2nd Renaissance -10
Lothar | 24.02.2006 23:56 | Analysis | Anti-militarism | Repression | World
Weapon of mass destruction
In 1484, Pope Innocent VIII issued a Papal Bull that became the rationale for establishing the Inquisition in Germany. The following excerpt from the Bull sets out the official view of the danger of witches to the community. The Bull and this this passage provided the sole excuse for the torture and cruel executions that were, ultimately, to be the fate of up to fifty percent of the population of some villages.
"It has recently come to our ears, not without great pain to us, that in some parts of upper Germany, as well as in the provinces, cities, territories, regions and dioceses of Mainz, Koln, Trier, Salzburg, and Bremen, many persons of both sexes, heedless of their own salvation and forsaking the catholic faith, give themselves over to devils male and female, and by their incantations, charms, and conjurings, and by other abominable superstitions and sortileges, offences, crimes, and misdeeds, ruin and cause to perish the offspring of women, the foal of animals, the products of the earth, the grapes of vines, and the fruits of trees, as well as men and women, cattle and flocks and herds and animals of every kind, vineyards also and orchards, meadows, pastures, harvests, grains and other fruits of the earth; that they afflict and torture with dire pains and anguish, both internal and external, these men, women, cattle, flocks, herds, and animals, and hinder men from begetting and women from conceiving, and prevent all consummation of marriage; that, moreover, they deny with sacrilegious lips the faith they received in holy baptism; and that, at the instigation of the enemy of mankind, they do not fear to commit and perpetrate many other abominable offences and crimes, at the risk of their own souls, to the insult of the divine majesty and to the pernicious example and scandal of multitudes."
Clearly, the Roman Church and its priests, and high officials, being among the best educated members of Medieval society, and possessed of ancient manuscripts and wisdom from antiquity, would have known the above assertions to be pure fiction. Nonetheless, the witch-hunts that originated from the 1484 Papal Bull were to continue in Europe for centuries and result in the deaths of between 100,000 (executions for which records survive today) and something less than one million innocent people (the estimated total including those trials and executions for which no records survive).
The motivation for the orchestrated war on witches could not have had anything to do with the attacks that Martin Luther was to later make on the Roman Church. Luther was one year old in 1484. His denunciation of the corruption and other failings of the established order of rule and law in Europe was to come 33 years later, in 1517. However, the War on Witches can be linked to Luther in one sense, it was almost certainly prompted by the fear of the Medieval World Order that such reforms would be placed on a future agenda of European polity. Put simply, the religious and feudal elites of Europe feared that the new force of mass publication, as evidenced by the printing of the Gutenberg Bible, in 1455, and the subsequent spread of movable-type printing presses, such as that established by William Caxton, in 1476, would inevitably lead to change and the emasculation of their power.
Note carefully what is being argued here. It is that the ruling elite of a spent civilization were prepared to set in train a process that would lead to the torture and unjust execution of hundreds of thousands of citizens, mostly women, solely to bolster their authority and justify their continued existence. The new technological revolution that the Medieval World Order feared was mass publication, and in the end it was this very force that caused their power and influence to evaporate. They saw the problem ahead, and fought a diversionary action through the Inquisition and the War on Witches. But, these inhuman actions only delayed their passing. The War on Witches could not save the Medieval World Order.
The War on Terror [151]
A new civilization rose from the ashes of the Medieval World Order, it ran its bloody course for 400 years but now faces annihilation in the face of the new technologies of digital information processing. However, if dissent can be stifled, if progress can be slowed and artificial scarcity can continue to prevail in the global economy, if information can be controlled and the official truth can be believed by the majority of citizens, the old order can continue for a few more years. Perhaps long enough to gain control of new technologies and turn them into weapons to enforce the status quo. Perhaps not.
The people who flew large commercial aircraft into the twin towers of the World Trade Centre, on September 11, 2001, were:
Amateur, private pilots with no training in aerobatic manoeuvres. But, nonetheless, able to fly high speed aircraft into ground based structures, without practice and without error,
Muslim extremists, mainly of Saudi nationality,
*Intent on killing innocent people, including many Muslims, Intent on destroying an icon of US economic might,
*Able to board normal civilian flights without suspicion or detection, and without being listed on passenger manifests,
*Able to freely navigate to their targets, the WTC towers, without interception,
*Careless enough to leave many incriminating documents and other clues behind, which were conveniently discovered immediately after the WTC attack.
All of the above "facts" have become part of the official truth about 911. There are hundreds of sites on the WWW that question the veracity of the government and mass media explanations of what happened that morning in New York, and several sites on Freenet with the same conspiracy theme. We are unlikely to ever get the real truth about the attack that took some 3,000 lives, but we can control what we think about the event and its official explanation. We remain free to think and act according to the reasoning we apply to the facts that are known to be true, and what our intuition and collective psyche tells us.
One fact we can be sure of is that the vast majority of fatalities of 911 were of ordinary people. Very few, if any, high profile leaders and executives of the OWO perished in the attack on the WTC. The final death toll is uncertain, not because bodies were vaporised, but because there were illegal immigrants working in the WTC, for sweatshop rates of pay. The icon of capitalism, occupied by many major firms, had a population of people who could never be declared missing if they failed to come home. The number of deaths was eventually ruled off at about 3,000 souls.
Revenge Is Never A Good Reason For WAR [152]
Every life lost on 911 was an absolute tragedy, however, an important point needs to be recognised about the event that sparked the new War on Terror. It is that the 911 attack pales into insignificance when compared to the casualties in real wars and many natural disasters. It can be strongly argued that, of itself, the 911 attack and the resulting deaths and casualties did not constitute a sound reason to launch a series of retaliatory and "pre-emptive" strikes on countries such as Afghanistan and Iraq. Nor can the tragic losses of 911 justify the continued state of war now espoused by the political leaders of the US, UK and Australia. Two wrongs do not make a right.
While the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour, in 1941, was undeclared, the aircraft were clearly marked. There was a strong case for the US entering the war to protect itself against the obvious intent of its new enemy to attack, and possibly invade, America. This was not the case with 911.
The truth about the real perpetrators of that attack remains unclear. We cannot definitely say that it was not Arab terrorists, but we can say that the US government has not yet made sufficient verifiable evidence available to prove that it was offshore terrorists that attacked the WTC towers.
Until that happens it will be difficult for the families and friends of those who died in the aircraft strikes and subsequent collapse of the WTC to achieve full closure of their grief. Sadly, such open disclosure of the facts to independent investigators and citizens audit committees is not likely to occur.
However, is cannot be right to support the US government and its allies in a series of wars against various Muslim states that are alleged to harbour and equip terrorists. It is not valid to attack countries because they "might" provide a base for future strikes on Westerners. Even if the 911 terrorists were Arab, as alleged by the Western media, the CIA, the FBI, and similar dubious sources of truth, revenge wars won't help the families of the victims achieve sufficient peace to continue their lives. Because it is external, revenge never provides closure. Only internal insights and adjustments can do that.
Author's Note:
Within the above sentiments, there is no intended devaluation of the lives that were lost on 911. No unnatural cause of death is ever good, be it due to attack or simply an accident. Despite what institutionalised science might say about the matter of death, it is only the flesh that perishes. The souls of every living thing, not just humans but animals and plants as well, survive forever. The life force in DNA is eternal.
Until recently, this realisation has comforted a relatively small number of monks and mystics. But now a growing number of people, those who have the interest to search out the answers and the openness of mind to accept them, are also blessed with this knowledge. As the author of this freesite, I sincerely hope that the families of the 911 victims will come to realise that their loved ones are not lost in spirit, but only in body. The loved ones are not gone forever. Their souls did not die, they live on in a higher state of consciousness.
Those responsible for the 911 attack will take longer to get to that place. Their souls will recycle adversely. They will come back among us in forms such as microbes living in the sludge of sewage treatment ponds. That is their proper position in the order of life. On their 911 record, the souls of the perpetrators don't belong in positions of high office and power in human affairs. While the rule of law and the mechanisms of federal states might struggle to bring such evil to account, there is a greater system of justice. And IT is divine and incorruptible.
Vocal Reactions to 911 [153]
We know what the leaders of the US, Great Britain, and other Western states have said about 911. Their words are on record, as are those of various media commentators. Here are some of the statements made in the days following the attack on the WTC towers.
"Freedom itself was attacked this morning by a faceless coward and freedom will be defended".......US President, Bush
*"Yesterday, evil and despicable acts of terror were perpetrated against our fellow citizens. Our way of life, indeed our very freedom, came under attack. Our first priority is to respond swiftly and surely. We need to do so in a way that will make Americans proud".......US President, Bush
"The attacks here in the United States were, in a very real sense, an attack on the world, in the sense that there were hundreds and hundreds of people from any number of countries - 50-plus countries - that were killed in these attacks, and the world knows that. That's why we have seen such an outpouring of support from so many nations. The NATO Charter has been invoked. The Rio Treaty has been invoked. Our alliance with Australia has been invoked".......US Secretary of Defense, Rumsfeld
*"Make no mistake, the United States will hunt down and punish those responsible for these cowardly acts" .......US President, Bush
"During the Cold War, freedom and authoritarianism clashed. Countries and entire regions suffered under repressive ideologies that sought to trample human dignity. Today, freedom is again threatened. Like the fascists and totalitarians before them. Al Qaida, the Taliban regime that supports them, and other terrorist groups across the world seek to impose their radical views through threats and violence".......US President, Bush
*"They see themselves as the world's losers and it drives them batty. There's no rationality to it. These are crazy people, they are haters".......CBS's Dan Rather
*"They are a movement defined by their hatreds. They hate progress, and freedom, and choice, and culture, and music, and laughter, and women, and Christians and Jews, and all Muslims who reject their distorted doctrines. They love only one thing - they love power. And when they have it, they use it without mercy".......US President, Bush
*"This mass terrorism is the new evil in our world today. It is perpetrated by fanatics who are utterly indifferent to the sanctity of human life and we, the democracies of this world, are going to have to come together to fight it together and eradicate this evil completely from our world".......UK Prime Minister, Blair
*"It was an attack on civilization".......UK Foreign Secretary, Straw
*"The American people need to know that that we're facing a different enemy than we have ever faced. This enemy hides in shadows, and has no regard for human life. This is an enemy who preys on innocent and unsuspecting people, then runs for cover. But it won't be able to run for cover forever. This is an enemy that tries to hide. But it won't be able to hide forever. This is an enemy that thinks its harbors are safe. But they won't be safe forever".......US President, Bush
*"No one now doubts that the Al Qaida network, led by Usama bin Laden, was responsible for the attacks and that the Taliban has allowed Afghanistan to become a safe haven for international terrorism. Bin Laden's hatred for the United States and for a world system built on individual freedom, religious tolerance, democracy, and the international free flow of commerce, is non-negotiable....He wants to promulgate an extreme form of the religion he blasphemously claims to represent. He wants a wholesale confrontation between the Islamic and non-Islamic worlds. He wants to spread fear, create uncertainty and promote instability".......Australian Prime Minister, Howard
*"I believe we have to go on fighting terrorism as long as it takes. Because what happened on the 11th of September was, of course, a brutal and horrific attack on America, but it was a demonstration of what people are capable of in any part of the world. And the important thing to realize is that there is no limit on what they would do that is moral. They have no regard for the sanctity of human life".......UK Prime Minister, Blair
*"An illusion of immunity was shattered. A faraway evil became a present danger. And a great cause became clear: We will fight terror and those who sponsor it, to save our children from a future of fear. (Applause).......US President, Bush
*"The free world must realise that no one is safe. If you embrace freedom, you're not safe from terrorism".......US President, Bush
*"I would say to Australians of Islamic faith that you are just as much a part of our society as anyone else and deserve the respect and the tolerance owed to all Australians" .......Australian Prime Minister, Howard One year later, following the October 12, 2002, Bali bombings, Australian police and security agencies carried out a series of dawn raids on homes of Muslim Australians, in Sydney and Perth. Nothing incriminating was found in any of the premises or on any of the computers that were seized. No charges eventuated from the raids, but doors were smashed in and women and children were terrorized by heavily armed officers - in the name of Australia's own 1012 War on Terror.
Do you see a similarity in the above rhetoric on terrorists and the earlier diatribes on witches? During the first Renaissance the tactic of controlling dissent through a War on Witches was widely and wickedly used. This helped the Medieval World Order to survive for longer than it would otherwise have done, but at a terrible cost in lives and human suffering.
Shockingly, the outgoing elites of the present industrial society seem to be bent on repeating this same murderous ploy. Is the new War on Terror really a war on dissent and changes that could sap the power of the Old World Order? Is President Bush's statement, "If you embrace freedom, you're not safe from terrorism", a thinly veiled threat? Will more 911s and 1012s be needed to secure the iron control of the Old World Order over energy and other resources that, thanks to new technologies, are no longer scarce?
"No Regard For The Sanctity of Human Life" [154]
Following 911 the US quickly moved to attack Afghanistan, claiming that in harboured terrorists who had masterminded the WTC atrocity. Even to this day, no concrete public evidence has been released to support that allegation. There have been conveniently low quality videos and tape recordings, purporting to be issued by Osama bin Laden and other al Qaeda leaders. But these could have been fabricated by anyone with access to basic sound and imaging equipment. In respect of the invasion of Afghanistan, and subsequently Iraq, the Coalition of the Willing - the US, UK and Australia, have been long on intelligence assurances and short on hard evidence to support their murderous assaults.
As things stand, you and I can't really know what justification there was for the undeclared war on Afghanistan. But we can certainly know and judge the actions of the Coalition of the Willing (CoW) in the retaliatory attacks that were made. Even the strict censorship that operates on media coverage of military actions is unable to stop us knowing quite a lot about the outcomes. We can assess the information that leaks out and form our own views. We do not have to swallow the deluge of propaganda from the CoW.
Here are some quotes about the war waged in Afghanistan. It was, inevitably, a one sided affair. When the richest nation on earth takes on the poorest, the final victory is never in doubt. But what happened in Afghanistan can scarcely be called war. It was genocide.
*"The Taliban and the terrorists set out to dominate a country and intimidate the world. Today, from their caves, it's all looking a little different. (Applause) And no cave is deep enough to escape the patient justice of the United States of America.(Applause)...Afghanistan has been a proving ground for this new approach. These past two months have shown that an innovative doctrine and high-tech weaponry can shape and then dominate an unconventional conflict.".......US President, Bush
*"After the Americans destroyed our village and killed many of us, we also lost our houses and have nothing to eat. However, we could have endured these miseries and even accepted them, if [the] Americans had not sentenced us to death. When I saw my deformed grandson, I realised that my hopes of the future have vanished for good, different from the hopelessness of the Russian barbarism, even though at that time I lost my older son Shafiqullah. This time, however, I know we are part of the invisible genocide brought on us by America, a silent death from which I know we will not escape".......Jooma Khan, of Laghman province, Afghanistan.
*"I realised this slow, yet certain death, when I saw blood in my urine and developed severe pain in my kidneys along with breathing problems I never had before. Many of my family members started to complain from confusion and the pregnant women miscarried their babies while others gave birth to disabled infants".......Akbar khan, from Paktika province, Afghanistan.
In the Afghanistan turkey shoot the CoW forces used vast numbers of hard target weapons and other munitions containing depleted uranium (DU). This substance is almost twice as dense as lead. When it punches through concrete bunkers, armour, or mud huts, DU disintegrates into a chemically toxic and radioactive dust. In contrast to the earlier DU weapons used in Gulf War I, the newer ordinance produced deaths and deformities within weeks of the start of military action by the CoW. Between 1990-91 and 2001 the US arms manufacturers are thought to have "improved" the DU technology by introducing milled uranium ore to their warheads. This non-depleted uranium (NDU) is - wait for it - cheaper to produce and far more potent than DU. It poses massive health risks to civilian populations exposed to it, and constitutes, in every sense of the word, a weapon of mass destruction, or WMD. "Hey they're hunting them in Iraq, aren't they?"
The photos show deformed infants born in Afghanistan after massive use of DU and NDU weapons. These pictures are selected from amongst the least disturbing examples to come from the conflict. There are others considered too obscene and terrible to show here (although they do appear on some WWW sites). The really shocking pictures (those not shown here) are of babies with two heads or no arms or legs, and of young children with tumours growing out of their mouths, or from their eye sockets thus rendering them blind. Yet, the executives of the munitions companies that make DU and NDU warheads are respected as valuable members of their nation, the US. While the generals that deployed these evil, inhuman munitions against the least protected population on earth, are hailed as heroes. Go figure - as they say stateside.
Despite the prolific assurances that smart weapons would minimise civilian casualties and deaths, the CoW forces used DU in their projectiles and bombs. Even if all the strikes hit only Taliban forces, DU kills indiscriminately, invisibly, for centuries. It poisons water and makes land unusable in a region where arable soil is precious. During their assault on Afghanistan CoW forces bombed the Kajaki dam, which supplies water to over 1 million people. With their land and water poisoned by DU and NDU, the population faces the options of either leaving the localities they have inhabited for generations, or staying on in perilous circumstances.
Hardly any of the people in this predicament are members of al Qaeda, nor have they ever heard of the WTC towers. They are too poor to possess telephones, television sets or computers. Easy scapegoats for 911; ready-made witches.
Commanders of the invading CoW forces quickly encountered a scarcity of targets in Afghanistan. All they found to strike were collections of mud huts. Yet, more than 22,000 weapons were dropped on the Afghanistan countryside. These ranged from cruise missiles to heavy fuel-air bombs and satellite guided J-dams. Despite the fact that 60 percent of the ordinance dropped was precision guided, it is believed that, "One in four bombs and missiles dropped by the US on Afghanistan may have missed its target" (The Guardian, April 10, 2002).
In areas where Taliban fighters were bombed around the clock, there were many reports of locals finding the Taliban dead, with no visible injuries except blood flowing from their mouths. Such internal bleeding is consistent with the use of chemical or NDU weapons. The following phenomenon is said to have been witnessed by numbers of people entering bombed areas,
*"We were amazed to see birds sitting quietly on [tree] branches, but when we shook the tree the birds fell down and we saw blood coming out of their mouths. Then we climbed the trees to see those that were still stuck on tree branches, all of them had bled from their mouths. Two of the birds appeared to be partly melted into the branches."
The Uranium Medical Research Centre (UMRC) subsequently tested the urine of people from Jala Abad and found the highest level of uranium ever recorded in a population. Concentrations were 400% to 2,000% higher than normal baselines.
The Pentagon continues to maintain that DU does not pose a threat to civilians or its own troops. And the US government is refusing to clean up the DU residues in Iraq and Afghanistan. However, US assertions about the "safety" of their DU weapons are not borne out by field experience.
Here is a quote from one British veteran of Gulf War I, Ray Bristow, a former marathon runner.
*"I gradually noticed that every time I went out for a run my distance got shorter and shorter, my recovery time longer and longer. Now, on my good days, I get around quite adequately with a walking stick, so long as it's short distances. Any further, and I need to be pushed in a wheelchair I remained in Saudi Arabia throughout the war. I never once went into Iraq or Kuwait, where these munitions were used. But the tests showed, in layman's terms, that I have been exposed to over 100 times an individual's safe annual exposure to depleted uranium."
Perversely, the Australian government's solution to the "problem" of Afghan refugees held for long periods in Australian detention centres - branded "concentration camps" by human rights organisations and church groups - has been to offer them money to return to the land of their birth. Those unwise enough to accept the relatively small inducement offered are likely to regret their decision, as their families could face invisible killers in the form of contaminated water and radioactive dust.
Given the above, many people in the CoW homelands are expressing disquiet and disgust at the nature and outcomes of the new War on Terror. They are wondering exactly who it is that has , "No regard for the sanctity of human life." Is it "them," the Muslim fundamentalists, or is it "us", the nations that make up the Coalition of the Willing? Even if there are evil Muslims intent on terrorising the West, how do we justify our nation being so thoroughly and remorselessly evil in return?
Military barbarism by CoW forces does not provide any closure for families of 911. All it does is debase the US, UK and Australia in the eyes of the world. That's a good reason for people in the homelands of the CoW to opt for secession. So that they, as decent people, can stand apart from the monsters who so blatantly attack and murder civilians for economic and political advantage.
Voices Raised In Dissent [155]
If you speak to people who have, in their own lifetimes, endured war in their homeland you will find that the majority abhor the idea of militarism. The memory of World War II, fought in their countryside, was certainly a large factor in the refusal of France and Germany to join the CoW in attacking Iraq. There is little doubt that there are Old Order elites in Europe, in France and in Germany, that would have supported, and joined, the CoW invasions. But the people of Europe have had enough of war, and it these circumstances it was politically difficult for governments to commit to the strikes.
It is significant that in countries such as the US, the UK and Australia, which have not been invaded during the living memory of their citizens, it was easier for politicians, and the state-serving media, to fan support for a War on Terror, and invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. Nonetheless, many people in CoW countries have voiced their objection to war as a solution to terrorism, and to the human rights violations that are carried out in the name of anti-terrorist precautions.
People who speak out in these terms are courageous. Just as it was highly dangerous, if not suicidal, to speak out against the Inquisition or the dogma of the Roman Church, it is now dangerous to voice opposition, however justified it might be, to the War on Terror. In reality, the War on Terror is exactly what the War on Witches was. It is a WAR on DISSENT, and it is calculated to help the Old World Order hold onto power for a little while longer.
It is impossible to fool all the people all the time. And it is impossible to silence everyone. Since the Afghanistan and Iraq invasions there have been many expressions of disgust and disenchantment concerning the actions of the CoW. Dissent has been aired in the few remaining pockets of a free press, on the Internet, from the stage, and on the streets.
Here are a few examples.
*"The US and British governments have dragged us into a mess that will last for years. So far, the liberators have succeeded only in freeing the souls of the Iraqis from their bodies. Saddam Hussein's troops have proved less inclined to surrender than they might have anticipated, and the civilians less prepared to revolt. But while no one can now ignore the immediate problems this illegal war has met, we are beginning, too, to understand what should have been obvious all along: that, however this conflict is resolved, the outcome will be a disaster."
... George Monbiot, writing in the Guardian, April, 2003.
*"It's like learning your father has just been arrested for raping and killing the neighbour's ten-year-old girl and then seeing the pictures on the front page of the morning paper. Followed by TV news footage of him beaming proudly and saying, "She was asking for it. It was her own fault. She made me do it."
That's how I feel."
... Edgar J. Steele, on the WWW, April, 2003.
*"Just to let you know.
We're ashamed the president of the United States is from Texas.
While we support our troops, there is nothing more frightening than the notion of going to war with Iraq and the prospect of all the innocent lives that will be lost."
... Natalie Maines, of the Dixie Chicks, addressing a London audience in March, 2003.
*"The next thing that came to mind was when you actually get on a river boat and cross that ocean and the river boat disintegrates, crikeys, what they must have been feeling must be pretty bad. I would not have the courage and determination to do that. You know. to cross the ocean in a river boat, I think, takes enormous courage and determination. And those are a couple of qualities that Australians really admire. And so I thought to myself, Anybody who's gone through that and survived and gets to Australia, there's a fair chance they're going to be a worthwhile citizen."
*"Well, I'm on the road today. We're coming to Baxter Detention Centre to have a bit of a look. I mean the main reason for me having a look at Baxter is basically for my education, to try and find out a bit more about how refugees have to live, what they've got to put up with. Driving up into Baxter and looking around, the first thing I thought to myself, This looks awfully like a jail to me. So I'm going to be interested to see what its like on the inside."
"Well, having been inside, I guess the two words that sort of come to me are depressing and frustrating. You'd like to be able to do more about it and you sort of feel like you're handcuffed. You're born here and pretty proud of a lot of things that Australia does, but to hear them talk about, you know, some of the things that Australia has done to them was embarrassing. You wanted to say to them, "Look, not all Australians feel that way." And, you know, it's pretty bad. I feel horrible about having to apologise for my own country. That's a horrible position. I don't like being put in that position."
... Ian Chappell, former Test Captain and Australian Cricketing Great, recorded in an Australian Story documentary, shown of national TV, July, 2003.
Note:
The Baxter Detention Centre houses refugees and asylum seekers from Afghanistan, Iraq and other world trouble spots. The policies and practices of the Australian government in detaining refugees, and the conditions under which they are held, sometimes for years, have been strongly criticised by both the Australian Human Rights Commissioner, Dr Sev Ozdowski, and by Justice P.N. Bhagwati, Former Chief Justice of India, who undertook a review on behalf of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, in mid 2002.
In response to the critical content of the latter report, produced on behalf of Mrs Mary Robinson, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Australian government issued a terse statement, to the effect that, "Nothing in Justice Bhagwati's report is cause to change the view that Australia's system of immigration detention is effective and not inconsistent with our international obligations."
Obviously, Ian Chappell does not feel that to be the case, and he has spoken out in disgust and anger.
Predictably, one of the three Federal Ministers that issued the joint rebuttal above was the Australian Attorney-General. It was legislation framed by his department, to censor the Internet and legalise Big Brother style surveillance, that prompted Ian Clarke to write Freenet in the first place.
Once elected officials have control over the rule of law, they often come to rely on the fact that everything their regime does within the letter of their own legislation is legal. They overlook the necessity for the both the laws of the land, and their interpretation, to also be fair, humane, and moral. Australia's rule of law is increasingly failing to meet the latter standards.
In reality, the treatment of asylum seekers and refugees by the Australian government, involves crimes against humanity. The participation of Australian forces in unjustified invasions of countries such as Afghanistan and Iraq, falls within any reasonable definition of a war crime. So do the attacks on civilian populations and the use, and support of the use, of WMDs such as DU and NDU weaponry.
When it comes to criticising breaches of human rights and the perpetration of illegal acts of war, the average Australian is blunter than representatives of the UN. On the streets one finds a waggish humour incorporated in Australian's description of the OWO cabal in Canberra.
Some ordinary Australians now refer to the above Ministers, their Cabinet colleagues and their departmental officials, as "The SMELLY Gang".
Note:
For the benefit of non-Australian readers, the KELLY Gang is the nation's most famous group of historical outlaws, who, together with their leader, Ned Kelly (1855-80), fought a final battle with troopers, while wearing protective iron armour on their heads and torsos. Outlaws of that period were termed BUSHRANGERS.
If there is a bunch of outlaws in office in Canberra, supporting immoral US policies and the War on Terror, then, by inference, there are gangsters in the White House. At least, that's how many Australians are coming to see things. They might not yet be demonstrating outside the Parliament, but their wry humour reflects their resentment of evil actions carried out in their name.
Help Others See Beyond The War On Terror [156]
As already stated, it is pointless to protest and to undertake acts of civil disobedience in the hope of changing or halting the War on Terror. Ordinary citizens in the Coalition of the Willing's homelands have no more chance of changing the CoW's approach to the war than the inhabitants of 15th century German villages had of changing the way the Inquisition cruelly wiped out up to fifty percent of their populations, in the name of the War on Witches. What ordinary people can do today is to change the things that they control, including what they think and know.
The OWO wants to fight and suppress demonstrations and uprisings, because it has command of the police and the military. It wants to fight in the courts, where it controls the rule of law. It seeks to make examples of individuals, such as the Australian "terrorist" David Hicks, or of whole countries, such as Afghanistan and Iraq. It wants to cow all opposition to the continuance of the economic system of artificial scarcity; despite the present-day existence of technologies of abundance.
What the Old World Order does not want is widespread understanding of the truth about the opportunity to form a new, and far higher, level of civilization based on the accumulation and distribution of information and knowledge. After all, that was what caused the downfall of the Medieval World Order during the first Renaissance. It is the prospect of ordinary people everywhere gaining access to information and knowledge, changing the way they think, then "joining all the dots" to design a new and better world, that the OWO is, rightly, terrified of. Faced with that prospect, the OWO elites become as dangerous as cornered beasts.
The way to defeat the OWO is to abandon it. This is the message that must be projected. It is not a matter of fighting the OWO. There is no need to goad that cornered beast, nor is there any societal value in exacting revenge on its members.
During the first Renaissance, the world experienced a transformation to a new level of civilization. The two main reasons for this change were, (1) the impact of mass publishing on the spread of information and knowledge, (2) the emasculation of the power of the Medieval World Order, embodied in the Roman Church. Once the Reformation came, worshippers abandoned the old, indulgences-funded, church order for new split-off denominations that were founded across Europe. All of the secular power of the Roman Church was then lost, and much of its spiritual influence as well.
The old church still exists today, and it is no longer corrupt or malevolent. It no longer holds back scientific and technological advancement for the sake of dogma, power and control. The same will apply to the elites of the OWO. They will continue to exist in a Level 4 Civilization, with its conditions of abundance and spiritual enlightenment. It is just that the OWO will no longer have power over the likes of you and I. We will have chosen to abandon it, for a better life and the chance to use magic new technologies to do good for the planet, its peoples, its creatures, and its natural habitats.
Related:
2nd Renaissance -9
The Old World Order will not do anything to smooth the path to a Level 4 Civilization, and a better world. On the contrary, they will do whatever they can to make it difficult. The police, the military, the media, the financial system, the rule of law, and all the mechanisms of civil control and surveillance will be mobilised in defence of the status quo. But, once they understand their options, the people of the world will not engage in a battle with the forces of the OWO. They will simply abandon the old way of living under national rule, for a better, freer, life in new tribal societies. Kinship mechanisms will help people cope with the pressures of official opposition to radical changes that will finally enable them to escape the invisible prison that the OWO had fashioned around them.
http://melbourne.indymedia.org/news/2006/02/107047.php
2nd Renaissance -8
Ultimately the old order will lose the battle to preserve their privileged way of life, based on all prevailing scarcity, pseudo-democracy, and the rule of law. But in the interim, hundreds of millions of innocent people might lose their lives in bloody resistance to the changes being made by the Old World Order (OWO).. If such a terrible thing happens, it will all have been for nothing, because:
http://melbourne.indymedia.org/news/2006/02/106816.php
Tales of Adam
Daniel Quinn*
http://ishmael.com/index1.cfm
2nd Renaissance -7
When coupled with the introduction of artificial scarcity and taker concepts of property ownership and legal tender, Western death-fearing religions played a significant role in subduing, otherwise independent, tribal peoples.
http://melbourne.indymedia.org/news/2006/02/106537.php
2nd Renaissance -6
The second route involves the setting up of entirely new living spaces on tribal lands that were previously seized by colonising governments that espoused and followed Taker philosophies. This route has greater credibility, in the sense of secession rights, where clear historical ownership of the land can be shown.
http://melbourne.indymedia.org/news/2006/02/106327.php
2nd Renaissance -5
Quinn contends that while governments can imagine a revolution they can't imagine abandonment. As he puts it, "..even if it could imagine abandonment , it couldn't defend against it, because abandonment isn't an attack, it's just a discontinuance of support."
http://melbourne.indymedia.org/news/2006/02/106136.php
2nd Renaissance -4
In due course, there is one achievement of overriding significance that Caral might well provide. One great contribution or lesson that can be applied to the 2nd Renaissance. How to live in peace, with spiritual meaning, and without warfare, for a thousand years.
http://melbourne.indymedia.org/news/2006/02/105935.php
The New Renaissance
Daniel Quinn*
http://www.mnforsustain.org/quinn_d_new_renaissance.htm
2nd Renaissance -3
Plichta writes of this model as follows. "There was a time I used to make fun of the Apocalypse of St John and believed it to be a totally unreliable historical source. Today I am filled with deep humility, perhaps because I am now able to give a concrete description of the foundation of the world as seen by St John with my mathematical discoveries, and thus possibly open a new way to all of humanity which has now reached a dead end."
http://melbourne.indymedia.org/news/2006/02/105799.php
2nd Renaissance -2
Georg Cantor (1845-1918), by his origination of modern set theory and his studies of the nature of infinity, left science a valuable legacy. Cantor was regularly admitted to a psychiatric clinic within the University of Halle, in Germany, where he lectured and worked as a Professor of Mathematics. On each occasion that he became ill he had been thinking about infinity and the continuum hypothesis. Such intense thought, at the boundaries of his comprehension, caused Cantor to suffer repeated mental breakdowns. Infinity drove him mad.
http://melbourne.indymedia.org/news/2006/02/105634.php
2nd Renaissance
This story was published in September 2004 and it was a big secret. I received it on disk but I think it should be public by now anyway. It is interesting to look back at it and in terms of today's world some two years on. I will link each chapter as I go along over the coming weeks.- The Old World Order - Happy reading!
http://melbourne.indymedia.org/news/2006/02/105519.php
Fight Iemma - Debnam
All they can say is 'lock em up'
It seems we are in the thick of it again - the stupid, heartless "Law & Order" auction.
Premier Morris Iemma and Opposition leader Peter Debnam are trying to outdo each other with idiotic "tough on crime" policies.
Original Article
http://sydney.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=64701&group=webcast
Lothar
Homepage:
http://sydney.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=64701&group=webcast