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Life Onboard |
LAST UPDATE
July 12, 2005
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| site design imagesparkle.com |
| August 1, 2003 |
Peaceful Tomorrows – Valerie Lucznikowska |
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| Valerie Lucznikowska and the US government response to September 11 |
Like US International Student Ryan Amundson, Valerie Lucznikowska belongs to a group of people from different backgrounds and walks of life that "share certain convictions." The members of Peaceful Tomorrows are united in the fact that they all lost a loved one in the attacks of September 11, and that they "don't want their families' names used in justifying a war on others."
On September 10, 2001, Valerie flew into New York from California after visiting friends. She shared a taxi into the city with a Filipino who was disappointed they couldn't see the tops of the World Trade Centre towers because they were shrouded in cloud. "Don't worry" Valerie had said, "you can see them tomorrow."
The next morning, when Valerie walked out of her door to go to an appointment, black smoke was where the towers should have been. A young man was crying in the street, and a radio was announcing that the first tower was collapsing. Valerie's nephew worked in the second tower, and she rushed to telephone her sister. After eight days of waiting, searching and checking hospital lists, the tragic news of her nephew's death was confirmed. |
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| Calls for peace "activism" not passivity at the 2004 US elections |
Valerie, like the other members of Peaceful Tomorrows, "wants the terrorists brought to justice in a court of law" and not used in legitimizing the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq in the Bush administration's "War on Terror." The backing of the US public for military action was engineered through lies and the warping of national grief into national anger.
"If you're not with us you're against" trumpeted Bush in a call to the "patriots" of the USA. At the Nuremberg trials, Herman Goering said, "No one wants to go to war, people must be convinced it is a moral call to nationalism" - something Valerie says "is a terrible disease that we would be well to be rid of."
Even though the US public is becoming more aware of the spin that Washington manipulates in its efforts to "cloud the issue tremendously", and the polls showing support for Bush are at an all time low of less than 50 percent, his administration could well be re-elected in 2004.
Through peace "activism" and not passivity, Valerie and many others are organizing against the war mongering policies of Bush and his neo-conservative cohorts. Before the 2004 election, the Republican Party plans to hold its annual conference in New York the week before September 11th, "Stealing sympathy from the victims of a horrendous event for themselves."
Demonstrations of thousands are already being planned, and despite past efforts by the government to deter participants - Homeland Security put out an orange alert at a past protest in an attempt to stifle the numbers taking part. The increasingly vociferous tide of public dissent against the imperialistic designs of George Bush will no doubt be heard. |
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