American Views Abroad


Saturday, August 13, 2005
 
Is this the August of discontent that proves to be the turning point ---- the melt down of public apathy or timidity at speaking out? Page three of today's IHT has a good sized photo of anti-war protesters near Bush's ranch who are there to show their solidarity with Cindy Sheehan. The headline reads Bush gets first look at antiwar vigil in Texas. In a nutshell on his way to a Republican fund-raiser (ever wonder how many attending that fund-raiser - or any other - has any family member, friend or acquaintance serving in Iraq????), he passed hundreds of small white crosses along the side of the road, each hand-painted with the name of the fallen soldier. One of Germany's leading newspapers, the FAZ, had an interview with Philip Roth last Sunday. When asked to comment on why compared to the Vietnam War there is little protest heard from the US this time around, he mentioned how the middle class is not touched by this war. There is no draft which confronts families up close to the life and death issues of war, no photos of the fallen returning home and little media attention being paid to a war too far away. On the other hand, the LATimes covered in detail the many military funerals which took place in Ohio this past week and in these reports there was real pain, sorrow and at times bitterness about why. There was no escaping a feeling of being trapped between mourning and honoring and, depending on personal political views, wanting to cry out why. Only you can't so easily because you want to mourn and honor.

At the 50th anniversary of the end of WW II, German public TV did an evening devoted to all phases of the war. The horrific fire bombings of Hamburg were covered by having a mother and daughter recall what they experienced. After the actual bombing but before the torturous fireballs started which is how most civilians sitting at home lost their lives, they tried to escape their cellar. The building's nazi watchdog refused to let them leave under plenty of death. They fled not knowing which to fear most, the nazi neighbor or the horror around them. Even the water in the channel which they dived into to survive was on fire. Did they hate the British for doing this they were asked? Surprisingly, their answer was no.

Black, White, Good, Evil, with us or against us. Good friends visited us today. She is Australian, but living here in Germany and her husband is German with a PhD from MIT. They married in Boston. He often travels to the US. He was attending a conference in Austin, Texas where he encountered graffiti on street after street that proclaimed Bush Lied. In Texas, he said and there it was. Obviously it's become a trend. American Graffiti: Sign of the Times is an interesting read at
www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0812-01.htm.

Another interesting read is an American in Japan doing his best at http://aliberaldose.blogspot.com/.

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