Winter Fund Drive

Dear WW4 REPORT Readers:

This marks the end of a fifth year of bringing you cutting-edge reports from the global fronts in the War on Terrorism, as well as reviews, digests and analysis—providing news and perspectives available nowhere else.

If you believe in the old adage that “newspapers (or webzines) should have no friends,” we appear to be doing a great job. When our contributor Ned Goldstein wrote “Save Darfur: Zionist Conspiracy?“, on propaganda exploitation of the Sudan genocide by Israel and US imperialism, we were vilified as “ultra-left,” “conspiracy theorists” and anti-Semitic. When our blog called out left-wing anti-Semitism (being, for instance, among the first to expose the fraudulent gushing interview with Hezbollah’s Sheikh Nasrallah that was widely-circulated in the left wing of the blogosphere), we were trashed as part of the “pro-Zionist media.” When we ran my skeptical look at the morbid 9-11 conspiracy industry, we were accused of being “leftist gatekeepers.”

We wear this opprobrium as a badge of pride. There is no vindication like getting it from both sides, no surer sign that we are doing our job. As more and more left journalism descends into sanctimonious groupthink, our job is to challenge assumptions, to encourage thought by raising questions rather than to propound dogmas. Our job is also to go beyond the issues in the media spotlight, and to probe the unexamined contexts and implications behind the headlines and sound-bites. Among the stories you’ve received from us this year are:

* Mark Sanborne’s still-in-progress multi-part “Bionoia” series, an in-depth exploration of the Cold War superpower biological warfare programs, and their grim legacy in the age of global terrorism.

* Frank Morales on the Bush administration’s frightening moves towards martial law, hidden in the small print of the 2007 Pentagon appropriations act.

* David Bloom’s exacting dissection of how Israel’s “realignment” on the West Bank masks a grab for fertile land and water resources.

* Yeidy Rosa’s first-hand account from Bogota on the meeting of South America’s conscientious objector movement.

* Peter Gorman and Paul Wolf on Washington’s escalating war and controversial legal strategies against the FARC guerillas in Colombia.

* Dan La Botz on Mexico’s electoral debacle.

* Khaleb Khazari-El on the forgotten legacy of militant sufism.

* William X’s anti-imperialist deconstruction of the Mearsheimer-Walt thesis.

* My own interviews with the leaders of the Iraq Freedom Congress and regular updates on indigenous and campesino struggles in Mexico and the Andes, as well reports on domestic energy issues like the Queens blackout and how they fit into the global struggle for oil.

* Reprints of cutting-edge international journalism from our sibling publications Upside Down World, Toward Freedom and Weekly News Update on the Americas.

But producing WW4 REPORT is a full-time job, and I am still struggling to finish my long-languishing manuscript on Plan Colombia and indigenous resistance movements in the Andes. Despite the ludicrous charge of being “gatekeepers,” WW4 REPORT receives no foundation funding. We are dedicated to the radical proposition that fighting independent journalism must be supported, first and foremost, by its readers.

So we appeal to you this holiday season—please give what you can to help WW4 REPORT grow and survive. Help us meet our modest gaol of $2,000 for this winter fund-raiser.

This time we are offering two premiums from our pamphlet series. We still have five copies left of “9-11 and the New Pearl Harbor: Aw Shut Up Already, Will Ya?” and 14 copies left “Iraq’s Civil Resistance Speaks: Interviews with the Secular Left Opposition, Part 2,” featuring the words of Houzan Mahmoud of the Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq and Samir Adil, president of the Iraq Freedom Congress. The first folks to send a donation of at least $10 while supplies last will receive a copy. (Please indicate which pamphlet you want, and if you wish to receive the other one if we are out of your first choice. Or send at least $20 for both)

One of the real tragedies of our times is the dramatic dumbing-down of discourse and reportage just as the increasingly dystopian world situation demands greater vigilance and analytical clarity then ever. We exist to be the resistance to this trend through our example. We don’t have to remind you that your support is vital to us. We urge you to find your category (honestly) on the chart below, and send something TODAY, while you are still thinking about it.

Minors, indigent and prisoners: FREE
Students, fixed-income and unemployed: $5
Working class Jane/Joe: $10
Professionals with health insurance: $25
Trust-fund rads: $50
Upwardly-mobile liberals: $75
Already-have-it-all liberals: $100
Just plain rich liberals: $200
Filthy rich liberals: $300
Confused Republicans who like us because we’re “anti-government”: $500
Mike Ruppert: $1,000
Michael Moore: $2,000
Barbara Streisand: $5,000
George Clooney: $10,000
Woody Harrelson: $20,000
Paul McCartney: $50,000
Teresa Heinz-Kerry: $75,000
George Soros: $100,000