Terrorism Abroad, Alienation at Home Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit Terrorism Abroad, Alienation at Home The profound racism and inequality of American society are breeding a new form of the same threat the U.S. manufacturered abroad through its foreign policy. by Simon Wallers Havana, Sept 25 (NY Transfer)--The United States government is currently being criticized for creating legions of young extremists abroad prepared to wage a holy war against a government that has consistently abused or ignored the rights of the citizens of Muslim nations around the world, and their history, religion and culture. The degree and nature of this alienation is frightening and it was manufactured, directly and indirectly, by the very forces it now turns against. The Los Angeles Times reported in 1996 that some 12,000 young Muslims had been trained by the CIA in Afghanistan in a jihad against the Soviet-supported government. Thus Washington, is directly responsible for the ultra-orthodox Islamic government of the Taliban that rules in Kabul today. But systematic alienation of other youth is going on closer to home, creating generations of dysfunctional, angry, marginalized people on Washington's own doorstep. The inherent racism of US society has raised its head again in the last two weeks, with attacks against anyone with an Arab name, who looks Arabic or sounds Arabic. This covers anyone wearing what a US Congressional representative called -- and yes, this was a member of the US Congress -- "a diaper around his head and a fan belt around his waist" who should be "immediately stopped by the police." The remark from Louisiana's John Cooksey received the derision it deserved but the fact that he felt safe saying it in the first place indicates how serious the situation has become. This has relieved some pressure on the traditional targets for racism in the US -- Blacks and Latinos -- but not for long. Young people going to school in South Central Los Angeles, where the population is 60% Latino and 40% Black, are part of the increasing population of "lost youth" who drop out of high school and end up in street gangs or prison. So desperate is the situation in many US inner cities that cynics ask why the US government even bothers to educate poor Black and Latino children being raised in the slums and barrios of its major urban sprawls. Why not simply take them out of the cradle and place them in the prison system immediately? In the year 2000 there were 7,290 students in first grade in South Central LA, but only 2,838 in 12th grade; an estimated two-thirds of all students never obtain a high school degree. The old notion that children from poor backgrounds either won't be able to enter college or shouldn't be encouraged to, still persists. Children living in run-down neighborhoods with huge social problems are pressured by many guidance departments to take classes in mechanics, cooking, construction skills and cosmetics rather than courses in chemistry and biology which will help them enter college. Many of these schools have to fund their own extra-curricular services and courses, and states like California that years ago began to suffer budget cuts in education as a result of policies introduced when Ronald Reagan was governor, continue to show inferior statistics at the high school level compared with other nations. Overcrowding creates large classes, which makes individual attention by teachers almost impossible. With many of their parents having succumbed to the system in which they have lived all their lives, what hope is there for these children? Many will end up dead on the street, from violence or the drugs that usually promote the violence. Many will be pregnant before they reach 12th grade and drop out as a result. These are the alienated youth of today's US society. They are ready to apply the skills they learned on the streets -- not the skills they should have learned at school -- to obtain what they need to live. In lieu of books and computers -- we don't say pens anymore -- they will use knives and bullets to seek advancement in the violent and corrupt societies in which they survive. Prisons have become the universities of many of these young people. They are the domestic "terrorists" that racism, profit and indifference have created. They are constantly told that violence does not solve their problems of isolation and hostility, yet they see their own government using the most radical violence as a solution. There has been a great swell of nationalistic and jingoistic feeling in the US that looks as though it will shortly translate into war, creating another backlash from the young dispossessed people of a culture and belief that Washington traditionally denigrates. But these dispossessed are closer to home, and the danger is equally dire. [Simon Wallers a staff member of Radio Havana Cuba.] (c) 2001 by Simon Wallers and NY Transfer News. All rights reserved. September 24, 2001 Havana, Cuba ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytrc-09.25.01-18:53:55-7505