As exemplified by the revamped cover, we intend to raise CCCO's profile in the coming year and to re-establish our position as a leading peace and human rights organization. We are very excited about the historical opportunities available to us, particularly as we approach our 60th anniversary in November 2008.
We have come quite a distance since 1948. And we thank those who have helped us along the way. Still, we have miles ahead as we struggle to make real a more just and peaceful world. We take pride in informing all of our supporters that The Objector Magazine has returned to its bi-annual printing schedule containing thought and content designed to obliterate false rationale for a society built on global war-making and large-scale imprisonment.
To that end, we have put together a magazine with a sharpened awareness that, hopefully, will be noticed in appearance and content. Essentially, we want to re-introduce ourselves. On page 27, we invite you to get a short sense of whom the people are that make up the staff and Board of CCCO. We also want to invite broader participation through a new letter-to-the-editor section, which will become a regular feature in future issues.
This time around, we have a feature article about mercenaries Blackwater USA. To its credit, the beleaguered Iraqi government is doing what it can to expel the company from that country and hold them accountable for their murderous actions. Unfortunately, Blackwater enjoys blanket protection from the US State Department. It remains to be seen whether these Christian cowboys will be brought to justice. Hopefully, this essay will leave you shocked, awed and willing to do whatever is necessary to bring accountability to virtual persons called corporations.
On pages 19-25, we review several books and films we hope you will go out and enjoy. The “Ask & Tell” piece describes the experiences of many gay people who have served in the US military. The review is accompanied by an article that further explores the dilemma faced by people fighting for equality and simultaneously agitating for peace. Meanwhile, on page 2, we have a first-hand report on CCCO's recent trip to Atlanta, GA for the first US Social Forum where we were introduced to a new organization, SWAN. An article about this exciting group is presented on page 6.
Other contributions examine the current state of military recruitment, challenges in using hip-hop for organizing, and a column from still on death row journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal. Finally, I would like to introduce to our readers the new editor in chief of The Objector Magazine, Brian Johns, who will be responsible for responding to your letters and contributing to our mutual efforts to bring truth and hope to each and every future issue.
Enjoy!
Brian Johns & Kevin Ramirez
"The maximum of liberty coincides with the maximum of state force." -- Giovanni Gentile, leading Italian Fascist philosopher
BATMAN
In the gang war that is Iraq, the baddest MF's on a sandy, lawless block are a corporate band of Christian soldiers hell-bent on bringing freedom and democracy to sand niggers everywhere. True to the mandates of the White Man's Burden, this fascist enfant terrible serves up the Body of Christ in super-sized portions of bromides and bullets machined to dum-dum- even the hardest head. Better still, if the fools and knaves known as our federal mis-representatives have their way, Blackwater USA will be coming soon to a theater near you.
Leading the goose-stepping march to the future is mild-mannered CEO and co-founder Erik Prince, a one-time Navy Seal and fundamentalist billionaire on a mission. The End-Times captain of industry was born into a heavyweight Michigan Republican family. His father, Edgar, was a close friend of former Republican presidential candidate and anti-choice leader Gary Bauer and, in 1988, helped the latter start the Family Research Council.
Meanwhile, Prince's sister, Betsy, once chaired the Michigan Republican Party and is married to Richard DeVos, Jr., who ran unsuccessfully for governor of ballot-challenged Michigan and is the son of billionaire Richard DeVos, co-founder of Amway, an infamous GOP bankroller. The Prince family has given hundreds of thousands of dollars to right-wing candidates and other conservative and religious causes including the prison ministry of Charles Colson, the former Watergate felon turned Christian prison evangelist.
When Prince was a teenager, religious conservative leaders like Gary Bauer, now the president of American Values, were house guests. James C. Dobson, the founder of the evangelical organization Focus on the Family, gave the eulogy at his father's funeral in 1995. He also interned with President George H.W. Bush. Sadly, Poppy Bush proved too liberal. Although he now downplays his reactionary politics, he once groused he "saw a lot of things I didn't agree with--homosexual groups being invited in, the budget agreement, the Clean Air Act, those kind of bills. I think the Administration has been indifferent to a lot of conservative concerns," according to 'Blackwater Down,' one of dozens of articles written by investigative reporter Jeremy Scahill.*
More recently, the Dark Prince - a 38-year-old whom one observer likened to a psychologically conflicted Bruce Wayne in Batman -- spends his time solidifying his company's prime-time spot in King George's “War on Terror” and filling his corporate pockets at a growth rate of 600 percent. Touting greater “efficiency” - the mantra of neoliberal bandits of public resources - he preaches the gospel of “one-stop shop” private armies spearheading a global “peace and security” movement aimed at evil-doin' America-haters everywhere. “They call us mercenaries,” the square-jawed patriot recently told a Congressional Committee. “But we're Americans working for America protecting Americans.”
IBN RAMBO IBN DUKE OF HAZZARD
When Dubya ran for President, he promised to run guhb-mint “like a bidness.” What he failed to mention was corporations -- which in the 1886 ruling Santa Clara County v Southern Pacific Railroad were granted “personhood” as a means to protect the rights of endangered white men from newly freed black slaves - are certifiable sociopaths.
According to psychologist Robert Hare's Psychopathy Checklist, corporations lack empathy. They use others callously and remorselessly for their own ends, typically characterized as “shareholder value.” They seduce victims with a glib, hypnotic charm that masks their true nature as pathological liars, master con artists, and heartless manipulators. Easily bored, they crave constant stimulation, so they seek thrills from real-life "games" they can win. They take pleasure from their power over other people.
They also live forever.
Read the rest of this article and more inside your print copy of The Objector Magazine. Order yours today by contacting either our Oakland or Philadelphia offices.