and imagining 2002

With only three months since 9/11, feelings run deep. George Bush framed this the beginning of a battle between good and evil. Most Americans say their country has permanently changed for the better as a consequence of the September 11 terrorist attacks and more than half report that the tragedy has transformed their own lives, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.

More than 1,000 people died in another grim year of conflict in the Middle East.

Richard Reid tried to ignite an explosive in his shoe on a jetliner bound from Paris to Miami. The crew and passengers subdued him, authorities said. The plane, escorted by military jets, landed safely in Boston.

Year-End: WAR On Terrorism and the Refugee Crisis
The fighting is less but aid agencies warn that the refugee crisis will not be solved for years to come. Three and a half million Afghan refugees are fighting to survive in bordering countries, and the number has been increasing every day since the US vowed retaliation for the 9/11 attacks.

Human Rights

ABUSE
In Malaysia's immigration detention centers, Human Rights Watch found young unaccompanied boys detained with unrelated adult men in camps where detainees were robbed, beaten, inadequately fed, and denied medical care. Girls in immigration detention camps were sometimes sexually solicited and touched by male guards. Girls as young as thirteen were separated from their parents and detained for extended periods with little or no contact. Children were also deported separately from their parents to the Thai-Malaysia border.

PATRIOT ACT
On October 26, President Bush signed into law the USA PATRIOT Act (Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism), claiming that we need new tools for a new kind of war. The government's implementation of that Act suggests that we may be using old tools in ways that show we haven't fully learned lessons from our own past.

The PATRIOT Act allows for the indefinite detention of persons "suspected" of being terrorists. In November, Attorney General John Ashcroft announced the detention of 603 people: 55 named individuals held on federal criminal charges and 548 unnamed people for immigration violations. The U.S. Department of Justice also sent letters to over 500 young men from Middle Eastern, predominantly Muslim countries with student and business visas. The letter "invited" them to make an appointment for questioning about their knowledge of chemical/biological weapons and the possibility that they sympathized with terrorists. There are plans to interview 5000 more men fitting terrorist profiles. These events evoke a disturbing sense of déjà vu, especially concerning the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II.

HATE...
Hate groups across the nation are trying to use fear generated by the terrorist attacks Sept. 11 to recruit members and adherents, say experts who monitor the extremist organizations.

Many hate groups, which often operate on the Internet, have posted messages and editorials blaming Jews for the attacks. Anti-Semitism, often mixed with hatred of the government, is a key component of their effort.

READ MORE: http://www.usatoday.com/news/attack/2001/11/27/hate.htm
SOURCE: USA Today

Economic Pressures

MARKETS

The three major stock market averages have now fallen for two consecutive years for the first time since the brutal recession years of 1973 and 1974. But a rally in the final three months helped to create optimism that the worst is over for both stocks and the economy.

Microsoft - thought they might get a better hearing under a Republican administration... the strategy may have worked. But there is no doubt that Microsoft stands in a much better position than it did a year ago. The same cannot be said for millions of other business concerns in the US as recession became a reality here. New York City's economy has contracted by 3.1% since 9/11. The company's Xbox game console was unveiled in October and shipped more than a million units so far.

ENRON - at the onset of 2001, thousands of Enron was one of the world's largest companies, employees there content with retirement plans that featured thick, valuable shares of company stock. By the end of the year ,those fortunes had burned up like natural gas flowing through a stovetop burner. The company's stock fell from $85 to as low as 25 cents a share and the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. 4,200 workers are left go, resumes to write.

Alan Greenspan - the man who kept the economy up and running, found out that 11 rate cuts in one year do not make a robust economy. Bush favored rate cuts and perhaps pressured the Fed.

Argentina Plunged into Economic Crisis - Argentine police used tear gas to disperse demonstrators on Dec. 20. The police action came after tens of thousands of people filled the streets of Buenos Aires to protest President Fernando de la Rua's decision to resort to emergency measures to calm unrest sparked by the crumbling Argentine economy.

Japan is in the midst of recession - The U.S. dollar is likely to maintain its underlying strength against the Japanese yen throughout 2002 as Japan's monetary authorities are tolerant of yen's fall to 140 yen to one dollar.

2001 - The Beatles #1

A collection of 27 US number one singles occupied the top slot for eight weeks. The Beatles still manage to engage America with their music. Paul and Ringo survive George and John. While there may never be a reunion, don't count out another Beatles revival in the future!

2001 Terrors

Osama bin Laden is at large... or if he is dead no one has the body to prove that.

The nation's antiterrorism record is replete with failures of intelligence and the political will to act, an extensive review shows. This according to reports in late December from the NY Times.

The chief prosecutor of the United Nations war crimes tribunal in The Hague has said she is convinced there is now enough evidence for the former Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic to be convicted of genocide. Milosevic says the court is prejudiced against him.

One of the former employees of the United Nations tribunal which is investigating the 1994 genocide in Rwanda is himself being accused of involvement in the massacres. Belgian police arrested Joseph Nzabirinda on Friday on four charges of genocide, complicity in genocide, crimes against humanity, extermination and rape, the tribunal said.

President General Pervez Musharraf declared that Pakistan's armed forces were ready to meet with force any adventurism by India. New Delhi said that two terrorist groups, based in Pakistan, are responsible for the parliament attack. India asked Islamabad to arrest their leaders, clamp a ban and freeze their accounts. India claims that Pakistan's government is involved with the terrorists. Troop buildups and diplomatic tension rose. War is perhaps imminent.

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IMAGINE 2002

2001 STORIES 2002 CONCERNS

HEROES

Firefighters, policemen and mailmen are America's 2001 heroes. earlier in the year, the city agreed to an $8.7 million payment to a Haitian immigrant tortured in a police station bathroom, and an officer was charged with the drunk-driving killing of a pregnant woman, her son and her sister.

SYMBOLS

Stars and stripes are everywhere. Computers are linking American people to a depth of resources. The world is a changing! DIGITAL DIVIDE shines a light on the role computers play in widening social gaps throughout our society.

THUGS

Osama bin Laden is to become the ultimate comic-strip, action figure, action game bad guy in 2002. Court TV is asking permission to broadcast the trial of Zacarias Moussaoui, the first person indicted in the Sept. 11 terror attacks. ALTHOUGH MANY state courts allow trials to be broadcast, federal rules explicitly prohibit TV cameras in courtrooms. But lawyers for Court TV say that prohibition is unconstitutional. Four federal circuit courts have upheld the constitutionality of the federal rule barring the broadcast of criminal trials. The cable network also wants to broadcast pretrial proceedings. A hearing on Court TV’s request is scheduled for January 11. Moussaoui is set for arraignment January 2.

STRATEGY

President George W. Bush believes he can win a war on terrorism. He made a decisive start, and, just a start as he reminds US. The demand to make America safe again will send politicians scrambling. Undoubtedly, a national missile defense system will be in the spotlight with increased support of Congress and an angry American public.

China, North Korea, and Pakistan only have a handful of nuclear weapons, but the small arsenal is thought in those countries to act as a deterrent, preventing potential aggressors including the United States from invading. If the United States can potentially shoot those missiles down, then deterrence disappears.

Proponents of a missile defense system say it is necessary to defend the United States against "rogue" nations such as North Korea, Libya, or Iraq. Technology like a missile defense system also has a double edge. On one hand, it is designed to protect people. On the other, it could be perceived as a legitimate threat to another nation's security.

In December of 1999, The UN General Assembly endorsed a resolution on Wednesday aimed at pressing the United States to abandon plans to build an antimissile defense.

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CONCERN

Is California Congressman Darrell Issa assisting terrorists organizations? CNN: ?!? Two leaders of the Jewish Defense League were charged with conspiring to bomb Muslim institutions in Southern California.

The trafficking of women for forced prostitution into Greece is a serious problem and a grave human rights abuse.

Street Children Phenomenon on the Rise
Prison, prostitution, slavery, violence and death are the most common fates awaiting street children. There are over 100 million street children worldwide; at least 18 million street children in India, up to 40 million in Latin America and more than 500,000 street children reported in the USA.

In other cases, children were badly treated in jails as in a case in Napal. Ashmin, Raju and  Samjhana Lama, all  below eight years of age, have been living in a congested women’s cell of the Central Jail along with their mother for last six months. Their mother Sun Maya Lama has been implicated for human trafficking but is yet to be convicted by the court. She does not even know for how long she will have to remain in jail. The jailor at the central jail, Rudra Nath Basyal says there are around 100 children below the age of 14 in several prisons across Nepal, 28 of them at the Central jail alone

Children end up on city streets because of poverty, dysfunctional families (e.g. mother takes new partner, neglect, physical or sexual abuse, alcoholism), or abandonment because of mental or physical handicap.

A few maintain loose family links, surviving by begging, selling trinkets or shining shoes to supplement their family's income. Most live in groups with other children, resorting to prostitution and petty theft to survive. Many become addicted to drugs ranging from heroin to glue.

More about Street Children:

• One World http://www.oneworld.net

• The State of the Rights of the Child in Nepal-2001:
  Summary of National Report Prepared by CWIN
  << PDF report (http://www.cwin-nepal.org/pdf/roc2001.pdf) >>

• Street Kids: http://www.streetkids.net

PROGRESS

Despite the evident optimism of many economic commentators, the more pessimistic among them claim to have observed an ominous parallel between the present state of the US economy and the Japanese economy in the late ‘80s, just before its depression deepened. Nearly 15 percent more Alaskans were living in poverty in the late 1990s than in the previous decade, according to Census Bureau estimates.

In almost every area of medicine -- cancer, diabetes, infectious diseases and more --scientists are making impressive strides, using a molecule-by-molecule understanding of disease to design drugs and devices that tackle the illnesses at their roots. A microscopic cancer "smart bomb" powered by a single radioactive atom is able to find and kill tumor cells in laboratory experiments. Researchers hope to test the technique on human patients in 2002.

CELEBRATE

 January 15, the birthday of Martin Luther  King Jr. will mark commemorations of his life that will continue through January 21, 2002. Fifteen years after Dr. King's death President Ronald Reagan signed a bill into law making the third Monday of January a national holiday celebrating the birth and life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Read the most famous speech by King, I Have A Dream. Join the celebration: "I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed:

"We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."

Watch the first MLK breakfast of the millennium.

(more: http://www.stanford.edu/group/King/)

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