Hello, welcome to “True change begins from within...”!!:) I do hope that you enjoy your visit on this and the various other pages. This particular portal includes links to columns/op-ed (opinion & editorial) pieces printed in the University of Tennessee (Knoxville campus) “student” newspaper, The Daily Beacon, beginning in the Spring semester 2000 and continuing on into the Summer semester 2003. In the Fall semester 2002, I was not a regular columnist for that newspaper, though I did submit guest commentary and had one printed that semester. I had initially wanted to submit a guest column every week and see if it would be printed, but that was not the case after all. In the Spring semester 2003, I was not a regular columnist again, though I did have a letter to the editor printed. However, in the Summer semester 2003, I am once again a regular columnist.
There are/will be links added to this page for columns that will/have appear(ed) in The Michigan Citizen and online at Pravda.ru (English version). As well, there are various submissions to the Tennessee Independent (Indy) Media Center, to which I am currently an editor, located in this space. There are/will be any other columns, letters to the editor, and the like that are published. And I will include my poetry and other writing adventures on this page too.:)
Writing these columns is/was a way to express the ideas of others that are not widely known, as well as to write about my thoughts on REVOLUTION. Each of the columns that I have written and will continue to write are about a particular aspect of revolution. What is a revolution? What is a rebellion? What is the difference, if any, between a rebellion and a revolution? Is it possible to have a nonviolent revolution? How do we prepare for a revolution? What kind of world do we wish to live in? Is revolution necessary? Why? These are just some of the questions that we must begin to ask ourselves, if we haven't done so already. If you would like to further discuss any ideas presented in those columns, please feel free to e-mail me at iruckaE@juno.com. Thanks. Take care.
Here is a great quote: Think about it, act on it, live it.
“We have the power to change the world. It is not an issue of whether or not can we make a difference. The truth is that we do make a difference. Everything we do, say and think shapes our reality. It is time that we join our bodies, minds, hearts, spirits and voices and call for peace on the Earth and peace with the Earth.”
-Julia Butterfly Hill
This page has been visited times.
Last updated on 8 August 2005.
For some columns there are two links to the same column, this is because the online versions of those in The Daily Beacon were not up until some time after the columns were printed and I did not know if they would be up or not so I created a page to display those columns. You can read the columns at either location. (**)
Also there is/will be the version in The Daily Beacon and the versions in The Michigan Citizen and at Pravda.ru (%%). The versions in those two locations are extended, updated, and offer various resources at the end as well.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR:
This link is to the original letter to the editor sent to The Lexington Herald-Leader, however with their spacing format. And below is the collective link, “U.S. Targeting
Iraq”, various letters to the editor concerning the War in Iraq that were printed in that newspaper on Saturday, 03 August 2002. For more information about the War against the people of Iraq, check out https://members.tripod.com/Irucka/iraqpage.html.
The title given to the letter to the editor from me was “Too many questions.” The printed text is below.
Too many questions
A history lesson. The United States is again preparing to go to war against the Iraqi people and is overtly trying to assassinate President Saddam Hussein, though we have tried to assassinate him covertly before and have supported him over the years.
Why did/do we support Hussein? Why are we going to war with the people there again? How many bombs have been dropped since 1989-1990? How long have the airstrikes against Iraq continued? Are there that many military targets or are we targeting civilians, too? Did the Reagan/Bush administration oppose congressional efforts to impose economic sanctions against Iraq in the 1980s? If so, why? Did the Bush administration allow Iraq to invade Kuwait and then go to war for that same reason? If so, why?
Were/are Hussein and former President George Bush involved in business dealings? Did the U.S. arm both Iran and Iraq at the same time? If so, why? Was the United Nations Special Commission used by the U.S. intelligence apparatus to spy on Hussein? If so, why? Is the bombing and occupation of Iraq illegal, violating international law and the U.S. Constitution? How many people have been killed in Iraq because of the sanctions and/or the continuing bombings? Haven't we learned anything from history?
Irucka Embry
Lexington, Kentucky
The following link is to the original letter to the editor sent to The Daily Beacon, though with their spacing format. It was published as part of the "UT (University of Tennessee – Knoxville campus) Student 9/11 Letters" on Wednesday, 11 September 2002. The letter can also be viewed as a .jpg image file here.
For more information on the continuum of 11 September 2001, check out these links:
The printed text of the letter to the editor is below.
Since the continuum of 11 September 2001 had effects worldwide, then why is it that not everyone in the world agrees with the current “War on Terrorism?” In a sense, a continuation of the other wars that the US has been involved in - against people of color, socialists/communists, agrarian/land reformers, impoverished/poor people, and/or others that would stifle the profits of US corporations or resist US rule. Is it because people are not satisfied with the evidence, or lack of evidence, presented by the current administration and our counterparts in the United Kingdom?
No more war, war will not solve the problems, only make things worse. We need the truth and the whole truth, not a piece of the truth. To truly honor those that died on that day and from the "War on Terrorism," the whole truth must be to go, not retributive justice (vengeance). Ask questions of yourself and of the "official story line". Think and imagine a better world that works for all of us, not just some of us. Peace, the complete truth, and restorative justice are the answers, not war. "With great freedom comes great responsibility."
Irucka Embry
Senior in Civil Engineering
The following link is to the original letter to the editor, entitled War and Peace as a System, sent to The Daily Beacon, though it was eventually shortened down to fit into the 350 words maximum limitation. The link to the shortened letter to the editor, which was less than 350 words is here. The letter to the editor was printed on 26 March 2003 as "Reader
calls war ‘lose-lose situation’".
On Thursday, Feb. 20, 2003, I gave a presentation on the "Realities of War" to a small group in the University Center. In it I discussed war as a system, as a cycle. Thus, war cannot be understood by only looking at one part of it - such as the physical aspects (torture, ecological damage, rape, bombings, death, bloodshed, "cannon fodder," physical effects to the people directly involved and so on) - so it can only be understood by looking at ALL of the interconnected and interrelated realities that make up war.
For example, let's look at the use of depleted uranium/nuclear weapons. Are the people mining the uranium and having the waste stored on their lands mostly people that are materially impoverished and/or people of color? Can that be considered to be environmental ethnocentrism/racism and just a continuation of the hundreds of years of colonialism, exploitation and imperialism?
War is a lose-lose situation for all of us on this planet, the only winners are those that profit from wars financially and thus materially - bankers (international and national), weapons contractors, petrochemical/pharmaceutical/gas industry, the mining industry, the metals industry, politicians and so on. So that means that we must work for peace by first finding peace within ourselves, with our families and friends, with the society we live in, with our Mother Earth and ultimately with the universe(s).
This means that we must create a new world - another world is possible! (!Un Otro Mundo Es Posible!) no longer built on profits over life, hatred, fear, ignorance, racism/ethnocentrism, militarism, ecological destruction and so on. But, this world should be built on life over profits, sustainable economies and relationships, love, courage/bravery, knowledge and understanding, peace, ecological wisdom/literacy and so on. It is up to ALL of us to make that choice and work toward a better world for all of us.
Irucka Embry
Senior in civil and environmental engineering and Spanish
Replies to columns in Fall 2000/Spring 2001/Fall 2002 semesters
Does someone at the University of Tennessee (Knoxville campus) feel that Irucka Ajani Embry is a COMPLETE IDOT? If so, why? The comment can also be viewed as an Adobe Acrobat Document (.pdf) by downloading the Adobe Reader here)