World War III Report #8.

Nov. 17, 2001

by Bill Weinberg

THE AFGHANISTAN FRONT

TALIBAN COLLAPSING; LOCAL WARLORDS SEIZE CONTROL

Backed by US and British air power and military advisors, the Northern Alliance swept through Taliban defenses this week, taking the cities of Mazar-i-Sharif, Herat and finally the capital, Kabul. Meanwhile, Pashtun tribal leaders rose against the Taliban in the south, taking Jalalabad. The Taliban have retreated to Kandahar, their traditional stronghold and de-facto capital, ceding control of most of the country with little resistance. However, the Northern Alliance, led by minority Tajiks and Uzbeks, display little loyalty to their imperial benefactors in Washington, who talk of a multi-ethnic coalition government (presumably led by Pashtuns, the largest and traditionally dominant ethnic group). The Taliban are on the run, but Afghanistan may be poised to collapse into tribal warfare.

Uzbek warlord Abdul Rashid Dostum holds northern Mazar-i-Sharif, positioning him to receive aid from Uzbekistan and Russia. In the west, Tajik warlord Ismael Khan has seized Herat, positioning him to receive aid from his traditional benefactor Iran. The Pashtun tribal warlords in the south are backed by Pakistan. The US is now backing all factions against the Taliban, but each regional power has its own proxy forces and agenda in Afghanistan. (New York Times, Nov. 16)

Chuck Morse writes: "Dear Comrades,

I am writing to tell you that the fall 2001 issue of Perspectives on Anarchist Theory, the biannual newsletter of the Institute for Anarchist Studies, has just been uploaded to our website. It is available at: http://flag.blackened.net/ias/newsletter.htm

This issue contains:

FEATURES:
* An Interview with Osvaldo Bayer, Argentinean Public Intellectual and Social Historian By Fernando López Trujillo


* Anarchism and the Struggle to Move Forward By Kim Fyke & Gabriel Sayegh


* An Anti-authoritarian Response to the War Efforts by Chuck Morse & Marina Sitrin


* Respuesta Anti-autoritaria a las Acciones de la Guerra by Chuck Morse & Marina Sitrin

* What's Happening: Books & Events by Chuck Morse

* Obituary: Clara Solomon by Chuck Morse

* Letter to the IAS by Diva Agostinelli Wieck

IAS REPORTS:

* Institute for Anarchist Studies Update

* IAS Grant Awards

* IAS Grant Updates

* IAS Writing Contest

* Donors to the IAS's Year 2000 Fundraising Campaign

* 2001 Fundraising Campaign

* Donate to the IAS & Get Great Books

Yours, for a free society,

Chuck Morse

Institute for Anarchist Studies
http://flag.blackened.net/ias/"

nomadlab writes: "The washington post is reporting that President Bush signed an order Tuesday that would allow for the trial of people accused of terrorism by a special military commission instead of civilian courts.

see the story yourself at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A235 66-2001Nov13.html

this is insane!"

Anonymous Comrade writes: "Well over 100,000 (yes, that's one hundred thousand) people marched
through Rome city centre on Saturday 10 November in an anti-war
demonstration. The marchers, organized under the name of the Rome
Social Forum, included people of all ages from 8 to 80, all nations,
with members of the large immigrant population of Italy in a prominent
position, and all political persuasions, except fascists.

In what was considered by many to be an unexpectedly tension-free event,
the people marched, sang, danced and chanted their way in a multi-
coloured, bubbling river of bodies to the Circus Maximus where they
were awaited by the words "NO WAR" written large in candlelight.

Police Arrest Three Men After Protest Over CNN's War Coverage

(AP, November 11, 2001)

ATLANTA -- About 200 people rallied against CNN's coverage of the war in
Afghanistan, leading to three arrests.

"CNN, half the story, all the time," they chanted Saturday at CNN
Center.

The protesters said millions of refugees and residents in Afghanistan
face starvation but CNN isn't telling the story.

A network spokeswoman did not return a call seeking comment on Sunday.

Several of the demonstrators wore bandanas over their faces.

George Ward, 21, from Columbia County, was charged with criminal
trespass. Samuel Sabel, 21, from Montgomery, Ala., was charged with
violating Georgia's anti-mask law, which dates from the height of the Ku
Klux Klan era, along with simple battery and obstruction. Matthew James
Wallace, 20, of North Carolina, was also charged with violating the
anti-mask law.

TAZ writes:

James Meek on the Shomali Plain, Luke Harding in Islamabad and Ewen MacAskill

Tuesday November 13, 2001, The Guardian

Northern Alliance soldiers began entering Kabul at dawn this morning afterthe Taliban's forces appeared to abandon the city overnight. Witnesses reported seeing trucks loaded with heavily armed alliance troops moving unopposed into the city. Little gunfire was reported. From the rooftop of the Intercontinental Hotel on a hill overlooking the city, columns of Taliban vehicles could be seen heading south early today.

The movements appeared to confirm that the Taliban were moving all theirforces back for a final defence of their stronghold in Kandahar. There were sounds of sporadic small arms fire from hills overlooking the city but the streets were empty of the Taliban soldiers who had been there hours earlier.

Eileen Sutton writes: "Friends,

The following exchange occurred recently between scholar Ed Herman
and Gary Null's producer, Jonathan Eder (Ed has released these emails
to us).

It would appear several leading progressives unfortunately chose to
appear on WBAI recently--specifically on Gary's show. Fortunately,
Ed Herman, a man of principle, would not.

I also personally appreciate Mr. Eder's rather charming logic. It's
precisely what was said to the stringers when we struck--"don't take
your work from the world." One bold result of the stringers having
taken a collective stand is Free Speech Radio News, one of the most
important daily news programs in the country.

--E. Sutton, banned reporter

Anonymous Comrade writes: "An eyewitness reports an explosion on the right side of the plane (I believe
it is a 767/A300 airbus with 246 passengers and 9 crew members) where the
wing joins the body of the plane. Another witness reports debris falling
from the sky before the plane crashed. There are two crash sites, one being
the spot where most of the plane crashed and another where one of the
engines crashed. I do not know if the wing came off the plane, but
eyewitnesses report seeing the plane fall out of the sky after the explosion
in a way that sounded like how a dove falls after being hit with shot. It
reportedly fell to the left, which leads me to suspect that the right wing
detached, along with the two separate crash sites. I am no expert, but I am
unfamiliar with what sort of mechanical failure would cause an explosion
where the wing meets the body. Perhaps the engine exploded and the way it
blew out caused the appearance of an explosion in the right side of the body
of the plane. I tried to access MSNBC as soon as a colleague told me about
the crash and I heard something about the jets having not been scrambled,
but then the network choked up on me, so I do not know what this was in
reference to. The BBC is reporting a military plane circling the crash site,
but that the Pentagon says they had no indication of any problems with the
plane before it crashed. The airbus was headed to Santa Domingo, so it was
full of fuel. Several buildings on the ground are on fire. The crash site is
a heavily populated residential part of Queens."

Protest Group Shifts Tactics At WTO Talks

By Paul Blustein

Washington Post Foreign Service

Monday, November 12, 2001; Page A01

DOHA, Qatar, Nov. 11 -- The way the plan was originally
conceived, six boats loaded with anti-globalization
activists were going to sail into the port of this Persian
Gulf sheikdom to protest the World Trade Organization
meeting here. "We were organizing everybody in our
movement," said Jose Bove, the French farmer renowned for
vandalizing a McDonald's restaurant.

The scheme was scrapped, however, after the Sept. 11
terrorist attacks. Bove, one of a few dozen activists
roaming the halls at the conference center where the WTO
meeting is being held through Tuesday, instead has joined in
staging occasional demonstrations.

Good coverage of demonstrations in Washington, DC, on Friday, November 9th, including images, sound and video files, are available at

http://www.sinkers.org/ustrdemoNov0901/