Google celebrated what would have been the 95th birthday Thursday of Yuri Kochiyama, an Asian-American activist who in 2003 called Osama bin Laden a leader she “admired.”
Google Doodle, the search engine’s homepage logo, showcased an animated photo of Kochiyama on Thursday, which linked to a separate page that celebrated her life — spent fighting for “human rights and against racism and injustice,” according to Google.
But for the positive note Google wrote on Kochiyama’s behalf, it left out a contradicting statement the activist made a few years earlier when she denounced the U.S. government and praised the leader of a terrorist group.
In a 2003 interview, Kochiyama took a strong stance against American capitalism and saluted bin Laden’s leadership, despite his leading role in planning the September 11 terrorist attacks. She told the interviewer:
I’m glad that you are curious why I consider Osama bin Laden as one of the people that I admire. To me, he is in the category of Malcolm X, Che Guevara, Patrice Lumumba, Fidel Castro, all leaders that I admire. They had much in common. Besides being strong leaders who brought consciousness to their people, they all had severe dislike for the US government and those who held power in the US. I think all of them felt the US government and its spokesmen were all arrogant, racist, hypocritical, self-righteous, and power hungry.
You asked, “Should freedom fighters support him?” Freedom fighters all over the world, and not just in the Muslim world, don’t just support him; they revere him; they join him in battle. He is no ordinary leader or an ordinary Muslim. He may have once been surrounded with luxuries, but he adapted to the realities of a hunted “terrorist leader,” living in caves and doing without modern commodities…He went through heaven and hell with his men…
You stated that some freedom fighters responded that bin Laden’s agenda is more reactionary and does not speak to the needs of the masses of people who exist under US dominance. bin Laden has been primarily fighting US dominance even when he received money from the US when he was fighting in Afghanistan. He was fighting for Islam and all people who believe in Islam, against westerners, especially the US—even when he was fighting against the Russians…I do not care what the US government or Americans feel—I think it’s shameful what this government has done from the beginning of its racist, loathsome history.
And today, when I think what the US military is doing, brazenly bombing country after country, to take oil resources, bringing about coups, assassinating leaders of other countries, and pitting neighbor nations against each other, and demonizing anyone who disagrees with US policy, and detaining and deporting countless immigrants from all over the world, I thank Islam for bin Laden. America’s greed, aggressiveness, and self-righteous arrogance must be stopped. War and weaponry must be abolished.
