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New Special Double Issue on the War Print Edition of CounterPunch Available Exclusively to Subscribers: The US vs. Iraq: the Thirteen Year War; The Sanctions That Killed; Bombing Iraq Every 3 Days Since the Ceasefire of 1991; What Would Gore Have Done?; The Rise of the Neocons; Israel's Proxy War Plan; Why Did It End So Quickly?; The Coming Occupation; Re-educating Iraqis, American-style; Those Reconstruction Contracts; Media Hawks; Christian Crusaders; Democratic Candidates and the War; Smart Bombs Go Haywire; Inside the Mind of Santorum; Gore Vidal on John Kerry; Thomas Pickering: the Bad Seed. Remember, the CounterPunch website is supported exclusively by subscribers to our newsletter. Our worldwide web audience is soaring, with more than 60,000 visitors a day. This is inspiring news, but the work involved also compels us to remind you more urgently than ever to subscribe and/or make a (tax deductible) donation if you can afford it. If you find our site useful please: Subscribe Now! Or Call Toll Free 1-800-840 3683 or write CounterPunch, PO BOX 228, Petrolia, CA 95558

Recent Stories May 1, 2003 Jeffrey St. Clair Santorum: That's Latin for Asshole Iain Boal A May Day Message to the FCC: "We Are Many; They are Few" Diana Johnstone About Cuba Sam Hamod Killings at Al Fallujah, City of Mosques Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity Intelligence Fiasco Lee Sustar Greed Air: Airline Workers Agree to Pay Cuts, While Bosses Stuff Their Pockets Peter Linebaugh May Day at Kut and Kenthal Stew Albert Straight Shooters Steve Perry Bush's War Web Log 5/01 Website of the Day South Bay Mobilization   April 30, 2003 Ashley Smith Under Uncle Sam's Thumb: a History of Washington's Occupations Steve Perry Bush's War Web Log 4/30 Gary Leupp Shooting Schoolboys: Preliminary Thoughts on the Fallujah Massacre Robert Jensen Fighting Alienation in the USA Wayne Madsen The Four Horsemen of Propaganda Ahmad Faruqui Bush's Strategic Myopia About the Middle East Gabriel Kolko Iraq, the US and the End of the European Coalition Adolfo Perez Esquivel A Nobel Laureat's Letter to Bush: "You Talk of Freedom; You Detest Freedom"     April 29, 2003 Gary Leupp Disorder and Opportunity: the Results of the Iraq War Uri Avnery Don't Envy Abu-Mazen Anthony Gancarski Brush with the Law Mickey Z. POWs: Then and Now CounterPunch Wire How to Spin Israel on the Hill: Internal Lobbying Documents Robert Fisk Did the US Murder Journalists? Chris Floyd Bush Telegraphs His Punches on Syria Wayne Madsen About Those Iraqi Intelligence Documents Wallace Gagne Pilgrimage or Demolition Derby? Eliot Katz Playing Catch with Cracked Globes Steve Perry Bush's War Web Log 4/29   April 28, 2003 Ann Harrison Fighting Back: Medical Marijuana Patients Sue Ashcroft Robert Jensen Lack of WMD Kills the Case for War Peter Phillips Total Information Control Ron Jacobs Get the US Out of Iraq and Its Military Out of Our Minds Mark Hand Peace Park: The Pentagon Solution to a Baseball Stadium Dilemma Linda S. Heard Repeat After Me: Iraq is Weapons Free Kurt Nimmo US Military Bases: the Spoils and Deceptions of War Steve Perry Bush's War Web Log 4/28   April 26 / 27, 2003 Elaine Cassel The Other War: Bush, Ashcroft and the End of Civil Liberties Saul Landau Iraq War: a Policy of Christian and Jewish Fundamentalism William A. Cook Sharon Recruits US as Mercenaries Against Syria William S. Lind Now the Real War Starts John Chuckman In Jesus's Name: Franklin Graham's Christian Empire David MacMichael and Ray McGovern Ex-CIA Analysts on WMD: Where? Find? Plant? Gary Leupp Why the War on Iraq was (and Remains) Wrong Robert Sandels Cuba Crackdown: a Revolt Against Bush's National Security Strategy? CounterPunch Wire An Open Letter to Jerry Brown on Oakland Police Violence Against Peace Activists and Dock Workers Mickey Z. Our Ba'athists Anthony Gancarski Nader Plays Pullman Scott Handleman The Mumia Abu-Jamal Case in Its True Colors Claud Cockburn Evelyn Waugh's Ear Trumpet Poets' Basement Matt Simon, Sam Hamod, Hammond Guthrie and Stew Albert Steve Perry Bush's War Web Log 4/26   April 25, 2003 David Vest It's Not the Oil; It's the Art! Steven Higgs All About Tucker Carlson Walt Brasch The Shock and Awe of American Ignorance Alexander Cockburn The Decline of American Journalism: the Case of Judy Miller Zeynep Toufe A Letter to the People of Iraq from an Anti-War Activist CounterPunch Wire Season of the Witch: Jeane Kirkpatrick Unbound Hammond Guthrie Springtime in Iraq Steve Perry Bush's War Web Log 4/25 Website of the Day Having a Great Time, Wish You Were Here: Postcards from a War   April 24, 2003 Lois Whitman An Open Letter to Rumsfeld on the Child Detainees at Guantanamo Uri Avnery Abu vs. Abu: It's Not About Egos David Lindorff Day Care in the Name of National Security? About Those Kids in Camp X-Ray John Grebe Rev. Pat Robertson's Message in the Temple Dokhi Fassihian Monster.Com: Ethnic Cleansing on the Web? CounterPunch Wire Israeli Army Chief Threatens Peace Activists Sam Hamod Our Man in Baghdad Annie C. Higgins Do You Regret Being an American? Harold A. Gould Will They Hate Us Forever? Stew Albert Big Brother in Bed Steve Perry Bush's War Web Log 4/24 Website of the Day Muscles Abroad   April 23, 2003 Anthony Gancarski When Young Mothers Die in Combat Chris Floyd Desolation Row: Bush's Barbarians Teach by Example Marjorie Cohn Tax the War Profiteers William Lind The Fourth Generation of Modern War Dave Marsh Nina Simone: Freedom Singer Binoy Kampmark Malayasia's America: the War on Iraq David Vest Who's Looting Whom? Standard Shaefer Super Imperialism: an Interview with Michael Hudson Andrew Rodman Lawn Poem Steve Perry Bush's War Web Log 4/23 Website of the Day Weapons of Mass Destruction in the Middle East   April 22, 2003 Edward Said The Appalling Consequences of the Iraq War are Now Clear Sam Hamod What's the Deal with This War? Kurt Nimmo Shi'a Will to Power Gary Leupp At last! The Necessary Evidence Carl Estabrook Oblivious Americans: They Distort, We Subside John Stanton Iran's Reza Pahlavi: a Puppet of the US and Israel? Ramzy Baroud What Else Hasn't Israel Told America? Steven Sherman About That Cuba Letter Wayne Madsen Bush's "Christian" Blood Cult Stew Albert Creep Steve Perry Bush's War Web Log 4/22 Website of the Day Critical Media Literacy in Times of War   April 21, 2003 Elaine Cassel An Administration in Contempt Gary Leupp Easter Thoughts on Liberation, Jesus and Kanaka WaiWai Roger Witherspoon Why Michigan Needs Affirmative Action Uri Avnery At Midnight, a Knock on the Door Col. Dan Smith Early Lessons from Iraq Jo Freeman After the Protest Comes Politics Michael Berry The Friedman Absurdities Gray Brechin Hang Black Banners: Mourning the Cultural Loss Bob Riedel The Taliban from Texas Steve Perry Bush's War Web Log 4/21   April 19, 2003 Gary Leupp The Rape of History Saul Landau Shop, Go to Church, Support Bush's War, Wait for Armageddon Michael J. Fellows Off With Their Heads: the Constitution According to Scalia Pablo Mukherjee Roadmap to Resistance Omar Barghouti Sharon's Bloody Beat Anthony Gancarski Tony Blair: the Most Powerful Man in the World Mickey Z. Animals: the Other Collateral Damage Will Potter When Police Attack Journalists William MacDougall America's In-Bedded Journalism Neve Gordon Haunted by History Adam Engel Wal-Mart and Peace Dr. Susan Block Art Bombs: American Libertines for Peace Poets' Basement Albert, Buono, Guthrie Steve Perry War Web Log 4/19 Song of the Weekend Baghdad to Basra   April 18, 2003 Uri Avnery Operation "Syrian Freedom": This One's Not About Oil Jorge Mariscal "They Died Trying to Become Students": the Future of Latinos in an Era of War and Occupation Mickey Z: Coalition of the Unindicted: Only Losers Get Tried for War Crimes Hussein Ibish Syria and the Road to World War IV Reza Ladjevardian Tarqeting Iran? Do It With TV, Not Cruise Missiles Matania Ben-Artzi You Are Not Protecting My Son's Rights: a Letter to the President of Israel's Supreme Court Bruce Jackson Jews Like Us Joe Allen My Lai Revisited Carl Estabrook Support Our Euphemism Steve Perry War Web Log 4/18 Website of the Day Meet the Victims of War   April 17, 2003 Jeffrey St. Clair Patriot Gore: the Fatal Flaws in the Patriot Missile System Joanne Mariner Looting Antiquity: the Legal Implications for the Pentagon Issam Nashashibi Zalmay Khalilzad: the Neocon's Bagman to Baghdad Wayne Madsen Another Sign of the "End Times" for American Journalism Robert Fisk The Army of Occupation Boris Kagarlitsky Virtual Saddam Takes Aim Biljana Vankovska A Personal View of Iraq: Where is the Truth? Dan Brook Oil War: Fueling the Empire Stanley Heller Bomb and Steal: This is What Privatization Looks Like Tim Robbins A Chill Wind is Blowing Through This Nation Harold A. Gould Iraq After the War Steve Perry War Web Log 4/17   Hot Stories Elaine Cassel Civil Liberties Watch Michel Guerrin Embedded Photographer Says: "I Saw Marines Kill Civilians" Uzma Aslam Khan The Unbearably Grim Aftermath of War: What America Says Does Not Go Paul de Rooij Arrogant Propaganda Gore Vidal The Erosion of the American Dream Francis Boyle Impeach Bush: A Draft Resolution Click Here for More Stories.   Subscribe Online Search CounterPunch

May 3, 2003 Tears of Rage Remembering May 1970 By RON JACOBS One of the most hopeful aspects of the current movement against war is the large numbers of young people who are not only involved, but are taking the initiative. In our local coalition here in Vermont, the high school and college students (and those of that age who are not in school) have involved themselves in most of the planning and strategizing. To their credit, most of the older folks have encouraged this and invited these coalition members' input. As a person who opposed the US war in Vietnam while in high school, my empathy for today's younger protestors stems from the frustration I felt when ignored by older activists merely because of my age. Indeed, the only antiwarriors who encouraged me to write and organize back in the early 1970s were the GIs who I hung out with in Germany. As the month of May rolls around again, I am reminded of two dates from that month: May 4th and May 14th. These are the anniversaries of the 1970 murders of student antiwar protestors at Kent State University in Ohio and Jackson State College in Mississippi by military and lawmen. These murders marked a turning point in the war and the protest against it. The antiwar movement grew up with those murders. Now, protest meant risking one's life. The U.S. government had made it clear once and for all that it would tolerate only so much dissent. Of course, African-American and other protestors of color-and the revolutionary anti-imperialist wing of the antiwar movement-had known this all along. After the original burst of anger that brought millions into the streets and shut down universities and high schools around the country, many protestors put away their banners and raised fists for a life with less confrontation. The rest of us reaffirmed our commitment to do whatever it took to stop the war. Despite its relatively short life, the current movement against the war and whatever else lies ahead is in its adolescence. We share an innocence with that pre-May 1970 movement, yet at the same time know that the state is willing to do whatever it takes to keep its power and its wars. Messrs. Bush, Ashcroft, and Rumsfeld have left us no doubt in that regard. We have yet to see police or army murders of protestors in the US this time around, although two Western members of the international movement have been killed by the Israeli military in the last couple of months (and a third mortally wounded). I've jotted down some memories from those days in early May 1970. My dad returned from Da Nang, Vietnam in February of that year, where he had spent the previous year as an officer in the Air Force. I had become more opposed to the war during that same time. I was in ninth grade. Dad came back in February of 1970. Although I was glad to see him out of harm's way, there were times I wished I was somewhere else. We arrived in Frankfurt am Main in March 1970. Within a week, my siblings and I were back in school. The junior high I attended was on the other side of the city on a military compound. It had been a German women's prison prior to its utilization as a school. The school building was surrounded by a twelve foot high wall. Each of its corners held an empty guard tower. Most of the students felt that prison was an appropriate metaphor for their experiences there. I made a few friends pretty quickly. This always happened on military bases since most of the students were always in transit, but the fact that I owned some rock records that hadn't made it to the Post Exchange or into the German music stores certainly helped. With most students feeling that the epicenter of our (counter)culture lay in the U.S., anyone who arrived from the States and was just a little bit hip was milked for updates on what was really happening. Neither the Stars & Stripes newspaper nor the Armed Forces Radio Network were providing that kind of news. The only news the Stars and Stripes was really good for was sports news, and that wasn't something I discussed with my new counterculture friends. When I awoke on May 1 that year, I was, like many other people in the world, incredulous and pissed off that Nixon had sent troops into Cambodia. Although my political awareness was still relatively unformed, it had taken me no time to realize that Richard Nixon was a pig. Still, I didn't think he or anyone else would actually expand the war in Southeast Asia when everybody--including my dad--wanted it to end. When I went to the kitchen for breakfast my father was still there and we had a short debate about the invasion before he headed off to work. That interaction got me fired up for a day of debate. Sure enough, even though homeroom was run by the gym teacher (a man with the last name of Agnew who usually didn't talk about anything other than sports), we spent the whole class period arguing about the war. By the time civics class came up right before lunch, some of the more radical students (whom I was just beginning to know) were trying to organize some kind of protest. However, since the weekend was coming up, nothing concrete was devised. When we got back to school on Monday, May 4, most of us who cared had heard the news reports all weekend about the massive protests taking place all over the US against Nixon's move into Cambodia. In addition, the German students had kept the police busy all weekend in Frankfurt with constant rallies and marches against the invasion, of which I attended at least one. By noon on Monday, some hastily drawn posters began appearing on the walls of our junior high urging students to protest the war on Wednesday, May 6, by wearing black armbands and refusing to go to homeroom. Of course, as soon as the posters appeared, they were ripped down by administrators or a pro-war student or teacher. One girl was suspended when she refused to remove a poster she had just put up. That night I found some black material and made myself an armband. Like always, I turned on the radio when I awoke the next morning, May 5th. I liked to listen to the news, especially when something big was happening. I was not prepared, however, for the news that morning. Nor do I think I will ever forget how I felt when I first heard it. Four students had been shot dead in Kent, Ohio by the National Guard while protesting the war. Several others were injured. I knew what Dylan meant when he sang of his tears of rage. My eyes were brimming over with such tears and my heart was pounding in anger and disbelief. I didn't say much as I got ready for school. My mom was silent as I read the Stars and Stripes report on the killings over Cheerios. My older sister and I talked about them while we ate. I put my armband on while waiting for the school bus. Upon arriving at school, I searched for some of the kids most involved in the antiwar planning. In homeroom, Mr. Agnew read a memo from the principal expressing regret over the slayings in Ohio, but warned that no protest of any kind would be allowed at Frankfurt American Junior High School. The gym teacher (who I was beginning to believe opposed the war as much as I did) looked around, noting that three or four of us wore black armbands, and said nothing. One of the guys asked if he could read something relevant to the current events and the teacher said yes. Steve took out a copy of the text to Arlo Guthrie's antiwar poem "Alice's Restaurant Massacree" and began reading, complete with four-part harmony. By the time he finished, class was over. Most of the teachers turned the classroom time that day into a discussion of the war in Vietnam and the repression of the movement against it. Those students who wanted to do more than just wear armbands passed the word that people should still refuse to go to homeroom the following day. We would hold a silent vigil in the parking lot instead. A few students were forced to remove their armbands by the more reactionary teachers. Other teachers took armbands provided by the students and wore them themselves, probably risking a pay raise if not their jobs, especially seeing as how the school was on a military base. When the bell signaling the beginning of classes rang Wednesday morning, about a hundred students in the parking lot made no moves toward the building. We waited for a signal of some kind from one of the protest organizers. As we milled around, certain teachers known for their allegiance to the rules appeared on the outskirts of our small crowd. Slowly but surely they herded us towards the entrance doors and slowly but surely we filed in. I don't think we had a failure of will as much as we had no organization. Later that day there was a two-hour all-school assembly where, after some sanctimonious nonsense from the principal and an Army officer about defending freedom (both of whom were eventually shouted down), we argued about the war. By the time the Jackson State murders took place on May 14th, there was no more arguing left to do. And tears were not enough. Ron Jacobs is author of The Way the Wind Blew: a history of the Weather Underground. He can be reached at: rjacobs@zoo.uvm.edu Yesterday's Features Jeffrey St. Clair Santorum: That's Latin for Asshole Iain Boal A May Day Message to the FCC: "We Are Many; They are Few" Diana Johnstone About Cuba Sam Hamod Killings at Al Fallujah, City of Mosques Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity Intelligence Fiasco Lee Sustar Greed Air: Airline Workers Agree to Pay Cuts, While Bosses Stuff Their Pockets Peter Linebaugh May Day at Kut and Kenthal Stew Albert Straight Shooters Steve Perry Bush's War Web Log 5/01 Website of the Day South Bay Mobilization   Keep CounterPunch Alive: Make a Tax-Deductible Donation Today Online! home / subscribe / about us / books / archives / search / links /