Nonviolent peace activism.

• Date: 22 June 2003
• Author: Naar-Obed, Michele

IT IS AN HONOR TO BE PART OF A PANEL WITH SO MANY DEDICATED PEOPLE WORKING for social justice. This panel on "Human Rights Activism and the War on Terrorism" makes it clear that it is very difficult to talk about the war on terrorism without addressing our own government's acts of terrorism. As is well known, at least in our circles, the goal of the United States is to become an empire and superpower. On paper, our country's original ideals sounded good. We were to be a nation grounded in democracy. The people would govern. Capitalism would allow for a healthy, competitive economy and would encourage people to use their talents and resources. Reality, however, has proven differently.

For many decades, the military-industrial complex has been our reality. Some of us have known nothing other than a military economy. Like it or not, war and the preparation for war is our number one business.

Occasionally, the government's true aspirations slip into the mainstream. Perhaps it is done purposefully to see how much they can get away with. For instance, on March 8, 1992, the New York Times ran a front-page story about a 46-page document entitled "The Defense Planning Guide." The first objective was to "prevent the reemergence of a new rival, either on the territory of the former Soviet Union or elsewhere." Together with a number of other objectives, the argument pointed in the direction of building and protecting the U.S. empire. This document is worth looking up simply to see how insane this nation's policies have become. They are at the expense of millions of lives, our environment and natural resources, any kind of nonmilitary economy, our talents, and our youth. With nuclear weapons the cornerstone of militarism, it is even at the expense of the unborn. Moreover, the price tag will be in the trillions of dollars. Already, the U.S. military budget exceeds that of the next eight nations combined.

Enemies are needed to justify such policies and expenditures, and sustaining this plan requires exploiting world resources. From this perspective, every war, declared or undeclared, is an act of aggression and terrorism to attain and sustain our imperial status. Our wars, including the most recent war against terrorism, have never been about defending ourselves or defending weaker or oppressed nations. Who attacked us on September 11, 2001, and who knew of these impending attacks? I am not promoting a conspiracy theory in the sense that heads of different departments sat around a large table to devise a plan that would justify the U.S. goal of world domination. The government does not deserve...