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IN DEFENSE OF WARD CHURCHILL - HISTORIAN!<br>
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[Col. Writ. 2/10/05] Copyright 2005 Mumia Abu-Jamal<br><br>
In every society, more or less coercive measures<br>
are applied by ruling groups to organize and<br>
control mass opinion. This method seems
worse<br>
than some because it constitutes an abuse of
reason.<br>
-- Edward H. Carr, *What is History?* (1961)<br><br>
<br>
As rabid right-wing talkbirds cackle for the firing
of<br>
University of Colorado-based historian, Ward Churchill,<br>
the very controversy echoes an earlier, meaner age;<br>
that of the Cold War period of the '50s, when the state,<br>
through the FBI and various other government agencies,<br>
ran riot over the rights, livelihoods, families and lives of<br>
tens of thousands of people, simply because of their<br>
differing political opinions, or because they were<br>
suspected of being 'communists.'<br><br>
Churchill, an ethnic studies professor at UC,
knows<br>
a little something about that era. He was co-author<br>
(with Jim Vander Wall) of the now-classic and<br>
authoritative studies of the now-infamous COINTELPRO,<br>
or *CO*unter*INTEL*ligence *PRO*gram of the FBI<br>
against radical movements: *Agents of Repression:<br>
The FBI's Secret Wars Against the Black Panther<br>
Party and the American Indian Movement* (Cambridge,<br>
Ma.: South End Press, 1988 [2002]); and *The<br>
COINTELPRO Papers: Documents from the FBI's<br>
Secret Wars Against Dissent in the United States*<br>
(Cambridge, Ma.: South End Press, 1990 [2002]).<br>
Both works, together over 900 pages, are exhaustively<br>
footnoted and documented, and provide chilling<br>
insights into how the State used illegal, unconstitutional,<br>
and outright criminal tactics to "neutralize, disrupt",
and<br>
indeed destroy social and political movements for<br>
decades!<br><br>
Churchill is now under fire for an essay penned
shortly<br>
after the events of Sept. 11, 2001, where he reasons that,<br>
to anyone knowledgeable about U.S. foreign affairs, the<br>
attack could hardly have been surprising. As knowledgeable<br>
as he is about U.S. domestic affairs, he is equally<br>
knowledgeable about foreign affairs. And he knows,<br>
all too well, that many people in foreign lands have<br>
grievances against the U.S.<br><br>
In his 2002 essay, "Some People Push Back: On
the<br>
Justice of Roosting Chickens", Churchill recalls the famous<br>
comment by Malcolm X, after the assassination of President<br>
John F. Kennedy: it was but a case of "chickens coming<br>
home to roost."<br><br>
Both Malcolm and Churchill knew something about
U.S.<br>
actions abroad, its export of violence abroad, and its<br>
demonstrated hatred of dark peoples the world over.<br>
He recounts how American armies and agents have wreaked<br>
brutal havoc all around the world, killing almost countless<br>
"innocent civilians", in their efforts to insure
continued<br>
imperial rule. For example, he mentions the CIA's Operation<br>
Phoenix, where the U.S. government, the Navy Seals,<br>
Army Special Forces, south Vietnamese Rangers, and<br>
Australian SAS, "neutralized" people named by CIA<br>
snitches as Vietnamese "guerrillas."<br><br>
Churchill writes:<br><br>
Upwards of 40,000 people -- mostly
bystanders, as<br>
it turns out -- were murdered by
Phoenix hit teams<br>
before the guerrillas, stronger than
ever, ran the<br>
US and its collaborators out of
their country<br>
altogether. And these are the
guys who are gonna<br>
save the day, if unleashed to do
their thing in<br>
North America? [p. 6]<br><br>
Ward Churchill is bitingly critical of the
politicians, the<br>
military, and other government agencies who have unleashed<br>
a wave of terror upon people around the world. He does not<br>
mindlessly genuflect to the dead from the World Trade<br>
Center attacks. He explains, as best he can, that such<br>
unbridled violence abroad, led to violence here.<br><br>
Churchill is not a 'safe', or 'guild',
historian. He does<br>
not speak obliquely of 'the vanishing Indian', or the glories<br>
of Manifest Destiny. He teaches of the madness of<br>
Empire, and from the position of the people on the<br>
periphery, the outskirts of Empire.<br><br>
It is not enough for us to merely, dumbly intone
that<br>
Churchill has the right to write what he does. No --<br>
we must do more.<br><br>
We must insist that Churchill *is right*. And
no<br>
one, not some rabid talkshow parrots, nor a political whore<br>
like Gov. Bill Owens, has a right to demand what is<br>
wrong. The Cold War is over (even in Colorado).<br><br>
Churchill is right!<br><br>
Copyright 2005 Mumia Abu-Jamal<br><br>
[Check out Mumia's latest: *WE WANT FREEDOM:<br>
A Life in the Black Panther Party*, from South<br>
End Press
(<a href="http://www.southendpress.org/" eudora="autourl">www.southendpress.org</a>);
Ph.<br>
#1-800-533-8478.]<br>
===============================<br><br>
"When a cause comes along and you know in your bones that it
is<br>
just, yet refuse to defend it--at that moment you begin to die.<br>
And I have never seen so many corpses walking around talking about<br>
justice." - Mumia Abu-Jamal<br><br>
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