Kwento 9.14.01

new friends,

i am a new poet to this forum. i originally joined in the hopes of gathering some of your poetry and good energy to take with me on my trip to d.c. later this month during the imf/world bank meetings.

now i am writing you for other, obvious reasons.

i send my wishes of peace and love to everyone, and especially, my condolences to those personally touched by this tragedy.

i am deeply troubled by some specific developments taking shape around the events. i will try keep my comments brief.

1. from the beginning, the u.s. media structure has predictably latched onto and flamed rumors of involvement of arab and islamic peoples in this violence. i implore everyone to work in their own community structures to counter the wave of racism and reactionary response taking hold in the american media and consciousness. our arab and islamic sisters and brothers are already suffering from predictable american racism.

2. there are many people working for global change on a variety of political fronts/issues. most of these activities specifically challenge in some way or another the existing corporate/media/state structure of american society and its global policies. i have no doubt that an event of this magnitude will result in a heightened targeting of such efforts and of those who support them, as well as a likely mass-willing abdication of various liberties and freedoms, in the name of addressing "safety concerns." regardless of your political stance, i ask only that you hear and be aware of these concerns in the coming months and years as the full scope of this event unfolds. we all need to be on "high alert," to borrow a current phrase, as to the attacks and terrorism that will be carried out against any and all who may express a dissenting voice, because in the end, it is ALL of our voices that will be under seige.

3. we are riding the wave of an unprecedented media hype machine at the moment. make no mistake--what you see on cnn, msnbc, et al, is driven by corporate interests. take a look around at the war frenzy the masses are being driven into and it is not hard to realize just how dangerous this machine really is right now. i know i am likely preaching to the choir, but there are alternatives to be aware of. along with npr, etc., i would highly recommend examining the information coming out of the independent media centers. la.indymedia.org, nyc.indymedia.org, dc.inymedia.org are all good counters to the mountain of misinformation and hysteria pouring in through your cable line.

again, peace and love to you all. gather round you your punctuation and grammar, your syntax and phonemes. you will need them in the trying times to come. with love, kwento