Introduction

by Bob Banner
& Stacey Warde

These have been difficult weeks. Suddenly our bubble of invulnerability has been shattered. People are grieving and shouting for answers amid the rubble and the horrendous images of terrorist destruction. The best of America has responded with immediate aid from all over the country - from heroic and dedicated fire workers and police to calm leaders warning about potential attacks on Muslims and Arab-American citizens.

Like millions, we were glued to the TV during the first few days, witnessing the horror. We then moved to the very accessible internet to satisfy our thirst for answers, for articulate explanations that would ring true when it came to questions such as:

1. Why the hatred?

2. Why the instant, knee-jerk reflex to have an immediate bogeyman and demonize Osama Bin Laden as we did Noriega, Castro, the Ayatollah, Allende, Marcos, Qadaffi, Saddam Hussein and others?

3. Is there something about our way of life that predicates suffering of others?

4. What does the geopolitical system really look like? Does it have anything to do with oil, drugs, our "quality of life," or the growing economic disparity between the developed and the developing worlds?

5. Will we use this as an opportunity to reflect, to question the rampant globalization tearing apart indigenous local economies and investigate how we might have brought this upon ourselves?

Or will we simply resort to the Administration's demands to strike back, only to recycle the fear and the terror rather than use all our intelligence and diplomatic prowess to break the cycle of violence before it escalates into a third world war?

As Americans, we are not accustomed to these feelings of vulnerability, armored and insulated as we are in our cocoons of affluence and comfort. The crack in our militaristic and affluent armor, however, has been ripped open. The terrorists have spoken with incredible clarity: "Your financial prowess and military hardware cannot protect you."

And now, amid our own terror of naked exposure before the world, faced with our own dark history as supporters of state terrorism abroad, we are forced to come to terms not only with how to respond to terrorism at home but how to live in a world that has become increasingly and undeniably hostile to the American agenda.

Will the horrific destruction of the World Trade Center, with all of its devastating images of collapse and mayhem, serve us as a wake-up call, or will we use it to go about our business as usual?

Pursuing the answers, we discovered much material on the web and, not surprisingly, much of this material and its inherent wisdom was not even mentioned in the mainstream press. Because of this, we felt obligated to come forth with what we have discovered so that readers who have no access to the web can appreciate a different perspective. Also, for those who do have internet access, we hope that our resources within these pages can help you with your own journey of discovering the truth.

HopeDance has been committed to publishing material focusing on sustainable living and positive solutions. Even though this topic is not directly related to sustainability, in the long run it is. If we plunge into war, we will have increased terror, deaths of innocent people, havoc and destruction to our environment, pushing us farther from the likelihood of ever creating a sustainable future, let alone any worthwhile kind of future.

We are most grateful to the following people for which this spontaneous project could not have been created: Gene Hoffman, alternet.org, Owen Dell, Selene Anema, Rosemary Wilvert, Suebob Davis, the internet, Bob's men's group, all the distributors of HD from Santa Cruz and Ventura who agreed to take on this extracurricular activity, and to the numerous people who have sent us emails that gave us pertinent, critical and meaningful material to be included in this special supplement.

We suggest that you hold on to this edition since the resources will be invaluable for the coming months and years for its informational purposes and paradigm-shift values, as well as the inspiring and compassionate words of many of the contributors.

Thanks,

Bob Banner and Stacey Warde for HopeDance Magazine www.hopedance.org