archives of March, 2003

the archives contain old posts from the home page.

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2 march 2003
let's talk about war. bush is intent on going to war with iraq and many say that the real reason is oil. a war will surely affect guyana, as it will every other country in the world. most, if not all, west indians would oppose a war. unfortunately, our voices will be ignored, so we might as well start preparing for the consequences of the war.

an interesting question is at what point exactly did the whole "war on terror" show turn from osama bin laden in afghanistan to saddam hussein in iraq. john le carre, in his article "the united states of america has gone mad" (an article which i would, by the way, recommend), writes that how the bush administration "succeeded in deflecting America’s anger from bin Laden to Saddam Hussein is one of the great public relations conjuring tricks of history." there is no doubt that saddam hussein oppresses iraqis, and he should be taken out of power because of that. george bush has said that washington is committed to implementing democracy in iraq after the war, if any. that seems like a good thing, but it might be considered undemocratic in nature to push democracy in this way upon a country.

the idea of war is being sold in america. the international outcries against war are not allowed into the mainstream american media. the news networks are shamelessly glorifying war because it increases ratings, and as george bush commands: if you're not with us, you're with the terrorists. so those in high places won't dare question the war for fear of being called anti-american. the news channels each have their own little name for the ongoing situation, cnn has "showdown: iraq" and fox news has "war on terror." a common feature of the news reports are the introduction scenes of the segments in which they play some dramatic movie-like music while showing pictures of bush, saddam, and maps and flags of america and iraq sweeping in from all sides of the t.v. screen. it is astonishing how they present the news as a theatrical production where good fights evil.

it is no longer a question of war, but of the powerful weapons to be used in that inevitable war. it's an exciting game called "let's attack iraq!" the fox news website features the aircrafts that will be used in the war and on television, they had an enthusiastic expert drawing maps of where the troops would enter iraq.

the media giants are ignoring the difficult questions like what will happen to iraqis when the bombs start falling. many innocent iraqis will die before they get saddam, and just think--these people were not responsible for 11 september, the date for which americans crave revenge. as actor viggo mortensen (from lord of the rings) puts it in an interview: "the people on the ground in those countries, the ones that are being affected, it’s like they’re invisible. If they’re not American, if they’re not European, they don’t exist; they’re disposable. And more of them have died in the past year than died at the World Trade Center! Does that mean anything?" (see video here.)

there is also the issue of us hypocrisy, like why the us is obsessed with iraq while israel has much more nuclear weapons and also has a history of non-compliance with un resolutions.

the reasons against war add up to a very long list, while reasons in support of war are unclear and illogical.

how does america's treatment of iraq relate to guyana? well i saw a show the other night called "profiles from the front line." it showed, in short, how american troops can enter a country and violate, disrespect, and threaten the people there. war is presented as a g.i. joe primetime fantasy where the focus is on the "brave and courageous" soldiers who have the ever-so-difficult task of defeating the villains. war is entertainment. the fictitious brutality against mankind in movies is now bland, so real pain of real people is necessary to stimulate television viewers.

i thought that if america could go into iraq or afghanistan and do what they want all in the name of freedom, then what stops them from coming into guyana and stepping on our citizens, or the citizens of any other poor country for that matter? nothing. nothing stops america. america gets what it wants. america is a bully that can destroy all trace of life in guyana if they so desire.

as rich, intelligent and powerful as america is, one would expect more maturity, more humanity and more sensibility from the united states. as a superpower that sings of liberty and equality, america should practice what they preach.

12 march 2003
for an update on the 16 march, i am working on an article about guyanese emigration to be added to the 'writings on issues' section.

i'd like to take an opportunity to express my sadness at the death of yohance douglas at the hands of the police. if you've been keeping up with the news in guyana, then the name should be very familiar to you and the story that goes with it probably has caused you as much anger as it has me.

times like this makes me wonder if the police are good for anything else but selling guns to the criminals. but since there's no evidence of that, it would have to be the anger speaking; not reason.

let's not allow douglas's name to slip off the pages of the newspapers and the incident to be forgotten. take it upon yourself to send e-mails, letters, and make telephone calls to the editors, police chiefs and even to the president. let them know that your eyes are on them, watchful of any attempt to brush away this incident. hopefully, the policemen whom were responsible for the 18-year old's death will be served justice.

i know that most people who visit the site are guyanese in america and have relatively easy access to the internet, so e-mail is available.

let us keep track of what happens, so that if in a month's time douglas's killers are still unpunished, and the matter is no longer mentioned in the guyanese media, we can send e-mails to the newspapers' editors--addressed to the people of guyana--urging them not to forget that an innocent life has been taken by those that were given ranks to protect us. the moment that you feel corruption among the police ranks has superseded the process of fair trial and punishment, and douglas's death has been thrown in the corner, send that e-mail. that one e-mail can make a big difference.

march 2003 -- page 1 | page 2 | page 3