“Censorship reflects society’s lack of confidence in itself. It is a hallmark of an authoritarian regime. “
~ Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart
“Restriction on free thought and free speech is the most dangerous of all subversions. It is the one un-American act that could most easily defeat us.”
~ William O. Douglas
“All censorships exist to prevent any one from challenging current conceptions and existing institutions. All progress is initiated by challenging current conceptions, and executed by supplanting existing institutions. Consequently the first condition of progress is the removal of censorships. ”
~ George Bernard Shaw
TO: William J. Bennett, AVOT
FR: John Bottoms, Chairman AVOI
RE: Americans for Victory Over Intimidation (AVOI), a project of EMPEROR.org
DATE: March 23, 2002
Mr. Bennett chairs the newly-formed “Americans for Victory Over Terrorism” (AVOT), which recently published an open letter describing the rationale and goals for their organization. In response to AVOT's strong-arm tactics of intimidation, I hereby call into being “Americans for Victory Over Intimidation” (AVOI)
Background
The American government has always attempted to suppress dissent during times of war. During the Civil War, Lincoln illegally detained thousands of journalists who dared to speak out against his war on the Confederacy. During World War I, Woodrow Wilson imprisoned public opponents, and even had the US Post Office deny service to newspapers that didn't tow the party line. The Cold War is famous for government intimidation of any who suggested that Joseph McCarthy and his crowd were using the threat of communism as a tool to grab power.
During each of these periods, Americans endured the exponential growth of The State at the expense of their freedom, security and well-being. In each case, wealth and power was transferred from private, free-market hands to those interlocked with authority and violence, exemplified by the growth of the Military Industrial Complex since World War II.
But always, vocal groups of writers, scholars and journalists have refused to be intimidated by heavy-handed blackmail and extortion. It took great courage and intellectual firepower to provide the public with much-needed information and inspiration during previous crises, and our current war will require nothing less.
Rationale
The threat to our freedom by the government in Washington and its hired intimidators at AVOT knows no bounds and is targeted directly at our lives and our institutions, starting with the 1st Amendment of the Constitution. They are using the terror attacks of 9/11, which were brought upon us by decades of arrogance and foreign policy mismanagement, as an excuse to pursue their bankrupt ideology of empire and censorship. We freedom-writers “are simply in the way” and a major annoyance as we expose their plans for defacto world conquest. Mr. Bennett is preparing for a long war, but so are we.
Public support for the war effort has been high because it was seen as an effort to wipe out a band of criminals which had murdered thousands of innocent Americans. But as mission creep takes over and US forces are sent on far-flung duty in countries which are no real threat to the American homeland, Mr. Bennett fears that support may wane as Americans figure out that these wars only weaken our nation. He knows that public opinion must be continually reinforced, and that dissent will undermine his objectives. He even tries to manipulate us with fear, using the incredible claim that anything less than unconditional support for the government's wars will bring about more attacks against America. Quite the contrary, it is their present and future wars which make us targets of renewed terrorism.
Mr. Bennett makes clear that he considers dissent an internal threat to the US, equal in importance to those who would violently attack America; that dissenters are promulgating their “blame America first” ideology. In fact, ours is a “blame government first” attitude, and history as well as current events backs up our position that The State is at the heart of all of today's public crises. Only when government ceases its murderous overseas military adventures will terrorists will lose interest in attacking us. It is worth noting that it is only Americans like Mr. Bennett who are still pushing the “they hate us because we're free” line. Muslims, and others worldwide, invariably condemn US foreign policy.
Mr. Bennett's AVOT hopes to intimidate into silence those who don't buy the party line, or if necessary “eradicate” them and their dangerous ideologies. We at AVOI refuse to be intimidated. Our goal is to eradicate Mr. Bennett's dangerous and self-defeating ideology of empire, an ideology which got us into this mess and is now threatening to make it worse.
We must devote attention to the definition and shape of our victory in the ongoing battle against intimidation and censorship. In the long run, fortitude or hesitation about our principles will determine victory or defeat. We shall work to fortify public opinion by argument and use of mass communication.
Ongoing Activities
AVOI will:
- educate the public about the nature and threat of government intimidation and the 1st Amendment of the US Constitution;
- educate the public about the threat of radical empire-building ideologies;
- help articulate true American ideals in schools and on campuses;
- expose government propaganda and disseminate the truth; and
- take to task those groups and individuals who fundamentally misunderstand the nature of the conflict we are facing.
March 26, 2002
