From: 1:33 PM Subject: intriguing excerpts from my flood of 911 emailTo: cii@igc.org (undisclosed list) Dear friends, My email traffic is now well over 100 messages a day, most of it of very high quality, mostly regarding the 911 crisis. There is no way I can read or share all -- or even the best -- of this wealth of information, perspective and wisdom. I will shortly be letting you know where I'm getting most of it so you can have direct access to it, yourselves -- or maybe just so I don't have to feel so bad about not getting it out to you! In the meantime, I hope you find what I do send a valuable source of meaning in these confusing, challenging times. Here are some diverse highlights from my last week or so of backlogged email and reading.... Coheartedly, Tom PS: CNN is taking a poll regarding whether or not International monitors should be sent into Israel. The NO's are currently way ahead. If you wish to vote: http://home.netscape.com/ex/shak/international/packages/mideast/ _ _ _ _ _ We cannot let the terrorists achieve the objective of frightening our nation to the point where we don't conduct business or people don't shop.... I'm amazed that there's such misunderstanding of what our country is about that people would hate us. I am -- like most Americans, I just can't believe it because I know how good we are. -- President George W. Bush, 10/11/01 Press conference _ __ _ _ Beyond the necessary apprehension of Bin Laden or the destruction of the networks that brought this woe upon us, we have another long term task; to understand in our bones the daily quality of fear,powerlessness, grief and sheer fragility which accompanies most human beings into their beds at night. Most of humanity does not fear Armageddon the way we in the developed world do, because for a majority of them, Armageddon has already arrived and is for them a daily experience. There is an endless stream of young people in the world who have given up on their own desires and who, because of that, will willingly put themselves in the thrall of those whose desires would manipulate them for brutal, more abstract ends. At present these dispossessed young are out of our conversational remit and for all of us it will take personal and political courage, and definite acts, to bring them into a world in which they feel they have an imaginative or economic stake. Almost always, the courageous conversation is by definition the one we do not want to have. For each of us, in this season of falling away, at this threshold of history, when the old has gone and we are yet bereft of the new, what is the conversation, that until now, we have refused? -- David Whyte The targets speak for themselves. What do the World Trade Center and the Pentagon symbolize? Think about it. What do they symbolize to you? I can think of two words: American dominance. The nerve center of American military might, the Pentagon is the largest building in the world. It is the headquarters of the largest and the costliest military ever known to man. The importance of the World Trade Center is hardly questionable. Rising over the financial capital of the world, these buildings housed some of the most important and most powerful finance firms on the globe. The tallest in the world until the mid-nineteen nineties, the World Trade Center towers were a symbol of prosperity. They defied gravity and they left every one of us in awe. Sadly, as much as these structures are a symbol of power for Americans, they are also a symbol of powerlessness for countries that are still struggling to meet the basic needs of their citizens. When the United States refuses to sign the Kyoto treaty or refuses to attend the first conference on race reconciliation, these structures reaffirm the United States' position as the bully on the world stage. As long as the United States is economically prosperous, a great majority of Americans seem to care very little about what happens to the rest of the world. While American companies enjoy astronomical profits, the rest of the world is told to wait. Progress, after all, takes time. Meanwhile, American policy makers celebrate what they call the fastest period of growth in the history of the United States. If progress takes time, time is standing still for more than 3 billion human beings, who according to the World Bank make less than a dollar a day. It is standing still for thousands of children who die of curable diseases each year. Despite this awful reality, a great majority of Americans continue to fervently celebrate their prosperity.... Unfortunately, if this country remains unwilling to make sacrifices and to share its tremendous wealth with the rest of the world, I am afraid that the attacks of September 11 are the first of many. Because too many people have too little to lose. If retaliation will cause more violence, what are we willing to do to stop it? If we abhor violence, are we really prepared to change? - Camilo Belli [Thanks to Stewart Levine for the above quotes from David Whyte and Camilo Belli. Stewart also wrote the following...] FOUR FREEDOMS In a 1941 speech after the bombing of Pearl Harbor President Roosevelt said that America is based on Four Freedoms: 1.) Speech 2.) Religion 3.) Want 4.) Fear Clearly the terrorists come from environment in which the Four Freedoms are lacking. Given that Deprivation leads to Despiration We need to export the Four Freedoms __ _ _ _ _ http://www.newdimensions.org/article/thedayafter.html The common people don't want war but they can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders: All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism. --Hermann Goering Nazi General Commander of the Luftwaffe during WWII This is one of those pivotal moments in history when we CAN change the world for the better as we bring wisdom actively to the fore and apply it with diligence and clarity. Let's not go to reaction, dishing out what we have received, but act in a new level of global compassion. This is the time, we are the people. Our ancestors and those who have lost their lives are rooting for us. May we be the ones who step off the wheel of the never ending action and reaction. excerpted from THE DAY AFTER by Justine Toms, Executive Director, New Dimensions World Broadcasting Network As a longtime journalist...I have serious questions about what we're receiving from the mass media. It is a time for deep reflection; a time for me to look in the mirror, and see how I may be contributing to what is unfolding around us. It is a time for humanity, compassion, forgiveness, and love. We have suffered an horrendous tragedy with countless loss of life. The waves of this disaster that will continue into the future are unimaginable. I struggle to get my mind around it and I can't get my mind around it. All I can do is go deep within myself and seek the sustenance of my spiritual depths. We are at a crossroads; I am at a crossroads; you are at a crossroads. excerpted from THE DAY AFTER THE DAY AFTER by Michael Toms, CEO, New Dimensions World Broadcasting Network [Note: Michael and Justine are advocates of deep dialogue and innovators in the field of alternative radio. You can listen to their interviews about 911 with a number of political and spiritual figures at http://www.newdimensions.org/indexhome.html .) _ _ _ _ _ excerpted from Policies as Good as Our People by John Graham Executive Director The Giraffe Heroes Project http://www.giraffe.org I have some practical experience in the Third World that can be useful. I offer it as a patriot who has repeatedly faced danger for his country, including revolutionary mobs in Libya, bullets and car bombs in Vietnam, and hit-men in Havana. In the late 70's, I was assigned by the Carter Administration to be the U.S. Government's liaison to the Nonaligned Movement-a loose association of Third World states. I was a junior Foreign Service Officer, but I was the sole American diplomat assigned full-time to deal with the only official body representing two-thirds of the world's people. That tells you how low a priority the Third World was for our government-even under a President who expressed concern about conditions there. I stepped into a political environment that was pure battery acid. Diplomats from some Third World countries wouldn't even shake my hand. Others barely made it past the pleasantries before tearing into a grievance against the U.S. One after another ranted about U. S. policies toward apartheid, world hunger, foreign aid and investment, Latin America and Palestine. My government, by their assessment, was arrogant and unjust. Policy changes had been promised by President Carter, but most of them had not happened and never would, blocked within the Executive Branch and in Congress. I'd served in Africa and Asia and had no illusions about the corruption, thuggery and hypocrisy of many leaders there. I also knew how many times in its history America had acted with great generosity and far-sightedness. But as I struggled with my assignment to defend then current U.S. policies in the Third World, I realized that most of them were indefensible. America was supporting the Khmer Rouge-genocidal maniacs in Cambodia-solely because the North Vietnamese opposed them. We offered token opposition to apartheid in South Africa while American arms merchants sold the tools of death to the white South African Government, through an embargo that was a sham. We gave paltry sums to help fight hunger and disease in the Third World, often as barely disguised bribes for UN votes. We supported death squads in Latin America and brutal dictators in Africa and Asia in the name of anti-Communism or to advance important U.S. economic interests, such as the flow of oil. There were good reasons why Third World diplomats wouldn't shake the hand of an American. What disturbed me most was the disconnect I saw between the basic goodness and sense of justice of the American people and the policies enacted in our name. I couldn't bridge that disconnect, so I walked away from a hotshot diplomatic career. In the twenty years since, not much has changed. The Cold War rationale for U.S. positions in the Third World is gone, but replaced by responses just as short-sighted. Our government ignored the genocide in Rwanda because it saw no important U.S. interests there. It supported the expansion of Israeli settlements on the West Bank, throwing gasoline on a fire. It works to build a global structure for trade and investment controlled by multinational corporations whose only professed interest has been maximizing profits, with little regard for labor and environmental safeguards. Our government continues to pay lip service to global problems of hunger and disease, while every day, 24,000 lives are lost quietly to hunger all over the earth, unseen and unnoted here. An estimated $13 billion dollars a year would feed the hungry, worldwide. To give some perspective to that number, $13 billion is 1% of the tax cut just passed by Congress. The gap between the world's rich and poor grows; television and the Internet make even the most squalid camps and villages aware of it. And the anger against us grows, including among many people who are not Islamic zealots and who themselves are not violent. All that people like Osama bin Laden have to do is manipulate this anger, turning it into support for a focused instrument of mass murder.... If our leaders offer only a military response to the September 11 attacks and do not also change longstanding policies toward the Third World, they will feed a downward spiral of violence.... It will take enormous courage from our leaders to add a second front to this new war--to not only seek out and punish terrorists but also to create government policies toward the Third World that are as compassionate as our people are, as respectful of human life, and as eager to do what we know is right. We, the people of these United States, deserve a government that brave..... [We also deserve governmental and political processes and institutions that allow us to "create government policies" that are as good as we are.... -- Tom] _ _ _ ___ [The timely note below is from John Atlee. It is another example of the kind of creative solution that could make a difference if we had a democracy that was responsive enough to recognize good ideas and push them into reality (see http://www.democracyinnovations.org for more details on such a democracy). What would have to happen to get a UN Petroleum Authority actually adopted and implemented? -- Tom] In 1973, the OPEC oil cartel (again in response to Israeli policy and US support) imposed an oil boycott which threw a monkey wrench into the world economy much the recent terrorist attack. Back then, a solution was proposed (and ignored, much as the present peace proposals are) that would have produced a far different world during the next 28 years: 1) The US should take the lead in instituting a United Nations Petroleum Authority (UNPA) that would have monopoly control of all oil exports. 2) Producing countries would get a "royalty" of perhaps 10% of the difference between the cost of production and the world oil price. 3) The world oil price would be controlled by UNPA so as to balance supply and demand for a STABLE and predictable price, financing the oil-storage inventories needed to maintain this stability. 4) The price would be set initially somewhere near the existing OPEC price for the past year or so. 5) The price would be steadily (but fairly rapidly) increased to induce conservation and produce UNPA profits to: a) To subsidize production of renewable energy until it competes fairly with the UNPA price. b) To subsidizing the rapid development of present less developed ("poor") countries, with those subsidies funneled through a reorganized World Bank that would focus on self-sustainable economic development (rather than production for export), with development funds granted only to countries that reduce their military spending to some very low level. If this reform had been put into effect then, it could have : 1) Sharply reduced the funds that Saudi Arabia (and other Mideast Arab countries) would have had to threaten Israel militarily, finance terrorist groups and spend on their opulent life style. 2) Reduced the tendency of the world to become dangerously divided between rich and poor countries. It would probably have led to demands that the same sort of UN agency be set up for the export of other natural resources that are very unequally distributed worldwide. Why didn't this get done? 1) The international oil corporations had profitable (and cynical) business relationships with the OPEC countries that could have been adversely affected. 2) The same international businesses that are now pushing for "globalization" of business control were determined not to allow any UN agency to interfere with their international control and profits. 3) The US government is still controlled by these corporations. 4) The US has prevented the development of the UN into an effective "world government" that could initiate such a project (as well as establish an effective system of world law and courts that could prosecute people like Hitler, Sadam and Osama bin Laden). The struggle for control of the world's oil is behind much of the US (and other Western) policy that has caused the Arab/Muslim hatred of the US, and the terrorism (and related threats to Israel) won't end until there is a just mechanism for control of world oil. _ _ _ _ _ _ This is a moment to seize. The Kaleidoscope has been shaken. The pieces are in flux. Soon they will settle again. Before they do, let us re-order this world around us. --TONY BLAIR, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER Labour Party conference, Brighton 2001 Complete Speech: < http://www.labour.org.uk/lp/new/labour/docs/LONGSPEECHES/TBCONF2001SPEECH.html > _ _ _ _ _ >From the Arlington Institute's FUTUREDition. Dialog on the Technological Implications of the September 11 Disaster - (KurzweilAI - September 22, 2001) http://www.kurzweilai.net/meme/frame.html?main=/articles/art0327.html The September 11 tragedy will accelerate a profound trend already well under way from centralized technologies to distributed ones, and from the real world to the virtual world. Centralized technologies are subject to disruption and disaster. They also tend to be inefficient, wasteful, and harmful to the environment. Distributed technologies, on the other hand, tend to be flexible, efficient, and relatively benign in their environment effects. ------- A SPIRITUALITY OF PATRIOTISM by David Spangler Overlighting our country is a being that embodies the qualities of spirit that our nation seeks to embody and express in the world. I call this the Soul of America. It is a spiritual presence that works for the wellbeing of all humanity and all the earth through the specific instrument of our evolving American society. We do not always live up to its promise or embody its gifts, but it is there nonetheless, challenging us to rise to the highest we can be in service to our world. I distinguish between nationalism and patriotism. The former is a state of mind that excludes and isolates; it says, "My country right or wrong, and never mind the rest of the world!" Patriotism, on the other hand, is for me the practice of attuning to and aligning with the Soul of America, seeking to embody its values and qualities in our everyday lives, seeking to discover and express the highest of what it means to be an American. Patriotism to me is the work of taking on the inner gifts of our land and its soul in ways that enhance the spirit of our country and benefit all humanity. I think of this as a spirituality of patriotism, something I have explored in classes I call "the American Path." The September 11 attacks have stirred us to a renewed sense of patriotism. It could falter and become simply nationalism, a feeling of us against them, Americans vs the world. But at the moment, it is manifesting as a desire to unite with our neighbors in a celebration of all that is good and strong in our country, a celebration of each other. In this newfound feeling of appreciation for our nation and the freedoms and gifts it offers, it seems to me that one appropriate service we can render is to take time to consciously reflect upon and open to the Soul of America. I do not know just how it might make itself known in your heart or mind; I have seen it in many forms. For me it is a blend of the vastness and energy of our land, the spirit of all the races and peoples who live here, the spiritual powers that nurture all humanity, and the spirit of emergence and transformation. It graces us with the qualities of love, courage, openness, discovery, creativity, tolerance, and freedom, among others. Its calling, symbolized by the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor, is to hold aloft an illumination of mind, heart, and soul that can reveal the deep values of spirit that live in humanity as a whole. In a fragmented world in which factions of humanity seek to impose their way upon all others and thus create conflict, it is the destiny of America to hold out a vision of honoring equality, individuality and difference and of using the power of these three forces to create a greater whole through willing cooperation. The Soul of America looks to us to understand it and embody these gifts as best we can, including transforming our own impulses to separate ourselves and impose our way at the expense of others. That is a spiritual calling that seems particularly appropriate and needful at this time. _ _ _ ....some Germans speculate that the Third Reich possibly could have lasted longer had it not perpetrated so much evil against fellow Europeans, but, instead, had concentrated its superiority complex on enslaving and exploiting 'inferiors' in the Third World. --Richard Manning LETTER TO THE INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE October 1, 2001 PATRIOTISM & HISTORY (via aristotle@atlantic.net) _ _ ___ Thanks to Eryn Kalish for this. Crown Thy Good With Brotherhood by Richard B. Miles There have been two visible and reported responses in America to the catastrophic events of September 11: Caring and connection; Anger and vengeance The self-sacrificing firefighters, policemen, and volunteers who have been working night and day to save lives and reconnect people have been lauded as a reflection of a deep expression of the true nature of America (and of human nature). The thousands who have come forward to give blood, volunteer to provide shelter for people stranded in airports, offer to help people in need are also examples of this American trait of caring and service. On the other hand, the reactions of stereotyping, violence against Americans of Arabic extraction, and knee-jerk responses to these events have been rightly criticized as "unAmerican" and not a true expression of our national character. Unfortunately, the present governmental response to this week lies almost entirely in the second category. The attack was characterized as an assault on "democracy and freedom." However, it was not the Washington, Jefferson, and Lincoln monuments, the statue of liberty, Constitution Hall, and the Liberty Bell that were bombed, it was the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. There are generally three categories we could look at that characterize how the rest of the world sees the United States: Economic, military, and social. In each of these categories, we show two faces (or as the Native Americans might say, "Speak with forked tongue") Economically, we are frequently the first to respond when a disaster strikes abroad. We are willing to send in medical supplies, food, etc., and provide assistance. On the other hand in normal economic flow, we are a source of continuing exploitation and self-service. Since the Second World War, we have consistently looked upon the "third world" as either a market to develop or a source of cheap labor and natural resources to be exploited. The needs and concerns of the peoples involved are subordinated to our economic desires. This is not a secret and has been illustrated time and time again in Central America, Southeast Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. The result of this continuing policy in many countries is despondence, feelings of helplessness, and anger. We hold out America as the land of milk and honey and promote our products to buy, but consistently keep the world in a subordinate position in the fear they will compete with us, while extolling the virtues of the "free market" and competition. Forked tongue. In the past six months, we have made this policy quite explicit, withdrawing from agreements drawn up to address some of these (and environmental) issues that would begin to level the playing field, and promoting trade agreements that give all the privileges to the industrial nations. Militarily, we again will provide troops and equipment to support "peacekeeping" missions on a selective basis, and the young Americans we send are usually helpful and thoughtful. On the whole however, we use our military capability as a big stick to show how "powerful" and "big" we are, again demeaning others who do not have the industrial capacity to match. The "nuclear race" to build bombs can be seen as a direct response to this bully position. Others feel powerless and subordinate, a position not enjoyed by any human if we truly honor the "inalienable" rights of human liberty and justice we profess in our governing documents. Again, forked tongue. Socially, we put the United States forward as the hallmark and bastion of freedom and opportunity. We claim to be the "example" of democracy and the land of opportunity, which we have certainly proven to be for many. The advances in human rights and equality we have brought forward in the last 150 years are monumental political achievements, and we rightly celebrate them. We offer services such as the Peace Corps and Habitat for Humanity. However, since the Second World War, a trend that has always been present in a "free market" society has been accelerated and brought into a level of common acceptance without much discussion or review. We no longer live in a society, we now live in an "economy," and rather than seen as citizens, we are seen as consumers. Those who do not make an apparent contribution to the "gross national product," (which is truly gross), are marginalized and degraded. We have many in our own country which are in a situation similar to the third world peoples. They are seen as a resource to be exploited for cheap labor to improve business earnings or as "a welfare drain" rather than people with needs and concerns. We measure our social success by increases in stock market indexes, greater production and consumption, and business profits, not by the opportunities and potentials of our people. More is always better, but is rarely equitably distributed. Again, forked tongue. One of my first jobs after business school was in the advertising services department of the Ralston Purina Company in St. Louis. W. H. Danforth, founder of the company, was in his later years. Every Monday his "Monday Morning Message" was placed on our desks. It was always thoughtful and service based. His philosophy was that the only way to operate a successful business was to "stand in the customer's shoes," understand his needs, and be of true service. In this posture, he professed, there would never be a need to worry about competition and price, and if you were consumed by that worry, you couldn't effectively run the business. At the time I worked there in the early 1950s, Purina was the most respected employer in St. Louis and maintained more than half the animal feeds market with the highest price. No forked tongue. The perpetrators of the horror in New York and Washington need to be found and dealt with, hopefully in a context of international law and justice. We need to reinforce the inherent value of that process which is but in its infancy. Massive military action in the context of "war" will undoubtedly reinforce the forked tongue perspective much of the world has of the US. We talk about freedom and democracy, but we act as a powerful and angry bully. Let us crown our good with brotherhood from sea to shining sea and shift our posture around the world to one of service and support rather than exploitation and dominance. We are the only nation powerful enough to do this, and the only one who has claimed that this position of service and the development of opportunity is inherent in our constitution and national heritage. Terrorism, and its leaders and followers, are a response to feelings of exploitation, arrogance on the part of the powerful, and the blocking of true opportunity to live in peace and freedom. Not only would terrorism fade from a world of justice and opportunity, but those in a position to offer the world ways to meet its needs and alleviate its concerns (such as the US) would greatly prosper in a sustainable, peaceful way. If we continue to preach and exploit, we will undoubtedly reap additional consequences similar to New York and Washington. The cost, both financially, and emotionally, will be high. Let us be "America the Beautiful" and crown our good with brotherhood. Let us speak from the true American heart of equality, caring and service. No forked tongue. It's a winner ._ _ _ _ _ >From George Mokray (via John Steiner) I listened to George Bush's press conference tonight and as he was answering the very first question, what ordinary people can do to deal with this unprecedented situation, I realized I wanted him to say a simple phrase that might just transform our reaction to all our anxiety and uncertainty. I wanted him to say that the one thing everybody can do is simply watch out for each other. We don't have to watch each other in suspicion. We don't have to indulge our fear. All we have to do is watch out for each other together, as neighbors and citizens. We have to watch each other's back and help out when needed. Somebody needs to say it and I'm saying it now to you. You can say it to somebody else but I believe down to my soul if only we all do that, watch out for each other, we will have defeated terror and replaced it with common civility _ _ _ _ _ _ Thanks to Coleman Barks, 21st century poet, likes to point out that Jelaluddin Rumi, 13th century poet, is both the bestselling poet in the United States and the one most often played on Afghan radio stations. Given the current situation, it's unlikely anyone will be able to confirm the latter. But it is fair to say that one thing currently binding these two warring nations is a poet born in a time when neither country existed.... Rumi was born in 1207 in Balkh, a city in what is now Afghanistan, to a long line of Islamic theologians and poets. When he was a child, his family moved from Afghanistan to Konya, Turkey, presumably to get out of the way of the invading army of Genghis Kahn.... Art is a place we often go looking for advice when we've run out of other options. And what's there, inevitably, isn't an answer but a reflection of the suffering we already feel. -- Amy Standen (from Salon.com) [I also just learned from my partner Karen that Rumi was founder of the sect we now call "Whirling Dervishes" who used dancing (often spinning and spiraling) as a form of meditation. Also, Karen and I wondered what it means that Rumi is played on Afghan radio stations, when Afghanistan is controlled by the Taliban who oppose virtually all pleasurable activities. Rumi is a poet of joy and joyfulness, of art and music and love and religious ecstasy... May life prevail, everywhere.... -- Tom] ________________________________ Tom Atlee * The Co-Intelligence Institute * PO Box 493 * Eugene, OR 97440 http://www.co-intelligence.org * http://www.democracyinnovations.org Please support our work. * Your donations are fully tax-deductible.