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Joy in the Present
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2nd February 2003

Being There

- / -

I was there...

  • When leaders of democracy and freedom were extremely economical with the truth
  • When devout Christians sought God's aid to slaughter Muslims they had never met
  • When special military forces of the North engaged opponents with overwhelming force
  • When airforce pilots dropped WMD and were rewarded with a medal of honour
  • When claims for evidence were made in defiance of centuries of scientific and legal procedure
  • When thousands were made homeless because the price was worth paying
  • When bomblets were dropped disguised as emergency rations
  • When respectable colleagues in every discipline refrained from public comment
  • When trained interrogators of democracies engaged in unchecked torture
  • When the United Nations was cynically perverted and corrupted to dubious ends
  • When government policy became too important for public consultation
  • When associations supporting guns-for-citizens had the president's ear
  • When other countries were encouraged to disarm by every means
  • When official institutions became inherently untrustworthy
  • When governments promoted panic in order to ensure support
  • When democratic governments formally dispatched death squads to other countries
  • When blatant government greed for oil was cynically cloaked in the highest values
  • Wen hard work of decades on many fronts was shredded without challenge
  • When dissent from government policies was sanctioned as treason
  • When heroes were those who beat up any they chose to suspect
  • When all chose to forget dangerous historical parallels
  • When project funding suddenly became subject to political allegiance
  • When hit squads were dispatched to eliminate any form of opposition
  • When God's name was invoked as justification for every form of abuse
  • When considered intelligence service opinions were replaced by wishful thinking
  • When planting and fabricating evidence was ignored as a possibility
  • When allies formerly supplied with weaponry were transformed into enemies
  • When abuses of long-standing allies were systematically tolerated and compensated
  • When the trappings of democracy became a fraud for all to see
  • When corporations claming respectability were revealed as dangerously flawed
  • When only those with little to lose were willing to speak for those about to die
  • When religions failed to protest against acting violently in their name
  • When unimaginative good guys fed on movies were trapped in bad scenarios explored therein
  • When dialogue with opponents was excluded in favour of slaughter
  • When once again arms traders claimed innocence in supplying both sides
  • When nations were stampeded into war to guarantee re-elections and campaign debts
  • When those most complicit in perversity acclaimed the possibility of business as usual
  • When leading insiders once again ensured their financial advantage from war
  • When cynicism prevailed concerning humanitarian response to the aftermath
  • When perversion of good people and principles became the normal response to the unsavoury
  • When the wise in transcending polarization sought refugee in irresponsible silence
  • When dutiful soldiers were brainwashed into dishonourable combat
  • When media reports on every side became high exercises in spin
  • When the twisted initiatives of the "good" guys became more venal than those of the "bad"
  • When provoking undiscerning panic over terror became a weapon of mass distraction
  • When concerns of the world's peoples were set aside by flailing governments
  • When institutional leaders chose to live their lives in fear

...but I cannot remember what I did !

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