirut.

The upcoming issue will be dealing with the interface of gender and
ethnicity. For purposes of simplicity and inclusion, I am using the
following definition of "non-Arab" as a working definition:
1) Women whose mother tongue is not Arabic;
2) Women whose community was originally non-Arabic speaking, e.g.
victims of forced assimilation;
3) Daughters of mixed marriages, whose mothers are Arab, but whose
fathers aren't.Length of articles:
Submitted articles can be up to 10 double spaced pages and can also be
updates of articles already published somewhere else. Al-Raida is
currently still a non-refereed journal.Types of articles:
We are interested in academic studies on current affairs, personal (e.g.
testimonial) background reports, historical overviews, interviews, short
opinion pieces, etc. dealing with the above mentioned topics.Time schedule:
The spring issue is planned for publication in late May 2003. Because of
several withdrawals and a lack of submissions in certain key areas we
may be forced to slightly postpone of publication date:
19/April/2003 is the current official date of submission.
02/May/2003 is the late date for those who have recently submitted paper
proposals.
If you are interested in submitting, but can't meet the second date,
please contact me personally.Open topics:
We currently need articles dealing with the following specific topics:
1) Berber women in North Africa
2) Kurdish women in the Middle East
3) Children of Arab mothers and foreign fathers
4) Non-Arab family rituals and art
5) Non-Arab religious minorities
However, we are open to other suggestions as well.Please feel free to forward this mail or post it on lists dealing with
gender, ethnicity, the Middle East, religion or family related issues.Yours, Eugene Sensenig-Dabbous
NDU
Assistant Prof. Dr. Eugene Richard SENSENIG-DABBOUS
School of Political Science, Public Administration & Diplomacy
Notre Dame de Louaize University, Lebanon
RL-POBox 72 Zouk Mikael <http://www.ndu.edu.lb>
fax: +961-9-218771 ph: +961-9-218950/1/2 ext: 2322
http://www.libanlink.org/index_lilie.htm
ADDRESS EU
GenderLink OEG Diversity Centre e.V.
Mirabellplatz 9, A-5020 Salzburg/EU
<office@genderlink.com>
fax: +43-662-8866-239 ph: -8866-3513/18

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08 Köln: US-Antikriegsbewegung & EU-Antiamerikanismus
Von: agm@agmarxismus.net <agm@agmarxismus.net>
================================================
U S - A n t i k r i e g s b e w e g u n g
u n d A n t i a m e r i k a n i s m u s i n E u r o p a
Veranstaltung der AGM
mit Augenzeugenberichten von den Antikriegsdemos in New York
Samstag, 5. April, 19 Uhr
Bürgerhaus Stollwerck, Raum 310 (3. Stock)
Dreikönigenstr. 23
50678 KölnPublikationen der AGM siehe - www.agmarxismus.net
(unsere Antikriegsflugschrift gibts jetzt auch auf Italienisch)

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KULTURA
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================================================
09 MACHT ANSTALTEN ::: karten sichern ::: KOSMOS
Von: kosmos frauenraum <office@frauenraum.at>
================================================
S
ACHTUNG! Karten sichern
Premiere bereits AUSVERKAUFT !!!!
Tel.: 01/523 12 26"MACHT ANSTALTEN"
1. - 12. April 03, 20.00 Uhr , täglich außer So
im KOSMOS Siebensterngasse 42, 1070 WienWelturaufführung einer interaktiven Zeitreise
Erstmalige Vereinigung aller Kunstdisziplinen. Jeder Abend wird zu
einem anderen, individualisierten Erlebnis. Durch Sie. Sie übernehmen
die Regie im Welttheater. In jedem Raum im Kosmos. Theater,
Performance, Musik, Tanz und Projektion.Inklusive exklusivem Dinner von BabetteZs nach Rezepten ausgezeichneter Köchinnen:
von Frida Kahlo über Isabel Allende bis Liesl Wagner-Bacher!
von und mit: babetteZs, dagmar kasper, lilla khoor, barbara klein,
miki malör, niemand, elke papp, sophie pachner, gertraud
steinkogler-wurzinger, petra unger, tanja witzmann, julia zdarsky
Karten sichern!
Ermäßigter Vorverkauf von 09.00 - 16.00 im Kosmos:
EUR 16,- inkl. Dinner (Abendkassa EUR 18,-),
StudentInnen, SchülerInnen, Lehrlinge, Zivis EUR 14,- inkl. Dinner (Abendkassa EUR 16,-)
Kosmos, Siebensterngasse 42, 1070 Wien
eMail: office@kosmos.frauenraum.at
www.kosmos.frauenraum.at
Tel.: 01/523 12 26

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MELDUNGEN UND KOMMENTARE
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10 Stoppt GATS -Stoppt Grasser
Von: Parteder Franz <Franz.Parteder@stadt.graz.at>
================================================

KPÖ Steiermark
Lagergasse 98a
8020 GrazTel. 03 16 / 71 24 36
Fax 03 16 / 71 62 91
email: kp.stmk@kpoe-graz.at
Mittwoch, 2. April 2003
Presseinformation der KPÖ Steiermark
Stopp GATS - Stopp Grasser!
Keine Privatisierung- Konzerne wie Böhler-Uddeholm und Voest-Alpine wieder
in Gemeineigentum überführen!

Die Regierung Schüssel/Grasser will Voest-Alpine, VA-Tech, Böhler-Uddeholm
und Mobilcom zu 100 Prozent verkaufen. Die ehemals Verstaatlichte Industrie
in der Steiermark soll vollends dem Kapital ausgeliefert werden.
Damit schließt sich der Kreis: Betriebe wie das Hüttenwerk Donawitz waren in
der Zwischenkriegszeit Bastionen des deutschen Kapitals gegen
österreichische Interessen und gegen den sozialen Fortschritt.
Sie wurden nach dem Sieg über Nazideutschland verstaatlicht. Seit Mitte der
Achtzigerjahre erfolgte ein Privatisierungsschritt nach dem anderen, anfangs
abgeschirmt von beruhigenden Aussagen der Betriebsratsvorsitzenden, welche
die Belegschaften ruhig stellten und in Sicherheit wiegten.
Jetzt ist das Ende der Fahnenstange erreicht: Alles soll verkauft werden.
Und mit der Privatisierung gehen auch soziale Errungenschaften über Bord.
Die steirische KPÖ hat frühzeitig vor dieser Entwicklung gewarnt und
versucht, Bewegungen für das öffentliche Eigentum in Gang zu bringen.
Landesvorsitzender Franz Stephan Parteder: "Für uns gehören Initiativen wie
Stopp GATS und unser Eintreten für das öffentliche Eigentum an wichtigen
Produktionsbetrieben oder an Banken zusammen. Wir sagen: Stopp GATS -Stopp
Grasser!
Viele Menschen haben bereits erkannt, dass man Wasser, Grundversorgung mit
Energie oder Verkehrsunternehmen nicht einfach auf den Markt werfen kann.
Die KPÖ geht gerade jetzt einen Schritt weiter: Wir fordern die
Einschränkung der Macht der Konzerne, Überführung strategisch wichtiger
Konzerne und Banken in Gemeineigentum, Rückgängigmachung der schon erfolgten
Privatisierungen.
SPÖ, Gewerkschaft und Betriebsräte haben jetzt die letzte Gelegenheit, um
für jene Ziele zu kämpfen, für die sie in ihren Beschlüssen eintreten. Sonst
verlieren sie eine wichtige Basis für die Interessensvertretung".

================================================
12 Anderer Maßstab für Israel?
Von: Karl Pfeifer
================================================

Anderer Maßstab für Israel?
Von Karl Pfeifer
Leserbrief an ZUKUNFT vom 31.3.03
Chefredakteur Albrecht K. Konecny beschuldigt mit seinem Leitartikel die
israelische Gesellschaft, sie wäre eine "der Gewalt" und hätte ihr
moralisches Kapital "fast schon verspielt".
Als Beleg dafür dient ihm die Schilderung eines unliebsamen Vorfalls am
Jerusalemer Zionsplatz. "Auf diesem Platz hatte es früher Unruhen gegeben",
soll der israelische Journalist B.M. geschrieben haben. Ich kann mir nicht
vorstellen, dass B.M. dieses Wort für blutige Selbstmordattentate
palästinensischer Terroristen verwendet hat.
Tatsächlich gab es in einem Umkreis von je 200 Meter vom Zionsplatz eine
Reihe von Anschlägen, die das Leben von Dutzenden Menschen gekostet haben.
Wer dies mit "Unruhen" umschreibt, hat schon der ganzen Geschichte eine
andere Bedeutung gegeben.
Das Ereignis: In der Umgebung dieses Platzes kontrollieren
Grenzpolizist/Innen Passanten, die wie Araber ausschauen. Obwohl es strenge
Richtlinien gibt, die Kontrollen so durchzuführen, dass die Menschenwürde
gewahrt wird, hat eine Grenzpolizistin die ID-Karte eines jungen Arabers
auf den Boden geworfen und ihm befohlen, "Heb sie auf!"
Dies hört sich in Österreich - wo es eine weit verbreitete Unsitte ist,
Ausländer zu duzen - schlecht an. Nur im Hebräischen gibt es kein Sie, alle
duzen alle. Diesen wichtigen Umstand hat der Übersetzer "vergessen" zu
erwähnen.
Man darf bei all dem nicht vergessen, dass man in Österreich nicht das
Gefühl kennt, in einen Bus zu steigen oder in eine Gaststätte zu gehen und
damit das Leben zu riskieren. Das aber ist genau die Lage in Israel.
Und wie schaut es in Österreich aus? Ein Beispiel aus dem Rassismus Report
2002 von ZARA (www.zara.or.at): "Herr K., Medizinstudent aus Afrika ist am
xx. November alleine in seiner kleinen Wohnung, als um ca. 5 Uhr früh
Polizeibeamte dieselbe stürmen. Sie fesseln ihn ohne Erklärung, werfen ihn
auf den Boden und stellen die Wohnung auf den Kopf, schlagen vieles kaputt.
Herr K. leistet keinen Widerstand aber er verlangt mehrmals eine Erklärung,
will wissen, was eigentlich los ist. Er fleht auch seinen österreichischen
Nachbarn um Hilfe an, der die Amtshandlung bezeugen kann.
Einer der 5 Beamten steigt Herrn K., der auf dem Bauch und gefesselt am
Boden liegt, mit seinem Springerstiefel ins Genick und sagte: "Gib Ruhe, du
Neger!" Herr K. bekommt große Angst. Nachdem die Beamten schließlich seine
Dokumente kontrolliert haben, meinen sie: "Wir haben den Falschen
erwischt!" und raten Herrn K., in ein Studentenheim umzuziehen, in dem nur
Österreicher
leben, denn da werde so etwas nicht passieren. Die Polizisten verschwinden
- ohne irgend etwas gefunden hu haben, etwas erklärt zu haben oder sich um
ihn gekümmert zu haben..."
Leben wir Österreicher nun in einer Gesellschaft der Gewalt und haben wir
fast jedes moralische Kapital verspielt? Oder gibt es einen anderen Maßstab
für Israel?

================================================
13 Die FPÖ überholt sogar die AIK
Von: Karl Pfeifer
================================================

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Die FPÖ überholt sogar die AIK
Von Karl Pfeifer
Wer hätte gedacht, dass die FPÖ die Antiimperialistische Koordination (AIK)
mit radikalem Antiamerikanismus überholen könnte. Aber das genau ist passiert.
Der oberösterreichische Landesobmann und stellvertretende Bundesobmann des
Rings Freiheitlicher Jungend (RFJ) Gunther Pahl forderte Ende März die
Ausweisung des US-Botschafters aus Österreich und meinte, die
"US-amerikanische Sportler [gehören] von internationalen Bewerben
ausgeschlossen und der US-amerikanische Geist des Krieges so gut wie
möglich gemieden!"
Bundesrat Mag. John Gudenus (FPÖ) fordert die USA auf: "sendet keine
Soldaten (Terminatoren) mehr aus, um Araber zu töten und das Erdöl unter
ihrem Sand in Besitz zu nehmen" und fragt in seinem am 31.3.03 in der
Wiener "Presse" veröffentlichten Leserbrief im Zusammenhang mit den
terroristischen Angriffen auf die USA: "Warum sind nicht Kanada, Norwegen,
Österreich oder die Schweiz Opfer von terroristischen Angriffen?"
Natürlich war Österreich Zielpunkt mehrerer terroristischer Angriffe. Hier
erinnere ich nur an die Ermordung von Stadtrat Heinz Nittel, aber es gab
auch terroristische Anschläge gegen die Wiener Stadtsynagoge, gegen
durchreisende Juden und gegen den Flughafen Schwechat. Dann gab es auch den
Anschlag gegen die in Wien residierende OPEC.
Er fragt weiter: "Warum sind amerikanische [und israelische K.P.]
Botschaften wie Festungen ausgebaut und nicht die Botschaften von
sogenannten Schurkenstaaten?"
Mag. Gudenus hat eine Kleinigkeit übersehen. Das ist so, weil zwar die
"Schurkenstaaten" den Terror gegen die USA und Israel befürworten und
tatkräftig unterstützen, hingegen die Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika und
Israel niemals Anschläge auf eine diplomatische Vertretung machen lassen
würden.
Das wissen auch die "Schurkenstaaten" und das ist der Grund, warum diese
ihre Botschaften nicht wie Festungen ausbauen lassen müssen.

><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><
TODESSTRAFENGEGNER - USA
><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><

================================================
14 [cuadpupdate] Hitting the Road....
Von: Abraham J. Bonowitz <abe@cuadp.org>
================================================

Sent *only* to the recipients of CUADPUpdate
Feel Free to Forward
CONTENTS IN THIS MESSAGE
Introductory comments
Hitting The Road: New Orleans this weekend
Hitting The Road: Abe and Juan hit DC, NJ, OH, KY?, TN?, FL and in between....
Unheard Voices - A note from Renny Cushing
Thanks to donors
Abe's suggested war-related web sites
**********************

INTRODUCTORY COMMENTS
Greetings all,
Many thanks to those who have written to ask if I am still alive. I am,
but I have been taking a bit of a break after the most recent tour with
Juan Melendez http://www.fadp.org/melendezspeaks.html . I've also been
thinking a lot about new directions, or at least, variations on that which
I have been doing.... This is a quick update message to get the ball
rolling again....
[Happy Birthday, Al! (my oldest brother...)]
These past few weeks have been rough for everyone, I suspect, dealing with
the war.... The last post to this list was sent on March 17, (Subject
line: Special Services for Veterans: EXTERMINATION! ) Yes, they did kill
Louis Jones - a highly respected Gulf War vet who suffered brain damage as
a result of his service. Reading the independent and foreign news accounts
regarding this utterly disgusting war, I become fearful that some of the
soldiers who make it back will be damaged to the extent that they end up on
death row. It seems inevitable.
There is a frightening sort of damage already happening on the home
front. Last week I attended a memorial service for a MURDER VICTIM who I
did not know, but who I felt close to nonetheless. John Komyakevich, a 33
year old bartender from Lake Worth, was shot and killed by a patron simply
because he dared to disagree with the man in his stance on this war. The
belligerent warmonger was kicked out of the bar by Mr. Komyakevich and
returned to the bar with a gun, firing seven times and killing Mr.
Komyakevich as he turned and ran. Needless to say, Komyakevich opposed the
war. The man who shot him is a veteran in his 60's..... Will they seek
the death penalty for him?
If you are interested, see my comments and suggested web sites regarding
global events below - in the last item.... And don't worry, I won't be
commenting on the war all the time. I just had to get it out of my system....
paz!
--abe
Paz is Spanish for Peace.
May no harm come to you.
May you be free of fear.
May you be free from danger
May you be free of pain and suffering.
May you be healed.
May you have mental happiness
May you have physical happiness
May you be well, happy, and peaceful.
May your home be a refuge, a place of peace.
May your mind be a refuge, a place of peace.
*************************************************

HITTING THE ROAD: NEW ORLEANS THIS WEEKEND
I wish I could say I have tickets to the Final Four, but nope.... Instead
of attending basketball games, CUADP will be among the presenters at a
workshop this weekend (April 4-6) at the "Critical Resistance" Southern
Regional Conference. Critical Resistance addresses issues pertaining to
the prison industrial complex. See http://www.criticalresistance.org/
I am seeking a place to stay in New Orleans, as well as assistance running
the CUADP AbolitionWear table. If you can help, please call me at
800-973-6548 or e-mail <abe@cuadp.org>.
I am also trying to cover the costs associated with the trip. The
conference is paying half the airfare. I need to raise an additional $250
- $300 to avoid dipping into CUADP general funds for the costs of
participating in this event. If you can help, please go to
http://www.cuadp.org/support.html
************************

HITTING THE ROAD: ABE & JUAN HIT DC, NJ, OH, FL AND IN BETWEEN.....
CUADP director Abe Bonowitz and Florida death row survivor Juan Melendez
http://www.fadp.org/melendezspeaks.html will be on the road together April
11 - 22. Juan is a keynote speaker at an event sponsored by the Council of
Europe in Washington, DC on the 11th, and he will join Abe Bonowitz for a
discussion of the death penalty at the Princeton Theological Seminary in
Princeton, NJ on April 15.
WILL YOU HELP pull together a speaking or fund raising opportunity for Juan
and Abe in the following areas on the following possible dates?
Friday, April 11 - DC area, in the evening
Saturday, April 12 - DC area, in the evening
Sunday, April 13, AM - DC area
Sunday, April 13, PM or evening - DC area or in the direction of New Jersey
Monday, April 14 - Anywhere between DC and Princeton, NJ, any time.
Thursday, April 17, AM and afternoon - Central Ohio area (KENYON COLLEGE -
ARE YOU THERE?)
Friday, April 18 (Good Friday) - Ohio... Kentucky... Tennessee?
Saturday and Sunday (Easter) - Tennessee.... Georgia?
Monday, April 21, AM - Gainesville, FL
Tuesday, April 22, AM - West Palm, Ft. Lauderdale or Miami...?
HERE IS MEDIA COVERAGE OF LAST MONTH'S TOUR IN FLORIDA
http://www.fadp.org/news/mar11.html
and
http://www.fadp.org/news/mar23.htmlHERE ARE SOME COMMENTS FROM RECENT SPONSORS WHO HAVE HAD JUAN AND ABE SPEAK
>I spoke with some of my students and they thought this was one of the best
>"panels" we have presented.
>
>-- Catherine Arcabascio
>Associate Professor of Law
>Nova Southeastern University
***
>Dear Abe:
>
>Thanks to you and Juan for the compelling presentation at the Levin
>College of Law on March 18. Despite the fact that students had just
>returned from spring break the day before, and so had very little notice
>of the event, we had unusually good attendance by law students - it
>seemed to me the courtroom was about 3/4 full. [Actually, it was
>standing room only! Liz was in the front row --abe] Their enthusiasm
>and interest was apparent by the large number of questions, and in remarks I
>overheard afterwards. I heard one student say that if she won the
>lottery, she would go work on death penalty cases for the rest of her
>life!
>
>It's so important to expose law students to the realities of the
>judicial system, and to the opportunities they have to become engaged in
>working for justice. I can't think of a better way to do that than to
>have Juan Melendez tell of his experience. Thanks again, and to Mr.
>Melendez.
>
>Elizabeth McCulloch
>Center for Governmental Responsibility
>Levin College of Law
>University of Florida
>PO Box 117629
>Gainesville, FL 32611-7629
>352 392 2237
>FAX 352 392 1457
***>I can't thank you and Mr. Melendez enough for your visit to the University
>of Florida law school last week. We were all amazed and moved by Mr.
>Melendez's strength and capacity for forgiveness, and by your dedication
>to your work and your expertise on the death penalty. Especially
>considering how quickly everything was put together, I think we can say it
>all went off without a hitch.
>
>Let me know if you have any problems getting the honorarium check.... The
>contact person.....
>Take care,
>Caroline Kravath
>Florida Institutional Legal Services
***
At 09:57 AM 3/26/2003 -0500, you wrote:
>Hi Abe,
>I work at Our Lady of Lourdes Academy in Miami, and you spoke to some of
>my Religion classes last Friday. Our students liked very much the
>presentations and I thank you very much for taking the time to come here
>and speak to all of us. They were also very touched by SueZann and Juan
>and their stories. Many of them have expressed concern for Juan, since he
>was only released a year ago, and he explained that he cannot pick fruit
>anymore, they are worried about him and how he gets along now. The are
>interested in doing something for him to help him out. One of their ideas
>is to have a bake sale here at the school and send him whatever they make
>from that. I know it is small, but I guess it is their way of letting him
>know they care for what he has been through. I am writing to you to
>basically get your opinion on this since you know him. I would not want
>to offend him in any way, and I want to make sure this is
>appropriate. Please let me know what you think of this. I really
>appreciate it!
>Thank you again for your time!
>Sincerely,
>
>Lina Ramirez
>Our Lady of Lourdes Academy
NOTICE: Donate to FADP's Exonerated Prisoner Relief Fund at
http://www.fadp.org/relief_fund.html
*****
ALL of the events above came together with less than ten days notice. The
Nova event was spawned on a Thursday, confirmed on Friday, and done on the
following Monday....
Additionally, a joint house party fund raiser was held which raised almost
$2,000, which was split between FADP and the new University of Miami
Wrongful Convictions Project.... Shall we raise some money for YOUR group?
800-973-6548 or <abe@cuadp.org>
*****************************

UNHEARD VOICES: A NOTE FROM RENNY CUSHING
Renny Cushing is the executive director of Murder Victim's Families for
Reconciliation http://www.MVFR.org He writes:
Dear Friends,
The plain reality of my job as executive director of Murder Victims'
Families for Reconciliation is that every day I meet and talk to and listen
to and work with people who have had someone they loved, someone they gave
life to or created life with or received life from, killed.
I see the face of murder and the face of the death penalty a lot. My sense
is that I don't often pause to reflect upon my work, but I am aware that
there is a lot of pain that I encounter as I just plow forward. However,
every once in a while something will happen that seems to whack me on the
side of the head, and make me pause. The execution of Fred Gilreath, over
the objections and pleas for mercy from the children of the murder victim,
his children, was one of those experiences.
When a murder takes place within a family, the complications of the
devastation are almost beyond anyone's ability to sort out. I don't really
know how members of a family begin to find a way to live their lives again,
I don't know how they find a sense of family, when one member of a family
kills another. Yet it happens.
Sometimes, too often, the response of the state to a homicide within a
family is to give the survivors another casket to grieve over. That is one
of the realities of capital punishment in this country. Sometimes it makes
children orphans.
Like Chris Kellet and Felicia Floyd who, having lost their mother Linda
Gilreath and grandfather to murder, were forced to experience the ritual
killing of their father by the state of Georgia.
I shared some of my narrative of watching Georgia's Death Penalty add to
the pain of a family of murder victims with my friend Susannah Sheffer, who
wrote an article story entitled "Unheard Voices" that appears in the
current issue of Fellowship magazine. You can find the article online at:
<http://forusa.org/Fellowship/Mar-Apr_03/Sheffer.html>http://forusa.org/Fellowship/Mar-Apr_03/Sheffer.html
If you read it, I hope it makes you pause and ask yourself: What kind of
society do we live in when a family has experienced so much blood, and all
we care about, all we seem capable of doing, is add to the pain, filling
another coffin?
******************************

THANKS TO DONORS
I have been doing some catch up work this past week, and that included
following up with the folks in the CUADP Sustainer program whose credit
cards have expired or are about to expire. CUADP Sustainers agree to allow
CUADP to put a monthly contribution on their charge card each and every
month. Currently we have 62 people giving between $5 and $100 monthly,
totalling $1,195 in dependable income each month. CUADP would not exist
without this program. If more people participated, CUADP could grow....
I am pleased to report that each of the six sustainers I contacted
responded immediately and renewed their commitment. Three of those people
INCREASED their monthly contribution! CUADP is honored to have such
dedicated supporters.
PLEASE join those who have kept CUADP going with whatever you can offer on
a one-time OR monthly basis by using CUADP's secure server to make a
contribution now. Please click here:
<https://www.compar.com/donation/donateform.html>.
If you would like to contribute but don't wish to do so over the internet,
please call 800-973-6548 or mail your contribution to the address shown below.
Send checks or money orders to:
CUADP
PMB 297
177 US Highway 1
Tequesta, FL 33469
***************************

ABE'S SUGGESTED WAR-RELATED WEB SITES...
Don't worry, this will not be a regular occurrence. But its got to be
said.....
Read Mark Twain's "The War Prayer" at and other comments made just after
9/11/01 which are still pertinent at http://www.cuadp.org/comments.html
My personal protest is at http://www.cuadp.org/comments_2.htmlUnless you are able to completely tune out the war, its a smart idea to get
information filtered by editors and journalists who do not have an economic
stake in the promotion of the war. That means turning OFF most US based
corporate media.... Please consider the following web sites. There are
many more. None are perfect, and certainly you should be wary that
everyone has an agenda.... but these are a starting point.....
Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting
Media analysis, critiques and activism
http://www.fair.org/The Black Commentator
http://www.blackcommentator.com/35/35_cover_story.htmlThe Memory Hole
http://www.thememoryhole.org/index.htm
If you feel strong, go to link with pictures of civilian and military
casualties and POW's - the pictures you will not see in the Corporate Media.TRUTHOUT
This is one of the best.... I signed up to get a daily e-mail with links
to articles in various media....
http://www.truthout.org/Another outstanding site
PR WATCH http://www.prwatch.org
Sign up for THE WEEKLY SPIN to learn who is behind all of the crap they are
trying to sell us, about the war and a lot of other stuff.....Electronic Iraq is a news portal on the US-Iraq crisis published by veteran
antiwar campaigners Voices in the Wilderness.... This has regular updates
from people on the ground IN Iraq
http://www.electroniciraq.netAnd finally, Iraq Body Count
http://www.iraqbodycount.net/

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

OK - that's all you'll hear from me regarding the war, at least for now....
Yours in the Struggle,
--abe
Abraham J. Bonowitz
Director, CUADP
<abe@cuadp.org>"The world shrinks or expands in proportion to one's own courage."
--Anais Nin
(the small print)
CONTRIBUTIONS TO CUADP ARE NOT TAX DEDUCTIBLE
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INFORMATION MAY BE OBTAINED FROM THE [FL] DIVISION
OF CONSUMER SERVICES BY CALLING TOLL FREE 800-435-7352
(FL only) OR 850-413-0840. REGISTRATION DOES NOT
IMPLY ENDORSEMENT, APPROVAL, OR RECOMMENDATION
BY THE STATE. REGISTRATION # SC-11170. NO PROFESSIONAL
SOLICITOR IS CURRENTLY ENGAGED WITH CUADP. 100% OF
ANY CONTRIBUTION GOES TO THE ORGANIZATION.