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March
7, 2002
Cockburn
/ St. Clair
Bumper
Crop: The Politics
of Afghan Opium
March
6, 2002
CounterPunch
Wire
A
Beautiful Mind:
Another Dangerous Lie?
Tom Turnipseed
War
Is Wrong
David
Vest
Billy
Graham and Nixon:
Tangled Up in Tape
Patrick
Cockburn
The
Bombings That
Made Putin a Hero
CounterPunch
Wire
Berezovsky
Fingers Putin
in Bombings
Edward
Said
Thoughts
About America
March
5, 2002
CounterPunch
Wire
Ann
Coulter At It Again:
Race-Baiting Norm Mineta
Bill Christison
A
Former CIA Officer
Explains Why the War
on Terror Won't Work
Delkhasteh and Wright
What
Should We be Fighting For? An Open Letter
to Pro-War Academics
Mariya
Tsvekova
Putin's
Georgian Gambit
March
4, 2002
Ralph
Nader
Dick
Cheney: A Dinosaur
in the Age of Mammals
Uri Avnery
How
Israel Will Torpedo
the Saudi Peace Plan
Southern
/ Kubrick
Stangelove
Scenario
for Shadow Govt. Bunker
David
Vest
Grammy's
of Constant Sorrow
March
3, 2002
Bernard
Weiner
War
on Terrorism for Dummies
Paul Cox
Boycott
Mel Gibson's
"We Were Soldiers"
Frederick
Hudson
Toward
a Nonviolent Africa:
Bill Sutherland's Quest
Eric Schaeffer
Dear
Christie Whitman:
Take This Job and Shove It
John Chuckman
Why
the Rest of Planet is Unnerved by America
March
2, 2002
Alexander
Cockburn
Sweat,
Sex, Feet and
the Working Class
March
1, 2002
Brendan
Sexton III
What's
Wrong With Black Hawk Down: an Actor Speaks Out
David
Krieger
Nuclear
Terrorism
and US Nuclear Policy
February
28, 2002
James
T. Phillips
Baghdad,
Spring 1992
Gideon
Samet
Sharon
Must Go
Rep. Ron
Paul
Before
We Bomb Iraq
M. Shahid
Alam
Samuel
Huntington:
Peddling Civilizational Wars
St. Clair
/ Cockburn
Rumble
from the Jungle:
Ecuadorian Farmers Fight
DynCorp's ChemWar
February
27, 2002
Eric Hobsbawm
The
Future of War and Peace
John Troyer
About
that WTC Memorial
Mokhiber
/ Weissman
Wired
for Democracy
or Business?
Alexander
Cockburn
Daniel
Pearl: Should His
Editors Have Sent Him There?
February
26, 2002
Jonathan
Steele
Kabul's
Loss
Vasily
Streltsov
The
Pentagon in
the Transcaucusas
CounterPunch
Wire
How
Corporations Use Shadowy "527" Groups to Influence
Politicians
Lt. Col.
Robert Bowman
ABM
Treaty: Alive or Dead?
Rep. Dennis
Kucinich
A
Prayer for America
February
25, 2002
John Clarke
Interrogated
at US Border
Blankfort,
Poirier, Zeltzer
ADL
Blinks, Settles Spying Case
Alex Lynch
Naked
from Sin:
The Ordeal of Nahla
and Sami Al-Arian
John Chuckman
Ashcroft
Speaks in Tongues
February
24, 2002
David
Vest
Skate
Date
February
23, 2002
Tom Turnipseed
Axis
of Evil and
Media Monopolies
Bahour/Dahan
Cracks
in the Occupation
February
22, 2002
Alexander
Cockburn
Axel
of Evil: Sex Crimes
and the Constitution
February
21, 2002
Gary Leupp
The
Philippines: Second Front in US's Global War
David
Vest
Reagan
Clone Project?
Mokhiber
and Weissman
Chicago
School and Corporate America: Rotten to the Core
February
20, 2002
Bernard
Weiner
The
Shallow Throat Document
Kay Lee
The
Prison Guard Who Never Owned Up to His Crimes
February
19, 2002
David
Orr
Waylon
Jennings, the Duke,
and the Navajo
John Chuckman
The
Devil and Georgie Bush
Prudence
Crowther
Giblet
Gravitas
Ramzi
Kysia
Caught
in the Iraq DMZ
February
18, 2002
Ron Jacobs
The
US and Iran
George
Lewandowski
Empire
in Declline
Lenni
Brenner
Life
and Death of a Folk Hero
February
17, 2002
Robert
Fisk
Lost
in a Pit of Desperation
February
16, 2002
Phillip
Cryan
Colombia
in War Time
February
15, 2002
C.G. Estabrook
From
New York to Porto Alegre
Robert
O'Brien
The
View from Porto Alegre
Mokhiber/Weissman
Resisting
the Assassins
February
14, 2002
Levy and
Easton
Ante
Pavelic
Real Butcher of the Balkans
Joan Claybrook
Dear
Jeb Bush,
About You and Enron
John Chuckman
Time
for a Woman Prez
Alexander
Cockburn
Banning
the Koran
February
13, 2002
Sen. Russ
Feingold
War
Powers and
the War on Terror
Tom Turnipseed
Bush's
Folly
George
Monbiot
American
Imperialism
February
12, 2002
Uri Avnery
The
Great Game:
Oil, Sharon and Iran
Tommy
Ates
Black
Land Loss
February
11, 2002
Walt Brasch
The
Synergizing of America
John Troyer
Enron's
Deep Throat?
February
9, 2002
John Blair
Criticize
Cheney, Go to Jail
A Photographic Journal of Life
in an Afghan Refugee Camp
By Judith Mann
Resources:
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About 9/11
CounterPunch:
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Coverage of 9/11 and Its Aftermath
Five
Days That
Shook The World:
Seattle and Beyond
By Alexander
Cockburn
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Photos by Allan Sekula
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War Diary
CIA's Assassination Plan a History of
Torture in US Prisons
bin Laden and Bush
Business Connections
Aisha Ikramuddin on the Hidden Hype
of US Food Bombs
Peter Linebaugh on
Pakistan
Christopher Hitchens' Love for Mrs. Thatcher
Jiang Zemin Tells Bush:
Nuke 'Em
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CounterPunch
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How the CIA's Backing of the Mujahideen Created the World's Most
Robust Heroin Market and Helped to Finance the Rise of the Taliban
and Osama bin Laden
Whiteout:
CIA, Drugs & the
Press
by Alexander
Cockburn
and Jeffrey St. Clair
The New Crusade:
America's War on Terrorism
By Rahul Mahajan
The Memphis Blues Again:
Six Decades of Memphis Music Photographs
Photos by Ernest Withers
Text by Daniel Wolff
The New Intifada:
Resisting Israel's Apartheid
Edited by Roane Carey
A Pocket Guide to
Environmental Bad Guys
by James Ridgeway
and Jeffrey St. Clair
The
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by Douglas Valentine
Al Gore:
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March 7, 2002
Michael and Me:
Disability Rights
and a Stupid White Man
By John B. Kelly
I read Michael Moore's e-mail newsletter, and
am psyched to learn that Mike's coming to speak in Cambridge.
Even with an event featuring the take-no-shit author of the best
seller "Stupid White Men" and the movie "Roger
and Me". I still take my usual precautions. I call the
church to find out about accessibility, and guess what? Parish
Administrator Linda Baker urges me not to come.
So the day before his talk I e-mail Michael
Moore, writing in the subject line: "I want you to escort
me into the First Parish Church in Cambridge MA! Embrace disability
rights!" Then, trying to be funny and all, like Mike, I
write:
"No, Michael, I'm not blonde and
beautiful, but I have a wonderful opportunity for you to embrace
the cause of millions of Americans who are excluded and left
behind every single day. Disabled people.
"I just spoke with Linda Baker from
the First Parish Church in Cambridge, and she actively discouraged
me from coming to your speaking engagement on Wednesday February
27. The only wheelchair accessible entrance to the church is
at the back in a 'dark and dangerous alley', where 'unsavory
elements' tend to gather after dark. Please rescue me from such
a fate!
"I was assured that the church has
been trying for years and years to make itself accessible, but
you know how hard it is when architects leave you in the lurch
and you have no sidewalk space for a ramp and your building is
an historic monument. As a quivering, quavering quadriplegic,
I am oh so frightened of any unsavory elements, and I know that
you, too, try to avoid such societal detritus at all times.
"So, please, Michael, would you
escort me into the church so that I can watch you speak, meanwhile
making a point about disability access and the importance of
all progressive people only holding events where EVERYONE can
come?"
No response.
On the day of the event, I ask my partner,
Kristin Schneider, to call the church and ask about accessibility.
She gets the same, breathtaking, condescending routine. I can't
reach the church to find out whether the church is actually,
officially, accessible or not. Thinking that Michael Moore may
have been the victim of a church that bills itself as accessible,
I first write a flyer asking that everyone demand the church
to stop this outrageous discrimination.
But then, just as Kristin, my friend
Jim and I are sitting down to our pre-activism meal, Linda Baker
returns my call. The ramp, she tells me, was installed years
ago for a one-time event, is too steep, has no handrails, and
is not easy to get to. I tell her that Wordsworth says the church
is accessible, with a pretty good ramp. Revealing a more human
side, Linda tells me how she never says the church is accessible,
that Wordsworth knows better, and that the store has been renting
the space for years. She is clearly upset by being responsible
for talking to wheelchair users about access that is no access,
while renters think the situation is fine.
Linda's off the hook. Quick, a new flyer:
This Is Not a Wheelchair Accessible
Event!
Wordsworth has booked this venue with
callous disregard for the access needs of disabled people. The
church does not advertise itself as wheelchair accessible, because
of a steep and dangerous ramp that does not have handrails.
It is dangerous for any wheelchair user to try to enter this
church. Wordsworth, the booking agency, and, ultimately, Michael
Moore bear responsibility for this outrage.
An inaccessible venue is the equivalent of a 'Whites Only' establishment.
As progressives, you should be appalled.
We disabled progressives expect to be welcomed at every public
event, and should not have to point out the irony of such discrimination
occurring during a discussion of empowerment and true democracy.
Please write or call:
Sanj Kharbanda,
Wordsworth General Manager
30 Brattle St.
Cambridge, MA 02138
617-354-5201
Please email Michael Moore at StupidWhiteMen@aol.com,
and respectfully demand that all of his speaking sites be fully
accessible. And please remember to demand that all progressive
events advertise their accessibility, and take action if they
aren't fully compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act!
We make 200 copies, park in the handicapped
spot right in front of the church and, after maneuvering some
locked-up bicycles out of the way, drop my lift down on the quaint
and historic (i.e., heaved and pitched) brick Cambridge sidewalk.
There is no wheelchair access sign at the foot of church steps
and the gate through the cemetery is locked. Kristin and Jim
go hunting while I watch long legs bound past me up the steps.
One couple pauses and tells me that there is no ramp and there
is no access. After ten minutes or so, a friendly fellow opens
the gate onto a dimly lit walkway with some scary puddles that
I can't see the bottoms of. The ramp is a bit on the frightening
side, and I begin to have more respect for the content (if not
the style) of Linda Baker's message. It is an L-shaped, wooden
ramp with no handrails, all slicked-up with unshoveled slush.
We get in fine.
Entering into the front of the church
(one of the great perks of using run down, dangerous ramps is
that they often put you right into the action), I run into a
helpful looking guy who tells me that I can sit anywhere. When
I discover that he is from Wordsworth, I tell him that this is
an inaccessible venue. "It is about as accessible as they
come", he says, and a church committee has been working
on the issue for a few years. I say that real priorities get
taken care of (who was that powerful person who occasioned
the single-use ramp?), other issues get referred to a committee.
He nods understandingly. I compliment him on his niceness but
say that we're handing out flyers condemning Wordsworth. I forget
to tell him that there is a fully accessible church less than
100 yards away.
I sit by a piano, 20 feet from the podium.
Kristin and Jim fan out through the church, passing out our little
flyers. One audience member says to Kristin, "but was anyone
unable to come who wanted to?" Another asks, "Is this
really true?" Jim puts a flyer on the podium so that Michael
Moore will run into it, but it, and the one Kristin plops there
later, is immediately removed by people I assume to be from Wordsworth.
I look around the audience, fantasizing
that a rustle of appallment will develop any second. The friendly
Wordsworth guy takes the podium, and I wonder whether he'll address
that little matter of civil rights. He promos Wordsworth and
launches into a MM bio.
Michael comes out, and gives a rousingly
funny one-hour speech on the depredations of the stupid White
men running our country. I have Kristin all poised to raise
her bright red-gloved hand so I can ask the first question.
I say "This church is not legally accessible and actively
discourages wheelchair users from coming to events here. Would
you commit tonight to only speaking in fully accessible venues?"
There is some short-lived applause in the church, but it doesn't
sound sincere enough. I'm suspicious of this kind of crowd.
Michael stuns us by shifting from his
irreverent, take-no-prisoners self into a polite middle-classish
apologizer: "I'm sorry, I didn't know that". Buying
time, he asks me for more information about how the church discourages
people. I tell him some stuff. Audience members participate,
one shouting (cynically, or was it hopefully?)"They're putting
in an elevator in 5 years".
Mike doesn't make any jokes about "unsavory
elements" or anything like that, but calls out to the crowd
for a volunteer to call or write to Wordsworth (the representative
of which is sitting 10 feet to his right). Then, with mock solemnity,
he puts his hand over his heart and says "I shall never
set foot in this church again". General laughter. I call
out, "Will you talk to your booking agency?" Kristin
says he said yes, but I didn't hear anything. Just as I finish
speaking, someone calls out, "Next question!"
He answers some more questions, at one
point detailing to us the hilarious story of how he won an Elks-club-sponsored
speech contest by railing against the club's "Caucasians
only" membership policy. I'm thinking about you-know-what.
The Wordsworth guy cuts Mike off, and
invites everyone back to the store for a book signing. He and
Mike walk out the back together. As audience members go past
me, a few take a look, but no one says anything -- mostly a relief.
The crowd heads off to the store, which is, of course, utterly
and absolutely inaccessible! As for me, slushing down the ramp
with the church guy trying to brace my chair but actually just
sliding away, pivoting my chair with my footrests out in mid-air,
is kinda scary.
A few days later, Mike writes in his
Tour Diary that the Boston event "is packed, people are
turned away. The crowds in Boston are always great. This one
doesn't disappoint". I think we know what kind of "people"
he was talking about - those who tried to come up the stairs.
The crowd might have been great for Michael, but the sheep factor
seemed awful high for me.
It's always so disappointing to discover
that another progressive is completely clueless about disability
rights. Imagine, sometime in the past, a national, big-time
White male labor organizer detailing the struggles of white workers
to a roomful of whites and a light-skinned Black, who tells him
that he has been booked into a whites-only club. He apologizes,
calls for a volunteer to write the club, mock-solemnly promises
never to set foot in the club again, and then, after basking
in the ensuing general hilarity, repairs to the local, whites-only,
union hall. You can be sure things like this happened then,
just as they continue to happen now.
Michael Moore has now been told about
the need to speak only in fully accessible venues. He is now
on a speaking tour across the country. Progressive people in
other cities need to monitor him, and if necessary, protest out
in front of an inaccessible, or not fully accessible, site. Click
here for his tour dates.
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