To Disappear You Is No Loss...
How many of you have a class picture from when you were young? How many of you have a class picture with circles around the faces: this one died, thisone was disappeared, this one went into exile, this one was shot at a demonstration, this one we never saw again...
Every day, in dozens of countries, people are disappeared, murdered, raped, and tortured by their governments and para-military squads.
Yesterday, over a dozen Iraqis were kidnapped, died, were murdered and some even raped in a country in which Paul Bremmer feels the US did a good job. Argentina recently supported the US by walking out of a meeting in which the US was roundly criticized for its role in the mayhem going on in Iraq today. Shades of almost 30 years ago when the US walked out with Argentina when Argentina was being criticized in a UN meeting about its dirty war against its own citizens.
The same men who were junior staff during Reagan watched and learned and waited. And now, we see what their schooling has wrought.
Today, as you read this, someone died in Iraq, someone disappeared, someone was dumped in an umarked grave.
Today, as you read this, you can make a difference: you can hold your government accountable, you can ask your representatives for answers on foreign policy, you can support Amnesty International and Survivors of Torture. And, if you live outside the US, you can ask your government how can they support one like ours.
Today, you can not look the other way and say, Thank God that was not me.
Today, even a little gesture such as visiting this photo essay on the disappeared, will make a difference, because, to simply do nothing, is one of the biggest mistakes you will ever make..
