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October 18, 2000
Mahajan
and Jensen
Avoiding
a New Cold War
Patrick
Cockburn
US
Planes Pound Taliban
Jamey Hecht
Gerald Ford
and the CIA
Mokhiber
and Weisman
3
Arguments
Against This War
October 17, 2001
Ballinger
and Marsh
Music
and War Resistance
Steve
Perry
The
Anthrax Chronicles
Chris
Kromm
Operation
Infinite Disaster
Susan
Block
Sex
Not Bombs
David Vest
Osama Speaks
October 16, 2001
Steve
Perry
War
Without Frontiers
Douglas
Valentine
The
CIA and Anthrax
Patrick
Cockburn
The
Battle of Mazar-i-Sharif
John
Troyer
Return
to Normal?
Moji Agha
A
Jihad Against Ignorance
October
15, 2001
Tariq
Ali
Alternatives
to War
John
Pilger
War
American Style
Umberto
Eco
The
Roots of Conflict
Marwan
Bishara
Clash
of Civilizations? Hardly
Patrick
Cockburn
Modern
War in
A Medieval Village
October
13, 2001
Carl
Estabrook
Letters
to Editors
Molly
Secours
War:
The Procter and Gamble Perspective
Alexander
Cockburn
War
Can't Save the Economy
October
10, 2001
Cockburn/St.
Clair
The
Empire Strikes Back
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October
18, 2001
"Open Your
Own Damn Mail"
A Mailroom Manifesto
By Michael Colby
The unknown purveyors of bioterrorism have now
sent their potent blends of Anthrax to numerous U.S. locations,
targeting, for the most part, elite figures of the government
and media. But what they haven1t apparently realized is that
in our heavily classist system, these elites never come close
to their own mail. In fact, the task of mail opening is way down
the totem pole of privilege, usually relegated to some dank basement
in the swanky towers of power.
Tom Brokaw didn't come close to his mail.
Tom Daschle didn't come close to his mail. And even though the
Anthrax-laden letters were addressed to both of these men, it
was dozens of their underlings who actually became contaminated.
And now there isn't an executive in this nation who will dare
wander down to the mailroom anytime soon.
But in every groovy office place in the
nation the big bosses are issuing crocodile tears to their mail-opening
staff, trying to make it seem like they "care" but
not sticking around long enough to risk being contaminated themselves
either by the Anthrax or the mail-opening ruffians.
I happen to know several people who-unfortunately--have
as part of their job description the task of opening corporate
mail. And they1ve all reported to me about how their bosses have
made overtures toward their safety in the last few days. There
have been offers of masks, gloves, and condescending lectures
about how to 3be careful with any suspicious mail2 (no shit),
all delivered in a way that assumes the folks in the mail dungeons
aren1t even aware of what the hell1s been happening in the nation
for the past month or so. You know, kind of like "Mr. Roger1s
comes to deliver a safety warning."
But offers of 25 cent plastic gloves,
two dollar masks, and worthless lectures aren1t what the people
in the mailrooms of this nation need right now, especially since
those who felt they needed such items purchased them long before
their bosses came waddling into their cramped spaces. And not
one of the mailroom folks who I know have been offered what they1re
truly looking for in these difficult times: a frigging raise.
Nor, for that matter, have any of them been offered the same
benefits package as those who are up on the "top floors."
No, the bosses will keep their offers confined to cheap gloves
and masks because it always comes back to the "bottom line."
In this instance, the offer of such contrivances
like gloves and masks in the face of something like Anthrax amounts
to little more than guilt reduction on the part of the bosses.
In this new spirit of faux-patriotism, they feel like they have
to "do something," even though any reasonable person
should know that the Anthrax would make its mark with or without
such protection. It reminds me of the 3duck and cover2 days of
the 1950s when our government taught our citizenry how to climb
under their desks and cover their heads in case of a nuclear
attack. In other words, good luck.
In the new bioterrorism war we1ve found
ourselves in, the mailroom workers are on the frontlines. They've
unwittingly become our Marines, and they certainly didn't sign
up for this tour of duty. Worse, they1re not paid nearly enough
to take on such risks.
Which all leads me to suggest that if
the Bushes, Brokaws and Daschles of the world want to keep pushing
us deeper and deeper into this nefarious war, why don't they
put themselves on the frontlines for a while. If Bush wants bin
Laden dead so badly, give him a gun, knife and bayonet and let
him go do the dirty work. It1s one thing to sit up high in their
chairs and talk about the "moral imperatives" of killing
people, but it's quite another thing to put your butt within
the range of danger. And they can start by opening their own
mail.
Mailroom workers of the world: Unite!
CP
Michael Colby
is the editor of the Food
& Water Journal.
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