Vladislav Davidzonthe art of doing the impossible – thoughts on the great turning

It is really quite simple. The peace movement was right.

We said that Iraq was no threat and we were right. We said that this war was about oil, and we were right. We said that American soldiers wouldn’t be welcomed by the Iraqis anymore than they liked Saddam, and we were right. We said that tax payer dollars would be better off used creating jobs for Americans rather than bombing innocent people, and… we were right. We said so many things against the war, and on every single point, we were right.

Oh wait, so now you decide to look into the validity of the ‘evidence’ we have said all long did not exist?

It is really quite simple. The peace movement was right.

We said that Iraq was no threat and we were right. We said that this war was about oil, and we were right. We said that American soldiers wouldn’t be welcomed by the Iraqis anymore than they liked Saddam, and we were right. We said that tax payer dollars would be better off used creating jobs for Americans rather than bombing innocent people, and… we were right. We said so many things against the war, and on every single point, we were right.

Oh wait, so now you decide to look into the validity of the ‘evidence’ we have said all long did not exist? Now that thousands, probably hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have been murdered by American bombs, and so many more are yet to suffer and die as a result of the depleted uranium that we rained on their lands, you decide that it is quite possible that it was all a big ‘mistake’. Perhaps better late than never – perhaps you might be in time to save the other countries of our small planet from meeting a similar fate.

And the freedom we brought to Iraq so far appears quite limited to Dick Cheney’s Halliburton reaping millions of dollars worth of contracts, and the freedom of American soldiers to fire at will at civilians protesting the occupation. Whatever happened to the concept of war taxes that forbade companies from profiting in wars, and whatever happened to democracy for the people?

What we have witnessed since September 11th, but probably since well before then, has been a steady and continuous dissolution of our society. Freedoms and civil liberties that we have fought and won over the course of so many years, freedoms for which so many people gave their lives have been steadily taken away from us.

Our schools are crumbling, and public space for dissent and democratic discourse is getting smaller and smaller each day as corporate giants steadily encroach upon it with their blitz of ads shooting at us from more and more directions each day, and their alligator lawyers and lobbyists work countless hours to pick apart the power of the people. They vote with cash, and they have bought the best government that money can buy indeed.

But the fact is that their government rests on a very weak foundation, an assumption that the people will tolerate the endless erosion of their freedoms when it is coupled with the intensive crumbling of the infrastructure required for bare living necessities – like being able to make a living. That foundation in itself is rapidly crumbling.