Christopher Hedges is a journalist and author specializing in American and Middle Eastern politics. He has spent nearly twenty years as a foreign correspondent in the Middle East, Central America, Africa and the Balkans and has reported for The Christian Science Monitor, National Public Radio, The Dallas Morning News, and the New York Times. In 2002 Christopher Hedges received the Amnesty International Global Award for Human Rights Journalism and was part of a team that won the Pulitzer Prize for the New York Times' coverage of global terrorism. He has written several books including, War is a Force that Gives Us Meaning and American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America.
I was in Prague in November 1989 and covered the massive, nonviolent resistance as a newspaper reporter that ended the communist reign. The great tradition of Czech defiance from the heroic stand the Czechs took in 1968 to the courage I witnessed during the Velvet Revolution is on display again, led by Jan Tamas and Jan Bednar. They ask for nothing more than a voice in their own affairs, the right of the Czech people to determine their future, in short, the basic freedoms of a democratic state. I stand with them in their struggle and send my support and encouragement and thanks. These missiles, as they know, will not make Czechs or Americans or anyone else safer. These missiles are part of the vast American imperial project, designed to project American power outwards.
Those who seek to build missile systems in the Czech Republic do not seek cooperation between states or work to strengthen international diplomacy. George Bush's administration has shredded, violated or absented America from its obligations under international law. He has refused to sign the Kyoto Protocol, backed out of the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, tried to kill the International Criminal Court, walked out on negotiations on chemical and biological weapons and defied the Geneva Convention and human rights law in the treatment of detainees. Most egregiously, he launched an illegal war in Iraq based on fabricated evidence we now know had been discredited even before it was made public.
The president is guilty, in short, of what in legal circles is known as the "crime of aggression." And if we as citizens, here and abroad, do not hold him and the U.S. government accountable for these crimes, if we do not actively defy these efforts to build a world that speaks only in the language of violence, we will be complicit in the codification of a new world order, one that will have terrifying consequences. For a world without treaties, statutes and laws is a world where any nation, from a rogue nuclear state to a great imperial power, will be able to invoke its domestic laws to annul its obligations to others. This new order will undo five decades of international cooperation. It will thrust us into a Hobbesian nightmare. A rule-based world matters. All peoples must be free to determine their own destiny, to free themselves from the yoke of oppression, whether that comes in the form of a ruthless communist party, a Soviet occupation or the establishment of the American war machine on Czech soil. If we demolish the fragile and delicate international order, if we permit the United States to create a world where diplomacy, broad cooperation, law and the democratic right of self-determination are worthless, if we allow these international legal systems and democratic expressions to unravel, we will further erode the possibility of cooperation between nation-states and push the world closer to the bullying, tyranny and perpetual war so many great Czech citizens have sacrificed and fought so hard to defy.
Jan Tamas and Jan Bednar are great Czech patriots. I wish a few more of the citizens in my own country had their fortitude and courage.
Chris Hedges
I would like to express my strong support, and great admiration, for the two brave Czech humanists, Jan Tamas and Jan Bednar, who have initiated a hunger strike in protest against the plans to extend the US "missile defense" system to the Czech Republic, over the objections of the large majority of the population. I place the words "missile defense" in quotes because it is understood by strategic analysts on all sides that "missile defense," if at all feasible, is an offensive weapon. In the words of the major Pentagon-affiliated research agency, the Rand Corporation, it is "not simply a shield but an enabler of U.S. action." Endorsing a common understanding, the prominent strategic analyst Lawrence Kaplan writes that "missile defense is about preserving America's ability to wield power abroad. It's not about defense. It's about offense. And that's exactly why we need it." It is also understood by US analysts that if the system is emplaced in Eastern Europe, it is a potentially serious threat to the Russian deterrent, so that Russia will react, as it already has begun to do, by expanding its own offensive military capacity. These perfectly predictable developments significantly increase the threat of terminal nuclear war. For such reasons, the honorable and courageous actions of Jan Tamas and Jan Bednar will, I hope, encourage others to ensure that a referendum is held and that these very threatening developments will be terminated.
Below is a statement of support for the hunger strikers from Adam Hochschild. Hochschild, a writer and a founding editor of Mother Jones, is the author of several books including The Mirror at Midnight: A South African Journey, The Unquiet Ghost: Russians Remember Stalin, and Bury the Chains: Prophets and Rebels in the Fight to Free an Empire's Slaves.
"I send the warmest possible greetings to our Czech friends who are hunger- striking. With the Cold War officially over, we are all too accustomed to assuming that nuclear tensions between East and West are as well. They are not. Too many countries, above all the U.S. and Russia, are still bristling with nuclear weapons, and even new installations that are supposedly for "defense" purposes increase tension and the possibilities of war without giving us any real defense. It is the job of citizens everywhere to resist such moves. Jan Tamas and Jan Bednar have set an example for us all, and I salute them."
Forty years ago Prague Spring gave the world the idea of "socialism with a human face," until its hopes were crushed by Soviet tanks. One of the student rebels of the time, Jan Palak, burned himself to death to protest the Soviet invasion. Today two other Jans, Jan Tamas and Jan Bednar, are risking their lives in a hunger strike to protest the incursion of another foreign power, the United States, whose insistence on basing its "Space Shield" on Czech territory not only violates national and popular sovereignty--since the Czech people were not consulted and most of them oppose it--but is a starting signal in the race to militarize space. US citizens need to give all the support we can to the efforts of these 21st century dissidents to resist the pressures of the US military juggernaut and demand accountability from their own government. In fact, we can profit from their example.
Meredith Tax is the author of Rivington Street, among other books, and President of Women's WORLD, a global free speech network of feminist writers. Email: wworld@igc.org, http://www.wworld.org
Dear Jan Tamas and Jan Bednar:
Back in 1968, your people were a beacon for a world thirsty for justice and liberty. And though your Prague Spring was inspired by deep social movements, it always started with individuals who stood up for their beliefs, who predicted the future merely by daring to demand a voice in the present. Forty years later, there you are, on your hunger strike, asking for something as simple as a referendum, so that the citizens of your republic can opt for peace and non-violence rather than war and aggression. I celebrate your quiet heroism, the same sort of resistance which brought down the dictatorship of Pinochet in Chile. You have my enduring admiration. May there be many Prague Springs and Chilean Springs and a Spring as well in the United States. I can only pray that your voices and bodies will be heard.
In solidarity,
Ariel Dorfman
Ariel Dorfman (born May 6, 1942 Buenos Aires) is a Chilean novelist, playwright, essayist, academic, and human rights activist. His writings include Exorcising Terror: The Incredible Unending Trial of General Augusto Pinochet; Widows: A Novel; his most famous play, Death and the Maiden, describes the encounter of a former torture victim with the man she believed tortured her; it was made into a film in 1994 by Roman Polanski starring Sigourney Weaver and Ben Kingsley.
Dorfman, who is Jewish, was born in Argentina but his family moved to the United States shortly after his birth, and then moved to Chile in 1954. He attended and was later a professor at the University of Chile and adopted Chilean Citizenship in 1967.
From 1970 to 1973, Dorfman was part of the administration of president Salvador Allende. He was forced into exile following the military coup in which General Augusto Pinochet came to power.
Since 1985 he has taught at Duke University, where he is currently Walter Hines Page Research Professor of Literature and Professor of Latin American Studies.
Since the restoration of democracy in Chile (1990), he divides his time between Santiago and the United States.
Dorfman's work often deals with the horrors of tyranny and, in later works, the trials of exile.
Dorfman, a critic of Pinochet, has written extensively about the general's extradition case for the Spanish newspaper El Paİs and other publications.
I would like to send my strong support to Jan Tamas and Jan Bednar for their principled and courageous action in defending democracy and the will of the Czech people not to install a US military base with an offensive space weapon system on Czech territory. With Russia and China leading an initiative for the last five years in the UN General Assembly to ban all weapons in space, and with every country in the world having voted for their draft space ban treaty in 2008, except the United States which voted against it as the only country in the world (and Israel which abstained) it is insane for the Czech Republic to take this provocative action against Russia by basing offensive missiles so near to the Russian border. It would be far better to work for a missile ban treaty and support the ban on weapons in space, of which missile "defense" is an integrated component to enable the US to dominate the planet from the heavens above.
Alice Slater
Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, NY
I am writing to express my total support and admiration for your protest against the US effort to install a military base in the Czech Republic against the wishes of the majority of the Czech people. By acting against an increased danger of nuclear war, you are acting on behalf of all humanity.
Prof. Nancy Holmstrom
Hi
As an Irish citizen, aware of the brave actions of Bobby Sands and the other hunger strikers in their brave resistance to the UK imperial government, I pass Jan Tamas and Jan Bednar all my support and best wishes. Your actions are inspiring. Please keep up the good work. I am with you spiritually.
John Rooney
john.rooney@zen.co.uk
Please convey my support and admiration to Jan Tamas and Jan Bednar for their magnificent action against U.S. militarism. Beyond the importance of their sacrifice for resistance to the "space shield" project on Czech territory, their engagement is a vibrant statement on the need to defend democratic institutions against excesses of the "war on terror". May their hunger strike awaken the conscience of citizens in both countries.
Best regards,
Dennis Clagett
Translator, Switzerland
Dear Jan Tomas and Jan Bednar:
I would like to convey my support for your brave nonviolent resistance to the proposed U.S. radar installation in the Czech Republic and your insistence that a national discussion and referendum on the issue be held.
Above my desk is a black and white photo of Wenceslas Square in 1989, full of students and lit candles. Next to it is a picture of my friends Wally and Juanita Nelson -- deeply committed pacifists and pioneer practitioners in non-violent resistance to injustice, aggression and war. Your brave actions remain true to their legacy of non-violent resistance from below. Be assured that activists in the Twin Cities are engaged in opposition to new US bases in Central and Eastern Europe.
Thank you both.
Gail Daneker
St. Paul, MN
Gail Daneker is a peace, environmental and justice activist who is based in St. Paul, MN. She is co-editor with Charles Geisler of Property and Values: Alternatives to Public and Private Ownership. Gail was formerly a co-director of the Campaign for Peace and Democracy.
I send heartfelt greetings and thanks to two Czech patriots - Jan Tamas and Jan Bednar. Their courageous hunger strike inspires us, proving once again the power of nonviolent action as a force for social change. At risk to their own health, they have chosen to say "no" to U.S. imperialism, nuclear proliferation, and threats to Czech sovereignty. The peace activists at Friends for a Non-Violent World stand with them, insisting that the U.S. Government honor the will of the Czech people, more than two thirds of whom have already rejected the installation of a U.S. military base on their soil. The Czech people must be allowed to decide by referendum whether or not they want to become part of the U.S. National Missile Defense project.
The U.S. Government represents the greatest threat to nuclear non-proliferation. Through the Reliable Replacement Warhead and National Missile Defense projects, the U.S. seeks once again to stockpile weapons of mass destruction while expecting other nations to give up the push for their own nuclear weapons. This hypocrisy must end. Through their hunger strike, Jan Tamas and Jan Bednar refuse to accept that hypocrisy, providing a powerful example of principled, nonviolent action. I wish their efforts all success.
Matt Hunter
Executive Director, Friends for a Non-Violent World
To Jan Tamas and Jan Bednar
I greet your courageous gesture in support of authentic peace and freedom in the European continent.I wish you the greatest success in your efforts!
Solidarity greetings from
Samuel Farber
Professor Emeritus
Political Science
Brooklyn College of the City University of New York
Dear Friends, Jan Bednar and Jan Tamas,
Yesterday I received an E-mail from Joanne Landy (igc.org) about your hunger strike against planed US military Radar Base in Czech Republic. First of all I should emphasis that I fully support your action. Still I have read that the health condition of Jan Bednar is deteriorating. As someone who has achieved many hunger strikes and as a physician I recommend that he does not continue his hunger strike. On the other hand I myself will begin my hunger strike at 00:00 hour tonight (beginning of 29.5.08) and will continue until our success or any other decision of all who join this hunger strike. I have written most of my experiences in this issue in hambastegi weblog unfortunately in this case all in persian. I hope that you can find somebody who can read persian and translate all these experiences to you. Following is the weblog address.
www.hambastegi83.blogspot.com
I am 51 years old and my Weight is 79 Kg. at the time being.
As a teenager I have been a peace activist, but in the last two decades, I know myself more as a human rights defender. I had my first hunger Strike with a group of other exil iranians, from 22nd to 31st of July 1987 to support the hungerstrike of political prisoners in Iran. After one and half year we heard about execution of about 5000 prisoners (4485 names are known till now) and as a protest another hunger strike from 7th to 12th Dec. 1988 was organised in which I took part. However in the last 5 years I have often joined the other human rights defenders and political prisoners in Iran who has achieved hunger strike as a non-violence struggle for their rights. My last hunger strike that continued 33 days was for a fair and free election in Iran and against grave human rights violations in this country. I have earned my MD degree in Tehran in 1982 and live in Austria since 1984.
At the time being, I work as a general practitioner in Vienna, Austria.
Dr. Hassan Nayeb Hashem
Cellphone: +43 69919473660