It does seem to be a long way off, doesn't it? In my books and seminars I have mentioned that I have been taught by John-Roger that Community Peace leads to World Peace and that Individual Peace leads to Community Peace. "Peace is not a state of rest. It is an energy that, in order to be kept alive, must be constantly expressed. Peace is not expressed aggressively, but in a gentle, sharing way that gives the other person room for individual expression." From "Loving Each Day for Peacemakers, Choosing Peace Every Day" sent in an e-mail from John-Roger. I really do believe that we, the whole world, can get there and at the same time I believe that it is necessary to defend our freedom.

It seems appropriate to write about this topic now, especially after 911 and 1012.  I was interviewed by Tony Stevens of the Sydney Morning Herald who is to have an article published on Saturday 26th October about "Why has there been a different response by Australians after Bali when compared to the Americans after New York?"  It will be an interesting article I'm sure.

The Australian sombre mood was epitomised by the wonderful words used in the service at Parliament House yesterday when words like "express our loving" and "19 million Australians have a place in their heart for all those who have lost loved ones".

Australia's grieving is being well expressed.  This is a time for all those who have lost loved ones to be surrounded by supportive friends and loved ones.  Keep talking, reminiscing, crying and laughing about the good memories.  Express all thoughts.  Don't suppress anything.  Be angry, have revengeful thoughts - it's all part of getting through the grief.  Eventually acceptance and co-operation with what has happened will flow.  Love and forgiveness can become paramount.  This leads to inner peace.

Does this mean to forget about the perpetration?  Not on your life!  They must be prevented from doing it again, brought to justice and stopped from working towards destroying our freedom.  Our Prime Minister said it well when he said "We'll get the bastards".

I received an "Author Unknown" poem which expresses many of our thoughts.  I am going to repeat it below and be WARNED - the language is coarse, so please do not read it if you are offended by coarse language.  Take responsibility for yourself.  (I think the poem has every hallmark of being written by a serviceman - I used language like this when I was in the army).

The Aussie Spirit

You hurt us bombing Bali, but we can take the pain,
But if you think you'll beat us, you can think a-bloody-gain
We battled at Gallipoli and we fought the bloody Hun
Of all the arseholes we've had to face, you're just another one

You won't get your hands dirty, you won't fire a gun
Whenever danger threatens you just pack your gear and run
You brainwash innocent children to do your evil deeds
Careful not to let them know just where it really leads

You get them to believe all your bigotry and lying
Until they cannot see that there's no glory in their dying
Now we'd like to pose a question, answer if you can
Where does your holy book tell you to kill your fellow man?

Now listen hard and listen well, we're giving you the word
You're never gonna beat us, you spineless bloody turds
You'd never face us personally, you haven't got the guts
You know that if you ever did we'd have your bloody nuts

Our spirit is unbroken, and our heads are still unbowed
We sure as hell aren't scared of you and your gutless crowd
So get your act together - you'll never win because
What you're really up against is the spirit that is OZ.

A Few Words About 911

It's impossible to express everything I think about this shocking tragedy (or the tragedy in Bali) in under 10,000 words. Definitely action needs to be taken and Al Queda needs to be stopped. In doing this we need to be careful that one "terror" is not replaced with another "terror". Our governments need to tell us the truth.

The rhetoric expressed by President Bush on going into Iraq alone has now been replaced with acting with United Nations. Isn't that a wonderful miracle? Saddam Hussein is a monster and needs to comply with the UN resolutions! What about the outstanding resolutions of UN in that terribly vexed question of Israel and the Palestinians

I received an article recently written by an American comedian, Woody Harrelson, which was published in the English newspaper "The Guardian" on 17th October 2002. It's worth a read and has some really positive sentiments. Here it is.

Guardian Newspaper Article

I'm an American tired of American lies

http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,3604,813189,00.html?

Woody Harrelson - Thursday October 17, 2002 - The Guardian, UK

The man who drives me to and from work is named Woody too. A relief to me, as it minimizes the chance of my forgetting his name. I call him Woodman and he calls me Wood. He has become my best friend here, even though he's upset that I have quit drinking beer. He's smart, funny, and there's nothing he hasn't seen in 33 years behind the wheel of his black cab. He drove me for a while before I felt confident he liked me; he doesn't like people easily, especially if they have a rap for busting up black cabs.

Woodman and I agree about a lot of things, but one thing we can never agree about is Iraq. He thinks the only language Saddam understands is brute force. I don't believe we should be bombing cities in our quest for one man.

We've killed a million Iraqis since the start of the Gulf war - mostly by blocking humanitarian aid. Let's stop now. Thankfully, most of the Brits I talk to about the war are closer to me than to Woodman. Only your prime minister doesn't seem to have noticed.

I have been here three months doing a play in the West End. I am having the time of my life. I love England, the people, the parks, the theatre. The play is great and the audiences have been a dream. Probably I should just relax, be happy and talk about the weather, but this war is under my skin - it affects my sleep.

I remember playing basketball with an Iraqi in the late 80s while Iran and Iraq were at war. I didn't know at the time that the US and Britain were supplying weapons to both sides. I asked why they were always at war with each other and he said something that stayed with me: "If it were up to the people, there would be peace. It's the governments that create war."  And now my government is creating its second war in less than a year. No; war requires two combatants, so I should say "its second bombing campaign".

I went to the White House when Harvey Weinstein was showing Clinton the movie "Welcome to Sarejevo", which I was in.  I got a few moments alone with Clinton.  Saddam throwing out the weapons inspectors was all over the news and I asked what he was going to do. His answer was very revealing. He said: "Everybody is telling me to bomb him. All the military are saying, 'You gotta bomb him.' But if even one innocent person died, I couldn't bear it."

And I looked in his eyes and I believed him. Little did I know he was blocking humanitarian aid at the time, allowing the deaths of thousands of innocent people.

I am a father, and no amount of propaganda can convince me that half a million dead children is acceptable "collateral damage". The fact is that Saddam Hussein was our boy. The CIA helped him to power, as they did the Shah of Iran and Noriega and Marcos and the Taliban and countless other brutal tyrants. The fact is that George Bush Sr continued to supply nerve gas and technology to Saddam even after he used it on Iran and then the Kurds in Iraq. While the Amnesty International report listing countless Saddam atrocities, including gassing and torturing Kurds, was sitting on his desk, Bush Sr pushed through a $2bn "agricultural" loan and Thatcher gave hundreds of millions in export credit to Saddam. The elder Bush then had the audacity to quote the Amnesty reports to garner support for his oil war.

A decade later, Shrub follows the same line: "We have no quarrel with the Iraqi people."  I'm sure half a million Iraqi parents are scratching their heads over that. I'm an American tired of lies. And with our government, it's mostly lies.

The history taught in our schools is scandalous. We grew up believing that Columbus actually discovered America. We still celebrate Columbus Day. Columbus was after one thing only - gold. As the natives were showering him with gifts and kindness, he wrote in his diary, "They do not bear arms ... They have no iron ... With 50 men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want." Columbus is the perfect symbol of US foreign policy to this day.

This is a racist and imperialist war. The warmongers who stole the White House (you call them "hawks", but I would never disparage such a fine bird) have hijacked a nation's grief and turned it into a perpetual war on any non-white country they choose to describe as terrorist.

To the men in Washington, the world is just a giant Monopoly board. Oddly enough, Americans generally know how the government works. The politicians do everything they can for the people - the people who put them in power.

The giant industries that are polluting our planet as well as violating human rights worldwide are the ones nearest and dearest to the hearts of American politicians.

But in wartime people lose their senses. There are flags and yellow ribbons and posters and every media outlet is beating the war drum and even sensible people can hear nothing else. In the US, God forbid you should suggest the war is unjust or that dropping cluster bombs from 30,000ft on a city is a cowardly act. When TV satirist Bill Maher made some dissenting remarks about the bombing of Afghanistan, Disney pulled the plug on him. In a country that lauds its freedom of speech, a word of dissent can cost you your job.

I read in a paper here about a woman who held out the part of her taxes that would go to the war effort. Something like 17%. I like that idea, though in the US it would have to be more like 50%. If you consider money as a form of energy, then we see half our taxes and half the US government's energy focused on war and weapons of mass destruction. Over the past 30 years, this amounts to more than ten trillion dollars. Imagine that money going to preserving rainforest or contributing to a sustainable economy (as opposed to the dinosaur tit we are currently in the process of sucking dry).

I give in to Woodman, and we stop for a few beers. He asks me what I'd do in Bush's shoes. Easy: I'd honour Kyoto. Join the world court. I'd stop subsidising earth rapers like Monsanto, Dupont and Exxon. I'd shut down the nuclear power plants. So I already have $200bn saved from corporate welfare. I'd save another $100bn by stopping the war on non-corporate drugs. And I'd cut the defence budget in half so they'd have to get by on a measly $200bn a year. I've already saved half a trillion bucks by saying no to polluters and warmongers.

Then I'd give $300bn back to the taxpayers. I'd take the rest and pay the people teaching our children what they deserve. I'd put $100bn into alternative fuels and renewable energy. I'd revive the Chemurgy movement, which made the farmer the root of the economy, and make paper and fuel from wheat straw, rice straw and hemp. Not only would I attend, I'd sponsor the next Earth Summit. And, of course, I'd give myself a fat raise.

Woodman drops me at home and I ask if he likes my ideas. He offers a reluctant "yes". As he pulls away he yells out, "But I'd never vote for a man who can't handle a few pints at the end of the day!"

So, what can each of us do? Work (and it is work) towards Individual Peace, which leads to Community Peace which leads to World Peace.