This black and white mentality has been reinforced with the cold war and the relative fight for power domination between capitalism and communism. Capitalism has won over communism with the collapse of the Soviet Union, and now we continue with the same black and white mentality of power domination with the replacement of the Soviet Union with Terrorism. So we are in the process of nurturing another global fight between Capitalism and Terrorism along with another looming global fight between the so called Western Civilization and the so called Islamic Civilization.

In order to fight Terrorism, as it has been arising from Islamic fundamentalism, the NATO's countries are allying themselves with oppressive Islamic countries of the Middle East and of Central Asia. In the meantime, hypocrite Italian Prime Minister tycoon Silvio Berlusconi, while fighting at home charges of fraud and corruption, tell the world that the Western Civilization is superior to the Islamic Civilization. And today, Baroness Thatcher has been accused of encouraging racists after saying that she "had not heard enough condemnation from Muslim priests" of the US terror attacks.

There is no way to fight Terrorism with the assistance of oppressive countries, and there is no way to avoid an Islamic backlash from the racist behaviour of our hegemonic capitalists as expressed by tycoon Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and Baroness Thatcher.

We must stop this black and white mentality which breeds a culture of corporate and military power at the expense of innocent lives. And rightly so, European Parliamentarian Glenys Kinnock says

"Finally, if anything comes out of the horror of 11 September, and this mass murder, surely it will be that the wealthy of the world must, once and for all, understand a basic truth. It is that if they do not systematically work to combat poverty, they will contribute to conditions which breed resentment, and provide desperate and fertile minds which can be captured by extremism. Poverty can never excuse terrorism, but it can explain why human beings are recruited to terrorism."

In other words, the most important goal today is the systematic eradication of poverty around the world, and the systematic eradication of poverty requires a new way of thinking away from the linear hegemonic black and white mentality of our corporate, political, and now military leadership.

References

West and Islam, never the twain shall meet, by SHAMSUL AKMAR, October 4, 2001 http://www.nst.com.my/z//Current_News/BT/Thursday/Sport/20011004025422

Thatcher comments 'encourage' racism, BBC, October 4, 2001 http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk_politics/newsid_1578000/1578377.stm

Russian Airliner Shot Down? 'A chartered Russian airliner that exploded over the Black Sea appears to have been shot down by a surface-to-air missile in a training accident.' CBS News|World October 4, 2001 http://www.cbsnews.com/now/story/0,1597,313517-412,00.shtml

War Views: US must meet its super-responsibilities, BBC, October 4, 2001 http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk/newsid_1578000/1578710.stm