If we want Policy instead of
Speeches
Vers
La Verité Speech in Paris
By Cynthia McKinney
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Global Research, October 11, 2009
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President Obama's Nobel
Peace Prize was not the only news yesterday. And in my opinion, it's
not even the biggest news. It's not even the saddest news. But it
does provide us with some critical information as we move forward.
The three-part question for us, tonight however, is “What are we
moving forward TO; is that the place we want to go; and if not, what
do we do about it?
In other words, “What is our
vision for the future and how do we define success?”
I have been and am still in
deep pain over the institutional homicide of my aunt and in my
grief, I've considered giving up.
But then, I wiped the tears
from my eyes long enough to remember communities of people that I've
been blessed enough to get to know, from Toronto, Canada to Cape
Town, South Africa; from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to Valdosta,
Georgia, there are people struggling through their own pain, their
own deep personal disappointments to reach a better place—not just
for themselves, but for the global community of man. And I know deep
in my own heart, as broken as it is, that I cannot give up. My brain
tells me that the struggle for truth, justice, peace, and dignity is
too important to lose because of heartbreak.
The one thing that probably
best defines everyone in this room are our search for and activities
on behalf of principles that are bigger than ourselves. We want our
governments to tell us the truth; we want them to deliver justice;
we want our global community to live in peace; and we want respect
for the dignity of all humankind.
So if these are the
ingredients of our vision, what tools do we need to produce the
desired result?
Well, first of all, the
desired result has to have definition.
I mentioned in one of my
messages to a dear friend in response to the Nobel award to
President Barack Obama that we needed to keep our eyes on the prize
and then I erased it because I don't think we've sufficiently
defined what the prize is.
So there must be a small,
cohesive, international group of rock-solid people feverishly
working to redefine for all who want to be active, and a part of our
vision, just what the prize is. And this “prize,” our vision, must
be repeated and explained often so people can differentiate our
vision, from their reality.
Here is where language
becomes important. If we want policy instead of speeches, then this
must be repeated early and often because what I'm alarmed by is that
in the absence of us providing real definition, and there are
reasons for that, people are beginning to think that a speech IS
policy.
But, as I said earlier,
there was a lot of news yesterday. Some of it even more important
than the Nobel Peace Prize Award, but the award certainly
overshadowed all other stories.
And I'm always searching for
context. Because, as the U.S. military puts it, “perception
management” is important. And we must understand the context of what
happens and when it happens, in order to understand why.
I always say that we must
see the invisible, hear the unspoken, and read the unwritten. That's
what some of the organizers of Vers La Verité were professionally
trained to do, before they became whistleblowers, and now our
leaders.
Now, what were some of those
other interesting news items?
Well, at a Native American
Lodge located next to Senator John McCain's ranch, two people died
and several others were hospitalized following a hazardous materials
situation at the Sweat Lodge, which is like a spiritual retreat led
by Native Americans. I've even been invited to participate in one
upon my return to the U.S.
Now, I find this interesting
and a story that should be followed up on and I will be doing that
because I want to make sure there's no bigger story hidden in an
important cultural ritual of the Native Americans who are victims of
a genocide in North America that continues to this day.
On the day that the Nobel
Prize was announced, we also learned that the U.S. bunker buster
bomb will be ready in a few more months.
This is the bomb that holds
over 5,000 pounds of explosives and is designed to penetrate
hardened facilities, including those underground. Some brilliant
people in the U.S. even want to put nuclear tips on bunker buster
bombs. However, in announcing the near deployment of the project
that pays McDonnell Douglas to adapt the B-2 bomber so it can
deliver the Boeing-made bomb to its intended target, the Pentagon
press secretary said, "The reality is that the world we live in is
one in which there are people who seek to build weapons of mass
destruction and they seek to do so in a clandestine fashion." The
article noted that the Obama Administration had not ruled out
military action against Iran.
Another story noted that
hours after winning the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize, President Obama met
with his military advisors about troop levels in Afghanistan. The
troop increase requested by the U.S. Commander ranged, it is
reported, from 10,000 to 60,000—although the top number isn't listed
in that news report. One has to go to another news item to see the
true top number. At any rate, it seems that the choices confronting
U.S. and European leaders is whether to increase the current 68,000
U.S. boots on the ground in Afghanistan or to merely increase the
number of drone attacks. Decreasing death and destruction and
bringing our young men and women home is not on the Nobel Peace
Prize winner's agenda for discussion.
The last article of note is
about a restaurant in west Georgia that is using the “N-word” on its
marquee to describe President Obama. It reminds me of the Atlanta
area restaurant that put on its marquee that I was Buckwheat with
Boobs. Now, those of you who are from the U.S. will know what that
means and the depth of insult that was intended. The article notes
that I've made this restaurant's marquee, too. Both restaurant
owners claim to not be racists and to be protected by free speech.
My point in including this
particular news item is that we still have so far to go just in
terms of our human relations. It is imperative that we do what we
can to spread our message and our vision and reach those who can be
reached.
Which brings me to who can
be reached.
Those with enough
discernment to know that what is being pronounced from on high is
not their reality. And rather than accept or discount the
contradictions, we want them to join us and struggle for a better
reality for everybody.
I am saddened beyond belief
that on the day of the Peace Prize award, a struggling democracy in
Honduras was besieged with U.S. supplied weapons and U.S.-trained
paramilitaries and snipers in support of coup leaders over the
democratically-elected people's leaders. In fact, the latest
dispatch from Honduras is that many of the snipers and
paramilitaries—now descending on Honduras from all over Latin
America—were trained in my home state of Georgia.
More and more people are
experiencing cognitive dissonance and rightly so. Our leaders and
respected organizations are lying to us! One friend and former
Congressional Staffer of mine puts it this way: we need a democratic
military instead of a militarized democracy.
The United States, with the
help of its European and Asian allies maintains over 700 bases
around the world. The number is increasing under President Obama.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
said that we must combat racism, poverty, and militarism. Our
movement cannot struggle against militarism and fail to address
racism. We must be comprehensive and to racism, militarism, and
poverty, we must now add gaining control of a media that will allow
us to communicate to a broader community and not just within our
small spheres, and regaining control of education so that people are
not so dumbed down that they actually believe that war is peace,
slavery is freedom, ignorance is strength, and lies are truth.
And if we are right, then
others will join us. They will share with us their dreams and their
passions and we will help to empower them.
Global resistance combined
with local action, organization, vision, commitment, and resources
will allow us to have significant victories in the future.
Vers La Verité understands
that the foundation of all of this action, attainment of the prize,
can only happen with truth as our foundation.
It's already a brave new
world, let's get busy and make it ours!!!
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