International Inquiry into 9-11, Phase Two
Toronto- May 25-30, 2004

Questioning the War on Terrorism

September 11- Unanswered Questions

Action to Oppose the Emergency Health Powers Act

9-11 Truth Alliance

        The economic system is deeply flawed and has served to concentrate money, land and power in the hands of a few. The concentration of economic power and ecological devastation have heralded the collapse of many civilizations and empires. At this time in history, humanity must choose between the health and well-being of our planet, humanity, and other lifeforms, or the further enrichment of the ruling elite. The choice is clear. The World Bank, International Monetary Fund, World Trade Organization, World Economic Forum, and "Trade Agreements," such as the Multilateral Agreement on Investments (MAI) blatantly favor the rich over all environmental and human rights concerns (see http://www.tradewatch.org/). Civil society is now engaged in a tremendous struggle against these deadly institutions which value money over life.

         Opposition to the M.A.I., World Bank, the W.T.O. has grown and had some dramatic victories, but the struggle continues.(www.stopftaa.org Exposing Corporate Coup d'Etat -F.T.A.A. Palo Alto Update) Besides resisting, more and more people are coming together to create, nurture and share transformative solutions to the deepening crisis we confront. "Another World is Possible" is the theme of this rising global movement.

        Understanding how the monetary system works is one step towards creating a system which serves human needs and recognizes the value and importance of the biosphere upon which all our lives depend. The local currency movement hopes to reorganize the global system by creating healthy local communities that recognize and respect their interdependence, and work cooperatively to restore the Earth, recognize the rights and wisdom of indigenous people, and respect the rights of all people -- regardless of class, gender, age, or race.

        What is real wealth? Western civilization has confused money with wealth. Most of the world's money is chasing other money in the cyber-casino of the global financial markets oblivious to the devastation being wreaked upon the world's ecosystems and people. While species go extinct, forests are decimated, rivers are poisoned, and people starved, the money is blindly directed towards greater profits destroying the world in the process. The global economy has been shaped by military force, money, greed, fear, and a massive propaganda campaign. Money is a tool of empire, which has served to transfer wealth and power from the many to the few. All monetary systems based upon debt have this fatal dynamic. The ancient religious taboos against usury were well justified, but have been forgotten.

        The illusion that money is wealth needs to be shattered. Real wealth is a healthy planet and healthy relationships between all lifeforms; it is inner peace, world peace, balance and harmony in the home, the community, the world. Local currencies are a powerful tool towards raising consciousness, building community, and restructuring our economies in a sustainable direction. Community currencies challenge the system by showing how money is backed by our belief systems.

        Money can be created by banks or governments to serve their interests, or it can be created by people in a community to serve their needs. Local currencies help communities to recognize their inner strengths, the gifts of their members, and the value of cooperation. Local currencies inspire people to live in accordance with their values, to follow their inner passion rather than chase after an obsolete notion of "success." They enable people to make a contribution to their community and receive what they need or desire in return. They nurture relationships and demonstrate how local production for local needs benefits the community, as well as reducing the stress upon distant communities who have been forced into near slavery and starvation to provide resources and services to the world's wealthy. Creating community currencies encourages participatory democratic processes and shows how non hierarchical systems empower people, and nurture hope, creativity, respect, and compassion. In a perfect world, money would become obsolete, and the gift economy would flourish.

This is the website of Carol Brouillet cbrouillet@igc.org.

Mailing Address and Contact Information:
Carol Brouillet
P.O. Box 60511
Palo Alto, CA U.S.A. 94306
Telephone: 650-857-0927, Fax: 650-857-0419

Carol Brouillet is a Co-Founder of the International Media Project, which produces Making Contact, a half-hour radio program now heard on over 165 stations, primarily in the U.S. and Canada. (Making Contact will also pilot a new daily show beginning in February 2001.) Carol also helped found the Who's Counting Project, which promotes the film Who's Counting? Marilyn Waring on Sex, Lies & Global Economics. Both non-profits seek to connect people, vital ideas and important information to nurture healthy social change, economic justice and ecological sustainability. A passionate advocate of local currencies to raise consciousness, nurture community, and increase local self-reliance, her paper Reinventing Money, Restoring the Earth, Reweaving the Web of Life has won an honourable mention from the Millenium Institute as one of the best ideas for the 21st Century.
        The Feminist Perspective is a speech she wrote for The Other Economic Summit, The People's Summit 97 held in Denver, Colorado at the same time as the G-7(8).
        Raised in California, she sailed around the world in her youth, and has traveled extensively.
        Her political activism began in 1992 when she saw a film which disturbed her and started to do research on the government and the media. She began by writing articles and promoting books and films, such as Manufacturing Consent, Noam Chomsky and the Media.
        In '92 she also read excerpts compiled by dave ratcliffe on the health effects of low-level radiation which prompted her to compile and edit The Invisible Nuclear War about the effects of low-level radiation, the massive government cover-up, and the continuing battle waged by the Nuclear Powers against All Life on Earth.
        Her activism has spanned a wide range of issues. In 1993 she read Debt Virus, A Compelling Solution to the World's Debt Problems by Jaques Jaikaran and an article by Paul Glover "Creating Economic Democracy" and began writing on Money -- our civilization's largest blind spot.
        From writing articles to helping to organize events, conferences on the issue of money and Global Economics, and public speaking, she does all she can to raise consciousness and change the system, while raising her 3 boys -- Jules (born in '88), Jeremy (born in '90), Daniel (born in '93) with the help, support and love of her husband, Jean-Luc (who watches the kids when she goes to conferences and events).
        In January '98, she organized the first "Gathering on Strategies to Transform the Global Economy," in February '99, she organized a second "Gathering" (article about it appearing in the Christian Science Monitor), (Report From the February Gathering) There was so much energy gathered that 24 people volunteered to help six months later with The August Gathering. (A transcript of Elisabet Sahtouris's "Big Picture" Overview.)
        Carol is also the Green Network Center for Community Currencies. She is a member of the Green Party which includes local currencies in its platform and a member of Women's International League for Peace and Freedom. She was interviewed by Sojourn, Fall, 1998 that issue focused on Community Currency.
        Instead of organizing another Gathering last January, Carol tried to help with the first World Social Forum held in Porto Alegre, Brazil, January 25-30, 2001, at the same time that the World Economic Forum was meeting in Switzerland. Here is the Report on the World Social Forum and the Call for Mobilization. Energized by the historic event, she was working on combatting the FTAA, the WTO, the IMF,World Bank, and corporate globalization,speaking out against the FTAA, writing, and organizing,in the U.S.
        Shaken by the events of September 11th, I have done all I can to prevent World War III (article about my trip to DC September 2001) and mobilize and educate people about the darker economic forces that are plunging humanity towards a dark abyss.

         Locally, we are demonstrating/ Listening for Peace from 11:00 a.m.- 1:00p.m. Wednesdays at Lytton Plaza in Palo Alto. We have lots of colorful Banners, including one that says-

REAL TERRORISTS
Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld...
Guilty of 9-11...

         In November 2001, I came across Richard LaBeviere's excellent book Dollars for Terror- The United States and Islam; here is my expanded book review A Vital Piece of the Puzzle

         Here are the Questions about 9-11 that we raised in 2001, and a report on the San Francisco March and meeting with Senator Feinstein and Boxers' staff to Demand a Congressional Inquiry of 9/11. The evidence mounts of the Bush Administration's complicity in the attacks. The War on Terror is a fraud; it is truly a War of Terrorism, against democracy, people and planet. Please read Chossudovsky's articles about the CIA's connections with the terrorist networks that are being blamed for the attack on the World Trade Center. November 2, 2001, he posted "the smoking gun"-Cover-up or Complicity of the Bush Administration?
        Please sign the online petition demanding a Senate investigation of 9-11 And add a link to it from your website, join the movement, go to the local peace vigils, start your own, join the big national demonstrations, let's wake up the slumbering millions and get our voices heard loud and clear!!!http://www.petitiononline.com/11601TFS/petition.html Contact your representatives.
        May 10-12th, 2002 the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear power in Space met to protest Lockheed Martin in Sunnyvale and to hold their annual conference. Kathy Kelly and I gave two workshops entitled Deadly Connections: Corporate Globalization, Space and War. It was energizing to meet with so many people from all over the world, all working for Peace, Freedom,Justice and Life.
        I have been focusing my energy on Understanding/Exposing 9-11organizing, demonstrating, writing...and trying to keep up my 9-11 page which I've reorganized to include an activist update,which is more current than this homepage.
        Last year most of my energies were devoted to exposing The Truth About 9-11. Our local paper did a cover story, November 20, 2002 on "The Rising Local peace movement gathering steam" which profiled a number of activists, including me; while a good story, they did omit the gist of my "work." They did not print my "Letter to the Editor."
        Our rallying cry has been "Impeachment, Not War!" Joyce Lynne wrote about our march on our Congresswoman Demanding Preemptive Impeachment. She also wrote an article- Control, fear, and the New World Order Part 2: A dialogue with activist Carol Brouillet about the federalization of academia.
        One of the best tools that we have developed to empower, encourage, bring a smile to everyone's face, raise consciousness on 9-11 has been the Deception Dollar which we first printed last October. We printed 10,000 in October; 100,000 in December, 500,000 in February, and one million in March. (600,000 in May and another 1,080,000 September 11, 2003) Now, over 3,000,000 are in circulation. (We also created four huge beautiful banners which have caught the media's attention.)
         In April we risked our entire Deception Dollar printing fund to put on a couple of major events in San Francisco and Palo Alto- we screened Aftermath- Unanswered Questions from 9-11 with Guerrilla News Network, Mike Ruppert, Peter Dale Scott, Riva Enteen, Barry Zwicker and Richard Heinberg and a lively panel/ Q & A following the film. At the beautiful Herbst Theatre in the heart of San Francisco (which holds nearly a thousand people), we had a full house, had to turn 300 people away and received a standing ovation. In Palo Alto we had over 400 people come to the event; I wrote about the Aftermath of Aftermath- from an organizer's point of view- if you want the details.

Most recently (September 11, 2003), we held rallies and marches to Impeach the Terrorists!. I think our greatest hope is to organize resistance faster than the ruling elite can organize repression. We're trying to break through fear and denial with an evening of comedy on February 1st and 2nd, a benefit- entitled "Behind Every Terrorist- There is a Bush." The benefit is for The International Inquiry into 9-11 scheduled for March 26-28th in San francisco. I really have my hands full organizing these days.