We were
planning on putting together a special issue on the
"Sacred Roots of Sustainability" but
because of the particular mood of the country as well
as ourselves we decided to continue elaborating on
what we created earlier, the special supplement
"Voices of Restraint, Intelligence and
Compassion." That issue included information and
analyses that were quite necessary in countering the
enthusiasm for war. And because sustainability issues
always seem to find themselves at the back of the
bus, as it were, we decided to create a bridge
between the current crisis and sustainability. This
may be a "teaching moment" where people are
experiencing a hunger for deeper knowledge about why
9.11 happened. This current challenge is not only
demanding that we educate ourselves about U.S.
foreign policy but how our own overly consumptive
life styles require some major changes. Thus, this
issue.
Bill Moyers, a highly respected investigative
journalist, gave a biting and passionate speech
shortly after 9.11. We reprint certain selections
from that speech on page 10. Wendell Berry, a
favorite author of HopeDance readers, expands the
consequences of 9.11 to include the question of what
kind of future are we moving toward. He takes us on a
short journey that includes sustainability issues,
our natural resources, developing new habits of
conserving, a focus on local economies and an
education that teaches responsibility and citizenship
(see p15).
New contributor Steve Pitteli became outraged at the
9.11 events and soon found himself being confronted
with his hawkish views. His process is unveiled in
his piece called "Confessions of a Former
Hawk" (see p.13). He also penned a piece
depicting the outrageous hypocrisy of Bush's campaign
against terrorists while the U.S. is harboring a
terrorist from Haiti whose evidence of terrorism is
well established and his whereabouts is certainly
known (p.18). Ralph Nader puts the corporate welfare
system in its proper perspective in a recent speech,
"Corporate Patriotism" (see p.26).
Many people will remember Scott and Helen Nearing as
the major pioneers for the back-to-the-land movement
of the 60s; but few will recall why he was fired from
his university professorship (see p.28). We have a
hilarious yet truthful account from Harrison Heyl who
joined with others to demonstrate against the Missile
Defense System at Vandenberg. If you need a chuckle
about the world's madness, please turn to p. 29 for a
guffawing experience. And speaking of humor, this
issue includes two censored cartoon strips from
"Boondocks" as well as cartoons from a
graphic documentary book called Addicted to War (see
info and review on p.75). Not only is the book
comical but its documentation is footnoted with
hundreds sources. The new edition will include the
"war on terrorism."
Lisa Pitteli sobers us with a chilling parallel
between the dystopian novel 1984 and what has been
occurring these past few months (see p.32). Stacey
Warde summarizes the attacks on our civil liberties
and calls for a massive protest against these
intrusions (see p. 19). Bob Banner lists and
summarizes various websites that have gone deeper
into investigating the 9.11 attacks while working
outside the corporate mass media. Some of the
information may be disturbing; some of the
information proposes the possibility of U.S.
complicity in the 9.11 attacks.
Richard Krejsa includes a powerful piece about his
conversion from being a peace activist to being a
pacifist. Now he rejects all wars, "especially
those proposed as an alternative to terrorism"
(see p. 56). Bob Banner addresses the question of how
we are dialoguing with people in the past few months
about 9.11. Is the "inner fascist" reeling
its head whether it's for or against a
policy/belief/idea? Perhaps it's time to go deeper
into our motivations and our knee-jerk reactions (see
p.61).
Also, please check out p.72 and 73 for the HopeDance
Film gigs at the Palm Theatre and our new project
where we will be presenting HopeDance Music gigs.
Thanks to all who helped with this issue!
Bob Banner
