H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H
HOLLYWOODARMAGEDDON//UPGRADEmag// nov 13  2001
The UPGRADEmag (the Upgrade Emag, or just the "UP") is a global edutainment news round-up, ‘broadcast’ weekly to =[10,599]= Trance// New Age// Alternative// Activist// Zippy folks who have been recommended to the Parallel YOUniversity//Megatripolis Dance Dept as "showing signs of life".  Since many recipients choose to forward it to their own lists, we estimate 27,000+ recipients.  Further, because of its less 'specialist' content, it's increasingly being posted on a variety of sites worldwide, making a total weekly ‘readership’ of 275,000+ MAKE THE UPGRADE FIT YOUR SCREEN BY CLOSING ANY BOX ON LEFT
H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H

Now that the Apocalypse has begun, all Holy Warriors are impelled by their own Dharma (personal power, impeccability, conscience) to engage their energies at a COLLECTIVE level.  In order to be impeccable, it is no longer enough to simply take care of one's own enlightenment: a warrior must assume responsibility for the entire race.  What else is the challenge, blessing, and burden of the Elect, if not this?
There are no witnesses to the Apocalypse; no freeloaders in Eternity.
Aspiringly,
Jason Wynd
# WOT!
(War On Terrorism)

Oregon, USA
SAT NOV 10   2001
KEN KESEY FLIES LAST TIME OVER CUCKOO'S NEST
AS BIG NURSE AND GOOD GUYS OVERRUN
KABUL
MASSACRES MUTILATIONS AND 'MODERATE TALIBAN'
LOSERS SPORTINGLY GIVE UP STRUGGLE, GO HOME
TO TEND GARDENS, SHARPEN KNIVES, COWS FLY AND
PLANES DROP '
INDEPENDENTLY' FROM THE HEAVENS
TERRIBLE ACCIDENTS AND/OR TERRORIST INCIDENTS?
Ken Kesey,
infamous '60s psychedelic author, surrealist LSD "On The Bus" activist and star of  Tom Wolfe's The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test died peacefully in his sleep at 3.45am on Saturday.  He was 66. 
He died at Sacred Heart Medical Center in Eugene, Oregon, two weeks after cancer surgery to remove 40 percent of his liver.  They'd found a black spot, cancerous but 'encapsulated', meaning isolated, no cancer anywhere else.  Kesey agreed to the operation and a fortnight later his heart stopped beating.  His condition was complicated by diabetes and a minor stroke he'd suffered in 1997
"Always the leader, now he leads the way again," said Ken Babbs, a longtime friend.  Strictly, however, in light of the ongoing rivalry between Tim Leary's Glass Bead Game approach to Life'n Acid and Ken Kesey's Prankster Path, Ken is definitely NOT leading this time.
Ken continued to write until the operation.  By far his most famous and well loved book was One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest (the movie starred Jack Nicholson) which became a Hippy classic for its depiction of one man's refusal to bend to The System (Psychiatric in this case).  That he should fly the current lunatic asylum just as Big Nurse and the War Lords are overrunning the Sufi poet Rumi's old haunt, SURELY CANNOT be a coincidence
And I mean that, whether the old, unreconstructed mountain bear was for or against this war!  For, funnily enough, History will probably record him as the last of the Hemingway Generation (Strong Loner), rather than the first of the Psychedelic (GroupMind).  As was intimated in all his writings, it wasn't so much that Ken Kesey was larger than life, it was that Life had gotten unnaturally small.
Ken is survived by his wife, Faye, his son, Zane, and his daughters, Shannon and Sunshine, and three grandchildren.
Kesey information: www.intrepidtrips.com
# WAT! (War Against Terrorism)

scribbled notes
b4 we celebrate too hard over the planet's most powerful state's
5 week partial victory over the northern half of the poorest
- the taliban were NOT evil (or a bit less than the old right wing landlords and war lords).  they were simple, conservative, 'religious' country folks trying to do what they thought was the best meagre option for their poor shattered country after the war lords were done with it.  we'll soon be hearing a lot about 'moderate taliban' and then we might getta glimpse through the brainwash.  how can there be moderate demons?! 
well, the war lords are back.
- the war lords PROMISED they'd stop outside kabul.  what are they promising now?
- the taliban collapsed for 3 reasons.  1. our side trained al quaeda in guerilla terrorist tactics, but they knew zero about sustained, in-position campaigns - simply put,  whatever we were fooled or fooled ourselves into believing,
THEY NEVER HAD A CHANCE IN STRAIGHTFORWARD BATTLE.  napoleon with horse & cannon would have beaten them faster!   2.  six weeks of  bomming 'upcountry' behind the front lines was PLANNED to create devastation and death, so little wonder that, when the front collapsed like a freshly mown lawn of daisies, there were no fall-back positions!  no media, of course, have been in those parts of the country.  and, of course, american cluster weapons still lie scattered across the countryside and a child is probably right now having his face blown off by one of them in our name.   3.  al qaeda and the taliban announced some days ago they were planning on abandoning the cities [**see below**] (what would YOU do if not a single yankee had yet been within a thousand miles of you after 6 weeks of "battle"?!)
"You cannot know how much we want the Americans to come in. Our fighters long for it. They are desperate to kill the people who have been bombing our homes, women and children. The north is not important to us.  Not even Kabul.".  Shahzad Khan, Taliban leader.
- it's being reported that everyone's celebrating the victory, but the majority always pretend to join the winners.  deals are being done planetwide and valley by valley all the way down and up from the
$7million REWARD for osama's head on a plate.  and the dollar's UP as the tanks roll into jalalabad!  but will the buck stop there? And, most importantly, how are the losers feeling?  because they're the next suicide bomming 'freedom fighters'.
 - nothing justified the killing of innocent people in america, and nothing justifies the killing of innocent people anywhere else.
- more infants continue to starve every day than the number killed in the World Trade Center.
- the parents of Greg Rodriguez, who died in the World Trade Center, said a few days ago: "
Violent revenge brings the prospect of sons, daughters, parents, friends in distant lands dying, suffering, and nursing further grievances against us.
It is not the way to go.. not in our son's name."
- pakistan, which backed its pashtun taliban neighbour, has been right royally shafted by america.  "white man speaks with forked tongue about stopping outside kabul"    india, its nuclear powered neighbour, is backing the northern alliance.  so is russiachina is sniffing around,  america is on the rampage, accepted by everyone (who doesn't want to get bommed next) to now have the right maybe even the DUTY to go bomming into any country it wishes, with the UN following fast in behind to rebuild the nation.  we are into a new era, a new world order - and hence resistance and disorder.
- nothing but nothing has changed in
israel, nor iraq where more children needlessly die daily than died in the twin terrors
- all you can say is that the world is a much less stable place.  which is also, of course, the necessary condition for CHANGE.  because...
- all i can see that can stop all this (and it won't be next week or maybe even next year but it will be MUCH sooner than we think) is the renaissance which WE represent in all our multifariousness within the winning dinosaur culture. 
- we're the only 'good guys' who can stop the bad guys!
 fraser
# WAT!
(War Against Terrorism)

WHAT ONE-EYED MULLAH MOHAMMED OMAR DID NEXT
by Keith Dovkants in Islamabad
The crucial question in the wake of the Taliban's retreat from Kabul is what will Mullah Mohammed Omar do now.  According to Taliban sources, the strategy is clear - the war goes on, but from now it will be fought in the shadows. 
Taliban military commanders had been planning a withdrawal for weeks, even before the US-led air campaign began.  Important assets including armour and heavy weapons have been hidden in mountain bunkers and caves, and supplies of food and water have been stored in locations far from the towns and cities.
Although the main Taliban column leaving Kabul was heading for its traditional stronghold in Kandahar, it was unlikely it would stop there.  A number of fighters would be pulled back to mountain hideouts, but the majority of the
50,000 or so men under arms would quietly return to villages and rural areas. 
Pashtun chiefs control most of the rural south and tribal areas bordering Pakistan and thousands of Taliban fighters will simply melt away.  Women and children were sent to refuges in Pakistan at the beginning of the campaign against terrorism. 
A number of high ranking Taliban figures are also here.  Mullah Omar and Arab and other foreign volunteers loyal to bin Laden are likely to remain in the mountain redoubts they occupy.  Omar and his military leaders will retain a command structure that will direct a guerilla war against the Northern Alliance and foreign troops.  The tactics will follow those used so successfully against the
Soviets.
Then, small, highly-mobile groups launched hit and run raids with hand-held rocket launchers and small arms, then retreated to the mountains where even helicopters were unable to find them.  The United States wants to establish a multi-national peacekeeping force and these troops are likely to become the Taliban's main target.  Shazad Khan, a Taliban leader and member of the provincial assembly based in Jalalabad, told me:
"You cannot know how much we want the Americans to come in. Our fighters long for it. They are desperate to kill the people who have been bombing our homes, women and children. The north is not important to us.  Not even Kabul. But the mountains, the valleys, even the deserts of the south are our land and if the Americans want it they will have to fight us for it.
"They cannot use the Northern Alliance for this; they will need to do it themselves and we will be ready.  We have weapons and our men are the best of fighters. You could call each one a commando.
"The Russians were brave soldiers, they didn't hesitate to fight us.  They, too, had planes, helicopters, missiles, but we beat them.
"The Americans think they can win with technology, but how good is it?  Can they trace Mullah Omar?"
The Taliban's ability to wage a war of attrition depends, to a great extent, on its cohesion.  There are already signs of division between bin Laden's followers, most of whom are foreign nationals.  US intelligence assessments  in recent weeks have been consistent in suggesting that less than 10%  of the strength of al Qaeda  has been with bin Laden and his ragbag cohort of fighters in Afghanistan.  Their strength is spread around the world, controlled by different operational commands in North America and Europe.  The main training centres for guerillas and terrorists are believed to have switched to countries like Somalia and Yemen weeks ago.
America and close allies like Britain are now faced with almost the worst dilemma - a retreating and vengeful Taliban and al Qaeda, and a huge political void in Kabul.
There is also the question of whether or not bin Laden does have any nuclear weapons, one the Americans are taking very seriously.

WHATEVER IS HAPPENING, ONE THING IS CRYSTAL CLEAR:
"The Great Satan" (as what our side calls "terrorists" see it) has now invaded a country in the very centre of the Islamic continent with a ragtag, heavily armed 'coalition' of savage warlords and near-godless mercenaries!  The Holy War (for them!) has now begun!  And everybody's stopped feeling sorry for America.
# WOT!
(War On Terrorism)


GETTING TUFF ON TERRORISM & TUFF ON THE CAUSES OF TERRORISM

there is no defence
against two harmless substances being taken on board separately, then combined to create an explosion or gas,
other than total, interlinked body searches of every single person entering every single medium of public transport every day everywhere forever.

we must get down to the fundamentals of this situation - the issues that drive the desperadoes to suicide attacks.
It's like any other real life issues - at a certain point
we have to fess up and make amends.
it's never as difficult as it seems while we are in the state of denial.

'America' please clean up your act, make the dream come true for everyone on our beautiful planet.  :)
#
"I will never apologize for the United States of America. I don't care what the facts are. "George Bush, father, 1988

US ARMY RECRUITS SEEK CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTOR STATUS
Claiming they didn't sign up to defend America, army recruits who enlisted before the Twin Terror attacks are insisting they just wanted to learn a trade or earn money for college!  They're accusing the US Army of making false advertising claims!
Centre on Conscience and War counseling coordinator Bill Galvin says there's been a "significant increase" in military personnel claiming conscientious objector status, defining it as "
those who would identify moral or ethical qualms about being a part of war"
It turns out, according to Titus Peachey of the Mennonite Central US Committee, that young people "at a very vulnerable age" are lured by the "sharp uniforms" of the military recruiters who visit their high schools, and by "the very attractive packages they offer."
According to Galvin, the recruiters paint an attractive picture of patriotism and "play up the training or the money for college."
Titus Peachey: "
There's very little in military advertising that talks about combat, that talks about killing, that talks about fear, loneliness and all of that stuff."
US Army recruits, however, don't seem to show any signs of "wanting to see the world".
# WAT! (War Against Terrorism)

Fraser,
In UPGRADEmag// nov 6 2001, Barclay wrote:
>>I wouldn't like to live in the States, but even more, I'd hate to live in a country controlled by terrorists, and I think most people would agree with me.
Living in 'America' as I do, what I find amusing about his statement is that, IMHO, the States now actually are controlled by (unelected) "terrorists," but most people over here aren't able to see that it's the boys in D.C. who are terrorizing us.  Besides attacking Afghanistan, they've completely gutted the Fourth Amendment (which in days gone by prevented the Feds from entering our homes without a search warrant), and now they're giving away billions of dollars in "aid" to their corporate buddies.  What's worse, the majority of people in this country are too afraid of them to even speak up.  Theses clowns have completely terrorized the population with their stories about anthrax and bombing bridges, etc., most of which appear to be groundless.
As to your use of humor . . . please give us more.  We desperately need more laughs over here.  Only a few courageous men like Aaron McGruder, with his "Boondocks" cartoons have had the courage to point out the folly of our ways. (http://www.ucomics.com/boondocks/viewbo.htm).
Peace,
larry / san diego
BTW, I've forwarded UPGRADEmag to a lot of my friends over here and not one has told me they were offended.  Keep up the good work.  We need all the criticism we can get, for it surely isn't coming from our own media these days.
# WOT!
(War On Terrorism)

HOLLYWOOD ARMAGEDDON
WHAT FUTURE FOR HOLLYWOOD NOW THAT REALITY'S MORPHING
INTO AN
ACTION/SCI-FI/HORROR COMEDY WITH NO DIRECTOR
AND A THOUSAND OVERPAID SCRIPTWRITERS?
WHEN ONE HEARS ABOUT THE BLIND MOLE BEHIND THE TALIBAN,
PLOTTING DASTARDLY EVILS DEEP IN HIS UNDERGROUND CAVE,
OR SEES BIN LADEN POSING DEBONAIRELY BY HIS RIFLE'S SIDE,
FULFILLING ALL THE MAJOR REQUISITES OF A GOOD, SEXY
BOND VILLAIN,
ONE IS ALMOST COMPELLED TO ASK:
what is wrong with this picture?
OSAMA WAS TRAINED BY THE CIA FOR ITS SOVIET WAR.
BORN FABULOUSLY WEALTHY IN
SAUDI ARABIA, A GRADUATE OF OXFORD
"he's the perfect portrait of sophisticated villainy"
THE DOUBLE DEALER, THE ARCH NEMESIS, LEX LUTHOR,
TRAINED IN MARTIAL ARTS AND MYSTICAL TECHNIQUES, A HUMAN PARAGON,
DEADLY IN COMBAT, INHUMANLY CUNNING, AND STRATEGICALLY BRILLIANT.

SO WHAT IS TO BE DONE ABOUT BIN LADEN?
DRIVEN BY SIMPLE HATRED OR MADNESS HE IS NOT,
MUCH LESS THE DEMENTED DESIRE FOR WORLD DOMINATION.
HE'S DRIVEN BY SOMETHING THAT PERHAPS PARTAKES OF ALL THESE FACTORS.
ALAS, MORE DIFFICULT TO DISMISS AS MERE RUNAWAY EGOISM: RELIGIOUS ZEAL.
AND WITH A SINGLE ACT OF TERRORISM
(HIS RESPONSIBILTY'S IRRELEVANT; HE 'CARRIES' THE BLAME AND ACCEPTS THE CREDIT)
HE AND HIS SUPPOSED "TERRORIST NETWORK" HOLD WESTERN CIVILIZATION IN THRALL.

IF THE FALLING OF THE TWIN TERRORS OF #BABYLON#
CATALYSED A
SHIVA-DESTROYING RIPPLE THROUGH CIVILIZATION
- A DOMINO EFFECT THAT NO AMOUNT OF MILITARY STRATEGY CAN STOP-
-       THEN THE ONLY REQUIREMENT NOW IS TO MAINTAIN THE THREAT
-       OF NUCLEAR/BIOLOGICAL/CHEMICAL/TERRORIST ATTACK,
-       TILL THE ONCE SUPER POWER'S DENIZENS ARE REDUCED TO COWERING WRECKS.
-       
YET, IF IT'S ALL BEGINNING TO LOOK LIKE THE PLOT OF A DISASTER MOVIE
ON THE LARGEST MOST DISASTROUS SCALE IMAGINABLE,
THERE'S ONE ESSENTIAL INGREDIENT MISSING IN THE FORMULA:
THE HERO.
AND WITHOUT A HERO
(AND NO ONE, I TRUST, WILL OFFER UP BUSH OR BLAIR IN THIS MOLD)
THERE'S NO POSSIBLE OPTION OF THE HAPPY ENDING.

THERE'S A PLOT TO BRING ABOUT THE COLLAPSE OF POSTMODERN SOCIETY, 
A PLOT AS OLD AS SOCIETY ITSELF.  IN FACT, CONSIDERABLY OLDER.
AND IT'S A PLOT THAT, WITTING OR NOT, WE ARE ALL IN ON.
IT'S THE HIDDEN AGENDA OF THE OTHER,
THE SHADOW, THE DENIED, SUPPRESSED, UNCONSCIOUS SIDE
OF OUR COLLECTIVE HUMAN PSYCHE.

FOR WESTERN SOCIETY WAS FOUNDED ON AND IS NOW SUSTAINED
BY THE COVERT TERRORIST POLICIES, STRATEGIES, AND TACTICS
OF A STRING OF MORE OR LESS OSTENSIBLY "DEMOCRATIC" GOVERNING BODIES.
AND PART OF THE "FRIENDLY FASCISTS" OF POSTMODERN CRYPTOCRACY'S
MODUS OPERANDI BY TO MAINTAIN A FAÇADE OF BENEVOLENCE
WHILE CLANDESTINELY LACING THE PLANET WITH DEATH AND DESTRUCTION,
IS THE ELABORATE DEMONIZATION OF 'THE ENEMY'
(ONCE SOVIET COMMUNISTS, NOW ISLAMIC TERRORISTS)
AND NOW, WITH THE DEMONIZATION OF THE ARAB,
THE WESTERN PSYCHE APPROACHES THE TRUE NATURE OF ITS PSYCHOSIS:
FOR THE
ARAB IS THE  QUINTESSENTIAL OTHER:
DARK, PRIMAL, UNRULY, POLYMORPHOUSLY PERVERSE;
NOT ONLY PRACTICING A "BARBARIC" RELIGION, BUT LIVING IN THE DESERT,
WEARING STRANGE CLOTHES, ABSTAINING FROM PORK AND BOOZE,
AND SMOKING
STRANGE INTOXICANTS.

YET, IF HUMANITY'S A COLLECTIVE ORGANISM, THEN NO PEOPLE, HOWEVER "
OTHER," CAN BE DEMONIZED WITHOUT A CORRESPONDING ABYSS BEING RIPPED
IN OUR OWN PSYCHE (AND BY EXTENSION, OUR CIVILIZATION).
SIGNIFIED, DRAMATICALLY, BY THE FALLING OF THE TWIN TOWERS,
THIS WAS THE INEVITABLE BACKLASH OF OUR COLLECTIVE DENIAL
OF THE UGLY TRUTH OF OUR NATURES.
THE EDIFICE OF WESTERN SOCIETY STANDS ON A SWAMP OF BRUTALISM,
A WAR-BASED WORLD TRADE CENTRE WHICH HAS ITS BEING IN CONTINUED ACTS
OF SABOTAGE & INFILTRATION BY THE CIA, NSA, DOD,
MAGOG AND PENTAGON
SO THAT, WHEN SHRAPNEL FROM THE ON-GOING EXPLOSION OF US FOREIGN POLICY
GETS CAUGHT IN A BLOW-BACK INTO OUR OWN FRONT GARDEN,
IT SHOULD NOT HAVE COME AS A GREAT SHOCK
THE ONLY SURPRISE BEING THAT IT TOOK SO LONG.
DEMONISE THE OTHER, THAT'S EXACTLY HOW HE'LL ACT!
AND HE 'LL DEVOUR US IF ONLY TO PROVE TO US ONCE AND FOR ALL
THAT WE ARE ONE WITH HIM.
AN UNCONSCIOUS DENIED FREE AND OPEN EXPRESSION SURFACES ANY WAY IT CAN.
AND, REPRESSED TOO LONG, ITS EMERGENCE IS INVARIABLY
APOCALYPTIC.
NOT JUST BECAUSE IT'S "
ANGRY" AT BEING DENIED,
BUT BECAUSE OUR CHILDISH, WILLFUL IGNORANCE OF ITS NATURE
HAS NOT PREPARED US FOR ITS EMERGENCE. 
WE ARE SHOCKED
BY THE TERRIBLE AFFRONT OF THE OTHER'S EMERGENCE
SHAKING APART THE PLACIDLY REASONABLE ILLUSION OF OUR CONSCIOUS LIVES.
BIN LADEN HAS HIS REASONS.  WE GAVE THEM TO HIM, CREATED HIM,
AND HIS REASONS, AS SURELY AS THE PSYCHE CREATES ITS SHADOW.
IF WE ARE NOT BOLD OR WISE ENOUGH TO TAKE THE CREDIT,
THEN AT LEAST LET'S GET READY TO SHOULDER THE BLAME.

WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE?  I'LL TELL YOU WHAT'S WRONG:
OUR COLLECTIVE FEARS WERE CREATING A VILLAIN
WHILE WE LIED TO OURSELVES THAT HE'S NOT LIKE US!
LACKING THE COURAGE TO TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR OUR OWN MESS,
AND ALL OF US LACKING THE WILL TO SUMMON A SOLUTION,
NO HERO STEPS FORTH TO SAVE US.
WE ARE ON OUR OWN WITH THE DEMON.
LET US GIVE HIM HIS DUE, THEN, AND SEE WHAT THE NEXT STEP MIGHT BE.
IF THE OTHER REMAINS UNACKNOWLEDGED, UNASSIMILATED,
AND THE ENSUING TRANSFORMATION LEFT UNEMBRACED,
THERE'S BUT ONE ALTERNATIVE:
UTTER ANNIHILATION.
IT'S AN ENDING, ALL RIGHT.
BUT IT AIN'T HAPPY.
by jake horsley, nov 2001
(with acknowledgments to jason wynd)
# WOT!

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london
SUN NOV 18              
MOMENTUM BUILDS FOR NOV 18TH ANTI-WAR PROTEST
Sunday November 18th promises to see London's and Europe's largest yet demo against the US-led war in Afghanistan, topping last month's 40,000-strong march/ stroll/ wander.
"People from all over the country and from all walks of life will assemble in large numbers at Hyde Park Corner at 12 noon and march from there to a rally at Trafalgar Square," said a
Stop the War Coalition spokesperson.
        The scale and diversity of anti-war feeling in Britain is growing by the day, and the turn-out will reflect this. Also the last big demo was so fantastic, like the
Flower Power days all over again. It will send out a powerful message, not only here but also in America and around the world.
"Already, more than 20 coaches have been booked from Birmingham, another 14 from Wales, also from Manchester, Leeds and Bradford.  Local groups are preparing special banners, and Artists Against the War are constructing giant Bush and Bin Laden puppets.  At sunset, there will be arrangements for fast-breaking for Muslims observing Ramadan and those wishing to join in solidarity with people suffering in Afghanistan."
Included among the international speakers are Ahmad Ben Bella, former president of Algeria, and a representative of New York City Labor Against the War, a coalition of New York trades unionists.
The build-up to the demo is very promising - something the Blair government will be watching with growing anxiety.
"There's a flurry of activity everywhere" says the
Stop The War Coalition person. "Last week we had meetings of more than 400 in Leeds and Oxford, and more than 2000 in Manchester. In the eight days left before 18 November, scores of local meetings and events are being organised across the country - from a rally for Civil Servants Against the War to a week long teach-in at the LSE to a meeting in Leamington Spa and a rally in Bradford.  Leaflets, posters and the Stop the War Coalition bulletins are being snapped up. We're working hard to meet the demand."
12 noon.  Hyde Park/Speakers' Corner.  INFO: 0777 3764455 or 07810 540584
office@stopwar.org.uk
www.stopwar.org.uk
1) Supporters of the  for the Stop the War Coalition (STWC) include: the Muslim Parliament, CND, ASLEF, RMT, the general secretaries of the NUJ, NATFHE and the Bakers' union, national executive members of UNISON, CWU, NUT, FBU, NUS, London Region MSF, the London Council of Mosques, Federation of Student Islamic Societies in UK/Eire, Peace in Kurdistan Campaign, Young Muslim UK - Sisters Branch, Newham Monitoring Project, National Civil Rights Movement, Germaine Greer, Paul Foot, Yvonne Ridley, John Pilger, Tariq Ali, George Monbiot, Harold Pinter, Rosie Boycott, Ronan Bennett, Tony Benn, Canon PaulOestricher, Dr Gayasuddin Saddiqui, Imran Khan (lawyer), George Galloway MP, Jeremy Corbyn MP, Paul Marsden MP, Alan Simpson MP, Labour Against the War, Lawyers Against the War, Artists Against the War, Media Workers Against the War, Civil Servants Against the War, Teachers Against the War, Mark Seddon (editor, Tribune), Christine Shawcroft (Labour NEC), Asad Rehman (NMP), Suresh Grover, (NCRM), Dave Nellist (Coventry councillor and national chair, Socialist Alliance), Liz Davies (former member, Labour NEC), Hilary Wainwright (editor, Red Pepper), Mark Thomas, Mark Steel, Jeremy Hardy, Socialist Alliance, Morning Star, Socialist Workers Party
# WAT!

Dear Fraser:
I would like to thank you for your wonderful magazine, its always a plate full to get news and information that is not media-biased.  Love reading it.
Thank-you and congratulations.
carolina / japan
# WAT!
_______________________________
LETTER OF THE WEEK
NOWHERE TO RUN TO, NOTHING TO HIDE!
by Starhawk
Scrolling through my email backlog, two themes predominate: the illegitimacy and horror of
America's New War, and a multitude of voices from the movement of which I thought I was a of telling us to pause, keep quiet, that protest now might jeopardize our cause.
And I'm thinking how
Emma Goldman, when she took an extremely unpopular position, said that the more people disagreed with her, the more strongly she had to speak out.  We need a little more of her spirit in the movement today.
Now is the moment when we need to move
forward, not retreat, when we need to step up our activism, not pull back.
The media and government are trying to construct a reality for us. 
Silencing ourselves plays into their hands.  If they accuse dissenters of being unpatriotic and we stifle our dissent to that opinion, we're accepting their view of reality.  If they accuse us of being terrorists, and we hide, we confirm the association in the public mind. 
And we have no reason to hide, nothing to apologize for, no reason to retreat one inch!  We stand for the very values the U.S. is presumably fighting for: democracy, accountability, real security, true justice - and we should be loud and proud about it!
Indeed, the best way to truly differentiate ourselves from the terrorists is to do what we do, loudly, publicly, and visibly, to continue to speak, to march, to gather publicly, to organize blatantly, and yes, to mount actions that challenge the institutions of corporate control, actions
that embody the principles of freedom, direct democracy, respect for diversity and love for life.
If the government passes laws that define dissent as terrorism, they still have to
implement those laws, prosecute people under them, defend their position in court.  Whether they do so will depend on their perception of the likely political price
.  A strong, vital movement with strong solidarity can make each step costly and difficult.  But, if we stifle our own dissent out of fear, we've done their work for them. 
Repression requires compliance.  No matter how pervasive and strong, a repressive system can only afford to enforce its every decree if it can intimidate people enough that they police themselves out of fear.  Fear surrounds us at the moment.  Our tv screens waft it to us every night; it falls like anthrax powder from the pages of our newspapers.  We can't blame each other for being afraid, but we can lovingly challenge each other to move past the fear to a place of courage.  For fear doesn't lead to good decisions.  It cuts us off from information, from choices, from vision and hope..
The
WTO, the IMF and the World Bank are not pausing for reflection.  They're getting on with their meetings, pushing their entire corporate agenda as hard as they possibly can.  The Bush Administration isn't thoughtfully slowing down - it's moving full speed ahead with a campaign of gratuitous violence that now threatens millions of Afghanis with starvation.
If we pull back now, we won't later find a more favorable moment to act.  Every agenda item they lock into place becomes that much harder to dislodge.  Every political space relinquished becomes that much harder to regain.  We could act stupidly, and provoke a backlash we'll be struggling against for decades.  We could act timidly, or not act, and lose all the political ground we have gained and then some.  Or we can act with courage, vision, humor and creativity, continue to challenge the system with new possibilities, new analyses, new voices, and actually be a model for a huge constituency of people whose real feelings are far more complex and ambiguous than any poll can show. 

BUT PUBLIC OPINION IS AGAINST US… ISN'T IT?
Yes, public opinion seems against us.  But public opinion was never changed by silence.  We don't change opinions by deferring to them, but by challenging them - which doesn't mean being strident or doctrinaire. 
New forms of dialogue may be called for.  But people are hungry to talk about these issues.  If we're willing to listen as well as speechify, our actions can become forums for breakthroughs and openings.
Our actions will likely be met by a hailstorm of vitriolic name-calling from the Right.  So what's new?!  The Civil Rights movement, the anti-Vietnam war movement, the feminist and
les/ bi/ trans/ gay rights movements and virtually every movement for social justice had to face down hatred, and many still do.  All were originally seen as too radical, provocative, likely to detract from the achievement of some agenda or another.  Yet all weathered the storm and went on to make major changes in the public consciousness.
Fear, you know, can make our opposition seem much stronger than they are.  I've been in many, many marches, rallies, and vigils since 911, sung the old sixties songs with the most peaceful of pacifists; listened to angry speeches over bad sound systems; been trapped by riot cops in front of the
World Bank with the black masked anarchists.  Sometimes we've been met by counterdemonstrators, but never more than a handful.  Sometimes the police have tried to provoke us or repress us - but they were doing that before 911!
Most people we passed, in fact, offered us signs of support.
  Construction workers flashed peace signs, office workers waved, passersby joined us  and people thanked us for speaking out.  Opportunities lie immediately ahead to build our movement to a new level.
And even if our worst fears are true - no, especially if they're true, if we are witnessing Act II of last year's coup, our best chance of forestalling martial law and overt fascist control is to fill the streets
now, again and again, as a visible sign that a strong and growing movement will resist the consolidation of their illegitimate power.

"LOVE ONE ANOTHER!"
The School of the Americas Watch is organizing mass protests for the  weekend of November 17 and 18.  Their nonviolent action demands the closure of America's own terrorist training school, where the death squads and military of Latin America have been taught the finer points of torture and assassination for decades.
        The
IMF and World Bank have moved their annual meeting to Ottawa on the weekend of November 17 and 18.  A mobilization has begun, on very short notice.  It's a chance to again contest the policies that create the climate of despair that breeds terrorism, to link the issues of the war with world economic issues, to revitalize the movement for global justice.  If there's any possibility you can come to Ottawa, come!  A strong showing there would make a huge difference.  And everywhere, peace vigils, marches, rallies, and speak outs continue to be organized. Show up.  Bring your friends!
        Organize your own.  Even a simple act can be powerful.  One friend went out with her kids and a simple peace banner two days after 911 and hung it over the freeway.  Another went downtown with signs that said simply, "LOVE ONE ANOTHER"  Both were thanked by people who said they'd been afraid to speak out because they felt they were alone.
        What we do in the next weeks is crucial.
        Millions of lives will be lost this winter.  If we take action, we still have a chance to preserve our freedoms, change the destructive path laid out for us, and chart a new course.

Overall information on upcoming actions: http://www.indymedia.org/www.indymedia.org (check the
page for your local area)
WTO actions: http://www.wtoaction.org/cfwtowww.wtoaction.org/cfwto (International)
http://www.globalizethis.org/www.globalizethis.org (Local actions I'm involved in)
School of the Americas Watch: http://www.soaw.org/www.soaw.org
Global Democracy Ottawa site: http://www.flora.org/gdohttp://www.flora.org/gdo
Ottawa anarchist organizing: http://www.site-lines.com/toutaHTTP://www.site-lines.com/touta
Starhawk's website: http://www.starhawk.org/www.starhawk.org
# WAT!  "I have no country to fight for; my country is the earth, and I am a citizen of the world." Eugene Debs

A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A ADVERTISING G G G G G G G G G G G G G G G
lookin' fer a nice underground radio station ;)
www.hype.fm
A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A ADVERTISING G G G G G G G G G G G G G G G

U.S Federal Prison Camp
NOV 1-18
FEDERAL INMATES DECLARE HUNGER STRIKE
TO PROTEST U.S. MILITARY TRAINING SCHOOL
CALL FOR A PERMANENT CLOSURE TO THE SCHOOL OF THE AMERICAS
Two prisoners at the Federal Prison Camp in Sheridan, Oregon, have declared an 18 day hunger strike to protest the continued existence of the School of the Americas.  Eric Robison (21) and Josh Raisler Cohn (24) are already serving 6 month maximum sentences along with 19 others for trespassing at Ft. Benning, GA, the home of this controversial combat training school.
A nationwide participation in the 18 day juice & water only fast by several of their codefendants in other locations is also announced, with the fast culminating on November 18 when thousands of citizens will gather at Ft. Benning to take part in a vigil and civil disobedience calling for the permanent closure of the SOA.
"This 'school' is an Academy of Assassins for Latin American soldiers, and we will continue to work, even from prison, until it is closed forever."
says Eric.

The purpose of the fast is threefold:
1. To remember the victims of violence perpetrated by U.S. militarism, especially those in Latin America terrorized by troops trained at the SOA.
2. To call for a permanent closure of this School of Assassins.
3. To protest the imprisonment of political prisoners.

The U.S. Army School of the Americas was founded in 1946 in Panama and has been the center of controversy for decades.   It has trained more than 60,000 Latin American soldiers in counter-insurgency warfare techniques
Archbishop Oscar Romero was assassinated in 1980 by SOA graduates in El Salvador.
More than half of the hundreds of Colombian soldiers listed as human rights violators in a recent report were SOA graduates.
SOA training manuals, released by the pentagon in 1996, advocate the use of torture, extortion and execution targeted at civilian populations in Latin America.  Those often targeted include school teachers, union organizers, religious workers and others who work for the rights of the poor.
Due to a growing citizen campaign in the U.S. the SOA almost had its funding cut in Congress last year, and as a result the Pentagon has changed the name of the school.   However the Western Hemispheric Institute for Security Cooperation (WHISC) cannot distance itself from its horrific past.  Paul Coverdel, a Georgia Senator supporter of the late SOA, promised that the changes to the school would be "cosmetic" and that WHISC would continue a great tradition (it sez here).
NOV 18          VIGIL AT FORT BENNING
Thousands are expected.  The vigil commemorates the anniversary of the murders of  6 Jesuits, their co-worker and her daughter by SOA graduates in El Salvador in 1989.
"It is ironic and sad that as George W. Bush calls for an all out war against those that "inspire, support and finance" terror he has not closed the School of the Americas," said Josh. "Millions of taxpayer dollars are used every year to finance a training school for terrorists in our own backyard at the SOA."

WRITE TO THE PRISONERS:
addresses and additional information about the "SOA 26" at www.soaw.org
addresses of political prisoners in Mexico/Chiapas at
www.geocities.com/zapatistablock
# WOT!

USAMAH BIN-LADIN INTERVIWED BY THE PAKISTANI PAPER UMMAT
(watch out for war propaganda)
Ummat:  You've been accused of involvement in the New York and Washington attacks.  If you are not involved, who might be?
Usamah: I've already said I had no involvement in those attacks, and, as a Muslim, I try to avoid telling a lie.  I had no knowledge of these attacks, nor do I consider the killing of innocent women, children, and other humans as an acceptable act.  Islam strictly forbids it, even in war.
It's the United States which is perpetrating every abuse of women, children, and common people of other faiths, particularly the followers of Islam.  What has been going on in Palestine for the last 11 months is sufficient to call the wrath of God upon the United States and Israel, repeating what had earlier been done to the innocent people of Iraq, Chechnya, and Bosnia
There's also a warning for all Muslim countries who are silent spectators.  Only one conclusion is possible from the indifference of the United States and the West to these acts of terror, and their patronage of the tyrants, namely that
America is an anti-Islamic power, and is patronizing the anti-Islamic forces.  Its friendship with Muslim countries is just a show, rather deceit.  By enticing or intimidating these countries, the United States forces them to play the role of its choice.   Look around, the slaves of the United States are either rulers or enemies of Muslims.
        The US has no friends, nor does it want any, for friendship's prerequisite is to consider your friend on a par with you.  America does not want to see anyone as equal to it.  It expects slavery  from others. 
Our  case is different.  We have pledged slavery to God Almighty alone,  and cannot become someone else's slave.  Most of the world nations who uphold their freedom are religious ones, hence perceived by America as its enemies.  The countries which refuse to become its slaves,
China, Iran, Libya, Cuba, Syria, and the former Russia.
The September 11th perpetrators are no friends of the American people.  I've already explained that we are against the American system, but not against its people, but these attacks have killed common American people.  The United States, then, should seek the perpetrators either in people who are part of the system but dissenting against it; or those working for some other system who want to make the present century a conflict between Islam and Christianity so that their own civilization, nation, country, or ideology can survive.
It could be
Russia or Israel or India or Serbia.  In the US itself, there are dozens of well-organized and well-equipped groups, quite capable of causing a large-scale destruction.  Then you can't forget the American Jews, who've been angry with President Bush since the elections in Florida and want revenge.  Then there's the intelligence agencies who require billions of dollars from the government every year.  This was not a big issue while the Soviet Union existed, but their budgets have been in danger since.  They needed an enemy.  So, they started propaganda against Usamah and the Taliban, and now this incident happens. 
The Bush administration has approved a 40 billion dollar budget.  Where will this huge amount go?  Why, to the same agencies who want to exert their importance.  Now they'll spend the money to expand and increase their own importance.  I'll give you an example
.  Drug smugglers all over the world are in contact with the US secret agencies,  because these agencies don't want to diminish their  own importance by eradicating narcotics and trafficking.  The US Drug Enforcement  Agency is encouraging the drug trade.  The CIA built General Noriega into a drug baron, then, when necessary, made a scapegoat of him. 
Similarly, whether it's President Bush or any other president, they cannot  bring Israel to justice for its human rights abuses, nor hold it accountable for its crimes.  What can this mean, except that there exists a secret government within the American government?   It's that  government you need to ask about these attacks.
www.khilafa.com
# WOT!

Dear Fraser,
I have always enjoyed the
UPGRADEmag but since September 11th it has become something more than that - thank you. 
I am particularly stimulated and provoked by the inclusion of critical voices and your dialogues with them.
Would it be possible to set up a real dialogue/debate between you and an appropriate "opponent" either live or on the net?   That would really ignite the issues and could even show the way forward.
It might even become clearer whether disagreements are a matter of opinion or (as I suspect) over the true state of affairs. 
Anyway, thank you for continuing to shed more light on what the true state of affairs might be.
(And for the camel jokes - we do still need jokes - however bad things get)
All the best
Colin Watkeys / london

# WAT!   (watch out for war propaganda)
Ummat:  A number of countries have joined the United States' call for the attack on Afghanistan, including a number of Muslim countries.  Will Al-Qa’idah declare a jihad against these countries as well?
Usamah:  My only duty is to awaken Muslims; to tell them what's good for them and what's not, and what Islam says, and what Islam's enemies want.  Al-Qa’idah was set up to wage a jihad against infidelity, particularly to encounter the infidel onslaught against the Islamic states.  Jihad is the sixth undeclared element of Islam.  Every anti-Islamic person fears it.  Al-Qa’idah wants to keep this element alive, active, and make it part of the Muslim's daily life.  To give it the status of worship.  We're not against any Islamic country, nor do we consider a war against an Islamic country as jihad.  We are in favour of armed jihad only against those infidel countries which are killing innocent Muslim men, women, and children just because they are Muslims. 
www.khilafa.com
# WAT!

EVIL EVILDOERS OF EVIL
HOW TO FEEL CALMLY PATRIOTIC AND YET
NOT THE SLIGHTEST BIT REASSURED BY BUSH & CO
.
by Mark Morford, SF Gate
It really is possible to love your country, value your freedoms, and still believe the government is full of fools and prevaricators and BS artists and Dick Cheney.  Really.
It really is possible to feel warmly patriotic in personal and important ways and yet believe the military and the generals and the war machine do not have your best interests at heart and really couldn't care less what those interests are anyway but thank you for sharing now please sit down and do as we tell you and by the way, thanks for all the flags and the money.
And it really is possible to feel unified and spiritually connected to all that is good and righteous about your generally nonviolent Americanism - you know, wine and sex and good music, large dogs and literature and clean water and tongue kissing in the streets - and still be depressed when our famously nonintellectual president talks to the country like we're all five years old and heavily dosed on Ritalin.
When Bush employs phrases like "bring the evildoers to justice" over and over, 17 times in one speech alone, and he furrows his brow like a serious Muppet and offers carefully scripted reassurances deliberately lacking in polysyllabism and detailed explanation because that would be, you know, complicated.
When he repeats primitive little maxims like "There are no negotiations" and responds to press-conference questions about the vitriolic anti-US hatred that has blossomed around the globe by saying, "I'm amazed. I just can't believe it because I know how good we are," thus causing a giant global spasm of multinational cringing and openly insulting the intelligence of anyone who can walk and breathe at the same time.
But perhaps that's too harsh.  Unfair.  He's the president, after all.  He's a Good Man.  He's our leader right now, he's doing his best and he's all we've got.  This is our rallying cry, our motto. He's all we've got.   Except for Cheney, which isn't exactly reassuring.  No one's ever seen this man's mouth actually move.  No one can take one look at his oddly spiritless and wan figure and not think, oh dear God, that man is running on fumes.  From a bunker.  With ropes and pulleys.
But you're not supposed to.  In fact, you really aren't allowed to criticize the president or the veep right now, not supposed to feel strangely leaderless and adrift, not permitted to look upon the events of the past weeks with much wariness or bitterness or a disquieting sense that we're setting things in motion that have no predictable outcome - ugly, subterranean, hateful things that could last years and will surely cost billions and will deeply entrench the nation in a bizarre and poisonous shell game with shadowy opponents of largely unknown capability and do you hear that?   That soft roaring?  That's the sound of the GOP-stroked military machine, quietly cheering.
Never mind the staggering multibillion-dollar political mess in Saudi Arabia that fueled bin Laden's network for years, or the enormous oil fields that are desperately vulnerable to terrorist attack at any moment.  Never mind the US government's outright rejection of new advancements in alternative fuels to get us away from oil and out of the Gulf entirely.
Instead we get:  Evildoers.  Air strikes.  Hundreds of dead civilians.   Rumsfeld denials.   And Bush, squinting, saying things only small children and GasMaskExpress.com shoppers find comforting and manly.
It is, Bush tells us, a war on terrorism.  We will eradicate terrorism through largely violent and aggressive means, because that is what we must do and what we always do and everything else takes too damn long.  We have to do something.  This is the common wisdom.  Bush said so.  Mr. Rumsfeld told him so, with his black and shiny hawk eyes all a-glimmer.  Disagree?   You traitorous whiner. 
This war, it will be just like the War on Drugs.  It will be potent and effective and our objectives will be clear.  The nation had a nasty drug problem and we declared a war on drugs and spent billions over many years and now you can't buy drugs anymore.  It will be just like that. 
There is more than one way to respond to the horror of Sept. 11.  And there is more than one kind of patriotism.  We forget this.  You do not have to rally around Bush and tolerate Cheney's chthonic creepiness  and wave a frantic flag and believe every scripted half-truth that drizzles out of the Pentagon, applaud the nonstop attacks on an already demolished nation.
Pro-America does not mean pro-war.  Or pro-Bush.  Or anti-Afghanistan  It means thinking independently, getting better informed, filtering your news very carefully and realizing that just because one version of the American aggro attitude is currently being ramrodded down society's throat doesn't mean you have to swallow.
It means you don't have to find Tomahawk missiles really cool, or think all those tens of thousands of
Europeans and Egyptians and world citizens protesting the US bombings must be commie jerks, or feel sad and morally depleted when you can't seem to draw any intellectual nourishment whatsoever when Bush declaims, "Terrorists want us to stop our lives, stop our flying, stop our buying. But this nation will not be intimidated by evildoers."   You don't have to buy into that infantile hokum for a moment.
After all, this is America!  Or, at least, we are Americans!
Mark Morford's Notes & Errata column appears weekly on SF Gate. He also writes the Morning Fix, a deeply skewed and funny daily email newsletter. Subscribe at
sfgate.com/newsletters/
# WOT!

"The bombing campaign has had a huge impact on popular opinion, which has radically shifted towards the Taliban and against America… I was against rushing into the bombing, not because I want to appease terrorists, or because I'm opposed to the US, but because by the end of the campaign the world will be a far more dangerous place."
  Imran Khan.

# WAT!   (watch out for war propaganda)
Ummat: The losses caused in the New York and Washington attacks have proved that delivering an economic blow to the US is not so difficult.  US experts admit that a few more such attacks can bring down the American economy.  Why is al-Qa’idah not targeting their economic pillars?
Usamah: I've already said that we are not hostile to the United States.  We are against a system which makes other nations its slaves, or forces them to mortgage their political and economic freedom.  This system is totally in the control of the American Jews, whose first priority is Israel, not the United States. The American people themselves are the slaves of the Jews, forced to live according to the principles and laws laid down by them.  So, the punishment should reach Israel.   It's Israel which is giving a blood bath to innocent Muslims, with the US not uttering a single word.
www.khilafa.com
# WOT!

texas
Dear Fraser,
Last week the rave producers and dj's in Austin, Texas were rounded up by the DEA, our Drug Enforcement Administration.  Initially they received letters and calls inviting them to a meeting.  Each rave-maker was told that they were all under investigation for criminal activity under the crack house laws.  Each was told to "cooperate" with the DEA to help bust up the scene.
This information has not been released to our American press yet.  Somehow I doubt our press will cover it anyway, even if given transcripts of the ordeals.  We're being told that "evildoers" hide in the shadows of our intellibeams and strobe lights. The massive crackdown has begun.
I suspect this federal action is occurring all over the United States.  Spread the word.
Wilson Leary
am not so sure u r right about it happening all over the place, winston.  i read today that the fda just licensed ecstasy for lab research again.  think (hope) u r a victim of a local turf war, and that the big picture is that they suddenly have real bad guys to chase, and even that they might NEED us?!
# WOT!

"We can't understand the Americans. We have been in regular contact and told them what we need.  They are crazy people, they don't know anything"
  Haji Mohammed Zaman,
key Afghan opposition commander.

# WAT!   (watch out for war propaganda)
Ummat:  Why not attack the enemies of Islam through means other than armed struggle?  Muslim boycotts of Western products, for example, or banks, shipping lines, TV channels.
Usamah:  Firstly, Western products could only be boycotted when the Muslim fraternity is fully awake and organized.  Secondly, Muslim companies must become self-sufficient in producing goods equal to Western products.  Economic boycott could only be possible when economic self-sufficiency is attained.   Though wealth is scattered all across the Muslim world, not a single TV channel has been acquired which preaches Islamic values, using modern techniques, and attaining an international influence.  Muslim businessmen and philanthropists should make a point keeping the weapons of public opinion in Muslim hands.  Today public opinion determines and pressurises the fates of nations.  Once the tools for building public opinion are obtained, everything you ask about becomes possible.
www.khilafa.com

# WAT
Here I am, feeling like years into the conflict, just about to nail my colours to the non-aligned mast.
So here goes - I, the great all-knowing, have deigned to come down off the fence.  Bump!  And what do I see?
I'll tell you. It's pathetic.  Absolutely fucking pathetic.  I'm not against this war, I'm not for this war.  I'm for quality.  And there is no quality in this.  The actions of the US and its mealy-mouthed allies are absolutely despicable.  Bush, Sharon and Blair have combined to create the most appalling climate of fear and violence I can remember. 
As for Ossie, he's the most astute, but he has an enormous blind spot.  His actions have not furthered the Palestinian or Muslim cause one iota, rather they've acted as a focus to concentrate hatred and negative emotional energy all across the world.  This cannot be viewed as a positive contribution, even if it is directly against the world's bully. 
The original plan, as stated by Bushy, to kill or capture Ossie and destroy the Al- Quad network, was idiotic because it was unachievable.  Giving away your war aims, stating them in such a way as to make them easily defeated is a page one mistake.  All Ossie has to do is stay demonstrably alive, while Bush's term of office winds down and that's a de facto defeat for Bush.
We can't even begin to talk about morally wrong, because a morally wrong situation - US global exploitation - led to a morally wrong act - a terrorist attack - which led to a morally wrong act - a so called war against terrorism, with morally wrong consequences.  That's only the shortcut version, because many more morally wrong layers of repression and subplots are visible.  The background of Israel and Palestine, of Pakistani and CIA support for the Taliban, of the West's insatiable requirements for cheap oil, the flourishing of the Taliban in the power vacuum created by the USSR's withdrawal, the nightmare scenario of Afghanistan being handed over to some bunch of nutcases just because they're not the Taliban, the continuing sponsorship by the west of other Arab dictatorships because they toe the line, all these things are a total mess.  The "evil doers".  What a stupid expression, doesn't he realise how hypocritical he sounds when he says that? 
Blair is guilty of behaving like a prima donna while he plays with other people's lives.  That's really what I'm against - and for the record, I think Islam is bollocks and so is Christianity.  I think if you're an evolved person you've probably gone beyond the need to have your religion written down as a code to believe in, in fact you've probably gone beyond the level where belief functions as reality. 
One would at that point, however, I think, accept one's lot and deal with the task in front of one, live peacefully and allow others to do the same.  It would not be necessary to hold opinions about what other people should do.  We really do have to get beyond this "if you don't believe the same as me, then you are evil , I hate you and you count for nothing" business.  This whole us and them thing is destroying us.  It's awful.
love

Wit / Phil
# WOT!

//YOU FEEDBACK
TERRORISTS/BAD - leadership was not elected by a majority of the people in a free and fair democratic election.
US GOVERNMENT/GOOD - leadership was not elected by a majority of the people in a free and fair democratic election.
Right on, Fraser! No need to apologise for that one. It should be repeated as often as necessary to make people remember that Boy George's "election" was as crooked as a dog's hind leg. This has conveniently been forgotten, along with many of his other shortcomings, in all the "news" pumped out by CNN etc. Your comparisons between Talibans and Republicans are spot on. A plague on both their houses (which they are no doubt trying to do to each other). Thank you for doing what you do. May the Foresight be with you
.
Harry the Dead Poet / california

# WOT! (watch out for war propaganda)
Ummat:  The Western media has supplied the entire propaganda campaign for your struggle, while no information comes from your sources about Al-Qa’idah and its jihadi successes.  Would you comment?
Usamah:  The Western media is left with nothing else, in fact.  It has no other theme that can last for long.   We, however, have many things to do.  The struggle for jihad and the successes are for the sake of Allah and not to annoy His bondsmen.  Our silence is our real propaganda.  Rejections and explanations only waste your time and, through them, the enemy keeps you engaged in things which only pull you away from your cause. 
The Western media is unleashing such shallow, baseless propaganda that it amazes us, yet it reflects what's in their hearts, and gradually they themselves become captive of their own propaganda.  They become afraid of it, and begin to cause harm to themselves.  Terror is the most dreaded weapon in the modern age, and the Western media is mercilessly using it against its own people, spreading fear and helplessness in the psyche of the people of Europe and the United States.  It means that what the United States' enemies cannot achieve, its media is doing for them!   You can imagine what the performance of a nation which suffers from fear and helplessness will be in a war.
www.khilafa.com
# WAT!

WHAT CAN WE DO? (THAT'S US, NOT THE OTHERS)
That's everyone reading this who has had no power or intention so far to do anything but talk, pray or send money to the red cross.
I know what would get attention but could not be televised so we don't get our mug shots in the dissident files. 
I know what we could do that would not be the hopeless spamming of some long dead mailbox. 
I know what we could do that would make it clear to Blair AND Bush who's boss WE are the boss.  WE are the most powerful entity on God's earth WE the PEOPLE.  It's neither them, nor the few who really pull the strings, who's the real boss. 
I know what we could do to get the press clear that selling papers is not their only duty.  I know! and I know that YOU KNOW TOO.

Trouble is, if I tell you, I'd have to kill you or be shot myself.  There are many near-secret societies that make the mafia look like teddy bears.  These people are the real criminals - not Blair or Bush who're like Tweedledum and Tweedledee agreeing to have a battle against someone rather like the Red Queen (sorry binlala).
        If I know then so do millions of others.  I'm no genius - just someone mad at having all my principles and hopes for a better life smashed in the name of greed and carelessness. 
Here's all I can say - if enough people come up with ideas that would log-jam the ones with the jam ALL AT ONCE.  If we can get a critical mass of people who say 'Unacceptable!' to the murder in our names.  If we can break the dreadful apathy we are experiencing like frogs in water, being warmed gently, then IT'S NOT TOO LATE.

In other words WAKE UP!
jackie / london
i think these forces are extremely large and extremely ancient, jackie, and i now see that my impatience when the war was looming was, well, young :)  it's now obvious that it was totally unstoppable (even if we'd crashed another 3 planes into wherever) it was unstoppable, it was a karmic process that had to go through.  it's the Biggest Thing of all and will be the last thing to change after everything else has been transformed.
which doesn't mean we can't stop the war and all the rest of it.  we now see the war stretching itself out ahead of us, and more importantly others will start to notice how it's spreading too and that's when the forces for change begin to become possible - when their "arrogance reduced to stumps" rage dies down and the head starts looking around.
now i'm starting to think that this long low grade war is the best opportunity we've ever had to grow a Peace Movement (with full heartfelt apologies to the afghan girl whose legs just got blown off as i wrote that).  a peace movement as i see it is really the new culture that's to replace the old dinosaur one.  it has  to come in as a peace movement precisely because the previous social model was warlike and will go out fighting.  or did you think they'd just apologise and retire?
the dinosaurs are all out in the open now.  vast immovable slobs entirely stuck in the past.  they even LOOK huge & immovable!  sharon's the most obvious, then rev ian paisley, cheyney "I SHALL NOT BE MOVED I'VE ALWAYS BEEN THIS WAY MY FATHER BEFORE HIM I SHALL NOT FORGET OR CHANGE A SINGLE IOTA!!"  proud to be unbudging that's the old dinosaur culture and the reason they died out.  
our duty is to avoid the dying dinosaurs falling on US.  and part of that, my dear friend and fellow UPgrader, is NOT to get too overwrought about the suffering in the meantime.  it's been going on for thousands of years this dinosaur culture with its massive injustice cruelty selfishness and greed.  the total of 'afghan girls legs' they've blown off in their era is hardly affected by the few hundred more that CANNOT BE SAVED!
i am aware how horrible such an attitude could be IF YOU ARE NOT TOTALLY COMMITTED TO DO ALL THAT'S P0SSIBLE TO SPEED THE NECESSARY CHANGE :)
fraser
.
# WAT!   (watch out for war propaganda)
Ummat: What will the impact of the US freeze of al-Qa'idah accounts?
Usamah: God opens ways for those who work for Him.  Freezing of accounts will make no difference for Al-Qa’idah or other jihad groups.   Al-Qa’idah has more than three alternative financial systems, all totally independent of each other. This system operates with the patronage of those who love jihad., and not even the combined world, let alone just the United States, could budge these people from their path. They're not in hundreds but in thousands and millions.  Al-Qa’idah comprises modern educated youths, as aware of the cracks in the Western financial system as the lines in their hands.  Such are the very flaws of the Western fiscal system, which are becoming a noose for it.
www.khilafa.com
# WOT!

Dear Fraser,
I have always enjoyed the
UPGRADEmag, but since September 11th it has become something more than that - thank you.
I am particularly stimulated and provoked by the inclusion of critical voices and your dialogues with them.  Would it be possible to set up a real dialogue/debate between you and an appropriate
"opponent" either live or on the net?  That would really ignite the issues and could even show the way forward.
It might even become clearer whether disagreements are a matter of opinion or (as I suspect) over the true state of affairs.
Thank you for continuing to shed more light on what the true state of affairs might be.
(And for the camel jokes - we do still need jokes - however bad things get)
All the best

Colin Watkeys / london
# WOT!

OIL ARMAMENTS & GENDER POLITICS
HEAVILY EDITED TIDBITS FROM THE WASHINGTON POST
… Though the U.S. State Department formally rebukes and imposes annual penalties on governments that protect and promote terrorists, since 1996, when the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan, the nation harboring Osama bin Laden has never made the department's list of terrorist-sponsoring countries.
        The omission reflects a decade plus of vexing relations between the two countries when the State Department
was more focused on U.S. oil interests than on the growing terrorist threat.  By allowing terrorism fueled by anti-American rage to take root in Afghanistan, officials underestimated the potential for danger.

Former secretary of state
Madeleine K. Albright:
"This is hard to say and I haven't found a way to say it that doesn't sound crass, but the truth is that the embassy bombings [before Sept. 11] were happening overseas and while Americans died, it wasn't thousands and it didn't happen on U.S. soil."

THE PIPELINE CONNECTION
… Throughout the mid-1990s, Unocal, a California-based energy giant, was seeking rights to build a massive pipeline system across Afghanistan, connecting the vast oil and natural gas reserves of Turkmenistan to a plant and ports in Pakistan.  State Department officials promoted the project.  "We worked hard to make all the Afghan factions understand the potential, because the Unocal pipeline offered development opportunities that no aid program nor any Afghan government could.".
        But
Unocal faced fierce competition.  Because it was unclear which of Afghanistan's factions would ultimately take control, international oil companies jockeyed to build alliances.
        
Unocal received assurances from the Taliban for a $4.5 billion project which would rival the trans-Alaska pipeline and realize $100 million a year in transit fees for them…
        But
Unocal, in order to secure critical financing from agencies such as the World Bank, also needed the US government to formally recognize the Taliban as Afghanistan's government.  Unocal hired former State Department insiders: former secretary of state Henry A. Kissinger, former special U.S. ambassador John J. Maresca and Robert Oakley, a former U.S. ambassador to Pakistan. [Carlysle Group perhaps, Papa Bush's investment company for the super elite?]
        Afghan-born Zalmay Khalilzad, former Reagan State Department adviser on Afghanistan and now a consultant for a Boston group hired by Unocal, played dual roles during this period with Oakley, the ex-ambassador to Pakistan, because the State Department also sought their advice.  Khalilzad is now one of President Bush's top advisers on Afghanistan.
        Unocal's favors to the Taliban sent a clear signal to rivals - they supplied the Taliban with office equipment, funded and set up a job training program (affiliated with the University of Nebraska) in Kandahar, the Taliban stronghold, and, in a late 1997 public relations move, they flew Taliban officials to tour Unocal's U.S. offices where, after a side trip to the beach, they flew them to Washington for meetings in the Capitol and the State Department to press their case for U.S. recognition….

WOMEN AND AFGHANISTAN
A bin Laden fatwa in early 1998 urged followers to target the United States, but the notice was largely ignored by U.S. groups and businesses concentrating on Afghanistan.
In July, U.S. women's groups organized protests of
Unocal's plans to go ahead with its project despite what they called the Taliban's "horrific gender apartheid."  This pressure from women's groups began to have an impact domestically, making it increasingly clear that U.S. recognition of the Taliban - so desperately needed by Unocal -- might be politically impossible.

THE OIL'S STILL THERE, FOLKS, AND THE TALIBAN MAY BE GONE SOON
"So the question comes up of how do you fight terrorism," Albright said. "The tragedy, and it's horrible, is that it took this kind of event to generate the support we need to do more."

# WAT!   (watch out for war propaganda)
Ummat:  Are there safe areas other than Afghanistan where you can continue jihad?
Usamah: There are areas where strong jihadi forces are present in all parts of the world, from Indonesia to Algeria, from Kabul to Chechnya, from Bosnia to Sudan, and from Burma to Kashmir.   Besides, it is not a problem of my person, I'm but a helpless fellowman of God, constantly in fear of my accountability before God.  Thanks be to Him that those waging a jihad can walk today with their heads raised.  Allah opens ways and creates love in the hearts of people for those who walk on the path of Allah with their lives, property, and children.  Believe it, a man gets everything he desires through jihad.  Since the biggest desire of a Muslim is eternal life, martyrdom is the shortest way of attaining it.
www.khilafa.com

# WAT!   (watch out for war propaganda)
Ummat:  What do you say about the Pakistan government policy on the Afghanistan attack?
Usamah: We thank the Momin and valiant people of Pakistan who stood in the first file of battle.  Pakistan is a great hope for the Islamic brotherhood.  Its people are awakened, organized, and rich in the spirit of faith.  They backed Afghanistan in its war against the Soviet Union, and they extended every help to the mojahedin and the Afghan people.  And these very Pakistanis are standing shoulder to shoulder with the Taliban.  If such people emerge in just two countries, the domination of the West will diminish in a matter of days.   Pakistan is as sacred to us as a place of worship.  It doesn't matter for us who rules Pakistan.  The important thing is that the spirit of jihad is alive in the hearts of the Pakistani people.
 www.khilafa.com

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