We Want You Out
An Open Letter
To all the leaders of our world,
the leaders of the US-led coalition,
the Afghan government,
the 'Taliban/Al-Qaeda'
and regional countries,
We are intolerably angry.
All our senses are hurting.
Our women, our men and yes shame on you, our children are grieving.
Your Afghan civilian-military strategy is a murderous stench we smell, see, hear and breathe.
President Obama, and all the elite players and people of the world, why?
America's 250-million-dollar annual communications budget just to scream
propaganda on this war of perceptions, with its nauseating rhetoric
mimicked by Osama and other warlords, is powerless before the silent
wailing of every anaemic mother.
We will no longer be passive prey to your disrespectful systems of oligarchic, plutocratic war against the people.
Your systems feed the rich and powerful. They are glaringly un-equal,
they do not listen, do not think and worst, they do not care.
We choose not to gluttonize with you. We choose not to be trained by you. We choose not to be pawned by you.
We henceforth refuse every weapon you kill us with, every dollar you bait us with and every lie you manipulate us with.
We are not beasts.
We are Afghans, Americans, Europeans, Asians and global citizens.
Yes, you have the false, self-appointed power to arrest us over
expressing the public opinion of ordinary folk, students, farmers,
shepherds, labourers, teachers, doctors....., people who now have nowhere
to turn and nowhere to hide. ( Open Letter to our World Leaders
https://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/12/02-10 )
This world public opinion against the Afghan war has been clearly
expressed and is larger than any number of Wikileaks you seek to
suppress. So, come arrest us all as we civilly disobey you. Come arrest
us all. ( See excerpt below from Wikipedia's 'International public
opinion on the war in Afghanistan' )
Yes, you have the army, police and apparatchik to smother us and to
bribe those who are Pavlov-reflexed to money, but you cannot stop us
from restoring our voice.
We refuse to prostitute our hearts and minds.
We refuse you.
Not you the human person, but you the greedy system of self-interested power.
Again and again here in Afghanistan, we have seen a hope for
non-violence light up; every day we see a yearning for humane
relationships, and because of this, love is how we now firmly take our
stand.
We will listen to the People on December 19th, on the Global Day of
Listening to Afghans and we invite every one of you to pick up your
phone to call us, to share one another's pain, and to call our world to
urgent reconciliation. We invite the world public opinion to overwhelm
us! (email youthpeacevolunteers@gmail.com to arrange a call).
We wish to invite all the people of the world because when the powers
are not listening to the people, listening becomes an act of love, it
becomes a solidarity of non-violent resistance.
How can we do any less?
14-year-old Abdulai's father was killed by the 'Taliban' and so, like
every other human being, he copes with sorrow, hate, fear and anger.
But, he wakes up to the chronic war days in his land sensing that
'something is very wrong with the world I'm caught up in', 'these elders
of the world are not getting it.....'.
How does trillion-deficit killing, followed by the strategy of escalated killing and yet another review for more killing, work?
How does it make anyone safer?
How does it solve the incorruptible corruption, unequalled inequality and inviolate violence we face daily?
Your policies, skewed-ly 'diagnosed' and 'reviewed' in a cold clinical
manner divorced from reality, have been deaf to the concerns and needs
of the people, thus we endeavour to have a People's Afghanistan December
Review, because that's what ordinary people can do.
We would try not to 'throw' our shoes at you. We would try to recognize
the better side of all human beings and thus continue to serve our
commoner's tea and bread to one and all. But we do ask, plead and demand
that you stop your unsustainable, superpower militarism.
We want peace.
We want you out.
With singular sincerity,
Afghan Youth Peace Volunteers
and
Afghans for Peace
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
To all the leaders of our world,
the leaders of the US-led coalition,
the Afghan government,
the 'Taliban/Al-Qaeda'
and regional countries,
We are intolerably angry.
All our senses are hurting.
Our women, our men and yes shame on you, our children are grieving.
Your Afghan civilian-military strategy is a murderous stench we smell, see, hear and breathe.
President Obama, and all the elite players and people of the world, why?
America's 250-million-dollar annual communications budget just to scream
propaganda on this war of perceptions, with its nauseating rhetoric
mimicked by Osama and other warlords, is powerless before the silent
wailing of every anaemic mother.
We will no longer be passive prey to your disrespectful systems of oligarchic, plutocratic war against the people.
Your systems feed the rich and powerful. They are glaringly un-equal,
they do not listen, do not think and worst, they do not care.
We choose not to gluttonize with you. We choose not to be trained by you. We choose not to be pawned by you.
We henceforth refuse every weapon you kill us with, every dollar you bait us with and every lie you manipulate us with.
We are not beasts.
We are Afghans, Americans, Europeans, Asians and global citizens.
Yes, you have the false, self-appointed power to arrest us over
expressing the public opinion of ordinary folk, students, farmers,
shepherds, labourers, teachers, doctors....., people who now have nowhere
to turn and nowhere to hide. ( Open Letter to our World Leaders
https://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/12/02-10 )
This world public opinion against the Afghan war has been clearly
expressed and is larger than any number of Wikileaks you seek to
suppress. So, come arrest us all as we civilly disobey you. Come arrest
us all. ( See excerpt below from Wikipedia's 'International public
opinion on the war in Afghanistan' )
Yes, you have the army, police and apparatchik to smother us and to
bribe those who are Pavlov-reflexed to money, but you cannot stop us
from restoring our voice.
We refuse to prostitute our hearts and minds.
We refuse you.
Not you the human person, but you the greedy system of self-interested power.
Again and again here in Afghanistan, we have seen a hope for
non-violence light up; every day we see a yearning for humane
relationships, and because of this, love is how we now firmly take our
stand.
We will listen to the People on December 19th, on the Global Day of
Listening to Afghans and we invite every one of you to pick up your
phone to call us, to share one another's pain, and to call our world to
urgent reconciliation. We invite the world public opinion to overwhelm
us! (email youthpeacevolunteers@gmail.com to arrange a call).
We wish to invite all the people of the world because when the powers
are not listening to the people, listening becomes an act of love, it
becomes a solidarity of non-violent resistance.
How can we do any less?
14-year-old Abdulai's father was killed by the 'Taliban' and so, like
every other human being, he copes with sorrow, hate, fear and anger.
But, he wakes up to the chronic war days in his land sensing that
'something is very wrong with the world I'm caught up in', 'these elders
of the world are not getting it.....'.
How does trillion-deficit killing, followed by the strategy of escalated killing and yet another review for more killing, work?
How does it make anyone safer?
How does it solve the incorruptible corruption, unequalled inequality and inviolate violence we face daily?
Your policies, skewed-ly 'diagnosed' and 'reviewed' in a cold clinical
manner divorced from reality, have been deaf to the concerns and needs
of the people, thus we endeavour to have a People's Afghanistan December
Review, because that's what ordinary people can do.
We would try not to 'throw' our shoes at you. We would try to recognize
the better side of all human beings and thus continue to serve our
commoner's tea and bread to one and all. But we do ask, plead and demand
that you stop your unsustainable, superpower militarism.
We want peace.
We want you out.
With singular sincerity,
Afghan Youth Peace Volunteers
and
Afghans for Peace
To all the leaders of our world,
the leaders of the US-led coalition,
the Afghan government,
the 'Taliban/Al-Qaeda'
and regional countries,
We are intolerably angry.
All our senses are hurting.
Our women, our men and yes shame on you, our children are grieving.
Your Afghan civilian-military strategy is a murderous stench we smell, see, hear and breathe.
President Obama, and all the elite players and people of the world, why?
America's 250-million-dollar annual communications budget just to scream
propaganda on this war of perceptions, with its nauseating rhetoric
mimicked by Osama and other warlords, is powerless before the silent
wailing of every anaemic mother.
We will no longer be passive prey to your disrespectful systems of oligarchic, plutocratic war against the people.
Your systems feed the rich and powerful. They are glaringly un-equal,
they do not listen, do not think and worst, they do not care.
We choose not to gluttonize with you. We choose not to be trained by you. We choose not to be pawned by you.
We henceforth refuse every weapon you kill us with, every dollar you bait us with and every lie you manipulate us with.
We are not beasts.
We are Afghans, Americans, Europeans, Asians and global citizens.
Yes, you have the false, self-appointed power to arrest us over
expressing the public opinion of ordinary folk, students, farmers,
shepherds, labourers, teachers, doctors....., people who now have nowhere
to turn and nowhere to hide. ( Open Letter to our World Leaders
https://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/12/02-10 )
This world public opinion against the Afghan war has been clearly
expressed and is larger than any number of Wikileaks you seek to
suppress. So, come arrest us all as we civilly disobey you. Come arrest
us all. ( See excerpt below from Wikipedia's 'International public
opinion on the war in Afghanistan' )
Yes, you have the army, police and apparatchik to smother us and to
bribe those who are Pavlov-reflexed to money, but you cannot stop us
from restoring our voice.
We refuse to prostitute our hearts and minds.
We refuse you.
Not you the human person, but you the greedy system of self-interested power.
Again and again here in Afghanistan, we have seen a hope for
non-violence light up; every day we see a yearning for humane
relationships, and because of this, love is how we now firmly take our
stand.
We will listen to the People on December 19th, on the Global Day of
Listening to Afghans and we invite every one of you to pick up your
phone to call us, to share one another's pain, and to call our world to
urgent reconciliation. We invite the world public opinion to overwhelm
us! (email youthpeacevolunteers@gmail.com to arrange a call).
We wish to invite all the people of the world because when the powers
are not listening to the people, listening becomes an act of love, it
becomes a solidarity of non-violent resistance.
How can we do any less?
14-year-old Abdulai's father was killed by the 'Taliban' and so, like
every other human being, he copes with sorrow, hate, fear and anger.
But, he wakes up to the chronic war days in his land sensing that
'something is very wrong with the world I'm caught up in', 'these elders
of the world are not getting it.....'.
How does trillion-deficit killing, followed by the strategy of escalated killing and yet another review for more killing, work?
How does it make anyone safer?
How does it solve the incorruptible corruption, unequalled inequality and inviolate violence we face daily?
Your policies, skewed-ly 'diagnosed' and 'reviewed' in a cold clinical
manner divorced from reality, have been deaf to the concerns and needs
of the people, thus we endeavour to have a People's Afghanistan December
Review, because that's what ordinary people can do.
We would try not to 'throw' our shoes at you. We would try to recognize
the better side of all human beings and thus continue to serve our
commoner's tea and bread to one and all. But we do ask, plead and demand
that you stop your unsustainable, superpower militarism.
We want peace.
We want you out.
With singular sincerity,
Afghan Youth Peace Volunteers
and
Afghans for Peace