I'm surprised to find Said's name on this list, since he ended up writing some fine anti-NATO pieces during the bombing of Yugoslavian, Albanian, and Chinese civilians a few months back. Any explanation?
Stephen Philion Lecturer/PhD Candidate Department of Sociology 2424 Maile Way Social Sciences Bldg. # 247 Honolulu, HI 96822
On Sat, 16 Oct 1999, Yoshie Furuhashi wrote:
> It's not just Dissentoids who echo Gitlin. The following piece comes from
> an earlier stage of the dismemberment of Yugoslavia. Check out the names
> after the letter. Apparently these intellectuals believed that the forces
> on the side of Izetbegovic didn't have enough arms at hand. Yoshie
>
> ***** A Call to Lift the Arms Embargo Against Bosnia-Herzegovina
>
> To: United Nations Security Council, General Assembly, Secretary-General
>
> To: President Bill Clinton, U.S. Congress
>
> We are peace and human rights advocates who have long urged a progressive
> U.S. foreign policy, and a just and democratic international order. We
> recognize that a lasting peace in the Balkans ultimately requires regional
> demilitarization. Yet this recognition must not stop us from responding now
> to the genocide taking place in Bosnia-Herzegovina. An immediate first step
> should be to lift the cruel arms embargo imposed against Bosnia.
>
> For the past 15 months, the embargo has locked in place the unequal and
> unjust distribution of force that has all but destroyed Bosnia. When
> Yugoslavia broke up into independent states, its army, the fifth largest in
> Europe, did not break up with it, but remained almost entirely in Serb
> hands. The embargo has had little effect on the ability of the Yugoslav
> Army and the Serb militias to wage war in Bosnia, but has made it virtually
> impossible for Bosnian democratic forces to defend themselves.
>
> In effect, the embargo has constituted an intervention on the side of the
> aggressor. Therefore we call for an immediate lifting of the ban on arms to
> the Muslim-led government of Bosnia, which has repeatedly stated its
> commitment to uphold a democratic, multi-ethnic society.
>
> We respect the concerns of citizens committed to peace who argue that
> lifting the arms embargo would only serve to further escalate the level of
> violence in the region and prolong the war, but we are not persuaded by
> them. On the contrary, we believe there are three compelling reasons to
> lift the embargo now.
>
> First, lifting the embargo would not only permit the Bosnian victims of
> aggression to defend themselves, but could help shorten the war by letting
> the Serb forces know that their assaults will be met with resistance.
> Second, effective resistance now could help deter the spread of aggression
> to Macedonia and Kosovo, by all reports the next intended victims in the
> Serbian expansionist program. Finally, ending the embargo would free the
> Bosnians from exclusive dependence for arms on the few suppliers so far
> willing to circumvent the embargo. Some of these Islamic sources may
> subject the Bosnians to unwelcome pressure to retreat from their goal of a
> democratic, secular and multicultural state.
>
> Simple justice demands the right of self-defense for the Bosnians, but an
> international peace effort could and should proceed simultaneously. This
> would include insistence that the Croats cease their aggression in Bosnia;
> support for the democratic opposition in Serbia, particularly anti-war
> media and organizations; vigorous prosecution of war criminals (of whom the
> vast majority but not all are on the Serbian side); and air-lifting
> humanitarian aid, under military protection, to all civilians in need.
>
> The United Nations, the United States, and the European Community bear a
> heavy responsibility for pursuing a policy of pseudo-evenhandednesss that
> has in fact strengthened the side of aggressive Serb expansionism. It is
> time to admit the terrible failure of this policy, to lift the arms
> embargo, and give the Bosnian government a chance to survive.
>
> Alenka Arko
>
> Shlomo Avineri--Professor of Political Science, The Hebrew University of
> Jerusalem (Israel)
>
> Fatima Basic--President, Bosnian Children Relief (Canada)
>
> Saban Basic--Relief Coordinator, Bosnian Children Relief (Canada)
>
> Richard Caplan--Institute for War & Peace Reporting (England)
>
> Daniel Cohn-Bendit--Frankfurt City Ministry for Multicultural Affairs (Germany)
>
> Bogdan Denitch--Michael Harrington Professor of Social Science, Queens
> College and Graduate
> School, CUNY
>
> Manuela Dobos--College of Staten Island, City University of New York
>
> Ariel Dorfman--writer
>
> Sam Farber--editorial board, Against the Current
>
> Jonathan Fine
>
> Michael Foot--British Labour Party
>
> Elinor Fuchs--School of the Arts, Columbia University
>
> Todd Gitlin--Department of Sociology, University of California, Berkeley
>
> Thomas Harrison--Campaign for Peace and Democracy
>
> Adrian Hastings--Department of Theology, University of Leeds (England)
>
> Judith Hempfling--peace activist
>
> Christopher Hitchens
>
> Quintin Hoare--New Left Review (London)
>
> Adam Hochschild--writer
>
> Marko Hren--former director, Ljubljana Peace Institute
>
> Andrea Imredy--peace activist
>
> Julius Jacobson--New Politics
>
> Phyllis Jacobson--New Politics
>
> Vlasta Jalusic--director, Ljubljana Peace Institute (Slovenia)
>
> Vlasta Jesenicnik
>
> Dr. Lynne Jones--former chairperson, European Nuclear Disarmament (Britain)
>
> Kasumi--writer and artist
>
> Joe Kraus
>
> Tonci Kuzmanic--University of Ljubljana
>
> Joanne Landy--Campaign for Peace and Democracy
>
> Michael Lerner--editor, Tikkun
>
> Paul Levine--Professor of American Literature, University of Copenhagen
>
> Robert Jay Lifton--Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry and Psychology,
> City University of New
> York
>
> Steven Lukes--European University Institute, Florence (Italy)
>
> Branka Magas--New Left Review
> (London)
>
> Tomaz Mastnak--Senior Fellow, Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts
>
> Erika Munk--Yale School of Drama
>
> Marlene Nadle--journalist
>
> Nigel Osborne--Faculty of Music, Edinburgh University (Scotland)
>
> Eva Quistorp--member of the European Parliament; chairperson, Women for
> Peace (Germany)
>
> Rudi Risman--Department of Sociology, University of Ljubljana
>
> Dr. Alfred Saah--Johns Hopkins University
>
> Edward Said--Columbia University
>
> Charles Scarlott
>
> Jennifer Scarlott--Campaign for Peace and Democracy
>
> Kerry Scarlott
>
> Nadia Tazi
>
> Arthur Waskow
>
> Peter Weiss
>
> Cornel West--Afro-American Studies Program, Princeton University
>
> Margaret Willig-Crane--former director, New Initiatives for Full Employment
>
> Kenton Worcester--Social Science Research Council
>
> Partial Listing: Affiliations for identification purposes only
> Boston Review <http://bostonreview.mit.edu/BR18.2/forum.html> *****
>
>
>