19 years and 37 million displaced people later

Published: Sat, 09/12/20

Yesterday was the 19th anniversary of 911 (as in the way Americans put the month before the day in dates) when the twin towers of the World Trade Centre in New York were destroyed and a third tower (building 7) collapsed into a neat pile of rubble a few hours later. On the same day there was also damage to the Pentagon building in Washington DC, and a plane crash in Pennsylvania, both of which were associated with the destruction in New York. These incidents were officially blamed on Arab terrorists motivated by Islamic fundamentalism and the ‘war on terror’ was officially declared. I think that is a reasonable summing up of the events collectively known as ‘911’.

At the time I was living in Oxford but doing a lot of work in Epsom for my sister’s parents in law who had recently bought a house which I was helping them do up. That morning I was working on decorating, or some similar project,and around lunchtime someone heard a news report about a plane crash in New York and put on the TV. The bulletins showed one large tower of the World Trade Centre with a big hole in the side and a fire burning. Then the second plane hit building two and, well if you are old enough to remember, you probably saw it for yourself.

In the summer of 2000 we had established a contact in Texas, USA and Ivar Hafskjold, Shaun Brassfield-Thorpe, and I had been there for about 10 days in the early summer. In the September we had held a camp in Bedfordshire to which people came from the USA and Australia as well as various parts of Europe. International travel was quite easy and relaxed in those far off days. Ivar was due to go back to Texas in the middle of September 2001. Luckily he had not departed before nearly all commercial flights were grounded for the weeks following 911. Otherwise Ivar would have been stuck in the USA for quite some time, I guess there are worse places to be, but it would have been very inconvenient. Subsequently security at airports became much more rigorous and intrusive and the quite relaxed aviation experience of the 1990s was no more.

A variety of military action followed 911. Less than a month later (7th October 2000) operation ‘Enduring Freedom’ was launched which meant a full scale invasion of Afghanistan. Gulf War 2 followed in March 2003 which involved a full scale take over of Iraq, even though the leader of the country, Saddam Hussein, never had anything to do with 911. He was also telling the truth about having no weapons of mass destruction either. Libya, Yemen, and Syria have been massively disrupted by war in the past decade and millions have been killed or displaced. A new report shows that between five and seven million people have died and at least another thirty seven million have been displaced by the so called war on terror.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/08/magazine/displaced-war-on-terror.html

But isn’t it justified if it makes the world safer? Not an easy argument to make morally and from a practical point of view, nonsense. Killing, destruction, and displacement just creates very angry people who are very likely to carry out actions which will be labeled ‘terror’ in its turn. If your home was destroyed, your family and friends, killed, injured or tortured and you are threatened with death or imprisonment for something that happened years ago on the other side of the world, wouldn’t you be looking for a way to hit back? I would be, and so would anyone with any self-respect and a sense of justice. There is also the expense, Americans sometimes wonder why their government cannot afford to provide universal health care? Could a military budget of $649 billion in 2018 (due to rise to over $700 billion this year or next) have anything to do with it?

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9e/Military_Expenditures_2018_SIPRI.png

So, what is the answer? Could Americans vote for someone who might bring some sanity to the world? Not much chance of that, Trump and Biden are equally committed to the ‘War on Terror’ and US military spending. The Presidential Election in November will generate a great deal of sound and fury in the USA but it will signify absolutely no change for the rest of the world, and that is exactly how it is meant to be.

Change only comes with conscious awareness which cannot be created by, or given, from one human being to another. Unconscious awareness is a gift we have all received but we may, or may not, have opened that gift and made it conscious yet. In many ways a state of conscious awareness is not a pleasant state be in. Who wants to realise how much pain and suffering is being intentionally causes in the world and that there does not seem to be anything that can be done about it? I have mentioned before Bobcat’s ethical principle, the only real sins are ignorance and collusion. Finding out the truth isn’t actually that hard if you are prepared to make the effort to look for yourself. Then just decide not to collude with what is wrong, you don’t have to fight with anyone, just don’t support or participate in evil. There is always a choice, but first you have to become aware.

regards

Graham

PS Last weekend we held a small gathering here in Beverley for Stav training. There were no beginners and so we were able to do some quite advanced training over the two days. I have no idea what the options will be for holding a Rune Retreat next summer. However, I will be doing some training sessions this Autumn, probably Saturday mornings, but I will be discrete on how I promote such opportunities. I certainly will not be creating Facebook events or similar. So, if you might be interested in joining us for a Rune Retreat next summer or joining in with small scale training here in Beverley, let me know your email address and I will keep you posted. Just send me a message at contact@iceandfire.org with ‘Training’ in the subject line and I will keep you up to date with opportunities.