Easy does it
So, this is actually going to happen in my lifetime! (I’m 65.)

Under Coming next month (NI 342) you refer to something I had never previously heard of: Slow Activism. This sounds too good to be true. It would be misleading to say I have been waiting for this. Indeed, most of my life has been spent not waiting but trying to catch up; the amount of waiting done by me having been greatly exceeded by the waiting other people have done because of my slowness. Part of the reason why I regularly read NI is because I have spent almost the whole of my working life in the Third World. And part of the reason for that is because only the Third World seemed to offer a niche (and this was at the beginning of the 1960s) for slowcoaches like me.

I almost feel guilty that it is because of ‘turbo-capitalism’, as you call it, which is stupidly destroying the quality of so many ‘ordinary’ people’s lives, that attention is at last being turned to the problems of those who can’t keep pace.

NI 343 can’t come too soon – or can it?

Alastair MacDougall
Copthorne, England

Fast or slow – here it is. Ed.

Class war
You do well to remind us (Bread & Roses: The Trade-Union Revival, NI 341) that being a trade-union official, or even a union activist, is still a dangerous occupation in some parts of the world.

During the British miners’ strike in 1984 the enemies of Arthur Scargill, the miners’ leader, portrayed him as the devil made flesh but he was not at risk of being grabbed by the police and made to disappear. In Britain those in power had gentler means of achieving their ends.

The pretence is commonly put about that the class war is a thing of the past, that capitalists and workers have a common interest in working together. Not so, but the venue of the struggle has moved. The class war is now being fought at its most violent in the poorer parts of the world, as your articles make clear.

The old political empires – British, French, Dutch, Portuguese or whatever – are no more. Their place has been taken by a process of economic colonization by the all-powerful transnational companies under a banner with a strange device: globalization.

In the struggle against this process trade unions have a vital part to play. For those taking part, the struggle demands a heroic courage and determination that it is difficult for those of us comfortable at home to imagine. But in the name of internationalism, these are our brothers and sisters. Their fight is our fight. Are we doing all we can to help them?

Peter Little
Henley-on-Thames, England

United we stand
Workers!

Together we can do what cannot be achieved alone; solidarity will win.

Margaret Creagh
Industrial Workers of the World,
Moreland, Australia

Spare our grief
K Kumaralingam writes (Letters, NI 341): ‘The reaction of the US since 11 September shows that it expects the rest of the world to value the lives of Americans more than those of non-Americans.’ This statement and similar sentiments criticizing US reactions to the event are cruel. I understand, and generally agree with, those who chastise my government’s foreign policy and our military reaction to the 11 September event. However, I ask that you leave my country’s grief out of the condemnations and critiques. Our pain is without expectation and these tears have no agenda.

Amy Travis
New Jersey, US

Progressive Islam
Islam as described in the Qur’an is a modern, enlightened, progressive religion. All forms of unnecessary acts of violence and unjust aggression are forbidden by Islam. The Qur’an orders people to be dignified, modest, trustworthy, kind, faithful, mature and responsive.

A Muslim educated in the fine moral teaching of the Qur’an approaches everyone with the love that Islam expects. He [sic] shows respect for every idea. The religion of Islam and the moral teaching of the Qur’an are not the supporters of terrorism and the terrorists. Islam is a religion that came down to offer humanity a life filled with the peace and well-being in which God’s eternal mercy and compassion is manifested in the world.

I would urge readers to visit www.islamdenouncesterrorism.com which, in my opinion, explains the Muslim’s real thoughts about Islam.

Gamze Bayrak
Istanbul, Turkey

Terrorism or resistance?
It’s unacceptable to follow the American point of view that doesn’t differentiate between resistance and terrorism. It’s unfair to make those who fight and died for freedom equal to those who kill innocent people for personal purposes or to replace one dictator with another. Calling Kashmiri resistance terrorism (‘Inside a terrorist camp’, Currents, NI 341) is a condemnation of all resistance in the world. It opens the door to put all kinds of resistance and freedom fighters on the US terrorism list, which is the first step to bomb, kill and occupy the countries that support those fighters.

Moomen Sallam
Alexandria, Egypt

Self-defeating illusions
Although it has become fashionable among commentators to blame poverty as the root cause of terrorism, it is absolutely unacceptable to suppose that poor people are the ones who are venting their frustration through terrorism.

The terrorists who attacked the World Trade Center were mostly from Saudi Arabia, one of the wealthiest countries in the world, and their mastermind is a Saudi millionaire. Japan, one of the most advanced countries, suffered a deadly terrorist attack a few years ago and the culprits were members of a religious cult and from mostly well-off backgrounds.

Terrorism is always the product of self-defeating illusions. It is a deliberate form of political or ideological warfare waged by fanatics with financial and other resources at their disposal. The organizational and financial resources needed to run a terrorist network are beyond the reach of poor people. This explains why most of the hijackers were from an oil-rich country like Saudi Arabia and not from a poor African country. This is why the fight against terrorism must be a military and security one. The issue of poverty and development must be addressed separately and poor countries must be helped to help themselves.

Mahmood Elahi
Ottawa, Canada

Could do better
I must protest your use of the term ‘animal cunning’ to describe the shady characters in the Worldbeaters feature. While I think you must be using the term to indicate the depths to which these people have sunk, it is hardly accurate. When an animal uses its cunning, it does so to find a meal or protect itself or its family from predators. I don’t know of a single case of an animal using cunning the way humans do.

In fact, animals often come to harm at the hands of those of us who use our human cunning for less honourable ends. They suffer needlessly for the multimillion-dollar cosmetic industry and millions live their entire lives in labs in the service of ‘science’. Ascribing animal traits to despicable humans merely helps perpetuate animal abuse in its many guises.

Animal cunning? I don’t think so. Please try to come up with a more appropriate term. In the meantime, surely ‘human cunning’ would do.

Nancy Allan
Saskatoon, Canada

Point taken. See World Beaters this month. Ed.

E-mail petitions
Does anyone know if the e-mail petitions which often get circulated do any good? Does the Brazilian Government take any notice of the hundreds, perhaps thousands, pleading with them to preserve the rainforests, for instance?

As a known ‘greenie’ I frequently receive these petitions, as I imagine other NI readers do. Before I send them on, I usually send an e-mail to the address given, offering other help such as a snail-mail letter. Each time I have done this, the message has been returned with ‘permanent fatal errors’ or a similar directive. This may be because the petition reaches me too late, but they never include a message to end it after a specific date. Perhaps the petitions just circulate forever among the committed but naïve?

Dr Virginia Lowe
Melbourne, Australia