Editor:
I am writing to you regarding the article by Simone Santini about flag symbolism (“”Flag symbolism is complex,”” Nov. 5). In all honesty, this article did not deserve to be printed in the Guardian, and it is an embarassment to you and your staff.
Santini’s naive notion that national symbolism and pride are entirely American phenomena is unjust, untrue and offensive. He suggests that France (where Napolean’s tomb lists all of his battles but Waterloo, and Charles DeGaulle is regarded as the man responsible for winning World War II) is merely something that “”happened to the French people.”” After visiting France, it was more than obvious to me that the French people are rightly proud of France, and have no problems letting you know.
The very idea that the French, Italians, Danes or Spaniards don’t “”feel the need to let anybody know”” that they are proud of their nation is ludicrous. Flags were not invented by the Americans. In Europe, heraldry and flag-waving have been around for more than 10,000 years. Wearing, displaying and saluting the flag are not things that Americans thought up; they are traditions deeply rooted in European cultures.
Most odious of the transgressions committed by Santini is the thought — the idea — that we have not chosen to be Americans.
No one forces you to be an American. You have the choice to leave this country and go elsewhere. Some people do. Evidently, he does not understand this right. All of us here — every adult in America — have chosen to stay here, and be an American. Santini’s conclusion is simply too obscene to warrant a response.
The sloppy writing, obvious lack of research, blinding elitism and skewed logic of this article make me ashamed to be a UCSD student. This is the kind of dreg I would expect to find on an obscure Internet messageboard, not in a respected university newspaper.
I urge you to print your opinions — publish the controversial issues — but please, do not allow an embarassment such as this to soil your pages again. If you recieve a submission like this from one of your writers again, please foward it to The Koala, where it belongs.
–Brett Goldsmith
UCSD senior
Editor:
As a Marine Corps Gulf War veteran for peace and social justice, I have first-hand experience with the U.S. war machine. I joined the Marines as a young man with the desire to defend democracy. Instead, I was used to defend a dictatorship in the Middle East against another dictatorship in that region, all in the interest of corporate oil. That one-sided war against the people of Iraq continues to this day in the form of weekly bombings and brutal economic sanctions that have claimed the lives of at least a million people.
A National Public Radio report estimates that approximately 50,000 innocent children in Iraq are starving to death each year in direct response to our sanctions there. These bombings and sanctions must end immediately, but I am writing to express my view on something even more urgent. The United States of America’s current war on the people of Afghanistan must come to a halt immediately. Many innocents have died as a result of U.S. bombings. Others have lost their homes and livelihood as a direct result of the bombings.
The United Nations and many humanitarian agencies have called upon the United States to at least halt the bombing so that food and aid may reach some of the refugees. This aid stopped because of the bombing and this aid is the only hope for these people. According to all these agencies, if the bombing does not stop immediately, hundreds of thousands — perhaps millions — will die of starvation this winter. We are facing the grim reality of genocide being perpetrated by the U.S. government.
As citizens or workers in this nation it is our responsibility to do everything we can to stop this war. If we do not stop this war, we too are culpable in perpetuating genocide. The present war is ethically reprehensible, morally repugnant, categorically indefensible and absolutely unjustified. Even if one lives by some barbaric code or law of vengeance based upon mutual slaughter of innocents, the war has run its course: The score is more than settled.
This, interestingly enough, is one of the only arguments I have heard in favor of the war besides the infantile diatribe of the, “”they started it”” variety or the intellectually stunting, “”we have no choice.”” The international terrorist crimes of Sept. 11 are inexcusable, but we may never know who the criminals responsible for the atrocities are.
If we do know who is responsible, the proper course is to bring them to justice in an international court. Slaughter of innocents, genocide by starvation and destruction of nations will not make us safer from future terrorist attacks.
In fact, chances are the current policy is having quite the opposite effect. Write to your senators and representative and to the White House, sign a petition and participate in a demonstration. Above all, educate yourself and organize!
Start by reading the principles of nonviolence and social justice taught and expressed so eloquently by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. War is over (if we want it)!
–Glen Motil
Graduate student, department of literature
Editor:
Mathew Lepori’s article (“”A Stable Secure Palestine is the Key to Peace,”” Nov. 8) is not only ignorant and misleading but utterly offensive. Following the worst terrorist attack in history in which almost 5,000 Americans were killed — while the country is still mourning and most of the bodies have not been recovered — an American student finds it necessary to follow the propaganda line of the killers.
The U.S. government has found a link between the perpetrators of the murderous atrocity and Osama bin Laden’s terrorist organization in Afghanistan. As a result, American soldiers at this very moment are risking their lives to root out the terrorists and replace the fundamentalist regimes that protected them.
Yet as far as Lepori is concerned, U.S. policy is completely wrong. According to him, it is not about eliminating the killers and their supporters. As far as he is concerned, “”the importance of finding Osma bin Laden pales in comparison to building a stable and secure Palestine.”” How come?
The worst thing that the United States can do is to indicate to the terrorists that it is willing to change its policy — any policy, anywhere — because of their threats, killings and lies. Are we to start taking cues from the killers in the caves? Is the Arab Street dictating American policy? Is the United States going to stop supporting the only democracy in the Middle East at the request of a madman and his supporters?
Whoever thinks that the terrorists will be content with a change of policy and that “”Palestine is the key to peace”” did not get the message of Sept. 11. It is not about policy. We were and continue to be a target because we are a beacon of freedom, the promoters of democracy, and individual expression. As such we are the enemy of any religious extremists. It isn’t about America’s actions as much as America’s nature. Even if America would alter its nature and start to follow its enemies’ line of logic it will not appease them. To the contrary it will strengthen their will to demand even more.
And what was so wrong, Mr. Lepori, about the “”way the United States government handled its relations in the [Middle East]?”” For years the United States has supported the Oslo Accords. The United States has facilitated negotiations on the final status agreement.
President Clinton stood behind a generous offer proposed to the Palestinians in Camp David 2. The Palestinians rejected the compromise and instead started an armed rebellion.
During this, countless acts of terrorism were committed against Israel by organizations operating from within the Palestinian territories.
This is part of a long war that Israel has been fighting. Our war against terrorism might be a long one as well. This conflict will be fought not only with bombs and clandestine operations but with words and ideas. Information can be used as a weapon and history will be a strategic asset or a liability. We cannot afford to be ignorant and naive about what we are facing and who the real enemy is.
An independent and safe Palestinian state is one solution to the current conflict. However, as President Bush said in his speech to the United Nations on Nov. 10, “”We must unite in opposing all terrorists, not just some of them. Any government that rejects this principle, trying to pick and choose its terrorists friends, will know the consequences.””
Only after the Palestinians clearly demonstrate that they understand this principle should they get the support of the United Nations, the United States or students at UCSD.
Mr. Lepori, isn’t the current effort about trying to eliminate terrorist states, not create them?
–Shira Landau
UCSD student
