Date: Sat, 23 Feb 91 20:41:15 CST Reply-To: bgeer%dawn.hampshire.edu From: bgeer%dawn.hampshire.edu Subject: Instead of War To: Multiple recipients of list ACTIV-L ### Sent:soviet.net; fair.gulf.orwell; NYT op-ed Chomsky at Z ### I am quite new to this list, so I apologize if this posting duplicates conversation which has already taken place. (If it does, please refer me to the list archives.) I am compiling a list of alternatives to war. This includes approaches which could have been taken, as well as approaches which could be taken now, with the goal of encouraging or creating a peaceful solution that would leave both Iraqis and Kuwaitis satsified. I also welcome general ideas about nonviolent conflict resolution, emergency responses to the invasion of one country by another, and the like. I will compile responses and post them here. Please send contributions to me at one of these addresses: Bitnet: bgeer@hampvms Internet: bgeer%hampvms.bitnet@cunyvm.cuny.edu Here's what I have so far (if you don't like one of my ideas, please try to send me an improved version of it): ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Instead of war, we could send Muslims to Iraq, to talk with Iraqi citizens about the problems which anger them, and about peaceful solutions within the framework of Islam. Instead of war, we could send Kuwaitis to Iraq, bearing food and medical supplies. Instead of war, we could draw on the vast skills and resources of this country's advertising industry--advised by Arab-Americans on Arab and Islamic symbols and references--and send advertisments for peace to Iraq. Instead of war, we could hold a competition for the best artwork, writing, and film which evokes the fundamental brotherhood of all people, and the necessity for cooperation and mutual understanding, and send that to Iraq. Instead of war, we could engage in a serious dialogue with Iraqis and other Arabs about their grievances with the West--regardless of whether these grievances seem to be directly related to Iraq's invasion of Kuwait--and be prepared to lose face. Then, perhaps, we would stand a chance of being trusted as peacemakers. --Ben ################################################################## From: dtasman@NMSU.Edu Date: Sat, 23 Feb 91 18:02:00 MST To: harelb@cabot.dartmouth.edu (Harel Barzilai) In-Reply-To: harelb@cabot.dartmouth.edu's message of 16 Feb 91 07:18:39 GMT Subject: IRAQI DECLARATION & CEASEFIRE PROPOSAL From: harelb@cabot.dartmouth.edu (Harel Barzilai) Newsgroups: alt.activism,talk.politics.misc,alt.desert-storm,misc.headlines,talk.politics.mideast,alt.desert-storm.facts Date: 16 Feb 91 07:18:39 GMT Organization: Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - From: dtasman@NMSU.Edu Date: Sat, 23 Feb 91 18:03:41 MST To: harelb@cabot.dartmouth.edu (Harel Barzilai) In-Reply-To: harelb@cabot.dartmouth.edu's message of 16 Feb 91 08:37:24 GMT Subject: CHOMSKY ESSAY on GULF WAR (in _Z Magazine_, February 1991) From: harelb@cabot.dartmouth.edu (Harel Barzilai) Newsgroups: alt.activism,talk.politics.misc,alt.desert-shield,misc.headlines,talk.politics.mideast Date: 16 Feb 91 08:37:24 GMT Organization: Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH [_Z Magazine_ forward from AML (ACTIV-L) -- see bottom for more info] ################################################################## Date: Fri, 22 Feb 91 16:08:36 PST From: jars@coast.UCSD.EDU (Juan A. Rodriguez-Sero) To: harelb@cabot.dartmouth.edu Subject: Re: IRAQ ACCEPTS SOVIET PROPOSAL (2) Cc: jars@coast.ucsd.edu Thank you for this information (some of which I had never seen; although I didn't find it surprising). I agree that American policies in Central America have been rather perverse (even looking at things strictly from the viewpoint of American real interests); but, at least, there was an attempt at neutralizing the Contras in the last year or so. In the same way, I believe the pandering to Saddam ibn-Hussein al-Tikriti for the fifteen years before Aug. 2nd. 1990 were mypoic at best; but I also believe that is precisely the reason why America ha a moral obliga- tion tp stop Iraqi adventurism when it got out of hand. Of course, if would have been better my orders of magnitude if these things had been stopped at earlier stages; American policies have been generally both clumsy and near-sighted. But I guess in this Universe we have to make do with what we can get, rather than with we would like to get. The Russian "Peace plan" was a bitter mockery; they would be doing some- thing much more realistic and useful by offering asylum to the Iraqi dic- tator and giving the rest of Iraq a way out of this madness; the way they put it together, it seemed aimed at getting for the Iraqi dictator every- thing he couldn't get on the battlefield. Juan Antonio Rodriguez-Sero|"I have committed the worst sin of all Center for Coastal Studies|that a man can commit. I have not been S. I. O. - U. C. S. D.|happy. May the glaciers of oblivion jars%coast@ucsd.edu |drag me and mercilessly let me fall"(J. L. Borges) From ms361@leah.Albany.edu Fri Feb 22 23:03:19 1991 Received: from leah.albany.edu by cabot.dartmouth.edu (5.61a+YP/4.1) id AA13842; Fri, 22 Feb 91 23:03:12 -0500 Date: Fri, 22 Feb 91 23:03:25 -0500 From: ms361@leah.Albany.edu (Mark Steinberger) Received: by leah.Albany.edu (5.61/1.1) id AA03109; Fri, 22 Feb 91 23:03:25 -0500 Message-Id: <9102230403.AA03109@leah.Albany.edu> To: harelb@cabot.dartmouth.edu Subject: Re: Smearing the Sandinistas, part II Newsgroups: talk.politics.misc,alt.activism,soc.rights.human,soc.culture.latin-america,soc.culture.jewish In-Reply-To: <1991Feb23.015202.4291@dartvax.dartmouth.edu> References: <1991Feb19.000337.19241@dartvax.dartmouth.edu> <1991Feb20.161429.27929@jarvis.csri.toronto.edu> Organization: State University of New York at Albany Cc: Status: R Harel, do you really have to inflict this stuff on soc.culture.jewish? I thought we were rid of your Sandinistas anyhow. Why exhume the corpse? --Mark In article <1991Feb23.015202.4291@dartvax.dartmouth.edu> you write: >In article <1991Feb20.161429.27929@jarvis.csri.toronto.edu> me@csri.toronto.edu (Daniel R. Simon) writes: [long article] ##################################################################