Editorial

One Year Later - Exploitation of Acts of Terror

A year has now passed since the horrific events of September 11, 2001, and there is enormous pressure on Canadians, as well as others, that they should not think about why those events occurred or who has since exploited them. Instead, the mass media is offering Canadians a diet of emotionalism and irrationalism, a form of mass hysteria which prevents people from thinking and analyzing the world around them. The atmosphere in the United States is even worse.

Any rational discussion of the developments of the past year leads one to conclude that U.S. imperialism has made every effort to exploit the events of September 11 for its own advantage. It has used those events to justify the most barbaric attack against the people of Afghanistan, to justify wholesale violations of human rights and international law and to strengthen its dictate over vast areas of the globe. Under the signboard of the "War on Terror", the U.S. has given itself the right to intervene militarily wherever and whenever it sees fit, to decide who will govern in various countries and what the policies of those governments should be. De facto, it has declared itself to be not only the new empire, but the sole empire, subject to no laws and no limits. Draping itself in the banner of the victim, U.S. imperialism is victimizing the entire world.

Within this situation, others have also sought to exploit the September 11 events and the American "War on Terror". The Israeli government has used them to justify the most barbaric escalation of its war of occupation against the Palestinian people. Russia and China have used the situation to justify stepping up state attacks against oppressed nations within their borders. The Indian government used the backdrop of the "War on Terror" to organize pogroms against its Muslim population in various areas, as well as to intensify its terror against the people of Kashmir. The government of the Philippines, with the assistance of American troops, has escalated its campaign against the revolutionary and progressive forces of that country under the pretext of combatting Islamic terrorism and secessionism. For its part, the Canadian government has used September 11 to justify the introduction of draconian security measures which greatly strengthen the arbitrary powers of the state, and to justify handing over yet more of Canada's sovereignty to the United States.

In other words, all over the world the reactionary forces have used the events of September 11 to attack the progressive and revolutionary forces and to strengthen their ability to crush the struggles of their own people against their anti-democratic policies.

How should Canadians respond to this situation? What can they do to regain initiative? The starting point is to resist the emotional and psychological blackmail that they should suspend rationality, that they should submit to hysteria and speculation. Recent polls have shown that a majority of Canadians do see through this manipulation and are beginning to question U.S. actions. A broad discussion must take place throughout Canadian society, not only about the causes and effects of September 11, but more importantly about what direction this country is headed and whether or not that direction is in the interests of the majority of Canadians. Only out of such a discussion will solutions begin to emerge.