In the material world, the divide between the 'left' and 'right' is an artificial one. It often serves to keep us separate from each other and prevents us from seeing clearly in what ways we may have shared interests and a common enemy. A better way to approach economy, politics, culture and society would be to take note of the ways in which our societies are divided horizontally: the interests of the few (the elite) and the many (ordinary people). The elite want to oppress and exploit the rest of us. In a material sense, they are our enemy. They are working to establish their New World Order. Fascist world government is the last thing ordinary people need. We want free and open communities with equal rights for everyone and a profound respect for the many differences between us. This other world -ours- is possible but we will have to work hard for it and we will have to work together. -The Editor
XML FeedsTerror comes at night in Afghanistan
Anand Gopal
One quiet, wintry night last year in the eastern Afghan town of Khost, a young government employee named Ismatullah simply vanished. He had last been seen in the town's bazaar with a group of friends. Family members scoured Khost's dust-doused streets for days. Village elders contacted Taliban commanders in the area who were wont to kidnap government workers, but they had never heard of the young man. Even the governor got involved, ordering his police to round up nettlesome criminal gangs that sometimes preyed on young bazaar-goers for ransom.
But the hunt turned up nothing. Spring and summer came and went with no sign of Ismatullah. Then one day, long after the police and village elders had abandoned their search, a courier delivered a neat, handwritten note on Red Cross stationary to the family. In it, Ismatullah informed them that he was in Bagram, an American prison more than 320 kilometers away. United States forces had picked him up while he was on his way home from the bazaar, the terse letter stated, and he didn't know when he would be freed.
