The following is a selection of recent letters to the World Socialist Web Site .
Dear WSWS administrators,
I got to your web site when I was searching some stuff on Israel and Palestine, and I read one of the articles published on your web site ... the one on the death of Daniel Pearl. I was really touched by it because I saw in it a dream that is also mine, a world where we all conceive of ourselves as human beings, and thereby become emancipated from all those chains that make us think of ourselves as anything other and divide us and breed violence.
I am sorry I haven’t explained where I am from yet. I am an Egyptian student at the American University in Cairo! I have talked to many people about my ideas concerning all these conflicts that are taking place and my dream that all this ends; no one responds to me but by saying that this is a very long-term project that I cannot use to end the already present one. Yet I see any other way to put an end to conflicts will just breed more! I want to participate in something that would allow me to help others, to be able to contribute to the world’s arrival to a day where we will all be just one people without violence. Do you have any suggestions for me, how can I participate in your movement? Can you help me please?
Thank you,
DG
Dear Editor:
Only want to relate how pleased I was to read the review by David North of Goldhagen’s book [translated into Italian]. Am asking whether the review will be available on the web site for my future reference, and whether you will continue to provide articles written in Italian.
The level of WSWS writing is admirable. While I may not agree with all the opinions, I do respect the quantity and the quality of the research. Am grateful for the opportunity to access the information.
LC
9 April 2002
I was only recently made aware of the WSWS web site by a good friend of mine and I have to admit that it is one of the most intelligent and interesting sites I have read for a long time. I am in my last year at school before I go to university to study Ancient History and was extremely impressed by the articles regarding this subject on your web site. I attend an international school and so desire information about the foreign countries of the people that I spend all day with. On this site we have found not only a wonderful source of international information but also one presented in line with our socialist views.
There was really no point to this email, I simply wished to express my opinion about the quality of your articles.
Yours sincerely,
BR
9 April 2002
Sir:
I am an avid reader of your web site and I enjoy it as an alternative news source to the propaganda often seen on CNN and other newspapers. However, now I do not know whether I am able to differentiate between the common news sources and your web site.
You do not present a balanced account at all! Part of the reason why I started reading your articles was to hopefully balance out the propaganda I heard all day long; however, unlike you, they seldom (very seldom) do present some opposing view points while your web site drones on in its anti-American rhetoric. Although I am American, I often engage in criticism of the government, however I notice all of your stories seem to take the opposing side of the American government, no matter the circumstances. As a person who has lived abroad as well, if you are American, I believe you take your civil liberties for granted. Many of the countries you defend in the “face of American imperialism” would have had you shot about 50 times over for a much milder criticism of its own government. However, the United States, although it does have some imperialist and evil designs, is a relatively free country where people can in verity do as they please. There are not many countries which have such a luxury. And although the United States government probably does not agree with what you say, they constitutionally defend your right to say it. Think about it. I would just like you balance your stories more, but keep up the good work. I like your articles and insight and your news stories are extremely well written. I hope you take my constructive criticism into account, and do not follow suit with the mainstream media by looking at everything in black and white (as in your case, America = evil! regardless of the circumstances).
Cheers,
PV
9 April 2002
Dear WSWS,
Thanks for the update on Papua New Guinea and the BHP disaster there. I’ve kept an eye on that for a while now.
I live in northern Wisconsin and have been fighting the proposed Crandon Mine for the past 10 years. The mine was initially an Exxon project. They sold their interest a few years back to a Canadian mining company called Rio Algom. Rio Algom then sold their interest to BHP a couple of years ago. So now BHP, just like all the others, is telling us just how viable this mine will be and how they will protect the environment. What a joke.
This copper ore body is in an impossible place: a wetland area that is the headwaters of the beautiful and pristine Wolf River. I cannot believe anyone can even contemplate trying to operate a mine in this area, but they all talk like it’ll be a piece of cake even though there has never been an environmentally successful sulfide mine to date. Yet the Republicans, with their highfalutin talk of jobs and economy, continue to support the idea. If it should ever pass the Environmental Impact Statement with our Department of Natural Resources (which is now a highly politicized hand of the governor, thanks to Tommy Thompson) and go into operation there will likely be what amounts to a civil war at the site as these waters feed two Native American reservations who have vowed to not allow it under any circumstances. I would stand with them, but in a nonviolent way.
Thanks again and all the best,
TP
9 April 2002