Lead article

The danger we face today is that of a false choice between Bush's war on Afghanistan and Islamic fundamentalism. It could not only derail the modest beginnings we have seen from the new anti-globalization demonstrations since Seattle, but also launch a new era of reaction worldwide. Reactionary religious ideology of any kind is a counterrevolutionary force that needs to always be combatted, even when it seems to oppose global imperialism.

Just as philosophy and revolution are inseparable, so are thought and action from organization, for the organization of thought determines organizational life even as the concept of social revolution determines the final confrontation with exploitative capitalism and its barbaric wars at home and abroad.

Editorial

All the inhuman laws and orders that went into the creation of the prison-industrial complex did absolutely nothing to prevent the carnage of Sept. 11. No extension of its clamp down logic can successfully protect the American people from further acts of terrorism, whether from bin Ladin-style fanatics or from homegrown new-Nazis who are their admirers.

In South Asia, Islamic fundamentalism and Hindu fundamentalism are symbiotic. While they claim to oppose one another, in reality they are united in the attempt to erase and suppress the rich, diverse and multidimensional histories and cultures of South Asia.

Bush and bin Laden claim to have different philosophies, but they use the same language. One tries to go back to the past by using the name of Islam, a retreat also experienced first-hand by those who toppled the Shah of Iran who was replaced by theocratic rulers. The other uses rhetoric of justice and freedom. The real danger is not what they are doing against each other, but that they are trying to involve all of humanity in their dirty war.

African Americans have carried on a ceaseless struggle against racism and oppression in this country. It has been a life and death struggle both in peacetime and in wartime.

"You either had to succumb to the dehumanizing effect of prison or rise above it. I might be in prison but I never let prison be in me." These were the words of recently freed a political prisoner, former Black Panther, and member of the Angola 3 who spoke at a News & Letters meeting in Chicago on Oct. 22.

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