Probably not
Sep 20th 2001
EVEN before a war has started, a peace movement has raised its head. Union Square, about two miles from the still-smoking World Trade Centre, has become a place of round-the-clock vigils not just condemning the terrorist attacks, but calling on America to hold back from violent vengeance. Flyers and posters carry peace slogans, from the old (“Give peace a chance”) to the new (“An eye for an eye and everyone is blind”).The equestrian statue of George Washington now holds a white banner with a peace symbol.
Some of the protesters see American foreign policy as the root of the terrorism. By arming Israel and bombing Iraq, they claim, America has helped to breed the suicide bombers. “Every bomb dropped creates 1,000 more bin Ladens,” says a placard in Union Square. They now worry that America's armed forces may be about to hit targets in poverty-stricken and oppressed parts of Afghanistan.
Another strand of the peace movement plainly has its roots in the weirder parts of the anti-globalisation movement. One website has blamed the “failed and anachronistic military-industrial economy” for creating global inequality and, as a result, extremism and violence. Another website is dedicated to “resistance against Militarism, War and Corporate Greed”
Will it amount to anything? The various websites, chat groups and chain e-mails are soon to be matched by a series of vigils and marches planned for Washington, DC, New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles. But the opinion polls show that Americans are overwhelmingly in favour of a military response. The single member of Congress who voted against authorising military action, Barbara Lee, a Californian Democrat who represents peace-loving Oakland and Berkeley, has been given extra police protection at the Capitol. For the moment, there are a lot more hawks than doves in America
Sep 20th 2001
EVEN before a war has started, a peace movement has raised its head. Union Square, about two miles from the still-smoking World Trade Centre, has become a place of round-the-clock vigils not just condemning the terrorist attacks, but calling on America to hold back from violent vengeance. Flyers and posters carry peace slogans, from the old (“Give peace a chance”) to the new (“An eye for an eye and everyone is blind”).The equestrian statue of George Washington now holds a white banner with a peace symbol.
Some of the protesters see American foreign policy as the root of the terrorism. By arming Israel and bombing Iraq, they claim, America has helped to breed the suicide bombers. “Every bomb dropped creates 1,000 more bin Ladens,” says a placard in Union Square. They now worry that America's armed forces may be about to hit targets in poverty-stricken and oppressed parts of Afghanistan.
Another strand of the peace movement plainly has its roots in the weirder parts of the anti-globalisation movement. One website has blamed the “failed and anachronistic military-industrial economy” for creating global inequality and, as a result, extremism and violence. Another website is dedicated to “resistance against Militarism, War and Corporate Greed”
Will it amount to anything? The various websites, chat groups and chain e-mails are soon to be matched by a series of vigils and marches planned for Washington, DC, New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles. But the opinion polls show that Americans are overwhelmingly in favour of a military response. The single member of Congress who voted against authorising military action, Barbara Lee, a Californian Democrat who represents peace-loving Oakland and Berkeley, has been given extra police protection at the Capitol. For the moment, there are a lot more hawks than doves in America
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