war, direct action and hypocrisy

after an exciting morning writing and formatting two communications fact sheets (ten things you must know before publishing to the pacific region internet and copyright and you) i have decided to take a brief post-lunch break for a media scan and an update.

i am reading online that “domestic terrorism” has struck both in the us and canada in the last couple of days – a powerline sabotage in quebec and <a href="a housing development (built in a sensitive wetland) torched in maryland. in the first case a statement of claim has been issued, touching on a range of issues that include the sale of raw resources to the united states, the war in iraq and the struggle of the palestinians. in the housing development fire, there has been no claim of responsibility though it is quite clearly arson – well-timed to evade the security guards hired to guard the development.

also this week is an article running in newsweek that claims, among other things, 55% of americans believe that everything written in the bible is the literal truth (67% believe in the immaculate conception and 43% believe that evolution should not be taught in schools). at the same time, there are more troops being sent to iraq this month which will increase the forces there to an all-time high (please note: the war ended months ago according to bush). as we saw in early november, it was these very same literal-bible-believing americans who got out the vote and propelled the pro-war president back into office to go kill more people in the middle east.

i’m not sure where i am going with this except to say that you know the “domestic terrorists” (who have harmed nothing more than property) in both quebec and maryland are going to be castigated as dangerous delinquents by liberals and conservatives alike – those crazies! “they don’t represent our movement!” – while the whacked-out us population can elect to kill thousands more people and the press stands behind them and cheers them on (note the obvious under-reporting of election irregularities in the united states in contrast to the recent coverage of the election in the ukraine).

what is really offensive to me is the activists who go on record immediately after one of these so-called “eco-terror” events (such as the sierra club and the canadian federation of students) in order to immediately distance themselves. i would love, instead, to see a statement from these organizations condemning the american populace for its blind complicity in the murder of tens of thousands of people…. the willful ignorance, the spiteful religious fervosity.

but no, instead they shark around the few people who take direct action against industry or government – which effective or not at least raises the head of the press enough to take notice. it is the same argument we have been having for decades – but in the end it is pretty damned clear that the large war marches of the past two years have had little effect on changing the policy of dictator bush, it seems mean-spirited for organizations to chide those who wish to give something else a try.