www.altpr.org
Alternative Press Week in Review
Your Guide Beyond the Mainstream
Vol. 1, No. 10 - April 28, 2003
A weekly roundup of news, essays and other items of interest.
http://www.rachelcorrie.org/gaza.htm
To the people of Gaza from the family of Rachel Corrie
http://www.msnbc.com/news/wld/graphics/strategic_israel_dw.htm
The Secret Arsenal of the Jewish State
http://www.thememoryhole.org/war/stripped-iraqis.htm
US Forces Make Iraqis Strip and Walk Naked in Public
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article2973.htm
US Marines Get Into the Spirit of Looting
http://www.thememoryhole.org/media/evening-standard-crowd.htm
Doctored Photo
INCOMING! - A short list of some of the more interesting items received at
the Alternative Press Review office this week.
Zine of the Week
Insubordination
24-page political zine from Philly with articles by Mumia Abu-Jamal, Hans
Bennett, Normon Solomon and interviews with Noam Chomsky and Michael Franti.
Sample copy is $2.00 from Insubordination, PO Box 30770, Philadelphia, PA
19104; email: [log in to unmask]
CD of the Week
http://www.theskeptics.net
The Skeptics - Right from the Start
Articles of the Week
http://www.truthout.org/docs_03/042703E.shtml
Amy Goodman Interview with Robert Fisk
Democracy Now
I've never seen such historical acts take place in the 27 years I've been in
the Middle East. And the results cannot be good. I don't believe we've gone
to Iraq because of weapons of mass destruction. If we'd done that, we would
have invaded North Korea. I don't believe we've gone there because of human
rights abuses because we connived at those abuses for many years when we
supported Saddam. I think we've gone there for oil. And though we may get
the oil, I think the price will be very high.
http://pilger.carlton.com/print/132939
Something deeply corrupt is consuming journalism
John Pilger, Pilger in Print
A war that was hardly a war, that was so one-sided it ought to be dispatched
with shame in the military annals, was reported like a Formula One race, as
we watched the home teams speed to the chequered flag in Baghdad's Firdos
Square, where a statue of the dictator created and sustained by "us" was
pulled down in a ceremony that was as close to fakery as you could get.
http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Articles4/MickeyZ_Clean.htm
No One is Totally Clean
Mickey Z., Dissident Voice
The impact these "former" Nazis had on shaping U.S. policy towards the USSR
was vast. The number of humans who suffered and died because of the
resultant Cold War is beyond calculation.
http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Articles4/Phillips_Media-TIPS.htm
Corporate Media and Homeland Security Move Towards Total Information Control
Peter Phillips, Dissident Voice
For the majority of Americans who depend on corporate media for their daily
news, this monolithic news structure creates intellectual celibacy, inaction
and fear. The result is a docile population, whose principal function within
society is to simply shut-up and go shopping.
http://www3.sympatico.ca/sr.gowans/double.html
Double Standards in P.T. Barnum's Land
Stephen Gowans, What's Left
The closest the media gets to declaring these US violations to be "war
crimes" is when they call them "controversial," as in the "controversial use
of cluster bombs," or the "controversial use of depleted uranium munitions,"
or the "controversial use of overwhelming force in civilian areas," or "the
controversial targeting of civilian morale." This is a bit like saying
Hitler's invasion of Poland was controversial.
http://www.onlinejournal.com/Commentary/042503Partridge/042503partridge.html
The view from wonderland
Ernest Partridge, Online Journal
How many Americans today are aware, or if aware, care, that the Bush
regime's justifications for the Iraq war were based upon lies, forgeries,
and plagiarisms, and that the images of the "coalition's" "triumphs" (e.g.,
the toppling of the Saddam statue and the "rescue" of Private Lynch) were
staged.
http://www.ocweekly.com/ink/03/34/cover-schou.php
Did Matt Lamont Try to Blow Up Hitler's Birthday Party?
Nick Schou, Orange County Weekly
One thing that is obvious is that Lamont didn't get attached to anarchism by
reading books by Goldberg or Chomsky. Instead, as seems to be the case with
the rest of his cohorts, believing in anarchy simply meant rejecting all
forms of authority-parents, teachers and especially cops.
http://globalresearch.ca/articles/CHO303C.html
Brazil: Neoliberalism with a human face
Michel Chossudovsky, www.globalresearch.ca
Ironically, while applauding Lula`s victory, nobody - among the prominent
critics of "free trade" and corporate driven globalization - who spoke at
the 2003 WSF, seemed to have noticed that President Luis Ignacio da Silva`s
PT government had already handed over the reigns of macro-economic reform to
Wall Street and the IMF.
http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0424-04.htm
San Francisco Chronicle Fires Reporter For Attending Peace Protest
Amy Goodman, Democracy Now
Henry Norr joins a growing number of journalists who've lost their jobs or
columns due to their views on war.
http://www.greenanarchy.org/zine/GA12/reggio.php
Interview with Filmmaker Godfrey Reggio
Green Anarchy
I think our greatest opportunity is to live a creative life. Often that
means to reject schooling, rejecting organized education. For many of us,
our diploma from college becomes our death certificate, because it
ingratiates us into a way of life that's unquestioned where the principal
modus operandi is finance, or money.
http://www.progressive.org/may03/jen0503.html
The Military's Media
Robert Jensen, The Progressive
Three days into the war, CNN's Judy Woodruff ended a segment featuring an
interview with an A-10 "Warthog" pilot with the comment, "We continue to
marvel at what those planes can do." Once "Shock and Awe" began, some on-air
reporters appeared jubilant - as if they were watching a fireworks display
and not weapons that kill people.
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2003/0304.marshall.html
Practice to Deceive: Chaos in the Middle East is not the Bush hawks'
nightmare scenario--it's their plan
Joshua Micah Marshall, Washington Monthly
In their view, invasion of Iraq was not merely, or even primarily, about
getting rid of Saddam Hussein. Nor was it really about weapons of mass
destruction, though their elimination was an important benefit. Rather, the
administration sees the invasion as only the first move in a wider effort to
reorder the power structure of the entire Middle East.
http://www.bostonphoenix.com/boston/news_features/other_stories/multi-page/d
ocuments/02844047.htm
The war at home
David Valdes Greenwood, Boston Phoenix
It's time to defend our liberties before Patriot Act II makes protest a
crime
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article3098.htm
There's Lies, Damn Lies, and then there's the Corporate Press
William Bowles, Information Clearing House
For months we've been bombarded with a never-ending stream of state
propaganda utilising a vast array of techniques: satellite images, computer
simulations, faked documents, 'revelations', 'pulpit pounding' and pleading
verging on the evangelical, dossiers, expert analysis' of one kind or
another, exhultations to one's patriotism, and threats of dire events if we,
the people, don't go along with what is probably the most sustained campaign
of disinformation ever mounted by governments in modern times.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article1395.shtml
Leaked document exposes pro-Israel lobby's manipulation of US public
Ali Abunimah, The Electronic Intifada
The Electronic Intifada has obtained, and today publishes in full, a
document prepared for pro-Israel activists by the public relations firm The
Luntz Research Companies and The Israel Project. The document spells out the
tactics that Israel and its US advocates should use to maintain support for
Israel and its hardline policies.
http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?itemid=14883
The decline and fall of American journalism
Alexander Cockburn, Working for Change
Until Judith Miller's piece showed up on the front page of the New York
Times on April 22, I'd thought the distillation of disingenuous U.S. press
coverage of the invasion of Iraq came with the images of the April 9 hauling
down of Saddam's statue and of Iraqis cheering U.S. troops in the square in
Baghdad in front of the Palestine Hotel.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_23-4-2003_pg3_2
Americans are as stupid as pig dribble
Brian Cloughley, Daily Times
We should not be surprised that so many Americans believe everything they
are told about foreign countries by the propaganda machines whirring away in
Washington. Independent, impartial international reportage is almost
non-existent on US television. Most major newspapers are partisan to the
point of risibility, and local papers are notable for their jingoistic
fervour and even, deplorably, their self-righteous, club-swinging,
flag-brandishing xenophobia.
http://www.infoshop.org/inews/stories.php?story=03/04/24/4378552
Bush Comes Clean: It was about oil
Ted Rall, Infoshop
Iraq is going to hell. Shiites are killing Sunnis, Kurds are killing Arabs
and Islamists are killing secular Baathists. Baghdad, the cradle of human
civilization, has been left to looters and rapists. As in Beirut during the
'70s, neighborhood zones are separated by checkpoints manned by armed
tribesmen. The war has, however, managed to unite Iraqis in one respect:
everyone loathes the United States.
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2003/apr2003/musi-a23.shtml
Impassive resistance: Protest songs for today
Mike McHone, WSWS
What we are seeing now is a government who restricts the expressions of its
artists, limits an area of choice, and has a hand in shaping the country's
perspective on certain topics.
Aren't these the very same accusations George Bush has made against Saddam
Hussein and his control of the Iraqi media?
http://www.slushfactory.com/content/EpVpApEFuAmDIbsjhO.php
Getting Indy Comics to the Masses
Rich Watson, Slushfactory.com
The following is a transcript of the panel discussion I moderated at this
year's Small Press and Alternative Comics Expo, entitled "Open Minds: How do
you get someone to try a small press comic?" from April 5, 2003, in
Columbus, Ohio.
http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/042103_wolves.html
Wolves and Sheep
Stan Goff, From the Wilderness
Former West Point instructor and retired U.S. Army Special Forces Master
Sergeant Stan Goff breaks down for us what really happened in the Iraqi war,
with our media, and to us here at home.
http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0417-01.htm
Who Covered The War Best? Try al-Jazeera
Frances S. Hasso, NewsDay
In covering the war, al-Jazeera was unique in the number of independent
reporting teams distributed throughout the region, some of whom have been
beaten by Kurdish forces, banned by Iraqi government officials, and
reprimanded almost daily by U.S., Iraqi, Kuwaiti, Saudi, Jordanian and other
state and military officials at press conferences. These states recognize
the destabilizing potential of al-Jazeera's brash willingness to ask
difficult questions and give voice to the marginalized majority.
http://www.counterpunch.org/potter04192003.html
When Police Attack Journalists
by Will Potter, CounterPunch
I attended the march as a freelance journalist, and was beaten by police
with batons while I was wearing my Congressional press pass. These attacks
were not just "allegations."
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2003/04/18/patriot_act/index.html
The secret society
Tim Grieve, Salon
Under Attorney General John Ashcroft, America is becoming an Orwellian state
where people are locked up and no one can find out why -- least of all a
compliant Congress.
http://globalresearch.ca/articles/WAT304A.html
The Toppling of the Statue of Saddam was a Staged Media Event
Interview with Neville Watson
The one that I've seen a lot of since I've been back is the toppling of the
statue of Saddam and I can hardly believe it was the same one that I saw,
because it happened at only about 300m from where I was and it was a very
small crowd. The rest of the square was almost empty, and when we inquired
as to where the crowd came from, it was from Saddam City. In other words, it
was a rent-a-crowd.
http://argument.independent.co.uk/commentators/story.jsp?story=398722
The unthinkable is becoming normal. Do not forget the horror
John Pilger, The Independent
The American essayist Edward Herman wrote: "There is usually a division of
labour in doing and rationalising the unthinkable, with the direct
brutalising and killing done by one set of individuals ... others working on
improving technology (a better crematory gas, a longer burning and more
adhesive napalm, bomb fragments that penetrate flesh in hard-to-trace
patterns). It is the function of the experts, and the mainstream media, to
normalise the unthinkable for the general public.''
http://www.nationinstitute.org/tomdispatch/index.mhtml?pid=586
The Korean Crisis
Chalmers Johnson, TomDispatch.com
The prosperous and well-informed people of the South know that their fellow
Koreans, hungry, desperate, oppressed but exceedingly well armed, are
trapped by the ironies of the end of the Cold War and by the harshness of
the Kim Jong-il regime, but are also being pushed into an exceedingly
dangerous corner by the pride and arrogance of the Americans in their newly
proclaimed role as the reigning global military colossus.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article1371.shtml
The Achille Lauro hijacking: Selective memory does none of us justice
Daniel Jacob Quinn, Electronic Intifada
While extensive media coverage of the arrest of Abbas in Iraq by US forces
has ensured that most of us know about the Achille Lauro, no one seems to
recall Hammam-Plage.
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2003/apr2003/supp-a18.shtml
"Supporting the troops": a crisis of perspective
Noah Page, WSWS
During the twentieth century the most reactionary elements of aggressor
nations seized upon this idea, including the Free Corps movement that
ultimately formed the vanguard of Nazi Germany. As a political tool, it's
been used by a succession of US presidents-in Vietnam, in the first Gulf
War, and now.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=15685
Don't Mess with Wal-Mart
Katharine Mieszkowski, Salon
The art graduate students behind Re-Code.com said it was satire. Wal-Mart
said the site promoted fraud. But now the debate over the Web site is one
for the culture-jamming alternative history books, since the pranksters
behind the site yanked it off the Web on Wednesday night, saying that they
feared legal action.
http://argument.independent.co.uk/commentators/story.jsp?story=397925
For the people on the streets, this is not liberation but a new colonial
oppression
Robert Fisk, The Independent
So now - with neither electricity nor running water - the millions of Iraqis
here are ordered to stay in their homes from dusk to dawn. Lockdown. It's a
form of imprisonment. In their own country. Written by the command of the
1st US Marine Division, it's a curfew in all but name.
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=40&ItemID=3472
War Crimes and the US
Mickey Z, ZNet
Examples of civilians killed by the American military could fill volumes.
For the purposes of this essay, three Asian nations will serve as examples.
http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0416-01.htm
'A Chill Wind is Blowing in This Nation...'
Tim Robbins, CommonDreams
Every day, the air waves are filled with warnings, veiled and unveiled
threats, spewed invective and hatred directed at any voice of dissent. And
the public, like so many relatives and friends that I saw this weekend, sit
in mute opposition and fear.
http://www.counterpunch.org/nimmo04162003.html
The Destruction of Iraq
Kurt Nimmo, CounterPunch
Naturally, the US does not care about the Geneva Convention. This should be
obvious -- from the use of cluster bombs to the illegal detention of
political prisoners at Gitmo Bay in Cuba -- Bush and the Pentagon are
violating the Geneva Convention right and left and at every turn.
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=15&ItemID=3473
Parable of a Bad Samaritan
Tim Wise, ZNet
Ali, we are to believe is simply the victim of the "horrors of war," a nice,
tidy and quite passive formulation that makes no mention and takes no notice
of which side unleashed said horrors. The phrase fairly reeks of the kind of
emotional and for that matter intellectual detachment so common among the
powerful; those who are practiced at never second-guessing their actions or
their own smug self-righteousness.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=15657
They Shoot Activists, Don't They?
Brooke Shelby Biggs, AlterNet
In the past month, three international peace activists have been wounded or
killed by the Israeli Army. They were all affiliated with the International
Solidarity Movement, a loose network of international activists who are
trained in and dedicated to non-violent tactics to defend Palestinian
civilians from Israeli aggression.
http://news.pacificnews.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=5ae05a118069eb
e6d68ef5995a2ebb7d
Baghdad Did Not Fall - It Was Handed Over
Jalal Ghazi, Pacific News Service
Arabic media are using the word "safqa" to explain the sudden collapse of
Baghdad and the Iraqi regime. Translated into English, "safqa" means "a deal
made fast and in secrecy."
http://www.onlinejournal.com/Media/041503Heard/041503heard.html
Journalists die and networks lie
Linda Heard, Online Journal
Iraq is being "liberated" while truth is incarcerated. Former BBC reporter
Kate Adie warned that non-embedded journalists in Iraq could be Pentagon
targets before the war began. She was right.
http://www.counterpunch.org/block04152003.html
"Smile and Enjoy It" - The Rape of Iraq
Dr. Susan Block, CounterPunch
We feel good about our war now, at least some of us do. As the rapist would
say, "I gave her what she really wanted." She needed to be raped. She wanted
to be violated.
http://www.strike-the-root.com/3/sellers/sellers1.html
Supporting the Troops
Richard Sellers, Strike the Root
So many people, actively opposed to the assault on Iraq by the United States
military, are coming forth with this idea that "We don't support the war,
but we support the troops."
Bullshit.
http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Articles4/Solomon_Twain.htm
Mark Twain Speaks to Us: "I Am an Anti-Imperialist"
Norman Solomon, Dissident Voice
Mark Twain was painfully aware of many people's inclinations to go along
with prevailing evils. When slavery was lawful, he recalled, abolitionists
were "despised and ostracized, and insulted" - by "patriots." As far as
Twain was concerned, "Loyalty to petrified opinion never yet broke a chain
or freed a human soul."
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2003/apr2003/jaz-a15.shtml
"A rapacious colonial war": Interview with Arab journalist Said Dudin on US
bombing of Al Jazeera
Stefan Steinberg, WSWS
The Bush administration justify their actions as preemptive war, but it is
necessary to call things by their right names. It is Hitlerism-a repressive
and rapacious war aimed at plundering the region.
http://palestinechronicle.com/article.php?story=20030415063203374
A Baghdad Neighborhood Proud of Resisting US Forces
Palestine Chronicle
As riots are breaking on regular basis by Iraqi prisoners of war, sparking
questions about the destiny of thousand of POWs, a Baghdad neighborhood
residents sounded their pride for meeting U.S. soldiers with fiery
resistance rather than roses.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_13-4-2003_pg3_1
Israeli violence against peace activists
Daily Times editorial (Pakistan)
Clearly, the IDF is employing a tried and tested method: targeting peace
activists over a period of time and then simply explaining away such
incidents as the "necessary fallout" of a conflict.
http://news.com.com/2010-1071-996625.html
Guilty Until Proven Innocent
Declan McCullah, CNet
This is a development that deserves close attention in the technology
community. More than other industries, the computer business relies on
immigrants. And some, like Hawash, are getting caught up in the U.S. Justice
Department's campaign against suspected domestic terrorists.
NewsWire
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/25/international/worldspecial/25SPAI.html
War Criminal Colin Powell Defends Murder of Journalists in Iraq
http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=comment&id=397
US Media Losing Global Respect
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/politics/story.jsp?story=400805
Revealed: How the road to war was paved with lies
http://www.ainfos.ca/ainfos17714.html
Montreal G20 Trial Verdict: NOT GUILTY
http://www.madcowprod.com/index47a.html
Atta Worked for Elite U.S.-German Government Exchange Program
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/030423/1/3aaog.html
US forces worse than Saddam, Iraqi Shiite leader charges
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/ED25Ak04.html
The Baghdad Deal
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article1391.shtml
ISM's Adam Shapiro responds to CAMERA's distortions in the Washington Post
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,940335,00.html
Ba'athists slip quietly back into control
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article1388.shtml
IFJ: "Impossible to ignore evidence of Israeli targeting of journalists"
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s836988.htm
US admits children held at Camp X-ray
http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2003/04/17/iraq_police030417
Baghdad Protests Reinstatement of Saddam's Police Force
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,5944-647063,00.html
Basra fury over return of Saddam's 'killer' police force
http://www.expatica.com/belgium.asp?pad=88,89,&item_id=30621
Gen Tommy Franks could face war crimes trial in Belgium
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article1367.shtml
US lone vote against human rights resolution on occupied territories
http://electroniciraq.net/news/677.shtml
Barred! US military bans peace team members from Palestine Hotel
http://www.theage.com.au/text/articles/2003/04/15/1050172597223.htm
US bans media from protests
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0417-03.htm
A Crusade After All?
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/5640621.htm
In bombed neighborhoods, everyone 'wants to kill Americans'
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0415-11.htm
Hundreds of U.S. Soldiers Emerge as Conscientious Objectors
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?sf=2813&click_id=2813&art_id=qw105040026291B2
62&set_id=6
US army hampers media coverage of anti-US protests in Iraq
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/2946715.stm
US Rejects Iraq DU Cleanup
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/04/13/1050172477659.html
Muslims save Baghdad's Jewish community centre from looters
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=focusIraqNews&storyID=2559476
US Troops Loot, Steal
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/5620585.htm
Disappointed Marines learn stay in Baghdad may be indefinite
http://www.spacewar.com/2003/030414093712.v7oalkii.html
Spanish human shields call for Aznar war crimes trial
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