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News :: Miscellaneous |
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Advocating for a Non-Violent Response |
Current rating: 0 |
by Sarah Kanouse
Email: kanouse (nospam) uiuc.edu (unverified!)
Phone: 384-5346
Address: 604 S. Race, Urbana |
12 Sep 2001
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A letter sent to the editors of the Octopus, the News-Gazette and the DI on the importance of a non-violent response to the attacks. I wanted to get published, so it's a bit brief and watered down. Please contact me to organize a concerted letter writing campaign. |
On Tuesday night, 100 members of the Champaign-Urbana community gathered at the Independent Media to discuss ways we as a community and as a nation can respond to the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon to increase peace, stability, and democracy in our country and around the world. However, only 24 hours later, a violent response by our government seems increasingly inevitable. I write as one of millions of citizens deeply concerned about the very real threat of the US prosecuting a war of vengeance that will return tragedy with tragedy and betray the foundations of justice and peace.
From his earliest statements, Bush's language reveals a powerful undercurrent of vengeance that has only intensified with time. "We will hunt down and punish the people responsible for this heinous act,' he announced Tuesday. On Wednesday, he called the attacks "acts of war," priming the public to respond to bloodshed with more bloodshed. No other option but more violence has been discussed at the national level. In their haste to make war, some representatives have openly dismissed the idea of justice. The BBC quoted one official as saying, "This is not a time to bring the perpetrators to justice. This is a time to wage war." As an American, I am appalled that the goal of justice would be subsumed to the goals of vengeance and violence.
Although few facts are known about the attackers or their presumed locations and sources of support, Osama Bin Laden has been all but convicted in the court of public opinion on the strength of suspicion, not evidence. It appears that the US, with the backing of the UN and NATO, will act on its presumption of guilt and not on our tradition of due process. US officials have made it clear that the war against terrorism will be a total war, one which makes no distinction between those who actually perpetrated the crime, those who support them, and those who are unfortunate enough to live in the same country and who may end up nameless 'collateral damages." How many workplaces and factories, hospitals, schools, and houses will we destroy as 'collateral damage' before the war against terrorism is won? How many thousands of innocent civilians will we kill before terrorism is dead? How much violence can our government perpetuate, and citizens applaud, before we become terrorists ourselves?
If we betray our tradition of due process and abandon the goal of justice for the goal of vengeance, we will allow the terrorists to win. I encourage all who believe we cannot end violence through violence to contact their representatives and the media to stand for peaceful and careful response to this tragedy. We can only honor the dead by seeking peace and democracy around the world. Terrorism will only be eliminated through justice.
--Sarah Kanouse
graduate student
Urbana, IL |
