http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11432894
29 September 2010 Last updated at 05:29
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Is North Korea following the Chinese model?
By John Simpson World affairs editor, BBC News
"There have been clear signs that China would like North Korea to develop in very much the same way as China itself did in the 1970s and 80s, leading to the rampant and highly successful state-controlled capitalism of recent years."
Full text at link
Mittwoch, 29. September 2010
Venezuela's Public Relations Problem
Have you noticed that it's a bit hard to find a positive media story about Venezuela? That seems odd. Its government, including President Hugo Chavez, is democratically elected, and by a substantial majority. It's not at war with anyone, or even threatening to be. And its people are not even Muslim.
Recently Venezuela had a legislative election, and the opposition made some gains, reducing the majority of Chavez's party to 99 out of 165 seats. As a result we get headlines like "Chavez suffers defeat" "Only" 60% is a defeat?
When you get blatantly one-sided coverage of anything by major news outlets, whether positive or negative, there is reason to be suspicious. Perhaps it might be worthwhile to explore some alternative sources.
"
Media, Propaganda and Venezuela
Author And Page Information
Politically, for some time now, Chavez has been seen unfavorably in the U.S. For example,
- He has been an influential member in the OPEC oil cartel of oil producing nations;
- He has criticized the U.S.’s bombing of Afghanistan in retaliation for the September 11 2001 terrorist attacks;
- He has stopped the Venezuelan military taking part in naval exercises in the Caribbean;
- The U.S. military has been denied access to Venezuelan airspace, hampering Washington’s war in Colombia;
- He has been friendly to Cuba’s Fidel Castro;
- He has sold oil to Cuba;
- He has tried to implement economic policies that are not always in line with the Washington Consensus/Neoliberalism ideology;
- He has made Venezuela a potential alternative to the IMF for other Latin American countries for funding and loans, signifying a major loss of influence of the United States in the region;
- And, Venezuela is also home to the largest currently known oil reserves in the world outside the Middle East.
In supporting opposition groups, raising concerns about human rights issues from Chavez only and reporting only on anti-Chavez demonstrations, the U.S. has invited criticisms yet again of interference in a democratically elected government (Chavez won with overwhelming support) by another country (the United States). These issues are introduced below."
The article goes on to deal with the following issues, and is well worth reading:
U.S. Involvement In Venezuelan Coup
Media Reporting
Venezuela’s Economy And Poverty
Venezuela As Alternative To IMF/Washington-Based Influence In The Region
Pro/Anti Chavez Demonstrations
Chavez Recall Referrendum Fails
Pat Robertson Calls For Assassination Of Chavez
Claims That Chavez Supports Terrorists
More Information
Significant is the " one-sidedness, from both the mainstream media of western countries such as the U.S. and U.K., and from Venezuela’s own elite anti-Chavez media, which “controls 95% of the airwaves and has a near-monopoly over newsprint..."
In other words, Chavez's popularity is not enhanced by any monopoly on the media, but occurs despite a barrage of constant negativity and anti-Chavez propaganda.
Why the U.S. Government Hates Venezuela
"Venezuela's example has dramatically changed the political landscape in Latin America, inspiring millions. For the first time, governments and social movements alike feel empowered to oppose U.S. corporate dominance and instead are seeking to arrange their economies in ways that benefit the majority of people. "
Those in the US who are constantly calling Obama a socialist would be loudly laughed at in Venezuela, and probably most of Latin America:
"Barack Obama is a very outspoken devotee of capitalism, and has shown by his coup in Honduras — and also the military build-up in Colombia — that he will go to any length to prop-up U.S. corporations and rich investors in the region."
The Revolution Will Not Be Destabilized: Ottawa's Democracy Promoters Target Venezuela
By "democracy promoters" is meant not "government by the people" but the activities of the National Endowment for Democracy--" The NED was formed in 1983 as a new tool to advance US foreign policy and business interests around the world. Nominally independent, NED receives the majority of its budget from Congress, and each of its grants must be approved by the US State Department."
For NED the democracy it promotes must be a special flavor-- the kind that is friendly to US corporations. As long as it is capitalist-friendly, the actual democracy part is optional.
The article points out that Canada, as well as the US, is an active participant in NED and similar efforts.
Moving Beyond Representation: Participatory Democracy and Communal Councils in Venezuela
This is an excellent article on democracy, it's different types and meanings, and some direct examples of how it is working for Venezuela.
Is Venezuela perfect? Of course not. But Chavez, along with the people themselves, have been remarkably successful at improving the lot of the majority of its people, and they deserve credit for that. It is up to Venezuelans, and no one else, what kind of government they want.
Montag, 27. September 2010
Philippines Flag ASEAN Gaffe
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100926/ap_on_re_as/as_philippines_us_inverted_flag
– Sun Sep 26, 4:06 pm ET
MANILA, Philippines – The U.S. government said Sunday it made an "honest mistake" when it displayed an inverted Philippine flag — which wrongfully signified that the Southeast Asian nation was in a state of war — in a meeting hosted by President Barack Obama.
The Philippine flag was displayed upside down behind President Benigno Aquino III when leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations met Obama in New York on Friday.
"This was an honest mistake," U.S. Embassy spokeswoman Rebecca Thompson said in a statement, adding, "the U.S. treasures its close relationship and close partnership with the Philippines."
The American embassy will find out how the "unfortunate" incident happened, she said.
Philippine foreign affairs department spokesman Ed Malaya said the government understood that it was "an honest error" that "should not detract from the true significance of the summit, which showed the unprecedented cooperation between the ASEAN and the U.S."
It was not immediately clear who pointed out the mistake. A photograph of Aquino sitting beside Obama with the inverted flag behind them was displayed on a government website Sunday but its caption did not point out the error.
During the summit, Obama discussed ways of bolstering economic ties between the U.S. and Southeast Asia as well as Asian regional concerns such as territorial disputes in the South China Sea and Nov. 7 elections in military-ruled Myanmar.
ASEAN website, showing member countries, and Philippine flag displayed correctly:
.http://www.aseansec.org/74.htm
Samstag, 25. September 2010
First Italian War 1494 -1498
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_War_of_1494%E2%80%931498
The First Italian War (1494–95), sometimes referred to as the Italian War of 1494 or Charles VIII's Italian War, was the opening phase of the Italian Wars. The war pitted Charles VIII of France, who had initial Milanese aid, against the Holy Roman Empire, Spain, and an alliance of Italian powers led by Pope Alexander VI.
Freitag, 24. September 2010
UN walkout over Ahmadinejad speech
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2010/09/2010923184345332707.html
I'm one of those people who tends to think the official version of what happened on September 11th, 2001 in Manhattan is a story full of holes, and there are still questions. But even I think this is an insane thing for a head of state to say - incendiary at best. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad does it again...
But wait! The comments that 'many believe' the US was complicit in the 9-11 attacks, will be what the world's media focus on, regarding this walkout... but be careful not to miss the other quotes and memorable developments surrounding this - such as Ahmadinejad suggesting that the veto power in the Security Council be scrapped, or President Obama saying previously that an Israeli attack on Iran would not be 'ideal'. These may go unnoticed by many, quick to pour scorn on Iran's outspoken leader.
US diplomats lead walkout as the Iranian president tells UN General Assembly some think the US was behind 9/11 attacks.
US diplomats and other Western delegations have walked out of a United Nations summit as the Iranian president said some believe the 9/11 attacks on the US was the work of Americans to save Israel.
Two US officials led the walkout as Mahmoud Ahmadinejad addressed the General Assemly in New York on Thursday. They were quickly followed by the British and other Western delegations.
Ahmadinejad said there was a theory that "some segments within the US government orchestrated the attack to reverse the declining American economy and its grips on the Middle East in order also to save the Zionist regime.
"The majority of the American people as well as other nations and politicians agree with this view," he said.
PJ Crowley, the US assistant secretary of state, told Al Jazeera the statement was "totally outrageous".
"[Those killed in the attacks] were people of all faiths, all nationalities. They were killed by 19 people, a plot perpetrated by al-Qaeda," he said.
"We know who did it and they have admitted who did it. This idea that nine years later there is still some debate about who did it and why is outrageous."
Lawrence Cannon, Canada's foreign minister, called Ahmadinejad's comments "unacceptable" and "a blatant violation of international standards and of the very spirit of the UN".
About 3,000 people died when hijackers crashed planes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and a fourth aircraft plummeted into a Pennsylvania field in 2001.
'9/11 denier'
Marwan Bishara, Al Jazeera's senior political analyst, said: "[Ahmadinejad's] attack on the traditional version of the 9/11 story was similar to his attack on the traditional version of the holocaust.
"So you can now say President Ahmadinejad is both a 9/11 denier and a Holocaust denier.
"And that simply does not set a positive tone for any negotiations with the Americans, but also underlines that Iran is not interested in talks anytime soon."
Ahmadinejad briefly touched on the four sets of UN sanctions imposed on his country over Tehran's refusal stop enriching uranium and to prove Iran is not trying to build an atomic bomb.
Some members of the Security Council have "equated nuclear energy with nuclear bombs," Ahmadinejad said.
He accused the US of building up its nuclear arsenal instead of dismantling it and reiterated his call for a nuclear-free world.
The UN Security Council in June imposed a fourth set of sanctions against Iran and the European Union and the US have added even more extensive sanctions targeting its foreign trade.
Iran insists that its nuclear programme has only peaceful intentions.
In his speech, Ahmadinejad condemned some of the permanent members of the UN Security Council - Britain, China, France, Russia and the US - for monopolising nuclear power.
He said the criticism of Iran comes "at the same time they have continued to maintain, expand and upgrade their own nuclear arsenals."
He said 2011 should be declared a year of nuclear disarmament - "Nuclear Energy for All, Nuclear Weapons for None".
Ahmadinejad said that Iran was ready for negotiations but dismissed suggestions that such an act would be giving in to international pressure.
"We have never submitted to illegally imposed pressures nor will we ever do so. It has been said that they want to pressure Iran into a dialogue," he said.
"Firstly, Iran has always been ready for a dialogue based on respect and justice. Secondly, methods based on disrespecting nations have long become ineffective."
US 'door open'
Hours before Ahmadinejad's speech, Barack Obama, the US president, told the General Assembly that the US was open to diplomacy with Iran only if it proves that its nuclear ambitions are peaceful.
"The United States and the international community seek a resolution to our differences with Iran, and the door remains open to diplomacy should Iran choose to walk through it," he said.
"But the Iranian government must demonstrate a clear and credible commitment, and confirm to the world the peaceful intent of its nuclear programme."
However, Obama also noted that he made the same overture, in the same forum, a year ago, and tensions continue.
About 800 people including many of Iranian origin protested outside the UN headquarters as Ahmadinejad was attending the General Assembly.
They chanted "Ahmadinejad is a terrorist" and staged a street performance depicting people stained with fake blood and scenes of hanging and stoning.
"It is time for the international community to stop dealing with Ahmadinejad and finally recognise and empower the opposition, so that the Iranian people can finally get the democratic change it deserves," Ali Safavi, a demonstrator, said.
Many of the demonstrators were affiliated with the the People's Mujahidin Organisation of Iran, which is officially listed as a foreign terrorist organisation in the US, although a judge ruled in July that it should be removed from the blacklist.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-11402101
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/139756
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/world-news/walkout-drama-at-un-over-irans-vile-911-claims-14957415.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/richard-adams-blog/2010/sep/23/mahmoud-ahmadinejad-un-september-11-attacks
http://www.irannewsdaily.com/home.asp?id=13&Val=POLITICAL
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/23/ahmadinejad-un-speech-vid_n_297682.html
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=36110&Cr=iran&Cr1=
I'm one of those people who tends to think the official version of what happened on September 11th, 2001 in Manhattan is a story full of holes, and there are still questions. But even I think this is an insane thing for a head of state to say - incendiary at best. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad does it again...
But wait! The comments that 'many believe' the US was complicit in the 9-11 attacks, will be what the world's media focus on, regarding this walkout... but be careful not to miss the other quotes and memorable developments surrounding this - such as Ahmadinejad suggesting that the veto power in the Security Council be scrapped, or President Obama saying previously that an Israeli attack on Iran would not be 'ideal'. These may go unnoticed by many, quick to pour scorn on Iran's outspoken leader.
US diplomats lead walkout as the Iranian president tells UN General Assembly some think the US was behind 9/11 attacks.
US diplomats and other Western delegations have walked out of a United Nations summit as the Iranian president said some believe the 9/11 attacks on the US was the work of Americans to save Israel.
Two US officials led the walkout as Mahmoud Ahmadinejad addressed the General Assemly in New York on Thursday. They were quickly followed by the British and other Western delegations.
Ahmadinejad said there was a theory that "some segments within the US government orchestrated the attack to reverse the declining American economy and its grips on the Middle East in order also to save the Zionist regime.
"The majority of the American people as well as other nations and politicians agree with this view," he said.
PJ Crowley, the US assistant secretary of state, told Al Jazeera the statement was "totally outrageous".
"[Those killed in the attacks] were people of all faiths, all nationalities. They were killed by 19 people, a plot perpetrated by al-Qaeda," he said.
"We know who did it and they have admitted who did it. This idea that nine years later there is still some debate about who did it and why is outrageous."
Lawrence Cannon, Canada's foreign minister, called Ahmadinejad's comments "unacceptable" and "a blatant violation of international standards and of the very spirit of the UN".
About 3,000 people died when hijackers crashed planes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and a fourth aircraft plummeted into a Pennsylvania field in 2001.
'9/11 denier'
Marwan Bishara, Al Jazeera's senior political analyst, said: "[Ahmadinejad's] attack on the traditional version of the 9/11 story was similar to his attack on the traditional version of the holocaust.
"So you can now say President Ahmadinejad is both a 9/11 denier and a Holocaust denier.
"And that simply does not set a positive tone for any negotiations with the Americans, but also underlines that Iran is not interested in talks anytime soon."
Ahmadinejad briefly touched on the four sets of UN sanctions imposed on his country over Tehran's refusal stop enriching uranium and to prove Iran is not trying to build an atomic bomb.
Some members of the Security Council have "equated nuclear energy with nuclear bombs," Ahmadinejad said.
He accused the US of building up its nuclear arsenal instead of dismantling it and reiterated his call for a nuclear-free world.
The UN Security Council in June imposed a fourth set of sanctions against Iran and the European Union and the US have added even more extensive sanctions targeting its foreign trade.
Iran insists that its nuclear programme has only peaceful intentions.
In his speech, Ahmadinejad condemned some of the permanent members of the UN Security Council - Britain, China, France, Russia and the US - for monopolising nuclear power.
He said the criticism of Iran comes "at the same time they have continued to maintain, expand and upgrade their own nuclear arsenals."
He said 2011 should be declared a year of nuclear disarmament - "Nuclear Energy for All, Nuclear Weapons for None".
Ahmadinejad said that Iran was ready for negotiations but dismissed suggestions that such an act would be giving in to international pressure.
"We have never submitted to illegally imposed pressures nor will we ever do so. It has been said that they want to pressure Iran into a dialogue," he said.
"Firstly, Iran has always been ready for a dialogue based on respect and justice. Secondly, methods based on disrespecting nations have long become ineffective."
US 'door open'
Hours before Ahmadinejad's speech, Barack Obama, the US president, told the General Assembly that the US was open to diplomacy with Iran only if it proves that its nuclear ambitions are peaceful.
"The United States and the international community seek a resolution to our differences with Iran, and the door remains open to diplomacy should Iran choose to walk through it," he said.
"But the Iranian government must demonstrate a clear and credible commitment, and confirm to the world the peaceful intent of its nuclear programme."
However, Obama also noted that he made the same overture, in the same forum, a year ago, and tensions continue.
About 800 people including many of Iranian origin protested outside the UN headquarters as Ahmadinejad was attending the General Assembly.
They chanted "Ahmadinejad is a terrorist" and staged a street performance depicting people stained with fake blood and scenes of hanging and stoning.
"It is time for the international community to stop dealing with Ahmadinejad and finally recognise and empower the opposition, so that the Iranian people can finally get the democratic change it deserves," Ali Safavi, a demonstrator, said.
Many of the demonstrators were affiliated with the the People's Mujahidin Organisation of Iran, which is officially listed as a foreign terrorist organisation in the US, although a judge ruled in July that it should be removed from the blacklist.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-11402101
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/139756
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/world-news/walkout-drama-at-un-over-irans-vile-911-claims-14957415.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/richard-adams-blog/2010/sep/23/mahmoud-ahmadinejad-un-september-11-attacks
http://www.irannewsdaily.com/home.asp?id=13&Val=POLITICAL
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/23/ahmadinejad-un-speech-vid_n_297682.html
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=36110&Cr=iran&Cr1=
Samstag, 18. September 2010
Shiva Nazar Ahari
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2010/09/2010918161829135229.html
An Iranian court has sentenced a prominent human rights activist to six years in prison on various anti-government charges, a semi-official Iranian news agency has reported.
ILNA news agency said on Saturday that Shiva Nazar Ahari was convicted of gathering and plotting to commit crimes against the Iranian state, propaganda against the establishment and waging war against God, a crime punishable by death under the Islamic Republic's Sharia law.
Nazar Ahari, the 26-year-old founder of the Committee of Human Rights Reporters in Tehran, was arrested in December on her way to the funeral of Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, the spiritual adviser of the Green movement which opposed the re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president, last June.
In addition to the jail term, she has to pay a $400 fine or face 74 lashes, Mohammad Sharif, her lawyer said.
Sharif vowed to appeal the verdict, saying there was "no legal basis for this charge".
She was also arrested shortly after the disputed June 2009 presidential vote and released only after spending three months in Tehran's Evin prison, where dozens of activists and journalists are still being held.
Human rights groups have dismissed the claims against her as “trumped-up charges'' stemming from her participation in the 2009 protest rallies.
The opposition says the election was rigged, but authorities denied that and blamed foreign powers for stirring agitation.
Palestinians not to recognize Israel as Jewish state - Palestinian negotiator | World | RIA Novosti
http://en.rian.ru/world/20100918/160636626.html
From Russian left-wing press. Might be interesting to compare different sources' coverage.
_______________________
A Palestinian negotiator said on Saturday that the Palestinian authorities were not going to recognize Israel as a Jewish state, a move which would cripple the peace process between the two nations.
Israeli-Palestinian negotiations resumed in early September after being stalled for almost two years. The Israelis demand that Israel be recognized by the Palestinian National Authority as a Jewish state, otherwise they said establishing peace would be impossible.
Nabil Shaath, a member of Central Committee of the Fatah movement controling the West Bank, said during a public lecture in Ramallah that direct peace talks would be halted if Israel continued settlement construction in the occupied territory.
"The decision is in the Israeli government's hands," he said.
From Russian left-wing press. Might be interesting to compare different sources' coverage.
_______________________
A Palestinian negotiator said on Saturday that the Palestinian authorities were not going to recognize Israel as a Jewish state, a move which would cripple the peace process between the two nations.
Israeli-Palestinian negotiations resumed in early September after being stalled for almost two years. The Israelis demand that Israel be recognized by the Palestinian National Authority as a Jewish state, otherwise they said establishing peace would be impossible.
Nabil Shaath, a member of Central Committee of the Fatah movement controling the West Bank, said during a public lecture in Ramallah that direct peace talks would be halted if Israel continued settlement construction in the occupied territory.
"The decision is in the Israeli government's hands," he said.
Russia, Canada agree to resolve Arctic dispute based on UN law | World | RIA Novosti
http://en.rian.ru/world/20100916/160611736.html
Russia and Canada agreed on Thursday to resolve a dispute over the Lomonosov Ridge in the Arctic Ocean based on the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, the two countries' foreign ministers said on Thursday.
The Lomonosov Ridge was discovered by Soviet expeditors in 1948. The ridge stretches some 1,800 kilometers from the New Siberian Islands over the central part of the ocean to Ellesmere Island of the Canadian Arctic islands.
Russia first laid claim to the territory in 2001, but the UN demanded more conclusive evidence.
"We have reached an agreement with our Canadian colleagues to solve these questions as well as similar issues based on the [United Nations] Convention on the Law of the Sea," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said after talks with his Canadian counterpart.
The vast hydrocarbon deposits that will become more accessible as rising global temperatures lead to a reduction in sea ice have brought the Arctic to the center of geopolitical wrangling between the United States, Russia, Canada, Norway, and Denmark.
Under international law, each of the five Arctic Circle countries has a 322-kilometer (200-mile) exclusive economic zone in the Arctic Ocean.
However, under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, signed by Russia in 1997, if a country can prove its continental shelf extends beyond the 200-mile limit, it can claim a right to more of the ocean floor.
Arctic
In late July, the Russian research vessel Akademik Fedorov left Arkhangelsk for a three-month expedition to the Arctic to ascertain the borders of Russia's continental shelf.
Russia has said it will invest some 1.5 billion rubles ($50 million) in defining the extent of its continental shelf in the Arctic in 2010.
The Russian Geographical Society will host an International Arctic forum in Moscow on September 22-23. The forum will gather world's leading ecologists, experts and politicians to discuss the social, economic and environmental problems of the region.
MOSCOW, September 16 (RIA Novosti)
Russia and Canada agreed on Thursday to resolve a dispute over the Lomonosov Ridge in the Arctic Ocean based on the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, the two countries' foreign ministers said on Thursday.
The Lomonosov Ridge was discovered by Soviet expeditors in 1948. The ridge stretches some 1,800 kilometers from the New Siberian Islands over the central part of the ocean to Ellesmere Island of the Canadian Arctic islands.
Russia first laid claim to the territory in 2001, but the UN demanded more conclusive evidence.
"We have reached an agreement with our Canadian colleagues to solve these questions as well as similar issues based on the [United Nations] Convention on the Law of the Sea," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said after talks with his Canadian counterpart.
The vast hydrocarbon deposits that will become more accessible as rising global temperatures lead to a reduction in sea ice have brought the Arctic to the center of geopolitical wrangling between the United States, Russia, Canada, Norway, and Denmark.
Under international law, each of the five Arctic Circle countries has a 322-kilometer (200-mile) exclusive economic zone in the Arctic Ocean.
However, under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, signed by Russia in 1997, if a country can prove its continental shelf extends beyond the 200-mile limit, it can claim a right to more of the ocean floor.
Arctic
In late July, the Russian research vessel Akademik Fedorov left Arkhangelsk for a three-month expedition to the Arctic to ascertain the borders of Russia's continental shelf.
Russia has said it will invest some 1.5 billion rubles ($50 million) in defining the extent of its continental shelf in the Arctic in 2010.
The Russian Geographical Society will host an International Arctic forum in Moscow on September 22-23. The forum will gather world's leading ecologists, experts and politicians to discuss the social, economic and environmental problems of the region.
MOSCOW, September 16 (RIA Novosti)
Mittwoch, 15. September 2010
Land To The Tillers - Blog Action Day Sept 15th 2010
Adapted from a post on my own blog...
The plight of these peasant farmers, people being kidnapped and murdered - apparently by the state - first came to my attention around four years ago through people in the Republic of Philippines here on Multiply, most notably 'Kitrosky'. I would not know about this if not for the internet.
What's going on in The Philippines is very much the kind of thing that interests me... I posted a video about Hacienda Luisita here last November, when I first heard about that. I mention this because, I am ashamed to admit... I still today know very little more. So little that I really don't feel qualified to write about this... I'm on the other side of the world and I never followed up that video with some background reading... but today is 'Blog Action Day' in support of these farmers, and in memory of the massacre, so I must do what I can do to raise awareness of this.
Here follow that video and some links for your information. If you are interested in 'Fair Trade', the corrupt activities of huge multinational companies like Coca Cola and Nestle, corporatocracy and puppet governments, workers' rights, or simply justice for people who are outgunned and need a hand... this is for you.
Please spread the word.
What's going on in The Philippines is very much the kind of thing that interests me... I posted a video about Hacienda Luisita here last November, when I first heard about that. I mention this because, I am ashamed to admit... I still today know very little more. So little that I really don't feel qualified to write about this... I'm on the other side of the world and I never followed up that video with some background reading... but today is 'Blog Action Day' in support of these farmers, and in memory of the massacre, so I must do what I can do to raise awareness of this.
Here follow that video and some links for your information. If you are interested in 'Fair Trade', the corrupt activities of huge multinational companies like Coca Cola and Nestle, corporatocracy and puppet governments, workers' rights, or simply justice for people who are outgunned and need a hand... this is for you.
Please spread the word.
http://natoreyes.wordpress.com/2010/08/14/time-line-of-the-luisita-dispute/
http://otsopya.multiply.com/journal/item/812
http://otsopya.multiply.com/journal/item/813/Blog_Action_Day_Sept_15_Hacienda_Luisita
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comprehensive_Agrarian_Reform_Program
http://www.peoplepower.multiply.com
also included in this post:
http://geopolitics.multiply.com/journal/item/964/PhoenixLinx_-_911_week_International_News_Roundup?replies_read=5
Dienstag, 14. September 2010
Maschom Watch
Last night I attended a talk from a young lady who spent a number of months working as an Ecumencial Accompanier in the West bank .
She was there as an observer to difuse difficult situations and to write reports which will be used in the future as statements of war crimes.She is a Christian and met these ladies often . What she witnessed was inhuman. Respect to them all. Working together .
I love this story - its a moving example of people supporting each other , despite their own cultural or religious difference , against what they believe is unjust and quite simply - wrong .
Israeli Women against the Occupation and for Human Rights
MachsomWatch, in existence since 2001, is an organisation of peace activist Israeli women against the Israeli Occupation of the territories and the systematic repression of the Palestinian nation. We call for Palestinian freedom of movement within their own territory and for an end to the Occupation that destroys Palestinian society and inflicts grievous harm on Israeli society.
http://www.machsomwatch.org/en
The Checkpoint Women of Israel
Machsom Watch advocates for fair treatement of Palestinians, drawing both resentment and respect from their countrymen
By Robert Hirschfield
Daphne Banai, 57, carries many dark tales, like the one she tells of pleading futilely with an Israeli soldier on behalf of a 78-year-old Palestinian man not allowed through to his village, though his papers were in order, because of closure.
“What you see,” says Banai, a leader of Machsom (Checkpoint) Watch, who monitors the treatment of Palestinians at the more than 600 West Bank checkpoints, “you cannot unsee.”
http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3192/the_checkpoint_women_of_israel/
http://www.ziv-p.com/MW/ ( gallery of pictures a must see )
| |
“Most of the soldiers are very angry at us,” says Banai. “They don’t like having ‘those bitches,’ as they call us, looking over their shoulders. It’s much easier to do what you want [if we weren’t there], like being able to slip up and give an old Palestinian a slap.”
“There are a couple of reasons for that,” says Banai. “First, almost all Jewish men do compulsory army service, then active reserve duty. As they are always between one period of being soldiers and another, this would complicate things for them, both with the soldiers at the checkpoints and the Palestinians. We, on the other hand, represent the civil society to which the soldiers and the Border Police are accountable. We represent their mothers, their grandmothers [many of the Machsom women are grandmothers], their girlfriends, their wives.”
Eighty-five percent of Israel’s checkpoints, designed to choke off terrorism at its point of origin, are inside the West Bank. Palestinians traveling from towns and villages, whether to find work or give birth or honor the dead, experience aimed guns, hard questions and long waits.
Banai travels to the West Bank in a van from Kfar Saba, near Tel Aviv. Every day, roughly 50 to 100 of Machsom’s 400 women go out in 24 shifts to keep tabs on the remote outposts. According to Banai, Israel’s checkpoints range from fixed stations, like the ones at Hawara and Beit Iba, near Nablus, to the “rolling checkpoints” that can spring up anywhere on the West Bank at any time.
“Our instructions to the women,” says Banai, “are ‘no cookies, no Nazis.’ Don’t befriend the soldiers and don’t offend them.”
The women’s main task is to observe and to write reports on what they observe, in order to make private acts of malice public. The reports are then published weekly on the organization’s website (www.machsomwatch.org) for all to read. Among the most loyal readers are officers and soldiers of the Israeli Army, who often, indignantly or plaintively, give their feedback.
Banai was not always so bold. Her first attempt at checkpoint activism, four years ago, brought her face-to-face with her own paranoia. An equally nervous colleague accompanied her. “We were scared out of our minds,” she says. “In every Palestinian, I saw a Hamas person. They all seemed to have beards. Even the women. Every time someone made a move, I thought he was going to take out a knife and stab me.”
Yet Banai says she sometimes worries “if we are not actually collaborating with the army, making it all appear more human. No improvements can change the nature of the checkpoints. Israeli checkpoints on the West Bank are a violation of human rights. When you prohibit a Palestinian from seeing his dying grandmother, it doesn’t much matter if you say it with a smile, or if you shout at him.
“I don’t want the checkpoints changed,” she says. “I want them gone
Donnerstag, 9. September 2010
9-11 'Koran Burning Day'
Look... even the most anti-Muslim members we have, the most devout Evangelicals and Zionist Jews, the most hardened and ardent vets who are fully behind 'the Great War on Terror'... even you must realise that a public Quran burning on the anniversary of the 9-11 attacks, is just chucking petrol on the fires of hatred, division and bigotry? Privately you might think it's hilarious, a sweet victory against your perceived enemy... but even then you can't possibly call this 'constructive', beneficial to a wider peace and understanding? Ok, so it might get some attention for Pastor Terry Jones' Gainesville, Florida church... fast becoming almost as big a name as New York's Park 51 community centre... and someone somewhere will make money from this. But that's all it is, a cynical ploy to use the memory of that tragedy for profit. It's morally sick, and demonstrates just how little 'Holy Spirit' there is in that branch of religion.
I saw a blog by a friend in New Zealand this morning, who suggested it might be an idea if those of us around the world who find this particularly offensive might burn an American flag or similar symbol...? How about a Bible... not a KJV, must be the modern US version, I forget what they call it. Offended? Good. As it turns out, a UK Islamic radical has called for exactly that, on Saturday, outside the US Embassy in London - flags, at least. Unfortunately, I'll be down the coast, otherwise I'd be up there with the camera.
President Obama has, I think sensibly, called it an 'al Qaeda recruitment bonanza'. A man who understands, then, that violence breeds violence. Not much more violent symbolism than setting fire to a Holy book... makes one think of the Dark Ages, or book-burnings in Communist Russia.
Now... what else can I say? I don't want to go that step too far, lest I be as bad as Pastor Jones. I could get right behind the flag-burning... but that's divisive and hateful.
3,000 human beings died in those towers. Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Atheists among them.
Indiscriminate violence against a symbol of Capitalism - 'The Great Satan'.
Three trillion dollars of war followed, and many more than 3,000 dead civilians and troops.
Personally, if some activist burns Terry Jones' church to the ground, I will smile. But I will keep that smile to myself. Violence against the man himself, or his congregation, I do not wish for.
How about we all commemorate September 11th, if at all, the correct way?
Wage Peace.
Today is Jewish New Year I believe? Rosh Hanash :)
Mittwoch, 8. September 2010
Ampatuan on Trial - Manila, Philippines
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11225151
A powerful family accused of being behind the worst political massacre in the Philippines plotted the killings over dinner, a court has heard.
The witness, a former house servant, said the family had discussed killing their political rivals six days before the ambush in which 57 people died.
He quoted key suspect Andal Ampatuan Jnr as saying "just kill them all".
Lakmudin Saliao took the stand on the first day of the trial nearly 10 months after the massacre.
The dead included many female members of a rival political family, the Mangudadatus, as well as 30 reporters travelling with them.
(text continued at link)
The trial has already been adjourned until next week.
http://af.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idAFTRE68711P20100908
http://af.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idAFTRE68019820100901
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11139653
A powerful family accused of being behind the worst political massacre in the Philippines plotted the killings over dinner, a court has heard.
The witness, a former house servant, said the family had discussed killing their political rivals six days before the ambush in which 57 people died.
He quoted key suspect Andal Ampatuan Jnr as saying "just kill them all".
Lakmudin Saliao took the stand on the first day of the trial nearly 10 months after the massacre.
The dead included many female members of a rival political family, the Mangudadatus, as well as 30 reporters travelling with them.
(text continued at link)
The trial has already been adjourned until next week.
http://af.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idAFTRE68711P20100908
http://af.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idAFTRE68019820100901
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11139653
Sonntag, 5. September 2010
Basque Country: New ETA Ceasefire Rejected
Not the poster's own words, just some collected links on this subject.
Replies in Spanish, which many of our members speak, are welcome here. Please use English if you can, our admins need to be able to read what is said.
Replies in Spanish, which many of our members speak, are welcome here. Please use English if you can, our admins need to be able to read what is said.
Basque government dismisses ETA ceasefire
AP - Sunday, 5 September 2010
AP - Sunday, 5 September 2010
The armed Basque separatist group ETA today announced another ceasefire, suggesting it might turn to a political process in its quest for an independent homeland.
The group is under pressure from political allies to renounce violence and has been repeatedly hit by the arrests of its leaders.
But the Basque regional government immediately dismissed the announcement as meaningless because ETA failed to renounce violence or announce its dissolution.
The group is under pressure from political allies to renounce violence and has been repeatedly hit by the arrests of its leaders.
But the Basque regional government immediately dismissed the announcement as meaningless because ETA failed to renounce violence or announce its dissolution.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basque_Country_%28greater_region%29#History
The Basque Country (Basque: Euskal Herria) is a European cultural region home to the Basque people in the western Pyrenees that spans the border between France and Spain on the Atlantic coast.
It comprises the Autonomous Communities of the Basque Country and Navarre in Spain and the Northern Basque Country in France.
Even though they are not necessarily synonyms, the concept of a single culturally Basque area spanning various regions and countries has been closely associated since its very inception to the politics of Basque nationalism. As such, the region is considered home to the Basque people (Basque: Euskaldunak), their language (Basque: Euskara), culture and traditions. Nevertheless the area is neither linguistically nor culturally homogeneous, and the very Basqueness of parts of it, such as southern Navarre, remains a very contentious issue.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ETA
Euskadi Ta Askatasuna or ETA (En
glish: Basque Homeland and Freedom; pronounced [ˈɛːta]), is an armed Basque nationalist and separatist organization. The group was founded in 1959 and has since evolved from a group promoting traditional Basque culture to a paramilitary group with the goal of gaining independence for the Greater Basque Country from a Marxist-Leninist perspective.[4][5]
ETA's motto is Bietan jarrai ("Keep up on both"), referring to the two figures in its symbol, a snake (representing politics) wrapped around an axe (representing armed struggle).[6][7][8]
Since 1968, ETA has killed over 800 individuals, injured thousands and undertaken dozens of kidnappings.[9][10][11] The group is proscribed as a terrorist organization by the Spanish and French[12] authorities, as well as the European Union as a whole,[13] and the United States.[14] This convention is followed by a plurality of domestic and international media, which also refer to the group as "terrorists".[15][16][17][18] More than 700 members of the organization are incarcerated in prisons in Spain, France, and other countries.[19]
On 5 September 2010 ETA declared a new ceasefire.[20]
Link: Great documentary, 'BasqueBall' (embedding disabled)
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