WELCOME TO THE 1930'S
RITT GOLDSTEIN | 04.07.2003 18:42 | Repression
Investigative journalist Ritt Goldstein's chilling commentary upon the growth of contemporary fascism. While versions of the piece have been printed in Europe, this is the first time it has appeared in English, this version created for Goldstein's fellow Americans.
Versions of this piece have been printed in Europe (ie, Memorie moleste degli anni Trenta, April 30, 2003 -
http://www.cdbchieri.it/rassegna_stampa/iraq_goldstein.htm), but while the US maintream media has refused to print it, I felt it time to release this painful truth to America. This piece has never been printed in English. RITT GOLDSTEIN
WELCOME TO THE 1930'S
By Ritt Goldstein
On the floor of the US Senate, the senior senator from West Virginia, Sen. Robert Byrd, charged that the American people ”have been lured into accepting the unprovoked invasion of a sovereign state”, Iraq. He added, ”like it always does, the truth will emerge”.
As regards that truth, ”Iraq Bloodbath” had read a wartime headline of Scandanavia’s largest daily, Aftonbladet, corpses dotting a picture of what the Bush administration’s war machine manufactures. The article reported an American officer as saying that mounds of the dead were piled on sidewalks, a large proportion of the dead feared to be civilians. And amid numerous allegations of Administration fabrications, the much proclaimed weapons of mass destruction have yet to be found, most now believing they never existed. But Iraqi democracy has been put on hold, and a Defense Department report (Strategic Assessment 1999) has surfaced which starkly highlights Oil War as Pentagon policy. So as those who perceive themselves grossly wronged threaten to strike back at us, visions of another era’s Blitzkrieg, occupations, attempts to build Empire - is this what they are seeing.
Explaining the Iraq War, of course it is easy to understand that terrorism must be fought, the killing of innocent women and children stopped. But most experts agree that Iraq had no meaningful ties to al Qaeda, and what of dead Iraqi women and children. What of the price our Country's loyal troops have paid and are paying.
As early as 1996, former US National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brezinski described a vision of American empire quite succinctly, discussing ”the grand imperatives of imperial geostrategy”. But, only recently is the pressing question of American Empire under debate.
While the horror of the Iraqi conflict is disturbing, more disturbing is the issue of its being a symptom of an older, deadlier disease, a social-disorder which previously claimed the lives of tens of millions. And what if the return of this fatal societal contagion had gone largely unrecognized.
In 2001 Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi trumpeted the superiority of Western values. In retrospect, Berlusconi’s vision of the West ”bound to occidentalize and conquer new people” does seem chillingly accurate regarding President Bush’s actions.
Of course, the 1930’s saw Italy attack Ethiopia, and today’s Bush administration has finished Afghanistan, is working on Iraq, and both Iran and Syria have been ”warned”. If human nature doesn't essentially change, does history merely repeat.
As regards the nature of such questions, in 1941 the social psychologist Erich Fromm published his classic analysis of the impact of social and psychological forces on society, ”Escape from Freedom”. In it Fromm describes how conditions, similar to today’s, meant that human relationships were ”poisoned” by a ”struggle for the maintenance of power and wealth…by a passionate egocentricity, an insatiable greed”. But of course one cannot just say the Enron, WorldCom, Xerox, Halliburton, and other numerous business scandals provide ample testimony to that. Nor can one merely refer to the seemingly all too valid complaints of mass-exploitation which the anti-globalization movement voices. However, Fromm charged that ”individuals were looked upon as ‘objects’ to be used and manipulated, or they were ruthlessly destroyed if it suited one’s own ends”. And such logic does provide good explanation for modern-day robber barons, mass-exploitation, media manipulation and War. And Senator Byrd did charge that the ”events of September 11 have been carefully manipulated”.
Escape from Freedom depicts the rise of 1930's fascism. Over a year ago I published an editorial entitled "Deja Vu: The 1930's" - one version contained a WWII picture of the German Wehrmacht marching through a town.
But maybe this isn’t only about the limits of human greed and the capacity for ruthless ambition. Maybe this is also about faith, trust, and the so many good people among us who might have had those precious gifts harshly abused. Maybe, while bombarded by the endless circuses our society cranks out, a lot of good and decent people are just simply and cruelly seduced.
Fromm had observed how leaders have played upon their public, Hitler doing so with protestations that he sought only ”peace and freedom…that his actions serve the best interests of civilization”. But hindsight is always easy, and in the 1930´s it must have been extremely difficult for most to appreciate the implications of what was occurring. As repression and world aggression grew, the public’s apprehension and misplaced trust meant that devastating issues were simply explained away.
Paralleling such concerns, several mainstream European articles have recently noted that Nazi Foreign-Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop was condemned by the Nuremburg War Crimes Tribunals for conspiring in a War of Aggression. Also noted was that President Bush has committed actions strikingly similar to those for which Mr. von Ribbentrop was hanged. Strengthening the comparison, the US commander of the Iraq War, Gen. Tommy Franks, was charged by Belgium under Crimes Against Humanity statutes.
Perhaps envisioning such circumstances, Fromm had warned that ”there is no greater mistake and no graver danger than not to see that in our own society [the US] we are faced with the same phenomenon that is fertile soil for the rise of Fascism anywhere”.
RITT GOLDSTEIN
Comments
Hide the following 3 comments
but it's not the 1930's
05.07.2003 10:48
reich and the Bush administration (especially
putting a hitler moustache on Dubya)does not help the anti-imperialist movement - it just makes us look silly. Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld. They
are
bad enough themselves. Lets not indulge in sloppy historical comparisons.
chris b
Some 1930s parallels exist, others don't
05.07.2003 17:06
But there are a number of differences as well. Bush claims to be a "democrat", something someone like Hitler would never have claimed, and the general situation of the 1930s has not been repeated - there is no Depression and also no strong communist movement, the fear of which was one reason for the development of fascism.
1930s fascism will never be repeated, but authoritarian and chauvinist movements or currents in government, claiming to be democratic but anti-democratic in practice seem to be the way history is headed. It is at least arguable that this is the form fascism is taking and will take in the 21st century.
The Crimson Repat
First Expose the KORTS
27.01.2006 14:19
judson witham wrote: Date: Fri, 27 Jan 2006 00:21:48 -0800 (PST)
From: judson witham
Subject: Rigged and Corrupt INJUSTICES - Tainted Trials, Rigged Injustice
To:
CC:
Tainted Trials, Rigged Injustice
Lets not forget those RAIL ROADED on Fabricated and False Criminal Charges to SILENCE dissidents.
Judson Witham
Operation Missouri Freedom - No Joking Matter
Posted on Sat, Jan. 21, 2006
A note from the executive editor
Dear Reader,
Today and for the next four days, we are publishing the results of an unprecedented, three-year investigation of criminal jury trials in Santa Clara County.
Its conclusions are inescapable and chilling: Too many things go wrong in our county's courtrooms. Too many trials are less fair than they should be. Too little is done to correct these problems, even though many officials are aware of them.
And, as a result, in some cases, people are going to prison for crimes they did not commit.
Our investigation did not conclude that the justice system does not work -- far from it. We found that most trials are fair and that most defendants are convicted by juries presented with strong evidence of their guilt. We also know that the system sometimes bends over backward to guarantee defendants' rights, and that things happen in the courtroom and on appeal that help, rather than hurt, defendants' chances to go free.
But often, that's not the way it works.
We began this project in late 2002, when we learned of questionable conduct by prosecutors in several trials. Those cases made us wonder: How often does that happen? So we began to devise a systematic way to examine trials by looking at the records of virtually every jury trial that had been appealed from Santa Clara County over a five-year period. Ultimately, that came to 727 cases.
Early on, it became clear that the story was not just about prosecutors, but about how each piece of the legal system -- including defense lawyers, trial judges and the appellate court -- had some responsibility for conduct that, in the worst instances, increased the chance of an innocent person being found guilty.
Several months into our project, an incident took place that doubled our determination to shine a light on questions of judicial error. An East Palo Alto man named Ricky Walker was freed after nearly 12 years in prison for a murder he didn't commit. A prosecutor's excesses, a defense attorney's failures and the appellate court's indifference all had contributed to his wrongful conviction.
We weren't the only ones brought up short by this shocking story: In a recent interview with Rick Tulsky, the primary reporter on this project, District Attorney George Kennedy said the Walker case taught him, for the first time, that it was possible for an innocent person to be convicted in this county -- and for the appeals process to fail to catch the mistake.
In our county, 85 percent of people charged with a felony eventually are convicted, through trials or pleas. County leaders, with the strong support of the public, aggressively pursue criminal conduct and push hard to make sure the guilty are punished. At every level -- police, district attorney, trial judge, appellate court -- this county, more than other Bay Area counties, has a reputation for tough enforcement of the law.
And that is a good thing. But we also believe that a strong system can stand up to checks and balances that protect everyone's right to a fair trial. We view our newspaper as one of those checks, and this project as a crucial way for us to fulfill the watchdog responsibilities of our role.
As we looked at individual cases, we found many in which allegations of unfair treatment were met with indifference from officials. But we also found openness to our effort at the highest levels of the criminal justice system. In particular, Kennedy and his top assistant, Karyn Sinunu, Michael Kresser of the Sixth District Appellate Program and Conrad Rushing, presiding justice of the 6th District Court of Appeal, spent hours discussing how criminal justice is supposed to work, how it really works and what issues account for the gap.
There is one important caveat about this project that needs mentioning. In the end, and to our frustration, our investigation was unable to determine whether what happens in Santa Clara County is different -- for better or worse -- than what happens in criminal trials elsewhere. Our study shows the failings of our system, but its exhaustive nature prevents comparison with the records in other counties.
These stories were three years in the making. We hope that their publication will spark the beginning of a discussion in Santa Clara County about how we all can work to make the justice system the best it can be for every defendant, in every trial, every day.
Thank you for reading,
Susan Goldberg
Executive Editor
Latest Report
LAST OF FIVE PARTS
Last chance, little help
A review finds the 6th District Court of Appeal often minimizes impact of misconduct, going to great lengths to preserve guilty verdicts.
Editor's Note
Executive Editor Susan Goldberg on the unprecedented Mercury News investigation
More Stories
The toughest court's toughest justice
Expert quotes about the appellate court
Why is publication of legal opinions important?
Who can appeal?
PART FOUR: How judges favor the prosecution
Can an ex-prosecutor let go?
More examples from the case files
PART THREE: High cost of bad defense
S.J. attorney's legal guidance draws rebukes from judges
DA hopefuls square off at S.J. event
Examples from the case files
Ten reasons to worry about your attorney
The series: What's up next
PART TWO: Prosecutors over the line
Haunted by a 7-year ordeal
A DA's difficult balancing act
Examples from the case files
Tell us what you think of the investigation
Day two quotes
PART ONE: Investigation turns up justice system problems
'I don't trust anybody anymore'
A note from the executive editor
Editorial: Too many defendants suffer a fractured justice system
Quotes from experts
About the review
» MORE FROM THE SERIES
Useful Information
Tips on hiring an attorney (PDF)
Ten reasons to worry about your attorney
Understanding the legal process (PDF)
About The Series
About the Mercury News review
Tell us what you think of the investigation
The series: Day-by-day topics
Judson Witham
e-mail:
jurisnot@yahoo.com
Homepage:
http://www.geocities.com/jurisnot/OperationMissouriFreedom.htm