Collin Baber, Seoul, Korea
March 22, 2003
Dear Citizens and Residents of Korea:
People are being bombed to death in Iraq as this letter is being written. Young and old, fathers, mothers and even infants are having fire dropped on them and being blown to pieces. After years of sanctions that starved the innocent to death and strengthened the grip of their brutal tyrant, the newborn babies of Iraq are now being baptized in flames.
As this extreme, inhuman military violence unfolds before my eyes, I cannot remain silent. To do so would be to aid and abet the true enemy of people everywhere: War.
Regardless of your views of who is to blame, is war not a form of terror by another name? The rules are defined, but death is being delivered by more advanced and efficient machines. Saddam could not gas and kill his people at the scale the U.S. and the "Coalition" are doing so today. "Shock and Awe" - a pre-meditated 9-11? Only the historians will define it.
What would Gandhi do?
He would find a non-violent method to get the point across. He once made salt when it was illegal to do so under colonial law. By his actions and the strict use of non-violence, he liberated the Indian subcontinent from Foreign imperial oppression and domination.
Just as Gandhi used salt, so can you. Salt is Salary. Salary is the money you earn in exchange for your labor. Use the power of consumer free-choice.
Want real justice? Boycott those who bomb!
Those countries who are dropping bombs and killing people listen not to your voices in the street, but to money their corporations donate to their political campaigns and money that you spend on products of their franchised operations.
Give them the silent treatment.
As from this point forward I am applying my own personal economic sanctions on the main mechanized aggressors of the current Baghdad firestorm: Great Britain and my home country, the United States. I can't contribute financially to this slaughter and maintain my conscience.
I will fly a Canadian plane to North America next trip, not an American one. Canada said no to this war and I will reward them accordingly. Buying a car or planning to send your child to College overseas? Pharmaceuticals, aircraft, banking and fast food? Genetically-modified crops? Software? Cigarettes? Government bonds? It is my choice where to spend what little money I have in this vibrant Korean democracy of free people and a free-market economy - and the choice is yours too.
No salt from me.
Pray for peaceful settlement.