Friday, September 26, 2008
'Let's impeach the President for lying and misleading our country into war'- Neil Young
On Wednesday I saw Neil Young’s film, “CSNY/Déjà Vu,” a documentary that goes along with his “Living with War” CD. “Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young” is a folk rock band that originated in 1969. The band expressed their protest against the Vietnam War and “the establishment” through their songs. According to wiki, Neil Young’s “release of ‘Ohio’ following the Kent State shootings in 1970 marked the boldest musical statement made to that date regarding the Vietnam war, calling out Richard Nixon by name and voicing the counterculture's rage and despair at the events.
CSNY/Déjà Vu took the viewer on the road with the band (of now over-the-hill, graying and overweight men) as they toured America in 2006 and incorporated their political and anti-war beliefs with their songs. It was most shocking for me to see how in the 1970’s when CSNY’s songs “Ohio,” “Soldiers of Peace” and “Long Time Gone” were played, the crowd would erupt together and praise the band for not only their amazing music, but their anti-war and counterculture stance. Almost 40 years later when the band played Young’s “Let’s Impeach the President” off his “Living with War” album at a concert venue, literally half the crowd stood and sang along and waved their fists, and half the crowd stood and walked out cursing CSNY for speaking out against the Iraq War and turning the concert into a political rally.
So, I left the film wondering who else, if not musicians or even artists in general, can so passionately and powerfully speak out and use their music to reach a mass of people and express a message? CSNY has been a band who spoke out against violence and war since the beginning so why should an audience member expect any different? The same is with other musicians: Buffalo Springfield, Bruce Springsteen, Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, Country Joe McDonald and Chicago. Should not these artists be able to practice the freedom of speech? However, where is the line drawn between freedom of speech and manipulation?
Sunday, September 21, 2008
1968 to 2008- Where's the Movement Towards Peace Today?
I attended the 1968 Great Rehearsal teach-in on the Iraq War in Berkeley on September 19th. I caught the second half of Daniel Ellsberg's speech by the time I caught BART out of San Francisco in the morning. Ellsberg found the infamous Pentagon Papers in 1969 that 'revealed the government had knowledge, early on, that the (Vietnam) war would not likely be won and that continuing the war would lead to many times more casualties than was ever admitted publicly (Wiki)." Ellsberg said, ‘Presidents make threats secretly and everyone who works with the president keeps them secret.’
The second session was Torture, Aggressive War and Presidential Power. I thoroughly enjoyed this session because of how passionate the speakers were against human rights violations. Civil rights attorney, Anne Weills began her speech by saying torture was a ‘signature behavior of the government policy of the United States. ‘The Cheney-Bush-Rumsfeld team led the descent into Hell and gave way to every abomination possible.’ She finished her twelve minutes by discussing UCB's ‘torture professor’, John Yoo. Yoo is a law professor at Berkeley who also wrote the ‘torture memos’ justifying the legality of torture under the Bush Administration. Many anti-war activists are attempting to sue him for human rights violations and have him fired from the university. Ironically, Yoo was giving a lecture at the same time across campus.
Film director Paul Cronin provided the teach-in with clips of his work-in-progress film ‘A Time to Stir’ that documents the Columbia University student revolts of 1968. The white and African American students came together for six days to protest the building of a new gym in Morningside Park. The student's occupation of several campus buildings was against the school's complicity of the Vietnam War, racism as being demonstrated by the building of the gym, and for better and more responsible relations with the surrounding communities. The film shown, although not complete, was very intriguing and the footage was incredible.
Activist Tom Hayden began the fifth and most interesting session From the Vietnam War to the Iraq War with a statement that definitely woke people up after listening to speakers for already five hours. ‘I cannot believe the shear fucking scale of the upcoming election. I haven’t seen anything like this since the 1960’s! I think there is a huge social movement... It’s the Obama movement...but it is not a movement unless blood is running down the face.’
Vietnam veteran, Carlos Muñoz, said that now is an "Era of Bush-ism and US imperialism and we are indeed now a global empire with 137 military bases and I think that is tragic. Trillions of dollars and hard-earned tax-payers money is going down the tube. We must continue to speak out and keep marching. We are in the most repressive era of this nation and it makes McCarthyism not look that bad.’ While describing his time serving in the military Muñoz said he learned several languages including Japanese while in Korea because he knew there was a relationship between the two countries. I find it very disturbing how most of the American troops serving in Afghanistan and Iraq do not even know how to speak Arabic (the language of the countries we're occupying!).
The most moving speaker of the day was an Iraq veteran of the medical unit and current UCB student, Cleavon Gilman. This man must not have been much older than 25, very muscular and daunting, and sat in a comfortable position with his legs spread and hunched over. It was Gilman's first time speaking out against the war and when he opened his mouth to begin his speech, nothing came out for a good seven seconds. He said he had a speech impediment and was obviously very nervous speaking. He said he dreamed of killing people in Iraq and that he was excited to see some action. He described a typical day of being in the medical unit, becoming somber when he spoke of a troop dying. 'Something that’s not on TV is that when a soldier died we had to check for personal belongings which are usually in the helmet and was a picture of a child, mom, brother, dad or ultrasound. We would take out body bags and put the bodies in and zip them up and bring them to the freezer. Then we'd have to clean the blood on the stretcher and blood on the floor he spilled for his country and he can’t even go home.' With this he shook his head and became silent as if holding back tears. And with this tears filled up my eyes and I felt a pain in my heart for this man. Although looking tough and masculine, this war broke him. He ended his speech saying the 'terrorists' he met 'seemed pretty peaceful' and that 'troops have cameras and will hurt this country.' Such 'trophy pictures' as he called them were of burned children and hands blown off.
Afghanistan veteran, Forrest, said ‘I know for a fact we are looking to the world like the next Hitler as I travel. We are violating every Geneva Convention.’ The fact he compared the ‘democratic’ United States with Hitler was particularly disturbing. Is this country really the poster child and face for ethnocentrism and mass killings?
Immanuel Wallerstein, a Yale University senior research scholar, began the final session of the day, Stopping US Wars of Aggression. Wallerstein began his presentation by saying if McCain wins the election it will be an ‘Armageddon.’ If Obama wins, the least Americans can ask for is an ‘internal split.’ ‘If Obama wins we have a chance of a civil war, if not literally, at the very least. The whole capital system is collapsing and will something much worse replace it?’
The second speaker was Iraqi-American, Dunya Alwan, who has family in Iraq and said America’s ‘illegal war’ and ‘illegal occupation’ there is a ‘humanity crisis of the first level.’ She claimed the US violated the two justifications to go to war: self-defense and what the Security Council says. Although I understood her family’s sorrow and pain living in a country without even adequate drinking water, I became troubled as Alwan bitterly said ‘Ending the war in Iraq will not be ended by US hands but in spite and at the hands of Iraqis. The saying, ‘Bring the troops home’ is an insult to me.’’ Like I said, I felt shameful and deep regret for her family but I became insulted by her ‘bring the troops home’ remark, having several friends serving there now.
20-year-old Keiko Schnelle spoke next about how America’s youth “turns a blind eye on the war” and is more concerned with “consumerism and luxury.” “The fascists, neo-liberalists and capitalists are making all the calls. Even if the Iraqis attacked, US violence is not the answer. We have a completely failed democracy… the youth needs to make clear to the government their arguments (for the war) are wrong.” Schnelle made it very clear how important it is for young adults to speak out against the war and not feel that their efforts are hopeless. The final speaker, Roberto Hernandez, even said, ‘We knew the truths in Vietnam so we mobilized and now we know the truths in Iraq but I do not see the same mobilization. Isn’t truth enough to cause outrage?’
So, I took from that day a sense of fear and disturbance. Those who led the anti-war movement for Vietnam are leading the anti-war movement for the Iraq war. Where is the youth leadership? This is our future we’re talking about! Preparing for my second beat story I asked USF students this question and they all replied that there is no such ‘fire’ or ‘urgency’ to protest this war because America’s current youth is apathetic and passive and have bigger priorities to deal with day to day. I was appalled. I believe working towards stopping a war that will determine the success (and failure) of my generation is more important than making sure my dishes are clean and that I don’t miss the next episode of The Hills. It doesn’t take much to get involved in politics- attend a screening of a documentary, go to a teach-in, die-in, or rally in San Francisco, even if you don’t participate. 35,000 people attended the 1968 teach-in at Berkeley and this past Friday I was one of no more than 100 attendees, most of whom were Vietnam veterans! And although the panels kept saying not to compare the present anti-war movement with that of the 1960’s (like the Columbia student revolt) it is hard not to be ashamed my generation is not as driven to mobilize a movement towards peace.
www.commonwealthclub.org
www.indybay.org
www.icasualties.org
The second session was Torture, Aggressive War and Presidential Power. I thoroughly enjoyed this session because of how passionate the speakers were against human rights violations. Civil rights attorney, Anne Weills began her speech by saying torture was a ‘signature behavior of the government policy of the United States. ‘The Cheney-Bush-Rumsfeld team led the descent into Hell and gave way to every abomination possible.’ She finished her twelve minutes by discussing UCB's ‘torture professor’, John Yoo. Yoo is a law professor at Berkeley who also wrote the ‘torture memos’ justifying the legality of torture under the Bush Administration. Many anti-war activists are attempting to sue him for human rights violations and have him fired from the university. Ironically, Yoo was giving a lecture at the same time across campus.
Film director Paul Cronin provided the teach-in with clips of his work-in-progress film ‘A Time to Stir’ that documents the Columbia University student revolts of 1968. The white and African American students came together for six days to protest the building of a new gym in Morningside Park. The student's occupation of several campus buildings was against the school's complicity of the Vietnam War, racism as being demonstrated by the building of the gym, and for better and more responsible relations with the surrounding communities. The film shown, although not complete, was very intriguing and the footage was incredible.
Activist Tom Hayden began the fifth and most interesting session From the Vietnam War to the Iraq War with a statement that definitely woke people up after listening to speakers for already five hours. ‘I cannot believe the shear fucking scale of the upcoming election. I haven’t seen anything like this since the 1960’s! I think there is a huge social movement... It’s the Obama movement...but it is not a movement unless blood is running down the face.’
Vietnam veteran, Carlos Muñoz, said that now is an "Era of Bush-ism and US imperialism and we are indeed now a global empire with 137 military bases and I think that is tragic. Trillions of dollars and hard-earned tax-payers money is going down the tube. We must continue to speak out and keep marching. We are in the most repressive era of this nation and it makes McCarthyism not look that bad.’ While describing his time serving in the military Muñoz said he learned several languages including Japanese while in Korea because he knew there was a relationship between the two countries. I find it very disturbing how most of the American troops serving in Afghanistan and Iraq do not even know how to speak Arabic (the language of the countries we're occupying!).
The most moving speaker of the day was an Iraq veteran of the medical unit and current UCB student, Cleavon Gilman. This man must not have been much older than 25, very muscular and daunting, and sat in a comfortable position with his legs spread and hunched over. It was Gilman's first time speaking out against the war and when he opened his mouth to begin his speech, nothing came out for a good seven seconds. He said he had a speech impediment and was obviously very nervous speaking. He said he dreamed of killing people in Iraq and that he was excited to see some action. He described a typical day of being in the medical unit, becoming somber when he spoke of a troop dying. 'Something that’s not on TV is that when a soldier died we had to check for personal belongings which are usually in the helmet and was a picture of a child, mom, brother, dad or ultrasound. We would take out body bags and put the bodies in and zip them up and bring them to the freezer. Then we'd have to clean the blood on the stretcher and blood on the floor he spilled for his country and he can’t even go home.' With this he shook his head and became silent as if holding back tears. And with this tears filled up my eyes and I felt a pain in my heart for this man. Although looking tough and masculine, this war broke him. He ended his speech saying the 'terrorists' he met 'seemed pretty peaceful' and that 'troops have cameras and will hurt this country.' Such 'trophy pictures' as he called them were of burned children and hands blown off.
Afghanistan veteran, Forrest, said ‘I know for a fact we are looking to the world like the next Hitler as I travel. We are violating every Geneva Convention.’ The fact he compared the ‘democratic’ United States with Hitler was particularly disturbing. Is this country really the poster child and face for ethnocentrism and mass killings?
Immanuel Wallerstein, a Yale University senior research scholar, began the final session of the day, Stopping US Wars of Aggression. Wallerstein began his presentation by saying if McCain wins the election it will be an ‘Armageddon.’ If Obama wins, the least Americans can ask for is an ‘internal split.’ ‘If Obama wins we have a chance of a civil war, if not literally, at the very least. The whole capital system is collapsing and will something much worse replace it?’
The second speaker was Iraqi-American, Dunya Alwan, who has family in Iraq and said America’s ‘illegal war’ and ‘illegal occupation’ there is a ‘humanity crisis of the first level.’ She claimed the US violated the two justifications to go to war: self-defense and what the Security Council says. Although I understood her family’s sorrow and pain living in a country without even adequate drinking water, I became troubled as Alwan bitterly said ‘Ending the war in Iraq will not be ended by US hands but in spite and at the hands of Iraqis. The saying, ‘Bring the troops home’ is an insult to me.’’ Like I said, I felt shameful and deep regret for her family but I became insulted by her ‘bring the troops home’ remark, having several friends serving there now.
20-year-old Keiko Schnelle spoke next about how America’s youth “turns a blind eye on the war” and is more concerned with “consumerism and luxury.” “The fascists, neo-liberalists and capitalists are making all the calls. Even if the Iraqis attacked, US violence is not the answer. We have a completely failed democracy… the youth needs to make clear to the government their arguments (for the war) are wrong.” Schnelle made it very clear how important it is for young adults to speak out against the war and not feel that their efforts are hopeless. The final speaker, Roberto Hernandez, even said, ‘We knew the truths in Vietnam so we mobilized and now we know the truths in Iraq but I do not see the same mobilization. Isn’t truth enough to cause outrage?’
So, I took from that day a sense of fear and disturbance. Those who led the anti-war movement for Vietnam are leading the anti-war movement for the Iraq war. Where is the youth leadership? This is our future we’re talking about! Preparing for my second beat story I asked USF students this question and they all replied that there is no such ‘fire’ or ‘urgency’ to protest this war because America’s current youth is apathetic and passive and have bigger priorities to deal with day to day. I was appalled. I believe working towards stopping a war that will determine the success (and failure) of my generation is more important than making sure my dishes are clean and that I don’t miss the next episode of The Hills. It doesn’t take much to get involved in politics- attend a screening of a documentary, go to a teach-in, die-in, or rally in San Francisco, even if you don’t participate. 35,000 people attended the 1968 teach-in at Berkeley and this past Friday I was one of no more than 100 attendees, most of whom were Vietnam veterans! And although the panels kept saying not to compare the present anti-war movement with that of the 1960’s (like the Columbia student revolt) it is hard not to be ashamed my generation is not as driven to mobilize a movement towards peace.
www.commonwealthclub.org
www.indybay.org
www.icasualties.org
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