Blackwater Protest: Success

The women of Salem AntiWar protested the recent decision in the case US vs. Slough today by lying in the center of campus for nearly an hour during the highest traffic time of the day.



We received no direct negative feedback (unusual on such a conservative campus) and were able to educate students and passerby about the role of Blackwater in the American occupations and to inform them about Blackwater's lack of accountability for the atrocities it commits.



We also gained a member who joined us, lying down on the pavement in the below freezing temperatures.



Our confidence was bolstered by this small success. Past actions have been met with hate mail and threats. We hope today we may have detected a shift in the rest of the student body. On a campus where action is rare, we are continuing to protest and demonstrate. Our message is striking a chord, and our numbers are growing.



Thanks to all the phenomenal women who participated in today's action!



Posted by Trish

There is No Justice In Murder: Why We're Protesting the Blackwater Decision

If Blackwater were read their rights, they’d sound a little different than what we’re used to; they’d probably sound something like this: “Nothing you say can or will be used against you in a court of law.”
On September 16, 2007 a Blackwater convoy sped into Nisour Square in Baghdad—a congested intersection in the once upscale Mansour district. By the time they left about fifteen minutes later, seventeen people were dead—all of them Iraqi civilian men, women, and children.
But the Blackwater shooters were investigated by the State Department with the understanding that their statement could not be used to bring criminal charges against them or be used as evidence. Copies of sworn statements from the operatives obtained by ABC News read “I further understand that neither my statements nor any information or evidence gained by reason of my statements can be used against me in a criminal proceeding.”
Paul Bremer, head of the occupation until June 2004, furthered Blackwater’s growing immunity by signing Order 17, which prevented Blackwater or its operative from being charged in Iraqi courts.
Now this outrage has been brought into the US judicial system. District Judge Ricardo Urbina threw out manslaughter and weapons charges brought against five Blackwater security guards. “If a judge ... dismissed the trial, that is ridiculous and the whole thing has been but a farce,” Dr. Haitham Ahmed—whose (unarmed) son and wife were killed in the massacre—said. “The rights of our victims and the rights of the innocent people should not be wasted.”
The messages Judge Urbina has sent with the dismissal of this case—that war crimes are permissible and human lives expendable in the pursuit of profit and that the Justice Department is happy to play an active role in the imperialist American war machine—is both dangerous and intolerable.
This is why we, the women of Salem AntiWar, take action. If an Iraqi citizen is expendable, then so are we. The Iraqi people are our brothers and sisters. To deny them basic human rights, to deny them their own voice is to deny our own humanity. It’s to implicate ourselves in the war crimes of this government and its companies/contractors that enforce is hegemonic imperialist policies.
Blackwater claims that no VIP protected by its forces has been killed, but the company admits that they have no idea how many Iraqi civilians they have killed. Blackwater and its operative must be held accountable for their war crimes, for the murder of innocent civilians. We will not tolerate a government, a judicial system that refuses justice to people to protect imperialist interests and corporate profits. There is no justice in murder.




1 Scahill, Jeremy. "State to Blackwater: Nothing You Say Can and Will Be Used Against You in a Court of Law." Huffington Post. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeremy-scahill/state-to-blackwater-noth_b_70479.html (accessed January 4, 2010).

2 Scahill, Jeremy. Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army. New York: Nation Books, 2008, 15.
Associated Press, .. "Iraq Dismayed by Blackwater Dismissal." CBS News. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/01/01/world/main6044525.shtml (accessed January 2, 2010).

3 Scahill, Jeremy. Blackwater, 209-231.

The Case for Self-Determination

Jeremy Scahill's "Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army" covers a lot of material in its 550 pages, but the message of the occupied people is clear: we demand self-determination.

Malalai Joya, the revolutionary Afghan activist, was clear on this topic when I heard her speak at Socialism Northeast at Columbia University, where she was the opening plenary speaker. 'Democracy,' she said 'never comes at the end of a gun.' Democracy comes through self-determination.

In the American drive to turn the largest possible profit on these wars, they have forcefully silenced those who have dared to speak out against them and expose the atrocities that the Americans commit again and again. Scahill's book cites the example of Fallujah, who have a long history of resistance against Western occupation dating back to 1920. Even though they have been continually massacred, continually portrayed in the Western mainstream media as 'bad guys,' 'Saddam lovers,' and 'terrorists,' the people of Fallujah have never stopped fighting, never stopped resisting the occupation of their city.

When the Americans dropped 'smart bombs' on Fallujah during the first Gulf War (bombs that missed their target by more than 800m, killing more than 130 people), the Americans insinuated that the deaths were acceptable because Saddam Hussein had also killed people. Apparently, the irony of comparing themselves to the totalitarian, murderous dictator was lost on them, and they flushed away any remaining reputation they had left for protecting human rights (which was virtually none, so no big deal, right?) Afterwards, the Americans accused the Iraqis of using the incident as anti-American 'propaganda.'

When American troops rolled into Fallujah in 2003, the Iraqis demanded they stay no longer than 2 days, a demand which the Americans ignore. In addition, the Americans occupied a school, which further infuriated the Iraqis, who demonstrated peacefully only to be fired upon by soldiers. 13 Iraqis were killed, 6 of them children.

The Iraqis of Fallujah marched again, shouting 'No to Saddam! No to the US!' Again they were fired upon, and this time, the occupation forces killed 4. Someone hung a banner that read 'Sooner or later, US killers, we'll kick you out.'

It's pretty clear what the people of Fallujah wanted, and despite the American occupation, they created a city council. It's also pretty clear what all the people of Iraq and Afghanistan want. They want to go home. They want the right to self-governance and self-determination.

Any time that withdrawal--immediate withdrawal--is presented to the government, military, or mercenaries (they aren't contractors; contractors build houses, they don't gun down innocent civilians), the response comes like a reflex. It will be chaos, they say. The country will disintegrate.

But this 'discourse' is imperialist bullshit. These wars are not about democracy, or liberation, or women's rights. They aren't even about terrorism. These wars have been waged at the expense of thousands of soldiers and tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of INNOCENT civilians, and all for profit. The profit of the American war machine and all those connected to it--including mercenary firms, politicians, lobbyists, and other DoD contractors. All stand to benefit from sending our children, our mothers and fathers, our brothers, sisters, spouses, and partners to die. They all stand to benefit immensely from the slaughter of innocent people. That equation is nothing short of obscene.

Even without a strong antiwar movement, 43% oppose this nation's imperialist wars. The government is scared; they should be. We do not need guns to topple it. We need people. People marching, screaming, demanding. Now is not the time to vote and hope for the best. Not with politicians who represent only two viewpoints, politicians who are intricately linked into war profiteering. These people think human life is expendable in the pursuit of profit. As a people, we cannot accept that. We must fight. For ourselves, for the people of Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine, and Pakistan. For people struggling all over the world for their lives, for human dignity, and ultimately, for self-determination.

Posted by Trish