March 2003 – Citizen Reporter

The following was discussed by Michael Moore at River Side Church in Brooklyn and can be heard at http://www.webactive.com/pacifica/demnow/dn20030328.html … it is the second half of Democracy Now!

Watching the reports on the news… you just keep hearing it over and over…. “This is so-and-so… embedded with the 3rd Marine expeditionary force, reporting for CNN”, “This is joe blow embedded with the 1st infantry…” I’m embedded…. embedded… embedded… inbedded… inbed…. inbed…. I’m in bed with the military… IN BED WITH THE MILITARY! — and that’s basically what you have.. reporters in bed with military. Even the BBC.. a somewhat balanced news source (based on social science research on news coverage) … there was an embedded (READ-IN BEDDED) reporter with the British Army… he looked on as tanks moved forward.. he called it “A beautiful and breathtaking sight….” These are the reports that are supposed to inform the public what’s happenning in the middle east? Beautiful? That’s his job? To cheer on the military? But this is what we have… reporters who get to ride in HumVees and become like children.. can’t you just hear them shouting “WEEEEEEEEEE” as the hang on tight while being driven around by the marines?

Think this is harmless? Who’s job is it to report the truth? Who’s job is it to seek out information that is not readily available…. to question… to evaluate… to criticize… ? Certainly not the military! And definately not the government!

While the western media spends every waking hour showing its viewers US Army approved images of the desert, there are other battles taking place around the world. No, not the “war on terrorism” or even the “war on drugs”… no.. the battle that is being waged now poses the Ijaw people of the Niger-Delta state of Nigeria against Chevron and friends.

The Ijaw live in the state of utter poverty while their land helps Nigeria to be the world’s 8th largest oil producing nation. The people receive no benefits or compensation, while the oil from under them is extracted by Shell, Chevron, TotalFinaElf, and Texaco, helping keep those companies rich, while their river is polluted and most of their people have no access to electricity or proper hostipals. In the past, there have been brave people who have come forward and spoken out against the multi-nationals. In the past, those people have been murdered… by the army… or by the oil companies’ security forces (READ-PARAMILITARY)

Well the tables have turned. Out of frustration and desperation, the Ijaw youths have mobilized and armed themselves, and they’ve told the companies to go to hell. Of course, in the process they’ve entered into conflict with other groups in the region. Nevertheless, they’ve chased Shell and Co. out of the Niger Delta… all operations have been suspended indefinately. Unfortunatelly, in the middle of all this are many displaced people, who like the Ijaw youth, want to benefit from their oil, just as the national government and the rest of the world does. To have clean water, proper homes, hospitals, schools, streets, electricity…. you know, those luxuries that multi-national oil companies don’t believe in.

Somewhere in the headlines today there was this report: “500 Iraqi’s fiercely fighting back against 5,000 Marines”….. 5,000 marines…. with the best equipment money can buy.. with all the training and moral high-ground…. against Iraqi’s that are probably using circa 1970’s kalishnakovs and Toyota trucks as their “armoured” transport. This is a war? NO.. this is an exercise… an exercise in domination and subjugation. A few nations asserting their superiority over smaller nations that have been semi-disarmed, starved and bombed into the stone age. Not war, by any means.

Elsewhere is the headlines…. Prisoners of War! Wierd thing, you never hear what happens to the Iraqi prisoners taken. But man, those American soldiers.. you never hear the end of it! Rumsfeld… or Rommel as he’d prefer to be known….. He was on some mainstream media show reciting his usual “hooray for war” speech.. when he was shown the POW footage. His immediate response was extremely interesting… he said “That’s a total violation of the Geneva Convention.” VIOLATION OF THE GENEVA CONVENTION!!!! Indeed. This is the same man who is responsible for the illegal holding of 600 hundred odd muslim alleged terrorists who have never been charged with a crime and are held in Guantanamo… he says Geneva doesnt apply to them. Well Rommel, you really pick and choose when the rules apply, don’t you?

A slightly smaller headline, equally as telling, Dan Rather… was giving his evening disinformation news, and he refferred to the possibility that iraqi military might set fire to oil wells…. to this possibility he added, ” Of course, we want to try and discourage them from setting fire to the oil wells since we’re going to own the country soon…” THIS IS WHAT HE SAID!! We’re going to own the country! This is the “defender or the public”, the noble “media” that informs people. Well.. he did his job.. he told the truth… the US, if things go its way, will own Iraq.. and its oil wells. Nice job Dan.. you told the truth.

It’s a tired feeling. A feeling like you’ve been holding together a dam… with your two arms… and if you let go.. you’ll be knocked over as the water rushes over you. Many have let go. Many are tired of resisting. They’ve given in.. they’ve accepted. Some have even changed hats. At some point.. it is so tempting to just sit down, stop talking, and accept. Accept everything. I think it would look something like this:

We’ve finally attacked Iraq. We’re really doing great… few casualties, moving quickly. Iraqi military is afraid and surrendering. Baghdad is being bombed in such an unbelievably intense way… but not the people of Baghdad.. just Saddam’s places and his government’s places. The oil wells havent been sabotaged… that’s good, so that the poor people can make money from selling oil later on. The US/UK are going to take the country soon. They’ll kill Saddam.. he’s a horrible guy who has done horrible things and deserves death. Then they’ll set up a good government, made up of good people, and the people will be totally free. The economy will start up… rebuilding will take place.. Iraqi’s will be so happy and Iraq will be a wonderous place… and the US will be safer because it got rid of Saddam.

So… does this make you feel good? It’s nice to feel good… to feel right, like you’re part of something positive. Trouble is… life is not so clean-cut.. and politics certainly is not.. nevermind war. Buildings dont just blow up… armies dont just advance…. theres so much more to all this. It’s beyond imagination… war… we haven’t a clue what it’s like. Watching is not experiencing.. certainly not through the eyes of a magic glowing tv.

Have you looked up in the sky lately? Have you woken up in the middle of the night… to the sound of air-raid sirens… the crying sound that tells you certain death is near. Have you hid yourself in your basement lately… with some canned food, water.. and maybe a book to pass the time… the days… the weeks… the months… you can never tell. Sure… dictatorships are cruel.. awful.. a crime…. war is different…

But nevermind all that. This is the right thing to do. Things will get better. This needed to be done. It’s all for the best. Isn’t it???

The Security Counsel must do the following:

1 – Introduce a resolution condeming the US/UK for announcing the intention to wage war, which is a clear act of aggression.

2 – When the US vetos this resolution, Security Counsel is at a stalemate and therefore the General Assembly can be convened

3 – The General Assembly will convene and pass binding resolutions to stop the war

4 – In this situation they have the right to impose sanctions or send UN peacekeepers to Iraq to stop the pending attack.

YES! It is their duty… deploy UN peacekeepers to stand between the US and Iraq, the US wouldn’t dare attack, because they’d be attacking the international community!

All government representatives that have gone silent, instead of expressing their disagreement with this war, are accessories to murder and should be voted out!

Supporting your troops is a government invented slogan in order to play on the citizen’s fear for the well-being of their military. If war starts, watch as the opposition disappears out of fear of “not supporting the troops.” Instant elimination of political dissent… Franco would have been jealous of such skillful repression.

Patasse is out, Bozize is in… so it goes in the Central African Republic. Home to less then 4 million people, in a country about the size of the state of Texas, political stability has not been one of its stronger points. Yet the current situation is a puzzling one: According to the rebels, led by Bozize, this was a counter coup for peace. This because Patasse was originally put in place with the force of Congolese military that had entered into the country in order to install the leader they supported. However this week, it was Bozize and the “Central African military” that took control of the airport, radio station, and then government buildings, scaring the Congolese troops into retreat, accross the river and back into Congo. The coup-leader calls his a movement for peace and reconciliation, to make up for years of curruption and despotism. Yet Patasse was elected and re-elected in the late 90’s? Were the elections fair? Who is the despot here? Maybe both. Radio France International’s reports spoke of CAR citizens running down the street with furniture and clothes taken from embassies and government buildings, one woman was quoted “This is compensation for pay they’ve owed me for more than six months!” At least maybe some Central Africans, long manipulated and mistreated, can finally have their “compensation.”