INDYMEDIA, A Call To Arms.

Mr Bush has declared war, he has declared a war which he assures us will be different from any war fought before and in this he is quite right. In fact the war has already started. It started long ago but last week the nuclear attack occured. This is, as we know a media war. Media bias and propaganda has gone beyond all measure. Every newspaper is filled with little more than newspeak or "terror" and "outrage". Urgeing us to be "right thinking people". Well I've had enough. If Mr Bush wants a war then we should give it to him..... a media war.

The bombings have opened up peoples minds at an emotional level unprecedented in recent history. They have given media access to peoples conciousness that were otherwise shut and they are busy filling it with propaganda. At this time though the public is probably much more open to political debate and discussion than they ever have been. Actually, more likely than they ever will be should we allow this propaganda to solidify into a more hardened status quo. It is absolutely necessary that we take to the streets NOW and continue to be there in the future. The propaganda has to be exposed, ridiculed, satirized for what it is otherwise it will lay latent in the public conciousness forever and will be used to build upon. The people who read this site and comment on it and others like it, you have independent and creative minds, this is our resource. This resource is rich and vibrant you must use it. They use "terror" and "outrage", we'll use "satire" and "irony", it's been a perfect foil for political monstrosity down the ages. What can you do? Can you write short essays that are geared to being handed out to the public in the streets? Can you get them printed or give them out? Can you organize some like minded people to do the same? Can you set up a desk with images and info in the center of town collecting cash to pay for more printing (like the anti vivisection league in the UK)?
Can you perform street theatre, can you write a folksy song and strum a guitare or mix samples to expose the media lie over a wicked techno beat? Can you do some street theatre or some great graffiti? Can you arrange a web site with easily down loadable articles for general public consumption. Can you construct a political viz magazine or newspaper? We are needed on the streets, we need to be visible, playing small doesn't serve anyone, the louder and more in the face we are with our views, gives others the courage to do the same. We need to expose the truth and we need to do it with humour, it's gonna be a long drawn out battle in which they will try to villify us, so we should fight it on our terms and make sure its fun. Satire and irony, if people laugh with you then they take a little of your message.

Finally, in the long term Mr Bush will be replaced, most probably by someone designed to appease the world. We should not fall into the trap of targetting Mr Bush, which is of course all too easy. If we do that, when he moves the policies will remain. We should focus our attacks on the REAL policies not the icon of Mr Bush. This will be difficult as Mr Bush is such an ohhhhh so tempting target. Below is an article which I will be publishing and giving out in the center of my town, it's about Ecuador, which is what I know about, please feel free to criticize it and say how you think it could be made better.

kNOw your propaganda.

World politics dropped into everyones living room as the World Trade dropped to the ground. The dust cleared in New York but it's grown thicker on our news and TV. The World Trade Center, a symbol of corporate power and the Pentagon, a symbol of military domination have perversly become "icons of democracy".
Anti U.S. opposition world wide is branded "terrorism" and the newspapers supply the photographic "outrage" to prove it. For billions of people around the world Bush is the terror they fear most, and not because they are backward or ignorant... 'surprisingly' they have good reason. Take the small country of Ecuador for example. Ecuador, South American neighbour to Colombia you'll find to be tranquil and pacific. A people engaged constantly in love and day to day life without recourse to running a rat race. This however is not profitable. So huge loans are made to politicians widely known to be corrupt, who as predicted gain power, steal the money and place the burden of debt on the people. To pay the debt 'economic austerity measures' are imposed, driving the people into poverty. When the country is weakened the state assets are privatized including telecommunications and media at ridiculously low prices. The owners are Ecuadorian at only the most superficial level. The austerity measures are increased, the value of the currency constantly devalued. People starve, strikes ensue, so called "terrorists" kidnap oil executives because they are desperate to "free" their country from U.S. power. (The States stole the oil reserves with the compliance of another of their backed politicians some 15 years ago). The States 'asks' the privatized telecommunications company if they can listen in on national telephone calls to find the "terrorists". They would also happen to hear conversations by and be able to identify leaders of perfectly legitimate strikes and protests. If that's you, you can be shot, you can be told how your actions may 'affect' your husband/wife/children, arrested on false charges with false evidence, generally just terrorized. The newspapers of the world then announce "Ecuador adopts dollar" as it's new currency and gets a couple of U.S. military bases into the bargain. The headline, "Dollar rammed down Ecuadorian throat" obviously didn't have quite the nuance required. The military bases are of course needed to attack the "terrorists" in Colombia who for some obscure reason have got it into their heads that the Colombian government are a corrupt U.S puppet government. A terrorist is someone who instills terror, Bush is definately that, and he isn't fighting for freedom. The U.S controlled, Ecuadorian news media don't mention anything about the huge riots in Quebec, Rio or Buenas Aires regarding the making of the Americas into one economic bloc, something one may think relevent to a citizen of a "democratic" country. Fear not though, lifestyle products and what Hollywood movie to go and see is extensively covered.
It's possible to cause far greater murder and suffering through a touch of a button in a bank than by any bomb. It's possible to imprison people in an alien way of life by hijacking their newspapers and economy and making it impossible for them to live as they always have. It's possible to hide that action from your own people by careful choice and misuse of words and images, "adopt", "terrorist", "democratic". You don't see the hundred of thousands of faces of arab children dead due to US policies and hear their heart rending 'human interest' stories. You go to Iran you find lovely, kind, gentle people not gun toting lunatics intent on murder and rape.....why do we think that? See through the propaganda and emotional manipulation, see the reality.