APPROPRIATE POLICIES

Mark Gerzon:

9/11: AN EMERGENCY CALL

"After something like this, there will be a desire to strike back. What will be hard for us, given our national psyche, is that we cannot. We don't know who, or where, to strike."

-- General Norman Schwartzkopf

How do we respond to this emergency call? Even our most renowned general recognizes that we cannot strike back. We must find something to do with our anger and our fear.

We that many voices will call for increased military spending, massive new investments in intelligence-gathering, and the creation of a domestic security state. So it is important that of us whose work involves alternatives to violence have an important challenge ahead of us. We must find a way, an EFFECTIVE way, to make clear that a vital part of our

response must be to understand the sources of the rage against the superpower we call home and to respond with wisdom. In addition to whatever military and security measures are taken, we absolutely must reflect on why we have become a target.

In my view, there are three primary sources of rage. The first is because much of the Muslim world believes that the United States is the enemy of Islam. There are religious, geopolitical, and cultural reasons for this hatred, all of which are intensified by the targeted assassination of Palestinian leaders. But we can no longer afford to pretend that this hatred results 100% from the ideological fanaticism of militant followers of Islam.

The second source is the widespread view of the United States as a symbol of wealth and power, and hence the enemy of the poor and powerless. To what degree this is true is obviously debatable, but what is beyond doubt is that the perception runs deep and wide throughout much of the world, particularly in the South. Yes, we are still a symbol of freedom and democracy but we cannot afford to let this historic role camouflage

the fact that we are also profoundly hated as a symbol of superpower arrogance and privilege.

The third source of rage is more diffuse, but it relates directly to the growing protests against the World Bank, IMF and WTO. As symbolized by a series of actions in which we are the Lone Ranger (Kyoto accords, Durban racism conference, etc), we are rapidly isolating ourselves from the world around us. While on the one hand we are the most "international" global nation on earth, we are on the other hand the most isolationist. Like the World Bank, IMF and WTO, which we played a pivotal role in creating, we are seen as orchestrating a world that suits our national interest, regardless of the consequences on other nations. This view is increasingly common in Europe, which is culturally closest to us. If that view can take hold there, just imagine how much more strongly it can grip other parts of the world, such as the Middle East, Africa and South Asia.

Rage, of course, is no excuse for mass murder. What the terrorists did in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania is itself an outrage. But now we, as a people, have to choose. Just like the Serbs and Croats in the Balkans, the Hutus and Tutsies in Rwanda, and Tamils and Sinhalese in Sri Lanka, the Indians and Pakistanis in Kashmir, and the Protestants and Catholics in Ireland, WE HAVE TO CHOOSE WHAT KIND OF NATION WE WANT TO BE.

Do we intensify the cycle of retaliation and revenge, or do we open ourselves to the heart of the hatred?

If, as the Dalai Lama has said, we have moved from a century of war to a century of dialogue, then our choice is clear. On a scale never before imaginable, we must know our enemy, not forgive them; not excuse them; and not appease them, but KNOW them. We must know them in our hearts and respond to them with a wisdom that passeth all understanding.

Mark Gerzon