INTERVIEW WITH KATE WALSH

Kate Walsh is a writer and principled anti-war activist who has lost everything to the IRS because of her resistance to paying war taxes. Her son, Josh, is in the Navy and her son Ryan with the 82 Engineer Battalion.

Kate: Josh is a sailor who shot Tomahawk Missiles from the deck of the USS Cowpers �part of the Kitty Hawk fleet �to Baghdad during the initial war. He� been in the Navy for 13 years and recently I�e noticed how exhausted he is. He� on duty for 24 hours at a time, can� gain weight, is overwrought, and has a litany of frustrations with his naval career.I believe Josh rebelled against me by going into the military. I begged him not to do it but Josh� father �he and I divorced a long time ago � told Josh that, because he was man small in stature he� best go into the military where he� be safe.

That� the only advice or reinforcement Josh ever got from his father. Despite Josh� obvious talent as an actor in high school, his father never supported that interest. Instead, he avoided Josh� performances and demeaned his talent.

After his first tour of duty Josh left the Navy �at that time the Navy was cutting back and they encouraged sailors to leave. Later, he reenlisted. At this point he� a highly skilled air traffic controller for helicopters.

My son Ryan is in Bouquaba driving humvees. He went into the military to pay off his college debt. I�e noticed how distracted he is these days.

>My second husband went to jail as a Conscientious Objector instead of serving in Vietnam. There is some tension between us right now as he can see me failing to deal well with this current war and occupation. And he� right. I� very frustrated. I heard not one person in my community �esides my husband and I �say, �ur country must not to invade Iraq, we must not go war.�p>At the same time, I believe we must begin to listen to one another. We cannot continue with the dualistic thinking we�e so good at in this country.

I thought Reagan was damaging to this country but now I� seeing Neocons destroying what� left of it.

Kate share� her writing below:

A World War Zone: Grand Gestures & Thin Slices

Many of us have seen it. A child takes all the play dough that remains after many hours of creating temporary sculptures and rolls it into a large ball. With great concentration, the colors are mixed until the young artist finds the result pleasing. 

Easily, we can use that image while pondering what is happening in the current displays of war. Instead of pulling the large mixture apart to create a new figure, a powerful person comes along with a sharp artist� knife and slices off just the thinnest veneer from the play dough ball. In a grand gesture, he raises the slice and says to all: �ook! This is the whole story. This represents all of reality. We will move forward into a new dimension of world-altering actions, based on what is here in my hand.�o:p>  

In like fashion, representing the whole of reality by holding up only the thinnest slice of it, the Bush administration has thrown the entire world into a stunning dimension of chaos. The results will gradually unfold in ways that were anticipated or may surprise even the most attentive student of politics and history. 

In tandem with other power brokers, with previously placed pieces-of-the-puzzle, Mr. Bush and his fellow ideologues have created a world war zone. Alert, thinking persons from all walks of life, from any country, refuge, or exile have long been aware that they were born into a war zone. Even before the current struggles; before the 20th century and its complex horrors. If your stories, language, culture were partially or completely taken from you --even before birth -- there is a sharp sense that something is missing. Within, one may discover a gnawing hollow space, a longing for the continuity of generations that was gradually or suddenly taken from a group or a whole society.

Through the daunting power provided by privilege, money and manipulation individuals or groups can be successful in capturing the hearts and minds of populations who have good intentions and just enough deep-seated anxieties allowing them to embrace a compact, reassuring set of ideas. 

In The Druids, Peter Beresford Ellis describes how inaccurate and incomplete views of the amazing folk who built Stonehenge came to be. Many perceptions of the Druids, he says, are similar to the logic we find in Alice In Wonderland: �veryone is wrong but everyone has glimpsed a tiny part of the reality, so everyone is right and we all get a prize!�    

The �rize�given for accepting the thin sliced reality, the partial truth, has many facets. The flag of freedom can be used as a banner to justify a pre-emptive war that damages carefully woven and hard-won international good will. 

Plentiful distractions allow people to ignore or set aside concerns over the loss of living-wage jobs, social programs and community cohesion. 

Distance from the injury, death and destruction brought by the most complex weaponry humankind has ever created allows the populace to focus on continually acquiring more material goods despite their sources or impact on the Earth� well being. And, no one is required to listen to those who have concerns about the egregious errors and offenses being inflicted on societies day in and day out.    

Are most of us, then, helpless? Many believe that is our condition. Yet, when we are willing to think and learn and speak; when we stand firm and do not fall into line with those who either approve of or condone the continual accelerations of violence, we gain strength. Such determination is like food and water to those who thirst for justice. While we may not be certain as to the efficacy of our work, a secure confidence takes root and grows with each individual or community effort.    

A very wise woman recently explained the importance of words; of using them carefully. Understanding the difference between those terms that have clear meaning and those that are concepts, representing complex ideas rather than a single reality. Peace, she said, is one of those complex words. As we stand on the brink of a very different world, one whose old and new struggles have ceased to simmer and have boiled over on all of us, we must encounter � instead of denying or avoiding -- many complexities. Only then will we be able to diminish and dissolve the terror facing us, the terror that waits.    

Many of us face the grey curtain that comes down between ourselves, friends, and family members when we mention any political issue or the current world status. They, as we do, feel a great unease. Yet, they are unable to participate in the encounter, whether it is that of conversation, careful study, informed acceptance or resistance. Well-meaning folk set the resisters apart. They are so busy, holding onto jobs, amenities, ingrained views of the world. We become curios in their eyes; we make them very uncomfortable.    

Leaders of the world believe that they can do the same. They can continue to see those who question as �ocus groups�or curious folk who have no power. It will not be long, however, before their protective coatings crumble and fall away. There are too many repressive governments and failed economies. There have been too many unwise and unprincipled deals created behind locked doors. If there is to be a new day, one that has yet to exist for the human specie, groups and their leaders must see themselves and the others in frameworks that allow genuine opportunity for all. That opportunity will include access to decent food, water, shelter, education, health care, cultural expression, and mutual acceptance.    

We are now, in this world community, truly face to face. What brings benefit or harm to one will eventually benefit or harm all. The time for rampant imbalances in the use of the Earth� amenities has passed. The slice of reality must be put back into the whole multi-colored ball of reality. All addictive affairs with war, revenge and killing must be abandoned. Only then will each, and all, be secure.    

Kate Walsh March 2003