Coalition Against Anti-Asian Violence (CAAV) Organizing Asian Communities: A Call for Peace and Global Justice

September 21, 2001

The tragedy of September 11 has taken a devastating toll on all of our communities. CAAAV Organizing Asian Communities joins with all those who mourn the thousands who were lost on 9-11. On this tragic day, our communities suffered the losses of migrant workers, janitors, clerical workers, and countless others who labored at the World Trade Center. We thank our allies and friends from around the country who have taken time to offer their support and heartfelt condolences.

NO MORE LOST LIVES
As the entire nation watched the twin towers collapse, we felt the horror and desperation of a world that is far from the "peace and prosperity" so easily evoked by leaders of the west.

Indeed, how could there be peace in a world increasingly confronted with the horror of senseless acts of destruction: the bombing of the Oklahoma federal building; the death of millions of innocent civilians in Iraq; the hundreds of Palestinian children that have been killed in the past year alone; or, closer to home, the killing of Amadou Diallo in a hail of 41 bullets?

NO WAR
Violence seems to pervade the era of globalization. War is always imminent. And now, as we struggle to rebuild our lives in the aftermath of the 9-11 crisis, the U.S. government is calling for a new and perhaps apocalyptic phase in this cycle of violence. More terrifying than the events of 9-11 is the war that innocent people throughout the world will suffer as a result of U.S. military retaliation.

We call for an end to the ongoing war. No More Lost Lives. We must honor the lives lost on 9-11 by calling for peace. We must not perpetuate the cycle of violence in the names of those we tragically lost.

Congress has given the president a blank check for war, allowing him to carry out a policy of unmitigated retaliation against those nations perceived to be "harboring" the so-called enemy. For Asian Americans, particularly new immigrant communities, this policy evokes past nightmares and portends future catastrophe. Indeed, Asian Americans cannot forget that during the Viet Nam war, the U.S. government was given a similar blank check. The US government sought to eradicate the North Vietnamese by destroying all those thought to be aiding them. As such, neutral nation-states such as Cambodia and Laos were victims of "covert" bombings by the U.S. These bombings took the lives of millions of innocent people. Moreover, the national instability caused by these bombings led to the full outbreak of civil war in Southeast Asia and the quick rise of violent demagogues who promised to avenge western aggression. Among these demagogues was Pol Pot, leader of the Khmer Rouge. Under Pol Pot, the Cambodian people suffered one of the most horrific genocidal campaigns in modern world history. Millions were slaughtered in the Cambodian killing fields. Among those who survived are refugees now living in the United States. They live with the scars of this genocide. And they are compelled to ask: "What kind of unimaginable violence will be unleashed as a result of US retaliation in the Middle East?"

NO RACISM
The recent calls for war and revenge can easily consume this nation in a climate of hatred. This hatred has already taken a severe toll on non-European people of Middle-Eastern descent, South Asians, and multi-national members of the Muslim community. So far, there have been 2 confirmed racially motivated homicides; countless acts of brutality; meanwhile verbal harassments and threats have become part of the daily lives of virtually all Arabs and South Asians living in the United States. As an organization that has combated anti-Asian violence for over 15 years, we know all too well the damaging impact of reactionary U.S. nationalism. We know how easily an enemy can be made of those who are perceived as foreign, other, "uncivilized." And, finally, we know the suffering of those living in the United States who are daily targets for the violence emerging from this very narrow U.S. nationalism. Our history is riddled with such violent experiences. Thus, we call on all members of Asian communities to serve in the protection of those now being targeted in this climate of racial hatred.

INS DETENTION CENTERS ARE TODAY'S INTERNMENT CAMPS
The violence experienced by Arab, South Asian, and the multi-national Muslim communities is certainly not limited to civilian attacks. Under the present "state of emergency," the U.S. government can enact hundreds of laws that strip away civil liberties. As a result, thousands from these communities now find themselves the targets of increased surveillance, indiscriminate arrests, and indefinite detention. Right now, hundreds of Arabs living in the U.S. are in the process of being rounded up by FBI agents. They will join hundreds of others who have been disappeared into the custody of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS). Yet no official charges have been filed. Working with the INS, the FBI is holding hundreds of these innocent people in indefinite detention, using the pretense of violating immigration laws. For Asian Americans, these tactics are similar to those used to justify the imprisonment of tens of thousands of innocent Japanese Americans during the Second World War. For years, people of Japanese ancestry-many of them children born in the U.S.-were confined to internment camps. It is clear that INS detention centers serve as today's internment camps. Asian Americans have a stake in challenging the unjust incarceration of hundreds of Arabs living in United States. We must not let history repeat itself. Asian Americans must not only respond to the present violations enacted under this state of emergency, but we must also anticipate the protracted struggle to come. After the state of emergency is lifted, racial profiling, surveillance, and arbitrary arrest and detention will be legally carried out with impunity against communities of color, particularly immigrants.

PEACE AND GLOBAL JUSTICE
As we call for no more lost lives, CAAAV believes that this objective can only be achieved by committing ourselves to global justice. War and retaliation contradict this goal. Unfair foreign policy that leaves other nations in poverty, despair, and violence will only serve to undermine peace. Those of us living in the U.S. will never know true safety so long as violence pervades the rest of the world. We are committed to global justice.

CAAAV Organizing Asian Communities 2473 Valentine Avenue Bronx, NY 10458 718-220-7391, x22
http://www.caaav.org/