MediaChannel Members Respond To Our Appeal
December 31st, 2004 - by: danny
OUR TSUNAMI OF COMPASSION AND CONCERN
A NEW YEAR’S EVE DISCUSSION
CHARITIES TO SUPPPORT
I know that I swore up and down that I was taking the week off but the Tsunami rocked my world too, however from a distance. Having made a film in the Indonesian island of Sumatra, I was especially shocked by the damage and death there and in nearby Aceh. I can understand why media outlets might feel more comfortable reporting from a seaside resort in Thailand, but, yo, half the dead and casualties are in Indonesia.
The United In Diversity organization in Indonesia is accepting tax deductible donations to channel funds to groups on the ground. I know these people and respect them:
Bank of New York
ABA#021000018
Reference Acc: #8900337281
Circle Trust Company–NSCC, DDA Give 2Asia
MOVING THE MEDIA
I believe our world’s media outlets can take a more pro-active lead not just as a bearer of bad news but as a tool of mobilization. Hence the MediaChannel’s SOS TUSNAMI — UNITED MEDIA APPEAL IDEA post.
MediaChannel and Media for Democracy members are responding, as are some media outlets. Can we do more? We have to. Calling on the media collectively and individually to do more is a start. They have tremendous power.
In a few hours, here in New York anyway, thousands will do the Times Square thing, cheering out the old year and welcoming the new. I am not sure how people in the disaster region will feel about the spectacle this year. Couldn’t it be toned down? On the other hand, anything that speeds the end of this terrible year may be welcome. I would jump around if I thought it would help.
Responses are still coming in to our appeal for a media appeal. As you will read, its like a mini tsunami of e-mails. (Join the dialogue: e-mail dissector@mediachannel.org.) Here’s what some of you are saying:
THREE CHEERS
S Ferdinand:
“Three cheers for giving Big Media’s conscience a nudge, that is, if they have not completely silenced it. I’m beginning to have hopes when I tune in to independent news outlets which are unafraid to “tell it as it is”.”
Jane Pratt:
“From your base in NYC, would you be able to contact the UN and media people there? If they are on board, I can certainly help contact media folks that I know, as well as some of the groups (like Sarvodaya in Sri Lanka) that launched immediate relief efforts.
I note that the Move On folks have already set up an on-line donation and petition campaign.
FROM AUSTRALIA
Greg Tingle writes:
“Your media appeal for the Asian tsunami makes sense.
Here’s my little effort @Asian earthquake and tsunami resources:
http://www.mediaman.com.au/profiles/tsunami.html
http://www.mediaman.com.au/profiles/coastal.html
“I have actually been to Thailand — Phi Phi Island, Phuket and Patong, and it’s an early feeling knowing you have been standing, dining and such in places that are no longer what they were. I met my ex wife in a Thai restaurant on Sydney’s northern beaches some 12 years ago, and we had holidays in Thailand half a dozen times. Susie is in Thailand with my daughter at the moment, and thank God they are in Bangkok, and not in the coastal region. By the way, the question of an existence of God has come up for discussion again, and no doubt there are arguments on both sides.”
RADIO DAILY NEWS IS HELPING
Larry Shannon, Publisher, RadioDailyNews.com, TalkRadioDailyNews.com:
“Good idea. I’ve lifted a few lines from your comments and put them in the RDN CENTRAL section at www.radiodailynews.com along with your e-mail link and a link to the full text. I hope it brings a few e-mails your way.”
Susan Oehler in Ashville NC:
“I have been doing my own appeals to friends, family and co-workers… with the message:
“FOR A $100 DOLLARS YOU CAN SAVE A LIFE!”
“And they have been giving! Because, literally, a hundred dollars worth of food, water, medicine will keep these people alive. I have discovered some blogs from Sri Lanka, Thailand, Malaysia. Very interesting to read.
“Keep blogging about the tsunami relief. This event is unprecedented in our lifetimes, and will be the worst natural disaster we ever see. (some man-made ones may be worse, however) I predict 250,000+ dead from the original tsunami, and probably twice that in the after effects. Some people are just going to die because they give up, sadly.”
SHAME THEM
Ingrid Barnett:
“I think you have a wonderful idea here. But with big media being so self-serving and bottom line hungry, how one goes about action is beyond me. Somehow they need to be shamed into action, just like our vacationing president had to be shamed. Keep up the good work. ”
FROM FINLAND
Aleta Armstrong:
“That’s a good idea! I don’t know what the response has been from the US concerning donations and help, that would be good to know. Here in Finland everybody has responded to the appeals for aid and already 3 million € has been collected, and we are a small country with only a population of 5 million. Towns have cancelled new year fireworks and will donate to the fund instead as tomorrow is a day of mourning. There are hundreds of Finns still missing and hope is running out. This disaster has touched us all and we have to all respond, those countries in South Asia affected need our help so they can rebuild their lives.”
LET’S DO IT
Sue Marcus from Washington State:
“Let’s do it! I have never before felt so helpless or useless as I have this week, seeing what has happened (and will happen) to those poor people! Gathering everyone together for one concerted effort to help is what America needs – a reminder that we are all members of the human family and can respond to others’ tragedies. And the American media might just possibly feel so good about making it happen that they’ll realize what they’ve been missing by doing nothing but money-grubbing and not helping to make our society better. I will do anything I can to get this going.”
Dori Smith has some ideas:
“One idea is to call for volunteers for building brigades to replace housing for people. A chain building supply store could be asked to participate. I’m sure there will be no shortage of ideas.
“I like your idea of creating boxes to put out at stores. Maybe they could have a common theme design of a wave or something that will become representative of the fund drive to save the lives of the most vulnerable victims… the kids. One third of the victims were children according to Unicef. Here are the stories about aid drives I could come up with and that I would feel comfortable supporting.
http://tinyurl.com/44szr
www.supportunicef.org/site/pp.asp?c=iuI1LdP0G&b=276341
www.unicef.org/“Better yet, how about an international multi-media telethon designed to monopolize mainstream media byways and airwaves with a concerted appeal for aid.” –What about asking Link TV and FSTV to coordinate this? I’ll help in any way I can.
Seen this hideous article about Bush in Texas on vacation during the Tsunami aid coordinating efforts?
www.villagevoice.com/blogs/bushbeat/
FROM SRI LANKA
The Dambadeniiya Development Foundation (www.ddfnet.org), which is a non profit organization involve in community development, has set up 5 aid /service providing centers to facilitate the need of the victims.
“We hereby humbly request your generous helping hand in providing cash/inkind material such as feeding bottles, thermoflasks, first aid kits, kitchen utensils, water filters and purification kits, tents, emergency lamps, long life food items, baby foods and field level sterilizing equipments.”
BROOKLYN IN THE HOUSE
Linda Greco:
“We’ve met a couple of times. Once at the media reform conference in Wisconsin and once at the Greg Palast event at Cooper Union. I work for Brooklyn Community Access Television (BCAT). We have proposed to the Red Cross doing a live, one hour television program on 1//11/05 from 9pm-10pm on BCAT to raise money for the relief efforts in Asia. Once the Red Cross confirms their participation on that date, the goal is to get the public access stations in the other boroughs to sign on and carry this program simultaneously on their channel via an interconnect feed that exists between the boroughs. I sincerely hope this will materialize. This is a much smaller scale than what you propose but it is a start. I am definitely in favor of your proposal. What do I have to do to sign on?”
THE APPEAL CAN WORK: CHICAGO RADIO SHOWS US HOW
Steve Robinson, Manager of WFMT and the WFMT Radio Network:
“A friend just sent me your email appeal to the nation’s media. Your idea is a good one, but I think one way to get the job done is to do it city by city. Here’s what one little old classical music station in Chicago is doing. Since this article appeared in today’s Chicago Sun-Times, virtually every radio and TV station in Chicago is come on board. This includes nearly ALL stations owned by the conglomerates. Wednesday in Chicago is going to be a wild day.
“Broadcasters team up to assist tsunami relief
“In an unprecedented and spontaneous show of unity, Chicago broadcasters are joining forces to aid the relief effort for victims of the catastrophic tsunami.
“Starting at 6 a.m. Wednesday and running throughout the day, radio and television stations will air public service announcements urging listeners and viewers to donate money to the American Red Cross/Chicago by calling a designated 800 number. Many also will air news stories and special programming related to the fund-raiser and provide online links from their Web sites.
“The idea of a daylong cooperative media event began with Steve Robinson, senior vice president of WFMT-FM (98.7).
“Within hours of placing the calls, virtually every Chicago station called back to say: ‘Count us in,’ ” Robinson said. “The response has been truly overwhelming. As people will see on Wednesday, our collective power to perform a community service is going to be enormous.”
“As of midweek, participating TV stations include WLS-Channel 7, WGN-Channel 9 and WTTW-Channel 11. Others are expected to join.
Radio stations onboard so far include WFMT, WGN-AM (720), WGCI-FM (107.5), WVAZ-FM (102.7), WNUA-FM (95.5), WLIT-FM (93.9), WKSC-FM (103.5), WGRB-AM (1390), WRLL-AM (1690), WTMX-FM (101.9), WILV-FM (100.3), WDRV-FM (97.1), WUSN-FM (99.5), WXRT-FM (93.1), WBBM-FM (96.3), WKQX-FM (101.1), WLUP-FM (97.9), WLS-AM (890), WZZN-FM (94.7) and WMVP-AM (1000).
EMEMBER IRAQ
Peggy Tibbetts writes:
“Your heartfelt plea to the media to “contribute their own capital — airtime, column inches, webspace and billboards — to a coordinated high impact effort to raise tens of millions to aid the region” is genuine and I applaud you.
“However at this time of sorrow for the horrendous loss and suffering of hundreds of thousands of beautiful human beings, my thoughts also turn to the loss and suffering of the Iraqi people — more than 100,000 Iraqi victims of a senseless war brought on by US aggression. For this the media bears an enormous responsibility, even more than for the suffering in and around the Indian Ocean. As far as I know the media did not participate in this natural disaster.
“However in Iraq it is a different story. And the media has fallen far short of their responsibility there. The media not only did not investigate the lies of the Bush administration, they picked up the drumbeat and broadcast the lies to the American people and the rest of the world.
“When millions, in the US and worldwide, marched in opposition to the war before the first bomb was ever dropped, they ignored us. They refuse to show the coffins of American soldiers, they lie about American casualties, they never show military families whose lives have been destroyed by this unjust war. But even this is dwarfed by the silence of the media to the suffering, devastation, and havoc that the US is wreaking upon the Iraqi people. They are silent as the US continues to annihilate an entire civilization.
“I have just spent the past 20 months of the Iraq war researching and writing a book about it. I am utterly devastated by the truth as I have come to know it to be. I have searched and found the photos and stories of horrible personal loss and suffering that continues still to this day, seemingly without end — women and children, toddlers and infants, blown apart by bombs and missiles, burned alive by napalm, entire families violently obliterated. And for the Iraqi survivors there is only heartache, grief, more suffering through days and nights of endless terror.
“The media has more than the power to raise of tens of millions of dollars in aid. They have the power to end war. That they have chosen not to is by far the greatest human tragedy of all time.”
FROM A REPUBLICAN NAMED DON:
“I agree in principle. After all, I am a Republican and have moral feelings, real ones, not the bullshit liberal variety i.e., the real liberals are on the barricades.
“However, you are asking the media, who is discredited as a result of their new role of entertainment, i.e.. emotion, rather than news, to do something noble?
“Since the TV news media went 24/7 coverage, they have had to struggle to maintain listenership and since there is not enough real news for 224.7, they have to ‘invent’. this means they grasp at anything and put their slant on whatever they come up with. They are thus so into the emotional business. to do so, they have to slant sand spin, hence the loss of credibility.
“They have gotten away from balanced news, into their own personal agendas.
“Plus, the public does not want to see continuous coverage of unpleasant news. They will tire and turn away form the continuing coverage you suggest. People are fickle, esp. the US public.
“I want to see NEWS. I don’t want to see real life, and TV does not show it except when and where it suits their biases.
“I will do my part to help the victims, but don’t try and jam it down my throat. You will have to do that with the Democrats and others less spiritually developed.”
FROM A SEASIDE COMMUNITY
Bill Worthington, from Truro MA on Cape Cod:
“Danny, that’s great humane thinking. But – I don’t own a store, much less a public office or a network. When the appeal is made, I’ll give. Meanwhile, I’ll probably give what I think I can to Oxfam.
“As I learn more, I’ll probably find that some more is available. Keep doing so much!”
LETS E-MAIL THE NETWORKS
B.A Rosenberg:
“What you need to do is set some way that all of us can deluge the bigshots with e-mail in support of the telethon. Can you do that? Something that will simultaneously go out to all the networks.”
SOMALIA NEEDS HELP TOO
AfricaEd writes:
“I am wondering why Somalia is being ignored by the International community? If the President can have 40 million dollars spent for his inauguration why can’t more money, aid and assistance be provided to the countries that need it regardless of their color or religion? I applaud the UN for putting together at least 500 million dollars to get the program up and running.
“We sure as hell spend a lot of money in a country that did not have anything to do with the US, and secondly we are going to try Saddam and I wonder on what grounds?
“The media has failed to do its job and have a telethon to raise more money to assist those people who need and deserve it. Seems as though disaster always strikes the poor who are in dire need!”
I WILL GO THERE IF NECESSARY
Wendy Schulte:
“Yes I’ll be glad to help where I can, even going there if necessary.
Karen Schweiker:
“Thank you for contacting MediaChannel members with your plea. Please give us the names of the most influential “haves”, so us ordinary human beings can contact them for relief donations towards this horrific disaster. It boggles the mind how so many haves have so much, yet lower middle class Americans support these kinds of grass roots efforts. I know my husband and I try desperately to help others with the little that we have–mainly our Rescue Mission in Phoenix, AZ and other related charities. America is so underestimated in the world and blamed for so much, yet our people continually take the helm with aid packages and efforts to help others with little or no recognition for doing so. The whole world aid thing has been going on for so long, for years and years, and America has ALWAYS been there.
“Again, thank you for your contact, and please let members know who to contact.”
Richard Fitzhugh: “Good ideas, keep it up!”
Billie Brewer of San Antonio Tx: “Would like to give $100.00 to some organization that will use it to help people and not stuff their coffers”
Mrs Dolly Bernau: “I believe by having a Telethon on TV, would give every American the chance to help those in need right now. It is the most awful thing that has touched every American’s heart.and would be a way to let the people affected by this awful disaster, know that American’s care very much”
WE NEED HELP HERE
Richard Marquez, a grassroots Chicano activist in San Francisco’s Mission District:
“I only wish you’d do an analysis of the social and racial tsunamis hitting communities of color in the USA, and ask for a mass appeal from the media to provide an SOS for us here at home in the belly of the beast. I support solidarity with my brothers and sisters devastated by the disaster in southeast Asia, Indonesia and Sri Lanka — people of color, of course, but for us here at home, devastation is crippling, drowning and killing our future prospects — not to mention, the disproportionate number of Latino and African American men dying in Iraq.”
PASS THE HAT AT THE SUPERBOWL
Clara Coen:
“I think it is a great idea, and I am grateful that you pointed out that this puts 9/11 into perspective ( as horrible and as upsetting that was). I would love to sign on, but I am leaving the country in a few days…I have already donated to some relief organizations. If your effort continues after I get back (end of January) i would be happy to participate. Thanks,
PS: as long as you are thinking “big” how about passing the hat at the Superbowl?”
Jan writes:
“I cannot imagine any sane person not being willing to donate, etc etc, to that incredible disaster. I, for one, never dreamed that a tsunami had such power to devastate every thing and every person in its path.
“What we here (safe and sound) need are specific places or organizations to contribute what we can to the survivors right now, and later to the needs of rebuilding housing which is pretty much a shambles. Is the Red Cross on the scene? Doctors Without Borders? Unicef?
“If we don’t know, we can’t help”
FROM CANADA
Carole Walker from Toronto.
“You have my vote — I’ve already made my contribution to UNICEF. Hope many others can be convinced of the worthiness of the cause.”
Steve Krysak:
“I agree completely with you in regarding “SOS TSUNAMI”.
“Your words really got to me, made me think. The media needs to respnod to this as a whole. Covering everything. As you said, a United Media Appeal.
“There needs to be one place for donations, accessible everywhere. In our malls, schools and places of work.
“Although I am just a 15 year old kid in rural Ontario, I feel that something must be done. If there is any efforts that help is needed on, just e-mail me and I’ll do anything that I can.”
GOOD IDEA, BUT RESPONSIBLE REPORTING IS NEEDED TOO
Jim Skillington writes: “Interesting and compelling appeal, Danny.
“But as one who covers disasters day in and day out, my worry is that like 9/11, millions of dollars will be raised without any idea how the donations will be used or even if the organizations receiving the funds will use the money for this — or any disaster for that matter.
“What I wish the media would do is become more responsible in reporting how people can help. For example, on Tuesday the Washington Post was listing two responding “nonprofits” that had been incorporated the day before by well-meaning people who had no established connections with any of the organizations already on the ground in the affected area. (See our story: www.disasternews.net/news/news.php?articleid=2523)
“Suggesting one fund, all to be given to the UN, like FEMA aid in this country, may mean segments of the populations affected will not receive any aid. The UN is currently soliciting donations on its Web site from the public for UNICEF (children) and UNHCR (refugees).
“It may prove more effective to give money to organizations like Church World Service that have had long-term relationships with relief agencies in the affected countries. Many of these organizations also send nearly all of their donation dollars to the specific disaster — that’s not true of all of the nonprofits collecting money in this disaster. A large percentage of donor dollars in some organizations go to administrative costs — the news media needs to be asking how much will actually get to survivors.
“And, BTW, there’s still plenty of need in Florida and people without furnaces or hot water heaters in Western PA and WV thanks to the fall hurricanes. There’s been much said about the billions in US government aid allotted for Florida, but alot of that money has gone to rebuild infrastructure instead of reaching the survivors.
It’s going to be a long-term project to help the areas impacted by the Tsunami. I worry that without responsible reporting, much of the money raised will not be available for the long-term.”
ITS POLITICS, STUPID
Sue Campbell writes from Montana:
“The Tsunami Tidal wave, an act of nature, has brought about horrible destruction, death, and suffering. It seems to have killed and injured almost as many people as have been killed and injured by the incompetent misdeeds of the savage terrorist bush gang. The world has not lifted a finger to help the Iraqis who for the past several years have endured the bombs, death, destruction, pain, torture, captivity, sickness, perpetrated by the bush gang. Why do you think the world cares any more about the folks subject to the Tsunami than the world cares about the Iraqi people??
“At least nobody is supporting what the Tsunami did. The real tragedy of 2004 is that almost half of American voters appear to have voted for the destruction caused by the savage terrorist bush gang. Perhaps those same people enjoy watching the loss of lives, the destruction and suffering in the Indian Ocean area. Perhaps they are feeling badly that nature appears to be able to cause more death, destruction, and suffering, than they are able to cause.
“What if the bush gang exploits this terrible tragedy to kill the remaining Iraqi people and freely loot the oil resource, while the International press is looking the other way?? We can’t do anything about nature. We should be able to take control of thugs and terrorists in our midst.”
BANDWITH AVAILABLE
Steve Starr:
“We can help with zeroing out bandwidth costs. Go to http://dijjer.org.
“Open source, large file solution.
“Free.”
NOT THE UN PLEASE
Paul Harrington:
“Not the UN, please. Any outfit but not that screwed up bunch.”
Marylyn Russell:
“Yes… It is very important to have a central cog in the wheel of organizations. I am supportive of your idea of a united media info “cog.”"
BEWARE SCAMS
Matthew Shelley:
“One of the things I have started to see already is appeals and sites on the internet from groups I have never heard of.
www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm/bay/content.view/catid/38/cpid/227.htm“One might guess that a fair number of these are scams and I think it’s important to stress to people that they should thoroughly investigate any “charity” that is asking for money. Activities of any that are even remotely questionable should be widely disemminated so that they can be inspected under the microscope of public scrutiny.
“It is important for us to get the story out widely and to be generous, it is also important that we make sure the help is properly allocated to do the maximum amount of good. There are even some legitimate charities that have expense ratios that are way too high. ”
RESOURCE: TO CHECK CHARITIES
Charity Watch – The mission categories below list charities which get high grades from AIP for putting 75% or more towards program cost while generally spending $25 or less to raise $100. These groups also receive an “open book” credit from AIP for willingly sending the financial documents we request.
www.charitywatch.org/toprated.html
THE PERSONAL OVER THE POLITICAL
Anna Taylor:
“Political note: major media run silver lining personal STORIES. The POLITICAL silver lining (have a whole essay on this just waiting to be typed) is that Bush’s tinhorn savagery in Iraq and war on terrorism is dwarfed, and made to look stupid and, bad as it is, un-grand . . .”
Eric:
“I totally agree with you. The wealthy should help pay . bush already admitted he does’nt know where the money is coming from, so we already know he’s going to renage. these people need a lot of help.”
Jes: “How can I support you in getting this together??? It’s a fantastic idea.”
Ruth Rader:
“Yeah, I think it’s a great idea, Danny. Count me in. What do you want me to do?
“I will put a mention of your email in my blog (http://ruthiessky.blogspot.com). My blog is brand new.
Did you notice that both Yahoo and Google put a link to organizations that are accepting donations on their respective home page?
“Pretty cool, I think.
“Especially Google who have employees working in India.”
PR COMPANY WANTS TO HELP
“Danny and crew …. Cheers to Media Channel for calling on the troops to exercise their power in a more direct way: aimed at the money holders and money changers.
“As a media relations consultancy for global NGO Church World Service, we’ve all been going through the usual sweat scene to gain maximum media exposure for our client’s part in the international response to a crisis almost too large to grasp– feeling that we’ve all got less than a week before most media are on to other game.
“Thank you for including us and CWS in this call to action.
“How can we as PR folk help? Call the best people at our own, local Boston and New York media and beg their participation? Ask them to interview major corporate leaders in their markets as to what they intend to do to support Bush’s pledges?
“Let us know.
“PS: I believe we met in the Boston misty days of yore. You’re a master of significant re-invention.”
RE INDONESIA
John Miller:
“US.-based groups with a long record of experience in the region today called on the Indonesian government to not let politics override the needs of people in tsunami-stricken Aceh. The groups include the East Timor Action Network (ETAN), International Labor Rights Fund (ILRF) and Nonviolence International (NI). Contact information for experts on the region available for interview is listed at the end of this advisory.
“‘Delays by the Indonesian government in allowing international access to Aceh may have needlessly cost precious lives. The government’s apparent opening of Aceh must continue. The government must cut through its bureaucratic red tape so aid can get through as quickly as possible. International and Indonesian organizations must have unrestricted access to Aceh. International media must be free to report on conditions and relief efforts. Strict limits on internationals’ time in Aceh must be lifted,’ said Michael Beer of NI.
“‘Politics must not be allowed to override the needs of the Acehnese people in this tragic time,’ he added.”
SHAME ON YOU
Neb Conner:
“To the US media: Why aren’t you taking the lead in publicizing the great need that was caused by the Tsunami? Why aren’t you using your power to help the people who were injured by this great storm?
“I am retired and living on a fixed income, but because of a request from one of the websites I visit, I made a contribution.
Shame on you if you do nothing more than report the events as if the rest of the world, and especially the citizens of the US can’t be more generous than we have been.”
John Cristman from Spokane WA:
“I don’t know that the big media can be made truly responsive to this disaster. In the hours after the initial reports, CNN devoted full coverage to the story but was the only 24 hour news channel to do so. FOX News continued for several hours with its regularly scheduled wrap-up of recycled 2004 top stories while MSNBC continued its National Geographic Explorer program.
“This shows how they really feel about issues that affect the rest of the world. If it is outside of U.S. borders, it is secondary news. The only way to wake these people up is to have a full-scale uprising; a full-scale e-mail campaign directed at them to show our disapproval followed by a boycott of their stations until they begin to become responsive to our needs for real news coverage. How can we develop this sort of strategy? It also obviously needs to be followed up by a similar approach for any upcoming breaking news in the future to be effective. Thanks for your continued vigilance.”
BAD IDEA
Linwood B Jarratt, a fellow blogger:
“I’m a blogger and I do not agree with this. The media is asking for money. People are giving money rapidly and generously to charities. If the media wants to help they can inform the people which charities are better than others at providing aid. I have already asked for donations to go to World Vision from my site. My kids even gave money.
“The UN is a corrupt organization. They cannot be trusted with that kind of money. People should be freely giving and not the governments doing it for us. The U.S. has already given over $35 Million and trying to get more from other budgetary items. Going through the UN would require the government to tax us for it. The government is already providing military, medical, logistical and other aid already. The bulk of the relief money will and should come from private donations and not government forced taxation. It should go to charities that actually do the work and not UN.”
Jennifer Ryan:
“I completely understand your need to get a handle on all this and try and channel it into more manageable conduits, right now the response is almost as crushing and catastrophic as the disaster itself. However, I feel that every individual reacts in a different way and needs to respond in whatever manner seems appropriate at the moment. Part of my personal response is to fire off emails, phone calls etc. to programs like Washington Journal on CSPAN who for three days in a row have allowed their callers (mainly the Bush supporters) to keep on insisting that since foreigners didn’t offer aid to Florida, America is under no obligation to be more generous in their offer to Asia. One caller made a pun on the name of the Indonesian ambassador which included the phonetic phrase `rat’, saying that would be what they would all be eating soon! My aim was to try and get the hosts to be a little more informed and not allow erroneous information to be disseminated without calling it as it is. I don’t have the energy or desire to do the same with such way out of it hosts like Sean Hannity, they make me feel polluted. Democracy in media is also valuable and we have choices. The most important thing is not to let compassion fatigue or donor fatigue set in. That is when we will all need our energy. My way at this very moment is stay tuned to the BBC World News, it seems more manageable to me as a British expat when delivered with an English accent. Whatever gets you through the night. Keep up your good work. A collective good will come out of this, I am sure of that.”
GOOD IDEA
J Salvez:
“If the media can give the GOP air time to promote corporate america’s plead to drain our tax dollars through our politician, then they certainly can spare some resources to help those that have been struck my nature’s fury, not man made. I say mobilize!
Danielle Greene from VA:
“Great idea, involve the U.N. (don’t let Dubya “lead” a coalition — it’ll be another disaster). Count me in!”
Miriam Kurland:
“The billions of dollars that we are spending on the war in Iraq could undoubtedly be much better used to help the people of the countries that were devestated by the giant tidal wave. Not only would stopping the War on Iraq in the interest of using the same money to help those countries be the right thing to do, while the war on Iraq is plain wrong and immoral, but it would reverse the damage to foreign relationships, the hatred of the US worldwide, and the growth of terrorism that have been caused by the corporate hijacking of our country, legalized, supported and openly encouraged by the Bush administration.”
WE ARE DOING TOO MUCH
Kay Don Russell:
“I thank we are doing to much we should take care of our own and the Pre. is doing a goo job and it time to see what is going on and as for the other side thet can kiss my a…”
SMALL MEDIA IS IMPORTANT TOO
Z Mitchell Szczepanczyk writes from Chicago:
“Pushing Big Media to respond to this tsunami is a big deal (I spend a great deal of my spare time pushing Big Media), but we shouldn’t discount the efforts of smaller, more responsive media outlets to offer positive examples that media activists can point to.”
Julian Leuthold
“I would help. What are people doing? What does MediaChannel need specifically?”
APPEAL DIRECTLY FROM ACEH
“Many of you will have heard about the terrible earthquake and tsunami which has devastated Aceh and Northern Sumatra in Indonesia. Indonesian NGOs including WALHI Friends of the Earth Indonesia have established the Indonesian Civil Society Coalition for the Victims of Earthquake and Tsunami to provide aid to the victims. We have set up crisis centers in Jakarta and Medan, North Sumatra.
“SHATTERED COMMUNITIES NEED YOUR HELP! Hundreds of impoverished coastal communities have been destroyed, and a humanitarian disaster can only be averted through a generous international donation response. The Indonesian Civil Society Coalition for the Victims of Earthquake and Tsunami is appealing for donations from members of the public abroad, as well as within Indonesia.
“All funds received by WALHI for the Coalition appeal will be allocated for emergency response as well as the post-emergency phase of rebuilding and restoration of shattered livelihoods. Please note that we can only receive financial donations from abroad for logistical reasons.
“The Medan and Jakarta Crisis Centers collect funds and enlist volunteers in coordination with local organizations. Funds and resources are mobilized by local organizations based in North Sumatera and Aceh. The latest information on our activities and needs, as well as developments on disaster spots will be provided in the form of daily updates in the English website of WALHI-Friends of the Earth Indonesia. Go to http://www.walhi.or.id and click English at top menu.
Please send your donations to:
Name on Account : Wahana Lingkungan Hidup Indonesia
Account No. : 3-000026-173
Name of Bank : Citibank
Branch : Menara Citibank
Address : Jln. Metro Pondok Indah Kavling II/BA, No. 1, Jakarta, INDONESIA
Swift Code : CITI IDJX
Steve Drachler:
“Danny: Good timing. Here is a news release from The United Methodist Church that just went out, announcing a full-page ad in next Monday’s USA Today, urging people to prayer and to contribute to the disaster relief efforts underway. It is one church’s effort to support and undergird the effort:”
Danielle guion-swenson, Kapolei, Hawaii, Blue United States of America writes:
“I’m appalled (as usual) the United States GOVERNMENT isn’t doing its share!!! The PEOPLE of the UNITED STATES would do theirs (BUT METHINKS HALF OF THEM AREN’T BRIGHT ENOUGH TO DO something without being told/how…. OOPS, SORRY!!)
“The idea of outlets with donation slips and one place to mail checks is GREAT (and I support the UNITED NATIONS EFFORT)!
“I’m sending a donation to my Amer. Red Cross. How do we encourage/FORCE the MASS MEDIA to DO THEIR JOB!!??? Thanks for all You do!”
ASIAN DISASTER: HOW TO HELP
While we wait for the United Media Appeal, here are other organizations in action now:
“Global aid organizations have launched urgent appeals for donations to help survivors of Sunday’s Indian Ocean earthquake disaster.
More than 100,000 people are confirmed killed by the waves and millions more are homeless.
Many governments and organizations – including the US, Canada, Australia, the EU and the UN — are sending aid.
The UN has warned that supplies are urgently needed to support the survivors and to try and prevent disease which, it says, could double the death toll.
The Disasters Emergency Committee – www.dec.org.uk – is an umbrella group of UK aid organizations – including Action Aid, British Red Cross and Oxfam — working to provide clean water, food and shelter to thousands. To call from the UK, dial 0870 60 60 900.
The United Nations World Food Programme (www.wfp.org) is seeking donations to feed victims of the earthquake.
Medecins Sans Frontieres (www.msf.org) is sending aid workers to the region, focusing on medical care for survivors and displaced people after the rescue operations.
The United Nations Children’s Fund, Unicef (www.unicef.org.uk) is working to meet the “urgent needs of hundreds of thousands of people” affected by the tsunami disaster.
The UN refugee agency, UNHCR (www.unhcr.ch) — which has been helping victims of conflicts in Indonesia and Sri Lanka, is delivering relief supplies to tsunami survivors in both countries.
Save the Children (www.savethechildren.org.uk) has already flown a plane out to Sri Lanka carrying plastic sheeting for temporary shelter, tents to run children’s services from and essentials such as clothing and cooking utensils.
Anti-poverty organization Care International (www.care.org) has already provided food for thousands of affected people in Sri Lanka.”
IT GOES ON
I am being inundated.Wow. Our community cares. What a great response. Keep it coming. Write: dissector@mediachannel.org
Happy News Year. Back Monday.
Danny Schechter
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Urgent Appeal
December 28th, 2004 - by: danny
Please try to help the tens of thousands people in Asia who have been devastated by the killer tsunami and earthquake that shattered so many countries.
You’ll find resources on Google’s Tsunami Relief page:
http://www.google.com/tsunami_relief.html
A word of sorrow closer to home: Writer/critic/human rights advocate Susan Sontag has died after a long battle with cancer. Years ago, I interviewed her for a film I was making on the siege of Sarajevo. She stood with and spoke up for the people of Bosnia in their most difficult hour. He voice was eloquent and strong.
In his tribute, journalist Doug Ireland writes:
“Susan was the epitome of the intellectuelle engagée. She never shirked the responsibility of living in her time, and brought her acute analysis, and empathy with victims of state oppression wherever it was felt, onto the page with memorable effect. The last time she made headlines was when, during the second U.S. war in Iraq, Susan was pilloried by the philistines after she compared the Congress’s applause for George Bush’s war speech to the knee-jerk ovations which the Party Congresses in the Soviet Union gave to Stalin. She got it exactly right, of course.”
http://www.laweekly.com/ink/printme.php?eid=59676
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No Longer The Season To Be Jolly
December 24th, 2004 - by: danny
XMAS EVE–LAST BLOG OF THE YEAR
“WAR IS OVER”
THE POLITICS OF CHRISTMAS
HAPPY NEWS YEAR
‘Twas the wee hours of the morning before the night before Christmas, and all through my house, nothing was stirring except my fingers hitting these keys, just a few blocks away from where a man named Clement Moore, who lived on a farm in what is now the Chelsea section of Manhattan, wrote his famous poem, The Night Before Christmas. Yup, it happened here.
On Tuesday, Yoko Ono placed her annual ad in the newspaper with John’s line, “war is over if you want it ” and boy, do I ever, want IT, because detailing all the crimes and lies of war every day takes a toll. It really does. I feel like the grim reaper some time, Mr. Earnest, wagging my not so little finger at the government, at the press, at the horror and them not feeling much better when little changes. All of Rumsfeld’s trips to Iraq will not put Humpty Dumpty together again. The fighting grinds on in Fallujah. And as far as I can tell, the US war is lost. This writer in India agrees:
http://tinyurl.com/58lal
HARD YEAR
2004 has been a hard year for all of us, a year of disappointing politricks, faux elections, pervasive deception, degraded media and endless war. You know the situation. Closer to my life, Globalvision, our dream that became a company is struggling on, undercapitalized and almost an aberration in a media environment that worships the Donald and his apprentices but not those who want to make media that matters and inform a public that is dumbed down daily.
This has been a year in which I blogged and slogged — posting every morning and working almost every day on our film WMD which is battling for visibility and impact. It is an up-hill fight, this media war, and what makes it feel less impossible and lonely is the fact that so many of you seem to appreciate the work and let me know that you do. In that way I know I am not alone and you aren’t either. In fact we represent a much larger constituency than we even think. Let’s build that movement for a media that serves democracy in the year ahead
This weekend my daughter Sarah descends. I hope to slow to a crawl and abandon obsessive interest in news and all that. Let’s see if I can do it. After all, it’s Christmas and a perfect time to challenge the narrative of the Christmas story. I will let James Carrol of the Boston Globe do that for us with his take on . . .
“THE POLITICS OF CHRISTMAS”
“The single most important fact about the birth of Jesus, as recounted in the Gospels, is one that receives almost no emphasis in the American festival of Christmas. The child who was born in Bethlehem represented a drastic political challenge to the imperial power of Rome. The nativity story is told to make the point that Rome is the enemy of God, and in Jesus, Rome’s day is over.
“The Gospel of Matthew builds its nativity narrative around Herod’s determination to kill the baby, whom he recognizes as a threat to his own political sway. The Romans were an occupation force in Palestine, and Herod was their puppet-king. To the people of Israel, the Roman occupation, which preceded the birth of Jesus by at least 50 years, was a defilement, and Jewish resistance was steady. (The historian Josephus says that after an uprising in Jerusalem around the time of the birth of Jesus, the Romans crucified 2,000 Jewish rebels.)
“Herod was right to feel insecure on his throne. In order to preempt any challenge from the rumored newborn “king of the Jews,” Herod murdered “all the male children who were 2 years old or younger.” Joseph, warned in a dream, slipped out of Herod’s reach with Mary and Jesus. Thus, right from his birth, the child was marked as a political fugitive.
“The Gospel of Luke puts an even more political cast on the story. The narrative begins with the decree of Caesar Augustus calling for a world census — a creation of tax rolls that will tighten the empire’s grip on its subject peoples. It was Caesar Augustus who turned the Roman republic into a dictatorship, a power-grab he reinforced by proclaiming himself divine.
“His census decree is what requires the journey of Joseph and the pregnant Mary to Bethlehem, but it also defines the context of their child’s nativity as one of political resistance. When the angel announces to shepherds that a “savior has been born,” as scholars like Richard Horsley point out, those hearing the story would immediately understand that the blasphemous claim by Caesar Augustus to be “savior of the world” was being repudiated.
“When Jesus was murdered by Rome as a political criminal — crucifixion was the way such rebels were executed — the story’s beginning was fulfilled in its end. But for contingent historical reasons (the savage Roman war against the Jews in the late first century, the gradual domination of the Jesus movement by Gentiles, the conversion of Constantine in the early fourth century) the Christian memory deemphasized the anti-Roman character of the Jesus story. Eventually, Roman imperialism would be sanctified by the church, with Jews replacing Romans as the main antagonists of Jesus, as if he were not Jewish himself. (Thus, Herod is remembered more for being part-Jewish than for being a Roman puppet.)
“In modern times, religion and politics began to be understood as occupying separate spheres, and the nativity story became spiritualized and sentimentalized, losing its political edge altogether. “Peace” replaced resistance as the main motif. The baby Jesus was universalized, removed from his decidedly Jewish context, and the narrative’s explicit critiques of imperial dominance and of wealth were blunted.
“This is how it came to be that Christmas in America has turned the nativity of Jesus on its head. No surprise there, for if the story were told today with Roman imperialism at its center, questions might arise about America’s new self-understanding as an imperial power. A story of Jesus born into a land oppressed by a hated military occupation might prompt an examination of the American occupation of Iraq.
“A story of Jesus come decidedly to the poor might cast a pall over the festival of consumption. A story of the Jewishness of Jesus might undercut the Christian theology of Replacement. . .”
http://tinyurl.com/725yz
AMEN
I will spare you a review of the year’s news. All my dissections are archived, should you want to revisit any of the outrages we have been exposed to and that I have blogged on about.
For now, here’s what’s in the inbox about THE BOX
Brokaw stepped down a month or so ago. And then Moyers left us a few weeks ago. According to the Washington Times, we may soon be saying night-night to Nightline. They are already talking about the post-Koppel era as the Washington Times reports:
“Nightline” earned praise this year for its intelligent reporting on the war in Iraq and the presidential campaign. It made waves in April when anchor Ted Koppel devoted one show to reading the names of soldiers killed in Iraq, a moving installment that some affiliates refused to air because they said it was politically charged.
The show averages about 4 million viewers per night, trailing Jay Leno’s NBC program and Mr. Letterman’s CBS show.
“Nightline” could survive without Mr. Koppel, whose contract ends late next year, Mr. Bettag said.
“The last thing we would want is to leave the air just because Ted does,” he said, adding that possible successors won’t be identified until Mr. Koppel’s plans are known.”
WILL DEMOCRACY BREAK OUT?
In Iraq, we will start hearing more about elections. Borzou Daragahi, of the San Francisco Chronicle reports on an election that will, if it happens, give voters many more choices that Americans have:
“Despite rampant ongoing violence, including car bombs targeting civilians in Shiite regions of Iraq, the execution of three Iraqi election officials on a Baghdad street Sunday and the deadly attack on U.S. troops at lunch in Mosul on Tuesday, a kaleidoscope of political groups has slowly been created. They have emerged from the shadows to launch campaigns for the Jan. 30 parliamentary elections, the country’s first free vote since the overthrow of the Iraqi monarchy in 1958.
“In Washington, President Bush said the attack on the mess tent at a U.S. military base in Mosul that killed 22 people and wounded dozens would not deter the election. “I’m confident democracy will prevail in Iraq,” he said Tuesday.
“Iraqi voters will choose from 109 ballot choices, including 27 individuals, 73 political parties and nine coalitions. Those “lists” with the most votes will win proportional numbers of seats in a 275-member parliament, which will draft a new constitution and plan another election later next year. A special lottery was held Tuesday to determine the contenders’ order on the ballot, with the little-known Independent Iraqi Alliance landing the first spot.
“The ballot will offer parties representing interests from the political left to the right, from religious to secular and from ethnic and tribal to pan- Iraqi. Choices range from a 12-candidate party representing the Yazidi minority — whose religion is a combination of Zoroastrian, Jewish, Nestorian Christian and Islamic elements — to the 240-candidate coalition representing Iraq’s strong Shiite majority.
“There are at least two parties representing Christians, two representing Turkomans and about a dozen representing Iraq’s 4 million Kurds . . . .”
AND YES, THE COMMUNISTS ARE RUNNING TOO
Mymen Sngh writes a letter to Al Jazeera seeking more coverage for party in red. He writes, “Among all your excellent coverage, you have given very little exposure to the Iraqi communist party.
“Though they are a shadow of their former selves and have condoned many of the crimes of the puppet Governing council and brutal Allawi regime, it would be remiss of you to underestimate their name recognition value in a country where all the political parties today except the banned Baath have been formed abroad.
“Many Iraqis still remember the Communist party fondly for standing up to Saddam Hussein and for the terrible losses it suffered. It has a very strong base among the professional classes, and not only in certain areas of Baghdad, among farmers unions but also in Shiite areas such as Basra. After all, the communist party was born from the struggles of poor people in Sadr City.
“Many people afraid of a harsh and repressive religious government taking control would turn to the communist party as a secular and acceptable alternative if you gave them some prominence. The campaign is still young, and though many Muslims might hesitate to support a party they consider Godless and pro-Russian, times have changed and it is far better to give them a chance than all the opportunists seeking to destroy Iraq today.”
Dig it, that would be wild if the hammer and the sickle ends up flying over one of Saddam’s old palaces. That is if an Islamic flag of the Shia majority doesn’t get there first. Wild.
AN ARAB VIEW
And while this bright future awakes, the Arab writer Ghali Hassan remembers an electoral statement here by John Kerry. Remember him? “Americans have borne 90 percent of the casualties in Iraq.”
“. . . there is a deep racism underlying the occupiers’ attitudes to Arabs, Muslims and [other coloured people] generally”, wrote the Egyptian novelist, Ahdaf Soueif. She noted that “the acts in the photos being flashed across the [TV] networks would not have taken place but for the profound racism that infects the American and British establishments”.
“The Iraqi people are fighting to liberate their country from foreign occupation and terrorism. Their cause is noble and legitimate within international law. They are not ‘insurgents’. They are Iraqi men and women resisting the occupation and destruction of their country and society by foreign powers. . .”
http://207.44.245.159/article7541.htm
BACK IN THE HOMELAND, KERRY AWAKENS
Truthout’s William Rivers Pitt reports:
“2004 Democratic Presidential candidate John Kerry will file today, in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, papers in support of the Green Party/Libertarian Party recount effort. Specifically, Kerry will be filing a request for expedited discovery regarding Triad Systems voting machines, as well as a motion for a preservation order to protect any and all discovery and preserve any evidence on this matter.
“Triad Systems has come under scrutiny recently after Sherole Eaton, deputy director of elections for Hocking County, swore out an affidavit in which she described her witnessing the tampering of electronic voting equipment by a Triad representative. Rep. John Conyers, the ranking minority member of the House Judiciary Committee, has requested an investigation into this matter by the FBI and the Hocking County prosecutor . . . .”
Meanwhile in the White House, observers wondered what and who President Bush was talking to and about at 16:47 in this video clip.
http://tinyurl.com/5k8wx
ON OUR MEDIA
Lois Melina of the Baltimore Sun writes about media failures.
“As the country prepares for at least two years with the Republicans in control of both the White House and Congress, it is vitally important that the news media look at how they have failed the American people and contributed to a polarized nation.”
www.freepress.net/news/5979
YOUR LETTERS: ON THE MESS HALL BOMBING
The military savvy Joseph F. Dunphy writes:
“Let me express some deep skepticism over the revised news reports that the mess hall bombing was solely the work of a solo suicide-bomber attack. The pictures of the mess hall “roof/covering” that ran for two days clearly showed metal being bent inwards, toward the ground, indicating the “entrance wound” characteristics of something that struck the roof from the outside first.
“It could be mortars, RPGs, anti-tank guided missiles, or something like that. If it were mortars, the Army’s Field Manual for combat engineering spells out the thickness of sandbags and the proper dimensions of “stringers, beams, and supports,” that would make the roof much less vulnerable to indirect fire. Since I gather that there may not be many forests around the desert, the wood/steel would have to be trucked in.
“Which makes me think that all available steel/armor substitutes are being scavenged to take care of vehicles that are not armored. Thus, it may be that the vulnerability of the mess hall is an unintended consequence of the “shortage” of up-armored vehicles. The ball bearing part of the story has the convenient virtue of taking the eye of the press off the main story, which is the lack of proper armor, after two years of soldier’s complaints about it, not to mention parents, and hospitals full of grieviously wounded. The evidence is being ignored, hardly in the tradition of the scientific method. The press should not take its eye off the main story — why don’t the troops have the right equipment?
“Also, a simple fix would be having active patrols on duty, prior to such scheduled events as chow, surveying the area at or near the perimeter of what would be mortar range. You couldn’t catch everything, but the drones would surely make patrol work a lot easier. Easier to do if you have enough troops, harder if you’re shorthanded.
“The ‘ball bearing’ part of the news account also gives me pause, because this is exactly the kind of charge leveled (sometimes falsely) by British Forces occupying Northern Ireland. (By the way, little reporting has been done in the media on the exact replication of British torture techniques in Northern Ireland and those used by the US worldwide now, surfacing most visibly in Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib, and much less visibly in the body snatching operations to Egypt and Syria, curiously termed renditions). While there were nail bombs used by Irish militants on the Irish Republican side, there were also bats with nails used as clubs, in lopsided amounts of Orange terror attacks, so that there was plenty of blame to go around.
“While it is not played up loudly in the US press, England is undergoing a controversial downsizing of its army. Hence, there is a curious element of publicity-seeking by English-Army hawks to play up the role of the “Black Watch,” who are trying to keep from unduly feeling the incision of the budget knife. Thus, the undercurrent is that the English hawks are playing to the grandstands in England, trying to lobby, via the media, for more funds for troops and equipment to fight “the savage natives,” wherever they might be.
“The English administration, by way of its judiciary, is trying once again to bury the ‘Bloody Sunday’ massacre of Catholic civilians, a case that has been infamous since 1972. The current PR push on the ‘need’ to strengthen the Black Watch troops also serves the desire of the English administration to deflect criticism sure to come if the courts once again find the English troops unaccountable for alleged war crimes. One of the big hidden agendas here is that of the arms industry. They sell equipment based on claims that it is ‘battle-tested.’ If US equipment doesn’t get the job done, other countries will buy from Russia, China, France, England, Israel, South Africa, or the trendy manufacturer of the day.
“What we are seeing in news reports is failures of some US equipment, and failures to carry out our own time-tested doctrine and tactics. A lot of what should be done is spelled out in field manuals — now conveniently on Compact Disc format. Which brings us back again to the big story — why is the leadership improvising, and departing from the playbook? Before they enter the military, they have to have at least a GED, which means they can read. So any departures from the written word has to come from above. And the bread crumbs lead us back to the top of the cave.”
ON DOCU-DEMOCRACY
Colin Sheppard writes, “I enjoyed your piece on Documentaries.” (He read it on Z-NET)
“Just 2 quick comments, that I think are worth noting and you may wish to elaborate on in future:
1) Ironically, I believe many of these documentary movies are actually quite profitable? From what I can gather, namely the website (www.imdb.org), many of these documentaries have done well in business/capitialist manner of speaking.(Some have — some haven’t. It is often hard to recoup one’s investment.”
2) I think in the past year another documentary movie worthy of mention is, and arguably as significant as “Fahrenheit 911″ is Morgan Spurlock’s “Superize Me!” (http://www.supersizeme.com)
“I have enjoyed your work and interviews previously, and I hope you may be able to mention and elaborate on these 2 points in future! Merry Christmas!!!”
Steve Withers writes from Foxton New Zealand:
“I read the other day that over US $130 billion has been spent on the Stars Wars missile defense system. Add that to the roughly US$200 billion spent on the illegal invasion of Iraq that President Bush lied to justify.
“With just those two, you’re well on the way to half a trillion dollars down the plughole.
“What a waste. That money could have done so many good and worthwhile things in a world very much in need of good and worthwhile things. ”
DON’T MALIGN CHIMPS
Ananda writes:
“I have noticed that a certain sector of society commonly refers to our president as a chimp, and I for one am tired of this egregious disrespect. Chimpanzees are highly intelligent, social, loving animals who value their families and communities and protect their neighbors’ babies. They share resources, help each other accomplish important tasks, and have more logical reasoning ability than a four-year-old human. Obviously, George W. Bush has nothing in common with these advanced primates, and they don’t deserve to be continually compared with their far-distant cousin. ”
HEARTACHE
Barbara Sockey from Potomac Falls VA has some to share:
“I was sure I would not see another “Viet Nam” in my lifetime. When I read of the Mosul attack, my heart ached with sorrow. This is so wrong. None of this makes sense — unless one looks at it strictly through a privileged personal economic prism, and not just “any” prism — the splendiferous, phantasmagoric prism of the top one-tenth of 1% of income earners. Just looking at the tax cut gives you a clear idea. . . . to say nothing of the millions and billions in Iraq-related contracts. This is blood for money.
Barbara includes a chart on how tax cuts benefit the rich:
http://www.cbpp.org/
“I know I’m all over the board, but I am so angry and discouraged. Thank you for all your good work. Happy Chrismukkahkwanz. . . . ”
WHO DO WE SUPPORT?
Adam Cornford and I had an exchange which we will explore in more detail in the future about the political choices in Iraq, none of which seem very good. He writes:
“Michael Moore’s ‘analysis’ in ‘Fahrenheit 911′ that the invasion of Iraq was motivated by Bush family interests rather than by a larger imperial agenda (which CH admits, albeit in a somewhat evasive way) is crude nonsense and seriously undermines his case in the film;
“–much of the Iraqi left (including the Communist Party, though CH did not mention them in particular) has long called for and critically supported the US-led overthrow of Saddam Hussein, and the CPI in particular is participating aggressively in the elections;
“–the insurgency appears now to be led by an alliance of Ba’athists and Wahabist/Al Quaeda militants, who have in common that they are vicious fascists trying to prevent even the semblance of a democratic civil society forming in Iraq by a campaign of murder and terror, much of it directed at fellow-Iraqis as well as at the occupation forces. . .
So that leaves us with no-one to support — except those incredibly brave Iraqis who oppose both the occupation and the fascist insurgency. The question is, how can we help them?”
Adam concluded on an up-note:
“This just to thank you for the dialogue and for your blog, which I read daily, and the endless hard work of it. I hope to see ‘WMD’ soon. I’d love to see you debate Hitchens and hear his response to it! (Incidentally, Krasny was very weak in his interviews both with the vile war criminal Richard Perle and with Hitchens, who admittedly expressed sardonic if understated distaste for Perle . . . With warmest best wishes for the new year.”
Robert Polhemus sends cheer:
“The return of Light drifting back slowly from the Southern Hemisphere Danny. I trust that the enormous courage it takes with your efforts to Spotlight the truth resonates in a universe beyond the pale garb of People who rely on their Ignorance to get them through another day.
CRASH AND BURN
Bradley Laing writes:
“Gwynne Dyer, a columnist who has been a favorite of mine since the 1980s, on his web site reprinted a column from October. In it, she suggested that both the Iraqi occupation and the U.S. economy were going to crash and burn, and it would be better if George Bush were in office to take the blame, so that the right wing couldn’t blame an elected John Kerry for the messes.
“Look, it is just a column
“But it’s the idea that both the economy and Iraq will go terribly bad in the same four years, mostly because “there is an inexhaustible supply of angry young men” to fight the occupation and because of the trade and budget deficits.
“Somebody, maybe not Dyer, suggested that if the dollar declines enough, cheap goods from China will soar in price, something consumers will not like.
“The vision of an Economic crisis in the next four years, when I’d like a 1990s boom economy back now, please — with Bush presiding over it — sounds nightmarish. Would you do some dissecting on this for me, huh, please?”
Jamie MacKay writes from Whistler BC:
“Best wishes for the season here, I hope you get some rest out of it, you work too hard. But thanks from all of us who partake in your blog — its the efforts of you and others that keeps the ‘spin’ as spin, and puts a little news back into the news.”
BOOKS FOR YOU
We all will, when we are back, in 2005 after a short break. Please no letters until then. Remember you can still get a free gift copy of my e-book EMBEDDED by signing up with that incredible resource, Coldype.net.
Another book worth reading is by Tony Papa, an artist and stand up guy who was falsely incarcerated for many years and finally released on a Christmas like this. I had hoped to write more about him and will. For now, check out “15 to Life” on Amazon.com:
www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1932595066/mediaisaplura-20
Or visit his site: www.15tolife.com.
Also check out Rory O’Connor’s tribute to our late friend Jack Newfield:
www.roryoconnor.org/blog/index.php?p=96
To add to the role of the departed, Rabbi Arthur Waskow paid tribute to two giants intelletuals who also died at year’s end: Dick Barnet and Seymour Melman, two men who offered ideas for making peace in our world of conflict.
THE FREEDOM WE SEEK WILL TAKE A LONG MARCH
Join me in resolving to come back on the New Year and do it all again, to keep up our struggle for media reform and a revitalized democracy wherever we live.
My love to all for a happy, safe. prosperous and just News Year. My friend Tom Engelhardt carries a piece by Roberta Solnit in his Tom Dispatch about keeping hope alive. She concludes:
“And besides which, if you give up, you’ll hate yourself in the morning. If you act, you may or may not have the impact you intend, but you know what the consequences of passivity are. Insurrection is the honorable way to go, and you can be a small victory just by being in public, in touch, and outspoken — one person who hasn’t been conquered. Don’t do the Administration the favor of conquering yourself. ”
–Danny Schechter, News Dissector, 2004. That’s all for now folks.
Posted by Danny on Fri, Dec 24, 2004 at 12:19 AM EST
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About Danny Schechter
Danny Schechter is an Emmy award winning journalist, television producer and independent filmmaker who also writes, blogs and speaks about media issues.
His latest film is PLUNDER The Crime Of Our Time.
Mr. Schechter is NOT the Godfather of Soul.
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