11 May 2005.
One word of truth outweighs the world. -- Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Nobel Lecture (1970).
Solzhenitsyn addressed the world, a generation ago with the tenet of, "The simple step of a courageous individual is not to take part in the lie." Odno slovo pravdij (one word of truth) can bring down a facade of falsity when people are susceptible to accept the obvious. When an individual acts upon his integrity, he announces his humanity by refusing to act as a perfunctory and, therefore, anonymous cog in and for the machine of power. These acts of declarations of truth are our credentials of validity, our witness to the world and to history.
Inconsistencies and improbabilities clouded the election results in the Ukraine on the 21st of November last. Although, Viktor Yanukovich, the ruling regime's well funded candidate was declared the official winner, irregularities, the polite term for chicanery and fraud, were evident. Viktor Yushchenko refused to concede defeat because he believed in the independent polling and the anecdotal evidence of fraud. Yushchenko encouraged people to protest and the world took notice.
Natalia Dmytruk performed a job that close captioning has eliminated in America, she does simultaneous sign language of television news. On November 25, on the 11 a.m. show, she rebelled and acted upon her conscience, she spoke the word, silently, by manual gesture, that only a fraction of the audience could, but did, hear: "I am addressing everybody who is deaf in the Ukraine. Our president is Victor Yushchenko. Do not trust the results of the central election committee. They are all lies. ... And I am very ashamed to translate such lies to you. Maybe you will see me again..." Some people had been protesting in the streets of Kiev but the rest of the country was not fully aware, but after that one moment circumstances continued to unfold, and a month later a new election, with an accurate result replacing the charade. The confidence of the Ukrainians has been confirmed to all, yet, they claim no mandate. They are consigned to make do.
The United States has been plunged into an unjust war by lies, and the prosecution of that war has been, and is being, propelled by lies. The supposed causus belli was the vague and ominous possession of weapons of mass destruction. Americans were inclined to believe this fiction. The attempt to display their possible existence was exceedingly strained. No one, by rational thought and logical means, who did not want to believe in this phantom could be made to, only by misplaced faith or mindless conformity did the deception succeed. The merits of responsibility were not and are not being borne. Conversely, those who cooked the murky mélange have risen in reward; those, here, who rightly and correctly opposed, have not been recognised but have been shunted derisively aside and effectively silenced.
Robert Byrd gave a remarkable speech against this war, Jimmy Carter wrote using Aquinas's program of just war to show that this was not a just war, John Paul and the Vatican spoke out and tried to impress Bush against the war. All were true and all were ignored and slandered. Those who will to do wrong can not be deterred by argument. A clever propaganda campaign invoked a false iconostasis of "support the troops" before the war began to camouflage an altar to Ares, whose will it was to attack, invade and ultimately to occupy and control. Those who were not willingly for the cause were intimidated not to speak. The real message was--support the war or be presumed to be disloyal. Thus began the war.
The fifth day of the war, March 23, 2003 saw a convoy of vehicles lost and then surprised by an Iraqui ambush. The military-administration-news media cerberus improbably and inanely promoted a wee, teen-age lass from Palestine, West Virginia as an action hero comparable to the combined, super-human exploits worthy of Rambo, Xena and the Perils of Pauline combined The extreme description beggared the credulity of the nation, the world was told though crippled from the wreckage, she "continued firing at the Iraqis even after she sustained multiple gunshot wounds," and she was stabbed, then tortured, and then on film she was heroically saved, Eventually, but after the intended effects had settled in, and grudgingly, the actuality emerged.
On March 4th of this year, an American soldier firing from a tank wounded Giuliana Sgrena and killed Nicola Calipari. At first the military's account was tense and nebulous but an investigation was promised. It was initially stated that "coalition forces ... fired on a vehicle approaching a checkpoint in Baghdad at a high rate of speed." After a month, nearly two, the Pentagon's report found no fault in the shooting. The Italians do not accept this version. In Italy there was and is horror, anger and outrage over this. In the United States it is barely registering as a story.
The bones of contention were: whether the Italians were in communication with the Americans, whether the checkpoint/roadblock was visible, how contact was made and how the shots were fired. There is no agreement between the two sides. The scenario, the past behavior of the military, the transparency of view to the world and the logic to the reactions and probabilities of actions of the participants suggest that the military continues to act with impunity and will tailor their story to their objectives and not to an outside standard of truth. Foreign allies to the current american regime are collateral damage in the orwellian language of the military and the administration.
Is there any word echoing out in the wilderness that will resound? or will this nation remain stone deaf.
One word of truth outweighs the world. -- Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Nobel Lecture (1970).
Solzhenitsyn addressed the world, a generation ago with the tenet of, "The simple step of a courageous individual is not to take part in the lie." Odno slovo pravdij (one word of truth) can bring down a facade of falsity when people are susceptible to accept the obvious. When an individual acts upon his integrity, he announces his humanity by refusing to act as a perfunctory and, therefore, anonymous cog in and for the machine of power. These acts of declarations of truth are our credentials of validity, our witness to the world and to history.
Inconsistencies and improbabilities clouded the election results in the Ukraine on the 21st of November last. Although, Viktor Yanukovich, the ruling regime's well funded candidate was declared the official winner, irregularities, the polite term for chicanery and fraud, were evident. Viktor Yushchenko refused to concede defeat because he believed in the independent polling and the anecdotal evidence of fraud. Yushchenko encouraged people to protest and the world took notice.
Natalia Dmytruk performed a job that close captioning has eliminated in America, she does simultaneous sign language of television news. On November 25, on the 11 a.m. show, she rebelled and acted upon her conscience, she spoke the word, silently, by manual gesture, that only a fraction of the audience could, but did, hear: "I am addressing everybody who is deaf in the Ukraine. Our president is Victor Yushchenko. Do not trust the results of the central election committee. They are all lies. ... And I am very ashamed to translate such lies to you. Maybe you will see me again..." Some people had been protesting in the streets of Kiev but the rest of the country was not fully aware, but after that one moment circumstances continued to unfold, and a month later a new election, with an accurate result replacing the charade. The confidence of the Ukrainians has been confirmed to all, yet, they claim no mandate. They are consigned to make do.
The United States has been plunged into an unjust war by lies, and the prosecution of that war has been, and is being, propelled by lies. The supposed causus belli was the vague and ominous possession of weapons of mass destruction. Americans were inclined to believe this fiction. The attempt to display their possible existence was exceedingly strained. No one, by rational thought and logical means, who did not want to believe in this phantom could be made to, only by misplaced faith or mindless conformity did the deception succeed. The merits of responsibility were not and are not being borne. Conversely, those who cooked the murky mélange have risen in reward; those, here, who rightly and correctly opposed, have not been recognised but have been shunted derisively aside and effectively silenced.
Robert Byrd gave a remarkable speech against this war, Jimmy Carter wrote using Aquinas's program of just war to show that this was not a just war, John Paul and the Vatican spoke out and tried to impress Bush against the war. All were true and all were ignored and slandered. Those who will to do wrong can not be deterred by argument. A clever propaganda campaign invoked a false iconostasis of "support the troops" before the war began to camouflage an altar to Ares, whose will it was to attack, invade and ultimately to occupy and control. Those who were not willingly for the cause were intimidated not to speak. The real message was--support the war or be presumed to be disloyal. Thus began the war.
The fifth day of the war, March 23, 2003 saw a convoy of vehicles lost and then surprised by an Iraqui ambush. The military-administration-news media cerberus improbably and inanely promoted a wee, teen-age lass from Palestine, West Virginia as an action hero comparable to the combined, super-human exploits worthy of Rambo, Xena and the Perils of Pauline combined The extreme description beggared the credulity of the nation, the world was told though crippled from the wreckage, she "continued firing at the Iraqis even after she sustained multiple gunshot wounds," and she was stabbed, then tortured, and then on film she was heroically saved, Eventually, but after the intended effects had settled in, and grudgingly, the actuality emerged.
On March 4th of this year, an American soldier firing from a tank wounded Giuliana Sgrena and killed Nicola Calipari. At first the military's account was tense and nebulous but an investigation was promised. It was initially stated that "coalition forces ... fired on a vehicle approaching a checkpoint in Baghdad at a high rate of speed." After a month, nearly two, the Pentagon's report found no fault in the shooting. The Italians do not accept this version. In Italy there was and is horror, anger and outrage over this. In the United States it is barely registering as a story.
The bones of contention were: whether the Italians were in communication with the Americans, whether the checkpoint/roadblock was visible, how contact was made and how the shots were fired. There is no agreement between the two sides. The scenario, the past behavior of the military, the transparency of view to the world and the logic to the reactions and probabilities of actions of the participants suggest that the military continues to act with impunity and will tailor their story to their objectives and not to an outside standard of truth. Foreign allies to the current american regime are collateral damage in the orwellian language of the military and the administration.
Is there any word echoing out in the wilderness that will resound? or will this nation remain stone deaf.
No comments:
Post a Comment