Terrorism, Peru and the Spanish Example

by Santiago Gervasi
(S.F., CA.)

I did a google search on global warming and ended up in blogs reading lots of idiotic comments about the issue. It got worse when I did a search on terrorism. I was about to give up altogether when I found your website. I went to your article on terrorism first, then I read some of the other articles, and it was quite refreshing to find a thinking human being in the midsts of a jungle of misinformed, or right down ignorant people.

I was born and raised in Lima-Per� and moved to S.F. CA. in the 80'S, with the idea of going to school for a few years and then going back home. One thing led to another and here I am still more than 20 years later. During these years I have seen this place change dramatically for the worse.

I often compare the US to the Spartans, or the Roman Empire, or the Spanish empire of Pizarro and Cortes, or the British ex-empire for that matter, empires that have come to power because of their military might and have fallen for the same reason. It seems to be that the only thing that the US is "best in the world" nowadays is military might. Education, health services, social services, civil rights, personal freedom, these all seem to be disappearing fast.

We have a long tradition of terrorism in Per� with the Shining Path. More often than not so called terrorist attacks were staged by the government itself in order to rally popular support; this is an old practice. At the same time, terrorism was fueled by the ever growing hunger and misery that most of the people were subjected to. I always thought that the best way to fight terrorism (at least in Per�) was not to build up the military, the secret service, or to build more jails, but instead we needed to create more jobs, more opportunities for the people, and in particular to raise the level of education.

Now, after 2 Bush administrations, the country is looking more and more like some neo-Nazi regime, it is quiet depressing.

We could learn a lot from Spain. After their terrorist attack, they quickly got rid of Aznar, blaming him and his deals with the US for the attack, and presto!!! problem solved.

Here, instead, the people bowed to Bush, who declared a universal war against an intangible enemy, and bankrupted the country, while creating a record breaking amount of international hatred towards the U.S.

I read that you worked for 3 years in the Army Security Agency, and apparently your life took quite a turn after that. I was quite intrigued by this, perhaps you would like to elaborate on that, or guide me towards some of your writing that deal with that issue.

Who am I? An artist (painter) with an MFA from CCA (former CCAC) and a BFA from the San Francisco Art Institute, and a student loan approaching 100,000.00 dollars with ever increasing interest (I read your article on student loans). I sell my work in galleries and teach art in different art programs in college and art centers in the Bay Area (whenever I can get a teaching job, art programs seem to be disappearing)

Best regards,

SG