Conversations in a time of terror
by Ethan Flad

"I’d say that for the last two weeks, at least 90 percent of the messages people have been expressing have been pro-peace, but the media was walking around looking for that other 10 percent that wanted vengeance," says Jordan Schuster, a college kid who initiated a prayer vigil in NYC’s Union Square Park on September 11, 2001. "So I said to the CBS reporter: ‘I see you’ve been here for an hour and you haven’t gone over and talked to those 200 people who’ve been singing "Give Peace a Chance" since before you came.’ … The reporter said something like: ‘We’re not here to do that. That’s not our agenda.’"

If you are like many people I know, in the weeks following the September 11 attacks in the U.S. you received a lot of information that didn’t come from "mainstream" media sources. Perhaps someone sent you an email of Arundhati Roy’s scintillating essay, "The Algebra of Infinite Justice," or Deepak Chopra’s questioning piece, "A Deeper Wound," each of which showed up a dozen or more times in my in-box. Maybe the striking poetry of Suheir Hammad found its way to you. It could be that you listened to a non-commercial radio station playing speeches by dissonant voices in Congress, like Barbara Lee and John Conyers. Or you might have been like millions of people in North America, who sought out alternative opinions in web sites that had previously only catered to a small niche audience — like AlterNet, The Guardian, or the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA).

These writings and many others have been gathered into "Another World is Possible/ New World Disorder: Conversations in a Time of Terror," by a diverse group of six young editors, one of whom lost his father to the attack on the World Trade Center. In the book’s foreword, Kofi Taha of the Active Element Foundation writes, "This anthology is a collection of writings that gives voice to the diverse perspectives that the American people did not have an opportunity to hear despite three days of commercial-free, 24-hour-a-day news coverage on all major networks. It seeks to broaden the debate beyond what was portrayed as a monolithic call for a swift military response, for an abandonment of due process, and for an immediate reordering of national priorities."

Some of the selected voices initially seem surprising. Statements by FBI director Louis J. Freeh and Unocal Corporation executive John J. Maresca would hardly be expected to appear in a publication abdicating the "United We Stand" mantra. That is, until one realizes that those pieces — along with quotes from Colin Powell, Zbigniew Brzezinski, and other U.S. government representatives — actually indict the U.S.’ military and economic policies when placed next to the historical perspectives and political analyses that flavor the rest of the book.

While some all-star names are featured in the text, I found the most moving selections to be the ones by four authors who had family members killed on September 11th. Taking the long view, each of these individuals called for a nonviolent response to the attacks. Together with an essay by Kathleen Pequeo, whose brother Edward Pimental was killed in 1985 in a terrorist attack on a U.S. army base in Germany, these perspectives alone make the book worth purchasing. With the U.S. government committed to a growing list of military objectives over the coming years, it is well worth picking up this instructive collection now. l

Ethan Flad is editor/producer of The Witness’ web site – <www.thewitness.org> – and its special online project, "A Globe of Witnesses." Order Another World is Possible/ New World Disorder: Conversations in a Time of Terror at <www.newmouthfromthedirtysouth.com>. Or send $12 to New Mouth from the Dirty South, PO Box 19742, New Orleans LA 70179.

Also recommended: "War on Terrorism: Profiled & Punished," a special 16-page report by ColorLines magazine (visit <www.colorlines.com>).