Open Letter from a US Citizen to the People of the World

Open Letter from a US Citizen to the People of the World

I write to ask for your help in stopping the Bush regime's abuses 
at home and abroad. The citizens of the United States cannot be 
counted on to stop Bush. The countries of the United Nations cannot 
be counted on to stop Bush. But the citizens of the world do have 
the power to stop Bush simply by keeping their hands in their 
pockets.

I wonder if you can imagine what it is like in America right now. 
The people seem to be hypnotized or perhaps walking in their sleep. 
Propaganda, disinformation, and arousing advertisements combine to 
induce in the population a constant state of paranoia, smug 
superiority, and frustrated desire. This volatile emotional state 
leaves people vulnerable to the seductive rhetoric of a 
pseudopopulist leader who assures them that they have a right to 
feel both fearful and grandiose and to blame all of America's 
problems on foreigners, liberals, and hostile nations.

The atmosphere of these United States these days is ominous. Fascism 
lurks around every corner. Flags and other patriotic symbols are 
everywhere -- on  the flagpoles, on the buildings, on the cars, and 
on the people themselves. School teachers are instructed to decorate 
their classrooms in red, white and blue, and schoolchildren are 
encouraged to dress in those colors. Every day, Bush or his proxies 
talk to the American people about our "evil" enemies and our endangered
"homeland." We are told that liberty and justice are uniquely American 
values and that those values, rather than past and ongoing US 
aggression overseas, are the reasons that terrorists want to kill 
Americans.

The important thing to remember is that many, perhaps most, of the 
people really do believe the propaganda; really do fear attack; 
really do believe that we are going to "liberate" the people of Iraq; 
and really do believe that those who oppose the war are idiots, 
cowards, or sycophants of tyranny. They truly do not see that Bush 
is the more dangerous tyrant; truly do not yet realize that their 
own civil liberties have been sharply circumscribed by this tyrant; 
and truly do not comprehend that their own country has been the 
aggressor again and again and is about to become the aggressor yet 
again.

Our esteemed "free press" is of little use, being almost wholly 
controlled by the corporate interests Bush serves. The newspapers 
and news programs play along with the Bush regime, allowing 
reports of alleged terrorist threats to supersede news of domestic 
and international dissent. Thanks to the mediocrity of the public 
school system, which was designed to produce dutiful workers rather 
than skeptical thinkers, most Americans lack the analytic skills 
needed to decipher the daily deluge of propaganda to which they are 
subjected. Many can't distinguish between advertisements and news 
or between fact and opinion. Remember, these are the people who 
believed the newspaper editorialists when they said that the best 
way to preserve democracy would be to support "President" Bush 
whether or not he had legitimately gained control of the government.

Of course, that doesn't hold true for everyone in the country. Some 
did protest the bloodless coup that brought the Bush regime to power 
and some have been demonstrating against Bush's attacks on 
Afghanistan and Iraq. Unfortunately, these protests cannot and will 
not stop Bush. Remember, this is a man who seized power even though 
he was not elected. He has made it very clear that he doesn't care 
what the people think. He certainly isn't going to change his course 
in response to entirely symbolic expressions of dissent by a minority 
of the population. 

If all was right with the world, the United Nations never would have 
recognized the Bush regime as the legitimate government of the United 
States. If all was right with the world, the United Nations would 
reign in any regime that attacks another country without provocation 
and in defiance of international law. If all was right with the world, 
the EU and other important trading partners of the United States 
would make it clear that their markets are closed to rogue nations 
that break treaties and wage wars of conquest.

Unfortunately, we cannot count on the United Nations or its constituent 
countries to do the right thing. Thus we must call on our last best hope 
for peace and freedom: the peace and freedom loving people of the world.

Uncle Sam needs you to save him from George W. Bush. The Industrial 
Workers of the World used to say that the workers can stop the world 
just by folding their arms. Similarly, the consumers of the world can 
interfere with market capitalism just by keeping their hands in their 
pockets. Bush listens to the language of dollars and cents. When the 
corporate sponsors who brought him to power begin to complain, then 
and only then will he change his ways.

If the people of the world are serious about their opposition to a 
US attack on Iraq, they must stop giving their money to the US 
military-industrial complex. Ideally, they will boycott all 
multinational corporations based in the United States, using letters 
and telephone calls to tell the companies why they are doing so. At 
minimum, they will reduce their reliance on US goods and services 
while also reducing their consumption of the fossil fuel that is at 
the heart of this conflict. As soon as the corporations feel the pinch, 
they will put the squeeze on Bush.

Please begin to boycott today. Do not worry about hurting the workers, 
because the budget cuts Bush will use to pay for war will hurt working 
people and the poor more than any boycott ever could. In addition, by 
supporting local and non-corporate goods and services, you will be 
helping to build a better global economy for everyone.

I hope you will choose to act in solidarity with the people of the 
United States and Iraq by helping to stop a war between those two 
countries. I promise that if you are ever in a similar situation 
within your country, I will act in solidarity with you.

Sincerely,
Pattrice Jones
March, 2003
Maryland, USA

(c) & @ 2003 Pattrice Jones. Permission to reprint is granted provided 
that content is not altered without author's permission.