William Mandel wrote:
>
> It is quite
> another to accept that massacre of human beings by each other is
> built into our genetic code.
I am not sure, given the history of past genocides, that it isn't. Even
the destruction of the Canannites by the Jews is legitimized in
Deuteronomy and the holiday of Purim is a joyous celebration the
massacre of the Persians who, we are told, planned to massacre the Jews
but had the tables turned.
Bill wrote:
> Various wars in my time have been ended, and some have been
> prevented, by popular opposition. The United States could have
> won the war in Vietnam by nuclear-bombing it literally out of
> existence. It did not because of public opposition to that
> much-discussed alternative worldwide.
I don't recall any war that has been prevented by popular opposition.
At the time of the misnamed Spanish-American war, which was really a
well-planned campaign to take over Spain's colonial interests, there
were mass demonstrations that went for naught and, conveniently, have
largely been ignored by our history texts. According to the Nixon tapes,
he hesitated to drop the A-bomb on Vietnam because he feared there would
be an uprising on the part of the anti-war movement. Despite our best
efforts, and world-wide opposition to US intervention in Vietnam, the
movement was unable to stop the destruction of that country and the
economic devastation that followed and which brought the country to its knees.
William Mandel wrote:
> The time must come when people like us persuade the mass of
> the people that foreign policy is something they must concern
> themselves with, because both their lives and their morality -- a
> quality that no other form of life possesses, that which makes us
> human -- are at stake.
I don't see this happening in the foreseeable future. For most people,
concerns about foreign policy are viewed as secondary to their
bread-and-butter needs which the present movement, at least in the very
political Bay Area, has been unwilling to address. Why should people,
not in our movement, be concerned, for example, about the plight of
Elian, Mumia, the effects of Iraqi sanctions,US intervention in
Columbia, etc., when those planning demonstrations and marches in this
city over those issues, pay no attention to the gentrification , i.e.,
ethnic/economic cleansing that is being conducted here with the
blessings of a mayor who these organizations support, and ignore gross
acts of racism, not happening 3000 miles away, but right here in their city.
With all those qualities that we share as humans, we have done more to
destroy the planet for all the life forms that we consider to be
inferior. A number of scientists have noted that we are the only life
form whose extinction would benefit the planet, which is a depressing
thought, indeed.
Jeff Blankfort
Jeff Blankfort
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