Critique of Late Capitalism - Dialogue

DIALOGUE

REFLECTIONS ON THE INCIDENT IN OKINAWA

On 17:00 - 2/7/2001, Jose Ayala wrote:

Dear Harold Scurlock, My Respected Humanist Friend:

I thought of writing to you and seeking your opinion on what is happening in Okinawa these days. You are well-acquainted with that part of the world, and you have a great deal of compassion toward aboriginal people who make their living in those small islands that scatter off the coast of P.R.C. down to the South Pacific.

So, let us pay our attention to the recent incident in Okinawa: an American soldier who went out on the street and had an idea of picking on a little native-Okinawan girl who happened to be sitting nearby. The news reported that he pulled up her skirt. I am sure that, given a chance, he would have raped her. Thank lord she was protected by a group of young boys who chased him into a convenient store. But the problem did not end there, as you may know: a high-class commanding officer who was supposed to take responsibility in his "disciplined hand" and punish this ill-behaved soldier ended up ambiguating the situation by calling Okinawan mayor a poltroon.

Now, I do not know the details of this incident since I was not there. But as I was following up on this news, I thought about you: how a good-hearted American like yourself feel about your "countrymen" (I use this gendered term since I have, so far, never heard of any female American soldier causing trouble in places American military institution considers its "backyard") going to other cultural grounds, feeling superior in one way or another, and treating local people like pieces of tissue paper.

In Okinawa, as much as elsewhere, the history of violence and near-violence caused by an ignorant racist from abroad is old. I know a story from the time of Commodore Perry: one of his officers had to pay for what he did to a local woman by his own life, when angry locals pursued him to an edge of the island. The report says that Perry accused the Ryukyu government in vain, provided the evidence of this sailor's act. We are familiar with a more recent incident in which your President Clinton sent a brief but never satisfying message of apology to the families of that Okinawan elementary school girl who was brutally raped by an American soldier. When one of my close acquaintances visited Okinawa recently, he heard of another American soldier entering a local household for his ill-intended pleasure.

Thus we are faced with a big issue of human violence and the question of democracy and human rights over and over again. And, what should we do about all this? What should the good-hearted citizens of this Super-powered nation such as yourself do about such arrogant, primitive acts conducted by some of the enlisted members of what is supposed to be a brave, righteous, and disciplined institution that is made to "PROTECT" democratic principles overseas? Where does this subhuman barbarism come from -- this unapologetic tyranny? Is your military institution that of a bunch of war criminals? Is it only good at glorifying their un-contented bravery and demonstrating their sense of performed discipline in what can only be considered hypocrisy?

I remember seeing these towns which were occupied by Cuban and Sandinistan soldiers whom your government loves to treat as "bad guys," or a "bunch of terrorists." Yet, I have never seen or heard about a misconduct by these soldiers. How happy would it have been for Okinawans to be occupied by these soldiers and their commanding officers, however "undemocratic" they may be characterized! So many Okinawans would have benefited from their righteous and friendly attitudes which, unfortunately, stand in a great deal of contrast to those of American soldiers I witnessed. To be a protector of democracy or to be an imperial bull-shitter after all, that is the question; to be ashamed, or not to be, that is the question! No?!

Salute!
Jose Ayala

On 15:00 - 2/9/20001, Harold Scurlock replied:

Dear Jose:

Thank you for your kind letter. Yes, I am aware of this issue and was indeed sickened by such barbarity. You only have to look across the sea my friend and see how Uncle Sam's lackeys treat the Korean women -- it is disgusting and inhuman. Many American soldiers apparently lack the sense of discipline, honor, or integrity, regardless of how they demonstrate themselves in parades. It is, in my opinion, a result of this insatiable need to dominate and control -- don't forget you are talking about a country whose people down in your neck of the woods drag African Americans from behind their cars until their bodies fall apart!

You know, I disagree that this guy would have raped the woman -- oh no, in fact it would have been far worse than that. He was trying to take a picture of her -- so I read in the newspaper. Guess where that ends up? On the internet so all the surfers can visually rape her for eternity. Why? Because there is money in it. So we have a nation that wishes to dominate and exploit militarily and economically. But my fear is that this does not begin and end in the military. What to say about a nation whose number one TV show projects that Social Darwinist value of the "survivor of the fittest" -- I hate to keep coming back to the same point. But here is a show that encourages raw and ugly competition -- you could be sure that if you gave the people on the show weapons they would kill each other. It's reminiscent of gladiators in ancient Rome! The competition that is encouraged on this show is of the "win and dominate the world at all costs" variety. In our very homes during prime time we can watch people manipulate, dominate, and control one another, and enjoy such a violent game. And why is this the case? It's to win a million dollars!! Who watches these shows? Certainly the 20s and 30s crowd, but you can be damn sure children do as well. Think about situating this rotten everyday scene in that old puritan value of "F"amily -- so stressed and cherished in U.S.A., making it play a big role in our heritage!

The point I am trying to make is we not only exploit other nations and their people, but we poison the minds of our children -- teaching them that it is okay to take what you want from any one you want in any way you want because that's what it means to be an individual and that's what it means to live in the "strongest nation in the world." But the even scarier part is we are being dictated to -- in very insidious ways about what our wants are. The media, corporations, etc. tell us what we want. So where is the freedom? Unfortunately, it is our own damn fault for letting them do it. We are asleep. You ask people about these shows on TV and they will all agree that they are awful, but do they take to the streets to protest? NO! They go home and turn the TV on and watch the same shows they think are so terrible while public TV loses funding and eventually goes off the air. I don't know Jose... Sometimes I think we can scream change as loud as we can, but nobody will hear.

My final point is this: we are raising a bunch of people like this violent machine over in Okinawa. You ask me what I think? I think this nation is rotten my friend, rotten to the core. We might as well be Rome. The only positive side of being likened to Rome, is that it eventually crumbled. I have some hope in light of recent people (my students) I have met, but truth to tell?--it is only a glimmer.

Cordially Yours,
Harold

On 19:00 - 2/9/2001, Jose Ayala replied:

Dear Harold:

Thank you for your thoughtful reply. I cannot agree with you more about the unfortunate proliferation of Social Darwinism -- a century old superstition which I am sure Jesus would not appreciate if he is here with us today -- in this self-glorifying country called the U.S.A.

Speaking of Jesus, I recall one of his golden principles that has supposedly been cherished among American Puritans: to not to do to others what you do not want others to do to you. Now, I hope that your country and in particular your military institute can encode this golden principle into their code of honor, and practice it to the extent that a male soldier who may intend to rape another human being -- regardless of their nationality or ethnicity, class or gender -- can also expect a castration of his penis in return. Or when he intends to invade a family, he would also expect having his family back home being invaded by an alien from outer space. I wish everyone who loves competition so much in your country would embody this golden principle, practice it faithfully, and compete over its practice, then the world would be so freed from barbarians! And so "fair," as your countrymen love to profess everywhere they go.

!Viva Freedom! !Viva Equality! !Viva American Democracy! - More and more citizens of the world outside are laughing -- or should I say "making fun of it!?," Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha!!!!!

With Best Regards,
Jose

INTERPRETING THE YUGOSLAV SITUATION

On 13:00 - 3/29/1999, Victorio Nabokov wrote:

Dear Gerardo and the CLC gang:

There is a letter I wanted to forward you! Take a look at it and let me know what you think about it?:

A LETTER TO WILLIAM JEFFERSON CLINTON

27 March 1999

Mr. President
White House
Washington DC
Former America

On this date in 1941, Serb officers of the Royal Yugoslavian Army executed a coup d’état to remove from office a government ready to sign a pact to join the New World Order, known at that time as the Third Reich.
Serbs demonstrated in the streets, chanting "bolje rat, nego pakt!" and "bolje grob nego rob!" As Madame Madeleine is indisposed , after making at Rambo-Willy, up there by gay Paree, &#have articulated the Holbrooke doctrine that "Serbian history is bunk." Your big Dick, of "murderous asshole" fame, is runner-up in the oxymoronic American diplomacy.

A couple years earlier, for some more bunk, an enterprising SS black operations guy named Naujocks yanked some German convicts out of the slammer, dressed them in Polish uniforms and staged a little scene at the Gleiwitz radio station. German peace-keepers machine-gunned the Polish aggressors, and the FErer gave one of his weekly radio talks to explain to his people why, German civilians having been slaughtered by the Poles, he felt an oral imperative, first to send in peace-keeping Stukas, and later some peace-keeping Einsatzgruppen to degrade the ability of the genocidal Poles to massacre innocent Germans.

Europe still celebrates 1 September 1939 as a landmark in the suppression of the barbarity of the intransigent and genocidal Poles.

Too bad Hitler didn't think of having his Aussenminister broadcast a talk in Polish, to explain that the FErer had nothing against Poles, just their dictatorial leaders. No new Hitlers can be tolerated, mein Kommandant. Bomb them and their aggressor drinking water sources, their bridges, refugee barracks, chlorine storage tanks, and monasteries! Democracy and a market economy will blossom.

Mein Kommandant, have your intelligence experts informed you that last week a couple dozen guys wearing KLA uniforms [made in Germany, good cloth] were reported missing in a covert operation? It seems some oppressed KLA freedom fighters were ambushed while crossing the Macedonia-Serbia border by genocidal Serb aggressors?

It is most urgent that you dispatch a team of Finnish forensic experts to Belgrade to ascertain if the bullet holes indicate if they were advancing, retreating or kneeling, and why those KLA freedom corpses lying in the morgue at the VMA [Military Medical Academy] wear American GI dog tags around their necks. The Serbs are too busy slaughtering Albanians to figure it out themselves. They urgently need NATO ground troops to help them pacify themselves. Don’t delay. Do something, before it's too late! It's the rat thang.

Back to 27 March 1999: on this day in history, uh bunk, we all saw on the evening news stunning pictures of a Stealth fighter, a technology which was developed, you know, by some obscure Serbian aeronautical engineer. The film clips came courtesy of TV Belgrade. Shot down, the Serbs say, but NATO says those reports are unconfirmed and that all peace loving bombers have been accounted for.

But does their tally distinguish the planes that returned to base in one piece, those that were "holed", the dozen that suffered hydraulic pump malfunctions over Bosnia, Macedonia, Kosovo, Vojvodina or the Adriatic and are missing?

When you notify the next of kin, don't fail to tell the American people to stand tall and be proud that their kids were courageous and loyal enough to serve in their country's military and give their lives so that America could make the Balkans safe for diversity and free markets.

In next Saturday's radio talk, could you also dedicate a couple minutes to explaining how the Serbs managed to bring down the miracle weapon? Maybe, your Far Eastern campaign contributors could ask their intelligence service how the Serbs came to be in possession of Chinese weaponry that can endanger America's military.

Happy Anniversary.

J. P. Maher Chicago

[Dr. Maher is professor emeritus of linguistics at Northeastern Illinois University. He is a specialist in Slavic languages and history. Between 1959 and 1961 Dr. Maher served in the US Army Counterintelligence Corps as a translator in Northern Italy on the Yugoslav desk.]

On 15:00 - 3/29/1999, Jose Gereardo Ayala replied:

Dear Victorio, thank you for your message! We can see that the situation in Yugoslavia is a very complicated one. There are many pro and anti-NATO campaigns that I see out there these days. When one of them calls for support on behalf of Yugo, another one calls for support on behalf of Albanians. Being afar, here in Canada, and having a very few "reliable" media source on television and radio, it is very difficult for us to evaluate the situation and act according to our conscience apart from these media-mediated ideological orientations. Perhaps, one of the most efficient ways for us to evaluate the situation is ask a critical reader like you for your views and opinions. We know that you are a well-informed, well-studied anthropologist. Could you possibly analyze the above letter in the current Yugoslav context, and provide us with your interpretation on the event?

On 8:00 - 3/30/1999, Victorio Nabokov replied:

Dear Gereardo,

Things on the Yugoslav front are very dim indeed. NATO is carpet bombing from heights of 30,000 feet or more. I've talked my relatives there. It's hard to get through on the telephone. They're all alive but living underground most of the time. Because the planes are flying so high there's a great deal of collateral damage. At least 1200 civilians have been killed. The western media spin machine is whirling away non-stop. All they talk about is "Serbian" atrocities against the Albanian population. What's happening on the ground in reality is quite a bit different. (I get my sources from both Yugoslavia and the US, both Serb and non-Serb.) By far the majority of the refugees are fleeing the bombing. The KLA is drafting men into their army, many by force, just as happened in Bosnia a few years ago. That's why you see mostly women and children on CNN refugee stories. The KLA are also begging the Albanian population not to flee while at the same time continuing their murder campaign against Serbian civilians. The Yugoslav army has intensified their counter-attack on the KLA and are awaiting "Phase 2" of NATO's peace mission. There are many innocent casualties of war.

In short, NATO started a war which it thought it could win in a few days but it cannot. With NATO itself conducting genocidal campaigns against it's own citizens (e.g., Turkey vs. the Kurds) many people are having a hard time swallowing the massive amount of BS passed through the airwaves. Now the raison d-etre of NATO has to be rethought. Their technology, their political culture, their philosophy - - all has been called into question by their continuous meddling in Balkan affairs. The leaders of of NATO have shown nothing but ignorance and disrespect of Serbian people, their leaders and their history. I have come to expect nothing else.

Clinton is basically a liar. He lied to his family. He lied to congress. Now he's lying about Kosovo. None of this could have happened without his go- ahead. HE is the one who ultimately determines if NATO goes to war. Clinton is, after all, Commander in Chief of the US Armed Forces. He's also a draft dodger who protested against US involvment in VietNam. Now would you believe a man like him? To gain support of American liberals he imposes sexual harassment education upon the US military at the same time he goes around raping women. But don't worry about his harmless little affairs. It's no big deal. The Dow Jones went over 10,000 today!

Anyhow, if you are interested I could send you more articles on the matter. I really think the US should be in Mexico helping the Zapatistas and cleaning up their own very sick society and forget about invading a country that is thousands of mile away. Anybody who really believes that NATO is bombing Yugoslavia to prevent genocide should have their head examined.

Best,
Victorio

On 15:00 - 3/30/1999, Jose G. Ayala responded:

My Dear Friend, Victorio:

Thank you for your prompt reply. I cannot agree with you more on many of the above points you raise. Please do send us more information on the matter! As it is always the case, one must make a good evaluation on the basis of the critical reading of many available sources. Yet, we also believe that confronting our "knowledge" is just one, relatively easier part of this whole struggle. What is much, much difficult to do is to confront our "attitudes" in all of this -- "our" in this case includes both each of us who are experiencing, watching, and neglecting the event, NATO particpants, and the members of the US government. It is truly a pity that we are conducting the same politics and the same show for the sacrifice of hundreds and thousands of innocent lives as we did two millenniums ago. Calling this part of our "great civilization" really makes me laugh, and laugh with sorrowful tears in my eyes!! It really "stinks"!!

In Solidarity,
J.G.A.

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