PCDF JUSTICE, NOT VENGEANCE
PROJECT
Responding to September 11, 2001
by David C. Korten
In our hour of
sorrow, fear, and anger
may America have the wisdom
to know the difference between justice and vengeance,
and the courage to chose justice.
The horrific and
unconscionable September 11, 2001 (911) terrorist attack on the United States
that destroyed the World Trade Towers, damaged the Pentagon, and left more than
5,000 persons dead was a dramatic wake up call for
those of us who thought our lives and prosperity to be safe and secure behind
the walls of fortress America. It dramatically changed the political context,
radically reoriented near term priorities, and brought the need
for transformational change into sharp focus.
PCDF is working with
various groups and initiatives to advance two immediate priorities related to the 911
terrorist attack:
1. Forestall
the inappropriate use of military force, the killing of innocent civilians, and
the suppression of civil liberties as counterproductive and morally indefensible
responses to terrorism. This has been the
immediate PCDF priority. To this end we have joined countless others throughout
America and the world calling attention to the simple truth that
military force has at best a very limited role in dealing with hidden and widely dispersed terrorists networks.
PCDF has been
a sponsor, along with the Positive Futures Network here on Bainbridge Island, and the Institute for Policy
Studies in Washington, DC, of a Justice,
Not Vengeance statement signed by more than 150 notable American opinion
leaders, including many whose names are household words. I've put forward this
message in presentations to various forums, including to a Saturday, September
22 Justice, Not Vengeance
Rally here on Bainbridge Island where I live. Our immediate goal has been to
do whatever we can to turn a national monologue on vengeance into a national
dialogue on peace and justice.
2. End the verbal and physical
scapegoating of people of color and those of the Muslim faith. We are
also speaking against racial violence in
public presentations and align with groups promoting
community and
state hate
free zones; inter-racial, interfaith exchanges, rallies, and alliances;
individual and collective expressions of inter-racial, interfaith solidarity;
and the vigorous pursuit and prosecution of those responsible for
hate crimes.
Over the longer term, the 911
tragedy has created a teachable moment for building awareness and mobilizing
action toward two long-term priorities:
1. End apartheid in America. Apartheid
is an unspoken, unacknowledged, and unacceptable fact of life in much of America
and the world. Heightened awareness of racial issues and violence creates an
opportunity to draw attention to the extent to which apartheid is an
unacceptable wound that nurtures hatred and violence.
2. Create a world that works for
all. The events of September 11 have awakened a new consciousness of the
conditions that foster the hate and vengeance that motivate terrorism. It is a
moment ripe with possibilities to build commitment to freeing the world from the
scourge of exclusion, hopelessness, and cultural degeneration that are the
product of unjust economic and political institutions.
The most beautiful tribute humanity
can offer to those who lost their lives to terrorism on September 11 will be to
embrace this tragic moment to make a collective choice to create a world of
peace and justice that works not only for all people, but as well for the whole
of life. This is a defining moment for humanity. We must use it well.
David C. Korten
President, People-Centered Development Forum
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