So, I just got my first Bamboo Girl Zine subscription order from Pakistan recently. I read last week at Dixon Place and at Por Lo Nuestro: a benefit party for Marta Cabrera Estevez' Cuban Sex Workers project. It was a great evening of performers! I especially loved infiniTEE's performance, calm but fierce. Soon, I will be speaking on a beauty aesthetics panel at Barnard, and will be part of the organizing board for the Young Women's Leadership Summit at Barnard. It'll probably be a lot of work, but looks like it'll be rewarding. This weekend, I'll be attending the Consultation on Women of Philippine Ancestry in Seattle. My first time in Seattle! I know, I'm flying, but fuck it, if it's my time, it's my time. But I got a lot of livin' to do! Things have been much better in the city recently, though my home and day job are both near downtown, and there was a massive waft of smoke that my co-workers and I experienced today. I hear they were putting out more fires today. People are talking about rebuilding, and Giuliani has just declined extending his term in office. The weighing of blind patriotism, peace movements, alternative news sources, and justice seeking continues....
Friends may be aware that Nino's Restaurant is feeding the relief workers round the clock without government emergency funds. They are located at 431 Canal St. near Varick St.
AFSC/NYMRO started helping them by providing bulk food (pasta and tomato sauce, etc.) last week. We continue to do that.
Nino's is now sending out a call for volunteers to chop vegetables, assist the cooks, wait tables, etc. Since the restaurant was on TV they have been getting people walking in after work, but they have other shifts for which they need workers. All work is indoor restaurant work.
They need people tonight and every night for the "graveyard shift" (12 MN to 6 AM). 4 people for this Wednesday and Thursday afternoons 12 noon to 6 p.m. or any part of that shift). Friday anytime. (6 a.m. to 12 noon and 12 noon to 6 p.m. as well as the Midnight to 6 a.m. shift.) And on as long as they need to be serving volunteers.
Volunteers should call Midge or Ava to let them know your name, time available, phone number, and when you will help. The office is
212-431-5625. Restaurant main # is 212-966-5110.
Casual clothes, jeans and tee shirts and comfortable shoes are fine. Volunteers need to show a picture ID.
The restaurant is at a #1 train stop, and 1 block from a stop on the E train.
If you do volunteer at Nino's please let us know so we know who is busy with what activities.
Anne Wright, NYMRO
GODZILLA'S SWAN SONG: A PUBLIC ART PROJECT INSPIRED BY ONE, DEDICATED TO MANY
Final exhibition for ten-year-old artist collective is a project on Canal Street in tribute to the life and work of a former member
Why Asia, Art in General on Canal
A Project by Godzilla
October 9, 2001 to February 28, 2002
Opening reception: October 9, 6 to -8 PM (Art in General, 79 Walker
St., New York)
NEW YORK, NY (October 2, 2001) - Godzilla Asian American Art Network, a New York-based collective of artists and curators, is paying tribute to the late Alice Yang, curator, writer, and member of Godzilla, in Why Asia, a public art project sited on Canal Street as part of a yearlong celebration by the nonprofit institution Art in General. The project is dedicated to Ms. Yang, who passed away in 1997, and to those lost in the recent tragic events that have occurred in the lower Manhattan area.
Why Asia is an installation of thirteen banners with images by twenty-three artists on lampposts along Canal Street, directing good
wishes and sentiments to daily traffic. The images, from abstract painting and photography to graphic road signs, reflect rituals and beliefs on grief, memory, and loss, including saying prayers and donating food and money. The banners themselves were conceived as an urban interpretation of the Buddhist tradition of writing prayers and wishes to ancestors and tying them to trees.
Artists are:
Todd Ayoung, Sion Benjamin-Kruge, Janice Chiang, Skowmon Hastanan, Zhang Hongtu, Arlan Huang, Michi Itami, Si-yeon Kim, Franky Kong, Nina Kuo, Bing Lee, Lanie Lee, Stefani Mar, Chee Wang Ng, Athena Robles, Carol Sun, Chanika Svetvilas, Mary Ting, Mitsuo Toshida, Kim Tran, Bryant Wang, Steven Wong, and Charles Yuen.
For ten years, Godzilla dedicated its efforts to promoting awareness and social change through art. The title, Why Asia, is taken from Why
Asia?: Contemporary Asian and Asian American Art (New York University Press, 1998), a book published posthumously on the critical writings of Ms. Yang. Art in General on Canal will be Godzilla's final exhibition.
About Godzilla
Founded in 1990, Godzilla Asian American Art Network is a New York-based group of Asian American visual artists and arts professionals whose goal is to establish a dynamic forum that fosters information exchange, mutual support, documentation, and networking
among the expanding numbers of Asian and Pacific Islander visual artists nationwide.
In the past decade, Godzilla has forged a dialogue with art institutions such as the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York.
The Whitney has since included Asian American artists in their Biennial exhibitions, and in 1998, appointed one of its early members, Eugenie Tsai, as senior curator. Godzilla has also organized open exhibitions, public programming, and worked with community
groups against anti-Asian violence.
Why Asia is made possible by support from Art in General and Suhwa Chou Yang. Special thanks to Tomie Arai*, Teri Chan, David Chin,
Lillian Cho, Ken Chu*, Jeff Faerber, Skowmon Hastanan*, Bing Lee, Fay Chew Matsuda, Josh Orzeck, Athena Robles*, Chanika Svetvilas*, Gerald Szeto, Herb Tam*, Bryant Wang, and Mimi Young.
*Why Asia organizing committee member
For further information and site maps, please contact Art in General (212) 219-0473.
SOME IMPORTANT ALTERNATIVE BACKGROUND ANALYSIS ON BIN LADEN
there is so much we don't know about the political intrigue and actions of within and between the u.s. government and various governments of other nations. our ignorance makes any socalled analysis merely speculative, because the truth is we don't really know. many actions ("international aid," "coups," "popular uprisings," "sudden policy shifts," etc.) are not what they seem on the surface. sometimes the best way to get an understanding of what's happening in the present, is to try to piece together an understanding of what happened in the immediate past that contributes to the conditions of the present.
this is for those who want to know background info on bin laden and read about the events that motivates bin laden. there are three different pieces.. please take the time to inform yourself about the background on today's current events.
1. here is the url to the new yorker magazine's website. there is an extensive profile of bin laden posted that ran in the new yorker back in
199?.
www.newyorker.com
2. here is the url to an abc interview with bin laden that took place in 1998 and includes references to the first world trade center bombing.
abc interview
3. below is a political commentary from yoichi clark shimatsu, former general editor of the japan times weekly and journalism lecturer at the university of hong kong, who recently traveled to pakistan. this commentary also looks at conditions in saudi arabia and u.s. government relations with saudi arabia. this overview helps us more accurately grasp what is going on and why.
www.antiwar.com/rep/shimatsu1.html
Under the Noses of
CIA's Top Officials
by Yoichi Clark Shimatsu
September 20, 2001
Islamabad, Pakistan - If President George W. Bush is truly serious about punishing those ultimately responsible for the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks, then he should dispatch an expeditionary corps to annihilate the world's biggest "school of terrorism," CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia. It is an undeniable fact that the Central Intelligence Agency trained, armed and motivated the Islamic paramilitaries to wage a war by any means in Afghanistan, Chechnya and Kosovo. It was the CIA handbook that taught the Islamic fighters to use civil infrastructure such as tunnels and airliners to attack military forces and "soft targets" no matter the collateral damage to civilians. It was CIA advisers to the Afghan fighters who gleefully encouraged the massacre of teachers, doctors, members of women's organizations and other civilians following the Soviet pullout from Kabul. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, it was entirely predictable that the CIA's brutal new rules of engagement would come full circle – back to Washington and New York.
The absurdity of Bush's brave talk of "war" is that his own team in the State Department are very same individuals who indoctrinated Osama bin Laden under the administration of his father, George Bush the Elder. Richard Armitage, current Deputy Secretary of State and White House point man on South Asia, was the chief organizer of the clandestine flow of weapons to the Afghan guerrillas during the 1980s. Armitage, today's "fireman" in charge of suppressing the inflammatory bin Laden, is yesterday's "arsonist," who saw the lanky-bearded firebrand as one of his best and brightest protégés. Though Osama bin Laden, a popular hero in the Muslim world, makes a tempting, if elusive, target for American grief, it is a mystery how he could have organized the U.S. attacks right under the noses of the CIA's top intelligence experts camped out at his front door. Over the past summer, the entire State Department team for South Asia - all of them former or acting CIA officials - has visited or been stationed in the capitals of Pakistan and India. They include:
1. George Tenet, CIA director - made a clandestine visit to Islamabad and Peshawar, the listening post near the Afghan border.
2. Richard Armitage, a CIA and Defense Intelligence veteran - met with
Indian security officials in New Delhi.
3. Christina Rocco, Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia and former official in the CIA Directorate of Operations (the covert arm that conducts sabotage and assassination) - toured Pakistan in July.
4. Wendy Chamberlin, Bush's newly appointed Ambassador to Islamabad, is also a former CIA operative and close associate of Rocco.
5. Robert D. Blackwill, the new Ambassador to New Delhi, is an intelligence veteran and served as assistant in the National Security Agency to then President George Bush in 1989-90. Blackwill, by the way, was the faculty member at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government who served as the CIA's chief "handler" of the Chinese PLA officer who defected late last year.
6. As late as September, three members of the Senate Intelligence Subcommittee also visited Pakistan with an entourage of espionage
operatives.
All of these top intelligence professionals - with their 30 billion dollar
tool chest of satellite remote sensing, radio intercepts and double agents - failed to detect even a glimmer that the audacious Twin Towers operation might be in the works. This is because the attack was conducted by citizens of the faraway United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, US allies in the Iran-Iraq War and the Gulf War. Despite the talk about hitting back at host countries of the hijackers, nobody in Washington is suggesting air strikes against Saudi Arabia - a vital oil-producing Gulf state - the safe haven for the actual suspects. Since the pilots trained in the "rogue state" of Florida, the hideout of Jeb Bush surely belongs on the President's list of airstrike targets. Before sending an armada to the Indian Ocean and inserting American troops into the Graveyard of Empires, as Afghanistan is sometimes
called, Americans should consider four reasons why Islamic fighters including bin Laden are angry at the United States. First and most obvious is the unstinting US support for Israel, even as Israeli security forces openly gun down Palestinian children in the streets and in their homes.
Second, the CIA's successful attempt following the Camp David accords to recruit key members of the Egyptian military to neutralize the only Arab country capable of bringing the Israeli war machine to heel. Third, the deliberate US bombing of Iraqi civilians during the Gulf War and subsequent sanctions on even milk and medicine, which have killed hundreds of thousands of ordinary people.
Fourth and most symbolic, the failure to withdraw American troops from Saudi soil following the Mecca Incident of 1993, long covered up by the Pentagon and revealed now for the first time by highly reliable sources in the Pakistani military. Mecca may well prove to be the rock that will break American military might. According to these sources, in 1993, a mob of drunken US servicemen attempted to barge into the holiest shrine of Islam. When a crowd of pilgrims pleaded with them and tried to block their entry, the armed American soldiers physically assaulted the worshippers and stormed into the sanctuary. The guards of Mecca opened fire, killing 18 US soldiers. Outraged by this blatant act of sacrilege and supreme insult on top of so many injuries, leading Saudi families demanded the immediate expulsion of American troops from Saudi Arabia. After the unrepentant Pentagon stubbornly refused to depart, the World Trade Center was bombed in 1993, the first in a string of attacks against American interests that reached a climax on September 11, 2001. Though it is instinctive to resist Muslim demands after such a devastating attack, Americans should face the fact that the ultimate responsibility for the carnage in New York rests squarely on policies, actions and attitudes of the CIA, the Pentagon and the White House. Until these policies are reversed,
more attacks can be expected and civil liberties will shrink even further as the naked fear sinks into the body politic.
The enemy to blame for the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and the clandestine attacks to come, may be fanatical, but they are certainly not shadowy or unknown. We have met the enemy, and the enemy is us.
Yoichi Clark Shimatsu, former general editor of The Japan Times Weekly and journalism lecturer at The University of Hong Kong, recently traveled to Pakistan to report on the Kashmir issue.
The New York Women's Foundation, the only public U.S. foundation dedicated solely to low-income women and girls in New York City, has set up a special disaster relief fund for nonprofits helping low-income women and girls directly affected by the September 11th incident. Many of the low-wage workers in the World Trade Center will suffer financial loss of a job or were uninsured, others are missing family members or parents who may have been breadwinners, and several nonprofits serving the Arab-American community are the targets of bias. The Foundation will make these resources available on a discretionary and continuing basis as funds become available; the NYWF Board is underwriting the administration costs so that every dollar donated will go directly to help. For information about applying for funds, please contact: Rini Banerjee at (212) 226-2220 x12; rbanerjee@nywf.org. If you would like to make a tax-deductible contribution, please send your check made out to The New York Women's Foundation (memo "Disaster Relief") to the NYWF, 120 Wooster St., New York, NY 10012 (Credit card donations are accepted- please call for details).
NYCOSH will come to test air quality free for nonprofits, and then the lab charges something. Contact is Susan O'Brien at (212) 627-3900.
AFL CIO website identifies channels on getting Crime Victims Board to pay for office cleanups, also maybe by today NYCOSH website has this info as well, if this is something you decide is needed. If you need legal support: LANY (Lawyers Alliance for New York) is offering services to assist any nonprofits who have legal questions regarding real estate, employment, or other business issues arising out of these events (whether displaced by the events or helping provide services as a result of the events). Nonprofits should contact them at : (212) 219-1800 ext. 223
FMF Announces New Site to Help Afghan Women
In our continuing effort to urge the US government to restore the rights of Afghan women and girls and increase humanitarian aid to Afghan refugees, the Feminist Majority has launched a new website at www.HelpAfghanWomen.com. Send a message to the President, Secretary of State, and US Congress or make a donation to the Campaign. You can also join an Action Team to provide direct assistance to Afghan women-led organizations that provide health, education, and/or relief services. The rebirth of a peaceful, stable, and democratic Afghanistan must include Afghan women.
www.HelpAfghanWomen.com
Forward this message to a friend so she or he can take action on this important issue, too.
Dear friends,
Al-Fatiha is compiling stories and/or incidents of discrimination, verbal and/or physical harrassment, etc that LGBTQ Muslims have faced in the wake of the tragedy that occurred in the United States 2 weeks ago.
If you have experienced verbal or physical abuse and would like to share your story please email it to us by Friday, October 5, 2001 at
gaymuslims@yahoo.com
Please note that you can use your real name and/or email address for people to contact you directly or you can choose to remain anonymous. If you would like to include your name and email please do so at the top of your story. If you would like to remain anonymous please indicate that as well.
The stories will be compiled into a larger report and emailed to LGBT activists, and media around the world.
LGBTQ Muslims are most vulnerable in the United States and around the world at a time when anti-Muslim sentiments are very high.
We hope that this report and our collective stories will serve to help educate our communities about the many issues that LGBTQ Muslims face in their daily lives.
Please note that any story you send might be modified/shortened, etc. for the sake of the report.
Apologies in advance for the short notice.
On behalf of Al-Fatiha,
Yours in faith,
Faisal Alam
Founder and Director
Al-Fatiha Foundation
LGBTQ Muslims and Friends
Logic of the Birds', a creative production by Iranian-born artists, Shoja Azari, Sussan Deyhim, Ghasem Ebrahimian and Shirin Neshat, presented by The Kitchen. In the face of mounting ignorance and prejudice, we at The Kitchen believe that it is more important than ever to support artists whose work represents their own culture in their own voices. Logic of the Birds' opening has been postponed from Tuesday, October 2 to Friday, October 5 at 8 p.m. The proceeds of the opening night will be donated to The Kitchen's local fire department (Engine Company No. 3), who lost five men. Logic of the Birds will be dedicated to the men and women whose lives were lost in the destruction of the WTC.
Run: October 5, 6, 10, 12, 13, 15 and 16 at 8 p.m.
The Kitchen, 512 W. 19th St, NYC.
(212) 255-5793; www.thekitchen.org
Tickets: $20
The Human Rights Watch International Film Festival and the Human Rights Watch staff are offering a small, but concrete suggestion. The extraordinary documentary, "Jung(War): in the Land of the Mujaheddin," about the devastating civil war in Afghanistan which has maimed and killed thousands of its citizens for more than 20 years, is available from our offices on video free of charge. We are currently able to provide a Beta SP or VHS ( NTSC ) cassette to organizations for various community screenings throughout the country over the next several months. At a time when backlash against some immigrant groups within the U.S. is currently happening, we believe that it is especially important to screen "Jung(War): in the Land of the Mujaheddin" for as many people as possible. We believe that the film can enable communities to have constructive dialogues about current world events. For more details about the film and the filmmakers, please check our web site: human rights watch
Human Rights Watch
350 Fifth Ave, 34th Fl
New York, NY 10118-3299
(tel) (212) 216-1264
(fax) (212) 736-1300
email: troburresb@hrw.org
www.hrw.org
PRIVATE EMERGENCY FUNDS FOR GAY OR LESBIANS AFFECTED BY THE 9/11 TRAGEDY
If you or someone you know is gay or lesbian and was injured, killed, or otherwise harmed in the terrorist attacks on September 11, please know that there are public and private emergency funds available to provide relief from both short and long-term economic hardships you may be facing. (There are also many other free programs including counseling, child care, emergency shelter, etc) Gay and lesbian survivors will face obstacles in obtaining equal benefits because of the lack of legal recognition of our families and relationships Fortunately, a number of relief funds have already indicated that they will be taking an expansive definition of "family" and that lesbian and gay survivors will qualify ;In addition, please know that there are LGBT social service and advocacy organizations in New York City and Washington, D.C. ready to help and advocate for survivors to obtain as equitable relief as possible, both in the public and private sectors. If you are in the New York area, please call 212-627-0305, the Empire State Agenda, for further information, assistance, and referrals.
Friends may be aware that Nino's Restaurant is feeding the relief workers round the clock without government emergency funds. They are located at 431 Canal St. near Varick St.
AFSC/NYMRO started helping them by providing bulk food (pasta and tomato sauce, etc.) last week. We continue to do that.
Nino's is now sending out a call for volunteers to chop vegetables, assist the cooks, wait tables, etc. Since the restaurant was on TV they have been getting people walking in after work, but they have other shifts for which they need workers. All work is indoor restaurant work.
They need people tonight and every night for the "graveyard shift" (12 MN to 6 AM). 4 people for this Wednesday and Thursday afternoons 12 noon to 6 p.m. or any part of that shift). Friday anytime. (6 a.m. to 12 noon and 12 noon to 6 p.m. as well as the Midnight to 6 a.m. shift.) And on as long as they need to be serving volunteers.
Volunteers should call Midge or Ava to let them know your name, time available, phone number, and when you will help. The office is
212-431-5625. Restaurant main # is 212-966-5110.
Casual clothes, jeans and tee shirts and comfortable shoes are fine. Volunteers need to show a picture ID.
The restaurant is at a #1 train stop, and 1 block from a stop on the E train.
If you do volunteer at Nino's please let us know so we know who is busy with what activities.
Anne Wright, NYMRO
GODZILLA'S SWAN SONG: A PUBLIC ART PROJECT INSPIRED BY ONE, DEDICATED TO MANY
Final exhibition for ten-year-old artist collective is a project on Canal Street in tribute to the life and work of a former member
Why Asia, Art in General on Canal
A Project by Godzilla
October 9, 2001 to February 28, 2002
Opening reception: October 9, 6 to -8 PM (Art in General, 79 Walker
St., New York)
NEW YORK, NY (October 2, 2001) - Godzilla Asian American Art Network, a New York-based collective of artists and curators, is paying tribute to the late Alice Yang, curator, writer, and member of Godzilla, in Why Asia, a public art project sited on Canal Street as part of a yearlong celebration by the nonprofit institution Art in General. The project is dedicated to Ms. Yang, who passed away in 1997, and to those lost in the recent tragic events that have occurred in the lower Manhattan area.
Why Asia is an installation of thirteen banners with images by twenty-three artists on lampposts along Canal Street, directing good
wishes and sentiments to daily traffic. The images, from abstract painting and photography to graphic road signs, reflect rituals and beliefs on grief, memory, and loss, including saying prayers and donating food and money. The banners themselves were conceived as an urban interpretation of the Buddhist tradition of writing prayers and wishes to ancestors and tying them to trees.
Artists are:
Todd Ayoung, Sion Benjamin-Kruge, Janice Chiang, Skowmon Hastanan, Zhang Hongtu, Arlan Huang, Michi Itami, Si-yeon Kim, Franky Kong, Nina Kuo, Bing Lee, Lanie Lee, Stefani Mar, Chee Wang Ng, Athena Robles, Carol Sun, Chanika Svetvilas, Mary Ting, Mitsuo Toshida, Kim Tran, Bryant Wang, Steven Wong, and Charles Yuen.
For ten years, Godzilla dedicated its efforts to promoting awareness and social change through art. The title, Why Asia, is taken from Why
Asia?: Contemporary Asian and Asian American Art (New York University Press, 1998), a book published posthumously on the critical writings of Ms. Yang. Art in General on Canal will be Godzilla's final exhibition.
About Godzilla
Founded in 1990, Godzilla Asian American Art Network is a New York-based group of Asian American visual artists and arts professionals whose goal is to establish a dynamic forum that fosters information exchange, mutual support, documentation, and networking
among the expanding numbers of Asian and Pacific Islander visual artists nationwide.
In the past decade, Godzilla has forged a dialogue with art institutions such as the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York.
The Whitney has since included Asian American artists in their Biennial exhibitions, and in 1998, appointed one of its early members, Eugenie Tsai, as senior curator. Godzilla has also organized open exhibitions, public programming, and worked with community
groups against anti-Asian violence.
Why Asia is made possible by support from Art in General and Suhwa Chou Yang. Special thanks to Tomie Arai*, Teri Chan, David Chin,
Lillian Cho, Ken Chu*, Jeff Faerber, Skowmon Hastanan*, Bing Lee, Fay Chew Matsuda, Josh Orzeck, Athena Robles*, Chanika Svetvilas*, Gerald Szeto, Herb Tam*, Bryant Wang, and Mimi Young.
*Why Asia organizing committee member
For further information and site maps, please contact Art in General (212) 219-0473.
SOME IMPORTANT ALTERNATIVE BACKGROUND ANALYSIS ON BIN LADEN
there is so much we don't know about the political intrigue and actions of within and between the u.s. government and various governments of other nations. our ignorance makes any socalled analysis merely speculative, because the truth is we don't really know. many actions ("international aid," "coups," "popular uprisings," "sudden policy shifts," etc.) are not what they seem on the surface. sometimes the best way to get an understanding of what's happening in the present, is to try to piece together an understanding of what happened in the immediate past that contributes to the conditions of the present.
this is for those who want to know background info on bin laden and read about the events that motivates bin laden. there are three different pieces.. please take the time to inform yourself about the background on today's current events.
1. here is the url to the new yorker magazine's website. there is an extensive profile of bin laden posted that ran in the new yorker back in
199?.
www.newyorker.com
2. here is the url to an abc interview with bin laden that took place in 1998 and includes references to the first world trade center bombing.
abc interview
3. below is a political commentary from yoichi clark shimatsu, former general editor of the japan times weekly and journalism lecturer at the university of hong kong, who recently traveled to pakistan. this commentary also looks at conditions in saudi arabia and u.s. government relations with saudi arabia. this overview helps us more accurately grasp what is going on and why.
www.antiwar.com/rep/shimatsu1.html
Under the Noses of
CIA's Top Officials
by Yoichi Clark Shimatsu
September 20, 2001
Islamabad, Pakistan - If President George W. Bush is truly serious about punishing those ultimately responsible for the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks, then he should dispatch an expeditionary corps to annihilate the world's biggest "school of terrorism," CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia. It is an undeniable fact that the Central Intelligence Agency trained, armed and motivated the Islamic paramilitaries to wage a war by any means in Afghanistan, Chechnya and Kosovo. It was the CIA handbook that taught the Islamic fighters to use civil infrastructure such as tunnels and airliners to attack military forces and "soft targets" no matter the collateral damage to civilians. It was CIA advisers to the Afghan fighters who gleefully encouraged the massacre of teachers, doctors, members of women's organizations and other civilians following the Soviet pullout from Kabul. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, it was entirely predictable that the CIA's brutal new rules of engagement would come full circle – back to Washington and New York.
The absurdity of Bush's brave talk of "war" is that his own team in the State Department are very same individuals who indoctrinated Osama bin Laden under the administration of his father, George Bush the Elder. Richard Armitage, current Deputy Secretary of State and White House point man on South Asia, was the chief organizer of the clandestine flow of weapons to the Afghan guerrillas during the 1980s. Armitage, today's "fireman" in charge of suppressing the inflammatory bin Laden, is yesterday's "arsonist," who saw the lanky-bearded firebrand as one of his best and brightest protégés. Though Osama bin Laden, a popular hero in the Muslim world, makes a tempting, if elusive, target for American grief, it is a mystery how he could have organized the U.S. attacks right under the noses of the CIA's top intelligence experts camped out at his front door. Over the past summer, the entire State Department team for South Asia - all of them former or acting CIA officials - has visited or been stationed in the capitals of Pakistan and India. They include:
1. George Tenet, CIA director - made a clandestine visit to Islamabad and Peshawar, the listening post near the Afghan border.
2. Richard Armitage, a CIA and Defense Intelligence veteran - met with
Indian security officials in New Delhi.
3. Christina Rocco, Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia and former official in the CIA Directorate of Operations (the covert arm that conducts sabotage and assassination) - toured Pakistan in July.
4. Wendy Chamberlin, Bush's newly appointed Ambassador to Islamabad, is also a former CIA operative and close associate of Rocco.
5. Robert D. Blackwill, the new Ambassador to New Delhi, is an intelligence veteran and served as assistant in the National Security Agency to then President George Bush in 1989-90. Blackwill, by the way, was the faculty member at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government who served as the CIA's chief "handler" of the Chinese PLA officer who defected late last year.
6. As late as September, three members of the Senate Intelligence Subcommittee also visited Pakistan with an entourage of espionage
operatives.
All of these top intelligence professionals - with their 30 billion dollar
tool chest of satellite remote sensing, radio intercepts and double agents - failed to detect even a glimmer that the audacious Twin Towers operation might be in the works. This is because the attack was conducted by citizens of the faraway United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, US allies in the Iran-Iraq War and the Gulf War. Despite the talk about hitting back at host countries of the hijackers, nobody in Washington is suggesting air strikes against Saudi Arabia - a vital oil-producing Gulf state - the safe haven for the actual suspects. Since the pilots trained in the "rogue state" of Florida, the hideout of Jeb Bush surely belongs on the President's list of airstrike targets. Before sending an armada to the Indian Ocean and inserting American troops into the Graveyard of Empires, as Afghanistan is sometimes
called, Americans should consider four reasons why Islamic fighters including bin Laden are angry at the United States. First and most obvious is the unstinting US support for Israel, even as Israeli security forces openly gun down Palestinian children in the streets and in their homes.
Second, the CIA's successful attempt following the Camp David accords to recruit key members of the Egyptian military to neutralize the only Arab country capable of bringing the Israeli war machine to heel. Third, the deliberate US bombing of Iraqi civilians during the Gulf War and subsequent sanctions on even milk and medicine, which have killed hundreds of thousands of ordinary people.
Fourth and most symbolic, the failure to withdraw American troops from Saudi soil following the Mecca Incident of 1993, long covered up by the Pentagon and revealed now for the first time by highly reliable sources in the Pakistani military. Mecca may well prove to be the rock that will break American military might. According to these sources, in 1993, a mob of drunken US servicemen attempted to barge into the holiest shrine of Islam. When a crowd of pilgrims pleaded with them and tried to block their entry, the armed American soldiers physically assaulted the worshippers and stormed into the sanctuary. The guards of Mecca opened fire, killing 18 US soldiers. Outraged by this blatant act of sacrilege and supreme insult on top of so many injuries, leading Saudi families demanded the immediate expulsion of American troops from Saudi Arabia. After the unrepentant Pentagon stubbornly refused to depart, the World Trade Center was bombed in 1993, the first in a string of attacks against American interests that reached a climax on September 11, 2001. Though it is instinctive to resist Muslim demands after such a devastating attack, Americans should face the fact that the ultimate responsibility for the carnage in New York rests squarely on policies, actions and attitudes of the CIA, the Pentagon and the White House. Until these policies are reversed,
more attacks can be expected and civil liberties will shrink even further as the naked fear sinks into the body politic.
The enemy to blame for the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and the clandestine attacks to come, may be fanatical, but they are certainly not shadowy or unknown. We have met the enemy, and the enemy is us.
Yoichi Clark Shimatsu, former general editor of The Japan Times Weekly and journalism lecturer at The University of Hong Kong, recently traveled to Pakistan to report on the Kashmir issue.
The New York Women's Foundation, the only public U.S. foundation dedicated solely to low-income women and girls in New York City, has set up a special disaster relief fund for nonprofits helping low-income women and girls directly affected by the September 11th incident. Many of the low-wage workers in the World Trade Center will suffer financial loss of a job or were uninsured, others are missing family members or parents who may have been breadwinners, and several nonprofits serving the Arab-American community are the targets of bias. The Foundation will make these resources available on a discretionary and continuing basis as funds become available; the NYWF Board is underwriting the administration costs so that every dollar donated will go directly to help. For information about applying for funds, please contact: Rini Banerjee at (212) 226-2220 x12; rbanerjee@nywf.org. If you would like to make a tax-deductible contribution, please send your check made out to The New York Women's Foundation (memo "Disaster Relief") to the NYWF, 120 Wooster St., New York, NY 10012 (Credit card donations are accepted- please call for details).
NYCOSH will come to test air quality free for nonprofits, and then the lab charges something. Contact is Susan O'Brien at (212) 627-3900.
AFL CIO website identifies channels on getting Crime Victims Board to pay for office cleanups, also maybe by today NYCOSH website has this info as well, if this is something you decide is needed. If you need legal support: LANY (Lawyers Alliance for New York) is offering services to assist any nonprofits who have legal questions regarding real estate, employment, or other business issues arising out of these events (whether displaced by the events or helping provide services as a result of the events). Nonprofits should contact them at : (212) 219-1800 ext. 223
FMF Announces New Site to Help Afghan Women
In our continuing effort to urge the US government to restore the rights of Afghan women and girls and increase humanitarian aid to Afghan refugees, the Feminist Majority has launched a new website at www.HelpAfghanWomen.com. Send a message to the President, Secretary of State, and US Congress or make a donation to the Campaign. You can also join an Action Team to provide direct assistance to Afghan women-led organizations that provide health, education, and/or relief services. The rebirth of a peaceful, stable, and democratic Afghanistan must include Afghan women.
www.HelpAfghanWomen.com
Forward this message to a friend so she or he can take action on this important issue, too.
Dear friends,
Al-Fatiha is compiling stories and/or incidents of discrimination, verbal and/or physical harrassment, etc that LGBTQ Muslims have faced in the wake of the tragedy that occurred in the United States 2 weeks ago.
If you have experienced verbal or physical abuse and would like to share your story please email it to us by Friday, October 5, 2001 at
gaymuslims@yahoo.com
Please note that you can use your real name and/or email address for people to contact you directly or you can choose to remain anonymous. If you would like to include your name and email please do so at the top of your story. If you would like to remain anonymous please indicate that as well.
The stories will be compiled into a larger report and emailed to LGBT activists, and media around the world.
LGBTQ Muslims are most vulnerable in the United States and around the world at a time when anti-Muslim sentiments are very high.
We hope that this report and our collective stories will serve to help educate our communities about the many issues that LGBTQ Muslims face in their daily lives.
Please note that any story you send might be modified/shortened, etc. for the sake of the report.
Apologies in advance for the short notice.
On behalf of Al-Fatiha,
Yours in faith,
Faisal Alam
Founder and Director
Al-Fatiha Foundation
LGBTQ Muslims and Friends
Logic of the Birds', a creative production by Iranian-born artists, Shoja Azari, Sussan Deyhim, Ghasem Ebrahimian and Shirin Neshat, presented by The Kitchen. In the face of mounting ignorance and prejudice, we at The Kitchen believe that it is more important than ever to support artists whose work represents their own culture in their own voices. Logic of the Birds' opening has been postponed from Tuesday, October 2 to Friday, October 5 at 8 p.m. The proceeds of the opening night will be donated to The Kitchen's local fire department (Engine Company No. 3), who lost five men. Logic of the Birds will be dedicated to the men and women whose lives were lost in the destruction of the WTC.
Run: October 5, 6, 10, 12, 13, 15 and 16 at 8 p.m.
The Kitchen, 512 W. 19th St, NYC.
(212) 255-5793; www.thekitchen.org
Tickets: $20
The Human Rights Watch International Film Festival and the Human Rights Watch staff are offering a small, but concrete suggestion. The extraordinary documentary, "Jung(War): in the Land of the Mujaheddin," about the devastating civil war in Afghanistan which has maimed and killed thousands of its citizens for more than 20 years, is available from our offices on video free of charge. We are currently able to provide a Beta SP or VHS ( NTSC ) cassette to organizations for various community screenings throughout the country over the next several months. At a time when backlash against some immigrant groups within the U.S. is currently happening, we believe that it is especially important to screen "Jung(War): in the Land of the Mujaheddin" for as many people as possible. We believe that the film can enable communities to have constructive dialogues about current world events. For more details about the film and the filmmakers, please check our web site: human rights watch
Human Rights Watch
350 Fifth Ave, 34th Fl
New York, NY 10118-3299
(tel) (212) 216-1264
(fax) (212) 736-1300
email: troburresb@hrw.org
www.hrw.org
PRIVATE EMERGENCY FUNDS FOR GAY OR LESBIANS AFFECTED BY THE 9/11 TRAGEDY
If you or someone you know is gay or lesbian and was injured, killed, or otherwise harmed in the terrorist attacks on September 11, please know that there are public and private emergency funds available to provide relief from both short and long-term economic hardships you may be facing. (There are also many other free programs including counseling, child care, emergency shelter, etc) Gay and lesbian survivors will face obstacles in obtaining equal benefits because of the lack of legal recognition of our families and relationships Fortunately, a number of relief funds have already indicated that they will be taking an expansive definition of "family" and that lesbian and gay survivors will qualify ;In addition, please know that there are LGBT social service and advocacy organizations in New York City and Washington, D.C. ready to help and advocate for survivors to obtain as equitable relief as possible, both in the public and private sectors. If you are in the New York area, please call 212-627-0305, the Empire State Agenda, for further information, assistance, and referrals.
posted by Sabrina Margarita at
10/04/2001 12:32:00 AM
