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A New World Is Possible
By Cindy Sheehan
01/26/06 -- -- And necessary! This is the theme for the World
Social Forum that I (along with tens of thousands of people from
all over the world) am attending in Caracas this week. I know
the idea of a world where everyone lives in peace and with
justice is very "subversive," but the theme is very close to my
heart and soul.
We need a new world. This one is broken.
Before my son Casey was killed in Iraq on April 4, 2004, I had
never traveled much to speak of. I had gone to Israel and Mexico
and that was about it. I had a barely used passport.
Since I began to speak out against the dishonesty and deception
that led to this illegal and morally reprehensible occupation of
Iraq, I have journeyed all over the United States and now am
starting to fill my passport with stamps.
Our world is so beautiful, and the people who inhabit it are,
for the most, part loving - and all they want is a good life for
themselves and their children. They just want to feel safe and
secure in their communities. They want to be warm and fed. They
want clean drinking water and they want to dance and laugh when
appropriate. They want to live long lives with their families
and they want their children to bury them at the end of their
time here. In short, the people of the world want what we
Americans want.
It is our governments who want to demonize and marginalize other
cultures, religions, races and ethnic groups. George Bush and
his cold-hearted cronies and his easily misled and willingly
blind followers want to "fight them over there so we don't have
to fight them over here!" Who are these "thems" that we are
fighting over there? Are they the babies lying in their cribs
when a bomb (chemical or conventional) is dropped on their
house? Is it the mother who has gone shopping for her family's
daily food who is killed by a car bomber who never even thought
to commit such a heinous act until his country was occupied by a
foreign invader? Is it the grandmas and grandpas who are too
old, or too stubborn, to leave their lifelong homes when the
coalition troops are illegally carpet bombing civilian centers?
We as citizens of the United States of America must stop
allowing our leaders to give the orders to kill innocent people.
I almost said: we must stop allowing our leaders to "kill"
innocent people. But we all know the cowards don't fight their
own fantasy battles or send their own children to fight in the
causes that they idiotically and diabolically iterate are
"noble." No, they order our children to go over and do their
dishonest and destructive dirty work! Our soldiers are taught
that "Hajis," the brown skinned people of Iraq who clean their
toilets, showers, and wash their clothes, are less than people
... which makes them easier to kill. The dehumanization of the
Iraqi people is also dehumanizing our soldiers. Our children.
I got a hate email from a "patriotic American" once who told me
that when we see the mothers and fathers of Iraq screaming
because their babies have been killed, that they "are just
acting for the cameras. They are animals, who don't care about
their children because they know they can produce another." This
is the mentality of General Sherman when he said "the only good
Indian is a dead Indian." This wicked rhetoric is the rhetoric
that dehumanizes us all.
A new world is necessary and it can only be possible if we
believe and live the belief that every human being is inherently
the same as we are. They feel pain when they are hurt. They have
hunger pains when they haven't eaten. Their mouths go dry when
they are thirsty. They mourn when they experience a loss. They
shiver when they are cold. They laugh when they are happy. How
can we condone our leaders' killing our brothers and sisters
like this, or even allow it?
A new world is necessary, and it can only be possible if we rein
in the depraved corporations that thrive off of the flesh and
blood of our neighbors all over the world and here in America.
War profiteers like Halliburton, Bechtel and General Electric,
who are racking up obscene profits and increasing the bottom
line of their shareholders while they are running roughshod over
this planet. Malevolent companies such as Dow who dump chemicals
and other pollutants into the water and atmosphere that kill
people, our environment and our future! Companies like Wal Mart
that exploit workers in the US and abroad to enrich a family
that already has more than enough money to fund healthcare and a
living wage for all of its employees and have a little extra
left over to pay their country club fees.
A new world is necessary, and it can only be possible if we
decrease our dependency on oil and use some of the money that we
are pouring into the desert sands and sewers of Iraq to expand
research on renewable energy sources and expound and promote the
renewable sources we already have, such as bio-diesel. I have
talked to many citizens of Venezuela who are understandably
nervous about a US invasion, and they know that it is not about
the idea that President Chavez is a "dictator," which he is not,
he is a democratically elected leader who is very popular in his
country. The people of Venezuela are very savvy and they know
that if the US invades their country that it won't be because we
are spreading "freedom and democracy" to them. They know they
already have it.
A new world is necessary but not possible, until we Americans
get over the arrogant idea that we can solve the Iraq issue and
the human rights violations problems alone. We have to reach out
to fellow members of the human race all over the world to forge
the bonds that are crucial to protecting innocent members of
humankind who are impoverished or killed by our government and
corporatism that has gone wild and is largely unchecked.
Peace and justice are intimately connected, and the world can't
have one without the other. True and lasting peace can only
occur when we the people force our leadership that is dependent
on the war machine for their jobs and for their lives and demand
justice for the crimes against humanity that are perpetrated on
the world on a daily basis by such "leaders."
A new world is possible, and it is attainable. For this new
world to become a reality, it is necessary for us to take into
our beings what Martin Luther King Jr. said of his own eulogy,
but more importantly, the way he lived his life:
"I'd like somebody to mention that day, that Martin Luther King
Jr. tried to give his life serving others. I'd like for somebody
to say that day, that Martin Luther King Jr. tried to love
somebody. I want you to say that day, that I tried to be right
on the war question. I want you to be able to say that day, that
I did try, in my life, to clothe those who were naked. I want
you to say, on that day, that I did try, in my life, to visit
those who were in prison. I want you to say that I tried to love
and serve humanity. Yes, if you want to say that I was a drum
major, say that I was a drum major for justice; say that I was a
drum major for peace; I was a drum major for righteousness."
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