INTERNATIONAL PHILOSOPHERS FOR PEACESTATEMENT ON TERRORISM AND THE SEPTEMBER 11, 2001 ATTACKSWe members of IPPNO are deeply aggrieved by the September 11 attacks when so many people in the United States experienced a devastating loss of lives. Sharing in the sorrow and suffering of all those afflicted, we are appalled by the violence and its ramifications. We are also deeply concerned with freedom, civil liberties, justice, and human decency -- for these form the core of the democratic way of life -- and are now also seriously threatened. IPPNO stands behind a search for justice and an end to terrorism. Ware are deeply committed to bringing forth a just and sustainable world through non-violent means. We deplore the military approach that the Bush Administration and other world leaders have taken. No matter what lofty ideals we claim to be fighting for, war is at bottom about killing people, including civilians, and destroying the infrastructures that are the means of livelihood. There is no moral justification for the mass human and environmental destruction of Afghanistan no matter what any inhabitants of that country might have done. The human and material destruction of Afghanistan we have seen to date is itself a crime against humanity as well as a war crime. Since the early 1980s, the United States has already contributed to that country's poverty and misery through a foreign policy that financed and armed terrorist training camps in Afghanistan to fight the Soviet Union, leading to twenty years of internal war and destruction of life in that country. Again today, the U.S. bombing aggravated an already serious crisis of famine and poverty in Afghanistan, creating many millions of refugees who continue to face imminent starvation. If there are not massive shipments of food to the region, the U.S. will be implicated in yet another genocide of Moslem peoples, as it is already in Iraq. The extent, manner, and disproportionality of the bombing that occurred violated all relevant provisions of humanitarian law. The requirement that noncombatants be spared injury has been violated. The requirement that there must be a reasonable expectation of success has clearly been ignored, as we have no reason to think that bombing Afghanistan will put an end to terrorist activities. For twenty years the U.S. has been fighting a worldwide "war on terrorism" through military, covert, and violent means, rather than addressing the root causes of terrorism in a brutally unjust world order. Today, terrorism is more of a menace than ever, and the U.S. continues to pour oil on that fire through its violent, military approach to all global problems. This renewed "war on terrorism" is polarizing nations around the world, dividing communities and nations into "us" and "them" and entrenching nationalisms in the name of patriotism and love of God. Far from being a "contained" war against specific, legally guilty terrorists, this war exacerbates historical grievances and lends credence to the idea that might makes right. These very pragmatic effects of war also create immense damage in the moral domain. Military action exponentially multiplies the physical and psychological suffering of all inhabitants of the world and wreaks havoc on our already-fragile ecosystem. Women and children, who are already injured in a multitude of ways by economic and political inequalities world-wide, will bear the brunt of the human cost of this and all other wars. The primitive response of the United States and other world leaders to retaliate quickly and in kind is underpinned by a kind of thinking that bifurcates the world into those who deserve violence and those who have the right to commit violence. The splitting of violence into "good" and "bad," justified and unjustified, replicates a long-standing myth in America that we are the righteous and those who threaten us are the evil ones. Yet institutionalized violence and counter-violence both contribute to the global culture of violence in which killing for revenge is legitimated and the humanity of each individual is eroded. We diminish ourselves and each other when we think in these simplistic ways, doing moral damage to us all. The 1990s saw a new vision of healing where the violence of apartheid, genocide, government repression, and exploitation were addressed around the world through Truth and Reconciliation Commissions. The moral tone was one of praise and respect for those who rose above revenge and retaliation and, instead, engaged in a process of bringing a broken community together again. What has happened to the hard-won moral insight that justice and democracy are best served not primarily by military action but by patient dialogue and carefully followed due process between all concerned -- individuals, groups, and states? Moreover, we understand that neither peace nor justice can be served in a world where structural violence and injustice are protected and legitimized under under the cover a a fraudulent status quo. September 11 should not be serving as a call to further barbarism and destruction. It should be serving as the impetus to transform the world order away from one of uncontrolled militarism, widespread repression of freedom, grinding poverty and misery, and economic exploitation and degradation. The IPPNO Document on World Peace has made clear that many of the roots of terrorism lie in a world order of poverty, misery, and injustice that is itself a form of terrorism for much of the world's population, an institutionalized terrorism fostered and protected by U.S. military and corporate hegemony worldwide. The United States sees itself as a world leader. Lit it lead us all to a peaceful justice, one that actively decreases suffering and one that genuinely works to understand the complex history that gave rise to the September 11th attacks and responds in a civilized and civilizing way. Let us break the cycle of violence by eliminating its causes. Let us all -- individuals, groups, and nations -- respond vigorously but justly in creating a world order directed toward eliminating the real causes of terrorism.
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