April 1, 2004
ZGram - Where Truth is Destiny
Here is an update on my hunger strike plans, to start on
April 19 in Tennessee Congressman Jenkins's office:
I spent all day yesterday to collect reactions from my
readers about what I intend to do. I can group them loosely into two
categories: testimonials about the physical effects of a prolonged hunger
strike, and warnings about political consequences since we are now, post
9/11, in a de facto dictatorship where anything might happen.
Regarding how prolonged hunger will impact on my physical
health and emotional well-being, the consensus seems to be that the first
day is difficult in that the body reacts with an almost insufferable
craving; the second day is still hard; the third day will manifest itself as
"light-headed" - and from then on, the body starts "consuming
itself" - that is, it breaks down excess reserves stored in its cells,
and switches off the physical craving. The feedback is that three to four
weeks are relatively safe; after that, the situation gets "iffy."
Many people have told me as much. I am not sure I quite believe this
information totally. I have been on traditional fasts before, and I can tell
you that the hunger sensation is as strong at the end of one week as it was
at the beginning. However, those were not a "pure" fasts. I
followed prescribed diet protocols that allowed, for instance, for a cup of
chicken/vegetable broth a day - perhaps that "extra food"
triggered my body's "hunger gauge" and kept signaling over and
over: "More! More!" However, that was a vanity exercise I knew I
could break off any time. This time it will be different.
This time, it's a political exercise to test if this is
still a "law and order" country if enough people demand it and
stand behind me; in essence, it's a test if justice for an innocent man can
be kick-started by a lot of political will. Many people will be watching me
- it will not be easy for me to simply say: "If I don't get what I
demand, I'll take my marbles and go home."
Will I do that? I don't think so. I can only promise that I
will give this strategy my all.
Regarding warnings about the political consequences of my
hunger strike, I am reminded of what Ernst said when I first asked for his
endorsement of what I told him I would do. I didn't think he would allow it,
and I braced myself within myself to go ahead, regardless. To my surprise,
he agreed. He said, however, to warn me: "According to the Patriot Act,
a write-in letter campaign from your supporters can be interpreted as a
terrorist act."
That shocked me. Have we fallen that low in this country?
How would my legitimate campaign to free my husband from an illegal and
brutal deportation and subsequent incarceration be different from a
write-in, let's say, about a demand for a voting ballot count reform? Or for
non-fluoridated water? Or even for a request for an impartial commission to
really look into who did 9/11?
But this danger of somehow transgressing against the Patriot
Act makes me urge my write-in readers to please, please not be abusive,
threaten violence, use smutty language, make claims that aren't true. PLEASE
DON'T! Irresponsible words on a piece of paper would be used against me and
would endanger me and my campaign. I can see our enemies doing that, as they
have done before, pretending that these messages come from some wild-eyed,
fire-breathing Zundelists - but I feel relatively safe these false flags can
be identified and neutralized. I ask MY kind of people to restrain
themselves and not let their anger and frustration sabotage their
law-abiding conduct.
All I want you to do is this: Let Congressman Jenkins know
that I have a legitimate grievance - I want him to help me find the
bottleneck in Washington so I can follow lawful procedures to have my
husband come back home. Just last week , I was told that two signatures are
required to reverse a deportation order. Signatures from whom? By what
criteria? How long would that take? What would be involved? Are those not
legitimate questions?
I feel that Ernst's case would be ever so much more
strengthened in Canada if the United States would signal that there is no
problem on this side to have him be returned, since he did not transgress
against the law, not even technically or accidentally. The fig leaf the
authorities could use would be to say that it was a clerical error that
permitted the unlawful chain of events that ended in such heartbreak.
Once again, Congressman Jenkins's fax number for his
Tennessee office is 423-247-1834 and, if you are ambitious, 202-225-5714 in
Washington. Keep records of your faxes. Ideally, send copies to me. I am
collecting all the evidence I can to document that we intend to do things
legally, responsibly, with dignity - but with a strong belief that an
appalling wrong, committed by this government, must be undone by this same
government. There is no other way.
Let me say also, as I have said before, that I dread doing
this. I said last night to Ernst that what I dread more than anything else
is to go and intrude where I know I will be strongly resented. To do that
just isn't like me. I am an intensely private person; I cringe from behaving
in an in-your-face mode. My sense of violation must run deep for me to
resort to that tactic. Our enemies behave like that; they have no shame;
that is their modus operandi. My instincts are to cause no offense.
I have no idea where all this will lead. It could be very
dangerous. But I tell myself over and over: There is my husband, still in
chains, treated worse than the worst of criminals in all of Canada for
speaking his truth as he knows it - and on the other hand, there's me, with
a perfectly reasonable and legitimate demand: to have my representative look
into a matter that is criminal by standard definitions of the books, at
least prior to 9/11: A brazen political kidnapping in broad daylight on
American soil for no better reasons than to please a bunch of pushy Jews in
Canada who have plagued and assaulted my husband for decades.
Please contact all the media outlets you know and can reach.
Ingrid Rimland Zundel, Ed.D.
===== ===== =====
Reminder:
Help free Ernst Zundel, Prisoner of Conscience. His
prison sketches - now on-line and highly popular - help pay for his defence.
Take a look - and tell a friend.
http://www.zundelsite.org/gallery/donations/index.html
Write to Canada's Prime Minister and complain
over the unfair treatment Ernst Zündel has received.
Prime Minister Paul Martin
House of Commons
Parliament Buildings
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0A6
Telephone: (613) 992-4284
Fax: (613) 992-4291
Email: Martin.P@parl.gc.ca |
|