September 2002 Newsletter!
Welcome to SHOUT
“I never apologize for the United States of America, I don't care what the facts are.”
- George Bush, Sr.
In This Issue
Ø Suggested Links 2
Ø Truth vs. Truth 3
Ø Contact Us! 3
Ø TIPS 4
Lila Schow’s series on the Great African War will continue in the December issue of Shout.
MAINSTREAM MEDIA FAILED TO MENTION …
Though the silence from our audience is deafening, Lila and I persist.
Karl Marx said religion “is the opium of the people,” today this is true of entertainment. Slack jawed and glassy eyed we sit on our sofas watching Must See TV, Blockbuster’s New Releases, and Monday Night Football.
All the while, record flooding has killed thousands in Nepal, Eastern Europe, Mexico, China, Russia, and Southeast Asia.
ExxonMobil, the world’s largest oil company, stands charged with financing killing, torture and raping sprees in Indonesia.
President Bush proposed recruiting one million volunteers – mail carriers, utility workers, cable installers, and others with access to private residences to search without cause or warrant our homes and report “suspicious” activity.
Dick Cheney hit the campaign-for-War-on-Iraq trail earlier this week while Republicans questioned the Bush administration’s motives.
And the United States invests millions in the War on Terrorism setting up pockets of anti-terrorist groups throughout the Philippines, Venezuela, Indonesia, Colombia, Korea, and Afghanistan (just to name a few).
- Jodie Hemerda
OUR INTERESTS LIE WITH THE MONEY
Floods resulted in the deaths of more than 2,000 people and the displacement of 25 million in Southeast Asia this past month. How can this be? I haven’t heard a word of such tragedy? I know of Prague and Dresden. I watched a man rescued from the rising river while holding onto a bridge on the nightly news. I even heard of the zoo animals and their sad plight resulting from the devastation of the flooding.
Yet, while a Chinese city of six million near the banks of the Yangtze was threatened, mainstream media fretted about the damage to Prague and Dresden’s ancient buildings and artwork. (click here for the full story)
Disturbed by the media’s preference for architect over human life? The following link will take you to a letter which you can email/mail to your local news source’s producer: Be heard!
Concerned with the flow of humanitarian aid reaching those most hard hit by this recent flooding? The following link will take you to a letter which you can email/mail to your local state representative: Be heard!
- Jodie Hemerda
New Feature Coming Soon!
InterAct cares what you think. Send us your thoughts and we will publish them in a new section devoted to our readers and their opinions: iao@interactorg.com
For more alternative news sources…
http://www.aclu.org/index.html
http://www.amnestyusa.org/ainews.html
Diamonds are a girl’s best friend…they must certainly be precious to come at such a high price - killing, raping, and abduction -- but their trademark is amputating the limbs of men, women, and children. http://www.amnestyusa.org/diamonds/
Cell phones are life savers…but did you know they come with blood on them? http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/action/moreinfo.asp?item=1812
Beggars can’t be choosers… Mozambique and Zambia recently refused the US’s generous donation of GE’s genetically modified gift. Beware Americans Bearing Gifts
Terrorists ruthlessly target citizens…in contrast, the United States occasionally hits citizens when bombing strategic targets – isn’t this just a matter of semantics? A survey of foreign news sources found reports of more than 3,500 deaths from the U.S. air war in Afghanistan. I wonder how many were strategic accidents?
Investigations into the why of the attacks of September 11th fell on deaf ears this year…teachers constantly warn of history repeating itself, but their lessons fell on the same deaf ears. Lessons we missed- Confronting Terrorism and War ***Excellent article
Is Hussein the ever elusive sliver in the ball of the Bush family’s foot?...Add your voice to the hundreds of thousands who’ve decided to shout out their opposition to Bush’s family feud. No War on Iraq
- Jodie Hemerda
Contact us with questions or comments iao@interactorg.com.
"If they do it, it’s terrorism, if we do it, it's fighting for freedom." - Anthony Quainton, U.S. Ambassador to Nicaragua, 1984.
Who are the real terrorists? Them or us? Why are we so concerned with Iraq’s acquisition of weapons? Is it a security issue? If so, when did Iraq become a US threat – other than to our supply of oil?
What makes us the gods capable of amassing the weapons of Global destruction, while everyone below the equator is a threat?
Maybe we’re the terrorists that need to be put under surveillance. No worry, the FBI is working on that now. (Read about TIPS on page 4 for more info)
As always Bush sums it up nicely, “When I was coming up, it was a dangerous world and we knew exactly who the they were. It was us versus them and it was clear who them was. Today, we're not so sure who the they are, but we know they're there.”
- Jodie Hemerda
TIPS - TERRORISM INFORMATION AND PREVENTION SYSTEM
President Bush proposed an initial recruitment of one million volunteers - letter carriers, utility workers, cable installers, and others whose jobs allow them access to private residences - to report "suspicious" activity. Our homes can be searched without cause or warrants, eventually neighbor will turn against neighbor and potentially generate thousands of unreasonable and unwarranted charges against innocent people, charges that will drain federal investigator resources and cause the American public to live in a state of government sponsored fear.
The FBI admits that its weaknesses lie not in its ability to gather information, but in its ability to analyze pertinent data that would result in the prevention of real terrorist activity. Like the intercepted message revealing the attacks of September 11th, translated September 12th.
How will this information be processed? Who guarantees that personal grievances will not be turned into political charges of treason or terrorism like it was in the 1950’s? That longtime neighborhood feud could lead to trouble as neighbors submit false suspicions of terrorism. Can you imagine the FBI ransacking your home because your neighbor disagrees with your choice of landscaping or house color? What about this suspicious anti-patriotic website? Are you going to turn me in?
My father-in-law accepts the intrusion upon his privacy as a necessary evil in today’s environment. Others before him felt secure in their benign activities. Most notably, the five million non-Jews executed at the hands of the Germans in pre-WWII Europe certainly felt no threat when the Gestapo established their extensive network of police informers.
“The American Civil Liberties Union denounced the program (TIPS) as a way to turn private sector works into ‘government-sanctioned peeping toms,’ and suggested that those participating in the program would be encouraged to go into people's homes to snoop.” http://www.cnn.com/2002/US/07/17/usps.operation.tip/
House Majority Leader Dick Armey is leading the effort to scrap the program, but unless the Senate acts specifically to kill the Terrorism Information and Prevention System, it could mean that TIPS would survive. It is not clear what the Senate will do, but it is likely to vote on the bill in the coming days, and the fate of this deeply repressive police state measure could very well rest with the Senate.
Even if TIPS passes, the Postal Service has already declined to participate in the program, for now. Unfortunately there are sure to be plenty of others willing to take up their patriotic duty.
Given the desires of the reactionaries that inhabit the White House today, are you prepared to welcome fascism with open arms?
- Jodie Hemerda
"[T]o those who scare peace-loving people with phantoms of lost liberty, my message is this: Your tactics only aid terrorists, for they erode our national unity and diminish our resolve. They give ammunition to America's enemies and pause to America's friends." --U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, December 6, 2001
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." --Benjamin Franklin
By Lila Schow
In early August this cartoon appeared as part of a regular feature run by Get Your War On, a website that solicits donations to clear international minefields.1 Indonesia, a group of islands sandwiched between Australia and Southeast Asia, possess the world’s largest Islamic population. Entrenched in a bloody civil war for seventeen years Indonesia has teetered on the verge of economic collapse for the past three.
Indonesia’s savior appeared in the guise of an oil giant boasting “to be a
good citizen in all the places we operate worldwide. We will maintain the
highest ethical standards, comply with all applicable laws and
regulations, and respect local and national cultures. We want to help
develop prosperous, stable communities – not only because they’re good
place to do business, but because we care about our neighbors and the
places we call home.”2 In setting up their natural gas plant in
the Aceh province, ExxonMobil contracted with Pertamina, the Indonesian
national oil company, as required by Indonesian law. Pertamina hired
local military forces to protect the site. “ExxonMobil . . . understood
that the army units were notoriously brutal in their treatment of
Indonesia's ethnic minorities.”5
Cut Zahara Hamzah grew up in the Aceh province. Her brother,
uncle and cousin disappeared in the custody of the security forces, their
mutilated bodies discovered months later. On May 29, 2002 she stood
before the ExxonMobil executives and testified, “In 1998, at the fall of
the tyrannical regime of General Suharto, we found out that your Company
had been financing the military operation in Aceh for a decade since 1989.
ExxonMobil had provided the facilities for the Indonesian military to
torture, rape and kill our kinsfolk. It had paid the salaries of soldiers
who burnt our houses and robbed our properties.”8 Her testimony
also revealed mass graves inside the ExxonMobil compound and repeated
cover-ups of atrocities by company executives.
The International Labor Rights Fund (IRLF) publicly exposed the crimes when they filed legal charges against ExxonMobil. The lawsuit alleges that citizens were raped, tortured, kidnapped or killed by “Indonesian soldiers paid to protect a big ExxonMobil natural gas plant in the [Aceh] province.”7 The suit also “alleges that Exxon provided the Indonesian military with equipment to dig mass graves, as well as building interrogation and torture centres.”5
ExxonMobil has dismissed the claims and skirted the issue stating “the Indonesian national oil company, Pertamina, owns the Arun Field facilities, which an ExxonMobil affiliate operates. Pertamina is responsible for coordinating security for the project, which in turn is provided by the Government of Indonesia, which considers this business a vital national industry.”2
The oil giant receives
support from our own
United
States government. The appointed judge, Louis Oberdorfer received a
letter from the US State Department encouraging him to throw out the case
and warning that the lawsuit, “would impact adversely on the interests of
the United States,” financial interests as well compromising the “war on
terrorism.”6 Is this the same State Department that
“condemns the human rights abuses in Indonesia, and pledges that the
Department will continue to work vigorously to bring such abuses to an end
through diplomatic and other means?”4 Certainly a lawsuit
encourages diplomacy better than a bombing strike.
At a time when President George W. Bush is calling for, “a new ethic of personal responsibility in the business world” the State Department’s actions counter not only the president’s wishes but their own pledge.7 Kenneth Roth, Executive Director for Human Rights Watch, blasts the Bush administration, "It is the height of hypocrisy for the State Department to publicly promote human rights principles for the oil and gas industry and then tell a judge that scrutiny of an oil company's human rights record runs counter to foreign policy. Apparently, principles only matter when they don't matter."9
This vital issue has received very little media attention. Make a difference and take action now!
Bibliography
1. "Get Your War On" website, page 13
http://www.mnftiu.cc/mnftiu.cc/home.html
2. ExxonMobil Brochure, ExxonMobil website http://www2.exxonmobil.com/Corporate/About/Corp_AboutXOM.asp
3. Exxon Response: Letters to the Editor the New York Times from R. I. Wilson President and General Manager ExxonMobil Oil Indonesia Inc. July 18, 2002
4. Media Letter: ExxonMobil Media Statement - Statement Regarding NGO Human Rights Lawsuit - Aceh, Indonesia IRVING, Texas - August 13, 2002 http://www2.exxonmobil.com/Corporate/Newsroom/Newsreleases/Corp_xom_nr_130802.asp
5. BBC Report
Friday, 22 June, 2001,
10:35 GMT 11:35 UK Exxon 'helped torture in
Indonesia'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/1401733.stm
6. Lawyers Committee for Human Rights report Workers Rights in Indonesia http://www.lchr.org/workers_rights/wr_indonesia/wr_indonesia.htm
7. Human Rights Watch
U.S.
hypocrisy in Indonesia by Kenneth Roth August 14, 2002
http://www.hrw.org/editorials/2002/indonesia0814.htm
8. Green Peace TESTIMONY ON EXXONMOBIL INVOLVEMENT IN HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES IN ACEH Made at the 120th Annual Meeting of Shareholders of the ExxonMobil Corporation in Dallas, Texas, USA on Wednesday, May 29, 2002 http://www.stopexxonmobil.com/static/aceh_testimony.html
9. Human Rights Watch U.S./Indonesia: Bush Backtracks on Corporate Responsibility (New York, August 7, 2002) http://www.hrw.org/press/2002/08/exxon080702.htm