Charles Mercieca, Ph.D. President, International Association of Educators for World Peace Dedicated to United Nations Goals of Peace Education, Environmental Protection, Human Rights & Disarmament Professor Emeritus, Alabama A&M University

During the seventy year period of communist control in Russia (1917-87), religious persecution always stemmed from the government. Some of the clergy of the Russian Orthodox Church even cooperated with the government by submitting names to the police of people who went to church to pray and to participate in religious services. By the process of time, many Russians who suspected this kind of spying, ceased going to church any longer to the extent that all Russian churches became virtually empty.

Communist Collapse and Spiritual Revival

While finance and technology are rapidly reshaping our media, undermining printed words and exalting digital screens, the nation's major newspapers continue to exercise enormous political influence. Their news reports and editorial opinions still shape the ideas and themes behind every night's television coverage.

            But the great power of the dailies isn't always used wisely, especially because "liberal" newspapers have so often proved easy prey for right-wing manipulation, as they were during the Clinton era and most of the Bush era.

            Unfortunately, we can expect such manipulations to be repeated -- as The New York Times illustrated on page 1 of its Feb. 19 edition, with an article headlined "As Clinton Runs, Some Old Foes Stay on Sideline."

            According to that report, the snarling perpetrators of what Hillary Clinton so famously called "this vast right-wing conspiracy" have been housebroken.

Peace activist and gold star mother Cindy Sheehan and spokesman for a war-based oligarchy George Will both published columns this weekend arguing that non-Americans are human beings.  Sheehan's column was written in response to an Associated Press article that provided evidence that Americans disagree with this claim.  Will's column, meanwhile, adds to this evidence by demonstrating a failure to understand the very point he's arguing for.

I had a conversation this weekend with someone who believes that Bush and Cheney lied us into an aggressive war and will never end it, but who opposes impeachment because it's antagonistic, "violent," and "will leave blood on the floor."  I submit this as further evidence that Americans do not believe non-Americans are human beings.  If congressional hearings and potential hurt feelings are too violent, what would the ongoing slaughter of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis be… if they were humans?

A growing network of organizations and individuals has launched a new campaign to pursue the immediate impeachment of George Bush and Dick Cheney through widespread public protest, creative dissent, media activism, education, and coordinated lobbying. Members of the Impeach07 campaign believe that Bush and Cheney have committed high crimes and misdemeanors, including - among many others - misleading the nation into an aggressive war, spying in open violation of the law, and sanctioning the use of torture.  The campaign is demanding that Congress Members hold Cheney and Bush accountable through the Constitutional remedy of impeachment.

Impeach07 exists to organize people throughout the U.S. to demand that Congress impeach.  Newsweek reported in October that a majority of Americans favor impeachment, and in January that 58% said they wished the Bush administration were over. Impeach07 will draw on this energy to mobilize people from all walks of life.  As Howard Zinn, noted historian, has said, "Only a great popular upheaval can push both Republicans and Democrats into compliance with the national will."

Charles Mercieca, Ph.D.
President, International Association of Educators for World Peace
Dedicated to United Nations Goals of Peace Education,
Environmental Protection, Human Rights & Disarmament
Professor Emeritus, Alabama A&M University

The Romans had a proverb which said: Si vis pacem para pacem, si vis bellum para bellum – If you want peace prepare for peace, if you want war prepare for war. US President Richard Nixon, followed by few other presidents afterwards, reversed this Roman dictum by saying: Si vis pacem, para bellum – If you want peace prepare for war, which has proven to be fully fallacious throughout the 6,000 years of recorded history. Developing strategies for peace is easier said than done.

Four Aspects of Human Behavior