The world may yet come to
remember Samuel Huntington, though not for the reasons that’ll gladden the
heart of the good professor of the ‘Science of Government’. "It is
my hypothesis", he wrote a decade ago, "that the fundamental
source of conflict in (the) new world will not be primarily ideological or
primarily economic. The great divisions among
humankind and the dominating source of conflict will be cultural. Nation
states will remain the most powerful actors in world affairs, but the
principal conflicts of global politics will occur between nations and groups
of different civilizations. The clash of civilizations will be the battle
lines of the future".
To some it was obvious that
September 11 (2001) had heralded the birth of this clash between two of the
‘seven or eight’ civilisations that Huntington had identified —
Western (Christian?) and Islamic. But less than two years later, the US is
no more at war with Iraq than it is at war with SELF and much of the western
world. One thing is certain: the world will never be the same again for the
‘cultural fault lines separating civilizations’ are presently being
redefined, literally by the day. Even as the US military bludgeon commences
its ‘Operation Shock and Awe’ against Iraq, millions within America are
engaged in a wrenching soul–search, asking what it might mean to be
cultured, or civilised?
As we go to press, on day two
of Bushmania,
l "Deeply concerned
people all across the US" have launched a nationwide campaign for the
impeachment of "the President, vice–President and all civil
officers of the United States" on charges of "wars of
aggression in defiance of the US Constitution, the UN Charter and the rule
of law."
l War veterans have issued an
open call to America’s top military commanders, asking them to not to
forget what every soldier is taught: "We were informed of the
Nuremberg Tribunal and the conviction and punishment of soldiers for
following illegal orders. We were taught that we must not follow an illegal
order. US military leadership must not only know and teach the obligations
of international law but must respect and follow them".
l For weeks now, Charlie
Liteky, a decorated Vietnam veteran, has planted himself in Baghdad along
with 20 other members of the Chicago–based Iraq Peace Team waiting for the
inevitable. "I’m here because I hear the children cry," says
Liteky. "In my mind ... I imagine the bombing and the noise and the
windows shattering and something coming down from the ceiling and children
looking up and parents grabbing them and fear being transferred from parents
to children."
l Having returned from six
days of making people-to-people contacts at schools, hospitals and
universities in Baghdad and Basra, Iraq, in early February, the four-member
delegation of family members of September 11 victims has been appealing to
fellow Americans: "Like much of the world, the people of Iraq have
known violence entirely too long, and they long for peace."
l Bishops and scores of other
prominent clergymen from the US have joined their counterparts in the UK to
lend support to the anti–war statements of Pope John Paul II, describing
the attack on Iraq as both "illegal" and "immoral."
The rest of the western world
is no less outraged. On March 20, Reuters reported:
l Barely three hours after
the first cruise missiles slammed into Baghdad… tens of thousands of
anti-war demonstrators staged huge marches across the world, often clashing
with police as they converged on heavily guarded US embassies.
l In Italy, the three biggest
trade unions staged a two-hour nationwide strike.
l Thousands of protesters,
including students in large numbers, took to the streets, blocking rail
stations and highways bringing traffic to a halt in many cities of Italy,
Germany, France, Spain and Australia.
We share the outrage of all
cultured and civilized people across the globe in denouncing the unilateral,
entirely unwarranted and shockingly inhuman agenda of the Bush
administration. And we salute those millions of American citizens whose
thoughts are aptly summed up in the public statement of war veterans:
"If the people of the world are ever to be free, there must come a time
when being a citizen of the world takes precedence over being the soldier of
a nation. Now is that time".
Now is the time to
"seize the moment", now is the time to keep our thoughts focused
on all the innocent men, women and children of Iraq condemned to a life of
absolute insecurity and uncertainty as to what the next moment might mean.
— Editors.