May the Level-headed Prevail, Right Takes Precedence over Revenge!

by Peter Mattmann, Luzern

Hopefully the right arm of America raised in revenge can still be held in check. The despicable death of so many innocent people from all races and religions cannot simply be compensated for by the death of innocent people in other parts of the world. The terrible act of terrorism is also an expression of the general disrespect for international law which has so prevailed in the last decade. Compliance with the principle ‘Right Takes Precedence Over Power’, which was ignored by the terrorists, can only be demanded if one adheres to it oneself. More than ever, since the recently conjured up vision of the ‘civilised world’, it is essential that the necessary condemnation and punishment of those behind the perpetrators must take place by implementing the law and proof of guilt and not the Old Testament. For this reason the way that media and politicians have been keen to prejudge certain people has been quite remarkable. All we can be certain of is the atrocity as it was presented to the world in a TV campaign and its consequences. Every other ‘piece of evidence’ about those who committed the act come from secret service circles. The truthfulness of this evidence is not something which can be examined by politicians and people anywhere in the world. At the moment, doubt is our most important virtue, above all because similar to the Kosovo war various essential questions and inconsistencies remain unanswered:

- Who controls the best secret services in the world which profess not to have known anything about the crime, even though within two days they were able to present lists of names and pictures of the offenders whose corpses will never be identified? (Unless one believes that the hijackers honestly put their correct names on the passenger list).

- Who has an interest in wanting, within the space of two days, to mobilise the whole world against the Islamic and Arab countries and peoples and in forcing the whole world to close ranks with the USA and Israel?

- Who can prove that the pending U.S. military campaign comes in answer to the dreadful crime, and not that the act of terrorism and its presentation in the media was the planned preparation to the campaign?

- Why is intervention in the region south of oil-rich Central Asia (Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran) being considered although almost all the experts regard this as senseless and ineffective counterterrorism?

Since the crime was committed in the obscurity surrounding terrorism and secret services, confirmed answers will probably never be provided to these questions. However, even without knowing an answer, the tasks which face us in the future are only too clear. The roots of terrorism will only wither when the desperate conditions of humans in many regions of the world improve, when the dignity and value of all cultures and communities are respected, and when all countries and peoples refrain from power politics and the striving for supremacy over others, and cease to use war and violence.

If we want to prevent further horror, what is called for now is a more democratic and just world.

Switzerland would do well to retain its neutrality, which is based on the principles of right taking precedence over power, the renunciation of wars of aggression, any participation in power politics and interference in foreign affairs. Given the present poor state of the information concerning those responsible for the terror in the USA, opening up Swiss air space would be tantamount to violating the country’s neutrality.