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Fw: WAR TIMES Launch in San Jose Mercury News by George Snedeker 17 February 2002 22:32 UTC |
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here is some information about a new anti-war publication which is being published for the first time. free copies are available for distribution. see the article below for further information. GS> Newspaper works against war effort > > NEW PUBLICATION HOPES TO SEND WORD > NATIONWIDE > > By Marilee Enge > Mercury News > > http://www.bayarea.com/mld/bayarea/news/local/2690886.htm > > A new anti-war newspaper has begun publication in the East Bay, hoping to > promote what it bills as a more humane, less jingoistic alternative to the > gung-ho militarism of President Bush.Bob Wing, managing editor of War Times, > said he was disturbed by the U.S. government's response to the Sept. 11 > terrorist attacks. Instead of conducting what Wing believed to be a just war > to avenge the loss of American lives, he said the Bush administration was > killing innocent Afghans and trampling on civil liberties at home.While > other > Americans were mounting flags on their cars, Wing began talking to everyone > he knew about a project that could counter what he saw as a warmongering > atmosphere taking hold of the nation.The result is War Times, launched by > Wing and a small group of writers and activists, which made its debut in a > West Oakland warehouse Saturday. After publishing a prospectus of War Times > online, Wing said the public response was overwhelming. A first run of > 75,000 > copies is 10 times the number originally planned by the group.``The thing > blew up on us,'' he said. Requests for copies came from every corner of the > country, and the idea of starting small and targeting only active peace > groups ended.The newspaper contains articles in both English and Spanish.The > first issue of War Times features an interview with Danny Glover, an actor > and activist who shares the view that bombing Afghanistan was wrong. Other > articles criticize U.S. military deployment in the Philippines, stepped-up > attacks on Palestinians and the cost of the war on terrorism.The lead > article, by Jung Hee Choi, a War Times editor, profiles a New Yorker who > lost > her brother in the World Trade Center and an Afghan-American woman who lost > a > large number of family members in U.S. airstrikes on Kandahar. The two women > met recently, and have used their personal tragedies as a platform for > opposing the U.S. war.``The loss is the same,'' said Hee Choi. ``There is a > common humanity that people share.''While the stories touch on a variety of > left-wing causes, Wing said the only political agenda of War Times is > shining > a spotlight on the injustice of war. ``Our viewpoint will be, in general, > war > hurts a lot of people,'' from Afghan villagers who lost their homes to > non-citizen airport employees who are losing their jobs.Wing is a writer and > editor who honed his activism during the student strikes at University of > California-Berkeley in the 1960s. More recently, he edited a magazine > published by Applied Research Center, an East Bay-based think tank that > focuses on issues of race and education.Launching a newspaper to protest > government policy is a venerable American tradition, and one with strong > roots in the Bay Area. But Wing points out that the landscape for publishing > has changed since the '60s. Now there are free alternative weeklies in every > coffee shop, and a small anti-war publication has to carve out its own > niche. > Wing wants to emulate the muckraking work of journalist I.F. Stone and the > social commentary of African-American writer W.E.B. du Bois.``We need > thousands of people like you to share War Times with other people who > question war, racial profiling and the curtailment of civil liberties,'' the > editors write in their first editorial.For now, the staff is all volunteer > and there are no permanent offices. The paper is free, and interested > readers > are being asked to help distribute it.Distribution will be national, and the > editors hope in particular to reach readers in the middle of the country, > where anti-war viewpoints are not as accepted as in the Bay Area. > IF YOU'RE INTERESTED For more information, contact War Times at > wartimes@attbi.comContact Marilee Enge at menge@sjmercury.com or (415) > 394-6895. > > The full article will be available > on the Web for a limited time: > > http://www.bayarea.com/mld/bayarea/news/local/2690886.htm > > (c) 2001 bayarea and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved. > > > . > > > >
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