Circulars Update

((((((((((((((((((((((((((( Circulars Update )))))))))))))))))))))))))))

February 20, 2003


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http://www.arras.net/circulars/archives/000204.html#000204

War On Iraq? (leaflet for teach-ins, etc.)

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[Following is another document that Jonathan forwarded to me which was
put together – in a curt, bullet-pointed fashion – to help with
teach-ins. Here is a <a
href="http://www.arras.net/circulars/archives/war_on_iraq.pdf">.pdf
version of the document</a>, formatted to be printed on a single
two-sided sheet and good for handing out.]

Over the past year and a half the Bush administration has put forth a
variety of arguments for prosecuting a war on Iraq to unseat Saddam
Hussein. Keeping up with these arguments can be confusing

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February 20, 2003


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http://www.arras.net/circulars/archives/000202.html#000202

Account of the Clark/Shaw Arrest

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by Lytle Shaw and Emilie Clark in New York

Many friends have asked for more details about our spending the night
in jail for taping up flyers last Thursday, February '3. So we
wanted to offer a description of what happened.

First of all, the flyers we were putting up were images of daily life
in Baghdad taken by Paul Chan. As many of you know, Chan was in
Baghdad in December and January as part of the Iraq Peace Team, a
project of Voices in the Wilderness. Last Thursday night about fifty
people met to pick up 8.5 x ''-inch copies of Chan's photos and begin
posting them around Manhattan.The goal, of course, was to
particularize and humanize our soon-to-be victims.

At about '':20pm, three plain-clothes cops (two men, one woman) in a
converted taxi approached us at the corner of Mercer and Prince where
we were in the process of taping a poster to a metal lamppost. (We
were not using wheat paste). After flashing their badges, they asked
if we had permission to poster and what we were putting up. Their
next question was if we were going to the march on Saturday. We were
told that postering was a "quality of life infraction" and that we
would have to go to the station. We explained that Emilie was 7 months
pregnant and asked if it was possible (since we both had our drivers'
licenses) for them to write us ticketsinstead. They refused. We
were cuffed, and put in the taxi-cab, and taken to the first precinct,
on Varick. They explained that this was just a "procedure" and that
it would only take an hour or so.

At the station we waited in our separate cells for about two hours
while they fed our information into their computer system. During
this period five NYPD officers were more or less continually involved
processing ourarrest. At around ':30am they announced that because
their fingerprinting machine was not functioning they would have to
take us to a differentprecinct for the fingerprinting. We were led
out of the cells again, cuffed, packed back into a car, and driven to
a precinct in Chinatown. HereLytle was put back in a cell while
Emilie was fingerprinted and vice versa. The fingerprinting machine
did not work well and Emilie's fingers were rolled over and over
again, sprayed with Windex, and then pressed yet again. The officer
appeared to be having a hard time with the machine. No one offered to
help him; and he didn't seek help. This process took about anhour,
after which we were again cuffed, led out to the car and driven back
to the first precinct.

They explained that after our information was sent to Albany it would
take about an hour and so long as we didn't have any warrants, we
could be let go with a court date. But at 5 am we were still locked
up, with no information. Eventually (just after 5) Lytle's clearance
came through. Emilie's, however, did not. And they could not tell us
why. Only after repeated questions were we finally told that Emilie's
finger prints had not been legible (though the machine approved or
rejected each print at the time of its initial printing, and this was
the reason it had taken so long in thefirst place). Emilie, we were
told, would have to be taken to yet a third precinct and fingerprinted
again.At this point we began to protest our treatment. Emilie had a
bloody nose and was feeling weak and sick. She is, to say it again,
seven months pregnant, and so staying up all night in a piss-soaked
cell is just not a good idea. The only water she received wassent in
by her brother, Andrew (who had been postering with us and was, now,
luckily, waiting outside).

We asked, again, if we could have a paper ticket written. But they
refused again. This time Emilie was taken alone to "Transit," a
police station in the ACE station at Canal. Andrew and Lytle followed
on foot. They then waited for Emilie for two more hours while the
police re-printed Emilie and then cuffed her to a chair, while her
information was sent, again, to Albany. At just before 7am Emilie was
released.

This, then, is the basic narrative of what happened. But it's
important to mention that this entire time we were being worked on by
the police in a variety of ways

((((((((((((((((((((((((((( Circulars Update )))))))))))))))))))))))))))

February 20, 2003


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http://www.arras.net/circulars/archives/000202.html#000202

Account of the Clark/Shaw Arrest

————————————————————————

by Lytle Shaw and Emilie Clark in New York

Many friends have asked for more details about our spending the night
in jail for taping up flyers last Thursday, February '3. So we
wanted to offer a description of what happened.

First of all, the flyers we were putting up were images of daily life
in Baghdad taken by Paul Chan. As many of you know, Chan was in
Baghdad in December and January as part of the Iraq Peace Team, a
project of Voices in the Wilderness. Last Thursday night about fifty
people met to pick up 8.5 x ''-inch copies of Chan's photos and begin
posting them around Manhattan.The goal, of course, was to
particularize and humanize our soon-to-be victims.

At about '':20pm, three plain-clothes cops (two men, one woman) in a
converted taxi approached us at the corner of Mercer and Prince where
we were in the process of taping a poster to a metal lamppost. (We
were not using wheat paste). After flashing their badges, they asked
if we had permission to poster and what we were putting up. Their
next question was if we were going to the march on Saturday. We were
told that postering was a "quality of life infraction" and that we
would have to go to the station. We explained that Emilie was 7 months
pregnant and asked if it was possible (since we both had our drivers'
licenses) for them to write us ticketsinstead. They refused. We
were cuffed, and put in the taxi-cab, and taken to the first precinct,
on Varick. They explained that this was just a "procedure" and that
it would only take an hour or so.

At the station we waited in our separate cells for about two hours
while they fed our information into their computer system. During
this period five NYPD officers were more or less continually involved
processing ourarrest. At around ':30am they announced that because
their fingerprinting machine was not functioning they would have to
take us to a differentprecinct for the fingerprinting. We were led
out of the cells again, cuffed, packed back into a car, and driven to
a precinct in Chinatown. HereLytle was put back in a cell while
Emilie was fingerprinted and vice versa. The fingerprinting machine
did not work well and Emilie's fingers were rolled over and over
again, sprayed with Windex, and then pressed yet again. The officer
appeared to be having a hard time with the machine. No one offered to
help him; and he didn't seek help. This process took about anhour,
after which we were again cuffed, led out to the car and driven back
to the first precinct.

They explained that after our information was sent to Albany it would
take about an hour and so long as we didn't have any warrants, we
could be let go with a court date. But at 5 am we were still locked
up, with no information. Eventually (just after 5) Lytle's clearance
came through. Emilie's, however, did not. And they could not tell us
why. Only after repeated questions were we finally told that Emilie's
finger prints had not been legible (though the machine approved or
rejected each print at the time of its initial printing, and this was
the reason it had taken so long in thefirst place). Emilie, we were
told, would have to be taken to yet a third precinct and fingerprinted
again.At this point we began to protest our treatment. Emilie had a
bloody nose and was feeling weak and sick. She is, to say it again,
seven months pregnant, and so staying up all night in a piss-soaked
cell is just not a good idea. The only water she received wassent in
by her brother, Andrew (who had been postering with us and was, now,
luckily, waiting outside).

We asked, again, if we could have a paper ticket written. But they
refused again. This time Emilie was taken alone to "Transit," a
police station in the ACE station at Canal. Andrew and Lytle followed
on foot. They then waited for Emilie for two more hours while the
police re-printed Emilie and then cuffed her to a chair, while her
information was sent, again, to Albany. At just before 7am Emilie was
released.

This, then, is the basic narrative of what happened. But it's
important to mention that this entire time we were being worked on by
the police in a variety of ways

((((((((((((((((((((((((((( Circulars Update )))))))))))))))))))))))))))

February 23, 2003


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http://www.arras.net/circulars/archives/000212.html#000212

Keston Sutherland: A Short Critique of Pacifism

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A SHORT CRITIQUE OF PACIFISM

One benefit of the slow popularization of dialectical understanding is
that fewer and fewer people are naive enough to go on claiming that
living in a democracy means that they are free. We know that we are
not. What passes for freedom is, we know only too well, a condition of
relative civil liberation based on and expressed principally through
the free consumption of commodities; the sham forms of political
enfranchisement attendant on that free consumption are possible for us
only because they are impossible for the masses of people who spend
their lives in poverty and misery working to produce the commodities
that we pick and choose. As popular political understanding becomes
more dialectical, this fact becomes more and more obvious.

Certain consequences of this fact apparently remain less obvious. We no
longer want to be free at the expense of the freedom of others; that
is, we don't want a world in which freedom means one thing for the
superconsumers of the west and another, considerably less appealing,
thing for the proletarianized people of developing industrial and
agricultural states. And yet many opponents of the present episode in
U.S. imperialism speak as if peace, unlike freedom, meant the same
thing the world over.

Our understanding of peace–and of pacifism, which is a separate
question–seems to fall very short of our understanding of freedom.
The following few remarks are offered in the hope that we might start
to think more dialectically about the opposites of war.

Pacifism is not a political tendency but an ethical tendency. Its
fundamental proposition is unshakeable: state orchestrated violence,
like other forms of violence, is inherently indefensible since it
creates victims (of suffering, of injury, of murder). The
indefensibility of state orchestrated violence is not, for pacifism, to
be explained in terms of the specific political character of the state
which orchestrates it, but on abstract ethical grounds. The effects of
violence are of course not at all abstract, and the repugnance felt by
observers toward the acts which cause those effects is not itself a
merely speculative, abstract form of repugnance. But the position
taken up in reaction to that feeling of repugnance is nonetheless an
abstraction on ethical grounds from particular instances of violence to
a general and summary pronouncement against them.

We do not need to be immune to that feeling of repugnance to question
how it serves to legitimate an abstract ethical position. The problem
with pacifism is not that it opposes violence too absolutely or
generally, but on the contrary that it does not oppose violence
generally enough. The opposite of war in a world whose economy is
dictated by a single capitalist hegemon is not peace, but preparation
for war. When the U.S. is not at war–or more accurately, when the
U.S. is not massacring the civilians or civilian conscripts of another
state–it is very far from being at peace. It is merely in a stage of
preparation for war.

The problem is that capitalism itself is the basic structure of
violence which determines not only the character but the necessity of
current military forms of violence. Everybody knows that the war
against Iraq has geopolitical and strategic objectives whose basic
determining motive is economic, which is to say capitalistic; the
pacifistic response to this is rightly to oppose the war, but on the
wrong grounds.This war should be opposed not only because it will be
the cause of terrible suffering, but also–and this is in fact the more
important reason for opposing it–because it is the manifest outcome
and effect of terrible suffering. It is the effect of the suffering of
a proletarianized population massed across Africa and Asia, the
suffering of their daily submission to the capitalistic work process
and the value exploited from them by corporations and western consumers
alike.It is only through constant, unremitting opposition to this
primary form of violence that we can possibly hope to confront not just
this coming war, but all imperialist war, at its wellspring.

It may be objected that pacifism does not offer any support to
capitalistic violence, and that its opposition to war is in effect even
an indirect opposition to it, since by hindering the drive of
imperialism into new areas of economic exploitation it effectively
hinders the total development of that exploitation. Theoretically this
is true. But in practice the effect of pacifism is to provide the
governments of belligerent states with a form of public criticism which
they can easily handle, and on which they might even to some extent
rely, since the public argument becomes focused on a single polarity of
opinion over whether war should or should not happen. War, the
pacifists say, is inherently unjust; set against this absolute refusal,
the government's counter-arguments will always appear more specific,
more pragmatic, more engaged with the particularities of the present
crisis, and more canny in their recognition of the bankruptcies of
idealism.

What is urgently needed is a form of opposition to the basic violence
of capitalism.The upshot of this would be clear. No government of
the U.S. or Britain could claim merely to be responding to an unwanted
crisis when their citizens know that they are just the stewards and
administrative bureaucrats of an economic system which perpetually
enforces a state of crisis. What is urgently needed is popular
understanding of the fact that war is caused not by "hawks", deviants,
bigots and imbeciles like George Bush, but by the logic of capitalism
itself. For as long as the world's economy is run by capitalism, there
will continue to be massacres of the kind we are about to witness on
our TV sets. Voting out George Bush will not change this; the whole
sickening farce of democratic elections in the U.S. is first and
foremost the propaganda-means of capitalists to ensure that their
labour force remains compliant through believing that it is
meaningfully involved in the running of its country. A change of
president will achieve very little. A change of economic structure
would completely radicalize social relations across the entire planet.
It is a matter of choosing one purveyor of injustice over another, on
the one hand, or of radically transforming the meaning of justice
itself, on the other. There can be no question which of these aims
deserves our commitment and solidarity.

Pacifism is itself a dialectical problem. It is a genuine force for
good, insofar as it generates popular resistance to the growth of
imperialism during moments of military crisis.But it is a regressive
ideology insofar as it champions a peace which is really the
preparation for war. The peace which will come following the massacre
of Iraq's civilians and civilian conscripts is the same peace which led
up to it: the non-disturbance of the capitalist economy in its
inexorable growth toward its next imperialist crisis. This is
absolutely not a peace worth defending, no matter how much we justly
prefer it to outright war. It is the basic violence of exploitation
run riot across the world, unstoppable except by mass resistance in
solidarity with its most miserable and perpetual victims: the
proletarianized people who make our commodities and who suffer the
effects of U.S. policy more powerfully and fully than any American,
despite never having the opportunity to elect that policy's
administrators.

Pacifism will not only fail to prevent this war. It will not only
provide the executors of war with a form of opposition beside which
they appear pragmatic, businesslike and well adjusted to reality. Most
damagingly of all, it will allow the great spirit of resistance and
solidarity that now distinguishes the millions of people who oppose war
to dwindle and dissipate as soon as it becomes evident that the war is
indeed going to happen despite pacifistic opposition to it; or if not
at that early point, then later, when the war is finished.

What is urgently needed is a form of opposition and solidarity based on
the popular recognition that as long as capitalism prevails, the war is
never finished.


–
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February 24, 2003


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http://www.arras.net/circulars/archives/000220.html#000220

Marcella Durand: Tracking George W. Bush: A Not-So-Silent Spring

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I suppose that based upon his or her own particular fascinations each
individual builds a personal opposition to the projected war upon Iraq
and the current Bush administration. While the Bush administration has
certainly given many of us an extraordinary spectrum of reasons to
oppose it, it was Bush

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February 24, 2003


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http://www.arras.net/circulars/archives/000221.html#000221

Kent Johnson: Basra Exceeds Its Object

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Come off it, Tha'lab, you faker, you <i>kadhib</i>,
yes, very funny, but for goodness sake, just
put back those purple bowels in your tummy,
you'll be late for work!

Make haste, Safia, you little scamp, you pig-tailed <i>qasida</i>,
put that fat flap of scalp back on your crown,
now's not the hour for teenage pranks,
it's time to go to school!

Ah, quit moaning Miss Al-Sayab, you <i>muwashshara</i>,
we know that fetus hanging from your bottom is a rubber trick

((((((((((((((((((((((((((( Circulars Update )))))))))))))))))))))))))))

February 25, 2003


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http://www.arras.net/circulars/archives/000228.html#000228

Robert Fisk: How The News Will Be Censored In This War

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<a href="http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0225-08.htm">How The News
Will Be Censored In This War</a>

<i>A new CNN system of 'script approval' suggests the Pentagon will
have nothing to worry about</i>

Already, the American press is expressing its approval of the coverage
of American forces which the US military intends to allow its reporters
in the next Gulf war. The boys from CNN, CBS, ABC and The New York
Times will be &quot;embedded&quot; among the US marines and infantry.
The degree of censorship hasn't quite been worked out. But it doesn't
matter how much the Pentagon cuts from the reporters' dispatches. A new
CNN system of &quot;script approval&quot; i

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February 28, 2003


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http://www.arras.net/circulars/archives/000245.html#000245

U.S. Diplomat John Brady Kiesling: Letter of Resignation



CIRCULATE WILDLY

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<a href="http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0227-13.htm">U.S.
Diplomat's Letter of Resignation</a>

by John Brady Kiesling

<i>The following is the text of John Brady Kiesling's letter of
resignation to Secretary of State Colin L. Powell. Mr. Kiesling is a
career diplomat who has served in United States embassies from Tel Aviv
to Casablanca to Yerevan.</i>

Dear Mr. Secretary:

I am writing you to submit my resignation from the Foreign Service of
the United States and from my position as Political Counselor in U.S.
Embassy Athens, effective March 7. I do so with a heavy heart. The
baggage of my upbringing included a felt obligation to give something
back to my country. Service as a U.S. diplomat was a dream job. I was
paid to understand foreign languages and cultures, to seek out
diplomats, politicians, scholars and journalists, and to persuade them
that U.S. interests and theirs fundamentally coincided. My faith in my
country and its values was the most powerful weapon in my diplomatic
arsenal.

It is inevitable that during twenty years with the State Department I
would become more sophisticated and cynical about the narrow and
selfish bureaucratic motives that sometimes shaped our policies. Human
nature is what it is, and I was rewarded and promoted for understanding
human nature. But until this Administration it had been possible to
believe that by upholding the policies of my president I was also
upholding the interests of the American people and the world. I believe
it no longer.

The policies we are now asked to advance are incompatible not only with
American values but also with American interests. Our fervent pursuit
of war with Iraq is driving us to squander the international legitimacy
that has been America

((((((((((((((((((((((((((( Circulars Update )))))))))))))))))))))))))))

February 28, 2003


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http://www.arras.net/circulars/archives/000247.html#000247

BKS: A Mini-Anthology of Anti-War Poems

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[I've just received in the mail the O Books anthology <i>enough</i>, a
collection of poems and statements assembled in the wake of 9/11. I'm
sticking five up withought permission because I like them, but also as
advertisement for the book, which is available at <a
href="http://www.spdbooks.org">Small Press Distribution</a>. I regret
not being able to include a longer piece by Ibrahim Mahawi, a
Palestinian-Scot, but it is three pages of prose.]

Rod Smith

TED

((((((((((((((((((((((((((( Circulars Update )))))))))))))))))))))))))))

February 28, 2003


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http://www.arras.net/circulars/archives/000247.html#000247

BKS: A Mini-Anthology of Anti-War Poems



CIRCULATE WILDLY

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[I've just received in the mail the O Books anthology <i>enough</i>, a
collection of poems and statements assembled in the wake of 9/11. I'm
sticking five up withought permission because I like them, but also as
advertisement for the book, which is available at <a
href="http://www.spdbooks.org">Small Press Distribution</a>. I regret
not being able to include a longer piece by Ibrahim Mahawi, a
Palestinian-Scot, but it is three pages of prose.]

Rod Smith

TED

((((((((((((((((((((((((((( Circulars Update )))))))))))))))))))))))))))

March 7, 2003


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http://www.arras.net/circulars/archives/000284.html#000284

3/22: NYC MARCH AGAINST WAR ON IRAQ

CIRCULATE WILDLY!!!

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—————————————————-
United for Peace and Justice NYC
http://www.unitedforpeace.org/nyc 646-473-8935
—————————————————-
On Saturday, March 22, New York is marching to stop the war in Iraq.
United for Peace and Justice NYC has applied for a permit, and the
Mayor and the NYPD have pledged to respect our right to march. We are
negotiating with the City over the route, which will be in Midtown
Manhattan.

WHAT: NYC March for Peace and Democracy
WHEN: Noon, Saturday, 3/22
WHERE: Midtown Manhattan

**stickers, posters, & leaflets are now available at the UFPJ office -
details below**

We only have two weeks to get the word out. Here's how to plug in:

1) MATERIALS NOW AVAILABLE
Spread the word about the 3/22 Anti-War March at anti-war events, in
front of subway stations, outside movie theaters, anywhere people
congregate!

A bilingual (English/Spanish) leaflet is available for downloading at:
http://www.unitedforpeace.org/nyc

Leaflets, stickers, and posters are now available at the UFPJ office,
330 W. 42nd Street, 8th fl., 646-473-8935; weekdays 9-7, weekends 12-5.


[note: we will be housed in new offices on the 15th floor beginning
Monday – we enormously grateful to SEIU 1199 for continuing to provide
us with space]

Leafleting materials are also available at these distribution centers:

MANHATTAN
Cooper Square: 61 E. 4th St.; weekdays 9-5; 212-228-8210
Green Party office: 35 E. 1st St. (betw 1st & 2nd Ave). weekdays
5:30-9:30pm; weekends 11-7; 212-673-1323.

BROOKLYN
House of the Lord Church: 415 Atlantic Ave (materials should arrive by
Friday afternoon); Mon-Fri 10-7, Sat 10-4 (call first on Saturdays);
718-596-1991.

More distribution centers will be added soon. If you are interested in
leafleting or setting up a distribution center in your neighborhood,
contact the street leafleting coordinator, Erich Strom, at
[email protected] or 646-473-8935.

2) VOLUNTEER PIZZA PARTY & MEETING
Come to the Volunteer Pizza Party and Planning Meeting on Friday (March
7th), 6:30pm at the UFPJ office: 330 W 42nd St., betw 8-9th Aves., 8th
floor, 646-473-8935. Bring your friends!

If you can't make it to the meeting, drop by the office to pick up
materials and join in with our massive leafleting campaigns.

3) OTHER WAYS TO GET INVOLVED
* Organizing listserve (low-volume, announcements only):
[email protected]
* Volunteers listserve (average one email per day, containing specific
requests for volunteer assistance)
[email protected]
* Outreach working group: [email protected]
* Musicians, street performers, artists: contact Arts & Culture working
group: [email protected] or [email protected]

IF WAR BEGINS >>>
Converge on Times Square at 5pm on the day the bombing starts (the next
day if bombing begins at night)

TO RECEIVE UPDATES LIKE THIS ONE, VISIT
http://www.unitedforpeace.org/email.php
_____________________________________________________
To unsubscribe or update your listing go to:
http://www.unitedforpeace.org/email.php?id2469&token

((((((((((((((((((((((((((( Circulars Update )))))))))))))))))))))))))))

March 12, 2003


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http://www.arras.net/circulars/archives/000315.html#000315

CIRCULATE > > > >

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There were some glitches in the notifications sent from the blog so
some of you were receiving tons of repetitive emails from us… sorry.
New policy: no emails from Circulars unless it's cumulative accounts
like the following list of new stories (or if the house is on fire).

News: the site has been averaging about 2,000 hits a day, sometimes
peaking at 3,000+. It also has a search engine. I'll be rearranging
the categories and such things to make it more cogent.

Thanks to all of you who have appreciative emails about the site, and
apologies if some of the links and stories sent in have not made it up
in a timely fashion.

Please try to pass this email on to friends of yours who want to test
our eclectic mix of plagiarized news stories, tasteless political
humor, the most obtuse (but best) political poetry out there and a
really, really lively comments section – I highly recommend perusing
through it.

Following is a list of some of the items from the present homepage.
I'm too tired right now to write anything more than this bland preamble
but so be it. Take care.


Letter of Resignation by John H. Brown, Foreign Service Officer
http://www.arras.net/circulars/archives/000314.html#000314
To: Secretary of State Colin Powell
March 10, 2003
Dear Mr. Secretary:
I am joining my colleague John Brady Kiesling in submitting my
resignation from the Foreign Service (effective immediately) because I
cannot in good conscience support President Bush's war plans against
Iraq.


BAGHDAD SNAPSHOT ACTION: Court Appearance
http://www.arras.net/circulars/archives/000313.html#000313
So, Emilie and Lytle, who were arrested for posting pictures of Iraqis
in Soho, will have their day in court tomorrow morning at the Criminal
Court of Manhattan. The Baghdad Snapshot Action Crew will be their to
support them. You should show up with your friends and support them
too. Info below…


Charles Bernstein: Enough!
http://www.arras.net/circulars/archives/000312.html#000312
In these difficult times, let us not draw away from our poetics in an
attempt to redress the ominous possibilities of future U.S. government
policies or the onerous effects of current government policies. As
poets, we need to pursue our own forms of ethical and aesthetic
response rather than engage in the sort of pronouncement by fiat and
moral presumption of President Bush and his partisans.


UPI: Pentagon Papers Leaker Seeks Leaks on Iraq
http://www.arras.net/circulars/archives/000311.html#000311
WASHINGTON – Daniel Ellsberg, who in 1971 leaked the Pentagon Papers,
on Tuesday called on government officials to leak documents to Congress
and the press showing the Bush administration is lying in building its
case against Saddam Hussein.


Gothic News: New Bush Portrait Found Hanging Upside Down from Mount
Rushmore
http://www.arras.net/circulars/archives/000307.html#000307
(Gothic News Service, 3/10/03) Early Sunday morning visitors to Mount
Rushmore reported that they were astonished to find they could not look
up the 5,725-foot mountain and see the 60-foot high carved stone heads
of U.S Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore
Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln. Instead, they found themselves looking
at a large painted portrait of President Bush hanging upside down on a
cable stretched several hundred feet between the barely exposed
foreheads of Lincoln and Washington.


Salt Publishing: 100 Poets Against The War
http://www.arras.net/circulars/archives/000301.html#000301
The most talked-about and successful ebook of recent years is published
here for the first time in paperback. '100 Poets Against The War,

((((((((((((((((((((((((((( Circulars Update )))))))))))))))))))))))))))

March 18, 2003


————————————————————————

http://www.arras.net/circulars/archives/000345.html#000345

Thu-20 March NYC Baghdad Snapshot Action

Dear friends in New York & Everywhere,

This Thursday 20 March at 9pm will be our second action! We hope that
other crews in cities & towns in the US & around the World will poster
on the same evening, acting in global solidarity as we continue to give
people the opportunity to look into the faces of the citizens of
Baghdad.

If you are interested in participating

((((((((((((((((((((((((((( Circulars Update )))))))))))))))))))))))))))

March 24, 2003


————————————————————————

http://www.arras.net/circulars/archives/000379.html#000379

Mirakove Relay #3: On Detainees

We knew before the illegal invasion of Iraq began that the U.S.
government would be pushing legislature through Congress, and we agreed
that we'd have to pay attention to that. (Please note: This is not a
war; Patriot II itself states that the U.S. has not been involved in a
war in more than 60 years.) While we mourn for those who are suffering
and dying under weapons of mass destruction, let's remain close in our
communities and active in our dialogues.

WE ARE ALL TERRORISTS
The first page alone of the Domestic Security Enhancement Act (aka
Patriot II) is off-the-charts alarming. In defining terrorism, Section
101: Individual Terrorists as Foreign Powers reads, "This provision
would expand FISA's definition of "foreign power" to include *all*
persons, regardless of whether they are affiliated with an
international terrorist group, who engage in international terrorism."

Proceeding to Section 102: Clandestine Intelligence Activities by Agent
of a Foreign Power: "FISA currently defines "agent of a foreign power"
to include a person who knowingly engages in clandestine intelligence
gathering activities on behalf of a foreign power – but only if those
activities "involve or may involve a violation of" federal criminal
law. Requiring the additional showing that the intelligence gathering
violates the laws of the United States is both unnecessary and
counterproductive.. Any person who engages in clandestine intelligence
gathering activities for a foreign power would qualify as an "agent of
foreign power," regardless of whether those activities are federal
crimes."

"Clandestine"?

"Intelligence"?

So, with law out the window, how are these offenses qualified, and by
whom? If detainment is at the sole discretion of the Attorney General,
and detainees are not only denied the right to trial, but denied
contact with *all persons*, then this administration is indeed
positioned to detain anyone perceived to be an Other, be it an
international resident or a domestic dissident.

"Terrorist"?

You can download Patriot II at
<a

RACIAL PROFILING
"Since September 11, the INS and FBI have detained over 1,200
immigrants, mainly of Arab or South Asian (especially Pakistani)
origin. Most are accused only of minor immigration violations, such as
overstaying a visa. Despite Attorney General Ashcroft's assurances to
the contrary, many are being held without access to legal assistance or
proper care."
<a

"SEVIS is a national computer system operated by the INS.. Under SEVIS,
information on every international student is automatically provided to
the government via computer. Much more information on each student
collected and input. SEVIS works like the Interpol database. The
information is shared among federal agencies (and even other
countries!), and the student has no control over what is provided."
<a href="http://www.stopsevis.org">www.stopsevis.org</a>

SEND A FREE FAX URGING CONGRESS TO STOP THE PROFILING
<a

INS DETAINEES: WHERE ARE THEY NOW?
In the two months following the attacks, the Justice Department refused
to release specific information about detainees. Groups estimated that
more than 1,000 people had been detained, but it was unclear who they
were, why they had been detained, or whether any had been released.
<a

"The Department of Justice has argued that disclosing the names and
other information about post- September 11 detainees held on
immigration charges and opening their immigration hearings to the
public could compromise its terrorism-related investigations." Yet, "it
is difficult to square the Department of Justice's contention that
terrorist organizations are extremely sophisticated and could put
together bits and pieces of information from hundreds of hearings
around the country, with the argument that official disclosure would
alert such organizations to who has been detained. Sophisticated
terrorist groups likely already know through their own networks whether
any of their members or allies have been arrested."
<a

LEGGO MY FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT!
"[T]he DSEA would revoke key elements of the Freedom of Information Act
(FOIA), enacted to prevent government from keeping secrets from the
public unless a legitimate security concern exists. Currently, FOIA
gives us the right to know if a missing person is in the custody of any
government agency. But under DSEA, anyone – even U.S. citizens –
could be detained secretly in connection with any "terrorist"
investigation, a term lacking legal definition.
<a

KEEPING THE WORLD SAFE FOR HUMANITY
A NYTimes article reveals that the treatment of U.S. military prisoners
at Guantanamo Bay has yielded criticism: "without individual hearings
to determine the prisoners' status, without charges and trials, critics
see Guantanamo as a synonym for human rights violations. While there is
no indication of physical torture.. they still lack the basic legal
rights that many countries, including the United States, have agreed
are fundamental even to warriors."

Gen. Rick Baccus of the Army, who commands the detention center at
Guantanamo Bay, says, "While the public debates the technicalities of
how these people should be classified," he said, "we will continue to
follow the traditions of humane treatment." He added: "In other
countries, these detainees would not be heard from again."

Patriot II would make it possible indeed that these detainees would not
be heard from again. Even the directors of the U.S. military's most
aggressive jails acknowledge that Patriot II is contrary to USAmerican
concepts of justice.
<a

PRESUMED GUILTY: ANSER MEHMOOD
Anser Mehmood came to the U.S. from Pakistan in 1989. "On [September
11, 2001], he failed to make a scheduled delivery to Washington, DC.
Mehmood was taken into custody along with several thousand other men of
Middle Eastern and South Asian origin. Mehmood remains here in custody
although it turned out that it was his company that cancelled his
September 11th shipment to Washington when they learned of the Pentagon
bombing."
<a

The official charge on Anser Mehmood are an overstayed visa and and
altered security card (to secure employment). Uzma Mehmood, Anser's
wife, and their children have been forced to return to Pakistan, while
Anser remains in a NJ jail. "He is held without a bond on a very
specious affidavit put in by an FBI agent. And put in the special
housing unit otherwise known as 'The Hole'. It's solitary confinement
he's locked down 23 and a half hours a day. He's fed through a slot in
the door."
<a
href="http://www.pbs.org/now/transcript/transcript_familydivided.html
Stories of other innocent detainees are here:
">www.pbs.org/now/transcript/transcript_familydivided.html Stories of
other innocent detainees are here: </a>
<a

"I DIDN'T SPEAK OUT"
They came for the Communists, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a
Communist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a
Jew.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I didn't speak out because
I wasn't a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn't speak out because I
wasn't a Catholic.
Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak out for me.
– Pastor Martin Niemoller

The climate is rapidly changing such that it is more and more likely
that a good number of U.S.-born citizens might be subject to
detainment. I'm sure I'm a good candidate, with the money I have given
and continue to give to organizations such as MoveOn.org and ZNet,
which are today considered treasonous at best.

How might they know who I've donated money to? Well for starters, a new
security program to be implemented by Delta Airlines later this month
will mean that when you book a flight to or from one of three
undisclosed airports, you will be subject to a credit check, an
investigation of your banking history, and a criminal background check.
The controls on how this information will be used has not been
adequately defined. This appears to be illegal. It is an egregious
invasion of privacy.
<a

SAUDI SUSPECTS OFF LIMITS

Maybe one reason the number of detainees is so high is, they're looking
for a needle in a haystack: an innocent on whom to pin a colossal,
heinous crime. from an interview with journalist Greg Palast:

"In the eight weeks since the attacks, over 1,000 suspects and
potential witnesses have been detained. Yet, just days after the
hijackers took off from Boston aiming for the Twin Towers, a special
charter flight out of the same airport whisked 11 members of Osama Bin
Laden's family off to Saudi Arabia. That did not concern the White
House.

"Their official line is that the Bin Ladens are above suspicion - apart
from Osama, the black sheep, who they say hijacked the family name.
That's fortunate for the Bush family and the Saudi royal household,
whose links with the Bin Ladens could otherwise prove embarrassing. But
Newsnight has obtained evidence that the FBI was on the trail of other
members of the Bin Laden family for links to terrorist organisations
before and after September 11th.

"This document is marked "Secret". Case ID - 199-Eye WF 213 589. 199 is
FBI code for case type. 9 would be murder. 65 would be espionage. 199
means national security. WF indicates Washington field office special
agents were investigating ABL - because of it's relationship with the
World Assembly of Muslim Youth, WAMY - a suspected terrorist
organisation. ABL is Abdullah Bin Laden, president and treasurer of
WAMY."
<a

More from Palast:

"FBI agents had wanted to check into two members of the Bin Laden
family, Abdullah and Omar, but were told to stay away by superiors –
until September 13, 2001. By then, Abdullah and Omar were long gone
from the United States.
<a

"The intelligence agencies had been told to "back off" from
investigations involving other members of the Bin Laden family, the
Saudi royals, and possible Saudi links to the acquisition of nuclear
weapons by Pakistan."
<a

[Editorial Note: I want to be clear that this reporting is not
anti-Saudi; it is of course offered to evidence the lack of integrity
and justice in the current U.S. administration]

WHY WAIT FOR PATRIOT II? DETAIN TODAY! Sadly, even without Patriot II,
immigrants are being detained on trivial charges, without recourse:

Rules on Detention Widened: FBI, Marshals Can Hold Foreigners: Attorney
General John D. Ashcroft has issued orders that allow FBI agents and
U.S. marshals to detain foreign nationals for alleged immigration
violations in cases where there is not enough evidence to hold them on
criminal charges, according to Justice Department officials and a copy
of the rules.
<a

Registration Program Problems Cited: Immigrants' Attorneys Kept From
Investigative Interviews: "The failure to provide clear and explicit
directions to local immigration officials is inexcusable given the
absolute right to legal counsel," said Lucas Guttentag, director of the
ACLU's Immigrants' Rights Project. He charged that the "foot-dragging"
could be explained only by a reluctance to dig into the matter before
the registration deadlines have passed.
<a



HOW MUCH BAD HISTORY CAN WE BEAR TO REPEAT? Let's not forget FDR's
passage of Executive Order 9066, which led to the internment of 110,000
Japanese Americans between 1942 and 1944.
<a

WHO HOW & WHAT 2 RELAY Many thanks to contributors Natasha Dwyer,
Allison Cobb, and Tom Orange.

Thanks to everyone for participating. I'm sorry to say that I'm unable
to manage unsolicited content for Relay; if you find something to
circulate, why not relay it directly to your own address book? We like
it when those cats at Clamor Magazine say, Become the Media!

Subscription requests go to [email protected]

TOY SURPRISE! A friend reminded me a few months ago that throughout our
fighting and disgust, we need to make a world worth saving. Pursue
beauty. Laughter. Celebrate our relationships. In that spirit, I
encourage you to visit some terrific NYC subway graffiti from the
1970s:
<a href="http://www.at149st.com/">www.at149st.com/</a>
href="http://www.public-i.org/dtaweb/report.asp?ReportIDP2&L1&L2=1
0&L3=0&L4=0
&L5=0">www.public-i.org/dtaweb/report.asp?ReportIDP2&L1&L2&L3=0
&L4=0 &L5=0</a>
href="http://www.drumnation.org/stopdc.html">www.drumnation.org/stopdc.
html</a>
href="http://www.aclu.org/ImmigrantsRights/ImmigrantsRights.cfm?ID56
1&c