From Hanoi Jane to Jihad Khan
Tuesday 02 August 2011, 05:45
Dallas Darling writes about Jane Fonda’s anti-war campaign which called for an end to the U.S. military occupation of Vietnam. He then compares Inspire’s Jihad Against Violence campaign and how successful Inspire’s endeavour could be.
Article by WorldNews.com Correspondent Dallas Darling.
By the time Jane Fonda, a famous Hollywood actress, started to tour the United States and question the U.S.-Vietnam War, she really never had a chance. American militarism and a perpetual war mentality had been so deeply embedded, so internalized by most Americans, that her fate would either be one of disgust and vilification, or a traitor and communist sympathizer.
Unlike First Lady Michelle Obama, who recently visited Hollywood and-during a $1,000-plate dinner-urged Tinsel Town actresses and actors to propagate the might of the U.S. military and to encourage support for troops fighting in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and many other theaters of war; Jane Fonda toured what was, and would be, the last bastions of anti-war activity.
In 1970, Jane Fonda visited university campuses calling for an end to the U.S. military occupation of Vietnam. Previously, she helped organize and raised funds for Vietnam Veterans Against the War. While dialoguing with soldiers about their upcoming deployments, she worked with returning veterans by giving them a voice in the media about their experiences in Vietnam.
Meanwhile, President Richard Nixon was forced to disclose on national television the secret U.S. invasion and bombing of Cambodia. His rationale, of course, was that American lives in Vietnam were endangered. Therefore the carpet bombings of Cambodia, and later Laos, which murdered tens of thousands of innocent people, constituted an unacceptable risk.
While poisoned insanity trickled out of the Oval Office and was swallowed by an unquestioning public, Vietnam veterans were offering a different cup of water, one that was real. During the Winter Soldier Investigation, veterans told of cutting off the right ear of everybody they killed to prove body counts, and of throwing C-rations at kids to split their heads wide open.(1)
They also spoke of numerous rapes and of killing anyone that they saw running away from American soldiers, since running was evidence of a Vietnamese working with the Viet Cong. In order to attain information, Veterans also spoke of torturing people, like pulling fingernails out of an old woman and pouring helicopter hydraulic fluid down kids throats.(2)
Vietnam veterans voiced deep regret over horrendous war crimes, such as massacring groups of Vietnamese civilians, cutting off their heads, and then placing them on stakes as a warning. Some wept, admitting they started to enjoy killing people a little bit more than they were supposed to. Others spoke of CIA agents cutting-up people and ripping their organs out.(3)
The year 1970 also witnessed the Kent State and Jackson State Massacres. At Kent State, National Guard troops fired at protesting students, killing four and wounding several more. Days later, a hail of gunfire is released into a black crowd of demonstrators at Jackson State who are protesting for equality and to end the war in Vietnam. Two are killed and dozens are wounded.
Vice President Spiro Agnew claimed the killings were “inevitable” and blamed them on student protesters, calling them “misfits,” “garbage,” and “parasites.” He then encourages all Americans to view Vietnam protesters as Nazi storm troopers or Ku Klux Klan members. When President Nixon hears of anti-war demonstrators being beaten, he finds it “very meaningful.”(4)
This was the context of Jane Fonda’s visit to Hanoi, Vietnam. The U.S.-led war against Vietnam had spread to Cambodia and Laos. It had also returned home to America. Still, to kill an “enemy of freedom,” as President Johnson referred to the Vietnamese, was costing a half-a-million dollars. Money that could have sent 3500 students to universities instead of off to war.
Jane Fonda finally raised awareness of indiscriminate bombing campaigns, which killed tens of thousands of civilians, and questioned if U.S. political and military leaders were war criminals. She met with American POW’s and brought back letters for family members. She was demonized in the press, though, for claiming they were not being systematically tortured.
She was also vilified and ostracized, later blacklisted, for believing that some military personnel were professional killers and careerists. Jane Fonda thought that according to the Geneva Conventions and international laws, some soldiers who participated in the killing of innocent civilians were war criminals. Regrettably, false allegations about her visit still persists to this day.
Maybe a British Muslim women’s group, which just launched a “jihad against violence,” will fare better than Jane Fonda and others who have tried to bring an end the madness of wars. Sara Khan, director of Inspire, wants to take back the term “jihad” from military extremists. She is concerned that Islam has become synonymous with all things violent and of repressing women.
Sara Khan is in good company, as she reveals how the sacred Qur’an uses the term jihad as an internal struggle to submit to God and to love others. She also believes jihad, or struggle, is about building bridges of peace and understanding, and that acts of violence should never be carried out in the name of Islam, let alone in the name of God.
While encouraging the British government to include more input from women, Sarah Khan is also refuting those who try to use the Qur’an to dominate, even abuse, women and children. Inspire is pressuring Muslim leaders to confront such domestic violence and to commit declaring that the concept of “jihad” is against violence and for peaceful coexistence and gender equality.
At the same time and with regards to the 20th and 21st centuries, very few predominantly Islamic nations have launched attacks or invasions. However, the United States has initiated dozens of major preemptive wars. It has committed over one-hundred military interventions, some supported by Britain. Both Britain and the U.S. might want to join Jihad Against Violence.
The Declaration of Jihad Against Violence begins with these words: “Violence is a human phenomenon that exists across diverse cultures and all communities. It remains an ever-present reality in the lives of millions of people, preventing entire societies from flourishing in religious, cultural, political, and economic spheres.”
“Terrorism, war, violent extremism and violence against women in particular, continue to devastate individual lives, families, and societies…Those affected by such violence often remain unheard. Now more than any other time, we as Muslim women must reclaim the mantle of cultural, intellectual and moral authority, declaring our opposition to violence.”
Does Sara Khan have a much better chance than Jane Fonda and other women in America did who also spoke and acted against violence and war? The answer might be yes, especially since Islamic nations are weary of defending their societies against imperial misadventures and military occupations, and since the nature of “jihad” is strictly peaceful and defensive.
And since Inspire and the Jihad Against Violence campaign was developed by Global Muslim Women’s Shura Council, which is a program of the American Society for Muslim Advancement, it might be something First Lady Michelle Obama and the United States might want to also consider and embrace. Perhaps even pursuing a jihad for peace.
After all, not only should people oppose violence carried out in the name of Islam, but also all kinds of violence carried out in the name of Christianity, Judaism, and any other religion, including Americanism.
Dallas Darling (darling@wn.com)
(Dallas Darling is the author of Politics 501: An A-Z Reading on Conscientious Political Thought and Action, Some Nations Above God: 52 Weekly Reflections On Modern-Day Imperialism, Militarism, And Consumerism in the Context of John’s Apocalyptic Vision, and The Other Side Of Christianity: Reflections on Faith, Politics, Spirituality, History, and Peace. He is a correspondent for www.worldnews.com. You can read more of Dallas’ writings at www.beverlydarling.com and wn.com//dallasdarling.)
(1) Smith, Michael K. Portraits Of Empire: Unmasking Imperial Illusions from the “American Century” to the “War on Terror”. Monroe, Maine: Common Courage Press, 2003., p. 161.
(2) Ibid., p. 162.
(3) Ibid., p. 163.
(4) Ibid., p. 165, 166.
Links:
- Read the article at: http://article.wn.com/view/2011/07/17/From_Hanoi_Jane_to_Jihad_Khan/
