[Col. Writ. 1/23/04] Copyright 2005 Mumia Abu-Jamal
'War is peace. Freedom is slavery.
Ignorance is strength.' -- George Orwell, *1984*.
It is virtually impossible for one to sit through the
meandering, imperial blatherings of president George
W. Bush, and not hear, in the ears of the mind, the
words of George Orwell, the great British writer,
who wrote the pivotal political novel of the 20th
century, *1984*. Almost with every ghost-written
presidential phrase, its inner echo, like an interpreter
speaking in another language in the halls of the
United Nations, could be heard its Orwellian
meanings: 'War is peace. Freedom is slavery.
Ignorance is strength.'
It is impossible for African-Americans, and
certainly Native-Americans, and millions of Americans
who actually know something about what American
history *really* is, to hear words like 'freedom',
'liberty', and 'tyranny' without flinching.
For many of us know that those words, while
sweet to the ear, turn to ashes on the tongue when
one examines real, lived experience.
This was so from the earliest days of the American
republic, indeed, at the time of the American Revolution,
the brilliant British author and scholar, Dr. Samuel
Johnson, asked, with biting wit: 'How is it that we
hear the loudest yelps for liberty among the
drivers of [N]egroes?'
For centuries, American 'liberty' has been loudly
proclaimed, and written in permanent ink on parchments.
But what was said and written had faint little to do
with liberty.
In the international realm, we often think that
nations are independent, and free to engage in
actions as they see fit. In fact, nothing could be
further from the truth. Nations, like individuals,
are regimented and limited by structures of power.
We may not speak of it often, but that doesn't mean
that those structures aren't there.
Back in the mid-1960s, Greek nationalists,
George and Andreas Papandreou, won elections
as Premier and Member of Parliament, respectively.
When they objected to U.S. plans for their country
and the region, the U.S. president, Lyndon Baines
Johnson, came down on them like a ton of bricks.
As writer Mark Zepezauer notes in his *The
CIA's Greatest Hits* (Tucson, Az.: Odinian Press,
1994):
The US attitude toward that breed [i.e., the
Papandreous] is made clear by the following
quote: When the Greek ambassador objected
to President Johnson's plan for settling a
dispute concerning Cyprus, LBJ told him,
"F--k your parliament and your constitution.
America is an elephant. Cyprus is a flea.
Greece is a flea. If these two fleas continue
itching the elephant, they may just get
whacked by the elephant's trunk, whacked
good ... If your prime minister gives me talk
about democracy, parliament and constitutions,
he, his parliament and his constitution may not
last very long." [p. 33]
Most folks don't hear such voices of the American
empire, they hear the flowery lies like Bush's
inauguration speech: '...the U.S. supports democracy
... and opposes tyrannies ...' (Blah, blah, blah...) In
what world?
From Angola to Zaire, in more countries than most
Americans can name, the U.S. has installed the most
ruthless tyrants in memory, and protected their
misrule by the armed might of the Empire. They didn't
care about 'democracy' in the place where, history
claims, democracy was born -- Greece.
Soon, in days perhaps, Iraq will have elections. But
will it have democracy?
Will Iraqis be truly able to rule, or will they have to
obey their imperial masters in Washington?
Is Saudi Arabia democratic? Is Egypt? Is Pakistan?
No one will argue that they are, yet all are prized allies
of the U.S., and they all play a role in the so-called
'War on Terror'. Indeed, many of the countries have
aided and abetted U.S. torturers, by allowing people
to be sent to those places (a process called 'rendering'),
to be tortured with complete impunity, to please their
American paymasters.
While George W. Bush was speaking about
'ending tyranny in our world', in that very hour,
hundreds of people are being tortured in our name, in
distant places; torture by subletting, to the many
dictatorships which are U.S. 'allies.' It seems like
the U.S. has certainly 'ignored' *their* oppression!!
But don't worry -- we were just joking!
Copyright 2005 Mumia Abu-Jamal
'War is peace. Freedom is slavery.
Ignorance is strength.' -- George Orwell, *1984*.
It is virtually impossible for one to sit through the
meandering, imperial blatherings of president George
W. Bush, and not hear, in the ears of the mind, the
words of George Orwell, the great British writer,
who wrote the pivotal political novel of the 20th
century, *1984*. Almost with every ghost-written
presidential phrase, its inner echo, like an interpreter
speaking in another language in the halls of the
United Nations, could be heard its Orwellian
meanings: 'War is peace. Freedom is slavery.
Ignorance is strength.'
It is impossible for African-Americans, and
certainly Native-Americans, and millions of Americans
who actually know something about what American
history *really* is, to hear words like 'freedom',
'liberty', and 'tyranny' without flinching.
For many of us know that those words, while
sweet to the ear, turn to ashes on the tongue when
one examines real, lived experience.
This was so from the earliest days of the American
republic, indeed, at the time of the American Revolution,
the brilliant British author and scholar, Dr. Samuel
Johnson, asked, with biting wit: 'How is it that we
hear the loudest yelps for liberty among the
drivers of [N]egroes?'
For centuries, American 'liberty' has been loudly
proclaimed, and written in permanent ink on parchments.
But what was said and written had faint little to do
with liberty.
In the international realm, we often think that
nations are independent, and free to engage in
actions as they see fit. In fact, nothing could be
further from the truth. Nations, like individuals,
are regimented and limited by structures of power.
We may not speak of it often, but that doesn't mean
that those structures aren't there.
Back in the mid-1960s, Greek nationalists,
George and Andreas Papandreou, won elections
as Premier and Member of Parliament, respectively.
When they objected to U.S. plans for their country
and the region, the U.S. president, Lyndon Baines
Johnson, came down on them like a ton of bricks.
As writer Mark Zepezauer notes in his *The
CIA's Greatest Hits* (Tucson, Az.: Odinian Press,
1994):
The US attitude toward that breed [i.e., the
Papandreous] is made clear by the following
quote: When the Greek ambassador objected
to President Johnson's plan for settling a
dispute concerning Cyprus, LBJ told him,
"F--k your parliament and your constitution.
America is an elephant. Cyprus is a flea.
Greece is a flea. If these two fleas continue
itching the elephant, they may just get
whacked by the elephant's trunk, whacked
good ... If your prime minister gives me talk
about democracy, parliament and constitutions,
he, his parliament and his constitution may not
last very long." [p. 33]
Most folks don't hear such voices of the American
empire, they hear the flowery lies like Bush's
inauguration speech: '...the U.S. supports democracy
... and opposes tyrannies ...' (Blah, blah, blah...) In
what world?
From Angola to Zaire, in more countries than most
Americans can name, the U.S. has installed the most
ruthless tyrants in memory, and protected their
misrule by the armed might of the Empire. They didn't
care about 'democracy' in the place where, history
claims, democracy was born -- Greece.
Soon, in days perhaps, Iraq will have elections. But
will it have democracy?
Will Iraqis be truly able to rule, or will they have to
obey their imperial masters in Washington?
Is Saudi Arabia democratic? Is Egypt? Is Pakistan?
No one will argue that they are, yet all are prized allies
of the U.S., and they all play a role in the so-called
'War on Terror'. Indeed, many of the countries have
aided and abetted U.S. torturers, by allowing people
to be sent to those places (a process called 'rendering'),
to be tortured with complete impunity, to please their
American paymasters.
While George W. Bush was speaking about
'ending tyranny in our world', in that very hour,
hundreds of people are being tortured in our name, in
distant places; torture by subletting, to the many
dictatorships which are U.S. 'allies.' It seems like
the U.S. has certainly 'ignored' *their* oppression!!
But don't worry -- we were just joking!
Copyright 2005 Mumia Abu-Jamal
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