INFORMATION IS NOT ENOUGH 9/11 ACTIVISTS MUST SHOW COURAGE

I'll take an optimistic stand, but not a determinist stance. We do have a real chance to bring the truth of 9/11 into the full light of day.

One reason we shouldn't count our chickens before they hatch is because there's political AND spiritual value in doing everything one can to expose the truth about 9/11.

Why is courage so important?

Those who attack us and dismiss our questions offhandedly are AFRAID TO LOOK AT THE ISSUE.

Those who haven't taken a stand are AFRAID TO LOOK AT THE ISSUE.

Those who are actually complicit in the crime know very well why they should be AFRAID TO LOOK AT THE ISSUES PUBLICLY.

BECAUSE COURAGE IS THE MAIN THING OUR ADVERSARIES LACK.

One is nonviolent civil disobedience. One of the beauties of nonviolence is that you can be as extreme as you want, BECAUSE YOU ARE THE ONE MAKING THE SACRIFICE. Your adversary is not asked to make the sacrifice. The activist is. This is how you prove yourself to those on the sidelines. You can't create collateral damage if you don't create any damage.

On Monday, November 13th, I will face a judge for the trespass charge from my leafletting at an early showing of Oliver Stone's movie "World Trade Center". I will be presenting the Gandhian plea, "If you believe in what you're doing, give me your stiffest sentence. If you don't, resign." (details at 911courage.org)

The other is whistleblower leafleting. There are thousands of federal civil servants who work closely with the machinery of power and who are NOT part of the cabal. We at 911courage.org have been leafleting the DOJ, the FBI, and State. This requires greater courage than civil disobedience. Those who have something to hide should be much more concerned about whistleblower leafletting than civil disobedience. One moment handing out a leaflet could eventually become the proverbial straw that breaks the camel's back for some GS-14 potential whistleblower. Civil servants are not known for their courage. In fact, they're known for the opposite. However, Edmonds, Springmann, Shaffer, Chavez and corporate whistleblowers Ryan and Grove may have set in motion something that could actually become a juggernaut.

IF YOU WILL OPEN YOUR LIFE TO FULL SCRUTINY BY THE NATIONAL SECURITY APARATUS, YOU WILL BE SETTING A COURAGEOUS EXAMPLE FOR THOSE EVEN CLOSER TO THE EVIL.

My friend Gabriel Day has suggested that 9/11 activists do a mass whistleblower leafletting on Friday March 16, the day before the United for Peace and Justice antiwar rally in DC on Saturday March 17. I like it.

David Slesinger dslesinger@alum.mit.edu, (240) 221-3293, www.911courage.org