[cafe-sd] Fwd: ZNet Commentary / Solomon & chomsky / Attica - The Bombing / Sept 13

[Alejandra A]

>
>http://www.zmag.org/Commentaries/donorform.htm
>
>>On the Bombings
>Noam Chomsky
>
>The terrorist attacks were major atrocities. In scale they may not reach
>the level of many others, for example, Clinton's bombing of the Sudan
>with no credible pretext, destroying half its pharmaceutical supplies
>and killing unknown numbers of people (no one knows, because the US
>blocked an inquiry at the UN and no one cares to pursue it). Not to
>speak of much worse cases, which easily come to mind. But that this was
>a horrendous crime is not in doubt. The primary victims, as usual, were
>working people: janitors, secretaries, firemen, etc. It is likely to
>prove to be a crushing blow to Palestinians and other poor and oppressed
>people. It is also likely to lead to harsh security controls, with many
>possible ramifications for undermining civil liberties and internal
>freedom.
>
>The events reveal, dramatically, the foolishness of the project of
>"missile defense." As has been obvious all along, and pointed out
>repeatedly by strategic analysts, if anyone wants to cause immense
>damage in the US, including weapons of mass destruction, they are highly
>unlikely to launch a missile attack, thus guaranteeing their immediate
>destruction. There are innumerable easier ways that are basically
>unstoppable. But today's events will, very likely, be exploited to
>increase the pressure to develop these systems and put them into place.
>"Defense" is a thin cover for plans for militarization of space, and
>with good PR, even the flimsiest arguments will carry some weight among
>a frightened public.
>
>In short, the crime is a gift to the hard jingoist right, those who hope
>to use force to control their domains. That is even putting aside the
>likely US actions, and what they will trigger -- possibly more attacks
>like this one, or worse. The prospects ahead are even more ominous than
>they appeared to be before the latest atrocities.
>
>As to how to react, we have a choice. We can express justified horror;
>we can seek to understand what may have led to the crimes, which means
>making an effort to enter the minds of the likely perpetrators. If we
>choose the latter course, we can do no better, I think, than to listen
>to the words of Robert Fisk, whose direct knowledge and insight into
>affairs of the region is unmatched after many years of distinguished
>reporting. Describing "The wickedness and awesome cruelty of a crushed
>and humiliated people," he writes that "this is not the war of democracy
>versus terror that the world will be asked to believe in the coming
>days. It is also about American missiles smashing into Palestinian homes
>and US helicopters firing missiles into a Lebanese ambulance in 1996 and
>American shells crashing into a village called Qana and about a Lebanese
>militia - paid and uniformed by America's Israeli ally - hacking and
>raping and murdering their way through refugee camps." And much more.
>Again, we have a choice: we may try to understand, or refuse to do so,
>contributing to the likelihood that much worse lies ahead.
>

>======
>
>
>THIRTY YEARS LATER, MEMORIES OF ATTICA CRY OUT
>
>By Norman Solomon
>
>In a recent obituary about a former state prison official, the New York
>Times made a passing reference to "the bloody Attica uprising in 1971,
>which left 43 people dead." That's the kind of newspeak that presents
>itself as journalism while detouring around truth.
>
>Thirty years ago, on Sept. 13, in upstate New York, a four-day standoff
>at the Attica Correctional Facility ended when 500 state troopers
>attacked the prison compound, firing 2,200 bullets in nine minutes. The
>raid killed 29 inmates and 10 guards held as hostages, while wounding at
>least 86 other people. The orders came from Gov. Nelson Rockefeller.
>
>Media outlets across the country reported official lies as if they were
>objective facts -- proclaiming that the rebellious prisoners slit the
>throats of the hostages when the troopers began their assault. Autopsies
>later revealed that no throats had been cut; only then did authorities
>admit that the state did the killing.
>
>Now, three decades later, a new full-length documentary, "The Ghosts of
>Attica," is debuting on national television. The film includes chilling
>photos and footage (long withheld from the public by state officials)
>and moving interviews with former prisoners, ex-guards and others whose
>lives were transformed by what occurred during the second week of
>September 1971.
>
>"The Ghosts of Attica" premieres nationwide Sept. 9 on Court TV (at 9
>p.m. in most time zones). Nuanced and unflinching, the 91-minute film
>packs a powerful wallop because of its deep respect for historical
>accuracy.
>
>Horrendous prison conditions prompted the Attica uprising, which began
>as an undisciplined riot and grew into a well-focused articulation of
>rage from men who chose to take a fateful step, fighting for human
>dignity. While the uprising was multiracial, most of the 1,281 prisoners
>involved were black.
>
>The documentary film is an indictment of what has so often passed for
>journalism in reporting on prison-related events. Reflexively assuming
>that the powerful white guys in positions of authority would be
>truthful, reporters on the story got it backwards.
>
>While the film avoids a facile good-vs.-evil tone, there are heroes
>nonetheless. Frank "Big Black" Smith, a prisoner who emerged as a leader
>of the uprising, went on to work as a paralegal on the outside. Along
>with attorney Liz Fink, he was a key coordinator of a 26-year civil
>action lawsuit brought by Attica inmates.
>
>Their efforts made possible the release of more than a million
>Attica-related files that state authorities kept claiming did not exist.
>And, after a quarter of a century, prisoners won a $12 million
>settlement.
>
>After living through the horror of the Attica bloodshed and its
>traumatic immediate aftermath -- during which, in the words of Court TV
>material, guards "tortured him for hours with cigarettes, hot shell
>casings, threats of castration and death, a glass-strewn gauntlet and
>Russian roulette" -- Frank Smith looks back with evident clarity.
>"Attica was about wants and needs," he says. "Attica was a lot about
>class and a lot about race."
>
>"The Ghosts of Attica" illuminates many dimensions, past and present.
>"This movie is about the struggle for justice," film maker David Van
>Taylor told me. The struggle continues; the ghosts of Attica are with us
>-- in a country where the population behind bars, steeply skewed by
>economic and racial bias, is enormous.
>
>Back in 1971, the nation's prisons and jails held 330,000 people. Today,
>the number is 2 million.
>
>Many are incarcerated for drug-related offenses. A petition submitted to
>the United Nations in late August condemned the U.S. war on drugs as
>"not a war on plants or chemicals, but on citizens and other human
>beings who all too often are members of racial and ethnic minorities."
>Reuters news service noted that "whites use as many drugs as Latinos and
>African Americans" -- while the petition to the UN pointed out that
>among the people locked up for drug offenses, 57 percent are black and
>22 percent are Latino.
>
>In the present time, "Attica is such an icon, but it's an ill-understood
>icon," Van Taylor comments. While clearly focused on the need for social
>justice, the film that he co-produced does not fall into simple
>dichotomies. "The people who rebelled at Attica were not angels or
>devils," he says. They insisted on being treated as human beings.
>
>Attica guards, wounded by troopers' bullets, were betrayed and neglected
>by state authorities intent on hiding evidence and dodging
>responsibility. Mike Smith was a young guard taken hostage by prisoners,
>then shot in the stomach by state troopers. He says in the film: "I
>don't know any other employer who could murder their employees and get
>away with it, except the government."
>
>The guards and the prisoners were killed by the same gunfire, ordered by
>a governor who went on to become vice president of the United States.
>It's all in the past, and in the present. "Attica is not just an
>isolated prison," Frank Smith says. "Attica is attitudes and behavior,
>crime and punishment, education. It's about communication, it's about
>alleviating racism as much as we can, it's about the criminal justice
>system.... People need to see they are part of the problem and part of
>the solution. Attica is all of us."
>
>Norman Solomon writes a syndicated column on media and politics. His
>latest book is "The Habits of Highly Deceptive Media: Decoding Spin and
>Lies in Mainstream News."
>
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