Kill lists: In the twenty-first century, the executive branch has expanded the hunt to include killing unarmed people without trial. Supposedly, Navy Seals killed Osama bin Laden in a house in Pakistan. And now even American citizens living abroad can be killed without a trial. Most recently the cleric Anwar al-Awlaki was hunted and killed in Yemen, not for actual acts but for "inspiring acts." Also, killed was his sixteen year old son. The sons of Gadaffi and Saddam Hussein were hunted and killed, as well, presumably because they were likely to possess powers belonging to their father. Even Gadaffi's very young grandchildren were killed in an effort to destroy a family residence. During the Great European Witch Hunt, families were sometimes accused of demonic possession. Although witches in past centuries were also killed extra-judicially, many of those accused of witchery were at least given trials.
Forcing admission of guilt through torture: In the Burning Times, suspected witches were often tortured in attempts to extract confessions. In the contemporary world, torture has been used for the same purpose. But, it is just as irrational to expect a confession of guilt because it is well known that people will confess to anything when tortured. Torture is used to create evidence that isn't there.
Hunters with economic and career motives: Witch hunting was an occupation with a monetary reward during the Great Hunt. In July of 2010 in an investigative series for the Washington Post, Dana Priest and William Arkin reported that, after 9/11 "some 1,271 government organizations and 1,931 private companies work on programs related to counterterrorism, homeland security and intelligence in about 10,000 locations across the United States." This means thousands of careers and jobs, in both public and private sectors, are dependent on producing results, and that means the hunt is greatly expanding. The weapons industry and related war profiteers have overarching economic motives, as well.
Removal of people for gain: While people actually believed in witchcraft during the Burning Times, there were also times when real power struggles and land issues were involved. Some historians have concluded that societal instability was a factor in Europe: Most of the executions occurred in central Europe: in the German states, the Swiss Federation, parts of France, and in border regions between nation states during the Reformation when old views were challenged and there were power struggles between Catholicism and Protestantism. Today, the U.S. destabilizes regions as it expands its empire, conducting hunts on foreign soil to capture land, resources and power. Eliminating defenders of the land allows the land and its resources to fall into the hands of occupiers or prevents other powers like China from gaining access. This is the point of today's Great Hunt and Burning Times.
Burning times, burning eyes. This woman was pepper sprayed at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington , D.C. during a protest against drones, Oct. 8., part of the Occupy D.C. movement at Freedom Plaza .
Hunters with economic and career motives: Witch hunting was an occupation with a monetary reward during the Great Hunt. In July of 2010 in an investigative series for the Washington Post, Dana Priest and William Arkin reported that, after 9/11 "some 1,271 government organizations and 1,931 private companies work on programs related to counterterrorism, homeland security and intelligence in about 10,000 locations across the United States." This means thousands of careers and jobs, in both public and private sectors, are dependent on producing results, and that means the hunt is greatly expanding. The weapons industry and related war profiteers have overarching economic motives, as well.
Removal of people for gain: While people actually believed in witchcraft during the Burning Times, there were also times when real power struggles and land issues were involved. Some historians have concluded that societal instability was a factor in Europe: Most of the executions occurred in central Europe: in the German states, the Swiss Federation, parts of France, and in border regions between nation states during the Reformation when old views were challenged and there were power struggles between Catholicism and Protestantism. Today, the U.S. destabilizes regions as it expands its empire, conducting hunts on foreign soil to capture land, resources and power. Eliminating defenders of the land allows the land and its resources to fall into the hands of occupiers or prevents other powers like China from gaining access. This is the point of today's Great Hunt and Burning Times.
Burning times, burning eyes. This woman was pepper sprayed at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington , D.C. during a protest against drones, Oct. 8., part of the Occupy D.C. movement at Freedom Plaza .
When will the Great Hunt and Burning Times of today end? The witch panics of the Great European Hunt finally ended in the last half of the seventeenth century. As our fellow human beings continue to be incarcerated or incinerated, a newly energized struggle is now on to put an end to the Great Hunt of our time. It's a hopeful sign that in public square encampments throughout the U.S. and the world, antiwar protesting is merging with protests over unequal distribution of wealth. The year-long slogan of the vocal group, Veterans for Peace, "How is the War Economy Working for You?" is beginning to have resonance. Occupiers of the FreedomPlaza encampment in Washington, D.C. demand an end to the human suffering caused by war. This October, the StoptheMachine movement filled the balconies of the Senate with protests, as well as stood up against military drones at the National Museum of Air and Space till they were arrested or forcefully dispersed. While people in other countries are burned alive by white phosphorous and other U.S./NATO incendiary weapons, protesters here may risk temporary trauma from having their eyes burned with pepper spray. But allowing the Burning Times of our era to continue is far more risky.
1 Witch panics spread to the American colonies, where an estimated 35 to 37 people were put to death.
2 Variations of this have been a dictum since the 13th century when it served as a call from Pope Innocent III to massacre heathens. It was adopted by secular authorities during witch crazes, and was used in the twentieth century by Green Berets and Marines.
Sources for historical information about the Burning Times from Behringer, Wolfgang (2004) Cambridge, UK: Parity Press. Witches and Witch-Hunts: a global history; Briggs, Robin (1996) Witches & Neighbors: The Social and Cultural Context of European Witchcraft. New York: Penguin Books; Cohn, Norman (1975). Europe's Inner Demons. Chicago: University of Chicago Press; Gibbons, Jenny (1998). "Recent Developments in the Study of the Great European Witch Hunt."
reprinted from WAMM newsletter
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