NY ANTIWAR/STOP RACIST ATTACKS ACTIVIST CALENDAR

(Subjectively gathered by
Mitchel Cohen)



Please send calendar items to:
mitchelcohen@mindspring.com, or



Call (212) 726-3272 for regular updates.

Japantoday.com is reporting that the Defense Department has recommended to President
George W Bush the use of tactical nuclear weapons as a military
option to retaliate for last week's terrorist attacks in the United
States, diplomatic sources said Tuesday.

Join activists at NYU for a teach in for peace

Thursday, September 20 at 7 PM

NYU Main Building, room 809

Main Building is located at 100 Washington Square East at the corner of
Waverly.



The event will focus on giving a context to the tragic events of
September 11 and organizing around two themes: To stop the racist
scapegoating and the US drive to war.



Speakers include



* Amy Goodman, co-host of Democracy Now!



* Purvi Shah, SAKHI for South Asian Women (an anti-violence collective)



* Sherry Wolf, veteran activist of the National Network of Campuses
Against the Gulf War 1990-91

(invited speakers also include)
Arab Students United, Arab American Family Center, Prof. Bertell Ollman,
War Resisters League, Jews Against the Occupation

This event is sponsored by Prof. Bertell Ollman and the NYU Peace
Coalition and endorsed by Earth Matters at NYU, Jews Against The
Occupation, the International Socialist Organization, SAKHI for South
Asian Women (this list is in formation).

NEW YORK (AP) - A Central Park memorial this weekend to the police and
firefighters who died heroically at the World Trade Center - a gathering
that was expected to draw as many as a million people - will not take place,
city officials said.
The city Parks Department did not immediately say why the memorial would not
be held. It had been organized by a committee that includes former Mayors
David Dinkins and Edward Koch and leading Protestant, Jewish, Muslim and
Catholic clergy.
``There is not an event going on in Central Park this weekend,'' said Parks
Department spokesman Jeff Sandgrund. ``We're not organizing an event in
Central Park.''
The cancellation was news to a city that was still jittery, eight days after
two planes hijacked by terrorists laid waste to the Trade Center and killed
more than 5,000 people.

The Hindustan Times writes: "More than two-thirds of people in Pakistan think their government should side with Afghanistan rather than the United States if Washington attacks the neighbouring country, a Gallup poll said Wednesday.



The survey is another sign of the risk President Pervez Musharraf has taken in offering Pakistan's full support for the United States war on terrorism following last week's devastating attacks in New York and Washington.



Gallup said the snap poll of 500 people showed 85 per cent believed a US strike against Afghanistan, where terror suspect Osama bin Laden lives under the wing of the ruling Taliban militia, was imminent.



While 32 per cent of people supported Musharraf's decision to lend Pakistan's support to the United States, 62 per cent opposed it.



Only seven per cent said Pakistan should side with the United States if Washington attacks Afghanistan, while 27 per cent advised neutrality and 63 per cent said it should side with Afghanistan.



http://www.hindustantimes.com/nonfram/190901/dlfor 83.asp"

The Hindustan Times writes: "Pakistan has said that it has always asked the US to deal with the Taliban directly as it enjoys no influence with the militia and denied that Islamabad supplied it with funds and weapons, which may have come from the "Soviet leftovers."



Taliban militia in Afghanistan has enough weapons to fight for a decade and Pakistan had urged the US to deal directly with them even before the present crisis (following terror strikes in the US), Pakistan Interior Minister Moinuddin Haider said here.



"As far as weapons are concerned this is my strong belief that they (the Taliban) have enough weapons to fight for ten years. The booty from the Soviet leftovers is that strong", Haider, who was on a brief stopover here en route to Pakistan from Kuwait, told the 'Khaleej Times.'



He said Islamabad had no influence on the Taliban contrary to popular perception in the West and in fact the two differed on many international issues.



"We told them not to train any Pakistan national in their camps...even then (during the Buddha statue episode) we tried to knock some sense into the mindset of the Afghan government but we could not succeed," he said.



http://www.hindustantimes.com/nonfram/190901/dlfor 32.asp"

mackswell23 writes: "This is another valuable piece...

Special report: terrorism in the US



Martin Amis
Tuesday September 18, 2001
The Guardian



It was the advent of the second plane, sharking in low over the Statue
of Liberty: that was the defining moment. Until then, America thought
she was witnessing nothing
more serious than the worst aviation disaster in history; now she had a
sense of the fantastic vehemence ranged against her.

"Interviewing Chomsky



Radio B92, Belgrade



Why do you think these attacks happened?



To answer the question we must first identify the
perpetrators of the crimes. It is generally assumed,
plausibly, that their origin is the Middle East
region, and that the attacks probably trace back to
the Osama Bin Laden network, a widespread and complex
organization, doubtless inspired by Bin Laden but not
necessarily acting under his control. Let us assume
that this is true. Then to answer your question a
sensible person would try to ascertain Bin Laden's
views, and the sentiments of the large reservoir of
supporters he has throughout the region. About all of
this, we have a great deal of information. Bin Laden
has been interviewed extensively over the years by
highly reliable Middle East specialists, notably the
most eminent correspondent in the region, Robert Fisk
(London _Independent_), who has intimate knowledge of
the entire region and direct experience over decades.
A Saudi Arabian millionaire, Bin Laden became a
militant Islamic leader in the war to drive the
Russians out of Afghanistan. He was one of the many
religious fundamentalist extremists recruited, armed,
and financed by the CIA and their allies in Pakistani
intelligence to cause maximal harm to the Russians --
quite possibly delaying their withdrawal, many
analysts suspect -- though whether he personally
happened to have direct contact with the CIA is
unclear, and not particularly important. Not
surprisingly, the CIA preferred the most fanatic and
cruel fighters they could mobilize. The end result was
to "destroy a moderate regime and create a fanatical
one, from groups recklessly financed by the Americans"
(_London Times_ correspondent Simon Jenkins, also a
specialist on the region). These "Afghanis" as they
are called (many, like Bin Laden, not from
Afghanistan) carried out terror operations across the
border in Russia, but they terminated these after
Russia withdrew. Their war was not against Russia,
which they despise, but against the Russian occupation
and Russia's crimes against Muslims.

Anonymous Comrade writes: "The Hindustan Times is reporting that the Taliban have launched a major offensive against the opposition Northern Alliance.

The Northern Alliance includes secular as well as moderate, reformist Islamic movements. On the day before the WTC disaster, military leader of the Northern Alliance, Commander Ahmed Shah Massud, was assassinated by two men posing as Algerian journalists.

http://www.ciriello.com/index2.html is the website of A. Raffaele Ciriello, a photojournalist sympathetic to the Northern Alliance. His site includes an interview with Commander Massud."

Louis Lingg writes: "The Associated Press is reporting that Yasser Arafat has ordered his forces to prevent any attacks on Israeli soldiers. Israel responded by promising not to launch attacks on Palestinians.
Israel also said it would withdraw troops from Palestinian areas it seized in recent days; dozens of tanks have pulled back from the outskirts of the West Bank town of Jenin.

The story can be found at http://wire.ap.org/APnews/main.html?SLUG=ISRAEL%2d PALESTINIANS"