—— Mach 5, 2003 Macdonald Stainsby DSU External Relations “Desperate times call for desper- ate measures,” so goes the age- old wisdom. As I write this col- umn, the next few days may well seal the fate of the future for much of the entire world. There have become more and more people on this planet who do not accept what is happening with an out-of-control, deeply racist and mass-murderous regime in charge of the White House (though un-elected). The admin- istration itself is now losing con- fidence in what is happening. War takes on a self-perpetuat- ing logic. Once a war is unleashed, it cannot be undone very easily. And make no mis- take, total war against a helpless and brutalized Iraqi civilian pop- ulation was unleashed long ago. The “No-fly zones” are carrying out many times the number of sorties and bombing raids on anti-aircraft facilities and other Iraqi defense systems. Iraq is already standing at less than a quarter of the power they had during the assault carried out by the US holding the UN banner (claiming over 200,000 lives and destroying civilian infrastruc- tures, that combined with sanc- tions, have taken another 1.5 million). This war is nothing less than mass murder carried out by “our” leaders. This is not “free- dom’—this is aerial torture of an entire population. However, once the war moves into a full-on assault on Baghdad, you and I, fellow earth traveler, will be entering into a phase of history we will never forget, should we survive it. The changes being outlined have moved to open calls to “transform the entire Middle East” by the President of the United States. George W. Bush, Colin Powell, Dick Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz, Donald Rumsfeld and Richard Perle, are fanatical believers in Rudyard Kipling’s “White Man’s Burden,” though they are careful as to how they couch their racist “civilizing” rhetoric. They are going to attempt to occupy the ‘territory of all of our Middle Eastern brothers and sisters. They are going to use mass murderous force, and tell us that it will be good for them. It wont, and it will be an unmitigated’ disaster for us all. We do have a choice. What we do in the next few months is going to go a long way towards how we look at ourselves in the future. Our kids will likely ask us “When World War III was start- ed, what did you do?” So what’s your answer going to be? If Canadian governmental mislead- ers try to take us into this war, we have no choice but to screw them up by any means at our disposal. It is not only moral and correct, in the face of such dangerous evil, it is our duty as people. We must block the rail lines. We must stop the ports from unload- ing war materials. We must set Op-Ed http://otherpress.douglas.bc.ca Desperate Times—a Plea to My Fellow Students up highway blockades when mil- itary vehicles try to move around. Some people from this country are going to Iraq, to live as human shields against the bombers—the military must realize that they will kill their own fellow citizens should they obey these unjust orders to bomb Iraqi “targets.” We can suggest to them that they arrest their commanders for attempted multiple war crimes. They have the guns and they are the army. They must disobey ille- gal orders and not carry out a single war crime. We can organ- ize people to walk out on their jobs. We can organize a student strike—shut down the school, shut down any public order. Do we see a pattern to these suggestions? Yes. No justice, no peace. Ever. Escalating tactics, no retreat from true justice. No race war on the Muslim world for oil, energy and to save illegal Israeli Settlements. No more racist scapegoating all Arabs and Persians. Do we know what we are up against on this continent yet? A lot of us do. How do some of us know? They have been “dis- appeared.” If that term sounds like a military government from Latin America, it should. There have been thousands of people who are losing all of their civil rights on both sides of the Canadian-American border. You know the Charter of Rights and Freedoms? Oh, forget that. We have Muslims to detain without trial! Our American neighbors have been taken over by a gov- ernment that now forces people from all Middle Eastern coun- tries (except Israel) to “register” at the local Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) office. When thousands of peo- ple showed up, they were taken away in handcuffs and cast-iron leg-chains. If that kind of treat- ment rings a bell, it damn well should. That’s what the German Nazis did to areas they took under their control: All Jews, homosexuals, Roma (Gypsies), communists, labour leaders and others had to “register.” Then many immediately disappeared. Things led to a World War that took 50 million lives, mostly civilians, one third of the dead Russians. What allowed it? People didn’t stop the war machine in time. They waited quietly for things to blow over. They didn’t pay atten- tion so long as it wasn't them who disappeared. The parallels are too many to sleep well on. They must be recognized. We need to ask: What are we going to do? How will history judge our generation? We have, as in all moments of darkness, a beautiful shining light of hope. The largest anti-war movement in_ history surrounds us. fifty million people took to the streets on February 15, 2003. Every nook and cran- ny of the globe, from Iqaluit in the territory of Nunuvut all the way south to the research sta- tions in Antarctica, contained protests on that single day. Our movement against this war is truly global, for the first time. And thank goodness, because we really and truly need each other. During the next few weeks much of the next century will be mapped out. When the Vietnam war was opposed by huge num- the other press bers of the population in Nort America, it was the studen movement that led this charge Where are we now? We have historical role to play, don’t we Let’s live up to our own reputa tion. Let’s organize against th machinery of death. Let’s be th students who lead again. Th truth is, I don’t know what it wil take to stop them. However, w wont find the answers if we sto asking the questions. That wa why we held the all day confer ence “The Roots of War and th Paths to Peace” at Douglas or March 1. And that’s why we nee to continue on with buildin more and more support, discus sion and solidarity among on another. Contact me, the Externa Relations Coordinator of you Douglas Students’ Union, at m office number: 604-527-5113 You can also look in o the coalitio that has organized the demon strations in Vancouver that hav held tens of thousands here i Vancouver. Let us understan that George Bush and his whol regime need to get it straight The American government mus disarm, or we, the people o North America will lead a coali tion of the willing to disarn them ourselves. While we're at it let's think about what kind o world we do want. People in th streets, asking probing questions Now that’s real democracy—no this murderous plunder bein mapped out in the Pentagon Democracy is, ultimately, us| And now, more than ever befor in our short lives, we need rea democracy—and lots of it. Read game reviews by: Nick Hogg The original action man and game boy! Brought to you by: i rayVie) Go) 10], a “Way, way better than X-Box!” Nick Hogg.