A PRICE WORTH PAYING?

SANAL EDAMARUKU

September 11, 2001 will remain in our memory as one of the darkest days of history. It is the day of the biggest act of individual terror mankind has faced till now. Thousands of innocent people have been killed by a handful fanatics and millions are left in deep shock, grieve and agony about the loss of their loved ones, family members, friends and colleagues. The world has watched the terrorist strikes on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon with bated breath as they hit the power centers of the mightiest and best protected state on the globe.

The unprecedented terrorist act has been rightly termed a crime against civilization and humanity and stands strongly condemned by the entire civilized world. There is worldwide agreement that this new and alarming dimension of terrorism calls for immediate and extraordinary efforts of the world community to prevent further catastrophes. But there are different views about the character of the measures to be taken.

The US government has vowed revenge and tries to mobilize for a worldwide war against terrorism under its supreme leadership. Military strikes are planned against terrorist groups suspected to be involved as well as against anybody supporting or harboring them. States are pressed into a decision to stand with "US or Them" and offer unconditional cooperation or face the consequences. Pentagon officials say that the US government is prepared to "end" states and "wipe out" governments that refuse to cooperate. Afghanistan is expected to be the first country to suffer US bomb attacks for the refusal of its Taliban regime to surrender the suspect number one, Osama bin Laden, "before seeing proofs for his involvement". "The blow would be intended not only to destroy terrorist bases in Afghanistan but also to demonstrate to other nations that there is a heavy cost to be paid for those who shelter enemies of the United States", says a military analyst in the New York Times. Further states on the hit list are Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan Libya, Cuba and North Korea. President Bush warns of a "wrathful, shadowy and inventive war".

The spontaneous urge for retaliation among the bereaved people in America may be understandable. But the adequate and considered answer of a civilized state on destruction and murder of innocent people perpetrated by a handful fanatics cannot lie in more destruction and murder of more innocent people in other parts of the world.

The UN, which withdrew under the threat of US bomb attacks its entire international staff involved in various humanitarian programs from Afghanistan, has described the situation of the population of the war-ravaged and drought-stricken country as "dramatic". Nearly thousand people are internally-displaced, millions more are severely affected in villages, too poor or unable to move, majority of them women and children. The forced withdrawal of UN staff has interrupted life saving programs for the civilian population.

Military strikes against civilians in Afghanistan or elsewhere are grave violations of Human Rights as well as of International Law. They cannot be justified by any situation or under any circumstances. They cannot be considered "a price worth paying", as Madalyn Albright classified the death of half a million children who died because of the pertaining inhuman US sanctions against Iraq. It is indeed difficult to discover higher moral standards in this declaration than in the bombing of the World Trade Center.

There are more human costs involved in this highhanded global war against terrorism, which would have to be paid by a larger section of the world population: infringement of civil liberties, arbitrary arrests, closer surveillance of daily life, to name only few.

And still more: Terrorism gets a face, which many want to beat to death. There are eruptions of hatred reported from the USA, which turn against people of Arab origin and people of Islamic belief. A man tried to kill a little Arab boy with his car, mosques start burning, a young Indian Sikh has been killed "by mistake", because his hunters could not distinguish between Sikh and Arab turbans. Many see their chance to use communal riots to settle old scores. Mass intolerance can spread very fast and can become more dangerous than a handful fanatic terrorists.

For those, who still feel that moral arguments do not have enough weight to stop the heavy military machinery of the USA, there is more: It has already been proven wrong that military retaliation strikes could deter further attacks and bring more security to the USA. In 1986, for example, then US President Reagan bombed an area around the residence of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddhafi in retaliation for the suspected involvement of Libyan agents in an attack of a discotheque in Berlin, which cost the life of two American soldiers. The bombing killed scores of innocent people among them Gaddhafi's little daughter, but it did neither help to prove Libyan involvement in the Berlin attack nor did it prevent Libyan agents from later blasting the PanAm plane over Lockerbie. In 1998, President Clinton bombed a medicine factory in Khatoum, Sudan, suspected to be a hideout of Osama bin Laden, in retaliation for the bombing of US embassies in Tanzania and Kenya. This did obviously not at all clip bin Laden's capacity and determination for further terrorist attacks.

Counter terrorism does not only fail to stop terrorism: there is historical evidence that it creates terrorism. The growing of Osama bin Laden is the best example. During the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, US officials supported and trained the mujahedin through the CIA with billions of Dollars. Osama bin Laden arrived in Afghanistan soon after the Soviet invasion in 1979. The CIA as well as Pakistan's intelligence generals recognized the capable leader in him and gave him free hand. Fresh and highly qualified supply for this anti-Soviet war was sent from the USA. The CIA used Muslim front organizations to recruit young fighters from Afghanistan and Arabian nations and gave them high level training in special spy and sabotage training centers like Camp Peary ("The Farm") in Virginia. Familiar with sophisticated military high-tech and equipped with thousands of tons of arms supplied by the USA and Britain, the tool slipped off the hands of its creator after the Russian withdrawal in 1989. The attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, which left observers stunned because of their "professional perfection", may be late fruits of the education of the CIA masters, passed over to the next generation of mujahedin.

If we do not stop the cycle of terror and counter-terror here, it will swing up to new hights.

There is no better and more efficient method to stop terrorism than trying to understand - and to change - the political, social and economic conditions that provide its breeding ground. But one will not be able to understand these conditions as long as one turns a blind eye to certain not so popular realities, as the example of the creation of Osama bin Laden by the CIA shows. If one wants to continue to grow "useful" terrorism on one side, one may not be able to effectively stop "dangerous" terrorism on the other. If one is ready to generously "pay" the price of half a million of dead children, one need not to be astonished if one has not only friends. If one measures the world with two yardsticks, one may sometimes mistake its size.

ELLEN JOHNSON NOW AN HONORARY ASSOCIATE

Ellen Johnson, president of American Atheists, USA's prominent national atheist organization founded by Madalyn Murray O' Hair, has joined Rationalist International as an Honorary Associate.

Ellen Johnson has been an Atheist all her life. She has an M.A. in Political Science and a B.A. in Enviromental Studies. After serving several years on the board of directors of American Atheists, she succeeded Jon Murray in 1995 as president of the organization. She lead American Atheists through the difficult time after the mysterious disappearance of Madalyn Murray-O'Hair, Jon Murray and Robin O' Hair and kept up the tradition of courageous and efficient work in defense of civil rights of non-believers and as a guardian for the separation of church and state.

In 1998, she initiated discussions with the White House Office of Public Liaison about an official "place at the table" for atheists in discussions of atheist concern. She testified before the US Commission on Civil Rights on the "Unconstitutional religious expression in the Public Schools" and was part of the symposium on "Religion in the Public Schools" in 2000. She co-hosts the TV program "The Atheist Viewpoint" and is a regular guest in radio talk shows and TV programs in the USA and in Canada.

DR. SHAIKH: DEMONSTRATION IN WASHINGTON D.C. ON 22 SEPTEMBER 2001

Emphasizing the urgent demand: Freedom for Dr. Shaikh!, American Atheists are organizing a peaceful demonstration in front of the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, starting at 2 p.m. on Saturday, 22 September. Rationalist International, the Council for Secular Humanism and the American Humanist Association are among the major organizations co-sponsoring the demonstration.

The organizers confirm that the demo is still on - despite the tragic events of 11 September.

Cower in the face of terrorism, and terrorists win.

Fail to exercise your civil liberties and they will be lost.

Join us on Saturday, September 22, 2001!

The address of the Embassy of Pakistan is: 2315, Massachusetts Ave. NW in Washington, DC.

Meantime the number of letters sent to the President of Pakistan has touched the 1.500 mark. These include letters by writers, scientists, intellectuals, activists, leaders of rationalist-humanist-atheist-freethinker-skeptic groups, and concerned individuals from all walks of life. If you are yet to write a letter to General Musharraf, pleading for the release of Dr. Shaikh, please do it as early as possible. The e-mail address is: CE@pak.gov.pk. Do not forget to send a copy to the Dr. Shaikh Defense Committee Dr.ShaikhDefense@rationalistinternational.net For more details, please visit www.rationalistinternational.net.

INDIA: FIGHT AGAINST ASTROLOGY IN UNIVERSITIES TAKES A LEGAL TURN

Highest educational authorities are trying to establish Vedic Astrology as a degree course at India's universities - Rationalists and scientists are strongly resisting the attempt. Their fight against the introduction of superstition and pseudo science in national curricula has triggered a broad public debate. Now it takes a legal turn with a petition to the Supreme Court challenging the government's decision to introduce astrology as a subject of degree courses.

Astrology is not a science, argues the petition, and its introduction as a course in universities is illogical and irrational and a giant leap backwards, undermining India's scientific credibility. The Supreme Court has issued notices to the Ministry for Human Resource Development and the University Grants Commission (UGC), which are responsible for the decision.

The UGC had informed universities in a letter sent in February 2001 that courses in Vedic Astrology were to be introduced at graduate, postgraduate and research levels. The argument for this decision was that Vedic Astrology was "not only one of the subjects of our traditional and classical knowledge", but also a "discipline which lets us know the events happening in human life and in universe on a time scale". The praised knowledge, however, did obviously not enable the astrology promoters in the UGC to foresee that their decision would run into rough waters.

Creative Rationalism

THIRD INTERNATIONAL RATIONALIST CONFERENCE

New Delhi, India: 8-12, February 2002

Registration Open Now

Registration for The Third International Rationalist Conference is open now.

Join Rationalists -- Atheists, Freethinkers, Humanists, Secular Humanists and Skeptics -- from around the world. Meet rationalist thinkers and fighters who influence social change. Exchange ideas, views, experiences and visions. Identify the creative dimension of Rationalism. Discuss the potential of transforming societies. Set the course for the future of enlightenment and humanism. Witness history.

Creative Rationalism

THIRD INTERNATIONAL RATIONALIST CONFERENCE

At New Delhi from 8 to 12 February 2002

We need to keep setting high goals and achieving them.

An interesting, thought-provoking conference.

For more details about the International Rationalist Conference, tentative schedule of events, flight information, a downloadable registration form and all that you want to know about the conference, please visit: http://www.rationalistinternational.net/conferences/2002/conference.htm.