May 2004 Continued, Page 2

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ECOLOGY

The only way we can preserve the earth is to grant every living entity what it needs to thrive and take from it only what it can afford to give.

On the question of a war between the US and the UK over ecological damages, an English expatriate writes:

Perhaps I can persuade you that your fears of Americans and Brits tearing at each other’s throats in North America is not at all likely as I see things. You have noted that the Queen and the Royal Family have evacuation plans all set up. The same would apply to ALL of the VIPs and “leaders” of the UK. In the event of any disaster in the UK, this crowd would abandon the population and hightail it to Canada, where they would be closer to the American ruling-class allies. No doubt, much “protection” would travel with them.

What would happen back in the UK and Europe then would depend upon how well the remaining population could cooperate with each other.

Unfortunately, I have little faith in humanity, should they be abandoned to face nature’s wrath en masse. I feel that too many divisions have fragmented workers into too many tribes - be they ethnic, religious, or political differences. Left and abandoned in an increasingly inhospitable environment, I visualize chaos and an every-man-for-himself attitude. Numerous and heavily armed gangs would arise and the social situation would deteriorate into complete, uncontrolled anarchy. I can see civil wars raging in countries most adversely affected by global warming while leading VIPs and capitalists recline in luxury in areas of the world that benefit from such climate change.

If the continent of North America is free of the worst predictions, I suspect American and British VIPs will get along fine.

Hope that cheers you up and makes you feel better. [Answer: Not really. Your version is almost as depressing as mine. But thanks for trying. L.F.]

Glacial losses

Receding glaciers in the Himalayas may mean that the Ganges and other major rivers in India could be virtually wiped out within 40 years, according to a study sponsored by Britain’s Department of International Development. The report predicts that rivers will initially see an increase in volume over the next 10 years due to climate change and melting ice fields. But the following 40 years are predicted to produce a significant decrease in runoff, leading to depleted waterways.

Last week, Alberta’s environment minister warned that glaciers feeding Calgary’s water system from high in the Canadian Rockies are shrinking so rapidly that they won’t be able to meet the city’s demand for water in 30 years.
[Steve Newman, Earthweek: A Diary of the Planet, May 1, 2004.]

The War in Iraq II.

Arising from the ashes of the Ottoman Empire at the end of World War I, Iraq comprised the three former provinces of Mosul (with its Kurdish Sunni majority), Baghdad (with its Arab Sunni majority), and Basra (with its Arab Shiite majority). The British favored the Arab Sunnis to rule Iraq. During Iraq’s formative years, its Arab nationalists, mainly Sunnis, tried to forge an identity tied to an idea that Iraq was part of the wider Arab nation. They relied on the army and schools to forge a national identity. But Shiites and Kurds resisted this approach, partly because the army was led by stridently pan-Arabist Sunni officers.

Decades of brutal rule under Saddam Hussein have eroded much of the Iraqi “national” identity that was shaped in the 20th century. Since his fall, ethnic identity has played a much stronger role than ever it did in the history of modern Iraq, if only because every community has been striving to secure political space and clout in the emerging government of Iraq.

At the same time, the decline of a collective identity has confronted Iraqis with a need to recreate one. Religion is emerging as a powerful instrument for solidarity and as a source for a new national myth.

Significantly, the Iraqis did not liberate their country for themselves. Even during the US takeover of Baghdad, the army dissolved rather than turn against the Saddam regime. This deprived Iraq of a national-resistance myth, similar to French Gaulism, upon which a new identity could be constructed. Such an identity might have dispelled the inevitable sense of national inadequacy, even emasculation.

French pride was salvaged by the fact that members of Free French died alongside Allied forces in the liberation of their country. This, along with the romanticized theater of liberation, created a national-resistance myth underpinning French honor.

A modern example might be the 1971 liberation of Bangladesh, inch Bangladeshi guerrillas fought alongside Indian soldiers to oust the Pakistani army. Indeed, India’s generals ensured that liberation had a Bangladeshi face.

By contrast, the liberation of Iraq had no Iraqi face.

In the absence of a shared identity of resistance, religious solidarity could easily be the basis for many anti-Western Iraqis to create a new identity based on fighting the coalition.

This explains the appeal of Muqtada al-Sadr’s movement to radical Iraqi Sunnis and shatters the view that Sunnis will not collaborate with insurgent Shiites, and vice versa.

Herein lies the danger for the US, especially if hostility against coalition forces becomes synonymous with a rehabilitation of Iraqi pride.
[Walid Phares and Robert G. Rabil, The Wall Street Journal, April 13, 2004.]

In the eye of the beholder?

Saddam Hussein is gone and this is as good thing for Iraq and the world.

However, the leaders of the US, UK, and Australia (Bush, Blair, and Howard) have bypassed the weapons of mass destruction allegations and must now rely on threats of terrorism to justify the occupation of Iraq. Can we have some evidence of Iraqi international terrorism? Or is this more smoke and mirrors, like we have seen in the search for weapons of mass destruction?

If there is any serious intent to deal with international terrorism, the Bush-Blair-Howard consortium should go to Pakistan and Afghanistan and do something about it.

In World War II, the French resistance fought strongly against the occupying forces, gaining heroic status. Iraqi minority groups, however misguided, are doing the same. Did the US not become independent because of its own resistance movement? Are Iraqi Republicans descended from terrorists?

Australian politicians must stop the posturing and media manipulation. Individuals fighting at home against an occupying force might be wrong, misguided or brainwashed, but they are not terrorists until they attack unarmed people outside their borders.

In the US-Iraq conflict, only one country qualifies for the terrorist label.
[J.C., Letter to the Editor, The West Australian (Perth), April 5, 2004.]

Next month: We’d love to know what you think. These are our usual classifications:

-- Open - questions, comments, tirades, etc.
-- RSVP. React to previous statements.
-- The ecology.
-- Clippings from newspapers, etc.

On the Web:

Overtime is included in the website of Socialism for a Real Labor Union at:

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And, to Everyone, thank you, thank you, thank you. Linda Featheringill.

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