From: Chris Keene <chris.keene@which.net>
Date: Mon, 28 Jan 2002 12:45:33 +0000
Subject: [StopWTORound] Dirty tricks to discredit ATTAC
PLEASE FORWARD
Our opponents must be getting scared. They are now putting out blatant
lies to try to discredit ATTAC, one of the main organisations in the
anti-globalisation movement. Let's make sure this despicable behaviour
backfires on them. Please do all you can to let everyone, especially
those working in the media, know the depths to which the supporters of
globalisation will stoop.
Chris Keene
The reports with have been circulating about Susan George's alleged
approval of the American bombings of Afghanistan are a slanderous
fabrication. The article below tells the full story.
Please forward this message to any mailing lists on which this slander has
circulated.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Translated from:
http://www.lemonde.fr/imprimer_article_ref/0,9187,3224--259739,00.html
'The vice-president of ATTAC at the centre of a controversy about the
American intervention in Afghanistan'
Le Monde
23 January 2002
Did Susan George, vice-president of ATTAC, state in December that she
approved of the American bombings in Afghanistan, and that she had been
wrong to condemn them, thanking in passing George W. Bush for his actions?
For the past two days, this issue has been spreading like a trail of
gunpowder, on Internet mailing lists where debates traditionally occur
among activists in the anti-globalisation movement.
The founding members of ATTAC, members of trade unions and associations,
called for an explanation. And ATTAC's offices, which, Tuesday afternoon,
had planned to be busy with the meeting at the Zenith [in Paris] and with
the final preparations for Porto Alegre, had to put the issue on their
agenda.
CATEGORICAL DENIAL
It all started with an item published in the latest issue of the weekly
magazine _Courrier International_, which quoted excerpts from an article
in the Swedish daily newspaper _Svenska Dagbladet_. According to this
article, Susan George said, during the programme 'Echot' on the national
radio channel P1: 'I was wrong to criticise the bombing of Afghanistan
(...) It was worth doing it to get rid of the Taliban. I want to thank
George Bush. He showed that it was possible to get to the terrorists and
their supplies.'
Many copies of this excerpt were circulated, provoking a flood of
indignant emails, from across Europe, denouncing 'ATTAC's opportunism'.
Interviewed by _Le Monde_, Tuesday afternoon, Ms George flatly denied
having made the statements reported by the Swedish newspaper. 'I will
never do another interview in Sweden; since Göteborg, the atmosphere there
is such that people are systematically trying to tarnish our reputation.
This is a malevolent act,' she said. 'Even though I believe that it's a
good thing for the world to be rid of the Taliban, I never approved of the
bombing campaign, which has had about as many civilian victims as the the
attacks on the World Trade Center. Neither, obviously, did I thank George
Bush. I simply said, ironically, that one could thank the president of
the United States for showing that, when there is a political will, it is
possible to crack down on tax havens,' the vice-president of ATTAC stated.
Referring to an interview that appeared at about the same time, on 19
December 2001, in _Le Nouvel Observateur_, she added: 'My position on the
subject is clearly stated there. I said that we must be non-aligned:
neither on the side of the United States, nor on the side of Bin Laden,
and that it's useless to add massacres to massacres.'
ATTAC stated Tuesday evening that 'it has complete confidence in Susan
George and in her position on the intervention in Afghanistan.' The
association 'has participated in demonstrations against the war. There
can be no ambiguity about its opposition to the strengthening of American
hegemony,' said representatives at its headquarters, adding that Ms George
would send a message explaining the matter to the Internet mailing list
used by its activists.
In reality high profits tend much more to raise the price of work than
high wages.
-- Adam Smith
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