This discussion is bizarre. Mandela, a terrorist!!! Pure garbage. To conflate terrorism with a legitimate freedom fighter is mind boggling. Everyone on the face of the earth who cared to know, knew the purpose of the ANC's struggle. On the other hand, no one knows (for certain, at the moment) who was behind last week's insanity or what possible goal the perpetrators were trying to achieve. People who target buildings with day-care centers are simply evil. The WTC included people of every religion, political ideology, economic class, skin color, sexual preference, etc. among human beings. The only definable target was human life. Blowing up the world trade center (through the suicidal hijacking and destruction of planes that also contained a vast variety of people) is an extraordinarily vicious, utterly futile, and stupidly meaningless act. America has an $8.5 to $9.0 trillion GDP. This senseless act will have zero longrun economic impact. Politically, it will only make it more difficult to create a more humane world. This horrific event eliminated all discussion of the World Conference Against Racism from the print and electronic. The public works injection associated with rebuilding New York and expanding the military will increase the size of the GDP. The American military-industrial complex will only be made stronger. Neither the Palestinians nor any Arab/Islamic political group fighting for a more democratic government or any form of economic justice will be helped by this act. To equate Mandela and the African National Congress with the nation/organization/individuals that carried out the actions of the past week is deeply insulting to anyone who thinks that morality, ethics, values, and the preciousness of life, especially human life, are something more than "contemptible bourgeois concepts." The ANC had as its policy that only economic infrastructure and military targets were legitimate targets. Only degenerate, hedonistic, psychopaths murder thousands of people for the sheer joy of killing. Maybe, I don't understand the mentality of some on "the left" anymore. Maybe, I never did. Many leftist wish to save whales, protect rain forests, stop the senseless of baby seals, and (some) encourage humans to quit eating meat. Okay, that's all good. I'm all for saving whales, rain forests, and old growth forests and spotted owls. But, I also think human life is worthy of salvation. I'm totally against the senseless murder of animals. I live in a wooded area with rattlesnakes, mocassins, copperheads, and coral snakes. I'm even against killing these deadly snakes. I have no idea who carried out this horrific action, but common decency would suggest that the perpetrators have nothing in common with the ANC or British teenagers training to fight off a Nazi invasion. patrick l mason At 04:48 PM 9/17/01 +0100, you wrote: >During the WW2 British boy scouts, from the age of 11 to 16 were taught how >to sabotage an expected German invasion force, in ways which were almost >certainly 'suicidal'... ... no doubt we might have regarded this as >terrorism if we were with the Wehrmacht. > >Your question is strikingly naive, if you will excuse me saying so. >Mandela, Makarios, and many other post colonial leaders were well >established 'terrorist' leaders. > >What are the 'objective' or material causes of these acts? that is the >point. > > > >-----Original Message----- >From: Chai-on Lee <conlee@chonnam.ac.kr> >To: ope-l@galaxy.csuchico.edu <ope-l@galaxy.csuchico.edu> >Date: 17 September 2001 11:21 >Subject: [OPE-L:5922] RE: Re: Re: Re: the wages of war > > > >Dear All, > > > >Could anybody distinguish between the terrorist and the guerrilla? > >I am purplexed. > > > >Chai-on > > > >
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