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<p>Memorial Day is not actually a day to pray for U.S. troops who died in action but rather a day set aside by Congress to pray for peace.&#160;&#160; The 1950 Joint Resolution of Congress which created Memorial Day says:&#160; “Requesting the President to issue a proclamation designating May 30, Memorial Day, as a day for a Nation-wide prayer for peace.” (64 Stat.158).</p>
<p>Peace today is a nearly impossible challenge for the United States.&#160; The U.S. is far and away the most militarized country in the world and the most aggressive.&#160; Unless the U.S. dramatically reduces its emphasis on global military action, there will be many, many more families grieving on future Memorial days.</p>
<p>The U.S. spends over $600 billion annually on our military, more than the rest of the world combined.&#160; China, our nearest competitor, spends about one-tenth of what we spend.&#160; The U.S. also sells more weapons to other countries than any other nation in the world.</p>
<p>The U.S. has about 700 military bases in 130 countries world-wide and another 6000 bases in the US and our territories, according to Chalmers Johnson in his excellent book NEMESIS: THE LAST DAYS OF THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC (2007).</p>
<p>The Department of Defense (DOD) reports nearly 1.4 million active duty military personnel today.&#160;&#160; Over a quarter of a million are in other countries from Iraq and Afghanistan to Europe, North Africa, South Asia and the rest of the Western Hemisphere. The DOD also employs more than 700,000 civilian employees.</p>
<p>The US has used its armed forces abroad over 230 times according to researchers at the Department of the Navy Historical Center.&#160; Their publications list over 60 military efforts outside the U.S. since World War II.</p>
<p>While the focus of most of the Memorial Day activities will be on U.S. military dead, no effort is made to try to identify or remember the military or civilians of other countries who have died in the same actions.&#160; For example, the U.S. government reports 432 U.S. military dead in Afghanistan and surrounding areas, but has refused to disclose civilian casualties.&#160; “We don’t do body counts,” General Tommy Franks said.</p>
<p>Most people know of the deaths in World War I – 116,000 U.S. soldiers killed.&#160; But how many in the U.S. know that over 8 million soldiers from other countries and perhaps another 8 million civilians also died during World War II?</p>
<p>By World War II, about 408,000 U.S. soldiers were killed.&#160; World-wide, at least another 20 million soldiers and civilians died.</p>
<p>The U.S. is not only the largest and most expensive military on the planet but it is also the most active.&#160; Since World War II, the U.S. has used U.S. military force in the following countries:</p>
<p>1947-1949 Greece.&#160; Over 500 U.S. armed forces military advisers were sent into Greece to administer hundreds of millions of dollars in their civil war.</p>
<p>1947-1949 Turkey.&#160; Over 400 U.S. armed forces military advisers sent into Turkey,</p>
<p>1950-1953 Korea.&#160; In the Korean War and other global conflicts 54,246 U.S. service members died.</p>
<p>1957–1975 Vietnam.&#160; Over 58,219 U.S. killed.</p>
<p>1958-1984 Lebanon.&#160; Sixth Fleet amphibious Marines and U.S. Army troops landed in Beirut during their civil war. Over 3000 U.S. military participated. 268 U.S. military killed in bombing.</p>
<p>1959 Haiti. U.S. troops, Marines and Navy, land in Haiti and joined in support of military dictator Francois “Papa Doc” Duvalier against rebels.</p>
<p>1962 Cuba.&#160; Naval and Marine forces blockade island.</p>
<p>1964 Panama.&#160; U.S. troops stationed there since 1903. U.S. troops used gunfire and tear gas to clear US Canal Zone.</p>
<p>1965-1966 Dominican Republic. U.S. troops land in Dominican Republic during their civil war – eventually 23,000 were stationed in their country.</p>
<p>1969-1975 Cambodia. U.S. and South Vietnam jets dropped more than 539,000 tons of bombs on Cambodia – three times the number dropped on Japan during WWII.</p>
<p>1964-1973 Laos. U.S. flew 580,000 bombing runs over country – more than 2 million tons of bombs dropped – double the amount dropped on Nazi Germany.&#160; US dropped more than 80 million cluster bombs on Laos – 10 to 30% did not explode leaving 8 to 24 million scattered across the country.&#160; Since the war stopped, two or three Laotians are killed every month by leftover bombs – over 5700 killed since bombing stopped.</p>
<p>1980 Iran. &#160;Operation Desert One, 8 U.S. troops die in rescue effort.</p>
<p>1981 Libya.&#160; U.S. planes aboard the Nimitz shot down 2 Libyan jets over Gulf of Sidra.</p>
<p>1983 Grenada. U.S. Army and Marines invade, 19 U.S. killed.</p>
<p>1983 Lebanon.&#160; Over 1200 Marines deployed into country during their civil war. 241 U.S. service members killed in bombing.</p>
<p>1983-1991 El Salvador.&#160; Over 150 US soldiers participate in their civil war as military advisers.</p>
<p>1983&#160; Honduras. &#160;Over 1000 troops and National Guard members deployed into Honduras to help the contra fight against Nicaragua.</p>
<p>1986 Libya. U.S. Naval air strikes hit hundreds of targets – airfields, barracks, and defense networks.</p>
<p>1986 Bolivia. U.S. Army troops assist in anti-drug raids on cocaine growers.</p>
<p>1987 Iran.&#160; Operation Nimble Archer.&#160; U.S. warships shelled two Iranian oil platforms during Iran-Iraq war.</p>
<p>1988 Iran. US naval warship Vincennes in Persian Gulf shoots down Iranian passenger airliner, Airbus A300, killing all 290 people on board.&#160; US said it thought it was Iranian military jet.</p>
<p>1989 Libya. U.S. Naval jets shoot down 2 Libyan jets over Mediterranean</p>
<p>1989-1990 Panama.&#160; U.S. Army, Air Force, and Navy forces invade Panama to arrest President Manuel Noriega on drug charges.&#160; U.N. puts civilian death toll at 500.</p>
<p>1989 Philippines. U.S. jets provide air cover to Philippine troops during their civil war.</p>
<p>1991 Gulf War. Over 500,000 U.S. military involved.&#160; 700 plus U.S. died.</p>
<p>1992-93 Somalia. Operation Provide Relief, Operation Restore Hope, and Operation Continue Hope.&#160; Over 1300 U.S. Marines and Army Special Forces landed in 1992.&#160; A force of over 10,000 US was ultimately involved.&#160;&#160; Over 40 U.S. soldiers killed.</p>
<p>1992-96 Yugoslavia.&#160; U.S. Navy joins in naval blockade of Yugoslavia in Adriatic waters.</p>
<p>1993 Bosnia. Operation Deny Flight.&#160; U.S. jets patrol no-fly zone, naval ships launch cruise missiles, attack Bosnian Serbs.</p>
<p>1994 Haiti. Operation Uphold Democracy.&#160; U.S. led force of 20,000 troops invade to restore president.</p>
<p>1995 Saudi Arabia. U.S. soldier killed in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia outside US training facility.</p>
<p>1996 Saudi Arabia.&#160; Nineteen U.S. service personnel die in blast at Saudi Air Base.</p>
<p>1998 Sudan. Operation Infinite Reach.&#160; U.S. cruise missiles fired at pharmaceutical plant thought to be terrorist center.</p>
<p>1998 Afghanistan.&#160; Operation Infinite Reach.&#160; U.S. fires 75 cruise missiles on four training camps.</p>
<p>1998 Iraq. Operation Desert Fox.&#160; U.S. Naval bombing Iraq from striker jets and cruise missiles after weapons inspectors report Iraqi obstructions.</p>
<p>1999 Yugoslavia.&#160; U.S. participates in months of air bombing and cruise missile strikes in Kosovo war.</p>
<p>2000 Yemen. 17 U.S. sailors killed aboard US Navy guided missile destroyer USS Cole docked in Aden, Yemen.</p>
<p>2001 Macedonia. U.S. military lands troops during their civil war.</p>
<p>2001 to present Afghanistan. Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) includes Pakistan and Uzbekistan with Afghanistan. 432 U.S. killed in those countries.&#160; Another 64 killed in other locations of OEF – Guantanamo Bay, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Jordan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Philippines, Seychelles, Sudan, Tajikistan, Turkey and Yemen.&#160; US military does not count deaths of non- US civilians, but estimates of over 8000 Afghan troops killed, over 3500 Afghan civilians killed.</p>
<p>2002 Yemen.&#160; U.S. predator drone missile attack on Al Qaeda.</p>
<p>2002 Philippines. U.S. sends over 1800 troops and Special Forces in mission with local military.</p>
<p>2003-2004 Colombia. U.S. sends in 800 military to back up Columbian military troops in their civil war.</p>
<p>2003 to present Iraq.&#160;Operation Iraqi Freedom. 4082 U.S. military killed.&#160;Civilian deaths?&#160; Researchers from Johns Hopkins, using the most orthodox and conservative sampling methodology, reported in the Lancet, after extensive peer review, their estimate of a&#160; post-invasion civilian death toll of about 655,000 by the end of 2006.</p>
<p>2005 Haiti. U.S. troops land in Haiti after elected president forced to leave.</p>
<p>2005 Pakistan. U.S. air strikes inside Pakistan against suspected Al Qaeda, killing mostly civilians.</p>
<p>2007 Somalia. U.S. Air Force gunship attacked suspected Al Qaeda members, U.S. Navy joins in blockade against Islamic rebels.</p>
<p>The U.S. has the most powerful and expensive military force in the world.&#160; The U.S. is the biggest arms merchant. And the U.S. has been the most aggressive in world-wide interventions.&#160;&#160; If Memorial Day in the U.S. is supposed to be about praying for peace, the U.S. has a lot of praying (and changing) to do.</p>
<p>BILL QUIGLEY is a human rights lawyer and law professor at Loyola University New Orleans.&#160; His email is <a href="mailto:quigley77@gmail.com" type="external">quigley77@gmail.com</a></p> | true | 4 | memorial day actually day pray us troops died action rather day set aside congress pray peace160160 1950 joint resolution congress created memorial day says160 requesting president issue proclamation designating may 30 memorial day day nationwide prayer peace 64 stat158 peace today nearly impossible challenge united states160 us far away militarized country world aggressive160 unless us dramatically reduces emphasis global military action many many families grieving future memorial days us spends 600 billion annually military rest world combined160 china nearest competitor spends onetenth spend160 us also sells weapons countries nation world us 700 military bases 130 countries worldwide another 6000 bases us territories according chalmers johnson excellent book nemesis last days american republic 2007 department defense dod reports nearly 14 million active duty military personnel today160160 quarter million countries iraq afghanistan europe north africa south asia rest western hemisphere dod also employs 700000 civilian employees us used armed forces abroad 230 times according researchers department navy historical center160 publications list 60 military efforts outside us since world war ii focus memorial day activities us military dead effort made try identify remember military civilians countries died actions160 example us government reports 432 us military dead afghanistan surrounding areas refused disclose civilian casualties160 dont body counts general tommy franks said people know deaths world war 116000 us soldiers killed160 many us know 8 million soldiers countries perhaps another 8 million civilians also died world war ii world war ii 408000 us soldiers killed160 worldwide least another 20 million soldiers civilians died us largest expensive military planet also active160 since world war ii us used us military force following countries 19471949 greece160 500 us armed forces military advisers sent greece administer hundreds millions dollars civil war 19471949 turkey160 400 us armed forces military advisers sent turkey 19501953 korea160 korean war global conflicts 54246 us service members died 19571975 vietnam160 58219 us killed 19581984 lebanon160 sixth fleet amphibious marines us army troops landed beirut civil war 3000 us military participated 268 us military killed bombing 1959 haiti us troops marines navy land haiti joined support military dictator francois papa doc duvalier rebels 1962 cuba160 naval marine forces blockade island 1964 panama160 us troops stationed since 1903 us troops used gunfire tear gas clear us canal zone 19651966 dominican republic us troops land dominican republic civil war eventually 23000 stationed country 19691975 cambodia us south vietnam jets dropped 539000 tons bombs cambodia three times number dropped japan wwii 19641973 laos us flew 580000 bombing runs country 2 million tons bombs dropped double amount dropped nazi germany160 us dropped 80 million cluster bombs laos 10 30 explode leaving 8 24 million scattered across country160 since war stopped two three laotians killed every month leftover bombs 5700 killed since bombing stopped 1980 iran 160operation desert one 8 us troops die rescue effort 1981 libya160 us planes aboard nimitz shot 2 libyan jets gulf sidra 1983 grenada us army marines invade 19 us killed 1983 lebanon160 1200 marines deployed country civil war 241 us service members killed bombing 19831991 el salvador160 150 us soldiers participate civil war military advisers 1983160 honduras 160over 1000 troops national guard members deployed honduras help contra fight nicaragua 1986 libya us naval air strikes hit hundreds targets airfields barracks defense networks 1986 bolivia us army troops assist antidrug raids cocaine growers 1987 iran160 operation nimble archer160 us warships shelled two iranian oil platforms iraniraq war 1988 iran us naval warship vincennes persian gulf shoots iranian passenger airliner airbus a300 killing 290 people board160 us said thought iranian military jet 1989 libya us naval jets shoot 2 libyan jets mediterranean 19891990 panama160 us army air force navy forces invade panama arrest president manuel noriega drug charges160 un puts civilian death toll 500 1989 philippines us jets provide air cover philippine troops civil war 1991 gulf war 500000 us military involved160 700 plus us died 199293 somalia operation provide relief operation restore hope operation continue hope160 1300 us marines army special forces landed 1992160 force 10000 us ultimately involved160160 40 us soldiers killed 199296 yugoslavia160 us navy joins naval blockade yugoslavia adriatic waters 1993 bosnia operation deny flight160 us jets patrol nofly zone naval ships launch cruise missiles attack bosnian serbs 1994 haiti operation uphold democracy160 us led force 20000 troops invade restore president 1995 saudi arabia us soldier killed riyadh saudi arabia outside us training facility 1996 saudi arabia160 nineteen us service personnel die blast saudi air base 1998 sudan operation infinite reach160 us cruise missiles fired pharmaceutical plant thought terrorist center 1998 afghanistan160 operation infinite reach160 us fires 75 cruise missiles four training camps 1998 iraq operation desert fox160 us naval bombing iraq striker jets cruise missiles weapons inspectors report iraqi obstructions 1999 yugoslavia160 us participates months air bombing cruise missile strikes kosovo war 2000 yemen 17 us sailors killed aboard us navy guided missile destroyer uss cole docked aden yemen 2001 macedonia us military lands troops civil war 2001 present afghanistan operation enduring freedom oef includes pakistan uzbekistan afghanistan 432 us killed countries160 another 64 killed locations oef guantanamo bay djibouti eritrea ethiopia jordan kenya kyrgyzstan philippines seychelles sudan tajikistan turkey yemen160 us military count deaths non us civilians estimates 8000 afghan troops killed 3500 afghan civilians killed 2002 yemen160 us predator drone missile attack al qaeda 2002 philippines us sends 1800 troops special forces mission local military 20032004 colombia us sends 800 military back columbian military troops civil war 2003 present iraq160operation iraqi freedom 4082 us military killed160civilian deaths160 researchers johns hopkins using orthodox conservative sampling methodology reported lancet extensive peer review estimate a160 postinvasion civilian death toll 655000 end 2006 2005 haiti us troops land haiti elected president forced leave 2005 pakistan us air strikes inside pakistan suspected al qaeda killing mostly civilians 2007 somalia us air force gunship attacked suspected al qaeda members us navy joins blockade islamic rebels us powerful expensive military force world160 us biggest arms merchant us aggressive worldwide interventions160160 memorial day us supposed praying peace us lot praying changing bill quigley human rights lawyer law professor loyola university new orleans160 email quigley77gmailcom | 1,006 |
<p>A unique coalition of Klamath River Basin tribal leaders, commercial fishermen, recreational anglers and conservationists successfully disrupted Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway annual shareholders meeting in Omaha, Nebraska on May 2 in their battle to restore the river’s salmon runs.</p>
<p>The group is demanding the removal of four Klamath River dams owned by Buffett subsidiary Mid American Energy, contending that they kill salmon and create massive blooms of toxic algae. Dam removal advocates stepped up to the microphone to deliver their message to Buffett, the world’s second richest man, in a packed convention center including Bill Gates, the world’s richest man, and a crowd of 31,000 shareholders.</p>
<p>Although Buffett rebuffed dam removal advocates just like he did when they attended last year’s meeting, this year’s actions made the Klamath River the largest single issue addressed at the meeting. With their in-your-face actions and tactics, the group made shareholders, the media and the public aware of Buffett’s role in maintaining fish-killing dams on the Klamath – and vowed to keep disrupting Buffett’s meetings until he signs an agreement to remove the dams.</p>
<p>“We went to Omaha to send Warren Buffett and his executives a clear message that as long as there is no business as usual on the Klamath, there will be no business as usual for him, Mid American Energy, or PacifiCorp,” said Leaf Hillman, Vice-Chair of the Karuk Tribe.</p>
<p>The protest of Buffett’s meeting came in the wake of the declaration of a commercial fishery failure by U.S. Secretary of Commerce Carlos M. Gutierrez on May 1. This year, for the first time in history, commercial and recreational fishing in California and Oregon has been closed by state and federal regulations.</p>
<p>Although the immediate cause of the fishery failure this year was the unprecedented collapse of Central Valley chinook salmon, just two years ago salmon fishing was severely restricted because of the decline of Klamath River chinook salmon spurred by the fish kills of 2002.</p>
<p>Tribal members, commercial and recreational fishermen impacted by this year’s fishery closures and Regina Chichizola of the Klamath Riverkeeper camped out in front of Omaha’s Qwest Center at 1 a.m. in a cold, windy rain typical of spring in the Midwest. This allowed the group to get at the head of the cue to ask Buffett questions during a six-hour question and answer session.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Buffett’s Hypocrisy Challenged&#160;</p>
<p>Chook-Chook Hillman, a 23-year-old Karuk World Renewal Priest (Fatawan), spearheaded the strategy and was the third person to speak at the meeting. After introducing himself in the Karuk language, he challenged Buffett by saying, “as a European-American you are the visitor in our country…will you not meet with the native people impacted by your fish killing dams.”</p>
<p>“You say you want to address poverty and disease in the Third World,” Hillman said. “But you are creating those same Third World conditions right here in America. We want to meet and resolve the issue in a way that saves you money and saves our culture!” Chook-Chook then presented a dam removal agreement for Buffett to sign.</p>
<p>As he spoke, Georgiana Myers and Annalia Norris of the Yurok Tribe unfurled a large banner that read “Klamath Dams Equal Cultural Genocide.”</p>
<p>Buffett responded, “I’m prohibited from speaking out by an agreement that we signed with FERC. However, there is strong disagreement in your area about this issue.”</p>
<p>He then referred the question to Mid American CEO David Sokol who echoed that “it would be inappropriate for Buffett to comment on Klamath relicensing.”</p>
<p>“We would be pleased to ahead with a solution when the 28 parties agree on a solution,” Sokol said, claiming that the dam relicensing process is complex. “If public policy moves in the direction of the removal of dams, fish ladders, or the status quo, then that would be where we go. It is a complicated situation where a cooperative solution is needed.”</p>
<p>Before lunch the group asked two more questions. Klamath Riverkeeper Regina Chichizola focused on the toxic algae blooms in Buffett’s Klamath reservoirs, while Mike Polmateer of the Karuk Tribe brought up the 2002 fish kill and algae pollution on the river.</p>
<p>Like he had done with Hillman’s question, Buffett each time briefly commented on the questions and then passed it off to Mid American CEO David Sokol. And each time another banner was unfurled.</p>
<p>One read, “Buffett’s Dams kill salmon, communities, and jobs, while another read “Warren: Un-dam the Klamath – sign the agreement now!” Although security escorted the Tribal members from the building, there were no arrests.</p>
<p>“FERC will rule on the dam relicensing issue and will listen to 28 others and you,” replied Buffett to Chichizola. “We will do what they say and will follow the dictates set by FERC. We are neutral in this.”</p>
<p>Sokol acknowledged the existence of the toxic algae, but dismissed the role of the dams in creating the algae and blamed the high nutrient load in the river on Klamath Basin agriculture.</p>
<p>“Upper Klamath Lake is hyper eutrophic,” Sokol said. “Those nutrients that cause the algae flow down into the river from the upper basin.”</p>
<p>“We aren’t polluting the river,” contended Sokol. “We aren’t adding anything to the river when it comes out of Oregon. The water goes through our pen stocks and then comes out at your end.”</p>
<p>However, Chichizola noted that this toxic blue green algae isn’t found anywhere in the upper basin, only in PacifiCorp’s reservoirs and the river below the dams. “The science demonstrates that toxic algae blooms are created in Buffett’s reservoirs when the water is warm and stagnant during the summer,” said Chichizola.</p>
<p>After the lunch break, Buffett, clearly upset about the questions asked him, said that he would not field any more questions about the Klamath. Commercial salmon fishermen Dave Bitts, Karuk fisherman Ron Reed, and Karuk Medicine Woman Cathy McCovey were denied access to the microphones despite being next in the cue to speak.</p>
<p>Bitts, who had to navigate around a snowstorm in Denver to make the meeting, was clearly disappointed and angry.</p>
<p>“I traveled over 3000 miles to be here and woke up at two o’clock in the morning to speak – then I was told I couldn’t speak,” said Bitts. “The story I have to tell is that of an out of work commercial fishermen. Buffett spent a lot of time today explaining what he couldn’t do for us. I wanted to ask the richest man on the planet what he could do for us.”</p>
<p>Yurok Tribal Council member Richard Myers said, “Everyone has had a chance to sit at the table and work with the tribes towards a resolution. There is one empty chair left. We are waiting for PacifiCorp to take a seat.”</p>
<p>Outside the meeting, members of the Chippewa, Omaha, Lakota Sioux, Rosebud Sioux, Cheyenne and other Indian Tribes stood in solidarity with members of the Klamath River Tribes and fishermen, holding banners and signs demanding that Warren Buffett agree to dam removal.</p>
<p>Barbara Beauvasi, a Rosebud Sioux member from Omaha, Nebraska, responded to Bufffett’s claims that dam removal was a complex issue and that his hands were “tied” in resolving the Klamath dams problem. “The solution is simple – dam removal – and Warren Buffett has the power to do it,” she said.</p>
<p>During the meeting, Berkshire Hathaway security detained Karuk Vice Chair Leaf Hillman for 10 minutes. “They can arrest me if they want, but if they do, there are 4,000 other Karuk ready to fill my shoes,” said Hillman.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Native American Women Unfurl Banner in Front of Diamond Store&#160;</p>
<p>On the night before, a group of women from the Yurok, Hoopa Valley and Karuk Tribes, dressed in traditional jewelry and regalia, staged a protest over the fish-killing dams during a cocktail party at Buffett’s local diamond retail store Borsheims.</p>
<p>The group unfurled a huge banner demanding, “Warren, Un-Dam the Klamath! Sign the Agreement Now!” They also passed out leaflets to the shareholders as they walked into and out of the event.</p>
<p>“Wealthy women come here to shop for their jewelry,” said Yurok Tribal member Georgiana Myers. “Wealthy women from the Klamath River make our jewelry from the plants that grow along the river banks and the shells of mussel and abalone. Now the river is so polluted from Buffett’s dams we are worried about harvesting the plants we need for our jewelry and regalia.”</p>
<p>The two protests were preceded on Friday morning by a press conference featuring Leaf Hillman, Richard Myers, Regina Chichizola, and myself, representing recreational fishermen. Hillman gave a historical perspective on the Klamath River dams – PacifiCorp’s history of breaking its promises to Klamath Basin residents.</p>
<p>“The first of the PacifiCorp dams was built on the river in 1916,” said Hillman. “This stopped the migration of salmon to the upper basin that the Klamath Tribes depended upon for thousands of years. PacifiCorp told their first lie – that they would provide access over the dam to migratory fish – when they applied for their first license. Since that time, the company has constantly acted in bad faith.”</p>
<p>After the group returned home to northern California, tribal members and fishermen declared the trip as a “mission accomplished.”</p>
<p>“Now we return home having accomplished our mission,” said Karuk Tribal Member Jess Mcloughlin who was involved in erecting the banners. “We sent a clear message to Buffett, Sokol and every other executive involved that as long as there is no justice on the Klamath, there will be no peace for them.”</p>
<p>One distinct difference between this year’s and last’s years protests was the increasing awareness by the shareholders of the Klamath River dams issue. A number of shareholders expressed support for dam removal advocates.</p>
<p>“I want to thank the people who spoke at the meeting for educating the shareholders about the problems with the Klamath River dams,” said Joan Mersch, a shareholder from Menlo Park, California. “I think more people need to be educated about this issue. I appreciate what you’re doing.”</p>
<p>The group vows to disrupt Berkshire-Hathaway meetings around the country until Buffett agrees to remove the Klamath dams. “We came here last year and we will keep coming back to Omaha every year until Buffett signs a dam removal agreement,” concluded Molli White, a Karuk Tribal member from Orleans, CA.</p>
<p>PacifiCorp, one of 60 Berkshire subsidiaries throughout the world, serves 1.7 million customers in six Western states. Berkshire subsidiaries include GEICO Insurance, Wesco Financial Corporation, See’s Candies and Fruit of the Loom. Berkshire also has major investments in Coca-Cola Co., Anheuser-Busch, and Wells Fargo &amp; Co. and other corporations.</p>
<p>For more information, got to:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.klamathriver.org/" type="external">http://www.klamathriver.org</a>, <a href="http://www.berkshireshareholders.com/" type="external">http://www.berkshireshareholders.com</a>, <a href="http://www.salmonforsavings.org/" type="external">http://www.salmonforsavings.org</a>.</p>
<p>DAN BACHER can be reached at: <a href="mailto:Danielbacher@fishsniffer.com" type="external">Danielbacher@fishsniffer.com</a></p>
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<p>&#160;</p> | true | 4 | unique coalition klamath river basin tribal leaders commercial fishermen recreational anglers conservationists successfully disrupted warren buffetts berkshire hathaway annual shareholders meeting omaha nebraska may 2 battle restore rivers salmon runs group demanding removal four klamath river dams owned buffett subsidiary mid american energy contending kill salmon create massive blooms toxic algae dam removal advocates stepped microphone deliver message buffett worlds second richest man packed convention center including bill gates worlds richest man crowd 31000 shareholders although buffett rebuffed dam removal advocates like attended last years meeting years actions made klamath river largest single issue addressed meeting inyourface actions tactics group made shareholders media public aware buffetts role maintaining fishkilling dams klamath vowed keep disrupting buffetts meetings signs agreement remove dams went omaha send warren buffett executives clear message long business usual klamath business usual mid american energy pacificorp said leaf hillman vicechair karuk tribe protest buffetts meeting came wake declaration commercial fishery failure us secretary commerce carlos gutierrez may 1 year first time history commercial recreational fishing california oregon closed state federal regulations although immediate cause fishery failure year unprecedented collapse central valley chinook salmon two years ago salmon fishing severely restricted decline klamath river chinook salmon spurred fish kills 2002 tribal members commercial recreational fishermen impacted years fishery closures regina chichizola klamath riverkeeper camped front omahas qwest center 1 cold windy rain typical spring midwest allowed group get head cue ask buffett questions sixhour question answer session 160 buffetts hypocrisy challenged160 chookchook hillman 23yearold karuk world renewal priest fatawan spearheaded strategy third person speak meeting introducing karuk language challenged buffett saying europeanamerican visitor countrywill meet native people impacted fish killing dams say want address poverty disease third world hillman said creating third world conditions right america want meet resolve issue way saves money saves culture chookchook presented dam removal agreement buffett sign spoke georgiana myers annalia norris yurok tribe unfurled large banner read klamath dams equal cultural genocide buffett responded im prohibited speaking agreement signed ferc however strong disagreement area issue referred question mid american ceo david sokol echoed would inappropriate buffett comment klamath relicensing would pleased ahead solution 28 parties agree solution sokol said claiming dam relicensing process complex public policy moves direction removal dams fish ladders status quo would go complicated situation cooperative solution needed lunch group asked two questions klamath riverkeeper regina chichizola focused toxic algae blooms buffetts klamath reservoirs mike polmateer karuk tribe brought 2002 fish kill algae pollution river like done hillmans question buffett time briefly commented questions passed mid american ceo david sokol time another banner unfurled one read buffetts dams kill salmon communities jobs another read warren undam klamath sign agreement although security escorted tribal members building arrests ferc rule dam relicensing issue listen 28 others replied buffett chichizola say follow dictates set ferc neutral sokol acknowledged existence toxic algae dismissed role dams creating algae blamed high nutrient load river klamath basin agriculture upper klamath lake hyper eutrophic sokol said nutrients cause algae flow river upper basin arent polluting river contended sokol arent adding anything river comes oregon water goes pen stocks comes end however chichizola noted toxic blue green algae isnt found anywhere upper basin pacificorps reservoirs river dams science demonstrates toxic algae blooms created buffetts reservoirs water warm stagnant summer said chichizola lunch break buffett clearly upset questions asked said would field questions klamath commercial salmon fishermen dave bitts karuk fisherman ron reed karuk medicine woman cathy mccovey denied access microphones despite next cue speak bitts navigate around snowstorm denver make meeting clearly disappointed angry traveled 3000 miles woke two oclock morning speak told couldnt speak said bitts story tell work commercial fishermen buffett spent lot time today explaining couldnt us wanted ask richest man planet could us yurok tribal council member richard myers said everyone chance sit table work tribes towards resolution one empty chair left waiting pacificorp take seat outside meeting members chippewa omaha lakota sioux rosebud sioux cheyenne indian tribes stood solidarity members klamath river tribes fishermen holding banners signs demanding warren buffett agree dam removal barbara beauvasi rosebud sioux member omaha nebraska responded bufffetts claims dam removal complex issue hands tied resolving klamath dams problem solution simple dam removal warren buffett power said meeting berkshire hathaway security detained karuk vice chair leaf hillman 10 minutes arrest want 4000 karuk ready fill shoes said hillman 160 native american women unfurl banner front diamond store160 night group women yurok hoopa valley karuk tribes dressed traditional jewelry regalia staged protest fishkilling dams cocktail party buffetts local diamond retail store borsheims group unfurled huge banner demanding warren undam klamath sign agreement also passed leaflets shareholders walked event wealthy women come shop jewelry said yurok tribal member georgiana myers wealthy women klamath river make jewelry plants grow along river banks shells mussel abalone river polluted buffetts dams worried harvesting plants need jewelry regalia two protests preceded friday morning press conference featuring leaf hillman richard myers regina chichizola representing recreational fishermen hillman gave historical perspective klamath river dams pacificorps history breaking promises klamath basin residents first pacificorp dams built river 1916 said hillman stopped migration salmon upper basin klamath tribes depended upon thousands years pacificorp told first lie would provide access dam migratory fish applied first license since time company constantly acted bad faith group returned home northern california tribal members fishermen declared trip mission accomplished return home accomplished mission said karuk tribal member jess mcloughlin involved erecting banners sent clear message buffett sokol every executive involved long justice klamath peace one distinct difference years lasts years protests increasing awareness shareholders klamath river dams issue number shareholders expressed support dam removal advocates want thank people spoke meeting educating shareholders problems klamath river dams said joan mersch shareholder menlo park california think people need educated issue appreciate youre group vows disrupt berkshirehathaway meetings around country buffett agrees remove klamath dams came last year keep coming back omaha every year buffett signs dam removal agreement concluded molli white karuk tribal member orleans ca pacificorp one 60 berkshire subsidiaries throughout world serves 17 million customers six western states berkshire subsidiaries include geico insurance wesco financial corporation sees candies fruit loom berkshire also major investments cocacola co anheuserbusch wells fargo amp co corporations information got httpwwwklamathriverorg httpwwwberkshireshareholderscom httpwwwsalmonforsavingsorg dan bacher reached danielbacherfishsniffercom 160 160 160 160 160 160 160 | 1,043 |
<p>With unemployment soaring, the need grows daily for guaranteed health care. But that may not happen in the coming year because of the desperate need to revive the economy and put people to work.</p>
<p>It is true that President-elect Barack Obama is assembling a team well equipped for the difficult political and policy battle over health care reform. It will take more than political smarts, however, to keep health care a top priority in the administration and steer it through a Congress buffeted by so many pressing issues and special interests.</p>
<p>His designated secretary of health and human services, former Sen. Tom Daschle, knows the politics and understands policy. He is, after all, the author of the book “Critical: What Can Be Done About the Health Care Crisis.”</p>
<p>Obama has named a top expert on health care as head of the Office of Management and Budget, the agency that shapes the president’s budget and tries to make sure the huge federal bureaucracy follows his priorities. He is Peter R. Orszag, most recently director of the Congressional Budget Office.</p>
<p />
<p>But before his appointment, Orszag warned that the recession may overwhelm or at least delay health care reform. Writing in his informative and readable Budget Office blog on Oct. 13, he said: “Many observers have noted that addressing the problems in financial markets and the risks to the economy may displace health care reform on the policy agenda—and that may well be the case for some period of time. (As a small example, I know that over the past few months I have been spending less time on health care because the turmoil in financial markets and associated issues have consumed much more of our time and attention at CBO.)”</p>
<p>Since the fall, the recession has worsened, the downward slide continuing despite Obama’s election and the Bush administration’s scattershot effort to stop it.</p>
<p>Last week’s news that 533,000 American jobs were lost in November was accompanied by predictions that the recession will continue through much of next year. The November figure brought the job loss since September to almost 1.3 million. “There are no quick or easy fixes to this crisis, which has been many years in the making, and it’s likely to get worse before it gets better,” Obama said Saturday.</p>
<p>Obama also announced that he will offer a program to create at least 2.5 million jobs. Workers would replace old heating systems and take other steps to make federal buildings around the nation energy-efficient. An army of construction workers would build and repair roads and bridges and modernize old school buildings. The many thousands of laid-off information technology workers, installers and other technicians dumped by communications companies would create networks linking libraries, schools and hospitals to the Internet and bringing high-speed Web service to areas now without it.</p>
<p>I saw the difficulties in implementing the plan last Friday when I visited Los Angeles City Hall and talked to Deputy Mayor Jaime de la Vega and Richard Katz, transportation advisers to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. The two men, examples of the local officials who would actually execute such programs, told me that plans are ready for many of these kinds of projects around Southern California. But Congress must approve the projects without pork-barreling. Then plans must wind their way through city halls, county buildings and state capitals. Contracts must be proposed in accordance with many rules, environmental impact reports must be approved, workers hired. And all of this done in the face of entrenched state and local bureaucrats whose first reaction to any new proposal is “Just say no.”</p>
<p>Obviously aware of this tendency, Obama warned officials to “use it or lose it.” That means the work will have to be put on a fast track with bureaucratic practices put aside. But even with everyone cooperating, the sheer magnitude of the task threatens to drain all the energy from health care reform.</p>
<p>That can’t be allowed to happen. Think of the 1.3 million who have lost their jobs since September. And that number doesn’t include the discouraged who have given up on job hunting.</p>
<p>Some who had health insurance at work are eligible for COBRA benefits for 18 months, if their employer hasn’t gone out of business or filed for Chapter 11. If they’re lucky, the newly unemployed, with COBRA, pay the full cost of coverage plus 2 percent for administrative costs. And this is after they have lost their income. Many of these unemployed must also make house payments or pay rent, feed and clothe the kids, keep the electricity on and the car running and take care of all the other necessities. When their COBRA policies expire, they’re left to the cruel reality of the private insurance marketplace.</p>
<p>The number of uncovered and minimally covered people will increase. Their ranks will include those who were refused insurance because of pre-existing conditions and the many who cannot afford individual policies. In addition, there are the poor being deprived of care because of state and federal cutbacks in Medicaid and State Children’s Health Insurance.</p>
<p>Obama’s plan would make sure everyone was eligible for a private or a public plan, with various provisions to encourage or force employers to chip in. It is, in effect, Medicare for all.</p>
<p>Democratic Sen. Max Baucus of Montana, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, has a plan that resembles Obama’s. That’s a huge plus for health care reform, since his committee must approve the plan. In the House, Democrat Henry Waxman, the new chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, is a strong medical care reform supporter.</p>
<p>The fight to pass such legislation will take all their combined policy smarts and political clout. Lobbyists will try to shape or kill proposals. Health professionals, health service companies, pharmaceutical concerns and other health-related enterprises were major contributors to House Energy Committee and Commerce Committee members. Health and insurance companies were big donors to members of the Senate Finance Committee, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Obama will also need Republican support.</p>
<p>Despite all this, the Obama team must enact universal health insurance and do it in 2009. The need for everyone to have access to health care is too urgent to be delayed.</p> | true | 4 | unemployment soaring need grows daily guaranteed health care may happen coming year desperate need revive economy put people work true presidentelect barack obama assembling team well equipped difficult political policy battle health care reform take political smarts however keep health care top priority administration steer congress buffeted many pressing issues special interests designated secretary health human services former sen tom daschle knows politics understands policy author book critical done health care crisis obama named top expert health care head office management budget agency shapes presidents budget tries make sure huge federal bureaucracy follows priorities peter r orszag recently director congressional budget office appointment orszag warned recession may overwhelm least delay health care reform writing informative readable budget office blog oct 13 said many observers noted addressing problems financial markets risks economy may displace health care reform policy agendaand may well case period time small example know past months spending less time health care turmoil financial markets associated issues consumed much time attention cbo since fall recession worsened downward slide continuing despite obamas election bush administrations scattershot effort stop last weeks news 533000 american jobs lost november accompanied predictions recession continue much next year november figure brought job loss since september almost 13 million quick easy fixes crisis many years making likely get worse gets better obama said saturday obama also announced offer program create least 25 million jobs workers would replace old heating systems take steps make federal buildings around nation energyefficient army construction workers would build repair roads bridges modernize old school buildings many thousands laidoff information technology workers installers technicians dumped communications companies would create networks linking libraries schools hospitals internet bringing highspeed web service areas without saw difficulties implementing plan last friday visited los angeles city hall talked deputy mayor jaime de la vega richard katz transportation advisers mayor antonio villaraigosa two men examples local officials would actually execute programs told plans ready many kinds projects around southern california congress must approve projects without porkbarreling plans must wind way city halls county buildings state capitals contracts must proposed accordance many rules environmental impact reports must approved workers hired done face entrenched state local bureaucrats whose first reaction new proposal say obviously aware tendency obama warned officials use lose means work put fast track bureaucratic practices put aside even everyone cooperating sheer magnitude task threatens drain energy health care reform cant allowed happen think 13 million lost jobs since september number doesnt include discouraged given job hunting health insurance work eligible cobra benefits 18 months employer hasnt gone business filed chapter 11 theyre lucky newly unemployed cobra pay full cost coverage plus 2 percent administrative costs lost income many unemployed must also make house payments pay rent feed clothe kids keep electricity car running take care necessities cobra policies expire theyre left cruel reality private insurance marketplace number uncovered minimally covered people increase ranks include refused insurance preexisting conditions many afford individual policies addition poor deprived care state federal cutbacks medicaid state childrens health insurance obamas plan would make sure everyone eligible private public plan various provisions encourage force employers chip effect medicare democratic sen max baucus montana chairman senate finance committee plan resembles obamas thats huge plus health care reform since committee must approve plan house democrat henry waxman new chairman energy commerce committee strong medical care reform supporter fight pass legislation take combined policy smarts political clout lobbyists try shape kill proposals health professionals health service companies pharmaceutical concerns healthrelated enterprises major contributors house energy committee commerce committee members health insurance companies big donors members senate finance committee according center responsive politics obama also need republican support despite obama team must enact universal health insurance 2009 need everyone access health care urgent delayed | 617 |
<p>YouTube still from &lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anlr0-zde_I"&gt;Josh Mandel campaign&lt;/a&gt; / fair use</p>
<p />
<p>First, the good news: Many anti-Muslim candidates did not get elected Tuesday. Now the bad news:&#160;Alas, several anti-Muslim candidates won—mostly in the South. Oh, and Oklahoma became the first state to ban sharia law, even though only 0.8% of the population is Muslim. Below, a (fairly) complete list of vocally anti-Islam politicos in 2010. I’ve tried to include only candidates who won primaries, but if you have additions, please post them in the comments.</p>
<p>Question 755: Banning of Sharia and international law. This measure, aka “Save Our State,” amends the state’s constitution to forbid Oklahoma judges from “considering or using” international or sharia law when deciding cases. The bill’s sponsor, Oklahoma State Senator Rex Duncan, admits that no judge in the state has ever tried to use sharia law. <a href="http://liveshots.blogs.foxnews.com/2010/06/25/sharia-islamic-law-not-ok-in-oklahoma/" type="external">As he told Fox News</a>, “we want to make sure they never will.” He’s called the bill a “preemptive strike” against sharia.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.ok.gov/elections/support/10gen.html" type="external">PASSED</a> 70% / 30%</p>
<p>Christine O’Donnell for Senate: O’Donnell worked with an aide who, <a href="" type="internal">as we reported</a>, pushed the idea that Obama was secretly Muslim and would always be one, despite attending Christian churches for decades. On another note, O’Donnell <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/9/20/112818/186" type="external">said</a> it was “refreshing”&#160;to go on a Bible-themed tour of Jordan because she found the culture more modest. She’s a bit of a mixed bag ( <a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/10/26/what-is-christine-odonnells-religion/" type="external">declined</a> to endorse or condemn the mosque near Ground Zero) but with her wacky statements and fuzzy hold on separation of church and state, still probably a good thing she didn’t get elected.</p>
<p><a href="http://elections.delaware.gov/results/html/election.shtml" type="external">FAILED</a> 40% / 56.6%</p>
<p>Carl Paladino for Governor: Paladino said the proposed Islamic center near ground zero “makes a mockery of those who died there” and promised to stop it if elected in <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLLrd79aOqI" type="external">this campaign ad</a>. He called it “a monument to those who attacked our country,” simultaneously espousing that Muslims are not Americans and they’re all terrorists. Paladino went further <a href="http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/09/paladino-wherever-human-remains.php?ref=fpi" type="external">to propose</a> no mosque be built where the 9/11 “dust cloud” had been.</p>
<p><a href="http://elections.nytimes.com/2010/results/new-york" type="external">FAILED</a> 34% / 61.5%</p>
<p>Keith Ellison for House: Rep. Ellison, a Muslim and a Democrat, has been attacked by conservatives like Glenn Beck and more recently, by tea party leaders like Judson Phillips. Back in 2006, Beck <a href="http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/200611150004" type="external">asked Ellison</a> to “prove to me that you are not working with our enemies.” This year, Phillips wrote that “I’m bothered by a religion that says kill the infidel,” encouraged Minnesotans to vote for Ellison’s rival, and <a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/10/29/tea-party-leader-rep-keith-ellison-should-be-dumped-because-he/" type="external">said that</a> “I, personally have a real problem with Islam.” Voters disagreed with Phillips, and re-elected Ellison by a landslide.</p>
<p><a href="http://elections.nytimes.com/2010/results/minnesota" type="external">WON</a> 68% / 24%</p>
<p>Renee Ellmers for House: Republican Ellmers ran on an anti-mosque platform, running ads <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20017307-503544.html" type="external">like this one</a> that equates the Muslims of ancient Constantinople (failing to mention the equally rapacious Christians of that era) with the Muslim Park 51 organizers and calls the proposed Islamic center a “victory mosque.”</p>
<p><a href="http://elections.nytimes.com/2010/results/north-carolina" type="external">WON</a> 49.6% / 48.5%</p>
<p>Ilario Pantano for House: Pantano is perhaps better known for shooting 45 rounds of ammunition into two unarmed Iraqi civilians, killing them, during his 2004 tour of duty. “I had made a decision that when I was firing I was going to send a message to these Iraqis,” Pantano said. He was charged with murder, but the charges were later dropped. Since then, Pantano’s been busy protesting the Park51 project and welcoming an <a href="http://www.loonwatch.com/2010/09/justin-elliot-from-accused-murderer-to-member-of-congress/" type="external">endorsement</a> from radical anti-Islamist Pam Geller. He even <a href="http://dailycaller.com/2010/06/18/a-mosque-at-ground-zero/print/" type="external">wrote in an op-ed</a> that the Islamic prayer space was a “martyr marker” and “If this was truly about bridging cultures, we should be erecting a church.”</p>
<p>FAILED 46.2% / 53.8%</p>
<p>Josh Mandel for State Treasurer:&#160;Mandel said <a href="http://politifact.com/ohio/statements/2010/oct/14/josh-mandel/josh-mandel-weaves-images-islam-throughout-ad-alle/" type="external">in an ad</a> that Boyce gave out jobs as favors, including one “he only made available at their mosque” and another “sensitive”&#160;job at the Treasury Department. The ad looks like it was trying to paint Boyce as a Muslim, even though he is Christian and had never been to the mosque in question. Boyce’s deputy, Amer Ahmad, is Muslim but both he and Mandel disputed the claims in the ad, including that the secretarial job at the Treasury was sensitive in nature. The ad <a href="http://blog.dispatch.com/dailybriefing/2010/10/mandel_will_take_down_ad_with_1.shtml" type="external">stopped running</a> after a week, but Mandel won anyway.</p>
<p><a href="http://elections.nytimes.com/2010/results/ohio" type="external">WON</a> 54.9% / 40.2%</p>
<p>Allen West for House:&#160;Tea party candidate West is one of the most anti-Islamic this election season. West <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/2010/08/18/allen-west-islam/" type="external">said that</a> “Islam is a totalitarian theocratic political ideology, it is not a religion. It has not been a religion since 622 AD, and we need to have individuals that stand up and say that.” To continue the blatant fear-mongering, in speeches&#160;West <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsJJqIztPHc" type="external">equates</a> today’s Muslims with those of medieval Europe, alleging that if Muslims in the US are not stopped, we too will have to change our name like Constantinople.</p>
<p>WON 54.4% / 45.7%</p>
<p>Marvin Scott for House: Scott ran against Muslim Andre Carson for a House seat and used Carson’s faith as a campaign tool.&#160;Scott <a href="http://drmarvinscottforcongress.com/principles.php" type="external">stated</a> on his website that “Radical elements of Islam are funding and building mosques across America.” While professing a love for freedom of religion, he said <a href="http://blogs.wishtv.com/2010/07/01/marvin-scott-on-islam/" type="external">that</a> “I passionately defend his [Carson’s] right to become a Muslim… What they do not have the right to do is to replace American law with extremist Muslim Sharia law.” To Scott, apparently, there is no such thing as a moderate Muslim or one who doesn’t advocate Sharia law.</p>
<p>FAILED 37.8% / 58.9%</p>
<p>Sharron Angle for Senate: Angle thinks the Park51 organizers should move their mosque, and <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/08/sharron-angle-muslim-law-_n_755346.html" type="external">told an audience</a> that “I keep hearing about Muslims wanting to take over the United States … on a TV program just last night, I saw that they are taking over a city in Michigan.” She also voiced concern about sharia law, which she <a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5j04tE84K-JlFJEUiyISrymxP2mSgD9IN41GO0" type="external">seemed to think</a> was being used widely in American courts in Dearborn, Michigan and Frankford, Texas (it’s not, and Frankford was incorporated into Dallas long ago).</p>
<p>FAILED&#160;44.6% / 50.2%</p>
<p /> | true | 4 | youtube still lta hrefhttpwwwyoutubecomwatchvanlr0zde_igtjosh mandel campaignltagt fair use first good news many antimuslim candidates get elected tuesday bad news160alas several antimuslim candidates wonmostly south oh oklahoma became first state ban sharia law even though 08 population muslim fairly complete list vocally antiislam politicos 2010 ive tried include candidates primaries additions please post comments question 755 banning sharia international law measure aka save state amends states constitution forbid oklahoma judges considering using international sharia law deciding cases bills sponsor oklahoma state senator rex duncan admits judge state ever tried use sharia law told fox news want make sure never hes called bill preemptive strike sharia passed 70 30 christine odonnell senate odonnell worked aide reported pushed idea obama secretly muslim would always one despite attending christian churches decades another note odonnell said refreshing160to go biblethemed tour jordan found culture modest shes bit mixed bag declined endorse condemn mosque near ground zero wacky statements fuzzy hold separation church state still probably good thing didnt get elected failed 40 566 carl paladino governor paladino said proposed islamic center near ground zero makes mockery died promised stop elected campaign ad called monument attacked country simultaneously espousing muslims americans theyre terrorists paladino went propose mosque built 911 dust cloud failed 34 615 keith ellison house rep ellison muslim democrat attacked conservatives like glenn beck recently tea party leaders like judson phillips back 2006 beck asked ellison prove working enemies year phillips wrote im bothered religion says kill infidel encouraged minnesotans vote ellisons rival said personally real problem islam voters disagreed phillips reelected ellison landslide 68 24 renee ellmers house republican ellmers ran antimosque platform running ads like one equates muslims ancient constantinople failing mention equally rapacious christians era muslim park 51 organizers calls proposed islamic center victory mosque 496 485 ilario pantano house pantano perhaps better known shooting 45 rounds ammunition two unarmed iraqi civilians killing 2004 tour duty made decision firing going send message iraqis pantano said charged murder charges later dropped since pantanos busy protesting park51 project welcoming endorsement radical antiislamist pam geller even wrote oped islamic prayer space martyr marker truly bridging cultures erecting church failed 462 538 josh mandel state treasurer160mandel said ad boyce gave jobs favors including one made available mosque another sensitive160job treasury department ad looks like trying paint boyce muslim even though christian never mosque question boyces deputy amer ahmad muslim mandel disputed claims ad including secretarial job treasury sensitive nature ad stopped running week mandel anyway 549 402 allen west house160tea party candidate west one antiislamic election season west said islam totalitarian theocratic political ideology religion religion since 622 ad need individuals stand say continue blatant fearmongering speeches160west equates todays muslims medieval europe alleging muslims us stopped change name like constantinople 544 457 marvin scott house scott ran muslim andre carson house seat used carsons faith campaign tool160scott stated website radical elements islam funding building mosques across america professing love freedom religion said passionately defend carsons right become muslim right replace american law extremist muslim sharia law scott apparently thing moderate muslim one doesnt advocate sharia law failed 378 589 sharron angle senate angle thinks park51 organizers move mosque told audience keep hearing muslims wanting take united states tv program last night saw taking city michigan also voiced concern sharia law seemed think used widely american courts dearborn michigan frankford texas frankford incorporated dallas long ago failed160446 502 | 561 |
<p>Another Look at The Speech</p>
<p>A new translation of Bush’s victory address–courtesy of Secretary of Shizzolatin’ Snoop Dogg.</p>
<p>The prez chillin’ with his boyzz Ozzy and Snoop</p>
<p>Here is the president’s speech from the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln, <a href="" type="internal">restored to its original gangsta-ese.</a> I learned about <a href="http://asksnoop.com/" type="external">Snoop’s Shizzolator</a> from my colleague Brad Zellar, whose <a href="" type="internal">blog</a>is not war news-related but damn fine all the same.</p>
<p>The Battle for Iraq’s Oil: Backstory</p>
<p>A primer on what’s putting the US, Russia, and France at odds. A few days ago I said I’d be posting a links digest focusing on the roles and interests of the US and its two main Iraq war antagonists, Russia and France. <a href="" type="internal">Here it is,</a> but a word of advice: Do your eyes a favor and print it. It’s more than you’ll want at one sitting anyway.</p>
<p>Bremer: General Jay’s New Boss</p>
<p>Score one for Powell and the State Department–and so what?</p>
<p>At week’s close the Bush administration <a href="http://reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=politicsNews&amp;storyID=2675388" type="external">appointed a new overseer</a> to run the occupation of Iraq, L. Paul Bremer. Bremer is a real prize–the Reagan administration’s one-time ambassador for counter-terrorism, a long-time associate of Henry Kissinger, and <a href="http://www.republicons.org/view_article.asp?RP_ARTICLE_ID=971" type="external">a hawk who is very tight with the Wolfowitz neo-cons.</a></p>
<p>In 1999 he was appointed Chairman of the National Commission on Terrorism by Republican House leader Dennis Hastert. The Commission’s mandate was to review America’s counter-terrorism policies. In this capacity Bremer addressed the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence in June 2000. He said “Iran is still the most egregious state-sponsor of terrorism, despite the election of a reformist president The Commission is concerned that recent American gestures toward Iran could be misinterpreted as a weakening of our resolve to counter Iranian terrorism.”</p>
<p>In this respect his views are identical to those of ultra-hawk Paul Wolfowitz who had classified Iran as the greatest threat to international proliferation in 1997.</p>
<p>Bremer’s antipathy toward Tehran is certainly not destined to mend fences with the religious Shiite majority in Iraq.</p>
<p>There’s your victory for “Powell moderates,” a class of folk who deserve harder scrutiny than they get. The Rumsfeld/Powell division within the Bush administration is not a struggle of light versus dark over the merit of foreign conquests–it’s a managerial-class squabble over how best to achieve those aims. The Wolfowitz/Rumsfeld faction wants to dispense with diplomacy and show the world that no one can hope to challenge the US militarily; the Powell faction wants to proceed more carefully and put the right political and legal gloss on things internationally.</p>
<p>Whatever Happened to Gorgeous George?</p>
<p>Not to mention all the other “secret” Iraqi documents found by the Telegraph.</p>
<p>Over the weekend I trolled around looking for more news about George Galloway, the anti-war British MP so sensationally accused of a business relationship with Saddam’s government in the UK press a couple of weeks ago. As you may recall (see BW’s <a href="" type="internal">4/22</a> and <a href="" type="internal">4/24</a>), those allegations were based on Iraqi intelligence documents that seem to have floated from the skies of Baghdad only to be “found” by reporters from the Telegraph and a number of papers.</p>
<p>All those secret intelligence reports seem to have dried up as quickly as they appeared, however. Perhaps they were made to self-destruct after a certain length of time, as in Mission: Impossible. Or maybe the trouble is that they’re coming to nothing. The best discussion of the “evidence” I’ve seen is right <a href="" type="internal">here at Counterpunch</a>, by Wayne Madsen, who writes: The problem with these documents is that they are being provided by the U.S. military to a few reporters working for a very suspect newspaper, London’s Daily Telegraph (affectionately known as the Daily Torygraph” by those who understand the paper’s right-wing slant).</p>
<p>The Guardian says <a href="" type="internal">British intelligence doubts the Galloway and Al-Qaeda “finds.”</a></p>
<p>There must be doubts about the documents’ authenticity. But even if they are genuine, intelligence services are notorious for hoarding tittle-tattle, exaggerating and distorting, not least to stress the importance of their own role in their bids for more funds. Heaven knows what we would find if the archives of MI5 and MI6–and the CIA and FBI–were plundered.</p>
<p>Yet, significantly, it is not ministers who are warning of the dangers of jumping to conclusions. It is the intelligence agencies themselves. “They do not take things further forward,” said an intelligence source about the Sunday Telegraph’s publication of Iraqi documents appearing to show that Baghdad was keen to meet an “al-Qaida envoy” in 1998.</p>
<p>And here is an <a href="http://www.albawaba.com/news/index.php3?sid=248194&amp;lang=e&amp;dir=news" type="external">interview with Galloway</a> from the Jordanian news site Al-Bawaba.</p>
<p>Contracts: Friends Helping Friends Help Themselves</p>
<p>The lede paragraph in <a href="" type="internal">this AP story</a> about changing USAID regulations for post-war rebuilding contracts says it all:</p>
<p>The agency awarding Iraq reconstruction contracts deleted its requirement for a security clearance after realizing it awarded a project to a company that lacked one, an internal report says.</p>
<p>UK Defense Chief: Let’s Wait on Next “Discretionary” War</p>
<p>Brit military needs post-coital cigarette and nap.</p>
<p>Sir Michael Boyce, who is about to retire as the UK’s top military commander, says that Tony Blair could not follow W into another war before the end of 2004 without “serious pain”: Admiral Boyce said that the Armed Forces could not handle another “discretionary” war, a conflict waged “by choice”, if it were launched in 2004. Speaking to defence journalists as part of his farewell, Admiral Boyce said that if the United Kingdom were threatened, every man and woman in the Services would fight to defend the country. However, a war in the style of the Iraqi campaign was not something that could be repeated again and again.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">Read the rest.</a></p>
<p>Safqua: More About the “Secret Deal” for Baghdad</p>
<p>I’ve posted several items in the past couple of weeks about allegations that a secret arrangement between the US and elements of Saddam’s government led to the rapid fall of Baghdad, and now the world press is taking up the story in growing numbers. Back at the home page of <a href="" type="internal">Bush Wars</a> I have an item from last week that links to several of those stories.</p>
<p>Bush Dada</p>
<p>The Bush Wars site of the day.</p>
<p>The other day I asked for links to the best Bush flash animation and manipulated-sound files on the net, and reader Claude de Bogdan has sent along a gem–his own page of found-speech sound collages featuring Bush, Ashcroft, and others. Some of them are brilliant, and all are fun. Download ’em all!</p>
<p>They’re at <a href="http://www.happytimeworld.com/" type="external">happytime world.</a></p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">This is a sampling from City Pages editor and Counterpunch contributor STEVE PERRY’s daily-updated</a> Bush Wars blog. He can be reached at: <a href="mailto:sperry@citypages.com" type="external">sperry@citypages.com</a></p>
<p>&#160;</p> | true | 4 | another look speech new translation bushs victory addresscourtesy secretary shizzolatin snoop dogg prez chillin boyzz ozzy snoop presidents speech deck uss abraham lincoln restored original gangstaese learned snoops shizzolator colleague brad zellar whose blogis war newsrelated damn fine battle iraqs oil backstory primer whats putting us russia france odds days ago said id posting links digest focusing roles interests us two main iraq war antagonists russia france word advice eyes favor print youll want one sitting anyway bremer general jays new boss score one powell state departmentand weeks close bush administration appointed new overseer run occupation iraq l paul bremer bremer real prizethe reagan administrations onetime ambassador counterterrorism longtime associate henry kissinger hawk tight wolfowitz neocons 1999 appointed chairman national commission terrorism republican house leader dennis hastert commissions mandate review americas counterterrorism policies capacity bremer addressed senate select committee intelligence june 2000 said iran still egregious statesponsor terrorism despite election reformist president commission concerned recent american gestures toward iran could misinterpreted weakening resolve counter iranian terrorism respect views identical ultrahawk paul wolfowitz classified iran greatest threat international proliferation 1997 bremers antipathy toward tehran certainly destined mend fences religious shiite majority iraq theres victory powell moderates class folk deserve harder scrutiny get rumsfeldpowell division within bush administration struggle light versus dark merit foreign conquestsits managerialclass squabble best achieve aims wolfowitzrumsfeld faction wants dispense diplomacy show world one hope challenge us militarily powell faction wants proceed carefully put right political legal gloss things internationally whatever happened gorgeous george mention secret iraqi documents found telegraph weekend trolled around looking news george galloway antiwar british mp sensationally accused business relationship saddams government uk press couple weeks ago may recall see bws 422 424 allegations based iraqi intelligence documents seem floated skies baghdad found reporters telegraph number papers secret intelligence reports seem dried quickly appeared however perhaps made selfdestruct certain length time mission impossible maybe trouble theyre coming nothing best discussion evidence ive seen right counterpunch wayne madsen writes problem documents provided us military reporters working suspect newspaper londons daily telegraph affectionately known daily torygraph understand papers rightwing slant guardian says british intelligence doubts galloway alqaeda finds must doubts documents authenticity even genuine intelligence services notorious hoarding tittletattle exaggerating distorting least stress importance role bids funds heaven knows would find archives mi5 mi6and cia fbiwere plundered yet significantly ministers warning dangers jumping conclusions intelligence agencies take things forward said intelligence source sunday telegraphs publication iraqi documents appearing show baghdad keen meet alqaida envoy 1998 interview galloway jordanian news site albawaba contracts friends helping friends help lede paragraph ap story changing usaid regulations postwar rebuilding contracts says agency awarding iraq reconstruction contracts deleted requirement security clearance realizing awarded project company lacked one internal report says uk defense chief lets wait next discretionary war brit military needs postcoital cigarette nap sir michael boyce retire uks top military commander says tony blair could follow w another war end 2004 without serious pain admiral boyce said armed forces could handle another discretionary war conflict waged choice launched 2004 speaking defence journalists part farewell admiral boyce said united kingdom threatened every man woman services would fight defend country however war style iraqi campaign something could repeated read rest safqua secret deal baghdad ive posted several items past couple weeks allegations secret arrangement us elements saddams government led rapid fall baghdad world press taking story growing numbers back home page bush wars item last week links several stories bush dada bush wars site day day asked links best bush flash animation manipulatedsound files net reader claude de bogdan sent along gemhis page foundspeech sound collages featuring bush ashcroft others brilliant fun download em theyre happytime world sampling city pages editor counterpunch contributor steve perrys dailyupdated bush wars blog reached sperrycitypagescom 160 | 620 |
<p>We have capped this explainer. Major developments will be covered on our main <a href="" type="internal">political blog</a>.</p>
<p>UPDATE 36: Monday, April 22, 1:59 p.m. EDT: Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is <a href="http://legaltimes.typepad.com/wp-content/uploads/marathon-complaint.pdf" type="external">charged</a> with conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction against people and property resulting in death.</p>
<p>UPDATE 35: Monday, April 22, 1:26 p.m. EDT: Multiple sources are <a href="http://www.wcvb.com/news/local/metro/Source-Bomb-suspect-arraigned-in-hospital-bed/-/11971628/19835528/-/dv1s2q/-/index.html" type="external">reporting</a> that Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was arraigned at his hospital bed, and that the complaint against him was sealed.</p>
<p>UPDATE 34: Saturday, April 20, 1:01 p.m. EDT: Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is in a heavily guarded hospital room at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. As press attention turns to deciphering the bombers’ motives and the coming trial, Josh Gerstein of Politico has written a <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2013/04/no-miranda-rights-for-now-for-bombing-suspect-90362.html" type="external">piece</a> explaining some legal issues surrounding the case, including the pre-trial interrogation rules facing federal prosecutors and whether Tsarnaev may face the death penalty; Slate‘s Emily Bazelon <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2013/04/dzhokhar_tsarnaev_and_miranda_rights_the_public_safety_exception_and_terrorism.html?utm_source=tw&amp;utm_medium=sm&amp;utm_campaign=button_chunky" type="external">explains</a> the history and law behind the “public safety exemption” to the Miranda rules under which Tsarnaev is being questioned.</p>
<p>UPDATE 33: Friday, April 19, 11:12 p.m. EDT: <a href="http://boston.barstoolsports.com/around-barstool/unreal-footage-from-a-stoolie-who-lived-on-the-street-of-the-watertown-shoot-out/" type="external">BarstoolSports.com</a> has posted dramatic amateur video of a pitched fire fight, said to be a recording of police closing in on Tsarnaev’s boat hiding place on Friday evening.</p>
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<p>And a <a href="http://i.imgur.com/XDuMHCY.jpg" type="external">photo has surfaced</a> that appears to show law enforcement officials administering medical care to the suspect shortly after his arrest.</p>
<p>UPDATE 32: Friday, April 19, 10:34 p.m. EDT: Tsarnaev was not given a Miranda warning because of the “public-safety exemption in cases of national security and potential charges involving acts of terrorism,” United States Attorney <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2013/04/no-miranda-rights-for-now-for-bombing-suspect-90362.html" type="external">Carmen Ortiz said</a>. But the Obama administration is emphatic about giving Tsarnaev a civilian trial, <a href="https://twitter.com/swin24/status/325434587830439936" type="external">according to NBC correspondent Pete Williams</a>.</p>
<p>UPDATE 31: Friday, April 19, 10:14 p.m. EDT: Following a press conference held by Mass. Governor Deval Patrick and law enforcement, President Obama delivered a statement addressing the capture of Tsarnaev, the tragedy in Boston, and also the <a href="" type="internal">explosion at the West, Texas fertilizer plant</a> on Wednesday. “All in all, this has been a tough week, but we have seen the character of our country,” Obama said.</p>
<p>Here’s the video and a <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/04/19/statement-president" type="external">link</a> to the full statement.</p>
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<p>UPDATE 30: Friday, April 19, 10:00 p.m. EDT: According to the Boston Police Department, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is in serious condition. He was taken to Massachusetts General Hospital.</p>
<p>UPDATE 29: Friday, April 19, 9:42 p.m. EDT: The FBI wanted poster for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has been updated with “ <a href="http://www.fbi.gov/wanted/alert/dzhokar-tsarnaev" type="external">Captured</a>“:</p>
<p>UPDATE 28: Friday, April 19, 8:45 p.m. EDT: Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has been taken into custody. He was found hiding in a boat resting on a trailer in a Watertown backyard.</p>
<p>UPDATE 27: Friday, April 19, 7:15 p.m. EDT: Moments after law enforcement officials lifted the city’s lockdown, an exchange of gunfire was heard in Watertown. The Boston Globe and local television are now reporting that police have cornered a suspect.</p>
<p>UPDATE 26: Friday, April 19, 2:09 p.m. EDT: Here is the FBI wanted <a href="http://www.fbi.gov/wanted/alert/dzhokar-tsarnaev" type="external">poster</a> for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, suspect in the Boston Marathon attack:</p>
<p>UPDATE 25: Friday, April 19, 1:08 p.m. EDT: At noon on Friday, Council on American–Islamic Relations (CAIR) held a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington, DC with five other Muslim community leaders. While they emphasized that the suspects’ motive are not yet known, CAIR national executive director Nihad Awad said in a prepared statement that, “as God tells us in the Quran, if you murder one person, it is as if you murdered all of humanity.” He stressed that, “we’re very angry,” and another participant stated that, “unfortunately every faith in it has heretical elements…but nobody can separate us from being Americans.”</p>
<p>When asked by Mother Jones about the <a href="" type="internal">Al Qaeda prophecy video</a> posted by a YouTube user by the name of deceased suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev, a CAIR spokesman responded: “I mean, it’s Al Qaeda-inspired stuff, man. It’s a lot of crazy on the internet.”</p>
<p>The group also thanked “the media for not jumping to any conclusions.” ( <a href="" type="internal">This is debatable</a>.)</p>
<p>UPDATE 24: Friday, April 19, 12:45 p.m. EDT: Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick just held a press conference in which he urged Bostonians to stay in their homes, and warned that the crime scene may go through the weekend.</p>
<p>UPDATE 23: Friday, April 19, 12:15 p.m. EDT: <a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/ryanhatesthis/this-might-be-djohar-tsarnaevs-actual-twitter-account" type="external">BuzzFeed is reporting</a> that <a href="https://twitter.com/J_tsar/" type="external">this</a> is Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s Twitter account. Here are some highlights:</p>
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<p>update: Mother Jones has <a href="" type="internal">a story</a> on what these Tweets tell us about Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. The Tweets include statements about Islam, observations on pop culture, and trash-talk about women.</p>
<p>UPDATE 22: Friday, April 19, 12:15 p.m. EDT: The suspects’ uncle, Ruslan Tsarni, pleads for his nephew Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who is still on the loose, to turn himself in. <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/video/nbc-news/51596468/#51596468" type="external">From NBC</a>:</p>
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<p>Visit NBCNews.com for <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com" type="external">breaking news</a>, <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032507" type="external">world news</a>, and <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032072" type="external">news about the economy</a></p>
<p>UPDATE 21: Friday, April 19, 12:10 p.m. EDT: <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=50145202n" type="external">CBS reports</a> that the suspects’ uncle said that the older brother,&#160;Tamerlan Tsarnaev, was “a loser.” Watch:</p>
<p>UPDATE 20: Friday, April 19, 12:00 p.m. EDT:&#160; <a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/rosiegray/chechen-president-blames-american-upbringing-for-suspected-b" type="external">BuzzFeed reports</a> that the Chechen&#160;president, Ramzan Kadyrov, has released a statement on the bombings, blaming the suspects’ American&#160;upbringing.</p>
<p>Tragic events have taken place in Boston. A terrorist attack killed people. We have already expressed our condolences to the people of the city and to the American people. Today, the media reports, one Tsarnaev was killed as [police] tried to arrest him. It would be appropriate if he was detained and investigated, and the circumstances and the extent of his guilt determined. Apparently, the security services needed to calm down the society by any means necessary.</p>
<p>Any attempt to draw a connection between Chechnya and Tsarnaevs — if they are guilty — is futile. They were raised in the United States, and their attitudes and beliefs were formed there. It is necessary to seek the roots of this evil in America. The whole world must struggle against terrorism — that we know better than anyone else. We hope for the recovery of all the victims, and we mourn with the Americans.</p>
<p>Also, the president of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center <a href="http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/04/19/watertown-manhunt-fbi-search-for-boston-marathon-bomber-suspect-two/" type="external">released a statement</a> about the patient who died here this morning:</p>
<p>Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center received an unknown male patient with significant injuries at 1:20 this morning.</p>
<p>After he arrived, he suffered a trauma arrest and expired at 1:35 a.m.</p>
<p>We have no information on the identity of the patient and cannot speculate on whether he has any connection to any criminal activity. Nor are we prepared to speak to the exact nature of his injuries.</p>
<p>Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center is open for business. But we will be restricting access to some entrances to ensure the safety of our patients, staff and visitors.</p>
<p>UPDATE 19: Friday, April 19, 11:50 a.m. EDT:&#160;The Boston Police Department is reporting that the vehicle associated with the armed&#160;carjacking&#160;by the two suspects in&#160;Cambridge&#160;has been located.</p>
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<p>UPDATE 18: Friday, April 19, 11:33 a.m. EDT: A former schoolmate of Boston bombing suspect speaks out. (Suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is still at large.)</p>
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<p>UPDATE 17: Friday, April 19, 11:19 a.m. EDT: Mother Jones has <a href="" type="internal">posted a wrestling photo</a> of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev:</p>
<p>Former classmates <a href="" type="internal">react to the news</a>: “I cant believe i went through 4 years of high school and was friends with someone who carried out a terrorist attack,” one wrote on Facebook.</p>
<p>UPDATE 16: Friday, April 19, 11:15 a.m. EDT: Suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is believed to be on foot:</p>
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<p>UPDATE 15: Friday, April 19, 11:13 a.m. EDT: CBS Boston interviewed Ruslan Tsarni, said to be the uncle of suspects in the bombings:</p>
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<p>UPDATE 14: Friday, April 19, 11:05 a.m. EDT: A spokesman for the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth stated that a suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing is “a registered student on campus.” The university has announced that the campus will be closed today and evacuated.</p>
<p>UPDATE 13: Friday, April 19, 10:37 a.m. EDT: A user by the name of&#160;Tamerlan Tsarnaev has <a href="" type="internal">posted a video</a> to his YouTube playlist extolling an extremist religious prophecy associated with Al Qaeda. It is not clear yet whether the user is the same Tsarnaev as the deceased bombing suspect.</p>
<p>UPDATE 12: Friday, April 19, 6:37 a.m. EDT: <a href="http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/04/19/17817173-one-boston-marathon-suspect-killed-second-suspect-his-brother-on-loose-after-firefight?lite" type="external">NBC</a> and the Associated Press report that the remaining suspect is Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, a 19-year-old resident of Cambridge. The deceased suspect, who was killed in a firefight with police this morning, is his 20 26-year old brother Tamerlan Tsarnaev. According to NBC, “both men had international ties, had been in the United States about a year and had military experience.” Meanwhile, much of the Boston area has been locked down—with schools closed and authorities asking businesses not to open—and thousands of police have been called in for a manhunt involving a door-to-door search in Watertown.</p>
<p>UPDATE 11: Friday, April 19, 6:37 a.m. EDT: Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis <a href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/04/19/177885868/shots-explosions-heard-as-boston-manhunt-continues?sc=tw&amp;cc=share" type="external">told&#160;reporters</a> Friday morning that the remaining suspect was someone the police&#160;“believe this to be a terrorist,” and “a person who’s come here to kill people.”</p>
<p>UPDATE 10: Friday, April 19, 6:17 a.m. EDT: Around 5:20 a.m., doctors at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston held a press conference announced that a patient who had been brought in at 1:20 a.m. under police guard with “multiple injuries, a combination of blast, potentially gunshot wounds.” Doctors said they were “unable to count” the number of gunshot wounds the patient had. They spent 15 minutes unsuccessfully trying to revive the patient, but he was pronounced dead at 1:35 a.m. The surgeon who treated the patient was asked whether he believed him&#160;to be the suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing, he responded that “You give the best care to every patient that comes to you, regardless of who it may or may not be.”</p>
<p>UPDATE 9: Friday, April 19, 5:44&#160;a.m. EDT:&#160;Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis <a href="http://twitpic.com/ckdlym" type="external">tweeted an image of what he said</a> was “the latest picture of the suspect” in the Boston Marathon bombing around 5:40 a.m. Friday morning. It appears to be an image of suspect #2. <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/US/person-custody-watertown-mass/story?id=18994511#.UXETVitASns" type="external">Police told ABC News&#160;earlier that the image</a> was taken by a security camera during a hold-up of a 7-11 in Cambridge.</p>
<p>UPDATE 8: Friday, April 19, 4:32&#160;a.m. EDT:&#160;Boston police confirmed in a press conference Friday morning that the explosions and gunfire Friday night in Cambridge, Boston, and Watertown, Massachusetts were connected to the Boston Marathon suspects whose photos were released&#160;Thursday afternoon. The suspect pictured in the black hat is reported dead, while the suspect with the white hat is reportedly still at large. Police have established a 20-block perimeter around where they believe the suspect is.</p>
<p>The Middlesex County District Attorney’s office&#160;released the following statement:</p>
<p>Police are investigating a fatal shooting of MIT campus police officer by two men who then committed an armed&#160;carjacking&#160;in Cambridge, Middlesex Acting District Attorney&#160;MichaelPelgro, Cambridge Police Commissioner Robert Haas, and MIT Police Chief John&#160;DiFavaannounced this evening.&#160;</p>
<p>At approximately 10:20 p.m. April 18, police received reports of shots fired on the MIT campus. At 10:30 p.m., an MIT campus police officer was found shot in his vehicle in the area of Vassar and Main streets. According to authorities, the officer was found evidencing multiple gunshot wounds.&#160;</p>
<p>He was transported to Massachusetts General Hospital and pronounced deceased. Authorities launched an immediate investigation into the circumstances of the shooting. The investigation determined that two males were involved in this shooting.</p>
<p>A short time later, police received reports of an armed&#160;carjacking&#160;by two males in the area of Third Street in Cambridge. The victim was&#160;carjacked&#160;at gunpoint by two males and was kept in the car with the suspects for approximately a half hour. The victim was released at a gas station on Memorial Drive in Cambridge. He was not injured.&#160;</p>
<p>Police immediately began a search for the vehicle and were in pursuit of the vehicle into Watertown.</p>
<p>At that time, explosive devices were reportedly thrown from car by the suspects. The suspects and police also exchanged gunfire in the area of Dexter and Laurel streets. During this pursuit, an&#160;MBTA&#160;Police officer was seriously injured and transported to the hospital.&#160; During the pursuit, one suspect was critically injured and transported to the hospital where he was pronounced deceased. An extensive manhunt is ongoing in the Watertown area for the second suspect, who is believed to be armed and dangerous.</p>
<p>UPDATE 7, Friday, April 19, 2:25 a.m. EDT: The FBI has just <a href="http://www.fbi.gov/news/updates-on-investigation-into-multiple-explosions-in-boston/updates-on-investigation-into-multiple-explosions-in-boston" type="external">released two more photos</a> of the suspects showing an “up close” view of their faces.</p>
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<p>UPDATE 6, Friday, April 19, 1:40 a.m. EDT: A police officer was shot and killed at MIT this evening. Another officer was wounded, a high-speed chase took place, and the local police <a href="http://tunein.com/radio/Boston-Police-Fire-and-EMS-Scanner-s146109/" type="external">scanner reports</a>&#160;automatic weapons fire and grenades. One suspect has been taken into custody, the other is at large. It is not known whether&#160;this event is related to the Boston marathon bombings. <a href="" type="internal">We have more details on&#160;this incident in a separate post</a>.</p>
<p>UPDATE 5, Friday, April 19, 12:40 a.m. EDT: A photo that first got broad attention on Reddit, and whose authenticity was debated by journalists on Twitter for hours, appears to be legitimate. It shows a new, high-resolution shot of suspect #2 (white hat, far left). The New York Times reports: “Shortly after finishing the Boston Marathon this week David Green, 49, was walking to meet friends when two bombs exploded in front of him as he faced east on the corner of Fairfield and Boylston Streets. He <a href="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/blogs/thelede/posts/suspect-number-2.JPG" type="external">snapped a photograph</a> with his iPhone before rushing to help those wounded. It was time-stamped at 2:50:15 p.m.”</p>
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<p>The debate over the photo’s veracity ended when it was established he posted it on Facebook on Monday, long&#160;before the FBI released its cache of photos and videos. See a very large file of the photo <a href="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/blogs/thelede/posts/suspect-number-2.JPG" type="external">here</a>.</p>
<p>UPDATE 4, Thursday, April 18, 10:30 p.m. EDT: Bloomberg has a major scoop: Jeff Bauman, the young runner who lost both his legs in the explosion and whose iconic photo has come to symbolize the tragedy, woke up in the hospital and helped ID the suspects.</p>
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<p>UPDATE 3, Thursday, April 18, 10:20 p.m. EDT:&#160; <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/18/us/boston-blasts/index.html" type="external">CNN reports</a> that “other footage, still unreleased, shows that the two suspects stayed at the scene to watch the carnage unfold, a federal law enforcement official with knowledge of the investigation…’When the bombs blow up, when most people are running away and victims were lying on the ground, the two suspects walk away pretty casually,’ said the official, who has seen the unreleased video. ‘They acted differently than everyone else,’ he added.”</p>
<p>UPDATE 2, Thursday, April 18, 10:15 p.m. EDT: Journalists, Redditors, and citizens across the country are sharing and in some cases claiming to add to the photos the FBI has released:</p>
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<p>UPDATE, Thursday, April 18, 5:45 p.m. EDT: One of the suspects’ hats may be this Bridgestone Golf hat:</p>
<p>ORIGINAL POST: The FBI has released images of two “persons of interest.” “No one should approach them…Do not take action on your own,” they said during the press briefing. Here is the FBI’s YouTube clip of the two individuals; each had a backpack:</p>
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<p>The bureau <a href="http://www.fbi.gov/news/updates-on-investigation-into-multiple-explosions-in-boston/updates-on-investigation-into-multiple-explosions-in-boston" type="external">posted</a> the photos online:</p>
<p /> | true | 4 | capped explainer major developments covered main political blog update 36 monday april 22 159 pm edt dzhokhar tsarnaev charged conspiring use weapon mass destruction people property resulting death update 35 monday april 22 126 pm edt multiple sources reporting boston marathon bombing suspect dzhokhar tsarnaev arraigned hospital bed complaint sealed update 34 saturday april 20 101 pm edt dzhokhar tsarnaev heavily guarded hospital room beth israel deaconess medical center press attention turns deciphering bombers motives coming trial josh gerstein politico written piece explaining legal issues surrounding case including pretrial interrogation rules facing federal prosecutors whether tsarnaev may face death penalty slates emily bazelon explains history law behind public safety exemption miranda rules tsarnaev questioned update 33 friday april 19 1112 pm edt barstoolsportscom posted dramatic amateur video pitched fire fight said recording police closing tsarnaevs boat hiding place friday evening photo surfaced appears show law enforcement officials administering medical care suspect shortly arrest update 32 friday april 19 1034 pm edt tsarnaev given miranda warning publicsafety exemption cases national security potential charges involving acts terrorism united states attorney carmen ortiz said obama administration emphatic giving tsarnaev civilian trial according nbc correspondent pete williams update 31 friday april 19 1014 pm edt following press conference held mass governor deval patrick law enforcement president obama delivered statement addressing capture tsarnaev tragedy boston also explosion west texas fertilizer plant wednesday tough week seen character country obama said heres video link full statement update 30 friday april 19 1000 pm edt according boston police department dzhokhar tsarnaev serious condition taken massachusetts general hospital update 29 friday april 19 942 pm edt fbi wanted poster dzhokhar tsarnaev updated captured update 28 friday april 19 845 pm edt dzhokhar tsarnaev taken custody found hiding boat resting trailer watertown backyard update 27 friday april 19 715 pm edt moments law enforcement officials lifted citys lockdown exchange gunfire heard watertown boston globe local television reporting police cornered suspect update 26 friday april 19 209 pm edt fbi wanted poster dzhokhar tsarnaev suspect boston marathon attack update 25 friday april 19 108 pm edt noon friday council americanislamic relations cair held press conference national press club washington dc five muslim community leaders emphasized suspects motive yet known cair national executive director nihad awad said prepared statement god tells us quran murder one person murdered humanity stressed angry another participant stated unfortunately every faith heretical elementsbut nobody separate us americans asked mother jones al qaeda prophecy video posted youtube user name deceased suspect tamerlan tsarnaev cair spokesman responded mean al qaedainspired stuff man lot crazy internet group also thanked media jumping conclusions debatable update 24 friday april 19 1245 pm edt massachusetts gov deval patrick held press conference urged bostonians stay homes warned crime scene may go weekend update 23 friday april 19 1215 pm edt buzzfeed reporting dzhokhar tsarnaevs twitter account highlights update mother jones story tweets tell us dzhokhar tsarnaev tweets include statements islam observations pop culture trashtalk women update 22 friday april 19 1215 pm edt suspects uncle ruslan tsarni pleads nephew dzhokhar tsarnaev still loose turn nbc visit nbcnewscom breaking news world news news economy update 21 friday april 19 1210 pm edt cbs reports suspects uncle said older brother160tamerlan tsarnaev loser watch update 20 friday april 19 1200 pm edt160 buzzfeed reports chechen160president ramzan kadyrov released statement bombings blaming suspects american160upbringing tragic events taken place boston terrorist attack killed people already expressed condolences people city american people today media reports one tsarnaev killed police tried arrest would appropriate detained investigated circumstances extent guilt determined apparently security services needed calm society means necessary attempt draw connection chechnya tsarnaevs guilty futile raised united states attitudes beliefs formed necessary seek roots evil america whole world must struggle terrorism know better anyone else hope recovery victims mourn americans also president beth israel deaconess medical center released statement patient died morning beth israel deaconess medical center received unknown male patient significant injuries 120 morning arrived suffered trauma arrest expired 135 information identity patient speculate whether connection criminal activity prepared speak exact nature injuries beth israel deaconess medical center open business restricting access entrances ensure safety patients staff visitors update 19 friday april 19 1150 edt160the boston police department reporting vehicle associated armed160carjacking160by two suspects in160cambridge160has located update 18 friday april 19 1133 edt former schoolmate boston bombing suspect speaks suspect dzhokhar tsarnaev still large update 17 friday april 19 1119 edt mother jones posted wrestling photo boston marathon bombing suspect dzhokhar tsarnaev former classmates react news cant believe went 4 years high school friends someone carried terrorist attack one wrote facebook update 16 friday april 19 1115 edt suspect dzhokhar tsarnaev believed foot update 15 friday april 19 1113 edt cbs boston interviewed ruslan tsarni said uncle suspects bombings update 14 friday april 19 1105 edt spokesman university massachusettsdartmouth stated suspect boston marathon bombing registered student campus university announced campus closed today evacuated update 13 friday april 19 1037 edt user name of160tamerlan tsarnaev posted video youtube playlist extolling extremist religious prophecy associated al qaeda clear yet whether user tsarnaev deceased bombing suspect update 12 friday april 19 637 edt nbc associated press report remaining suspect dzhokhar tsarnaev 19yearold resident cambridge deceased suspect killed firefight police morning 20 26year old brother tamerlan tsarnaev according nbc men international ties united states year military experience meanwhile much boston area locked downwith schools closed authorities asking businesses openand thousands police called manhunt involving doortodoor search watertown update 11 friday april 19 637 edt boston police commissioner ed davis told160reporters friday morning remaining suspect someone police160believe terrorist person whos come kill people update 10 friday april 19 617 edt around 520 doctors beth israel deaconess medical center boston held press conference announced patient brought 120 police guard multiple injuries combination blast potentially gunshot wounds doctors said unable count number gunshot wounds patient spent 15 minutes unsuccessfully trying revive patient pronounced dead 135 surgeon treated patient asked whether believed him160to suspect boston marathon bombing responded give best care every patient comes regardless may may update 9 friday april 19 544160am edt160boston police commissioner ed davis tweeted image said latest picture suspect boston marathon bombing around 540 friday morning appears image suspect 2 police told abc news160earlier image taken security camera holdup 711 cambridge update 8 friday april 19 432160am edt160boston police confirmed press conference friday morning explosions gunfire friday night cambridge boston watertown massachusetts connected boston marathon suspects whose photos released160thursday afternoon suspect pictured black hat reported dead suspect white hat reportedly still large police established 20block perimeter around believe suspect middlesex county district attorneys office160released following statement police investigating fatal shooting mit campus police officer two men committed armed160carjacking160in cambridge middlesex acting district attorney160michaelpelgro cambridge police commissioner robert haas mit police chief john160difavaannounced evening160 approximately 1020 pm april 18 police received reports shots fired mit campus 1030 pm mit campus police officer found shot vehicle area vassar main streets according authorities officer found evidencing multiple gunshot wounds160 transported massachusetts general hospital pronounced deceased authorities launched immediate investigation circumstances shooting investigation determined two males involved shooting short time later police received reports armed160carjacking160by two males area third street cambridge victim was160carjacked160at gunpoint two males kept car suspects approximately half hour victim released gas station memorial drive cambridge injured160 police immediately began search vehicle pursuit vehicle watertown time explosive devices reportedly thrown car suspects suspects police also exchanged gunfire area dexter laurel streets pursuit an160mbta160police officer seriously injured transported hospital160 pursuit one suspect critically injured transported hospital pronounced deceased extensive manhunt ongoing watertown area second suspect believed armed dangerous update 7 friday april 19 225 edt fbi released two photos suspects showing close view faces 160 160 160 update 6 friday april 19 140 edt police officer shot killed mit evening another officer wounded highspeed chase took place local police scanner reports160automatic weapons fire grenades one suspect taken custody large known whether160this event related boston marathon bombings details on160this incident separate post update 5 friday april 19 1240 edt photo first got broad attention reddit whose authenticity debated journalists twitter hours appears legitimate shows new highresolution shot suspect 2 white hat far left new york times reports shortly finishing boston marathon week david green 49 walking meet friends two bombs exploded front faced east corner fairfield boylston streets snapped photograph iphone rushing help wounded timestamped 25015 pm debate photos veracity ended established posted facebook monday long160before fbi released cache photos videos see large file photo update 4 thursday april 18 1030 pm edt bloomberg major scoop jeff bauman young runner lost legs explosion whose iconic photo come symbolize tragedy woke hospital helped id suspects 160 update 3 thursday april 18 1020 pm edt160 cnn reports footage still unreleased shows two suspects stayed scene watch carnage unfold federal law enforcement official knowledge investigationwhen bombs blow people running away victims lying ground two suspects walk away pretty casually said official seen unreleased video acted differently everyone else added update 2 thursday april 18 1015 pm edt journalists redditors citizens across country sharing cases claiming add photos fbi released update thursday april 18 545 pm edt one suspects hats may bridgestone golf hat original post fbi released images two persons interest one approach themdo take action said press briefing fbis youtube clip two individuals backpack bureau posted photos online | 1,540 |
<p>For this week's Feministing Five, we spoke with <a href="https://twitter.com/morganmpage" type="external">Morgan M Page</a>, the creator of <a href="https://soundcloud.com/onefromthevaultspodcast" type="external">One From The Vaults</a>! As <a href="" type="internal">Jos covered&#160;last week</a>, One From The Vaults&#160;is a new trans history podcast that is delightful, entertaining, and informative.&#160;</p>
<p>Morgan M Page</p>
<p>Morgan M Page is a multiple award-winning performance and video artist, writer, activist, and Santera who is based in Canada. Her work focuses on trans, sex work, and HIV issues. She also is an organizer and social services provider, having worked with individuals and organizations across Canada and the United States.</p>
<p>Her podcast, One From The Vaults, tells the stories from&#160;trans history in a fun, conversational way, or as Morgan describes, "all the dirt, gossip, and glamour from trans history!" Take a listen to the first episode <a href="https://soundcloud.com/onefromthevaultspodcast/oftv-1-whatever-happened-to-rachel-1" type="external">here</a>, and for those who are anxiously awaiting the next releases, the second episode will be available on January 15th and the third on February 1st!</p>
<p>And now without further ado, the Feministing Five with Morgan M Page!</p>
<p>Suzanna Bobadilla: Thank you so much for speaking with us today. Could you share with us the inspiration behind your podcast, One From The Vaults?</p>
<p>Morgan M Page: I've been interested in trans history for a long time. When I first transitioned, I was a young teenager, and I thought that my life choices had shrunk drastically. I didn't think there were a lot of options for me. I thought there were only a few potential careers that I could go into.</p>
<p>It was through learning about trans history online and in the very few books that existed then that I began to be able to imagine a different life for myself - one&#160;that gave me a lot more control over what my options would be.</p>
<p>Later, I ran a trans youth group in Toronto for almost five years. In my work with young trans people, one of the things that I noticed was that they didn't have a lot of access to their history. If I would mention someone like Sylvia Rivera, their ears&#160;would perk up, "Who is that?" Explaining who these people were and what they did in their lives really blew people's minds.</p>
<p>I've been thinking for a number of years about how to make that information more accessible because so often trans history is locked in archives or in very dense academic text. A lot of people don't find it an easy way to access that information. After several attempts of trying to put trans history on Tumblr or on Twitter, eventually I came to the idea that one really simple way of getting it across to people would be to put it in a podcast form. The response has been pretty incredible, it's great.</p>
<p>SB: On that note of making history more accessible to folks, I loved how you characterized history as a type of gossip in some ways. The tone of the podcast is very relatable and fun to listen. Why did you choose to give the podcast that type of vibe?&#160;</p>
<p>MMP: People often think that history is incredibly dry. It can really be taught that way when you learn it in school, especially in post-secondary education. It's such a shame because, to me, history is just a collection of who everyone was sleeping with and all of the weird things they did because of that. History is also about who was screwing over who.</p>
<p>For me, getting people excited about history is showing them that history is very entertaining. It's a whole bunch of people with a lot of bizarre issues making very strange choices about their lives. Those choices have a very direct impact on how we exist today.</p>
<p>The other part of it is that I come from a performance background, my family are all in the theater and I grew up in the theater, and I'm a performance artist now. Taking on an entertaining tone to things is definitely up my alley for getting my point across. I'm rarely dry in my explanations of anything.</p>
<p>SB: Along with the podcast, you are involved with&#160;many different projects, either art, writing, or activism? How do you see One From the Vaults complimenting&#160;the rest of your work?&#160;</p>
<p>MMP: I think all of my work as an artist, as an activist, and even as a social worker is about preserving and disseminating trans culture on a variety of levels. Most of my work as an artist is really engaged in a lineage of &#160;other trans artists who have come before me. Many of my works are in direct conversations with the work that inspires me. As an activist, I feel like my work is directly in conversation with a 150 years of people working before me to make it possible for me to do what I do now.</p>
<p>To me, it's all about pushing an agenda of trans as culture rather than trans as a strictly medical phenomenon.</p>
<p>SB: Could you describe the process of putting together an episode? What are some fun things that you love about putting together this project?&#160;</p>
<p>MMP: Putting together an episode of One From The Vaults takes a couple days. It probably would take a lot more time if I didn't already know these people's stories, at least a little bit about them. I spend days pouring over the Internet, trying to find little tidbits. I look in books and in university archive websites, all sort of things.</p>
<p>I am trying to track down not only the outline of people's stories, which is often easily available, but especially, the gossipy bits which are much harder to come across. The other day I was working on an upcoming episode about a very important trans man from history, who basically singlehandedly changed the face of trans people in the 21st century. When I was making the episode, my two questions were, "What drugs was he taking and who was he sleeping with?" I spent two whole days trying to figure out what was he snorting and who was he having sex with. I did figure it out and it was a very entertaining story!</p>
<p>That's my approach because those bits are so much more fun! We can talk about things like "Christine Jorgensen had surgery in 1952 and it was this kind of surgery." But what I'm way more interested in is what were her personal relationships like? How did she get on with the mailman? What was happening in her world at that time?</p>
<p>All the gossip, all the dirt is what gets me excited. I also get excited when I am able to track down photographs of people, especially the early 20th century people. Even more so, I get excited when I find their writing which is very rarely found, aside from memoirs.</p>
<p>Recently I was able to track down a book by a trans man written in the early 20th century which advocates for basically all of the same healthcare reforms that trans people today are demanding right now. Being able to read that book really blew my mind. This is a book from nearly one hundred years ago arguing for all of the same things that we argue for today. It felt very validating in a way, but also it was sort of depressing. We've been asking for this for one hundred years and we still don't have it.</p>
<p>SB: Let's pretend you're stranded on a desert island. You can take one drink, one food, and one feminist. What do you pick?&#160;</p>
<p>MMP: I would take chocolate as my food because it's the only thing I really eat. I have a love affair with chocolate. As for my one drink, I would take water because all of the available water around the desert island would not be drinkable. As for a feminist, I would take Kathy Acker. She would be really entertaining all the time and she was really into working out, so I feel like she could build us a shelter which I would be totally useless at doing.</p>
<p>Images provided by Morgan M Page</p> | true | 4 | weeks feministing five spoke morgan page creator one vaults jos covered160last week one vaults160is new trans history podcast delightful entertaining informative160 morgan page morgan page multiple awardwinning performance video artist writer activist santera based canada work focuses trans sex work hiv issues also organizer social services provider worked individuals organizations across canada united states podcast one vaults tells stories from160trans history fun conversational way morgan describes dirt gossip glamour trans history take listen first episode anxiously awaiting next releases second episode available january 15th third february 1st without ado feministing five morgan page suzanna bobadilla thank much speaking us today could share us inspiration behind podcast one vaults morgan page ive interested trans history long time first transitioned young teenager thought life choices shrunk drastically didnt think lot options thought potential careers could go learning trans history online books existed began able imagine different life one160that gave lot control options would later ran trans youth group toronto almost five years work young trans people one things noticed didnt lot access history would mention someone like sylvia rivera ears160would perk explaining people lives really blew peoples minds ive thinking number years make information accessible often trans history locked archives dense academic text lot people dont find easy way access information several attempts trying put trans history tumblr twitter eventually came idea one really simple way getting across people would put podcast form response pretty incredible great sb note making history accessible folks loved characterized history type gossip ways tone podcast relatable fun listen choose give podcast type vibe160 mmp people often think history incredibly dry really taught way learn school especially postsecondary education shame history collection everyone sleeping weird things history also screwing getting people excited history showing history entertaining whole bunch people lot bizarre issues making strange choices lives choices direct impact exist today part come performance background family theater grew theater im performance artist taking entertaining tone things definitely alley getting point across im rarely dry explanations anything sb along podcast involved with160many different projects either art writing activism see one vaults complimenting160the rest work160 mmp think work artist activist even social worker preserving disseminating trans culture variety levels work artist really engaged lineage 160other trans artists come many works direct conversations work inspires activist feel like work directly conversation 150 years people working make possible pushing agenda trans culture rather trans strictly medical phenomenon sb could describe process putting together episode fun things love putting together project160 mmp putting together episode one vaults takes couple days probably would take lot time didnt already know peoples stories least little bit spend days pouring internet trying find little tidbits look books university archive websites sort things trying track outline peoples stories often easily available especially gossipy bits much harder come across day working upcoming episode important trans man history basically singlehandedly changed face trans people 21st century making episode two questions drugs taking sleeping spent two whole days trying figure snorting sex figure entertaining story thats approach bits much fun talk things like christine jorgensen surgery 1952 kind surgery im way interested personal relationships like get mailman happening world time gossip dirt gets excited also get excited able track photographs people especially early 20th century people even get excited find writing rarely found aside memoirs recently able track book trans man written early 20th century advocates basically healthcare reforms trans people today demanding right able read book really blew mind book nearly one hundred years ago arguing things argue today felt validating way also sort depressing weve asking one hundred years still dont sb lets pretend youre stranded desert island take one drink one food one feminist pick160 mmp would take chocolate food thing really eat love affair chocolate one drink would take water available water around desert island would drinkable feminist would take kathy acker would really entertaining time really working feel like could build us shelter would totally useless images provided morgan page | 655 |
<p>Editor’s note: Chris Hedges’ weekly columns usually appear here on Monday mornings, but Truthdig posted this week’s edition early, on Thursday, Sept. 29, in the wake of controversy about the pepper-spraying of participants in the Occupy Wall Street protest.</p>
<p>There are no excuses left. Either you join the revolt taking place on Wall Street and in the financial districts of other cities across the country or you stand on the wrong side of history. Either you obstruct, in the only form left to us, which is civil disobedience, the plundering by the criminal class on Wall Street and accelerated destruction of the ecosystem that sustains the human species, or become the passive enabler of a monstrous evil. Either you taste, feel and smell the intoxication of freedom and revolt or sink into the miasma of despair and apathy. Either you are a rebel or a slave.</p>
<p>To be declared innocent in a country where the rule of law means nothing, where we have undergone a corporate coup, where the poor and working men and women are reduced to joblessness and hunger, where war, financial speculation and internal surveillance are the only real business of the state, where even habeas corpus no longer exists, where you, as a citizen, are nothing more than a commodity to corporate systems of power, one to be used and discarded, is to be complicit in this radical evil. To stand on the sidelines and say “I am innocent” is to bear the mark of Cain; it is to do nothing to reach out and help the weak, the oppressed and the suffering, to save the planet. To be innocent in times like these is to be a criminal. Ask <a href="" type="internal">Tim DeChristopher</a>.</p>
<p>Choose. But choose fast. The state and corporate forces are determined to crush this. They are not going to wait for you. They are terrified this will spread. They have their long phalanxes of police on motorcycles, their rows of white paddy wagons, their foot soldiers hunting for you on the streets with pepper spray and orange plastic nets. They have their metal barricades set up on every single street leading into the New York financial district, where the mandarins in Brooks Brothers suits use your money, money they stole from you, to gamble and speculate and gorge themselves while one in four children outside those barricades depend on food stamps to eat. Speculation in the 17th century was a crime. Speculators were hanged. Today they run the state and the financial markets. They disseminate the lies that pollute our airwaves. They know, even better than you, how pervasive the corruption and theft have become, how gamed the system is against you, how corporations have cemented into place a thin oligarchic class and an obsequious cadre of politicians, judges and journalists who live in their little gated Versailles while 6 million Americans are thrown out of their homes, a number soon to rise to 10 million, where a million people a year go bankrupt because they cannot pay their medical bills and 45,000 die from lack of proper care, where real joblessness is spiraling to over 20 percent, where the citizens, including students, spend lives toiling in debt peonage, working dead-end jobs, when they have jobs, a world devoid of hope, a world of masters and serfs.</p>
<p />
<p>The only word these corporations know is more. They are disemboweling every last social service program funded by the taxpayers, from education to Social Security, because they want that money themselves. Let the sick die. Let the poor go hungry. Let families be tossed in the street. Let the unemployed rot. Let children in the inner city or rural wastelands learn nothing and live in misery and fear. Let the students finish school with no jobs and no prospects of jobs. Let the prison system, the largest in the industrial world, expand to swallow up all potential dissenters. Let torture continue. Let teachers, police, firefighters, postal employees and social workers join the ranks of the unemployed. Let the roads, bridges, dams, levees, power grids, rail lines, subways, bus services, schools and libraries crumble or close. Let the rising temperatures of the planet, the freak weather patterns, the hurricanes, the droughts, the flooding, the tornadoes, the melting polar ice caps, the poisoned water systems, the polluted air increase until the species dies.</p>
<p>Who the hell cares? If the stocks of ExxonMobil or the coal industry or Goldman Sachs are high, life is good. Profit. Profit. Profit. That is what they chant behind those metal barricades. They have their fangs deep into your necks. If you do not shake them off very, very soon they will kill you. And they will kill the ecosystem, dooming your children and your children’s children. They are too stupid and too blind to see that they will perish with the rest of us. So either you rise up and supplant them, either you dismantle the corporate state, for a world of sanity, a world where we no longer kneel before the absurd idea that the demands of financial markets should govern human behavior, or we are frog-marched toward self-annihilation.</p>
<p>Those on the streets around Wall Street are the physical embodiment of hope. They know that hope has a cost, that it is not easy or comfortable, that it requires self-sacrifice and discomfort and finally faith. They sleep on concrete every night. Their clothes are soiled. They have eaten more bagels and peanut butter than they ever thought possible. They have tasted fear, been beaten, gone to jail, been blinded by pepper spray, cried, hugged each other, laughed, sung, talked too long in general assemblies, seen their chants drift upward to the office towers above them, wondered if it is worth it, if anyone cares, if they will win. But as long as they remain steadfast they point the way out of the corporate labyrinth. This is what it means to be alive. They are the best among us.</p>
<p>Click here to access <a href="http://occupytogether.org/" type="external">OCCUPY TOGETHER</a>, a hub for all of the events springing up across the country in solidarity with Occupy Wall St.</p>
<p /> | true | 4 | editors note chris hedges weekly columns usually appear monday mornings truthdig posted weeks edition early thursday sept 29 wake controversy pepperspraying participants occupy wall street protest excuses left either join revolt taking place wall street financial districts cities across country stand wrong side history either obstruct form left us civil disobedience plundering criminal class wall street accelerated destruction ecosystem sustains human species become passive enabler monstrous evil either taste feel smell intoxication freedom revolt sink miasma despair apathy either rebel slave declared innocent country rule law means nothing undergone corporate coup poor working men women reduced joblessness hunger war financial speculation internal surveillance real business state even habeas corpus longer exists citizen nothing commodity corporate systems power one used discarded complicit radical evil stand sidelines say innocent bear mark cain nothing reach help weak oppressed suffering save planet innocent times like criminal ask tim dechristopher choose choose fast state corporate forces determined crush going wait terrified spread long phalanxes police motorcycles rows white paddy wagons foot soldiers hunting streets pepper spray orange plastic nets metal barricades set every single street leading new york financial district mandarins brooks brothers suits use money money stole gamble speculate gorge one four children outside barricades depend food stamps eat speculation 17th century crime speculators hanged today run state financial markets disseminate lies pollute airwaves know even better pervasive corruption theft become gamed system corporations cemented place thin oligarchic class obsequious cadre politicians judges journalists live little gated versailles 6 million americans thrown homes number soon rise 10 million million people year go bankrupt pay medical bills 45000 die lack proper care real joblessness spiraling 20 percent citizens including students spend lives toiling debt peonage working deadend jobs jobs world devoid hope world masters serfs word corporations know disemboweling every last social service program funded taxpayers education social security want money let sick die let poor go hungry let families tossed street let unemployed rot let children inner city rural wastelands learn nothing live misery fear let students finish school jobs prospects jobs let prison system largest industrial world expand swallow potential dissenters let torture continue let teachers police firefighters postal employees social workers join ranks unemployed let roads bridges dams levees power grids rail lines subways bus services schools libraries crumble close let rising temperatures planet freak weather patterns hurricanes droughts flooding tornadoes melting polar ice caps poisoned water systems polluted air increase species dies hell cares stocks exxonmobil coal industry goldman sachs high life good profit profit profit chant behind metal barricades fangs deep necks shake soon kill kill ecosystem dooming children childrens children stupid blind see perish rest us either rise supplant either dismantle corporate state world sanity world longer kneel absurd idea demands financial markets govern human behavior frogmarched toward selfannihilation streets around wall street physical embodiment hope know hope cost easy comfortable requires selfsacrifice discomfort finally faith sleep concrete every night clothes soiled eaten bagels peanut butter ever thought possible tasted fear beaten gone jail blinded pepper spray cried hugged laughed sung talked long general assemblies seen chants drift upward office towers wondered worth anyone cares win long remain steadfast point way corporate labyrinth means alive best among us click access occupy together hub events springing across country solidarity occupy wall st | 542 |
<p>Many are calling the U.K.’s European Union referendum vote on Thursday, the most important vote in every British person’s lifetime. On the eve of the vote, polls show it could go either way, and tensions remain high after the killing last week of pro-E.U. Labour MP Jo Cox, who was shot and stabbed to death by a rightwing, pro-Brexit extremist.</p>
<p>The argument about whether or not to stay in the E.U. has steadily heated up since the plans for a referendum were first announced last year after Prime Minister David Cameron won the general election. Both right and left have launched “remain” and “leave” campaigns. Interestingly, Cameron backs the “remain” camp although it has, for the most part, been dominated by Britain's more left-wing voices.</p>
<p>On the other hand, as evidenced by Cox’s murder, the “leave” campaign has seen leftist arguments for leaving drowned out by a tide of racist rhetoric from the right, with the most vocal “leave” campaigners focused on regaining Britain’s “sovereignty” and preventing “infiltration” from other countries.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">Britain Stronger in Europe</a>, the official cross-party “pro-remain” campaign, claims that staying in Europe will protect jobs, lower prices, protect workers’ rights, and ensure a "stronger, safer and better off Europe.” Its campaign video cites six main reasons for staying in the E.U.:</p>
<p>
1.&#160;“Over 3 million U.K. jobs are linked to our trade with the E.U.”</p>
<p>2.&#160;“Being in the E.U. means lower prices in our shops.”</p>
<p>3.&#160;“Over 200,000 U.K. businesses trade with the E.U.”</p>
<p>4.&#160;“The U.K. get £66 million of investment a day from the E.U.”</p>
<p>5.&#160;“The European Arrest Warrant helps arrest criminals across the U.K.”</p>
<p>6.&#160;“For every £1 we put into the E.U., we get £10 back, through trades, jobs, investments and lower prices.”</p>
<p />
<p>Nick Crook is head of international relations at&#160; <a href="" type="internal">UNISON</a>, the U.K.’s main public sector union, which is fighting hard to keep the U.K. in the E.U.</p>
<p>“The E.U. is the U.K.’s biggest trading partner and our major source of foreign direct investment is because of the U.K.’s access to the single market,” Crook told Occupy.com. “We already know that millions of jobs are dependent on the E.U. and access to the single market. But it’s not just the jobs market, it’s also workers’ rights, because most employment legislation that is in place in the U.K. at the moment derivates from E.U. regulations.”</p>
<p>Responding to criticism from the “leave” campaign that Members of European Parliament (MEPs) don't have enough power, and that the E.U. is run by a team of unelected “Eurocrats," he said:</p>
<p>“The E.U. has a democracy. It might not be a perfect one but it exists. The European Parliament can dismiss the European Commission and it has happened in the past. I lobby Brussels on a regular basis and I find it more accessible and more transparent than I do lobbying Westminster on behalf of UNISON.”</p>
<p>As for “leave” camp's personal composition, he added that it is "a campaign led by people like [powerful right-wing politicians] Michael Gove, Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage – the same bunch of people who have been slashing public expenditure and attacking the National Health Service and would happily do away with workers’ rights tomorrow if they could. The language they use is dangerous, particularly around migration and immigrants. These people want to put up walls all around the U.K.”</p>
<p>Leftists on the "leave" side have expressed shock and outrage at the Cox killing. “We are horrified at the death of Jo Cox and send our deepest condolences to her husband and children, to her family, friends and colleagues,” said a spokesperson for the&#160; <a href="" type="internal">Left Leave</a>campaign.</p>
<p>“We believe that the murder of an elected representative marks a deterioration of our society and our politics. Any links with possible far right groups must be fully investigated. The atmosphere of racism and Islamophobia, and the scapegoating of migrants and refugees, which have been so much part of political discourse in recent years, is in danger of poisoning all political debate.”</p>
<p />
<p>So why, then, are so many on the left voting to leave? “We are in favor of leaving the E.U. because ‘Fortress Europe’ and the E.U.’s systematic promotion of austerity policies has led to the growth of such reactionary ideas," said the spokesperson. "Whatever the outcome of this referendum, all on the left must unite against such racism and support policies which undercut appeals to scapegoating minorities.”</p>
<p>On the other hand, Baroness Jenny Jones, a Green Party member of the House of Lords, has come under fire for rebelling against her party’s official policy and campaigning for a “leave” vote.</p>
<p>“The biggest issue for me is that a small number of people, i.e. the E.U. commission, are the people who make decisions,” Jones told Occupy.com. “The MEPs don’t have much power – they’re a bit like the House of Lords here. So what happens is that lobbyists for big business are actually influencing the E.U. agenda far more than the people who are supposedly being represented. For me, there is a terrible lack of democracy and it’s a situation where the environmental and social welfare concerns of the E.U. are not given very much importance because big business decides what’s going to happen.”</p>
<p>It is perhaps strange, in that sense, that the right has dominated the “leave” campaign. But Jones says there is a simply reason: "Because it talks about immigration. It’s like a red flag. As far as I can work out, though, leaving won’t affect immigration numbers. It might be different people coming in, but it will be the same numbers. As long as we have a moderately healthy economy while parts of the rest of the world are having a hard time, it’s inevitable that people are going to want to come here. And we need those immigrants. But a lot of people in Britain are frightened and wrongly believe that immigrants are taking their jobs.”</p>
<p>Responding to the question of whether she is afraid the U.K.’s current Conservative government will gain even more power if no longer scrutinized by the E.U., Jones added: “We’re in danger of our Tory government taking away some of our rights, but at least we can get rid of that Tory government, whereas we can’t get rid of the people making decisions in the E.U. The fact we’re under a Tory regime now is no reason to stay under another oppressive regime in the form of the E.U.”</p>
<p>Many have expressed concern that despite its historic importance, turnout for the vote will be low.</p>
<p>“The fact that one in six people have [still] had zero contact about the referendum… is a stark sign that, outside of Westminster, this conversation clearly isn’t reaching everyone,” said Katie Ghose, chief executive of the&#160; <a href="" type="internal">Electoral Reform Society</a>. “While the vast majority of people have received a leaflet, just a tiny fraction of people have had any in-person discussion or dialogue when it comes to contact about the referendum. For the public, the campaigns appear to have been confined to the airwaves and mail-drops rather than real engagement or… debate.”</p>
<p>A survey this week showed that only 22% of British citizens feel well-informed about the referendum. At the time of writing, the latest&#160; <a href="" type="internal">YouGov poll</a>&#160;showed that of 1,652 surveyed, the “leave” campaign was slightly ahead at 44 pecent, with 42 percent for “remain” and 9 percent “undecided.”</p> | true | 4 | many calling uks european union referendum vote thursday important vote every british persons lifetime eve vote polls show could go either way tensions remain high killing last week proeu labour mp jo cox shot stabbed death rightwing probrexit extremist argument whether stay eu steadily heated since plans referendum first announced last year prime minister david cameron general election right left launched remain leave campaigns interestingly cameron backs remain camp although part dominated britains leftwing voices hand evidenced coxs murder leave campaign seen leftist arguments leaving drowned tide racist rhetoric right vocal leave campaigners focused regaining britains sovereignty preventing infiltration countries britain stronger europe official crossparty proremain campaign claims staying europe protect jobs lower prices protect workers rights ensure stronger safer better europe campaign video cites six main reasons staying eu 1160over 3 million uk jobs linked trade eu 2160being eu means lower prices shops 3160over 200000 uk businesses trade eu 4160the uk get 66 million investment day eu 5160the european arrest warrant helps arrest criminals across uk 6160for every 1 put eu get 10 back trades jobs investments lower prices nick crook head international relations at160 unison uks main public sector union fighting hard keep uk eu eu uks biggest trading partner major source foreign direct investment uks access single market crook told occupycom already know millions jobs dependent eu access single market jobs market also workers rights employment legislation place uk moment derivates eu regulations responding criticism leave campaign members european parliament meps dont enough power eu run team unelected eurocrats said eu democracy might perfect one exists european parliament dismiss european commission happened past lobby brussels regular basis find accessible transparent lobbying westminster behalf unison leave camps personal composition added campaign led people like powerful rightwing politicians michael gove boris johnson nigel farage bunch people slashing public expenditure attacking national health service would happily away workers rights tomorrow could language use dangerous particularly around migration immigrants people want put walls around uk leftists leave side expressed shock outrage cox killing horrified death jo cox send deepest condolences husband children family friends colleagues said spokesperson the160 left leavecampaign believe murder elected representative marks deterioration society politics links possible far right groups must fully investigated atmosphere racism islamophobia scapegoating migrants refugees much part political discourse recent years danger poisoning political debate many left voting leave favor leaving eu fortress europe eus systematic promotion austerity policies led growth reactionary ideas said spokesperson whatever outcome referendum left must unite racism support policies undercut appeals scapegoating minorities hand baroness jenny jones green party member house lords come fire rebelling partys official policy campaigning leave vote biggest issue small number people ie eu commission people make decisions jones told occupycom meps dont much power theyre bit like house lords happens lobbyists big business actually influencing eu agenda far people supposedly represented terrible lack democracy situation environmental social welfare concerns eu given much importance big business decides whats going happen perhaps strange sense right dominated leave campaign jones says simply reason talks immigration like red flag far work though leaving wont affect immigration numbers might different people coming numbers long moderately healthy economy parts rest world hard time inevitable people going want come need immigrants lot people britain frightened wrongly believe immigrants taking jobs responding question whether afraid uks current conservative government gain even power longer scrutinized eu jones added danger tory government taking away rights least get rid tory government whereas cant get rid people making decisions eu fact tory regime reason stay another oppressive regime form eu many expressed concern despite historic importance turnout vote low fact one six people still zero contact referendum stark sign outside westminster conversation clearly isnt reaching everyone said katie ghose chief executive the160 electoral reform society vast majority people received leaflet tiny fraction people inperson discussion dialogue comes contact referendum public campaigns appear confined airwaves maildrops rather real engagement debate survey week showed 22 british citizens feel wellinformed referendum time writing latest160 yougov poll160showed 1652 surveyed leave campaign slightly ahead 44 pecent 42 percent remain 9 percent undecided | 671 |
<p><a href="" type="internal" />As progressives, we love to think of ourselves as true fighters for the people–pushing for human rights, equality and positive change in the face of lies from “the other side.” This same progressive principle needs to be applied to marijuana, which is one of the most versatile plants our planet has ever given us. Many are under the false impression that it’s no longer considered the “devil’s weed” of the 1930’s. Unfortunately, on a federal level, reefer madness is still alive and well.</p>
<p>The federal government classifies weed as a Schedule I drug, comparable to heroin and having less medical value than drugs like cocaine and methamphetamine. Even after medically-relevant studies and case examples worldwide prove otherwise, our government has refused to budge on this stance. One look at the <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/ondcp/ondcp-fact-sheets/marijuana-legalization" type="external">unsourced propaganda</a> still being pushed by the White House proves we’ve made almost no progress in Washington on this issue. For example, the White House position that potential tax revenue would be offset by higher social costs fails to take into account the money saved on enforcement, conveniently leaving billions of dollars out of their flawed equation. Further, take note of their repeated mentions of “studies,” “independent research” and “other research” while failing to actually link to any specific independent studies backing up their claims. Almost 80 years after the release of “Reefer Madness,” our government’s position still falls back to “It’s bad for you because we say it is,” while repeatedly ignoring all evidence to the contrary.</p>
<p>Before I risk blowing smoke out of my posterior orifice, let me point to a couple of specific examples to back up my claims. Let’s start out with the administration’s position that “marijuana smoke contains carcinogens and can be an irritant to the lungs.” The <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/25/AR2006052501729.html" type="external">largest case-control study</a> ever done on the topic indicates that even heavy smoking of marijuana over a period of several years poses no increased risk of any types of cancers, and may even provide some level of protection against cancer. Other studies have shown similar results, while not one legitimate study has shown a link between smoking marijuana and increased risk of lung or other cancers. Also interesting is the administration’s claim that marijuana use is associated with “impaired cognitive functioning.” While the White House lists no sources to back up their claim, researchers at Johns Hopkins University actually <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10221315" type="external">studied cognition</a> in 1,318 participants over a period of 12 years. They concluded that there were “no significant differences in cognitive decline between heavy users, light users, and nonusers of cannabis.” This is barely scratching the surface, and doesn’t even begin to account for the numerous studies conducted internationally which have showcased marijuana’s safety, directly contradicting the dubious claims our government has made.</p>
<p>The continued inclusion of marijuana as a Schedule I drug with no medical benefit is not only absurd, but hypocritical as well. In 1988, the DEA’s chief administrative law judge, Francis L. Young, <a href="http://www.ccguide.org/young88.php" type="external">ruled</a> (in part):</p>
<p>Nearly all medicines have toxic, potentially lethal effects. But marijuana is not such a substance. There is no record in the extensive medical literature describing a proven, documented cannabis-induced fatality. This is a remarkable statement. First, the record on marijuana encompasses 5,000 years of human experience. Second, marijuana is now used daily by enormous numbers of people throughout the world. Estimates suggest that from twenty million to fifty million Americans routinely, albeit illegally, smoke marijuana without the benefit of direct medical supervision. Yet, despite this long history of use and the extraordinarily high numbers of social smokers, there are simply no credible medical reports to suggest that consuming marijuana has caused a single death. In strict medical terms marijuana is far safer than many foods we commonly consume. For example, eating ten raw potatoes can result in a toxic response. By comparison, it is physically impossible to eat enough marijuana to induce death. Marijuana, in its natural form, is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man. By any measure of rational analysis marijuana can be safely used within a supervised routine of medical care.</p>
<p>Since then, <a href="http://medicalmarijuana.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=000881" type="external">18 states and Washington D.C.</a> have passed medical marijuana laws in some form, and many more states are debating doing the same. Yet the federal government continues to crack down on even medical marijuana, devastating dispensaries in states like California and putting people out of work in the process. The administration likes to point out statistics showing a recent increase in marijuana use among 12-17 year olds, but what it fails to talk about is the evidence showing decreased use among those same 12-17 year olds in states which have legalized medical pot. A great example is in <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/07/marijuana-usage-down-in-t_n_1865095.html" type="external">Colorado</a>, where a <a href="http://apps.nccd.cdc.gov/youthonline/App/Results.aspx?TT=F&amp;OUT=0&amp;SID=HS&amp;QID=H48&amp;LID=CO&amp;YID=2009&amp;LID2=CO&amp;YID2=2011&amp;COL=T&amp;ROW1=N&amp;ROW2=N&amp;HT=&amp;LCT=&amp;FS=1&amp;FR=1&amp;FG=1&amp;FSL=&amp;FRL=&amp;FGL=&amp;PV=&amp;TST=False&amp;C1=&amp;C2=&amp;QP=G&amp;DP=1&amp;VA=CI&amp;CS=N&amp;SYID=&amp;EYID=&amp;SC=DEFAULT&amp;SO=ASC" type="external">CDC study</a> shows that marijuana use among youths went down 2.8 percent from 2009 (24.8 percent) to 2011 (22 percent). The report also showed that the availability of illegal drugs on school grounds in the state is significantly less than the national average. Positive strides like these were one reason Colorado voted to legalize possession and consumption of small amounts of marijuana for recreational use last November. Other studies, including <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2085179#%23" type="external">this one</a> published through the Institute for the Study of Labor, have examined the relationship between medical marijuana laws and youth consumption of marijuana, and found no evidence to support the claim that marijuana use increases among youth in states where medical marijuana is legal. This showcases not only how states like Colorado have developed a successful and safe medical marijuana industry in recent years, but also how effective regulation can reduce marijuana use among teenagers. Applied further, it shows that it is reasonable and realistic to believe that full legalization can be implemented and regulated in a safe and effective manner at a national level.</p>
<p>A <a href="http://www.people-press.org/2013/04/04/majority-now-supports-legalizing-marijuana/" type="external">Pew Research poll</a> released yesterday shows that for the first time in 40 years of polling, a majority of Americans want marijuana legalized. This is extremely significant, but at the same time we have to continue to stress why it should be done. I’ve heard criticism from some that the pro-legalization movement too often points out that “marijuana isn’t as bad as tobacco and alcohol, so it should be legal as well.” While that may be true, it’s a flawed argument that we should discontinue using. Just because something “isn’t as bad as” something that’s legal, doesn’t mean it should be legal as well. Instead of saying marijuana is “not as bad as” something else, we need to classify it as a legitimate therapeutic product which can be effective in treating chronic illnesses and can be enjoyed in moderation recreationally. As I’ve shown, long-term effects of regular marijuana use have shown it to be relatively harmless and in some cases even beneficial, whereas long-term effects of regular tobacco use or heavy alcohol consumption have been proven to be potentially harmful. Building on that, the issue of whether to legalize recreational use has it’s roots in personal liberties–something progressives should join hands with libertarians in championing for this cause.</p>
<p>I’m not trying to suggest full legalization at the federal level would be easy and problem-free–we are talking about our government, after all. We need to start with reclassifying marijuana at the federal level and removing it from the list of Schedule I controlled substances. After years of documented and effective medical use, as well as numerous scientific studies showing its safety and efficacy, it is absolutely ludicrous to think that we’ve yet to accomplish even this much. Reclassifying will allow for easier access to medical and recreational use research, which will in turn speed up the process of legalization. Our government’s reasoning for not reclassifying boils down to this: We’ve been lying to them for decades, what will they think if we have to backtrack on everything we’ve said? Now that we’re collectively catching on to the charade, that reasoning fails to cut it.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">It's Long Past Time for the Federal Government to Correct Their Lies about Weed</a></p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">Democratic Congresswoman on Colorado Weed Sales: 'Guess What? The World Didn't End'</a></p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">Feds Continue Marijuana Hypocrisy as New Studies Show Health Benefits and No Cancer Threat</a></p>
<p>0 Facebook comments</p> | true | 4 | progressives love think true fighters peoplepushing human rights equality positive change face lies side progressive principle needs applied marijuana one versatile plants planet ever given us many false impression longer considered devils weed 1930s unfortunately federal level reefer madness still alive well federal government classifies weed schedule drug comparable heroin less medical value drugs like cocaine methamphetamine even medicallyrelevant studies case examples worldwide prove otherwise government refused budge stance one look unsourced propaganda still pushed white house proves weve made almost progress washington issue example white house position potential tax revenue would offset higher social costs fails take account money saved enforcement conveniently leaving billions dollars flawed equation take note repeated mentions studies independent research research failing actually link specific independent studies backing claims almost 80 years release reefer madness governments position still falls back bad say repeatedly ignoring evidence contrary risk blowing smoke posterior orifice let point couple specific examples back claims lets start administrations position marijuana smoke contains carcinogens irritant lungs largest casecontrol study ever done topic indicates even heavy smoking marijuana period several years poses increased risk types cancers may even provide level protection cancer studies shown similar results one legitimate study shown link smoking marijuana increased risk lung cancers also interesting administrations claim marijuana use associated impaired cognitive functioning white house lists sources back claim researchers johns hopkins university actually studied cognition 1318 participants period 12 years concluded significant differences cognitive decline heavy users light users nonusers cannabis barely scratching surface doesnt even begin account numerous studies conducted internationally showcased marijuanas safety directly contradicting dubious claims government made continued inclusion marijuana schedule drug medical benefit absurd hypocritical well 1988 deas chief administrative law judge francis l young ruled part nearly medicines toxic potentially lethal effects marijuana substance record extensive medical literature describing proven documented cannabisinduced fatality remarkable statement first record marijuana encompasses 5000 years human experience second marijuana used daily enormous numbers people throughout world estimates suggest twenty million fifty million americans routinely albeit illegally smoke marijuana without benefit direct medical supervision yet despite long history use extraordinarily high numbers social smokers simply credible medical reports suggest consuming marijuana caused single death strict medical terms marijuana far safer many foods commonly consume example eating ten raw potatoes result toxic response comparison physically impossible eat enough marijuana induce death marijuana natural form one safest therapeutically active substances known man measure rational analysis marijuana safely used within supervised routine medical care since 18 states washington dc passed medical marijuana laws form many states debating yet federal government continues crack even medical marijuana devastating dispensaries states like california putting people work process administration likes point statistics showing recent increase marijuana use among 1217 year olds fails talk evidence showing decreased use among 1217 year olds states legalized medical pot great example colorado cdc study shows marijuana use among youths went 28 percent 2009 248 percent 2011 22 percent report also showed availability illegal drugs school grounds state significantly less national average positive strides like one reason colorado voted legalize possession consumption small amounts marijuana recreational use last november studies including one published institute study labor examined relationship medical marijuana laws youth consumption marijuana found evidence support claim marijuana use increases among youth states medical marijuana legal showcases states like colorado developed successful safe medical marijuana industry recent years also effective regulation reduce marijuana use among teenagers applied shows reasonable realistic believe full legalization implemented regulated safe effective manner national level pew research poll released yesterday shows first time 40 years polling majority americans want marijuana legalized extremely significant time continue stress done ive heard criticism prolegalization movement often points marijuana isnt bad tobacco alcohol legal well may true flawed argument discontinue using something isnt bad something thats legal doesnt mean legal well instead saying marijuana bad something else need classify legitimate therapeutic product effective treating chronic illnesses enjoyed moderation recreationally ive shown longterm effects regular marijuana use shown relatively harmless cases even beneficial whereas longterm effects regular tobacco use heavy alcohol consumption proven potentially harmful building issue whether legalize recreational use roots personal libertiessomething progressives join hands libertarians championing cause im trying suggest full legalization federal level would easy problemfreewe talking government need start reclassifying marijuana federal level removing list schedule controlled substances years documented effective medical use well numerous scientific studies showing safety efficacy absolutely ludicrous think weve yet accomplish even much reclassifying allow easier access medical recreational use research turn speed process legalization governments reasoning reclassifying boils weve lying decades think backtrack everything weve said collectively catching charade reasoning fails cut long past time federal government correct lies weed democratic congresswoman colorado weed sales guess world didnt end feds continue marijuana hypocrisy new studies show health benefits cancer threat 0 facebook comments | 785 |
<p>By Stanley Heller</p>
<p>The United States’ Middle East strategy is in trouble and its policymakers know it. There was an important <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/04/world/isis-making-political-gains.html" type="external">article in The New York Times</a> this month by Anne Barnard and Tim Arango. It admits that the U.S.’ Iraq/Syria attacks aren’t going well and Islamic State is making “political gains.” It notes that Islamic State took Ramadi and Palmyra “even after nearly 4,000 airstrikes by the American-led coalition and what United States officials say are the deaths of 10,000 ISIS militants.” The Times authors say “Washington is tinkering with tactics and weapons.”</p>
<p>Mostly the writers talk about unnamed “experts” and “analysts.” One of these says that by attacking Islamic State in Syria while doing nothing to stop Syrian President Bashar Assad from bombing Sunni areas that have rebelled, the U.S.-led campaign was driving some Syrians into the militant group’s camp. The U.S. has talked for months about training a force of Syrians, but, the Times writes, “the program is small, with only 90 fighters in the first round of training.” Ninety fighters!</p>
<p>The implication is that the “experts” want the air war to expand, to have the U.S. bomb Assad forces too. This is an embrace of the Saudi strategy that sees Assad/Iran as the main enemy and the slew of Sunni jihadi armies as either allies or a problem to be dealt with later.</p>
<p />
<p>It gets worse. Now the “experts” are toying with an alliance with al-Qaida. We’re supposed to put the 9/11 attacks behind us and be ultra-crafty and use one group of fanatics against the other.</p>
<p>Ahmed Rashid, who wrote the influential book “Taliban,” says <a href="http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2015/jun/15/why-we-need-al-qaeda/" type="external">“al-Qaida has evolved in profound ways.”</a> He talks about their groups in Syria (al-Nusra) and Yemen (AQAP) and says the two “have become allies and not enemies of the Arab states, despite the fact that [al-Qaida] itself once sought to overthrow these same regimes.” He writes “in interviews with [Al-Jazeera] al-Nusra leaders have vowed not to attack targets in the West, promoting an ideology that might be called ‘nationalist jihadism’ rather than global jihad.” Wonderful — an al-Qaida vow. You can surely take that to the bank. Rashid sees the Americans’ strategy as having failed. According to him, they should have backed the Syrian “moderates” full stop from the start. In his view the U.S. doesn’t understand what the Arab states know, that the “solution will never come from the weak moderate opposition, and that any lasting peace will require support by the strong and ruthless Islamist groups fighting there.”</p>
<p>In case you think Rashid is just one guy off his nut, <a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/to-u-s-allies-al-qaeda-affiliate-in-syria-becomes-the-lesser-evil-1434022017" type="external">consider a piece by Wall Street Journal (WSJ) foreign policy analyst Yaroslav Trofimov</a>. He talks about “the view of some of America’s regional allies and even some Western officials.” As they see it, “reaching out to the more pragmatic Nusra is the only rational choice left for the international community.” (Remember: “Pragmatic” Nusra is the official al-Qaida franchise in Syria.) Who are these allies? Trofimov quotes Saudi Prince Faisal bin Saud bin Abdulmohsen, a “scholar” at a research center in Riyadh. His voiced wisdom is to “differentiate between fanaticism and outright monstrosity,” al-Qaida apparently being only fanatics. Trofimov quotes another scholar, this one American, who explains, “The Turks, the Saudis and the Qataris have decided that the problem above all is to get rid of Bashar al-Assad.” Those are the words of Robert Ford, Obama’s former U.S. ambassador to Syria. Ford doesn’t actually say he supports that policy (though he comes closer to that in <a href="http://www.mei.edu/content/at/wringing-our-hands-and-endless-bombing-won%E2%80%99t-help-us-syria" type="external">an article for an institute</a> for which he now works). The former diplomat merely explains the policy of our dear allies, leaving the reader to decipher the tea leaves.</p>
<p>One former U.S. official comes right out in support of this lunacy. Trofimov reports, “Washington is likely to go ‘pretty far’ in tolerating the budding collaboration between its regional allies and Nusra, said U.S. Navy Adm. James Stavridis, who retired two years ago as NATO’s supreme allied commander.” Stavridis says that’s OK: “… If our allies are working with them, that is acceptable.”</p>
<p>Another of our allies has been in a quiet relationship with al-Nusra for some time. Israel takes in wounded al-Nusra fighters, patches them up and sends them back to Syria. <a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/al-qaeda-a-lesser-evil-syria-war-pulls-u-s-israel-apart-1426169708" type="external">Trofimov reported on this</a> in March. <a href="http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Report-Israel-treating-al-Qaida-fighters-wounded-in-Syria-civil-war-393862" type="external">The Jerusalem Post</a>, commenting on that article, stated, “Israel has provided medical assistance to nearly 2,000 Syrians” and said “most of those treated were armed rebels fighting the regime.” On June 20 the <a href="http://www.jpost.com/International/A-Mideast-briefing-from-Customer-No-1s-briefer-406523" type="external">same Israeli newspaper</a> featured an interview with Michael Morrell, a retired deputy CIA director, who warned about Israel’s “tacit understandings with the Nusra Front.”</p>
<p>U.S. policymakers have repeatedly used the jihadi option. This after all was the brilliant strategy of the 1980s: to arm the mujahedeen of Afghanistan, “giving to the USSR its Vietnam war,” in <a href="http://www.counterpunch.org/1998/01/15/how-jimmy-carter-and-i-started-the-mujahideen/" type="external">the immortal words</a> of Jimmy Carter’s National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski. The most that could go wrong, Brzezinski said, was that we’d create some “stirred-up Moslems.” Methinks he somewhat underestimated the actual blowback.</p>
<p>Now let’s be hard-boiled like proper government officials and not sentimental about the 3,000 dead on 9/11. Is al-Nusra “evolved” and “pragmatic,” and can we enlist it to become another in a long line of “our bastards”? The problem is that neither in its beliefs or actions can you see much evidence of an al-Qaida 2.0. A Nusra-led coalition took the Syrian province of Idlib in March. On June 11 it <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/06/11/us-mideast-crisis-druze-idUSKBN0OR0NV20150611" type="external">executed over 20 Syrian members of the Druze</a> religion. (This got Israeli Druze so upset that on June 22, they surrounded an Israeli ambulance carrying suspected injured Nusra fighters and <a href="http://www.timesofisrael.com/several-injured-as-druze-attack-idf-ambulance-carrying-syrians/" type="external">killed one of them</a>.) The al-Nusra version of religion is apparently as bigoted and vicious as ever. Nor has the group read up on the Geneva Convention. As late as January 2014 it was <a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2014/01/al-qaeda-slaughters-syria-killing-fields-2014121112119453512.html" type="external">beheading prisoners</a>.Is al-Nusra at least willing to keep the head-chopping limited to the Middle East? Sadly, the answer is no, and for an authority I’ll give you none other than the aforementioned Ahmed Rashid, who <a href="http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2015/jan/12/paris-attacks-waking-al-qaeda/" type="external">wrote about al-Qaida in January</a> in the wake of the al-Qaida-inspired Charlie Hebdo attack in Paris. His piece talked about how the Yemeni branch showed its dedication to the longtime al-Qaida strategy of fighting the “far enemy” as opposed to Islamic State going after the “near enemy.” Rashid concluded “ISIS represents an extraordinary threat of its own, but the Paris attacks have demonstrated that the greatest danger to the West is still al-Qaida.”</p>
<p>Well, at least they’re mortal enemies of Islamic State, right? Unfortunately, that’s not true either. Yarmouk on the outskirts of Damascus was once home to 800,000 Palestinians and Syrians. Assad had it under siege for over a year. By the start of this year, 95 percent of the population had fled and Nusra had sway over a large section of the ruins. Then at the start of this year Islamic State entered Yarmouk, <a href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/maureen-clare-murphy/catastrophe-yarmouk-isis-seizes-camp" type="external">let in by none other than its supposed enemy Nusra</a>!</p>
<p>In case I’ve been too subtle, let me say it more clearly: An alliance with Nusra/al-Qaida is crazy, immoral and a recipe for disaster.</p>
<p>Below is a counterstrategy. It’s based on a few principles: 1) With their immense crimes in Iraq and elsewhere, U.S. forces should be the last to be asked to intervene anywhere. 2) Iran, Russia and Hezbollah have committed grave crimes by supporting Assad’s fascist regime, and 3) the left should not support any military force intervening in Iraq/Syria and should concentrate instead on stopping foreign intervention.</p>
<p>As for what the left should advocate, here are some elements of a strategy:</p>
<p>1. The U.S. government should stop its warfare in the Middle East and help the situation by demanding that its Gulf allies and Turkey stop funding or arming al-Nusra and that they vigorously prosecute their citizens who go to Syria/Iraq to fight or to fund jihadi armies. To make its point, the U.S. should stop selling weapons to the Saudi regime, Turkey and the Gulf hereditary dictatorships.</p>
<p>2. The U.S. should take onto our shores hundreds of thousands of refugees.</p>
<p>3. The U.S. should lean on Israel to repatriate Palestinians in Syria back to their homes.</p>
<p>4. The left should insist that Russia and Iran and Hezbollah stop arming Assad forces. In all media, it should puncture any illusion that the Assad regime is “anti-imperialist” or that that supposed quality even matters in view of the <a href="http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2015/06/assad-war-crimes-syria-torture-caesar-hospital" type="external">horrors it has committed against Syrians</a>. This is not in any way support for a new U.S. cold war. The U.S. government should simply butt out.</p>
<p>5. Call for an end to all sieges. Grant all civilians free access to water and humanitarian aid, and encourage cease-fires.</p>
<p>Over the long term, this will give left and democratic forces in the Middle East the moral, political and material support to prevail.</p>
<p /> | true | 4 | stanley heller united states middle east strategy trouble policymakers know important article new york times month anne barnard tim arango admits us iraqsyria attacks arent going well islamic state making political gains notes islamic state took ramadi palmyra even nearly 4000 airstrikes americanled coalition united states officials say deaths 10000 isis militants times authors say washington tinkering tactics weapons mostly writers talk unnamed experts analysts one says attacking islamic state syria nothing stop syrian president bashar assad bombing sunni areas rebelled usled campaign driving syrians militant groups camp us talked months training force syrians times writes program small 90 fighters first round training ninety fighters implication experts want air war expand us bomb assad forces embrace saudi strategy sees assadiran main enemy slew sunni jihadi armies either allies problem dealt later gets worse experts toying alliance alqaida supposed put 911 attacks behind us ultracrafty use one group fanatics ahmed rashid wrote influential book taliban says alqaida evolved profound ways talks groups syria alnusra yemen aqap says two become allies enemies arab states despite fact alqaida sought overthrow regimes writes interviews aljazeera alnusra leaders vowed attack targets west promoting ideology might called nationalist jihadism rather global jihad wonderful alqaida vow surely take bank rashid sees americans strategy failed according backed syrian moderates full stop start view us doesnt understand arab states know solution never come weak moderate opposition lasting peace require support strong ruthless islamist groups fighting case think rashid one guy nut consider piece wall street journal wsj foreign policy analyst yaroslav trofimov talks view americas regional allies even western officials see reaching pragmatic nusra rational choice left international community remember pragmatic nusra official alqaida franchise syria allies trofimov quotes saudi prince faisal bin saud bin abdulmohsen scholar research center riyadh voiced wisdom differentiate fanaticism outright monstrosity alqaida apparently fanatics trofimov quotes another scholar one american explains turks saudis qataris decided problem get rid bashar alassad words robert ford obamas former us ambassador syria ford doesnt actually say supports policy though comes closer article institute works former diplomat merely explains policy dear allies leaving reader decipher tea leaves one former us official comes right support lunacy trofimov reports washington likely go pretty far tolerating budding collaboration regional allies nusra said us navy adm james stavridis retired two years ago natos supreme allied commander stavridis says thats ok allies working acceptable another allies quiet relationship alnusra time israel takes wounded alnusra fighters patches sends back syria trofimov reported march jerusalem post commenting article stated israel provided medical assistance nearly 2000 syrians said treated armed rebels fighting regime june 20 israeli newspaper featured interview michael morrell retired deputy cia director warned israels tacit understandings nusra front us policymakers repeatedly used jihadi option brilliant strategy 1980s arm mujahedeen afghanistan giving ussr vietnam war immortal words jimmy carters national security advisor zbigniew brzezinski could go wrong brzezinski said wed create stirredup moslems methinks somewhat underestimated actual blowback lets hardboiled like proper government officials sentimental 3000 dead 911 alnusra evolved pragmatic enlist become another long line bastards problem neither beliefs actions see much evidence alqaida 20 nusraled coalition took syrian province idlib march june 11 executed 20 syrian members druze religion got israeli druze upset june 22 surrounded israeli ambulance carrying suspected injured nusra fighters killed one alnusra version religion apparently bigoted vicious ever group read geneva convention late january 2014 beheading prisonersis alnusra least willing keep headchopping limited middle east sadly answer authority ill give none aforementioned ahmed rashid wrote alqaida january wake alqaidainspired charlie hebdo attack paris piece talked yemeni branch showed dedication longtime alqaida strategy fighting far enemy opposed islamic state going near enemy rashid concluded isis represents extraordinary threat paris attacks demonstrated greatest danger west still alqaida well least theyre mortal enemies islamic state right unfortunately thats true either yarmouk outskirts damascus home 800000 palestinians syrians assad siege year start year 95 percent population fled nusra sway large section ruins start year islamic state entered yarmouk let none supposed enemy nusra case ive subtle let say clearly alliance nusraalqaida crazy immoral recipe disaster counterstrategy based principles 1 immense crimes iraq elsewhere us forces last asked intervene anywhere 2 iran russia hezbollah committed grave crimes supporting assads fascist regime 3 left support military force intervening iraqsyria concentrate instead stopping foreign intervention left advocate elements strategy 1 us government stop warfare middle east help situation demanding gulf allies turkey stop funding arming alnusra vigorously prosecute citizens go syriairaq fight fund jihadi armies make point us stop selling weapons saudi regime turkey gulf hereditary dictatorships 2 us take onto shores hundreds thousands refugees 3 us lean israel repatriate palestinians syria back homes 4 left insist russia iran hezbollah stop arming assad forces media puncture illusion assad regime antiimperialist supposed quality even matters view horrors committed syrians way support new us cold war us government simply butt 5 call end sieges grant civilians free access water humanitarian aid encourage ceasefires long term give left democratic forces middle east moral political material support prevail | 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<p>Gian Accardo: Your book is entitled Empire of Shame. What is this empire? Why “shame”? What is this shame?</p>
<p>Jean Ziegler: In the favelas (shantytowns) in the north of Brazil, some mothers may, in the evening, put water in a pot and then put stones in it. They explain to their children who are crying because of hunger that “soon the meal will be ready”, while hoping that meanwhile the children will fall asleep. Can one measure the shame felt by a mother facing her children who are tortured by hunger and whom she is unable to feed?</p>
<p>However the murderous order of the world–which kills 100,000 people every day from hunger and epidemics–does not only make the victims feel ashamed, but also us, Westerners, Whites, rulers, who are accomplices of this massacre, aware, informed and nevertheless silent, cowardly and paralyzed.</p>
<p>Empire of shame? It could be referring to the generalized impact of the feeling of shame caused by the inhumanity of the world order. What is actually implied here is the empire of the private transcontinental companies, directed by the cosmocrats. The 500 most powerful of these companies last year controlled 52 % of the gross world product, i.e. of the entire wealth produced on the planet.</p>
<p>You talk about a “structural violence”. What is the meaning of this?</p>
<p>In the empire of shame, controlled by organized scarcity [of food and essentials], war is not sporadic any more, it is permanent. It is not any more a crisis, a pathology, but normality. It does not any more imply the eclipse of reason–as Horkheimer expressed it–it is the very raison d’être of the empire. The lords of the financial war have put the planet under the scalpel of organized economic destruction. They attack the normative power of the States, challenge the sovereignty of the people, subvert democracy, wreak havoc on nature, destroy human beings and their freedoms. The liberalization of the economy, the “invisible hand” of the market, is their way of dealing with the universe; the maximalization of profit is the way it works. I call this practice and this cosmogony structural violence.</p>
<p>Also you talk about the “death throes of the law”. What do you mean by this expression?</p>
<p>In the future, the preventive eternal war, the permanent aggressiveness of the lords, the arbitrary and the structural violence rule without constraints. The majority of the barriers of international law are collapsing. The UN itself is anemic. Cosmocrats are above the law. My book describes the collapse of international law, quoting numerous examples drawn directly from my experience as special rapporteur at the United Nations for the right to access to food.</p>
<p>You qualify famine as a “weapon of mass destruction.” What solutions do you recommend?</p>
<p>Through the debt, hunger is the weapon of mass destruction which is used by the cosmocrats to crush–and to exploit–the people, in particular in the Southern hemisphere. A complex set of measures, immediately feasible and which I describe in the book, could quickly put a term to hunger. It is impossible to sum these up in one sentence. One thing is certain: world agriculture, in the current state of productivity, could feed twice the number of today’s global population. So it is not a matter of fate: hunger is man made.</p>
<p>Some countries are crushed, you say, by the “odious debt”. What do you mean by “odious debt” and what solutions do you recommend?</p>
<p>Rwanda is a small farming republic of 26 000 km2, located on the mountain ridge of central Africa which separates the water from the Nile and the Congo River. Rwandan farmers grow tea and coffee. From April to June 1994, a dreadful genocide, organized by the Hutu government allied with France at the time of François Mitterrand, caused the death of more than 800,000 Tutsi men, women and children. The machetes that were used for the genocide were imported from China and Egypt, and were financed, essentially, by the Crédit Lyonnais. Today the survivors, farmers as poor as Job, must refund to banks and creditor governments even the credits which were used for the purchase of the machetes used by the genocidal Hutus. That is an example of an odious debt. The solution is immediate debt cancellation and without conditions attached or, to begin with, by an audit of the debt, as the International Socialist Organization recommends and the way president Lula did it in Brazil, and then renegotiate the debt item by item. For each item, there are actually criminal components ­ corruption, hugely padded bills, etc.–which must be reduced. International audit companies, like PriceWaterhouseCooper or Ernst &amp; Young, can perfectly well be in charge of these audits, the way they are each year responsible for auditing the accounts of the multinational corporations.</p>
<p>In your book you also talk about a “new feudalization of the world”. What do you mean?</p>
<p>On August 4, 1789, the deputies of the French National Assembly abolished feudalism. Their action had a universal repercussion. Today, however, we witness a tremendous step backwards. September 11, 2001 did not only provide George W. Bush with the pretext for extending the influence of the United States over the world, the event also served as justification for the staging of organized economic destruction of the people of the Southern hemisphere by the large private transcontinental corporations.</p>
<p>In your book, you very often refer to the French revolution and some of its protagonists (Danton, Babeuf, Marat): In what way do you consider that it still has something to teach us, two centuries later, in such a different world?</p>
<p>Read the texts! The Proclamation of Jacques Roux and the Enragés (radical extremists in the French Revolution who demanded strict economic controls) sets the horizon for any struggle for planetary social justice. The founding values of the republic, or more than that, of civilization itself, date from the time of the Enlightenment. However, the empire of shame destroys even the hope for the realization of these values.</p>
<p>You accuse the total war against terrorism of diverting resources necessary to other more important struggles such as the struggle against hunger. Do you think that terrorism is a false threat, cultivated by some States? If so, what makes you think that? Do you think that this threat is not real or that it deserves a different treatment?</p>
<p>The state terrorism of Bush, Sharon, Putin… is as appalling as Islamic Jihad terrorism of small groups or other insane and bloodthirsty men of that kind. They are two faces of the same kind of barbarism. They are both quite real, since Bush kills and Ben Laden kills. The problem is the eradication of terrorism: it can be done only by the total disruption of the empire of shame. Only through global social justice will it be possible to cut the Jihadists off from their roots and deprive the cosmocrats’ lackeys of their pretexts for counterattacks.</p>
<p>You were appointed special rapporteur at the UN on the right to food in 2002. What reflection did you draw from this mission?</p>
<p>My mandate is fascinating: I am totally independent and answerable to the General Assembly of the UN and the commission for human rights. I have to make a new human right justifiable, through statutory or conventional rights: the right to food. It is a Sisyphus task! It advances millimeter by millimeter. The essential center of this struggle is the collective conscience. For a long time, the destruction of human beings by hunger has been tolerated with a kind of ice cold acceptance. Today, it is regarded as intolerable. Public opinion puts pressure on governments and on the international organizations (WTO, the IMF, the World Bank, etc.) so that basic measures are taken to slay the enemy: land reform in the Third World, suitable prices paid for the agricultural produce of the South, rationalization of humanitarian aid in the event of sudden catastrophes, the closing of the Chicago Stock Exchange for agricultural products and raw materials, which speculates in the rise of prices of major food products, fights against the privatization of drinking water, etc.</p>
<p>You seem to defend the cause of the “altermondialistes”, even as if you were a spokesman for this movement. How is it that you so seldom participate in the “alternative” demonstrations and that you are generally not regarded as an “alternative” intellectual?</p>
<p>What do you mean? I spoke in front of 20,000 people in the “Gigantino” of Porto Alegre in January 2003. I feel like an organic intellectual of the new planetary civil society, of its multiple faces of resistance, this tremendous fraternity of the night. But I remain faithful to the principles of the revolutionary class analysis, in Jacques Roux, Babeuf, Marat and Saint-Just.</p>
<p>You seem to attribute all the misfortunes of the world to the multinationals and to a handful of States (the United States, Russia, Israel): isn’t that a bit simplistic?</p>
<p>The order of the current world is not only murderous, it is also absurd. It kills, destroys, slaughters, but it does so for no other reason than the desire for maximum profit for some cosmocrats who are driven by an obsession for power and unlimited greed.</p>
<p>Bush, Sharon, Putin? Lackeys, henchmen. I will add a postscript on Israel: Sharon is not Israel. He is the perversion of Israel. Michael Warshavski, Lea Tselem, the “Rabbis for human rights” and many other resistance organizations incarnate the true Israel, the future of Israel. They deserve our total solidarity.</p>
<p>Do you think that morals have a place in international relations, since they are rather dictated by economic and geopolitical interests?</p>
<p>There is no choice. Either you choose development and normative organization or you choose the invisible hand of the market, the violence of the strongest and the arbitrary. Feudal power and social justice are radically paradoxical.</p>
<p>“Ahead towards our roots”, urges the German Marxist Ernst Bloch. If we do not urgently restore the values of the Enlightenment, the Republic, international law, civilization such as we have built it for two hundred and fifty years in Europe will be annihilated, absorbed by the jungle.</p>
<p>Since the departure of the Taliban, the Middle East and the Arab-Muslim world seem to be hit by a wave of more or less spontaneous democratization (elections in Afghanistan, in Iraq, in Palestine, the opening of the presidential election to multiple candidates in Egypt). How do you feel about that and do you think that democracy can be exported to those countries? Or do you believe that they are condemned to having despotic systems?</p>
<p>It is not a question “of exporting democracy”. The desire of autonomy, democracy, popular sovereignty is innate in human beings, whatever the area of the world where they were born. My friend the great Syrian sociologist Bassam Tibi wants lo live a life in democracy and has a right to it. However, for thirty years he has been living in Germany, in exile from the dreadful dictatorship which prevails in his country. Elias Sambar, the Palestinian writer, another one of my friends, has a right to a free and democratic Palestine, not to an occupied Palestine, nor should he have to live a life under the obscurantist iron rule of the Islamists. Tibi, Sambar and I want the same thing and we all have a right to it: democracy. The problem: the cold war, the instruments of the systems in place by the great powers, and finally the cowardice of the Western democrats, their lack of active and real solidarity have made it possible for the tyrants of the Middle East, of Saudi Arabia, of Egypt, of Syria, of the Gulf and of Iran to last until today.</p>
<p>This interview, conducted by GIAN PAULO ACCARDO, took place some months ago on TV5 (Canadian television). Translated by Siv O’Neall, from the French original, to be found at at the site of <a href="http://www.jp-petit.com/Presse/empire_de_la_honte.htm" type="external">La libre Belgique</a>. Jean Ziegler, rapporteur at the UN on questions of food resources has just published a book translated in 14 languages: Empire of Shame (Editions Fayard).</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | true | 4 | gian accardo book entitled empire shame empire shame shame jean ziegler favelas shantytowns north brazil mothers may evening put water pot put stones explain children crying hunger soon meal ready hoping meanwhile children fall asleep one measure shame felt mother facing children tortured hunger unable feed however murderous order worldwhich kills 100000 people every day hunger epidemicsdoes make victims feel ashamed also us westerners whites rulers accomplices massacre aware informed nevertheless silent cowardly paralyzed empire shame could referring generalized impact feeling shame caused inhumanity world order actually implied empire private transcontinental companies directed cosmocrats 500 powerful companies last year controlled 52 gross world product ie entire wealth produced planet talk structural violence meaning empire shame controlled organized scarcity food essentials war sporadic permanent crisis pathology normality imply eclipse reasonas horkheimer expressed itit raison dêtre empire lords financial war put planet scalpel organized economic destruction attack normative power states challenge sovereignty people subvert democracy wreak havoc nature destroy human beings freedoms liberalization economy invisible hand market way dealing universe maximalization profit way works call practice cosmogony structural violence also talk death throes law mean expression future preventive eternal war permanent aggressiveness lords arbitrary structural violence rule without constraints majority barriers international law collapsing un anemic cosmocrats law book describes collapse international law quoting numerous examples drawn directly experience special rapporteur united nations right access food qualify famine weapon mass destruction solutions recommend debt hunger weapon mass destruction used cosmocrats crushand exploitthe people particular southern hemisphere complex set measures immediately feasible describe book could quickly put term hunger impossible sum one sentence one thing certain world agriculture current state productivity could feed twice number todays global population matter fate hunger man made countries crushed say odious debt mean odious debt solutions recommend rwanda small farming republic 26 000 km2 located mountain ridge central africa separates water nile congo river rwandan farmers grow tea coffee april june 1994 dreadful genocide organized hutu government allied france time françois mitterrand caused death 800000 tutsi men women children machetes used genocide imported china egypt financed essentially crédit lyonnais today survivors farmers poor job must refund banks creditor governments even credits used purchase machetes used genocidal hutus example odious debt solution immediate debt cancellation without conditions attached begin audit debt international socialist organization recommends way president lula brazil renegotiate debt item item item actually criminal components corruption hugely padded bills etcwhich must reduced international audit companies like pricewaterhousecooper ernst amp young perfectly well charge audits way year responsible auditing accounts multinational corporations book also talk new feudalization world mean august 4 1789 deputies french national assembly abolished feudalism action universal repercussion today however witness tremendous step backwards september 11 2001 provide george w bush pretext extending influence united states world event also served justification staging organized economic destruction people southern hemisphere large private transcontinental corporations book often refer french revolution protagonists danton babeuf marat way consider still something teach us two centuries later different world read texts proclamation jacques roux enragés radical extremists french revolution demanded strict economic controls sets horizon struggle planetary social justice founding values republic civilization date time enlightenment however empire shame destroys even hope realization values accuse total war terrorism diverting resources necessary important struggles struggle hunger think terrorism false threat cultivated states makes think think threat real deserves different treatment state terrorism bush sharon putin appalling islamic jihad terrorism small groups insane bloodthirsty men kind two faces kind barbarism quite real since bush kills ben laden kills problem eradication terrorism done total disruption empire shame global social justice possible cut jihadists roots deprive cosmocrats lackeys pretexts counterattacks appointed special rapporteur un right food 2002 reflection draw mission mandate fascinating totally independent answerable general assembly un commission human rights make new human right justifiable statutory conventional rights right food sisyphus task advances millimeter millimeter essential center struggle collective conscience long time destruction human beings hunger tolerated kind ice cold acceptance today regarded intolerable public opinion puts pressure governments international organizations wto imf world bank etc basic measures taken slay enemy land reform third world suitable prices paid agricultural produce south rationalization humanitarian aid event sudden catastrophes closing chicago stock exchange agricultural products raw materials speculates rise prices major food products fights privatization drinking water etc seem defend cause altermondialistes even spokesman movement seldom participate alternative demonstrations generally regarded alternative intellectual mean spoke front 20000 people gigantino porto alegre january 2003 feel like organic intellectual new planetary civil society multiple faces resistance tremendous fraternity night remain faithful principles revolutionary class analysis jacques roux babeuf marat saintjust seem attribute misfortunes world multinationals handful states united states russia israel isnt bit simplistic order current world murderous also absurd kills destroys slaughters reason desire maximum profit cosmocrats driven obsession power unlimited greed bush sharon putin lackeys henchmen add postscript israel sharon israel perversion israel michael warshavski lea tselem rabbis human rights many resistance organizations incarnate true israel future israel deserve total solidarity think morals place international relations since rather dictated economic geopolitical interests choice either choose development normative organization choose invisible hand market violence strongest arbitrary feudal power social justice radically paradoxical ahead towards roots urges german marxist ernst bloch urgently restore values enlightenment republic international law civilization built two hundred fifty years europe annihilated absorbed jungle since departure taliban middle east arabmuslim world seem hit wave less spontaneous democratization elections afghanistan iraq palestine opening presidential election multiple candidates egypt feel think democracy exported countries believe condemned despotic systems question exporting democracy desire autonomy democracy popular sovereignty innate human beings whatever area world born friend great syrian sociologist bassam tibi wants lo live life democracy right however thirty years living germany exile dreadful dictatorship prevails country elias sambar palestinian writer another one friends right free democratic palestine occupied palestine live life obscurantist iron rule islamists tibi sambar want thing right democracy problem cold war instruments systems place great powers finally cowardice western democrats lack active real solidarity made possible tyrants middle east saudi arabia egypt syria gulf iran last today interview conducted gian paulo accardo took place months ago tv5 canadian television translated siv oneall french original found site la libre belgique jean ziegler rapporteur un questions food resources published book translated 14 languages empire shame editions fayard 160 | 1,032 |
<p><a href="#one" type="external">Air Quality: Too Little, Too Late?</a> <a href="#two" type="external">Death Row Conference Calls</a></p>
<p>Environment <a type="external" href="">Air Quality: Too Little, Too Late?</a></p>
<p>The EPA has issued an air quality plan that will finally require air polluters to meet the standards of a 1997 law — <a href="http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/news/columnists/seth_borenstein/5862036.htm" type="external">but not until 2004</a>. Seth Bornstein of Knight-Ridder News Service reports that the new plan would allow governments and industries that produce “moderate” pollution in metropolitan areas a year or more to adapt to the 1997 standards (which were laid out by the Clinton administration).</p>
<p>The plan addresses ozone gas, which causes smog, but leaves out pollution controls for acid rain or soot. Smog has been implicated in causing asthma, lung-irritation, and other respiratory poblems. The EPA’s proposal would <a href="http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/105299134022490.xml" type="external">measure allowable ozone levels</a> in eight-hour periods, in contrast to the current one-hour shifts, according to Sabrina Eaton of Ohio’s Cleveland Plain-Dealer.</p>
<p>Environmentalists are calling the Bush administration’s plan pro-industry and charge that it ignores requirements set forth in the 1990 Clean Air Act. The Environmental News Network reports that <a href="http://www.enn.com/news/2003-05-16/s_4483.asp" type="external">the 1997 standards have been entangled in numerous lawsuits</a> since their passage. The EPA will hold public hearings regarding the proposal next month in San Francisco, Washington, and Dallas.</p>
<p>LAW &amp; JUSTICE <a type="external" href="">Death Row Conference Calls</a></p>
<p>In a slight concession to the demands of human rights groups, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles will now be forced to deliberate each death penalty case over a <a href="http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/metropolitan/1912195" type="external">conference call</a>.</p>
<p>Democratic Senator Rodney Ellis, who tacked the provision onto another bill, wanted to strike the old practice of letting the 18 member board make decisions in isolation and then fax or call in their votes. Melissa Drosjack from the Houston Chronicle reports:</p>
<p />
<p>“‘If the board is going to make a decision whether someone lives or dies, they should at least have to hold a meeting,’ Ellis said…Ellis initially wanted to require the board to meet in person, but came up with the conference call plan because of concerns about expenses, said Mike Lavigne, a spokesman for Ellis.”</p>
<p>But the bill has <a href="http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dallas/politics/state/stories/051603dntexsenatebox.212b2.html" type="external">not addressed all of activists’ complaints</a>. The Dallas News reports that:</p>
<p>Texas reintroduced the death penalty 20 years ago and has executed more people than any other state. Texas executed 33 people in 2002 and has killed an average of 22 inmates annually since 1992.</p>
<p />
<p><a href="#one" type="external">Dems Degrade the Bush Wars</a> <a href="#two" type="external">Deporting the Messenger</a></p>
<p>Politics <a type="external" href="">Dems Degrade the Bush Wars</a></p>
<p>While no peace-loving liberal is about to celebrate the terrorist bombings in Saudi Arabia and Morocco or the post-war chaos of Iraq, the recent events have given the Democratic party an edge. Knowing that the bubble of Bush’s supposed victories in Iraq and over terrorism have burst, Democratic presidential candidates have their foot in a door that’s long been shut, and <a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-afscme18may18,1,4976202.story?coll=la%2Dheadlines%2Dpolitics" type="external">a window of opportunity to criticize Bush’s defense policy</a> — a policy that, in terms of re-election, has been a major selling point for the GOP. Seven of the Dems’ nine presidential candidates took advantage of that opportunity at a debate attended by members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, or AFSCME, Ronald Brownstein of the Los Angeles Times reports.</p>
<p>Democratic candidates chided the Bush administration at the debate and in other forums. Connecticut Senator Joseph Lieberman charges that <a href="http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/139/oped/Bush_s_failure_in_Iraq+.shtml" type="external">Iraqi oil, which Bush vowed would be a source of independent wealth to Iraq, is not in Iraqi hands as promised</a>. Instead, he writes in an opinion piece for the Boston Globe “the administration’s proposed Security Council resolution would give the United States and our coalition partners control over the Iraqi oil industry and oil revenues during the transition to self-government, a period that may well last a number of years.”</p>
<p>Other candidates were finally able to sound the alarm on the administration’s game of smoke and mirrors, pointing out the absence of Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction, questioning Saddam Hussein’s ties to terrorism, and elucidating the absence of information on the whereabouts of Hussein or Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden. Senator Bob Graham of Florida called the war on Iraq an “ideological war” and <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,958759,00.html" type="external">accused Bush of trying to distract Americans from greater threats</a>, reports Matthew Engel of London’s Guardian. Graham was former chairman of the Senate’s intelligence committee, and has been backed by other intelligence officials in his admonitions that Bush is not doing enough to monitor Al-Qaeda’s activities. Candidate Howard Dean called Iraq a diversion, stating,”We are not safer today than we were before Saddam Hussein left.”</p>
<p>The Dems’ next challenge, writes Howard Kurtz of the Washington Post is to unify, and <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A9545-2003May19.html?nav=hptop_ts" type="external">prove that the party’s potential president could really protect the country</a> — because, despite his failures, Bush remains endeared to some American hearts and minds — and that leaves Democrats with a tall order:</p>
<p />
<p>“Whether [Democrats] can exploit the issue — particularly with the aftermath in Iraq looking far more chaotic and shaky than the war itself — is an open question. What would they do differently? Can they convince the public that they’re tough enough on national security? Would they look good in a flight suit?”</p>
<p />
<p>Foreign News <a type="external" href="">Deporting the Messenger</a></p>
<p>Earlier this month, those hoping to see a restoration of press freedoms in Zimbabwe were given <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3007409.stm" type="external">reason to hope</a>, as the nation’s Supreme Court struck down some parts of a draconian media law as being unconstitutional.</p>
<p>But those hopes were short-lived. The government of strongman president Robert Mugabe has again demonstrated its penchant for using transparent, strong-arm tactics to muzzle journalists. Ignoring a pair of judicial rulings, Mugabe’s information minister declared Andrew Meldrum, an American reporter working for the London Guardian, an ‘undesirable’ foreign national. Meldrum, who had been living and working in Zimbabwe for years, was deported to England on Monday.</p>
<p>At the airport in Harare, while being hustled to the gate by Zimbabwe officials, Meldrum denounced the decision. Touching down at London’s Gatwick Airport, he expounded on those comments. As the BBC reports, Meldrum says his expulsion is simply an effort to <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3033637.stm" type="external">intimidate the few independent journalists still working in Zimbabwe</a>.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>Few foreign reporters remain in Zimbabwe, but Mr Meldrum said a ‘committed band’ of journalists were still able to report on the country’s situation.”</p>
<p>Meldrum was held incommunicado before being deported, and South Africa’s News24 reports that officials from the US embassy were illegally barred from seeing him. The State Department was quick to fire back, with spokesperson Lynn Cassel declaring that Meldrum’s deportation “ <a href="http://www.news24.com/News24/Africa/News/0,,2-11-1447_1360957,00.html" type="external">reflects the ongoing erosion of basic rights and the rule of law in Zimbabwe</a>.”</p>
<p />
<p>Among the “committed band” of journalists unwilling to be cowed are <a href="http://www.dailynews.co.zw/daily/2003/May/May19/9767.html" type="external">the editors at Zimbabwe’s largest independent newspaper, the Daily News</a>. In an editorial, the paper declares that Meldrum has “becomes one in a long list of foreign and local journalists who have fallen victim to the government’s worsening intolerance of criticism and views that do not conform to its own skewed idea of the situation in Zimbabwe.”</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>Through its deportation of Meldrum, President Robert Mugabe’s regime has merely added to the list of journalists who are determined to tell the true story of Zimbabwe, even if they have to do it from beyond the country’s borders.”</p>
<p>Meldrum’s editorial superiors at the Guardian share that assessment. Compared to many in Zimbabwe, “Meldrum was lucky,” the Guardian editors assert. While he was deported, many critics of Mugabe’s government suffer far rougher treatment — while some simply disappear. But, like their colleagues at the Daily News, the editors at the Guardian optimistically argue that <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/zimbabwe/article/0,2763,958778,00.htmleader" type="external">Mugabe’s tactics won’t succeed</a>.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p><a href="#one" type="external">Blair in Black and White</a> <a href="#two" type="external">A Farewell to Fleischer</a></p>
<p>MEDIA <a type="external" href="">Blair in Black and White</a></p>
<p>When New York Times reporter Jayson Blair’s inaccurate and often fictionalized work came to light, the scandal bred a circus’ worth of media commentary. But many pundits, instead of starting a conversation about journalistic ethics, have turned the focus to race and the representation of people of color, specifically blacks, in the media. Blair, a young, black, male journalist, has surely been called every name in the book (and probably some we don’t allow in books anymore). The bubble has been burst: Some journalists lie! But the more pressing danger behind the Blair debacle is that the American public is reading reports and commentary on race by <a href="http://www.unityjournalists.org/News/Presskit/race/race.html" type="external">a group of reporters and commentators that is less than 12 percent people of color</a> as of 1998, according to the American Society of Newspaper Editors.</p>
<p>But perhaps, as Andrew Sullivan suggests, <a href="http://www.andrewsullivan.com/" type="external">the media shouldn’t be so concerned with the representation of differing viewpoints</a> in the media:</p>
<p />
<p>“The point of a newspaper is not and should never be diversity. It should be journalism. And the idea that you need minority reporters to tackle minority issues is itself racially blinkered, and condescending.”</p>
<p>Right. What interest does good journalism have in promoting diversity? Surely we should all be content to let newspapers feed us stories that were unabashedly one-sided, and that cited as few sources as possible. And minority reporters’ viewpoints and opinions couldn’t possibly be more incisive on minority issues. Especially when those issues could just as easily be covered by whites.</p>
<p>Or perhaps it’s that the liberal left’s desire for <a href="http://www.aim.org/publications/weekly_column/2003/05/08.html" type="external">diversity is a passing fad</a>, as right-wing media-watchdog Accuracy In the Media surmises:</p>
<p />
<p>“The concept of ‘diversity’ is popular in the media and academia.”</p>
<p>Urging the Times to review William McGowan’s “blockbuster” book, Coloring the News: How Crusading for Diversity Has Corrupted American Journalism, AIM goes on to expose the outrageous ideas of Gerald Boyd, the Times’ managing editor who was at least partly responsible for insuring that Blair’s reporting was accurate.</p>
<p />
<p>“[Boyd] told the American Society of Newspaper Editors (ASNE) that attracting ‘young people of color’ to journalism ‘requires a special effort,’ and that he was alarmed at the number of minority journalists leaving the profession or avoiding journalism altogether.”</p>
<p>Surely those are the words of corruption. If not a minority conspiracy, really.</p>
<p>More accurately, as the Times’ own Bob Herbert writes, “this would be a juicy story under any circumstances. But Mr. Blair is black, so there is the additional spice of race, to which so many Americans are terminally addicted.” Herbert continues by saying that “the race issue in this case is as bogus as some of Jayson Blair’s reporting.”</p>
<p>The “race issue,” in this context, is the tendency displayed by certain media sources to leap at any chance <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/19/opinion/19HERB.html" type="external">to blame a push to diversify as the root cause of inaccuracies</a> in the media. That would be bogus. And while some at the Times have alleged that Blair’s race had something to do with his editors’ forgiveness for his mistakes, Terry Neal of the Washington Post sees a bigger picture. Neal recalls that <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A49425-2003May13.html" type="external">many journalists have forgone the rules of ethical integrity</a> — like white journalists Ruth Shalit and Stephen Glass at The New Republic and Mike Barnicle at the Boston Globe. Those white journalists are either back in journalism or capitalizing on their foul-ups with book deals. But fallen black journalist Janet Cooke, for example, was most recently working at a department store for $6 an hour. Furthermore, Neal asserts, an editor’s affection for a particular reporter is hardly rare. What’s unique in this case, he writes, is that Blair was black:</p>
<p />
<p>“To suggest somehow that Blair is unique in being coddled by upper management is pure buffoonery. What about all of the young, aggressive white reporters who are pushed along by overeager white mentors and are clearly not ready for prime time? Happens all the time — at The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal and every other major publication. Their editors intrinsically trust them. They feel more comfortable talking to them. They understand their worldview. They get handed big stories. They get invited to dinners at the boss’s house.”</p>
<p>In the end, Blair’s debacle may serve to illuminate the latent racist tendencies of American media. Some sources, like Sullivan’s or AIM’s, are blatant and absurd. But it remains a truth that people of color — particularly blacks — in the field of journalism are first of all extremely rare, and, more importantly, fighting a battle for voice, representation, and power in <a href="http://www.blackcommentator.com/42/42_cover.html" type="external">a field that, even at its most progressive levels, is dominated by white men</a>. And a person who is black, as The Black Commentator reports, carries a double burden within the field:</p>
<p />
<p>“He must prove that the brilliant whites who hired him picked the right Black person for the job, and he must ensure by his comportment in the position that other white institutions will hire more Blacks to assist them in their corporate mission.</p>
<p>Should the Black candidate – a person picked by whites – fail, it is the aspirations of Black people as a whole for upward mobility that are made to seem unreasonable, ridiculous, even criminal.”</p>
<p />
<p>POLITICS <a type="external" href="">A Farewell to Fleischer</a></p>
<p>Ari Fleischer, that most tight-lipped of presidential press secretaries, announced his resignation Monday. Ticking off all the usual reasons, George W. Bush’s official mouthpiece said he wanted to spend more time with his wife and lead a normal life. This may be true: Fleischer may just be burnt out. Unlike other erstwhile White House figures, Fleischer wasn’t run out of town like former Treasury Secretary <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/12/07/politics/main532180.shtml" type="external">Paul O’Neill</a>, and he doesn’t appear to be stepping down just before a scandal overtakes him, a la lame duck budget director <a href="http://reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=politicsNews&amp;storyID=2700973" type="external">Mitch Daniels</a>. In fact, the President, in a heartfelt — albeit bizarre — benediction, <a href="http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&amp;cid=514&amp;e=3&amp;u=/ap/20030519/ap_on_go_pr_wh/fleischer_resigns_18" type="external">planted a kiss</a> on Fleischer’s head upon hearing of his impending departure.</p>
<p>To be sure, as press secretaries go, Fleischer was as loyal as they come. He took Bush’s obsession with secrecy to heart and stayed unswervingly on message, through wars, terrorist attacks and a steadily worsening economy. According to the San Francisco Chronicle‘s Marc Sandalow, previous press secretaries give Fleischer high marks for <a href="http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/05/20/MN108143.DTL" type="external">sticking to the White House script</a>, for better or worse.</p>
<p />
<p>“‘The tone for the White House media operation is set at the very top, and it always reflects the preferences of the president himself,’ said Mike McCurry, who served four years as White House press secretary under President Bill Clinton.</p>
<p>‘This president has a very clear formula — buttoned up, disciplined and staying on message. My guess is we’ll get more of that in whoever succeeds (Fleischer).’</p>
<p>While the President might miss Fleischer, the White House press corps most definitely will not. As Salon‘s Jake Tapper reports, Fleischer will be remembered not only for being an especially opaque window into the White House’s workings, but also for <a href="http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2003/05/19/ari/index.html" type="external">lying to and bullying reporters</a>. (As a bonus, Tapper also includes a “greatest hits” of Fleischer’s most brazen untruths.)</p>
<p />
<p>“But while Fleischer served his patrons with loyalty and single-mindedness, he frustrated reporters by going far beyond spinning — telling untruths and taking great effort to intimidate, several White House reporters said. ‘No one’s shedding any tears,’ said another White House reporter. ‘His personal style — the smarminess and unctuousness — was annoying to people. But his deceptions and the telling of falsehoods is what really turned people against him.’</p>
<p>…</p>
<p>To many in the press corps, Fleischer — to borrow a metaphor from his beloved New York Yankees — became the Babe Ruth of out-of-the-park whoppers. As the Houston Chronicle editorial page — which endorsed President Bush in 2000 — wrote of Fleischer earlier this month, ‘Perhaps not since Ron Ziegler made inoperative statements on behalf of Richard Nixon … has a press secretary exhibited such a brazen and cavalier disregard for the facts.'”</p>
<p>Slate‘s Timothy Noah, however, wonders if Fleischer — whom he decribes as “an energetic teller of lies on behalf of the Bush administration” — just <a href="http://slate.msn.com/id/2083117/" type="external">couldn’t face himself in the mirror anymore</a>. As proof, Noah cites Bush’s now-infamous “Top Gun”-style fighter jet landing on the USS Abraham Lincoln. Originally, Fleischer justified the President’s TV-friendly turn as a necessity, because the carrier was too far out at sea to accomodate a simpler, less photogenic helicopter landing. When it became clear that this explanation was false — the ship was in sight of land — Fleischer was pilloried by the press. Unfairly so, Noah declares, and Fleischer’s explanation bears him out.</p>
<p />
<p>“Fleischer said, in essence, that circumstances had changed, and that Bush was told the costly flight by military jet could no longer be justified on the grounds of necessity. Yet Bush was so wedded to the idea of flying by jet that he more or less said, Cost be damned, I want to fly a jet. This explanation is not especially flattering to the Bush administration. It pretty much proves the press’s underlying (and somewhat petty) point that taxpayer dollars were wasted so that Bush could be photographed in a flight suit. It gets Fleischer off the hook, but leaves Bush on the hook. This is precisely what a press secretary is never supposed to do. Sometimes, though, you have to, if you want to tell the truth.</p>
<p>A conspiracy-minded person might speculate that Fleischer created a false alibi that shifted blame to Bush because he knew he was headed out the door anyway. But assuming Fleischer wants a future in public relations, he must know that you don’t improve your marketability by burning the client. The only really satisfying explanation is that Fleischer was telling the truth. The guy is obviously burnt out.”</p>
<p><a href="#one" type="external">Mini-Nuke Madness</a> <a href="#two" type="external">Feds Mess with Texas</a></p>
<p>POLITICS <a type="external" href="">Mini-Nuke Madness</a></p>
<p>Yesterday, the Senate voted to lift a 10-year ban on the research and development of so-called “mini-nukes,” or low-yield nuclear weapons. It was a momentous decision, taken at the urging of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld — who grows more Strangelovian by the day — and like-minded hawks in the Bush administration. They argue that developing smaller nuclear weapons is a necessity in the post-Sept. 11 world, both to deter rogue states and to destroy the subterranean bunkers our enemies might retreat to when we attack them. Critics of the White House stance — and they are legion — warn that repealing the ban would reverse a longstanding emphasis on non-proliferation, and could provoke a new nuclear arms race.</p>
<p>Writing in the Washington Post, J. Peter Scoblic notes that, for a host of reasons, nukes aren’t likely to work on deep bunkers. And if we did use them for this purpose, ” … we’d need to be very sure that destroying its contents was worth breaking a 58-year taboo against nuclear use, enraging our allies and friends and scaring our enemies into developing their own atomic arsenals.” Besides, he adds, the White House’s push for new nuclear weapons is a <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A52287-2003May13.html" type="external">diplomatic and strategic nightmare</a>.</p>
<p />
<p>“Logistical and technical arguments aside, using a nuclear weapon to destroy a target in a nonnuclear country would destroy U.S. nonproliferation efforts. Our nuclear policy already balances on the thin edge of hypocrisy — after all, we have thousands of nuclear weapons but we insist that others do not develop them. It’s a one-sided arrangement that has held only because of a treaty promise we made to work toward nuclear disarmament.”</p>
<p>Tom Teepen agrees. Why, he asks in the Columbia State, would mini-nukes be <a href="http://www.thestate.com/mld/state/news/opinion/5847944.htm" type="external">any more of a deterrent</a> than our massive arsenal of conventional weapons?</p>
<p />
<p>“The deterrence argument is more vigorously pressed. It goes like this: because our current nuclear weapons are so powerful, relatively small nations with nuclear ambitions simply do not believe that we would use such overkill to prevent them from developing nukes of their own</p>
<p>…</p>
<p>The U.S. arsenal is now trumping its own 15,000-pound ‘daisy cutter’ bomb with the 21,000-pound Massive Ordinance Air Blast bomb (MOAB or the mother of all bombs).</p>
<p>Using, additionally, an explosive agent stronger than the daisy cutter’s, the MOAB is said to pack the wallop of, you guessed it, a small nuclear weapon. What deterrent difference could it possibly make to a small nuclear wannabe that its facilities could be taken out with one sort of explosive rather than another sort?”</p>
<p>Of course, the administration’s push for renewed nuclear weapons R&amp;D isn’t new. As Robert Scheer points out in the Los Angeles Times, it’s been <a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-scheer13may13,1,7287486.column?coll=la%2Dnews%2Dcomment%2Dopinions" type="external">a consistent neocon theme</a> for at least two decades. The only difference, he writes, is that now they’re using the war on terror to justify their atomic dreams.</p>
<p />
<p>“What has been forgotten in all of the patriotic hoopla is that it is our country that pioneered the creation of weapons of mass destruction over the last half-century. And it was our dropping of nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, that sparked the arms race of the Cold War.</p>
<p>Faced with the reality that nuclear weapons are useful only for mass international suicide, every U.S. president since World War II has pursued a policy of nuclear arms control. Every administration, that is, until this one, which from its first days has made clear its inveterate hostility to arms control. It attacked the Antiballistic Missile Treaty and resurrected the corpse of the ‘Star Wars’ nuclear defense program, even as Bush’s first Nuclear Posture Review telegraphed the development of battlefield nuclear weapons and threatened their use against ‘rogue’ nations.”</p>
<p>Slate‘s Fred Kaplan, meanwhile, zeroes in on one of the men responsible for Bush’s nuclear policy: <a href="http://slate.msn.com/id/2082846/" type="external">Keith Payne</a>, a little-known but highly influential policymaker.</p>
<p />
<p>“For 20 years before he came to the Pentagon at the start of the George W. Bush administration, Payne was at the forefront of a small group of think-tank mavens — outspoken but, at the time, marginal — who argued not only that nuclear weapons were usable, but that nuclear war was, in a meaningful sense, winnable. He first made his mark with an article in the summer 1980 issue of Foreign Policy (written with fellow hawk Colin Gray) called ‘Victory Is Possible.’ Among its pronouncements: ‘an intelligent United States offensive [nuclear] strategy, wedded to homeland defenses, should reduce U.S. casualties to approximately 20 million … a level compatible with national survival and recovery.’ (As Gen. Buck Turgidson, the George C. Scott character in Dr. Strangelove, put it, ‘I’m not saying we won’t get our hair mussed up, but 10-20 million tops, depending on the breaks.’)</p>
<p>Payne’s theories, Kaplan notes, became official US policy last year with the publication of Donald Rumsfeld’s <a href="http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/policy/dod/npr.htm" type="external">Nuclear Posture Review</a>. For the first time, government policy advocated the use of nuclear weapons as “complements” to their conventional cousins.</p>
<p>The upshot of all this, as both Scheer and Scoblic note, appears to be a headlong race by the likes of Iran and North Korea to develop their own nuclear capabilities, and an escalation in weapons production by China, India and Pakistan. Presumably, the administration didn’t want this to happen. But as Scoblic points out, few in the White House seem to have <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A52287-2003May13.html" type="external">considered the likely consequences</a> of their actions.</p>
<p />
<p>“Bush officials who support new nuclear weapons ought to heed an old cliche and put themselves in the shoes of their enemies. What would they recommend to their leader if faced with a United States that declared a doctrine of preemption, named countries against which it was prepared to use nuclear weapons and sought to build new nuclear weapons whose use would be more ‘acceptable’? In that situation, I’d recommend immediately building a nuclear deterrent.”</p>
<p />
<p>POLITICS <a type="external" href="">Feds Mess with Texas</a></p>
<p>Those vigilante Democrats who protested their Texan Republican counterparts’ redistricting bill by hightailing it to Ardmore, Oklahoma really gave law enforcement officials a run for their money. So much that <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A61464-2003May15.html" type="external">the GOP and state troopers called in the Department of Homeland Security</a>.</p>
<p>Wait. What?</p>
<p>The Department of Homeland Security. It’s a new, kind of obscure branch of the government that’s supposed to go after terrorists or something. Somehow, reports Christopher Lee of the Washington Post, an unnamed investigator reasoned that the missing Dems were a real threat to National Security. Suspecting that the 51 missing Representatives had skipped town together in former House Speaker Pete Laney’s private airplane, the investigator called the Homeland Security Department’s Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement:</p>
<p />
<p>” “We got a problem, and I hope you can help me out,’ the statement quoted the officer as saying. ‘We had a plane that was supposed to be going from Ardmore, Oklahoma, to Georgetown, Texas It had state representatives on it, and we cannot find this plane.'”</p>
<p>Believing they had an emergency on their hands, agency officials called the Federal Aviation Administration in Fort Worth, and airport officials in two other Texas cities, but were unable to find the plane.</p>
<p>‘When law enforcement calls us asking for assistance in locating an aircraft that may be missing or lost or downed, it’s certainly an appropriate response to try to locate that aircraft,” said Dean Boyd, a spokesman for the bureau. “We take these statements at face value.'”</p>
<p>Oh, but it only gets worse. According to the San Antonio Express-News, National Republican Rep. Tom Delay, who introduced the redistricting plan in Texas, looked into whether the FBI and U.S. marshals could be used to help find the state’s MIA Democrats. What Delay discovered, and whether those forces were used, however, is a mystery. And it will probably always be a mystery because, citing a federal law that requires the Texas Department of Public Safety to destroy all “intelligence information that is not related to criminal conduct,” the DPS did just that — <a href="http://news.mysanantonio.com/story.cfm?xla=saen&amp;xlb=180&amp;xlc=999839" type="external">destroyed all information</a> related to the Democrats’ mischievous little game of hide ‘n’ seek:</p>
<p />
<p>“DPS spokesmen could not answer why criminal investigation division agents were assigned to look for the legislators if no criminal violations had occurred.</p>
<p>…</p>
<p>State Rep. Kevin Bailey, a Houston Democrat and chairman of the House General Investigating Committee, said the federal law apparently only applies if a federal investigation had been conducted or if the investigation had been funded by federal money.”</p>
<p>That means that the only reason the DPS has for legally destroying those documents is a federal investigation. Which is illegal. And vice versa. But apparently the Texas GOP isn’t too concerned about the people that make the laws in their state.</p>
<p><a href="#one" type="external">Whitman Bows Out</a> <a href="#two" type="external">Leather and Race</a></p>
<p>POLITICS <a type="external" href="">Whitman Bows Out</a></p>
<p>Rumored to be on the way out for at least half-a-year, Christie Whitman finally announced her resignation as director of the Environmental Protection Agency this week. After more than two thankless years as the public face of the Bush administration’s environmental policy, Whitman had apparently had enough.</p>
<p>In her <a href="http://www.epa.gov/newsroom/headline_052103.htm" type="external">letter of resignation</a>, Whitman cited the usual desire to spend more time with her family. More likely, though, the moderate former New Jersey governor — who frequently clashed with the White House over environmental regulations — was tired of being a fish out-of-water in a far-right cabinet. So she took the first available opportunity to bail out, in line with a White House request that anyone not with Bush for the long haul step down before the election season got underway. Not that Whitman herself was blameless: Under her watch, the EPA often seemed content to take dictation from industry. But on the occasions that Whitman did put up a fight, she was consistently humiliated for her trouble by the White House (the Boston Globe offers a concise <a href="http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/142/editorials/The_fate_of_Whitman+.shtml" type="external">rundown</a> of the major policy spats). Given the circumstances, the editors of the Los Angeles Times observe, Whitman probably did about <a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/california/la-ed-whitman22may22,1,3596769.story?coll=la%2Dheadlines%2Dpe%2Dcalifornia" type="external">the best job possible</a>.</p>
<p />
<p>“No one knows better than Christie Whitman how difficult it is to be the head of the Environmental Protection Agency in an administration that mostly gives lip service to protecting the environment. No doubt that situation has produced many uncomfortable days for Whitman, and it isn’t a shock that she has decided to leave the Bush administration effective June 27. Swimming against your instincts wears one down.</p>
<p>Still, the nation’s environment is in somewhat better condition than it might have been had someone with less dedication to the EPA’s goals held the job for the last 2 1/2 years. For that, Whitman deserves thanks and good wishes.”</p>
<p>Noting that Whitman’s appointment as EPA chief was little more than a piece of GOP greenwashing, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution‘s editorial board declares: “The only unanswered question of her unquestionably stormy tenure is: <a href="http://www.ajc.com/opinion/content/opinion/0503/22whitman.html" type="external">What took so long?</a>”</p>
<p />
<p>“Whitman, once a moderate Republican governor of New Jersey, was picked for the job to give the Bush administration much-needed credibility with green-leaning voters. But Whitman soon realized that despite (or because of) her credentials, she was the odd woman out among Bush’s inner circle.</p>
<p>Whitman seemed snakebit from the get-go; she was frequently put in the awkward position of having to defend policies that were clearly inconsistent with her own record and the agency’s stated mission. Early on, she was forced to backpedal after trying to delay a Clinton-era effort to reduce the levels of arsenic — a known poison — in the nation’s drinking water. Later, she was blindsided by President Bush’s decision to reverse his campaign promise to categorize airborne carbon as a pollutant that contributes to global warming. Although Bush announced the policy at a full-bore press conference, Whitman was among the last to find out.”</p>
<p>The editors of the Washington Post are less sympathetic. ” … [I]f she really disagreed with some of the decisions, it seems strange that Ms. Whitman stayed in her job as long as she did,” they opine. But they <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A23632-2003May21.html" type="external">doubt</a> that the White House will be able to find another even vaguely credible “green” face, given Whitman’s troubles over the past years. Instead, the editors argue, the president should simply appoint a friend of industry, rather than feigning interest in the environment while waging a clandestine war against it.</p>
<p />
<p>“Now, given the built-in handicaps, who will want to replace her? It’s hard to imagine anyone with an environmentalist background wanting the job — and hard to imagine another ‘moderate’ achieving any more than she did. In fact, the White House ought to take a deep breath and appoint someone whose environmental philosophy closely mirrors that of the president: If the administration does want to alter environmental policy, it should do so in the open and not by stealth, behind the back of — or in opposition to — the EPA administrator. The president should argue his case openly, and the issues should be debated loudly, in public rather than behind the scenes.”</p>
<p>Eric V. Schaeffer, writing on Tom Paine.com, couldn’t agree more. If the EPA is going to be more of a political appendage of the White House than an independent regulatory agency, he asks, why bother appointing a new director at all? In that case, he declares, ” … the president should end the pretense and <a href="http://www.tompaine.com/feature2.cfm/ID/7863" type="external">nominate Dick Cheney</a> to run the Environmental Protection Agency.”</p>
<p>LAW &amp; JUSTICE <a type="external" href="">Leather and Race</a></p>
<p>Over Memorial day weekend last year, several restaurants in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina decided it was high time to remodel their kitchens or pave their parking lots. It was an unusual choice of weekends for restaurants in a tourist-trap of a beach town, but sometimes these things can’t wait. It certainly didn’t have anything to do with all those black people on motorcycles riding into town. That would be “absurd,” as a Myrtle Beach city spokesman observed. Maybe so. But the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and 25 participants in “Black Bike Week,” a festival of <a href="http://www.ajc.com/news/content/news/0503/21myrtle.html" type="external">African-American motorcycle owners, are suing the city and a number of its businesses</a> anyway, reports Bob Dart of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The federal lawsuit charges that the city’s police department, officials, as well as restaurants and hotels blatantly discriminate against the black motorcyclists.</p>
<p>Proving that <a href="http://www.naacp.org/news/releases/myrtlebeach52103.shtml" type="external">a city conspires to keep out a group of people on an annual basis</a> is no small task, but the NAACP contrasts the treatment of black bikers’ treatment with that of annual “Harley-Davidson Dealers Association Week” attendees, who are mostly white. According to Kenneth A. Gailliard of Myrtle Beach’s Sun News, the city’s police department implements “a restrictive traffic pattern that forces one-way traffic on a section of Ocean Boulevard [the city’s main thoroughfare]” during Black Bike week, <a href="http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/mld/sunnews/news/local/5918171.htm" type="external">forcing traffic to run one-way and prohibiting turns</a>. Contrarily, traffic flows almost regularly during the Harley celebration, despite the influx of an extra 250,000 people. Police claim it’s a numbers game, and that the 400,000 people who attend the Memorial day event necessitate stricter traffic laws. Interesting argument. But if half as many people attend the white bikers’ party, why does the police department utilize only a third as many police officers for the event?</p>
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victories iraq terrorism burst democratic presidential candidates foot door thats long shut window opportunity criticize bushs defense policy policy terms reelection major selling point gop seven dems nine presidential candidates took advantage opportunity debate attended members american federation state county municipal employees afscme ronald brownstein los angeles times reports democratic candidates chided bush administration debate forums connecticut senator joseph lieberman charges iraqi oil bush vowed would source independent wealth iraq iraqi hands promised instead writes opinion piece boston globe administrations proposed security council resolution would give united states coalition partners control iraqi oil industry oil revenues transition selfgovernment period may well last number years candidates finally able sound alarm administrations game smoke mirrors pointing absence iraqs weapons mass destruction questioning saddam husseins ties terrorism elucidating absence 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parts draconian media law unconstitutional hopes shortlived government strongman president robert mugabe demonstrated penchant using transparent strongarm tactics muzzle journalists ignoring pair judicial rulings mugabes information minister declared andrew meldrum american reporter working london guardian undesirable foreign national meldrum living working zimbabwe years deported england monday airport harare hustled gate zimbabwe officials meldrum denounced decision touching londons gatwick airport expounded comments bbc reports meldrum says expulsion simply effort intimidate independent journalists still working zimbabwe foreign reporters remain zimbabwe mr meldrum said committed band journalists still able report countrys situation meldrum held incommunicado deported south africas news24 reports officials us embassy illegally barred seeing state department quick fire back spokesperson lynn cassel declaring meldrums deportation reflects ongoing erosion basic rights rule law zimbabwe among committed band journalists unwilling cowed editors zimbabwes largest independent newspaper daily news editorial paper declares meldrum becomes one long list foreign local journalists fallen victim governments worsening intolerance criticism views conform skewed idea situation zimbabwe deportation meldrum president robert mugabes regime merely added list journalists determined tell true story zimbabwe even beyond countrys borders meldrums editorial superiors guardian share assessment compared many zimbabwe meldrum lucky guardian editors assert deported many critics mugabes government suffer far rougher treatment simply disappear like colleagues daily news editors guardian optimistically argue mugabes tactics wont succeed blair black white farewell fleischer media blair black white new york times reporter jayson blairs inaccurate often fictionalized work came light scandal bred circus worth media commentary many pundits instead starting conversation journalistic ethics turned focus race representation people color specifically blacks media blair young black male journalist surely called every name book probably dont allow books anymore bubble burst journalists lie pressing danger behind blair debacle american public reading reports commentary race group reporters commentators less 12 percent people color 1998 according american society newspaper editors perhaps andrew sullivan suggests media shouldnt concerned representation differing viewpoints media point newspaper never diversity journalism idea need minority reporters tackle minority issues racially blinkered condescending right interest good journalism promoting diversity surely content let newspapers feed us stories unabashedly onesided cited sources possible minority reporters viewpoints opinions couldnt possibly incisive minority issues especially issues could easily covered whites perhaps liberal lefts desire diversity passing fad rightwing mediawatchdog accuracy media surmises concept diversity popular media academia urging times review william mcgowans blockbuster book coloring news crusading diversity corrupted american journalism aim goes expose outrageous ideas gerald boyd times managing editor least partly responsible insuring blairs reporting accurate boyd told american society newspaper editors asne attracting young people color journalism requires special effort alarmed number minority journalists leaving profession avoiding journalism altogether surely words corruption minority conspiracy really accurately times bob herbert writes would juicy story circumstances mr blair black additional spice race many americans terminally addicted herbert continues saying race issue case bogus jayson blairs reporting race issue context tendency displayed certain media sources leap chance blame push diversify root cause inaccuracies media would bogus times alleged blairs race something editors forgiveness mistakes terry neal washington post sees bigger picture neal recalls many journalists forgone rules ethical integrity like white journalists ruth shalit stephen glass new republic mike barnicle boston globe white journalists either back journalism capitalizing foulups book deals fallen black journalist janet cooke example recently working department store 6 hour furthermore neal asserts editors affection particular reporter hardly rare whats unique case writes blair black suggest somehow blair unique coddled upper management pure buffoonery young aggressive white reporters pushed along overeager white mentors clearly ready prime time happens time new york times washington post wall street journal every major publication editors intrinsically trust feel comfortable talking understand worldview get handed big stories get invited dinners bosss house end blairs debacle may serve illuminate latent racist tendencies american media sources like sullivans aims blatant absurd remains truth people color particularly blacks field journalism first extremely rare importantly fighting battle voice representation power field even progressive levels dominated white men person black black commentator reports carries double burden within field must prove brilliant whites hired picked right black person job must ensure comportment position white institutions hire blacks assist corporate mission black candidate person picked whites fail aspirations black people whole upward mobility made seem unreasonable ridiculous even criminal politics farewell fleischer ari fleischer tightlipped presidential press secretaries announced resignation monday ticking usual reasons george w bushs official mouthpiece said wanted spend time wife lead normal life may true fleischer may burnt unlike erstwhile white house figures fleischer wasnt run town like former treasury secretary paul oneill doesnt appear stepping scandal overtakes la lame duck budget director mitch daniels fact president heartfelt albeit bizarre benediction planted kiss fleischers head upon hearing impending departure sure press secretaries go fleischer loyal come took bushs obsession secrecy heart stayed unswervingly message wars terrorist attacks steadily worsening economy according san francisco chronicles marc sandalow previous press secretaries give fleischer high marks sticking white house script better worse tone white house media operation set top always reflects preferences president said mike mccurry served four years white house press secretary president bill clinton president clear formula buttoned disciplined staying message guess well get whoever succeeds fleischer president might miss fleischer white house press corps definitely salons jake tapper reports fleischer remembered especially opaque window white houses workings also lying bullying reporters bonus tapper also includes greatest hits fleischers brazen untruths fleischer served patrons loyalty singlemindedness frustrated reporters going far beyond spinning telling untruths taking great effort intimidate several white house reporters said ones shedding tears said another white house reporter personal style smarminess unctuousness annoying people deceptions telling falsehoods really turned people many press corps fleischer borrow metaphor beloved new york yankees became babe ruth outofthepark whoppers houston chronicle editorial page endorsed president bush 2000 wrote fleischer earlier month perhaps since ron ziegler made inoperative statements behalf richard nixon press secretary exhibited brazen cavalier disregard facts slates timothy noah however wonders fleischer decribes energetic teller lies behalf bush administration couldnt face mirror anymore proof noah cites bushs nowinfamous top gunstyle fighter jet landing uss abraham lincoln originally fleischer justified presidents tvfriendly turn necessity carrier far sea accomodate simpler less photogenic helicopter landing became clear explanation false ship sight land fleischer pilloried press unfairly noah declares fleischers explanation bears fleischer said essence circumstances changed bush told costly flight military jet could longer justified grounds necessity yet bush wedded idea flying jet less said cost damned want fly jet explanation especially flattering bush administration pretty much proves presss underlying somewhat petty point taxpayer dollars wasted bush could photographed flight suit gets fleischer hook leaves bush hook precisely press secretary never supposed sometimes though want tell truth conspiracyminded person might speculate fleischer created false alibi shifted blame bush knew headed door anyway assuming fleischer wants future public relations must know dont improve marketability burning client really satisfying explanation fleischer telling truth guy obviously burnt mininuke madness feds mess texas politics mininuke madness yesterday senate voted lift 10year ban research development socalled mininukes lowyield nuclear weapons momentous decision taken urging defense secretary donald rumsfeld grows strangelovian day likeminded hawks bush administration argue developing smaller nuclear weapons necessity postsept 11 world deter rogue states destroy subterranean bunkers enemies might retreat attack critics white house stance legion warn repealing ban would reverse longstanding emphasis nonproliferation could provoke new nuclear arms race writing washington post j peter scoblic notes host reasons nukes arent likely work deep bunkers use purpose wed need sure destroying contents worth breaking 58year taboo nuclear use enraging allies friends scaring enemies developing atomic arsenals besides adds white houses push new nuclear weapons diplomatic strategic nightmare logistical technical arguments aside using nuclear weapon destroy target nonnuclear country would destroy us nonproliferation efforts nuclear policy already balances thin edge hypocrisy thousands nuclear weapons insist others develop onesided arrangement held treaty promise made work toward nuclear disarmament tom teepen agrees asks columbia state would mininukes deterrent massive arsenal conventional weapons deterrence argument vigorously pressed goes like current nuclear weapons powerful relatively small nations nuclear ambitions simply believe would use overkill prevent developing nukes us arsenal trumping 15000pound daisy cutter bomb 21000pound massive ordinance air blast bomb moab mother bombs using additionally explosive agent stronger daisy cutters moab said pack wallop guessed small nuclear weapon deterrent difference could possibly make small nuclear wannabe facilities could taken one sort explosive rather another sort course administrations push renewed nuclear weapons rampd isnt new robert scheer points los angeles times consistent neocon theme least two decades difference writes theyre using war terror justify atomic dreams forgotten patriotic hoopla country pioneered creation weapons mass destruction last halfcentury dropping nuclear bombs hiroshima nagasaki japan sparked arms race cold war faced reality nuclear weapons useful mass international suicide every us president since world war ii pursued policy nuclear arms control every administration one first days made clear inveterate hostility arms control attacked antiballistic missile treaty resurrected corpse star wars nuclear defense program even bushs first nuclear posture review telegraphed development battlefield nuclear weapons threatened use rogue nations slates fred kaplan meanwhile zeroes one men responsible bushs nuclear policy keith payne littleknown highly influential policymaker 20 years came pentagon start george w bush administration payne forefront small group thinktank mavens outspoken time marginal argued nuclear weapons usable nuclear war meaningful sense winnable first made mark article summer 1980 issue foreign policy written fellow hawk colin gray called victory possible among pronouncements intelligent united states offensive nuclear strategy wedded homeland defenses reduce us casualties approximately 20 million level compatible national survival recovery gen buck turgidson george c scott character dr strangelove put im saying wont get hair mussed 1020 million tops depending breaks paynes theories kaplan notes became official us policy last year publication donald rumsfelds nuclear posture review first time government policy advocated use nuclear weapons complements conventional cousins upshot scheer scoblic note appears headlong race likes iran north korea develop nuclear capabilities escalation weapons production china india pakistan presumably administration didnt want happen scoblic points white house seem considered likely consequences actions bush officials support new nuclear weapons ought heed old cliche put shoes enemies would recommend leader faced united states declared doctrine preemption named countries prepared use nuclear weapons sought build new nuclear weapons whose use would acceptable situation id recommend immediately building nuclear deterrent politics feds mess texas vigilante democrats protested texan republican counterparts redistricting bill hightailing ardmore oklahoma really gave law enforcement officials run money much gop state troopers called department homeland security wait department homeland security new kind obscure branch government thats supposed go terrorists something somehow reports christopher lee washington post unnamed investigator reasoned missing dems real threat national security suspecting 51 missing representatives skipped town together former house speaker pete laneys private airplane investigator called homeland security departments bureau immigration customs enforcement got problem hope help statement quoted officer saying plane supposed going ardmore oklahoma georgetown texas state representatives find plane believing emergency hands agency officials called federal aviation administration fort worth airport officials two texas cities unable find plane law enforcement calls us asking assistance locating aircraft may missing lost downed certainly appropriate response try locate aircraft said dean boyd spokesman bureau take statements face value oh gets worse according san antonio expressnews national republican rep tom delay introduced redistricting plan texas looked whether fbi us marshals could used help find states mia democrats delay discovered whether forces used however mystery probably always mystery citing federal law requires texas department public safety destroy intelligence information related criminal conduct dps destroyed information related democrats mischievous little game hide n seek dps spokesmen could answer criminal investigation division agents assigned look legislators criminal violations occurred state rep kevin bailey houston democrat chairman house general investigating committee said federal law apparently applies federal investigation conducted investigation funded federal money means reason dps legally destroying documents federal investigation illegal vice versa apparently texas gop isnt concerned people make laws state whitman bows leather race politics whitman bows rumored way least halfayear christie whitman finally announced resignation director environmental protection agency week two thankless years public face bush administrations environmental policy whitman apparently enough letter resignation whitman cited usual desire spend time family likely though moderate former new jersey governor frequently clashed white house environmental regulations tired fish outofwater farright cabinet took first available opportunity bail line white house request anyone bush long haul step election season got underway whitman blameless watch epa often seemed content take dictation industry occasions whitman put fight consistently humiliated trouble white house boston globe offers concise rundown major policy spats given circumstances editors los angeles times observe whitman probably best job possible one knows better christie whitman difficult head environmental protection agency administration mostly gives lip service protecting environment doubt situation produced many uncomfortable days whitman isnt shock decided leave bush administration effective june 27 swimming instincts wears one still nations environment somewhat better condition might someone less dedication epas goals held job last 2 12 years whitman deserves thanks good wishes noting whitmans appointment epa chief little piece gop greenwashing atlanta journalconstitutions editorial board declares unanswered question unquestionably stormy tenure took long whitman moderate republican governor new jersey picked job give bush administration muchneeded credibility greenleaning voters whitman soon realized despite credentials odd woman among bushs inner circle whitman seemed snakebit getgo frequently put awkward position defend policies clearly inconsistent record agencys stated mission early forced backpedal trying delay clintonera effort reduce levels arsenic known poison nations drinking water later blindsided president bushs decision reverse campaign promise categorize airborne carbon pollutant contributes global warming although bush announced policy fullbore press conference whitman among last find editors washington post less sympathetic really disagreed decisions seems strange ms whitman stayed job long opine doubt white house able find another even vaguely credible green face given whitmans troubles past years instead editors argue president simply appoint friend industry rather feigning interest environment waging clandestine war given builtin handicaps want replace hard imagine anyone environmentalist background wanting job hard imagine another moderate achieving fact white house ought take deep breath appoint someone whose environmental philosophy closely mirrors president administration want alter environmental policy open stealth behind back opposition epa administrator president argue case openly issues debated loudly public rather behind scenes eric v schaeffer writing tom painecom couldnt agree epa going political appendage white house independent regulatory agency asks bother appointing new director case declares president end pretense nominate dick cheney run environmental protection agency law amp justice leather race memorial day weekend last year several restaurants myrtle beach south carolina decided high time remodel kitchens pave parking lots unusual choice weekends restaurants touristtrap beach town sometimes things cant wait certainly didnt anything black people motorcycles riding town would absurd myrtle beach city spokesman observed maybe national association advancement colored people 25 participants black bike week festival africanamerican motorcycle owners suing city number businesses anyway reports bob dart atlanta journalconstitution federal lawsuit charges citys police department officials well restaurants hotels blatantly discriminate black motorcyclists proving city conspires keep group people annual basis small task naacp contrasts treatment black bikers treatment annual harleydavidson dealers association week attendees mostly white according kenneth gailliard myrtle beachs sun news citys police department implements restrictive traffic pattern forces oneway traffic section ocean boulevard citys main thoroughfare black bike week forcing traffic run oneway prohibiting turns contrarily traffic flows almost regularly harley celebration despite influx extra 250000 people police claim numbers game 400000 people attend memorial day event necessitate stricter traffic laws interesting argument half many people attend white bikers party police department utilize third many police officers event | 3,098 |
<p>A tremendous myth had been generated over the past months regarding the imminent restoration of ‘democracy’ in Pakistan–with Benazir Bhutto projected as the great liberal hope. This was arrant nonsense. Bhutto was a discredited, demonstrably inept, compromised and corrupt leader, one who had been directly involved in the creation of and support to the Taliban, and who actively supported the terrorist ‘jehad’ in Indian Jammu &amp; Kashmir (J&amp;K) in her earlier tenures as Prime Minister. She was returning to Pakistan under a US-brokered deal to participate in an election that was already being pre-rigged in her favor (through the selective exclusion of a number of leaders, including Nawaz Sharif, by a puppet Election Commission which had ‘rejected’ their candidature on criteria that should have made Bhutto’s participation impossible as well). The principal objective of this election was not the ‘restoration’ of a viable and meaningful democracy, but the legitimization of the Musharraf dictatorship through the fig-leaf of a ‘civilian government’ which would have exercised no more than nominal powers, essentially at the pleasure of the President.</p>
<p>None of this has changed, and any electoral process in the foreseeable future would secure essentially the same objective–irrespective of the identity of the ‘Prime Minister’ or the Party that would be catapulted to dubious ‘power’. This is the reality behind the myths, both, of Bhutto’s return to, and assassination in, Pakistan: neither event could have any significant impact on the perverse equations of power that prevail on the ground. America’s feeble and tardy meddling in Pakistan has no real potential to restore meaningful democracy, as the state remains torn between two principal adversaries: an overwhelmingly powerful, but steadily weakening Army; and the radical Islamists, with their own reserve armies of suicide bombers and augmenting capacities for terrorism.</p>
<p>The little credibility that President Pervez Musharraf’s regime had, both domestically and internationally, appears to be rapidly fading in the wake of Bhutto’s assassination. Conspiracy theories now abound in Pakistan, and most are willing to lay the responsibility for the former Prime Minister’s death on acts of omission or commission by Government agencies, particularly the malevolent Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), with its abiding linkages to the Islamist terrorist forces it created in the country over the past decades.</p>
<p>Apart from the contradictions emerging in the official descriptive of the circumstances of death, a succession of disclosures relating to denial of security even after the devastating suicide bombing of October 18, in which Bhutto narrowly escaped assassination, and revelations that Bhutto had actively been blocked from hiring her own guards, appear to substantially establish the regime’s mala fides. Contradictions are also appearing in the Government’s quick attribution of the assassination to Baitullah Mehsud, the ‘commander’ of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, and to al Qaeda. Both organizations have denied involvement in the attack, and there is certainly something suspect in the steady build-up in preceding months of the alleged threat from Mehsud, who, it was claimed, had warned that Bhutto would be killed if she returned to Pakistan. Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) spokesperson, Farhatullah Babar, has now indicated that Mehsud had sent ‘reliable emissaries’ to Bhutto at least twice after the October 18 bombing, to reassure her that “I am not your enemy, I have nothing to do with you or against you or with the assassination attempt on you”, and had exhorted her to “Identify your enemy”.</p>
<p>Musharraf’s stock in Washington has certainly declined after this incident–though the blind strategists at the White House would probably incline to clutch desperately at the ‘there is no alternative’ (TINA) thesis and continue to back Musharraf in the immediate future. A number of prominent Western leaders, including more than one US Presidential candidate, has held the Musharraf regime ‘directly or indirectly’ responsible for Bhutto’s assassination, with Hillary Clinton calling for an international probe into the incident, arguing, “I don’t think the Pakistani Government at this time under Musharraf has any credibility at all.”</p>
<p>Within the murky circumstances that currently prevail in Pakistan, it is doubtful if the truth about the Bhutto assassination will ever be conclusively established.</p>
<p>What is certain, however, is that every conceivable protocol for the protection of an individual in the highest category of terrorist threat–as Bhutto, a former Prime Minister and a Prime Ministerial candidate at the time of her death, must have been, certainly after the October 18 attempt on her life–was breached. It is important to recognize that it is not necessary for security agencies to have directly engineered the assassination–simply and wilfully to ‘look the other way’ for a few moments would be an act of sufficient complicity to have ensured the success of the suicide attack. Bhutto’s assassination demonstrates beyond doubt that the Army’s (and/or its intelligence agency’s) capacity to terminate the emergence of any democratic leadership in the country–however discredited or incipient–through acts of omission or commission, is absolute.</p>
<p>It is useful to acknowledge, nevertheless, that Musharraf has domestically been infinitely weakened by this assassination and the rioting which followed (which claimed 47 lives, principally in police firing in Sindh). The assassination itself reflects a measure of loss of control, and the ‘military strongman’ (retirement from the Army notwithstanding, he retains full military support) appears far from strong. Worse, the assassination has brought together various democratic formations–including the PPP and the Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N)–in an opportunistic alliance that is now seeking ‘vengeance’ through the electoral process. At a different time, this scenario would be a necessary prelude to the ‘restoration’–albeit temporary–of ‘democracy’ in Pakistan, with the Army once again withdrawing into the wings.</p>
<p>This, however, does not appear to be much of a possibility under present circumstances. Whatever Musharraf’s fate, the centrality of the Army, and the imposition of no more than a puppet ‘democratic’ Government–not very different from the Shaukat Aziz-led administration, irrespective of leadership–will remain the reality of Pakistan’s future. Democratic forces in Pakistan are far too weak to exercise direct control over the Army and, more significantly, with the continuous escalation of the scale of terrorism and insurgency in the country, the principal function of the Government in the foreseeable future will remain security and law and order administration.</p>
<p>The tyranny of the sensational and the immediate tends to mask the ponderous, tectonic, shifts in power that are wrenching Pakistan apart. The reality is that no conceivable external intervention, no ‘feeble meddling’, can now define or significantly alter the trajectory of events in Pakistan, certainly in the near term. An internal dynamic has become entrenched and will prevail in all major developments. The residual strengths of the Pakistani state–principally its Army–are considerable, and the eventual outcome is not something that will occur in the weeks or months. Nevertheless, the steady erosion of power, and the attritional and centrifugal impetus that events have now attained, appear inescapable. It is only the improbable and radical reinvention of Pakistani politics and, crucially, the Pakistani military-intelligence complex, that can secure an outcome that can evade the destructive dynamic of extremist Islamization, the subversion of state institutions and mounting violence. It is not within the capacity of any external power to engineer this ‘turnaround’.</p>
<p>This needs urgently to be recognized by the global community–but most significantly by the US and by India. A grave crisis threatens the region and the world, in the event of the progressive collapse of state power in Pakistan, the cumulative augmentation of areas of jehadi autonomy and influence (both within and outside state structures) or the takeover of the state by radical Islamist elements (again, both within or outside state structures). These eventualities yield two principal strategic challenges: the containment of the inevitable terrorist fallout and overflow across the region, and probably across the globe; and the neutralization of Pakistan’s nuclear assets and the prevention of their leakage or lapse into the hands of radical Islamist elements or a radical Islamist Pakistani state.</p>
<p>It is abundantly clear that India, the US and the world, far from being prepared for these eventualities, continue to wilfully ignore their rising probabilities. It is, of course, all very well to hope that a miracle will abruptly pull Pakistan out of its perpetual and damning crises. But, miracles, by definition, are rare events. No single country–and certainly not India, which would bear the brunt of its immediate impact–has the capacity to contain the fallout of Pakistan’s creeping dissolution. It is necessary, consequently, to urgently address these threats, and to create the needed coalitions and backup measures that can help neutralize the extraordinary dangers posed by a progressively fragmenting Pakistan.</p>
<p>AJAI SAHNI is editor of the South Asia Intelligence Review and Executive Director of the Institute for Conflict Management in New Delhi. He can be reached at <a href="mailto:icm@del3.vsnl.net.in" type="external">icm@del3.vsnl.net.in</a></p>
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<p>&#160;</p> | true | 4 | tremendous myth generated past months regarding imminent restoration democracy pakistanwith benazir bhutto projected great liberal hope arrant nonsense bhutto discredited demonstrably inept compromised corrupt leader one directly involved creation support taliban actively supported terrorist jehad indian jammu amp kashmir jampk earlier tenures prime minister returning pakistan usbrokered deal participate election already prerigged favor selective exclusion number leaders including nawaz sharif puppet election commission rejected candidature criteria made bhuttos participation impossible well principal objective election restoration viable meaningful democracy legitimization musharraf dictatorship figleaf civilian government would exercised nominal powers essentially pleasure president none changed electoral process foreseeable future would secure essentially objectiveirrespective identity prime minister party would catapulted dubious power reality behind myths bhuttos return assassination pakistan neither event could significant impact perverse equations power prevail ground americas feeble tardy meddling pakistan real potential restore meaningful democracy state remains torn two principal adversaries overwhelmingly powerful steadily weakening army radical islamists reserve armies suicide bombers augmenting capacities terrorism little credibility president pervez musharrafs regime domestically internationally appears rapidly fading wake bhuttos assassination conspiracy theories abound pakistan willing lay responsibility former prime ministers death acts omission commission government agencies particularly malevolent interservices intelligence isi abiding linkages islamist terrorist forces created country past decades apart contradictions emerging official descriptive circumstances death succession disclosures relating denial security even devastating suicide bombing october 18 bhutto narrowly escaped assassination revelations bhutto actively blocked hiring guards appear substantially establish regimes mala fides contradictions also appearing governments quick attribution assassination baitullah mehsud commander tehriketaliban pakistan al qaeda organizations denied involvement attack certainly something suspect steady buildup preceding months alleged threat mehsud claimed warned bhutto would killed returned pakistan pakistan peoples party ppp spokesperson farhatullah babar indicated mehsud sent reliable emissaries bhutto least twice october 18 bombing reassure enemy nothing assassination attempt exhorted identify enemy musharrafs stock washington certainly declined incidentthough blind strategists white house would probably incline clutch desperately alternative tina thesis continue back musharraf immediate future number prominent western leaders including one us presidential candidate held musharraf regime directly indirectly responsible bhuttos assassination hillary clinton calling international probe incident arguing dont think pakistani government time musharraf credibility within murky circumstances currently prevail pakistan doubtful truth bhutto assassination ever conclusively established certain however every conceivable protocol protection individual highest category terrorist threatas bhutto former prime minister prime ministerial candidate time death must certainly october 18 attempt lifewas breached important recognize necessary security agencies directly engineered assassinationsimply wilfully look way moments would act sufficient complicity ensured success suicide attack bhuttos assassination demonstrates beyond doubt armys andor intelligence agencys capacity terminate emergence democratic leadership countryhowever discredited incipientthrough acts omission commission absolute useful acknowledge nevertheless musharraf domestically infinitely weakened assassination rioting followed claimed 47 lives principally police firing sindh assassination reflects measure loss control military strongman retirement army notwithstanding retains full military support appears far strong worse assassination brought together various democratic formationsincluding ppp nawaz sharifs pakistan muslim league pmlnin opportunistic alliance seeking vengeance electoral process different time scenario would necessary prelude restorationalbeit temporaryof democracy pakistan army withdrawing wings however appear much possibility present circumstances whatever musharrafs fate centrality army imposition puppet democratic governmentnot different shaukat azizled administration irrespective leadershipwill remain reality pakistans future democratic forces pakistan far weak exercise direct control army significantly continuous escalation scale terrorism insurgency country principal function government foreseeable future remain security law order administration tyranny sensational immediate tends mask ponderous tectonic shifts power wrenching pakistan apart reality conceivable external intervention feeble meddling define significantly alter trajectory events pakistan certainly near term internal dynamic become entrenched prevail major developments residual strengths pakistani stateprincipally armyare considerable eventual outcome something occur weeks months nevertheless steady erosion power attritional centrifugal impetus events attained appear inescapable improbable radical reinvention pakistani politics crucially pakistani militaryintelligence complex secure outcome evade destructive dynamic extremist islamization subversion state institutions mounting violence within capacity external power engineer turnaround needs urgently recognized global communitybut significantly us india grave crisis threatens region world event progressive collapse state power pakistan cumulative augmentation areas jehadi autonomy influence within outside state structures takeover state radical islamist elements within outside state structures eventualities yield two principal strategic challenges containment inevitable terrorist fallout overflow across region probably across globe neutralization pakistans nuclear assets prevention leakage lapse hands radical islamist elements radical islamist pakistani state abundantly clear india us world far prepared eventualities continue wilfully ignore rising probabilities course well hope miracle abruptly pull pakistan perpetual damning crises miracles definition rare events single countryand certainly india would bear brunt immediate impacthas capacity contain fallout pakistans creeping dissolution necessary consequently urgently address threats create needed coalitions backup measures help neutralize extraordinary dangers posed progressively fragmenting pakistan ajai sahni editor south asia intelligence review executive director institute conflict management new delhi reached icmdel3vsnlnetin 160 160 | 779 |
<p>In “Pedagogy of the Oppressed,” Paulo Freire advocated for a teaching practice that shatters a town’s “culture of silence.” An irrepressible force against capitalism and hierarchy, Freire asked us to imagine creative modes to address this silence and then act on it, as teachers.</p>
<p>What about the culture of silence surrounding the local medical clinic? Along these lines, I asked a recent class of 34 students to write about their last medical experience (with identities protected). Their responses astounded me.</p>
<p>One student, an Iraq War veteran, went to the local Veteran’s Administration hospital to evaluate his disability claims for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) only to be told he was only suffering from hearing loss and to “check the VA website” for updates.</p>
<p>“One doctor asked me if I had been exposed to any loud hearing noises during my time in Iraq. . . Then [another doctor] mentioned that I ‘should have been wearing hearing protection over there.’ I reminded him that it is not feasible, nor possible, to wear hearing plugs constantly over a 12 month period. So unless the insurgents would like to warn me ahead of time of an attack, loud surprises will happen.” The veteran has no hope of getting PTSD benefits and finds the VA “very dehumanizing.”</p>
<p>Another veteran, suffering a persistent left shoulder injury from his days as a paratrooper, was informed that his pain likely came from an earlier botched surgery by an Army doctor who was “less experienced” than other surgeons.</p>
<p>Then there was the father who took his three year old daughter to the ER at 2AM with a stomach ache. Over five hours she was given four x-rays, an ultrasound and an enema with no improvement (and no diagnosis) of her condition. She cried all night and was given nothing for the pain. Finally, at 7AM, after the father refused a second enema, he took her home with a prescription for MiraLAX (a laxative), gave it to her and she was quickly cured.</p>
<p>These stories rarely get told. In doctors’ offices around the country there exists a veritable Lock Box of stories and secrets about the sea of troubles all around us. The clinic is where — every single day — hundreds of thousands of testimonies about our afflictions go to die, never systematically broadcast to the citizenry at-large.</p>
<p>If my students’ reportage is any indication, then most people suffer the traumas of capital and its preferred medical approach, biomedicine, in relative silence.</p>
<p>This is no longer acceptable. As Foucault puts it: “The real political task in a society such as ours is to criticize the workings of institutions that appear to be both neutral and independent, to criticize and attack them in such a manner that the political violence that has always exercised itself obscurely through them will be unmasked, so that one can fight against them” (Chomsky/Foucault 2004:41).</p>
<p>“Medicine is a Social Science”–&#160;Rudolph Virchow, Anthropologist</p>
<p>Anthropologists call the dominant medical “system” biomedicine, because of its focus on biology, not the social sciences. As many social scientists will tell you, the traumas of capital amount to a biopolitics of human disposability and include things like oil wars (and their associated casualties), the fetish of technocratic rationality (over the art of medicine), the overspecialization of knowledge (to the neglect of holistic perspectives), the privileging of profits over disease prevention, the speed-up of doctors by insurers, the crisis of clinical iatrogenesis (doctor induced harm) and the relentless attacks on the social state (defunding of health, education and human welfare). On August 20, for example, the Annie E. Casey Foundation reported that the number of American children now officially in poverty has soared to 20% (14.7 million). We know that these children will, on average, die significantly earlier than their U.S. brothers and sisters who live in higher income families.</p>
<p>These theoretical realities manifest themselves in our everyday life at the clinic. Fifty percent (17 students) of my students complained that they were rushed or not given enough time to ask their medical questions. While many of us can identify with that experience, few readers will be prepared for the level of clinical iatrogenesis (doctor/medical harm) that appears to be present from my analysis of student reports: 35% (12 students). This included: a missed foot fracture diagnosis, advice to remain on a medication that was probably the cause of dramatically elevated liver enzymes, radiation induced scarring of the prostate, lack of a needed psychological referral, missed diagnosis of a hand fracture after a car accident, misapplied braces causing jaw pain, “shock and irritation” at a doctor’s callous treatment for chronic acid reflux disease, irregular bleeding and depression likely caused by birth control pills to control hormone levels, a physician’s diagnosis that a student’s bladder problem “could have been caused by a former practitioner who did something wrong,” and the three cases referred to in the opening paragraphs (refusal to diagnose PTSD, surgical mistakes causing shoulder pain, and a 5 hour ER visit with over-medicalization and no relief).</p>
<p>Remarkable also are the numbers of patients/citizens who reported that they felt that social/environmental factors may have contributed to their presenting complaint: eighteen (53%). Even more remarkable is that in every one of these eighteen cases, it was the patient, not the doctor/practitioner, who brought up the topic (13) or who thought about the topic (5).&#160; These factors included thoughts about a next door neighbor’s air conditioning causing eczema, war, medical error, work stress, home life and some of the conditions discussed above. Doctors only initiated discussion of environmentally related topics four times (e.g., drink more water to prevent cramping, allergy induced headaches, and ringworm likely caused from fellow athletes).</p>
<p>In short, iatrogenesis appears to be more widespread than fully appreciated by citizens. And yet no medical school yet has developed a “Department of Iatrogenic Medicine” as called for by Robert Mendelsohn, MD, in 1979.</p>
<p>Also, social and environmental etiologies to suffering and disease are too often ignored in clinical life. These findings confirm Howard Waitzkin’s research. He found that, for a number of reasons, social problems were not dealt with critically. Instead physicians focus their attention on physical complaints and usually fail to address patients’ underlying concerns, thus reinforcing the social problems that caused or contributed to these maladies. One reason for this phenomenon, he charged, was that “few primary-care practitioners learn to spend much time on contextual concerns in . . . their training” (Waitzkin 1991:5).</p>
<p>Yes, there are legions of caring physicians who bring people back to health, but even they are ensnared in a pernicious system that rigidly enforces professional conformity and public silence. Heretics are routinely punished (Carter 1992, Saputo 2009). If medical education has not already succeeded in neutralizing medical student passion, there are other means, like the stigma of being labeled different (Carter 1992, McKenna 2010, 2011).</p>
<p>Paulo Freire insisted that, “If the structure does not permit dialogue the structure must be changed.” Along this path, imagine if we could systematically liberate clinical complaints from their biomedical entrapment in our own towns and communities. What might we learn? How might that serve as the basis for a public pedagogy to stir citizens to political action?</p>
<p>Lock Box Medicine in a “Managed Democracy”</p>
<p>I spent three years (1998-2001) performing a holistic environmental health assessment for local government (a public health department) in Greater Lansing Michigan in an applied anthropological effort to unmask these relationships and make connections between health, medicine and the environment (McKenna 2010). Three studies (on water, air and food) revealed vast amounts of pollution from a wide array of local institutions including General Motors, Michigan State University, even local hospitals (e.g., mercury pollution). Local hospitals refused to release emergency room disease data to the local public health department, including data on the hot spots for African American asthma cases, then a crisis. They also did not release their hospital-based iatrogenic data to public health. So detailed and thorough were these three reports (produced under the guidance of a twelve member Roundtable of well-known environmentalists) that the government suppressed them and ordered me never to mention them again, even after $250,000 in expenses. I left the government and together with Roundtable member Dave Dempsey, had the reports released by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) to a national audience.&#160; Media response was uneven (no TV station broadcast the news), though the Lansing Sate Journal had an article which supported PEER’s version of events (McKenna 2010). But Greater Lansing doctors and medical schools said nothing. Later, in a newspaper article as a local journalist (McKenna 2003), I reflected on fifteen reasons why the reports were suppressed. Among them was reason number 9:</p>
<p>Attributing specific health outcomes to the environment would undermine the entire medical-industrial complex. Doing environmental health research is a very radical proposition. If a significant portion of local diseases — cancer, heart disease, asthma — could be attributed to specific environmental toxics [and toxins] at given sites, then the social order might be turned upside down as massive monies shifted to the victims of toxics (via litigation, legislation or other methods). That’s why BIO-medicine is the dominant form of medicine. It focuses on BIO-logical pathology diagnosed after the fact and pretty much ignores social, psychological and environmental etiologies to illness and disease. And if the social and psychological factors are recognized, they are seldom reimbursable (McKenna 2002).</p>
<p>Imagine if local oncologists left their clinics one day per week, every week, to work with citizens in public education efforts against the polluting factories. Think about the power of persuasion that ER physicians could bring to local schools, educating about bike helmets and car safety as a regular part of their job. Imagine if dermatologists protested one day a week in front of tanning salon and worked to bring sunscreen companies to justice for their false advertising.</p>
<p>They don’t. There is no real money in prevention.</p>
<p>A great deal of illness and disease can be attributed to local actors operating within larger circuits of power. These actors can be expected to be antagonistic to public health institutions and citizen activists. As Robert Lynd wrote so long ago in Middletown, “The business men who ‘run’ the average American town are very likely to oppose any expose’ for more effective public health administration (Lynd and Lynd 1929:450).”&#160; In my public health work I demonstrated how business men can often rest assured that local governmental officials will do their work for them. As hegemonic actors in larger circuits of power, local public health administrators are often willing to ignore environmental threats or to censor and suppress critical initiatives from within their bureaucracies. Doctors, by and large, are the same.</p>
<p>“The truth is, the real secrets of modern medicine are protected by tradition, group-think, and system constructs that punish inquiry and self-examination,” asserts Physician David H. Newman in his important text, “Hippocrates’ Shadow, Secrets from the House of Medicine (2008).&#160; “They are embedded in the presumptions and thought patters that we are taught to embrace during our indoctrination and on which we come to rely. . . .These are the secrets and lies that shape the practice of modern medicine (Newman 2008:xvi).”</p>
<p>Doctors are supposed to be teachers but they are indoctrinated to keep that Lock Box tightly sealed. They make their millions exploring the diseased body, not the Body Politic. By their silences, doctors serve as guardians of corruption, pacifying the local populace by refusing to convert private pains into public issues.</p>
<p>But it goes beyond that. In his book, “Democracy, Inc.” political theorist Sheldon Wolin argues that the United States is on the verge of becoming an “inverted totalitarian” culture (Wolin, 2008). Unlike classic totalitarianism with its strong central control and rigid citizen mobilization, our times represent the political coming of age of corporate power and the political demobilization of the citizenry. With the constant downsizing, privatization, outsourcing and the dismantling of the welfare state the resulting state of insecurity makes the public feel so helpless that it is less likely to become politically active, he argues. The biomedical system is a powerful force in this trend.</p>
<p>Critical social scientists, like anthropologists, are systematically excluded, as teachers, from practicing in biomedical clinics (unless they have an MD or biomedical credential). Much critical research about biomedicine (and other medical approaches) is ignored in mainstream practice.&#160; But as Freire said, “Washing one’s hands of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless means to side with the powerful, not to be neutral.” Critical medical anthropologists, following the examples of Paulo Freire and critical pedagogues like Henry Giroux, will never give up the project to transform education and create a living democracy.</p>
<p>We need to conduct ethnographic investigations of medical complaints in our own schools, towns and communities and then link that research to submerged (and suppressed) data about social and environmental etiologies, local and global. Then we must find creative ways to convert that emancipatory knowledge into effective pedagogical tools to civically engage the calumnies of local power.</p>
<p>Brian McKenna lives in Michigan. He can be reached at: <a href="mailto:mckenna193@aol.com" type="external">mckenna193@aol.com</a></p>
<p>A version of this article was originally published in the Society for Applied Anthropology Newsletter, Vol. 22:3, August 2011. Tim Wallace, editor. <a href="" type="external">http://www.sfaa.net/newsletter/aug11nl.pdf&#160;</a></p>
<p>References</p>
<p>Baer, H. and Singer, M. Eds., (2008) Killer Commodities: Public Health and the Corporate Production of Harm, AltaMira.</p>
<p>Brouwer, Steve (2011) Revolutionary Doctors, How Venezuela and Cuba are Changing the World’s Conception of Health Care. New York:Monthly Review.</p>
<p>Carter, J. MD. (1992) Racketeering in Medicine, The Suppression of Alternatives. Norfolk, VA:Hampton Roads.</p>
<p>Davis, D. (2007) The Secret History of the War on Cancer. New York:Basic.</p>
<p>Freire, P. (1970) Pedagogy of the Oppressed.&#160; New York: Seabury Press.</p>
<p>Illich, I. (1976) Medical Nemesis: The Expropriation of Health. New York: Bantam.</p>
<p>Lynd, Robert. (1939) Knowledge for What? The Place of Social Science in American Culture. Princeton:Princeton University Press.</p>
<p>Lynd, Robert S. and Helen Merrell Lynd. (1929) Middletown, A Study in American Culture. New York:Harcourt, Brace and Company.</p>
<p>McKenna, Brian (2011) In Press. “Medical Education under Siege: Critical Pedagogy, Primary Care and the Making of ‘Slave Doctors.’” International Journal of Critical Pedagogy. 4(1).</p>
<p>McKenna, B. (2010) Take Back Medical Education, The Primary Care Shuffle. Invited Editorial for Medical Anthropology: Cross-Cultural Perspectives in Illness and Health 26(1) 6-14.</p>
<p>McKenna, B. (2010) Exposing Environmental Health Deception as a Government Whistleblower: turning critical ethnography into public pedagogy. Policy Futures in Education. Volume 8 Number 1 2010.</p>
<p>McKenna, B. (2003) How Green is Your Pediatrician? From the Ground Up (published bi-monthly by the Ecology Center, Ann Arbor, MI), August/September, pp. 4,5,6,22.</p>
<p>McKenna, B. (2002) “Why Ingham County Suppressed Information,” From the Ground Up, The Ecology Center, January. <a href="" type="internal">http://www.ecocenter.org/newsletters/from-the-ground-up/december-2001-january-2002/why-ingham-county-suppressed-information</a></p>
<p>McKenna, Brian (2001) Air Quality and Asthma Indicators, Ingham County, Michigan, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), Washington, D.C., 62 pages, October 31.&#160; <a href="" type="external">http://www.peer.org/docs/mi/Ingham_air.pdf&#160;</a></p>
<p>McKenna, B. (2001) Food Quality Indicators, Ingham County, Michigan, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), Washington, D.C., 20 pages, September 26.</p>
<p>McKenna, B. (2001) The Story of Water Resources at Work, Ingham County, Michigan, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), Washington, D.C., 130 pages, September 19. <a href="http://www.docstoc.com/docs/49828633/Ingham-County-MI-A-Story-of-Suppression-Part-1" type="external">http://www.docstoc.com/docs/49828633/Ingham-County-MI-A-Story-of-Suppression-Part-1</a></p>
<p>McKenna, B. (2000) Ingham County’s Surface and Groundwater Resources, (Principle Researcher), Ingham County Health Department. December 2000. 25 pages.</p>
<p>Mendelsohn, Robert S. (1979) Confessions of a Medical Heretic.&#160; New York: Warner Books.</p>
<p>Saputo, Len, MD. (2009) A Return to Healing: Radical Health Care Reform and the Future of Medicine. San Rafael,CA: Origin Press.</p>
<p>Waitzkin, Howard. (1991) The Politics of Medical Encounters: How Patients and Doctors Deal with Social Problems.&#160; New Haven: Yale.</p>
<p>Wolin, Sheldon S. (2008) Democracy Inc., Managed Democracy and the Specter of Inverted Totalitarianism. Princeton: Princeton University Press.</p> | true | 4 | pedagogy oppressed paulo freire advocated teaching practice shatters towns culture silence irrepressible force capitalism hierarchy freire asked us imagine creative modes address silence act teachers culture silence surrounding local medical clinic along lines asked recent class 34 students write last medical experience identities protected responses astounded one student iraq war veteran went local veterans administration hospital evaluate disability claims posttraumatic stress disorder ptsd told suffering hearing loss check va website updates one doctor asked exposed loud hearing noises time iraq another doctor mentioned wearing hearing protection reminded feasible possible wear hearing plugs constantly 12 month period unless insurgents would like warn ahead time attack loud surprises happen veteran hope getting ptsd benefits finds va dehumanizing another veteran suffering persistent left shoulder injury days paratrooper informed pain likely came earlier botched surgery army doctor less experienced surgeons father took three year old daughter er 2am stomach ache five hours given four xrays ultrasound enema improvement diagnosis condition cried night given nothing pain finally 7am father refused second enema took home prescription miralax laxative gave quickly cured stories rarely get told doctors offices around country exists veritable lock box stories secrets sea troubles around us clinic every single day hundreds thousands testimonies afflictions go die never systematically broadcast citizenry atlarge students reportage indication people suffer traumas capital preferred medical approach biomedicine relative silence longer acceptable foucault puts real political task society criticize workings institutions appear neutral independent criticize attack manner political violence always exercised obscurely unmasked one fight chomskyfoucault 200441 medicine social science160rudolph virchow anthropologist anthropologists call dominant medical system biomedicine focus biology social sciences many social scientists tell traumas capital amount biopolitics human disposability include things like oil wars associated casualties fetish technocratic rationality art medicine overspecialization knowledge neglect holistic perspectives privileging profits disease prevention speedup doctors insurers crisis clinical iatrogenesis doctor induced harm relentless attacks social state defunding health education human welfare august 20 example annie e casey foundation reported number american children officially poverty soared 20 147 million know children average die significantly earlier us brothers sisters live higher income families theoretical realities manifest everyday life clinic fifty percent 17 students students complained rushed given enough time ask medical questions many us identify experience readers prepared level clinical iatrogenesis doctormedical harm appears present analysis student reports 35 12 students included missed foot fracture diagnosis advice remain medication probably cause dramatically elevated liver enzymes radiation induced scarring prostate lack needed psychological referral missed diagnosis hand fracture car accident misapplied braces causing jaw pain shock irritation doctors callous treatment chronic acid reflux disease irregular bleeding depression likely caused birth control pills control hormone levels physicians diagnosis students bladder problem could caused former practitioner something wrong three cases referred opening paragraphs refusal diagnose ptsd surgical mistakes causing shoulder pain 5 hour er visit overmedicalization relief remarkable also numbers patientscitizens reported felt socialenvironmental factors may contributed presenting complaint eighteen 53 even remarkable every one eighteen cases patient doctorpractitioner brought topic 13 thought topic 5160 factors included thoughts next door neighbors air conditioning causing eczema war medical error work stress home life conditions discussed doctors initiated discussion environmentally related topics four times eg drink water prevent cramping allergy induced headaches ringworm likely caused fellow athletes short iatrogenesis appears widespread fully appreciated citizens yet medical school yet developed department iatrogenic medicine called robert mendelsohn md 1979 also social environmental etiologies suffering disease often ignored clinical life findings confirm howard waitzkins research found number reasons social problems dealt critically instead physicians focus attention physical complaints usually fail address patients underlying concerns thus reinforcing social problems caused contributed maladies one reason phenomenon charged primarycare practitioners learn spend much time contextual concerns training waitzkin 19915 yes legions caring physicians bring people back health even ensnared pernicious system rigidly enforces professional conformity public silence heretics routinely punished carter 1992 saputo 2009 medical education already succeeded neutralizing medical student passion means like stigma labeled different carter 1992 mckenna 2010 2011 paulo freire insisted structure permit dialogue structure must changed along path imagine could systematically liberate clinical complaints biomedical entrapment towns communities might learn might serve basis public pedagogy stir citizens political action lock box medicine managed democracy spent three years 19982001 performing holistic environmental health assessment local government public health department greater lansing michigan applied anthropological effort unmask relationships make connections health medicine environment mckenna 2010 three studies water air food revealed vast amounts pollution wide array local institutions including general motors michigan state university even local hospitals eg mercury pollution local hospitals refused release emergency room disease data local public health department including data hot spots african american asthma cases crisis also release hospitalbased iatrogenic data public health detailed thorough three reports produced guidance twelve member roundtable wellknown environmentalists government suppressed ordered never mention even 250000 expenses left government together roundtable member dave dempsey reports released public employees environmental responsibility peer national audience160 media response uneven tv station broadcast news though lansing sate journal article supported peers version events mckenna 2010 greater lansing doctors medical schools said nothing later newspaper article local journalist mckenna 2003 reflected fifteen reasons reports suppressed among reason number 9 attributing specific health outcomes environment would undermine entire medicalindustrial complex environmental health research radical proposition significant portion local diseases cancer heart disease asthma could attributed specific environmental toxics toxins given sites social order might turned upside massive monies shifted victims toxics via litigation legislation methods thats biomedicine dominant form medicine focuses biological pathology diagnosed fact pretty much ignores social psychological environmental etiologies illness disease social psychological factors recognized seldom reimbursable mckenna 2002 imagine local oncologists left clinics one day per week every week work citizens public education efforts polluting factories think power persuasion er physicians could bring local schools educating bike helmets car safety regular part job imagine dermatologists protested one day week front tanning salon worked bring sunscreen companies justice false advertising dont real money prevention great deal illness disease attributed local actors operating within larger circuits power actors expected antagonistic public health institutions citizen activists robert lynd wrote long ago middletown business men run average american town likely oppose expose effective public health administration lynd lynd 1929450160 public health work demonstrated business men often rest assured local governmental officials work hegemonic actors larger circuits power local public health administrators often willing ignore environmental threats censor suppress critical initiatives within bureaucracies doctors large truth real secrets modern medicine protected tradition groupthink system constructs punish inquiry selfexamination asserts physician david h newman important text hippocrates shadow secrets house medicine 2008160 embedded presumptions thought patters taught embrace indoctrination come rely secrets lies shape practice modern medicine newman 2008xvi doctors supposed teachers indoctrinated keep lock box tightly sealed make millions exploring diseased body body politic silences doctors serve guardians corruption pacifying local populace refusing convert private pains public issues goes beyond book democracy inc political theorist sheldon wolin argues united states verge becoming inverted totalitarian culture wolin 2008 unlike classic totalitarianism strong central control rigid citizen mobilization times represent political coming age corporate power political demobilization citizenry constant downsizing privatization outsourcing dismantling welfare state resulting state insecurity makes public feel helpless less likely become politically active argues biomedical system powerful force trend critical social scientists like anthropologists systematically excluded teachers practicing biomedical clinics unless md biomedical credential much critical research biomedicine medical approaches ignored mainstream practice160 freire said washing ones hands conflict powerful powerless means side powerful neutral critical medical anthropologists following examples paulo freire critical pedagogues like henry giroux never give project transform education create living democracy need conduct ethnographic investigations medical complaints schools towns communities link research submerged suppressed data social environmental etiologies local global must find creative ways convert emancipatory knowledge effective pedagogical tools civically engage calumnies local power brian mckenna lives michigan reached mckenna193aolcom version article originally published society applied anthropology newsletter vol 223 august 2011 tim wallace editor httpwwwsfaanetnewsletteraug11nlpdf160 references baer h singer eds 2008 killer commodities public health corporate production harm altamira brouwer steve 2011 revolutionary doctors venezuela cuba changing worlds conception health care new yorkmonthly review carter j md 1992 racketeering medicine suppression alternatives norfolk vahampton roads davis 2007 secret history war cancer new yorkbasic freire p 1970 pedagogy oppressed160 new york seabury press illich 1976 medical nemesis expropriation health new york bantam lynd robert 1939 knowledge place social science american culture princetonprinceton university press lynd robert helen merrell lynd 1929 middletown study american culture new yorkharcourt brace company mckenna brian 2011 press medical education siege critical pedagogy primary care making slave doctors international journal critical pedagogy 41 mckenna b 2010 take back medical education primary care shuffle invited editorial medical anthropology crosscultural perspectives illness health 261 614 mckenna b 2010 exposing environmental health deception government whistleblower turning critical ethnography public pedagogy policy futures education volume 8 number 1 2010 mckenna b 2003 green pediatrician ground published bimonthly ecology center ann arbor mi augustseptember pp 45622 mckenna b 2002 ingham county suppressed information ground ecology center january httpwwwecocenterorgnewslettersfromthegroundupdecember2001january2002whyinghamcountysuppressedinformation mckenna brian 2001 air quality asthma indicators ingham county michigan public employees environmental responsibility peer washington dc 62 pages october 31160 httpwwwpeerorgdocsmiingham_airpdf160 mckenna b 2001 food quality indicators ingham county michigan public employees environmental responsibility peer washington dc 20 pages september 26 mckenna b 2001 story water resources work ingham county michigan public employees environmental responsibility peer washington dc 130 pages september 19 httpwwwdocstoccomdocs49828633inghamcountymiastoryofsuppressionpart1 mckenna b 2000 ingham countys surface groundwater resources principle researcher ingham county health department december 2000 25 pages mendelsohn robert 1979 confessions medical heretic160 new york warner books saputo len md 2009 return healing radical health care reform future medicine san rafaelca origin press waitzkin howard 1991 politics medical encounters patients doctors deal social problems160 new yale wolin sheldon 2008 democracy inc managed democracy specter inverted totalitarianism princeton princeton university press | 1,613 |
<p>Thanks to Newt Gingrich’s loose lips, the cat is out of the bag: The Republican Party, answering the call of a large part of its following, will continue its subtle and not-so-subtle uses of the “race card.” Gingrich said during the health care debate that “much as Lyndon Johnson shattered the Democratic Party for 40 years” when Congress enacted civil rights legislation, President Barack Obama’s health care reform will prove as destructive. His audience needs no reminder of Republican divisiveness, but Gingrich, no stranger to distorting history, demands correction.</p>
<p>First, LBJ and his party, the anomalous home of Southern segregationist congressmen, never could have passed civil rights legislation without the herculean efforts of the late Sen. Everett Dirksen, R-Ill., and the late Rep. William McCulloch, R-Ohio, who led most of their party to enact bipartisan legislation. Appropriately, after a century of trimming, the Republican Party briefly returned to its anti-slavery and Reconstruction Era roots. Gingrich’s version of history cannot imagine what he considers improbable.</p>
<p>Second, the Democratic Party was not destroyed by its support for civil rights, but instead it gained some ideological clarity, and lost that segregationist base, which readily donned the proper Republican attire. Being a Republican in the South became a cover for racial attitudes that in no way could be suppressed or changed. The shift is captured in the recent movie “The Blind Side,” with its Christian, Southern setting, in which a prospective employee sheepishly reveals her dark secret — she’s a Democrat. Can anything be more ironic than a Republican “Lincoln Day” dinner in the South? The Republican Party of today, born in that 1960s moment, must be totally alien to its founders. Where are you, Sen. Dirksen, now that we need you?</p>
<p>Media pundits debate whether the Republican Party and the so-called tea party are one or two distinct entities. The former needs the latter for its opportunity to speak for “the people,” and tea partygoers have little choice but to be Republican Party fellow travelers.</p>
<p />
<p>More history is in order. The Supreme Court’s 1954 decision striking down segregation in Brown v. Board of Education is the watershed event for the next half century and beyond in our domestic life. Race became — and remains — a central, national issue. It serves as a political platform for those who advocate equality for all citizens, and it provides that useful instrument to play on prejudice for political gain. Racial equality is embraced within our constitutional framework in ways 180 degrees from what had been; nevertheless it also has left us with an increasingly alienated and emotionally distraught part of the populace, bereft of the once legally mandated system of apartheid.</p>
<p>Barack Obama’s election in 2008 for some signaled a new day — one eagerly grasped as proof of a “post-racial America.” Gingrich and his fellow Republican presidential wannabes know better. They know exactly what their followers mean when they scream and chant, “Take back our country.” They stir a dangerous pot of anger and hatred. Republican leaders can exploit the race card subtly, as they play to their supporters at health care “death sentence” rallies. Our memories are short. Witness Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, Obama’s Great White Hope for bipartisanship on health care reform, and his obscene remarks as he gave credibility to those protests, even though he knew better. Grassley appeared at white bread rallies, replete with obvious placards that denounced the president, and with racist innuendoes.</p>
<p>Innuendoes are gone; witness the recent protests at the Capitol by supposed tea party folks as they hurled racial epithets at congressmen as they approached to vote on health care. House Appropriations Committee Chair David Obey, D-Wis., merely was accused of illegitimate birth; Barney Frank, D-Mass., received the familiar homophobic remarks. Similar outbursts occurred in the chamber. The C-SPAN archives undoubtedly will prove useful to future historians. Unlike the networks’, the C-SPAN video was unedited and not vetted to remove “offensive” remarks.</p>
<p>If Obama now campaigns as vigorously for financial reforms as he has over the past year on behalf of health care, he again will face determined opposition. The lobbies opposing him will easily recruit shock troops of “ordinary” Americans, demanding to take back the country. Once again, their racial anger will animate them and fuel their hostility. Reining in the unbridled excesses of our banking and financial institutions is desirable public policy that will benefit the many, and only to the consternation of a few. Yet we can expect determined opposition from a mass that will benefit, however indirectly, from such reform. Nonetheless, they will bury their own interest in favor of their blind, unreasoning hatreds.</p>
<p>Race is the issue we will face for a long, foreseeable future. Obama’s election owed much to his mixed-race ancestry. He undoubtedly attracted a large number of new, younger voters, anxious to make a statement they thought worthy of America. Certainly, his election majority was multiracial — and that may be difficult to maintain. But we can look in vain to find a presidency that has encountered such ugly, virulent opposition within its first year as Obama’s. Even George W. Bush, winner of our most disputed election, encountered formidable opposition only when he led us to a war for obviously dubious reasons. Make no mistake: Race as an issue will not go away.</p>
<p>The media have obsessed on the 2010 midterm elections, and beyond to 2012. The Republican nominee will have a racist constituency he dare not disavow. All the more imperative that President Obama, who, in the health care run-up, looked and sounded like the 2008 candidate he was, return to that attractive, widely appealing form. Race will remain in our politics, but we can defeat the ambitions of those who embrace it to divide and cater to our worst instincts.</p>
<p>Stanley Kutler is the author of “The Wars of Watergate” and other writings.</p> | true | 4 | thanks newt gingrichs loose lips cat bag republican party answering call large part following continue subtle notsosubtle uses race card gingrich said health care debate much lyndon johnson shattered democratic party 40 years congress enacted civil rights legislation president barack obamas health care reform prove destructive audience needs reminder republican divisiveness gingrich stranger distorting history demands correction first lbj party anomalous home southern segregationist congressmen never could passed civil rights legislation without herculean efforts late sen everett dirksen rill late rep william mcculloch rohio led party enact bipartisan legislation appropriately century trimming republican party briefly returned antislavery reconstruction era roots gingrichs version history imagine considers improbable second democratic party destroyed support civil rights instead gained ideological clarity lost segregationist base readily donned proper republican attire republican south became cover racial attitudes way could suppressed changed shift captured recent movie blind side christian southern setting prospective employee sheepishly reveals dark secret shes democrat anything ironic republican lincoln day dinner south republican party today born 1960s moment must totally alien founders sen dirksen need media pundits debate whether republican party socalled tea party one two distinct entities former needs latter opportunity speak people tea partygoers little choice republican party fellow travelers history order supreme courts 1954 decision striking segregation brown v board education watershed event next half century beyond domestic life race became remains central national issue serves political platform advocate equality citizens provides useful instrument play prejudice political gain racial equality embraced within constitutional framework ways 180 degrees nevertheless also left us increasingly alienated emotionally distraught part populace bereft legally mandated system apartheid barack obamas election 2008 signaled new day one eagerly grasped proof postracial america gingrich fellow republican presidential wannabes know better know exactly followers mean scream chant take back country stir dangerous pot anger hatred republican leaders exploit race card subtly play supporters health care death sentence rallies memories short witness sen charles grassley riowa obamas great white hope bipartisanship health care reform obscene remarks gave credibility protests even though knew better grassley appeared white bread rallies replete obvious placards denounced president racist innuendoes innuendoes gone witness recent protests capitol supposed tea party folks hurled racial epithets congressmen approached vote health care house appropriations committee chair david obey dwis merely accused illegitimate birth barney frank dmass received familiar homophobic remarks similar outbursts occurred chamber cspan archives undoubtedly prove useful future historians unlike networks cspan video unedited vetted remove offensive remarks obama campaigns vigorously financial reforms past year behalf health care face determined opposition lobbies opposing easily recruit shock troops ordinary americans demanding take back country racial anger animate fuel hostility reining unbridled excesses banking financial institutions desirable public policy benefit many consternation yet expect determined opposition mass benefit however indirectly reform nonetheless bury interest favor blind unreasoning hatreds race issue face long foreseeable future obamas election owed much mixedrace ancestry undoubtedly attracted large number new younger voters anxious make statement thought worthy america certainly election majority multiracial may difficult maintain look vain find presidency encountered ugly virulent opposition within first year obamas even george w bush winner disputed election encountered formidable opposition led us war obviously dubious reasons make mistake race issue go away media obsessed 2010 midterm elections beyond 2012 republican nominee racist constituency dare disavow imperative president obama health care runup looked sounded like 2008 candidate return attractive widely appealing form race remain politics defeat ambitions embrace divide cater worst instincts stanley kutler author wars watergate writings | 570 |
<p>It is apparent that regardless of who is in power, conservative ideals are firmly entrenched not simply in the American psyche, but are an integral part of U.S. policies. One could blame liberals for not having a backbone when combating conservatives, but chances are that the real reason may be even more onerous; one likely explanation is governmental psychological warfare.</p>
<p>Why did Congress last week quietly approve almost another $100 billion for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars? Why are displaced Mexican migrants scapegoated for all the ills of U.S. society? Why does the United States escape blame for its insatiable thirst for drugs [in fueling the drug wars in Mexico]? Why is the United States always supposed to side with Israel, without ever having a debate? Why does “war as peace” continue to be U.S. policy?</p>
<p>With President Obama, things were supposed to be different; the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars were supposed to come to a screeching halt. Guantanamo would be immediately closed down and torture would unequivocally be denounced and those flouting U.S. and international laws would finally be held to account in a court of law.</p>
<p>Instead, we see vacillation or escalation on virtually every front. Just on economic grounds alone, one would think that shutting down both wars would be a no-brainer. So the question is logical; with Obama in the White House and Democrats in control of Congress, why do conservative ideals and policies – such as the right to permanent war – continue to be entrenched throughout the U.S. political landscape?</p>
<p>Most assuredly, the answer lies in the lies that this nation has swallowed as part of its national narrative. For example, several years ago, as I was finishing up my PhD studies, one of my professors was explaining how language and minds can be manipulated – simply by the words we employ and the order in which they are employed. Such a sophisticated process can pre-determine not only what we think and discuss, but when we do this. Who delivers the words and ideas can also influence how people will feel towards any given issue. One example is the use of Colin Powell [and his contrived account] to convince a skeptical world before the UN about the need to invade Iraq [Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld and Rice had zero credibility].</p>
<p>As the seminar professor was explaining this process, I raised my hand: “This sounds like psy-ops – like CIA work.”</p>
<p>At this, the professor laughed: “You must not be too familiar with our field. The great majority of all mass communications research is funded by the defense department.”</p>
<p>This confirmed what I had always suspected; this would explain how the Iraq War was sold – through an unquestioning media that simply acted liked stenographers – repeating complete fabrications, affirmed by “military experts” (in the employ of Defense contractors) that even grade school children could see through. Yet that would not have been enough to have convinced a skeptical public.</p>
<p>For such a special operation to work, fear, hate and ignorance had to be thrown into the mix, helping to advance the nonsensical argument that Iraq constituted a grave threat to the world. Yet, on the heels of the Cold War – in which the United States was pitted against a superpower that actually had a nuclear arsenal of thousands – Americans were supposed to be afraid of a country that, in effect, used slingshots as part of its air defense. While fear, hate and ignorance usually work in any society, all this was not enough to sell this war.</p>
<p>To sell the war – in fact, to sell the notion of a right to permanent worldwide war (The so-called War on Terror) – required bringing in three additional factors: God, hyper-nationalism and a “homeland.” If Bush could convince the public that God was siding with the United States against fanatical Arab/Muslim terrorists who were responsible for 9-11, then all that remained was to convince the public that it was their patriotic duty to support the president in this God-inspired civilizational war to protect the Fatherland against infidels. This civilizational Jihad or Crusade included warring against Iraq, a nation that had nothing to do with 9-11 and that had not ever been a threat to the United States (see Rumsfeld’s “religious” memos to Bush at this week’s GQ Issue at: <a href="http://men.style.com/gq/features/topsecret" type="external">http://men.style.com/gq/features/topsecret</a>)</p>
<p>This war – for the hearts and minds of Westerners – appears to have failed except amongst the FOX-TV-viewing public and its right-wing radio auxiliaries.</p>
<p>And yet, even with a change in administrations, conservative ideals and the conservative agenda continue to dominate the national agenda. Specifically, in regards to Iraq and Afghanistan – the wars continue and Dick Cheney and his ultra-conservative cohorts continue to dictate the nation’s political agenda. The reason: think psy-ops and think subterfuge. While we discuss the proprieties of torture and other enhanced interrogation techniques – we never get around to discussing illegal wars that have resulted in the deaths and maiming of tens of thousands and the displacement of millions. Within this context, we ignore the larger crimes against humanity by the Bush administration and instead debate whether torture works or not.</p>
<p>In a nation of laws – beyond a bad cliché, “going forward” – or not pursuing justice – has now become “conventional wisdom.” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi advanced this nonsensical conservative idea when she refused to hold impeachment hearings. In a poetic sense of justice, her strategy of “not looking back” is coming back to bite her.&#160; Rather than the architects of the criminal war being investigated, she now is on the hot seat. It is possible that this same “going forward” agenda – which has also been accepted by President Obama – may come back to derail the president’s seemingly naïve agenda.</p>
<p>ROBERTO RODRIGUEZ can be reached at: <a href="mailto:XColumn@gmail.com" type="external">XColumn@gmail.com</a></p> | true | 4 | apparent regardless power conservative ideals firmly entrenched simply american psyche integral part us policies one could blame liberals backbone combating conservatives chances real reason may even onerous one likely explanation governmental psychological warfare congress last week quietly approve almost another 100 billion iraq afghanistan wars displaced mexican migrants scapegoated ills us society united states escape blame insatiable thirst drugs fueling drug wars mexico united states always supposed side israel without ever debate war peace continue us policy president obama things supposed different iraq afghanistan wars supposed come screeching halt guantanamo would immediately closed torture would unequivocally denounced flouting us international laws would finally held account court law instead see vacillation escalation virtually every front economic grounds alone one would think shutting wars would nobrainer question logical obama white house democrats control congress conservative ideals policies right permanent war continue entrenched throughout us political landscape assuredly answer lies lies nation swallowed part national narrative example several years ago finishing phd studies one professors explaining language minds manipulated simply words employ order employed sophisticated process predetermine think discuss delivers words ideas also influence people feel towards given issue one example use colin powell contrived account convince skeptical world un need invade iraq bushcheneyrumsfeld rice zero credibility seminar professor explaining process raised hand sounds like psyops like cia work professor laughed must familiar field great majority mass communications research funded defense department confirmed always suspected would explain iraq war sold unquestioning media simply acted liked stenographers repeating complete fabrications affirmed military experts employ defense contractors even grade school children could see yet would enough convinced skeptical public special operation work fear hate ignorance thrown mix helping advance nonsensical argument iraq constituted grave threat world yet heels cold war united states pitted superpower actually nuclear arsenal thousands americans supposed afraid country effect used slingshots part air defense fear hate ignorance usually work society enough sell war sell war fact sell notion right permanent worldwide war socalled war terror required bringing three additional factors god hypernationalism homeland bush could convince public god siding united states fanatical arabmuslim terrorists responsible 911 remained convince public patriotic duty support president godinspired civilizational war protect fatherland infidels civilizational jihad crusade included warring iraq nation nothing 911 ever threat united states see rumsfelds religious memos bush weeks gq issue httpmenstylecomgqfeaturestopsecret war hearts minds westerners appears failed except amongst foxtvviewing public rightwing radio auxiliaries yet even change administrations conservative ideals conservative agenda continue dominate national agenda specifically regards iraq afghanistan wars continue dick cheney ultraconservative cohorts continue dictate nations political agenda reason think psyops think subterfuge discuss proprieties torture enhanced interrogation techniques never get around discussing illegal wars resulted deaths maiming tens thousands displacement millions within context ignore larger crimes humanity bush administration instead debate whether torture works nation laws beyond bad cliché going forward pursuing justice become conventional wisdom house speaker nancy pelosi advanced nonsensical conservative idea refused hold impeachment hearings poetic sense justice strategy looking back coming back bite her160 rather architects criminal war investigated hot seat possible going forward agenda also accepted president obama may come back derail presidents seemingly naïve agenda roberto rodriguez reached xcolumngmailcom | 518 |
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<p>Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders’s crusade to promote health education and awareness encompasses the “epidemic,” as she calls it, of gun violence. Frank and opinionated, she told us what Americans need to do–now.</p>
<p>Q: The National Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently said that gun-related deaths and injuries make gun violence one of the major public-health hazards in the country. Do you agree?</p>
<p>A: Yes, I do. Homicide, often involving guns, is a disease that is the leading cause of death for young black men, and the second-leading cause of death for all people aged fifteen to twenty-four. That makes it the leading health issue, particularly when guns are used in combination with drugs and alcohol. And the statistics show that is most often the case. Guns kill more teenagers than the other big killers–heart disease, cancer, and AIDS–combined.</p>
<p>Q: What does that tell you about America?</p>
<p>A: That tells me, first of all, that guns are far too accessible and too readily available. There are over 200 million guns in our society–and that’s just the legal ones, the ones we know about. Every ten seconds, another gun is produced. And every fourteen minutes, some person in America dies from gun-inflicted action.</p>
<p>Q: Your two predecessors, Doctors Koop and Novello, had good intentions as surgeons general. In Koop’s case, he was shunned by Reagan, who didn’t want to acknowledge AIDS. And one always felt that Novello’s heart was in the right place but that she never had George Bush’s ear. How do you intend to use your position?</p>
<p>A: I’ve pretty much always used my positions as a bully pulpit. What that means is strongly advocating for the things I feel are really important. Gun violence, to me, is the highest-priority public-health issue, and I have to make sure Congress is aware of it, the American people are aware of it, the president is aware of it, and that we all</p>
<p>begin together to develop policies to exterminate the disease–the epidemic, really–of gun violence.</p>
<p>One of my favorite sayings is, “When you’re dancing with a bear, you can’t get tired and sit down. You wait until the bear gets tired, then you sit down.” Now I want you to know that this old dancer is getting real tired, and I’m ready to recruit some new partners to dance with the bear so we can eliminate the horrors created by gun violence.</p>
<p>Q: Have you often spoken to the president about the gun-related health crisis? He’s mentioned it in several speeches when promoting his health-care package.</p>
<p>A: The president came into office pretty well educated about a lot of these issues. Don’t forget, I’d had five-and-a-half years to work on him (laughs).</p>
<p>Q: A recent National Rifle Association president said, “All guns are good guns. There are no bad guns. The whole nation should be an armed nation.” How do you handle that?</p>
<p>A: That’s a very irresponsible position. I don’t know how anybody can say that who looks at what’s happening to our young people and what’s happening to our country, all because of guns. The NRA is putting themselves in a position where people will no longer trust them. They’ve been trusted in the past, but now their credibility is on the line.</p>
<p>Who is the NRA anyway? They are usually middle-income people who only think of themselves, who want to have no government, really, except self-rule by themselves. I think that little cracks are starting to emerge in the NRA armor.</p>
<p>Q: When President Clinton presented his health-care bill, he proposed a seventy-five-cents-per-pack tax increase on cigarettes to help pay for the plan. Is it too much to equate the dangers of cigarettes and the dangers of guns by putting a hefty tax on handguns and bullets, as Senator Moynihan has proposed?</p>
<p>A: I absolutely would support that. I think we should have a very, very heavy tax on handguns and on bullets.</p>
<p>Q: Are you going to tell the president that?</p>
<p>A: I think he’s already heard that.</p>
<p>Q: Are you going to push him on it further?</p>
<p>A: Well, we’re going to work on that.</p>
<p>Q: I’ll take that as a yes, yes?</p>
<p>A: Understand that I can’t get out ahead of the president. Now, you have to realize that.</p>
<p>Q: Along the same lines, one of your predecessors, Luther Terry, pushed Congress to enact the first health warnings on cigarette packaging, wording that has gotten stronger in the years since. How about the same thing for guns? Something like, “Warning: keeping a gun in your home makes you three times more likely to become a homicide victim,” which is true.</p>
<p>A: I know it is. Certainly we have to find some kind of warning to put on guns for sale. And that’s not too far-fetched. But what I really want to do is take the guns out of the hands of irresponsible people.</p>
<p>Q: You want to make it harder to possess guns?</p>
<p>A: Oh, absolutely. I want to make it as hard as possible. I support a total ban on handgun ownership for anyone under eighteen. Uzis should be absolutely banned from entering this country. Automatic weapons of any kind should not be for sale in America. For that matter, toy Uzis should not be available for kids, either. There would be a minimum seven-day waiting period between applying for a gun permit and obtaining a gun.</p>
<p>Q: What’s the rush? Why not a month?</p>
<p>A: I’m being generous. We can always look at lengthening it later. Nobody with a criminal record would ever be allowed to buy a gun. All assault weapons would be banned, completely. And everybody who still possesses a gun license would receive mandatory education and training by professionals on how to handle a gun. After all, I can’t drive my car until I pass a test proving I know how to handle a car. Gun owners would have to be evaluated by how they scored on their written and firing tests, and have to pass the tests in order to own a gun. And I would, as I say, tax the guns, bullets, and the license itself very heavily.</p>
<p>Q: What can you, as surgeon general, do to help?</p>
<p>A: What I can do is to go out and talk about the problems and solutions, make people aware of the scope of the problems, get them to become advocates for a turnaround, and convince them to develop an action plan, targeted to their community, to deal with young people. [They need to] find out what the kids want to do–dances, midnight-basketball leagues.</p>
<p>We can begin to address the issue of guns by teaching our young people how to deal with situations in nonviolent ways. Someone said to me the other day, “What our adolescents need is not so much health care, but healthy caring,” and I agree. Parents and churches need to provide that. Curricula in our schools [need to] provide that.</p>
<p>Q: Isn’t that putting an awfully big burden on already shaky school systems?</p>
<p>A: If I had anyplace else to put it, I would. I feel that we can’t educate children who are not healthy, and we can’t keep them healthy if they’re not educated. There has to be a marriage between health and education. You can’t learn if your mind is full of unhealthy images from daily life and confusion about right and wrong.</p>
<p>Q: As a longtime advocate of early sex education and condom use for teenagers to reduce unwanted pregnancies, what do you believe is the relationship between unwanted children and gun-related violence?</p>
<p>A: We know that there are several predisposing factors to gun violence: poverty, lack of education, lack of good parenting, lack of jobs, living in an environment where violence is seen every day, all the time. And children being born to children are likely to have all of these predisposing factors.</p>
<p>Q: Did you ever think that your job would take you from dealing with only Arkansas’s problems to those of the entire nation?</p>
<p>A: No. Ten years ago, I had done everything that Joycelyn Elders ever thought she would do and wanted to do. I was a doctor, I was a professor, I’d been president of all the important academic clubs. [But now] my biggest challenge is to educate the American people, to make access to health care available for all, and to make sure that prevention plays a big part in health care. In the case of guns, prevention means we prevent homicides and devastating, expensive gun injuries by preventing those who shouldn’t have guns from getting their hands on guns. [We must] deal with all of the contributing factors to gun violence as a whole, because it’s like a leaky bucket–if you’ve got a bucket with six holes shot through it, [and] you plug up five, you’ve still got a leaky bucket.</p>
<p>Ken Kelley is a freelance writer for national magazines.</p>
<p /> | true | 4 | surgeon general joycelyn elderss crusade promote health education awareness encompasses epidemic calls gun violence frank opinionated told us americans need donow q national centers disease control prevention recently said gunrelated deaths injuries make gun violence one major publichealth hazards country agree yes homicide often involving guns disease leading cause death young black men secondleading cause death people aged fifteen twentyfour makes leading health issue particularly guns used combination drugs alcohol statistics show often case guns kill teenagers big killersheart disease cancer aidscombined q tell america tells first guns far accessible readily available 200 million guns societyand thats legal ones ones know every ten seconds another gun produced every fourteen minutes person america dies guninflicted action q two predecessors doctors koop novello good intentions surgeons general koops case shunned reagan didnt want acknowledge aids one always felt novellos heart right place never george bushs ear intend use position ive pretty much always used positions bully pulpit means strongly advocating things feel really important gun violence highestpriority publichealth issue make sure congress aware american people aware president aware begin together develop policies exterminate diseasethe epidemic reallyof gun violence one favorite sayings youre dancing bear cant get tired sit wait bear gets tired sit want know old dancer getting real tired im ready recruit new partners dance bear eliminate horrors created gun violence q often spoken president gunrelated health crisis hes mentioned several speeches promoting healthcare package president came office pretty well educated lot issues dont forget id fiveandahalf years work laughs q recent national rifle association president said guns good guns bad guns whole nation armed nation handle thats irresponsible position dont know anybody say looks whats happening young people whats happening country guns nra putting position people longer trust theyve trusted past credibility line nra anyway usually middleincome people think want government really except selfrule think little cracks starting emerge nra armor q president clinton presented healthcare bill proposed seventyfivecentsperpack tax increase cigarettes help pay plan much equate dangers cigarettes dangers guns putting hefty tax handguns bullets senator moynihan proposed absolutely would support think heavy tax handguns bullets q going tell president think hes already heard q going push well going work q ill take yes yes understand cant get ahead president realize q along lines one predecessors luther terry pushed congress enact first health warnings cigarette packaging wording gotten stronger years since thing guns something like warning keeping gun home makes three times likely become homicide victim true know certainly find kind warning put guns sale thats farfetched really want take guns hands irresponsible people q want make harder possess guns oh absolutely want make hard possible support total ban handgun ownership anyone eighteen uzis absolutely banned entering country automatic weapons kind sale america matter toy uzis available kids either would minimum sevenday waiting period applying gun permit obtaining gun q whats rush month im generous always look lengthening later nobody criminal record would ever allowed buy gun assault weapons would banned completely everybody still possesses gun license would receive mandatory education training professionals handle gun cant drive car pass test proving know handle car gun owners would evaluated scored written firing tests pass tests order gun would say tax guns bullets license heavily q surgeon general help go talk problems solutions make people aware scope problems get become advocates turnaround convince develop action plan targeted community deal young people need find kids want dodances midnightbasketball leagues begin address issue guns teaching young people deal situations nonviolent ways someone said day adolescents need much health care healthy caring agree parents churches need provide curricula schools need provide q isnt putting awfully big burden already shaky school systems anyplace else put would feel cant educate children healthy cant keep healthy theyre educated marriage health education cant learn mind full unhealthy images daily life confusion right wrong q longtime advocate early sex education condom use teenagers reduce unwanted pregnancies believe relationship unwanted children gunrelated violence know several predisposing factors gun violence poverty lack education lack good parenting lack jobs living environment violence seen every day time children born children likely predisposing factors q ever think job would take dealing arkansass problems entire nation ten years ago done everything joycelyn elders ever thought would wanted doctor professor id president important academic clubs biggest challenge educate american people make access health care available make sure prevention plays big part health care case guns prevention means prevent homicides devastating expensive gun injuries preventing shouldnt guns getting hands guns must deal contributing factors gun violence whole like leaky bucketif youve got bucket six holes shot plug five youve still got leaky bucket ken kelley freelance writer national magazines | 772 |
<p>Egypt has been suffering from an exceptionally hot summer, with record temperatures observed all over the country. The “terrible heat wave” mantra, thus, grew to become what is probably the most pressing issue in Egypt today. The advent of Ramadan obviously could only but emphasize this problem more, as people now have to fast through long and exceptionally hot summer days.</p>
<p>Naturally none of this is unique to Egypt: the entire region suffers the same heat wave. But unlike its neighbours Egypt has been suffering also from long, systematic, nationwide power cuts. Facing sudden shortages in the country’s electric generation capacity, the authorities began to reduce demand by cutting power off entire neighborhoods and cities for a while everyday: an hour if you’re lucky, 8-10 when you’re not. In several cases the cuts spanned entire cities and governorates for whole days. The fact that these outages combined all too often with water cuts highlighted the state’s failure—the latter resulting mostly <a href="http://www.almasryalyoum.com/en/news/power-and-water-cuts-across-egypt-provoke-anger" type="external">from cutting the electric power that runs the water network</a>, and to a lesser extent from accidental pipeline breaks. In either case, these cuts intertwined to undermine the already precarious legitimacy of the state.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, wildfires suddenly erupted in Russia and destroyed large tracts of its wheat crop, prompting the Russian government to halt its wheat exports. This bore grave consequences for Egypt, as years of twisted agricultural policies have already made it the world’s largest importer of wheat, and is especially dependant on Russian wheat. With only four months’ supply on its hands, the government hastily went shopping for other sources. Although they finally landed on alternative suppliers, by the time they had done so speculators had already taken advantage of a growing <a href="http://www.aljazeera.net/NR/EXERES/C17C6EE9-9F73-4BA9-BF9C-88EAB14C89A4.htm" type="external">“wheat crisis”</a> to raise the prices of un-subsidized bread, sometimes by 50%. The wheat crisis then led to a bread crisis, and that, in turn, <a href="http://www.almasry-alyoum.com/article2.aspx?ArticleID=265823" type="external">revived the infamous bread queues</a>, which already claimed one man dead. The “wheat crisis” also pushed the prices of other food items up, all merging <a href="http://www.shorouknews.com/ContentData.aspx?id=273642" type="external">to exacerbate the already heavily strained Ramadan budget</a>.</p>
<p>It is difficult to understate the social resonance of this failure in a state that prides itself on its supposed infrastructural “achievements.” State pedagogy never tires from preaching that Hosni Mubarak’s wisdom has averted the useless wars that other Arabs never avoid. This, the story goes, is what allowed Egypt to focus on building itself and attain the many infrastructural “achievements” that we now supposedly enjoy. In this narrative Mubarak’s wisdom manifests itself mostly, if not solely, in his “great” infrastructure developments. In addition to justifying the state’s position vis-à-vis the Arab-Israeli conflict, this story has also become a central justification for the “wise” dictatorship that governs Egypt.</p>
<p>If anything, the regime’s historical brag about its infrastructure “accomplishments” to justify its colonial alliances only accentuates it current failure, which people now locate in its electricity failures. The irony here comes out most vividly on comparing Egypt to its neighbours. Evidently the same month-long “heat wave” resulted in record electricity demands in other countries in the region too. Yet, the only other cases that suffered from comparably substantial problems—actually, much more severe—are Iraq and Gaza, both under occupation. Needless to say, the current electricity situation in Iraq and Palestine is the product of decades long of systematic and deliberate efforts to destroy them by the strongest colonial forces on the face of this planet. By contrast, Egypt is a “strategic” ally, in fact doll, of the very forces that continue to destroy Palestine and Iraq. Ironically, Egypt joined this alliance for exactly the same type of “gains” that are now so scandalously failing; more ironically, to avoid the fate of Palestine and Iraq. In this way, the Egyptian regime appears to have attained its current electricity failure against every bit of colonial justification that it has been preaching for decades.</p>
<p>Ramadan is a month of high consumption. It witnesses the biggest sales of most food and recreational products. It’s also the time when people are fasting and impatient. They generally work less, rest in the afternoons, have iftar (break the fast) with their extended families, watch TV a lot, go out after iftar—all with great intensity. Besides, it’s also an expensive month, as middle-class families support much higher consumption behaviours. But suddenly they are required to fast without electric power amidst the melting heat and rising prices. On the domestic side that meant no cooling facitilies, TVs, and often no water too. That makes a very different and certainly difficult Ramadan. Understandably, then, these outages drove middle-class people nuts. Their immense anger and disappointment evolved directly from the bodily discomforts that they now have to suffer, which means that the state cannot just sweet-talk it away. It is no wonder thus that the failure remained front-page material in the press and TV shows for weeks now, as a sign of Egypt’s return to the so-called “middle ages.” Such deterioration also became the main topic for extended families’ chats over iftar, always cursing the state. Moreover, it provoked people to take the street, sometimes sitting in and stopping traffic by force.</p>
<p>The economic loss that resulted from these cuts is yet another colossal aspect of our failure story. Unfortunately we don’t know its full extent yet: the media has been too obsessed with the social anger part of the story to give it the attention it deserves. Nevertheless, the sporadic coverage that we have suggests that these cuts forced perhaps tens of thousands of economic enterprises to shutdown for long durations, sometime with grave consequences to their production machinery. One report said that in the neighborhood of Shubra alone <a href="" type="internal">1200 factories were forced to shutdown</a> for three hours in only one day. The governor of Shubra has put the shutdown losses of these factories <a href="" type="internal">at 200 million pounds</a> (a bit less than $40 million) for that one day. Another report said that two weeks of these cuts have cost the Aluminum factory of Naga Hmadi alone a loss of <a href="" type="internal">almost 400 million pounds</a> ($80 million). It is hence safe to say that we are talking here about a gigantic national loss on a multi-billion dollar scale.</p>
<p>The government’s first explanation for this failure blamed it on increased consumption: the heat caused a sudden unwieldy rise in demand for electric power that surpassed the national generation capacity. This increased demand was, in turn, blamed on air-conditioners to build sympathy with the state’s dilemma by associating the root of the problem to extravagant behaviour. But these arguments –which ultimately condemn state planning- didn’t sell well. The state also made sure to drop its favourite population line along the way, which basically blames population increase for eating up all of the country’s natural resources. Egyptians are here to blame because they have too many children. Again, this decades-old argument doesn’t hold water. Egypt’s population growth is relatively small compared to most countries in the region, and more importantly lies well below its GDP—the “extra” people should have been easily more than covered.</p>
<p>The state’s original storyline only provoked the press to search for more-convincing explanations for this mess. In one case the Shorouk reported that the factories of the steel magnate Ahmad Ezz alone <a href="http://www.shorouknews.com/ContentData.aspx?id=282822&amp;terms=%D8%B9%D8%B2+%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%83%D9%87%D8%B1%D8%A8%D8%A7%D8%A1" type="external">consume 17% the country’s electricity subsidies</a>. Surely you can imagine the resonance of discovering that Ezz, Gamal Mubarak’s right hand and possibly business partner, consumes the biggest share of the electricity that has suddenly been denied to everyone. It means that Ezz’ growth is somehow implicated in causing this mess, not population growth as they claim.</p>
<p>On 17 August, the Holding Company for Electricity issued a statement that put an end to this speculation: the collapse resulted from a big shortage in the gas delivered to the electric generation units. <a href="http://www.shorouknews.com/ContentData.aspx?id=284476" type="external">According to the statement</a>, most of Egypt’s power stations are designed to operate with natural gas as primary fuel and diesel as reserve fuel. Until recently they operated at 98 percent gas, as they should. But the ministry of petroleum gradually held back their gas until it dropped to 76%. This forced them to operate with the suboptimal diesel much more than they should, which reduced their generation efficiency below national demand. Using diesel also clogs their gas-based fuel injection system frequently, resulting in many breakdowns. It’s quite certain too that using diesel instead of gas has reduced the lifetime of their generation equipment; they probably destroyed a good part of their assets’ life and worth. While no one talks about this last point, the damage to the power generation machinery is probably to be measured in billions of dollars.</p>
<p>This is how the Ministry of Electricity finally cleared its name, which only begged the question, why is the ministry of petroleum withholding the needed gas? (Note that we are talking about home pumped gas here). A senior official in the ministry of electricity then explained that the ministry of petroleum started withholding their gas <a href="http://www.shorouknews.com/ContentData.aspx?id=284476" type="external">when it started exporting gas to Israel</a>. In other words, Egypt has been withholding the gas marked for electric generation to give it Israel, to the extent that it compromised its electricity system, economy, and the welfare of its people so much. Such was obviously <a href="" type="internal">very embarrassing news</a>. Thus Mubarak responded by holding an emergency meeting with the ministers of electricity and petroleum the very next morning. He instructed them to solve this problem at once <a href="" type="internal">without touching Egypt’s “international obligations” and “the needs of the Egyptian citizen.”</a> This is another way of saying: solve it without touching Israel’s gas deliveries—“how?” is the question.</p>
<p>The following day the ministry of irrigation started <a href="http://www.shorouknews.com/ContentData.aspx?id=284644" type="external">releasing 35 million cubic-meters of water more than scheduled</a> for that time of the year from Lake Nasser. That way they’d generate more electricity from the High Dam without consuming gas. But this also means depleting Egypt’ strategic water reserve. Such is a very sad development given the grave sacrifices that went into saving this water. One immediately recalls the 1956 tripartite war that Britain, France, and Israel launched on Egypt when Nasser nationalised the Suez Canal to build the High Dam that now saves this water; the massive national resources that went into building it; the forced migration of the Nubian villages to make space for the lake; and more. Put succinctly, every drop of this water came at a huge national cost. In light of this, dispensing with it to avoid withholding Israel’s gas share is a big insult to Egypt’s national history—not only because of the cost that went into saving it, but also because of the party that it’s being wasted for.</p>
<p>More recently, for almost a year now Egypt has been facing <a href="" type="internal">a big rebellion from Nile basin countries</a>, which demand redistributing the Nile water in ways that will highly reduce Egypt’s share of it. They have actually set up a treaty for that end that Egypt and Sudan refused to sign. Granting their legitimate needs, this rebellion came with much Israeli intervention and influence. So soon after signing this treaty we see Israel offering to help Egypt overcome the rebellion that it instigated, in exchange for a share of Egypt’s water. In other words, Israel has been manipulating Nile basin countries to blackmail Egypt for a cut of its water. In response to Israel’s offer President Mubarak declared, “The Nile will never leave Egypt.” This was generally portrayed as a strong response by a regime that values and defends its water. Meanwhile, the regime began to invest more in reviving its image as the guardian of this water. Hence, they started boasting about the water savings that they made by, for example, cutting down rice plantation (high water consumption crop). Then, by twist of sad irony, we see the same state very willing to waste the very water that Israel is trying to kidnap to stay exporting gas to Israel.</p>
<p>And there is more to this sad irony. At first, the ministry of irrigation tried not to waste the water in this way. So they opened the High Dam to release the extra water but closed the Aswan Reservoir-Dam to collect the same water behind it. This raised the water level between the two dams to a level that <a href="" type="internal">could have compromised the High Dam’s turbines</a>. It took some serious emergency work to readjust the water to a safe level again. Since then we stopped hearing about attempts to save the water.</p>
<p>Seeking to reduce to the gravity of the scandal, the minister of petroleum tried to market an alternative explanation for this crisis. He proposed that gas deliveries to the power stations dropped because the heat reduced the efficiency of gas the pumping stations. It was the joke of town, of course, because the same heat failed to affect the pumping to Israel. The following day the press said that the ministry of petroleum finally decided to increase its gas deliveries to the power stations <a href="" type="internal">by reducing the quantities marked for the private sector and export to Jordan</a>. Although Jordan pays much more for the gas, Israel remained untouchable. Nonetheless, at the end they didn’t even honour this solution, as the ministry of electricity stated that the gas never came. So we are now back to square one: electricity cuts and their associated costs are still on. Sadly this is how far Egypt is willing to avoid even reducing its gas exports to Israel.</p>
<p>Noteworthy here is that Egypt is not so determined to export its gas to Israel because of some profit incentive: ditching highly subsidized local sales for foreign currency market prices. To the contrary, Egypt loses a lot of money on its gas sales to Israel. Initially <a href="" type="internal">the 2005 gas treaty between Egypt and Israel</a> required Egypt to supply Israel with 200 million feet of gas daily for the following15 years at a price that <a href="" type="internal">“ranges between 70 cents and $1.5 per BTU (British thermal unit),”</a> to be fixed throughout the treaty’s lifetime. So we’re selling this gas at a tiny fraction of its market price, which ranges between $8-$12 per BTU. To be exact, the government refuses to declare its selling prices to date. We know about them from leaked documents and the famous court case that former ambassador Ibrahim Yusri filed to cancel this capitulation treaty, which exposed much of its dirty linen.</p>
<p>Yusri based his case on roughly two main points. The first was that Egypt was selling its gas at a much lower than market price, adding up to an annual subsidy to Israel of roughly $5 billion. Shocking as it may sound, the government signed this deal at the time when it was reducing energy subsidies in Egypt. Yusri’s second point was that Egypt’s gas reserves are too limited to accommodate such exports without compromising local needs in the imminent future. We now know that he was right on this point too. In the end, the Administrative court upheld the state’s right to export gas to Israel but ruled the treaty illegal on the basis of its ridiculous pricing mechanism, but the state never honour the ruling. Where Egypt to end up importing gas to cover its growing local needs, it will shamefully buy it at about $10 a BTU to sell it to Israel at $1.5, or even 70 cents.</p>
<p>There’s one more feature of this agreement that analysts seldom stop at. The Egyptian side had initially designed it as a business deal between a private company created for this purpose and its Israeli clients, but former Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon refused to have it unless the Egyptian government guaranteed it in person. The Egyptian government rejected this at first but eventually succumbed to Sharon’s conditions. As such, “honouring” this treaty is now the direct responsibility of the Egyptian state, not the export company. This might partly explain why the regime is willing to accept all of the costs above to avoid touching Israel’s gas share; remember that we are talking about a regime that has a long history of dealing with its colonial treaties in very legalistic ways.</p>
<p>The opposition here offered many explanations as to why the Egyptian regime fell so low, which range from corruption to all sorts of conspiracy theories. Two of them are worth noting here. The first sees the treaty as part of a general Egyptian strategy to heat up Egypt’s cold relationship with Israel in order to improve its ties with Washington. Remember that they signed it in 2005. Hence, it was probably envisioned as an idea for the first time in maybe 2004, or late 2003—that is, at the peak of Bush’s belligerence in the region, which forced most Arab regimes to appease Washington in everyway possible. Recall, for example, how the Saudis donated $50 million for the London Zoo to bring London on its side, or more seriously, their Arab Peace Initiative—both coming months after September 11. In this vein, this treaty and its siblings become gifts of good intentions from a scared client-regime to avert the wrath of its irrational overlord.</p>
<p>The second explanation focuses more on developments within Egypt. Back then, Gamal Mubarak had just emerged as a power to be reckoned with, forming with his clique of business tycoons what the press dubbed the “new guards,” which replaced the symbols of the “old guards” –Hosni Mubarak’s “men”- within most of the influential institutions (except the security apparatus.) It was his “new guards” that negotiated and signed the capitulation treaties that were sealed with Israel then, including our gas treaty. To be exact, these treaties were among the very first things that they undertook. Their network of business friends and acquaintances also happen to be the main, if not sole, beneficiaries of warmer relations with Israel. This is quite clear in the main beneficiaries of the QIZ treaty, signed a year before the gas agreement. Seen as such, these treaties become Gamal Mubarak’s dowry for Presidency—paid to Israel to appease Washington, and also to serve his camp with new business opportunities. Such is currently the most widespread interpretation for this treaty among Egyptian opposition. And there is no reason why it cannot be harmonised with the previous one.</p>
<p>It’s thus ironic to see Gamal Mubarak’s fans launching his first succession campaign at the backdrop of the power cuts. The more we knew about the scandalous outcomes of this treaty, the more Gamal Mubarak Presidency campaigns we got. We now have at least three of them, all competing with each other. Roughly one came out when the power cuts was about increased consumption, another when they were linked to Israel, and a third when the Nile water was wasted.</p>
<p>This campaign has been thus far enigmatic; no one knows who lies behind it. The <a href="http://www.almasry-alyoum.com/article2.aspx?ArticleID=266337" type="external">one name that was mentioned</a> as its donor is Ibrahim Kamel. Although <a href="" type="internal">Kamel denied these reports</a>, he remains its main symbol. He is the only party official (a senior member in the Policies Committee of the ruling party: the platform that Gamal Mubarak heads and uses to wield political power in Egypt), actually the only official of any sort, to declare that Gamal Mubarak will be the ruling party’s nominee for the next elections. He <a href="http://www.almasry-alyoum.com/article2.aspx?ArticleID=261365" type="external">declared it in a press interview</a> weeks before launching the first campaign; then <a href="http://www.almasry-alyoum.com/article2.aspx?ArticleID=264931" type="external">reiterated it</a> in a talk-show two weeks after it was launched. Thus, whether he funded it or not he remains its main symbol.</p>
<p>Kamel is a billionaire who operates in many industries, also <a href="" type="internal">Gamal Mubarak’s business partner</a>. Moreover, he is the main businessman dealing with Israel in Egypt. His dealings go well beyond the known trade-based normalisation to investing in Israeli firms and partnering with Israeli businessmen in Egypt. In short, he’s an icon of normalization and has benefited personally from Egypt’s relations with Israel.</p>
<p>Thus, the dowry story makes a full circle: the emergence of the Gamal Mubarak camp leads to striking several deals with Israel; the business members of this camp benefit from these deals; eventually the gas deal blows its cover and causes extreme hardship in Egypt; while the camp that benefits most from deals with Israel is pushing for Gamal Mubarak’s presidency; then the hardship caused by this collapse occupies the minds of the people to the extent that they cannot follow any circles. Thus ends the circle.</p>
<p>The Egyptian regime has obviously gone very far for the love of Israel here—and guess what? It worked as it was designed to. Israel has just <a href="http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Article.aspx?ID=185218" type="external">attained record electricity use levels</a> because the “heat wave” that wreaked havoc on Egypt pushed Israel’s electricity consumption up too. In their case the increased demand went smoothly without any of the loss and agony that Egypt experienced. Clearly that is to be expected from a country with such secured fuel supply—so secured that no one dares touch it. Still, there were a few gas issues that Israel pondered on during our story period. For reasons that I don’t quite know, the Israeli government wanted to raise the retail price of natural gas. This angered some Israelis who took the street to protest the price hike. Outrageous as this may sound, <a href="http://www.youm7.com/News.asp?NewsID=263899" type="external">they protested this endeavour by waiving Egyptian flags</a>. It’s unclear why they did so, for the Egyptian press sufficed with <a href="http://www.youm7.com/News.asp?NewsID=263899" type="external">publishing their photos while waving the flags</a>. Nevertheless, it shows that our flag has become a symbol of cheap gas in the Israel—very cheap, I must add.</p>
<p>MOHAMED WAKED is an anthropologist and PhD candidate at the University of Amsterdam. He can be reached at: <a href="mailto:mohamed.waked@gmail.com" type="external">mohamed.waked@gmail.com</a>.</p> | true | 4 | egypt suffering exceptionally hot summer record temperatures observed country terrible heat wave mantra thus grew become probably pressing issue egypt today advent ramadan obviously could emphasize problem people fast long exceptionally hot summer days naturally none unique egypt entire region suffers heat wave unlike neighbours egypt suffering also long systematic nationwide power cuts facing sudden shortages countrys electric generation capacity authorities began reduce demand cutting power entire neighborhoods cities everyday hour youre lucky 810 youre several cases cuts spanned entire cities governorates whole days fact outages combined often water cuts highlighted states failurethe latter resulting mostly cutting electric power runs water network lesser extent accidental pipeline breaks either case cuts intertwined undermine already precarious legitimacy state meanwhile wildfires suddenly erupted russia destroyed large tracts wheat crop prompting russian government halt wheat exports bore grave consequences egypt years twisted agricultural policies already made worlds largest importer wheat especially dependant russian wheat four months supply hands government hastily went shopping sources although finally landed alternative suppliers time done speculators already taken advantage growing wheat crisis raise prices unsubsidized bread sometimes 50 wheat crisis led bread crisis turn revived infamous bread queues already claimed one man dead wheat crisis also pushed prices food items merging exacerbate already heavily strained ramadan budget difficult understate social resonance failure state prides supposed infrastructural achievements state pedagogy never tires preaching hosni mubaraks wisdom averted useless wars arabs never avoid story goes allowed egypt focus building attain many infrastructural achievements supposedly enjoy narrative mubaraks wisdom manifests mostly solely great infrastructure developments addition justifying states position visàvis arabisraeli conflict story also become central justification wise dictatorship governs egypt anything regimes historical brag infrastructure accomplishments justify colonial alliances accentuates current failure people locate electricity failures irony comes vividly comparing egypt neighbours evidently monthlong heat wave resulted record electricity demands countries region yet cases suffered comparably substantial problemsactually much severeare iraq gaza occupation needless say current electricity situation iraq palestine product decades long systematic deliberate efforts destroy strongest colonial forces face planet contrast egypt strategic ally fact doll forces continue destroy palestine iraq ironically egypt joined alliance exactly type gains scandalously failing ironically avoid fate palestine iraq way egyptian regime appears attained current electricity failure every bit colonial justification preaching decades ramadan month high consumption witnesses biggest sales food recreational products also time people fasting impatient generally work less rest afternoons iftar break fast extended families watch tv lot go iftarall great intensity besides also expensive month middleclass families support much higher consumption behaviours suddenly required fast without electric power amidst melting heat rising prices domestic side meant cooling facitilies tvs often water makes different certainly difficult ramadan understandably outages drove middleclass people nuts immense anger disappointment evolved directly bodily discomforts suffer means state sweettalk away wonder thus failure remained frontpage material press tv shows weeks sign egypts return socalled middle ages deterioration also became main topic extended families chats iftar always cursing state moreover provoked people take street sometimes sitting stopping traffic force economic loss resulted cuts yet another colossal aspect failure story unfortunately dont know full extent yet media obsessed social anger part story give attention deserves nevertheless sporadic coverage suggests cuts forced perhaps tens thousands economic enterprises shutdown long durations sometime grave consequences production machinery one report said neighborhood shubra alone 1200 factories forced shutdown three hours one day governor shubra put shutdown losses factories 200 million pounds bit less 40 million one day another report said two weeks cuts cost aluminum factory naga hmadi alone loss almost 400 million pounds 80 million hence safe say talking gigantic national loss multibillion dollar scale governments first explanation failure blamed increased consumption heat caused sudden unwieldy rise demand electric power surpassed national generation capacity increased demand turn blamed airconditioners build sympathy states dilemma associating root problem extravagant behaviour arguments ultimately condemn state planning didnt sell well state also made sure drop favourite population line along way basically blames population increase eating countrys natural resources egyptians blame many children decadesold argument doesnt hold water egypts population growth relatively small compared countries region importantly lies well gdpthe extra people easily covered states original storyline provoked press search moreconvincing explanations mess one case shorouk reported factories steel magnate ahmad ezz alone consume 17 countrys electricity subsidies surely imagine resonance discovering ezz gamal mubaraks right hand possibly business partner consumes biggest share electricity suddenly denied everyone means ezz growth somehow implicated causing mess population growth claim 17 august holding company electricity issued statement put end speculation collapse resulted big shortage gas delivered electric generation units according statement egypts power stations designed operate natural gas primary fuel diesel reserve fuel recently operated 98 percent gas ministry petroleum gradually held back gas dropped 76 forced operate suboptimal diesel much reduced generation efficiency national demand using diesel also clogs gasbased fuel injection system frequently resulting many breakdowns quite certain using diesel instead gas reduced lifetime generation equipment probably destroyed good part assets life worth one talks last point damage power generation machinery probably measured billions dollars ministry electricity finally cleared name begged question ministry petroleum withholding needed gas note talking home pumped gas senior official ministry electricity explained ministry petroleum started withholding gas started exporting gas israel words egypt withholding gas marked electric generation give israel extent compromised electricity system economy welfare people much obviously embarrassing news thus mubarak responded holding emergency meeting ministers electricity petroleum next morning instructed solve problem without touching egypts international obligations needs egyptian citizen another way saying solve without touching israels gas deliverieshow question following day ministry irrigation started releasing 35 million cubicmeters water scheduled time year lake nasser way theyd generate electricity high dam without consuming gas also means depleting egypt strategic water reserve sad development given grave sacrifices went saving water one immediately recalls 1956 tripartite war britain france israel launched egypt nasser nationalised suez canal build high dam saves water massive national resources went building forced migration nubian villages make space lake put succinctly every drop water came huge national cost light dispensing avoid withholding israels gas share big insult egypts national historynot cost went saving also party wasted recently almost year egypt facing big rebellion nile basin countries demand redistributing nile water ways highly reduce egypts share actually set treaty end egypt sudan refused sign granting legitimate needs rebellion came much israeli intervention influence soon signing treaty see israel offering help egypt overcome rebellion instigated exchange share egypts water words israel manipulating nile basin countries blackmail egypt cut water response israels offer president mubarak declared nile never leave egypt generally portrayed strong response regime values defends water meanwhile regime began invest reviving image guardian water hence started boasting water savings made example cutting rice plantation high water consumption crop twist sad irony see state willing waste water israel trying kidnap stay exporting gas israel sad irony first ministry irrigation tried waste water way opened high dam release extra water closed aswan reservoirdam collect water behind raised water level two dams level could compromised high dams turbines took serious emergency work readjust water safe level since stopped hearing attempts save water seeking reduce gravity scandal minister petroleum tried market alternative explanation crisis proposed gas deliveries power stations dropped heat reduced efficiency gas pumping stations joke town course heat failed affect pumping israel following day press said ministry petroleum finally decided increase gas deliveries power stations reducing quantities marked private sector export jordan although jordan pays much gas israel remained untouchable nonetheless end didnt even honour solution ministry electricity stated gas never came back square one electricity cuts associated costs still sadly far egypt willing avoid even reducing gas exports israel noteworthy egypt determined export gas israel profit incentive ditching highly subsidized local sales foreign currency market prices contrary egypt loses lot money gas sales israel initially 2005 gas treaty egypt israel required egypt supply israel 200 million feet gas daily following15 years price ranges 70 cents 15 per btu british thermal unit fixed throughout treatys lifetime selling gas tiny fraction market price ranges 812 per btu exact government refuses declare selling prices date know leaked documents famous court case former ambassador ibrahim yusri filed cancel capitulation treaty exposed much dirty linen yusri based case roughly two main points first egypt selling gas much lower market price adding annual subsidy israel roughly 5 billion shocking may sound government signed deal time reducing energy subsidies egypt yusris second point egypts gas reserves limited accommodate exports without compromising local needs imminent future know right point end administrative court upheld states right export gas israel ruled treaty illegal basis ridiculous pricing mechanism state never honour ruling egypt end importing gas cover growing local needs shamefully buy 10 btu sell israel 15 even 70 cents theres one feature agreement analysts seldom stop egyptian side initially designed business deal private company created purpose israeli clients former israeli prime minister ariel sharon refused unless egyptian government guaranteed person egyptian government rejected first eventually succumbed sharons conditions honouring treaty direct responsibility egyptian state export company might partly explain regime willing accept costs avoid touching israels gas share remember talking regime long history dealing colonial treaties legalistic ways opposition offered many explanations egyptian regime fell low range corruption sorts conspiracy theories two worth noting first sees treaty part general egyptian strategy heat egypts cold relationship israel order improve ties washington remember signed 2005 hence probably envisioned idea first time maybe 2004 late 2003that peak bushs belligerence region forced arab regimes appease washington everyway possible recall example saudis donated 50 million london zoo bring london side seriously arab peace initiativeboth coming months september 11 vein treaty siblings become gifts good intentions scared clientregime avert wrath irrational overlord second explanation focuses developments within egypt back gamal mubarak emerged power reckoned forming clique business tycoons press dubbed new guards replaced symbols old guards hosni mubaraks men within influential institutions except security apparatus new guards negotiated signed capitulation treaties sealed israel including gas treaty exact treaties among first things undertook network business friends acquaintances also happen main sole beneficiaries warmer relations israel quite clear main beneficiaries qiz treaty signed year gas agreement seen treaties become gamal mubaraks dowry presidencypaid israel appease washington also serve camp new business opportunities currently widespread interpretation treaty among egyptian opposition reason harmonised previous one thus ironic see gamal mubaraks fans launching first succession campaign backdrop power cuts knew scandalous outcomes treaty gamal mubarak presidency campaigns got least three competing roughly one came power cuts increased consumption another linked israel third nile water wasted campaign thus far enigmatic one knows lies behind one name mentioned donor ibrahim kamel although kamel denied reports remains main symbol party official senior member policies committee ruling party platform gamal mubarak heads uses wield political power egypt actually official sort declare gamal mubarak ruling partys nominee next elections declared press interview weeks launching first campaign reiterated talkshow two weeks launched thus whether funded remains main symbol kamel billionaire operates many industries also gamal mubaraks business partner moreover main businessman dealing israel egypt dealings go well beyond known tradebased normalisation investing israeli firms partnering israeli businessmen egypt short hes icon normalization benefited personally egypts relations israel thus dowry story makes full circle emergence gamal mubarak camp leads striking several deals israel business members camp benefit deals eventually gas deal blows cover causes extreme hardship egypt camp benefits deals israel pushing gamal mubaraks presidency hardship caused collapse occupies minds people extent follow circles thus ends circle egyptian regime obviously gone far love israel hereand guess worked designed israel attained record electricity use levels heat wave wreaked havoc egypt pushed israels electricity consumption case increased demand went smoothly without loss agony egypt experienced clearly expected country secured fuel supplyso secured one dares touch still gas issues israel pondered story period reasons dont quite know israeli government wanted raise retail price natural gas angered israelis took street protest price hike outrageous may sound protested endeavour waiving egyptian flags unclear egyptian press sufficed publishing photos waving flags nevertheless shows flag become symbol cheap gas israelvery cheap must add mohamed waked anthropologist phd candidate university amsterdam reached mohamedwakedgmailcom | 1,999 |
<p>Leo Panitch is the Senior Scholar and Emeritus Professor of Political Science at York University. He is the author of many books, the most recent of which include UK Deutscher Memorial Prize winner The Making of Global Capitalism: The Political Economy of American Empire, In and Out of Crisis: The Global Financial Meltdown and Left Alternatives, , <a href="https://www.amazon.ca/Renewing-Socialism-Democracy-Strategy-Imagination/dp/0813398215" type="external">Renewing Socialism: Democracy, Strategy and Imagination</a> and The End of Parliamentary Socialism: From New Left to New Labour. He is also a co-editor of the Socialist Register, whose 2017 volume, which will be released in time for the Labour Party Conference and launched in London in November, is entitled Rethinking Revolution</p>
<p>Aris George-Baldur Spourdalakis has been a member of SYRIZA Youth since 2007. He attends the University of Athens, where he is a student of physics and an activist.</p>
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<p /> SHARMINI PERIES, EXEC. PRODUCER, TRNN: Welcome to the Real News Network. I'm Sharmini Peries coming to you from Baltimore.
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<p />Greece's conservative party New Democracy leader Vangelis Meimarakis has admitted defeat to Alexis Tsipras's left-wing Syriza party in the nation's fifth election in six years. He conceded to Syriza as the lead of 35 percent was announced by the interior minister. New Democracy is trailing at 28 percent with a third of the votes counted. This is likely to leave Syriza just short of an absolute majority, and the party would need partners.
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<p />To discuss all of this I'm joined by Aris George-Baldur Spourdalakis. He's a member of the Syriza Youth party since 2007. He's a graduate student in physics at the University of Toronto. I'm also joined by Leo Panitch. He's a Canada Research Chair in comparative political economy and a Distinguished Research Professor in political science at York University in Toronto. He's the author of the UK Deutscher Book Prize winner, The Making of Global Capitalism: The Political Economy of American Empire. Gentlemen, thank you for joining me.
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<p />LEO PANITCH: Hi, Sharmini.
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<p />ARIS GEORGE-BALDUR SPORDALAKIS: Hi. Thank you.
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<p />PERIES: Aris, let me start with you. What are the results that are unfolding that's deeper than what I said just now in the intro?
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<p />SPOURDALAKIS: Well, I think that the results are a triumph for Syriza. Mainly Alexis Tsipras. It's a vote of confidence towards the previous government of seven months. And I think that it shows that the signing of the agreement, despite the negative effect that it may have and continue to have, hasn't affected Syriza's electoral poll in the last [months].
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<p />PERIES: And Leo, you've been watching the results unfolding. Your particular take in all of this?
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<p />PANITCH: Well I should tell your viewers, Sharmini, that I'm here with Aris because he and his wife have continued a family tradition of close friends and family around to watch election returns. Which, given how many elections there are in Greece, means that there's a lot of family dinners of this kind. We've had food and drink with friends and have been watching the returns.
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<p />And I must say, a pretty large abstention is indicative of the number of people who voted in the referendum where the turnout was very high, over 70 percent, who have been disillusioned. And that's very significant. That said, those who did vote, it is remarkable how many of them have voted for Syriza and how few of them have voted for Popular Unity, LE. Broke away from Syriza in calling what they had done capitulation rather than blackmail, which is what it really was, of course.
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<p />PERIES: Here you're talking about the split off of the Left Platform of Syriza, now called the Popular Unity party, which at this moment has not garnered enough votes to actually make it into parliament. Which leaves Syriza without that critical voice in parliament.
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<p />PANITCH: Much more than that, I think it means that the position, which I think is an important one, that it's necessary to break with the eurozone and if possible break the eurozone, will no longer be articulated in the Greek parliament. And [if it isn't articulated] in the Greek parliament it won't be in the Greek media. Had they stayed in the party I think it would have been much more visible and that important debate could have continued, probing how far one could stay within the, break with the current arrangement.
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<p />PERIES: Aris, one of the things that has happened now is that with the Left Platform and Popular Unity somewhat out of the way, this has given way to some additional members in parliament for the third party that at this time looks like it's going to be Golden Dawn party, and they have appeared to have garnered a few more seats. How do you think that will transpire in the parliament?
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<p />SPOURDALAKIS: Well, I think that the reason that Golden Dawn has gained a few more seats is that the political system has been [inaud.] by the recent events. Syriza was forced into signing an agreement which was contrary to their program. Therefore this does help voices which are inherently against the democratic process and so on. However, I think that the result does give Syriza at least a chance to prove that signing of the agreement doesn't mean the end of the program and the end of what they can do. And the fact that they will be able to form a government with their former partners, the Independent Greek party, will at least give them this chance to try to prove themselves and prove the agreement is not the beginning and end of Greek politics right now.
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<p />PERIES: Aris, you're a member of the youth wing of Syriza. And this voter turnout being just about 55 percent is a clear message of the disillusionment of the youth itself. And I understand that there was much less mobilization and enthusiasm in this election. How are you receiving this, and how do you think the Syriza Youth will be moving forward?
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<p />SPOURDALAKIS: Well, first of all I would say that it's--I'm a member of what's left of the Syriza Youth. The majority of the Syriza Youth left the party after the decision of the government to call the election before the party congress, which was programmed to be held in September. So I think that, I think that despite the fact that Syriza won the election it's clear that a lot of their members have been disillusioned.
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<p />And I think there are two main points to this. The first point, which refers to the fact that the Popular Unity party of the Left Platform of Syriza wasn't able to attract these voters. And this shows I think that the main problem and the main reason that this has happened was not the agreement, per se, but it had to do with the democratic process both within the party and outside of the party. The first point.
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<p />And I think the second point has to do with how much the elections affect people's everyday lives. And I think that right now what is viewed, the agreement is what will affect what is viewed as, what is going to affect people's everyday lives in the future. And if that is not--if that changed as a view I think that we're going to see more and more people being disillusioned and abstaining from the popular vote, or even turning to more [radical] solutions, either to the left or to the right.
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<p />PERIES: And Leo, what does this result mean in terms of the formation in parliament? How is Syriza going to lead, with what kind of a coalition?
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<p />PANITCH: Well, I don't think it changes anything. Syriza will be effectively the government. It's clear that they were reelected along with ANEL, but it's a Syriza government effectively. I think that the--and I must say in terms of the vote, if you look at the breakdown of the youngest category of voters, they overwhelmingly voted for Syriza. Overwhelmingly so. According to the exit polls and the questions [asked]. That's significant, I think.
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<p />In terms of what goes on inside Syriza now and inside the Syriza government, I think it's a very good question. It's very much my hope that having secured this vote that Syriza will now probe the openings within the framework of this memorandum that was forced on them, insofar as they stay within Europe and the eurozone. But to prove the room for maneuver they have. And I think with the mandate they've received they have every right to. [Inaud.] with, given the wording of the memorandum, one of the key red lines of Syriza was to reintroduce basic labor rights in Greece which the previous memorandum had taken away. And the legislation under it had taken away. It's very important, I think, that they go ahead with collective bargaining legislation and restoring the rights to [work].
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<p />I don't see why that's not possible. I think the Europeans would have to allow them to do it. Because what they're attempting to do is [establish] what basic rights are in Northern Europe. Not even as much as that.
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<p />So I think there's room. That's not to say that they don't need to figure out, as I hope they will, to break with the logic of the eurozone and neoliberal Europe. But I do think they have the basis now to begin probing and pushing--after all, they're the government. And these accountants, these accountants, these imperial accounts they institutions sent in may be sitting there, but they are not the government. And I think it's very important for [us] outside and for Syriza itself to bear that in mind.
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<p />PERIES: And Leo, what does this mean in terms of the coalition they will still need in order to govern?
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<p />PANITCH: Well, this doesn't [improve] the difficulty whatsoever. You could see [inaud.] leader spoke just now on television that he considered this totally in an alliance with Syriza. Thought that he did very [inaud.] and now we'll have a couple of ministries. But that's not significant at all. In fact, the most progressive legislation that the government was able to pass they were able to pass with ANEL. The humanitarian legislation which was introduced for the poorest immediately in February, without getting the approval, by the way, of imperial accountants of the Troika who were demanding that they be shown the legislation. And then the granting of citizenship rights to the children of immigrants, which was passed in March. And you have here a nationalist party that they've aligned with. They weren't able to block that.
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<p />So no, I don't think that in substantive progressive, even socialist terms, this really is very much of a drag.
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<p />PERIES: And what about the left wing of--well, what does this do to the left, period?
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<p />PANITCH: Well, [outside] Syriza there remains people who are on the left. Including in the cabinet there will be. Not least the finance minister, [inaud.], and he will be pushing no doubt for a strategy that would allow them, in all kinds of arenas, to be doing progressive [inaud.] health and education, et cetera. And I hope to be probing even within the area of finance as much as possible to put through a number of substantive progressive policies.
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<p />PERIES: And Aris, it appears that if Antarsya and the Popular Unity party had formed a coalition or at least a united party that they would have stood a better chance at entering the parliament. What do you make of that?
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<p />SPOURDALAKIS: Well, I think in sort of, in a sense that may be true. However, I think that this also shows sort of the problem that the, the left [in general] has to unite for a common goal. And also I think what it shows is that the [spark] that both Popular Unity and Antarsya were vocalizing in favor of protecting the Oxhi vote, the No vote, of the referendum of the 5th of July, which won 62 percent of the popular vote. They were not able at all to capitalize on this.
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<p />I think there are many factors, of course, that play an important role in this. But I think the main problem, I think, was that they were not able to convince the people that they had a plan, which is the first--which is the most important. And also I think that the anti-Syriza [rhetoric] ran too harsh and was unfairly harsh. And I think this put a lot of people off in voting for more radical [anti-EU] solutions.
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<p />PERIES: Aris Spourdalakis and Leo Panitch, thank you so much for joining me today.
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<p />PANITCH: So long, Sharmini.
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<p />SPOURDALAKIS: Thank you very much.
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<p />PERIES: And thank you for joining me on the Real News Network.
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<p />End
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<p />DISCLAIMER: Please note that transcripts for The Real News Network are typed from a recording of the program. TRNN cannot guarantee their complete accuracy. | true | 4 | leo panitch senior scholar emeritus professor political science york university author many books recent include uk deutscher memorial prize winner making global capitalism political economy american empire crisis global financial meltdown left alternatives renewing socialism democracy strategy imagination end parliamentary socialism new left new labour also coeditor socialist register whose 2017 volume released time labour party conference launched london november entitled rethinking revolution aris georgebaldur spourdalakis member syriza youth since 2007 attends university athens student physics activist sharmini peries exec producer trnn welcome real news network im sharmini peries coming baltimore greeces conservative party new democracy leader vangelis meimarakis admitted defeat alexis tsiprass leftwing syriza party nations fifth election six years conceded syriza lead 35 percent announced interior minister new democracy trailing 28 percent third votes counted likely leave syriza short absolute majority party would need partners discuss im joined aris georgebaldur spourdalakis hes member syriza youth party since 2007 hes graduate student physics university toronto im also joined leo panitch hes canada research chair comparative political economy distinguished research professor political science york university toronto hes author uk deutscher book prize winner making global capitalism political economy american empire gentlemen thank joining leo panitch hi sharmini aris georgebaldur spordalakis hi thank peries aris let start results unfolding thats deeper said intro spourdalakis well think results triumph syriza mainly alexis tsipras vote confidence towards previous government seven months think shows signing agreement despite negative effect may continue hasnt affected syrizas electoral poll last months peries leo youve watching results unfolding particular take panitch well tell viewers sharmini im aris wife continued family tradition close friends family around watch election returns given many elections greece means theres lot family dinners kind weve food drink friends watching returns must say pretty large abstention indicative number people voted referendum turnout high 70 percent disillusioned thats significant said vote remarkable many voted syriza voted popular unity le broke away syriza calling done capitulation rather blackmail really course peries youre talking split left platform syriza called popular unity party moment garnered enough votes actually make parliament leaves syriza without critical voice parliament panitch much think means position think important one necessary break eurozone possible break eurozone longer articulated greek parliament isnt articulated greek parliament wont greek media stayed party think would much visible important debate could continued probing far one could stay within break current arrangement peries aris one things happened left platform popular unity somewhat way given way additional members parliament third party time looks like going golden dawn party appeared garnered seats think transpire parliament spourdalakis well think reason golden dawn gained seats political system inaud recent events syriza forced signing agreement contrary program therefore help voices inherently democratic process however think result give syriza least chance prove signing agreement doesnt mean end program end fact able form government former partners independent greek party least give chance try prove prove agreement beginning end greek politics right peries aris youre member youth wing syriza voter turnout 55 percent clear message disillusionment youth understand much less mobilization enthusiasm election receiving think syriza youth moving forward spourdalakis well first would say itsim member whats left syriza youth majority syriza youth left party decision government call election party congress programmed held september think think despite fact syriza election clear lot members disillusioned think two main points first point refers fact popular unity party left platform syriza wasnt able attract voters shows think main problem main reason happened agreement per se democratic process within party outside party first point think second point much elections affect peoples everyday lives think right viewed agreement affect viewed going affect peoples everyday lives future notif changed view think going see people disillusioned abstaining popular vote even turning radical solutions either left right peries leo result mean terms formation parliament syriza going lead kind coalition panitch well dont think changes anything syriza effectively government clear reelected along anel syriza government effectively think theand must say terms vote look breakdown youngest category voters overwhelmingly voted syriza overwhelmingly according exit polls questions asked thats significant think terms goes inside syriza inside syriza government think good question much hope secured vote syriza probe openings within framework memorandum forced insofar stay within europe eurozone prove room maneuver think mandate theyve received every right inaud given wording memorandum one key red lines syriza reintroduce basic labor rights greece previous memorandum taken away legislation taken away important think go ahead collective bargaining legislation restoring rights work dont see thats possible think europeans would allow theyre attempting establish basic rights northern europe even much think theres room thats say dont need figure hope break logic eurozone neoliberal europe think basis begin probing pushingafter theyre government accountants accountants imperial accounts institutions sent may sitting government think important us outside syriza bear mind peries leo mean terms coalition still need order govern panitch well doesnt improve difficulty whatsoever could see inaud leader spoke television considered totally alliance syriza thought inaud well couple ministries thats significant fact progressive legislation government able pass able pass anel humanitarian legislation introduced poorest immediately february without getting approval way imperial accountants troika demanding shown legislation granting citizenship rights children immigrants passed march nationalist party theyve aligned werent able block dont think substantive progressive even socialist terms really much drag peries left wing ofwell left period panitch well outside syriza remains people left including cabinet least finance minister inaud pushing doubt strategy would allow kinds arenas progressive inaud health education et cetera hope probing even within area finance much possible put number substantive progressive policies peries aris appears antarsya popular unity party formed coalition least united party would stood better chance entering parliament make spourdalakis well think sort sense may true however think also shows sort problem left general unite common goal also think shows spark popular unity antarsya vocalizing favor protecting oxhi vote vote referendum 5th july 62 percent popular vote able capitalize think many factors course play important role think main problem think able convince people plan firstwhich important also think antisyriza rhetoric ran harsh unfairly harsh think put lot people voting radical antieu solutions peries aris spourdalakis leo panitch thank much joining today panitch long sharmini spourdalakis thank much peries thank joining real news network end disclaimer please note transcripts real news network typed recording program trnn guarantee complete accuracy | 1,045 |
<p>Andrew McKillop <a href="http://wp.me/p3bwni-4O1" type="external">21st Century Wire</a></p>
<p>RULE ONE: DON’T LISTEN TO OBAMA OR HOLLANDE</p>
<p>Even at home not too many listen to either of them, and opinion polls shout the bad news – but what great leader worries about opinion polls?</p>
<p>In their heart of hearts, what they really want in the Middle East is a nice little downsized, Saudi-financed, quick-and-dirty little war – so we would supposedly be churlish to deny them their fun. Possibly to them and a chosen-few “expert” advisers this will be almost as good as the Iraq war of 1991, or Kosovo in 1995.</p>
<p>Libya in 2011, however, already fell off the teleprompter. Nice people don’t talk about it anymore. The US ambassador got killed in a street rage attack, called Islamic, or something. Susan Rice and Hillary Clinton told us it was started by some YouTube video, or was it MTV?</p>
<p>Their downsized imperial dreams however, really do have jumbo-sized competitors and rivals, and we do not have to start with either the Saudi super-sized portion of princely princes and kings and their&#160;“Islamic Pope” story, invented for them by the US State Department of the 1950’s and endorsed by President Eisenhower, or the “Greater Israel” Zionist mob who want to stretch their empire dreaming far beyond the Euphrates to Yahweh knows where.</p>
<p>The Persians, now known as Iranians also have an Imperial Dream, in fact several of them for example the so-called Golden Era Sassanid Empire which held sway until about 650 AD.</p>
<p>IMAGE: Lessons can be learned from the old Sassanid Empire.</p>
<p>DEVIL IN THE DETAILS</p>
<p>The above Golden Era empire was not concerned with desert areas – because nobody lived there – leaving the future Saudi Arabia, minus its eastern main oil-producing regions, as potentially able to be called “never under Persian rule”. Another interesting detail was this Iranian empire only started falling apart – when Islam started growing as a religious revolution, from about 800 AD. Making things tougher for the Saudis, the self-styled Defenders of Islam, much of what was later called Islamic culture expressed as artworks, architecture, poetry and philosophy was transferred from the Sassanids&#160;– to the Muslim world. The Saudis supplied the religion. The Iranians supplied everything else which today is called Islamic tradition and culture.</p>
<p>During the Sassanid empire, Persia had as many as 13 ambassador-level permanent missions in China. Both empires firstly created then benefited from trade along the Silk Road, and acted from common interest to preserve and protect that trade. They cooperated guarding the trade routes through central Asia. Both empires built outposts in border areas to keep caravans safe from nomadic tribes and bandits – not yet including d’jihadis in a Toyota Hilux. Shapur I of the Sassanids extended his authority into the northwestern Indian subcontinent, now Pakistan and Afghanistan, then called the western Kushans, itself a semi-autonomous empire under Persian suzereinty. Although the Kushan empire declined from about 400 AD and was replaced by the Indian Gupta empire, the two were highly intermixed and the Sassanids remained powerful in what is northwestern India today, for centuries. India has long cultural ties with Iran and no real interest in applying US-led sanctions against Iran, today.</p>
<p>Persian imperial decline is attributed by historians to a range of factors. Other than imperial overreach there was internal ideological conflict firstly on Greek philosophy, then on Christian philosophy, and subsequently on Islam. Sassanid kings were patrons of letters and philosophy. Khosrau I of the empire had the works of Plato and Aristotle translated into Pahlavi and even read them himself. When Roman emperor Justinian I shut down Aristotle’s schools in Athens, seven of their professors fled to Persia and found refuge at Khosrau’s court. Iran’s main religion of Zorastrianism was split into rival, or “reform” movements, well before the end of the Sassanid empire. Both Christianity and Judaism were widely spread.</p>
<p>The so-called Islamic conquest of Iran was at first very slow, and probably took 400 years to complete to the point where it was the majority religion, about 1100 AD. During that time, both Sunni and Shia movements co-existed, but by 1300 AD Shia dominated inside Iran while Sunni-Shia conflict continued for centuries through external warfare in which the Persian empire lost sizeable territories, for example to Turkey’s Sunni armies of Tughril Beg. Some historians argue the speed and extent of secularization, the separation of the church and state was faster in Iran than in Sunni-majority Muslim countries, simply because of the proven ability of Sunni-Shia rivalry to cause heavy conflict.</p>
<p>Discussion about why Iran had an Islamic Revolution in 1979-1981 and is now an Islamic Republic fills bookshelves. In major part Khomenei’s rise to power was enabled by Western meddling, as well Shah Reza’s ruritanian-style but vicious police state. One certain game changer was that long before the last Shah, the ulema-clergy class professionalized itself, somewhat like doctors and lawyers. The previous wayside preachers who spent a half day each week transmitting their favourite one-liner traditions, disappeared and a highly ambitious ulema class emerged. Laws set by Reza Shah that created the infamous SAVAK secret police, made military service obligatory, and forced European-style clothing and even table manners on Iranians, provided ample speech material for the ulemas, talebeh and mullahs. At the same time, after Khomenei’s revolution, the Islamic Republic’s constitution recognizes Zoroastrian, Jewish, and Christian Iranians as religious minorities, and permits Sunni Iranians to have their own mosques – where they are the local majority of the population.</p>
<p>THE EMPIRE GOES TO WAR – OR MAYBE NOT?</p>
<p>In an interesting report published by Stratfor&#160;on September 4, 2013, an analyst suggests that while conventional wisdom has it that a weakened Syria will undermine Iran’s regional influence, a US-led military intervention could actually benefit Tehran. One main argument by&#160;Stratfor is that if the United States launches an attack, this will enable Iran to “exploit Washington’s visceral opposition to Sunni jihadist and Islamist groups to gain concessions elsewhere”, in the region, and concerning the creaky but dangerous Iran nuclear crisis.</p>
<p>Don’t expect that Secretary of State John Kerry, or President Obama for that matter, will have read much or been engaged in any deep discussions on the history, nor will they have attended any Richard Cheney nation-building workshop sessions. They are both too engrossed on figuring out how to reverse engineer a chemical weapons attack with Bashar al Assad as the trigger man. If they fail on that task, then Kerry’s job is to take the hit, while Obama keeps his Teflon clean, taking rear guard action if he must in order to protect his party’s chances in 2016.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal" />OBAMA: Not involved in any serious planning regarding Syria or region – his job is to sell the intervention. <a href="" type="internal" /></p>
<p><a href="" type="internal" />This same report&#160;also argues that despite Syria being a critical Iranian ally, and al Assad’s survival is of prime national security interest to Tehran, it “cannot afford to directly retaliate against the United States”, but is widely expected to retaliate indirectly by proxy war, starting with Lebanon’s Hezbollah. Reading down Stratfor’s strategy briefing, the gaps and voids of perception, and potentials for “objective ally” cooperation, or “false flag enemy” fighting between Tehran and Washington jump off the page. One question Stratfor doesn’t answer is why Iran is playing so low profile and quiescent on Syria, but does cite the August 29 Op-ed of Hossein Mousavian, a close associate of new Iranian president Rouhani who said that present maneuvring by Washington for regime change in Kabul, prior to US departure is “a blueprint for collaboration between Washington and Tehran”. Mousavian called for US-Iranian cooperation to better manage the MENA’s crisis-ridden region.</p>
<p>Further arguments by Stratfor and other analysts focus the extent and range of any missile attacks or airstrikes on Syria – able to further divide the highly fractured rebellion movement between factions that oppose military intervention and those that favor it. Iran not only has its Hezbollah fighters – more an army than a militia – but its other Lebanese and Iraqi allies are surely heterogeneous but large in number and sometimes well armed. The Iranians, while professing support to al Assad, can speed up and better manage the rebellion, taming radical Islamist elements, and not be the enemy the US fears – and both Saudi Arabia and Israel want.</p>
<p>SYRIAN HEADBANGERS</p>
<p>In any case, Syria’s “secular opposition” has been overtaken by the sheer scale of mayhem, and its unarmed and declared non-violent factions are on the sidelines in the civil war which has de facto shifted power to the multitude of armed groups. Because these elements have been gaining territory, the United States and other western powers will likely need Iranian cooperation to forge any kind of Syrian polity that can survive and hold together. By contrast, subjects like the incredibly long running Iranian nuclear controversy are downsized by the Syrian crisis – but the Iranian government has linked these two issues and will go on linking them.</p>
<p>We are in no way obliged to see this as a Happy Ending – the end of the Syrian crisis without the Toyota Hilux mob of d’jihadi gangstahs taking total control, as well as the end of the Iranian nuclear crisis – but it may be possible. Iran itself is light years away from being a regime just waiting to fall apart at the first push or knock it gets.</p>
<p>With powerful help from the Syrian crisis, this reality dating from the Sassanids has seeped into Washington’s slow-minded consciousness.</p>
<p>READ MORE FROM THIS AUTHOR AT: <a href="" type="internal">21st Century Wire McKillop Files</a></p>
<p />
<p>*****</p> | true | 4 | andrew mckillop 21st century wire rule one dont listen obama hollande even home many listen either opinion polls shout bad news great leader worries opinion polls heart hearts really want middle east nice little downsized saudifinanced quickanddirty little war would supposedly churlish deny fun possibly chosenfew expert advisers almost good iraq war 1991 kosovo 1995 libya 2011 however already fell teleprompter nice people dont talk anymore us ambassador got killed street rage attack called islamic something susan rice hillary clinton told us started youtube video mtv downsized imperial dreams however really jumbosized competitors rivals start either saudi supersized portion princely princes kings their160islamic pope story invented us state department 1950s endorsed president eisenhower greater israel zionist mob want stretch empire dreaming far beyond euphrates yahweh knows persians known iranians also imperial dream fact several example socalled golden era sassanid empire held sway 650 ad image lessons learned old sassanid empire devil details golden era empire concerned desert areas nobody lived leaving future saudi arabia minus eastern main oilproducing regions potentially able called never persian rule another interesting detail iranian empire started falling apart islam started growing religious revolution 800 ad making things tougher saudis selfstyled defenders islam much later called islamic culture expressed artworks architecture poetry philosophy transferred sassanids160 muslim world saudis supplied religion iranians supplied everything else today called islamic tradition culture sassanid empire persia many 13 ambassadorlevel permanent missions china empires firstly created benefited trade along silk road acted common interest preserve protect trade cooperated guarding trade routes central asia empires built outposts border areas keep caravans safe nomadic tribes bandits yet including djihadis toyota hilux shapur sassanids extended authority northwestern indian subcontinent pakistan afghanistan called western kushans semiautonomous empire persian suzereinty although kushan empire declined 400 ad replaced indian gupta empire two highly intermixed sassanids remained powerful northwestern india today centuries india long cultural ties iran real interest applying usled sanctions iran today persian imperial decline attributed historians range factors imperial overreach internal ideological conflict firstly greek philosophy christian philosophy subsequently islam sassanid kings patrons letters philosophy khosrau empire works plato aristotle translated pahlavi even read roman emperor justinian shut aristotles schools athens seven professors fled persia found refuge khosraus court irans main religion zorastrianism split rival reform movements well end sassanid empire christianity judaism widely spread socalled islamic conquest iran first slow probably took 400 years complete point majority religion 1100 ad time sunni shia movements coexisted 1300 ad shia dominated inside iran sunnishia conflict continued centuries external warfare persian empire lost sizeable territories example turkeys sunni armies tughril beg historians argue speed extent secularization separation church state faster iran sunnimajority muslim countries simply proven ability sunnishia rivalry cause heavy conflict discussion iran islamic revolution 19791981 islamic republic fills bookshelves major part khomeneis rise power enabled western meddling well shah rezas ruritanianstyle vicious police state one certain game changer long last shah ulemaclergy class professionalized somewhat like doctors lawyers previous wayside preachers spent half day week transmitting favourite oneliner traditions disappeared highly ambitious ulema class emerged laws set reza shah created infamous savak secret police made military service obligatory forced europeanstyle clothing even table manners iranians provided ample speech material ulemas talebeh mullahs time khomeneis revolution islamic republics constitution recognizes zoroastrian jewish christian iranians religious minorities permits sunni iranians mosques local majority population empire goes war maybe interesting report published stratfor160on september 4 2013 analyst suggests conventional wisdom weakened syria undermine irans regional influence usled military intervention could actually benefit tehran one main argument by160stratfor united states launches attack enable iran exploit washingtons visceral opposition sunni jihadist islamist groups gain concessions elsewhere region concerning creaky dangerous iran nuclear crisis dont expect secretary state john kerry president obama matter read much engaged deep discussions history attended richard cheney nationbuilding workshop sessions engrossed figuring reverse engineer chemical weapons attack bashar al assad trigger man fail task kerrys job take hit obama keeps teflon clean taking rear guard action must order protect partys chances 2016 obama involved serious planning regarding syria region job sell intervention report160also argues despite syria critical iranian ally al assads survival prime national security interest tehran afford directly retaliate united states widely expected retaliate indirectly proxy war starting lebanons hezbollah reading stratfors strategy briefing gaps voids perception potentials objective ally cooperation false flag enemy fighting tehran washington jump page one question stratfor doesnt answer iran playing low profile quiescent syria cite august 29 oped hossein mousavian close associate new iranian president rouhani said present maneuvring washington regime change kabul prior us departure blueprint collaboration washington tehran mousavian called usiranian cooperation better manage menas crisisridden region arguments stratfor analysts focus extent range missile attacks airstrikes syria able divide highly fractured rebellion movement factions oppose military intervention favor iran hezbollah fighters army militia lebanese iraqi allies surely heterogeneous large number sometimes well armed iranians professing support al assad speed better manage rebellion taming radical islamist elements enemy us fears saudi arabia israel want syrian headbangers case syrias secular opposition overtaken sheer scale mayhem unarmed declared nonviolent factions sidelines civil war de facto shifted power multitude armed groups elements gaining territory united states western powers likely need iranian cooperation forge kind syrian polity survive hold together contrast subjects like incredibly long running iranian nuclear controversy downsized syrian crisis iranian government linked two issues go linking way obliged see happy ending end syrian crisis without toyota hilux mob djihadi gangstahs taking total control well end iranian nuclear crisis may possible iran light years away regime waiting fall apart first push knock gets powerful help syrian crisis reality dating sassanids seeped washingtons slowminded consciousness read author 21st century wire mckillop files | 931 |
<p>shironosov/iStock</p>
<p>New Mexico’s public education agency wants to scrub discussions of climate change, rising global temperatures, evolution, and even the age of planet Earth from the standards that shape its schools’ curriculum.</p>
<p>The state’s Public Education Department this week <a href="http://www.ped.state.nm.us/ped/PublicNotices.html" type="external">released</a> a new <a href="http://www.ped.state.nm.us/ped/PubNotDocs/2017/6.29.10_Current%20with%20Changes_WEBSITE.docx" type="external">proposed</a> replacement to its statewide science standards. The draft is based on the <a href="https://www.nextgenscience.org/" type="external">Next Generation Science Standards</a>, a set of ideas and guidelines released in 2013 that cover kindergarten through 12th grade. The NGSS, which have been adopted by at least 18 states and the District of Columbia, include ample discussion of human-caused climate change and evolution.</p>
<p>But the draft released by New Mexico’s education officials changes the language of a number of NGSS guidelines, downplaying the rise in global temperatures, striking references to human activity as the primary cause of climate change, and cutting one mention of evolution while weakening others. The standards would even remove a reference to the scientifically agreed-upon age of the Earth—nearly 4.6 billion years. (Young Earth creationists use various passages in the Bible to argue that the planet is <a href="" type="internal">only a few thousand years old</a>.)</p>
<p>“These changes are evidently intended to placate creationists and climate change deniers,” says Glenn Branch, the deputy director of the <a href="http://ncse.com/about" type="external">National Center for Science Education</a>, a nonprofit group that defends the teaching of climate change, evolution, and other scientific-backed subjects in the classroom. The proposed changes, Branch added, “would dumb down New Mexico’s science education.”</p>
<p>Standards such as New Mexico’s act as a guide for educators in determining the knowledge and abilities their students are supposed to acquire. School districts craft their curricula based on statewide standards; textbook publishers write their books to fit the standards; and state bureaucrats design their tests around what’s contained in the standards.</p>
<p>The public has just over 30 days to weigh in on the proposal, and the department will hold a hearing on the changes on October 16 in Santa Fe, the state capital.</p>
<p>In one instance, as seen in the document below, New Mexico would rewrite a standard about geology intended for middle schoolers. We’ve crossed out the language the agency removed from the original <a href="https://www.nextgenscience.org/get-to-know" type="external">NGSS guidelines</a>, and we’ve bolded the language the agency added:</p>
<p>Construct a scientific explanation based on evidence from rock strata for how the geologic time scale is used to organize Earth’s 4.6-billion-year-old geologic history.</p>
<p>In another instance, laying out standards for middle schoolers, the new text misrepresents the reality of rising global temperatures:</p>
<p>Ask questions to clarify evidence of the factors that have caused the fluctuation rise in global temperatures over the past century.</p>
<p>A third example would make a similar change to a discussion of climate change for high schoolers:</p>
<p>Analyze geoscience data and the results from global climate models to make an evidence-based forecast of the current rate of global or regional climate change fluctuation and associated future impacts to Earth systems.</p>
<p>A fourth change would cut a mention of evolution in standards intended for high schoolers:</p>
<p>Construct an explanation based on evidence that the process of evolution primarily results from four factors biological diversity is influenced by: (1) the potential for a species to increase in number, (2) the heritable genetic variation of individuals in a species due to mutation and sexual reproduction, (3) competition for limited resources, and (4) the proliferation of those organisms that are better able to survive and reproduce in the environment.</p>
<p>And a fifth change is a newly written standard for New Mexico middle schoolers that appears to be little more than state-sponsored boosterism for the state’s powerful oil and gas industry:</p>
<p>Describe the benefits associated with technologies related to the local industries and energy production.</p>
<p>There are more climate-related changes in the proposed standards, though it’s worth noting that a few references to evolution appear to have survived. You can read them all in the document below:</p>
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p>There is no serious debate among scientists that the Earth is <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-science-figured-out-the-age-of-the-earth/" type="external">nearly 4.6 billion years old</a>. NASA, on its website under the heading “Facts,” states unequivocally that the planet’s average temperature is not “ <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fluctuate" type="external">fluctuating</a>“— <a href="https://climate.nasa.gov/vital-signs/global-temperature/" type="external">it is steadily increasing</a> and shows no sign of slowing down. And it is the scientific community’s overwhelming consensus that <a href="http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/article/lines_01" type="external">evolution is real</a> and that it underpins our understanding of human biology.</p>
<p>In April, <a href="" type="internal">New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez</a>, a Republican, <a href="http://www.sfreporter.com/santafe/article-13257-susana-stops-science-standards.html" type="external">vetoed</a> legislation that would have forced the state to adopt the Next Generation Science Standards. Martinez said the law was too strict and that the state’s education department was already in the process of crafting its own science standards—the standards the department released earlier this week.</p>
<p>Update, September 15:&#160;After this story was published, a spokeswoman for New Mexico’s Public Education Department emailed the following response:</p>
<p>“The PED has and will continue to listen and respond to input from all of New Mexico’s stakeholders across the state when putting together new content standards, from the fine arts to the STEM fields, that haven’t been updated in the last decade. It is time for New Mexico to again raise the bar. We must come together and push forward so that our kids can prepare to advance in their career prospects in the 21st century,” said Deputy Secretary of School Transformation Debbie Montoya. “As science, technology, and engineering advance in concert with our business and industry partners, New Mexico is working hard to ensure that children have access to the most rigorous standards and assessments while also expanding science resources and opportunity for schools and educators.”</p> | true | 4 | shironosovistock new mexicos public education agency wants scrub discussions climate change rising global temperatures evolution even age planet earth standards shape schools curriculum states public education department week released new proposed replacement statewide science standards draft based next generation science standards set ideas guidelines released 2013 cover kindergarten 12th grade ngss adopted least 18 states district columbia include ample discussion humancaused climate change evolution draft released new mexicos education officials changes language number ngss guidelines downplaying rise global temperatures striking references human activity primary cause climate change cutting one mention evolution weakening others standards would even remove reference scientifically agreedupon age earthnearly 46 billion years young earth creationists use various passages bible argue planet thousand years old changes evidently intended placate creationists climate change deniers says glenn branch deputy director national center science education nonprofit group defends teaching climate change evolution scientificbacked subjects classroom proposed changes branch added would dumb new mexicos science education standards new mexicos act guide educators determining knowledge abilities students supposed acquire school districts craft curricula based statewide standards textbook publishers write books fit standards state bureaucrats design tests around whats contained standards public 30 days weigh proposal department hold hearing changes october 16 santa fe state capital one instance seen document new mexico would rewrite standard geology intended middle schoolers weve crossed language agency removed original ngss guidelines weve bolded language agency added construct scientific explanation based evidence rock strata geologic time scale used organize earths 46billionyearold geologic history another instance laying standards middle schoolers new text misrepresents reality rising global temperatures ask questions clarify evidence factors caused fluctuation rise global temperatures past century third example would make similar change discussion climate change high schoolers analyze geoscience data results global climate models make evidencebased forecast current rate global regional climate change fluctuation associated future impacts earth systems fourth change would cut mention evolution standards intended high schoolers construct explanation based evidence process evolution primarily results four factors biological diversity influenced 1 potential species increase number 2 heritable genetic variation individuals species due mutation sexual reproduction 3 competition limited resources 4 proliferation organisms better able survive reproduce environment fifth change newly written standard new mexico middle schoolers appears little statesponsored boosterism states powerful oil gas industry describe benefits associated technologies related local industries energy production climaterelated changes proposed standards though worth noting references evolution appear survived read document serious debate among scientists earth nearly 46 billion years old nasa website heading facts states unequivocally planets average temperature fluctuating steadily increasing shows sign slowing scientific communitys overwhelming consensus evolution real underpins understanding human biology april new mexico gov susana martinez republican vetoed legislation would forced state adopt next generation science standards martinez said law strict states education department already process crafting science standardsthe standards department released earlier week update september 15160after story published spokeswoman new mexicos public education department emailed following response ped continue listen respond input new mexicos stakeholders across state putting together new content standards fine arts stem fields havent updated last decade time new mexico raise bar must come together push forward kids prepare advance career prospects 21st century said deputy secretary school transformation debbie montoya science technology engineering advance concert business industry partners new mexico working hard ensure children access rigorous standards assessments also expanding science resources opportunity schools educators | 547 |
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>“. . . when [Saddam Hussein] chose to deny the [UN] inspectors, when he chose not to disclose, then I had the difficult decision to make to remove him. And we did.”</p>
<p>George Bush, the President of the United States of America, March 21, 2006.</p>
<p>“Iraq has on the whole co-operated rather well so far with [the inspectors] . . . The most important point to make is that access has been provided to all sites we have wanted to inspect and with one exception it has been prompt . . . ”</p>
<p>Chief UN Weapons Inspector Hans Blix, Report to the Security Council, 27 January 2003.</p>
<p>“Since we arrived in Iraq, we have conducted more than 400 inspections covering more than 300 sites. All inspections were performed without notice, and access was almost always provided promptly.”</p>
<p>Blix, Report, February 14, 2003.</p>
<p>It is obvious from the above that the President of the United States of America has lied in his teeth to the people of his country.</p>
<p>But nobody who has the opportunity to speak to Bush has the courage to say: YOU HAVE TOLD A LIE. It certainly won’t be a reporter, but you might think at least somebody in public life–a senator or an equally highly-respected figure like a second-hand car salesman or a convicted conman–people who have access to Bush if they are rich enough–might stand up to say, MR PRESIDENT, YOU TOLD US A LIE. WHY DID YOU TELL US A LIE?</p>
<p>Zero chance, of course, because not one single person in the entire United States who could get anywhere near the holy figure of Bush is prepared to say anything that might offend him. He is more of an emperor than any Caesar ; more arrogant than any Sun King ; more well-protected against the slightest ray of revealing criticism than any Tsar of All the Russias ever was.</p>
<p>One of the Bush toadies, the outgoing chief of staff Andrew Card, described the culture of the White House when he said in 2003 that “One of the greatest privileges that anyone can have in any democracy is to say, ‘Good morning, Mr. President’.” What a load of baloney. It isn’t a “privilege” to talk to the president. It is, or should be, the right of all citizens to talk to him through their elected representatives and at public meetings. The cult of servility and sycophantic deference surrounding this president is unseemly and undemocratic, and should be repugnant to every American. The appointment, the actual position of president is deserving of courtesy, providing the incumbent is personally so deserving. But when it is apparent, through incontrovertible evidence, that the man is dishonorable and unworthy of the country’s trust, then the greatest privilege that could be awarded the people is to see the back of him.</p>
<p>Fawning lickspittles like Card, Rice, Rove and the rest of the White House flunkies have convinced Bush that he has a God-given right to power. They have encouraged development of a smug, self-obsessed and deceitful Administration.</p>
<p>Hitler, Stalin and Mao would envy this man his invulnerability in the face of devastating and conclusive evidence that he deliberately deceives the American people. They would particularly admire his success in duping his armed forces who follow his demented orders without question. Orders are orders! This has been the cry down the centuries when men in uniform explain their hideous atrocities by claiming they are bound to obey even the most lunatic instructions.</p>
<p>Which brings us to the US military in Iraq, which is following the example of the commander-in-chief by telling lie after lie after lie.</p>
<p>While Bush is protected against reality by the armored bubble of media support and the devious figures around him, the military’s shield can on occasions be penetrated. The most recent series of lies that the US Army’s most senior officers have told concern the slaughter of unarmed Iraqis on March 27.</p>
<p>The military first said that Iraqi forces killed 16 “insurgents” with US troops in support. The statement said “No mosques were entered or damaged during this operation. As elements of the 1st Iraqi Special Operations Forces Brigade entered their objective, they came under fire. In the ensuing exchange of fire [they] killed 16 insurgents. As they secured their objective, they detained 15 more individuals.”</p>
<p>Let’s compare this with the BBC’s report of March 28: “Graphic footage shown on Iraqi TV channels of the bodies of men lying close together, apparently unarmed, have further fuelled concerns over the incident. But the Americans have suggested the scenes were faked. ‘After the fact, someone went in and made the scene look different than it was’, said Lt General Peter Chiarelli, the number two US commander in Iraq, when asked about accusations unarmed people in a mosque had been killed.”</p>
<p>Then there was Reuters: “Government-run television has shown footage of bodies lying without weapons in what Shi’ite ministers say is a mosque compound run by radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. The security minister accused Iraqi and U.S. troops of killing 37 unarmed men. . . . ”</p>
<p>Associated Press reported “Video showed male bodies with gunshot wounds on the floor of what was said by the cameraman to be the imam’s living quarters, attached to the mosque itself.” It carried Chiarrelli’s statement that ‘It’s important to remember we had an Iraqi unit with us, an Iraqi unit of 50 folks and they told us point blank that this was not a mosque’. “Associated Press reporters who visited the scene of the raid identified it as a neighborhood Shiite mosque complex. Television footage taken Monday showed crumbling walls and disarray in a compound used as a gathering place for prayer.”</p>
<p>Consider the statement that “we had an Iraqi unit with us” and compare it to the other story that the Iraqis had US troops “in support”. If he had said “We were with an Iraqi unit” or something similar, then we might possibly believe that this was an Iraqi operation. But “we had an Iraqi unit with us” makes it clear that the Iraqis were subordinate to the American force.</p>
<p>When you read the words of another general you get a little more of the true picture through the lies: Major General JD Thurman “said an Iraqi special forces unit with about 25 US advisers, trainers, medical and bomb disposal crew in support arrived to raid the site at nightfall and were immediately fired on from a number of buildings around the compound. The troops ‘cleared the compound’, he said, killing or capturing those inside. ‘It was Iraqi forces who did the fighting’, he stressed. Thurman said US helicopters were in the air at the time but only in support of another mission.”</p>
<p>According to Britain’s ‘Daily Telegraph’, next day the idiotic General Pace, America’s most senior and disastrous soldier (who recently declared that “I would say [things are] going very, very well [in Iraq] from everything you look at”) “said he did not know if American forces had fired during the operation”. That is somewhat different from the assurance given by his subordinate that “Iraqi forces did the fighting”.</p>
<p>Nobody knows for certain if the attacking force was fired on, and it would not have made any difference if they had been fired on, because no matter what happened the US/Iraqi force was going to storm that complex of buildings in which, they had eventually to acknowledge, there was a structure that was a mosque. It doesn’t matter a stuff if it was a mosque or not: what matters is that the military first denied that it was a mosque (“No mosques were entered or damaged”) and then, when the lie was revealed, admitted that it was indeed a mosque–or, in the ludicrous words of Pace, it was a building with a minaret, “that some people are calling a mosque.” Yes: the people who “might” call it a mosque would include the score who were using it and were slaughtered by the 50 Iraqi troops and their 25 “advisers and trainers”.</p>
<p>And are we expected to believe that all the helicopter gunships zooming above the mosque complex were “only in support of another mission”? Nobody outside the military can prove that the gunships were not in support of “another mission” but as a former soldier I can say only that if they were involved in another operation and were anywhere near the US-Iraqi attack on the mosque compound on March 27 then this is sad evidence of appalling battle procedures. Maybe that is so. Or maybe Thurman was lying. But it is perfectly legitimate to have air support. So why lie?</p>
<p>The day before the slaughter at the place “that some people are calling a mosque” US forces had stormed another building. This one belonged to Iraq’s Interior Ministry, and the US forces, acting on the best intelligence they had, considered to be “a torture center”. It contained 17 Sudanese in legal detention for breach of residency laws. None of them had been mistreated in any way. This gives us real faith in the quality of US information in Iraq, especially concerning the place they blitzed on March 27.</p>
<p>The whole sordid saga is only one more example of the normal reflex in the military and other pro-Administration political groups in the Bush era: when things go wrong, just tell lies. Then, when they’re found out, issue a statement saying that there might just be a possibility that the mosque could have been a prayer place with a minaret–but all the unarmed men who were killed were not shot down like dogs: according to the generals their manner of death was a matter of “someone” making “the scene look different than it was”.</p>
<p>It’s comparable to the murder of fifteen women and children by revenge-seeking Marines last November. Nobody would have known a thing about it if it hadn’t been for Time magazine. The practice is for the military to ignore atrocities, then try to bluster their way out of the mess by lying ; then, when forced to acknowledge that there just might have been a mass slaughter, they grudgingly set up an inquiry. (“The military, which initially said the 15 were killed by [a bomb] blast but later acknowledged they were shot, said last week that a criminal investigation was under way.”) And we all know what happened after the ‘inquiry’ about the marine who murdered an unarmed wounded prisoner lying helpless on the floor–zilch. Stand by for a rerun.</p>
<p>Rumsfeld summed it up, unwittingly, last week: “The US government has not got to the point where we are as deft and clever and facile and quick as the enemy that is perfectly capable of lying, having it printed all over the world, and there’s no penalty for having lied.”</p>
<p>There is indeed no penalty for having lied. The privilege of impunity for lying has been assumed by the President of the United States, the Commander-in-Chief of forces whose senior commanders appear to have lost touch with the world.</p>
<p>Certainly the Bush administration has not yet got to the point of telling lies in a manner that is “deft and clever and facile”. But it isn’t for want of trying–and it is trying its best to do so.</p>
<p>BRIAN CLOUGHLEY writes on military and political affairs. He can be reached through his website <a href="http://www.briancloughley.com/" type="external">www.briancloughley.com</a></p>
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<p>&#160;</p> | true | 4 | 160 saddam hussein chose deny un inspectors chose disclose difficult decision make remove george bush president united states america march 21 2006 iraq whole cooperated rather well far inspectors important point make access provided sites wanted inspect one exception prompt chief un weapons inspector hans blix report security council 27 january 2003 since arrived iraq conducted 400 inspections covering 300 sites inspections performed without notice access almost always provided promptly blix report february 14 2003 obvious president united states america lied teeth people country nobody opportunity speak bush courage say told lie certainly wont reporter might think least somebody public lifea senator equally highlyrespected figure like secondhand car salesman convicted conmanpeople access bush rich enoughmight stand say mr president told us lie tell us lie zero chance course one single person entire united states could get anywhere near holy figure bush prepared say anything might offend emperor caesar arrogant sun king wellprotected slightest ray revealing criticism tsar russias ever one bush toadies outgoing chief staff andrew card described culture white house said 2003 one greatest privileges anyone democracy say good morning mr president load baloney isnt privilege talk president right citizens talk elected representatives public meetings cult servility sycophantic deference surrounding president unseemly undemocratic repugnant every american appointment actual position president deserving courtesy providing incumbent personally deserving apparent incontrovertible evidence man dishonorable unworthy countrys trust greatest privilege could awarded people see back fawning lickspittles like card rice rove rest white house flunkies convinced bush godgiven right power encouraged development smug selfobsessed deceitful administration hitler stalin mao would envy man invulnerability face devastating conclusive evidence deliberately deceives american people would particularly admire success duping armed forces follow demented orders without question orders orders cry centuries men uniform explain hideous atrocities claiming bound obey even lunatic instructions brings us us military iraq following example commanderinchief telling lie lie lie bush protected reality armored bubble media support devious figures around militarys shield occasions penetrated recent series lies us armys senior officers told concern slaughter unarmed iraqis march 27 military first said iraqi forces killed 16 insurgents us troops support statement said mosques entered damaged operation elements 1st iraqi special operations forces brigade entered objective came fire ensuing exchange fire killed 16 insurgents secured objective detained 15 individuals lets compare bbcs report march 28 graphic footage shown iraqi tv channels bodies men lying close together apparently unarmed fuelled concerns incident americans suggested scenes faked fact someone went made scene look different said lt general peter chiarelli number two us commander iraq asked accusations unarmed people mosque killed reuters governmentrun television shown footage bodies lying without weapons shiite ministers say mosque compound run radical cleric moqtada alsadr security minister accused iraqi us troops killing 37 unarmed men associated press reported video showed male bodies gunshot wounds floor said cameraman imams living quarters attached mosque carried chiarrellis statement important remember iraqi unit us iraqi unit 50 folks told us point blank mosque associated press reporters visited scene raid identified neighborhood shiite mosque complex television footage taken monday showed crumbling walls disarray compound used gathering place prayer consider statement iraqi unit us compare story iraqis us troops support said iraqi unit something similar might possibly believe iraqi operation iraqi unit us makes clear iraqis subordinate american force read words another general get little true picture lies major general jd thurman said iraqi special forces unit 25 us advisers trainers medical bomb disposal crew support arrived raid site nightfall immediately fired number buildings around compound troops cleared compound said killing capturing inside iraqi forces fighting stressed thurman said us helicopters air time support another mission according britains daily telegraph next day idiotic general pace americas senior disastrous soldier recently declared would say things going well iraq everything look said know american forces fired operation somewhat different assurance given subordinate iraqi forces fighting nobody knows certain attacking force fired would made difference fired matter happened usiraqi force going storm complex buildings eventually acknowledge structure mosque doesnt matter stuff mosque matters military first denied mosque mosques entered damaged lie revealed admitted indeed mosqueor ludicrous words pace building minaret people calling mosque yes people might call mosque would include score using slaughtered 50 iraqi troops 25 advisers trainers expected believe helicopter gunships zooming mosque complex support another mission nobody outside military prove gunships support another mission former soldier say involved another operation anywhere near usiraqi attack mosque compound march 27 sad evidence appalling battle procedures maybe maybe thurman lying perfectly legitimate air support lie day slaughter place people calling mosque us forces stormed another building one belonged iraqs interior ministry us forces acting best intelligence considered torture center contained 17 sudanese legal detention breach residency laws none mistreated way gives us real faith quality us information iraq especially concerning place blitzed march 27 whole sordid saga one example normal reflex military proadministration political groups bush era things go wrong tell lies theyre found issue statement saying might possibility mosque could prayer place minaretbut unarmed men killed shot like dogs according generals manner death matter someone making scene look different comparable murder fifteen women children revengeseeking marines last november nobody would known thing hadnt time magazine practice military ignore atrocities try bluster way mess lying forced acknowledge might mass slaughter grudgingly set inquiry military initially said 15 killed bomb blast later acknowledged shot said last week criminal investigation way know happened inquiry marine murdered unarmed wounded prisoner lying helpless floorzilch stand rerun rumsfeld summed unwittingly last week us government got point deft clever facile quick enemy perfectly capable lying printed world theres penalty lied indeed penalty lied privilege impunity lying assumed president united states commanderinchief forces whose senior commanders appear lost touch world certainly bush administration yet got point telling lies manner deft clever facile isnt want tryingand trying best brian cloughley writes military political affairs reached website wwwbriancloughleycom 160 160 | 969 |
<p>&lt;a href="hhttps://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse/24237487265/sizes/o/"&gt;White House&lt;/a&gt;/Flickr</p>
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<p>President Barack Obama’s approval rating is the highest it has been in 45 months, and Republicans have taken note. In Ohio, Sen. Rob Portman is <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lo9fnZK0N4o" type="external">running an ad</a> boasting of his work with the Democratic commander in chief “to break the grip of heroin addiction.” In California, Rep. Darrell Issa—who once called Obama “one of the most corrupt presidents in modern times”—is <a href="http://www.latimes.com/politics/essential/la-pol-sac-essential-politics-updates-after-getting-ripped-by-president-1477351797-htmlstory.html" type="external">sending out mailers</a> with Obama’s face on them, touting his work with the president “to protect victims of sexual assault.”</p>
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<p>There is a problem with that strategy, though, which is that Obama seems determined to spend the last two weeks of the election laying waste to every Republican who ever crossed him. Though Obama was a liability to Democrats in the 2014 midterms, his renewed popularity has made him the most sought-after advocate for Hillary Clinton and down-ballot Democrats this fall. At rallies and in fundraisers in battleground states and swing districts, Obama has ripped into Republican lawmakers with a mix of exasperation and disdain, mocking their belated rejection (or continued support) of Donald Trump and casting the GOP presidential nominee as the logical endpoint of eight years of toxic hostility.</p>
<p>Issa, who is facing his most competitive race in years, was the most recent Republican to feel his wrath. At a fundraiser in La Jolla on Sunday, Obama <a href="http://www.latimes.com/politics/essential/la-pol-sac-essential-politics-updates-obama-lambasts-rep-issa-for-praising-1477327624-htmlstory.html" type="external">trashed</a> the California Republican for his mailer. “Issa’s primary contribution to the United States Congress has been to obstruct and to waste taxpayer dollars on trumped-up investigations that have led nowhere,” he said. “This is now a guy who, because poll numbers are bad, has sent out brochures with my picture on them touting his cooperation on issues with me. Now that is the definition of chutzpah.”</p>
<p>Earlier on Sunday, while campaigning in Las Vegas for Senate candidate Catherine Cortez Masto, Obama attacked her opponent, Republican Rep. Joe Heck, for renouncing Trump only after a tape surfaced of the nominee bragging about sexual assault. “Catherine’s been a national leader in the fight against sex trafficking of teenage girls and violence against women and passed laws to make sure the penalties are tougher for predators, expanded sex offender registries, gave victims the right to sue their captors—and the other guy supported Donald Trump,” Obama said.</p>
<p>“What the heck! What the heck! Heck no! Heck no. Heck no. Come on! Come on!”</p>
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<p>Obama’s criticism of Heck wasn’t even really about Joe Heck. It was an attempt to have the last word on the personal and political fights of the last eight years—to take the conspiracy theories and obstruction that dogged his presidency from day one and throw them back in Republicans’ faces:</p>
<p>Here’s the thing. For years, Republican politicians and the far-right media outlets have pumped up all kinds of crazy stuff about me. About Hillary. About Harry. They said I wasn’t born here. They said climate change is a hoax. They said that I was going to take everybody’s guns away! They said that while we were doing military exercises that we’ve been doing forever, suddenly this was a plot to impose martial law. This is what they’ve been saying for years now! So people have been hearing it they start thinking well maybe it’s true! And if the world they’ve been seeing is I’m powerful enough to cause hurricanes on my own and to steal everybody’s guns in the middle of the night and impose martial law—even though I can’t talk without a ‘prompter—then is it any wonder that they end up nominating somebody like Donald Trump?</p>
<p>And the fact is that there are a lot of politicians who knew better. There are a lot of senators who knew better but they went along with these stories because they figured you know what this’ll help rile up the base, it’ll give us an excuse to obstruct what we’re trying to do, we won’t be able to appoint judges, we’ll gum up the works, we’ll create gridlock, it’ll give us a political advantage. So they just stood by and said nothing and their base began to actually believe this stuff. So Donald Trump did not start this. Donald Trump didn’t start it, he just did what he always did which is slap his name on it, take credit for it, and promote it. That’s what he always does. And so now, when suddenly it’s not working and people are saying wow this guy’s kind of out of line, all of a sudden these Republican politicians who were okay with all this crazy stuff up to a point suddenly they’re all walking away. Oh, this is too much. So when you finally get him on tape bragging about actions that qualify as sexual assault and his poll numbers go down, suddenly that’s a deal-breaker. Well what took you so long! What the heck! What took you so long! All these years!</p>
<p>Obama’s revenge tour didn’t stop there. Speaking last week in Miami, Florida, Obama appeared to take a certain amount of glee in going after the Sunshine State’s Republican Sen. Marco Rubio. After finishing his riff about Republicans who knew better enabling a toxic political movement, Obama went out of his way to twist the knife just a little bit more.</p>
<p>“How can you call [Trump] a con artist and dangerous and object to all the controversial things he says, and then say, ‘But I’m still gonna vote for him’?” Obama said. “Come on, man. Come on, man! You know what that is, though? It is the height of cynicism. That’s the sign of somebody who will say anything, do anything, pretend to be anybody, just to get elected. And you know what? If you’re willing to be anybody just to be somebody, then you don’t have the leadership that Florida needs in the United States Senate.”</p>
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<p>Portman, the Ohio Republican who is running those ads boasting of his work with Obama, also came in for the Obama treatment after withdrawing his support for Trump this month. “But he has supported [Trump] up until last week?” Obama asked at a Democratic Party dinner in Cleveland in early October. “So I guess it was okay when Trump was attacking minorities and suggesting that Mexicans were rapists, Muslims were unpatriotic, and insulting Gold Star moms, making fun of disabled Americans. I guess that didn’t quite tip it over the edge. Why was that okay? And now he says he will vote for the vice presidential nominee instead—except that guy still supports Donald Trump!”</p>
<p>You can hear the exasperation in his voice:</p>
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<p>“So if Trump was running around saying I wasn’t born here, they were okay with that as long as it helped them with votes,” he continued. “If some of these folks on talk radio started talking about how I was the anti-Christ, ‘yeah you know, it’s just politics.’ You think I’m joking!”</p>
<p>As an example of how deep into the conspiracy swamps conservatives had gone, Obama mentioned <a href="http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2015/jul/14/what-jade-helm-15/" type="external">Jade Helm</a>, a training exercise in Texas that triggered right-wing paranoia in 2015. “We did a military exercise—the Pentagon does these periodically—in Texas; suddenly, all of a sudden the folks in Texas were all like, ‘They’re gonna take over right now!'” he said. “I’m serious! And then the senator down there said, ‘Yeah, we better look into that.’ And the governor says, ‘Well, I, you know, I don’t know!’ What do you mean you don’t know! What does that mean? Are—really? You think that like the entire Pentagon said, ‘Oh, really, you want to declare martial law and take over Texas, let’s do it under the guise of routine training missions?'”</p>
<p>The “senator” Obama was referring to was actually a congressman, <a href="http://http://gohmert.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=398216" type="external">Rep. Louie Gohmert</a>, but the point stands. The election is personal for Obama. It is not just about his legacy, but about the terms on which his legacy was achieved. And finally he’s got the wind at his back.</p>
<p /> | true | 4 | lta hrefhhttpswwwflickrcomphotoswhitehouse24237487265sizesogtwhite houseltagtflickr president barack obamas approval rating highest 45 months republicans taken note ohio sen rob portman running ad boasting work democratic commander chief break grip heroin addiction california rep darrell issawho called obama one corrupt presidents modern timesis sending mailers obamas face touting work president protect victims sexual assault problem strategy though obama seems determined spend last two weeks election laying waste every republican ever crossed though obama liability democrats 2014 midterms renewed popularity made soughtafter advocate hillary clinton downballot democrats fall rallies fundraisers battleground states swing districts obama ripped republican lawmakers mix exasperation disdain mocking belated rejection continued support donald trump casting gop presidential nominee logical endpoint eight years toxic hostility issa facing competitive race years recent republican feel wrath fundraiser la jolla sunday obama trashed california republican mailer issas primary contribution united states congress obstruct waste taxpayer dollars trumpedup investigations led nowhere said guy poll numbers bad sent brochures picture touting cooperation issues definition chutzpah earlier sunday campaigning las vegas senate candidate catherine cortez masto obama attacked opponent republican rep joe heck renouncing trump tape surfaced nominee bragging sexual assault catherines national leader fight sex trafficking teenage girls violence women passed laws make sure penalties tougher predators expanded sex offender registries gave victims right sue captorsand guy supported donald trump obama said heck heck heck heck heck come come obamas criticism heck wasnt even really joe heck attempt last word personal political fights last eight yearsto take conspiracy theories obstruction dogged presidency day one throw back republicans faces heres thing years republican politicians farright media outlets pumped kinds crazy stuff hillary harry said wasnt born said climate change hoax said going take everybodys guns away said military exercises weve forever suddenly plot impose martial law theyve saying years people hearing start thinking well maybe true world theyve seeing im powerful enough cause hurricanes steal everybodys guns middle night impose martial laweven though cant talk without prompterthen wonder end nominating somebody like donald trump fact lot politicians knew better lot senators knew better went along stories figured know thisll help rile base itll give us excuse obstruct trying wont able appoint judges well gum works well create gridlock itll give us political advantage stood said nothing base began actually believe stuff donald trump start donald trump didnt start always slap name take credit promote thats always suddenly working people saying wow guys kind line sudden republican politicians okay crazy stuff point suddenly theyre walking away oh much finally get tape bragging actions qualify sexual assault poll numbers go suddenly thats dealbreaker well took long heck took long years obamas revenge tour didnt stop speaking last week miami florida obama appeared take certain amount glee going sunshine states republican sen marco rubio finishing riff republicans knew better enabling toxic political movement obama went way twist knife little bit call trump con artist dangerous object controversial things says say im still gon na vote obama said come man come man know though height cynicism thats sign somebody say anything anything pretend anybody get elected know youre willing anybody somebody dont leadership florida needs united states senate portman ohio republican running ads boasting work obama also came obama treatment withdrawing support trump month supported trump last week obama asked democratic party dinner cleveland early october guess okay trump attacking minorities suggesting mexicans rapists muslims unpatriotic insulting gold star moms making fun disabled americans guess didnt quite tip edge okay says vote vice presidential nominee insteadexcept guy still supports donald trump hear exasperation voice trump running around saying wasnt born okay long helped votes continued folks talk radio started talking antichrist yeah know politics think im joking example deep conspiracy swamps conservatives gone obama mentioned jade helm training exercise texas triggered rightwing paranoia 2015 military exercisethe pentagon periodicallyin texas suddenly sudden folks texas like theyre gon na take right said im serious senator said yeah better look governor says well know dont know mean dont know mean arereally think like entire pentagon said oh really want declare martial law take texas lets guise routine training missions senator obama referring actually congressman rep louie gohmert point stands election personal obama legacy terms legacy achieved finally hes got wind back | 697 |
<p>That motormouth Bono announced to the world (everything he says these days seems to have the weight of a Papal Encyclical) in a recent interview in Time magazine that he’s given up on music as a political force. From here on out Bono says he’s going to use the persuasive aura of his own personality to wipe out Third World debt. After all his are the lips that smooched Jesse Helms and the hands that caressed Orin Hatch. Is it too soon to say good luck and good riddance?</p>
<p>Bono’s self-directed exit (was he ever really there to begin with?) leaves the field open to artists who still believe that music has the ability not only to stir the soul but change the heart and minds of people willing to listen. One such artist is Jon Langford, who has been around longer than Bono and has never given up on the power of popular music to reach people and inspire them toward social change.</p>
<p>Langford is a leader of the great British punk band The Mekons, a group of Leeds University leftist and anarchists, who, along with The Clash, The Sex Pistols and Gang of Four, produced some of the most politically-charged music of the late seventies and 1980s. In fact, I’m not sure I could have survived the eighties without the knowledge that a new record by the Mekons could be expected every six months or so. The Mekons made records that sounded just as pissed off as I felt about the Thatcherites and Reaganites and the liberal wimps who stood by as the rightwing goons turned the government into a thermo-nuclear subsidiary of the transnational corporations. And, of course, the Mekons were a raucous counterpunch to the kind of musical fare we were being spoon-fed through the eighties (led by the narcissistic sputum of Madonna, Michael Jackson, and Duran Duran), as the corporatization of rock was in full-bloom.</p>
<p>The Mekons may never have acquired the international following of the other bands, but they never sold out either. The Mekons made music their way: confrontational, experimental and uncompromising. They were versed in Marx, Tzara and Debord, but they also knew their Bob Wills, Bill Monroe and T-Bone Walker. Some of their records were odd, some truly bad, and some, such as <a href="" type="internal">Rock n’ Roll</a>, stand with the best music made in those dreadful decades.</p>
<p>While many other punk-influenced bands imploded, died off, retired, or, like U2, morphed into pop autmatons for the big music conglomerates that rule the soundwaves, the Mekons, in their various guises (such as the Waco Boys and Pine Valley Cosmonauts), kept on making their own kind of music. Often a species of punk-country. Usually out of Chicago, once the city that electrified the blues, now an emerging center for neo-roots music.</p>
<p>There is, of course, no more potent symbol of the ultimate authority of the state than the death penalty. And it’s prevalence here offers a peephole into the true character of the American political system, where the execution of prisoners often serves as a kind of obscene offering to the electoral gods. Remember Rickey Ray Rector, the black, brain-damaged inmate Clinton rushed home to put to death in the heat of the 1992 campaign? Thus, it’s scarcely surprising that upon relocating to the US Langford and his cohorts would soon begin to agitate, both musically and politically, for its abolition.</p>
<p>And it’s also apt that when the time came to make a full-blown musical manifesto against the death penalty Langford chose to burrow into the American past to reinterpret old-time music, the music that came out of what Greil Marcus calls the Weird America, the Invisible Republic of cotton field workers and hillbillies, juke joints and charismatic churches.</p>
<p>There was a time when American music was filled with stories of everyday violence, the cruelties of prison life, vigilantism, mob violence and the horrors of execution. The old dialectic of freedom and confinement was at the core of the lyrical content of the regional music that gave birth to rock n’ roll. The blues, bluegrass, mountain ballads, Ur-country-roots music, as the labels market it today–all dealt frequently–even obessively–with these themes that were so much a part of being poor and/or black in America. To a large extent this tradition of American music is only being carried on these days by hip-hop.</p>
<p>So now Langford and his Pine Valley Cosmonauts give us: <a href="" type="internal">Executioner’s Last Songs</a>, a collection of 18 songs “of murder, mob law, and cruel, cruel punishment.” The title of this release, from Chicago indie label <a href="http://www.bloodshotrecords.com/" type="external">Bloodshot Records</a>, is at once a play on Norman Mailer’s account of the 1977 killing by the State of Utah of Gary Gilmore (the first execution since the Supreme Court reinstituted the death penalty) and a prophesy of sorts. The band, with help of an amazing collection of like-minded artists, reworks music from the Louvin Brothers, Charley Pride, Johnny Paycheck, Cole Porter, Merle Haggard, the Stanley Brothers and Johnny Cash with the intent, according to Langford, “of consigning them to the realm of myth, memory and history.”</p>
<p>The proceeds from the album will go to the <a href="http://www.illinoismoratorium.org/" type="external">Illinois Death Penalty Moratorium Project</a>, which has done unyielding work on behalf of death row inmates over the past few years. In the outside world, this toil is largely thankless, but in 2001 17 people in the state of Illinois alone walked off Death Row, in part due to the project’s tireless efforts.</p>
<p>But let’s be clear. The real movement against the death penalty isn’t about only keeping innocent people from being killed by the state. What rational person (WARNING: Antonin Scalia is NOT a rational person) would not be opposed to the killing of innocents? No. This is about abolition, period.</p>
<p>The rising tide of executions (there have been 763 killings since Gilmore, with more than half of those having been carried out in the last five years) is America’s equivalent of Argentina’s so-called dirty war, where hundreds of souls are carted off to their doom with little hope of appeal. Call them America’s disappeared.</p>
<p>There are now more than 3,700 prisoners on death row, with a new one being added nearly every other day. States, led by the killing machines of Texas and Florida, are putting women, children, the sick and the mentally-ill. Meanwhile, constitutional rights to effective counsel, a jury of your peers (people who oppose the death penalty are not permitted to serve on juries in death penalty cases) and habeas corpus have been gutted.</p>
<p>Executioners’ Last Songs isn’t a No Nukes or We Are the World type of endeavor. It’s a genuine oppositional undertaking. The death penalty remains sickly popular in America and resistance to it is scarely a ticket to career enhancement. Artists who take on this cause in a serious way-such as Springsteen, Steve Earle, and Langford and company-do so at some risk to their livelihood. It’s one thing to attach yourself to a cause like saving the Amazonian rainforest and quite another matter entirely, in this nation at least, to demand that the state should not have the legal or moral right to kill prisoners, even if they have committed unspeakable crimes.</p>
<p>But though the issue is almost unbearably grim, there’s nothing solemn or preachy in this offering, no pious sermonizing or Bono-like preening for the cameras. There is, however, a blistering rant-in all the best senses of that word-by Tony Fitzpatrick. With a nod to Dylan, Fitzpatrick titles his call-to-arms Idiot Whistle: “Politicians love the death penalty because it makes a bunch of candy-asses look like tough guys.”</p>
<p>The music moves through its own stages of grieving and lamentation, puzzlement, revulsion, querulousness and outrage: from the lovely and gifted Neko Case’s elegaic Poor Ellen Smith and the Faulknerian black comedy of Jenny Toomey’s Miss Otis Regrets to The Aluminum Group’s 25 Minutes to Go (a bracing countdown to an execution) and Rick Sherry’s full-throttle version of Don’t Look at the Hanged Man.</p>
<p>The Advert’s 1977 punk classic Gary Gilmore’s Eyes is countryfied by Deano from the Waco Boys’ with help of Sally Timms from the Mekons. The inimitable LA alt-country phenom Rosie Flores sings, with a voice somewhere between Melba Montgomery and Iris Dement, Hank Williams’ I’ll Never Get Out of this Place Alive. Steve Earle breathes new life into Tom Dooley, making that old story sound urgent, new and familiar all at the same time. To my mind, Earle is the most compelling American rocker out there today. He’s certainly the most interesting, producing music that just keeps getting better and deeper. Earle’s got a voice that can chill your spine and a guitar-style as raw and accomplished as anything hatched by the great westside Chicago bluesman Hounddog Taylor.</p>
<p>Remember George Bush and Karla Faye Tucker? Lanford and Johnny Dowd do in their song Judgement Day: “God gave her life, but the mighty state of Texas took it away. She’s dead. Gone. To a better place. The governor’s so ashamed he won’t even show his face.Just one thing I want to say: She ain’t the only one facing the Lord on Judgement Day.”</p>
<p>Chicagoan Diane Izzo contributes a defiant version of the sinister ballad, Oh Death. Her exquisitely eroded voice reclaims the old Dock Boggs song from the malign purposes it was put to in the Coen Brothers’ offensive minstrelsy-show of a film, Oh, Brother Where Art Thou, where Ralph Stanley’s resigned voice is outrageously rerouted through the mouth of a Klansman.</p>
<p>Last phone calls. Last letters. Last kisses. Last meals. Last songs. Dreams of escape, freedom and commutation. Last prayers to Jesus, Allah, Elvis. Final goodbyes. It’s all here in the songs; the unspeakably cruel circumstances of everyday life on America’s death row.</p>
<p>The CD closes with Paul Burch’s assured version of Walls of Time, a beautiful bluegrass tune penned by Peter Rowan, which became a signature song for Bill Monroe. It’s a kind of ghost story, really, a ghost story that ends on a quavering note of love, reunion and redemption.</p>
<p>Executioners’ Last Songs provides an eerie kind of testimony to just how wrong Bono is. The songs are haunting, angry, and, often, funny–the kind of gallows humor that only works when it’s done by those who know what’s really at stake. So take those ridiculous U2 cds down to the used record store, trade them in and recycle the money into something that matters: Executioners Last Songs. And feel good about it. You can make a difference. Music isn’t going to lead the way to radical change (that’s going to take lawyers, organizers, activists, politicians and judges with courage), but it sure as hell can provide the marching tunes. Langford and friends have given us an unexpected message of hope amidst the bleakest of circumstances. Hope through struggle, that is.</p>
<p>Jeffrey St. Clair can be reached at <a href="mailto:counterpunch@counterpunch.org" type="external">counterpunch@counterpunch.org</a></p>
<p>Today’s Other Features:</p>
<p>Susan Davis <a href="" type="internal">Sleepless in the Suburbs Curing Insomnia: a new use for The Nation?</a></p>
<p>George Sunderland <a href="" type="internal">“Send in the Weekly Standard”: The Screaming Pundits Assault Corps</a></p>
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<p>&#160;</p> | true | 4 | motormouth bono announced world everything says days seems weight papal encyclical recent interview time magazine hes given music political force bono says hes going use persuasive aura personality wipe third world debt lips smooched jesse helms hands caressed orin hatch soon say good luck good riddance bonos selfdirected exit ever really begin leaves field open artists still believe music ability stir soul change heart minds people willing listen one artist jon langford around longer bono never given power popular music reach people inspire toward social change langford leader great british punk band mekons group leeds university leftist anarchists along clash sex pistols gang four produced politicallycharged music late seventies 1980s fact im sure could survived eighties without knowledge new record mekons could expected every six months mekons made records sounded pissed felt thatcherites reaganites liberal wimps stood rightwing goons turned government thermonuclear subsidiary transnational corporations course mekons raucous counterpunch kind musical fare spoonfed eighties led narcissistic sputum madonna michael jackson duran duran corporatization rock fullbloom mekons may never acquired international following bands never sold either mekons made music way confrontational experimental uncompromising versed marx tzara debord also knew bob wills bill monroe tbone walker records odd truly bad rock n roll stand best music made dreadful decades many punkinfluenced bands imploded died retired like u2 morphed pop autmatons big music conglomerates rule soundwaves mekons various guises waco boys pine valley cosmonauts kept making kind music often species punkcountry usually chicago city electrified blues emerging center neoroots music course potent symbol ultimate authority state death penalty prevalence offers peephole true character american political system execution prisoners often serves kind obscene offering electoral gods remember rickey ray rector black braindamaged inmate clinton rushed home put death heat 1992 campaign thus scarcely surprising upon relocating us langford cohorts would soon begin agitate musically politically abolition also apt time came make fullblown musical manifesto death penalty langford chose burrow american past reinterpret oldtime music music came greil marcus calls weird america invisible republic cotton field workers hillbillies juke joints charismatic churches time american music filled stories everyday violence cruelties prison life vigilantism mob violence horrors execution old dialectic freedom confinement core lyrical content regional music gave birth rock n roll blues bluegrass mountain ballads urcountryroots music labels market todayall dealt frequentlyeven obessivelywith themes much part poor andor black america large extent tradition american music carried days hiphop langford pine valley cosmonauts give us executioners last songs collection 18 songs murder mob law cruel cruel punishment title release chicago indie label bloodshot records play norman mailers account 1977 killing state utah gary gilmore first execution since supreme court reinstituted death penalty prophesy sorts band help amazing collection likeminded artists reworks music louvin brothers charley pride johnny paycheck cole porter merle haggard stanley brothers johnny cash intent according langford consigning realm myth memory history proceeds album go illinois death penalty moratorium project done unyielding work behalf death row inmates past years outside world toil largely thankless 2001 17 people state illinois alone walked death row part due projects tireless efforts lets clear real movement death penalty isnt keeping innocent people killed state rational person warning antonin scalia rational person would opposed killing innocents abolition period rising tide executions 763 killings since gilmore half carried last five years americas equivalent argentinas socalled dirty war hundreds souls carted doom little hope appeal call americas disappeared 3700 prisoners death row new one added nearly every day states led killing machines texas florida putting women children sick mentallyill meanwhile constitutional rights effective counsel jury peers people oppose death penalty permitted serve juries death penalty cases habeas corpus gutted executioners last songs isnt nukes world type endeavor genuine oppositional undertaking death penalty remains sickly popular america resistance scarely ticket career enhancement artists take cause serious waysuch springsteen steve earle langford companydo risk livelihood one thing attach cause like saving amazonian rainforest quite another matter entirely nation least demand state legal moral right kill prisoners even committed unspeakable crimes though issue almost unbearably grim theres nothing solemn preachy offering pious sermonizing bonolike preening cameras however blistering rantin best senses wordby tony fitzpatrick nod dylan fitzpatrick titles calltoarms idiot whistle politicians love death penalty makes bunch candyasses look like tough guys music moves stages grieving lamentation puzzlement revulsion querulousness outrage lovely gifted neko cases elegaic poor ellen smith faulknerian black comedy jenny toomeys miss otis regrets aluminum groups 25 minutes go bracing countdown execution rick sherrys fullthrottle version dont look hanged man adverts 1977 punk classic gary gilmores eyes countryfied deano waco boys help sally timms mekons inimitable la altcountry phenom rosie flores sings voice somewhere melba montgomery iris dement hank williams ill never get place alive steve earle breathes new life tom dooley making old story sound urgent new familiar time mind earle compelling american rocker today hes certainly interesting producing music keeps getting better deeper earles got voice chill spine guitarstyle raw accomplished anything hatched great westside chicago bluesman hounddog taylor remember george bush karla faye tucker lanford johnny dowd song judgement day god gave life mighty state texas took away shes dead gone better place governors ashamed wont even show facejust one thing want say aint one facing lord judgement day chicagoan diane izzo contributes defiant version sinister ballad oh death exquisitely eroded voice reclaims old dock boggs song malign purposes put coen brothers offensive minstrelsyshow film oh brother art thou ralph stanleys resigned voice outrageously rerouted mouth klansman last phone calls last letters last kisses last meals last songs dreams escape freedom commutation last prayers jesus allah elvis final goodbyes songs unspeakably cruel circumstances everyday life americas death row cd closes paul burchs assured version walls time beautiful bluegrass tune penned peter rowan became signature song bill monroe kind ghost story really ghost story ends quavering note love reunion redemption executioners last songs provides eerie kind testimony wrong bono songs haunting angry often funnythe kind gallows humor works done know whats really stake take ridiculous u2 cds used record store trade recycle money something matters executioners last songs feel good make difference music isnt going lead way radical change thats going take lawyers organizers activists politicians judges courage sure hell provide marching tunes langford friends given us unexpected message hope amidst bleakest circumstances hope struggle jeffrey st clair reached counterpunchcounterpunchorg todays features susan davis sleepless suburbs curing insomnia new use nation george sunderland send weekly standard screaming pundits assault corps home subscribe us books archives search links 160 160 | 1,070 |
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<p /> DAVID DOUGHERTY, TRNN: On Tuesday, May 3, thousands of demonstrators gathered in front of the North Carolina state legislature in the capital of Raleigh to oppose budget cuts to public education. Proposed education cuts are expected to total up to $1 billion, targeting K through 12 schools, community colleges, and state universities. The "One Voice" rally was organized by the NCAE, or the North Carolina Association of Educators, which is the largest teachers union in the state. There are concerns that cutbacks could cost thousands of state employees like teachers, bus drivers, janitors, assistants, and many others their jobs. Textbooks, elective and arts programs, school bus services, and financial aid are just a few examples of the many areas to be targeted by the budget cuts. Students and teachers formed a strong presence in the mobilization, voicing their concerns over the potential social costs of budget cuts in education spending.
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<p />TERESA MCNAIR, READING TEACHER, CUMBERLAND COUNTY, NC: Well, frankly, what we'll have are more children in one classroom, which will be difficult to manage, will be difficult to educate, because one teacher can't be it all and see it all. So more children will fall through the cracks. And that's going to be devastating for our society, because we're going to have children who are going to become adults who will not want to continue school, because they have witnessed failure after failure after failure, because we just won't have the resources to make sure they get a good education. That's critical.
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<p />CAROL REINER, TEACHER, SOUTHERN HIGH SCHOOL, DURHAM, NC: We are going to be creating students that will not know how to read and write because we don't have the resources. We are going to be graduating students without being prepared to succeed in society. We are going to be setting them up for failure. The elite, the dominant group, of course do not want minorities to get educated. And this goes also because of social economics in the country. That's why. It is happening nationwide, but especially here in the South, because, as we know, education is an equalizer. If you don't educate the people, the people [incompr.] ignorant, and the people will not vote, and the people will not stand for their rights.
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<p />ALEXANDER CHAFFEE, STUDENT, NC: Schools in our state need the money that pays for the programs that make our school districts and public universities some of the best in the country. Yet legislators have been slashing educational funding for years to trim the state budget. And all the while, the same people who support limiting the education budget refuse to adjust our state's policy on collecting revenue taxes from major corporations that do business in our state. No politician who claims to have the best interests of our people should prioritize putting money in the pockets of millionaires over the education of our children. And education can't be thrifty and cheap. Knowledge is incredibly valuable. In order to create well-rounded citizens, we have to give them a well-rounded education.
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<p />DOUGHERTY: Later that evening and the following day, House legislators voted to approve the Republican-drafted budget bill with a 72 to 47 vote that included five Democrats who joined Republicans in support of the cuts. Several students were removed from Tuesday's hearing and detained by police after unfurling a banner on the legislative balcony and chanting during the assembly. The budget bill will now go to the state senate, which is expected to approve its own similar version, focusing on education cuts. The Republicans have a large enough majority in the General Assembly to avoid a veto by Democratic governor Bev Perdue. Also introduced in the House was a bill to reduce the corporate income tax rate from 6.9 to 4.9 percent, amid other provisions aimed at loosening restrictions on the private sector. High-income earners and businesses have been accused of interfering in the political process. Powerful businessman Art Pope and his family members donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to political campaigning in the 2010 elections, while groups he partially funded and supported gave millions more. Reverand Curtis Gatewood of the North Carolina NAACP spoke at the rally and shared what he views to be the public's frustrations with a lack of participation and influence in the decision-making process.
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<p />REV. CURTIS GATEWOOD, COALITION COORDINATOR FOR NORTH CAROLINA NAACP: Well, the people are fed up. We have a misguided, misdirected pack of politicians, ultraconservative Tea Party types, who are basically misled by hype rather than the facts. They're misled by a misguided political party rather than the facts. We are--they are here because they're fed up with the cuts to the budget. They are cutting education while they're building prisons. They're cutting teachers. They're cutting everything, almost. They're trying to--look, it looks as if they're trying to repeal all the things that happened over the last three centuries that brought us together as a nation, as a country, and now it looks as if they're trying to repeal or take us back. They're supposed to be lawmakers, but they're acting like lawbreakers. They're trying to break--they look as if they're breaking laws to take us backwards. And the people have decided, whether they're educators, whether they're children, whether they are workers, whether they're part of the NAACP, whether they are ministers, they are fed up and they're saying enough is enough.
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<p />DOUGHERTY: North Carolina is not the only state to have introduced cuts and changes to the public education system. Dozens of other states have also targeted public education with severe budget cuts, as federal aid from the 2009 stimulus bill is set to expire later this year. Many states are also introducing legislation that will restructure the education system through charter school programs designed to replace public schools. Some people, like NCAE vice president Rodney Ellis, who helped organize Tuesday's rally, are concerned that the charter school model could place too much of an emphasis on profit rather than education.
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<p />RODNEY ELLIS, STATE VICE PRESIDENT, NCAE: Well, I think it's part of a larger agenda to actually change the face of education as we know it right now. I think that there is a massive effort to eliminate public education as a viable and successful option for our students to consider. I think that they want to impose or establish a charter school system that would actually replace public schools. And it's--there's a hidden agenda here to actually just destroy public education and make education something that certain individuals might be able to profit from, as opposed to making sure that it has the resources it needs to really, really provide our students with a quality education.
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<p />DOUGHERTY: As tensions rise once again over the future of public education in the United States, a multitude of people and organizations across the country are deploying a variety of tactics to resist legislation similar to the bills moving through the North Carolina General Assembly. The NCAE has planned a statewide boycott of Art Pope's businesses, in opposition to his bankrolling of the right-wing agenda in North Carolina, where people are again asking who it is that should be forced to pay for the budget crisis in the United States. This is David Dougherty with The Real News Network.
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<p />End of Transcript
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<p />DISCLAIMER: Please note that transcripts for The Real News Network are typed from a recording of the program. TRNN cannot guarantee their complete accuracy. | true | 4 | david dougherty trnn tuesday may 3 thousands demonstrators gathered front north carolina state legislature capital raleigh oppose budget cuts public education proposed education cuts expected total 1 billion targeting k 12 schools community colleges state universities one voice rally organized ncae north carolina association educators largest teachers union state concerns cutbacks could cost thousands state employees like teachers bus drivers janitors assistants many others jobs textbooks elective arts programs school bus services financial aid examples many areas targeted budget cuts students teachers formed strong presence mobilization voicing concerns potential social costs budget cuts education spending teresa mcnair reading teacher cumberland county nc well frankly well children one classroom difficult manage difficult educate one teacher cant see children fall cracks thats going devastating society going children going become adults want continue school witnessed failure failure failure wont resources make sure get good education thats critical carol reiner teacher southern high school durham nc going creating students know read write dont resources going graduating students without prepared succeed society going setting failure elite dominant group course want minorities get educated goes also social economics country thats happening nationwide especially south know education equalizer dont educate people people incompr ignorant people vote people stand rights alexander chaffee student nc schools state need money pays programs make school districts public universities best country yet legislators slashing educational funding years trim state budget people support limiting education budget refuse adjust states policy collecting revenue taxes major corporations business state politician claims best interests people prioritize putting money pockets millionaires education children education cant thrifty cheap knowledge incredibly valuable order create wellrounded citizens give wellrounded education dougherty later evening following day house legislators voted approve republicandrafted budget bill 72 47 vote included five democrats joined republicans support cuts several students removed tuesdays hearing detained police unfurling banner legislative balcony chanting assembly budget bill go state senate expected approve similar version focusing education cuts republicans large enough majority general assembly avoid veto democratic governor bev perdue also introduced house bill reduce corporate income tax rate 69 49 percent amid provisions aimed loosening restrictions private sector highincome earners businesses accused interfering political process powerful businessman art pope family members donated hundreds thousands dollars political campaigning 2010 elections groups partially funded supported gave millions reverand curtis gatewood north carolina naacp spoke rally shared views publics frustrations lack participation influence decisionmaking process rev curtis gatewood coalition coordinator north carolina naacp well people fed misguided misdirected pack politicians ultraconservative tea party types basically misled hype rather facts theyre misled misguided political party rather facts arethey theyre fed cuts budget cutting education theyre building prisons theyre cutting teachers theyre cutting everything almost theyre trying tolook looks theyre trying repeal things happened last three centuries brought us together nation country looks theyre trying repeal take us back theyre supposed lawmakers theyre acting like lawbreakers theyre trying breakthey look theyre breaking laws take us backwards people decided whether theyre educators whether theyre children whether workers whether theyre part naacp whether ministers fed theyre saying enough enough dougherty north carolina state introduced cuts changes public education system dozens states also targeted public education severe budget cuts federal aid 2009 stimulus bill set expire later year many states also introducing legislation restructure education system charter school programs designed replace public schools people like ncae vice president rodney ellis helped organize tuesdays rally concerned charter school model could place much emphasis profit rather education rodney ellis state vice president ncae well think part larger agenda actually change face education know right think massive effort eliminate public education viable successful option students consider think want impose establish charter school system would actually replace public schools itstheres hidden agenda actually destroy public education make education something certain individuals might able profit opposed making sure resources needs really really provide students quality education dougherty tensions rise future public education united states multitude people organizations across country deploying variety tactics resist legislation similar bills moving north carolina general assembly ncae planned statewide boycott art popes businesses opposition bankrolling rightwing agenda north carolina people asking forced pay budget crisis united states david dougherty real news network end transcript disclaimer please note transcripts real news network typed recording program trnn guarantee complete accuracy | 700 |
<p>Arianna Huffington has turned it around. She was in the GOP but is now a vocal critic of the party, especially the Bush-Cheney White House. Her body of work joins a growing field of criticism for the Republican Party leadership, with Conservatives Without Conscience by John W. Dean an example of a critic-from-within the party. Huffington has a “liberal” focus in contrast to that of Dean. She inveighs against the “takeover of the Republican Party,” one at odds “on the mainstream issues.” But this trend of reaction in the U.S. polity has roots far deeper and wider than that, which she gives short shrift in <a href="" type="internal">Right Is Wrong: How the Lunatic Fringe Hijacked America, Shredded the Constitution, and Made Us All Less Safe</a>. The author’s view of the state’s role in its two-party form of government, by and for the needs of a U.S. upper class limits the effectiveness of her analysis.</p>
<p>The scope of Huffington’s book is the rise of the Bush II White House, propelled by the terror attacks on U.S. soil of September 11, 2001. Her purpose is to reveal, critically, “the Right’s playbook” on a host of policy issues at home and abroad. A prolific author and editor-in-chief of the popular Web site Huffington Post, she finds much to fault with media corporations such as Fox News, and its commentators like Ann Coulter, a voice for the Right’s agenda. “As the Right took power, so did its media mouthpieces,” according to Huffington.</p>
<p>She notes, accurately, the Washington press corps’ concern with maintaining its access to politicians as a large factor in the decline of American journalism. The examples Huffington cites of media coverage during the U.S. government’s invasion and occupation of Iraq is telling and the book’s strengths. The so-called “liberal media” is anything but that. But is the concentrated wealth driving the decline of critical reporting in newsrooms across the nation a function primarily of the “Right” and its power? Or is the “Right” a wing of the U.S. state which an upper class relies upon for the purpose of garnering capital in national and global markets? For example, the deregulating of the U.S. telecommunications industry occurred on the watch of Bill Clinton in 1996, a Democratic president. Rupert Murdoch, head of News Corp., which owns the jingoistic Fox News, benefitted. This is a significant trend which is a part of—not apart from—U.S. economics and politics. The state’s role in this is not peripheral but is central.</p>
<p>In chapter four, in a discussion of U.S. energy policy, Huffington reveals her worldview to personalize the modern market economy and polity. She writes: “There are steps we can take right now that will begin to slow—and eventually reverse the drain of dollars to the petro-vampires, foreign and domestic. The result would be a stronger, safer, and cleaner America that would, once again, be leading the rest of the world to a more promising future.” Three pages later Huffington claims that Hugo Chávez, the elected president of oil-rich Venezuela, is a “Marxist dictator.” Is this a progressive foreign policy or a page from the playbook of Fox News, purveyor of talking points for the Bush White House? What such demonization of Chávez does partly is to fog the bipartisan unity for Washington’s investor-friendly stance in Latin America and worldwide. The typical political rhetoric for U.S. public consumption is to attack the credibility of foreign leaders like Chávez. He survived a U.S.-backed ouster in April 2002, and continues to use the nation’s oil revenues to improve the lives of low-income Venezuelans. The U.S.’s two-party system fears and loathes this development. It represents the “threat of a good example,” not the favorite cup of tea for the future quarterly earnings of corporate America and its political representatives.</p>
<p>Huffington prefers to lay the blame for resource conflicts such as the U.S. wars in Afghanistan and Iraq at the feet of President George W. Bush. To wit, his “fatal deed was invading Iraq,” she writes to open chapter six. On this count, her methodology is to understand how the Iraq “war was, from the very start, a cherished project of the Right.” Presumably, the Democrats in Congress did not and do not cherish the conflict in the same way. Thus there is no sense of the continuity in Iraq policy under President Clinton’s two terms. Recall he pursued the hideous U.S.-led trade sanctions against Iraq, which kept it from having normal commercial relations. Clinton pursued a policy of punishing Iraqi citizens by denying them medicine and other life-saving goods. This paved the path from Gulf War 1 to the March 2003 U.S. attack against this long-suffering Persian Gulf nation, as U.S. activist Kathy Kelly has witnessed first-hand and written of in Other Lands Have Dreams: From Baghdad to Pekin Prison. For maimed and murdered Iraqis, Clinton’s approach was a prelude to the U.S. attack in March 2003. Nevertheless, Huffington lays out a commendable excavation of the evasions and omissions of the Bush administration and its enablers with Fox News and the mainstream media in the run-up to the war and the subsequent U.S. occupation.</p>
<p>She laments the congressional Democrats who “failed to use the power of the purse” to stop funding the U.S. occupation of Iraq after winning the midterm elections of 2006. Where is the evidence from the party’s post-World War II record to suggest its dissent to the growth of U.S. bases and forces around the world? Further, Huffington takes Iraq’s government to task for dragging its feet to meet “key benchmarks for the Iraqis” including those on “oil revenue sharing.” Apparently, the need for the Iraqi state to furnish the legal-political structure for the benefit of U.S. energy companies to re-acquire control over the nation’s vast oil fields and their revenues is a fair policy.</p>
<p>Huffington organizes her case against the Right with assertions that beg questions. Here is one example. At the close of chapter nine she writes “that whatever differences the Democrats may have—and however heated and divisive the party’s primary race became—when it comes to endless war, the two parties are headed in wildly different directions. The Democrats are all looking to the future while the Right remains mired in a Neanderthal past.” Consider the speech of Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) to AIPAC on June 4, 2008. That alone, demonizing Iran as the largest threat to Israel and Middle East peace, speaks volumes about the Right’s policy in the region being more similar than different to that of the Democratic Party. In all fairness to Huffington, Obama delivered his AIPAC address after her book was published. Nevertheless, his war rhetoric should inform us about Obama’s perpetual war credentials to defend the Jewish state. Democrats and Republicans alike are friends of a feather in this standard business-as-usual for the U.S. state and the military-industrial complex. Investors in both nations applaud all the way to the bank. Crucially, Huffington skips past this decades-long business of war for profits and power under Democrats and Republicans, which perpetuates insecurity for citizens in Israel, the U.S. and Palestinians under Israeli-occupation.</p>
<p>“With the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Right lost its Lodestar,” Huffington writes in chapter 12. “Opposition to communism was the most basic of all conservative beliefs.” Wrong. This belief system was a main ingredient of the left-liberal consensus for U.S. anti-communism during the Cold War. Such bipartisanship helped to wreck independent labor unions and thereby build ruling class power. That process, in turn, helped to solidify military-industrialism as social policy for both political parties until revulsion against American apartheid and the Vietnam War spurred popular uprisings to revolt against such priorities. She observes in the same chapter regarding the growth of income inequality and the Iraqi front of the U.S.-led war on terror: “The 2008 Democratic convention needs to link the reality of the Two Americas with Bush’s miserable failures in Iraq.” Yes, but if the past is any indication of what lies ahead, getting such a linkage will be the result of broad-based movements, rooted in the real lives of various people who labor for a living. This push-back from below is nowhere yet on the horizon in the U.S., politically bound up in a two-party straightjacket. Part of the reason for this domestic quagmire brings us back to the fall of the Soviet Union. That world-historic event has in part squelched a vision of grassroots’ pressure on policy-makers to address the costs of empire at home and abroad, and seed a decent society striving for more not less equality. The rise and demise of Soviet communism, for some U.S. liberals, “proves” that alternatives to “free-market” U.S. capitalism are foolhardy and fated to fail, always and forever. This view helps to legitimate in part the objective conditions now in the U.S. for a tiny percentage of the populace to grab a growing share of economic growth to the harm of wage-earners. As a class, they increasingly face the prospects of disease, poverty and prison.</p>
<p>Huffington’s presentation of the effects of the U.S. health-care crisis is on the mark. Yet laying the blame for it on the Right absolves the Democrats for their long-standing involvement in boosting what author and economist Jared Bernstein of the Economic Policy Institute calls the “medical-industrial complex.” For instance, the state’s vital role to eliminate competition and subsidize product development for pharmaceutical firms via the patent system is a bi-partisan affair. This state-directed welfare policy for corporate investors is not a monopoly of the Right. Perhaps with the descent of the Bush-Cheney White House there will emerge a new body of work which opposes the GOP/Right and the party across the aisle from it, operating in a co-dependence to maintain a minority rule against the majority. The Right can’t do that job alone.</p>
<p>SETH SANDRONSKY lives and writes in Sacramento ssandronsky@yahoo.com</p>
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<p>&#160;</p> | true | 4 | arianna huffington turned around gop vocal critic party especially bushcheney white house body work joins growing field criticism republican party leadership conservatives without conscience john w dean example criticfromwithin party huffington liberal focus contrast dean inveighs takeover republican party one odds mainstream issues trend reaction us polity roots far deeper wider gives short shrift right wrong lunatic fringe hijacked america shredded constitution made us less safe authors view states role twoparty form government needs us upper class limits effectiveness analysis scope huffingtons book rise bush ii white house propelled terror attacks us soil september 11 2001 purpose reveal critically rights playbook host policy issues home abroad prolific author editorinchief popular web site huffington post finds much fault media corporations fox news commentators like ann coulter voice rights agenda right took power media mouthpieces according huffington notes accurately washington press corps concern maintaining access politicians large factor decline american journalism examples huffington cites media coverage us governments invasion occupation iraq telling books strengths socalled liberal media anything concentrated wealth driving decline critical reporting newsrooms across nation function primarily right power right wing us state upper class relies upon purpose garnering capital national global markets example deregulating us telecommunications industry occurred watch bill clinton 1996 democratic president rupert murdoch head news corp owns jingoistic fox news benefitted significant trend part ofnot apart fromus economics politics states role peripheral central chapter four discussion us energy policy huffington reveals worldview personalize modern market economy polity writes steps take right begin slowand eventually reverse drain dollars petrovampires foreign domestic result would stronger safer cleaner america would leading rest world promising future three pages later huffington claims hugo chávez elected president oilrich venezuela marxist dictator progressive foreign policy page playbook fox news purveyor talking points bush white house demonization chávez partly fog bipartisan unity washingtons investorfriendly stance latin america worldwide typical political rhetoric us public consumption attack credibility foreign leaders like chávez survived usbacked ouster april 2002 continues use nations oil revenues improve lives lowincome venezuelans uss twoparty system fears loathes development represents threat good example favorite cup tea future quarterly earnings corporate america political representatives huffington prefers lay blame resource conflicts us wars afghanistan iraq feet president george w bush wit fatal deed invading iraq writes open chapter six count methodology understand iraq war start cherished project right presumably democrats congress cherish conflict way thus sense continuity iraq policy president clintons two terms recall pursued hideous usled trade sanctions iraq kept normal commercial relations clinton pursued policy punishing iraqi citizens denying medicine lifesaving goods paved path gulf war 1 march 2003 us attack longsuffering persian gulf nation us activist kathy kelly witnessed firsthand written lands dreams baghdad pekin prison maimed murdered iraqis clintons approach prelude us attack march 2003 nevertheless huffington lays commendable excavation evasions omissions bush administration enablers fox news mainstream media runup war subsequent us occupation laments congressional democrats failed use power purse stop funding us occupation iraq winning midterm elections 2006 evidence partys postworld war ii record suggest dissent growth us bases forces around world huffington takes iraqs government task dragging feet meet key benchmarks iraqis including oil revenue sharing apparently need iraqi state furnish legalpolitical structure benefit us energy companies reacquire control nations vast oil fields revenues fair policy huffington organizes case right assertions beg questions one example close chapter nine writes whatever differences democrats may haveand however heated divisive partys primary race becamewhen comes endless war two parties headed wildly different directions democrats looking future right remains mired neanderthal past consider speech sen barack obama dil aipac june 4 2008 alone demonizing iran largest threat israel middle east peace speaks volumes rights policy region similar different democratic party fairness huffington obama delivered aipac address book published nevertheless war rhetoric inform us obamas perpetual war credentials defend jewish state democrats republicans alike friends feather standard businessasusual us state militaryindustrial complex investors nations applaud way bank crucially huffington skips past decadeslong business war profits power democrats republicans perpetuates insecurity citizens israel us palestinians israelioccupation fall berlin wall right lost lodestar huffington writes chapter 12 opposition communism basic conservative beliefs wrong belief system main ingredient leftliberal consensus us anticommunism cold war bipartisanship helped wreck independent labor unions thereby build ruling class power process turn helped solidify militaryindustrialism social policy political parties revulsion american apartheid vietnam war spurred popular uprisings revolt priorities observes chapter regarding growth income inequality iraqi front usled war terror 2008 democratic convention needs link reality two americas bushs miserable failures iraq yes past indication lies ahead getting linkage result broadbased movements rooted real lives various people labor living pushback nowhere yet horizon us politically bound twoparty straightjacket part reason domestic quagmire brings us back fall soviet union worldhistoric event part squelched vision grassroots pressure policymakers address costs empire home abroad seed decent society striving less equality rise demise soviet communism us liberals proves alternatives freemarket us capitalism foolhardy fated fail always forever view helps legitimate part objective conditions us tiny percentage populace grab growing share economic growth harm wageearners class increasingly face prospects disease poverty prison huffingtons presentation effects us healthcare crisis mark yet laying blame right absolves democrats longstanding involvement boosting author economist jared bernstein economic policy institute calls medicalindustrial complex instance states vital role eliminate competition subsidize product development pharmaceutical firms via patent system bipartisan affair statedirected welfare policy corporate investors monopoly right perhaps descent bushcheney white house emerge new body work opposes gopright party across aisle operating codependence maintain minority rule majority right cant job alone seth sandronsky lives writes sacramento ssandronskyyahoocom 160 ad 160 160 160 160 | 921 |
<p>“The president is not going to allow Somalia to become a safe haven for terrorists.”</p>
<p>US spokesperson, May 2006</p>
<p>Once again the Horn of Africa is being drawn into a global power game likely to increase the suffering of its peoples. Ethiopia’s attack on Somalia, backed by a nod from George W Bush, is the clearest sign yet that the region in high on the US’s agenda in its all-consuming “war on terror”.</p>
<p>But Ethiopia and Somalia aren’t new to global power politics. For decades brutal dictators have received massive support to play the pawns of the US, and previously also the Soviet Union.</p>
<p>Cold War</p>
<p>Throughout the Cold War Ethiopia and Somalia were used as proxies, receiving billions of dollars worth of weapons while famines and wars raged throughout the region. US support of Haile Selassie, Emperor of Ethiopia from the Second World War until 1974, ensured US access to the vitally important spy base at Kagnew, while next door the Soviet’s backed Siad Barre’s ‘Marxist’ regime in Somalia.</p>
<p>On the back of US aid, Ethiopia developed one of the largest armies in Africa, which it used to devastate Eritrean society in an attempt to maintain control of the region. As Haile Selassie’s policies became increasingly unpopular, most especially when he ignored the famine of the early 1970s (as 100,000 peasants were known to have died, one of his Minister’s is quoted as saying “If we could save the peasants only by confessing our failure to the world, it is better that they die”), this very army overthrew his rule, and Major Mengistu quickly took control of the ruling military committee, known as the Derg.</p>
<p>Ultimately, Mengistu preferred a relationship with the Soviets, more in line with his proclaimed ideology and thought more likely to provide the weapons he needed to keep himself in power. Seeing Ethiopia as a far more important prize than Somalia, the Soviet Union did indeed outbid the US, sending $9 billion in military hardware before Mengistu was ousted in 1991. Soviet aid allowed Mengistu to unleash a terror on political opponents, as well as many ordinary civilians, and increased the war drive against the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front, massacring thousands of civilians in Eritrea. Despite some embarrassment, Soviet support even continued throughout the famine of the mid-80s, which killed at least 1 million people, as Mengistu spent $55million celebrating the anniversary of his revolution.</p>
<p>To add to the murky politics, Mengistu also received a little help from Israel, who bribed him to allow the deportation of Ethiopian Jews that it needed to bolster the Jewish population of Israel. Shortly after the deal, Israeli-made cluster bombs started falling on Eritrean towns. While condemning Soviet aid to Mengistu, the US, needless to say, didn’t mention Israeli aid.</p>
<p>Across the border, the US supported Somalia, albeit with less fanfare, not wanting to upset a potential future relationship with Ethiopia. As early as 1977, the US promised to find allies who would be able to supply Somalia the military assistance that it would need to attack Ethiopia’s Ogaden region. Saudi Arabia, Iran, Egypt and Pakistan all rushed in with the required aid.</p>
<p>In 1980, the US signed an arms deal which allowed it access to Somali bases. Under Regan, the US supplied more than $680million to Said Barre, at least $195 million of which was intended for military use (the figure increases dramatically when related aid is counted), despite Congressional obstacles. Barre spent around 1/5 of his country’s income on arms, while he faced the lowest literacy rate in the world (12%).</p>
<p>Of course the US claimed its relationship had a moderating impact on Somalia. Human Rights Watch disagreed, claiming that 50,000 of Barre’s own civilians were killed and half a million displaced in the late 1980s. Other organisations detailed his carpet bombing of urban areas and the fact that in the month before he was ousted alone ­ January 1991 ­ 20,000 people were killed. When asked to justify the continued supply of arms to Somalia during this period, one Defense Department official said “What is the sense of having this program if we’re not going to give them the military support when it counts most?”</p>
<p>For the US and the Soviet Union, local suffering counted for no more than did the proclaimed ideology of their proxy dictators. The important thing was the global edge that arming such countries could bring to their overall game.</p>
<p>Humanitarian Intervention?</p>
<p>While the Cold War wound down, and as Siad Barre was ousted from power, the US initiated a ‘humanitarian intervention’ to clean up the mess left in Somalia (with no mention of the role of US support in creating this situation), which included a raging famine and rampant warlordism. The result of the 1992/3 UN-backed ‘Operation Restore Hope’ was disastrous. It is estimated that between 6,000 and 10,000 Somalis died before President Clinton terminated the operation after 18 American soldiers were killed. But few questioned the pure movies of Bush Senior’s Administration.</p>
<p>One of those who did was Stephen Shalom. Writing in the early 1990s, he detailed how the US military establishment was desperately searching for a post-Cold War justification for its continued budget levels and the central position the military played in US policy-making. Military power was vital to the US’s continued pole position in the world, but how to justify it? The ‘war on drugs’ was tried in Latin America, ‘sovereignty and justice’ in Iraq/ Kuwait, and ‘humanitarian intervention’ in Somalia.</p>
<p>These justifications served for the down times, but ultimately the attack on the World Trade Centre on 11 September 2001 solved the problem. The war on terror has begun.</p>
<p>The War on Terror</p>
<p>Like the Cold War, the war on terror is an all-encompassing analysis of world affairs ­ if a situation looks similar, incorporate it into the bigger game. That’s why the Ethiopian government has referred to the Somali Islamic Courts, the group which has until recently been de facto ruling Somalia, as a “terrorist group” ­ they want to be part of the game. In an interview with the Washington Post, Meles Zenawi, Ethiopia’s Prime Minister and former head of the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front said on 14 December 2006:</p>
<p>“It does surprise me that intelligent people in the 21st century could claim that if you respond to the terrorists with force, you spawn terrorism, but if you appease them, you somehow tame them.”</p>
<p>Bush Junior himself couldn’t have put it better (no, really).</p>
<p>Meles puts up with no nonsense at home either. When opposition groups protested at his re-election in November 2005, government forces opened fire. 197 people, including 6 police officers, were killed, and thousands have been arrested, including 100 opposition leaders, journalists and relief workers. Impeccable credentials for a key player in the war on terror.</p>
<p>All of this plays extraordinarily well in Washington. The US Administration has stated that the Islamic Courts is “controlled by Al-Qaeda cell individuals”. To this end the US funded the very warlords that threw its troops out of Somalia a decade earlier in Operation Restore Hope. In January 2006, an International Crisis Group expert reported that between $100,000 and $150,000 was being funneled by the US to warlord proxies in Kenya every month, effectively breaching the UN embargo on arms to Somalia. The money was sent through a Pentagon force which has been based in Djibouti since shortly after September 11, 2001. In Somalia, this is accompanied by some familiar sights and sounds ­ unidentified surveillance flights and abductions of suspected terrorists.</p>
<p>The real tragedy is that the situation in Somalia, as in so many other places, is actually more complex than the US or its Ethiopian proxy would like to admit. Since 1991 there has been no stable government. In 2004 Kenya, worried by the impact that a politicised brand of Islam in Somalia would have on its own Muslim minority, helped get agreement from various warlords to establish a Transitional Federal Government (TFG). The TRG, itself made up of some very unsavory characters, initially pretended to ‘run’ Somalia from Kenya, and until very recently they actually controlled almost none of the country. Nonetheless it has received international backing, containing as it does so many of the warring factions and tribes.</p>
<p>The Islamic Courts does not have international recognition, but does have popular support and, until recently, controlled most of the country. Verdicts on the Islamic Courts differ markedly within Somalia ­ many praise the stability that it has brought after so many years of chaos and violence, but it also appears to be taking an increasingly hardline position in terms of internal law and order. However, the International Crisis Group wrote in 2005 that “Islamist extremism has failed to take a broader hold in Somalia because of Somali resistance ­ not foreign counter-terrorism efforts.” In fact, religious forms of justice are widely seen as the only way to rise above warlord violence.</p>
<p>It was in this context that Ethiopia had secretly stationed at least 8,000 troops in Somalia from the Transitional Federal Government capital in Baidoa. In October 2006, the Islamic Courts issued a threat to Ethiopia to leave Somalia, and Ethiopia, with backing from the US, decided it was time to invade properly, conducting air raids and most recently entering the capital Mogidishu, as the Islamic Courts withdrew. The Ethiopian government made its intentions clear “we are going to use any appropriate means to destabilise the anti-Ethiopian forces in Somalia”.</p>
<p>Ethiopia appears to have won, for now, with the warlords in the Transitional Federal Government installed as Somalia’s de facto, as well as de jure, government. Ethiopia claims 1-2,000 have been killed with 4-5,000 wounded ­ while tens of thousands risk being displaced. Martial law has been declared to attempt to rein in the chaos that has returned to the streets of Mogadishu. Even more worrying is what this means for the future of the region, where the war on terror is now firmly implanted, with all the international repercussions that entails.</p>
<p>Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government is highly unstable, unpopular and broke, while the Islamic Courts is likely to re-start an insurgency. Countries throughout the Horn of Africa are also effected. Eritrea supports the Islamic Courts while Kenya supports the Transitional Federal Government ­ both are religiously mixed countries. Religious and ethnic divisions in Sudan are well known. Both ‘sides’ have been radicalised and are calling on international support. The Guardian newspaper describes the dangerous situation aptly:</p>
<p>“Washington has viewed Somalia’s domestic complexities and their intertwined regional repercussions through the distorting prism of the “war on terror”. the stage is set for a wider, partly proxy conflict, in which a fully fledged Somali war joins the daily horrors from Iraq and Afghanistan.”</p>
<p>NICK DEARDEN is an independent activist based in London. He can be reached at: <a href="" type="internal">nickdearden2002@yahoo.co.uk</a></p>
<p>Sources:</p>
<p>Michela Wrong, ‘I Didn’t Do It for You’, Harper Perennial, 2005</p>
<p>The Guardian, ‘From Bad to Worse’, December 27, 2006</p>
<p>Stephen R Shalom, ‘Gravy Train: Feeding the Pentagon by Feeding Somalia’, November 1993</p>
<p>Washington Post, ‘Interview With Meles Zenawi’, December 14, 2006</p>
<p>Kramer &amp; Hultman, ‘Somalia: Tangled Ties of the Past Shaped U.S.-Somali Relations’</p>
<p>Africa News Service, January 3, 1993</p>
<p>John Prendergast, ‘Our Failure in Somalia’, The Washington Post, June 7, 2006</p>
<p>International Crisis Group, ‘Somalia’s Islamists’, Africa Report N°100, December 12, 2005</p>
<p>Alec Russell &amp; Mike Pflanz, ‘US in secret alliance with Somali war lords fighting Islamic militia’, the Daily Telegraph, May 18, 2005</p>
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<p>&#160;</p> | true | 4 | president going allow somalia become safe terrorists us spokesperson may 2006 horn africa drawn global power game likely increase suffering peoples ethiopias attack somalia backed nod george w bush clearest sign yet region high uss agenda allconsuming war terror ethiopia somalia arent new global power politics decades brutal dictators received massive support play pawns us previously also soviet union cold war throughout cold war ethiopia somalia used proxies receiving billions dollars worth weapons famines wars raged throughout region us support haile selassie emperor ethiopia second world war 1974 ensured us access vitally important spy base kagnew next door soviets backed siad barres marxist regime somalia back us aid ethiopia developed one largest armies africa used devastate eritrean society attempt maintain control region haile selassies policies became increasingly unpopular especially ignored famine early 1970s 100000 peasants known died one ministers quoted saying could save peasants confessing failure world better die army overthrew rule major mengistu quickly took control ruling military committee known derg ultimately mengistu preferred relationship soviets line proclaimed ideology thought likely provide weapons needed keep power seeing ethiopia far important prize somalia soviet union indeed outbid us sending 9 billion military hardware mengistu ousted 1991 soviet aid allowed mengistu unleash terror political opponents well many ordinary civilians increased war drive eritrean peoples liberation front massacring thousands civilians eritrea despite embarrassment soviet support even continued throughout famine mid80s killed least 1 million people mengistu spent 55million celebrating anniversary revolution add murky politics mengistu also received little help israel bribed allow deportation ethiopian jews needed bolster jewish population israel shortly deal israelimade cluster bombs started falling eritrean towns condemning soviet aid mengistu us needless say didnt mention israeli aid across border us supported somalia albeit less fanfare wanting upset potential future relationship ethiopia early 1977 us promised find allies would able supply somalia military assistance would need attack ethiopias ogaden region saudi arabia iran egypt pakistan rushed required aid 1980 us signed arms deal allowed access somali bases regan us supplied 680million said barre least 195 million intended military use figure increases dramatically related aid counted despite congressional obstacles barre spent around 15 countrys income arms faced lowest literacy rate world 12 course us claimed relationship moderating impact somalia human rights watch disagreed claiming 50000 barres civilians killed half million displaced late 1980s organisations detailed carpet bombing urban areas fact month ousted alone january 1991 20000 people killed asked justify continued supply arms somalia period one defense department official said sense program going give military support counts us soviet union local suffering counted proclaimed ideology proxy dictators important thing global edge arming countries could bring overall game humanitarian intervention cold war wound siad barre ousted power us initiated humanitarian intervention clean mess left somalia mention role us support creating situation included raging famine rampant warlordism result 19923 unbacked operation restore hope disastrous estimated 6000 10000 somalis died president clinton terminated operation 18 american soldiers killed questioned pure movies bush seniors administration one stephen shalom writing early 1990s detailed us military establishment desperately searching postcold war justification continued budget levels central position military played us policymaking military power vital uss continued pole position world justify war drugs tried latin america sovereignty justice iraq kuwait humanitarian intervention somalia justifications served times ultimately attack world trade centre 11 september 2001 solved problem war terror begun war terror like cold war war terror allencompassing analysis world affairs situation looks similar incorporate bigger game thats ethiopian government referred somali islamic courts group recently de facto ruling somalia terrorist group want part game interview washington post meles zenawi ethiopias prime minister former head tigrayan peoples liberation front said 14 december 2006 surprise intelligent people 21st century could claim respond terrorists force spawn terrorism appease somehow tame bush junior couldnt put better really meles puts nonsense home either opposition groups protested reelection november 2005 government forces opened fire 197 people including 6 police officers killed thousands arrested including 100 opposition leaders journalists relief workers impeccable credentials key player war terror plays extraordinarily well washington us administration stated islamic courts controlled alqaeda cell individuals end us funded warlords threw troops somalia decade earlier operation restore hope january 2006 international crisis group expert reported 100000 150000 funneled us warlord proxies kenya every month effectively breaching un embargo arms somalia money sent pentagon force based djibouti since shortly september 11 2001 somalia accompanied familiar sights sounds unidentified surveillance flights abductions suspected terrorists real tragedy situation somalia many places actually complex us ethiopian proxy would like admit since 1991 stable government 2004 kenya worried impact politicised brand islam somalia would muslim minority helped get agreement various warlords establish transitional federal government tfg trg made unsavory characters initially pretended run somalia kenya recently actually controlled almost none country nonetheless received international backing containing many warring factions tribes islamic courts international recognition popular support recently controlled country verdicts islamic courts differ markedly within somalia many praise stability brought many years chaos violence also appears taking increasingly hardline position terms internal law order however international crisis group wrote 2005 islamist extremism failed take broader hold somalia somali resistance foreign counterterrorism efforts fact religious forms justice widely seen way rise warlord violence context ethiopia secretly stationed least 8000 troops somalia transitional federal government capital baidoa october 2006 islamic courts issued threat ethiopia leave somalia ethiopia backing us decided time invade properly conducting air raids recently entering capital mogidishu islamic courts withdrew ethiopian government made intentions clear going use appropriate means destabilise antiethiopian forces somalia ethiopia appears warlords transitional federal government installed somalias de facto well de jure government ethiopia claims 12000 killed 45000 wounded tens thousands risk displaced martial law declared attempt rein chaos returned streets mogadishu even worrying means future region war terror firmly implanted international repercussions entails somalias transitional federal government highly unstable unpopular broke islamic courts likely restart insurgency countries throughout horn africa also effected eritrea supports islamic courts kenya supports transitional federal government religiously mixed countries religious ethnic divisions sudan well known sides radicalised calling international support guardian newspaper describes dangerous situation aptly washington viewed somalias domestic complexities intertwined regional repercussions distorting prism war terror stage set wider partly proxy conflict fully fledged somali war joins daily horrors iraq afghanistan nick dearden independent activist based london reached nickdearden2002yahoocouk sources michela wrong didnt harper perennial 2005 guardian bad worse december 27 2006 stephen r shalom gravy train feeding pentagon feeding somalia november 1993 washington post interview meles zenawi december 14 2006 kramer amp hultman somalia tangled ties past shaped ussomali relations africa news service january 3 1993 john prendergast failure somalia washington post june 7 2006 international crisis group somalias islamists africa report n100 december 12 2005 alec russell amp mike pflanz us secret alliance somali war lords fighting islamic militia daily telegraph may 18 2005 160 160 160 160 | 1,127 |
<p>Low-empathy political leaders and media propagandists have abandoned principle in the 21st century.</p>
<p>Op-Ed <a href="http://wp.me/p3bwni-4Gw" type="external">21st Century Wire</a></p>
<p><a href="http://wp.me/p3bwni-4Gw" type="external" />“It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives.” – Smedley Butler, 1933</p>
<p>British Prime Minister David Cameron tried and failed this week, but it looks like the baton has been passed, in order that US President Barack Obama might get his war on in Syria this weekend. He says it’s because of ‘chemical weapons’.</p>
<p>Even at its lowest ebb, the the run-up to the Iraq War never saw so much desperation, so much spinning and overt lying from the government-media-complex about what ‘intelligence’ they claim to have in order to justify a new and dangerous war in Syria. The political narcissism around this current desire for war, makes Bush and Blair’s moral heist in 2003 look like a polite outing.&#160;</p>
<p>It’s become a stampede of lies regarding Syria, with our political con men producing &#160;every trick in the bag, and yet, none of these PR&#160;illusionists&#160;dare mention during any of their diatribes on “the moral duty of the international community” – that for the last 2 years the US, UK have given their backing to the armed “Syrian Opposition”, featuring 40,000 of the most vile and violent imported Islamic fundamentalist terrorist brigades the world ever seen, who have infested Syria. Now the US wants to act as al Qaeda’s Airforce in Syria, as it did already in Libya.</p>
<p>In this dirty proxy war, human lives mean very little to puppet masters, as the money flows into the foreign mercenary gangs. Money and arms are being supplied by US and UK allies Saudi Arabia and Qatar, special military (or terrorist?) training by the US, UK and others in Jordan and Turkey. To fill in the gaps, have the US been managing Blackwater (Xe) and other private military contractors (mercenaries) operating out of Cyprus and other locations? Previous history and many reports certainly point to this conclusion, where private mercs are likely to be active militarily inside of Syria training and commanding ‘the opposition’ in their war to overthrow the Syrian government. Can our government finally confirm the legal status of these types of contract operations?</p>
<p>These resources of war continue to fuel the violence in Syria, and political cover is provided by the US, Britain, France, Turkey, Israel and others who seek to benefit from the shattering of the Syrian nation-state, the first of many more nation-states they would like to eliminate through catastrophe, or through wars.</p>
<p>US, UK and French leaders will not talk about the natural gas pipeline they are planning between the Persian Gulf and the Mediterranean via Syria, of which Saudi Arabia and Qatar would be heavily invested. A gas pipeline from Arabia to Europe would mitigate the influence of Russian gas to Europe.&#160;</p>
<p>The world has slid into a political abyss.&#160;David Cameron, Barack Obama, John Kerry, Hillary Clinton and William Hague have all took turns running point during this three year&#160;destablisation effort in Syria, each repeating each other’s script, peppered with half-cocked truths, and endless banquet of cooked-up ‘intelligence’. Each appears to be completely convinced by his/her own highly subjective and wonderfully deceptive version of reality in the Middle East. They bank on public apathy and the chaos of propaganda, in order to clear their path for more extreme violence, with profits for the top end of the military industrial complex and for the top end of a predatory banking sector which makes all wars possible.&#160;</p>
<p>And behind them is&#160;Israel, who are quietly manipulating the US and UK towards war, in the hope that western military strikes will eliminate Syria’s Air Force overnight</p>
<p>Yes, leaders have all been bought and paid for. Yes, the mainstream media has been bought and paid for. But the public has not been bought and paid for yet. In an incredible turn of events on Thursday, the British public set a rare, but clear example of what a functioning democracy can look like by rejecting military aggression. Washington and London political hacks may be too myopic to realise it, but the rest of the world has taken notice, and this small victory over global tyranny cannot be erased.&#160;</p>
<p>In 2003, the government-media-complex was cool, cold and calculated in its deception and drive to war, while the public were emotional, wild and desperate in their frustration to stop the establishment’s drive to war.</p>
<p>In 2013, the tables have turned, as political leaders and their media propagandists have become wildly&#160;emotional, highly unstable and completely desperate, in their bid to kick-start their war, while the public have been cool, calm and decisive in their condemnation of the war fraud.</p>
<p>We’ve seen it all this time around: inflated figures, reports with actors and sound stages dressed to look like hospitals, and we have seen heads of state site YouTube videos as evidence – videos they now refer to as “open source reporting”. The desperation to ram home a war in Syria has become an obsessive rush, to the point of being vulgar in itself. TV anchors, radio hosts, and newspaper editors are all shilling for war. Why are the politicians and the media pushing this war so hard,&#160;even if the people are not?</p>
<p>Syria is only a stepping stone towards the Washington-London-Israeli alliance’s&#160;publicly stated objective of a war with Iran. The next move by this nexus is to break-up Syria and then foment unrest in Lebanon, for the purposes of redrawing the Middle Eastern map in order to break up the Shi’ite “land bridge” which connects Iran to the Mediterranean. From there, a confrontation could be forced – with the US-NATO confab on one side, and Russia and China on the other.</p>
<p>This is a worrying prospect, considering the conduct of our leaders who have been shown to lie on a regular basis to their public. Could we trust our current political class to make the right decisions should a World War 3 situation escalate that far? Can anyone answer ‘yes’ to this, especially after watching the adolescent performances of recent… by men and women who call themselves Prime Ministers, Presidents and Secretaries of State? Can these men be trusted with such overwhelming military fire power? Can they be trusted with their nuclear arsenals?&#160;</p>
<p>It seems that the establishment are failing to realise the shift that has taken place just now, nor are they able to foresee the blow back they may reap from their rancid enterprise, whereby,&#160;the few profit – and the many pay.</p>
<p>You can never fully satisfy the appetite of a political, or corporate&#160;psychopath.&#160;They always want more. They see markets, and they want to control them. They see populations, and they want to control, or even eliminate them.&#160;</p>
<p>Although still confident with their formula for war – one which has worked for them so many times in the past, they could very well fall flat on their face this time in Syria, but even so and unfortunately for humanity, they will cause much damage and suffering in the process.</p>
<p>There is a global awakening taking place, and more than ever, people are finally realising en mass what <a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article4377.htm" type="external">General Smedley Butler</a> learned back in 1993… those three words: “War is racket”.</p>
<p>Every one knows it seems, except those trapped in their own elite ghettos, so high up in their ivory towers that they’ve all but lost touch with the rest of the human race.</p>
<p>Yes. The shift… has just hit the fan.</p>
<p>READ MORE SYRIA NEWS AT: <a href="" type="internal">21st Century Wire Syria File</a></p>
<p>–</p> | true | 4 | lowempathy political leaders media propagandists abandoned principle 21st century oped 21st century wire possibly oldest easily profitable surely vicious one international scope one profits reckoned dollars losses lives smedley butler 1933 british prime minister david cameron tried failed week looks like baton passed order us president barack obama might get war syria weekend says chemical weapons even lowest ebb runup iraq war never saw much desperation much spinning overt lying governmentmediacomplex intelligence claim order justify new dangerous war syria political narcissism around current desire war makes bush blairs moral heist 2003 look like polite outing160 become stampede lies regarding syria political con men producing 160every trick bag yet none pr160illusionists160dare mention diatribes moral duty international community last 2 years us uk given backing armed syrian opposition featuring 40000 vile violent imported islamic fundamentalist terrorist brigades world ever seen infested syria us wants act al qaedas airforce syria already libya dirty proxy war human lives mean little puppet masters money flows foreign mercenary gangs money arms supplied us uk allies saudi arabia qatar special military terrorist training us uk others jordan turkey fill gaps us managing blackwater xe private military contractors mercenaries operating cyprus locations previous history many reports certainly point conclusion private mercs likely active militarily inside syria training commanding opposition war overthrow syrian government government finally confirm legal status types contract operations resources war continue fuel violence syria political cover provided us britain france turkey israel others seek benefit shattering syrian nationstate first many nationstates would like eliminate catastrophe wars us uk french leaders talk natural gas pipeline planning persian gulf mediterranean via syria saudi arabia qatar would heavily invested gas pipeline arabia europe would mitigate influence russian gas europe160 world slid political abyss160david cameron barack obama john kerry hillary clinton william hague took turns running point three year160destablisation effort syria repeating others script peppered halfcocked truths endless banquet cookedup intelligence appears completely convinced hisher highly subjective wonderfully deceptive version reality middle east bank public apathy chaos propaganda order clear path extreme violence profits top end military industrial complex top end predatory banking sector makes wars possible160 behind is160israel quietly manipulating us uk towards war hope western military strikes eliminate syrias air force overnight yes leaders bought paid yes mainstream media bought paid public bought paid yet incredible turn events thursday british public set rare clear example functioning democracy look like rejecting military aggression washington london political hacks may myopic realise rest world taken notice small victory global tyranny erased160 2003 governmentmediacomplex cool cold calculated deception drive war public emotional wild desperate frustration stop establishments drive war 2013 tables turned political leaders media propagandists become wildly160emotional highly unstable completely desperate bid kickstart war public cool calm decisive condemnation war fraud weve seen time around inflated figures reports actors sound stages dressed look like hospitals seen heads state site youtube videos evidence videos refer open source reporting desperation ram home war syria become obsessive rush point vulgar tv anchors radio hosts newspaper editors shilling war politicians media pushing war hard160even people syria stepping stone towards washingtonlondonisraeli alliances160publicly stated objective war iran next move nexus breakup syria foment unrest lebanon purposes redrawing middle eastern map order break shiite land bridge connects iran mediterranean confrontation could forced usnato confab one side russia china worrying prospect considering conduct leaders shown lie regular basis public could trust current political class make right decisions world war 3 situation escalate far anyone answer yes especially watching adolescent performances recent men women call prime ministers presidents secretaries state men trusted overwhelming military fire power trusted nuclear arsenals160 seems establishment failing realise shift taken place able foresee blow back may reap rancid enterprise whereby160the profit many pay never fully satisfy appetite political corporate160psychopath160they always want see markets want control see populations want control even eliminate them160 although still confident formula war one worked many times past could well fall flat face time syria even unfortunately humanity cause much damage suffering process global awakening taking place ever people finally realising en mass general smedley butler learned back 1993 three words war racket every one knows seems except trapped elite ghettos high ivory towers theyve lost touch rest human race yes shift hit fan read syria news 21st century wire syria file | 702 |
<p>The <a href="http://www.chicagofilmfestival.com/" type="external">Chicago International Film Festival</a>, the longest running competitive film festival in North America, kicked off yesterday downtown. The festival is the longest running competitive film festival in North America. Among the ranks of the its Lifetime Achievement Award recipients are&#160;Steven Spielberg, Jodie Foster, Clint Eastwood, and Robin Williams. In other words, this is a big frickin’ deal for film nerds and enthusiasts. Tickets to see just 20 of the over 130 films offered will cost you $250 if you aren’t a member of the festival.</p>
<p>But if you haven’t yet reached that level of moviegoer fancy and want to just check out a few movies you’ll be happy to know that the price for individual screenings is a more reasonable $14 (you can also choose to see 10 films for $130). And what’s more, Feministing has saved you the trouble by reading through the descriptions and pulling out our top film and event suggestion for each day of the festival (with the exception of the opening and closing films, because those are for fancy film bluffs and not included with pass access).</p>
<p><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4425152/" type="external">Girls Lost</a> (Friday, October 16 1PM – 3PM.&#160;If you don’t catch this screening, it’s playing again October 23 and 25th)</p>
<p>Director: Alexandra-Therese Keining • Sweden</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>A taboo-busting teen fable about gender fluidity, Girls Lost conjures one of the screen’s most vividly realized transgender characters. Three girls discover a mysterious flower with the power to change their sex, which causes tomboy Kim to recognize her own urgent need to live as a boy. Brilliant male/female dual performances and a dreamy color palette give this film a propulsive energy.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.theopenreel.com/portfolio-item/carmin-tropical/" type="external">Carmin Tropic</a>al (Saturday, October 17 7:15PM – 9:15PM)</p>
<p>Director: Rigoberto Perezcano</p>
<p>A noir unlike any other, this sun-soaked whodunit is set in Juchitán, a southern Mexican town home to a community of people who consider themselves muxe (mixed gender). After years away, muxe Mabel returns to investigate the death of an old friend, finding that the past can be just as unclear as the future.</p>
<p><a href="http://syljohnsonmovie.com/" type="external">Syl Johnson: Any Way the Wind Blows</a> (Sunday October 18 7:15PM – 9:15PM)</p>
<p>Director: Rob Hatch-Miller</p>
<p>Attention hip-hop heads!</p>
<p>Velvet-voiced soul singer Syl Johnson struggled for decades before leaving the biz in the 1980s to open a Chicago fried-fish chain. Since then, he’s become one of the most-sampled artists in hip-hop. With a lively soundtrack, this buoyant world premiere documentary celebrates one man who can’t stop the music.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.elccc.com.mx/sitio/index.php/produccion-filmica/2015-2019/2015/1298-tiempo-suspendido-opera-prima-documental-suspended-time-f-l" type="external">Time Suspended</a> (Monday October 19 7:15PM – 9:15PM)</p>
<p>Director: Patricia Natalia Bruschtein</p>
<p>For the last 40 years, activist Laura Bonaparte has fought to keep alive the memory of her children, who were “disappeared” by Argentina’s military dictatorship in the 1970s. Now Laura’s own memory is beginning to fade.Time Suspended is a tender, heartrending portrait of a woman committed to preserving the truths of her nation’s horrible history, even as they slip from her grasp.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.opentablesmovie.com/" type="external">Open Tables</a> (Tuesday, October 20 6:15PM – 8:15PM)</p>
<p>Director: Jack C. Newell</p>
<p>“Food and conversation abound in this comedy from Chicago writer-director-actor Jack C. Newell. Over dinner, friends trade wild stories about relationships, including a woman who falls in love with an amnesiac and an unforgettably sexy trip to Paris. Filmed locally, with improvisational dialogue and a cast plucked from the city’s improv scene, Open Tables is a smorgasbord of fun.”</p>
<p><a href="http://www.chicagofilmfestival.com/schedule" type="external">XConfessions: A Conversation with Erika Lust</a> &#160;(Wednesday, October 21 8:30PM – 10:30PM)</p>
<p>You might remember our <a href="" type="internal">interview with Erika Lust</a> earlier this year. Well this indie, feminist erotic film director is taking over the Chicago International Film Festival with an in-person conversation with Chicago filmmaker Maria Finitzo about onscreen pleasure.</p>
<p>“Erika Lust brings a much-needed feminist’s voice to the erotic film industry, shooting her explicit short films with an eye toward expressing female pleasure. The filmmaker’s xConfessions project gathers erotic fantasies and testimonials from her online audience, which she brings to life through her filmmaking. In conversation with Chicago-based filmmaker Maria Finitzo, Lust, in person, will show clips from her films and discuss the taboo nature of onscreen pleasure. Contains explicit content. ”</p>
<p><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4569240/" type="external">A Monster With a Thousand Heads</a> (Thursday, October 22 1:30PM – 3:30PM)</p>
<p>Director: Rodrigo Pla</p>
<p>Fed up with trying to secure health care for her husband’s severe medical ailments, Sonia takes matters into her own hands. Tracking down his doctor, she kidnaps him at gunpoint, setting the stage for a nail-biter that evokes the mind-numbing bureaucracy of Brazil and the citizen-on-the-edge stakes of Falling Down. Rodrigo Plá’s latest drama is a timely and tightly paced sociopolitical thriller.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.naia.pro/" type="external">Adama</a> (Friday, October 23, 5:45PM – 7:45PM)</p>
<p>Director: Simon Rouby</p>
<p>In this vibrantly animated odyssey, a young boy ventures outside the forbidden cliff walls of his secluded West African village in 1916 in search of his older brother. He will journey across land and sea and, eventually, find himself struggling to survive in war-torn Europe. Rendered in a striking blend of 2D backdrops and sculpted, laser-scanned characters, Adama is a stirring tale of adventure and courage for the whole family.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.chicagofilmfestival.com/schedule" type="external">Power Players: How women producers &amp; executives are changing the entertainment business</a> (Saturday, October 24 4PM – 5PM)</p>
<p>You have to attend this panel because… feminism, duh.</p>
<p>Panelists: Ilyse McKimmie (moderator, Sundance Institute), Amy Hobby (Tangerine Entertainment), Alicia Sams (producer, Amreeka), Rebecca Green (producer, It Follows)</p>
<p>Though women are under-represented in the entertainment industry, a number of prominent female producers and executives are successfully leveling the scales. This panel will focus on the ways that women are influencing all areas of the business, from indie films to TV to Hollywood.</p>
<p>This event costs $5 for non-Industry Days badge-holders.</p>
<p><a href="http://radicalgracefilm.com/" type="external">Radical Grace</a> (Sunday, October 25 7:30PM – 9:30PM)</p>
<p>Director: Rebecca Parish</p>
<p>Politically outspoken and unapologetically feminist, the “Nuns on the Bus” protest group rebels against a Vatican-ordered censure by embracing social activism as a form of spiritual practice. An indelible exploration of the evolving views changing the face of Catholicism under the leadership of Pope Francis, Chicago-based filmmaker Rebecca Parrish’s uplifting, humanistic documentary is a call for equality that transcends boundaries.</p>
<p><a href="http://strandreleasing.com/films/sworn-virgin/" type="external">Sworn Virgin</a> (Monday, October 26 7:30PM – 9PM)</p>
<p>Director: Laura Bispuri</p>
<p>In an Albanian mountain village, a young woman takes a culturally mandated vow of chastity and lives as a man to avoid an unwanted marriage. After 14 years, she leaves home for the first time. Tackling questions of tradition and identity, Laura Bispuri employs a mesmerizing lightness of touch, while Alba Rohrwacher delivers an extraordinary measured performance as Hanna/Mark.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.versatile-films.com/#!a-trois-on-y-va/ctco" type="external">All About Them</a> (Tuesday, October 27 11:30AM – 2:30PM)</p>
<p>Director: Jérôme Bonnell</p>
<p>Micha loves Charlotte. Their friend Mélodie also secretly loves Charlotte. And now Mélodie is also falling for Micha. Sneaking behind each other’s backs can only work for so long. So what’s a trio of attractive French 20-somethings to do? This sexy comedy starring the magnetic Anaïs Demoustier asks, winkingly, if there can be such a thing as too much passion.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p><a href="http://www.womenhesundressed.com/" type="external">Women He’s Undressed</a> (Wednesday, October 28 5PM – 7PM)</p>
<p>Director: Gillian Armstrong</p>
<p>From award-winning Australian director Gillian Armstrong comes this glitzy portrait of celebrated costume designer Orry-Kelly, who dressed generations of starlets, from Ingrid Bergman to Marilyn Monroe, as a gay man in a world where “gay” didn’t exist. An exuberant, gossipy portrait of Hollywood fashions through the decades, the film also lifts back the curtain on the unspoken sexual politics of showbiz, from Marlene Dietrich to Cary Grant.</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | true | 4 | chicago international film festival longest running competitive film festival north america kicked yesterday downtown festival longest running competitive film festival north america among ranks lifetime achievement award recipients are160steven spielberg jodie foster clint eastwood robin williams words big frickin deal film nerds enthusiasts tickets see 20 130 films offered cost 250 arent member festival havent yet reached level moviegoer fancy want check movies youll happy know price individual screenings reasonable 14 also choose see 10 films 130 whats feministing saved trouble reading descriptions pulling top film event suggestion day festival exception opening closing films fancy film bluffs included pass access girls lost friday october 16 1pm 3pm160if dont catch screening playing october 23 25th director alexandratherese keining sweden 160 taboobusting teen fable gender fluidity girls lost conjures one screens vividly realized transgender characters three girls discover mysterious flower power change sex causes tomboy kim recognize urgent need live boy brilliant malefemale dual performances dreamy color palette give film propulsive energy carmin tropical saturday october 17 715pm 915pm director rigoberto perezcano noir unlike sunsoaked whodunit set juchitán southern mexican town home community people consider muxe mixed gender years away muxe mabel returns investigate death old friend finding past unclear future syl johnson way wind blows sunday october 18 715pm 915pm director rob hatchmiller attention hiphop heads velvetvoiced soul singer syl johnson struggled decades leaving biz 1980s open chicago friedfish chain since hes become one mostsampled artists hiphop lively soundtrack buoyant world premiere documentary celebrates one man cant stop music time suspended monday october 19 715pm 915pm director patricia natalia bruschtein last 40 years activist laura bonaparte fought keep alive memory children disappeared argentinas military dictatorship 1970s lauras memory beginning fadetime suspended tender heartrending portrait woman committed preserving truths nations horrible history even slip grasp open tables tuesday october 20 615pm 815pm director jack c newell food conversation abound comedy chicago writerdirectoractor jack c newell dinner friends trade wild stories relationships including woman falls love amnesiac unforgettably sexy trip paris filmed locally improvisational dialogue cast plucked citys improv scene open tables smorgasbord fun xconfessions conversation erika lust 160wednesday october 21 830pm 1030pm might remember interview erika lust earlier year well indie feminist erotic film director taking chicago international film festival inperson conversation chicago filmmaker maria finitzo onscreen pleasure erika lust brings muchneeded feminists voice erotic film industry shooting explicit short films eye toward expressing female pleasure filmmakers xconfessions project gathers erotic fantasies testimonials online audience brings life filmmaking conversation chicagobased filmmaker maria finitzo lust person show clips films discuss taboo nature onscreen pleasure contains explicit content monster thousand heads thursday october 22 130pm 330pm director rodrigo pla fed trying secure health care husbands severe medical ailments sonia takes matters hands tracking doctor kidnaps gunpoint setting stage nailbiter evokes mindnumbing bureaucracy brazil citizenontheedge stakes falling rodrigo plás latest drama timely tightly paced sociopolitical thriller adama friday october 23 545pm 745pm director simon rouby vibrantly animated odyssey young boy ventures outside forbidden cliff walls secluded west african village 1916 search older brother journey across land sea eventually find struggling survive wartorn europe rendered striking blend 2d backdrops sculpted laserscanned characters adama stirring tale adventure courage whole family power players women producers amp executives changing entertainment business saturday october 24 4pm 5pm attend panel feminism duh panelists ilyse mckimmie moderator sundance institute amy hobby tangerine entertainment alicia sams producer amreeka rebecca green producer follows though women underrepresented entertainment industry number prominent female producers executives successfully leveling scales panel focus ways women influencing areas business indie films tv hollywood event costs 5 nonindustry days badgeholders radical grace sunday october 25 730pm 930pm director rebecca parish politically outspoken unapologetically feminist nuns bus protest group rebels vaticanordered censure embracing social activism form spiritual practice indelible exploration evolving views changing face catholicism leadership pope francis chicagobased filmmaker rebecca parrishs uplifting humanistic documentary call equality transcends boundaries sworn virgin monday october 26 730pm 9pm director laura bispuri albanian mountain village young woman takes culturally mandated vow chastity lives man avoid unwanted marriage 14 years leaves home first time tackling questions tradition identity laura bispuri employs mesmerizing lightness touch alba rohrwacher delivers extraordinary measured performance hannamark tuesday october 27 1130am 230pm director jérôme bonnell micha loves charlotte friend mélodie also secretly loves charlotte mélodie also falling micha sneaking behind others backs work long whats trio attractive french 20somethings sexy comedy starring magnetic anaïs demoustier asks winkingly thing much passion 160 women hes undressed wednesday october 28 5pm 7pm director gillian armstrong awardwinning australian director gillian armstrong comes glitzy portrait celebrated costume designer orrykelly dressed generations starlets ingrid bergman marilyn monroe gay man world gay didnt exist exuberant gossipy portrait hollywood fashions decades film also lifts back curtain unspoken sexual politics showbiz marlene dietrich cary grant 160 | 785 |
<p>“Ali, write me 20 pages about a family – a Muslim American family. You ever read Long Day’s Journey into Night or Death of a Salesman? Yeah, something like that. I’m tired of seeing Muslims pummeled by the media as caricatures and stereotypes. I want to hear their story. Ok? &#160;Great. Give me 20 pages and you can pass my class,” ordered my UC Berkeley Short Story Professor, Ishmael Reed, in 2001.</p>
<p>A play that originally started as a student assignment premieres on 9-11 in New York, Off-Broadway, at the landmark Nuyorican Poets Café for a historic 5 week run. “ <a href="http://www.domesticcrusaders.com/" type="external">The Domestic Crusaders</a>” has been hailed as <a href="http://www.domesticcrusaders.com/reviews.html" type="external">“one of the first major Muslim American plays”</a> and compared to “A Raisin in the Sun” and works by Tennessee Williams and Eugene O’Neill.</p>
<p>Such praise is humbling, gratifying and utterly terrifying. It makes me truly believe if a South Asian, Muslim American punk like me – whose stomping ground is the Bay Area – can do this, there’s no reason why anyone else can’t.</p>
<p>When Professor Reed forced me to write a 20 page play spec, he might as well have asked me to be a ballerina or a teapot. I scoffed. He was adamant. I was reluctant. He was confident. Finally, I realized I had to pass the damn class, so I might as well shut up and put up.</p>
<p>I hesitantly started the play on my 21st birthday. &#160;Having never written a play before in my life, I went to the library, Borders and Barnes and Nobles and purchased some plays; took ‘em home, read ‘em, bought some more, read ‘em, and said “Bismillah” and just pounded away furiously at the keyboard not knowing what the hell I was doing.</p>
<p>Thanks to fountains of chai, insomnia, neurosis, random bursts of manic energy, well wishes from the well wishers, angels of serendipity, and surreal twist of fortuity, “The Domestic Crusaders” was born and finished as a present to myself on my 23rd birthday.</p>
<p>Some say Obama’s election ushers in a “brave new world” where the Presidential victory of a biracial man with an Arabic last name signals an era of “hope and change.” If that’s true then it’s absolutely necessary for this generation of men and women with good conscience to stand up and speak up to reclaim their hijacked identities, cultures and heritages.</p>
<p>As a writer, I can always fight back and help map that course.</p>
<p>My weapon is my pen and words my ammunition. Words can annihilate, condemn, lacerate and slander.</p>
<p>They can also inspire, educate and heal.</p>
<p>The pen is a guide, a compass and a teacher. Celebrated and beloved poet of South Asia, Hadrat Allama Iqbal, once wrote, “The mind is the battlefield of my life, where there are armies of doubt, but conviction remains steadfast.” In the battlefield of a human’s soul, mind, spirit, and his chosen artistic medium, the pen can not only slay personal demons, but also real demons who walk the earth – they come in all shapes, colors, and sizes; they speak the same language, live by the same religion, and profit from the same money. They are called intolerance, ignorance and hypocrisy. These agents of chaos thrived after the two towers fell on that fateful day.</p>
<p>The tragedy of 9-11 and its repercussions reverberated globally forever changing our political and cultural landscape. Due to the whispers of these afreets, all of us, each in our own small way, went a little mad.</p>
<p>Some say premiering the play on this date is a mistake and disrespectful to the memory of the innocents who perished. I humbly disagree. I believe by proactively confronting the history of that day through art and dialogue we can finally move beyond the anger, the violence, the extremism, the separatism, the pain and the regret, and build a bridge of understanding and reconciliation.</p>
<p>Some toes will be stepped on. Feelings might be hurt. People might get agitated. There will be some disagreements. But catharsis never comes by inaction and silence.</p>
<p>It is the humble neeyat [“intention”] of the writer that the characters of “The Domestic Crusaders,” six Muslim Pakistani Americans comprising three generations of a family that reunites in the family home to celebrate the youngest son’s 21st birthday, resonate with an unflinchingly real and honest depiction of the wide array of human emotions that characterize most individuals of our endlessly fascinating species. They are flawed, contradictory, inconsistent, emotional, and angry. But they can also be passionate, resolute, firm, brave and loving.</p>
<p>You dissect all their “strange” customs, take away their Urdish and Arabic they mix in with their English, remove the Islamic piquancy, and replace biryani with an ethnic food of your choice, and they could – or should- resemble you, your family, or your friends.&#160; If they do not, I have failed and deserve to be called out for creating cardboard stereotypes instead of authentic human beings with all their glory, flaws, and warts for the world to see.</p>
<p>Some may say this play is only for Muslims and Pakistanis and Americans. I would retort by saying indeed the play is by “Us.”</p>
<p>But it is for “Everyone.”</p>
<p>When I began this project nearly eight years ago and attempted to stage it, my own family members wouldn’t pay $15 for a ticket unless I promised them a buffet dinner at Mehran Restaurant.&#160; People said I was crazy and wasting my time and should instead do something useful – like become a corporate attorney who brings home 6 figures and 3 ulcers.&#160; Aunties, uncles, friends and acquaintances stared at me cockeyed wondering why I spent a year traveling across the nation to raise the paltry $25,000 in funds needed to house the “Crusaders” at the Nuyorican.</p>
<p>I was a man possessed. I never gave up on my “Crusaders” and I never will.&#160; My confidence was borne from an experience of seeing these characters illuminate the stage in front of diverse, multicultural audiences – who might ordinarily never agree with one another let alone talk to one another – nonetheless stand in unison and applaud at the end of our 2005 showcase performances at the Berkeley Repertory Theater and San Jose State University.</p>
<p>In preparing for these shows, we exercised creativity and frugality to compensate for our lack of funds. Our rehearsals took place in Ishmael Reed and Carla Blank’s backyard. My mother made Pakistani food to feed the cast. Our living room sofas and rugs were used to dress the set. My father drove the U-Haul with all our props to the theater. Our actors were all first time, raw talent taken from the local South Asian and Muslim American community and paid $50 for all their hard work and dedication. They were met with standing ovations each and every time.</p>
<p>Despite receiving these accolades for nearly 4 years, no theater or artistic director would take a chance on us. Mind you, this was the paranoid and fear mongering climate of the Bush Administration where popular, White, Jesus loving, Rock N’ Roll playing Texans like the Dixie Chicks were branded as traitors and un-American for a harmless riff against President Dubya.</p>
<p>Ironically, most producers and theater directors emailed me telling me they adored the play and invited me to submit any new plays for consideration.</p>
<p>I asked, “What about the “The Domestic Crusaders?”</p>
<p>“Oh, um, can you change it?”</p>
<p>“How do you want me to change it?’</p>
<p>“You know…just change it?”</p>
<p>“Ok. How?”</p>
<p>“Just…change it.”</p>
<p>I later realized this was an unsubtle, code word for making the characters less Muslimy and Brown.</p>
<p>One Hollywood producer wanted to invest in the play and premiere it in Hollywood but only on one condition: “Can we get Ted Danson to play the father?”</p>
<p>I laughed sincerely thinking it was a great joke.</p>
<p>He wasn’t smiling.</p>
<p>“No, really. I mean why not? Americans like Ted Danson and I think they will feel comfortable with him playing the Pakistani father,” he replied – dead serious.</p>
<p>Needless to say, I never called him back.</p>
<p>We felt like perpetual benchwarmers, suited up, amped to play the game but never given permission to join the lineup, head out to home plate and take our one, rightful swing for the fences.</p>
<p>However, good things take time. And with time comes a hopeful, enthusiastic and proactive generation comprising of diverse communities dedicated to truly pushing things “forward” by finally busting out of our culturally isolated cocoons.</p>
<p>The play is now premiering at the historic Nuyorican Poets Café in New York on 9-11 and it’s time has come.&#160; I want “The Domestic Crusaders” (which includes the wonderful cast of actors, the dedicated crew, and the generous contributors and worldwide supporters) to tear up the dance floor and bring down the house.</p>
<p>And to those who ask, “Despite all your efforts and best intentions, what if it’s your qismat and destiny to fail?”</p>
<p>To that I sincerely say, “Then may we fail gloriously.”</p>
<p>I want the failure to be so awesomely epic that it lives forever in infamy on YouTube with more hits than the “Dancing Baby.”</p>
<p>If we are to crash and burn, then so be it – but let us at least brilliantly illuminate the sky with our passionate fire during our fantastic descent.</p>
<p>If that be our fate, then I want us to strike out so bad, that we violently and audibly throw out our back so the lady with the hearing aid in the upper deck stadium can hear the thud as we fall to the ground.&#160; And in doing so inspire a new generation to step out of the shadows, try their hand at writing, and improve and elevate our humble endeavors through their own stories and talents.</p>
<p>But, inshallah, we’re not going to fail. We’re going to step up to the plate and hit a home run. Not a homerun. A grand slam. Bring ‘em all to home plate. Swing the bat as fast and furious as we can, pealing the leather clean off the ball as it flies towards the upper deck lights.</p>
<p>No, you know what? Forget the upper deck.</p>
<p>Let’s aim higher. Let’s aim for the stars.</p>
<p>And see “The Domestic Crusaders” soar to those northern lights and beyond.</p>
<p>WAJAHAT ALI is a writer, journalist, blogger and attorney. His work, <a href="http://www.domesticcrusaders.com/" type="external">“The Domestic Crusaders,”</a> is a landmark play about Muslim Americans premiering on 9-11-09 in New York. He blogs at <a href="http://www.goatmilk.wordpress.com/" type="external">Goatmilk.</a> Follow him on <a href="facebook.com/wajali" type="external">Facebook</a> and <a href="twitter.com/wajahatali" type="external">Twitter.</a></p> | true | 4 | ali write 20 pages family muslim american family ever read long days journey night death salesman yeah something like im tired seeing muslims pummeled media caricatures stereotypes want hear story ok 160great give 20 pages pass class ordered uc berkeley short story professor ishmael reed 2001 play originally started student assignment premieres 911 new york offbroadway landmark nuyorican poets café historic 5 week run domestic crusaders hailed one first major muslim american plays compared raisin sun works tennessee williams eugene oneill praise humbling gratifying utterly terrifying makes truly believe south asian muslim american punk like whose stomping ground bay area theres reason anyone else cant professor reed forced write 20 page play spec might well asked ballerina teapot scoffed adamant reluctant confident finally realized pass damn class might well shut put hesitantly started play 21st birthday 160having never written play life went library borders barnes nobles purchased plays took em home read em bought read em said bismillah pounded away furiously keyboard knowing hell thanks fountains chai insomnia neurosis random bursts manic energy well wishes well wishers angels serendipity surreal twist fortuity domestic crusaders born finished present 23rd birthday say obamas election ushers brave new world presidential victory biracial man arabic last name signals era hope change thats true absolutely necessary generation men women good conscience stand speak reclaim hijacked identities cultures heritages writer always fight back help map course weapon pen words ammunition words annihilate condemn lacerate slander also inspire educate heal pen guide compass teacher celebrated beloved poet south asia hadrat allama iqbal wrote mind battlefield life armies doubt conviction remains steadfast battlefield humans soul mind spirit chosen artistic medium pen slay personal demons also real demons walk earth come shapes colors sizes speak language live religion profit money called intolerance ignorance hypocrisy agents chaos thrived two towers fell fateful day tragedy 911 repercussions reverberated globally forever changing political cultural landscape due whispers afreets us small way went little mad say premiering play date mistake disrespectful memory innocents perished humbly disagree believe proactively confronting history day art dialogue finally move beyond anger violence extremism separatism pain regret build bridge understanding reconciliation toes stepped feelings might hurt people might get agitated disagreements catharsis never comes inaction silence humble neeyat intention writer characters domestic crusaders six muslim pakistani americans comprising three generations family reunites family home celebrate youngest sons 21st birthday resonate unflinchingly real honest depiction wide array human emotions characterize individuals endlessly fascinating species flawed contradictory inconsistent emotional angry also passionate resolute firm brave loving dissect strange customs take away urdish arabic mix english remove islamic piquancy replace biryani ethnic food choice could resemble family friends160 failed deserve called creating cardboard stereotypes instead authentic human beings glory flaws warts world see may say play muslims pakistanis americans would retort saying indeed play us everyone began project nearly eight years ago attempted stage family members wouldnt pay 15 ticket unless promised buffet dinner mehran restaurant160 people said crazy wasting time instead something useful like become corporate attorney brings home 6 figures 3 ulcers160 aunties uncles friends acquaintances stared cockeyed wondering spent year traveling across nation raise paltry 25000 funds needed house crusaders nuyorican man possessed never gave crusaders never will160 confidence borne experience seeing characters illuminate stage front diverse multicultural audiences might ordinarily never agree one another let alone talk one another nonetheless stand unison applaud end 2005 showcase performances berkeley repertory theater san jose state university preparing shows exercised creativity frugality compensate lack funds rehearsals took place ishmael reed carla blanks backyard mother made pakistani food feed cast living room sofas rugs used dress set father drove uhaul props theater actors first time raw talent taken local south asian muslim american community paid 50 hard work dedication met standing ovations every time despite receiving accolades nearly 4 years theater artistic director would take chance us mind paranoid fear mongering climate bush administration popular white jesus loving rock n roll playing texans like dixie chicks branded traitors unamerican harmless riff president dubya ironically producers theater directors emailed telling adored play invited submit new plays consideration asked domestic crusaders oh um change want change knowjust change ok justchange later realized unsubtle code word making characters less muslimy brown one hollywood producer wanted invest play premiere hollywood one condition get ted danson play father laughed sincerely thinking great joke wasnt smiling really mean americans like ted danson think feel comfortable playing pakistani father replied dead serious needless say never called back felt like perpetual benchwarmers suited amped play game never given permission join lineup head home plate take one rightful swing fences however good things take time time comes hopeful enthusiastic proactive generation comprising diverse communities dedicated truly pushing things forward finally busting culturally isolated cocoons play premiering historic nuyorican poets café new york 911 time come160 want domestic crusaders includes wonderful cast actors dedicated crew generous contributors worldwide supporters tear dance floor bring house ask despite efforts best intentions qismat destiny fail sincerely say may fail gloriously want failure awesomely epic lives forever infamy youtube hits dancing baby crash burn let us least brilliantly illuminate sky passionate fire fantastic descent fate want us strike bad violently audibly throw back lady hearing aid upper deck stadium hear thud fall ground160 inspire new generation step shadows try hand writing improve elevate humble endeavors stories talents inshallah going fail going step plate hit home run homerun grand slam bring em home plate swing bat fast furious pealing leather clean ball flies towards upper deck lights know forget upper deck lets aim higher lets aim stars see domestic crusaders soar northern lights beyond wajahat ali writer journalist blogger attorney work domestic crusaders landmark play muslim americans premiering 91109 new york blogs goatmilk follow facebook twitter | 950 |
<p>Last week’s 10th Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in the Kazakh capital Astana highlighted how the major rivals to empire, led by Russia and China — themselves rivals, are trying to fashion an alternative to US hegemony.</p>
<p>The SCO is the only major international organisation that has neither the US nor any close US ally among its members, and its influence is growing across Eurasia. Leaders of member states Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan were joined by leaders from observers Iran, Pakistan, India, Afghanistan and Mongolia. Belarus and Sri Lanka have been admitted as dialogue partners, and prior to his arrival in Astana to attend the summit, Chinese President Hu Jintao visited Ukraine.</p>
<p>With a Chinese rhetorical flourish, the Astana Declaration stressed the goal of combatting the “three forces” of “terrorism, extremism, and separatism”. The summit called for a “neutral” Afghanistan (read: no permanent US bases), supported by Afghan President Hamid Karzai, even as the US is actively discussing a post-2014 strategic partnership agreement with him. The prospect of permanent US military bases in Afghanistan lies at the core of current US-Pakistan tensions. India has indicated its aversion to “new cold war” tensions appearing in the region.</p>
<p>Russia and China fear that the US plan is to establish permanent bases in Afghanistan and to deploy components of its missile defence system. The SCO meeting supported Russian criticisms of the planned NATO missile defence shield underway in Europe . Plans by “a country or small group of countries unilaterally and without restriction to deploy an anti-missile system could undermine strategic stability and international security”.</p>
<p>The summit also called for Afghanistan’s neighbours to play the leading role in improving security and helping to rebuild Afghanistan, rejecting a purely military solution. “It is possible that the SCO will assume responsibility for many issues in Afghanistan after the withdrawal of coalition forces in 2014,” said Kazakh President Nurusultan Nazarbayev, echoing Russian President Dmitri Medvedev’s call “for more intensive and deeper cooperation between the SCO and Afghanistan”.</p>
<p>Both Beijing and Moscow are already rebuilding their influence there, China in mining, and both countries in infrastructure projects and cooperation with Western forces to combat drug trafficking. “Afghanistan was the main reason the SCO was created 10 years ago, even before 9/11 forced the Americans to recognise the threat,” says Duma deputy Sergei Markov. “The threat of radical Islamism being exported into our region is something we’re very familiar with. And a resurgence of that threat has got to be a major concern.”</p>
<p>During the conference, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) signed an accord with the SCO to promote cooperation in fighting drug trafficking, organised crime, human trafficking and international terrorism. UNODC Executive Director Yury Fedotov said, “Countries such as Kazakhstan are on the frontline of the flow of Afghan heroin headed towards the West. The work in countering organised crime and drug trafficking, which I am pleased to see is increasingly taking on a cooperative approach.” The most urgent issue is heroin trafficking from Afghanistan via Tajikistan which surged after the 2001 US invasion.</p>
<p>Security cooperation and economic development were described as the “two wheels” of the SCO by its General Secretary Zhang Deguang. China’s People’s Daily noted, “Among other concrete moves is the construction of a railway, highway and pipeline network linking landlocked Central Asia and its rich natural resources to the global economy.” Currently a natural gas Pease Pipeline is under construction which could eventually link Iran, Pakistan, India and China, helping to overcome India-Pakistani animosity and integrate the entire region on the basis of mutual interests, carefully shepherded by China.</p>
<p>Central Asian and South Asian security are indivisible, and the proposed memberships of India and Pakistan were seriously discussed. Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari vowed to work with SCO members to achieve regional peace. Zardari stated Pakistan belongs to the SCO region and is keen to cooperate with the other countries in financing joint ventures in energy, infrastructure, education, science and technology. He pointed to its newly opened port at Gwadar, which China helped fund, as a useful transport hub for the region.</p>
<p>The SCO has been increasing security cooperation among its members, including joint Russia-China war games, and beginning in April this year, meetings of military chiefs of the SCO countries. However, the SCO is far from being a cohesive military alliance such as NATO. The admission of Pakistan and India, long term enemies, will only complicate military cooperation, with India’s patron Russia vs Pakistan’s patron China.</p>
<p>China is clearly the power beyind the SCO,its “wheels” offering the region much more economically than Russia, but the common will of all to keep the US at bay is a balm to all. What better way to ease tensions between all these rivals than through SCO security drills enhancing the inter-operability of militaries and law-enforcement agencies? According to MK Bhadrakumar this will make “NATO (and Pax Americana) simply irrelevant to an entire landmass”.</p>
<p>The high-flown words about peace, regional security and cooperation were for the press (and Obama). Behind closed doors, the leaders discussed their growing concerns about how the Arab spring might impact the region, particularly Central Asia’s most populous state and harshest dictatorship - Uzbekistan. The SCO summit is one of the few international events where its leader Islam Karimov is still welcomed.</p>
<p>Another topic at the SCO meeting was how to move towards a new world currency, one established not by world bankers at secretive Bilderberg meetings, but openly, by the major world resource and population centres as represented by the SCO. Nazarbayev said that a healthy supranational currency is needed and recommended a return to some form of gold standard. “The SCO is capable of doing this. The swap operations that we have started is the first step. This is necessary for equal cooperation within the SCO.”</p>
<p>Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad provided some colour to the otherwise muted affair with his call for the SCO to take a more active role in undermining the US-led global system of “slavers and colonisers” and replacing it with a more just order. “Which one of our countries [has played a role] in the black era of slavery, or in the destruction of hundreds of millions of human beings? I believe together we can reform the way the world is managed. We can restore the tranquility of the world.”</p>
<p>The SCO meeting came days after the close of the Bilderberg Group’s summit in St Moritz Switzerland, which China’s Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Fu Ying attended this year — acknowledgment that without China’s approval, nothing is possible in the world of finance anymore. Like the SCO, its agenda reportedly also included what to do about the Arab spring, but also, in a more sinister vein, plans for internet censorhip, choosing the next IMF chief, more Euro-bailouts and higher oil prices.</p>
<p>China, Russia, Pakistan, India — not to mention Iran — the SCO brings together the most serious threats to the empire’s plans in one clutch. With the possible exception of China, Bush didn’t take any of them seriously. Obama does. But so far, the SCO has been more bark than bite. If by this time next year, India and Pakistan are admitted, and if non-dollar denominated “swaps” reach a critical mass, Bilderberg may well have to put the SCO and what to do about it at the top of its next agenda.</p>
<p>Eric Walberg writes for Al-Ahram Weekly <a href="http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/" type="external">http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/.</a> You can reach him at <a href="http://ericwalberg.com" type="external">http://ericwalberg.com</a></p>
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<p /> | true | 4 | last weeks 10th shanghai cooperation organisation sco summit kazakh capital astana highlighted major rivals empire led russia china rivals trying fashion alternative us hegemony sco major international organisation neither us close us ally among members influence growing across eurasia leaders member states russia china kazakhstan kyrgyzstan tajikistan uzbekistan joined leaders observers iran pakistan india afghanistan mongolia belarus sri lanka admitted dialogue partners prior arrival astana attend summit chinese president hu jintao visited ukraine chinese rhetorical flourish astana declaration stressed goal combatting three forces terrorism extremism separatism summit called neutral afghanistan read permanent us bases supported afghan president hamid karzai even us actively discussing post2014 strategic partnership agreement prospect permanent us military bases afghanistan lies core current uspakistan tensions india indicated aversion new cold war tensions appearing region russia china fear us plan establish permanent bases afghanistan deploy components missile defence system sco meeting supported russian criticisms planned nato missile defence shield underway europe plans country small group countries unilaterally without restriction deploy antimissile system could undermine strategic stability international security summit also called afghanistans neighbours play leading role improving security helping rebuild afghanistan rejecting purely military solution possible sco assume responsibility many issues afghanistan withdrawal coalition forces 2014 said kazakh president nurusultan nazarbayev echoing russian president dmitri medvedevs call intensive deeper cooperation sco afghanistan beijing moscow already rebuilding influence china mining countries infrastructure projects cooperation western forces combat drug trafficking afghanistan main reason sco created 10 years ago even 911 forced americans recognise threat says duma deputy sergei markov threat radical islamism exported region something familiar resurgence threat got major concern conference un office drugs crime unodc signed accord sco promote cooperation fighting drug trafficking organised crime human trafficking international terrorism unodc executive director yury fedotov said countries kazakhstan frontline flow afghan heroin headed towards west work countering organised crime drug trafficking pleased see increasingly taking cooperative approach urgent issue heroin trafficking afghanistan via tajikistan surged 2001 us invasion security cooperation economic development described two wheels sco general secretary zhang deguang chinas peoples daily noted among concrete moves construction railway highway pipeline network linking landlocked central asia rich natural resources global economy currently natural gas pease pipeline construction could eventually link iran pakistan india china helping overcome indiapakistani animosity integrate entire region basis mutual interests carefully shepherded china central asian south asian security indivisible proposed memberships india pakistan seriously discussed pakistani president asif ali zardari vowed work sco members achieve regional peace zardari stated pakistan belongs sco region keen cooperate countries financing joint ventures energy infrastructure education science technology pointed newly opened port gwadar china helped fund useful transport hub region sco increasing security cooperation among members including joint russiachina war games beginning april year meetings military chiefs sco countries however sco far cohesive military alliance nato admission pakistan india long term enemies complicate military cooperation indias patron russia vs pakistans patron china china clearly power beyind scoits wheels offering region much economically russia common keep us bay balm better way ease tensions rivals sco security drills enhancing interoperability militaries lawenforcement agencies according mk bhadrakumar make nato pax americana simply irrelevant entire landmass highflown words peace regional security cooperation press obama behind closed doors leaders discussed growing concerns arab spring might impact region particularly central asias populous state harshest dictatorship uzbekistan sco summit one international events leader islam karimov still welcomed another topic sco meeting move towards new world currency one established world bankers secretive bilderberg meetings openly major world resource population centres represented sco nazarbayev said healthy supranational currency needed recommended return form gold standard sco capable swap operations started first step necessary equal cooperation within sco irans president mahmoud ahmedinejad provided colour otherwise muted affair call sco take active role undermining usled global system slavers colonisers replacing order one countries played role black era slavery destruction hundreds millions human beings believe together reform way world managed restore tranquility world sco meeting came days close bilderberg groups summit st moritz switzerland chinas vice minister foreign affairs fu ying attended year acknowledgment without chinas approval nothing possible world finance anymore like sco agenda reportedly also included arab spring also sinister vein plans internet censorhip choosing next imf chief eurobailouts higher oil prices china russia pakistan india mention iran sco brings together serious threats empires plans one clutch possible exception china bush didnt take seriously obama far sco bark bite time next year india pakistan admitted nondollar denominated swaps reach critical mass bilderberg may well put sco top next agenda eric walberg writes alahram weekly httpweeklyahramorgeg reach httpericwalbergcom 160 160 | 749 |
<p>Indo-Canadian multidisciplinary artist <a href="https://vivekshraya.com/" type="external">Vivek Shraya</a> lives at the crossroads of many worlds as a queer trans girl with immigrant parents.</p>
<p>For Vivek, art has always been a way to explore her identity, learn where her heart is, and own her experiences. Her multidimensional and genre-bending art, which includes everything from <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/vivek-shraya-recreated-photos-of-mother_us_573dd064e4b0646cbeec3f38" type="external">photography</a> to <a href="https://www.guernicamag.com/vivek-shraya-beyond-margins/" type="external">poetry</a>, delves deep into the intersections of race, religion, gender, and sexuality with heart and raw honesty. As a musician, a writer, and a filmmaker, her work is striking a chord with new audiences everyday: she’s a four-time Lambda Literary Award finalist, a former Toronto Pride Grand Marshall, and was named one of Out Magazine’s <a href="https://www.out.com/lifestyle/2016/11/20/9-trans-influencers-you-should-follow" type="external">“9 Trans Influencers You Should Follow”</a>. She performs internationally at shows and festivals, and has even shared a stage with Tegan and Sara.</p>
<p>2017 has been a big year for Vivek. Her first book of poetry, <a href="https://vivekshraya.com/books/even-this-page-is-white/" type="external">even this page is white</a>, won a Publisher Triangle Award and she released a new album, <a href="https://vivekshraya.bandcamp.com/album/part-time-woman" type="external">Part Time Woman</a>, a collaboration with 12-piece chamber pop collective <a href="http://www.queersongbook.com/" type="external">Queer Songbook Orchestra</a> that explores her experience as a trans woman of color.</p>
<p>For this week’s Feministing Five, I had the pleasure of catching up with Vivek about the relationships between her many artistic projects, why Hinduism was so critical to her understanding of gender, how she’s working to support young artists of color, and more! Catch Vivek on Twitter and Instagram at <a href="https://www.instagram.com/vivekshraya/" type="external">@vivekshraya</a> — there’s clearly no slowing down for this badass femme on the move.</p>
<p>Senti Sojwal: Congratulations on your new album, Part Time Woman, which came out last month. You’ve described this album as “for trans people by trans people” and called it “a love song to other trans girls”. Sonically, this album is a departure from much of your previous musical work. What was the process like for you of creating this album?</p>
<p>Vivek Shraya: Music is my first love, it’s how my artistic life really started. That’s why I moved to Toronto back in 2003. I really struggled with my music career in this industry and needed to take a break. Six years ago I put out my last solo album and started exploring other kinds of art more. It was exciting because I felt like for the first time, my art was connecting with other people in a more significant way. Throughout that process, I still felt a longing for music. It sounds corny, but it feels like a relationship I had. Turning art into a career can be painful. A couple of years ago, I felt like I was ready to open my heart to music again. Around that time I met a local producer and we started to talk about my music and what it could look like, collaborating on a few singles. In 2016 I came out as trans and wrote a song called “Girl It’s Your Time” announcing my use of she/her pronouns. I started working with the Queer Songbook Orchestra, and they take songs that have queer themes and reimagine them in an orchestral setting. It was so incredible. I started really wanting to make an album, something totally different than anything I’d ever done.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal" />Senti Sojwal: You’re an incredibly multifaceted artist — you are a poet, a writer, a filmmaker, a photographer, and a musician. What’s the relationship between your different forms of self expression and artistry? Do you see your various artistic explorations as extensions of one another?</p>
<p>Vivek Shraya: I do think they’re connected and try to connect them as well. In thinking about the album, I really saw it as a story from beginning to end. I think that was really informed by storytelling through writing. I think so much art I’ve made in the past ended up being inspiration for this album. Taking a break from one medium allows you to strengthen a particular muscle, and then coming back to it with a new perspective or skill really helps all these artistic processes. The fact that my music career didn’t initially take off made me more multi-disciplinary. Even when I do book readings, I tend to sing. My films have involved music I’ve scored. I’m a lot more excited about the possibilities of blending and extending the lines between art mediums rather than identifying with one strict form of art.</p>
<p>Senti Sojwal: Can you talk about navigating the intersections between your trans and South Asian identities? What has it been like to navigate your transition as a South Asian? Our culture actually has a long and beautiful queer and transgender history that was erased and maligned through colonialism, but it feels like today, our culture is always depicted as incredibly conservative and stifling.</p>
<p>Vivek Shraya: I often cite Hinduism and my Hindu upbringing as one of the only sites of nurturance for my gender creativity. Even though I wasn’t identifying as trans as a teenager, there was something gender nonconforming about my identity. I was on the receiving end of lots of homophobia and experienced a lot of resistance to my expression. But in South Asian spaces, specifically the Hindu community that I participated in, I was seen as special. It was so strange to some days be treated as a version of Krishna because I liked to dance and sing and loved and respected women so much, where my gender was seen as something to nurture and celebrate, and the rest of the time, back at school, being called “fag” everyday. I didn’t have queer or trans role models in 1980s Edmonton, but I had Hindu gods, whose gender was so fluid. South Asian culture and Hindu culture really allowed me to express my gender and I don’t know that I would have come to transness without those aspects of my upbringing. Sometimes your art is ahead of you, and you’re comfortable expressing things artistically before you’re ready to express them elsewhere. Ardhanarishvara is a Hindu god that is half Shiva, half Parvati — half male, half female. Being part of a culture where I could see that was so important to my gender nonconformity.</p>
<p>Senti Sojwal: You recently launched <a href="https://vivekshraya.com/vsbooks/" type="external">VS Books</a>, a mentorship and publishing opportunity for a young writer of color living in Canada. Can you tell us about what spurred the desire to create this program for you, and also what kind of mentorship propelled you in your early days as an artist?</p>
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<p>Vivek Shraya: In marginalized communities, I think we have a tendency to not always be supportive of one another because of scarcity models. It’s so competitive. People can lash out at each other — I feel like I’ve seen this in Toronto and I’m sure it happens in every major city. I felt very disheartened by witnessing and experiencing this. I was trying to figure out what I could do to change this somehow. I decided that while I couldn’t change it, I could create some kind of gesture in response. I created a mentorship program in 2016 for one young artist, and ended up getting so many applications. I decided I would reframe the program so I could work with all of them. I worked with one per month. They were all over — Malaysia, New York — we’d Skype for an hour or two and connect on email and I’d give feedback. It was exciting to think about mentorship in a more condensed way. At the end of last year, I was starting to reevaluate the program. I started to think about what young artists really wanted. Mentorship is a value, but I don’t want to do that thing that grown ups do where they say, “this is what the kids of today need”. I think it’s so much more important to let young people tell us what they need. I think that’s so critical, over being imposing. Consistently, the feedback was that people needed support getting published. I started imagining a mentorship and publishing opportunity — where I would offer support in feedback and editing, and I would fund the project for publication. Funding my own work as a writer was huge in terms of getting my foot in the door of the publishing industry. I wanted to find a way to bring institutions on board, and reached out to my own publisher, who has a number of times taken risks with me. Last year they did both a book of poetry and a children’s book with me, even though their submission policy on their site states they won’t accept either of those! They’ve broken their own rules to support me, so why not just ask? I pitched the idea in October, and in April it became official. For me, it feels like an exciting opportunity to create more space for a young writer of color in terms of not just a book deal, but to offer support in terms of things I wish I had known as a younger person.</p>
<p>Senti Sojwal: In an interview with <a href="https://www.autostraddle.com/girl-its-your-time-trans-artist-vivek-shraya-on-finding-freedom-and-wholeness-336300/" type="external">Autostraddle</a>, you talked about the difficulty of having to be certain about all aspects of your gender identity at all times because trans people are rarely allowed to express gender ambiguity or evolve in their identities lest they be seen as “deceitful”. What are some of the most critical ways you think our understandings of gender and gender identification need to be challenged and reshaped, especially when it comes to allowing trans experiences to be nuanced?</p>
<p>Vivek Shraya: When I was trying to figure out pronouns, and reading about people’s processes of choosing “the right” pronoun, everything I found online and everything I heard when I spoke to people was this narrative of “I always knew”. There’s almost this Goldilocks narrative, except instead of trying out three different things and getting it right in the end, she just knows immediately what’s right for her. While I fully respect people who have had that experience, I personally never did. I’ve been called “he” and “him” for thirty-five years, and though increasingly there are moments where “her” and “she” feel lovely and right for me, it’s been an adjustment for me as much as the people around me. People will say “she said….” in reference to me and I’ll feel like, who are they talking about? I wish we were allowed the space to ask questions, to evolve, and to not be so tied to a particular destination or designation. I do anti-homophobia and anti-transphobia trainings and workshops in my job at a college. One of the things I would hear from participants when I was beginning my transition was “I knew this one trans person and they just kept changing their mind”. This is always brought up as a way to undermine the validity of someone’s gender expression, which felt so wrong. For me, it was terrifying. I felt like I always had to be sure, otherwise I would be “discredited”, too, even though in reality, I knew that I deserved that space to figure things out. It’s interesting because I’ve been faced with this song and dance before with my bisexuality. Essentially, our culture is terrified of any gray area. Any ambiguity is threatening and uncomfortable, and consequently, many of us are not allowed to live the way we should be allowed to. This includes people within queer and trans communities that have these very defined ideas of what “gay” looks like and what “queer” looks like and what even “trans” looks like. I feel a responsibility to complicate those narratives. Circling back to the album, calling it Part Time Woman felt like a gesture in complicating this idea of womanhood. A complete womanhood. Who or what gets to decide what makes a full time woman?</p> | true | 4 | indocanadian multidisciplinary artist vivek shraya lives crossroads many worlds queer trans girl immigrant parents vivek art always way explore identity learn heart experiences multidimensional genrebending art includes everything photography poetry delves deep intersections race religion gender sexuality heart raw honesty musician writer filmmaker work striking chord new audiences everyday shes fourtime lambda literary award finalist former toronto pride grand marshall named one magazines 9 trans influencers follow performs internationally shows festivals even shared stage tegan sara 2017 big year vivek first book poetry even page white publisher triangle award released new album part time woman collaboration 12piece chamber pop collective queer songbook orchestra explores experience trans woman color weeks feministing five pleasure catching vivek relationships many artistic projects hinduism critical understanding gender shes working support young artists color catch vivek twitter instagram vivekshraya theres clearly slowing badass femme move senti sojwal congratulations new album part time woman came last month youve described album trans people trans people called love song trans girls sonically album departure much previous musical work process like creating album vivek shraya music first love artistic life really started thats moved toronto back 2003 really struggled music career industry needed take break six years ago put last solo album started exploring kinds art exciting felt like first time art connecting people significant way throughout process still felt longing music sounds corny feels like relationship turning art career painful couple years ago felt like ready open heart music around time met local producer started talk music could look like collaborating singles 2016 came trans wrote song called girl time announcing use sheher pronouns started working queer songbook orchestra take songs queer themes reimagine orchestral setting incredible started really wanting make album something totally different anything id ever done senti sojwal youre incredibly multifaceted artist poet writer filmmaker photographer musician whats relationship different forms self expression artistry see various artistic explorations extensions one another vivek shraya think theyre connected try connect well thinking album really saw story beginning end think really informed storytelling writing think much art ive made past ended inspiration album taking break one medium allows strengthen particular muscle coming back new perspective skill really helps artistic processes fact music career didnt initially take made multidisciplinary even book readings tend sing films involved music ive scored im lot excited possibilities blending extending lines art mediums rather identifying one strict form art senti sojwal talk navigating intersections trans south asian identities like navigate transition south asian culture actually long beautiful queer transgender history erased maligned colonialism feels like today culture always depicted incredibly conservative stifling vivek shraya often cite hinduism hindu upbringing one sites nurturance gender creativity even though wasnt identifying trans teenager something gender nonconforming identity receiving end lots homophobia experienced lot resistance expression south asian spaces specifically hindu community participated seen special strange days treated version krishna liked dance sing loved respected women much gender seen something nurture celebrate rest time back school called fag everyday didnt queer trans role models 1980s edmonton hindu gods whose gender fluid south asian culture hindu culture really allowed express gender dont know would come transness without aspects upbringing sometimes art ahead youre comfortable expressing things artistically youre ready express elsewhere ardhanarishvara hindu god half shiva half parvati half male half female part culture could see important gender nonconformity senti sojwal recently launched vs books mentorship publishing opportunity young writer color living canada tell us spurred desire create program also kind mentorship propelled early days artist vivek shraya marginalized communities think tendency always supportive one another scarcity models competitive people lash feel like ive seen toronto im sure happens every major city felt disheartened witnessing experiencing trying figure could change somehow decided couldnt change could create kind gesture response created mentorship program 2016 one young artist ended getting many applications decided would reframe program could work worked one per month malaysia new york wed skype hour two connect email id give feedback exciting think mentorship condensed way end last year starting reevaluate program started think young artists really wanted mentorship value dont want thing grown ups say kids today need think much important let young people tell us need think thats critical imposing consistently feedback people needed support getting published started imagining mentorship publishing opportunity would offer support feedback editing would fund project publication funding work writer huge terms getting foot door publishing industry wanted find way bring institutions board reached publisher number times taken risks last year book poetry childrens book even though submission policy site states wont accept either theyve broken rules support ask pitched idea october april became official feels like exciting opportunity create space young writer color terms book deal offer support terms things wish known younger person senti sojwal interview autostraddle talked difficulty certain aspects gender identity times trans people rarely allowed express gender ambiguity evolve identities lest seen deceitful critical ways think understandings gender gender identification need challenged reshaped especially comes allowing trans experiences nuanced vivek shraya trying figure pronouns reading peoples processes choosing right pronoun everything found online everything heard spoke people narrative always knew theres almost goldilocks narrative except instead trying three different things getting right end knows immediately whats right fully respect people experience personally never ive called thirtyfive years though increasingly moments feel lovely right adjustment much people around people say said reference ill feel like talking wish allowed space ask questions evolve tied particular destination designation antihomophobia antitransphobia trainings workshops job college one things would hear participants beginning transition knew one trans person kept changing mind always brought way undermine validity someones gender expression felt wrong terrifying felt like always sure otherwise would discredited even though reality knew deserved space figure things interesting ive faced song dance bisexuality essentially culture terrified gray area ambiguity threatening uncomfortable consequently many us allowed live way allowed includes people within queer trans communities defined ideas gay looks like queer looks like even trans looks like feel responsibility complicate narratives circling back album calling part time woman felt like gesture complicating idea womanhood complete womanhood gets decide makes full time woman | 1,007 |
<p>It’s a vague memory to say the least.&#160; In late summer 1981 the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Association (PATCO) went on strike and were promptly fired en masse by then President Reagan.&#160; Solidarity pickets sprang up around the country, with a good number of them occurring in the union-friendly San Francisco Bay Area.&#160; I remember attending a couple.&#160; The one I recall the best took place at the Oakland Airport which, like most municipal airports, was in a rather remote part of Oakland.&#160; I took a city bus to the airport and joined the picket.&#160; Sometime during the day a group of PATCO workers and sympathizers attempted a blockade of one of the runways.&#160; They were momentarily successful.&#160; I don’t recall whether the participants were arrested or just cited.&#160; As the strike wore on, many of the controllers found work elsewhere.</p>
<p>The PATCO strike was a watershed event in US labor history.&#160; The mass firing of the controllers and their replacement with less-skilled replacements (or scabs as I prefer to call them) created a new dynamic in capitalism’s ongoing battle with labor unions.&#160; In addition, the misguided perception that workers paid by the government were somehow less worthy of the wages they received gained a foothold in the public mindset.&#160; Of course, this perception was fanned by the anti-union right wing corporate administration nominally headed by Ronald Reagan.</p>
<p>Labor historian Joseph A. McCartin’s recently published book <a href="" type="internal">Collision Course: Ronald Reagan, The Air Traffic Controllers, and the Strike the Changed America</a>, examines this <a href="" type="internal" /> labor action and its effect on unionism in the United States.&#160; Expertly researched, McCartin’s text describes the history of the union, its always tenuous relationship with the Federal Aviation Agency (FAA), the controllers’ understanding of that relationship, and PATCO’s relationship to the rest of the labor movement.&#160; Furthermore, Collision Course provides an instructive look at the pitfalls of workers’ organizations that emphasize their differences with other wage earners instead of their similarities.</p>
<p>This latter phenomenon is one common among wage earners that are considered professional.&#160; In the union organizing drives that I have been involved at in universities and government agencies, one of the biggest obstacles to overcome was the idea among my fellow workers that we were somehow different from the folks that ran backhoes, swept floors or mowed lawns.&#160; After all, our jobs were “professional” in nature.&#160; Some forks refused to acknowledge that, when it came down to the nitty gritty, the only that really mattered to management was the fact that we worked for them.&#160; Our job descriptions were irrelevant.&#160; After all, we sold our labor the same as any other worker.&#160; Usually, the only way to convince so-called professionals that this was the case was when management made across the board cuts or increases in premiums.&#160; Only then did it become clear that all those selling their labor were perceived in a similar way by management no matter&#160; what their job entailed.</p>
<p>PATCO was founded on the assumption that their work was different from that of airline mechanics, stewards and other non-pilot employees.&#160; In fact, air controllers saw their jobs as something akin to that of the pilots.&#160; Indeed, that argument is true for all practical purposes.&#160; However, as the recent history of labor relations between airline pilots and management makes clear, when the proverbial shit hits the fan, management does not see pilots any different than they see baggage handlers.&#160; In other words, any and all are expendable. when they affect the bottom line.</p>
<p>According to McCartin, the air controllers union was one of the stronger unions composed of federal government employees.&#160; He provides multiple examples of this strength throughout the text.&#160; Their strength and cohesive front was able to win air traffic controllers pay raises and improved working conditions from the 1950s through the late 1970s.&#160; Even though most of these successes occurred during relatively good economic times for US capitalism, they were not achieved without struggle.&#160; They were also achieved when the public perception of unionism was quite positive.&#160; It was a change in this perception that provided management with a means to destroy PATCO.&#160; Like a scenario from an Upton Sinclair novel, the growing recession after 1973 combined with a resurgence of a pro-business right wing political movement in the US made it possible for corporate media to convince many US residents that fair wages and those demanding them were the cause of their economic misery, not the corporate world and its greed.&#160; The election of Ronald Reagan and his right wing cabal ensured the further demise of pro-worker sentiment in the United States.</p>
<p>Collision Course is the story of one union’s contradictions.&#160; Socially conservative and pro-war while simultaneously pro-worker and anti-management, PATCO reflected the political schizophrenia of most US labor unions during the period of its existence.&#160; There were very few African-American members or women, even thought the FAA was hiring more and more controllers from both demographics, thanks to affirmative action regulations.&#160; Like the building trades unions and their well-publicized refusal to allow black Americans into its hiring halls, PATCO’s white male culture prevented a solidarity that would certainly have strengthened its membership and bargaining power.&#160; The inability to see the necessity for solidarity beyond their white middle class aspirations contributed to the collapse of the union when threatened by Reagan’s battle ax.&#160; In addition, the lack of support from AFL-CIO leadership provided other unions’ rank and file with a mixed message.</p>
<p>No union is stronger than its members.&#160; No labor movement is stronger than its unions.&#160; If labor’s rank and file are unwilling to support their fellow workers in their workplace struggles, the likelihood of management getting its way in the workplace and in the political scene increases exponentially.&#160; This is McCartin’s clearest message.&#160; The blame for current state of US labor is not only to be found in the bank accounts of corporate CEOs and the pro-business policies of the Republican and Democratic Party leaders.&#160; It can also be placed on the backs of unions that crossed picket lines set up by fellow workers; on labor leaders more interested in cozying up to politicians then in forcing them to defeat anti-labor legislation; on unions that increase their membership by destroying other unions; and, more generally, on union policies that still fail to truly embrace a strategy that sees the entire working class of the planet as one against an international corporate class.&#160; Like the song says: Solidarity Forever….</p>
<p>Ron Jacobs&#160;is the author of&#160; <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1859841678/counterpunchmaga" type="external">The Way the Wind Blew: a History of the Weather Underground</a>&#160;and&#160; <a href="" type="internal">Short Order Frame Up</a>. Jacobs’ essay on Big Bill Broonzy is featured in CounterPunch’s collection on music, art and sex,&#160; <a href="http://www.easycarts.net/ecarts/CounterPunch/CP_Books.html" type="external">Serpents in the Garden</a>. His collection of essays and other musings titled Tripping Through the American Night is now available and his new novel is&#160; <a href="" type="internal">The Co-Conspirator’s Tale</a>. He can be reached at: <a href="mailto:ronj1955@gmail.com" type="external">ronj1955@gmail.com</a></p> | true | 4 | vague memory say least160 late summer 1981 professional air traffic controllers association patco went strike promptly fired en masse president reagan160 solidarity pickets sprang around country good number occurring unionfriendly san francisco bay area160 remember attending couple160 one recall best took place oakland airport like municipal airports rather remote part oakland160 took city bus airport joined picket160 sometime day group patco workers sympathizers attempted blockade one runways160 momentarily successful160 dont recall whether participants arrested cited160 strike wore many controllers found work elsewhere patco strike watershed event us labor history160 mass firing controllers replacement lessskilled replacements scabs prefer call created new dynamic capitalisms ongoing battle labor unions160 addition misguided perception workers paid government somehow less worthy wages received gained foothold public mindset160 course perception fanned antiunion right wing corporate administration nominally headed ronald reagan labor historian joseph mccartins recently published book collision course ronald reagan air traffic controllers strike changed america examines labor action effect unionism united states160 expertly researched mccartins text describes history union always tenuous relationship federal aviation agency faa controllers understanding relationship patcos relationship rest labor movement160 furthermore collision course provides instructive look pitfalls workers organizations emphasize differences wage earners instead similarities latter phenomenon one common among wage earners considered professional160 union organizing drives involved universities government agencies one biggest obstacles overcome idea among fellow workers somehow different folks ran backhoes swept floors mowed lawns160 jobs professional nature160 forks refused acknowledge came nitty gritty really mattered management fact worked them160 job descriptions irrelevant160 sold labor worker160 usually way convince socalled professionals case management made across board cuts increases premiums160 become clear selling labor perceived similar way management matter160 job entailed patco founded assumption work different airline mechanics stewards nonpilot employees160 fact air controllers saw jobs something akin pilots160 indeed argument true practical purposes160 however recent history labor relations airline pilots management makes clear proverbial shit hits fan management see pilots different see baggage handlers160 words expendable affect bottom line according mccartin air controllers union one stronger unions composed federal government employees160 provides multiple examples strength throughout text160 strength cohesive front able win air traffic controllers pay raises improved working conditions 1950s late 1970s160 even though successes occurred relatively good economic times us capitalism achieved without struggle160 also achieved public perception unionism quite positive160 change perception provided management means destroy patco160 like scenario upton sinclair novel growing recession 1973 combined resurgence probusiness right wing political movement us made possible corporate media convince many us residents fair wages demanding cause economic misery corporate world greed160 election ronald reagan right wing cabal ensured demise proworker sentiment united states collision course story one unions contradictions160 socially conservative prowar simultaneously proworker antimanagement patco reflected political schizophrenia us labor unions period existence160 africanamerican members women even thought faa hiring controllers demographics thanks affirmative action regulations160 like building trades unions wellpublicized refusal allow black americans hiring halls patcos white male culture prevented solidarity would certainly strengthened membership bargaining power160 inability see necessity solidarity beyond white middle class aspirations contributed collapse union threatened reagans battle ax160 addition lack support aflcio leadership provided unions rank file mixed message union stronger members160 labor movement stronger unions160 labors rank file unwilling support fellow workers workplace struggles likelihood management getting way workplace political scene increases exponentially160 mccartins clearest message160 blame current state us labor found bank accounts corporate ceos probusiness policies republican democratic party leaders160 also placed backs unions crossed picket lines set fellow workers labor leaders interested cozying politicians forcing defeat antilabor legislation unions increase membership destroying unions generally union policies still fail truly embrace strategy sees entire working class planet one international corporate class160 like song says solidarity forever ron jacobs160is author of160 way wind blew history weather underground160and160 short order frame jacobs essay big bill broonzy featured counterpunchs collection music art sex160 serpents garden collection essays musings titled tripping american night available new novel is160 coconspirators tale reached ronj1955gmailcom | 642 |
<p>Photo by Shelby L. Bell | <a href="" type="internal">CC BY 2.0</a></p>
<p>This past week two events occurred simultaneously with seemingly no awareness of each other. The Iraq War marked its 15th anniversary. And millions of people joined in the “March For Our Lives” protests on gun violence. USA Today counted 800,000 marching in Washington D.C. alone. This would be the largest number of people to march in the capital of the United States. If we take into account that many other cities were hosting huge marches, the total number of Americans protesting might even approach the 2.4 million Iraqi deaths since the 2003 war began. One grim truth that may connect the two events: many of the kids who died this year from gun violence have never lived in a time when the United States wasn’t at war with Iraq.</p>
<p>When John F. Kennedy was assassinated the great Malcolm X said “the chickens have come home to roost.” This need not apply here obviously but the shock and horror the ruling class about this violence is amiss. What do you expect when you cut schools as well as just about every other social program. You are going to get chaos. And if all this hurt the ruling class maybe it would be the chickens coming home to roost. Unfortunately, we are more scared of each other now. And unless the wrong person gets hit by a stray bullet, gun violence surely is in the interests of the ruling class.</p>
<p>Violence in Iraq is safer for the ruling class and the middle class here in America. Barack Obama would never really drop a drone on a Jonas Brother, even if he makes jokes about it. Segregated neighborhoods operate in the same way. As long as the police continue to occupy them we assume we are safe from any stray bullets.</p>
<p>The contradictory media coverage goes something like this: When kids die in the United States it is senseless. When kids die in Iraq it is necessary. When kids die in the United States they have lost a future. When kids die in Iraq they have lost a present. When kids die in the United States their parents are heartbroken. When kids die in Iraq their parents are terrorists. When kids die in the United States it is tragic. When kids die in Iraq it is just another day.</p>
<p>Children themselves are too wise to buy into such distinctions. I remember the Letters For Peace program started by the honorable Tim Carlson at my middle school. I don’t know how he did it but kids from Iraq and kids from the United States became pen pals. I think leaders of the U.S. and Saddam Hussein were pen pals for awhile too, but they were more the “adult” kind of pen pals. You know the kind one where one guy supplies the funds for the other guy to create a terrorist organization and then kills him for a completely different reason, all the awhile looting him of his oil reserves. Growing up stinks.</p>
<p>Time can be the most useful way to make anything seem normal. This is one thing that the U.S. leaders understand, as dim as they may seem at times. They get that if a war goes on long enough, it starts to make sense, even if it never made any sense to begin with. For a child, no wars make sense. But live through one (or several) your whole life, then it becomes, how do they say it, well, it is what it is.</p>
<p>The March For Our Lives protest was largely student organized. I will just say it: Kids Rule, Adults Drool. This was a heck of an organizing job. Let’s reward the kids by lowering the voting age. I have always been of the mindset that kids as young as 5 should be able to vote. You can call kids dumb but let’s be honest so are most Americans, especially the rich ones. All credit to the kids here. The adults in our political system are cruel, useless, conservative and cynical.</p>
<p>My only quibble though with this whole situation is that children continue to be used as political props. I am reminded of one of our most demented adults, Donald Trump. Just about a year ago he was “moved” to action in Syria by photos of ‘beautiful’ blond babies in peril. Action, in this context, means murder. The President sputtered: “When you kill innocent children, innocent babies, babies, little babies, with a chemical gas that is so lethal — people were shocked to hear what gas it was…No child of God should ever suffer such horror.” By child of God he means that White Christian American Settler God. Still no proof of this attack by the way, no matter how we feel about Assad.</p>
<p>In our increasingly illiterate culture, it is once again images that are manipulating the public. Images of beautiful and innocent white children. And yes, of course they are beautiful. But it only takes a week for these kids to get on the cover of Time. We can’t say the same thing about all those “noisy” Black Lives Matter kids. And of course, semi-automatics have no place in our streets or in our schools. And we should start by getting rid of the cop’s weapons of this variety. I really am for common sense gun control. It isn’t taking away much after all. These proposed bans would only take away the most outrageous killing machines. If anything, they aren’t going far enough.</p>
<p>On the other hand though the parallels to Trump here is lost on everyone. Even if we assume that gun control saves lives, what else is going on? Our move to “action” seems far more benign than bombing Syria. But let’s tread lightly. Because now a lot of people are asking why we aren’t calling these shooters terrorists. Which is a great point when we look at how Muslims are treated in this country. We don’t want everyone to be treated how Muslims are treated though (not that the police would ever treat all suspicious people the same anyways). What liberals want is that more people be considered terrorists, not less. They see the race and religion markings, which is great. But they are all a little naive about how cops would see it. Calling more people terrorists is only going to hurt the black, the brown and the poor. Giving police more power will hurt these communities. The shooter who goes to school with rich white kids isn’t going to be caught anyways. The Parkland shooter was known well by the FBI and it didn’t matter.</p>
<p>The question is for those of us in the all too innocent American Empire is whose death gives us tears? Clearly it isn’t the death of Iraqis. This shit has been going on for 15 years. 8 of those years under a Democrat President. It is a good thing that deaths by gun violence haven’t been normalized yet, but the same cannot be said for death for the Iraqis. The NRA sure has a lot of enemies nowadays but the same cannot be said for the military-industrial complex. This is because the NRA mostly funds the Republicans. And this is because the NRA’s weapons kill our kids, not theirs. Them over there, those Iraqis who live in what Donald Trump would call a shithole and what liberals would politely call a cavity of defecation, those kids don’t matter.</p>
<p>Children are always used as a political prop. It is refreshing to see a story where they are showing their political agency. Children are always marked as innocent—the rich white ones I mean. Women too are marked in the same way often. And it is always the patriarchal authority that comes in to save the day. Military intervention, police intervention. And yes, gun control too. Remember Trump saying “the Mexicans are raping our women”? This is why wackos see abortion as the greatest murder. Children, even ones who don’t exist yet, are innocent and must be protected. Agency for women and children aren’t taken seriously. Rights for women and children are stripped in the name of protection. All modern wars come with some image of helpless women and children, begging to be saved by the white man.</p>
<p>The hysteria around the death of rich white children is a different sort of reaction than the occasional pity we feel for Iraqi children. As necessary as such a hysteria may be what is this about? When, in recent history, have our elected officials on either side of the aisle cared about children? Funding for schooling on all levels is being cut. Standardized testing not only ruins how schools are taught, it dictates which schools get funding. The death of after school programs leaves kids without communities and without these communities, they turn to the streets. The juvenile justice system is a costly racket. Schools themselves are being modeled after prisons. The number of police officers in schools is way too high. Trump now wants to further the punishing state by arming teachers. Older generations failed to deal with climate change and now children will pay the cost. The weird thing is here, and I think it shows our society’s lack of empathy, is that the way kids are treated never really gets brought up when we are talking about these shooters. Yes we can mourn for the innocent dead kids but we don’t even try to understand the guilty ones.</p>
<p>When it comes to gun violence and its sheer randomness and horror, we have a different problem. What happens when our predatory capitalism system starts killing our own beautiful babies that are destined to run Fortune 500 companies one day? Awkward, right? Of course I don’t mean to trivialize any of this, everyone is dying from gun violence, especially, mostly, the poor, and coverage of them is quite underrepresented too. But that’s the point actually. The problem now is big enough for everyone to worry.</p>
<p>Why care about the dead rich children when we don’t care about the rest of them? Ultimately, it’s all about the reproduction of the nation state too if we are being honest. It’s about reproducing lots of babies, lots of white babies, with women as vessels for this reproduction. That is, ultimately, how children are seen by the political officials who mark them as innocent and beautiful and full of future and potential. Remember Paul Ryan saying that he “did his part” by making three babies. He said America needed to make more babies to grow. Grow where exactly? 800 military bases not enough? Has Paul heard of climate change? The world can’t afford more rich kids with Iphones. Paul Ryan states plainly the the sick logic that the Lords of the American Empire have. We are all just tools for world domination. Men are soldiers and women child bearers.</p>
<p>This is what Lee Edelman calls ‘reproductive futurism’. It is the sort of logic that makes queer people (especially transgender people), old people and disabled people, anyone who can’t or won’t reproduce, disposable. Women’s reproductive rights are a form of violence for the masterminds of the Empire. Of course for poor people, for uneducated people, for undocumented people, for people in other countries, and for people of color, the way of thinking is totally different. The children aren’t innocent, they are “super-predators”. The women aren’t just vessels for reproduction, they are “welfare queens” when they try to take care of their children. Win, lose, or draw, HRC still delivers relevant quotes to nearly any left article 🙂</p>
<p>I mean just check out this CNN profile on the victims of the Parkland shooting. It is hard not to get teary eyed when reading through it. We hear about the accomplishments of all of these kids. And they seem like amazing kids. Far too young to die. They surely had a beautiful future, as everyone notes. But this isn’t how we talk about the victims of police shootings, Empire bombings, or gang killings. We always ask how was the victim guilty? We ask what did they do? Even if it was just shoplifting. It has to be put in the story. I want all stories about murder to be celebrating the life of the person killed. Even on death row. These people lived lives too.</p>
<p>It’s great these Parkland kids were in the band, played sports, or wanted to go to prom. But what makes a life matter? Do people who can’t afford these things have no lives? I don’t know what kind of prom the kids in war zones have but do their lives matter? The same coded language is used when protecting DACA kids too. They are good Americans we hear. Which is fine, but it is really an unnecessary statement. A life is a life. A life of a beautiful blonde with rich parents is no better than any other life.</p>
<p>I won’t be asking why this mass protest happened, because that has an easy answer. People are being killed at a sickening rate and we need gun control (among many other things) to stop it. Kids are leading the way and we all shouldn’t be so surprised about it.</p>
<p>The more troubling question is: why is such a protest embraced by the mainstream media? And what are their intentions? What lengths are they willing to go to protect our beautiful blonde babies of Empire? How many Iraqi children will die while we wonder?</p>
<p>Give the kids credit for refusing the label of victims and marching for our lives. If anyone is going to march for their lives, it will be these same children who did more to help their classmates than any of our pathetic elected officials ever have. The media may be right about one thing: these kids have a bright and beautiful future. That is, assuming they don’t get shot by a semi-automatic rifle.</p> | true | 4 | photo shelby l bell cc 20 past week two events occurred simultaneously seemingly awareness iraq war marked 15th anniversary millions people joined march lives protests gun violence usa today counted 800000 marching washington dc alone would largest number people march capital united states take account many cities hosting huge marches total number americans protesting might even approach 24 million iraqi deaths since 2003 war began one grim truth may connect two events many kids died year gun violence never lived time united states wasnt war iraq john f kennedy assassinated great malcolm x said chickens come home roost need apply obviously shock horror ruling class violence amiss expect cut schools well every social program going get chaos hurt ruling class maybe would chickens coming home roost unfortunately scared unless wrong person gets hit stray bullet gun violence surely interests ruling class violence iraq safer ruling class middle class america barack obama would never really drop drone jonas brother even makes jokes segregated neighborhoods operate way long police continue occupy assume safe stray bullets contradictory media coverage goes something like kids die united states senseless kids die iraq necessary kids die united states lost future kids die iraq lost present kids die united states parents heartbroken kids die iraq parents terrorists kids die united states tragic kids die iraq another day children wise buy distinctions remember letters peace program started honorable tim carlson middle school dont know kids iraq kids united states became pen pals think leaders us saddam hussein pen pals awhile adult kind pen pals know kind one one guy supplies funds guy create terrorist organization kills completely different reason awhile looting oil reserves growing stinks time useful way make anything seem normal one thing us leaders understand dim may seem times get war goes long enough starts make sense even never made sense begin child wars make sense live one several whole life becomes say well march lives protest largely student organized say kids rule adults drool heck organizing job lets reward kids lowering voting age always mindset kids young 5 able vote call kids dumb lets honest americans especially rich ones credit kids adults political system cruel useless conservative cynical quibble though whole situation children continue used political props reminded one demented adults donald trump year ago moved action syria photos beautiful blond babies peril action context means murder president sputtered kill innocent children innocent babies babies little babies chemical gas lethal people shocked hear gas wasno child god ever suffer horror child god means white christian american settler god still proof attack way matter feel assad increasingly illiterate culture images manipulating public images beautiful innocent white children yes course beautiful takes week kids get cover time cant say thing noisy black lives matter kids course semiautomatics place streets schools start getting rid cops weapons variety really common sense gun control isnt taking away much proposed bans would take away outrageous killing machines anything arent going far enough hand though parallels trump lost everyone even assume gun control saves lives else going move action seems far benign bombing syria lets tread lightly lot people asking arent calling shooters terrorists great point look muslims treated country dont want everyone treated muslims treated though police would ever treat suspicious people anyways liberals want people considered terrorists less see race religion markings great little naive cops would see calling people terrorists going hurt black brown poor giving police power hurt communities shooter goes school rich white kids isnt going caught anyways parkland shooter known well fbi didnt matter question us innocent american empire whose death gives us tears clearly isnt death iraqis shit going 15 years 8 years democrat president good thing deaths gun violence havent normalized yet said death iraqis nra sure lot enemies nowadays said militaryindustrial complex nra mostly funds republicans nras weapons kill kids iraqis live donald trump would call shithole liberals would politely call cavity defecation kids dont matter children always used political prop refreshing see story showing political agency children always marked innocentthe rich white ones mean women marked way often always patriarchal authority comes save day military intervention police intervention yes gun control remember trump saying mexicans raping women wackos see abortion greatest murder children even ones dont exist yet innocent must protected agency women children arent taken seriously rights women children stripped name protection modern wars come image helpless women children begging saved white man hysteria around death rich white children different sort reaction occasional pity feel iraqi children necessary hysteria may recent history elected officials either side aisle cared children funding schooling levels cut standardized testing ruins schools taught dictates schools get funding death school programs leaves kids without communities without communities turn streets juvenile justice system costly racket schools modeled prisons number police officers schools way high trump wants punishing state arming teachers older generations failed deal climate change children pay cost weird thing think shows societys lack empathy way kids treated never really gets brought talking shooters yes mourn innocent dead kids dont even try understand guilty ones comes gun violence sheer randomness horror different problem happens predatory capitalism system starts killing beautiful babies destined run fortune 500 companies one day awkward right course dont mean trivialize everyone dying gun violence especially mostly poor coverage quite underrepresented thats point actually problem big enough everyone worry care dead rich children dont care rest ultimately reproduction nation state honest reproducing lots babies lots white babies women vessels reproduction ultimately children seen political officials mark innocent beautiful full future potential remember paul ryan saying part making three babies said america needed make babies grow grow exactly 800 military bases enough paul heard climate change world cant afford rich kids iphones paul ryan states plainly sick logic lords american empire tools world domination men soldiers women child bearers lee edelman calls reproductive futurism sort logic makes queer people especially transgender people old people disabled people anyone cant wont reproduce disposable womens reproductive rights form violence masterminds empire course poor people uneducated people undocumented people people countries people color way thinking totally different children arent innocent superpredators women arent vessels reproduction welfare queens try take care children win lose draw hrc still delivers relevant quotes nearly left article mean check cnn profile victims parkland shooting hard get teary eyed reading hear accomplishments kids seem like amazing kids far young die surely beautiful future everyone notes isnt talk victims police shootings empire bombings gang killings always ask victim guilty ask even shoplifting put story want stories murder celebrating life person killed even death row people lived lives great parkland kids band played sports wanted go prom makes life matter people cant afford things lives dont know kind prom kids war zones lives matter coded language used protecting daca kids good americans hear fine really unnecessary statement life life life beautiful blonde rich parents better life wont asking mass protest happened easy answer people killed sickening rate need gun control among many things stop kids leading way shouldnt surprised troubling question protest embraced mainstream media intentions lengths willing go protect beautiful blonde babies empire many iraqi children die wonder give kids credit refusing label victims marching lives anyone going march lives children help classmates pathetic elected officials ever media may right one thing kids bright beautiful future assuming dont get shot semiautomatic rifle | 1,216 |
<p><a href="" type="internal">Olivia Wilde</a> is fired up. It’s the eve of the <a href="" type="internal">first Democratic debate</a> and the actress-humanitarian, whose hypnotic azure eyes and cut-glass cheekbones seem even more pronounced in person, can’t help but chortle as she recalls the four-minute introduction she gave to Hillary Clinton at a campaign event back in June. But given Trump’s subsequent media blitzkrieg coupled with Ben Carson’s bizarre Holocaust fixation, the start of summer seems like a distant memory.</p>
<p>And yet Wilde’s readiness for Hillary has only increased. In recent months, her splendidly uninhibited Twitter feed has called Hills’ email scandal <a href="https://twitter.com/oliviawilde/status/639104289546338304" type="external">“a waste of newsprint”</a> and trolled Trump with a photo of a Donald piñata, saying it’s <a href="https://twitter.com/oliviawilde/status/644308557614174208" type="external">“full of bologna meat.”</a> Perhaps this level of bluntness is to be expected of Wilde, the daughter of two acclaimed journalists whose childhood babysitter happened to be the late, great Christopher Hitchens.</p>
<p>“She’s an incredibly skilled debater and her intelligence and experience speaks for itself,” Wilde says of Hillary. “That’s the thing about Hillary—when people stop scheming to take her down with bullshit, her actual résumé speaks for itself. Everything that’s happened so far in this election has just been ridiculous for the Republican Party, of course, and so illuminating in its transparency, and people are getting inspired by Bernie [Sanders] and inspired by Hillary, and that’s a great thing. People are engaged.”</p>
<p>The 31-year-old is frustrated by the most common attacks against Hillary—that she’s “not warm enough” and “too hawkish”—claiming that these are gendered criticisms rooted in chauvinism.</p>
<p>“It’s pure sexism,” she says. “This bullshit about her not seeming ‘warm’ enough is pure misogyny. It’s ridiculous. I think she’s one of the loveliest, most personable politicians I’ve ever met—much warmer than other politicians, in fact. That’s pure sexism.”</p>
<p>Wilde’s fiancé Jason Sudeikis is no stranger to politics either, having portrayed former presidential candidate Mitt Romney during the 2012 election season. Back in August 2013, Wilde learned she was pregnant with their baby—and the news came right before she was to inhabit the role of Sarah, a grieving mother struggling to get over the disappearance of her young child, in filmmaker Reed Morano’s indie drama Meadowland.</p>
<p>“We were in pre-production and had a rough start date with potential cast members when I found out I was pregnant, so we had to push it a year,” Wilde recalls. “I was so moved when Reed had no second thoughts about waiting for me. She was supportive of it, and even saw it as this great way to prepare for the role. It’s mind-blowing that a director would hold her directorial debut for an actor.”</p>
<p>Morano is an exemplary DP who’s shot films like Frozen River, Kill Your Darlings, and The Skeleton Twins, and in 2013, became the youngest of 14 women (out of 345) to be members of the American Society of Cinematographers.</p>
<p>And Meadowland’s Sarah is a role unlike any Wilde’s played before—that of a suicidal New York mother who, after her son disappears at a rest stop, struggles to navigate the different stages of grief, from engaging in self-destructive behavior (strange sex, cutting), to distancing herself from her husband (Luke Wilson), to forming a bond with a look-alike outcast boy at the school where she teaches, played by Ty Simpkins.</p>
<p>They shot the film on location in New York less than four months after Wilde gave birth to her son, Otis (named after Otis Redding), and she says Morano was right—that having Otis allowed her to form a much stronger connection to the character than she could have made otherwise.</p>
<p>“For me, personally, having Otis allowed me to fathom the enormity of a mother’s love, and the awareness that it is the most significant part of a mother’s life,” she says. “Throughout shooting, I thought, ‘I don’t know how she’s surviving or getting up in the morning, because I don’t think I could,’ and that allowed me to have a deep respect and admiration for her.” “It was incredibly intense,” she continues. “Otis would visit me sometimes at lunch and I would hold him and just feel so lucky to have him in my life. It made me a more present and mindful parent. Parenting can be really overwhelming at times, and there are moments where you feel easily distracted, or take it for granted that your children are with you. Oh, I wish I could just nap! But making this film pushed those instincts away from me. I’d drop my phone, lock it away, and be with him completely.” She laughs. “I realize I’m sounding paranoid and overprotective,” she says, chuckling. “Thankfully, I didn’t get into that headspace. And now I realize that it definitely could have gone there.”</p>
<p>And in case you were wondering, yes, Wilde and Sudeikis do in fact play the Kanye West and Jay Z tune “Otis” for their little Otis.</p>
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<p>“He is a fan!” says Wilde. “He listens to a lot of Otis Redding, too. But he’s a big Kanye fan.”</p>
<p>Meadowland filmed for 22 days, with Wilde playing double-duty as a producer, and the toughest day for her was when she had to shoot a complex scene at a dingy gas station bathroom in New Jersey where her character gains cathartic pleasure out of slashing her arm with a straight razor. As she commits the act, Morano’s camera lingers on Wilde’s face as it moans in ecstasy.</p>
<p>“That’s never been a part of my life,” she says of cutting, “ but I knew someone who did, and she described it to me as a release of pressure that had been building up to an unbearable point. She said it was as if she was letting the pressure out by cutting, and it felt so good to have that release.</p>
<p>There’s something almost erotic about that scene, and people find it very disturbing because they don’t want to think there would be anything erotic or satisfying about self-harm, and yet that was the truth that we found.”</p>
<p>And Wilde, though riveting in the film, was incredibly nervous to see her soul-baring performance on the big screen when Meadowland premiered at the 2015 Tribeca Film Festival.</p>
<p>“I sat through that Tribeca screening in a cold sweat, shaking. I had a bottle of whiskey, I’m not gonna lie,” she says, laughing. “Jason and I had a bottle of whiskey under our chairs—I think it was Jack Daniels.”</p>
<p>Wilde’s film career began on the set of the coming-of-age comedy The Girl Next Door. She was working as a casting assistant on the film when one of the casting directors decided to put her in the movie as a coquettish high schooler. The gig got her a SAG card, and subsequent roles on the TV shows The O.C. and House followed, as well as gigs in a string of mostly forgettable indies. In most of these early roles, Wilde was cast either as eye candy or a one-dimensional love interest, though she views it all as a means to an end.</p>
<p>“I don’t think you can skip steps to find your identity as an artist—you have to learn it through experience,” she says. “Some people are really lucky with their first project and are really smart about it and only go up from there, but that wasn’t my experience.” She pauses. “If I were a chef, it would make me a better chef to have started as a short order cook in a diner serving up sausages and eggs, because you develop all sorts of skills. And it makes you finally appreciate when you’re working in your kitchen with fine dining. You think, wow, these knives are really sharp.”</p>
<p>The years 2010 and 2011 were supposed to be huge for Wilde, with the actress booking a series of high-profile projects, but most of them sounded better on paper. There was Paul Haggis’s The Next Three Days, opposite Russell Crowe; Cowboys &amp; Aliens with Daniel Craig; and In Time, alongside Justin Timberlake and Amanda Seyfried. They all fizzled.</p>
<p>But Wilde found a renewed sense of purpose in the indie world, turning in impressive performances in films like the largely improvised Drinking Buddies, the underrated racing drama Rush, and a small-but-memorable role in Spike Jonze’s brilliant Her.</p>
<p>“I do agree that in the last few years I’ve hit my stride, and for me, that comes from operating from a place of inspiration versus desperation,” she says matter-of-factly. “I find the material you get as you get older is better. Now, the scripts I’m reading are about women who’ve been through something. Early on, you’re just the girlfriend, or the pretty girl, or the mean girl.”</p>
<p>“When you stop needing it, you’re gonna get better stuff, and be making better stuff,” she adds. “It’s like relationships: love somebody more than you need them. When you’re not looking for someone, someone great will come into your life.”</p>
<p>It sounds like she’s describing herself, I say, and meeting Sudeikis after splitting from her first husband. “Yeah!” she exclaims. “When you’re really happy and confident on your own, then you’re actually ready for a relationship.”</p>
<p>One role that is very hotly anticipated is her leading one in Vinyl, Terence Winter and Martin Scorsese’s upcoming 70s-era HBO series about the rise and fall of a record company. Wilde is Devon Finestra, the wife of label head Richie, played by Bobby Cannavale.</p>
<p>“I can promise you it’s really good,” she says, absolutely beaming. “Scorsese has a childlike enthusiasm for filmmaking and his energy is limitless, and it inspired me to have the same uncorrupted love for storytelling.”</p> | true | 4 | olivia wilde fired eve first democratic debate actresshumanitarian whose hypnotic azure eyes cutglass cheekbones seem even pronounced person cant help chortle recalls fourminute introduction gave hillary clinton campaign event back june given trumps subsequent media blitzkrieg coupled ben carsons bizarre holocaust fixation start summer seems like distant memory yet wildes readiness hillary increased recent months splendidly uninhibited twitter feed called hills email scandal waste newsprint trolled trump photo donald piñata saying full bologna meat perhaps level bluntness expected wilde daughter two acclaimed journalists whose childhood babysitter happened late great christopher hitchens shes incredibly skilled debater intelligence experience speaks wilde says hillary thats thing hillarywhen people stop scheming take bullshit actual résumé speaks everything thats happened far election ridiculous republican party course illuminating transparency people getting inspired bernie sanders inspired hillary thats great thing people engaged 31yearold frustrated common attacks hillarythat shes warm enough hawkishclaiming gendered criticisms rooted chauvinism pure sexism says bullshit seeming warm enough pure misogyny ridiculous think shes one loveliest personable politicians ive ever metmuch warmer politicians fact thats pure sexism wildes fiancé jason sudeikis stranger politics either portrayed former presidential candidate mitt romney 2012 election season back august 2013 wilde learned pregnant babyand news came right inhabit role sarah grieving mother struggling get disappearance young child filmmaker reed moranos indie drama meadowland preproduction rough start date potential cast members found pregnant push year wilde recalls moved reed second thoughts waiting supportive even saw great way prepare role mindblowing director would hold directorial debut actor morano exemplary dp whos shot films like frozen river kill darlings skeleton twins 2013 became youngest 14 women 345 members american society cinematographers meadowlands sarah role unlike wildes played beforethat suicidal new york mother son disappears rest stop struggles navigate different stages grief engaging selfdestructive behavior strange sex cutting distancing husband luke wilson forming bond lookalike outcast boy school teaches played ty simpkins shot film location new york less four months wilde gave birth son otis named otis redding says morano rightthat otis allowed form much stronger connection character could made otherwise personally otis allowed fathom enormity mothers love awareness significant part mothers life says throughout shooting thought dont know shes surviving getting morning dont think could allowed deep respect admiration incredibly intense continues otis would visit sometimes lunch would hold feel lucky life made present mindful parent parenting really overwhelming times moments feel easily distracted take granted children oh wish could nap making film pushed instincts away id drop phone lock away completely laughs realize im sounding paranoid overprotective says chuckling thankfully didnt get headspace realize definitely could gone case wondering yes wilde sudeikis fact play kanye west jay z tune otis little otis start finish day top stories daily beast speedy smart summary news need know nothing dont fan says wilde listens lot otis redding hes big kanye fan meadowland filmed 22 days wilde playing doubleduty producer toughest day shoot complex scene dingy gas station bathroom new jersey character gains cathartic pleasure slashing arm straight razor commits act moranos camera lingers wildes face moans ecstasy thats never part life says cutting knew someone described release pressure building unbearable point said letting pressure cutting felt good release theres something almost erotic scene people find disturbing dont want think would anything erotic satisfying selfharm yet truth found wilde though riveting film incredibly nervous see soulbaring performance big screen meadowland premiered 2015 tribeca film festival sat tribeca screening cold sweat shaking bottle whiskey im gon na lie says laughing jason bottle whiskey chairsi think jack daniels wildes film career began set comingofage comedy girl next door working casting assistant film one casting directors decided put movie coquettish high schooler gig got sag card subsequent roles tv shows oc house followed well gigs string mostly forgettable indies early roles wilde cast either eye candy onedimensional love interest though views means end dont think skip steps find identity artistyou learn experience says people really lucky first project really smart go wasnt experience pauses chef would make better chef started short order cook diner serving sausages eggs develop sorts skills makes finally appreciate youre working kitchen fine dining think wow knives really sharp years 2010 2011 supposed huge wilde actress booking series highprofile projects sounded better paper paul haggiss next three days opposite russell crowe cowboys amp aliens daniel craig time alongside justin timberlake amanda seyfried fizzled wilde found renewed sense purpose indie world turning impressive performances films like largely improvised drinking buddies underrated racing drama rush smallbutmemorable role spike jonzes brilliant agree last years ive hit stride comes operating place inspiration versus desperation says matteroffactly find material get get older better scripts im reading women whove something early youre girlfriend pretty girl mean girl stop needing youre gon na get better stuff making better stuff adds like relationships love somebody need youre looking someone someone great come life sounds like shes describing say meeting sudeikis splitting first husband yeah exclaims youre really happy confident youre actually ready relationship one role hotly anticipated leading one vinyl terence winter martin scorseses upcoming 70sera hbo series rise fall record company wilde devon finestra wife label head richie played bobby cannavale promise really good says absolutely beaming scorsese childlike enthusiasm filmmaking energy limitless inspired uncorrupted love storytelling | 867 |
<p>Police officers carry out random acts of legalized murder against poor people of color not because they are racist, although they may be, or even because they are rogue cops, but because impoverished urban communities have evolved into miniature police states.</p>
<p>Police can stop citizens at will, question and arrest them without probable cause, kick down doors in the middle of the night on the basis of warrants for nonviolent offenses, carry out wholesale surveillance, confiscate property and money and hold people—some of them innocent—in county jails for years before forcing them to accept plea agreements that send them to prison for decades. They can also, largely with impunity,&#160; <a href="http://mappingpoliceviolence.org/unarmed/" type="external">murder them</a>.</p>
<p>Those who live in these police states, or internal colonies, especially young men of color, endure constant fear and often terror. Michelle Alexander, author of “The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness,” calls those trapped in these enclaves members of a criminal “caste system.” This caste system dominates the lives of not only the 2.3 million who are incarcerated in the United States but also the 4.8 million on probation or parole. Millions more are forced into “permanent second-class citizenship” by their criminal records, which make employment, higher education and public assistance, including housing, difficult and usually impossible to obtain. This is by design.</p>
<p>The rhetoric of compassion, even outrage, by the political class over&#160; <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/police-killings-louisiana-minnesota-may-reflect-larger-struggle-reform-n605476" type="external">the police murders</a>&#160;in Baton Rouge, La., and near St. Paul, Minn., will not be translated into change until the poor are granted full constitutional rights and police are accountable to the law. The corporate state, however, which is expanding the numbers of poor through austerity and deindustrialization, has no intention of instituting anything more than cosmetic reform.</p>
<p>Globalization has created a serious problem of “surplus” or “redundant” labor in deindustrialized countries. The corporate state has responded to the phenomenon of “surplus” labor with state terror and mass incarceration. It has built a physical and legal mechanism that lurks like a plague bacillus within the body politic to be imposed, should wider segments of society resist, on all of us.</p>
<p>The physics of human nature dictates that the longer the state engages in indiscriminate legalized murder, especially when those killings can be documented on video or film and disseminated to the public, the more it stokes the revenge assassinations we witnessed&#160; <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/08/us/philando-castile-alton-sterling-protests/" type="external">in Dallas</a>. This counterviolence serves the interests of the corporate state. The murder of the five Dallas police officers allows the state to deify its blue-uniformed enforcers, demonize those who protest police killings and justify greater measures of oppression, often in the name of reform.</p>
<p>This downward spiral of violence and counterviolence will not be halted until the ruling ideology of neoliberalism is jettisoned and the corporate state is dismantled. Violence and terror, as corporate capitalism punishes greater and greater segments of the population, are, and will remain, the essential tools for control.</p>
<p>No one, with the exception of the elites, champions neoliberal policies. Citizens do not want their jobs shipped overseas, their schools and libraries closed, their pension and retirement funds looted, programs such as Social Security and welfare cut, government bailouts of Wall Street, or militarized police forces patrolling their neighborhoods as if they were foreign armies of occupation—which in many ways they are. These policies have to be forced on a reluctant public. This is accomplished only through propaganda, including censorship, and coercion.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, all the calls by the political class for reform in the wake of recent murders by police will make things worse. Reform has long been a subterfuge for expanded police repression. This insidious process is documented in Naomi Murakawa’s book “The First Civil Right: How Liberals Built Prison America.”</p>
<p>Murakawa wrote that lawmakers, especially liberal lawmakers, “confronted racial violence as an administrative deficiency.” Thus, they put in place “more procedures and professionalization” to “define acceptable use of force.” They countered the mob violence of lynching, she points out, with a system of state-sanctioned murder, or capital punishment. “The liberal’s brand of racial criminalization and administrative deracialization legitimized extreme penal harm to African-Americans: the more carceral machinery was rights-based and rule-bound, the more racial disparity was isolatable to ‘real’ black criminality.” In other words, the state was “permitted limitless violence so long as it conformed to clearly defined laws, administrative protocol, and due process,” while those who were the victims of this violence were said to be at fault because of their supposed criminal propensities.</p>
<p>The so-called “professionalization” of the police, the standard response to police brutality, has always resulted in more resources, militarized weapons and money given to the police. It has been accompanied, at the same time, by less police accountability and greater police autonomy to strip citizens of their rights as well as an expansion of the use of lethal force.</p>
<p>If the state of siege of our inner cities were lifted, if prisoners were allowed to return to their communities and if evictions, which destroy the cohesion and solidarity of a neighborhood, were to end, the corporate state would face a rebellion. And the corporate state knows it. It needs to maintain these pod-like police states if it is to continue the relentless drive to further impoverish the country in the name of austerity. The continued cutting or closing of the few social services that keep people from facing total destitution, the massive unemployment that is never addressed, the despair, the hopelessness, the retreat into drugs and alcohol to blunt the pain, the heavy burden of debt peonage that sees families evicted, the desperate struggle to make money from the illegal economy and the forced bankruptcies all are about social control. And they work.</p>
<p>The state insists that to combat the “lawlessness” of those it has demonized it must be emancipated from the constraints of the law. The unrestricted and arbitrary subjugation of one despised group, stripped of equality before the law, conditions the police to employ brutal tactics against the wider society.</p>
<p>“Laws that are not equal for all revert to rights and privileges, something contradictory to the very nature of nation-states,” Hannah Arendt wrote. “The clearer the proof of their inability to treat stateless people as legal persons and the greater the extension of arbitrary rule by police decree, the more difficult it is for states to resist the temptation to deprive all citizens of legal status and rule them with an omnipotent police.”</p>
<p>The miniature police states are laboratories. They give the corporate state the machinery, legal justification and expertise to strip the entire country of rights, wealth and resources. And this, in the end, is the goal of neoliberalism.</p>
<p>Neoliberalism, like all utopian ideologies, requires the banishment of empathy. The inability to feel empathy is the portal to an evil often carried out in the name of progress. A world without empathy rejects as an absurdity the call to love your neighbor as yourself. It elevates the cult of the self. It divides the world into winners and losers. It celebrates power and wealth. Those who are discarded by the corporate state, especially poor people of color, are viewed as life unworthy of life. They are denied the dignity of work and financial autonomy. They are denied an education and proper medical care, meaning many die from preventable illnesses. They are criminalized. They are trapped from birth to death in squalid police states. And they are blamed for their own misery.</p>
<p>Disenfranchised white workers, also the victims of deindustrialization and neoliberalism, flock to Donald Trump rallies stunted by this lack of empathy. The hatred of the other offers them a sense of psychological protection. For, if they saw themselves in those they demonized, if they could express empathy, they would have to accept that what is being done to poor people of color can, and perhaps will, be done to them. This truth is too hard to accept. It is easier to blame the victims.</p>
<p>Our political elites, rather than addressing the crisis, will make it worse. If we do not revolt, the savagery, including legalized murder, that is the daily reality for poor people of color will become our reality. We must overthrow the corporate state. We must free ourselves from the poisonous ideology of neoliberalism. If we remain captive we will soon endure the nightmare that afflicts our neighbor.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/legalized_murder_and_the_politics_of_terror_20160710" type="external">Originally published by Truthdig</a></p> | true | 4 | police officers carry random acts legalized murder poor people color racist although may even rogue cops impoverished urban communities evolved miniature police states police stop citizens question arrest without probable cause kick doors middle night basis warrants nonviolent offenses carry wholesale surveillance confiscate property money hold peoplesome innocentin county jails years forcing accept plea agreements send prison decades also largely impunity160 murder live police states internal colonies especially young men color endure constant fear often terror michelle alexander author new jim crow mass incarceration age colorblindness calls trapped enclaves members criminal caste system caste system dominates lives 23 million incarcerated united states also 48 million probation parole millions forced permanent secondclass citizenship criminal records make employment higher education public assistance including housing difficult usually impossible obtain design rhetoric compassion even outrage political class over160 police murders160in baton rouge la near st paul minn translated change poor granted full constitutional rights police accountable law corporate state however expanding numbers poor austerity deindustrialization intention instituting anything cosmetic reform globalization created serious problem surplus redundant labor deindustrialized countries corporate state responded phenomenon surplus labor state terror mass incarceration built physical legal mechanism lurks like plague bacillus within body politic imposed wider segments society resist us physics human nature dictates longer state engages indiscriminate legalized murder especially killings documented video film disseminated public stokes revenge assassinations witnessed160 dallas counterviolence serves interests corporate state murder five dallas police officers allows state deify blueuniformed enforcers demonize protest police killings justify greater measures oppression often name reform downward spiral violence counterviolence halted ruling ideology neoliberalism jettisoned corporate state dismantled violence terror corporate capitalism punishes greater greater segments population remain essential tools control one exception elites champions neoliberal policies citizens want jobs shipped overseas schools libraries closed pension retirement funds looted programs social security welfare cut government bailouts wall street militarized police forces patrolling neighborhoods foreign armies occupationwhich many ways policies forced reluctant public accomplished propaganda including censorship coercion unfortunately calls political class reform wake recent murders police make things worse reform long subterfuge expanded police repression insidious process documented naomi murakawas book first civil right liberals built prison america murakawa wrote lawmakers especially liberal lawmakers confronted racial violence administrative deficiency thus put place procedures professionalization define acceptable use force countered mob violence lynching points system statesanctioned murder capital punishment liberals brand racial criminalization administrative deracialization legitimized extreme penal harm africanamericans carceral machinery rightsbased rulebound racial disparity isolatable real black criminality words state permitted limitless violence long conformed clearly defined laws administrative protocol due process victims violence said fault supposed criminal propensities socalled professionalization police standard response police brutality always resulted resources militarized weapons money given police accompanied time less police accountability greater police autonomy strip citizens rights well expansion use lethal force state siege inner cities lifted prisoners allowed return communities evictions destroy cohesion solidarity neighborhood end corporate state would face rebellion corporate state knows needs maintain podlike police states continue relentless drive impoverish country name austerity continued cutting closing social services keep people facing total destitution massive unemployment never addressed despair hopelessness retreat drugs alcohol blunt pain heavy burden debt peonage sees families evicted desperate struggle make money illegal economy forced bankruptcies social control work state insists combat lawlessness demonized must emancipated constraints law unrestricted arbitrary subjugation one despised group stripped equality law conditions police employ brutal tactics wider society laws equal revert rights privileges something contradictory nature nationstates hannah arendt wrote clearer proof inability treat stateless people legal persons greater extension arbitrary rule police decree difficult states resist temptation deprive citizens legal status rule omnipotent police miniature police states laboratories give corporate state machinery legal justification expertise strip entire country rights wealth resources end goal neoliberalism neoliberalism like utopian ideologies requires banishment empathy inability feel empathy portal evil often carried name progress world without empathy rejects absurdity call love neighbor elevates cult self divides world winners losers celebrates power wealth discarded corporate state especially poor people color viewed life unworthy life denied dignity work financial autonomy denied education proper medical care meaning many die preventable illnesses criminalized trapped birth death squalid police states blamed misery disenfranchised white workers also victims deindustrialization neoliberalism flock donald trump rallies stunted lack empathy hatred offers sense psychological protection saw demonized could express empathy would accept done poor people color perhaps done truth hard accept easier blame victims political elites rather addressing crisis make worse revolt savagery including legalized murder daily reality poor people color become reality must overthrow corporate state must free poisonous ideology neoliberalism remain captive soon endure nightmare afflicts neighbor originally published truthdig | 756 |
<p>Still from Stanley Kubrick’s “Lolita.”</p>
<p>Creeps are big in the news these days and it is a truth universally acknowledged that all American creepiness is a Russian plot the notorious KGB agent, Vladimir Nabokov, hatched with his novel,&#160; <a href="" type="internal">Lolita</a>. Humbert Humbert, it’s pseudonymous narrator, everyone agrees, is a creep. But he is not a run-of-the-mill creep. Humbert is not a creep because women find him disgusting and he tries to touch them, water-cooler style. On the contrary, he is quite “attractive” to women, that is women he finds, well… creepy. No, Humbert is a creep because he desires prepubescent “nymphets” and he is a 42-year-old man.</p>
<p>The novel,&#160;Lolita,&#160;with a couple of additions, is Humbert’s “confession”, the story of how he met the Hazes, mother and daughter, discovered that the girl, Dolores, was the nymphet, Lolita, then violated, imprisoned and lost her. Only through Humbert do we know anything about Lolita. Only Humbert can see Lolita. So without Humbert, Lolita would not exist. She would have remained Dolores Haze with the fate John Ray Jr. PhD., another Nabokov&#160;nom de plume&#160;reveals in his forward to Humbert’s confession.&#160;According to Ray, she dies as Mrs. Richard F. Schiller, in childbirth in Alaska. Even Mrs Richard F. Schiller would never have been mentioned without Humbert, for Ray would not have written his forward without Humbert’s confession.</p>
<p>Humbert writes his confession while awaiting trial for the murder of Clare Quilty, his vile doppelganger and a playwright, who took Lolita away from him. But he is not trying to sway the jury. He murders Quilty years after Lolita escaped with Quilty’s help. In the Law’s eyes, Humbert’s violation of Lolita has nothing to do with his murder of Quilty. The confession is irrelevant to the trial. They don’t even know about Lolita, and Humbert has no desire to mitigate his punishment. He drove away from the crime on the wrong side of the road, begging to be caught. In any case he stipulates that the confession not be revealed until after both he and Lolita are dead, which, he would assume, would be long after the end of his trial. He confesses not to mitigate his punishment for having murdered Quilty, but to immortalize Lolita in the only way he can. Lolita preferred Quilty, he of the twenty-four seven orgy, to Humbert the refined, European intellectual pervert. But this made no difference to Humbert’s love of Lolita.</p>
<p>Lolita is, according to Humbert, a nymphet, a creature from somewhere else disguised as a prepubescent girl. She is the daughter of Charlotte Haze, a lower middle class American who is a sucker for the trappings of European sophistication. Charlotte Haze illustrates American vulgarity more than any other character. She is a climber and a terrible mother. She wants nothing more than to get rid of her daughter and get close to Humbert. She and Dolores are rivals for Humbert’s attentions and Charlotte tries to prevent Dolores from being Lolita by forcing her to become a replica of herself.</p>
<p>There is nothing particularly nymphetish about Lolita that an ordinary guy would notice. What Humbert sees another, without Humbert’s passions, would not see. Here is Humbert’s first description of Lolita:</p>
<p>She was Lo, plain Lo, in the morning, standing four feet ten in one sock. She was Lola in slacks. She was Dolly at school. She was Dolores on the dotted line. But in my arms she was always Lolita.</p>
<p>The beautiful in the ordinary. Such love in simple description. “Four feet ten in one sock.” The reader has the right, I suppose, to see her in one sock&#160;and nothing else,&#160;but it is his own dirty mind that undresses her, not Humbert’s. Humbert does not engage in pornographic imaginings. “Lo, plain Lo” is getting ready for school or being charming and grown up filling out forms. She is in one sock trying to remember what she did with the other one. Seeing her, whatever she is doing, is all Humbert dreams of. Only in the last sentence does erotic feeling rush ahead, like an uncontrollable orgasm. Except for being in Humbert’s arms she might be any young girl. How easy to not see her, to miss what is beautiful in what is oh so ordinary. Or to see her as her mother sees her:</p>
<p>On Lo’s twelfth, January 1, 1947, Charlotte Haze, née Becker, had underlined the following epithets, ten out of forty, under “Your Child’s Personality”: aggressive, boisterous, critical, distrustful, impatient, irritable, inquisitive, listless, negativistic (underlined twice) and obstinate.</p>
<p>Humbert’s description reveals the voyeur’s passion in seeing without being seen. The voyeur wants to see the unobserved. So voyeurism is, by its nature, an aggression, since it makes false the world the voyeur sees, and Humbert wonders if he has damaged earlier nymphets simply by observing them. He imagines himself as a spider, his web extending to all the corners of the house. Any slight tug on a strand tells him of Lolita activity, however trivial, anywhere within range. Talk about creepy. He seeks experience of her actual doings, not pornographic imaginings. Here is a moment he describes about an earlier nymphet:</p>
<p>Around the quiet scholar, nymphets played freely, as if he were a familiar statue or part of an old tree’s shadow and sheen. Once a perfect little beauty in a tartan frock, with a clatter put her heavily armed foot near me upon the bench to dip her slim bare arms into me and tighten the strap of her roller skate, and I dissolved in the sun, with my book for fig leaf as her auburn ringlets fell all over her skinned knee, and the shadow of leaves I shared pulsated and melted on her radiant limb next to my chameloenic cheek.</p>
<p>Nabokov supplies Humbert with the hallucinatory awareness which creates memories of the experience of living. He identifies this in “Speak Memory” his autobiography, as the essential talent of the real poet as opposed to that of “blocks of plaster” like Thomas Mann. Here is Humbert’s version:</p>
<p>There are two kinds of visual memory:one when you skillfully recreate an image in the laboratory of your mind, with your eyes open (and then I see Annabel in such general terms as: “honey-colored skin,” “thick arms,” “brown bobbed hair,” “long lashes,” “big bright mouth”); and the other when you instantly evoke, with shut eyes, on the dark inner side of your eyelids, the objective, absolutely optical replica of a beloved face, a little ghost in natural colors (and this is how I see Lolita).</p>
<p>Real poetry, Nabokov and Humbert agree, is in a memory that is a monument to a radiant moment in the tiny gap between eternal darkness and eternal darkness called “life”. Like approaching death or the ultimate orgasm, such moments are tremendous, immediate, and unique. They involve a joining of seer with seen. Those who make up tepid “general terms” that have no location in time he calls <a href="" type="internal" />“blocks of plaster” because they await being pulverized with a hammer. Blocks-of-plaster artists cannot see such moments, for they assign categories to their experiences, extracting what they “mean”. Nymphets reveal themselves to “certain bewitched travelers, twice or many times older than they”. They, and no others, can see nymphets because they are erotically drawn to them. Eros the desire to possess the beautiful is what transforms these moments into these blazing memories. These travelers capture their desires with language. This makes them the recipients of Eros’s messages received unexpectedly in an instant, the innocent heart-breaking gesture that characterizes a nymphet. Eros, as Socrates describes him in the Symposium, recounting the teachings of Diotima the Mantinean, is a messenger from the divine to the mortal, a child of Need and Resource, a beggar, a traveler, unscrupulous, who is neither good nor beautiful. These moments are Eros’s messages from the divine.</p>
<p>Who are these nymphets? It is an inevitable trick of language that “nymphet” means a girl like the public’s image of Lolita, a precocious tart, but of course Nabokov couldn’t have thought so. The word “nymphet” is a diminutive for “nymph” a beautiful female semi-divinity associated with nature. Nymphs inhabit mountain glades fed by pure springs and are elusive. A nymphet is not at all the gorgeous little queen of the ball.</p>
<p>Neither are good looks any criterion; and vulgarity, or at least what a given community terms so, does not necessarily impair certain mysterious characteristics, the fey grace, the elusive, shifty, soul-shattering, insidious charm that separates the nymphet from such coevals of hers as are incomparably more dependent on the spatial world of synchronous phenomena than on that intangible island of entranced time where Lolita plays with her likes.</p>
<p>That “intangible island of entranced time” is the Humbertian experience of life in the bright gap between two darknesses that requires both the reality, the nymphet, and the one who can see her and transmute her into language, Humbert. The time becomes entranced because the moment has become a bit of amber, that is, language. And that unity seems to be as good a definition of love as any.&#160;Humbert’s confession is an homage to Lolita, who has taken his heart completely. As far as he is concerned these experiences of life are all his experiences of life– they are his life. He does not write to justify himself, but to produce a work for publication that will give Lolita and himself a beggar’s version of immortality.</p>
<p>The ordinary man, for example John Ray Jr. PhD., certainly a block of plaster, will see Lolita as a drab ordinary girl married to, not a brute, but a nobody, nearly deaf and oblivious of her charms who takes her to Alaska, the cold dark end of the world, where she dies in obscurity.</p>
<p>But Humbert, and only Humbert, will see a divine being because of his erotic obsession.</p>
<p>You have to be an artist and a madman, a creature of infinite melancholy,with a bubble of hot poison in your loins and a super-voluptuous flame permanently aglow in your subtle spine (oh,how you have to cringe and hide!), in order to discern at once, by ineffable signs—the slightly feline outline of a cheekbone, the slenderness of a downy limb, and other indices which despair and shame and tears of tenderness forbid me to tabulate — the little deadly demon among the wholesome children; she stands unrecognized by them and unconscious herself of her fantastic power.</p>
<p>Humbert would deny that he created Lolita, for she is made of memories of real particular moments that reveal a real being, “a little deadly demon”. They are not of Humbert’s invention, but require him as observer. His descriptions of her in terms of the ordinary, and not in the slightest implausible, images, proves it. Only flashes of unbidden memory reveal the elusive nymphet. Only he could have these memories, because his desire gave him these experiences. What he records of Lolita’s existence is not imagination, but his own experience of her existence and its erotic intensity transmuted into a madman’s art.</p>
<p>Lolita’s twelve-year-old body with it’s twelve-year-old nature reveal her as a nymphet, but Humbert remains in love with her long after it is gone. When he finds her again at the squalid home of Mr. Richard F. Schiller, he continues to love, without wavering, the woman she has become. Whatever else Humbert is, he passes Shakespeare’s test of love, namely, that love is not love that alters when it alteration finds. And since Humbert loves nymphets, she must still be a nymphet, for she is still Lolita. Humbert offers to take her away and live with her forever. Dolores declines the offer.</p>
<p>… and there she was with her ruined looks and her adult, rope-veined narrow hands and her goose-flesh white arms, and her shallow ears, and her unkempt armpits, there she was (my Lolita!), hopelessly worn at seventeen, with that baby, dreaming already in her of becoming a big shot and retiring around 2020 A.D. — and I looked and looked at her, and knew as clearly as I know I am to die, that I loved her more than anything I had ever seen or imagined on earth, or hoped for anywhere else.</p>
<p>Just as the nymphet need not be conventionally beautiful, she also need not be prepubescent.</p>
<p>He sells everything and gives her the money. His days of being transfixed by nymphets are over. He still looks at them, but there is no Erotic connection. Lolita is his one and only love. He heads out to kill Quilty. She, that is Mrs. Richard Schiller, goes to Alaska to die in childbirth.</p>
<p>Nabokov had tried to write&#160;Lolita&#160;several times while still in Europe. What he had been missing came to him suddenly soon after he came to America, and he wrote the novel while he and his wife Vera were on a butterfly hunting trip. To write the whole novel while spending days out chasing butterflies and driving from place to place makes it sound like the novel must have come to him in a rush. Nabokov could write Lolita soon after coming to the United States because Lolita had to be an American girl, and Humbert had to come to America. Nabokov needed Lolita to have an innocence contending with vulgarity that he discovered here. Humbert needed to be a European discovering this in America. Europe, after the second world war, is too exhausted, too jaded, too sophisticated to support a Lolita.</p>
<p>Lolita, a spirit who inhabits Dolores, is visible only to one who can see her lace-like existence, one led by Eros, a desire for possession of the beautiful. But when the opportunity comes, Humbert defiles her with her willing collaboration. Until the fateful moment Humbert had been more than satisfied with possession of his furtive experiences. Humbert’s physical possession of Lolita destroys her and leaves Dolores with a deep indifference. As with butterflies that Nabokov killed so as to possess their beauty, Humbert killed Lolita spiritually when he possesses her. Lolita’s existence and her destruction have the same cause, Eros unrestrained by a sufficient respect for the divine.</p>
<p>However, it is Lolita who initiates the actual sex with Humbert.&#160;Before that her proximity was all he dared to hope for. It was more than enough to sense the vibrations on the strands of his web. His timidity was paralyzing. To be sure she had been seductive, but it had been playful. He would not have dared to violate her. Humbert describes Lolita’s initiation of him into sex as, for her, no big deal. The head-counselor’s son had already deflowered her in camp and she thought of sex as another camp activity. It was just a thing, like tennis or canoeing. The refined Humbert sees Lolita’s diaphanous charm within her undeniable vulgarity revealed in a matter-of-fact attitude to this monstrous sin.</p>
<p>Suffice it to say that not a trace of modesty did I perceive in this beautiful hardly formed young girl whom modern co-education, juvenile mores, the campfire racket and so forth had utterly and hopelessly depraved. She saw the stark act merely as part of a youngster’s furtive world, unknown to adults. What adults did for purposes of procreation was no business of hers. My life was handled by little Lo in an energetic, matter-of-fact manner as if it were an insensate gadget unconnected with me.</p>
<p>Humbert claims that “modern co-education, juvenile mores, the campfire racket and so forth”, that is ordinary American life, “had utterly and hopelessly depraved” Lolita. But he also blames himself for her depravity revealed as matter-of-factness, a lack of will, even though the attitude was there before this consummation.</p>
<p>Lolita’s mechanical seduction of him plunges Humbert into vile and uncontrollable lust. Most readers blame him entirely for the ensuing debauch in spite of the evidence for his prior extravagant timidity. That Lolita thought sex should be just another amusing pastime should not be strange to Americans, but that her matter-of-factness could be called depravity ought to give us pause. However, that is only Humbert’s opinion.</p>
<p>They embark upon the famous road trip, expanding the area of the debauch state by state, on the way they have “general terms” experiences, experiences of types of things, rather than special illuminated experiences. The blinding moments between dark eternities cease, and Lolita becomes his “pubescent concubine” who has to be kept in submission. Humbert is a changed man. Gone is the timid spider in his web, every strand a raw nerve. He becomes scheming and shameless, ready to bribe, blackmail and deceive Lolita to get what he wants from her. He makes her into a whore and their sex becomes a transaction. All is done in a spirit of self-loathing. He is out of control. It was as if the sexual consummation lanced a boil and the poison poured out. They proceed to tour America, polluting its banalities while he debauches Lolita.</p>
<p>We inspected the world’s largest stalagmite in a cave where three southeastern states have a family reunion; admission by age; adults one dollar, pubescents sixty cents. A granite obelisk commemorating the Battle of Blue Licks, with old bones and Indian pottery in the museum nearby, Lo a dime, very reasonable. The present log cabin boldly simulating the past log cabin where Lincoln was born.</p>
<p>The banal in the ordinary. Humbert’s mind shrinks to the single thought of how to get laid without anybody knowing what is going on. He is inventive, insatiable, and monstrous. He sees Lolita’s possible polio as depriving him of sex. The trip is a misery. Nevertheless he is happy, indeed he is “beyond happiness”. His being able to “fondle a nymphet” turns every misery into bliss. It is within his deepest depravity and greatest misery that Humbert achieves transcendence. Ecstasy and suffering become one and ubiquitous, both intense blinding moments of existence, none of it memorable. Only the voyeur can translate these moments into bits of amber. Crime, like love, makes you “feel yourself living”. And at the same time he realizes that he has destroyed Lolita. He has “confiscated” her life. She is completely passive, accepting and indifferent to anything. The nymphet in captivity droops.</p>
<p>The road trips spreads this “slime” all over the whole country:</p>
<p>And I catch myself thinking that our long journey had only defiled with a sinuous trail of slime the lovely, trustful, dreamy, enormous country that by then, in retrospect, was no more to us than a collection of dog-eared maps, ruined tour books, old tires, and her sobs in the night — every night, every night — the moment I feigned sleep.</p>
<p>When Humbert defiled Lolita he defiled the whole country– lovely, trustful, and dreamy like Lolita herself– and it became her sobs in the night and a bunch of banal junk. The whole country is sobbing through the night! And then the most monstrous thought of all– why didn’t she cry in front of him? Or did she perhaps know that he wasn’t really asleep? In any case the image of the child crying bitterly all alone in the middle of the night, night after night, with Humbert listening and no one to comfort her is the unendurable image for the whole trip, perhaps the whole novel and the whole country. Lolita’s suffering is gigantic and unredeemable, and it is this horrible vision of her suffering that condemns Humbert even as a crack of suspicion as to its authenticity remains.</p>
<p>For it doesn’t really fit with the matter-of-fact Lolita. What is she crying about if not that Humbert is raping her? Was it that his sex practices became vile but weren’t at first? Or was it simply that she did not like living on the road? Though we find out later that Lolita is interested in theater, might she not already be interested in it? From this girl, play acting, especially with such a beginning, seems possible. Is this the germ of Lolita’s love of theater? The very thought condemns the reader, but how else to interpret her earlier insouciance?</p>
<p>When the road trip becomes wearing and expensive, Humbert tries to set up as a typical father / daughter combo. He finds a school, Beardsly, and rents a house which has a view of a playground where nymphets cavort only to have workmen come and build a wall blocking his view. Humbert hears the patter of Fate’s little plaster feet. The school is more a finishing school for girls than a place where they actually read books. Humbert’s description of his interview with the Headmistress is a piece of brilliant satire. But in any case this life is only a simulacrum of ordinary life Humbert erects to conceal his real life with his concubine. Lolita becomes a live-in whore, getting paid to do particular acts while pretending to be or really being an ordinary average American girl.</p>
<p>And as an ordinary American girl Lolita becomes interested in boys. Consumed by paranoid jealousy, Humbert acts to limit Lolita’s contact with them, and thus seals his fate.</p>
<p>Lo was enraged by all this — called me a lousy crook and worse — and I would probably have lost my temper had I not soon discovered, to my sweetest relief, that what really angered her was my depriving her not of a specific satisfaction but of a general right. I was impinging, you see, on the conventional program, the stock pastimes, the “things that are done,” the routine of youth; for there is nothing more conservative than a child, especially a girl-child, be she the most auburn and russet, the most mythopoeic nymphet in October’s orchard-haze.</p>
<p>There is much to admire about that brilliant “lousy crook”, so inadequate to what she has gone through and so revealing of Lolita’s emotional flatness and charming innocence. Shockingly, Lolita seems quite able to slip back into being a normal teenager. Apparently psychically untouched by Humbert’s violation, she desires only to fit into the patterns already laid out for her. He is too strict a dad. Lolita’s lifelessness, interpreted as such by Humbert, manifests in a desire to be normal. This desire is what stirs Lolita to rebel and ally herself with Quilty. Whatever Humbert can force Lolita to do, he cannot force her to read good books.</p>
<p>This is where she gets interested in theater. The play is&#160;The Enchanted Hunters.&#160;Humbert notices that its name is the same as that of the hotel where he brought Lolita, but does not realize that the play is a theatrical rendering of his own road trip which Quilty, its author, had shadowed. At the center of the play is a young poet, one of the hunters, who insists Diana (Lolita) and her enchantment of the hunters is all his invention.</p>
<p>The play is thus an argument between the two kinds of poet over Diana’s nature. If Quilty wins then Lolita is or becomes a product of his imagination. She will be an actor in his play. The Lolita Humbert sees, whose power of enchantment is her own, will be gone or eternally submerged.</p>
<p>For Quilty to imagine another Lolita he must change Humbert’s Lolita into her. His idea for the play comes from Humbert’s road trip, for only to a man like Humbert inflamed by Eros, do nymphets reveal themselves. Blocks-of-plaster artists are parasitic upon Humbert-like erotic monsters. The experiences of the one become types of thing for the other. When Quilty concocts a plan for Lolita’s escape he makes an elaborate, well-plotted recapitulation of Humbert’s road trip.</p>
<p>Quilty’s plan begins with Lolita’s missed piano lesson which reveals that Lolita has been sneaking out. Humbert, his jealousy going super-nova, confronts her, and she runs away. He thinks she is gone for good. His world disintegrates. When he catches her at last in a phone booth, she says she wants to leave school and take another road trip, this time to where she wants to go. His relief is extreme and he dissolves in tears. The trip is a plot Lolita and Quilty cooked up to get her away from Humbert. Humbert, in complete ignorance carries out the plan.</p>
<p>Lolita has the essential quality of a&#160;femme fatale:&#160;she kills simply by leaving. Humbert’s fear of losing Lolita is so intense that she can lead him by the nose, torturing him with near disappearances. Ferocious passion heightens his awareness of both her absence and presence both now spiced up with the hot sauce of terror. Life is the risk of death, her absence, or the presence of love. Lolita gives both, united, to Humbert.</p>
<p>They set out. Suddenly they are being followed, Humbert turns out to have a gun and we are in a melodrama, the stock in trade of the genre-writing, bad poet. Humbert begins to hear more loudly the patter of Fate’s or McFate’s little plaster feet. They are being trailed; other people seem to be the as yet unknown Quilty’s confederates. Along the way Lolita tortures Humbert by nearly disappearing or withholding her charms. From a P.O. Box they pick up a letter to Lolita that purports to be from one of her school chums, but is in fact from Quilty whose secret message is hidden in a bit of French that also reveals Quilty as a French partial sentence:</p>
<p>Ne manque pas de dire à ton amant, Chimène, comme le lac est beau car il faut qu’il t’y mène.</p>
<p>il faut qu’il t’y mène.&#160;“It is necessary that he lead you there.” “He”,&#160;il, in this&#160;&#160;qu’il t’y&#160;being Humbert. “There” is where she will make off with Quilty. Chimène is a character in&#160;Le Cid&#160;also pulled between two lovers. Lolita has chosen Quilty over Humbert because… because of theater. He is an exciting big-time guy. She leads&#160;Humbert to his doom as per Quilty’s instructions because Quilty has promised to introduce her to Hollywood.</p>
<p>Just before the end Humbert sees something else. He sees Lolita playing tennis and knows who and what she is in herself –a tennis player. This is what she should be! This is her nature, the being Lolita was born for. This is what he will help her be, and thus he will not have distorted her nature with his lust. And yet… all her strokes are beautiful, but she makes no effort to win and Humbert blames himself.</p>
<p>She preferred acting to swimming, and swimming to tennis; yet I insist that had not something within her been broken by me — not that I realized it then! — she would have had on the top of her perfect form the will to win, and would have be­come a real girl champion…&#160;She who was so cruel and crafty in everyday life, revealed an innocence, a frankness, a kindness of ball-placing, that permitted a second-rate but determined player, no matter how uncouth and incompetent, to poke and cut his way to victory.</p>
<p>Humbert sees Lolita’s true talent for tennis, but that she has turned it into acting. It’s all just going through the motions like a tennis game in a stage play, and he blames himself.</p>
<p>Lolita falls ill, Humbert takes her to the hospital, and that is where she gives him the slip. Lolita hooks up with Quilty, slips out, and ceases to be Lolita, for she has to be seen in order to exist. Quilty tries to make her into an actor in his play, a body in his orgy. When Humbert discovers her gone he sets out to track them down and we are in a detective story. As he tries to find her he can’t help admiring the foresight, the planning, of his adversary.</p>
<p>In one thing he succeeded: he succeeded in thoroughly enmeshing me and my thrashing anguish in his demoniacal game. With infinite skill,he swayed and staggered, and regained an impossible balance, always leaving me with the sportive hope — if I may use such a term in speaking of betrayal, fury, desolation, horror and hate — that he might give himself away next time. He never did…</p>
<p>Life becomes a game of hide and seek in “the spatial world of synchronous phenomena”.&#160;Humbert tries to find her, but his detecting talents prove inadequate, his adversary too clever. In despair, he takes solace in Rita, whom he picks up in a bar. He describes her in “block of plaster” terms.</p>
<p>She was twice Lolita’s age and three quarters of mine: a very slight, dark-haired, pale-skinned adult, weighing a hundred and five pounds, with charmingly asymmetrical eyes, and angular, rapidly sketched profile,and a most appealing&#160;ensellure&#160;to her supple back.</p>
<p>Three years go by. Suddenly he gets a letter from Lolita that allows him to track her down. She needs money. With utter astonishment he discovers that he never meant much to her one way or another. Lolita confesses that Quilty was the only man she “had ever been crazy about”. The choice was a no-brainer– Humbert barely showed up on the radar. She seemed unconcerned with what he had done. Dolores choose Quilty, the famous decadent playwright, but not really over Humbert, the passionate civilized creep. She was just crazy about Quilty. What’s that got to do with dad? In effect she chose Dolores over Lolita when she chose the block of plaster over the abominable artist. Quilty’s choreographed orgies are much more sordid than Humbert’s insatiable lust but they don’t deter Lolita who finds him “a great guy in many respects”. In the end she calls Humbert “honey” for the first time, thus showing that there are no hard feelings, or much of any feelings whatsoever. She thinks he is an okay guy, especially when he gives her a lot of money.</p>
<p>Quilty changes the ending of the road trip turned theater when he invites her to join the orgy. Lolita declines the invitation and he kicks her out. She moves on. She is free of both of them, and lives the life it seems she wanted as Mrs. Richard Schiller. Vera Nabokov comments somewhere that Lolita achieves a certain quiet dignity. When Humbert offers to take Mrs. Richard Schiller away she does not decline because she finds him horrible and Richard Schiller a lamentable but still better choice than Humbert. She wants to be Mrs. Richard Schiller. He is the father of her unborn child and, in Humbert’s estimation, more finely made than himself. . She seems solid. She sees Humbert as a really nice dad. She really likes him. Eros is absent. So is hatred, horror, or disgust. He is in the “you’re just a friend” category. The absolute oblivion she is heading for, Gray Star, seems somehow to have been where she was going from the beginning.</p>
<p>In all likelihood she would have ended up with Richard Schiller with or without Humbert and Quilty.&#160;Lolita&#160;is the story of a more or less average American girl in whom a man sees a semi-divinity because he is filled with “foul lust” or Eros. His lust, he thinks, causes her a fall into a passivity, and eventually to exile in Gray Star. Humbert writhes in self-loathing:</p>
<p>Alas, I was unable to transcend the simple human fact that whatever spiritual solace I might find, whatever lithophanic eternities might be provided for me, nothing could make my Lolita forget the foul lust I had inflicted upon her. Unless it can be proven to me — to me as I am now, today, with my heart and my beard, and my putrefaction — that in the infinite run it does not matter a jot that a North American girl-child named Dolores Haze had been deprived of her childhood by a maniac, unless this can be proven (and if it can, then life is a joke), I see nothing for the treatment of my misery but the melancholy and very local palliative of articulate art. To quote an old poet:</p>
<p>The moral sense in mortals is the duty We have to pay on mortal sense of beauty.</p>
<p>But it is a mistake to see Lolita as a victim. She used Quilty to engineer her escape from Humbert, refused demands that Quilty’s slaves obeyed, and, when just a 14-year-old girl with nothing, managed, when Quilty threw her out, to land on her feet. She chooses to stay with Richard Schiller and go with him to Gray Star. And Richard Schiller, Dick, is a pretty hot guy with his ice blue eyes and hand, though with broken dirty nails, made of far finer stuff than Humbert’s. Dick and his friend even have a native&#160;délicatesse,&#160;disdaining voyeurism,&#160;that puts Humbert to shame.&#160;He and Lolita are like young animals together, Humbert imagines. Nabokov also makes Dick deaf, maybe so he can’t hear the crying.&#160;Humbert’s crimes have flowed like water off the back of a creature who inhabits mountain glades.&#160;&#160;Humbert may writhe with his guilt, but Lolita. Mrs. Richard Schiller, has no scars. For what could a poor insignificant Humbert Humbert do to harm a divinity? Her life is her own.</p> | true | 4 | still stanley kubricks lolita creeps big news days truth universally acknowledged american creepiness russian plot notorious kgb agent vladimir nabokov hatched novel160 lolita humbert humbert pseudonymous narrator everyone agrees creep runofthemill creep humbert creep women find disgusting tries touch watercooler style contrary quite attractive women women finds well creepy humbert creep desires prepubescent nymphets 42yearold man novel160lolita160with couple additions humberts confession story met hazes mother daughter discovered girl dolores nymphet lolita violated imprisoned lost humbert know anything lolita humbert see lolita without humbert lolita would exist would remained dolores haze fate john ray jr phd another nabokov160nom de plume160reveals forward humberts confession160according ray dies mrs richard f schiller childbirth alaska even mrs richard f schiller would never mentioned without humbert ray would written forward without humberts confession humbert writes confession awaiting trial murder clare quilty vile doppelganger playwright took lolita away trying sway jury murders quilty years lolita escaped quiltys help laws eyes humberts violation lolita nothing murder quilty confession irrelevant trial dont even know lolita humbert desire mitigate punishment drove away crime wrong side road begging caught case stipulates confession revealed lolita dead would assume would long end trial confesses mitigate punishment murdered quilty immortalize lolita way lolita preferred quilty twentyfour seven orgy humbert refined european intellectual pervert made difference humberts love lolita lolita according humbert nymphet creature somewhere else disguised prepubescent girl daughter charlotte haze lower middle class american sucker trappings european sophistication charlotte haze illustrates american vulgarity character climber terrible mother wants nothing get rid daughter get close humbert dolores rivals humberts attentions charlotte tries prevent dolores lolita forcing become replica nothing particularly nymphetish lolita ordinary guy would notice humbert sees another without humberts passions would see humberts first description lolita lo plain lo morning standing four feet ten one sock lola slacks dolly school dolores dotted line arms always lolita beautiful ordinary love simple description four feet ten one sock reader right suppose see one sock160and nothing else160but dirty mind undresses humberts humbert engage pornographic imaginings lo plain lo getting ready school charming grown filling forms one sock trying remember one seeing whatever humbert dreams last sentence erotic feeling rush ahead like uncontrollable orgasm except humberts arms might young girl easy see miss beautiful oh ordinary see mother sees los twelfth january 1 1947 charlotte haze née becker underlined following epithets ten forty childs personality aggressive boisterous critical distrustful impatient irritable inquisitive listless negativistic underlined twice obstinate humberts description reveals voyeurs passion seeing without seen voyeur wants see unobserved voyeurism nature aggression since makes false world voyeur sees humbert wonders damaged earlier nymphets simply observing imagines spider web extending corners house slight tug strand tells lolita activity however trivial anywhere within range talk creepy seeks experience actual doings pornographic imaginings moment describes earlier nymphet around quiet scholar nymphets played freely familiar statue part old trees shadow sheen perfect little beauty tartan frock clatter put heavily armed foot near upon bench dip slim bare arms tighten strap roller skate dissolved sun book fig leaf auburn ringlets fell skinned knee shadow leaves shared pulsated melted radiant limb next chameloenic cheek nabokov supplies humbert hallucinatory awareness creates memories experience living identifies speak memory autobiography essential talent real poet opposed blocks plaster like thomas mann humberts version two kinds visual memoryone skillfully recreate image laboratory mind eyes open see annabel general terms honeycolored skin thick arms brown bobbed hair long lashes big bright mouth instantly evoke shut eyes dark inner side eyelids objective absolutely optical replica beloved face little ghost natural colors see lolita real poetry nabokov humbert agree memory monument radiant moment tiny gap eternal darkness eternal darkness called life like approaching death ultimate orgasm moments tremendous immediate unique involve joining seer seen make tepid general terms location time calls blocks plaster await pulverized hammer blocksofplaster artists see moments assign categories experiences extracting mean nymphets reveal certain bewitched travelers twice many times older others see nymphets erotically drawn eros desire possess beautiful transforms moments blazing memories travelers capture desires language makes recipients eross messages received unexpectedly instant innocent heartbreaking gesture characterizes nymphet eros socrates describes symposium recounting teachings diotima mantinean messenger divine mortal child need resource beggar traveler unscrupulous neither good beautiful moments eross messages divine nymphets inevitable trick language nymphet means girl like publics image lolita precocious tart course nabokov couldnt thought word nymphet diminutive nymph beautiful female semidivinity associated nature nymphs inhabit mountain glades fed pure springs elusive nymphet gorgeous little queen ball neither good looks criterion vulgarity least given community terms necessarily impair certain mysterious characteristics fey grace elusive shifty soulshattering insidious charm separates nymphet coevals incomparably dependent spatial world synchronous phenomena intangible island entranced time lolita plays likes intangible island entranced time humbertian experience life bright gap two darknesses requires reality nymphet one see transmute language humbert time becomes entranced moment become bit amber language unity seems good definition love any160humberts confession homage lolita taken heart completely far concerned experiences life experiences life life write justify produce work publication give lolita beggars version immortality ordinary man example john ray jr phd certainly block plaster see lolita drab ordinary girl married brute nobody nearly deaf oblivious charms takes alaska cold dark end world dies obscurity humbert humbert see divine erotic obsession artist madman creature infinite melancholywith bubble hot poison loins supervoluptuous flame permanently aglow subtle spine ohhow cringe hide order discern ineffable signsthe slightly feline outline cheekbone slenderness downy limb indices despair shame tears tenderness forbid tabulate little deadly demon among wholesome children stands unrecognized unconscious fantastic power humbert would deny created lolita made memories real particular moments reveal real little deadly demon humberts invention require observer descriptions terms ordinary slightest implausible images proves flashes unbidden memory reveal elusive nymphet could memories desire gave experiences records lolitas existence imagination experience existence erotic intensity transmuted madmans art lolitas twelveyearold body twelveyearold nature reveal nymphet humbert remains love long gone finds squalid home mr richard f schiller continues love without wavering woman become whatever else humbert passes shakespeares test love namely love love alters alteration finds since humbert loves nymphets must still nymphet still lolita humbert offers take away live forever dolores declines offer ruined looks adult ropeveined narrow hands gooseflesh white arms shallow ears unkempt armpits lolita hopelessly worn seventeen baby dreaming already becoming big shot retiring around 2020 ad looked looked knew clearly know die loved anything ever seen imagined earth hoped anywhere else nymphet need conventionally beautiful also need prepubescent sells everything gives money days transfixed nymphets still looks erotic connection lolita one love heads kill quilty mrs richard schiller goes alaska die childbirth nabokov tried write160lolita160several times still europe missing came suddenly soon came america wrote novel wife vera butterfly hunting trip write whole novel spending days chasing butterflies driving place place makes sound like novel must come rush nabokov could write lolita soon coming united states lolita american girl humbert come america nabokov needed lolita innocence contending vulgarity discovered humbert needed european discovering america europe second world war exhausted jaded sophisticated support lolita lolita spirit inhabits dolores visible one see lacelike existence one led eros desire possession beautiful opportunity comes humbert defiles willing collaboration fateful moment humbert satisfied possession furtive experiences humberts physical possession lolita destroys leaves dolores deep indifference butterflies nabokov killed possess beauty humbert killed lolita spiritually possesses lolitas existence destruction cause eros unrestrained sufficient respect divine however lolita initiates actual sex humbert160before proximity dared hope enough sense vibrations strands web timidity paralyzing sure seductive playful would dared violate humbert describes lolitas initiation sex big deal headcounselors son already deflowered camp thought sex another camp activity thing like tennis canoeing refined humbert sees lolitas diaphanous charm within undeniable vulgarity revealed matteroffact attitude monstrous sin suffice say trace modesty perceive beautiful hardly formed young girl modern coeducation juvenile mores campfire racket forth utterly hopelessly depraved saw stark act merely part youngsters furtive world unknown adults adults purposes procreation business life handled little lo energetic matteroffact manner insensate gadget unconnected humbert claims modern coeducation juvenile mores campfire racket forth ordinary american life utterly hopelessly depraved lolita also blames depravity revealed matteroffactness lack even though attitude consummation lolitas mechanical seduction plunges humbert vile uncontrollable lust readers blame entirely ensuing debauch spite evidence prior extravagant timidity lolita thought sex another amusing pastime strange americans matteroffactness could called depravity ought give us pause however humberts opinion embark upon famous road trip expanding area debauch state state way general terms experiences experiences types things rather special illuminated experiences blinding moments dark eternities cease lolita becomes pubescent concubine kept submission humbert changed man gone timid spider web every strand raw nerve becomes scheming shameless ready bribe blackmail deceive lolita get wants makes whore sex becomes transaction done spirit selfloathing control sexual consummation lanced boil poison poured proceed tour america polluting banalities debauches lolita inspected worlds largest stalagmite cave three southeastern states family reunion admission age adults one dollar pubescents sixty cents granite obelisk commemorating battle blue licks old bones indian pottery museum nearby lo dime reasonable present log cabin boldly simulating past log cabin lincoln born banal ordinary humberts mind shrinks single thought get laid without anybody knowing going inventive insatiable monstrous sees lolitas possible polio depriving sex trip misery nevertheless happy indeed beyond happiness able fondle nymphet turns every misery bliss within deepest depravity greatest misery humbert achieves transcendence ecstasy suffering become one ubiquitous intense blinding moments existence none memorable voyeur translate moments bits amber crime like love makes feel living time realizes destroyed lolita confiscated life completely passive accepting indifferent anything nymphet captivity droops road trips spreads slime whole country catch thinking long journey defiled sinuous trail slime lovely trustful dreamy enormous country retrospect us collection dogeared maps ruined tour books old tires sobs night every night every night moment feigned sleep humbert defiled lolita defiled whole country lovely trustful dreamy like lolita became sobs night bunch banal junk whole country sobbing night monstrous thought didnt cry front perhaps know wasnt really asleep case image child crying bitterly alone middle night night night humbert listening one comfort unendurable image whole trip perhaps whole novel whole country lolitas suffering gigantic unredeemable horrible vision suffering condemns humbert even crack suspicion authenticity remains doesnt really fit matteroffact lolita crying humbert raping sex practices became vile werent first simply like living road though find later lolita interested theater might already interested girl play acting especially beginning seems possible germ lolitas love theater thought condemns reader else interpret earlier insouciance road trip becomes wearing expensive humbert tries set typical father daughter combo finds school beardsly rents house view playground nymphets cavort workmen come build wall blocking view humbert hears patter fates little plaster feet school finishing school girls place actually read books humberts description interview headmistress piece brilliant satire case life simulacrum ordinary life humbert erects conceal real life concubine lolita becomes livein whore getting paid particular acts pretending really ordinary average american girl ordinary american girl lolita becomes interested boys consumed paranoid jealousy humbert acts limit lolitas contact thus seals fate lo enraged called lousy crook worse would probably lost temper soon discovered sweetest relief really angered depriving specific satisfaction general right impinging see conventional program stock pastimes things done routine youth nothing conservative child especially girlchild auburn russet mythopoeic nymphet octobers orchardhaze much admire brilliant lousy crook inadequate gone revealing lolitas emotional flatness charming innocence shockingly lolita seems quite able slip back normal teenager apparently psychically untouched humberts violation desires fit patterns already laid strict dad lolitas lifelessness interpreted humbert manifests desire normal desire stirs lolita rebel ally quilty whatever humbert force lolita force read good books gets interested theater play is160the enchanted hunters160humbert notices name hotel brought lolita realize play theatrical rendering road trip quilty author shadowed center play young poet one hunters insists diana lolita enchantment hunters invention play thus argument two kinds poet dianas nature quilty wins lolita becomes product imagination actor play lolita humbert sees whose power enchantment gone eternally submerged quilty imagine another lolita must change humberts lolita idea play comes humberts road trip man like humbert inflamed eros nymphets reveal blocksofplaster artists parasitic upon humbertlike erotic monsters experiences one become types thing quilty concocts plan lolitas escape makes elaborate wellplotted recapitulation humberts road trip quiltys plan begins lolitas missed piano lesson reveals lolita sneaking humbert jealousy going supernova confronts runs away thinks gone good world disintegrates catches last phone booth says wants leave school take another road trip time wants go relief extreme dissolves tears trip plot lolita quilty cooked get away humbert humbert complete ignorance carries plan lolita essential quality a160femme fatale160she kills simply leaving humberts fear losing lolita intense lead nose torturing near disappearances ferocious passion heightens awareness absence presence spiced hot sauce terror life risk death absence presence love lolita gives united humbert set suddenly followed humbert turns gun melodrama stock trade genrewriting bad poet humbert begins hear loudly patter fates mcfates little plaster feet trailed people seem yet unknown quiltys confederates along way lolita tortures humbert nearly disappearing withholding charms po box pick letter lolita purports one school chums fact quilty whose secret message hidden bit french also reveals quilty french partial sentence ne manque pas de dire à ton amant chimène comme le lac est beau car il faut quil ty mène il faut quil ty mène160it necessary lead he160il this160160quil ty160being humbert make quilty chimène character in160le cid160also pulled two lovers lolita chosen quilty humbert theater exciting bigtime guy leads160humbert doom per quiltys instructions quilty promised introduce hollywood end humbert sees something else sees lolita playing tennis knows tennis player nature lolita born help thus distorted nature lust yet strokes beautiful makes effort win humbert blames preferred acting swimming swimming tennis yet insist something within broken realized would top perfect form win would become real girl champion160she cruel crafty everyday life revealed innocence frankness kindness ballplacing permitted secondrate determined player matter uncouth incompetent poke cut way victory humbert sees lolitas true talent tennis turned acting going motions like tennis game stage play blames lolita falls ill humbert takes hospital gives slip lolita hooks quilty slips ceases lolita seen order exist quilty tries make actor play body orgy humbert discovers gone sets track detective story tries find cant help admiring foresight planning adversary one thing succeeded succeeded thoroughly enmeshing thrashing anguish demoniacal game infinite skillhe swayed staggered regained impossible balance always leaving sportive hope may use term speaking betrayal fury desolation horror hate might give away next time never life becomes game hide seek spatial world synchronous phenomena160humbert tries find detecting talents prove inadequate adversary clever despair takes solace rita picks bar describes block plaster terms twice lolitas age three quarters mine slight darkhaired paleskinned adult weighing hundred five pounds charmingly asymmetrical eyes angular rapidly sketched profileand appealing160ensellure160to supple back three years go suddenly gets letter lolita allows track needs money utter astonishment discovers never meant much one way another lolita confesses quilty man ever crazy choice nobrainer humbert barely showed radar seemed unconcerned done dolores choose quilty famous decadent playwright really humbert passionate civilized creep crazy quilty whats got dad effect chose dolores lolita chose block plaster abominable artist quiltys choreographed orgies much sordid humberts insatiable lust dont deter lolita finds great guy many respects end calls humbert honey first time thus showing hard feelings much feelings whatsoever thinks okay guy especially gives lot money quilty changes ending road trip turned theater invites join orgy lolita declines invitation kicks moves free lives life seems wanted mrs richard schiller vera nabokov comments somewhere lolita achieves certain quiet dignity humbert offers take mrs richard schiller away decline finds horrible richard schiller lamentable still better choice humbert wants mrs richard schiller father unborn child humberts estimation finely made seems solid sees humbert really nice dad really likes eros absent hatred horror disgust youre friend category absolute oblivion heading gray star seems somehow going beginning likelihood would ended richard schiller without humbert quilty160lolita160is story less average american girl man sees semidivinity filled foul lust eros lust thinks causes fall passivity eventually exile gray star humbert writhes selfloathing alas unable transcend simple human fact whatever spiritual solace might find whatever lithophanic eternities might provided nothing could make lolita forget foul lust inflicted upon unless proven today heart beard putrefaction infinite run matter jot north american girlchild named dolores haze deprived childhood maniac unless proven life joke see nothing treatment misery melancholy local palliative articulate art quote old poet moral sense mortals duty pay mortal sense beauty mistake see lolita victim used quilty engineer escape humbert refused demands quiltys slaves obeyed 14yearold girl nothing managed quilty threw land feet chooses stay richard schiller go gray star richard schiller dick pretty hot guy ice blue eyes hand though broken dirty nails made far finer stuff humberts dick friend even native160délicatesse160disdaining voyeurism160that puts humbert shame160he lolita like young animals together humbert imagines nabokov also makes dick deaf maybe cant hear crying160humberts crimes flowed like water back creature inhabits mountain glades160160humbert may writhe guilt lolita mrs richard schiller scars could poor insignificant humbert humbert harm divinity life | 2,821 |
<p>Editors’ Note: CounterPunch readers who’ve enjoyed economist Michael Hudson’s incisive writings may have noticed that there’s a new book about the global financial disaster, <a href="" type="internal">The Monster: How a Gang of Predatory Lenders and Wall Street Bankers Fleeced America — and Spawned a Global Crisis</a>, written by MICHAEL W. HUDSON. They’re not the same person. The book’s author, MICHAEL W. HUDSON, is a reporter at the nonprofit Center for Public Integrity. In fact, the two are so often mistaken for each other – same name, similar subject matter – that they recently wrote <a href="" type="internal">a piece</a> together to help dispel the confusion and share their ideas about how people help themselves to other people’s money. In this excerpt adapted from The Monster, MICHAEL W. HUDSON writes about the nation’s largest subprime lending empire through the fortunes of its owner and one of its customers.</p>
<p>By the spring of 1998, Gary Ozenne had been living in his house on Crestview Street in Corona, California, for twenty-two years. Corona was a bedroom suburb in Riverside County, just east of the Orange County line. Ozenne and his wife had picked out the lot in a subdivision called Summerfield and watched as Standard Pacific, an Orange County–based homebuilder that was now expanding into California’s Inland Empire, had put up their home. They’d picked the middle-priced model of the three ranch homes available. It cost them $41,000. The four-bedroom stucco house had a fireplace and a big backyard. The couple and their seven-year-old son, Scott, moved into the house in 1976, the bicentennial year. This, Ozenne decided, “was our piece of America,” the place where they would live for the rest of their lives.</p>
<p>In 1991, though, he had taken a risk that put his dream in jeopardy. After twenty years in the computer business, he quit his job as a sales rep at Microsoft. He started his own company, Residential Fire Sprinklers, which installed and serviced fire-suppression systems for homes and businesses. The company had done well for a while, but eventually it faltered. Ozenne fell behind on his mortgage, and his lender began threatening to foreclose. He cashed in his Microsoft 401(k) and filed for personal bankruptcy, hoping for a second chance.</p>
<p>Things started to look up when he learned that the government had ordered the recall of eight million defective sprinkler heads. He would be okay, he thought, if he could refinance his adjustable-rate mortgage into a fixed-rate loan, and get a little cash out of his home equity to get his business moving again so he could take advantage of the recall. The hitch was that, with his late payments and his bankruptcy filing, his credit record was terrible. Bank after bank turned him down.</p>
<p>Then he remembered a postcard he had received in the mail from Ameriquest Mortgage. The card told him he was “more than a credit score.” Ozenne called Ameriquest and talked on the phone with a salesman who told Ozenne that if he would withdraw his bankruptcy petition, the lender could give him a good deal on a loan. Ameriquest sent him a Good Faith Estimate that described his loan as a thirty-year mortgage with no prepayment penalty and a fixed interest rate of 10.5 percent. The rate was more than 3 percentage points higher than the going rate for fixed-rate mortgages at the time—but not bad considering his credit history. The deal seemed to be the solution to Ozenne’s problems.</p>
<p>Nothing about the new mortgage, though, turned out the way he expected, Ozenne later claimed. The loan closing took place in April 1998, at a coffee shop on Main Street in Corona. Ameriquest sent a representative bearing Ozenne’s loan documents. As he read through the paperwork, Ozenne saw that what the lender was offering was nothing like what he had been promised. The loan carried an adjustable rate that started at 14.5 percent. It could never go down, but it could climb to as high as 20.5 percent. The thousands he had been told he’d receive as cash out had disappeared, and the contract included a “prepayment” clause that would force him to pay a big penalty if he tried to refinance.</p>
<p>Ozenne tried to object to the bait and switch, but the Ameriquest functionary said he couldn’t answer any questions. He was just a courier. If Ozenne signed the papers, the courier suggested, he’d have time to fix any discrepancies before the loan became official. Under federal law, he had a three-day “right of rescission.” He could change his mind about the loan within three business days.</p>
<p>Ozenne had been backed into a corner. The lender’s assurances had persuaded him to abandon other strategies for saving his house, prompting him to quit looking for other loans and to withdraw his bankruptcy petition. So he signed. Then he began calling the Ameriquest manager who had negotiated the deal with him over the phone. For nearly three days, he said, the manager didn’t call back. Ozenne finally left a message saying if he didn’t hear back from the manager, he was going to cancel the deal. A couple of hours before the three-day period was up, the manager faxed him a letter urging him to stick with the deal. If he made his payments on time, the manager said, he could refinance into a better loan in twelve months. Ozenne decided he had no choice. He let the deal go through.</p>
<p>Soon after Ozenne tied his fortunes to Ameriquest, the lender handed off his mortgage to one of its allies. A document was filed in the county courthouse verifying that the mortgage on the house at 861 West Crestview Street in Corona, California, had been assigned, “for value received,” to “Lehman Capital, a division of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., 3 World Financial Center, New York, New York 10285.” Gary Ozenne’s loan had become part of the global mortgage machine.</p>
<p>* * *</p>
<p>The boy from the village in France lived well in his later years. Roland Arnall became a billionaire three times over by styling himself and his company, Ameriquest, as advocates for home ownership. As his wealth grew, so did his own collection of homes. In 2002, he and his second wife, Dawn, spent more than $30 million on a ten-acre compound tucked between Sunset Boulevard and the Los Angeles Country Club in the Holmby Hills section of Los Angeles, not far from the Playboy Mansion. The estate included three houses that once were homes to the Hollywood elite. The largest was a&#160;forty-room, 12,000-square-foot mansion. Twentieth Century–Fox founder Joseph M. Schenck owned it in the 1950s.</p>
<p>Schenck had allowed a young starlet-in-waiting, Marilyn Monroe, to live in his guest cottage. Tony Curtis owned the place in the early 1960s before giving way to Sonny and Cher, who owned it in the late ’60s and ’70s as their careers blossomed and their marriage disintegrated. Another house on the property was known as the Pink Palace. In the 1930s it had been home to song crooner Rudy Vallee, one of America’s first pop stars. After Jayne Mansfield and her bodybuilder husband bought the place in the late ’50s, she had the house and any other available surface painted soft pink and installed a heart-shaped bathtub and a fountain that burbled with pink champagne. The house eventually passed to singer Engelbert Humperdinck, who kept it until real-estate operatives packaged it into the deal that transferred the ten acres of Hollywood history to the Arnalls.</p>
<p>Months after the big purchase, motorists on Sunset Boulevard noticed that the Pink Palace had disappeared. The Arnalls had bulldozed the Hollywood landmark into “pink rubble,” as the New York Post put it.</p>
<p>Little more than a year later, the Arnalls added to their holdings by shelling out $46 million to buy Aspen’s Mandalay Ranch from Hollywood kingpin Peter Guber, the producer of Flashdance and Batman. At the time, it was the biggest home purchase ever in Colorado’s Glitter Gulch, and one of the biggest in American history. The 650-acre spread was on a back road between Snowmass and Buttermilk ski areas. It included a 15,000-square-foot mansion and a 3,500-square-foot guesthouse with caretaker’s quarters and two cabins. The deal signaled the beginning of an unprecedented boom in Aspen’s high-end real-estate market. After the Arnalls bought Mandalay Ranch, “the market went nuts,” one real-estate agent told the Wall Street Journal.</p>
<p>The Arnalls’ homes became stopping-off points for the rich and powerful. Attendees at the couple’s holiday soiree at the Holmby Hills estate in December 2004 included a who’s who of California’s top Democrats and Republicans. Among them were Gray Davis and his wife, Sharon, as well as the couple that had replaced them in the governor’s mansion, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver. They also included California’s attorney general, Bill Lockyer, a Democrat who, before his office joined the multistate investigation of Ameriquest, enjoyed $250,000 in campaign support from Arnall and his companies.</p>
<p>* * *</p>
<p>Gary Ozenne lived in less rarefied circumstances during the great mortgage boom. For one stretch of several months, his home was Room 301 at the Arizona Motel in Corona, California.</p>
<p>As mortgage disasters for millions because a crisis for an entire nation, Ozenne began to see himself as one of the early casualties, a guinea pig in the social experiment – “this gathering storm of loan securitization” – that Wall Street and the subprime industry had unleashed on America. He had made mistakes in his life and in his finances, and he had been in dire circumstances before he took out the loan from Ameriquest. But the company’s bait-and-switch tactics and nosebleed interest rates had ensured that he wouldn’t be able to recover.</p>
<p>Roland Arnall’s company had dumped the loan before Ozenne could challenge the way the lender had treated him. The mortgage had passed from Ameriquest to Lehman Brothers to Chase Manhattan, which in turn relied on yet another company, Ocwen, to act as the loan’s servicer. Ocwen collected Ozenne’s payments and, after he couldn’t keep up, foreclosed on the home where he’d lived half his life.</p>
<p>He had to drive fifty miles to find a lawyer to file suit for him against Ameriquest and Chase. A judge threw out his lawsuit. He appealed. In arguing the case in the higher court, Ameriquest was represented by Roland Arnall’s nephew and right-hand man, Adam Bass, who doubled as an attorney at Buchalter Nemer, a top corporate law firm that defended the company against borrowers’ claims. The Fourth District California Court of Appeals upheld the judge’s ruling against Ozenne on technical grounds. It said he hadn’t raised his claims about Ameriquest’s deceits soon enough and had failed to note them in the later bankruptcy petitions he’d filed to try and save his home.</p>
<p>Unable to keep paying his attorney, he became his own lawyer as he petitioned various judges, pleading for a day in court in which he would be allowed to lay out his claims against the big financial firms. On Presidents’ Day 2003, Riverside County sheriff’s deputies evicted him from his home. Over the next few years, he lived in at least seven different rented rooms in five different cities. His house on Crestview sat unoccupied. “I picked up the trash from my front lawn of my vacant home today,” he wrote in a first-person, stream-of-consciousness pleading he filed in Riverside County Superior Court. “The lawn is over ten inches long.” His “liquid assets” dwindled below $100. To make ends meet, he began spending his collection of Sacagawea $1 coins.</p>
<p>He could have given up. But he fought on. “No one is above the law,” he wrote in another court document. “Bankers and their agents, like everyone else, are accountable to the law; our system demands it.”</p>
<p>Weary of bouncing from place to place, Ozenne settled into a one-room apartment at the back of his nephew’s home in Corona. His older brother, Dennis, had lived there until his death. Gary felt alone, a sixty-year-old man sleeping in his dead brother’s room, fighting a legal battle he had little chance of winning. How could he keep going? “I listen to Winston Churchill’s speeches,” he said. “I drink too much. And I don’t want these people to get away with this.” Some nights he dreamed about the case. His unconscious mind churned over the words he’d written, trying to rephrase his story in a way that would persuade a judge to see simple justice and return his home to him.</p>
<p>MICHAEL W. HUDSON is a Staff Writer in the Business and Financial Investigations section of <a href="http://www.publicintegrity.org/" type="external">The Center for Public Integrity</a> and author of <a href="" type="internal">The Monster: How a Gang of Predatory Lenders and Wall Street Bankers Fleeced America–and Spawned a Global Crisis</a>(Times Books).</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p /> | true | 4 | editors note counterpunch readers whove enjoyed economist michael hudsons incisive writings may noticed theres new book global financial disaster monster gang predatory lenders wall street bankers fleeced america spawned global crisis written michael w hudson theyre person books author michael w hudson reporter nonprofit center public integrity fact two often mistaken name similar subject matter recently wrote piece together help dispel confusion share ideas people help peoples money excerpt adapted monster michael w hudson writes nations largest subprime lending empire fortunes owner one customers spring 1998 gary ozenne living house crestview street corona california twentytwo years corona bedroom suburb riverside county east orange county line ozenne wife picked lot subdivision called summerfield watched standard pacific orange countybased homebuilder expanding californias inland empire put home theyd picked middlepriced model three ranch homes available cost 41000 fourbedroom stucco house fireplace big backyard couple sevenyearold son scott moved house 1976 bicentennial year ozenne decided piece america place would live rest lives 1991 though taken risk put dream jeopardy twenty years computer business quit job sales rep microsoft started company residential fire sprinklers installed serviced firesuppression systems homes businesses company done well eventually faltered ozenne fell behind mortgage lender began threatening foreclose cashed microsoft 401k filed personal bankruptcy hoping second chance things started look learned government ordered recall eight million defective sprinkler heads would okay thought could refinance adjustablerate mortgage fixedrate loan get little cash home equity get business moving could take advantage recall hitch late payments bankruptcy filing credit record terrible bank bank turned remembered postcard received mail ameriquest mortgage card told credit score ozenne called ameriquest talked phone salesman told ozenne would withdraw bankruptcy petition lender could give good deal loan ameriquest sent good faith estimate described loan thirtyyear mortgage prepayment penalty fixed interest rate 105 percent rate 3 percentage points higher going rate fixedrate mortgages timebut bad considering credit history deal seemed solution ozennes problems nothing new mortgage though turned way expected ozenne later claimed loan closing took place april 1998 coffee shop main street corona ameriquest sent representative bearing ozennes loan documents read paperwork ozenne saw lender offering nothing like promised loan carried adjustable rate started 145 percent could never go could climb high 205 percent thousands told hed receive cash disappeared contract included prepayment clause would force pay big penalty tried refinance ozenne tried object bait switch ameriquest functionary said couldnt answer questions courier ozenne signed papers courier suggested hed time fix discrepancies loan became official federal law threeday right rescission could change mind loan within three business days ozenne backed corner lenders assurances persuaded abandon strategies saving house prompting quit looking loans withdraw bankruptcy petition signed began calling ameriquest manager negotiated deal phone nearly three days said manager didnt call back ozenne finally left message saying didnt hear back manager going cancel deal couple hours threeday period manager faxed letter urging stick deal made payments time manager said could refinance better loan twelve months ozenne decided choice let deal go soon ozenne tied fortunes ameriquest lender handed mortgage one allies document filed county courthouse verifying mortgage house 861 west crestview street corona california assigned value received lehman capital division lehman brothers holdings inc 3 world financial center new york new york 10285 gary ozennes loan become part global mortgage machine boy village france lived well later years roland arnall became billionaire three times styling company ameriquest advocates home ownership wealth grew collection homes 2002 second wife dawn spent 30 million tenacre compound tucked sunset boulevard los angeles country club holmby hills section los angeles far playboy mansion estate included three houses homes hollywood elite largest a160fortyroom 12000squarefoot mansion twentieth centuryfox founder joseph schenck owned 1950s schenck allowed young starletinwaiting marilyn monroe live guest cottage tony curtis owned place early 1960s giving way sonny cher owned late 60s 70s careers blossomed marriage disintegrated another house property known pink palace 1930s home song crooner rudy vallee one americas first pop stars jayne mansfield bodybuilder husband bought place late 50s house available surface painted soft pink installed heartshaped bathtub fountain burbled pink champagne house eventually passed singer engelbert humperdinck kept realestate operatives packaged deal transferred ten acres hollywood history arnalls months big purchase motorists sunset boulevard noticed pink palace disappeared arnalls bulldozed hollywood landmark pink rubble new york post put little year later arnalls added holdings shelling 46 million buy aspens mandalay ranch hollywood kingpin peter guber producer flashdance batman time biggest home purchase ever colorados glitter gulch one biggest american history 650acre spread back road snowmass buttermilk ski areas included 15000squarefoot mansion 3500squarefoot guesthouse caretakers quarters two cabins deal signaled beginning unprecedented boom aspens highend realestate market arnalls bought mandalay ranch market went nuts one realestate agent told wall street journal arnalls homes became stoppingoff points rich powerful attendees couples holiday soiree holmby hills estate december 2004 included whos californias top democrats republicans among gray davis wife sharon well couple replaced governors mansion arnold schwarzenegger maria shriver also included californias attorney general bill lockyer democrat office joined multistate investigation ameriquest enjoyed 250000 campaign support arnall companies gary ozenne lived less rarefied circumstances great mortgage boom one stretch several months home room 301 arizona motel corona california mortgage disasters millions crisis entire nation ozenne began see one early casualties guinea pig social experiment gathering storm loan securitization wall street subprime industry unleashed america made mistakes life finances dire circumstances took loan ameriquest companys baitandswitch tactics nosebleed interest rates ensured wouldnt able recover roland arnalls company dumped loan ozenne could challenge way lender treated mortgage passed ameriquest lehman brothers chase manhattan turn relied yet another company ocwen act loans servicer ocwen collected ozennes payments couldnt keep foreclosed home hed lived half life drive fifty miles find lawyer file suit ameriquest chase judge threw lawsuit appealed arguing case higher court ameriquest represented roland arnalls nephew righthand man adam bass doubled attorney buchalter nemer top corporate law firm defended company borrowers claims fourth district california court appeals upheld judges ruling ozenne technical grounds said hadnt raised claims ameriquests deceits soon enough failed note later bankruptcy petitions hed filed try save home unable keep paying attorney became lawyer petitioned various judges pleading day court would allowed lay claims big financial firms presidents day 2003 riverside county sheriffs deputies evicted home next years lived least seven different rented rooms five different cities house crestview sat unoccupied picked trash front lawn vacant home today wrote firstperson streamofconsciousness pleading filed riverside county superior court lawn ten inches long liquid assets dwindled 100 make ends meet began spending collection sacagawea 1 coins could given fought one law wrote another court document bankers agents like everyone else accountable law system demands weary bouncing place place ozenne settled oneroom apartment back nephews home corona older brother dennis lived death gary felt alone sixtyyearold man sleeping dead brothers room fighting legal battle little chance winning could keep going listen winston churchills speeches said drink much dont want people get away nights dreamed case unconscious mind churned words hed written trying rephrase story way would persuade judge see simple justice return home michael w hudson staff writer business financial investigations section center public integrity author monster gang predatory lenders wall street bankers fleeced americaand spawned global crisistimes books 160 | 1,196 |
<p>Can a man leading most GOP presidential polls turn a 2012 run down in favor of a <a href="/content/dailybeast/articles/2011/03/02/fox-news-2012-hypocrisy-why-havent-sarah-palin-and-mike-huckabee-been-suspended.html" type="external">weekend TV show</a>, a mortgage, and motivational speeches?</p>
<p>That’s the question confronting <a href="/content/dailybeast/articles/2011/02/23/five-reasons-mike-huckabee-isnt-running-for-president.html" type="external">Mike Huckabee</a>, the one-time minister turned three-term Arkansas governor and 2008 presidential candidate turned Fox News host.</p>
<p>While other prospective candidates have been hard at work building their campaign machine, Huckabee has been biding his time, a reluctant candidate who keeps surging in the polls.</p>
<p>Despite his easygoing—some might say indifferent—approach to the campaign ahead, <a href="http://www.gallup.com/poll/146621/Huckabee-Bachmann-Intense-Following-GOP-Field.aspx" type="external">Gallup polls show</a> that Huckabee enjoys the most intense support in all the GOP field.</p>
<p>The world’s not fair and you can’t buy love, but Huckabee’s effortless assumption of the pole position has his frustrated competitors asking, “What the Huck?” Is he going to run or not?</p>
<p>For months, the smart money was on Huckabee staying out of 2012. There was his notable non-firing from Fox, when <a href="/content/dailybeast/cheats/2011/03/02/fox-news-suspends-gingrich-santorum.html" type="external">Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum were suspended</a> from their contributor gigs pending their decisions on prospective presidential runs. Most significant in the world of campaign Kremlinology were high-level former staffers going to work elsewhere. Wes Enos, the field director who helped Huck win Iowa last time, signed up with Michele Bachmann last month, while Danny Carroll, Huck’s Iowa co-chairman, signed on to the protest campaign of former Alabama Judge <a href="/content/dailybeast/articles/2010/02/04/the-tea-partys-5-key-players.html" type="external">Roy Moore</a>.</p>
<p>But sometimes the smart money is wrong, and with the clock ticking loudly now, there are strong signs that Mike Huckabee is waking up from his long winter’s nap.</p>
<p>"Governor Huckabee is considering a presidential race seriously,” his 2008 campaign manager, Ed Rollins, told me. “Personally, it’s my sense that he’ll go for it this time.”</p>
<p>“Governor Huckabee is considering a presidential race seriously,” his 2008 campaign manager, Ed Rollins, told me. “He’s receiving quite a bit of counsel and encouragement. He knows he has roughly a June 1 deadline to decide. Personally, it’s my sense that he’ll go for it this time.”</p>
<p>The numbers are just too compelling to turn down casually.</p>
<p>In Iowa, <a href="http://www.thestatecolumn.com/articles/mike-huckabee-leads-iowa-latest-poll/" type="external">Huck leads the field by double digits</a>—27 percent to Romney’s second place 16 percent—such a commanding head start that <a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-mitt-romney-florida-20110415,0,4469197.story" type="external">Romney is rumored to be considering bypassing the state entirely</a> and putting his chips on New Hampshire.</p>
<p>In South Carolina, a <a href="http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/pdf/PPP_Release_SC_02011023.pdf" type="external">statewide poll</a> found Huck ahead of the rest of the established GOP field, with 26 percent of the primary vote. He also won the York County Straw Poll with 23 percent of the votes cast—a double-digit victory over the next two candidates, Gingrich and Bachmann.</p>
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<p>And in Florida—Huck’s delegate-rich, newly adopted home state—a recent <a href="http://capitalsoup.com/2011/04/11/ron-sachs-communicationsmason-dixon-florida-poll-finds-president-obama-trailing-govs-romney-huckabee/" type="external">Mason-Dixon poll</a> found him narrowly trailing Romney in a primary. Significantly, it also found that either Huck or Mitt would beat President Obama in the Sunshine State if the general election were held today. This is the kind of poll that should cause sleepless nights at Obama’s Chicago campaign headquarters.</p>
<p>For anyone who’s ever been bitten by the presidential bug, it is a tempting scenario—loaded with promise and tough to walk away from.</p>
<p>But has the Huckster waited too long to get in the game this time? Ed Rollins says no.</p>
<p>“If he makes a decision in the next several weeks, we’ll have plenty of time to put together a serious campaign team that can be very competitive,” Rollins told me. “I think he’d have a strong chance of winning not just Iowa again but a good show in New Hampshire—followed by wins in South Carolina and Florida. Once you put those states together, you’re well on your way to getting the nomination.”</p>
<p>The Des Moines Register’s political columnist Kathie Obradovich fills out the dynamic behind Huck’s buoyancy. “Huckabee is charming, famous, and a proven caucus winner,” she says. “That probably has as much to do with his poll numbers at this stage than any of his positions on issues or viability as a candidate. He’s a religious conservative but he’s more amiable and less intimidating than Sarah Palin, for example.”</p>
<p>Certainly, Palin’s slow-motion implosion has benefitted Huck. He overlaps with her social conservative populist constituency, but while Palin has seen her numbers fade on basic questions like whether she’s ready to be president, Huckabee offers a comforting contrast. He finished not just one term but three as governor. She can profess her faith, but Huckabee has studied the scriptures and ministered to the faithful. She is a talented speaker with a Spiro Agnew instinct for anti-elitism and pungent phrasing, but Huckabee is the best orator in the modern GOP field and positively genial by comparison. He’s a uniter and she’s a divider.</p>
<p>When it comes to authenticity and relate-ability, Huck can run circles around Willard Mitt Romney. At a time when most of our senators are millionaires, one of Huckabee’s greatest disincentives to run is the pay cut he would take to run for president. He recently took out a $2.8 million mortgage to build an 8,000-square-foot <a href="http://www.arktimes.com/ArkansasBlog/archives/2010/12/04/mike-huckabees-3-million-home" type="external">dream home in Florida</a>. His family is enjoying material wealth for the first time. The hassle factor of running for president, plus the pay cut, are compelling reasons not to enter the race, with <a href="http://www.rollcall.com/news/-203616-1.html?zkMobileView=true" type="external">Huck frankly telling Roll Call</a>, “If I run, I walk away from a pretty good income.” It’s not quite Cincinnatus, but as middle-class families struggle to emerge from the Great Recession, it might be close enough.</p>
<p>But Huck comes with baggage. He seemed to repeat the <a href="/content/dailybeast/cheats/2011/03/01/huckabee-obama-raised-in-kenya.html" type="external">Kenyan anti-colonial slam on Obama</a> earlier this year while promoting the lamely titled A Simple Government and was forced to make it clear that he did not endorse the Birther bile. Critics on the conservative side are circulating clips showing his now-disavowed <a href="/content/dailybeast/cheats/2009/12/01/conservatives-turn-on-huckabee.html" type="external">support for climate change legislation</a>. Glenn Beck’s recently taken to calling him the arch insult of “progressive” for refusing to denounce Michelle Obama’s anti-childhood obesity initiative. And he’s got a <a href="/content/dailybeast/cheats/2009/11/29/huckabee-commuted-suspects-sentence.html" type="external">Willie Horton-esque scandal</a> back in Arkansas, giving clemency to a prisoner who was later accused of child-rape and cop-killing. There’s no way that’s not going to leave a mark.</p>
<p>As with most presidential campaigns, Huck’s best day could be his announcement.</p>
<p>“If he doesn’t have a campaign organization in place in time to compete in the Iowa GOP straw poll in August, most caucus voters will write him off,” Obradovich cautions. “Huckabee’s popularity in polls might not translate into proportionate success in the caucuses, even if he does run. His supporters are willing to bet on a dark horse. Michele Bachmann starts in a strong position, especially with the home-schoolers who helped elevate Huckabee in 2008.”</p>
<p>Mike Huckabee can coalesce social conservatives while retaining at least the prayer of appealing beyond his base. He is too genial to give voice to the ugliest and angriest hyper-partisan attacks, while offering an appealing clear contrast to Obama. If he doesn’t feel the fire in the belly, he shouldn’t run. But with enduring strength in the polls absent any real effort, walking away from this opportunity would be unusual in the extreme while weakening an already weak GOP field.</p>
<p>John Avlon's most recent book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0984295119/thedaibea-20/" type="external">Wingnuts: How the Lunatic Fringe is Hijacking America</a> is available now by Beast Books both on the Web and in paperback. He is also the author of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1400050243/thedaibea-20/" type="external">Independent Nation: How Centrists Can Change American Politics</a> and a CNN contributor. Previously, he served as chief speechwriter for New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and was a columnist and associate editor for The New York Sun.</p> | true | 4 | man leading gop presidential polls turn 2012 run favor weekend tv show mortgage motivational speeches thats question confronting mike huckabee onetime minister turned threeterm arkansas governor 2008 presidential candidate turned fox news host prospective candidates hard work building campaign machine huckabee biding time reluctant candidate keeps surging polls despite easygoingsome might say indifferentapproach campaign ahead gallup polls show huckabee enjoys intense support gop field worlds fair cant buy love huckabees effortless assumption pole position frustrated competitors asking huck going run months smart money huckabee staying 2012 notable nonfiring fox newt gingrich rick santorum suspended contributor gigs pending decisions prospective presidential runs significant world campaign kremlinology highlevel former staffers going work elsewhere wes enos field director helped huck win iowa last time signed michele bachmann last month danny carroll hucks iowa cochairman signed protest campaign former alabama judge roy moore sometimes smart money wrong clock ticking loudly strong signs mike huckabee waking long winters nap governor huckabee considering presidential race seriously 2008 campaign manager ed rollins told personally sense hell go time governor huckabee considering presidential race seriously 2008 campaign manager ed rollins told hes receiving quite bit counsel encouragement knows roughly june 1 deadline decide personally sense hell go time numbers compelling turn casually iowa huck leads field double digits27 percent romneys second place 16 percentsuch commanding head start romney rumored considering bypassing state entirely putting chips new hampshire south carolina statewide poll found huck ahead rest established gop field 26 percent primary vote also york county straw poll 23 percent votes casta doubledigit victory next two candidates gingrich bachmann start finish day top stories daily beast speedy smart summary news need know nothing dont floridahucks delegaterich newly adopted home statea recent masondixon poll found narrowly trailing romney primary significantly also found either huck mitt would beat president obama sunshine state general election held today kind poll cause sleepless nights obamas chicago campaign headquarters anyone whos ever bitten presidential bug tempting scenarioloaded promise tough walk away huckster waited long get game time ed rollins says makes decision next several weeks well plenty time put together serious campaign team competitive rollins told think hed strong chance winning iowa good show new hampshirefollowed wins south carolina florida put states together youre well way getting nomination des moines registers political columnist kathie obradovich fills dynamic behind hucks buoyancy huckabee charming famous proven caucus winner says probably much poll numbers stage positions issues viability candidate hes religious conservative hes amiable less intimidating sarah palin example certainly palins slowmotion implosion benefitted huck overlaps social conservative populist constituency palin seen numbers fade basic questions like whether shes ready president huckabee offers comforting contrast finished one term three governor profess faith huckabee studied scriptures ministered faithful talented speaker spiro agnew instinct antielitism pungent phrasing huckabee best orator modern gop field positively genial comparison hes uniter shes divider comes authenticity relateability huck run circles around willard mitt romney time senators millionaires one huckabees greatest disincentives run pay cut would take run president recently took 28 million mortgage build 8000squarefoot dream home florida family enjoying material wealth first time hassle factor running president plus pay cut compelling reasons enter race huck frankly telling roll call run walk away pretty good income quite cincinnatus middleclass families struggle emerge great recession might close enough huck comes baggage seemed repeat kenyan anticolonial slam obama earlier year promoting lamely titled simple government forced make clear endorse birther bile critics conservative side circulating clips showing nowdisavowed support climate change legislation glenn becks recently taken calling arch insult progressive refusing denounce michelle obamas antichildhood obesity initiative hes got willie hortonesque scandal back arkansas giving clemency prisoner later accused childrape copkilling theres way thats going leave mark presidential campaigns hucks best day could announcement doesnt campaign organization place time compete iowa gop straw poll august caucus voters write obradovich cautions huckabees popularity polls might translate proportionate success caucuses even run supporters willing bet dark horse michele bachmann starts strong position especially homeschoolers helped elevate huckabee 2008 mike huckabee coalesce social conservatives retaining least prayer appealing beyond base genial give voice ugliest angriest hyperpartisan attacks offering appealing clear contrast obama doesnt feel fire belly shouldnt run enduring strength polls absent real effort walking away opportunity would unusual extreme weakening already weak gop field john avlons recent book wingnuts lunatic fringe hijacking america available beast books web paperback also author independent nation centrists change american politics cnn contributor previously served chief speechwriter new york city mayor rudy giuliani columnist associate editor new york sun | 746 |
<p>Wall Street’s financial meltdown marks the end of an era. What has ended is the credibility of the Washington Consensus – open markets to foreign investors and tight money austerity programs (high interest rates and credit cutbacks) to “cure” balance-of-payments deficits, domestic budget deficits and price inflation. On the negative side, this model has failed to produce the prosperity it promises. Raising interest rates and dismantling protective tariffs and subsidies worsen rather than help the trade and payments balance, aggravate rather than reduce domestic budget deficits, and raise prices. The reason? Interest is a cost of doing business while foreign trade dependency and currency depreciation raise import prices.</p>
<p>But even more striking is the positive side of what can be done as an alternative to the Washington Consensus. The $700 billion U.S. Treasury bailout of Wall Street’s bad loans on October 3 shows that the United States has no intention of applying this model to its own economy. Austerity and “fiscal responsibility” are for other countries. America acts ruthlessly in its own economic interest at any given moment of time. It freely spends more than it earns, flooding the global economy with what has now risen to $4 trillion in U.S. government debt to foreign central banks.</p>
<p>This amount is unpayable, given the chronic U.S. trade deficit and overseas military spending. But it does pose an interesting problem: why can’t other countries do the same thing? Is today’s policy asymmetry a fact of nature, or is it merely voluntary and the result of ignorance (spurred by an intensive globalist ideological propaganda program, to be sure)? Does India, for instance, need to privatize its state-owned banks as earlier was planned, or is it right to pull back? More to the point, have the neoliberal programs imposed on the former Soviet Union succeeded in “Americanizing” their economies and raising production capacity and living standards as promised? Or, was it all a dream, indeed, a nightmare?</p>
<p>The three Baltic countries, for instance – Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania – have long been praised in the Western press as great success stories. The World Bank classifies them among the most “business friendly” countries, and their real estate prices have soared, fueled by foreign-currency mortgages from neighboring Scandinavian banks. Their industry has been dismantled, their agriculture is in ruins, their male population below the age of 35 is emigrating. But real estate prices added to the net worth on their national balance sheets for nearly a decade. Has a new “moment of truth” arrived? Just because the Soviet economic system culminated in bureaucratic kleptocracy, has the neoliberal model really been so much better? Most important of all, was there a better alternative all along?</p>
<p>We expect the post-Soviet economies to go the way of Iceland, having taken on foreign debt with no visible means of paying it off via exports (the same situation in which the United States finds itself), or even further asset sales. Emigrants’ remittances are becoming a mainstay of their balance of payments, reflecting their economic shrinkage at the hands of neoliberal “reformers” and the free-market international dependency that the Washington Consensus promotes. So, just as this crisis has led the U.S. government to shift gears, is it time for foreign countries to seek to become more in the character of “mixed economies”? This has been the route taken by every successful economy in history, after all. Total private-sector markets (in practice, markets run by the banks and money managers) have shown themselves to be just as destructive, wasteful and corrupt and, indeed, centrally planned as those of totally “statist” governments from Stalin’s Russia to Hitler’s Germany. Is the political pendulum about to swing back more toward a better public-private balance?</p>
<p>Washington’s idealized picture of how free markets operate (as if such a thing ever existed) promised that countries outside the United States would get rich faster, approaching U.S.-style living standards if they let global investors buy their key industries and basic infrastructure. For half a century, this neoliberal model has been a hypocritical exercise in poor policy at best, and deception at worst, to convince other economies to impose self-destructive financial and tax policies, enabling U.S. investors to swoop in and buy their key assets at distress prices. (And for the U.S. economy to pay for these investment outflows in the form of more and more U.S. Treasury IOUs, yielding a low or even negative return when denominated in hard currencies.)</p>
<p>The neoliberal global system never was open in practice. America never imposed on itself the kind of shock therapy that President Clinton’s Treasury Secretary (and now Obama’s advisor) Robert Rubin promoted in Russia and the rest of the former Soviet bloc, from the Baltic countries in the northwest to Central Asia in the southeast. Just the opposite! Despite the fact that America’s own balance of trade and payments is soaring, consumer prices are rising and financial and property markets are plunging, there are no calls among its power elite to let the system self-correct. The Treasury is subsidizing America’s financial markets so as to save its financial class (minus some sacrificial lambs) and support its asset prices. Interest rates are being lowered to re-inflate asset prices, not raised to stabilize the dollar or slow domestic price inflation.</p>
<p>The policy implications go far beyond the United States itself. If the United States can create so much credit so quickly and so freely – and if Europe can follow suit, as it has done in recent days – why can’t all countries do this? Why can’t they get rich by following that path that the United States actually has taken, rather than merely doing what its economic diplomats tell them to do with sweet self-serving rhetoric? U.S. experience itself provides the major reason why the free market, run by financial institutions allocating credit, is a myth, a false map of reality to substitute for actual gunboats in getting other countries to open their asset markets to U.S. investors and food markets to U.S. farmers.</p>
<p>By contrast, the financial and trade model that U.S. oligarchs and their allies are promoting is a double standard. Most notoriously, when the 1997 Asian financial crisis broke out, the IMF demanded that foreign governments sell out their banks and industry at fire-sale prices to foreigners. U.S. vulture capital firms were especially aggressive in grabbing Asian and other global assets. But the U.S. financial bailout stands in sharp contrast to what Washington Consensus institutions imposed on other countries. There is no intention of letting foreign investors buy into the commanding U.S. heights, except at exorbitant prices. And for industry, the United States has once more violated international trade rules by offering special bailout money and subsidies to its own Big Three U.S. automakers (General Motors, Ford and Chrysler) but not to foreign-owned automakers in the United States. In thus favoring its own national industry and taking punitive measures to injure foreign-owned investments, the United States is once again providing an object lesson in nationalistic economic policy.</p>
<p>Most important, the U.S. bailout provides a model that is far preferable to the Washington Consensus-for-export. It shows that countries do not need to borrow credit from foreign banks at all. The government could have created its own money and credit system rather than leaving foreign creditors to accrue interest charges that now represent a permanent and seemingly irreversible balance-of-payments drain. The United States has shown that any country can monetize its own credit, at least domestic credit. A large part of the problem for Third World and post-Soviet economies is that they never experienced the successful model of managerial capitalism that predated the neoliberal model, advocated since the 1980s by Washington.</p>
<p>The managerial model of capitalism, predominating during the post-World War II period until the 1980s (with antecedents in 18th-century British mercantilism and 19th-century American protectionism), delivered high growth. Postwar planners, such as John Maynard Keynes in England and Harry Dexter White in the United States, favored production over finance. As Winston Churchill quipped, “nations typically do the right thing [pause], after exhausting all other options.” But it took two world wars, interspersed by an economic depression triggered by debts in excess of the ability to pay, to give the final nudge required to promote manufacturing over finance and finally do “the right thing.”</p>
<p>Finance was made subordinate to industrial development and full employment. When this economic philosophy reached its peak in the early 1960s, the financial sector accounted for only 2 per cent of U.S. corporate profits. Today, it is 40 per cent! Carrying charges on America’s exponentially growing debt are diverting income away from purchasing goods and services to pay creditors, who use the money mainly to lend out afresh to borrowers to bid up real estate prices and stock prices. Tangible capital investment is financed almost entirely out of retained corporate earnings – and these too are being diverted to pay interest on soaring industrial debt. The result is debt deflation – a shrinkage of spending power as the economic surplus is “financialized,” a new word, only recently added to the world’s economic vocabulary.</p>
<p>Since the 1980s, the U.S. tax system has promoted rent seeking and speculation on credit to ride the wave of asset-price inflation. This strategy increased balance sheets as long as asset prices rose faster than debts (that is, until last year). But it did not add to industrial capacity. And meanwhile, tax cuts caused the national debt to soar, prompting U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney to comment, “Reagan proved deficits don’t matter.”</p>
<p>On the international front, the larger the U.S. trade and payments deficit, the more dollars were pumped into foreign hands. Their central banks recycled them back to the U.S. economy in the form of purchases of Treasury bonds and, when the interest rates fell almost to zero, securitized mortgage packages. Current Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson assured Chinese and other foreign investors that the government would stand behind Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as privatized mortgage-packaging agencies, guaranteeing a $5.2 trillion supply of mortgages. This matched in size the U.S. public debt in private hands.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the Treasury cut special deals with the Saudis to recycle their oil revenues into investments in Citibank and other U.S. financial institutions – investments, on which they have lost many tens of billions of dollars. To cap matters, pricing world oil in dollars kept the U.S. currency stronger than underlying economic fundamentals justified. The U.S. economy paid for its imports with government debt never intended to be repaid, even if it could be (which it can’t at today’s $4 trillion level, cited earlier). The American economy, thus, has seen its trade deficit and asset prices rise in accordance with economic laws that no other nation can emulate, topped by the ability to run freely into international debt without limit.</p>
<p>Managerial capitalism mobilized rising corporate net worth and equity value to build up in the real economy. But since the 1980s, a new breed of financial managers has pledged assets as collateral for new loans to buy back corporate stock and even to pay out as dividends. This has pushed up corporate stock prices and, with them, the value of stock options that corporate managers give themselves. But it has not spurred tangible capital formation.</p>
<p>A real estate bubble in all countries has been fueled by rising mortgage debt. To buy a new home, buyers must take on a lifetime of debt. This has made many employees afraid to go on strike or even to press for better working conditions, because they are “one check away from homelessness,” or mortgage foreclosure. Meanwhile, companies have been outsourcing and downsizing their labor force, eliminating benefits, imposing longer hours, and bringing more women and children into the workforce.</p>
<p>Today’s “new economy” is based not on new technology and capital investment, as former Fed chairman Alan Greenspan trumpeted in the late 1990s, but on price inflation generating capital gains (mainly in land prices, as land is still the largest asset in the U.S. and other industrial economies). The economic surplus is absorbed by debt service payments (and higher priced health care), not investment in production or in sharing productivity gains with labor and professionals. Wages and living standards are stagnant for most people, as the economy tries to get rich by “the miracle of compound interest,” while capital gains emanating from the financial sector provide a foundation for new credit to bid up asset prices, all the more in a seemingly perpetual motion credit-and-debt machine. But the effect has been for the richest 1 per cent of the population to increase its share of interest extraction, dividends and capital gains from 37 per cent ten years ago to 57 per cent five years ago, and nearly 70 per cent today. Savings remain high, but only the wealthiest 10 per cent are saving – and this money is being lent out to the bottom 90 per cent, so no net saving is occurring.</p>
<p>Internationally, too, the global economy has polarized rather than converged. Just as independence arrived for many Third World countries only after their former European colonial powers had put in place inequitable land tenure patterns (latifundia, owned by domestic oligarchies) and export-oriented production, so independence for the post-Soviet countries from Russia arrived after managerial capitalism had given way to a neoliberal model that viewed “wealth creation” simply as rising prices for real estate, stocks and bonds. Western advisors and former emigrants descended to convince these countries to play the same game that other countries were playing – except that real estate debt for many of these countries was denominated in foreign currency, as no domestic banking tradition had been developed. This became increasingly dangerous for economies that did not put in place sufficient export capacity to cover the price of imports and the mounting volume of foreign-currency debt attached to their real estate. And nearly all the post-Soviet countries ran structural trade deficit, as production patterns were disrupted with the breakup of the U.S.S.R.</p>
<p>Real estate and capital gains from asset-price inflation (not industrial capital formation) were promoted as the way to future prosperity in countries whose profits from manufacturing were low and wages were stagnant. The problem is this alchemy is not sustainable. An illusion of success could be maintained as long as Washington was flooding the globe with cheap money. This led Swedes and other Europeans to find capital gains by extending loans to feed neighboring countries from Iceland to Latvia, above all via their real estate markets. For some exporters (especially Russia), rising oil and metal export prices became the basis for capital outflows into Third World and post-Soviet financial markets. Some of the backwash, for example, flowed into the world’s burgeoning offshore banking and real estate sectors – only to stop abruptly when the real estate bubble burst.</p>
<p>In these circumstances, what is to be done? First, countries outside the United States need to recognize how dysfunctional the neoliberalized world economy has been made, and to decide which assumptions underlying the neoliberal model must be discarded. Its preferred tax and financial policies favor finance over industry and, hence, financial maneuvering and asset-price inflation over tangible capital formation. Its anti-labor austerity policies and un-taxing of real estate, stocks and bonds divert resources away from growth and rising living standards.</p>
<p>Likewise destructive are compound interest and capital gains over the long term. The real economy can grow only a few per cent a year at best. Therefore, it is mathematically impossible for compound interest to continue unabated and for capital gains to grow well in excess of the underlying rate of economic growth. Historically, economic crises wipe out these gains when they outpace real economic growth by too far a margin. The moral is that compound interest and hopes for capital gains cannot guarantee income for its retirees or continue attracting foreign capital. Over a period of a lifetime, financial investments may not deliver significant gains. For the United States, it took markets about twenty-five years, from 1929 to the mid-1950s, to recover their previous value.</p>
<p>Today’s desperate U.S. attempt to re-inflate post-crash prices cannot cure the bad-debt problem. Foreign attempts to do this will merely aid foreign bankers and financial investors, not the domestic economy. Countries need to invest in their real economy, to raise productivity and wages. Governments must punish speculation and capital gains that merely reflect asset-price inflation, not real value. Otherwise, the real economy’s productive powers and living standards will be impaired and, in the neoliberal model, loaded down with debt. Policies should encourage enterprise, not speculation. Investment seeks growing markets, which tend to be thwarted by macroeconomic targets such as low inflation and balanced budgets. We are not arguing that inflation and deficits can be ignored, but rather that inflation and deficits are not all created equally. Some variants hurt the economy, while others reflect healthy investment in real production. Distinguishing between the two effects is vital, if economies are to move forward to achieve self-dependency.</p>
<p>In sum, a much better economy can be created by rejecting Washington’s financial model of austerity programs, privatization selloffs and trade dependency, financed by foreign-currency credit. Prosperity cannot be achieved by creating a favorable climate for extractive foreign capital, or by tightening credit and balancing budgets, decade after decade. The United States itself has always rejected these policies, and foreign countries also must do this if they wish to follow the policies, by which America actually grew rich, not by what U.S. neoliberal advisors tell other countries to do to please U.S. banks and foreign investors.</p>
<p>Also to be rejected is the anti-labor neoliberal tax policy (heavy taxes on employees and employers, low or zero taxes on real estate, finance and capital gains) and anti-labor workplace policies, ranging from safety protection and health care to working conditions. The U.S. economy rose to dominance as a result of Progressive Era regulatory reforms prior to World War I, reinforced by popular New Deal reforms put in place in the Great Depression. Neoliberal economics was promoted as a means of undoing these reforms. By undoing them, the Washington Consensus would deny to foreign countries the development strategy that has best succeeded in creating thriving domestic markets, rising productivity, capital formation and living standards. The effect has been to decouple saving from tangible capital formation. They need to be re-coupled, and this can be achieved only by restoring the kind of mixed economy by which North America and Europe achieved their economic growth.</p>
<p>Michael Hudson is professor of Economics at the University of Missouri (Kansas City) and chief economic advisor to Rep. Dennis Kucinich. He has advised the U.S., Canadian, Mexican and Latvian governments, as well as the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR). He is the author of many books, including <a href="" type="internal">Super Imperialism: The Economic Strategy of American Empire</a> (new ed., Pluto Press, 2002). He can be reached via his website, <a href="mailto:mh@michael-hudson.com" type="external">mh@michael-hudson.com</a>.</p>
<p>Jeffrey Sommers is a professor at Raritan Valley College, NJ, visiting professor at the Stockholm School of Economics in Riga, former Fulbrighter to Latvia, and fellow at Boris Kagarlitsky’s Institute for Global Studies in Moscow. He can be reached at <a href="mailto:jsommers@sseriga.edu.lv" type="external">jsommers@sseriga.edu.lv</a>.</p>
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<p>&#160;</p> | true | 4 | wall streets financial meltdown marks end era ended credibility washington consensus open markets foreign investors tight money austerity programs high interest rates credit cutbacks cure balanceofpayments deficits domestic budget deficits price inflation negative side model failed produce prosperity promises raising interest rates dismantling protective tariffs subsidies worsen rather help trade payments balance aggravate rather reduce domestic budget deficits raise prices reason interest cost business foreign trade dependency currency depreciation raise import prices even striking positive side done alternative washington consensus 700 billion us treasury bailout wall streets bad loans october 3 shows united states intention applying model economy austerity fiscal responsibility countries america acts ruthlessly economic interest given moment time freely spends earns flooding global economy risen 4 trillion us government debt foreign central banks amount unpayable given chronic us trade deficit overseas military spending pose interesting problem cant countries thing todays policy asymmetry fact nature merely voluntary result ignorance spurred intensive globalist ideological propaganda program sure india instance need privatize stateowned banks earlier planned right pull back point neoliberal programs imposed former soviet union succeeded americanizing economies raising production capacity living standards promised dream indeed nightmare three baltic countries instance latvia estonia lithuania long praised western press great success stories world bank classifies among business friendly countries real estate prices soared fueled foreigncurrency mortgages neighboring scandinavian banks industry dismantled agriculture ruins male population age 35 emigrating real estate prices added net worth national balance sheets nearly decade new moment truth arrived soviet economic system culminated bureaucratic kleptocracy neoliberal model really much better important better alternative along expect postsoviet economies go way iceland taken foreign debt visible means paying via exports situation united states finds even asset sales emigrants remittances becoming mainstay balance payments reflecting economic shrinkage hands neoliberal reformers freemarket international dependency washington consensus promotes crisis led us government shift gears time foreign countries seek become character mixed economies route taken every successful economy history total privatesector markets practice markets run banks money managers shown destructive wasteful corrupt indeed centrally planned totally statist governments stalins russia hitlers germany political pendulum swing back toward better publicprivate balance washingtons idealized picture free markets operate thing ever existed promised countries outside united states would get rich faster approaching usstyle living standards let global investors buy key industries basic infrastructure half century neoliberal model hypocritical exercise poor policy best deception worst convince economies impose selfdestructive financial tax policies enabling us investors swoop buy key assets distress prices us economy pay investment outflows form us treasury ious yielding low even negative return denominated hard currencies neoliberal global system never open practice america never imposed kind shock therapy president clintons treasury secretary obamas advisor robert rubin promoted russia rest former soviet bloc baltic countries northwest central asia southeast opposite despite fact americas balance trade payments soaring consumer prices rising financial property markets plunging calls among power elite let system selfcorrect treasury subsidizing americas financial markets save financial class minus sacrificial lambs support asset prices interest rates lowered reinflate asset prices raised stabilize dollar slow domestic price inflation policy implications go far beyond united states united states create much credit quickly freely europe follow suit done recent days cant countries cant get rich following path united states actually taken rather merely economic diplomats tell sweet selfserving rhetoric us experience provides major reason free market run financial institutions allocating credit myth false map reality substitute actual gunboats getting countries open asset markets us investors food markets us farmers contrast financial trade model us oligarchs allies promoting double standard notoriously 1997 asian financial crisis broke imf demanded foreign governments sell banks industry firesale prices foreigners us vulture capital firms especially aggressive grabbing asian global assets us financial bailout stands sharp contrast washington consensus institutions imposed countries intention letting foreign investors buy commanding us heights except exorbitant prices industry united states violated international trade rules offering special bailout money subsidies big three us automakers general motors ford chrysler foreignowned automakers united states thus favoring national industry taking punitive measures injure foreignowned investments united states providing object lesson nationalistic economic policy important us bailout provides model far preferable washington consensusforexport shows countries need borrow credit foreign banks government could created money credit system rather leaving foreign creditors accrue interest charges represent permanent seemingly irreversible balanceofpayments drain united states shown country monetize credit least domestic credit large part problem third world postsoviet economies never experienced successful model managerial capitalism predated neoliberal model advocated since 1980s washington managerial model capitalism predominating postworld war ii period 1980s antecedents 18thcentury british mercantilism 19thcentury american protectionism delivered high growth postwar planners john maynard keynes england harry dexter white united states favored production finance winston churchill quipped nations typically right thing pause exhausting options took two world wars interspersed economic depression triggered debts excess ability pay give final nudge required promote manufacturing finance finally right thing finance made subordinate industrial development full employment economic philosophy reached peak early 1960s financial sector accounted 2 per cent us corporate profits today 40 per cent carrying charges americas exponentially growing debt diverting income away purchasing goods services pay creditors use money mainly lend afresh borrowers bid real estate prices stock prices tangible capital investment financed almost entirely retained corporate earnings diverted pay interest soaring industrial debt result debt deflation shrinkage spending power economic surplus financialized new word recently added worlds economic vocabulary since 1980s us tax system promoted rent seeking speculation credit ride wave assetprice inflation strategy increased balance sheets long asset prices rose faster debts last year add industrial capacity meanwhile tax cuts caused national debt soar prompting us vice president dick cheney comment reagan proved deficits dont matter international front larger us trade payments deficit dollars pumped foreign hands central banks recycled back us economy form purchases treasury bonds interest rates fell almost zero securitized mortgage packages current treasury secretary henry paulson assured chinese foreign investors government would stand behind fannie mae freddie mac privatized mortgagepackaging agencies guaranteeing 52 trillion supply mortgages matched size us public debt private hands meanwhile treasury cut special deals saudis recycle oil revenues investments citibank us financial institutions investments lost many tens billions dollars cap matters pricing world oil dollars kept us currency stronger underlying economic fundamentals justified us economy paid imports government debt never intended repaid even could cant todays 4 trillion level cited earlier american economy thus seen trade deficit asset prices rise accordance economic laws nation emulate topped ability run freely international debt without limit managerial capitalism mobilized rising corporate net worth equity value build real economy since 1980s new breed financial managers pledged assets collateral new loans buy back corporate stock even pay dividends pushed corporate stock prices value stock options corporate managers give spurred tangible capital formation real estate bubble countries fueled rising mortgage debt buy new home buyers must take lifetime debt made many employees afraid go strike even press better working conditions one check away homelessness mortgage foreclosure meanwhile companies outsourcing downsizing labor force eliminating benefits imposing longer hours bringing women children workforce todays new economy based new technology capital investment former fed chairman alan greenspan trumpeted late 1990s price inflation generating capital gains mainly land prices land still largest asset us industrial economies economic surplus absorbed debt service payments higher priced health care investment production sharing productivity gains labor professionals wages living standards stagnant people economy tries get rich miracle compound interest capital gains emanating financial sector provide foundation new credit bid asset prices seemingly perpetual motion creditanddebt machine effect richest 1 per cent population increase share interest extraction dividends capital gains 37 per cent ten years ago 57 per cent five years ago nearly 70 per cent today savings remain high wealthiest 10 per cent saving money lent bottom 90 per cent net saving occurring internationally global economy polarized rather converged independence arrived many third world countries former european colonial powers put place inequitable land tenure patterns latifundia owned domestic oligarchies exportoriented production independence postsoviet countries russia arrived managerial capitalism given way neoliberal model viewed wealth creation simply rising prices real estate stocks bonds western advisors former emigrants descended convince countries play game countries playing except real estate debt many countries denominated foreign currency domestic banking tradition developed became increasingly dangerous economies put place sufficient export capacity cover price imports mounting volume foreigncurrency debt attached real estate nearly postsoviet countries ran structural trade deficit production patterns disrupted breakup ussr real estate capital gains assetprice inflation industrial capital formation promoted way future prosperity countries whose profits manufacturing low wages stagnant problem alchemy sustainable illusion success could maintained long washington flooding globe cheap money led swedes europeans find capital gains extending loans feed neighboring countries iceland latvia via real estate markets exporters especially russia rising oil metal export prices became basis capital outflows third world postsoviet financial markets backwash example flowed worlds burgeoning offshore banking real estate sectors stop abruptly real estate bubble burst circumstances done first countries outside united states need recognize dysfunctional neoliberalized world economy made decide assumptions underlying neoliberal model must discarded preferred tax financial policies favor finance industry hence financial maneuvering assetprice inflation tangible capital formation antilabor austerity policies untaxing real estate stocks bonds divert resources away growth rising living standards likewise destructive compound interest capital gains long term real economy grow per cent year best therefore mathematically impossible compound interest continue unabated capital gains grow well excess underlying rate economic growth historically economic crises wipe gains outpace real economic growth far margin moral compound interest hopes capital gains guarantee income retirees continue attracting foreign capital period lifetime financial investments may deliver significant gains united states took markets twentyfive years 1929 mid1950s recover previous value todays desperate us attempt reinflate postcrash prices cure baddebt problem foreign attempts merely aid foreign bankers financial investors domestic economy countries need invest real economy raise productivity wages governments must punish speculation capital gains merely reflect assetprice inflation real value otherwise real economys productive powers living standards impaired neoliberal model loaded debt policies encourage enterprise speculation investment seeks growing markets tend thwarted macroeconomic targets low inflation balanced budgets arguing inflation deficits ignored rather inflation deficits created equally variants hurt economy others reflect healthy investment real production distinguishing two effects vital economies move forward achieve selfdependency sum much better economy created rejecting washingtons financial model austerity programs privatization selloffs trade dependency financed foreigncurrency credit prosperity achieved creating favorable climate extractive foreign capital tightening credit balancing budgets decade decade united states always rejected policies foreign countries also must wish follow policies america actually grew rich us neoliberal advisors tell countries please us banks foreign investors also rejected antilabor neoliberal tax policy heavy taxes employees employers low zero taxes real estate finance capital gains antilabor workplace policies ranging safety protection health care working conditions us economy rose dominance result progressive era regulatory reforms prior world war reinforced popular new deal reforms put place great depression neoliberal economics promoted means undoing reforms undoing washington consensus would deny foreign countries development strategy best succeeded creating thriving domestic markets rising productivity capital formation living standards effect decouple saving tangible capital formation need recoupled achieved restoring kind mixed economy north america europe achieved economic growth michael hudson professor economics university missouri kansas city chief economic advisor rep dennis kucinich advised us canadian mexican latvian governments well united nations institute training research unitar author many books including super imperialism economic strategy american empire new ed pluto press 2002 reached via website mhmichaelhudsoncom jeffrey sommers professor raritan valley college nj visiting professor stockholm school economics riga former fulbrighter latvia fellow boris kagarlitskys institute global studies moscow reached jsommerssserigaedulv 160 160 160 160 160 160 160 | 1,920 |
<p>After a few back and forth debates with a couple of pro-Trump friends of mine (something I had avoided doing since the election), it reminded me of how gullible someone has to be to support this man. It’s why I’ve said to support Donald Trump <a href="" type="internal">takes willful ignorance</a> or legitimate insanity. There’s absolutely no way a sane, rational or even moderately reasonable person can believe the things it takes to be a Trump supporter.</p>
<p>To be a proud supporter of Trump and believe the things he says requires someone to actually be crazy or willfully ignorant of reality, facts, and even basic common sense.</p>
<p>While there are many examples I could use to prove how ignorant someone has to be to trust Trump, that would take far too long. So, for the sake of time, I wanted to run down five conspiracies he’s pushed that, on their own, prove&#160;how naive&#160;someone&#160;has to be to believe anything he says.</p>
<p>1. His claim that he saw “thousands and thousands” of Muslims celebrating 9/11 on the streets of New Jersey.: Never mind that there’s not a single second of footage to back this claim up (even Fox News didn’t show any and they almost certainly would have covered “thousands” of Muslims in America celebrating a horrific terrorist attack), Trump continued to claim that it happened. Furthermore, later he defended his inability to back up his conspiracy by saying&#160;that <a href="" type="internal">there’s a giant media conspiracy</a> to conceal the evidence because they didn’t want to offend Muslims.</p>
<p>Because it’s absolutely rational to believe that&#160;every single media entity from all over the world&#160;that covered the 9/11 attack is part of a massive global conspiracy to hide the footage that would support Trump’s claims that there were “thousands and thousands” of Muslims celebrating in the streets of New Jersey.</p>
<p>2. That he only lost the popular vote because “3-5 million people voted illegally.”: Even though he’s yet to provide a single shred of evidence to back this up, despite repeated requests for him to do so, this is a conspiracy he continues to claim is true. Though for it to be true would mean that this country just experienced the largest coverup in human history. For 3-5 million to have voted illegally would have required&#160;coordination in several (if not all 50) states between both parties, the&#160;lawyers for each party, elected officials, and&#160;a few thousand&#160;people — with absolutely nobody noticing a thing.</p>
<p>3. The U.S. intelligence community is out to get him: When practically everyone who matters in our intelligence community officially labeled Russia as the enemy behind the cyber attack against the United States, Trump viciously attacked our national security agencies. He publicly questioned&#160;their ability to perform their duty with integrity, claiming&#160;that their conclusion that Russia was behind the attack against the United States was some plot to undermine his “win.”</p>
<p>Because it makes sense that these agencies loathe and oppose him to such an extent that they waited until&#160;after&#160;the election to release information that could have cost him the election? If there was really some sort of conspiracy from our intelligence community against Trump, they damn sure wouldn’t have waited until&#160;after&#160;the election was over to publicly comment on information that could have very well handed&#160;Hillary Clinton the White House.</p>
<p>4. Any media that debunks his propaganda&#160;is “fake news.”: Yes, the same media that gave Trump nearly <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2016/09/30/breakingviews-trump-cold-shoulder-for-tv-ads-may-set-the-trend.html" type="external">$5 billion in free media coverage</a>&#160;is nothing but a “giant liberal media conspiracy of fake news against him” by quoting him verbatim;&#160;reporting on the exact wording of tweets he’s sent out; using indisputable photographic evidence to factually point out Obama’s inauguration was much larger than his; and mocking one of his top advisors for literally saying the phrase “alternative facts” to defend lies being told by his administration.</p>
<p>Trump has a long history of playing the victim and claiming something is “rigged against him” whenever things aren’t going his way. You’d think his supporters would realize that con by now. Then again, they&#160;are&#160;his supporters, so it’s not all that surprising they haven’t picked up on the fact that Trump’s go-to move whenever he’s busted in a lie is to whine about conspiracies, rigged systems, or claim someone is out to get him.</p>
<p>5. People raising legitimate concerns about his ties to Russia are just trying to slander him: Last I checked, nobody made him:</p>
<p>Nobody made him do any of that. He decided to praise Putin, defend Russia, attack U.S. intelligence and surround himself with a rather high number of people with links to Russia all on his own. So it’s absolutely ridiculous for him to claim that people concerned about all these ties, his behavior and these reports that Russia might have information it’s planning to use to blackmail Trump are just a “giant conspiracy by the media to get him.”</p>
<p>Had Trump not been the most pro-Russian presidential candidate in history, not defended Russia while attacking our own U.S. intelligence officials after they publicly declared Russia behind the attack against this country, and not surrounded himself with an above-average number of people with ties to Russia — most people probably wouldn’t have made much of this story.</p>
<p>But when you add everything together, especially how strange it is that Trump’s so defiant when it comes to saying anything negative about Russia, you have to&#160;want&#160;to not believe that there’s a possibility that he might have committed treason to claim that this is just some “huge conspiracy against him.”</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">All of this evidence</a> isn’t just some random set of coincidences.</p>
<p>Feel free to <a href="https://www.twitter.com/allen_clifton" type="external">hit me up on Twitter</a> or <a href="https://www.facebook.com/allencliftonroc" type="external">Facebook</a> and let me know what you think.</p>
<p />
<p><a href="" type="internal">Donald Trump's the Punchline to a Joke the World is Using to Laugh at &amp; Mock the U.S.</a></p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">Here are 5 Reasons Why Fact Checking Donald Trump is Almost Completely Useless</a></p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">Here's One of the Best Examples of the Ignorance of Trump Supporters You Might Ever See</a></p>
<p>7 Facebook comments</p> | true | 4 | back forth debates couple protrump friends mine something avoided since election reminded gullible someone support man ive said support donald trump takes willful ignorance legitimate insanity theres absolutely way sane rational even moderately reasonable person believe things takes trump supporter proud supporter trump believe things says requires someone actually crazy willfully ignorant reality facts even basic common sense many examples could use prove ignorant someone trust trump would take far long sake time wanted run five conspiracies hes pushed prove160how naive160someone160has believe anything says 1 claim saw thousands thousands muslims celebrating 911 streets new jersey never mind theres single second footage back claim even fox news didnt show almost certainly would covered thousands muslims america celebrating horrific terrorist attack trump continued claim happened furthermore later defended inability back conspiracy saying160that theres giant media conspiracy conceal evidence didnt want offend muslims absolutely rational believe that160every single media entity world160that covered 911 attack part massive global conspiracy hide footage would support trumps claims thousands thousands muslims celebrating streets new jersey 2 lost popular vote 35 million people voted illegally even though hes yet provide single shred evidence back despite repeated requests conspiracy continues claim true though true would mean country experienced largest coverup human history 35 million voted illegally would required160coordination several 50 states parties the160lawyers party elected officials and160a thousand160people absolutely nobody noticing thing 3 us intelligence community get practically everyone matters intelligence community officially labeled russia enemy behind cyber attack united states trump viciously attacked national security agencies publicly questioned160their ability perform duty integrity claiming160that conclusion russia behind attack united states plot undermine win makes sense agencies loathe oppose extent waited until160after160the election release information could cost election really sort conspiracy intelligence community trump damn sure wouldnt waited until160after160the election publicly comment information could well handed160hillary clinton white house 4 media debunks propaganda160is fake news yes media gave trump nearly 5 billion free media coverage160is nothing giant liberal media conspiracy fake news quoting verbatim160reporting exact wording tweets hes sent using indisputable photographic evidence factually point obamas inauguration much larger mocking one top advisors literally saying phrase alternative facts defend lies told administration trump long history playing victim claiming something rigged whenever things arent going way youd think supporters would realize con they160are160his supporters surprising havent picked fact trumps goto move whenever hes busted lie whine conspiracies rigged systems claim someone get 5 people raising legitimate concerns ties russia trying slander last checked nobody made nobody made decided praise putin defend russia attack us intelligence surround rather high number people links russia absolutely ridiculous claim people concerned ties behavior reports russia might information planning use blackmail trump giant conspiracy media get trump prorussian presidential candidate history defended russia attacking us intelligence officials publicly declared russia behind attack country surrounded aboveaverage number people ties russia people probably wouldnt made much story add everything together especially strange trumps defiant comes saying anything negative russia to160want160to believe theres possibility might committed treason claim huge conspiracy evidence isnt random set coincidences feel free hit twitter facebook let know think donald trumps punchline joke world using laugh amp mock us 5 reasons fact checking donald trump almost completely useless heres one best examples ignorance trump supporters might ever see 7 facebook comments | 536 |
<p>Mexico City</p>
<p>As the 100th anniversary of the Mexican revolution steams into sight, U.S. and Mexican security agencies are closely monitoring this distant neighbor nation for red lights that could signal renewed rebellion. The most treacherous stretch for those keeping tabs on subversion south of the border is between September 15th the recently celebrated bicentennial commemorating the struggle for Mexico’s independence from Spain, and November 20th, the day back in 1910 that the liberal Francisco Madero called upon his compatriots to take the plazas of their cities and towns and rise up against the Diaz government.</p>
<p>At least ten and as many as 44 armed groups are currently thought to be active in Mexico and the two months between the 200th anniversary of liberation from the colonial yoke and the 100th of the nation’s landmark revolution, the first uprising of landless farmers in the Americas and a precursor of the Russian revolution, is a dramatic platform from which to strike at the right-wing government of President Felipe Calderon.</p>
<p>Among the more prominent armed formations is the Popular Revolutionary Army (EPR) which rose against the government in 1996 and is based in Guerrero and Oaxaca, and three distinct split-offs: the Democratic Revolutionary Tendency (TDR); the Justice Commandos – June 28th, thought to be linear descendents of the followers of guerrilla chieftain Lucio Cabanas who fought the government along the Costa Grande of Guerrero in the 1970s; and the Revolutionary Army of the Insurgent Peoples (ERPI) which also espouses Cabanas’s heritage and is active in the Sierra of Guerrero where Lucio once roamed.</p>
<p>Others on the list released two years ago by the CISEN, Mexico’s lead anti-subversion intelligence-gathering apparatus, include the largely-disarmed Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN), an indigenous formation that rose in Chiapas in 1994; the Jose Maria Morelos National Guerrilla Coordinating Body, thought to be based in Puebla; and the Jaramillista Justice Commandos that takes its name from Ruben Jaramillo, the last general of revolutionary martyr Emiliano Zapata’s Liberating Army of the South gunned down by the government in 1964, which has taken credit for bombings in Zapata’s home state of Morelos.</p>
<p>The TAGIN or National Triple Indigenous and Guerrilla Alliance, thought to be rooted in southeastern Mexico, boasted in a e-mail communiqué at the beginning of the year that a coalition of 70 armed groups have agreed on coordinated action in 2010.</p>
<p>Also in the revolutionary mix are an unknown number of anarchist cells, at least one of which takes the name of Praxides G. Guerrero, the first anarchist to fall 100 years ago in the Mexican revolution. Primarily operating in urban settings, anarchist cells have firebombed dozens of ATM machines and banks, new car showrooms, bullrings, and slaughterhouses (many anarchists are militant vegans) in Mexico City, Mexico state, Guadalajara, San Luis Potosi, and Tijuana. The U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has just added Mexican anarchist groups to the Obama government’s terrorist lists.</p>
<p>Thus far, no group in this revolutionary rainbow has struck in 2010, and the window is narrowing if Mexico’s twin centennials are to be a stage upon which to launch new uprisings. If this is to be the year of the next Mexican revolution, the time to move is now.</p>
<p>Objective conditions on the ground are certainly ripe for popular uprising. At least 70% of the Mexican people live in and around the poverty line while a handful of oligarchs continue to dominate the economy – Mexico accounts for half of the 12 million Latin Americans who have fallen into poverty during the on-going economic downturn. Despite Calderon’s much scoffed-at claims that the recession-wracked economy is in recovery, unemployment continues to run at record levels. Hunger is palpable on the farm and in the big cities. Indeed, the only ray of light is the drug trade that now employs between a half million and a million mostly young and impoverished people.</p>
<p>Labor troubles, always a crucible of revolutionary dynamics, are on the rise. A hundred years ago, conditions were not dissimilar. The fall-out from the 1906-7 world depression that saw precious metal prices, the nation’s sustenance, fall off the charts sent waves of unemployment across the land and severely impacted conditions for those still working. As copper prices bottomed, workers at the great Cananea copper pit scant miles from the Arizona border in Sonora state, went out on strike and owner Colonel William Green called in the Arizona Rangers to take the mine back. 26 miners were cut down and the massacre gave birth to the Mexican labor movement.</p>
<p>In March 2010, President Calderon dispatched hundreds of federal police and army troops to Cananea to break a protracted, near two-year strike at the behest of the Larrea family, the main stockholders in Grupo Mexicano Industrial which was gifted with the copper pit, the eighth largest in the world, after it was privatized by reviled ex-president Carlos Salinas in 1989. Calderon’s hard-nosed labor secretary Javiar Lozano has threatened arrest of miners’ union boss Napoleon Gomez Urrutia, now in self-exile in Vancouver Canada.</p>
<p>Lozano is also deeply embroiled in take-no-hostages battles with the Mexican Electricity Workers Union (SME) over privatization of electricity generation here that has cost the union, the second oldest in the country founded during the last Mexican revolution, 44,000 jobs. A near death hunger strike by the displaced workers failed to budge the labor secretary and SME members now threaten to shut down Mexico City’s International Airport.</p>
<p>History is often colored with irony. The first important battles in the Mexican revolution were fought around Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, a key railhead on the U.S. border and a commercial lifeline to El Norte for dictator Porfirio Diaz. In skirmish after skirmish, the irregulars of Francisco Villa and Pascual Orozco challenged and defeated the dictator’s Federales and began the long push south to hook up with Emiliano Zapata’s southern army in Morelos state on the doorstep of the capitol.</p>
<p>Ciudad Juarez was devastated by the cruel battles between the revolutionaries and the dictator’s troops. Dead wagons plied the dusty streets hauling off the bodies of those who had fallen to be burnt out in the surrounding desert. Today, once again, Ciudad Juarez is the murder capitol of Mexico.</p>
<p>Over 1800 have been killed in this border city so far in 2010, a record year for homicides, as the homegrown Juarez drug cartel and its local enforcers, the “La Linea” gang, try to defend the “plaza”, the most pertinent drug crossing point on the 1964 mile border, from the Sinaloa cartel under the management of “El Chapo” Guzman, and his local associates “Gente Nueva” (“New People.”)</p>
<p>Much as today when the narco kings like “El Chapo” or his recently slain associate “Nacho” Coronel are vilified by the Mexican press and President Calderon as “traitors” and “killers” and “cowards”, 100 years back revolutionaries were cast as villains and vandals hell-bent on tearing down the institutions of law and order. Pancho Villa was universally dissed as a cattle rustler, a “bandido”, “terrorista”, and rapist. When Zapata, “the Attila of the South”, and his peasant army came down to Mexico City in 1914 to meet with Villa, the “gente decente” (decent people) locked up their homes and their daughters to protect them from the barbarian hordes.</p>
<p>Similarly, in 2010, the corporate press lashes out at the cartels and their pistoleros as crazed, drug-addled mercenaries who will shoot their own mothers if enough cash and cocaine are offered. Villa’s troops were no strangers to such accusations. “La Cucaracha”, the Villista marching song, pleads for “marijuana para caminar” (“marijuana to march.”)</p>
<p>All this duel centennial year, ideologically driven leftists here have been waiting with baited breath for a resurgence of armed rebellion such as in 1994 when the EZLN rose up against the “mal gobierno” in Chiapas, or in 1996 when the EPR staged a series of murderous raids on military and police installations – but the leftists may be barking up the wrong tree.</p>
<p>If revolution is to be defined as the overthrow of an unpopular government and the taking of state power by armed partisans, then the new Mexican revolution is already underway, at least in the north of the country where Calderon’s ill-advised drug campaign against the cartels (in which according to the latest CISEN data 28,000 citizens have died) has morphed into generalized warfare.</p>
<p>Although the fighting has been largely confined to the north, it should be remembered that Mexico’s 1910 revolution began in that geography under the command of Villa and Orozco, Venustiano Carranza, Alvaro Obregon, and Francisco Madero, and then spread south to the power center of the country.</p>
<p>Given the qualitative leap in violence, Edgardo Buscaglia, a keen analyst of drug policy at the prestigious Autonomous Technological Institute of Mexico now describes Calderon’s war as a “narco-insurgency” – a descriptive recently endorsed by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Daily events reported in the nation’s press lend graphic substance to the terminology.</p>
<p>Narco-commandos attack military and police barracks, carrying off arms and freeing prisoners from prisons in classic guerrilla fashion. As if to replay the 1910 uprising in the north, the narco gangs loot and torch the mansions of the rich in Ciudad Juarez. The narcos mount public massacres in northern cities like Juarez and Torreon that leave dozens dead and seem designed to terrorize the local populous caught up in the crossfire and impress upon the citizenry that the government can no longer protect them, a classic guerrilla warfare strategy.</p>
<p>One very 2010 wrinkle to the upsurge in violence: car bombs triggered by cell phones detonate in downtown Juarez, a technology that seems to have been borrowed from the U.S. invasion of Iraq (El Paso just across the river is home to several military bases where returning veterans of that crusade are housed.) Plastique-like C-4 explosives used in a July 15th car bombing that killed four in downtown Juarez are readily available at Mexican mining sites.</p>
<p>Further into the interior, commandos thought to be operating under the sponsorship of the Zetas cartel, have repeatedly shut down key intersections in Monterrey, Mexico’s third largest city and the industrial powerhouse of the nation, with stolen construction equipment and stalled buses and trailer trucks purportedly to clear surrounding highways of traffic for the movement of troops and weaponry into this strategic region.</p>
<p>Now the narco-insurrection has invaded the political realm as manifested by the assassination of the one-time ruling PRI party’s front-running candidate for governor of Tamaulipas state in July 4th elections. But party affiliation doesn’t seem to be a determining factor in this ambience of fear and loathing. The kidnapping of right-wing PAN party Padrino Diego Fernandez de Cevallos, one of the most powerful politicos in Mexico and a possible presidential candidate in 2012, must send chills up and down the spines of Calderon and his associates.</p>
<p>Who actually put the snatch on “El Jefe” Diego remains murky. The Attorney General’s office is now pointing fingers at the Popular Revolutionary Army, which is active in the Bajio region where the PANista was taken last May 14th. In 2007, the EPR claimed credit for the bombing of PEMEX pipelines in Guanajuato and Queretero in retaliation for the disappearances of two of its historical leaders.</p>
<p>The Mexican military has long calculated the eventual “symbiosis of criminal cartels with armed groups that are disaffected with the government” (“Combat Against Narco-Traffic 2008” issued by the Secretary of Defense.)</p>
<p>50,000 of the Mexican Army’s 140,000 troops and large detachments of Naval Marines are currently in the field against the narco-insurrectionists. With an eye to the eventual “symbiosis” of the drug gangs with armed guerrilla movements, the U.S. North Command which is responsible for keeping the North American mainland free of terrorists and regards Mexico as its southern security perimeter recently sent counter-insurgency trainers here to assess threats – their visit was confirmed at a Washington D.C. press conference July 21st by Under-secretary of Defense William Wechsler.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the military is setting up new advance bases in regions where there have been recent guerrilla sightings such as the Sierra Gorda, strategically located at the confluence of Queretero, Guanajuato, and San Luis Potosi states.</p>
<p>Leftists who have been awaiting a more “political” uprising in 2010 are not convinced by Buscaglia’s nomenclature. A real revolution must be waged along ideological and class lines which the narco-insurrection has yet to manifest. Nonetheless, given the neo-liberal mindset of a globalized world in which class dynamics are reduced to market domination, the on-going narco-insurrection may well be the best new Mexican revolution this beleaguered nation is going to get.</p>
<p>JOHN ROSS is the author of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1568584245/counterpunchmaga" type="external">El Monstruo.</a> &#160;You can consult him on particulars at <a href="mailto:johnross@igc.org" type="external">johnross@igc.org</a></p> | true | 4 | mexico city 100th anniversary mexican revolution steams sight us mexican security agencies closely monitoring distant neighbor nation red lights could signal renewed rebellion treacherous stretch keeping tabs subversion south border september 15th recently celebrated bicentennial commemorating struggle mexicos independence spain november 20th day back 1910 liberal francisco madero called upon compatriots take plazas cities towns rise diaz government least ten many 44 armed groups currently thought active mexico two months 200th anniversary liberation colonial yoke 100th nations landmark revolution first uprising landless farmers americas precursor russian revolution dramatic platform strike rightwing government president felipe calderon among prominent armed formations popular revolutionary army epr rose government 1996 based guerrero oaxaca three distinct splitoffs democratic revolutionary tendency tdr justice commandos june 28th thought linear descendents followers guerrilla chieftain lucio cabanas fought government along costa grande guerrero 1970s revolutionary army insurgent peoples erpi also espouses cabanass heritage active sierra guerrero lucio roamed others list released two years ago cisen mexicos lead antisubversion intelligencegathering apparatus include largelydisarmed zapatista army national liberation ezln indigenous formation rose chiapas 1994 jose maria morelos national guerrilla coordinating body thought based puebla jaramillista justice commandos takes name ruben jaramillo last general revolutionary martyr emiliano zapatas liberating army south gunned government 1964 taken credit bombings zapatas home state morelos tagin national triple indigenous guerrilla alliance thought rooted southeastern mexico boasted email communiqué beginning year coalition 70 armed groups agreed coordinated action 2010 also revolutionary mix unknown number anarchist cells least one takes name praxides g guerrero first anarchist fall 100 years ago mexican revolution primarily operating urban settings anarchist cells firebombed dozens atm machines banks new car showrooms bullrings slaughterhouses many anarchists militant vegans mexico city mexico state guadalajara san luis potosi tijuana us attorney general eric holder added mexican anarchist groups obama governments terrorist lists thus far group revolutionary rainbow struck 2010 window narrowing mexicos twin centennials stage upon launch new uprisings year next mexican revolution time move objective conditions ground certainly ripe popular uprising least 70 mexican people live around poverty line handful oligarchs continue dominate economy mexico accounts half 12 million latin americans fallen poverty ongoing economic downturn despite calderons much scoffedat claims recessionwracked economy recovery unemployment continues run record levels hunger palpable farm big cities indeed ray light drug trade employs half million million mostly young impoverished people labor troubles always crucible revolutionary dynamics rise hundred years ago conditions dissimilar fallout 19067 world depression saw precious metal prices nations sustenance fall charts sent waves unemployment across land severely impacted conditions still working copper prices bottomed workers great cananea copper pit scant miles arizona border sonora state went strike owner colonel william green called arizona rangers take mine back 26 miners cut massacre gave birth mexican labor movement march 2010 president calderon dispatched hundreds federal police army troops cananea break protracted near twoyear strike behest larrea family main stockholders grupo mexicano industrial gifted copper pit eighth largest world privatized reviled expresident carlos salinas 1989 calderons hardnosed labor secretary javiar lozano threatened arrest miners union boss napoleon gomez urrutia selfexile vancouver canada lozano also deeply embroiled takenohostages battles mexican electricity workers union sme privatization electricity generation cost union second oldest country founded last mexican revolution 44000 jobs near death hunger strike displaced workers failed budge labor secretary sme members threaten shut mexico citys international airport history often colored irony first important battles mexican revolution fought around ciudad juarez chihuahua key railhead us border commercial lifeline el norte dictator porfirio diaz skirmish skirmish irregulars francisco villa pascual orozco challenged defeated dictators federales began long push south hook emiliano zapatas southern army morelos state doorstep capitol ciudad juarez devastated cruel battles revolutionaries dictators troops dead wagons plied dusty streets hauling bodies fallen burnt surrounding desert today ciudad juarez murder capitol mexico 1800 killed border city far 2010 record year homicides homegrown juarez drug cartel local enforcers la linea gang try defend plaza pertinent drug crossing point 1964 mile border sinaloa cartel management el chapo guzman local associates gente nueva new people much today narco kings like el chapo recently slain associate nacho coronel vilified mexican press president calderon traitors killers cowards 100 years back revolutionaries cast villains vandals hellbent tearing institutions law order pancho villa universally dissed cattle rustler bandido terrorista rapist zapata attila south peasant army came mexico city 1914 meet villa gente decente decent people locked homes daughters protect barbarian hordes similarly 2010 corporate press lashes cartels pistoleros crazed drugaddled mercenaries shoot mothers enough cash cocaine offered villas troops strangers accusations la cucaracha villista marching song pleads marijuana para caminar marijuana march duel centennial year ideologically driven leftists waiting baited breath resurgence armed rebellion 1994 ezln rose mal gobierno chiapas 1996 epr staged series murderous raids military police installations leftists may barking wrong tree revolution defined overthrow unpopular government taking state power armed partisans new mexican revolution already underway least north country calderons illadvised drug campaign cartels according latest cisen data 28000 citizens died morphed generalized warfare although fighting largely confined north remembered mexicos 1910 revolution began geography command villa orozco venustiano carranza alvaro obregon francisco madero spread south power center country given qualitative leap violence edgardo buscaglia keen analyst drug policy prestigious autonomous technological institute mexico describes calderons war narcoinsurgency descriptive recently endorsed us secretary state hillary clinton daily events reported nations press lend graphic substance terminology narcocommandos attack military police barracks carrying arms freeing prisoners prisons classic guerrilla fashion replay 1910 uprising north narco gangs loot torch mansions rich ciudad juarez narcos mount public massacres northern cities like juarez torreon leave dozens dead seem designed terrorize local populous caught crossfire impress upon citizenry government longer protect classic guerrilla warfare strategy one 2010 wrinkle upsurge violence car bombs triggered cell phones detonate downtown juarez technology seems borrowed us invasion iraq el paso across river home several military bases returning veterans crusade housed plastiquelike c4 explosives used july 15th car bombing killed four downtown juarez readily available mexican mining sites interior commandos thought operating sponsorship zetas cartel repeatedly shut key intersections monterrey mexicos third largest city industrial powerhouse nation stolen construction equipment stalled buses trailer trucks purportedly clear surrounding highways traffic movement troops weaponry strategic region narcoinsurrection invaded political realm manifested assassination onetime ruling pri partys frontrunning candidate governor tamaulipas state july 4th elections party affiliation doesnt seem determining factor ambience fear loathing kidnapping rightwing pan party padrino diego fernandez de cevallos one powerful politicos mexico possible presidential candidate 2012 must send chills spines calderon associates actually put snatch el jefe diego remains murky attorney generals office pointing fingers popular revolutionary army active bajio region panista taken last may 14th 2007 epr claimed credit bombing pemex pipelines guanajuato queretero retaliation disappearances two historical leaders mexican military long calculated eventual symbiosis criminal cartels armed groups disaffected government combat narcotraffic 2008 issued secretary defense 50000 mexican armys 140000 troops large detachments naval marines currently field narcoinsurrectionists eye eventual symbiosis drug gangs armed guerrilla movements us north command responsible keeping north american mainland free terrorists regards mexico southern security perimeter recently sent counterinsurgency trainers assess threats visit confirmed washington dc press conference july 21st undersecretary defense william wechsler meanwhile military setting new advance bases regions recent guerrilla sightings sierra gorda strategically located confluence queretero guanajuato san luis potosi states leftists awaiting political uprising 2010 convinced buscaglias nomenclature real revolution must waged along ideological class lines narcoinsurrection yet manifest nonetheless given neoliberal mindset globalized world class dynamics reduced market domination ongoing narcoinsurrection may well best new mexican revolution beleaguered nation going get john ross author el monstruo 160you consult particulars johnrossigcorg | 1,249 |
<p>Former Trump spokesperson Sean Spicer at the Emmys. (photo: Trae Patton/CBS)</p>
<p>When Stephen Colbert introduced a surprise guest at the end of his Emmys opening monologue on Sunday night, the audience didn’t seem to expect to see former Trump administration press secretary Sean Spicer. The Late Night host shocked most of the crowd—Veep actress Anna Chlumsky was <a href="https://twitter.com/IamSheridanW/status/909572656248233984" type="external">particularly amazed</a>—with the selection of one of comedy’s favorite targets of the last year.</p>
<p>Colbert brought on Spicer, complete with the rolling press office podium that Melissa McCarthy made famous in her Saturday Night Live impression, to mock President Donald Trump. From the New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/17/arts/television/colbert-emmys.html?_r=0" type="external">transcript</a>:</p>
<p>SPICER: This will be the largest audience to witness an Emmys, period. Both in person and around the world.</p>
<p>COLBERT: Wow, that really soothes my fragile ego. I can understand why you would want one of these guys around.</p>
<p>As the night went on, pictures emerged on social media of Spicer enjoying himself backstage and at parties. Spicer was <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2017/09/sean-spicer-emmys-selfies-james-corden" type="external">photographed</a> schmoozing with late night hosts Seth Meyers and James Corden (the latter was caught giving Spicer a kiss on the cheek), actor <a href="http://pagesix.com/2017/09/18/sean-spicer-was-the-life-of-the-party-after-the-emmys/" type="external">Alec Baldwin</a> (who won an Emmy for his performance on Saturday Night Live mocking Spicer’s former boss) and other entertainment industry figures. By Monday night, Late Night With Stephen Colbert was using the gag in <a href="https://www.facebook.com/colbertlateshow/posts/1227782354033180" type="external">sponsored posts</a> on Facebook. It was quite the turnaround for Spicer, whose reputation for lying in service of the president included <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r357bRZUz2k" type="external">downplaying the Holocaust</a> and defending the administration’s Muslim ban.</p>
<p>To Frank Bruni (New York Times, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/18/opinion/the-shameful-embrace-of-sean-spicer-at-the-emmys.html" type="external">9/18/17</a>), Spicer’s appearance was “a ringing, stinging confirmation that fame truly is its own reward and celebrity really does trump everything and redeem everyone.”</p>
<p>Given Spicer’s recent history representing Trump, reaction to the joke decidedly mixed. On Monday morning, New York Times columnist Frank Bruni ( <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/18/opinion/the-shameful-embrace-of-sean-spicer-at-the-emmys.html" type="external">9/18/17</a>) frowned on the whole affair, writing that “Colbert abetted Spicer’s image overhaul and probably upped Spicer’s speaking fees by letting him demonstrate what a self-effacing sport he could be.”</p>
<p>An unnamed source close to the decision to include Spicer told entertainment outlet Vulture ( <a href="http://www.vulture.com/2017/09/sean-spicer-emmy-awards-stephen-colbert.html" type="external">9/18/17</a>) that it was only a joke, though one not intended for everyone: “There was no expectation everyone would love this,” the source said.</p>
<p>Yet for all the outrage over the appearance, and for all the distaste over Spicer’s relatively quick public rehabilitation (Spicer <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/08/sean-spicer-leaves-white-house" type="external">left the White House</a> less than three weeks ago, on August 31), the fact is that it’s par for the course in how the corporate media—both in news and entertainment—treat those in power when they leave Washington.</p>
<p>Slate‘s Jamelle Bouie <a href="https://twitter.com/jbouie/status/909840087558520833" type="external">pointed out</a> as much on Twitter on Monday. “The expectation this time will be different is wrong,” Bouie said, debunking the idea that that Trump was too toxic to preclude his acolytes from being offered redemption. And MSNBC‘s Chris Hayes <a href="https://twitter.com/chrislhayes/status/909573908952518656" type="external">tweeted on Sunday night</a> shortly after Spicer’s appearance that “power is all about who gets forgiven. Who gets fresh starts.”</p>
<p>Nicolle Wallace: From George W. Bush’s communications director to anchor of MSNBC‘s Deadline: White House.</p>
<p>Hayes should know. The network he works for has repeatedly given airtime to George W. Bush administration speechwriter and Iraq War booster David Frum, whose image has undergone its own rehabilitation since the advent of the Obama administration. And it’s not only Frum who’s benefited from MSNBC‘s selective memory of the early 2000s. Bush White House communications director Nicolle Wallace hosts a show, Deadline: White House, on the network every weekday; officials like Bush Chief of Staff Andrew Card and election strategist Steve Schmidt frequently appear on any one of the shows that fill out the week’s lineup.</p>
<p>Of course, MSNBC isn’t alone in scrubbing clean the images of those whose political careers have resulted in war, austerity and mass surveillance. In March, FAIR ( <a href="" type="internal">3/7/17</a>) reported on how George W. Bush was being feted by newspapers and morning television— and how the nostalgia around Bush’s time in office was part of a longstanding media tradition of normalization for political figures.</p>
<p>Stephen Colbert enlists Henry Kissinger’s help for a Daft Punk parody. (image: Comedy Central)</p>
<p>During Bush’s book tour, he was welcomed with delight by Ellen Degeneres, a woman whose marriage would have been impossible under Bush’s administration. As the host of the satirical Colbert Report, Colbert in 2013 included <a href="http://www.salon.com/2015/04/17/the_ivy_leagues_favorite_war_criminal_why_the_atrocities_of_henry_kissinger_should_be_mandatory_reading/" type="external">war criminal</a> Henry Kissinger—conservatively estimated to be responsible for at least <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/henry-kissinger-hillary-clintons-tutor-in-war-and-peace/" type="external">3 million deaths</a>—in a <a href="https://youtu.be/WaqhA5qTf7I?t=1m47s" type="external">quirky dance video</a>. Kissinger appeared on the Report for a softball interview <a href="http://digg.com/video/colbert-interviews-henry-kissinger" type="external">the following year</a>. Trump himself appeared on SNL in <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/donald-trump-hosts-saturday-night-live-amid-protests-n459341" type="external">late 2015</a>, well after his racist and misogynistic comments had become part and parcel of his campaign.</p>
<p>But even though this practice is a time-honored tradition, the 17 days between Spicer leaving the White House and his arrival onstage at one of Hollywood’s biggest events is notable for how swiftly the worm has turned for the former press secretary. If this is what Spicer’s post–White House career looks like, expect Trump to be back on the Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon less than 48 hours after he resigns from office.</p>
<p>“It’s a big club,” the late comedian George Carlin <a href="https://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&amp;address=389x37198" type="external">once said</a> of the elite in America, “and you ain’t in it!” It’s hard to imagine looking at Spicer’s appearance at the Emmys, and the intersection between the entertainment industry and the politicians they claim to #resist, and not understand that the world the corporate media inhabit is a world where the regular social and moral rules don’t apply. Once you’re in, you’re in.</p> | true | 4 | former trump spokesperson sean spicer emmys photo trae pattoncbs stephen colbert introduced surprise guest end emmys opening monologue sunday night audience didnt seem expect see former trump administration press secretary sean spicer late night host shocked crowdveep actress anna chlumsky particularly amazedwith selection one comedys favorite targets last year colbert brought spicer complete rolling press office podium melissa mccarthy made famous saturday night live impression mock president donald trump new york times transcript spicer largest audience witness emmys period person around world colbert wow really soothes fragile ego understand would want one guys around night went pictures emerged social media spicer enjoying backstage parties spicer photographed schmoozing late night hosts seth meyers james corden latter caught giving spicer kiss cheek actor alec baldwin emmy performance saturday night live mocking spicers former boss entertainment industry figures monday night late night stephen colbert using gag sponsored posts facebook quite turnaround spicer whose reputation lying service president included downplaying holocaust defending administrations muslim ban frank bruni new york times 91817 spicers appearance ringing stinging confirmation fame truly reward celebrity really trump everything redeem everyone given spicers recent history representing trump reaction joke decidedly mixed monday morning new york times columnist frank bruni 91817 frowned whole affair writing colbert abetted spicers image overhaul probably upped spicers speaking fees letting demonstrate selfeffacing sport could unnamed source close decision include spicer told entertainment outlet vulture 91817 joke though one intended everyone expectation everyone would love source said yet outrage appearance distaste spicers relatively quick public rehabilitation spicer left white house less three weeks ago august 31 fact par course corporate mediaboth news entertainmenttreat power leave washington slates jamelle bouie pointed much twitter monday expectation time different wrong bouie said debunking idea trump toxic preclude acolytes offered redemption msnbcs chris hayes tweeted sunday night shortly spicers appearance power gets forgiven gets fresh starts nicolle wallace george w bushs communications director anchor msnbcs deadline white house hayes know network works repeatedly given airtime george w bush administration speechwriter iraq war booster david frum whose image undergone rehabilitation since advent obama administration frum whos benefited msnbcs selective memory early 2000s bush white house communications director nicolle wallace hosts show deadline white house network every weekday officials like bush chief staff andrew card election strategist steve schmidt frequently appear one shows fill weeks lineup course msnbc isnt alone scrubbing clean images whose political careers resulted war austerity mass surveillance march fair 3717 reported george w bush feted newspapers morning television nostalgia around bushs time office part longstanding media tradition normalization political figures stephen colbert enlists henry kissingers help daft punk parody image comedy central bushs book tour welcomed delight ellen degeneres woman whose marriage would impossible bushs administration host satirical colbert report colbert 2013 included war criminal henry kissingerconservatively estimated responsible least 3 million deathsin quirky dance video kissinger appeared report softball interview following year trump appeared snl late 2015 well racist misogynistic comments become part parcel campaign even though practice timehonored tradition 17 days spicer leaving white house arrival onstage one hollywoods biggest events notable swiftly worm turned former press secretary spicers postwhite house career looks like expect trump back tonight show jimmy fallon less 48 hours resigns office big club late comedian george carlin said elite america aint hard imagine looking spicers appearance emmys intersection entertainment industry politicians claim resist understand world corporate media inhabit world regular social moral rules dont apply youre youre | 566 |
<p>Let’s give credit where credit is due.</p>
<p>The Texas Board of Education, in a press release announcing its revision of the public school history curriculum, states that those revisions include explaining “instances of institutional racism in American society.”</p>
<p>So are critics reacting unfairly in charging that Texas board with embedding bigotry within its emphasis on presenting America as a Christian and conservative nation?</p>
<p>Well, let’s point out that this mention of “institutional racism” comes right after that same press release highlights how Texas school students will now study the ideas of Confederate States’ President Jefferson Davis alongside those of Abraham Lincoln and will examine misconceptions about church-state separation in the US Constitution.</p>
<p>Now, given the rigid-right dictates driving the Texas Board’s revisions, it’s unlikely students in Texas will really receive accurate instruction about the contours of institutional racism in the Lone Star state or other locales around America. Unfortunately, their benighted decisions on what should and shouldn’t be in school history texts also impacts many students in other states too, because the textbook industry doesn’t want to print multiple editions of their expensive books, and Texas is a huge textbook market.</p>
<p>It is unlikely too that students will receive Education Board sanctioned instruction about the May 1916 lynching on the Waco, TX City Hall lawn that was attended by 15,000 spectators, some of whom cut off body parts of the black victim for souvenirs.</p>
<p>Texas does have the dubious distinction of having had the third highest number of lynching deaths in the U.S. between the mid-1880s to the 1950s, ranking behind Georgia and Mississippi.</p>
<p>Another unlikely classroom lesson for Texas students: the institutionally racist refusal of Texas’ two U.S. Senators (both Republicans like the Ed Board’s majority) to support the U.S. Senate’s June 2005 apology for that body’s despicable, decades-long failure to pass anti-lynching legislation.</p>
<p>As with lynching, there’s little likelihood of illuminating instruction on two pivotal U.S. Supreme Court rulings involving inequities in Texas that helped expand educational opportunity nationwide.</p>
<p>The high court’s June 1951 ruling barring Texas from denying Blacks admission to its prestigious UT Law School was an important decision on the legal road to that court’s seminal 1954 outlawing racial segregation in public schools that hammered institutional racism across America.</p>
<p>The Supreme Court applied the spirit of its 1954 decision in a 1975 ruling striking down a Texas statue denying educational funding to children of undocumented immigrants.</p>
<p>Given the good-ole-days view sought by the Board’s majority it’s doubtful either ruling ranks as Texas history meriting classroom examination.</p>
<p>Evidence of the Board’s ideological bent is obvious in its pushing for lessons on organizations like the Moral Majority and the Heritage Foundation, both of which defend privileges arising from institutional racism, while blotting from classroom review information about organizations like the League of United Latin American Citizens – a group that has challenged institutional racism.</p>
<p>Majority members of the Texas Board are committed to countering what they contend is liberal bias infecting education, like presenting facts in classrooms about minorities having made productive contributions to the “American Exceptionalism” Board members extol.</p>
<p>The Board that wants students to learn about conservative moment icon Phyllis Schlafly blows-off mention of the first Hispanic to sit on the U.S. Supreme Court Justice, Sonia Sotomayor.</p>
<p>Learning about Sotomayor’s historic elevation could inspire the Latino students who comprise 48% of the public school pupils in Texas.</p>
<p>“Rewriting history in the name of national pride isn’t patriotic, it’s ignorant,” the Texas NAACP noted, reacting to the conservative dogma driving the curriculum revisions.</p>
<p>The Texas Board of Education is not the only official body gripped by neo-Neanderthalism when it comes to race and racism in America.</p>
<p>Officials in Arizona recently approved legislation eliminating ethnic studies programs in public schools, a measure that specifically targets African-American studies, Native-American studies and especially Chicano studies in a state where nearly half of the students are Latino.</p>
<p>The claims of Arizona State Superintendent of Schools Tom Horne that ethnic studies promote hate and anti-Americanism are as ridiculous as Texas Ed Board member Don McLeroy contending the civil rights moment led to “unrealistic expectations for equal outcomes.”</p>
<p>The civil rights struggles of persons of color across America seek equitable access to opportunity pledged in the U.S. Constitution, not special preferences as conservatives falsely contend.</p>
<p>Dismissing the racially regressive educational practices in Arizona and Texas as understandable antics of former Confederate States (Arizona issued an Ordinance of Secession in 1861) misses the larger, more ominous reality that on matters of race most Americans prefer the comforting mental massage of myths.</p>
<p>Take Philadelphia, the nation’s original capital city, where revered historic legacy remains tainted by myths.</p>
<p>For decades the U.S. National Park Service suppressed information about America’s first president, George Washington, keeping slaves in his official residence then located around the corner from the hallowed Independence Hall in downtown Philadelphia.</p>
<p>Park Service officials defended this suppression of historic fact as not wanting to offend the sensitivities of visitors to Independence Historic Park, who themselves are steeped in the national mythology.</p>
<p>The place where George Washington kept his slaves inside his Philadelphia residence is now, in a grand irony, literally on the doorstep of the pavilion housing the Liberty Bell, that fabled icon named by abolitionists (not the Founding Fathers as the national mythology would have it.)</p>
<p>Knowledge is power…and abundant history proves that what we don’t know about race does hurt us as a nation.</p>
<p>One book that the Texas Board and like-minded conservatives certainly would like banned is Black Power: The Politics of Liberation in America co-authored by Stokely Carmichael, the man who coined the power phrase conservatives find so incendiary.</p>
<p>That small book published in 1967 contains quotes from a southern populist who in the 1890s once urged poor whites to unite with poor blacks against their common enemy: financial despotism. This populist rightly noted that “race antagonism perpetuates a monetary system which beggars both.”</p>
<p>The rich and powerful of the 1890s exploited racism to undermine efforts at interracial unity in order to preserve their position.</p>
<p>Today, as journalist Robert Parry rightly notes, big corporations are pulling a “big con on common folks” – manipulating the rage of Tea Baggers into seeing their enemy as advocacy groups like the NAACP and the National Council of La Raza not Wall Street financiers and mega-corporations that are really beggaring them.</p>
<p>The Texas Board of Education has it wrong. What’s un-American about education is restricting information.</p>
<p>LINN WASHINGTON is a Philadelphia journalist, Professor of Journalism at Temple University, and is a founding member of the new journalist-owned, journalist-run news collective and online newspaper ThisCantBeHappening.net. Read his stories and stories by colleagues John Grant, Dave Lindorff and Charles Young at <a href="http://www.thiscantbehappening.net" type="external">www.thiscantbehappening.net</a></p>
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<p /> | true | 4 | lets give credit credit due texas board education press release announcing revision public school history curriculum states revisions include explaining instances institutional racism american society critics reacting unfairly charging texas board embedding bigotry within emphasis presenting america christian conservative nation well lets point mention institutional racism comes right press release highlights texas school students study ideas confederate states president jefferson davis alongside abraham lincoln examine misconceptions churchstate separation us constitution given rigidright dictates driving texas boards revisions unlikely students texas really receive accurate instruction contours institutional racism lone star state locales around america unfortunately benighted decisions shouldnt school history texts also impacts many students states textbook industry doesnt want print multiple editions expensive books texas huge textbook market unlikely students receive education board sanctioned instruction may 1916 lynching waco tx city hall lawn attended 15000 spectators cut body parts black victim souvenirs texas dubious distinction third highest number lynching deaths us mid1880s 1950s ranking behind georgia mississippi another unlikely classroom lesson texas students institutionally racist refusal texas two us senators republicans like ed boards majority support us senates june 2005 apology bodys despicable decadeslong failure pass antilynching legislation lynching theres little likelihood illuminating instruction two pivotal us supreme court rulings involving inequities texas helped expand educational opportunity nationwide high courts june 1951 ruling barring texas denying blacks admission prestigious ut law school important decision legal road courts seminal 1954 outlawing racial segregation public schools hammered institutional racism across america supreme court applied spirit 1954 decision 1975 ruling striking texas statue denying educational funding children undocumented immigrants given goodoledays view sought boards majority doubtful either ruling ranks texas history meriting classroom examination evidence boards ideological bent obvious pushing lessons organizations like moral majority heritage foundation defend privileges arising institutional racism blotting classroom review information organizations like league united latin american citizens group challenged institutional racism majority members texas board committed countering contend liberal bias infecting education like presenting facts classrooms minorities made productive contributions american exceptionalism board members extol board wants students learn conservative moment icon phyllis schlafly blowsoff mention first hispanic sit us supreme court justice sonia sotomayor learning sotomayors historic elevation could inspire latino students comprise 48 public school pupils texas rewriting history name national pride isnt patriotic ignorant texas naacp noted reacting conservative dogma driving curriculum revisions texas board education official body gripped neoneanderthalism comes race racism america officials arizona recently approved legislation eliminating ethnic studies programs public schools measure specifically targets africanamerican studies nativeamerican studies especially chicano studies state nearly half students latino claims arizona state superintendent schools tom horne ethnic studies promote hate antiamericanism ridiculous texas ed board member mcleroy contending civil rights moment led unrealistic expectations equal outcomes civil rights struggles persons color across america seek equitable access opportunity pledged us constitution special preferences conservatives falsely contend dismissing racially regressive educational practices arizona texas understandable antics former confederate states arizona issued ordinance secession 1861 misses larger ominous reality matters race americans prefer comforting mental massage myths take philadelphia nations original capital city revered historic legacy remains tainted myths decades us national park service suppressed information americas first president george washington keeping slaves official residence located around corner hallowed independence hall downtown philadelphia park service officials defended suppression historic fact wanting offend sensitivities visitors independence historic park steeped national mythology place george washington kept slaves inside philadelphia residence grand irony literally doorstep pavilion housing liberty bell fabled icon named abolitionists founding fathers national mythology would knowledge powerand abundant history proves dont know race hurt us nation one book texas board likeminded conservatives certainly would like banned black power politics liberation america coauthored stokely carmichael man coined power phrase conservatives find incendiary small book published 1967 contains quotes southern populist 1890s urged poor whites unite poor blacks common enemy financial despotism populist rightly noted race antagonism perpetuates monetary system beggars rich powerful 1890s exploited racism undermine efforts interracial unity order preserve position today journalist robert parry rightly notes big corporations pulling big con common folks manipulating rage tea baggers seeing enemy advocacy groups like naacp national council la raza wall street financiers megacorporations really beggaring texas board education wrong whats unamerican education restricting information linn washington philadelphia journalist professor journalism temple university founding member new journalistowned journalistrun news collective online newspaper thiscantbehappeningnet read stories stories colleagues john grant dave lindorff charles young wwwthiscantbehappeningnet 160 words stick 160 | 720 |
<p>On September 21, Salih Booker, the director of the Africa Studies Program at the Washington-based Council on Foreign Relations ruling-class think tank, argued in the International Herald Tribune that the US government has failed to convince the UN Security Council to take tough action to end Sudan’s “government-sponsored campaign of genocide” in Darfur because it “cried wolf” over Saddam Hussein’s non-existent weapons of mass destruction in order to justify its illegal invasion of Iraq.</p>
<p>Booker and many other US liberals, as well as influential establishment organisations such as Human Rights Watch and the International Crisis Group (ICG), are campaigning for President George Bush to launch a military “humanitarian intervention” in western Darfur.</p>
<p>Booker claimed that, following the rebellion that erupted in western Sudan in February 2003, US Secretary of State Colin Powell “dithered” as Sudanese government-sponsored janjaweed Arab militia drove more than a million of the region’s non-Arabic speaking villagers from their lands. “The violence in Darfur went on for 16 months and international human rights groups and African advocacy groups shouted about this crime against humanity… the secretary stayed silent, even visiting the scene of the crime without saying the word `genocide’.”</p>
<p>According to Booker, “under pressure from activists across the [US] and across a broad spectrum of communities … [Powell on September 9] had no choice but to acknowledge the genocide publicly and head back to the UN with a new resolution calling for sanctions if Khartoum refuses to disarm militias in Darfur and allow a few more African Union [AU] soldiers in to monitor.”</p>
<p>However, in a replay of the process that watered-down the previous US-drafted Security Council resolution passed on July 30, the follow-up resolution that was passed on September 18 again dropped any specific reference to sanctions. The resolution said only that the Security Council “shall consider” taking “measures … such as actions to affect Sudan’s petroleum sector and the government of Sudan or individual members of the government of Sudan”.</p>
<p>The resolution did not impose a deadline for Khartoum to comply with the demand that it disarm the janjaweed. It urged Sudan to cooperate with an expanded AU monitoring force, without granting this force a “peacekeeping” mandate.</p>
<p>Booker singled out opposition from China and Russia as being the reason for Washington’s back-down, correctly pointing out that “China is the single largest investor in Sudan’s oil industry, Russia has significant arms deals with Khartoum, and both countries want to avoid scrutiny of their own internal wars against various ethnic communities”. `Lost moral authority’</p>
<p>Booker then claimed: “Once upon a time, Washington could have exercised its clout as the most powerful nation in the world and handily won over the support of these recalcitrant members. But now, the country that cried wolf has lost the moral authority it needs to rally its global neighbours to real action against genocide in Darfur.”</p>
<p>Is this really the case? Is Washington suddenly so enfeebled by its lack of “moral authority” from its Iraq war that it has no choice but to meekly roll over in the face of opposition from Moscow and Beijing? Booker’s naive explanation for Washington’s failure to launch a “humanitarian” invasion of Sudan – something he still hopes to convince the Bush administration to do – ignores the simple fact that the US, “as the most powerful nation in the world”, would simply disregard the views of Moscow and Beijing (as it did in Iraq) if the US rulers wanted to intervene in Darfur.</p>
<p>As Booker’s example of Iraq so starkly illustrates, US governments rule on behalf of the billionaire families that own the huge US-based corporations, especially the giant finance, oil and energy monopolies and act to advance these families’ collective economic and political interests.</p>
<p>Of course, US officials justify their actions by “crying wolf” about WMDs and terrorism, or by hypocritically draping themselves in the banners of “freedom”, “democracy” and “human rights”. But as Samantha Power, another passionate vocal advocate of US “humanitarian” intervention in Sudan, pointed out in her 2003 Pulitzer-prize winning book <a href="" type="internal">A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide</a>: “The United States has never in its history intervened to stop genocide and has in fact rarely even made a point of condemning it as it occurred.”</p>
<p>Power concluded that Washington’s failure to intervene in Sudan is not due to ignorance or impotence, but to “considered political inaction”.</p>
<p>Booker refuses to face the obvious facts: the US rulers’ interests at this stage in Sudan would not be served by invading. The suffering people of Darfur are simply pawns on Washington’s global geopolitical chessboard, useful to use as a pretext to exert diplomatic pressure on Khartoum to but ultimately expendable.</p>
<p>Carrot and stick</p>
<p>Washington is continuing the “carrot and stick” approach towards Khartoum that the Bush administration has pursued since it came to office in 2001. Knowing that Sudan’s regime is keen to normalise relations with the US, Washington’s goal has been to lure Sudan’s Islamist military rulers into cooperating with the US by offering the “carrot” of promises to lift US sanctions imposed in 1997 – which have left Sudan’s potentially huge oil industry starved of US investment – and the “stick” of the threat of UN sanctions.</p>
<p>Washington is also eager to lift its economic sanctions. Since 1997, US oil companies have been excluded from profiting from the massive expansion of Sudan’s oil industry since 1999, leaving the field free for their Chinese, Malaysian, Indian and European rivals.</p>
<p>One of the Bush administration’s earliest foreign policy objectives was to secure a peace agreement between Khartoum and the southern-based Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), allowing Washington to lift sanctions and facilitating US oil corporations’ return to Sudan.</p>
<p>Bush appointed former US senator John Danforth, currently Washington’s UN ambassador, as his “special envoy for peace in Sudan”. In July 2002, Danforth, with bribes and threats, convinced the SPLM and Khartoum to sign a draft peace agreement that promised an autonomous secular government in the south (while Islamic law would continue to govern the northern two-thirds of the country). An informal cease-fire agreement was reached in October 2002.</p>
<p>Oil revenue</p>
<p>In May, the two sides agreed that oil revenue from the southern oil fields would be split between the SPLM-dominated southern regional government and the central government in Khartoum. All that remained was for further talks, which were scheduled to begin on June 22, to finalise procedures for an internationally monitored cease-fire agreement and a timeline for implementing the peace deal. However, the escalating crisis in Darfur stalled the process.</p>
<p>When the Darfur rebellion erupted, Washington did not “dither”, it simply ignored the government-directed atrocities being inflicted on the people of Darfur because it did not think they would seriously impact on the main game. It was only when Khartoum’s brutal treatment of the Darfuris threatened to derail the north-south peace deal and prevent the opening of Sudan’s lucrative oilfields to greater Western exploitation – not any misty-eyed concern for the people of Darfur – that Powell moved to apply pressure on Khartoum through the Security Council.</p>
<p>Despite playing the role of “tough cop” at the UN, US officials have worked closely with both UN secretary-general Kofi Annan and the AU to create the outlines of a settlement that will be tolerable for Khartoum, and sufficient to defuse the Darfur crisis enough to allow the final phase of the north-south peace negotiations to resume.</p>
<p>The main goal of the September 18 Security Council resolution seems to be to maintain pressure on Khartoum to moderate its attacks in Darfur, and to accept a “larger international presence” based on an expansion of the existing 305-member AU military force, there to protect AU cease-fire monitors, to 3000-5000 troops. On September 25, UN envoy to Sudan Jan Pronk reported that Sudanese officials had told him they would accept a larger AU force with greater responsibilities.</p>
<p>Powell, UN and AU officials are studiously avoiding any reference to this force as a “peacekeeping” mission, instead describing its tasks as providing “proactive monitoring and patrolling of all parts of Darfur” and to “enhancing security and facilitating the delivery of humanitarian relief”. This amounts to an assurance that the very forces Powell accuses of engaging in “genocide” – Khartoum’s army and police, in which many janjaweed have been recently incorporated – will be allowed to maintain control of Darfur.</p>
<p>Powell candidly explained Washington’s realpolitik-approach to Darfur when he told Reuters on September 1: “We have seen some progress but we have to keep the pressure [on Sudan] up… It’s always been a case of orchestrated pressure in a way that moves the government along and improves the situation and keeps the pressure up, but not to the point where you might get a consequence that you might not like or is unintended.”</p>
<p>On September 23, US special envoy to Sudan Charles Snyder reaffirmed Washington’s position that the priority was the resumption of the north-south peace process. “The political solution to Darfur ultimately lies in the federal process within [the SPLM-Khartoum talks]”, Snyder told Reuters after meeting with Sudan’s first vice-president Ali Osman Mohamed Taha. Taha announced that the stalled talks will resume on October 7 in the Kenyan town of Naivasha.</p>
<p>The following day, Snyder again reassured Khartoum when he told Associated Press that there were “no 30-day [or] 90-day quick fixes” to the “problem” in Darfur. “This is going to take, in my opinion, 18 months to two years to conclude the first phase” of securing the region to allow for people to return to their homes, Snyder said. The UN’s Jan Pronk on September 25 concurred: “Of course it is slow, but pressure works.”</p>
<p>NORM DIXON writes for <a href="http://www.greenleft.org.au/" type="external">Green Left Weekly</a>.</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | true | 4 | september 21 salih booker director africa studies program washingtonbased council foreign relations rulingclass think tank argued international herald tribune us government failed convince un security council take tough action end sudans governmentsponsored campaign genocide darfur cried wolf saddam husseins nonexistent weapons mass destruction order justify illegal invasion iraq booker many us liberals well influential establishment organisations human rights watch international crisis group icg campaigning president george bush launch military humanitarian intervention western darfur booker claimed following rebellion erupted western sudan february 2003 us secretary state colin powell dithered sudanese governmentsponsored janjaweed arab militia drove million regions nonarabic speaking villagers lands violence darfur went 16 months international human rights groups african advocacy groups shouted crime humanity secretary stayed silent even visiting scene crime without saying word genocide according booker pressure activists across us across broad spectrum communities powell september 9 choice acknowledge genocide publicly head back un new resolution calling sanctions khartoum refuses disarm militias darfur allow african union au soldiers monitor however replay process watereddown previous usdrafted security council resolution passed july 30 followup resolution passed september 18 dropped specific reference sanctions resolution said security council shall consider taking measures actions affect sudans petroleum sector government sudan individual members government sudan resolution impose deadline khartoum comply demand disarm janjaweed urged sudan cooperate expanded au monitoring force without granting force peacekeeping mandate booker singled opposition china russia reason washingtons backdown correctly pointing china single largest investor sudans oil industry russia significant arms deals khartoum countries want avoid scrutiny internal wars various ethnic communities lost moral authority booker claimed upon time washington could exercised clout powerful nation world handily support recalcitrant members country cried wolf lost moral authority needs rally global neighbours real action genocide darfur really case washington suddenly enfeebled lack moral authority iraq war choice meekly roll face opposition moscow beijing bookers naive explanation washingtons failure launch humanitarian invasion sudan something still hopes convince bush administration ignores simple fact us powerful nation world would simply disregard views moscow beijing iraq us rulers wanted intervene darfur bookers example iraq starkly illustrates us governments rule behalf billionaire families huge usbased corporations especially giant finance oil energy monopolies act advance families collective economic political interests course us officials justify actions crying wolf wmds terrorism hypocritically draping banners freedom democracy human rights samantha power another passionate vocal advocate us humanitarian intervention sudan pointed 2003 pulitzerprize winning book problem hell america age genocide united states never history intervened stop genocide fact rarely even made point condemning occurred power concluded washingtons failure intervene sudan due ignorance impotence considered political inaction booker refuses face obvious facts us rulers interests stage sudan would served invading suffering people darfur simply pawns washingtons global geopolitical chessboard useful use pretext exert diplomatic pressure khartoum ultimately expendable carrot stick washington continuing carrot stick approach towards khartoum bush administration pursued since came office 2001 knowing sudans regime keen normalise relations us washingtons goal lure sudans islamist military rulers cooperating us offering carrot promises lift us sanctions imposed 1997 left sudans potentially huge oil industry starved us investment stick threat un sanctions washington also eager lift economic sanctions since 1997 us oil companies excluded profiting massive expansion sudans oil industry since 1999 leaving field free chinese malaysian indian european rivals one bush administrations earliest foreign policy objectives secure peace agreement khartoum southernbased sudan peoples liberation movement splm allowing washington lift sanctions facilitating us oil corporations return sudan bush appointed former us senator john danforth currently washingtons un ambassador special envoy peace sudan july 2002 danforth bribes threats convinced splm khartoum sign draft peace agreement promised autonomous secular government south islamic law would continue govern northern twothirds country informal ceasefire agreement reached october 2002 oil revenue may two sides agreed oil revenue southern oil fields would split splmdominated southern regional government central government khartoum remained talks scheduled begin june 22 finalise procedures internationally monitored ceasefire agreement timeline implementing peace deal however escalating crisis darfur stalled process darfur rebellion erupted washington dither simply ignored governmentdirected atrocities inflicted people darfur think would seriously impact main game khartoums brutal treatment darfuris threatened derail northsouth peace deal prevent opening sudans lucrative oilfields greater western exploitation mistyeyed concern people darfur powell moved apply pressure khartoum security council despite playing role tough cop un us officials worked closely un secretarygeneral kofi annan au create outlines settlement tolerable khartoum sufficient defuse darfur crisis enough allow final phase northsouth peace negotiations resume main goal september 18 security council resolution seems maintain pressure khartoum moderate attacks darfur accept larger international presence based expansion existing 305member au military force protect au ceasefire monitors 30005000 troops september 25 un envoy sudan jan pronk reported sudanese officials told would accept larger au force greater responsibilities powell un au officials studiously avoiding reference force peacekeeping mission instead describing tasks providing proactive monitoring patrolling parts darfur enhancing security facilitating delivery humanitarian relief amounts assurance forces powell accuses engaging genocide khartoums army police many janjaweed recently incorporated allowed maintain control darfur powell candidly explained washingtons realpolitikapproach darfur told reuters september 1 seen progress keep pressure sudan always case orchestrated pressure way moves government along improves situation keeps pressure point might get consequence might like unintended september 23 us special envoy sudan charles snyder reaffirmed washingtons position priority resumption northsouth peace process political solution darfur ultimately lies federal process within splmkhartoum talks snyder told reuters meeting sudans first vicepresident ali osman mohamed taha taha announced stalled talks resume october 7 kenyan town naivasha following day snyder reassured khartoum told associated press 30day 90day quick fixes problem darfur going take opinion 18 months two years conclude first phase securing region allow people return homes snyder said uns jan pronk september 25 concurred course slow pressure works norm dixon writes green left weekly 160 | 951 |
<p>“President Sukarno of Indonesia once said, ‘We silence the enemies of freedom.'” Ghazwan Al-Mukhti slumps back in his chair, silently gauging the effect of that absurdly ironic statement on his listeners.</p>
<p>And Ghazwan is an Iraqi who lives his ironies: a denouncer of Saddam regime inequities who continues to live in Iraq; a man who worked hard to provide for his family and his retirement, only to have his assets frozen in foreign banks as a result of U.N. Resolution 687; a heart attack-age guy who’s trying to quit smoking, but liberally helps himself to my cigarettes all thru 2 separate conversations; a well spoken professional who peppers his gravel-voiced diatribes with pungent American profanities.</p>
<p>He’s been asked to join the <a href="http://www.nonviolence.org/vitw/" type="external">Voices in the Wilderness</a> Writers Project, a unique attempt to give Iraqis an Internet forum. VitW is the Chicago-based group that has been working since ’96 to end the economic sanctions against Iraq. I give him a call, and he agrees to meet me in the dining room of the Al-Fanar Hotel, Voices’ headquarters in Baghdad.</p>
<p>Ghazwan studied geophysics at Cal Berkley, and graduated with an engineering degree from Marquette in ’67. For most of his career, he sold medical supplies to hospitals. He says he has too scientific a mind to be a writer, yet he has written dozens of articles over the years, critical not only of the U.N. sanctions against his country, but also the current regime in Baghdad.</p>
<p>“I never wrote until I had to vent my frustration over Iraq being singled out for punishment,” he says.</p>
<p>Iraq, once boasted the highest standard of medical care in the Middle East outside of Israel. He bemoans the 12-year information gap that the sanctions created when they cut Iraq off from world developments in the medical field. Compounding the problem, thousands of health care professionals have been lost to death or emigration. Altogether, 2 million people have left Iraq since the sanctions were imposed.</p>
<p>“Are they political refugees? Are they economic refugees? If they leave Iraq, they must claim political asylum because no country will recognize economic refugees. And these are highly qualified people we’re talking about, scientists, professors. My own brother-in-law is in a camp in Sweden.</p>
<p>“The U.S. accepted refugees from the north (Kurdish Iraq) in ’92. They took anyone, doctors, peasants. They (the U.S.) said that Mr. Sadddam was threatening the Kurds. Then the Kurdish leaders Barzani and Talibani invite Mr. Saddam to mediate some problems between them. They ask him to do this!” This request made the American position look ridiculous. The U.S. retaliated for this affront to their credibility by bombing Baghdad itself that January. The prestigious Al Rasheed Hotel took a hit, injuring many foreign guests and killing 2 employees.</p>
<p>We discuss Halabja, the Kurdish town where Saddam supposedly “gassed his own people”. It is a card that the Bush administration plays often because it plays well with the American press and public. In fact, the gassing of the town occurred during a battle between Iraqis and Iranians at the end of their 8-year war. A U.S. Military College report at the time found that most of the Kurds there had died of cyanide, a gas used exclusively by the Iranian army. A Roger Trilling article in New York City’s Village Voice, 5/1/02, confirmed this.</p>
<p>“Why was the (true) Halabja story buried? Why, when Al Gore speaks against war with Iraq, does CNN cut his speech in half? He leans forward in his chair again..”Who gave the order to cut Gore?”..and let’s the question dangle. “When Jimmy Carter comes out against the war, it’s buried. In the U.S., who do you point at? Here, when we want to point the finger at our censor, we point at the Ministry of Information.”</p>
<p>(I stop the interview, concerned about printing what he’s saying. He assures me that he’s been criticizing his government for years. “If they wanted to shoot me, they would have done it by now.”)</p>
<p>“In 1988, your Congress passed a resolution calling for (limited) sanctions against Iraq (oil imports, weaponry) because of Halabja. President Reagan vetoed it.” That House resolution was virtually copied in 1990 to become U.N. Resolution 687 (the sanctions measure that has been in place ever since).</p>
<p>Yet despite the bitter fruit of those sanctions, 500,000 Iraqi children dead of malnutrition and treatable diseases since 1991, Americans seem blithely unaware of it all.</p>
<p>“The average American, when it comes to international politics, is illiterate. The smallest school child anywhere knows more about the world than an American. Illiteracy and democracy-that’s a contradiction.”</p>
<p>Taking up the oxymoron of America “imposing democracy” on other nations: “I have a headache (‘headache’ is his metaphor for the Saddam regime). I don’t complain to you about it. But you say you want to fix my headache. You will cut off my head to fix my headache!”</p>
<p>On the Bush administration’s current favorite to replace Saddam: “Impose an Al-Chalabi dynasty? A crook and embezzler who had to run out of the country in the trunk of a car?</p>
<p>“That’s our middle class now, criminals. The sanctions squeezed out the middle class, and crooks and embezzlers took their place.” His wife’s career is an object illustration in what happened-she was a gynecologist who in 1979 was being paid $300 a month by the government. In 1991 her salary shrank to $60. In 2000 she retired because she was only getting $15 a month.</p>
<p>Ghazwan sold and serviced medical equipment from ’74 to ’90, the year of the Gulf War. He had done very well for himself up to that point, but “I gave myself an early retirement,” meaning that suddenly he could find no work. “I’m a double victim of sanctions. I put my money in foreign banks, and then the sanctions froze the Iraqi assets. Now I have to borrow money to live.” He squints and smiles. “I fight the sanctions now so my kids don’t have to leave me some day, just when I’m too fucking old to do anything anymore!</p>
<p>“I think Mr. Saddam is laughing now. He’s laughing because the Americans are proving him right with their double standards. Mr. Rumsfeld was in Baghdad to re-establish relations with Iraq in ’85. He was fully aware of the Amnesty International report on this (the Saddam) regime. But today suddenly he says that he can’t deal with this regime?</p>
<p>“Between 1948 and 1998, there are 50 U.N. resolutions Israel has not abided by. This double standard of the Americans (ignoring the Israeli government’s treatment of the Palestinians while demanding Iraqi compliance with tough U.N. resolutions) is making the U.N. irrelevant.”</p>
<p>Dennis Halliday, former U.N. Director of Iraqi Relief Programs, has said much the same thing. Blaming U.S. coercion and deal making in the Security Council, Halliday says frankly, “The U.N. is dying.” And he labels the sanctions “a genocide”.</p>
<p>The U.S., in its dependence on military solutions to solve its problems, is sowing the seeds of further violence against Americans. “And it’s not only the poor and disenfranchised who will be responsible” for acts such as the recent attacks on Americans in Kuwait and Jordan. America foreign policy is radicalizing what Ghazwan calls the “Pepsi Generation”, the young and affluent Saudis, Kuwaitis, and Egyptians.</p>
<p>He tells the story of the Baghdad professional man who came home on 9/11/01, stupefied by what had happened in New York and Washington. There, clustered around the TV were his son and a bunch of his friends-celebrating. What unnerved the man was not only that they should welcome such a tragedy, but that these kids, up to then, had never before evinced any interest in political matters.</p>
<p>When the brother of the man who perpetrated the Kuwait attacks was questioned, he said that his brother had seen something about the Palestinians on TV, and had acted out of a sense of helplessness and rage. No matter how corrupt their governments are, “average Arabs are in solidarity with their fellow Arabs. An Egyptian feels the same voicelessness as a Palestinian.”</p>
<p>We discuss the depleted uranium (DU) problem in Iraq. During the Gulf War, the U.S. and Britain fired 300 tons of DU shells and bullets, exposing Iraqis and American servicemen alike to its radiological and chemical toxicity. 110,000 Gulf War veterans have applied for disability benefits; the military refuses to recognize most of these claims, which include cancers, genetic mutations among their children, immune disorders, and memory loss. Meanwhile, cancer in parts of southern Iraq has risen by 1800%.</p>
<p>“Suppose a cruise missile hits a building, a hospital. Reconstruction of the building spreads the radioactive dust all over. The isotope-it’s like you’ve inhaled a nuclear generator, and now it’s trapped in you. Oxidation takes place, and the rainwater washes DU oxide into the soil, the plants. Animals eat the plants.”</p>
<p>On what he would do if America invades Iraq: “I can’t leave here, I’m too old. I built things, I worked on public projects here. I’m a part of this country. Last night my wife wakes up in the middle of the night, she can’t sleep. She says, ‘Ghazwan, what will we do, where will we go?” I told her, ‘we’ll stay in our house and wait for the bombs. What else can we do?’ I ask you, is that any way to live?”</p>
<p>He’s successfully ducked a writing assignment by instead giving me a full-length interview. I congratulate him on the ruse, and that’s his cue. “Now I must go. We are ruled by women. If I don’t go now, I won’t be allowed to go out tomorrow night.”</p>
<p>By the time the interview ends, various Voices members who’ve stopped into the dining room for a quick meal sit clustered around us. And as he strides out of the room, someone mutters admiringly, “What an old lion.” Afterwards, Farah Mokhtareizedeh remembers that the first time she met him he’d said, “Voices in the Wilderness? Are you sure you don’t mean ‘Voices Lost in the Wilderness of America?'”</p>
<p>Joe Quandt is a member of <a href="http://www.nonviolence.org/vitw/" type="external">Voices in the Wilderness</a>. This interview was conducted in Baghdad in October. He can be reached at: <a href="mailto:ytonthemoon@aol.com" type="external">ytonthemoon@aol.com</a></p>
<p>&#160;</p> | true | 4 | president sukarno indonesia said silence enemies freedom ghazwan almukhti slumps back chair silently gauging effect absurdly ironic statement listeners ghazwan iraqi lives ironies denouncer saddam regime inequities continues live iraq man worked hard provide family retirement assets frozen foreign banks result un resolution 687 heart attackage guy whos trying quit smoking liberally helps cigarettes thru 2 separate conversations well spoken professional peppers gravelvoiced diatribes pungent american profanities hes asked join voices wilderness writers project unique attempt give iraqis internet forum vitw chicagobased group working since 96 end economic sanctions iraq give call agrees meet dining room alfanar hotel voices headquarters baghdad ghazwan studied geophysics cal berkley graduated engineering degree marquette 67 career sold medical supplies hospitals says scientific mind writer yet written dozens articles years critical un sanctions country also current regime baghdad never wrote vent frustration iraq singled punishment says iraq boasted highest standard medical care middle east outside israel bemoans 12year information gap sanctions created cut iraq world developments medical field compounding problem thousands health care professionals lost death emigration altogether 2 million people left iraq since sanctions imposed political refugees economic refugees leave iraq must claim political asylum country recognize economic refugees highly qualified people talking scientists professors brotherinlaw camp sweden us accepted refugees north kurdish iraq 92 took anyone doctors peasants us said mr sadddam threatening kurds kurdish leaders barzani talibani invite mr saddam mediate problems ask request made american position look ridiculous us retaliated affront credibility bombing baghdad january prestigious al rasheed hotel took hit injuring many foreign guests killing 2 employees discuss halabja kurdish town saddam supposedly gassed people card bush administration plays often plays well american press public fact gassing town occurred battle iraqis iranians end 8year war us military college report time found kurds died cyanide gas used exclusively iranian army roger trilling article new york citys village voice 5102 confirmed true halabja story buried al gore speaks war iraq cnn cut speech half leans forward chair againwho gave order cut goreand lets question dangle jimmy carter comes war buried us point want point finger censor point ministry information stop interview concerned printing hes saying assures hes criticizing government years wanted shoot would done 1988 congress passed resolution calling limited sanctions iraq oil imports weaponry halabja president reagan vetoed house resolution virtually copied 1990 become un resolution 687 sanctions measure place ever since yet despite bitter fruit sanctions 500000 iraqi children dead malnutrition treatable diseases since 1991 americans seem blithely unaware average american comes international politics illiterate smallest school child anywhere knows world american illiteracy democracythats contradiction taking oxymoron america imposing democracy nations headache headache metaphor saddam regime dont complain say want fix headache cut head fix headache bush administrations current favorite replace saddam impose alchalabi dynasty crook embezzler run country trunk car thats middle class criminals sanctions squeezed middle class crooks embezzlers took place wifes career object illustration happenedshe gynecologist 1979 paid 300 month government 1991 salary shrank 60 2000 retired getting 15 month ghazwan sold serviced medical equipment 74 90 year gulf war done well point gave early retirement meaning suddenly could find work im double victim sanctions put money foreign banks sanctions froze iraqi assets borrow money live squints smiles fight sanctions kids dont leave day im fucking old anything anymore think mr saddam laughing hes laughing americans proving right double standards mr rumsfeld baghdad reestablish relations iraq 85 fully aware amnesty international report saddam regime today suddenly says cant deal regime 1948 1998 50 un resolutions israel abided double standard americans ignoring israeli governments treatment palestinians demanding iraqi compliance tough un resolutions making un irrelevant dennis halliday former un director iraqi relief programs said much thing blaming us coercion deal making security council halliday says frankly un dying labels sanctions genocide us dependence military solutions solve problems sowing seeds violence americans poor disenfranchised responsible acts recent attacks americans kuwait jordan america foreign policy radicalizing ghazwan calls pepsi generation young affluent saudis kuwaitis egyptians tells story baghdad professional man came home 91101 stupefied happened new york washington clustered around tv son bunch friendscelebrating unnerved man welcome tragedy kids never evinced interest political matters brother man perpetrated kuwait attacks questioned said brother seen something palestinians tv acted sense helplessness rage matter corrupt governments average arabs solidarity fellow arabs egyptian feels voicelessness palestinian discuss depleted uranium du problem iraq gulf war us britain fired 300 tons du shells bullets exposing iraqis american servicemen alike radiological chemical toxicity 110000 gulf war veterans applied disability benefits military refuses recognize claims include cancers genetic mutations among children immune disorders memory loss meanwhile cancer parts southern iraq risen 1800 suppose cruise missile hits building hospital reconstruction building spreads radioactive dust isotopeits like youve inhaled nuclear generator trapped oxidation takes place rainwater washes du oxide soil plants animals eat plants would america invades iraq cant leave im old built things worked public projects im part country last night wife wakes middle night cant sleep says ghazwan go told well stay house wait bombs else ask way live hes successfully ducked writing assignment instead giving fulllength interview congratulate ruse thats cue must go ruled women dont go wont allowed go tomorrow night time interview ends various voices members whove stopped dining room quick meal sit clustered around us strides room someone mutters admiringly old lion afterwards farah mokhtareizedeh remembers first time met hed said voices wilderness sure dont mean voices lost wilderness america joe quandt member voices wilderness interview conducted baghdad october reached ytonthemoonaolcom 160 | 908 |
<p>Over the last few years, a growing numbers of authors have convincingly argued that America’s social order is in a deepening crisis. &#160;Among these studies are: Louis Uchtelle, <a href="" type="internal">The Disposable American</a> (2007); Naomi Klein, <a href="" type="internal">The Shock Doctrine</a>, (2008); Don Peck, <a href="" type="internal">Pinched</a>(2011); Donald Barlett and James Steele, <a href="" type="internal">The Betrayal of the American Dream</a> (2012); D. W. Gibson, <a href="" type="internal">Not Working</a> (2012); and Barbara Garson, <a href="" type="internal">Down the Up Escalator</a> (2013).</p>
<p>These and other writers argue that the Great Recession and the still-unfulfilled recovery — what economist Paul Krugman identified as the Second Great Depression — bespeaks something more then just one more capitalist crisis, another speed-bump in globalization.&#160; It is restructuring the nation’s economic life, with profound political, social and personal consequences.&#160; One can wonder if this restructuring is fostering a new social order best conceived of as “postmodern serfdom”?</p>
<p>Postmodern serfdom may be distinguished by four key attributes: (i) internationally, capitalism is restructuring and U.S. global hegemony is fraying; (ii) domestically, the post-WW-II good-life of the “American Dream” is slipping away; (iii) politically, democracy is eroding, a casualty of big money and voter suppression; and (iv) legally, law enforcement is being increasingly militarized.</p>
<p>These factors contribute to an ever-deepening inequality represented not merely by the tyranny of the 1 percent.&#160; It is also fostering the rise of the postmodern serf, an ever-growing number of citizens (and non-citizens) doomed to perpetual economic and social poverty — people stuck in a life of misery. &#160;Collectively, these developments may preconfigure a very bleak future for an increasing number of Americans.</p>
<p>The leading presidential candidates, Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton, neither fully appreciate the structural transformation the U.S. is undergoing nor offer programmatic policies that really address the crisis developing in its wake.&#160; They share a common (mis)belief that the U.S. can once again fulfill the post-WW-II promise.&#160; Sadly, those days seem very much over and are being replaced by an era of postmodern serfdom.</p>
<p>* * *</p>
<p>Premodern or feudal serfdom flourished throughout Europe for nearly two millennia.&#160; In Britain, it dates from around the year 1000; it was finally abolished in Russia in 1861.&#160; Under serfdom, class tyranny ruled.&#160; Peasant serfs knew their place and had neither economic nor political power; a royal, deified nobility ruled — no wonder the British gentry were called “Lords.”&#160; But serfs were not powerless, as Eric Hobsbawm reveals in <a href="" type="internal">Primitive Rebels</a>, his legendary tale of pre-modern peasant uprisings.</p>
<p>Feudalism – as a form of social organization – fostered its own contradictions, one of which prefigured the rise of the modern nation state. &#160;&#160;And with it, the aristocracy of old was overthrown, superseded, by a new social order, the capitalist class.</p>
<p>The transformation of feudalism was marked by three developments.&#160; First, by an economic system; agrarian society was superseded by a society based on pre- and early-industrial capitalism.&#160; Second, by a political system; the godly tyrant was superseded by a leader chosen through (limited, representative) democracy.&#160; And third, a belief system based on religious thought and superstition was superseded by one based on reason and science.&#160; These developments helped shape a capitalism system that incubated a social order based on secular modernism.</p>
<p>The U.S. fostered its own forms of quasi-feudalism.&#160; One was indentured servitude that operated from 1608 to the early-1800s.&#160; The second and most deeply scaring was the enslavement of Africans and African-Americans that formally lasted from 1619 to 1865 and, informally, persisted under Jim Crow policies well into the 20th century.</p>
<p>Postmodern serfdom seeks to reconstitute an earlier system of social hierarchy through 21st century rebranding.&#160; The king and nobles once ruled, with a supplicant church and legal system promulgated the ideological glue that held society together.&#160; Today, the new nobility of the 1 percent rules and is assisted by a fawningly army of political operatives and law-and-order functionaries — and the nearly all-powerful ideological glue of a vast distraction industry that includes the information and entertainment media.</p>
<p>Those most subjected to the tyranny of postmodern serfdom are the postmodern serfs, the new generation of proletariat laborers who live precarious lives.&#160;&#160; Richard Florida, who celebrated the rise of the “creative class,” has identified the new low-wage service workers as a key component of this new social hierarchy.</p>
<p>In a 2012 Atlantic article, he estimates that the new “underclass” consists of about 60 million Americans who make up the a new working class, “the service class.”&#160; He identifies this sector as “some of America’s fastest-growing job categories, such as food preparation, personal care, and retail sales, but on average they earn just over $30,000 in annual wages, and many quite a bit less than that”&#160; (The U.S. Census reports the average median household income for 2013 at $51,939.)</p>
<p>Florida also includes in this sector “the unemployed, the displaced, and the disconnected to these tens of millions of low-wage service workers, and the population of post-industrialism’s left-behinds surges to as many as two-thirds of all Americans.”&#160; He concludes, with a bitter warning:&#160; “Worse yet, the ranks of the 66 percent are a product of the very structure of post-industrial capitalism. If the top third of America’s workers are navigating and prospering in the knowledge economy, the other two-thirds are disconnected and sinking.”</p>
<p>C.Z. Nnaemeka calls this new part of the working class as the “unexotic underclass” and identifies three sectors :</p>
<p>* single mothers – “80% of whom, according to the US Census, are poor or hovering on the nasty edges of working poverty.”</p>
<p>* veterans of two ongoing wars in the Middle East – “some of these veterans, having served multiple tours, are returning from combat with all manner of monstrosities ravaging their heads and bodies.”</p>
<p>* people over 50 – who are “finding themselves suddenly jobless.&#160; These are the Untouchables of the new American workforce.”</p>
<p>And the list of the underclass of postmodern serfs goes on and on.&#160; It includes coffee-shop baristas burdened by enormous student debt; the legions of contingent workers – i.e., freelancers, contractors, consultants — hungry for a paycheck and willing to work for what’s been dubbed “the sharing economy; and the adjunct faculty, the exploited intellectual labor force who keeps the billion-dollar collage-education racket functioning.</p>
<p>These are wageworkers in the “legal” economy. One need only add in those of the “underground” economy – e.g., neighborhood dope dealers, local hookers or small-time hustlers — and the number grows.&#160; And don’t forget the millions of unemployed who’ve given up and are no longer counted by counted among the unemployed.</p>
<p>* * *</p>
<p>Does anyone still believe in the American Dream, that the nation’s better days remain ahead?&#160;&#160; For nearly three-quarters of a century, Americans embraced a shared ideology that hard work, increased debt and white skin privilege would guarantee them – and, more importantly, their children – a better tomorrow.</p>
<p>The belief in the American Dream is grounded in what Henry Luce, founder of Time magazine, announced in early 1941 as the “American Century.”&#160; He proclaimed his vision when the country was finally recovering from the Great Depression and word war was still overseas, in Europe and Asia.&#160; Isolationism was the national sentiment and principle foreign-policy strategy.&#160; Pearl Harbor broke the isolationist bubble, turning Luce’s words into the nation’s war chant, “the 20th century is the American Century.”</p>
<p>Today, the American Century is over – and, increasingly, Americans know it.&#160; &#160;&#160;In its wake, a great social restructuring is underway.&#160; The slow emergence of postmodern serfdom may more resemble the fabled frog in a slowly heating pot of water that a catastrophic social or economic crisis.&#160; And the proverbial heat is rising.&#160; One senses that this issue is at the heart of the 2016 presidential campaign and both Bernie Sanders and Trump spoke to the deepening sense of disillusionment it is fostering.</p>
<p>If the American Century is over, could the U.S. be — dialectically speaking — returning to an era not dissimilar to that which preceded WW-II and its great postwar recovery?&#160; The U.S. may be reliving an historical experience not dissimilar to the mid- to late-1930s when Pres. Roosevelt’s “New Deal” recovery from the Great Depression was floundering.&#160; The economy was stuck and the well-intentioned programs that had kept the nation afloat during the early- and mid-years of the Depression no longer worked. &#160;The war saved the U.S. from itself and propelled it forward over the following quarter century.</p>
<p>The inequality and austerity that drives postmodern serfdom is being imposed at the system’s peripheries. In Europe, it was imposed on Greece and Spain, both suffering under Germany-imposed austerity.&#160; In the U.S., it was imposed on Detroit and &#160;— with the complicity of Congress and the President – on its colony, Puerto Rico. &#160;But it’s also being imposed on the weakest social sectors, the underclass or new serfs.</p>
<p>The great squeeze, postmodern serfdom, is underway.&#160; The temperature in the proverbial pot of water is slowly rising and the great American frog will increasingly feel the heat.</p> | true | 4 | last years growing numbers authors convincingly argued americas social order deepening crisis 160among studies louis uchtelle disposable american 2007 naomi klein shock doctrine 2008 peck pinched2011 donald barlett james steele betrayal american dream 2012 w gibson working 2012 barbara garson escalator 2013 writers argue great recession stillunfulfilled recovery economist paul krugman identified second great depression bespeaks something one capitalist crisis another speedbump globalization160 restructuring nations economic life profound political social personal consequences160 one wonder restructuring fostering new social order best conceived postmodern serfdom postmodern serfdom may distinguished four key attributes internationally capitalism restructuring us global hegemony fraying ii domestically postwwii goodlife american dream slipping away iii politically democracy eroding casualty big money voter suppression iv legally law enforcement increasingly militarized factors contribute everdeepening inequality represented merely tyranny 1 percent160 also fostering rise postmodern serf evergrowing number citizens noncitizens doomed perpetual economic social poverty people stuck life misery 160collectively developments may preconfigure bleak future increasing number americans leading presidential candidates republican donald trump democrat hillary clinton neither fully appreciate structural transformation us undergoing offer programmatic policies really address crisis developing wake160 share common misbelief us fulfill postwwii promise160 sadly days seem much replaced era postmodern serfdom premodern feudal serfdom flourished throughout europe nearly two millennia160 britain dates around year 1000 finally abolished russia 1861160 serfdom class tyranny ruled160 peasant serfs knew place neither economic political power royal deified nobility ruled wonder british gentry called lords160 serfs powerless eric hobsbawm reveals primitive rebels legendary tale premodern peasant uprisings feudalism form social organization fostered contradictions one prefigured rise modern nation state 160160and aristocracy old overthrown superseded new social order capitalist class transformation feudalism marked three developments160 first economic system agrarian society superseded society based pre earlyindustrial capitalism160 second political system godly tyrant superseded leader chosen limited representative democracy160 third belief system based religious thought superstition superseded one based reason science160 developments helped shape capitalism system incubated social order based secular modernism us fostered forms quasifeudalism160 one indentured servitude operated 1608 early1800s160 second deeply scaring enslavement africans africanamericans formally lasted 1619 1865 informally persisted jim crow policies well 20th century postmodern serfdom seeks reconstitute earlier system social hierarchy 21st century rebranding160 king nobles ruled supplicant church legal system promulgated ideological glue held society together160 today new nobility 1 percent rules assisted fawningly army political operatives lawandorder functionaries nearly allpowerful ideological glue vast distraction industry includes information entertainment media subjected tyranny postmodern serfdom postmodern serfs new generation proletariat laborers live precarious lives160160 richard florida celebrated rise creative class identified new lowwage service workers key component new social hierarchy 2012 atlantic article estimates new underclass consists 60 million americans make new working class service class160 identifies sector americas fastestgrowing job categories food preparation personal care retail sales average earn 30000 annual wages many quite bit less that160 us census reports average median household income 2013 51939 florida also includes sector unemployed displaced disconnected tens millions lowwage service workers population postindustrialisms leftbehinds surges many twothirds americans160 concludes bitter warning160 worse yet ranks 66 percent product structure postindustrial capitalism top third americas workers navigating prospering knowledge economy twothirds disconnected sinking cz nnaemeka calls new part working class unexotic underclass identifies three sectors single mothers 80 according us census poor hovering nasty edges working poverty veterans two ongoing wars middle east veterans served multiple tours returning combat manner monstrosities ravaging heads bodies people 50 finding suddenly jobless160 untouchables new american workforce list underclass postmodern serfs goes on160 includes coffeeshop baristas burdened enormous student debt legions contingent workers ie freelancers contractors consultants hungry paycheck willing work whats dubbed sharing economy adjunct faculty exploited intellectual labor force keeps billiondollar collageeducation racket functioning wageworkers legal economy one need add underground economy eg neighborhood dope dealers local hookers smalltime hustlers number grows160 dont forget millions unemployed whove given longer counted counted among unemployed anyone still believe american dream nations better days remain ahead160160 nearly threequarters century americans embraced shared ideology hard work increased debt white skin privilege would guarantee importantly children better tomorrow belief american dream grounded henry luce founder time magazine announced early 1941 american century160 proclaimed vision country finally recovering great depression word war still overseas europe asia160 isolationism national sentiment principle foreignpolicy strategy160 pearl harbor broke isolationist bubble turning luces words nations war chant 20th century american century today american century increasingly americans know it160 160160in wake great social restructuring underway160 slow emergence postmodern serfdom may resemble fabled frog slowly heating pot water catastrophic social economic crisis160 proverbial heat rising160 one senses issue heart 2016 presidential campaign bernie sanders trump spoke deepening sense disillusionment fostering american century could us dialectically speaking returning era dissimilar preceded wwii great postwar recovery160 us may reliving historical experience dissimilar mid late1930s pres roosevelts new deal recovery great depression floundering160 economy stuck wellintentioned programs kept nation afloat early midyears depression longer worked 160the war saved us propelled forward following quarter century inequality austerity drives postmodern serfdom imposed systems peripheries europe imposed greece spain suffering germanyimposed austerity160 us imposed detroit 160 complicity congress president colony puerto rico 160but also imposed weakest social sectors underclass new serfs great squeeze postmodern serfdom underway160 temperature proverbial pot water slowly rising great american frog increasingly feel heat | 857 |
<p>The start of the current wave of left-wing theorizing about imperialism was marked by the turn-of-the-century publication of Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri’s <a href="http://books.google.com.au/books/about/Empire.html?id=_Hrwu8KSmBIC&amp;redir_esc=y" type="external">Empire</a>, which re-described the dynamics of what had until then mostly been known as “globalization” in terms of the imperial logic of network power. &#160;In <a href="http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/brill/hm/2002/00000010/00000002/art00002" type="external">their review of that work</a>, Leo Panitch and Sam Gindin expressed a mixture of admiration and frustration: while fully acknowledging Hardt and Negri’s essential insights into the imperial nature of global capitalism and the central role of American institutions in fostering that process, they also voiced considerable doubt about the specifics of the interpretation — above all the paradoxical statements about the role of labor in shaping and resisting imperialism and the lack of attention to the ongoing role of the American state in managing the empire it has spawned.</p>
<p>They traced these problems to a somewhat indulgent reliance on autonomist theory and the absence of a rigorous political economy framework. What remained to be done, they argued, was to analyze “the actual extent to which the American state has transformed itself so as to be able to act as the global state that global capitalism needs to keep order, to manage crises, and to close contradictions among the world nation-states and the diverse social forces that compose them.”</p>
<p>Panitch and Gindin have now produced that analysis themselves. For the purposes of this discussion, the argument of The Making of Global Capitalism can be telegraphed as follows. Contrary to common wisdom, globalization did not begin in the 1970s as international markets undermined a system of state-centered order. Instead, global capitalism was made, over the course of the twentieth century, through the penetration of distinctly American institutions and practices into the social, political and economic fabric of other nations. And this imperial system continues to be overseen by a configuration of states that pivots on the role of the US state, which acts to manage the contradictions and tensions that attend the dynamism of ongoing economic expansion.</p>
<p>This interpretive template is extremely productive as a way of reading history, and many historical facts that do not fit with conventional approaches find a coherent place in their monumental narrative. In this way, they offer a fundamental challenge to mainstream political economy scholarship and the progressive-liberal perspectives and affinities that dominate the field. Key among the objects of their criticism is the pervasive conviction that during the past four decades we have been living in an age of American decline. One of the most innovative and important conceptual instruments that Panitch and Gindin employ in countering the thesis of decline is the distinction between “failure containment” and “failure prevention,” which is explicated only on a few occasions but plays a role throughout the book. Mainstream scholarship sees the occurrence of crises as indicating fissures in the construct of American power, and announcing the final blow to American power has accordingly become a favorite pastime for progressive scholars (with no amount of accumulated embarrassment ever sufficing to motivate a redirection of scholarly energies). The Making of Global Capitalism argues that the American state has long come to accept that periodic crises will continue to accompany economic dynamism, and that it has increasingly reconceived its task in terms of the containment and distribution of the effects of crises.</p>
<p>Similar themes have been <a href="http://books.google.com.au/books/about/The_Shock_Doctrine.html?id=Pse7S3Q8YYQC&amp;redir_esc=y" type="external">deployed by other authors</a> in order to account for the resiliency that American and global capitalism have displayed in the face of the tremendous volatility of the past decades. The significance of neoliberalism lies not in the retreat of state power, but, <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17530350.2011.609692#.UekPg40wd8E" type="external">as Melinda Cooper has argued</a>, in the growing ability of institutions to recognize that capitalism’s systemic dynamics are governed by a paradoxical logic, characterized by sources of order that remain invisible from a perspective that understands it as a linear and predictable process. For mainstream scholars of economic globalization, such arguments amount to little more than metaphysical speculation. But, ironically, this is no longer the case for many policymakers, as insights regarding complexity and system topology are nowadays part of the policy repertoire of key American state institutions such as the Federal Reserve. The exposition in The Making of Global Capitalism offers the most penetrating and historically concrete analysis of this shift in governance that we will have for some time to come. It traces the emergence of a containment regime in historical terms, never assuming implausible degrees of foresight but nonetheless taking seriously the ability of policymaking institutions to pragmatically learn through their interaction with the system they regulate and to deploy sources of order that may not be apparent to a positivist mindset.</p>
<p>In that sense, The Making of Global Capitalism can be read as manifesting a particular way of articulating theory and history. Panitch and Gindin came of intellectual age during a time when theoretical debates about the nature of the capitalist state were prominent. The question at the heart of these debates was how to understand the state’s relative autonomy, that is, how to conceive of the state’s institutional separation from the economy as an internal differentiation within capitalist society. Approaches that have continued to grapple with this problem at a purely theoretical level have become increasingly arid and scholastic. But intractable as the problem was on a formal conceptual level, its practical relevance only increased with the turn to neoliberalism — which is, after all, an intensely paradoxical political enterprise that effects transformations at the heart of economic life by projecting the image of a rigorous separation between state and economy. Leaving behind the formalism of state theory, The Making of Global Capitalism thinks relative autonomy in historical terms, demonstrating how the capacity for political agency emerges from within, and remains throughout tethered to, the capitalist organization of social life.</p>
<p>In this way, the book dispels the myth that contemporary neoliberalism somehow represents a weakening of governance and statehood. Of course, the myth of decline will endure even after its demolition by this book. While The Making of Global Capitalism will no doubt become a classic among critical scholars, in more mainstream circles it may well meet with the kind of polite acknowledgement meant to cover up non-engagement. In an important sense, the book can be seen to be both too theoretical and too historical to be palatable to mainstream social science. In mainstream scholarship, the malaise of progressive thought is apparent in its relentless commitment to “mid-range theory,” code for an aversion to both theorizing and historicizing. Theoretical writing is dumbed down to undemanding analytics and eclectic classification, and historical writing reduced to case studies that serve as a “testing ground” for contrived analytical puzzles. The conceptualization of history is geared not to critically clarifying the practical but often unseen investments that regulate our present and shape our future, but precisely to the production of stylized periodizations and characterizations that serve to legitimate existing political imaginaries, steeped in a nostalgic longing for the civilized capitalism of the post-New Deal and Bretton Woods era.</p>
<p>I am highlighting the tenacity of the myth of decline to suggest a particular perspective on the practical discursive role of this theme that is perhaps not given sufficient play in the book. The image of decline, after all, is at the heart of the American republican tradition, which is always appalled by the social and political institutions it encounters but forever sees this as the corruption of an authentic republic. The notion of decline, in other words, has historically been a key discursive and emotional style of the American political character. Over the past decades, the legacy of the republican jeremiad has been most effectively appropriated by neoliberal and neoconservative discourses, which have been highly successful in depicting the New Deal institutions as sources of corruption. And seen from this angle, the embrace of decline theory by progressives is deeply ironic: it appears as an unconsidered defensive move, an unexamined turn to a familiar political style that fails to discern the valences that this trope has accrued or to grasp the current pragmatics of its political use. And this is of course hardly an academic observation: it is what accounts for the overwhelming moralism of contemporary progressivism, always lamenting developments that it is unable to relate to in critically productive ways.</p>
<p>If we situate progressive talk of decline in this way, it appears not just as a problematic theory but as a key ingredient of the nostalgic style of the American polity, a particularly unreflexive manifestation of the sentimentality of American democratic culture. Of course, one of the central points of The Making of Global Capitalism is that progressive discourses, far from offering a counterweight to the more overtly imperial designs of neoconservatives, play a central role in the production and management of empire. American imperialism is made as much through the more or less levelheaded stewardship of Democratic administrations as through the military adventures of Rumsfeldian hawks. Panitch and Gindin offer a particularly penetrating reading of progressivism’s historical role in their analysis of how it promoted the integration of the American population into the American financial system, and how this development subsequently became an important driver of imperial expansion. The dynamic at work here was fostered and governed as much by Clinton and Obama as by Reagan and Bush.</p>
<p>But we may still ask if this fully captures the interplay of democracy and capitalism or the alliance of republicanism and empire. Whereas the early part of the book identifies the alliance with republican self-governance as central to the making of American empire, towards the end the image is more that of an American state learning to govern a system of extraordinary complexity without needing to spend too many of its resources securing domestic consent or acquiescence. Perhaps one way of phrasing this is that Panitch and Gindin see the paradoxical complexity of network power fully at work in the relation between state and economy, but put some brackets around this when it comes to the dynamics of state and democratic legitimation. When they describe the turn to monetarism or the current rise of austerity politics, they put considerable emphasis on the ability of political and financial elites to sideline or bypass democratic processes.</p>
<p>This does not do sufficient justice to the fact that, as <a href="http://es.oxfordjournals.org/content/10/1/137.extract" type="external">some important recent historical studies</a> have shown, the neoconservative backlash against the New Deal enjoyed considerable democratic support and grassroots credentials. And these populist impulses <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14747731.2012.699939" type="external">have been on full display</a> with the rise of the austerity movement in the aftermath of the financial crisis. Taken by themselves, these points might just be taken to mean that the problem of legitimation is a less rather than more pressing problem for the American state. But here we should remind ourselves that no group or organization has come closer to shutting down global capital markets than the Tea Party movement (when, at the end of 2011, it forced its political representatives to resist a political deal to raise the debt ceiling of the American government). The point, then, is that there are no sure-fire ways of governing the republican imaginary and the popular sentiment it provokes.</p>
<p>This is where we might see some continued relevance for those aspects of Hardt and Negri’s take on empire that Panitch and Gindin are most critical of. If there is something frustratingly ambiguous about their claim that the laboring multitude is the immanent cause of both imperial order and its disruption, perhaps this reflects above all the fact that the practical sources of imperial order are highly paradoxical — not easy to grasp in functional terms but to do with <a href="http://books.google.com.au/books/about/Democracy_and_Other_Neoliberal_Fantasies.html?id=IIV2bPU_CqAC&amp;redir_esc=y" type="external">contemporary capitalism’s communicative and affective properties</a> and the curious ways in which they often appear to incorporate even the most serious challenges and dysfunctionalities into its orbit.</p>
<p>If the present-day American political debate is hard to watch without being impressed by its sheer banality, we should still be able to account for the fact that the <a href="http://www.culturemachine.net/index.php/cm/article/viewArticle/465" type="external">“attention economy”</a> it stages and the energies this generates are extraordinarily effective as a means of political and cultural integration. Here progressive discourses play an absolutely central role. After all, in the contemporary republican imaginary it is the progressive-liberal character — whether in the guise of lazy dependency or patrician condescension — that figures as the embodiment of moral corruption, all that stands between the degenerate present and a redemptive republicanism. Responding to each political setback with ill-directed moralistic judgment (in the style of <a href="http://books.google.com.au/books/about/What_s_the_Matter_with_Kansas.html?id=AJKrMcOyQ3wC&amp;redir_esc=y" type="external">“What’s the matter with Kansas?”</a>), progressivism performs a part in a play that is authored and shaped by forces that it cannot productively relate to and on which its narratives provide little grip. In this way, it unwittingly participates in an attention economy that transforms multitudinous energies into the distinctive sentimentality of an imperial democracy.</p>
<p>One of the main political implications of Panitch and Gindin’s analysis is that any viable project of anti-imperial resistance will require the transformation of states and above all the American state. This should probably begin with an acute awareness that the politics of social democracy no longer have anything to offer and that progressive liberalism has become one of the most serious obstacles to meaningful resistance. If this merely rehearses <a href="http://books.google.com.au/books/about/Working_class_politics_in_crisis.html?id=HXeIAAAAMAAJ&amp;redir_esc=y" type="external">one</a>of <a href="http://books.google.com.au/books/about/The_End_of_Parliamentary_Socialism.html?id=lIM_b98LgdIC&amp;redir_esc=y" type="external">their</a> own <a href="http://socialistregister.com/index.php/srv/article/view/5731#.UekTSY0wd8E" type="external">arguments</a>, it is meant to emphasize that an explicit reconsideration of the paradoxical intersection of empire and democracy in the contemporary era is a precondition to developing our practical capacities for attenuating the suction power of institutional politics.</p>
<p>The disconcerting recent turn by left-wing intellectuals to a new Leninist vanguardism (with <a href="http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/politics/2013/04/simple-courage-decision-leftist-tribute-thatcher" type="external">Slavoj Zizek urging the left</a>to show the same disdain for democratic procedures as Margaret Thatcher did during her reign) underlines the difficulty of imagining viable ways out of the antinomies of present-day democratic culture. It would certainly be unreasonable to suggest that Panitch and Gindin should have resolved this problematic in what is already a tremendously expansive book, and as such these reflections are intended not as a criticism of what they have written but as a request for more.</p>
<p>Regardless, as the most thorough dissection of the imperial state, The Making of Global Capitalism will be the indispensable starting point for a renewal of left-wing politics and thought.</p> | true | 4 | start current wave leftwing theorizing imperialism marked turnofthecentury publication michael hardt antonio negris empire redescribed dynamics mostly known globalization terms imperial logic network power 160in review work leo panitch sam gindin expressed mixture admiration frustration fully acknowledging hardt negris essential insights imperial nature global capitalism central role american institutions fostering process also voiced considerable doubt specifics interpretation paradoxical statements role labor shaping resisting imperialism lack attention ongoing role american state managing empire spawned traced problems somewhat indulgent reliance autonomist theory absence rigorous political economy framework remained done argued analyze actual extent american state transformed able act global state global capitalism needs keep order manage crises close contradictions among world nationstates diverse social forces compose panitch gindin produced analysis purposes discussion argument making global capitalism telegraphed follows contrary common wisdom globalization begin 1970s international markets undermined system statecentered order instead global capitalism made course twentieth century penetration distinctly american institutions practices social political economic fabric nations imperial system continues overseen configuration states pivots role us state acts manage contradictions tensions attend dynamism ongoing economic expansion interpretive template extremely productive way reading history many historical facts fit conventional approaches find coherent place monumental narrative way offer fundamental challenge mainstream political economy scholarship progressiveliberal perspectives affinities dominate field key among objects criticism pervasive conviction past four decades living age american decline one innovative important conceptual instruments panitch gindin employ countering thesis decline distinction failure containment failure prevention explicated occasions plays role throughout book mainstream scholarship sees occurrence crises indicating fissures construct american power announcing final blow american power accordingly become favorite pastime progressive scholars amount accumulated embarrassment ever sufficing motivate redirection scholarly energies making global capitalism argues american state long come accept periodic crises continue accompany economic dynamism increasingly reconceived task terms containment distribution effects crises similar themes deployed authors order account resiliency american global capitalism displayed face tremendous volatility past decades significance neoliberalism lies retreat state power melinda cooper argued growing ability institutions recognize capitalisms systemic dynamics governed paradoxical logic characterized sources order remain invisible perspective understands linear predictable process mainstream scholars economic globalization arguments amount little metaphysical speculation ironically longer case many policymakers insights regarding complexity system topology nowadays part policy repertoire key american state institutions federal reserve exposition making global capitalism offers penetrating historically concrete analysis shift governance time come traces emergence containment regime historical terms never assuming implausible degrees foresight nonetheless taking seriously ability policymaking institutions pragmatically learn interaction system regulate deploy sources order may apparent positivist mindset sense making global capitalism read manifesting particular way articulating theory history panitch gindin came intellectual age time theoretical debates nature capitalist state prominent question heart debates understand states relative autonomy conceive states institutional separation economy internal differentiation within capitalist society approaches continued grapple problem purely theoretical level become increasingly arid scholastic intractable problem formal conceptual level practical relevance increased turn neoliberalism intensely paradoxical political enterprise effects transformations heart economic life projecting image rigorous separation state economy leaving behind formalism state theory making global capitalism thinks relative autonomy historical terms demonstrating capacity political agency emerges within remains throughout tethered capitalist organization social life way book dispels myth contemporary neoliberalism somehow represents weakening governance statehood course myth decline endure even demolition book making global capitalism doubt become classic among critical scholars mainstream circles may well meet kind polite acknowledgement meant cover nonengagement important sense book seen theoretical historical palatable mainstream social science mainstream scholarship malaise progressive thought apparent relentless commitment midrange theory code aversion theorizing historicizing theoretical writing dumbed undemanding analytics eclectic classification historical writing reduced case studies serve testing ground contrived analytical puzzles conceptualization history geared critically clarifying practical often unseen investments regulate present shape future precisely production stylized periodizations characterizations serve legitimate existing political imaginaries steeped nostalgic longing civilized capitalism postnew deal bretton woods era highlighting tenacity myth decline suggest particular perspective practical discursive role theme perhaps given sufficient play book image decline heart american republican tradition always appalled social political institutions encounters forever sees corruption authentic republic notion decline words historically key discursive emotional style american political character past decades legacy republican jeremiad effectively appropriated neoliberal neoconservative discourses highly successful depicting new deal institutions sources corruption seen angle embrace decline theory progressives deeply ironic appears unconsidered defensive move unexamined turn familiar political style fails discern valences trope accrued grasp current pragmatics political use course hardly academic observation accounts overwhelming moralism contemporary progressivism always lamenting developments unable relate critically productive ways situate progressive talk decline way appears problematic theory key ingredient nostalgic style american polity particularly unreflexive manifestation sentimentality american democratic culture course one central points making global capitalism progressive discourses far offering counterweight overtly imperial designs neoconservatives play central role production management empire american imperialism made much less levelheaded stewardship democratic administrations military adventures rumsfeldian hawks panitch gindin offer particularly penetrating reading progressivisms historical role analysis promoted integration american population american financial system development subsequently became important driver imperial expansion dynamic work fostered governed much clinton obama reagan bush may still ask fully captures interplay democracy capitalism alliance republicanism empire whereas early part book identifies alliance republican selfgovernance central making american empire towards end image american state learning govern system extraordinary complexity without needing spend many resources securing domestic consent acquiescence perhaps one way phrasing panitch gindin see paradoxical complexity network power fully work relation state economy put brackets around comes dynamics state democratic legitimation describe turn monetarism current rise austerity politics put considerable emphasis ability political financial elites sideline bypass democratic processes sufficient justice fact important recent historical studies shown neoconservative backlash new deal enjoyed considerable democratic support grassroots credentials populist impulses full display rise austerity movement aftermath financial crisis taken points might taken mean problem legitimation less rather pressing problem american state remind group organization come closer shutting global capital markets tea party movement end 2011 forced political representatives resist political deal raise debt ceiling american government point surefire ways governing republican imaginary popular sentiment provokes might see continued relevance aspects hardt negris take empire panitch gindin critical something frustratingly ambiguous claim laboring multitude immanent cause imperial order disruption perhaps reflects fact practical sources imperial order highly paradoxical easy grasp functional terms contemporary capitalisms communicative affective properties curious ways often appear incorporate even serious challenges dysfunctionalities orbit presentday american political debate hard watch without impressed sheer banality still able account fact attention economy stages energies generates extraordinarily effective means political cultural integration progressive discourses play absolutely central role contemporary republican imaginary progressiveliberal character whether guise lazy dependency patrician condescension figures embodiment moral corruption stands degenerate present redemptive republicanism responding political setback illdirected moralistic judgment style whats matter kansas progressivism performs part play authored shaped forces productively relate narratives provide little grip way unwittingly participates attention economy transforms multitudinous energies distinctive sentimentality imperial democracy one main political implications panitch gindins analysis viable project antiimperial resistance require transformation states american state probably begin acute awareness politics social democracy longer anything offer progressive liberalism become one serious obstacles meaningful resistance merely rehearses oneof arguments meant emphasize explicit reconsideration paradoxical intersection empire democracy contemporary era precondition developing practical capacities attenuating suction power institutional politics disconcerting recent turn leftwing intellectuals new leninist vanguardism slavoj zizek urging leftto show disdain democratic procedures margaret thatcher reign underlines difficulty imagining viable ways antinomies presentday democratic culture would certainly unreasonable suggest panitch gindin resolved problematic already tremendously expansive book reflections intended criticism written request regardless thorough dissection imperial state making global capitalism indispensable starting point renewal leftwing politics thought | 1,232 |
<p>After Buckingham Palace was bombed by the Luftwaffe during the Blitz, the present Queen’s mother is supposed to have said, “Now we can look the East End in the eye.” In a war any sense that the rulers are immune to the risks and privations affecting ordinary folks is damaging to their leadership. Britain’s royal family was grateful to Hitler for targeting their palace. Colonel Qaddafi must be feeling the same after NATO killed his youngest son and three grandchildren late on Saturday night.</p>
<p>His spokesman emphasised that the “Brother Leader” now shared the sacrifices made for forty days and forty nights by other Libyan families. By missing the Colonel and killing the kids, NATO has given the Colonel a huge boost just as trouble was growing on the Tunisian front as well as carrying on in Misrata and in the east beyond Brega. The man who outlived Reagan’s onslaught in 1986 has done it again.</p>
<p>Only the perverted predatory mentality of NATO’s target-selectors could locate a harmless son of Qaddafi as well as his children, and then think it was a smart move to kill them. It would be bad enough if this blunder was simply what some Nevada-based geek-in-uniform assumed would make a neat kill, but it is obvious that frustration with the failure of Qaddafi to fall after a few cruise missile strikes six weeks ago has led the NATO leaders to think that de-capitation is the way out of the war which they launched with gay abandon.</p>
<p>Until 30th April, the logic of NATO’s air campaign was to concentrate its fire on Qaddafi’s foot soldiers while endlessly repeating the demand that the Colonel and his sons leave Libya. This seemed a crude ploy to get ordinary Libyans to ask why their boys were dying while the Qaddafi clan were unharmed. Splitting your enemy is a time-honoured tactic in warfare. Instead of wearing down Libyan morale and undermining the regime’s legitimacy by leaving the Qaddafi clan free to chat to Western channels, while ordinary soldiers died, NATO has given Qaddafi’s clan a blood bond with its supporters.</p>
<p>Generals are often accused of fighting the last war. The humanitarian bombers are repeating the propaganda from their Kosovo intervention in 1999. Mass murder, government organised rape camps with mercenaries fired up on Viagra, and so on are the staples of Washington’s increasingly hysterical denunciations of Qaddafi as it turns out that his family has more support than the glib proponents of hellfire missiles as humanity’s preferred way to protect civilians would have had us believe.</p>
<p>The UN Security Council resolution 1973 made not distinction between the obligation to protect unarmed civilians in Libya. But NATO’s interpretation is that Qaddafi’s civilian supporters are collateral damage under the guise of “command and control centres” in short trousers.</p>
<p>No strategist in their right mind would do what the witches sabbath of Hilary Clinton, Susannah Rice and Samantha Powers has cooked up for fighting Qaddafi. But the male chorus in this tragedy is no more worthy of respect. Obama, Sarkozy and Cameron are the new Bill Clintons as promiscuous in their use of high-tech weapons as he was, only not yet caught in flagrante with an intern. Attributing rational military motives to these posturing humanitarian warmongers in Washington, London and Paris is obviously a mistake. They clearly live on another planet from the humanity whom they claim to protect.</p>
<p>Maybe they hope to draw the Qaddafi family out for Saif al-Arab’s funeral. Remember the Western elite is devoted to The Godfather. It is the template of their style - look at the hoods who surround them for security and the black-windowed armoured limousines in which they travel - as well as their international policy-making. As Francis Ford Coppola demonstrated on celluloid funerals make a good place to eradicate rival clans. Their advisers will have told them that Arab culture requires a public burial with father and brothers in attendance. Vultures used to haunt desert graves, now predators hover above them.</p>
<p>Just as George W. Bush deliberately sought to exterminate the male members of Saddam Hussein’s family in Iraq, killing not only his odious sons but other junior members of the clan as well as executing the former dictator, so now the same logic is at work in the Obama-Cameron-Sarkozy mindset. Of course, the mirror-image of that familicidal mentality would be for a Libyan to target Queen Elizabeth and her sons, grandsons and other male relatives, all in uniform for the wedding of Flight-Lieutenant Wales on 29th April. Michelle Obama and the kids live in America’s command-and-control HQ and mobile missile-launching communications accompany her husband even when he is spending quality-time with his daughters so they are collateral damage in-waiting by Dad’s definition. As for Carla Bruni?</p>
<p>The Duke of Wellington rounded on an officer at Waterloo for suggesting that Bonaparte was within range: “Generals of armies have more important things to do than shoot at each other.” But since then Obama-Cameron-Sarkozy axis has rewritten the rules of war: family members are now fair game. When it comes to decapitating a regime, the kids are included too.</p>
<p>No normal person would wish the families of Western leaders to face the kind of brutal evaporation which their fathers and power-moms direct at humanity’s enemies, but the West itself is no longer ruled by people with normal humane values. The rhetoric of humanitarian war blinds them to any common humanity with anyone on the enemy side of whatever age or infirmity. Who can doubt that a colour-blind and morally-blind person would see no reason to spare the Cameron kids if firing on Downing Street anymore than Cameron baulks at sacrificing Qaddafi’s grandchildren?</p>
<p>Little wonder, the royal newly-weds’ honeymoon was suddenly cancelled on Saturday. So much of William and Kate’s nuptials was choreographed around their parents’ and grandparents’ weddings that it was a fair guess that like Princess Elizabeth and Philip they were going to fly to Malta to start their honeymoon before going on to Kenya where three generations of Windsors have enjoyed cementing their relations. Malta is too close to Libya for comfort and Kenya’s Muslim minority might not be too friendly to a serving NATO officer.</p>
<p>William Wales has been put in the firing line not only by his uniform but by his prime minister. David Cameron could defend himself by saying that he has willingly put Sam Cam and their “kids” at risk for the humanitarian cause but instead tried to weasel out of his responsibility by denying that NATO was targeting Qaddafi and sons. It is peculiarly distasteful that our humanitarian warriors want to claim the credit for their high-sounding motives but never to carry the can for the blood shed in pursuit of them. Their inability to take responsibility is the worm gnawing away at any remaining na've public faith in their sincerity.</p>
<p>Ironically, Qaddafi would have been regarded as the embodiment of bombastic mendacity without rival until Sarkozy, Cameron and the Nobel Prize-winning predator Barak Obama opened their mouths to explain their actions. Suddenly the Colonel has serious rivals for the status of least credible statesman of the age. Is there any indictment of these gentlemen’s humanitarian bloodletting than that a Libyan government spokesman’s account of the death of three children is more credible than their sleazy denials, obfuscations and shifting of responsibility? The proponents of humanitarian intervention constantly insist that they want an end to political leaders using force with impunity. Doesn’t making rulers responsible for civilian casualties begin at home?</p>
<p>Of course, Tony Blair’s Foreign Secretary, Robin Cook, explained after Kosovo, there is no question of Western leaders going to Hague for any innocents killed by their order. Command responsibility did not apply to them. The “end of impunity” is for weak wogs, not nuclear-armed fops like Cameron, Sarkozy or Obama. But that reality of power can only fuel the rage of people belonging to lesser races subject to international law. Terrorism not freedom is the likely outcome of NATO’s stupid determination to make a martyr of Qaddafi. Sadly, with their armoured cars, blast-proof walled homes and swarms of security hoods, any anti-Western terrorism will not hurt the Western elite. Only little people will pay the price of our rulers’ folly. From Pakistan to the shores of the Mediterranean the predator has become the promoter of terrorism not its nemesis.</p>
<p>Mark Almond, an Oxford historian, is Visiting Professor in International Relations at Bilkent University, Turkey. He can be reached through his <a href="" type="internal">website.</a></p>
<p /> | true | 4 | buckingham palace bombed luftwaffe blitz present queens mother supposed said look east end eye war sense rulers immune risks privations affecting ordinary folks damaging leadership britains royal family grateful hitler targeting palace colonel qaddafi must feeling nato killed youngest son three grandchildren late saturday night spokesman emphasised brother leader shared sacrifices made forty days forty nights libyan families missing colonel killing kids nato given colonel huge boost trouble growing tunisian front well carrying misrata east beyond brega man outlived reagans onslaught 1986 done perverted predatory mentality natos targetselectors could locate harmless son qaddafi well children think smart move kill would bad enough blunder simply nevadabased geekinuniform assumed would make neat kill obvious frustration failure qaddafi fall cruise missile strikes six weeks ago led nato leaders think decapitation way war launched gay abandon 30th april logic natos air campaign concentrate fire qaddafis foot soldiers endlessly repeating demand colonel sons leave libya seemed crude ploy get ordinary libyans ask boys dying qaddafi clan unharmed splitting enemy timehonoured tactic warfare instead wearing libyan morale undermining regimes legitimacy leaving qaddafi clan free chat western channels ordinary soldiers died nato given qaddafis clan blood bond supporters generals often accused fighting last war humanitarian bombers repeating propaganda kosovo intervention 1999 mass murder government organised rape camps mercenaries fired viagra staples washingtons increasingly hysterical denunciations qaddafi turns family support glib proponents hellfire missiles humanitys preferred way protect civilians would us believe un security council resolution 1973 made distinction obligation protect unarmed civilians libya natos interpretation qaddafis civilian supporters collateral damage guise command control centres short trousers strategist right mind would witches sabbath hilary clinton susannah rice samantha powers cooked fighting qaddafi male chorus tragedy worthy respect obama sarkozy cameron new bill clintons promiscuous use hightech weapons yet caught flagrante intern attributing rational military motives posturing humanitarian warmongers washington london paris obviously mistake clearly live another planet humanity claim protect maybe hope draw qaddafi family saif alarabs funeral remember western elite devoted godfather template style look hoods surround security blackwindowed armoured limousines travel well international policymaking francis ford coppola demonstrated celluloid funerals make good place eradicate rival clans advisers told arab culture requires public burial father brothers attendance vultures used haunt desert graves predators hover george w bush deliberately sought exterminate male members saddam husseins family iraq killing odious sons junior members clan well executing former dictator logic work obamacameronsarkozy mindset course mirrorimage familicidal mentality would libyan target queen elizabeth sons grandsons male relatives uniform wedding flightlieutenant wales 29th april michelle obama kids live americas commandandcontrol hq mobile missilelaunching communications accompany husband even spending qualitytime daughters collateral damage inwaiting dads definition carla bruni duke wellington rounded officer waterloo suggesting bonaparte within range generals armies important things shoot since obamacameronsarkozy axis rewritten rules war family members fair game comes decapitating regime kids included normal person would wish families western leaders face kind brutal evaporation fathers powermoms direct humanitys enemies west longer ruled people normal humane values rhetoric humanitarian war blinds common humanity anyone enemy side whatever age infirmity doubt colourblind morallyblind person would see reason spare cameron kids firing downing street anymore cameron baulks sacrificing qaddafis grandchildren little wonder royal newlyweds honeymoon suddenly cancelled saturday much william kates nuptials choreographed around parents grandparents weddings fair guess like princess elizabeth philip going fly malta start honeymoon going kenya three generations windsors enjoyed cementing relations malta close libya comfort kenyas muslim minority might friendly serving nato officer william wales put firing line uniform prime minister david cameron could defend saying willingly put sam cam kids risk humanitarian cause instead tried weasel responsibility denying nato targeting qaddafi sons peculiarly distasteful humanitarian warriors want claim credit highsounding motives never carry blood shed pursuit inability take responsibility worm gnawing away remaining nave public faith sincerity ironically qaddafi would regarded embodiment bombastic mendacity without rival sarkozy cameron nobel prizewinning predator barak obama opened mouths explain actions suddenly colonel serious rivals status least credible statesman age indictment gentlemens humanitarian bloodletting libyan government spokesmans account death three children credible sleazy denials obfuscations shifting responsibility proponents humanitarian intervention constantly insist want end political leaders using force impunity doesnt making rulers responsible civilian casualties begin home course tony blairs foreign secretary robin cook explained kosovo question western leaders going hague innocents killed order command responsibility apply end impunity weak wogs nucleararmed fops like cameron sarkozy obama reality power fuel rage people belonging lesser races subject international law terrorism freedom likely outcome natos stupid determination make martyr qaddafi sadly armoured cars blastproof walled homes swarms security hoods antiwestern terrorism hurt western elite little people pay price rulers folly pakistan shores mediterranean predator become promoter terrorism nemesis mark almond oxford historian visiting professor international relations bilkent university turkey reached website | 779 |
<p>Jesus goes up to a local hill and speaks to his followers. They ask him how they should pray, which we may take as meaning either, “what form should our prayers take?” or else “what should we pray for?” I believe the latter is the way Jesus chose to understand the question, and it is the content of the prayer he taught them, not the form or rhythm of the words, that is of great importance to us today. “Our Father” he begins, “Who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name”. We note that by specifying that “our father” is in Heaven it is clear that Jesus is not referring to the Roman Emperor to whom it was customary to pray[1]. So this is already a political statement. But even in establishing the authority of God as one addresses God, this is merely a greeting, and a courtesy. If one is speaking to the greatest being in the universe, to the Creator, one should begin with courtesy, especially if you are asking for something. And Jesus, as we shall see, is about to ask for something very big. “Thy Kingdom Come, Thy will be done” – Nothing less, that is, than the Kingdom of God and God’s will to be realized. This is a big request: help us to bring about your Kingdom, and to make your will reality.</p>
<p>But it is the next phrase that is the most decisive one in the entire prayer: “on Earth”. Stop there. That is the key. Malcolm X, in his most famous speech said “We will have our rights on this Earth, in this life, and we will have them by any means necessary.” This is the force with which the phrase “on Earth” must be heard. The effect on his followers massed up there in the hills all day, must have been electric. The Kingdom of God on Earth. That is the demand. “On Earth, as it is in Heaven.” That is, on Earth as though it were Heaven. On Earth just as it is in Heaven. We want Heaven on Earth. Nothing less. How many Christians have smugly argued that the utopian dreams of socialists, communists and others were useless in the face of a failed, flawed, and sinful humanity, yet recited this prayer every day, or at least every Sunday of their lives?[2]Never has there been a more radical proposal. But there is in fact nothing utopian about it, for just as Marx and Engels would insist on centuries later, there is a concrete program based on existing social forces to bring about this revolutionary proposal.</p>
<p>I imagine that God, being busy, is pleased by such well-meaning and selfless requests as “Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done”, such as when Miss America hopes for World Peace, or any of us for a better world, and probably gives a blessing. But to really get God moving on things requires asking for something very concrete, something that can be done. Jesus is not playing. He knows how to bring about the Kingdom of God, make the Will of God law, he knows how to make Heaven on Earth.</p>
<p>It takes exactly two things:“Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts”.[3] This is the Swedish or postwar British Welfare State, or the American New Deal in its better days right after Johnson’s Great Society programs, all the result of the class conflicts of the 1930s and the 1960s movements, combined with the demand for debt cancellation by people across the Third World. This is a program for changing the world. That Christian churches have managed to take plain speaking and turn Jesus’ clear language into metaphor: daily bread is faith, debts are sins, is testimony to the power of dead labor when it gets the upper hand. For two thousand years, this clear, everyday language has been overwhelmed by institutional power and its exegisis. It is true that Jesus often speaks in metaphor, in both the New Testament Gospels and the Gnostic Gospels. But he does so almost always when telling parables. Parables are about rendering difficult concepts into language and context that ordinary people can more easily understand. But here he is speaking with God directly, and telling his followers to do the same. No need to simplify. Further, since the words “faith” and “sin” appear quite often in the Bible, and appear in Jesus’ other discourses, those words were readily available and more easily understood by his followers as standing for themselves had this been Jesus’ intention. And whenever he tells a parable, he always explains later what the metaphors stand for in spiritual terms. More importantly, he is standing before people who lack bread, or lack the security of it – “food security” and “food sovereignty” as we call it today, and who are in debt. Without his elaborating on metaphorical language to make clear what he meant, as he usually did in the case of his parables, it is difficult to believe that Jesus said bread and debt when he meant faith and sin. The Lord’s Prayer is one point for the materialist interpretation of history, as Marx called it.</p>
<p>But there is more to this call for daily bread and forgiveness of debts. The people listening to Jesus would have understood exactly what these phrases meant. For they were part of the experience of the world they lived in. Daily bread, as is widely known even today, was a right of Roman citizens. It had been one of the victories of the social struggles of the Gracchi brothers – Gaius Gracchus introduced grain distribution as part of the class conflicts of the second century B.C.E. for the population in Rome only in 123, and these were made free and regularized in 58 B.C.E. by Clodius.[4] The people that were listening to Jesus were a colonial people, conquered and occupied, and they were not included in this deal. They did not have the right of daily bread. Give us this day our daily bread, coming from a colonial subject of the Empire like Jesus, or from his followers following his advice to pray in this way, that is, for this, was revolutionary. That theprayer is not directed to the Emperor but to God only makes it clearer how revolutionary, for it seeks divine assistance in establishing this, but not merely as a concession from the Imperial power itself.</p>
<p>The references to daily bread and to forgiving debtors placed together are not casual, for they link two traditions with long histories of social struggles. Daily bread is the right of Roman citizens within the capital city, for if the former is a right not available to Jesus’ people as non-citizens and colonial subjects, cancelling debts is an ancient tradition of the Israelites and other peoples of Canaan. In the Jubilee year, which comes every 50 years, all slaves are freed, all debts cancelled, all land restored to the original possessors, and the fields are left fallow for the earth to restore itself in a year of non-work. Every seven years a kind of mini-Jubilee takes place[5]. Jesus thus links the rights of the dominant peoples to the traditional struggles of the poor and colonized. The offer is this – we want the right to daily bread that is currently applies only to those in Rome to be made available to all.</p>
<p>We offer to you our tradition – the cancellation of debts, something that would not have been uninteresting to Romans, since debt had been a means of reducing the plebeians, with their long democratic tradition of small landownership and crafts to a propertyless proletariat, a process that had led to ferocious class struggles, and had lain at the basis of the land reform projects of the Gracchi and land and debt reforms of Julius Caesar himself.</p>
<p>The Lord’s Prayer as it has become unfortunately named, is nothing less than a program for the total reconstitution of the society encompassed by the Roman Empire itself as a whole, on the basis of social justice. When Jesus finishes speaking, “the crowds were astonished at his teaching” – I bet they were! — “for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.” That is to say, he spoke with the creative power of living labor as spoken word, not as dead labor turning to dust on the pages of a book. Even the scriptural reference, to the Jubilee, is made into something living, something new and fresh by applying it creatively to the problems of Jesus’ own day and not treating it as a “tradition”, nor as a narrowly applicable law for his people locally only. Instead, combined with daily bread it is a program to unite Romans and Canaanites, Greeks and Galileans. The parable of the Good Samaritan makes exactly this point about who one’s “neighbor” is in a universal, cosmopolis like the one ruled over by Rome. This revolutionary program of Jesus is the basis of Christianity, and its initial appeal (“feed the hungry, heal the sick, visit those in prison”) and its subsequent spread. But it stands in glaring contrast to the program of the Church and its founders in later centuries, as Rome entered its death throes.</p>
<p>Saint Augustine’s City of God is traditionally interpreted as stating Christians’ interest in the hereafter rather than the world of politics and affairs, of the Roman Empire of Augustine’s own day which was crumbling, literally, around his ears as Germanic tribes overthrew it. In this interpretation, either the superiority of spiritual over worldy concerns is asserted, or the failure of Christians to realize what was at stake by this very preference is criticized.[6] Toni Negri and Michael Hardt have instead argued that Augustine is, by calling on Christians to refuse to participate in the political affairs and institutions of the empire, projecting an Empire-wide movement to transform it. This is a possible interpretation, but seems forced to me, and lacks any concrete program for such a transformation. Instead, it seems more fruitful to find a genuine Christian, or at least Jesus-inspired project directly in the reported spoken words of Jesus himself with their concrete program for social transformation on a universal scale, through a syncretic combining of Roman and Middle Eastern approaches to social justice, linking the two local class struggles into one seamless one at the level of the larger cosmopolitan world encompassed by the Empire. The lessons for us today – that the “daily bread” available to the “West” or Global North – both in the form of abundance and in the form of Social Democracy or the Welfare State needs to be made available to all six billion inhabitants of the planet, and that the demand for debt cancellation and restoration of common land– for a Jubilee – on the part of the whole Global South is now, after the recent crises in Greece, Spain and Portugal, and the financial collapse brought on by the unsustainable mountain of personal debt crushing most people in the United States – could not be clearer or more relevant. ”</p>
<p>STEVEN COLATRELLA has long participated in the collective Midnight Notes. This article is an excerpt from his forthcoming book “The Making of Democratic Civilization”.</p>
<p>Notes.</p>
<p>[1] I am grateful to my colleague, the erudite classicist Prof.Tom Govero, for this insight.</p>
<p>[2] Hegel wrote that the old man recites the same prayers as he did in childhood, but now recites them with the knowledge and wisdom of a lifetime of experience. We may doubt in many cases that the lifetime of lessons allegedly learned furthered rather than prevented understanding of the simple, straightforward message of the Lord’s Prayer.</p>
<p>[3] Holy Bible, Revised Standard Version, Matthew 6:11-12.</p>
<p>[4] David Stockton, The Gracchi Clarendon: Oxford 1979 p. 19; on the larger context of class struggles in Rome in this period, see the wonderful work by Michael Parenti, The Assassination of Julius Caesar: A People’s History of Ancient Rome The New Press: New York 2003.</p>
<p>[5] Leviticus, chapter 25.</p>
<p>[6] For an example of the latter approach, see the magnificent work by that original thinker Lewis Mumford in his The Condition of Man Harcourt Brace Jovanavich: New York 1973 pp. 83-88.</p>
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<p /> | true | 4 | jesus goes local hill speaks followers ask pray may take meaning either form prayers take else pray believe latter way jesus chose understand question content prayer taught form rhythm words great importance us today father begins art heaven hallowed thy name note specifying father heaven clear jesus referring roman emperor customary pray1 already political statement even establishing authority god one addresses god merely greeting courtesy one speaking greatest universe creator one begin courtesy especially asking something jesus shall see ask something big thy kingdom come thy done nothing less kingdom god gods realized big request help us bring kingdom make reality next phrase decisive one entire prayer earth stop key malcolm x famous speech said rights earth life means necessary force phrase earth must heard effect followers massed hills day must electric kingdom god earth demand earth heaven earth though heaven earth heaven want heaven earth nothing less many christians smugly argued utopian dreams socialists communists others useless face failed flawed sinful humanity yet recited prayer every day least every sunday lives2never radical proposal fact nothing utopian marx engels would insist centuries later concrete program based existing social forces bring revolutionary proposal imagine god busy pleased wellmeaning selfless requests thy kingdom come thy done miss america hopes world peace us better world probably gives blessing really get god moving things requires asking something concrete something done jesus playing knows bring kingdom god make god law knows make heaven earth takes exactly two thingsgive us day daily bread forgive us debts3 swedish postwar british welfare state american new deal better days right johnsons great society programs result class conflicts 1930s 1960s movements combined demand debt cancellation people across third world program changing world christian churches managed take plain speaking turn jesus clear language metaphor daily bread faith debts sins testimony power dead labor gets upper hand two thousand years clear everyday language overwhelmed institutional power exegisis true jesus often speaks metaphor new testament gospels gnostic gospels almost always telling parables parables rendering difficult concepts language context ordinary people easily understand speaking god directly telling followers need simplify since words faith sin appear quite often bible appear jesus discourses words readily available easily understood followers standing jesus intention whenever tells parable always explains later metaphors stand spiritual terms importantly standing people lack bread lack security food security food sovereignty call today debt without elaborating metaphorical language make clear meant usually case parables difficult believe jesus said bread debt meant faith sin lords prayer one point materialist interpretation history marx called call daily bread forgiveness debts people listening jesus would understood exactly phrases meant part experience world lived daily bread widely known even today right roman citizens one victories social struggles gracchi brothers gaius gracchus introduced grain distribution part class conflicts second century bce population rome 123 made free regularized 58 bce clodius4 people listening jesus colonial people conquered occupied included deal right daily bread give us day daily bread coming colonial subject empire like jesus followers following advice pray way revolutionary theprayer directed emperor god makes clearer revolutionary seeks divine assistance establishing merely concession imperial power references daily bread forgiving debtors placed together casual link two traditions long histories social struggles daily bread right roman citizens within capital city former right available jesus people noncitizens colonial subjects cancelling debts ancient tradition israelites peoples canaan jubilee year comes every 50 years slaves freed debts cancelled land restored original possessors fields left fallow earth restore year nonwork every seven years kind minijubilee takes place5 jesus thus links rights dominant peoples traditional struggles poor colonized offer want right daily bread currently applies rome made available offer tradition cancellation debts something would uninteresting romans since debt means reducing plebeians long democratic tradition small landownership crafts propertyless proletariat process led ferocious class struggles lain basis land reform projects gracchi land debt reforms julius caesar lords prayer become unfortunately named nothing less program total reconstitution society encompassed roman empire whole basis social justice jesus finishes speaking crowds astonished teaching bet taught one authority scribes say spoke creative power living labor spoken word dead labor turning dust pages book even scriptural reference jubilee made something living something new fresh applying creatively problems jesus day treating tradition narrowly applicable law people locally instead combined daily bread program unite romans canaanites greeks galileans parable good samaritan makes exactly point ones neighbor universal cosmopolis like one ruled rome revolutionary program jesus basis christianity initial appeal feed hungry heal sick visit prison subsequent spread stands glaring contrast program church founders later centuries rome entered death throes saint augustines city god traditionally interpreted stating christians interest hereafter rather world politics affairs roman empire augustines day crumbling literally around ears germanic tribes overthrew interpretation either superiority spiritual worldy concerns asserted failure christians realize stake preference criticized6 toni negri michael hardt instead argued augustine calling christians refuse participate political affairs institutions empire projecting empirewide movement transform possible interpretation seems forced lacks concrete program transformation instead seems fruitful find genuine christian least jesusinspired project directly reported spoken words jesus concrete program social transformation universal scale syncretic combining roman middle eastern approaches social justice linking two local class struggles one seamless one level larger cosmopolitan world encompassed empire lessons us today daily bread available west global north form abundance form social democracy welfare state needs made available six billion inhabitants planet demand debt cancellation restoration common land jubilee part whole global south recent crises greece spain portugal financial collapse brought unsustainable mountain personal debt crushing people united states could clearer relevant steven colatrella long participated collective midnight notes article excerpt forthcoming book making democratic civilization notes 1 grateful colleague erudite classicist proftom govero insight 2 hegel wrote old man recites prayers childhood recites knowledge wisdom lifetime experience may doubt many cases lifetime lessons allegedly learned furthered rather prevented understanding simple straightforward message lords prayer 3 holy bible revised standard version matthew 61112 4 david stockton gracchi clarendon oxford 1979 p 19 larger context class struggles rome period see wonderful work michael parenti assassination julius caesar peoples history ancient rome new press new york 2003 5 leviticus chapter 25 6 example latter approach see magnificent work original thinker lewis mumford condition man harcourt brace jovanavich new york 1973 pp 8388 160 | 1,032 |
<p>On March 4, 1933, in his <a href="http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5057/" type="external">first inaugural address</a>, Franklin Delano Roosevelt delivered a message of hope to a troubled, disillusioned and divided nation.</p>
<p>Standing stoically behind a lectern on the East Portico of the Capitol, his legs withered by polio, the new president urged his listeners not to “shrink from honestly facing conditions in our country today” that had been wrought by the “outworn” traditions of a “false leadership” but to look forward to bold new initiatives that promised revival and shared prosperity. Above all, he urged them not to despair, famously declaring that “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.”</p>
<p>On Tuesday morning, 82 years minus a day from FDR’s oration, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered nearly the opposite message before a joint session of Congress assembled in the ornate House chamber of the Capitol.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.speaker.gov/sites/speaker.house.gov/files/LetterToPMNetanyahu.pdf" type="external">Invited</a> to Washington by House Speaker John Boehner to air his views on the continuing multilateral nuclear arms negotiations with Iran, Netanyahu stood at the same lectern where President Obama had given January’s State of the Union address. Striking a stern and sobering tone in a lengthy discourse laced with biblical references to the Jewish Queen Esther and to Moses and with frequent invocations of the Holocaust, Netanyahu urged his audience to join him in rejecting the negotiations, which, he insisted, are destined to fail. Above all, in so many words, he urged his audience not to let down their military guard but to remain afraid — very, very afraid of the potential for annihilation at the hands of a nuclear Iran.</p>
<p />
<p>Now don’t get me wrong, I have no illusions that Barack Obama is the second coming of FDR, or that it isn’t vitally important to stop Iran — or any other country, for that matter — from developing or deploying nuclear weapons. Nor do I contest Netanyahu’s right to speak his mind, even though his invitation to Capitol Hill was brokered <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2015/01/john-boehner-invites-benjamin-netanyahu-congress-iran-114439.html" type="external">behind the president’s back</a>, breaching long-established diplomatic protocol, and was crassly timed to bolster Netanyahu’s prospects as leader of the right-wing Likud Party in the Israeli general elections slated for March 17.</p>
<p>Viewing Netanyahu’s appearance as a direct slap in the president’s face, some 50 to 60 Democratic members of the House and Senate boycotted the speech. Obama and Vice President Biden were also among the no-shows.</p>
<p>For me, the principal issue raised by Netanyahu’s address isn’t one of political decorum. Nor is it one of free speech, as some of Netanyahu’s American backers have charged. The principal issue is one of judgment and content.</p>
<p>Having exercised his right to speak, Netanyahu, like anyone else, must be held accountable for what he says. It doesn’t matter that he has now tied Winston Churchill’s <a href="http://historynewsnetwork.org/article/158656" type="external">record for most joint-session speeches by a foreign dignitary</a> by delivering three (Netanyahu’s others were given in 1996 and 2011), or that his <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/steveforbes/2015/01/28/why-netanyahu-the-churchill-of-our-time-must-speak-before-congress/" type="external">neocon admirers</a> insist on comparing him with Winnie holding back the Nazi tide. He doesn’t get a pass.</p>
<p>What, then, did the prime minister offer beyond the hawkish scoldings that have been his trademark since he <a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2011/1108/Imminent-Iran-nuclear-threat-A-timeline-of-warnings-since-1979/Israel-paints-Iran-as-Enemy-No.-1-1992" type="external">declared</a> as a member of the Knesset in 1992 that Iran was just three to five years away from being able to produce a nuclear bomb?</p>
<p>As he did in his <a href="http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Politics-And-Diplomacy/Full-text-of-PM-Netanyahus-speech-to-AIPAC-392701" type="external">lecture</a> Monday to the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee, Netanyahu began with the implausible disclaimer that he had no intention of injecting himself into the United States’ partisan political turmoil. The U.S.-Israeli alliance, he said, “has always been above politics.” Never mind that no one has been more skilled over the past three decades at manipulating American political opinion. His purpose was not to agitate but to inform.</p>
<p>Confident and eloquent as always, with his introduction concluded, Netanyahu proceeded to deconstruct what he claimed were the basic elements of a “bad deal” that would not halt Iran’s progress toward creating a bomb but would instead guarantee “the path to a bomb.” Those elements, he added, had already been publicly disclosed; he invited his listeners to “Google it” if they had any doubts.</p>
<p>The fundamental flaws in the deal, he said, were twofold: First, the deal left Iran with its nuclear infrastructure intact. Not a single nuclear facility or centrifuge would be destroyed or dismantled; and within a year or less, if it chose to violate the agreement, Iran would be able to “break out” and build a bomb.</p>
<p>Second, and even worse, the deal would contain a sunset provision of 10 years. After that, he argued, Iran would be freed from all restraints and economic sanctions and be better equipped than ever to export terror across the globe. Ten years may seem like a long time, he said, but “it goes by in the blink of an eye in the life of a nation or in the lives of our children.”</p>
<p>Instead of the bad deal on the table, Netanyahu urged one that would demand that Iran give up its nuclear facilities entirely and keep all sanctions in place until it demonstrated a commitment to renounce terror and its long-held goal of destroying the world’s only Jewish state.</p>
<p>It all sounded inspiring and persuasive, especially against the backdrop of the numerous standing ovations Netanyahu received. But then there are the facts the speech ignored.</p>
<p>Contrary to Netanyahu’s dark forecast — and I invite you, as he advised, to Google it—the deal is anything but done. It was and remains, as Secretary of State John Kerry <a href="http://www.state.gov/secretary/remarks/2015/03/238077.htm" type="external">reminded</a> us on Monday, a work in progress.</p>
<p>Nor will the deal, if finalized, be exclusively the Obama administration’s handiwork. From the outset, negotiations have been conducted by a multinational team of diplomats drawn from what is called the P5+1 group, consisting of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council (consisting of the United States, Great Britain, France, China and Russia) and Germany. If the deal falls apart, it won’t just be Obama’s failure but the world’s. The aim of the P5+1 is not to provide Iran with a pathway to the bomb. It’s just the opposite. As a recent <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2015/02/27/how-netanyahu-and-the-white-house-differ-on-irans-nuclear-program/" type="external">article in the Washington Post</a> explains in language that even non-science-oriented types can grasp, the goal is to put Iran in an “iron box” replete with limits on the number of centrifuges it may retain for civilian purposes, restrictions on its ability to enrich uranium, and the requirement that it submit to a rigorous and ongoing regime of international inspections to prevent it from secretly breaking out of the box.</p>
<p>Will the effort succeed? Under the terms of an interim agreement negotiated by the P5+1, Iran has divested itself of its stockpiles of 20 percent uranium gas (the enrichment level immediately below the 70-to-90-percent level required to equip the core of an atomic bomb), and it has <a href="http://www.defenseone.com/ideas/2015/02/why-our-obsession-irans-centrifuges-could-give-them-bomb/105660/" type="external">stopped</a> making any more.</p>
<p>But the interim agreement expires June 30, and the P5+1 faces a March 24 deadline to hammer out the framework of a <a href="https://fas.org/sgp/crs/nuke/R43333.pdf" type="external">final arrangement</a>. The clock — not the bomb — is ticking.</p>
<p>I don’t know why Netanyahu omitted this information from his address. I do know, however, that he has committed egregious errors of judgment in the past.</p>
<p>In 2002, while briefly out of political office, he <a href="http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CHRG-107hhrg83514/html/CHRG-107hhrg83514.htm" type="external">testified</a> before the House Committee on Government Reform to express his support for the Bush administration’s planned pre-emptive war on Iraq. When asked by Democratic Rep. Dennis Kucinich what other pre-emptive strikes he might support, Netanyahu referenced Libya and Iran but speculated that if then-Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein were overthrown, the Iranian regime might well “implode” from within.</p>
<p>Ten years later, with the Iranian regime far from imploded, Netanyahu <a href="http://www.nationaljournal.com/nationalsecurity/full-text-benjamin-netanyahu-s-speech-at-the-united-nations-general-assembly-20120927" type="external">addressed the U.N. General Assembly</a>. He held up a cartoon poster of an exploding bomb worthy of Wile E. Coyote to illustrate that Iran was imminently close to crossing a nuclear red line of no return. He didn’t disclose that his own intelligence service, the Mossad, had <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/feb/23/leaked-spy-cables-netanyahu-iran-bomb-mossad%20" type="external">briefed him that</a> Iran in fact was “not performing the activity necessary to produce [nuclear] weapons.”</p>
<p>Facts, however, are disposable when they get in the way of an unrelenting narrative of fear. And fear, as the Israeli sociologist Eva Illouz wrote last month in an <a href="http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.642166" type="external">op-ed</a> published by the Tel Aviv-based newspaper Haaretz, has been Netanyahu’s secret weapon, the key to his “bizarre success: his self-appointment as the proud and forceful representative of world Jewry, and his apocalyptic invocation of imminent and overwhelming danger.”</p>
<p>Fear, as FDR told us so many years ago, is also paralyzing. It forces us to look backward for solutions rather than ahead. It leads not only to wars abroad but also to warlike practices at home, to the erosion of civil liberties and the exponential growth of unchecked government surveillance.</p>
<p>Yes, we have to be brave in the face of danger, but we also have to be smart. We can start by letting the Iran negotiators finish their job. Above all, we can’t allow fear to get in the way.</p> | true | 4 | march 4 1933 first inaugural address franklin delano roosevelt delivered message hope troubled disillusioned divided nation standing stoically behind lectern east portico capitol legs withered polio new president urged listeners shrink honestly facing conditions country today wrought outworn traditions false leadership look forward bold new initiatives promised revival shared prosperity urged despair famously declaring thing fear fear itselfnameless unreasoning unjustified terror paralyzes needed efforts convert retreat advance tuesday morning 82 years minus day fdrs oration israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu delivered nearly opposite message joint session congress assembled ornate house chamber capitol invited washington house speaker john boehner air views continuing multilateral nuclear arms negotiations iran netanyahu stood lectern president obama given januarys state union address striking stern sobering tone lengthy discourse laced biblical references jewish queen esther moses frequent invocations holocaust netanyahu urged audience join rejecting negotiations insisted destined fail many words urged audience let military guard remain afraid afraid potential annihilation hands nuclear iran dont get wrong illusions barack obama second coming fdr isnt vitally important stop iran country matter developing deploying nuclear weapons contest netanyahus right speak mind even though invitation capitol hill brokered behind presidents back breaching longestablished diplomatic protocol crassly timed bolster netanyahus prospects leader rightwing likud party israeli general elections slated march 17 viewing netanyahus appearance direct slap presidents face 50 60 democratic members house senate boycotted speech obama vice president biden also among noshows principal issue raised netanyahus address isnt one political decorum one free speech netanyahus american backers charged principal issue one judgment content exercised right speak netanyahu like anyone else must held accountable says doesnt matter tied winston churchills record jointsession speeches foreign dignitary delivering three netanyahus others given 1996 2011 neocon admirers insist comparing winnie holding back nazi tide doesnt get pass prime minister offer beyond hawkish scoldings trademark since declared member knesset 1992 iran three five years away able produce nuclear bomb lecture monday american israeli public affairs committee netanyahu began implausible disclaimer intention injecting united states partisan political turmoil usisraeli alliance said always politics never mind one skilled past three decades manipulating american political opinion purpose agitate inform confident eloquent always introduction concluded netanyahu proceeded deconstruct claimed basic elements bad deal would halt irans progress toward creating bomb would instead guarantee path bomb elements added already publicly disclosed invited listeners google doubts fundamental flaws deal said twofold first deal left iran nuclear infrastructure intact single nuclear facility centrifuge would destroyed dismantled within year less chose violate agreement iran would able break build bomb second even worse deal would contain sunset provision 10 years argued iran would freed restraints economic sanctions better equipped ever export terror across globe ten years may seem like long time said goes blink eye life nation lives children instead bad deal table netanyahu urged one would demand iran give nuclear facilities entirely keep sanctions place demonstrated commitment renounce terror longheld goal destroying worlds jewish state sounded inspiring persuasive especially backdrop numerous standing ovations netanyahu received facts speech ignored contrary netanyahus dark forecast invite advised google itthe deal anything done remains secretary state john kerry reminded us monday work progress deal finalized exclusively obama administrations handiwork outset negotiations conducted multinational team diplomats drawn called p51 group consisting five permanent members united nations security council consisting united states great britain france china russia germany deal falls apart wont obamas failure worlds aim p51 provide iran pathway bomb opposite recent article washington post explains language even nonscienceoriented types grasp goal put iran iron box replete limits number centrifuges may retain civilian purposes restrictions ability enrich uranium requirement submit rigorous ongoing regime international inspections prevent secretly breaking box effort succeed terms interim agreement negotiated p51 iran divested stockpiles 20 percent uranium gas enrichment level immediately 70to90percent level required equip core atomic bomb stopped making interim agreement expires june 30 p51 faces march 24 deadline hammer framework final arrangement clock bomb ticking dont know netanyahu omitted information address know however committed egregious errors judgment past 2002 briefly political office testified house committee government reform express support bush administrations planned preemptive war iraq asked democratic rep dennis kucinich preemptive strikes might support netanyahu referenced libya iran speculated theniraqi leader saddam hussein overthrown iranian regime might well implode within ten years later iranian regime far imploded netanyahu addressed un general assembly held cartoon poster exploding bomb worthy wile e coyote illustrate iran imminently close crossing nuclear red line return didnt disclose intelligence service mossad briefed iran fact performing activity necessary produce nuclear weapons facts however disposable get way unrelenting narrative fear fear israeli sociologist eva illouz wrote last month oped published tel avivbased newspaper haaretz netanyahus secret weapon key bizarre success selfappointment proud forceful representative world jewry apocalyptic invocation imminent overwhelming danger fear fdr told us many years ago also paralyzing forces us look backward solutions rather ahead leads wars abroad also warlike practices home erosion civil liberties exponential growth unchecked government surveillance yes brave face danger also smart start letting iran negotiators finish job cant allow fear get way | 829 |
<p>“Inventing L.A.: The Chandlers and Their Times” tells the story of Los Angeles and the L.A. Times through the lives of the paper’s publishers, beginning with Gen. Harrison Grey Otis in the late 19th century. As the late David Halberstam wrote: “No single family has dominated any major region of the country as the Chandlers have dominated Southern California. They did not so much foster the growth of Los Angeles as invent it.”</p>
<p>Below is the epilogue.</p>
<p>The last of the Chandlers, Otis, was driven from the paper by his right-wing relatives who had majority control. The newspaper business was collapsing. Ethical standards were ignored. This paper, which had been one of America’s greatest, was beginning its fall toward mediocrity. The Times, which had been the single most important force in shaping Los Angeles and the rest of Southern California, was now out of the game.</p>
<p>Throughout its history, California has been a precursor to movements that have swept across the country. The story of the decline of the Chandlers could well foreshadow the decline and fall of the old families that run The New York Times and The Washington Post.</p>
<p />
<p>As city editor of the Los Angeles Times, I was part of some of the events in this book. I tell the story from the factory floor, the newsroom of the L.A. Times.</p>
<p>“Inventing L.A.” was published by Angel City Press in conjunction with a PBS documentary of the same name produced by Peter Jones.</p>
<p>* * *Epilogue: The Chandler Era Ends</p>
<p>Most of the time, workers on the factory floor can’t explain why their company failed. By necessity, their view doesn’t extend much beyond the car they are assembling or the supervisor giving them orders. A newspaper, however, is a different kind of manufacturing plant. A number of the workers are journalists, often high-strung creatures, trained to observe every nuance, rumor and fact. At the Los Angeles Times, the journalists’ factory floor—the newsroom—was the best place to observe the sad final decade of Chandler control.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Inventing-L-Chandlers-Their-Times/dp/1883318920%3FSubscriptionId%3D1XWTFJ60BR6QZ1PW9FR2%26tag%3Dtruthdig20-20%26linkCode%3Dxm2%26camp%3D2025%26creative%3D165953%26creativeASIN%3D1883318920" type="external" /></p>
<p>By Bill Boyarsky / Based on the film by Peter Jones</p>
<p>Angel City Press, 208 pages</p>
<p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Inventing-L-Chandlers-Their-Times/dp/1883318920%3FSubscriptionId%3D1XWTFJ60BR6QZ1PW9FR2%26tag%3Dtruthdig20-20%26linkCode%3Dxm2%26camp%3D2025%26creative%3D165953%26creativeASIN%3D1883318920" type="external" /></p>
<p>The newsroom, on the third floor, extends the length of a long city block, from one end of the Los Angeles Times building to the other. In 1989, the year Tom Johnson was fired as publisher, the many departments in the room reflected the ambitions of a paper at its height. Books, Fashion, Food, Calendar (covering movies, television, art, and music) occupied one large portion of the room, blending into Sports, and then Business. Near Business were the foreign and national desks, receiving stories from bureaus around the country and the world. Beyond these desks was the Metro staff, covering local news, and then there were the specialists in education, science, medicine, religion and the environment.</p>
<p>Each day, at 10 a.m. and 2:30 p.m., their work went on display in a conference room. There, the editors in charge of the sections discussed which stories and pictures to run and where to place them. They would pick a few for page one and consign others to the many inside pages of the paper. The meetings were a daily presentation of events around the world, ranging from violence in the Middle East to a vote in Congress to a mishap on Santa Monica Beach, interspersed with a mix of movies, art, music, sports, food, and literature. Even with Otis Chandler gone, the choices still reflected his philosophy of “mass and class.”</p>
<p>As the 1980s ended, and Chandler and Johnson were driven from power, the journalists in the newsroom were uneasy. The paper was adrift. They had a new publisher, David Laventhol. Another unknown quantity, Shelby Coffey III, was editor, replacing Bill Thomas, who retired in 1989. Upstairs, the conservative Chandlers were in firm control of the board and were more determined than ever to revive the legacy of Harry Chandler—and make a lot of money while doing it. They found support in the Times Mirror hierarchy, now under the firm control of Robert Erburu.</p>
<p>Ideology was no longer an issue. With Tony Day gone, the conservatives had won and objections to a liberal editorial slant faded. The editorial pages became bland. The editorial board’s daily and lively discussions of issues, which had largely shaped the editorials, were abandoned. The great liberal cartoonist, Paul Conrad, left the paper in 1993, replaced by a conservative, Michael Ramirez.</p>
<p>Now the main pressure was economic. After two years of declining earnings, Times Mirror reported a loss in the fourth quarter of 1991. Company executives said the editorial department was fat and wasteful.</p>
<p>The atmosphere grew even more unsettling when Laventhol, the new publisher, instituted some cost-cutting measures, including elimination of first-class air travel. Rumors swept through the newsroom. The rebellious nature of the staff—a hangover from the journalists Thomas had hired and nurtured—heightened the staff’s sense of apprehension.</p>
<p>Despite all the newsroom gossip and speculation, workers were generally ignorant of the corporation’s financial situation and strategic plan. The wall that Otis Chandler had erected between business operations and the editorial department had been so effective that the reporters felt themselves immune from what was happening in the corporate offices on the sixth floor. They were, in fact, scornful of those who worked on the paper’s business side. The vast majority of editors were just as ignorant as the reporters. The few who knew what was happening didn’t choose to share their knowledge.</p>
<p>Thomas’ successor, Coffey, was a slender, athletic man who had bonded with Otis Chandler a few years before when they were lifting weights in a Washington gym. Johnson had chosen him as editor after a dragged-out process that required Coffey, who had been editor of the Dallas Times Herald, and the other contenders for the job to write essays laying out their plans for the paper. Thomas had made him a deputy associate editor in the features department, but it was clear he was on his way to bigger things. Even though his mandate was features, he went out to lunch with editors in the hard news departments and asked questions about what they did and the difficulties they faced in their coverage.Once established as editor, Coffey could be an excellent and exciting leader. For example, he loved the O.J. Simpson murder trial and often wandered to the section of the newsroom where the O.J. team worked to talk about the event. But he was cautious and often reluctant to take a chance on a daring idea. His editors sensed his reluctance and copied it.</p>
<p>Nor did Coffey or his editors know how to deal with a changing Southland. The model that Otis Chandler had created, essentially aimed at middle-class Southern Californians who got their information by reading, was no longer viable. The paper’s suburban sections were not attracting advertisers, and the large Orange County and San Fernando Valley editions were steadily losing ground.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Inventing-L-Chandlers-Their-Times/dp/1883318920%3FSubscriptionId%3D1XWTFJ60BR6QZ1PW9FR2%26tag%3Dtruthdig20-20%26linkCode%3Dxm2%26camp%3D2025%26creative%3D165953%26creativeASIN%3D1883318920" type="external" /></p>
<p>By Bill Boyarsky / Based on the film by Peter Jones</p>
<p>Angel City Press, 208 pages</p>
<p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Inventing-L-Chandlers-Their-Times/dp/1883318920%3FSubscriptionId%3D1XWTFJ60BR6QZ1PW9FR2%26tag%3Dtruthdig20-20%26linkCode%3Dxm2%26camp%3D2025%26creative%3D165953%26creativeASIN%3D1883318920" type="external" /></p>
<p>The Times trailed competitors in seven of eleven Southern California market areas. Various attempts were made to turn things around, but nothing seemed to work. The San Fernando Valley and Orange County editions were turned into virtually independent papers, putting local stories from their areas on page one. The Otis Chandler formula, stressing the importance of national and foreign stories, was abandoned. Orange County, especially, consumed so many resources that it became known as the Times’ Vietnam, a quagmire with no victory in sight. On top of this, the readers and advertisers continued to drift away.</p>
<p>In 1995, as revenues continued to fall, the Chandler family reached outside Times Mirror and brought in an outsider as president and CEO of Times Mirror. Mark Willes, as vice president of General Mills Inc. was known as “Cap’n Crunch” because of his a reputation as a marketer with a focus on cost cutting and the bottom line. Two years after becoming CEO, Willes appointed himself publisher of the Times. He held the two jobs until 1999 when he appointed a new publisher, his protégé Kathryn Downing, who had headed another Times Mirror company. Whatever the titles, Willes was in command.</p>
<p>Unlike Tom Johnson or Otis Chandler, who both had left control of the newsroom to the editor, Willes was eager to meet reporters and ask about their work. Sometimes he invited them to lunch in the executive dining room. The reporters were surprised and flattered by the attention. In his public speeches, he spoke emotionally and cried when the subject—or his words—moved him. At first, audiences were impressed by this rare show of male emotion, but some people felt it was an act after seeing him cry on more than one occasion. The writers he courted began to question whether his tears and his concern for their work were an essential part of the Willes act.</p>
<p>Willes shut down the network of suburban editions except for the San Fernando Valley and Orange County editions. Editors were shifted around. Two Times Mirror newspapers, New York Newsday and the Baltimore Evening Sun, were closed. The payroll was reduced by a thousand jobs, with the Times hit hardest. Coffey looked gray and stricken the day he announced the cuts.</p>
<p>Willes’ most controversial change was to break down the figurative wall between the editorial department and the business side, mainly advertising. Otis Chandler had separated these departments to prevent advertisers from dictating the content of news stories, the way things had been done at newspapers in the past. Willes challenged the concept, saying he would use a bazooka to blow up the wall. He saw the editorial department as recalcitrant in its resistance to this change. Although he continued to have reporters to lunch, he couldn’t understand why they didn’t support his agenda. He felt the entire paper should unite behind him and help reach his goal of more advertising, circulation, and revenue. The journalists shared those goals, but they also regarded their business as a calling. Their primary goal was to dig out the news, not help sell ads.</p>
<p>To bring the journalists to heel, he installed mini-publishers in each of the editorial departments to work with the editors and come up with new ways of selling ads. The arrival of the mini-publishers soured the newsroom even more. So did troubling incidents, such as the advertising chief’s nearly successful attempt to have the consumer columnist fired when he exposed the fraudulent auto sales tactics of a major advertiser.</p>
<p>Uncertainty became a way of life in the newsroom. Sensing the disaster ahead, Coffey had resigned when Willes named himself publisher. The new editor was Michael Parks, a Pulitzer Prize-winning foreign correspondent who had been managing editor. He had been a reporter for most of his career. He appreciated reporters and stood behind them when their stories were attacked by such powers as the mayor or the chief of police. He didn’t know much about management, but even the best of managers would have had trouble surviving this chaotic situation.</p>
<p>Parks tried to compromise when he was hit by orders from Willes and Downing that conflicted with the needs of his nervous staff. Editors grew frightened. They learned a new skill: managing up. It was a phrase beloved by management gurus, but in the newsroom it translated into the bowing and groveling of lower-level editors trying to please the layers of bosses above them. They second-guessed story ideas and turned down any that might displease management. Assignments came from the top down. Completed stories went through the hands of several editors. It was no longer a writer’s newspaper.</p>
<p>Willes and Downing charged ahead in their determination to win more advertising. A big new privately financed arena, the Staples Center, was nearing completion in downtown Los Angeles. The arena owners were seeking “founding partners” to help defray construction costs. Without divulging the plan to its editorial staff, management at the Times enrolled the paper as a founding partner of Staples Center at a cost of $1.8 million a year for five years. They also agreed to produce an edition of the Times Sunday magazine celebrating the opening of the arena. The paper and the new arena would share the advertising profits from this issue of the magazine. The arena management solicited its vendors and contractors to buy ads.</p>
<p>The secret arrangement was disclosed in local weekly papers and then in stories in the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. The Journal said the arrangement “raised serious questions about how far a paper can go without damaging its integrity.”The national headlines touched off a rebellion in the newsroom at the Los Angeles Times. A petition was circulated demanding an apology from Kathryn Downing, the publisher. The next day, Downing met with the staff in the company cafeteria, filled beyond capacity. For ninety minutes, she faced unrelenting, belligerent questioning. She apologized “to each of you . . . To have the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal or anyone for that matter question our integrity is a horrendous place to be, and I am responsible for that.”</p>
<p>Otis Chandler watched all this from his ranch in Ojai. He had grown skeptical of Willes. “The Times is at great risk I think being run by people who have good intentions, are smart and so on, but no experience,” he said. “I think there’s a vulnerability.”</p>
<p>But Chandler no longer had any power at the Times. In 1998, he had been dropped from the board after he expressed his feelings about the family to journalist David Margolick for a 1996 profile in Vanity Fair. Margolick quoted him saying his relatives were “coupon clippers . . . elitists . . . bored with the problems of AIDS and the homeless and drive-by shootings.” He was not even offered the choice of staying on as a non-voting director, a gesture often offered to other board members.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Inventing-L-Chandlers-Their-Times/dp/1883318920%3FSubscriptionId%3D1XWTFJ60BR6QZ1PW9FR2%26tag%3Dtruthdig20-20%26linkCode%3Dxm2%26camp%3D2025%26creative%3D165953%26creativeASIN%3D1883318920" type="external" /></p>
<p>By Bill Boyarsky / Based on the film by Peter Jones</p>
<p>Angel City Press, 208 pages</p>
<p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Inventing-L-Chandlers-Their-Times/dp/1883318920%3FSubscriptionId%3D1XWTFJ60BR6QZ1PW9FR2%26tag%3Dtruthdig20-20%26linkCode%3Dxm2%26camp%3D2025%26creative%3D165953%26creativeASIN%3D1883318920" type="external" /></p>
<p>There were no longer any Chandlers on the staff of the Los Angeles Times. Otis’s oldest son, Norman, had undergone the same training program as his father and, like Otis, particularly enjoyed his work as a reporter. He learned how to cover the news, was intelligent, seemed to have the spark of leadership, and was popular with his co-workers. But Otis didn’t think Norman merited high command in the company:</p>
<p>The Chandler family would not have accepted Norman as publisher. He is not an outgoing, tough, aggressive leader as I was. He had no leadership jobs through the years as I did. He wasn’t in the service. He’s . . . gracious and kind . . . [but] if they put him in he would have failed because it wasn’t meant to be.</p>
<p>The issue was moot. Norman was discovered to have an inoperable brain tumor and died after a long decline.</p>
<p>His other son, Harry, was also interested in coming into the company, but his father didn’t offer him the opportunity for executive training that Norman had experienced. Harry finally went to work at the Times in its new media area. “I joined without him making a phone call,” Harry said. But he said Willes wasn’t interested in new media. “And I think as a Chandler, Mark Willes didn’t feel like [I was] his best friend . . . ” But even if Otis had been the pushiest of fathers, the family members controlling the board never would have given power to his sons. The Chandler era was just about over.</p>
<p>After the Staples scandal broke, Otis brooded at his ranch. Then he wrote a long message to the editorial department. He placed a call to the city editor, one of the few staff members he still knew, and asked him to deliver the message to the staff. The city editor, seated at his computer, took it down.</p>
<p>Otis read his remarks over the phone, with words reflecting his fury and sorrow:</p>
<p>To the employees of the Los Angeles Times, particularly of the editorial department because they have been so abused and misused . . . [by] the downsizing of the Times . . . the shrinking of the Times in terms of employees . . . the ill-advised steps that have been taken by current management . . . breaking down barriers, the traditional wall between editorial and the business departments.</p>
<p>My heart is heavy, my emotions are indescribable because I am afraid I am witnessing now a period in time in the history of this newspaper that is beyond description . . . I applaud the efforts of individual reporters who have spoken openly at their recent meeting with Kathryn Downing, and I also heartily endorse the letter that was presented to Michael Parks on November 2 which calls for a full and impartial publishing of all of the events that led up to the Staples controversy . . .</p>
<p>If a newspaper, even a great newspaper like the Los Angeles Times, loses credibility with its community, with its readers, with its advertisers, with its shareholders, that is probably the most serious circumstance that I can possibly think of. Respect and credibility of a newspaper is irreplaceable. Sometimes it never can be restored no matter what steps might be taken in terms of apology by the publisher, apology by the head of Times Mirror or whatever post-event strategies might be developed in the hopes of putting the pieces back together.</p>
<p>When I think back through the history . . . of this great newspaper . . . I realize how fragile and irreplaceable public trust in a newspaper is. This public trust and faith in a newspaper by its employees, its readers, the community, is dearer to me than life itself.</p>
<p>At six o’clock that evening, after the paper’s deadline, the city editor called the entire staff together and read Otis’s words to a packed newsroom. There was silence while the message was read, followed by applause. Soon after, pictures of Otis were posted throughout the big room.</p>
<p>Downing called Otis “angry and bitter.” Somewhat surprisingly, his foes in the family were resentful of her statement—who was she to insult a Chandler? Even before the Staples scandal, the family had been considering selling Times Mirror. Willes had pretty much stripped the company down to its print enterprises, and it was clear by 2000 that the newspaper business was heading downhill. Downing’s insult to Otis and the intensive national coverage of the Staples controversy gave the family a final push toward concluding the sale. On March 13, 2000, Times Mirror became part of the company that owned the Chicago Tribune.</p>
<p>Otis said he was pleased that the Tribune Company was taking over. A few weeks later, he and Bettina returned to the paper for the first time since he had been dismissed from the board. With Bettina at his side, he walked through the entire newsroom, past the pictures of him still hanging there. He stopped at every department. The journalists crowded around him, wanting to greet him. Many were meeting him for the first time.</p>
<p>He had brought integrity, honor and civic responsibility to the Los Angeles Times as well as great prosperity. Aware of what he had given to the paper—and knowing those days were passing—the workers on the newsroom floor were proud to shake his hand.</p>
<p>“Inventing L.A.: The Chandlers and Their Times” By Bill Boyarsky / Based on the film by Peter Jones ISBN 978-1-883318-92-5, $35 Published by Angel City Press, Santa Monica Copyright © 2009 by Bill Boyarsky and Peter Jones Excerpt reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.</p> | true | 4 | inventing la chandlers times tells story los angeles la times lives papers publishers beginning gen harrison grey otis late 19th century late david halberstam wrote single family dominated major region country chandlers dominated southern california much foster growth los angeles invent epilogue last chandlers otis driven paper rightwing relatives majority control newspaper business collapsing ethical standards ignored paper one americas greatest beginning fall toward mediocrity times single important force shaping los angeles rest southern california game throughout history california precursor movements swept across country story decline chandlers could well foreshadow decline fall old families run new york times washington post city editor los angeles times part events book tell story factory floor newsroom la times inventing la published angel city press conjunction pbs documentary name produced peter jones epilogue chandler era ends time workers factory floor cant explain company failed necessity view doesnt extend much beyond car assembling supervisor giving orders newspaper however different kind manufacturing plant number workers journalists often highstrung creatures trained observe every nuance rumor fact los angeles times journalists factory floorthe newsroomwas best place observe sad final decade chandler control bill boyarsky based film peter jones angel city press 208 pages newsroom third floor extends length long city block one end los angeles times building 1989 year tom johnson fired publisher many departments room reflected ambitions paper height books fashion food calendar covering movies television art music occupied one large portion room blending sports business near business foreign national desks receiving stories bureaus around country world beyond desks metro staff covering local news specialists education science medicine religion environment day 10 230 pm work went display conference room editors charge sections discussed stories pictures run place would pick page one consign others many inside pages paper meetings daily presentation events around world ranging violence middle east vote congress mishap santa monica beach interspersed mix movies art music sports food literature even otis chandler gone choices still reflected philosophy mass class 1980s ended chandler johnson driven power journalists newsroom uneasy paper adrift new publisher david laventhol another unknown quantity shelby coffey iii editor replacing bill thomas retired 1989 upstairs conservative chandlers firm control board determined ever revive legacy harry chandlerand make lot money found support times mirror hierarchy firm control robert erburu ideology longer issue tony day gone conservatives objections liberal editorial slant faded editorial pages became bland editorial boards daily lively discussions issues largely shaped editorials abandoned great liberal cartoonist paul conrad left paper 1993 replaced conservative michael ramirez main pressure economic two years declining earnings times mirror reported loss fourth quarter 1991 company executives said editorial department fat wasteful atmosphere grew even unsettling laventhol new publisher instituted costcutting measures including elimination firstclass air travel rumors swept newsroom rebellious nature staffa hangover journalists thomas hired nurturedheightened staffs sense apprehension despite newsroom gossip speculation workers generally ignorant corporations financial situation strategic plan wall otis chandler erected business operations editorial department effective reporters felt immune happening corporate offices sixth floor fact scornful worked papers business side vast majority editors ignorant reporters knew happening didnt choose share knowledge thomas successor coffey slender athletic man bonded otis chandler years lifting weights washington gym johnson chosen editor draggedout process required coffey editor dallas times herald contenders job write essays laying plans paper thomas made deputy associate editor features department clear way bigger things even though mandate features went lunch editors hard news departments asked questions difficulties faced coverageonce established editor coffey could excellent exciting leader example loved oj simpson murder trial often wandered section newsroom oj team worked talk event cautious often reluctant take chance daring idea editors sensed reluctance copied coffey editors know deal changing southland model otis chandler created essentially aimed middleclass southern californians got information reading longer viable papers suburban sections attracting advertisers large orange county san fernando valley editions steadily losing ground bill boyarsky based film peter jones angel city press 208 pages times trailed competitors seven eleven southern california market areas various attempts made turn things around nothing seemed work san fernando valley orange county editions turned virtually independent papers putting local stories areas page one otis chandler formula stressing importance national foreign stories abandoned orange county especially consumed many resources became known times vietnam quagmire victory sight top readers advertisers continued drift away 1995 revenues continued fall chandler family reached outside times mirror brought outsider president ceo times mirror mark willes vice president general mills inc known capn crunch reputation marketer focus cost cutting bottom line two years becoming ceo willes appointed publisher times held two jobs 1999 appointed new publisher protégé kathryn downing headed another times mirror company whatever titles willes command unlike tom johnson otis chandler left control newsroom editor willes eager meet reporters ask work sometimes invited lunch executive dining room reporters surprised flattered attention public speeches spoke emotionally cried subjector wordsmoved first audiences impressed rare show male emotion people felt act seeing cry one occasion writers courted began question whether tears concern work essential part willes act willes shut network suburban editions except san fernando valley orange county editions editors shifted around two times mirror newspapers new york newsday baltimore evening sun closed payroll reduced thousand jobs times hit hardest coffey looked gray stricken day announced cuts willes controversial change break figurative wall editorial department business side mainly advertising otis chandler separated departments prevent advertisers dictating content news stories way things done newspapers past willes challenged concept saying would use bazooka blow wall saw editorial department recalcitrant resistance change although continued reporters lunch couldnt understand didnt support agenda felt entire paper unite behind help reach goal advertising circulation revenue journalists shared goals also regarded business calling primary goal dig news help sell ads bring journalists heel installed minipublishers editorial departments work editors come new ways selling ads arrival minipublishers soured newsroom even troubling incidents advertising chiefs nearly successful attempt consumer columnist fired exposed fraudulent auto sales tactics major advertiser uncertainty became way life newsroom sensing disaster ahead coffey resigned willes named publisher new editor michael parks pulitzer prizewinning foreign correspondent managing editor reporter career appreciated reporters stood behind stories attacked powers mayor chief police didnt know much management even best managers would trouble surviving chaotic situation parks tried compromise hit orders willes downing conflicted needs nervous staff editors grew frightened learned new skill managing phrase beloved management gurus newsroom translated bowing groveling lowerlevel editors trying please layers bosses secondguessed story ideas turned might displease management assignments came top completed stories went hands several editors longer writers newspaper willes downing charged ahead determination win advertising big new privately financed arena staples center nearing completion downtown los angeles arena owners seeking founding partners help defray construction costs without divulging plan editorial staff management times enrolled paper founding partner staples center cost 18 million year five years also agreed produce edition times sunday magazine celebrating opening arena paper new arena would share advertising profits issue magazine arena management solicited vendors contractors buy ads secret arrangement disclosed local weekly papers stories new york times wall street journal journal said arrangement raised serious questions far paper go without damaging integritythe national headlines touched rebellion newsroom los angeles times petition circulated demanding apology kathryn downing publisher next day downing met staff company cafeteria filled beyond capacity ninety minutes faced unrelenting belligerent questioning apologized new york times wall street journal anyone matter question integrity horrendous place responsible otis chandler watched ranch ojai grown skeptical willes times great risk think run people good intentions smart experience said think theres vulnerability chandler longer power times 1998 dropped board expressed feelings family journalist david margolick 1996 profile vanity fair margolick quoted saying relatives coupon clippers elitists bored problems aids homeless driveby shootings even offered choice staying nonvoting director gesture often offered board members bill boyarsky based film peter jones angel city press 208 pages longer chandlers staff los angeles times otiss oldest son norman undergone training program father like otis particularly enjoyed work reporter learned cover news intelligent seemed spark leadership popular coworkers otis didnt think norman merited high command company chandler family would accepted norman publisher outgoing tough aggressive leader leadership jobs years wasnt service hes gracious kind put would failed wasnt meant issue moot norman discovered inoperable brain tumor died long decline son harry also interested coming company father didnt offer opportunity executive training norman experienced harry finally went work times new media area joined without making phone call harry said said willes wasnt interested new media think chandler mark willes didnt feel like best friend even otis pushiest fathers family members controlling board never would given power sons chandler era staples scandal broke otis brooded ranch wrote long message editorial department placed call city editor one staff members still knew asked deliver message staff city editor seated computer took otis read remarks phone words reflecting fury sorrow employees los angeles times particularly editorial department abused misused downsizing times shrinking times terms employees illadvised steps taken current management breaking barriers traditional wall editorial business departments heart heavy emotions indescribable afraid witnessing period time history newspaper beyond description applaud efforts individual reporters spoken openly recent meeting kathryn downing also heartily endorse letter presented michael parks november 2 calls full impartial publishing events led staples controversy newspaper even great newspaper like los angeles times loses credibility community readers advertisers shareholders probably serious circumstance possibly think respect credibility newspaper irreplaceable sometimes never restored matter steps might taken terms apology publisher apology head times mirror whatever postevent strategies might developed hopes putting pieces back together think back history great newspaper realize fragile irreplaceable public trust newspaper public trust faith newspaper employees readers community dearer life six oclock evening papers deadline city editor called entire staff together read otiss words packed newsroom silence message read followed applause soon pictures otis posted throughout big room downing called otis angry bitter somewhat surprisingly foes family resentful statementwho insult chandler even staples scandal family considering selling times mirror willes pretty much stripped company print enterprises clear 2000 newspaper business heading downhill downings insult otis intensive national coverage staples controversy gave family final push toward concluding sale march 13 2000 times mirror became part company owned chicago tribune otis said pleased tribune company taking weeks later bettina returned paper first time since dismissed board bettina side walked entire newsroom past pictures still hanging stopped every department journalists crowded around wanting greet many meeting first time brought integrity honor civic responsibility los angeles times well great prosperity aware given paperand knowing days passingthe workers newsroom floor proud shake hand inventing la chandlers times bill boyarsky based film peter jones isbn 9781883318925 35 published angel city press santa monica copyright 2009 bill boyarsky peter jones excerpt reprinted permission rights reserved | 1,770 |
<p>The United Nations lists Honduras as the most dangerous nation on the planet, with a rate of one violent death every 74 minutes.</p>
<p>The firefight started about two hours before dawn, while it was still full dark in the jungle. Early on May 11, muzzle flashes lit up the sky as a small fleet of U.S. helicopters engaged a boatload of drug smugglers on a twisting, thickly-wooded stretch of the Patuca River, in the Mosquitia region of eastern Honduras. It was a short, one-sided fight. The four Super Huey helicopters—piloted by a combination of Guatemalan Air Force officers and U.S. civilian contractors, manned by Honduran military door gunners and carrying both national police and U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) officers—had surprised the armed smugglers on the riverbank in the process of loading their cargo into a shallow-drafted skiff. The traffickers opened fire first, but strafing runs from the Hueys and fire support from agents on the ground, quickly overwhelmed the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/17/world/americas/deas-agents-join-hondurans-in-drug-firefights.html?_r=1&amp;emc=eta1" type="external">outlaws</a>. Initial reports claimed that two of the drug runners were killed at the scene, the rest fled into the jungle and almost a ton of cocaine was recovered. U.S. and Honduran media spun the incident as a major victory against the <a href="http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=504988&amp;CategoryId=23558" type="external">cartels</a>, and American officials corroborated those claims.</p>
<p>But soon a different a story began to emerge. The amount of narcotics supposedly seized in the raid, as <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/18/world/americas/united-states-says-no-dea-agents-took-part-in-honduras-shootout.html" type="external">reported by</a> the New York Times and other media that had picked up the story, literally changed overnight—reduced by half. Meanwhile, locals from a nearby village began to complain that tactical units deployed by the helicopters had <a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gkeGLwBYEy4mbtm_iqxBEFTTFGaA?docId=7ff3bcc382c5456db95f5626ebf8ae06" type="external">broken down doors to search houses and rough up residents after the firefight</a>. Even worse, instead of two dead smugglers, villagers alleged that a total of four innocent civilians had been killed by fire from Honduran officers, who were under direct supervision of DEA field agents. Two of the dead were said to be pregnant women. All the victims had been indigenous passengers traveling aboard a local water taxi on the same stretch of the river in the pre-dawn darkness. Another four passengers were also allegedly wounded, including a teenage boy who lost his hand, and a woman badly shot through both legs.</p>
<p>“The drug boat was running without lights and going downriver, toward the coast. The launch carrying civilian passengers had its lights on, and was headed inland. But, for whatever reason, the helicopters shot at them anyway,” says Norvin Goff, President of the United Mosquitia Organization of Honduras (MASTA), an NGO dedicated to protecting the rights of local indigenous.</p>
<p>“We’re trapped in the middle,” Goff says. “We’re caught between the drug gangs on one side, and the army and police on the other. If we cooperate with one group, we’re targeted by the other. The situation in these poor villages is very desperate.”</p>
<p>In the wake of the killings, a flurry of reports in Honduran and U.S. media suggested that the escalation of the war on drugs might be putting innocent lives at risk, and further undermining the nation’s already tenuous hold on democracy. As the media firestorm gathered strength, competing versions of events in Mosquitia continued to surface. Both Honduran law enforcement and the U.S. State Department officials have cast doubt on the claims of the local victims. Honduran President Porfirio Lobo, who has a very poor track record on human rights, even went so far as to blame the villagers for having tried to “ <a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5je0ScnbZHvncWeZybEXFa7O05CRA?docId=33e5250e5fdf42b8927f266e2df49362" type="external">defend</a>” the smugglers from the attacking helicopters. But MASTA’s Goff disagrees.</p>
<p>“Nobody in the water taxi was even armed. It [the water taxi] is a family business that has been serving the community for years. Everybody travels on the river, since there are no roads. But of course [police officials] must cast blame on the victims, because they’ve got innocent blood on their hands.”</p>
<p>The DEA declined multiple invitations to be interviewed for this article.</p>
<p>Adam Isacson, Senior Associate at the non-governmental Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), agrees with MASTA President Goff about the disconcerting lack of accountability, especially on the part of U.S. officials.</p>
<p>“It’s troubling that the DEA didn’t own up to the killings,” says Isacson, who recently returned from a conference in Guatemala City, where he advised regional governments on the hazards of militarizing law enforcement. “As long as they keep using the same playbook, we’re going to see more of that.”</p>
<p>Press freedom and democracy under attack</p>
<p>The United Nations lists Honduras as the most dangerous nation on the planet, with a rate of one violent death every 74 minutes. And the violence isn’t restricted to remote places like Mosquitia.</p>
<p>“Freedom of the national press is under attack from various sectors in Honduras,” says Benoit Hervieu, who heads up the Americas Desk of the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RWB). At least 17 journalists have been killed since June of 2009, when a military putsch overthrew the democratically-elected government.</p>
<p>“The problems in Honduras all go back to the coup,” Hervieu says. “Since then many journalists have been killed to silence the political opposition.” But Hervieu also says that as democracy has retreated, and the drug gangs have stepped into fill the vacuum, “the criminals also target outspoken journalists, to intimidate the press.”</p>
<p>Two reporters were killed in the month of May alone. One of them <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/16/alfredo-villatoro-dead-honduran-reporter-drug-gangs_n_1522653.html" type="external">Alfredo Villatoro</a>, was a prominent host on HRN, the country’s largest radio station. Villatoro’s body was found on May 15, a week after he’d been kidnapped while on his way to work. His body was dressed in a stolen police uniform, and he had been shot in the head.</p>
<p>“Alfredo was killed to send a message,” says Nahum Valladares, who heads up the International Desk at HRN. “The cartels think if they kill enough of us, then nobody will bother them anymore.” Valladares admits that 47-year-old Villatoro had publicly supported a recent government crackdown on organized crime. “Now his wife is a widow and his children have no father. All because he had the courage to speak out against the gangs.”</p>
<p>Honduras is currently ranked 143 out of 178 countries on the worldwide press freedom index. RWB’s Hervieu says that kind of chilling effect on the expression of ideas directly impacts democratic processes and government accountability. But Honduran authorities’ iron-fisted and sweeping response to the cartels, he says, has further destabilized the country and eroded security for journalists, activists and human rights workers.</p>
<p>“Unfortunately,” Hervieu says, “the [U.S.-backed] War on Drugs has provided plenty of opportunities for political revenge.”</p>
<p>He cites <a href="http://upsidedownworld.org/main/mexico-archives-79/2875-human-rights-in-the-rear-view-mirror-colombian-commandos-training-mexican-military-and-police" type="external">Colombia</a> and <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/09/mexico-drug-war-human-rights-abuses_n_1084870.html" type="external">Mexico</a> as similar cases where militarized crime fighting has led to escalating violence on both sides and numerous rights violations.</p>
<p>Ground zero in the War on Drugs</p>
<p>According to the State Department, 79 percent of all the cocaine flown out of South America has a scheduled layover in Honduras, largely due to the country’s widespread poverty and political instability, which make it a haven for the cartels. In response, the DEA has ramped up its anti-drug efforts, sending down commando-style squads attached to special helicopter units, such as the one involved in the Patuca raid. About six hundred U.S. military personnel are also stationed full-time in Honduras, most of them at the Soto Cano airbase near the capital of Tegucigalpa, as part of Joint Task Force Bravo (JTFB). The Pentagon spent about 53.8 million on contracts in Honduras in 2011, a jump of 71 percent from the previous fiscal year. The U.S. military has also <a href="http://forusa.org/blogs/john-lindsay-poland/honduras-grows-pentagon-hub-central-america/10311" type="external">begun</a> construction on at least eight different forward bases, airstrips and other installations, since 2009—all in a country about the size of Tennessee.</p>
<p>Colonel Ross A. Brown, who commands JTFB from the semi-permanent installation at Soto Cano, says that until recently, the primary mission of U.S. forces in Honduras was emergency aid and relief efforts, including on-the-spot medical and dental care, and airlifting emergency supplies to remote communities.</p>
<p>“But the focus has changed in the last year,” says Brown, who also served with distinction in Iraq, and will rotate back to the Pentagon after this assignment.</p>
<p>Now JTFB’s primary line of effort, Colonel Brown told In These Times, is “countering transnational organized crime.” JTFB supports the Honduran and other Central American armed forces as well as the U.S. interagency including DEA, but Department of Defense rules of engagement limit the direct involvement of U.S. troops.</p>
<p>Even so, powerful critics in Washington contend that militarized crime fighting in Honduras is producing too much collateral damage. In March, members of both the U.S. House and Senate signed letters requesting that the State Department curtail further military training and assistance to the country, due to the ongoing <a href="http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CREC-2012-05-17/pdf/CREC-2012-05-17-pt1-PgE835-4.pdf#page=1" type="external">human rights abuses</a> being committed under the rule of President Lobo. Lobo came to power after the 2009 coup, and despite complaints from elected officials, remains one of the Obama Administration’s closest allies in the region.</p>
<p>Whatever the Administration’s foreign policy objectives are, WOLA analyst Isacson says the strategies currently being employed in the regional drug war are not likely to succeed.</p>
<p>“Everybody knows what needs to be done [in Honduras],” he says. “They need police academies. They need forensics. They need a functional justice system. Just pumping money into a corrupt military is only going to make a bad situation worse.”</p>
<p>Colonel Brown agrees about the need for better infrastructure and policing methods. But he defends JTFB’s working relationship with the Honduran military as an opportunity to exert a positive influence.</p>
<p>“We’re setting an example down here,” says Brown. ““We’re showing them what it means to be a military that is subordinate to a democratic government and a free civilian society.”</p>
<p>When asked about the Patuca raid, Brown explains that the helicopters involved were not under his command, but were under the direct control of the DEA and U.S. State Department, and therefore operating under different rules of engagement (JTFB gunships are not allowed to fire in support of Honduran authorities on the ground).</p>
<p>Instead of incompetence or flawed tactics, Brown says a confusing battlefield may be the cause of the tragedy in Mosquitia. “At night, during a firefight in unknown territory, where the enemy is mixed in with the general population – it can be hard to tell who the bad guys are,” he says. “[That’s why] service members must be well trained and disciplined and only fire when they can discern friend from foe and foe from innocent civilian.”</p>
<p>Fighting a “criminal insurgency”</p>
<p>Colonel Brown, a West Point graduate, says that the drug-fueled forces terrorizing Honduras don’t have an ideological motivation, as was the case in Iraq. Instead, Brown says it may be a “criminal insurgency.”</p>
<p>“It’s not an attempt to take over the government,” he says. “[The gangs] don’t want to be responsible for medical care, or make sure schools open on time. They’re looking to destabilize for their own advantage, so they can make a profit.”</p>
<p>Other observers say that the irresponsible tactics employed by Honduran authorities, and their partners in the DEA and State Department, are dangerously similar to those of the “criminal insurgents” they’re fighting against—despite the brave efforts of officers like Colonel Brown:</p>
<p>“We are very poor, and need many things [from the government],” says MASTA President Goff. “Education. Doctors. A future for our children, so they don’t have to grow up to be drug smugglers. But instead [of helping], they come here and shoot at us,” Goff says. “In that way, they’re just as bad as the cartels.”</p>
<p>An earlier version of this article reported that four civilians were killed in the raid in Mosquitia, two of whom were pregnant women. The article has been updated to reflect differing accounts of the incident delivered by Honduran and US authorities.</p>
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<p>Jeremy Kryt is a Chicago-based journalist.</p> | true | 4 | united nations lists honduras dangerous nation planet rate one violent death every 74 minutes firefight started two hours dawn still full dark jungle early may 11 muzzle flashes lit sky small fleet us helicopters engaged boatload drug smugglers twisting thicklywooded stretch patuca river mosquitia region eastern honduras short onesided fight four super huey helicopterspiloted combination guatemalan air force officers us civilian contractors manned honduran military door gunners carrying national police us drug enforcement agency dea officershad surprised armed smugglers riverbank process loading cargo shallowdrafted skiff traffickers opened fire first strafing runs hueys fire support agents ground quickly overwhelmed outlaws initial reports claimed two drug runners killed scene rest fled jungle almost ton cocaine recovered us honduran media spun incident major victory cartels american officials corroborated claims soon different story began emerge amount narcotics supposedly seized raid reported new york times media picked story literally changed overnightreduced half meanwhile locals nearby village began complain tactical units deployed helicopters broken doors search houses rough residents firefight even worse instead two dead smugglers villagers alleged total four innocent civilians killed fire honduran officers direct supervision dea field agents two dead said pregnant women victims indigenous passengers traveling aboard local water taxi stretch river predawn darkness another four passengers also allegedly wounded including teenage boy lost hand woman badly shot legs drug boat running without lights going downriver toward coast launch carrying civilian passengers lights headed inland whatever reason helicopters shot anyway says norvin goff president united mosquitia organization honduras masta ngo dedicated protecting rights local indigenous trapped middle goff says caught drug gangs one side army police cooperate one group targeted situation poor villages desperate wake killings flurry reports honduran us media suggested escalation war drugs might putting innocent lives risk undermining nations already tenuous hold democracy media firestorm gathered strength competing versions events mosquitia continued surface honduran law enforcement us state department officials cast doubt claims local victims honduran president porfirio lobo poor track record human rights even went far blame villagers tried defend smugglers attacking helicopters mastas goff disagrees nobody water taxi even armed water taxi family business serving community years everybody travels river since roads course police officials must cast blame victims theyve got innocent blood hands dea declined multiple invitations interviewed article adam isacson senior associate nongovernmental washington office latin america wola agrees masta president goff disconcerting lack accountability especially part us officials troubling dea didnt killings says isacson recently returned conference guatemala city advised regional governments hazards militarizing law enforcement long keep using playbook going see press freedom democracy attack united nations lists honduras dangerous nation planet rate one violent death every 74 minutes violence isnt restricted remote places like mosquitia freedom national press attack various sectors honduras says benoit hervieu heads americas desk parisbased reporters without borders rwb least 17 journalists killed since june 2009 military putsch overthrew democraticallyelected government problems honduras go back coup hervieu says since many journalists killed silence political opposition hervieu also says democracy retreated drug gangs stepped fill vacuum criminals also target outspoken journalists intimidate press two reporters killed month may alone one alfredo villatoro prominent host hrn countrys largest radio station villatoros body found may 15 week hed kidnapped way work body dressed stolen police uniform shot head alfredo killed send message says nahum valladares heads international desk hrn cartels think kill enough us nobody bother anymore valladares admits 47yearold villatoro publicly supported recent government crackdown organized crime wife widow children father courage speak gangs honduras currently ranked 143 178 countries worldwide press freedom index rwbs hervieu says kind chilling effect expression ideas directly impacts democratic processes government accountability honduran authorities ironfisted sweeping response cartels says destabilized country eroded security journalists activists human rights workers unfortunately hervieu says usbacked war drugs provided plenty opportunities political revenge cites colombia mexico similar cases militarized crime fighting led escalating violence sides numerous rights violations ground zero war drugs according state department 79 percent cocaine flown south america scheduled layover honduras largely due countrys widespread poverty political instability make cartels response dea ramped antidrug efforts sending commandostyle squads attached special helicopter units one involved patuca raid six hundred us military personnel also stationed fulltime honduras soto cano airbase near capital tegucigalpa part joint task force bravo jtfb pentagon spent 538 million contracts honduras 2011 jump 71 percent previous fiscal year us military also begun construction least eight different forward bases airstrips installations since 2009all country size tennessee colonel ross brown commands jtfb semipermanent installation soto cano says recently primary mission us forces honduras emergency aid relief efforts including onthespot medical dental care airlifting emergency supplies remote communities focus changed last year says brown also served distinction iraq rotate back pentagon assignment jtfbs primary line effort colonel brown told times countering transnational organized crime jtfb supports honduran central american armed forces well us interagency including dea department defense rules engagement limit direct involvement us troops even powerful critics washington contend militarized crime fighting honduras producing much collateral damage march members us house senate signed letters requesting state department curtail military training assistance country due ongoing human rights abuses committed rule president lobo lobo came power 2009 coup despite complaints elected officials remains one obama administrations closest allies region whatever administrations foreign policy objectives wola analyst isacson says strategies currently employed regional drug war likely succeed everybody knows needs done honduras says need police academies need forensics need functional justice system pumping money corrupt military going make bad situation worse colonel brown agrees need better infrastructure policing methods defends jtfbs working relationship honduran military opportunity exert positive influence setting example says brown showing means military subordinate democratic government free civilian society asked patuca raid brown explains helicopters involved command direct control dea us state department therefore operating different rules engagement jtfb gunships allowed fire support honduran authorities ground instead incompetence flawed tactics brown says confusing battlefield may cause tragedy mosquitia night firefight unknown territory enemy mixed general population hard tell bad guys says thats service members must well trained disciplined fire discern friend foe foe innocent civilian fighting criminal insurgency colonel brown west point graduate says drugfueled forces terrorizing honduras dont ideological motivation case iraq instead brown says may criminal insurgency attempt take government says gangs dont want responsible medical care make sure schools open time theyre looking destabilize advantage make profit observers say irresponsible tactics employed honduran authorities partners dea state department dangerously similar criminal insurgents theyre fighting againstdespite brave efforts officers like colonel brown poor need many things government says masta president goff education doctors future children dont grow drug smugglers instead helping come shoot us goff says way theyre bad cartels earlier version article reported four civilians killed raid mosquitia two pregnant women article updated reflect differing accounts incident delivered honduran us authorities like youve read subscribe times magazine make taxdeductible donation fund reporting jeremy kryt chicagobased journalist | 1,134 |
<p>“So goes New Orleans, so goes the country” was the message this writer and other public housing activists delivered at the recent United States Social Forum held in Atlanta. New Orleans’ grass roots activists argued, at this gathering of leftists and liberals from across the U.S. and Americas, the U.S. ruling class is using the ‘opportunity’ of Hurricane Katrina to eliminate New Orleans over 7,000 public housing apartments, or what they call ‘concentrated poverty’. This ‘success story’ will then be used to justify public housing’s elimination across the country.</p>
<p>Furthermore, we held, the demolition of New Orleans’ public housing is part of a broader ruling class initiative to privatize public services from health care to education in order to create a model, racially and class cleansed, ‘neoliberal city’. Again, as with public housing, elite-defined success in our devastated city will be used to extend capitalist gains across the country.</p>
<p>While we delivered our radical critique, we did not have the time to develop another part of New Orleans’ public housing story, and a central theme at the U.S. Social Forum: the role non-profits, foundations and universities are playing promoting the neoliberal agenda in post-Katrina New Orleans, and, more generally, the insidious role they play in undermining social justice struggles. Below I elaborate on the role of these actors–what a collection of writers in a recent work call the ‘non-profit industrial complex’–by examining an ivy league university’s initiative to create a cadre of ‘experts’ to implement and legitimate the neoliberal ‘reinvention’–privatization–of New Orleans’ public housing. I conclude the analysis by highlighting the obstacle non-profits pose for social justice struggles, and how grass roots social movement organizations–qualitatively different from non-profits–have made great strides in defending New Orleans’ public housing. I argue the social movements, not non-profits, opens the possibility of a massive public works program, the only real way to obtain a just reconstruction of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast.</p>
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<p>Penn and Privatization</p>
<p>‘This project is a great example of how Penn engages with communities across the globe to drive progress and improve lives.’ Penn President Amy Gutmann</p>
<p>The University of Pennsylvania’s so-called ‘Center for Urban Redevelopment Excellence’ [hereafter the ‘Center’], through a $2.2 million grant from the Rockefeller foundation, is providing a series of fellowships to ‘recruit talented and energetic staff for organizations directly supporting large-scale redevelopment in neighborhoods affected by Hurricane Katrina and Rita.’ The fellowships will be awarded to ‘early or mid-career professionals’ who will work with, primarily, non-profits involved in ‘public-private redevelopment projects’. In addition the Center, in collaboration with the University of New Orleans’ Department of Planning and Urban Studies, will oversee an extensive training program for fellows. The curriculum includes cutting edge topics, such as the ‘Entrepreneurship in Urban Redevelopment’ course, focused on ‘privatizing public functions’, or, in neoliberal-speak, ‘innovations in government’.</p>
<p>Schooled in privatization and co-optation, the ‘Rockefeller Foundation Redevelopment’ fellows will be able to quickly put their skills to use. The fifteen agencies–including some for-profits and government agencies–currently designated to have fellows work with them are almost all involved in privatizing and downsizing public housing, mostly targeting New Orleans (for the full list of collaborators go to: <a href="http://www.upenn.edu/curexpenn/hosts_rfrf.htm" type="external">www.upenn.edu/curexpenn/hosts_rfrf.htm</a>). Further underscoring the program’s privatization agenda, many of the Center’s board members have played major roles in the 1990s and early 2000s frenzy to eliminate ‘distressed’ public housing developments that occupied valuable real estate parcels in cities from Washington to Chicago to San Francisco. Furthermore, a few of the Center’s board members, and their organizations, have even received contracts to eliminate New Orleans public housing–or what they and their future ‘fellows’ call ‘reinventing’ public housing, ‘de-concentrating poverty’, and ‘building strong, healthy communities.’</p>
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<p>UPenn’s Center for Urban Redevelopment Excellence: A Rogues Gallery of Public Housing Demolishers</p>
<p>Among the Center’s 22-member advisory board is one Bruce Katz, who now heads up the Brookings Institution’s ‘Metropolitan Policy Program’ (for the full list go to: www.upenn.edu/curexpenn/board.htm). Katz is well prepared for that neoliberal think-tank post: in the 1990s he worked at the Department of Housing and Urban Development under Secretary Henry Cisneros implementing the HOPE VI program. HOPE VI, what a public housing resident at the Social Forum critiqued as having no hope, only despair, was the key Clinton era neoliberal legislation used to eliminate over 100,000 units of what had been a stock 1.4 million public housing units in the United States. This program helped radically downsize public housing, such as New Orleans’ pre-Katrina St. Thomas public housing development. St. Thomas, located along the city’s highly valued riverfront, was ‘redeveloped’ under HOPE VI, shrinking from 1,510 public housing units to under 200–part of slashing the total city public housing stock from approximately 14,000 to 7,000. Katz vigorously defend his pre-katrina efforts in New Orleans, telling a researcher in 2002 at the London School of Economics, following a query about St. Thomas, that</p>
<p>Cities have to gentrify, especially bottom of the barrel cities like New Orleans. If they don’t gentrify, they’re going to die. Because nobody is going to bail them out this time. The federal government is not going to bail them out this time.</p>
<p>Other leading lights of public housing privatization that sit on the Center’s board include Richard Baron–who is also a member the Brookings Institutions Metropolitan Policy Board directed by Bruce Katz–and Tony Salazar of the McCormack, Baron and Salazar firm. Salazar, who heads the outfit’s “west coast operations’, touts that he oversees ‘five HOPE VI sites’. McCormack, Baron and Salazar also have under their belt the destruction of Techwood homes in Atlanta, the first public housing development built by the Public Works Administration, completed in 1936. This ‘success story’ helped spur on gentrification in Atlanta, further reducing the civil rights capital’s African American working class population. Of course the role that Richard Baron played in racial and class cleansing did have its benefits, making him a deserving recipient of the Urban Land Institute’s–the premier, ‘non-profit’ real estate industry think tank–$100,000 “J.C. Nichols Visionaries in Urban Development’ prize. The award is named after the Kansas City developer that played the key role, beginning in the early 20th century, institutionalizing the real estate industry’s use of racially restrictive covenants in new housing developments.</p>
<p>All of the remaining 22 member advisory board have, at one level or another, supported and legitimated public housing privatization and gentrification. Some of these leading lights include Sandra Moore, who heads the non-profit ‘Urban Strategies’. This outfit specializes in collaborating with McCormack, Baron and Salazar in what they call the ‘self-sufficiency, self-improvement’ component of HOPE VI privation schemes. Urban Strategies expertise also includes ‘community engagement processes’, that is co-optive efforts to ensnare public housing residents in negotiations, helping grease the skids for expelling communities, thus handling a messy problem for developers. James Corcoran, a developer and Center board member, also has public housing demolition–Boston and Lynn Massachusetts–on his resume. Another interesting figure is real estate consultant Paul Brohpy, who epitomizes the Center’s ‘public-private’ collaboration, having held posts in government, for-profits, non-profits, and academia legitimating gentrification. Non-Profits in the Service of Public Housing Privatization</p>
<p>Many of the non-profits scheduled to receive Rockefeller funded, and Center for Urban Redevelopment trained, ‘fellows’ are directly or indirectly involved in privatizing four major public housing developments–C.J. Peete, St. Bernard, Lafitte, and B.W. Cooper. These four-closed [a few apartments are open at Cooper] New Orleans public housing developments comprise some 5,000 badly needed, rent controlled, apartments. In addition, two non-profits scheduled to receive fellows have direct business relationships with certain Center ‘advisory’ Board members. For example, the so-called ‘New Orleans Neighborhood Collaborative’, led by New Orleans school board member Una Anderson, is ‘partnering’ with McCormack, Baron and Salazar in a HUD awarded contract to privatize the 1,400 units of the C.J. Peete development. Only 141 public units are planned for the redevelopment, according to the Center website! If the past is any indication, Center board member Sandra Moore’s ‘non-profit’ Urban Strategies–whose agency is scheduled to be awarded a fellow as well–will also receive a cut of the C.J. Peete deal.</p>
<p>[The role of Anderson, who through her school board position has led the busting of the New Orleans teachers union and school privatization, underscores the close linkage of public housing privatization, charter schools, and gentrification.]</p>
<p>Another ‘non-profit’ involved in privatization and scheduled to receive a ‘fellow’ is Providence Community Housing–an arm of the archdiocese of New Orleans. Providence is working with Enterprise Community partners–two of whose arms are also receiving fellowships–to demolish the almost 1,000 units at the Lafitte public housing development. Lafitte, one of the best-built public housing developments in the country, constructed by Creole artisans from the city’s Treme neighborhood, and modeled after the Cabildo apartments in the famed French Quarter, received little or no flooding. Indeed, MIT professor John Fernandez testified that with minimal repairs–basically sanitary swipes of the solid plaster walls–displaced residents would be able to safely move back into their apartments. Nonetheless, Providence and Enterprise claim–arguments soon to be buttressed by their gentrification-trained Rockefeller hacks–that the development is not habitable and plan to demolish all the solid, historic, brick three and two story walk-up apartment buildings.</p>
<p>Another appalling aspect of the Providence-Enterprise collaboration is that the “CEO” of the non-profit, ‘National Low Income Housing Coalition’–Sheila Crowley–sits on the board of trustees of Enterprise [along with Center board member Paul Brophy, and former Defense secretary Robert McNamara, involved in destroying several million low-income housing units in southeast Asia a few decades back]. New Orleans public housing activists from C3/Hands Off Iberville have repeatedly called on CEO Crowley to step down from Enterprise and denounce the outfit’s privatization scheme. Crowley, a typical, arrogant, nonprofit ‘CEO’, accountable only to her foundation paymasters, continues on the Enterprise board. She refuses to deign herself by responding to the grass roots rabble in New Orleans carrying out the day to day struggles on the front lines to defend public housing. AFL-CIO and Privatization</p>
<p>Like Crowley’s outfit, another putatively ‘progressive, working class’ organization–the AFL-CIO trade union federation–is also involved in privatizing New Orleans’ public housing. The AFL’s ‘Housing Investment Trust’ (HIT) and ‘Investment Trust Corporation’ (ITC), scheduled to receive a Rockefeller fellow, originally had its eyes set on the Lafitte public housing development. Yet, when their erstwhile Providence and Enterprise partners refused to use union labor, the AFL bankers backed out of the deal–it’s OK to demolish poor peoples housing, as long as union labor is involved! Who says our union leaders have no principles! HIT and ITC are now concentrating their efforts on winning the contract to privatize the St Bernard public housing development. Nonetheless, the AFL efforts to act as ‘socially responsible investors’ are now stymied since the Columbia Residential Corporation, another Rockefeller fellow designee, was previously awarded the St. Bernard contract by HUD.</p>
<p>Of course, the AFL’s pro-privatization policies in New Orleans should not come as a surprise. An organization that funds coup plotters in Venezuela to overthrow a president carrying out the re-nationalization of industries and expanding social services, should not be expected to oppose neoliberal ‘reforms’ at home. Indeed, as the AFL-CIO oversees the continued savaging of working class living standards, we can expect that increasingly their top honchos’ main area of concerns will be protecting and ‘growing’ their considerable capitalist investments. The Struggle from Below and the Public Works Alternative to Privatization</p>
<p>The non-profits, and the foundations, the latter of which political scientist Joan Roelofs calls the “planning and coordinating arm” of the non-profit ‘third sector’, are part of the problem in New Orleans, not the solution. The non-profits–which have proliferated in post-Katrina New Orleans–play key roles, as we have seen with the University of Pennsylvania-Rockefeller foundation program, helping legitimate neoliberal reforms. The non-profits help, at the grass roots level, to disseminate the ruling class’ ‘common sense’ ideology that we have to be ‘realistic’ and adapt to neoliberalism. The non-profits’ message is to be reasonable, to work out a compromise within the interstices of neoliberalism. That is, as Roelofs argues, the non-profits act as “a protective layer of capitalismThey provide jobs and benefits for radicals willing to become pragmatic” (Roelofs 2003, p. 22). They take grass roots activists away from mass struggle, and into the insider negotiations that sap and undermine working class strength.</p>
<p>Thus, the solution is not, as a number of New Orleans activists implored, in their “Letter from the People of New Orleans to Our Friends and Allies”, to get the ‘progressive’ foundations and non-profits to open their coffers to fund local organizations involved in advocating a racially and economically equitable reconstruction. [http://leftturn.mayfirst.org/?q=node/573.] Winning fellowships from the Rockefeller foundation is the not the solution. Nor are fellowships from the largess of a late 20th century robber baron–George Soros’ Open Society Institute. In fact, a New Orleans based criminal justice reform non-profit, ‘Fighting Chance’–a proud recipient of the ‘Social Capitalist award’ from fastcompany.com–has one of their ‘senior investigators’ on Soros’ payroll.</p>
<p>In contrast to those focused on creating non-profits to pressure the foundations for cash, New Orleans needs grass roots, politically independent of the Democrats, social movement organizations to pressure and confront the capitalist state. This has been the agenda and purpose of the public housing group C3/Hands Off Iberville, which has led and organized scores of direct action mobilizations to confront the capitalist state and their public housing privatization agenda. Instead of being ‘reasonable’, accepting privatization, and being sucked into negotiations–a key role of the non-profits–C3/Hands off Iberville and others involved in the public housing movement have maintained pressure on local and national state officials through marches, denunciations, protests, disruptions. This line of march has bone fruit.</p>
<p>Struggle from below in New Orleans produced movement from above in Congress. Congresswoman Maxine Waters sponsored, and helped lead the successful passage of, bill HR 1227 this spring that provides for the reopening of New Orleans public housing, and one-for one replacement of public housing units under any ‘redevelopment’. The bill stalled in the Senate until C3/Hands Off Iberville and others began a pressure campaign on Democratic Senator Mary Landrieu, including marching to her brother’s home-Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu. She finally budged, and endorsed and sponsored the bill, S 1668, The Gulf Coast Housing Recovery Act of 2007.</p>
<p>The struggle is not over. The Senate has not passed the bill, and no funding has been appropriated. There are some weaknesses and loopholes, ones that can only be plugged through more struggle–something the non-profits are not interested in. Furthermore, the movement faces the continued efforts of developers, and their intellectual backers at the University of Pennsylvania to ‘reinvent’, that is destroy public housing. Nonetheless, the experience of C3/Hands Off Iberville shows that building a grass roots movement, politically independent of the Democrats–rather than a professional, non-profit reliant on foundations–can produce important gains even at ground zero of the U.S.’s domestic neoliberal capitalist offensive–New Orleans, Louisiana. Within New Orleans public housing movement lies the seed for a necessary and broader one, the only one capable of guaranteeing a racially and economically just reconstruction: a movement for a massive public works program, democratically and government run [no private contractors!], and at union wages, to rebuild New Orleans and the Gulf Coast (for historic precedence, and how to achieve it, see Jeannette Gabriel’s article in <a href="" type="internal">Monthly Review</a>).</p>
<p>JAY ARENA is a PhD student in the Department of Sociology at Tulane University and a long time community and labor activist in New Orleans. He can be reached at: <a href="mailto:jarena@tulane.edu" type="external">jarena@tulane.edu</a></p>
<p>References</p>
<p>Roelefs, Joan. 2003. <a href="" type="internal">Foundations and Public Policy: the Mask of Pluralism</a>.. Albany: State University of New York Press.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.louisianaspeaks.org/news/9721.html" type="external">http://www.louisianaspeaks.org/news/9721.html</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.enterprisecommunity.org/about/leadership/trustees.asp" type="external">http://www.enterprisecommunity.org/about/leadership/trustees.asp</a></p>
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<p>&#160;</p> | true | 4 | goes new orleans goes country message writer public housing activists delivered recent united states social forum held atlanta new orleans grass roots activists argued gathering leftists liberals across us americas us ruling class using opportunity hurricane katrina eliminate new orleans 7000 public housing apartments call concentrated poverty success story used justify public housings elimination across country furthermore held demolition new orleans public housing part broader ruling class initiative privatize public services health care education order create model racially class cleansed neoliberal city public housing elitedefined success devastated city used extend capitalist gains across country delivered radical critique time develop another part new orleans public housing story central theme us social forum role nonprofits foundations universities playing promoting neoliberal agenda postkatrina new orleans generally insidious role play undermining social justice struggles elaborate role actorswhat collection writers recent work call nonprofit industrial complexby examining ivy league universitys initiative create cadre experts implement legitimate neoliberal reinventionprivatizationof new orleans public housing conclude analysis highlighting obstacle nonprofits pose social justice struggles grass roots social movement organizationsqualitatively different nonprofitshave made great strides defending new orleans public housing argue social movements nonprofits opens possibility massive public works program real way obtain reconstruction new orleans gulf coast 160 penn privatization project great example penn engages communities across globe drive progress improve lives penn president amy gutmann university pennsylvanias socalled center urban redevelopment excellence hereafter center 22 million grant rockefeller foundation providing series fellowships recruit talented energetic staff organizations directly supporting largescale redevelopment neighborhoods affected hurricane katrina rita fellowships awarded early midcareer professionals work primarily nonprofits involved publicprivate redevelopment projects addition center collaboration university new orleans department planning urban studies oversee extensive training program fellows curriculum includes cutting edge topics entrepreneurship urban redevelopment course focused privatizing public functions neoliberalspeak innovations government schooled privatization cooptation rockefeller foundation redevelopment fellows able quickly put skills use fifteen agenciesincluding forprofits government agenciescurrently designated fellows work almost involved privatizing downsizing public housing mostly targeting new orleans full list collaborators go wwwupenneducurexpennhosts_rfrfhtm underscoring programs privatization agenda many centers board members played major roles 1990s early 2000s frenzy eliminate distressed public housing developments occupied valuable real estate parcels cities washington chicago san francisco furthermore centers board members organizations even received contracts eliminate new orleans public housingor future fellows call reinventing public housing deconcentrating poverty building strong healthy communities 160 upenns center urban redevelopment excellence rogues gallery public housing demolishers among centers 22member advisory board one bruce katz heads brookings institutions metropolitan policy program full list go wwwupenneducurexpennboardhtm katz well prepared neoliberal thinktank post 1990s worked department housing urban development secretary henry cisneros implementing hope vi program hope vi public housing resident social forum critiqued hope despair key clinton era neoliberal legislation used eliminate 100000 units stock 14 million public housing units united states program helped radically downsize public housing new orleans prekatrina st thomas public housing development st thomas located along citys highly valued riverfront redeveloped hope vi shrinking 1510 public housing units 200part slashing total city public housing stock approximately 14000 7000 katz vigorously defend prekatrina efforts new orleans telling researcher 2002 london school economics following query st thomas cities gentrify especially bottom barrel cities like new orleans dont gentrify theyre going die nobody going bail time federal government going bail time leading lights public housing privatization sit centers board include richard baronwho also member brookings institutions metropolitan policy board directed bruce katzand tony salazar mccormack baron salazar firm salazar heads outfits west coast operations touts oversees five hope vi sites mccormack baron salazar also belt destruction techwood homes atlanta first public housing development built public works administration completed 1936 success story helped spur gentrification atlanta reducing civil rights capitals african american working class population course role richard baron played racial class cleansing benefits making deserving recipient urban land institutesthe premier nonprofit real estate industry think tank100000 jc nichols visionaries urban development prize award named kansas city developer played key role beginning early 20th century institutionalizing real estate industrys use racially restrictive covenants new housing developments remaining 22 member advisory board one level another supported legitimated public housing privatization gentrification leading lights include sandra moore heads nonprofit urban strategies outfit specializes collaborating mccormack baron salazar call selfsufficiency selfimprovement component hope vi privation schemes urban strategies expertise also includes community engagement processes cooptive efforts ensnare public housing residents negotiations helping grease skids expelling communities thus handling messy problem developers james corcoran developer center board member also public housing demolitionboston lynn massachusettson resume another interesting figure real estate consultant paul brohpy epitomizes centers publicprivate collaboration held posts government forprofits nonprofits academia legitimating gentrification nonprofits service public housing privatization many nonprofits scheduled receive rockefeller funded center urban redevelopment trained fellows directly indirectly involved privatizing four major public housing developmentscj peete st bernard lafitte bw cooper fourclosed apartments open cooper new orleans public housing developments comprise 5000 badly needed rent controlled apartments addition two nonprofits scheduled receive fellows direct business relationships certain center advisory board members example socalled new orleans neighborhood collaborative led new orleans school board member una anderson partnering mccormack baron salazar hud awarded contract privatize 1400 units cj peete development 141 public units planned redevelopment according center website past indication center board member sandra moores nonprofit urban strategieswhose agency scheduled awarded fellow wellwill also receive cut cj peete deal role anderson school board position led busting new orleans teachers union school privatization underscores close linkage public housing privatization charter schools gentrification another nonprofit involved privatization scheduled receive fellow providence community housingan arm archdiocese new orleans providence working enterprise community partnerstwo whose arms also receiving fellowshipsto demolish almost 1000 units lafitte public housing development lafitte one bestbuilt public housing developments country constructed creole artisans citys treme neighborhood modeled cabildo apartments famed french quarter received little flooding indeed mit professor john fernandez testified minimal repairsbasically sanitary swipes solid plaster wallsdisplaced residents would able safely move back apartments nonetheless providence enterprise claimarguments soon buttressed gentrificationtrained rockefeller hacksthat development habitable plan demolish solid historic brick three two story walkup apartment buildings another appalling aspect providenceenterprise collaboration ceo nonprofit national low income housing coalitionsheila crowleysits board trustees enterprise along center board member paul brophy former defense secretary robert mcnamara involved destroying several million lowincome housing units southeast asia decades back new orleans public housing activists c3hands iberville repeatedly called ceo crowley step enterprise denounce outfits privatization scheme crowley typical arrogant nonprofit ceo accountable foundation paymasters continues enterprise board refuses deign responding grass roots rabble new orleans carrying day day struggles front lines defend public housing aflcio privatization like crowleys outfit another putatively progressive working class organizationthe aflcio trade union federationis also involved privatizing new orleans public housing afls housing investment trust hit investment trust corporation itc scheduled receive rockefeller fellow originally eyes set lafitte public housing development yet erstwhile providence enterprise partners refused use union labor afl bankers backed dealits ok demolish poor peoples housing long union labor involved says union leaders principles hit itc concentrating efforts winning contract privatize st bernard public housing development nonetheless afl efforts act socially responsible investors stymied since columbia residential corporation another rockefeller fellow designee previously awarded st bernard contract hud course afls proprivatization policies new orleans come surprise organization funds coup plotters venezuela overthrow president carrying renationalization industries expanding social services expected oppose neoliberal reforms home indeed aflcio oversees continued savaging working class living standards expect increasingly top honchos main area concerns protecting growing considerable capitalist investments struggle public works alternative privatization nonprofits foundations latter political scientist joan roelofs calls planning coordinating arm nonprofit third sector part problem new orleans solution nonprofitswhich proliferated postkatrina new orleansplay key roles seen university pennsylvaniarockefeller foundation program helping legitimate neoliberal reforms nonprofits help grass roots level disseminate ruling class common sense ideology realistic adapt neoliberalism nonprofits message reasonable work compromise within interstices neoliberalism roelofs argues nonprofits act protective layer capitalismthey provide jobs benefits radicals willing become pragmatic roelofs 2003 p 22 take grass roots activists away mass struggle insider negotiations sap undermine working class strength thus solution number new orleans activists implored letter people new orleans friends allies get progressive foundations nonprofits open coffers fund local organizations involved advocating racially economically equitable reconstruction httpleftturnmayfirstorgqnode573 winning fellowships rockefeller foundation solution fellowships largess late 20th century robber barongeorge soros open society institute fact new orleans based criminal justice reform nonprofit fighting chancea proud recipient social capitalist award fastcompanycomhas one senior investigators soros payroll contrast focused creating nonprofits pressure foundations cash new orleans needs grass roots politically independent democrats social movement organizations pressure confront capitalist state agenda purpose public housing group c3hands iberville led organized scores direct action mobilizations confront capitalist state public housing privatization agenda instead reasonable accepting privatization sucked negotiationsa key role nonprofitsc3hands iberville others involved public housing movement maintained pressure local national state officials marches denunciations protests disruptions line march bone fruit struggle new orleans produced movement congress congresswoman maxine waters sponsored helped lead successful passage bill hr 1227 spring provides reopening new orleans public housing onefor one replacement public housing units redevelopment bill stalled senate c3hands iberville others began pressure campaign democratic senator mary landrieu including marching brothers homelt gov mitch landrieu finally budged endorsed sponsored bill 1668 gulf coast housing recovery act 2007 struggle senate passed bill funding appropriated weaknesses loopholes ones plugged strugglesomething nonprofits interested furthermore movement faces continued efforts developers intellectual backers university pennsylvania reinvent destroy public housing nonetheless experience c3hands iberville shows building grass roots movement politically independent democratsrather professional nonprofit reliant foundationscan produce important gains even ground zero uss domestic neoliberal capitalist offensivenew orleans louisiana within new orleans public housing movement lies seed necessary broader one one capable guaranteeing racially economically reconstruction movement massive public works program democratically government run private contractors union wages rebuild new orleans gulf coast historic precedence achieve see jeannette gabriels article monthly review jay arena phd student department sociology tulane university long time community labor activist new orleans reached jarenatulaneedu references roelefs joan 2003 foundations public policy mask pluralism albany state university new york press httpwwwlouisianaspeaksorgnews9721html httpwwwenterprisecommunityorgaboutleadershiptrusteesasp 160 160 160 | 1,653 |
<p>As the Bush administration moves from one global “hot spot” to another, news of Afghanistan, the administration’s first professed military success story, is largely eclipsed by reports of these new ventures. July’s cogent and sobering 101 page Human Rights Watch report, Killing You Is A Very Easy Thing For Us, describing abuses to peace, security and human rights in Southeastern Afghanistan, seems to have been a mere blip on our radar screen.</p>
<p>The State Department’s updated travel advisory for Afghanistan, also released in July, was largely ignored despite its clear statement that peace, stability and security are non-existent in the country we claim to have liberated. Reports from regional press of increased Taliban and Al Qaeda activities and deaths in Afghanistan are just barely mentioned in U.S. media, even as humanitarian aid organizations have had to cease work in some of the neediest parts of Afghanistan.</p>
<p>Of the 87 billion dollars that President Bush just requested from Congress, only 800 million is allocated to Afghan reconstruction. This, even with the yet unfulfilled summer pledge of one billion dollars, is nothing compared to the need, the amount spent to bomb it, and the amount currently being spent in Iraq.</p>
<p>In an eerie repeat of the late 1980s / early 1990s, when the first Gulf War followed on the heels of the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan and marked the West’s shift of attention from Afghanistan to Iraq and elsewhere, our attention has again largely swung from Afghanistan to Iraq, Iran, North Korea &amp; Liberia. Like impatient TV viewers, we are a nation channel surfing through foreign policy, not pausing to see one program to its end before we start another.</p>
<p>Having recently returned from a month in Afghanistan and in Pakistan, where millions of Afghan refugees still fear returning to their homeland, it is clear to me that our program of U.S. foreign policy there is not turning out well. Everything I saw mirrors the Human Right Watch report: crime is on the rise and criminal warlords are terrorizing people countrywide; voices in favor of freedom, democracy and human rights, such as RAWA and nascent democratic political parties, are being kept underground through threats, arrest, and violence; harassment, intimidation, kidnapping, and rape make many girls and women fearful to leave their homes, thus rendering them unable to take advantage of the ostensible freedom to attend work or school; governmental office workers and teachers haven’t been paid for months; rebuilding is first and foremost benefiting warlords, elites, foreign firms and NGOs; the newly drafted constitution has yet to be released to the public thus making the promised public comment period a fraud; and armed factional fighting between warlords continues to undermine security as well as any hope for free and fair elections. The handover of ISAF command to NATO will change little if, despite the repeated requests of Afghans themselves, US resistance continues to keep the 5000 person force insufficiently small and limited to Kabul alone.</p>
<p>It is true that there are thousands of potential and real “hot spots” across the world and information available 24/7. Many of us limit this data overload by attending only to issues whose cause or effect we can trace directly to our lives. Leaving aside the blatant egocentricity of this form of filtering, there is an inherent fallacy in thinking that Afghanistan doesn’t matter to our lives — a fallacy fostered by the 7000 miles of geographic distance and the appealing myth of “successful liberation”.</p>
<p>But Afghanistan’s ongoing crisis and its future consequences are inextricably linked to the US. Even if we are too far away or too ill informed to see this clearly, the people of Afghanistan know it too well. That’s why every Afghan I talked with asked: “Why has the US, which was able to remove the Taliban from power in a month, and which is still clearly pulling the all strings in Afghanistan today, returned to power the same criminal fundamentalists and warlords who destroyed and terrorized the country to such an extent the last time they ruled that the Taliban were initially welcomed as liberators? Why doesn’t the US understand that this is the recipe for another September 11? Why won’t the US learn from its past mistakes?”</p>
<p>There is a Persian saying that many Afghans apply to the current situation: “The saddlebags are new, but the donkeys remain the same.” Afghans I spoke with see the US as holding the reigns of the same old warlord’s donkeys while those new saddle bags fill with opium, weapons and human rights abuses. It is not just the Afghan people that need to fear those donkeys and their loads. As September 11th showed us, we are all part of this global village and the provisions of those donkeys will impact our lives too. It is not too late for the US to turn those donkeys around, hand their reigns to an expanded peace keeping force and truly democratic Afghans and ensure that the Taliban’s defeat results in real liberation, peace and democracy. But to do so we need to convince the U.S. administration and U.S. citizens to stop channel surfing, listen to the Afghan people themselves, and commit to following through on this program until it does indeed have a successful ending.</p>
<p>Anne E. Brodsky is the author of <a href="" type="internal">With All Our Strength: The Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan</a>. (Routledge, 2003) and Associate Professor of Psychology and Women’s Studies at University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC).</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | true | 4 | bush administration moves one global hot spot another news afghanistan administrations first professed military success story largely eclipsed reports new ventures julys cogent sobering 101 page human rights watch report killing easy thing us describing abuses peace security human rights southeastern afghanistan seems mere blip radar screen state departments updated travel advisory afghanistan also released july largely ignored despite clear statement peace stability security nonexistent country claim liberated reports regional press increased taliban al qaeda activities deaths afghanistan barely mentioned us media even humanitarian aid organizations cease work neediest parts afghanistan 87 billion dollars president bush requested congress 800 million allocated afghan reconstruction even yet unfulfilled summer pledge one billion dollars nothing compared need amount spent bomb amount currently spent iraq eerie repeat late 1980s early 1990s first gulf war followed heels soviet withdrawal afghanistan marked wests shift attention afghanistan iraq elsewhere attention largely swung afghanistan iraq iran north korea amp liberia like impatient tv viewers nation channel surfing foreign policy pausing see one program end start another recently returned month afghanistan pakistan millions afghan refugees still fear returning homeland clear program us foreign policy turning well everything saw mirrors human right watch report crime rise criminal warlords terrorizing people countrywide voices favor freedom democracy human rights rawa nascent democratic political parties kept underground threats arrest violence harassment intimidation kidnapping rape make many girls women fearful leave homes thus rendering unable take advantage ostensible freedom attend work school governmental office workers teachers havent paid months rebuilding first foremost benefiting warlords elites foreign firms ngos newly drafted constitution yet released public thus making promised public comment period fraud armed factional fighting warlords continues undermine security well hope free fair elections handover isaf command nato change little despite repeated requests afghans us resistance continues keep 5000 person force insufficiently small limited kabul alone true thousands potential real hot spots across world information available 247 many us limit data overload attending issues whose cause effect trace directly lives leaving aside blatant egocentricity form filtering inherent fallacy thinking afghanistan doesnt matter lives fallacy fostered 7000 miles geographic distance appealing myth successful liberation afghanistans ongoing crisis future consequences inextricably linked us even far away ill informed see clearly people afghanistan know well thats every afghan talked asked us able remove taliban power month still clearly pulling strings afghanistan today returned power criminal fundamentalists warlords destroyed terrorized country extent last time ruled taliban initially welcomed liberators doesnt us understand recipe another september 11 wont us learn past mistakes persian saying many afghans apply current situation saddlebags new donkeys remain afghans spoke see us holding reigns old warlords donkeys new saddle bags fill opium weapons human rights abuses afghan people need fear donkeys loads september 11th showed us part global village provisions donkeys impact lives late us turn donkeys around hand reigns expanded peace keeping force truly democratic afghans ensure talibans defeat results real liberation peace democracy need convince us administration us citizens stop channel surfing listen afghan people commit following program indeed successful ending anne e brodsky author strength revolutionary association women afghanistan routledge 2003 associate professor psychology womens studies university maryland baltimore county umbc 160 | 520 |
<p>“Residents said the troops had appeared to fire randomly in the direction of the city center after coming under attack, killing two occupants of a white Nissan pickup truck traveling near the scene. The wreckage of the truck was still visible. ‘They went crazy, they fired everywhere,’ said one witness, Safi Jaber. The residents said the soldiers had stopped an ambulance trying to approach the scene, and that the U.S. armored vehicle had rammed the pickup. One of the victims was a 19-year-old man.’His wedding was supposed to be today,’ said Khalil Ibrahim, a local electrical engineer.”</p>
<p>“Saddam never ruined our shops. Is this the liberation Bush talks about?”</p>
<p>— Iyad Qubaisi, owner of a now demolished spare parts shop in Falluja, Iraq (May 22, 2003, Reuters)</p>
<p>OK, we liberated Iraq, whatever that means. Saddam is gone. But all is not exactly resolved. We read daily about the death and horror involved in colonial administration by inexperienced U.S. forces. “Perhaps we should have left that to our coalition partners, the British and Spanish, who have had centuries of experience in running occupied territories,” a national security wit commented to me.</p>
<p>Before assessing the aftermath of the war and before national memory atrophies completely, let’s review U.S. entry into the Iraq war. Some media now focus on the Pentagon’s apparently bogus staging of the Jessica Lynch rescue. But the implications of Bush’s actions reach beyond the public relations realm. They go to the very core of the ethos of U.S. government.</p>
<p>A colleague who calls himself a conservative and an ardent Bush supporter, although initially opposed to the war because conservatives don’t approve of wars without an exit strategy, told me that it didn’t matter whether we discover stockpiles of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. “Saddam Hussein was a weapon of mass destruction unto himself,” he insisted, “and the Iraqi people are better off. Didn’t you see them dancing for joy when we liberated them? So a thousand or two died! That’s the price of freedom.” Similar arguments reverberate on right wing radio talk shows ­ the milder ones, where opponents of war have not yet become traitors.</p>
<p>But, I asked my colleague, if the issue was bringing freedom to Iraqis why didn’t the President just say that. He shrugged. “Freedom has a price,” he insisted and walked away. “Do you believe in a government of law or of men?” I called after him. “Do you think a nation has the right to attack a weaker one without casus belli?”</p>
<p>Indeed, Bush didn’t emphasize this point when he launched war against Iraq. Instead, in his January 28, 2003 State of the Union speech he insisted that Iraq had “materials to produce as much as 500 tons of Sarin, mustard and VX nerve agent.” Bush cited the “30,000 munitions capable of delivering chemical agents,” a fact he attributed to U.S. intelligence.</p>
<p>Bush also repeated the line about Iraq as a nuclear threat. The chorus of Secretary of State Colin Powell, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Vice President Dick Cheney and lesser potentates declared in a variety of fora, including the UN Security Council, that U.S. intelligence agencies had definitive knowledge of weapons of mass destruction, intimated that UN weapons inspectors were slow or incompetent because they hadn’t found them and, finally, that Saddam was in “material breach” of UN Security Council Resolution 1441. The world had the obligation to invade Iraq to stop him before he could either use these weapons himself or deliver them to the Al Qaeda terrorists, with whom U.S. intelligence assured he had close and secret links.</p>
<p>Thus far, neither weapons of mass destruction in the three categories mentioned, nor Iraqi government links to Al Qaeda terrorists have surfaced. The UN inspectors searched the locations that Powell described in his February 5, 2003, UN Security Council speech and slide show where he even flashed an anthrax vial. Just before the war on March 6, Bush claimed that “in some cases, these materials have been moved to different locations every 12 to 24 hours or placed in vehicles that are in residential neighborhoods.” Wasn’t Saddam Hussein clever to outwit the UN inspectors? As of May 27 (five plus weeks since Bush declared victory), U.S. inspectors also failed to find even traces of the infamous products ­ despite claims by NY Times reporter Judith Miller that unnamed officials and experts were sure they still existed.</p>
<p>UN Chief Weapons Inspector Hans Blix, in the May 24, 2003 Guardian, said that “the main justification for the war was weapons of mass destruction, and it may turn out that in this respect the war was not justified.”</p>
<p>Even if some small traces are one day discovered, the facts now point to disturbing possibilities related to the start of the war. U.S. intelligence agencies didn’t know their butts from the proverbial hole in the wall; higher ups in the agencies distorted their evidence; or Bush and Cabinet Members lied for the purpose of garnering public support for war.</p>
<p>In September 2002, I traveled to Iraq with Congressman Nick Rahall (W-WV) and former Senator James Abourezk (D-SD). On September 19, Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz and Parliament Speaker Sa’doun Hamadi assured us that Iraq had no such weapons. I remained skeptical. After all, Saddam had used chemical weapons during the Iran-Iraq war. What happened to them?</p>
<p>Former UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter made a strong case for the fact that the inspectors had indeed found and destroyed much of what Saddam had of such weapons before their 1998 departure. Ritter insists that Saddam could not have accumulated what Bush alleges by 2002.</p>
<p>Yet, not one high U.S. official has vacillated about claims of Saddam’s perfidy in relation to weapons of mass destruction. We’re not talking about a long lapse of time. In his January 20 address to the Reserve Officers Association, Rumsfeld asserted that Saddam Hussein “has an active program to acquire and develop nuclear weapons.” Powell estimated conservatively to the UN Security Council that “Iraq today has a stockpile of between 100 and 500 tons of chemical-weapons agent.”</p>
<p>“They sent them to Syria,” the first response to the failure of finding the hideous weapons, brought derisive laughter from critical members of the media. How could Saddam have sneaked such massive weaponry across the border, given U.S. spy satellites and other detection devices?</p>
<p>So, our leaders lied or they exaggerated the capabilities of our $40 billion a year intelligence apparatus. If Bush lied, then he or his advisers simply invented the WMD excuse as a pretext for something else: liberation of Iraq or to step one in a strategy of remaking the Middle East by force. This more elaborate plan would seek not only to destroy the Muslim terrorists, but offer permanent security to Israel and U.S. oil interests as well.</p>
<p>In the April 1, 2002 and February 17, 2003 New Yorker, on remaking the Middle East and bringing democracy to the region, Nicholas Lemann analyzes how the neo cons in the administration, like Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz and Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Douglas Feith, eschewed the idea of having this policy debated and fashioned instead a grandiose scheme to gull the public. The steps taken by Bush seem to have followed their plan and circumvented not only the debate itself, but the Constitutional provision that Congress declare war. So, what to conclude about our own system after the Iraq war? The conservatives, who once affirmed their belief of a government of laws and not men, have turned pragmatic on their one-time dogma. The former prudent and penny-pinching Republicans who abhorred the very concept of a national deficit have also morphed into missionaries of deficit spending on the domestic side.</p>
<p>Law itself, including the protection of our basic liberties, has become transformed into a malleable instrument of power that the powerful simply circumvent when it behooves them. In the 21st Century the law of power seems to have replaced the law of the statute. And power as the foundation for a republic replaces the time honored accountability system with secret plotting at top levels.</p>
<p>When doubt arises about the legality and virtue of the Iraq invasion and skeptics question motives of those who launched it, flag wavers appear to overwhelm the doubters. The last refuge of scoundrels, indeed!</p>
<p>SAUL LANDAU’s work also appears on <a href="http://www.rprogreso.com/" type="external">www.rprogreso.com</a>. He is a fellow of the Institute for Policy Studies and teaches at Cal Poly Pomona University. His films on Iraq and Cuba are distributed by Cinema Guild 800-723-5522. He can be reached at: <a href="mailto:www.rprogreso.com" type="external">landau@counterpunch.org</a>.</p> | true | 4 | residents said troops appeared fire randomly direction city center coming attack killing two occupants white nissan pickup truck traveling near scene wreckage truck still visible went crazy fired everywhere said one witness safi jaber residents said soldiers stopped ambulance trying approach scene us armored vehicle rammed pickup one victims 19yearold manhis wedding supposed today said khalil ibrahim local electrical engineer saddam never ruined shops liberation bush talks iyad qubaisi owner demolished spare parts shop falluja iraq may 22 2003 reuters ok liberated iraq whatever means saddam gone exactly resolved read daily death horror involved colonial administration inexperienced us forces perhaps left coalition partners british spanish centuries experience running occupied territories national security wit commented assessing aftermath war national memory atrophies completely lets review us entry iraq war media focus pentagons apparently bogus staging jessica lynch rescue implications bushs actions reach beyond public relations realm go core ethos us government colleague calls conservative ardent bush supporter although initially opposed war conservatives dont approve wars without exit strategy told didnt matter whether discover stockpiles nuclear chemical biological weapons saddam hussein weapon mass destruction unto insisted iraqi people better didnt see dancing joy liberated thousand two died thats price freedom similar arguments reverberate right wing radio talk shows milder ones opponents war yet become traitors asked colleague issue bringing freedom iraqis didnt president say shrugged freedom price insisted walked away believe government law men called think nation right attack weaker one without casus belli indeed bush didnt emphasize point launched war iraq instead january 28 2003 state union speech insisted iraq materials produce much 500 tons sarin mustard vx nerve agent bush cited 30000 munitions capable delivering chemical agents fact attributed us intelligence bush also repeated line iraq nuclear threat chorus secretary state colin powell defense secretary donald rumsfeld vice president dick cheney lesser potentates declared variety fora including un security council us intelligence agencies definitive knowledge weapons mass destruction intimated un weapons inspectors slow incompetent hadnt found finally saddam material breach un security council resolution 1441 world obligation invade iraq stop could either use weapons deliver al qaeda terrorists us intelligence assured close secret links thus far neither weapons mass destruction three categories mentioned iraqi government links al qaeda terrorists surfaced un inspectors searched locations powell described february 5 2003 un security council speech slide show even flashed anthrax vial war march 6 bush claimed cases materials moved different locations every 12 24 hours placed vehicles residential neighborhoods wasnt saddam hussein clever outwit un inspectors may 27 five plus weeks since bush declared victory us inspectors also failed find even traces infamous products despite claims ny times reporter judith miller unnamed officials experts sure still existed un chief weapons inspector hans blix may 24 2003 guardian said main justification war weapons mass destruction may turn respect war justified even small traces one day discovered facts point disturbing possibilities related start war us intelligence agencies didnt know butts proverbial hole wall higher ups agencies distorted evidence bush cabinet members lied purpose garnering public support war september 2002 traveled iraq congressman nick rahall wwv former senator james abourezk dsd september 19 deputy prime minister tariq aziz parliament speaker sadoun hamadi assured us iraq weapons remained skeptical saddam used chemical weapons iraniraq war happened former un weapons inspector scott ritter made strong case fact inspectors indeed found destroyed much saddam weapons 1998 departure ritter insists saddam could accumulated bush alleges 2002 yet one high us official vacillated claims saddams perfidy relation weapons mass destruction talking long lapse time january 20 address reserve officers association rumsfeld asserted saddam hussein active program acquire develop nuclear weapons powell estimated conservatively un security council iraq today stockpile 100 500 tons chemicalweapons agent sent syria first response failure finding hideous weapons brought derisive laughter critical members media could saddam sneaked massive weaponry across border given us spy satellites detection devices leaders lied exaggerated capabilities 40 billion year intelligence apparatus bush lied advisers simply invented wmd excuse pretext something else liberation iraq step one strategy remaking middle east force elaborate plan would seek destroy muslim terrorists offer permanent security israel us oil interests well april 1 2002 february 17 2003 new yorker remaking middle east bringing democracy region nicholas lemann analyzes neo cons administration like deputy defense secretary paul wolfowitz undersecretary defense policy douglas feith eschewed idea policy debated fashioned instead grandiose scheme gull public steps taken bush seem followed plan circumvented debate constitutional provision congress declare war conclude system iraq war conservatives affirmed belief government laws men turned pragmatic onetime dogma former prudent pennypinching republicans abhorred concept national deficit also morphed missionaries deficit spending domestic side law including protection basic liberties become transformed malleable instrument power powerful simply circumvent behooves 21st century law power seems replaced law statute power foundation republic replaces time honored accountability system secret plotting top levels doubt arises legality virtue iraq invasion skeptics question motives launched flag wavers appear overwhelm doubters last refuge scoundrels indeed saul landaus work also appears wwwrprogresocom fellow institute policy studies teaches cal poly pomona university films iraq cuba distributed cinema guild 8007235522 reached landaucounterpunchorg | 843 |
<p>Rafael Cruz campaigns for his son in December.J Pat Carter/AP</p>
<p />
<p>Ted Cruz decided to run for president after God spoke to his wife, Heidi.</p>
<p>That’s how Rafael Cruz, Ted’s father and a born-again pastor, described his son’s decision-making process. Speaking on a syndicated radio show at the end of last year, the elder Cruz <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqiwUnxmfmc" type="external">recounted</a> that during a Sunday prayer session at a Texas church, Ted Cruz and his family sought God’s guidance as to whether the senator should enter the presidential race, and after two hours of praying, God sent a message to Heidi that essentially said: Go for it.</p>
<p>Here’s the story, according to Rafael Cruz:</p>
<p>My son Ted and his family spent six months in prayer seeking God’s will for this decision. But the day the final green light came on, the whole family was together. It was a Sunday. We were all at his church, First Baptist Church in Houston, including his senior staff. After the church service, we all gathered at the pastor’s office. We were on our knees for two hours seeking God’s will. At the end of that time, a word came through his wife, Heidi. And the word came, just saying, “Seek God’s face, not God’s hand.” And I’ll tell you, it was as if there was a cloud of the holy spirit filling that place. Some of us were weeping, and Ted just looked up and said, “Lord, here am I, use me. I surrender to you, whatever you want.” And he felt that was a green light to move forward.</p>
<p>That Rafael Cruz should cast his son’s presidential campaign as a divinely inspired endeavor is not surprising. For years, he has been a freelancing evangelical who has promoted an extremely fundamentalist version of Christianity and decried those, including other Christians, who do not share his religious views. He has called for fundamentalist Christians to gain control of most aspects of American society, and he has issued a series of controversial statements blasting President Barack Obama, gay rights activists, and other spiritual enemies. As Mother Jones first reported, he <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qembc8pRY8" type="external">called</a> Obama an “outright Marxist” who “seeks to destroy all concept of God” and urged Americans to send him “back to Kenya.” He <a href="" type="internal">said</a> it was “appalling” to have a gay mayor in Houston and asserted that Satan was behind the Supreme Court decision that legalized same-sex marriage.</p>
<p>In most instances, it would be unfair to judge a politician based on a relative’s pronouncements. But for years—in his Senate race and in this presidential campaign—Ted Cruz has used his father to round up support from tea partiers, social conservatives, and evangelical leaders. The son, naturally, speaks lovingly of his father. Given that Cruz is seeking the presidency by courting the religious right and offering himself as a moral and godly candidate who shares the faith of evangelical voters—and given that he frequently <a href="http://www.religionnews.com/2016/01/31/cruz-religion-evangelical-religious-liberty/" type="external">quotes</a> Rafael Cruz on the campaign trail to urge people to vote by God’s values—a voter can likely gain some understanding of Ted Cruz’s world (and perhaps his worldview) by examining the statements and professed beliefs of his father. And they are extreme.</p>
<p>It’s not hard to figure out Rafael Cruz’s basic message. He has given scores, probably hundreds, of sermons and talks at religious and political gatherings, and many are on YouTube. His primary theme is that the United States is <a href="" type="internal">a “Christian nation”</a> and that only true believers who adhere to biblical principles—that is, who accept the literal truth of the Bible, as Rafael Cruz and other fundamentalists see it—are worthy of guiding the United States forward. He regularly rails against pastors and church leaders who eschew politics and do not enter the political fray to combat the enemy: secular humanism.</p>
<p>Rafael Cruz is an advocate of Christian dominionism, which essentially holds that fundamentalist Christians should take over, well, just about everything. Speaking at a Texas church in 2012, Rafael Cruz <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qy074QLV2D8" type="external">told</a> the crowd that God instructed Adam and Eve to go forth, multiply, and, as he put it, “take dominion over all my creation.” He said this meant that true-believers ought to dominate all areas of life: “That dominion is not just in the church, that dominion is over every area—society, education, government, and economics.” (During that sermon, he also noted that husbands, not wives, should be the “spiritual leader” of their families.) In Cruz’s view, those who accept Christ and his word (as Cruz believes it should be understood) will prosper spiritually and financially. In that same sermon, he noted that God not only anoints priests to lead the faithful, but also anoints “kings…to take dominion.” By that, he means those who rule a nation, and, he adds, these rulers one day (and he makes it sound as if this day will come soon) will transfer the wealth of the “wicked” to the “righteous.”</p>
<p>The senior Cruz sees no difference between the religious and political realms. In a June 2013 <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lqM9N27sEA" type="external">speech</a> at a men’s prayer breakfast, he contended that Jesus’ original followers were not looking for a “spiritual leader” but for a “political leader” who could establish “a physical kingdom on the Earth.” And Jesus, he noted, was “bucking the political establishment.” (Sound familiar?) “The ministry of Jesus,” he claimed, was a “highly political ministry.” So religion and politics do mix—a lot. “It’s not just a spiritual confrontation,” Cruz said. “It’s also a political confrontation.” Toward the end of that speech, Cruz declared, “We have a responsibility to elect righteous leaders. God is going to hold us accountable if we do not.” He added, “And the people will proclaim that Jesus Christ is lord and king of this nation.”</p>
<p>It’s not ambiguous. For Rafael Cruz, the only legitimate government is one that operates according to his theological views.</p>
<p>Those views tend to be rather harsh. He has <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VG-bOblkRk0" type="external">referred</a> to the theory of evolution as a diabolical plot mounted by Marxists, “the number one tool for communism to destroy religion, to destroy the concept of God.” Evolution, he claimed, “is one of the most effective tools to impose communism.” He has repeatedly said same-sex marriage is a satanic scheme, noting in a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCJrh-Lq6FE" type="external">talk</a> to a Republican group in 2013 that “homosexual marriage…has nothing to do with quote homosexual rights. It has to do with the destruction of the traditional family. So that there is no loyalty to the family. Loyalty is to the government. Government is your god.”</p>
<p>Obama, naturally, is propelling much of these underhanded machinations. The president, Rafael Cruz said three years ago, “needs you to see him as God.” He’s a Marxist, Cruz has <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-jfCMcnU-4" type="external">charged</a>, and his agenda “is to bring us down to a Third World country” and subjugate the United States to the United Nations. He has <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTnaGjz9LHQ" type="external">said</a> that Obama “will side with the Muslims” and claimed that the Obama administration is “trying to take our God and our gun and if they do that, then they can impose a dictatorship upon us.” He insists Obamacare does include death panels. He has <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lqM9N27sEA" type="external">blamed</a> liberals for allowing terrorists to cross the border “on a weekly basis” and establish “terrorist cells all across the United States.”</p>
<p>His is a dark perspective. The “wicked” are now ruling the country, and they must be defeated by the “righteous,” whom he defines as those evangelical Christians who embrace the literal truth of the Bible. (“Every word of Scripture is given by revelation,” he <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lqM9N27sEA" type="external">said</a> in 2013. “Every word of this book is true. Because if you don’t believe one part of it, then none of it might be true.”) The righteous, he urges, must be guided by pastors across the nation to rise up and “ <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkNvDRulAPo" type="external">take every position in office</a>, from dog catcher all the way to the highest position in the land.” In a 2013 sermon, according to a partial transcript obtained by Mother Jones, he proclaimed that Satan “rules in the halls of legislation,” and said, “We have a responsibility to preserve the biblical foundations of this country.” He added, “The world will tell you, ‘We’re all children of God.’ That’s not true. Children of God are only those that have been born again through the blood of Jesus Christ.”</p>
<p>Rafael Cruz’s outlook on the world is exceedingly narrow and unforgiving. The only righteous Christian is the evangelical Christian who is “biblically correct.” These Christians must conquer the political world—vanquish those who are in league with Satan—and establish dominion over society by ruling in accordance with their definition of the word of God. And Ted Cruz was directly given the green light from God, via Heidi Cruz, to lead what is, in essence, a crusade to smite wickedness. (At a gathering of evangelicals in Iowa in 2013, Ted and Rafael Cruz joined in prayer with a pastor who said that “every tongue that rises up against [Ted Cruz] in judgment will be condemned.”)</p>
<p>Without saying it directly, Rafael Cruz calls for a theocracy. (He has often decried the notion of separation of church and state.) His religious rants are not irrelevant to the Ted Cruz campaign. Ted Cruz has consistently cited his father as a key influence in his life, and he has regularly deployed him as a political representative and surrogate. It’s often tough to bring up the subject of a candidate’s religious views during a political campaign. But Rafael Cruz’s radical fundamentalism—which positions most Americans on the side of wickedness—and Ted Cruz’s embrace of his father as not only a parent but a political partner and adviser raise an important question this campaign season: How much of the faith of his father does Ted Cruz share?</p>
<p /> | true | 4 | rafael cruz campaigns son decemberj pat carterap ted cruz decided run president god spoke wife heidi thats rafael cruz teds father bornagain pastor described sons decisionmaking process speaking syndicated radio show end last year elder cruz recounted sunday prayer session texas church ted cruz family sought gods guidance whether senator enter presidential race two hours praying god sent message heidi essentially said go heres story according rafael cruz son ted family spent six months prayer seeking gods decision day final green light came whole family together sunday church first baptist church houston including senior staff church service gathered pastors office knees two hours seeking gods end time word came wife heidi word came saying seek gods face gods hand ill tell cloud holy spirit filling place us weeping ted looked said lord use surrender whatever want felt green light move forward rafael cruz cast sons presidential campaign divinely inspired endeavor surprising years freelancing evangelical promoted extremely fundamentalist version christianity decried including christians share religious views called fundamentalist christians gain control aspects american society issued series controversial statements blasting president barack obama gay rights activists spiritual enemies mother jones first reported called obama outright marxist seeks destroy concept god urged americans send back kenya said appalling gay mayor houston asserted satan behind supreme court decision legalized samesex marriage instances would unfair judge politician based relatives pronouncements yearsin senate race presidential campaignted cruz used father round support tea partiers social conservatives evangelical leaders son naturally speaks lovingly father given cruz seeking presidency courting religious right offering moral godly candidate shares faith evangelical votersand given frequently quotes rafael cruz campaign trail urge people vote gods valuesa voter likely gain understanding ted cruzs world perhaps worldview examining statements professed beliefs father extreme hard figure rafael cruzs basic message given scores probably hundreds sermons talks religious political gatherings many youtube primary theme united states christian nation true believers adhere biblical principlesthat accept literal truth bible rafael cruz fundamentalists see itare worthy guiding united states forward regularly rails pastors church leaders eschew politics enter political fray combat enemy secular humanism rafael cruz advocate christian dominionism essentially holds fundamentalist christians take well everything speaking texas church 2012 rafael cruz told crowd god instructed adam eve go forth multiply put take dominion creation said meant truebelievers ought dominate areas life dominion church dominion every areasociety education government economics sermon also noted husbands wives spiritual leader families cruzs view accept christ word cruz believes understood prosper spiritually financially sermon noted god anoints priests lead faithful also anoints kingsto take dominion means rule nation adds rulers one day makes sound day come soon transfer wealth wicked righteous senior cruz sees difference religious political realms june 2013 speech mens prayer breakfast contended jesus original followers looking spiritual leader political leader could establish physical kingdom earth jesus noted bucking political establishment sound familiar ministry jesus claimed highly political ministry religion politics mixa lot spiritual confrontation cruz said also political confrontation toward end speech cruz declared responsibility elect righteous leaders god going hold us accountable added people proclaim jesus christ lord king nation ambiguous rafael cruz legitimate government one operates according theological views views tend rather harsh referred theory evolution diabolical plot mounted marxists number one tool communism destroy religion destroy concept god evolution claimed one effective tools impose communism repeatedly said samesex marriage satanic scheme noting talk republican group 2013 homosexual marriagehas nothing quote homosexual rights destruction traditional family loyalty family loyalty government government god obama naturally propelling much underhanded machinations president rafael cruz said three years ago needs see god hes marxist cruz charged agenda bring us third world country subjugate united states united nations said obama side muslims claimed obama administration trying take god gun impose dictatorship upon us insists obamacare include death panels blamed liberals allowing terrorists cross border weekly basis establish terrorist cells across united states dark perspective wicked ruling country must defeated righteous defines evangelical christians embrace literal truth bible every word scripture given revelation said 2013 every word book true dont believe one part none might true righteous urges must guided pastors across nation rise take every position office dog catcher way highest position land 2013 sermon according partial transcript obtained mother jones proclaimed satan rules halls legislation said responsibility preserve biblical foundations country added world tell children god thats true children god born blood jesus christ rafael cruzs outlook world exceedingly narrow unforgiving righteous christian evangelical christian biblically correct christians must conquer political worldvanquish league satanand establish dominion society ruling accordance definition word god ted cruz directly given green light god via heidi cruz lead essence crusade smite wickedness gathering evangelicals iowa 2013 ted rafael cruz joined prayer pastor said every tongue rises ted cruz judgment condemned without saying directly rafael cruz calls theocracy often decried notion separation church state religious rants irrelevant ted cruz campaign ted cruz consistently cited father key influence life regularly deployed political representative surrogate often tough bring subject candidates religious views political campaign rafael cruzs radical fundamentalismwhich positions americans side wickednessand ted cruzs embrace father parent political partner adviser raise important question campaign season much faith father ted cruz share | 850 |
<p>To the dismay of opposition groups in Venezuela, and to the surprise of international observers gathering in Caracas, President Hugo Chávez is about to secure a stunning victory on August 15, in a referendum designed to lead to his overthrow.</p>
<p>First elected in 1998 as a barely known colonel, armed with little more than revolutionary rhetoric and a moderate social-democratic programme, Chávez has become the leader of the emerging opposition in Latin America to the neo-liberal hegemony of the United States. Closely allied to Fidel Castro, he rivals the Cuban leader in his fierce denunciations of George Bush, a strategy that goes down well with the great majority of the population of Latin America, where only the elites welcome the economic and political recipes devised in Washington.</p>
<p>While Chávez has retained his popularity after nearly six years as president, support for overtly pro-US leaders in Latin America, such as Vicente Fox in Mexico and Alejandro Toledo in Peru, has dwindled to nothing. Even the fence-sitting President Lula in Brazil is struggling in the polls. The news that Chávez will win this month’s referendum will be bleakly received in Washington.</p>
<p>Chávez came to power after the traditional political system in Venezuela had self-destructed during the 1990s. But the remnants of the ancien régime, notably those entrenched in the media, have kept up a steady fight against him, in a country where racist antipathies inherited from the colonial era are never far from the surface. Chávez, with his black and Indian features and an accent that betrays his provincial origins, goes down well in the shanty towns, but is loathed by those in the rich white suburbs who fear he has mobilised the impoverished majority against them.</p>
<p>The expected Chávez victory will be the opposition’s third defeat in as many years. The first two were dramatically counter-productive for his opponents, since they only served to entrench him in power. An attempted coup d’état in April 2002, with fascist overtones reminiscent of the Pinochet era in Chile, was defeated by an alliance of loyal officers and civilian groups who mobilised spontaneously and successfully to demand the return of their president.</p>
<p>The unexpected restoration of Chávez not only alerted the world to an unusual leftwing, not to say revolutionary, experiment taking place in Venezuela, but it also led the country’s poor majority to understand that they had a government and a president worth defending. Chávez was able to dismiss senior officers opposed to his project of involving the armed forces in programmes to help the poor, and removed the threat of a further coup.</p>
<p>The second attempt at his overthrow – the prolonged work stoppage in December 2002 which extended to a lockout at the state oil company, Petróleos de Venezuela, nationalised since 1975 – also played into the hands of the president. When the walkout (with its echoes of the CIA-backed Chilean lorry owners’ strike against Salvador Allende’s government in the early 1970s) failed, Chávez was able to sack the most pampered sections of a privileged workforce. The company’s huge surplus oil revenues were redirected into imaginative new social programmes. Innumerable projects, or “missions”, were established throughout the country, recalling the atmosphere of the early years of the Cuban revolution. They combat illiteracy, provide further education for school dropouts, promote employment, supply cheap food, and extend a free medical service in the poor areas of the cities and the countryside, with the help of 10,000 Cuban doctors. Redundant oil company buildings have been commandeered to serve as the headquarters of a new university for the poor, and oil money has been diverted to set up Vive, an innovative cultural television channel that is already breaking the traditional US mould of the Latin American media.</p>
<p>The opposition dismiss the new projects as “populist”, a term customarily used with pejorative intent by social scientists in Latin America. Yet faced with the tragedy of extreme poverty and neglect in a country with oil revenues to rival those of Saudi Arabia, it is difficult to see why a democratically elected government should not embark on crash programmes to help the most disadvantaged.</p>
<p>Their impact is about to be tested at the polls on August 15. Vote “Yes” to eject Chávez from the presidency. Vote “No” to keep him there until the next presidential election in 2006. The opposition, divided politically and with no charismatic figure to rival Chávez to front their campaign, continue to behave as though their victory is certain. They discuss plans for a post-Chávez government, and watch closely the ever-dubious and endlessly conflicting opinion polls, placing their evaporating hopes on the “don’t knows”. They still imagine fondly that they can achieve a victory comparable to that of the anti-Sandinistas in Nicaragua in 1990.</p>
<p>Yet their third attempt to derail the government is clearly doomed. The Chávez campaign to secure a “No” vote has struck the country like a whirlwind, playing to all his strengths as a military strategist and a political organiser. A voter registration drive, reminiscent of the attempt to put black people on the election roll in the United States in the 1960s, has produced hundreds of thousands of new voters. So too has a campaign to give citizenship to thousands of long-term immigrants. Most will favour Chávez, and Chávez supporters are already patrolling the shanty towns and the most remote areas of the country to get the vote out on August 15. One unexpected bonus for Chávez has been the dramatic and perhaps semi-permanent increase in the world oil price. As he explained to me a few days ago, he is now able to direct the extra revenues to the poor, both at home and abroad, for Venezuela supplies oil at a discount price to the countries of Central America and the Caribbean, including Cuba. Chávez celebrated his 50th birthday last month, and he has talked of soldiering on as president for years in order to see through the reforms he envisages. That is not such an improbable proposition.</p>
<p>He has also been helped by the changing political climate in Latin America. Other presidents have been climbing over themselves to be photographed with him. He has patched up relations with Colombia and Chile, hitherto cool, and last month reinforced his friendly relations with Brazil and Argentina by signing an association agreement with the Mercosur trading union that they lead. Once perceived by his neighbours as a bit of an oddball, he now appears more like a Latin American statesman. Up and down the continent he has become the man to watch.</p>
<p>Faced with a Chávez victory, the opposition may yet turn in desperation to violence. His assassination, hinted at recently by former president Carlos Andrés Pérez, or the deployment of paramilitary forces of the kind unleashed in recent years in Colombia, is always a possibility. Yet the more civilised sectors of the opposition will set themselves, with luck, to the difficult task of organising a proper electoral force to challenge Chévez in 2006. When I asked an uncommitted bookseller whether he would vote to sack the president in mid-term, he replied: “No, they should let him get on with the job.”</p>
<p>RICHARD GOTT is the author of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1859843654/counterpunchmaga" type="external">In the Shadow of the Liberator: Hugo Chavez and the Transformation of Venezuela</a>, published by Verso; his latest book, <a href="" type="internal">Cuba: A New History</a>, will be published next month by Yale University Press</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | true | 4 | dismay opposition groups venezuela surprise international observers gathering caracas president hugo chávez secure stunning victory august 15 referendum designed lead overthrow first elected 1998 barely known colonel armed little revolutionary rhetoric moderate socialdemocratic programme chávez become leader emerging opposition latin america neoliberal hegemony united states closely allied fidel castro rivals cuban leader fierce denunciations george bush strategy goes well great majority population latin america elites welcome economic political recipes devised washington chávez retained popularity nearly six years president support overtly prous leaders latin america vicente fox mexico alejandro toledo peru dwindled nothing even fencesitting president lula brazil struggling polls news chávez win months referendum bleakly received washington chávez came power traditional political system venezuela selfdestructed 1990s remnants ancien régime notably entrenched media kept steady fight country racist antipathies inherited colonial era never far surface chávez black indian features accent betrays provincial origins goes well shanty towns loathed rich white suburbs fear mobilised impoverished majority expected chávez victory oppositions third defeat many years first two dramatically counterproductive opponents since served entrench power attempted coup détat april 2002 fascist overtones reminiscent pinochet era chile defeated alliance loyal officers civilian groups mobilised spontaneously successfully demand return president unexpected restoration chávez alerted world unusual leftwing say revolutionary experiment taking place venezuela also led countrys poor majority understand government president worth defending chávez able dismiss senior officers opposed project involving armed forces programmes help poor removed threat coup second attempt overthrow prolonged work stoppage december 2002 extended lockout state oil company petróleos de venezuela nationalised since 1975 also played hands president walkout echoes ciabacked chilean lorry owners strike salvador allendes government early 1970s failed chávez able sack pampered sections privileged workforce companys huge surplus oil revenues redirected imaginative new social programmes innumerable projects missions established throughout country recalling atmosphere early years cuban revolution combat illiteracy provide education school dropouts promote employment supply cheap food extend free medical service poor areas cities countryside help 10000 cuban doctors redundant oil company buildings commandeered serve headquarters new university poor oil money diverted set vive innovative cultural television channel already breaking traditional us mould latin american media opposition dismiss new projects populist term customarily used pejorative intent social scientists latin america yet faced tragedy extreme poverty neglect country oil revenues rival saudi arabia difficult see democratically elected government embark crash programmes help disadvantaged impact tested polls august 15 vote yes eject chávez presidency vote keep next presidential election 2006 opposition divided politically charismatic figure rival chávez front campaign continue behave though victory certain discuss plans postchávez government watch closely everdubious endlessly conflicting opinion polls placing evaporating hopes dont knows still imagine fondly achieve victory comparable antisandinistas nicaragua 1990 yet third attempt derail government clearly doomed chávez campaign secure vote struck country like whirlwind playing strengths military strategist political organiser voter registration drive reminiscent attempt put black people election roll united states 1960s produced hundreds thousands new voters campaign give citizenship thousands longterm immigrants favour chávez chávez supporters already patrolling shanty towns remote areas country get vote august 15 one unexpected bonus chávez dramatic perhaps semipermanent increase world oil price explained days ago able direct extra revenues poor home abroad venezuela supplies oil discount price countries central america caribbean including cuba chávez celebrated 50th birthday last month talked soldiering president years order see reforms envisages improbable proposition also helped changing political climate latin america presidents climbing photographed patched relations colombia chile hitherto cool last month reinforced friendly relations brazil argentina signing association agreement mercosur trading union lead perceived neighbours bit oddball appears like latin american statesman continent become man watch faced chávez victory opposition may yet turn desperation violence assassination hinted recently former president carlos andrés pérez deployment paramilitary forces kind unleashed recent years colombia always possibility yet civilised sectors opposition set luck difficult task organising proper electoral force challenge chévez 2006 asked uncommitted bookseller whether would vote sack president midterm replied let get job richard gott author shadow liberator hugo chavez transformation venezuela published verso latest book cuba new history published next month yale university press 160 | 668 |
<p>The “green scare” is in full swing, with COINTELPRO-style targeting of environmental and animal rights activists. The green scare, according to the Center for Constitutional Rights, is “the repression of environmental activists by designating them as terrorists.”</p>
<p>The challenge for activists is to peacefully protest and avoid criminalization of their dissent. Nowhere is that situation more evident than in the case of two I-69 protestors, Hugh Farrell and Gina “Tiga” Wertz. After a nonviolent protest Wertz was charged with intimidation, a class A misdemeanor, two counts; conversion (unauthorized use of someone else’s property), a class A misdemeanor, two counts; and corrupt business influence (racketeering), a class C felony. Her bond was set at $10,000.</p>
<p>Farrell was charged with two counts of intimidation, two counts of conversion and corrupt business influence plus felony racketeering; his bond was set at $20,000.</p>
<p>“Now that we’re done with the case, we’re trying to figure out the repression that was used against us.”</p>
<p>All four misdemeanors are related to an alleged nonviolent action on July 9, 2007, in which activists removed the furniture from offices of two private, for-profit companies that had contracts with the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) to work on I-69. They posted eviction notices on the doors to protest the eviction of property owners and confiscation of land and homes in the highway’s path.</p>
<p>In early March 2010 the judge dismissed the felony racketeering charge. That left the four misdemeanors, which carried a maximum prison sentence of four years. In the end, the defendants’ attorneys worked out a plea bargain consisting of unsupervised probation for two years.</p>
<p>Mary Sackley is another local activist; she is one of 16 citizens who protested an asphalt company’s participation in construction of the new-terrain highway with two lockdowns in 2008 at the asphalt company’s headquarters.</p>
<p>Here Farrell and Sackley talk about what their lives are like today, two years after the protests.</p>
<p>LG: Hugh, how has your life changed since your case ended?</p>
<p>HF: I’m still under judicial control, which means that for another year and a half I’ll have probation restrictions, which means I can’t be arrested and am subject to additional surveillance.</p>
<p>LG: What happens if you’re arrested?</p>
<p>HF: I have a two-year sentence, so if I get arrested, that immediately becomes unsuspended, and I’d do two years [of prison time] automatically.</p>
<p>Now that we’re done with the case, we’re trying to figure out the repression that was used against us. It was hardly against just Tiga [Wertz] and me; it was also against a number of other people in the movement against [the] I-69 [highway], and that’s part of the national momentum targeting ecoactivists. A lot of people in Bloomington are trying now to get organized to support other people who have been in prison and facing repression and try to fight back. One specific situation is the civil suit, in which 16 people are facing legal harassment and what’s called a SLAPP suit [Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation] by Gohmann Asphalt for impinging on I-69 profits.</p>
<p>MS: I can give a brief update on the civil suit. Basically it’s kind of a long waiting game where Gohmann Asphalt can wait us out until our energy wears out. They have endless money. Gohmann recently won a $7 million contract for the construction of I-69 through Pike County and through the Patoka National Wildlife Refuge, so they continue to be raking in the dollars. And still suing us for what could end up being over $100,000. The most recent update is that in December I filed an anti-SLAPP motion, which is a motion within the lawsuit to basically prove that this lawsuit is a SLAPP suit under Indiana statutes. And we’re very fortunate that Indiana has those statutes because a lot of states don’t have these statutes, so it would be a lot harder to defend ourselves.</p>
<p>LG: Mary, what was your role in all this?</p>
<p>MS: I was present at both lockdowns at Gohmann Asphalt. I was arrested at the second lockdown. I was the police liaison at both protests. I was specifically targeted because I was providing communication in between the protestors and the police. I was actually talking to the police and the prosecutor of Gibson County, and I was seeking to say, “Okay, what do you want us to do? Here’s what people are willing to do,” and letting the police know about various medical conditions. They used pressure points and compliance holds.</p>
<p>LG: What’s happening right now, besides what you said?</p>
<p>HF: On a related note, a long-term organizer and well-known community environmental activist here, Marie Mason, was arrested in 2008. We have to understand that her arrest was not only a response to her long history of resistance to environmental destruction across the Midwest, but an attack on the movement against I-69, which she participated in for 10 years, at a time when the state was gearing up to begin construction on the highway. She was arrested at the school where she worked in 2008. Many people in Bloomington are getting better organized to try to support her through her 22-year prison sentence.</p>
<p>LG: She’s in solitary confinement, isn’t she?</p>
<p>HF: She’s in a “secure housing unit,” which is an extremely repressive prison regime specifically meant to isolate and target political prisoners and prisoners who have been active in resistance of all kinds. It’s also racist, frequently used to lock Muslim prisoners regardless of their charges. We’re trying to get together support for her and make sure people know about her role in 20 years of environmental organizing and labor struggles and other projects.</p>
<p>LG: What does support consist of?</p>
<p>HF: Making sure that on her birthday (Jan. 26) and every other day she gets letters of support because she has very little contact with the outside world otherwise and making sure she’s supported and that she’s able to stay in touch with people and not only with people who are her good friends. What she wants is wider contact with other people who care about the world, not just her good friends. Making sure she’s not isolated and trying to refuse the State’s effort to isolate prisoners and better control them that way and scare the rest of us.</p>
<p>I think public displays and shows of support for her are really important. Showing support for Marie is also a way of taking a public position on environmental destruction and against the kind of interests that railroaded her and made sure that she’d receive five times the normal sentence that an arsonist would get. Linking together support for her as well as opposition to ongoing environmental degradation and also against repression by the prison system against political prisoners and all communities that are targeted by the prison system.</p>
<p>LG: What have you done that’s public to support her?</p>
<p>MS: There was recently a speaking event at Boxcar Books. That was pretty well attended. Some folks from Cincinnati and her support crew there came to speak.</p>
<p>HF: I feel really good about that. I felt that what we need to start doing is having a dialogue, an open conversation, and a place like Bloomington, even though it’s a small town, can often feel very isolating to people; there’s been a lot of fear because of what happened to her.</p>
<p>LG: Have you had any problems with FBI informants?</p>
<p>HF: The assumption now is that the government should have the prerogative to insert infiltrators and every sort of watching eye in any group of people involved in social struggles, and it’s incredible what kind of extensive network they’ve built for surveillance (not just human infiltrators, either; Facebook has been cited extensively in several recent cases), but at the same time it’s important not to be intimidated by that.</p>
<p>What they want is to spread paranoia and fear and prevent communication between people. They have such an extensive operation of surveillance of infiltration of repression, so the challenge is to avoid responding the way they us to, which would be shutting down.</p>
<p>LG: Do you assume that nobody is an informant, or are you just really careful?</p>
<p>HF: I think the opposite. My goal always is to try to relate to people and try to develop relationships of affinity and friendship and mutual understanding. The exciting thing about encountering people you don’t know is that they are different from you, that they’re coming from a different place and thus it’s impossible to “be really careful” with them.</p>
<p>If we work to develop the most intense connections possible, connections where we can begin to strategize and talk about the worlds we want to live in, and how to concretely reach them — It’s very difficult to fake that. Those are the kinds of connections that are important for resisting both infiltration but also paranoia and isolation.</p>
<p>LG: What are you doing now? Are you doing any activism besides Marie’s support network?</p>
<p>HF: Reading a lot, working on a community garden project, which, hopefully, will be part of a wider network of community gardens.</p>
<p>LG: Mary, do you have anything to add at this point?</p>
<p>MS: I look forward to people in Bloomington continuing to keep their eyes open to the repression in this state, both that which is faced by people resisting I-69 and others. To continue to think about the repression in the state of Indiana and to continue to think about how that what we face as political activists isn’t unique, and it’s very much as the system operates.</p>
<p>LINDA GREENE can be reached at <a href="mailto:lgreene@bloomington.in.us" type="external">lgreene@bloomington.in.us</a>.</p>
<p>***</p>
<p>Marie Mason can be reached at: Marie Mason #04672-061,, FMC Carswell, Federal Medical Center, P.O. Box 27137, Fort Worth, TX 76127.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
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<p /> | true | 4 | green scare full swing cointelprostyle targeting environmental animal rights activists green scare according center constitutional rights repression environmental activists designating terrorists challenge activists peacefully protest avoid criminalization dissent nowhere situation evident case two i69 protestors hugh farrell gina tiga wertz nonviolent protest wertz charged intimidation class misdemeanor two counts conversion unauthorized use someone elses property class misdemeanor two counts corrupt business influence racketeering class c felony bond set 10000 farrell charged two counts intimidation two counts conversion corrupt business influence plus felony racketeering bond set 20000 done case trying figure repression used us four misdemeanors related alleged nonviolent action july 9 2007 activists removed furniture offices two private forprofit companies contracts indiana department transportation indot work i69 posted eviction notices doors protest eviction property owners confiscation land homes highways path early march 2010 judge dismissed felony racketeering charge left four misdemeanors carried maximum prison sentence four years end defendants attorneys worked plea bargain consisting unsupervised probation two years mary sackley another local activist one 16 citizens protested asphalt companys participation construction newterrain highway two lockdowns 2008 asphalt companys headquarters farrell sackley talk lives like today two years protests lg hugh life changed since case ended hf im still judicial control means another year half ill probation restrictions means cant arrested subject additional surveillance lg happens youre arrested hf twoyear sentence get arrested immediately becomes unsuspended id two years prison time automatically done case trying figure repression used us hardly tiga wertz also number people movement i69 highway thats part national momentum targeting ecoactivists lot people bloomington trying get organized support people prison facing repression try fight back one specific situation civil suit 16 people facing legal harassment whats called slapp suit strategic lawsuit public participation gohmann asphalt impinging i69 profits ms give brief update civil suit basically kind long waiting game gohmann asphalt wait us energy wears endless money gohmann recently 7 million contract construction i69 pike county patoka national wildlife refuge continue raking dollars still suing us could end 100000 recent update december filed antislapp motion motion within lawsuit basically prove lawsuit slapp suit indiana statutes fortunate indiana statutes lot states dont statutes would lot harder defend lg mary role ms present lockdowns gohmann asphalt arrested second lockdown police liaison protests specifically targeted providing communication protestors police actually talking police prosecutor gibson county seeking say okay want us heres people willing letting police know various medical conditions used pressure points compliance holds lg whats happening right besides said hf related note longterm organizer wellknown community environmental activist marie mason arrested 2008 understand arrest response long history resistance environmental destruction across midwest attack movement i69 participated 10 years time state gearing begin construction highway arrested school worked 2008 many people bloomington getting better organized try support 22year prison sentence lg shes solitary confinement isnt hf shes secure housing unit extremely repressive prison regime specifically meant isolate target political prisoners prisoners active resistance kinds also racist frequently used lock muslim prisoners regardless charges trying get together support make sure people know role 20 years environmental organizing labor struggles projects lg support consist hf making sure birthday jan 26 every day gets letters support little contact outside world otherwise making sure shes supported shes able stay touch people people good friends wants wider contact people care world good friends making sure shes isolated trying refuse states effort isolate prisoners better control way scare rest us think public displays shows support really important showing support marie also way taking public position environmental destruction kind interests railroaded made sure shed receive five times normal sentence arsonist would get linking together support well opposition ongoing environmental degradation also repression prison system political prisoners communities targeted prison system lg done thats public support ms recently speaking event boxcar books pretty well attended folks cincinnati support crew came speak hf feel really good felt need start dialogue open conversation place like bloomington even though small town often feel isolating people theres lot fear happened lg problems fbi informants hf assumption government prerogative insert infiltrators every sort watching eye group people involved social struggles incredible kind extensive network theyve built surveillance human infiltrators either facebook cited extensively several recent cases time important intimidated want spread paranoia fear prevent communication people extensive operation surveillance infiltration repression challenge avoid responding way us would shutting lg assume nobody informant really careful hf think opposite goal always try relate people try develop relationships affinity friendship mutual understanding exciting thing encountering people dont know different theyre coming different place thus impossible really careful work develop intense connections possible connections begin strategize talk worlds want live concretely reach difficult fake kinds connections important resisting infiltration also paranoia isolation lg activism besides maries support network hf reading lot working community garden project hopefully part wider network community gardens lg mary anything add point ms look forward people bloomington continuing keep eyes open repression state faced people resisting i69 others continue think repression state indiana continue think face political activists isnt unique much system operates linda greene reached lgreenebloomingtoninus marie mason reached marie mason 04672061 fmc carswell federal medical center po box 27137 fort worth tx 76127 160 | 852 |
<p>Business as usual is over in Kathmandu. With two days to go until May First, overflowing buses are pulling in by the hour to the outskirts of town.</p>
<p>The city is crowded. Bus caravans are unloading directly into street marches wild with chanting, marshaled by uniformed cadre from the Young Communist League. Despite a week of fear-mongering by Nepal’s mainstream press, the crowds are militant, but unarmed. And they are giddy despite harassment from the Armed Police on the roads leading into the city.</p>
<p>Several Maoists have been arrested on petty weapons charges, but these are the exceptions to the rule.</p>
<p>The Maoist rallies have already started. The central intersections of every district I passed were filled with young people, always the young!</p>
<p>There is more density towards the center of the city, as mini-rallies are moving from the outskirts towards the center, but they aren’t all staying by government buildings. It seems as the contingents arrive, they are dipping into the center and then marching back out across the city. The convergence of all these hundreds of thousands of people is set for May First. The contingents are on their own for now.</p>
<p>Every Armed Police cop in the city must be on alert. They are rallying too, but look noticeably unhappy. Not aggressive so much as slouching in the back of their trucks, looking around nervously.</p>
<p>Among the residents of Kathmandu, the people going about their business while the city fills up, facial expressions are as good a guide to allegiance as anything people say. Those who believe that people should make governments are excited, mobilized and on the march. Those who fear the country people, the young and the workers are dour, hurrying to reach their personal destination.</p>
<p>Youth of a Nation</p>
<p>I met Mukti, a Maoist party district leader from Kathmandu while he was overseeing rows of single-file columns, mostly students, filing out to their housing in the late afternoon. Rain clouds were looming. With a rare full beard and long hair, his tone was scholarly with a hint of rocker, and a Pearl Jam button his bag.</p>
<p>He was eager to talk:</p>
<p>“We are staying at wedding halls. 30,000 have come today from Chitwan. 60 tourist buses drive back and forth every day. Too many people are waiting for transportation, but the drivers have been very helpful with their buses. They are working very hard to help.”</p>
<p>“The youth are going to make this day,” he said pointing to the three single-file lines of young men stretching parallel from the bus station a kilometer away. None were children, but all were too young for marriage – mostly older teenagers.</p>
<p>“We are disciplined. You can see it clearly.”</p>
<p>And you can. When the amped up chanting came to a quiet, I saw the beautiful stoicism of young men facing danger for a cause they feel is just.</p>
<p>Since his English was good, I decided to try and provoke him a bit. I mentioned that the current prime minister’s party had fought for democracy in 1990, only to become politicians more keen to manage the country that reform it. I asked if he was worried that the Maoist leaders might only be interested in becoming government ministers like the UML and Congress parties. Mukti smiled, and launched right into response.</p>
<p>“If our party back steps, youth won’t accept it to happen,” he said. I was surprised at his directness, which is not at all common in Nepal. “Our party won’t let us down. We are making it new, our commitment is to see the revolution through. Now!”</p>
<p>He was amped up:</p>
<p>“We don’t fight to uplift our own cadre, but to bring the people to power. Look!”</p>
<p>He stretched out his arms to frame the hundreds of students all around us.</p>
<p>“We come for socialism. We say ‘Peace and Constitution.’ People will have the same rights. We do not come to retreat.”</p>
<p>I could not help embracing him. The twenty or so guys who had formed a circle around us as we talked all burst into laughter and hurrahs.</p>
<p>He stepped back with more to say:</p>
<p>“These youth who came today, they had no food when they got on the buses. Women brought food to the sides of the road on the way and they were fed. That is what we are doing! We can be passive or aggressive.”</p>
<p>As he talked, he starting to move out with his contingent:</p>
<p>“Police and parties [UML and Congress cadre] are trying to pressure places to not let us stay. We aren’t trying to command. Agitation will be peaceful no matter what. If we take bullets, so be it.”</p>
<p>He told me army helicopters had been flying low all day, with soldiers brandishing assault rifles hanging from the chopper doors. And he was off, filing in at the end of the lines winding off down a small curving road from the intersection.</p>
<p>Armed Police Occupy Key Facilities</p>
<p>Passing back through the trolley yards I’d visited a few days ago to check in on the union office, Armed Police were at the gates, in repair barns and the yard — dozens of them loitering about their trucks.</p>
<p>The union office was closed, but Maoist posters for May First still covered the walls. I stopped into the charging station to ask one of the workers still on shift what had happened. He looked back over my shoulder at the Armed Police commander starting at us from within earshot as we talked.</p>
<p>“I am only worker,” he said. “Talk to him.”</p>
<p>Armed Police occupy trolley repair yards along with water plants and other strategic infrastructure</p>
<p>Deciding against that, I moved through the yards to see what was going on. Most of the workers had left the installation.</p>
<p>A plainclothesman also came to look at what I was doing when I started taking pictures. I asked if he was Armed Police.</p>
<p>“No, I am democratic police,” he said, meaning that he was connected with the municipal police who are under a different command structure and don’t enter into civil conflict.</p>
<p>“The Armed Police came yesterday. They are also occupying the water stations and other places.”</p>
<p>Lines of drying black, gray and white camouflage fatigues were hanging out to dry. Armed Police have occupied the transportation yards, converting them into a make-shift barracks.</p>
<p>Most of the workers were no longer there. For all the fear-mongering about Maoists armed with lathi bamboo sticks and kukhuri knives, the Armed Police were brandishing automatic weapons and military rifles. And nobody voted for them.</p>
<p>Armed Police also rousted rural Maoists from several private schools. Apparently the Maoists are not picking fights before May First, and have left some locations. Police encampments at several schools have kept protesters from entering, others are full and have stood their ground.</p>
<p>Traveling further to the city’s east, the roads were lined with apparent Maoist cadre and protesters. They did all have signs, but were in the same long, stretching lines on both sides of the street that is the signature formation of the assembling contingents. There were at least a thousand here so I stopped and asked out loudly if anyone spoke English.</p>
<p>Young Communist League on the march. This is disciplined gathering despite weeks of fear-mongering about “country people” over-running the capitol.</p>
<p>“Yes, here!” said a man from Kailala, a district in the far west of Nepal. “We’ve come since two day ago.” Right off, he started to explain his intentions for “your world readers and comrades.”</p>
<p>“No limit to our stay here! We are starting People’s War in city to take rights. A new government! We are not here for being controlled by government. No!”</p>
<p>I didn’t even have to ask Pawan question, he had some things to say. Maoist party leaders are not calling this a “People’s War.” For his part, this rank-and-file cadre saw this as the final battle in the fight over power in Nepal.</p>
<p>“Maoists are the largest party. People, we support the Maoist. Most people are supporting Maoist. This government abuses people and does not make the change we want. Our busses were stopped. YCL is taking care and we show we come with people not weapons. We are careful in our fight. We pressure to change government like Thailand,” he said referring to the Red Shirts laying peaceful siege to Bangkok’s business elite.</p>
<p>“But we are more. We don’t just protest government. We want people’s rights and equality. Everyone same. Property equal. Socialism. A people’s constitution.”</p>
<p>The reserved style of Nepali conversation is turning to agitation. As that is more my own style, I told him that in the USA we have a constitution, a federal government and all that – but it is a capitalist constitution based on money and property. How was this different? What makes this socialist?</p>
<p>“We make it socialist. We make the power. We make land reform everywhere. Low people will have power. We are the judges. Look, we are making it now!”</p>
<p>JED BRANDT is an American reporter writing from Nepal. His reports and photographs appear on jedbrandt.net. He is a participant of the Kasama Project.</p>
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<p /> | true | 4 | business usual kathmandu two days go may first overflowing buses pulling hour outskirts town city crowded bus caravans unloading directly street marches wild chanting marshaled uniformed cadre young communist league despite week fearmongering nepals mainstream press crowds militant unarmed giddy despite harassment armed police roads leading city several maoists arrested petty weapons charges exceptions rule maoist rallies already started central intersections every district passed filled young people always young density towards center city minirallies moving outskirts towards center arent staying government buildings seems contingents arrive dipping center marching back across city convergence hundreds thousands people set may first contingents every armed police cop city must alert rallying look noticeably unhappy aggressive much slouching back trucks looking around nervously among residents kathmandu people going business city fills facial expressions good guide allegiance anything people say believe people make governments excited mobilized march fear country people young workers dour hurrying reach personal destination youth nation met mukti maoist party district leader kathmandu overseeing rows singlefile columns mostly students filing housing late afternoon rain clouds looming rare full beard long hair tone scholarly hint rocker pearl jam button bag eager talk staying wedding halls 30000 come today chitwan 60 tourist buses drive back forth every day many people waiting transportation drivers helpful buses working hard help youth going make day said pointing three singlefile lines young men stretching parallel bus station kilometer away none children young marriage mostly older teenagers disciplined see clearly amped chanting came quiet saw beautiful stoicism young men facing danger cause feel since english good decided try provoke bit mentioned current prime ministers party fought democracy 1990 become politicians keen manage country reform asked worried maoist leaders might interested becoming government ministers like uml congress parties mukti smiled launched right response party back steps youth wont accept happen said surprised directness common nepal party wont let us making new commitment see revolution amped dont fight uplift cadre bring people power look stretched arms frame hundreds students around us come socialism say peace constitution people rights come retreat could help embracing twenty guys formed circle around us talked burst laughter hurrahs stepped back say youth came today food got buses women brought food sides road way fed passive aggressive talked starting move contingent police parties uml congress cadre trying pressure places let us stay arent trying command agitation peaceful matter take bullets told army helicopters flying low day soldiers brandishing assault rifles hanging chopper doors filing end lines winding small curving road intersection armed police occupy key facilities passing back trolley yards id visited days ago check union office armed police gates repair barns yard dozens loitering trucks union office closed maoist posters may first still covered walls stopped charging station ask one workers still shift happened looked back shoulder armed police commander starting us within earshot talked worker said talk armed police occupy trolley repair yards along water plants strategic infrastructure deciding moved yards see going workers left installation plainclothesman also came look started taking pictures asked armed police democratic police said meaning connected municipal police different command structure dont enter civil conflict armed police came yesterday also occupying water stations places lines drying black gray white camouflage fatigues hanging dry armed police occupied transportation yards converting makeshift barracks workers longer fearmongering maoists armed lathi bamboo sticks kukhuri knives armed police brandishing automatic weapons military rifles nobody voted armed police also rousted rural maoists several private schools apparently maoists picking fights may first left locations police encampments several schools kept protesters entering others full stood ground traveling citys east roads lined apparent maoist cadre protesters signs long stretching lines sides street signature formation assembling contingents least thousand stopped asked loudly anyone spoke english young communist league march disciplined gathering despite weeks fearmongering country people overrunning capitol yes said man kailala district far west nepal weve come since two day ago right started explain intentions world readers comrades limit stay starting peoples war city take rights new government controlled government didnt even ask pawan question things say maoist party leaders calling peoples war part rankandfile cadre saw final battle fight power nepal maoists largest party people support maoist people supporting maoist government abuses people make change want busses stopped ycl taking care show come people weapons careful fight pressure change government like thailand said referring red shirts laying peaceful siege bangkoks business elite dont protest government want peoples rights equality everyone property equal socialism peoples constitution reserved style nepali conversation turning agitation style told usa constitution federal government capitalist constitution based money property different makes socialist make socialist make power make land reform everywhere low people power judges look making jed brandt american reporter writing nepal reports photographs appear jedbrandtnet participant kasama project 160 | 784 |
<p>Photo by Eric Fischer | <a href="" type="internal">CC BY 2.0</a></p>
<p>Europe is pregnant with something but what is it? War or peace? East or West? North or South? A still birth or a renaissance? The beginning or the end? Something has got to give. The past must let go.</p>
<p>The recent Italian elections are the latest birth pangs – the latest sign of something new. And the present European institutions aren’t part of it. Indeed the nation states that make up Europe today are slipping into the past while something else is moving forward.</p>
<p>The continent itself is fluid. In the fundamental social sense Africa and Asia have never been as close. And America has never been as far away. Europe in the classic sense is disappearing. And that’s not bad. The place at present feels like a bastard. It feels good.</p>
<p>In country after country the late 20th Century political blocks are turning into sand. And each economy is held together by dubious financial instruments and sinister anti-labor laws. Austerity and debt de-legitimize Euro capitalism. And promise Euro chaos. Bring it on.</p>
<p>Immigration is a scapegoat. But it is first and foremost the solution – the solution to low birth rates and labor shortages. Never mind the fact that diversity means dynamism. And the fact that “globalization” (the human kind) is now the norm. The white man like God is dead.</p>
<p>20th Century Europe however clings onto the 21st Century like a desperate man grasping at a life belt. Imperialism (the white man) and the Cold War (white hysteria) don’t want to drown in time. Neither does the United States of Europe (the EU). The 21st Century however can’t carry their weight. If the 21st Century doesn’t kick them away it’ll drown too. If the 21st Century wants to be born it must reject them. And it is doing so.</p>
<p>The immigrants and the elections are doing so. Because they’re the midwife to the new European child – whatever it is. Make no doubt about it though: the immigrants are civilizing Europe. And the elections are undermining Europe.</p>
<p>The bulk of the European 20th Century was shaped by the Communists, the Fascists and the Christian Democrats. They’re all gone now and in the vacuum there’s nothing but farce. But there’s the outline of something different.</p>
<p>The Europeans are pushing against liberalism and its neoliberal progeny. Never mind the fact that the new or alternative political parties they vote for are failing to live up to their critical manifestos. The point is that probably 50% or more of the Europeans have had enough of liberal capitalism. And this means that they have had enough of the EU. How this plays out though is anyone’s guess.</p>
<p>A glance at Europe’s political jigsaw right now reveals unstable contradictions. Hung parliaments, Grand Coalitions, secessionists and deadlock predominate. New or once ostracized political parties are shaping the narratives. And the strongest one is Euroscepticism.</p>
<p>Alternative for Germany, Podemos (Spain), Syriza (Greece), Law and Justice Party (Poland), Freedom Party of Austria, Fidesz Party (Hungary), Five Star Movement (Italy) and National Front (France) all have subverted smug liberal Europe.</p>
<p>And when you add to this mix old time anti-imperialists like Sinn Féin (Ireland) and new time imperialists like La Republique En Marche (France) the concept of Europe is being pulled all over the place. Brexit, Catalonia, Lega Nord (Italy) and the financial ultras in the Netherlands and Finland complete the picture of political chaos. Unity &#160;– if there ever was any – is a thing of the past.</p>
<p>The Polish President Andrzej Duda summed it up best recently when he said that the EU is like an occupying force in Poland. Its not crazy to say that that’s exactly how most ordinary Europeans experience the EU today. And they want out. They want something new.</p>
<p>For wanting to halt liberal capitalism the “anti-European” Europeans are being described as idiotic populists or as the idiotic far-right. But this criticism doesn’t hold since it comes from a liberal European Empire that’s based on foreign wars and foreign slaughter. It comes from in other words a liberalism that is inherently racist. One that plays all the time upon popular fears (the war on terror, for example). Its a liberalism that has proven itself at home and abroad (austerity and war) to be not only idiotic but criminal in every way.</p>
<p>If truth be told the “pro-European” liberals are the most ignorant of Europe. They’re the ones championing American leadership and playing Russian roulette with Russia nonstop. They’re the fanatical extremists that are endangering the life of Europeans today. Their market solutions and military solutions have taken Europe into an irrational swamp. A swamp in which the “far-right” makes more sense than the “extreme-center”.</p>
<p>The far-left though remains the most rational. However in a swamp the sinking feeling clouds reason. Many Europeans do bemoan the immigrants while the banks pick their pockets. But many if not most do sense the theft taking place and have an appetite for a left-wing confrontation with the bosses.</p>
<p>Indeed this cloudy division between unhappy Europeans manifests itself roughly in a rift between the East / West on the one hand and the North / South on the other. In the East and North the tendency is right wing (they bitch about the immigrants) while in the West and South its left wing (they bitch about the banks). There’s overlap but the currents are visible.</p>
<p>For the left the only way out of this swamp – the only way out of the womb – is the foothold that is immigration. Much like in America immigrants now form the very basis of society in Europe. They’re the basic working class upon which the whole of Europe now rests.</p>
<p>We’re not just talking about the Syrian refugees in the headlines but those economic “refugees” away from of the headlines: the Filipinos, the Chinese, the Indians, the Brazilians, the Nigerians and the Moroccans. You can add every other nationality there is to this list. Because Europe today is as much a melting pot as America is. And despite what Europe’s white supremacists might think: there’s no getting rid of Europe’s new skin color.</p>
<p>As the new Europe emerges it will blend more and more with Africa and Asia. Quietly a cultural revolution is taking place. In Paris and London this has been obvious for some time. But now its almost everywhere. Madrid, Berlin, Dublin, Malmo, Milan and a thousand other European cities echo what has already happened in the capitals of France and Britain.</p>
<p>20th Century Europe was a disaster made in Europe. If 21st Century Europe is not to be the same it must let humanity do its thing. Forget about a European Union or a United States of Europe. And let Europe unite with the world instead. Its happening whether Europe likes it or not. But the more Europe is conscious of it and positive about it the easier it will be to change the world for the better.</p>
<p>Europe is dissolving. Its adjusting to reality. And the reality is that it has always been just an extension of Asia and Africa. Its not an island. Or a unique unity. The workers of the world by migrating to Europe and doing their thing are proving this. The Europe being born is anything but Europe. And that’s something to celebrate.</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | true | 4 | photo eric fischer cc 20 europe pregnant something war peace east west north south still birth renaissance beginning end something got give past must let go recent italian elections latest birth pangs latest sign something new present european institutions arent part indeed nation states make europe today slipping past something else moving forward continent fluid fundamental social sense africa asia never close america never far away europe classic sense disappearing thats bad place present feels like bastard feels good country country late 20th century political blocks turning sand economy held together dubious financial instruments sinister antilabor laws austerity debt delegitimize euro capitalism promise euro chaos bring immigration scapegoat first foremost solution solution low birth rates labor shortages never mind fact diversity means dynamism fact globalization human kind norm white man like god dead 20th century europe however clings onto 21st century like desperate man grasping life belt imperialism white man cold war white hysteria dont want drown time neither united states europe eu 21st century however cant carry weight 21st century doesnt kick away itll drown 21st century wants born must reject immigrants elections theyre midwife new european child whatever make doubt though immigrants civilizing europe elections undermining europe bulk european 20th century shaped communists fascists christian democrats theyre gone vacuum theres nothing farce theres outline something different europeans pushing liberalism neoliberal progeny never mind fact new alternative political parties vote failing live critical manifestos point probably 50 europeans enough liberal capitalism means enough eu plays though anyones guess glance europes political jigsaw right reveals unstable contradictions hung parliaments grand coalitions secessionists deadlock predominate new ostracized political parties shaping narratives strongest one euroscepticism alternative germany podemos spain syriza greece law justice party poland freedom party austria fidesz party hungary five star movement italy national front france subverted smug liberal europe add mix old time antiimperialists like sinn féin ireland new time imperialists like la republique en marche france concept europe pulled place brexit catalonia lega nord italy financial ultras netherlands finland complete picture political chaos unity 160 ever thing past polish president andrzej duda summed best recently said eu like occupying force poland crazy say thats exactly ordinary europeans experience eu today want want something new wanting halt liberal capitalism antieuropean europeans described idiotic populists idiotic farright criticism doesnt hold since comes liberal european empire thats based foreign wars foreign slaughter comes words liberalism inherently racist one plays time upon popular fears war terror example liberalism proven home abroad austerity war idiotic criminal every way truth told proeuropean liberals ignorant europe theyre ones championing american leadership playing russian roulette russia nonstop theyre fanatical extremists endangering life europeans today market solutions military solutions taken europe irrational swamp swamp farright makes sense extremecenter farleft though remains rational however swamp sinking feeling clouds reason many europeans bemoan immigrants banks pick pockets many sense theft taking place appetite leftwing confrontation bosses indeed cloudy division unhappy europeans manifests roughly rift east west one hand north south east north tendency right wing bitch immigrants west south left wing bitch banks theres overlap currents visible left way swamp way womb foothold immigration much like america immigrants form basis society europe theyre basic working class upon whole europe rests talking syrian refugees headlines economic refugees away headlines filipinos chinese indians brazilians nigerians moroccans add every nationality list europe today much melting pot america despite europes white supremacists might think theres getting rid europes new skin color new europe emerges blend africa asia quietly cultural revolution taking place paris london obvious time almost everywhere madrid berlin dublin malmo milan thousand european cities echo already happened capitals france britain 20th century europe disaster made europe 21st century europe must let humanity thing forget european union united states europe let europe unite world instead happening whether europe likes europe conscious positive easier change world better europe dissolving adjusting reality reality always extension asia africa island unique unity workers world migrating europe thing proving europe born anything europe thats something celebrate 160 | 660 |
<p>Rep. Darrell Issa greets Donald Trump at a campaign rally in May.John Gastaldo/The San Diego Union-Tribune via ZUMA Wire</p>
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<p>Darrell Issa has been acting strangely. Over the weekend, the eight-term Republican congressman from Southern California’s 49th district embarked on a bike ride across the region, pausing at local businesses for photo ops and chatting with voters. Upon reaching the Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base, he flashed a smile for the camera and <a href="https://twitter.com/TeamIssa/status/792503517311184896" type="external">posted to Twitter</a>, “Nothing motivates like @USMC #OORAH.” He’s doing private fundraisers. He’s showing up at community events with the Log Cabin Republicans, a sober-living workshop, the North County Food Bank. Issa has even distributed yard signs.</p>
<p>This is typical behavior for an incumbent facing reelection, but Issa has never had to bother with this kind of ground-level campaigning. “Darrell never participated before. He’s never been involved in our Republican campaigning, because he was so safe,” says Oceanside Councilman Jerry Kern. Kern says he’s seen Issa more in the past few months than in the entire 10 years that he’s run the city’s Republican headquarters.</p>
<p>Since Issa was first elected in 2000, he’s slayed one Democratic opponent after another with virtually no sweat broken. But this is not a typical election year, and Issa—the <a href="" type="internal">former chair</a> of the House Oversight Committee who’s dogged the Obama administration with Benghazi, IRS, Fast and Furious, Solyndra, Healthcare.gov, and other theatrical investigations—is no longer safe. In his efforts to extend his 16-year tenure as one of California’s most powerful Republicans, he’s playing a frantic game of catch-up as Election Day nears.</p>
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<p>In late 2015, Doug Applegate, a retired Marine colonel and trial lawyer who felt “embarrassed by Darrell Issa,” noted his district’s increasing Latino population and its slow drift leftward, and thought, There’s a possibility here. Even though he was a political novice, he decided to run for Issa’s seat.</p>
<p>Applegate met with Francine Busby, the chair of the San Diego County Democratic Party. She had run for the same seat in 2004, 2006, and 2010 and knew exactly what he’d be up against. “I had ‘the talk’ with him,” she says. “When you run in a district against an incumbent who is <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/pfds/" type="external">the richest man</a> in Congress, who is in two different counties, who has a voter registration advantage and a name ID advantage, it’s gonna be tough.” She shrugs. “But give it a try.”</p>
<p>Like every hopeful who’d sought to unseat Issa, Applegate stood almost no chance. He <a href="http://www.latimes.com/politics/essential/la-pol-sac-essential-politics-updates-rep-darrell-issa-s-democratic-1468628421-htmlstory.html" type="external">raised $53,000</a> in the run-up to the June primary, while Issa already had $3.7 million stashed away for the November election. “In a typical year,” San Diego Union-Tribune columnist Logan Jenkins <a href="http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/elections/sdut-is-this-marine-defeat-issa-2016jun11-story.html" type="external">wrote</a> in June, “this candidate would make Don Quixote look like a realist.”</p>
<p>But on primary night, to everyone’s surprise, Applegate came within striking distance of Issa, trailing him by just 5 points and winning a spot on the November ballot. (In California’s open or “jungle” primary system, the top two vote-getters make the ballot, regardless of party.) Thinking the primary might have been a fluke, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee conducted three polls—and found that Applegate’s popularity remained strong. In one poll, he had a 3-point edge over Issa. In Applegate, the House Democrats’ campaign arm had found a progressive candidate with crossover appeal: As a vet who’d deployed to Iraq in 2006, he could tap into the district’s large military and veteran population. The DCCC threw in $2.1 million, launched field-canvassing operations, and made it a real race.</p>
<p>Observers describe the primary outcome as a wake-up call for Issa but question whether his team really got the message. The nonpartisan Cook Political Report <a href="http://cookpolitical.com/house/charts/race-ratings" type="external">moved the race</a> from “leans Republican” to a toss-up in mid-October. “It’s a mystifyingly bad campaign that Issa’s run,” the report’s editor told the Times.</p>
<p>Issa didn’t launch campaign ads until October. One featured former New York City Mayor <a href="https://www.darrellissa.com/2016/10/11/issa-releases-new-ad-featuring-rudy-giuliani/" type="external">Rudy Giuliani</a> to rebut an Applegate ad. “The last thing you do is bring in a New Yorker who has no appeal whatsoever and reinforces his association with Trump,” says Busby. “It’s just very amateurish.” As one Republican political operative who asked to remain anonymous told me, “I don’t know if you’ve looked at Darrell Issa’s TV ads, but they are the worst fucking TV ads I’ve ever seen in my life.”</p>
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<p>Applegate owes much of his unexpected success to the weirdness of this year’s presidential election—and Issa’s embrace of Donald Trump. In February, Issa warned that Trump could endanger Republicans seeking reelection, even arguing that Trump could be “a national Todd Akin,” referring to the Missouri congressman who claimed in 2012 that “legitimate rape” doesn’t cause pregnancy. But then, in May, after months of campaigning for Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, Issa declared Trump “the obvious choice.” On the same day as Trump’s Access Hollywood tapes hit the news in October, Issa signed on to Trump’s national security advisory board.</p>
<p>While Republicans have an 8-point voter registration advantage in the district, Trump is doing poorly there. An <a href="http://www.rollcall.com/news/politics/poll-rep-issa-in-statistical-dead-heat-with-applegate" type="external">August poll</a> conducted for Applegate’s campaign found that Trump had a 60 percent unfavorable rating there. A <a href="http://dccc.org/applegate-takes-lead-issa-new-poll/" type="external">recent poll</a> shows Hillary Clinton with a 14-point lead. In <a href="http://fox5sandiego.com/2016/10/11/congressman-darrell-issa-apologizes-for-trump-tape-to-focus-on-own-re-election/" type="external">an interview</a> with a local Fox station, Issa acknowledged, “The majority of my district will go for Hillary Clinton, but I think they are making a mistake.”</p>
<p>So when Trump tries to boost Issa—as he did yesterday when he <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/793524189240188928" type="external">tweeted</a> that Issa “is a very good man”—it’s not exactly helpful. Perhaps sensing a need to put some distance between him and Trump, Issa has done an odd dance with his old nemesis, President Barack Obama. Issa has often been referred to as Obama’s “chief antagonist.” He has called Obama “one of the most corrupt presidents in modern times” and has floated the idea of impeachment. Yet in October, he sent out <a href="http://www.latimes.com/la-pol-sac-essential-politics-updates-darrell-issa-mailer-1476823173-htmlstory.html" type="external">campaign mailers</a> prominently adorned with Obama’s image, applauding the president for signing a bill that Issa had co-sponsored.</p>
<p>Obama pounced on Issa at a high-donor fundraiser in La Jolla the following week. The <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2016/10/24/obama-calls-issa-shameless-for-trying-to-portray-himself-as-ally/" type="external">president called</a> Issa “shameless” and “not somebody who’s serious about working on problems.” Referring to the campaign mailer picturing him, Obama said, “That is the definition of chutzpah.”</p>
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<p>At a campaign rally for veterans in Solana Beach, Applegate tells me that when he first considered running, he thought his military experience might help him win. His campaign has made much of his record: “Colonel” is emblazoned on all its advertisements and press releases. He has a crew cut, buzzed short on the sides, and is wearing a boxy navy-blue blazer and khakis. He speaks in a measured, confident voice, pausing often between thoughts. “The Democrats had never run anybody who spent a lot of time in the Marine Corps,” he says. “I also knew there were a lot of people—Republican veterans—who considered Darrell Issa a no-show, a Casper the Ghost.”</p>
<p>Veterans at the rally echoed this sentiment, remarking that Applegate “knows what it’s like,” while Issa, as one former Marine put it, has been “slow on his feet” to address veterans’ issues. Another called Issa, who is an Army vet, “absent” and said he only has time for photo ops. (The Issa campaign did not respond to multiple requests for an interview.)</p>
<p>But not everyone’s saying Issa is done for. “I think Darrell’s vulnerability has been overstated,” says Jason Roe, a San Diego-based political consultant for Republicans. “When it comes to California Republicans, if you’ve been able to survive the last decade, you’re probably fairly well insulated.”</p>
<p>Both of the area’s major papers, the San Diego Union-Tribune and the Orange County Register, have endorsed Issa. And his supporters discount claims that he’s ghosted them. “He’s in the district constantly. I’ve seen him many, many times at various events and functions,” says Susan Jester, a co-founder of the Log Cabin Republicans and the former president of its San Diego chapter. And she finds the concerns about Issa’s ties to Trump unconvincing. “If your only platform is, ‘I’m not Darrell Issa, and he’s a bad guy for hanging out with Trump,’ it’s not enough.” Kern says, “You gotta remember: Darrell outdid Romney in the district. I’m sure he’ll outdo Trump this time.”</p>
<p>And Applegate is not without his blemishes. “The candidate that’s running is incredibly flawed,” says Kurt Bardella, a former Issa adviser (who worked briefly as Breitbart‘s spokesman before quitting over <a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/presidential-campaign/292068-exclusive-kurt-bardella-on-steve-bannon-and-why-im" type="external">the site becoming</a> “the de facto propaganda machine for Donald Trump.”) In 2002 and 2004, Applegate’s ex-wife was granted two temporary restraining orders against him, and he was forced to surrender two guns in connection with her accusations of “stalking.” (She publicly supports him now.)</p>
<p>Republicans also question the Democrats bringing in Obama to attack Issa. “It changed the narrative from tying Issa to Trump and made it about Issa versus Obama,” says Bardella. “Remember, for the last eight years, it’s been Issa versus Obama. Interjecting the president into the race directly benefits Issa.”</p>
<p>Issa’s future may ultimately depend on turnout. Will Trump-adverse Republicans simply stay home? For California Republicans, Bardella explains, “your vote frankly doesn’t matter at the top of the ticket, and the Senate race is between two Democrats. There’s not as much incentive for Republicans to turn up.” Kern agrees: “If you dig deep down, if you really look at it, why would Republicans show up?”</p>
<p>Even if Trump doesn’t kill Darell Issa’s political career next Tuesday, at least he’s forced the California Republican to show up for the election.</p>
<p /> | true | 4 | rep darrell issa greets donald trump campaign rally mayjohn gastaldothe san diego uniontribune via zuma wire darrell issa acting strangely weekend eightterm republican congressman southern californias 49th district embarked bike ride across region pausing local businesses photo ops chatting voters upon reaching camp pendleton marine corps base flashed smile camera posted twitter nothing motivates like usmc oorah hes private fundraisers hes showing community events log cabin republicans soberliving workshop north county food bank issa even distributed yard signs typical behavior incumbent facing reelection issa never bother kind groundlevel campaigning darrell never participated hes never involved republican campaigning safe says oceanside councilman jerry kern kern says hes seen issa past months entire 10 years hes run citys republican headquarters since issa first elected 2000 hes slayed one democratic opponent another virtually sweat broken typical election year issathe former chair house oversight committee whos dogged obama administration benghazi irs fast furious solyndra healthcaregov theatrical investigationsis longer safe efforts extend 16year tenure one californias powerful republicans hes playing frantic game catchup election day nears 160 late 2015 doug applegate retired marine colonel trial lawyer felt embarrassed darrell issa noted districts increasing latino population slow drift leftward thought theres possibility even though political novice decided run issas seat applegate met francine busby chair san diego county democratic party run seat 2004 2006 2010 knew exactly hed talk says run district incumbent richest man congress two different counties voter registration advantage name id advantage gon na tough shrugs give try like every hopeful whod sought unseat issa applegate stood almost chance raised 53000 runup june primary issa already 37 million stashed away november election typical year san diego uniontribune columnist logan jenkins wrote june candidate would make quixote look like realist primary night everyones surprise applegate came within striking distance issa trailing 5 points winning spot november ballot californias open jungle primary system top two votegetters make ballot regardless party thinking primary might fluke democratic congressional campaign committee conducted three pollsand found applegates popularity remained strong one poll 3point edge issa applegate house democrats campaign arm found progressive candidate crossover appeal vet whod deployed iraq 2006 could tap districts large military veteran population dccc threw 21 million launched fieldcanvassing operations made real race observers describe primary outcome wakeup call issa question whether team really got message nonpartisan cook political report moved race leans republican tossup midoctober mystifyingly bad campaign issas run reports editor told times issa didnt launch campaign ads october one featured former new york city mayor rudy giuliani rebut applegate ad last thing bring new yorker appeal whatsoever reinforces association trump says busby amateurish one republican political operative asked remain anonymous told dont know youve looked darrell issas tv ads worst fucking tv ads ive ever seen life applegate owes much unexpected success weirdness years presidential electionand issas embrace donald trump february issa warned trump could endanger republicans seeking reelection even arguing trump could national todd akin referring missouri congressman claimed 2012 legitimate rape doesnt cause pregnancy may months campaigning florida sen marco rubio issa declared trump obvious choice day trumps access hollywood tapes hit news october issa signed trumps national security advisory board republicans 8point voter registration advantage district trump poorly august poll conducted applegates campaign found trump 60 percent unfavorable rating recent poll shows hillary clinton 14point lead interview local fox station issa acknowledged majority district go hillary clinton think making mistake trump tries boost issaas yesterday tweeted issa good manits exactly helpful perhaps sensing need put distance trump issa done odd dance old nemesis president barack obama issa often referred obamas chief antagonist called obama one corrupt presidents modern times floated idea impeachment yet october sent campaign mailers prominently adorned obamas image applauding president signing bill issa cosponsored obama pounced issa highdonor fundraiser la jolla following week president called issa shameless somebody whos serious working problems referring campaign mailer picturing obama said definition chutzpah 160 campaign rally veterans solana beach applegate tells first considered running thought military experience might help win campaign made much record colonel emblazoned advertisements press releases crew cut buzzed short sides wearing boxy navyblue blazer khakis speaks measured confident voice pausing often thoughts democrats never run anybody spent lot time marine corps says also knew lot peoplerepublican veteranswho considered darrell issa noshow casper ghost veterans rally echoed sentiment remarking applegate knows like issa one former marine put slow feet address veterans issues another called issa army vet absent said time photo ops issa campaign respond multiple requests interview everyones saying issa done think darrells vulnerability overstated says jason roe san diegobased political consultant republicans comes california republicans youve able survive last decade youre probably fairly well insulated areas major papers san diego uniontribune orange county register endorsed issa supporters discount claims hes ghosted hes district constantly ive seen many many times various events functions says susan jester cofounder log cabin republicans former president san diego chapter finds concerns issas ties trump unconvincing platform im darrell issa hes bad guy hanging trump enough kern says got ta remember darrell outdid romney district im sure hell outdo trump time applegate without blemishes candidate thats running incredibly flawed says kurt bardella former issa adviser worked briefly breitbarts spokesman quitting site becoming de facto propaganda machine donald trump 2002 2004 applegates exwife granted two temporary restraining orders forced surrender two guns connection accusations stalking publicly supports republicans also question democrats bringing obama attack issa changed narrative tying issa trump made issa versus obama says bardella remember last eight years issa versus obama interjecting president race directly benefits issa issas future may ultimately depend turnout trumpadverse republicans simply stay home california republicans bardella explains vote frankly doesnt matter top ticket senate race two democrats theres much incentive republicans turn kern agrees dig deep really look would republicans show even trump doesnt kill darell issas political career next tuesday least hes forced california republican show election | 974 |
<p>“Let contradictions prevail! Let one thing contradict another! And let one line of my poems contradict another!”</p>
<p>— Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass.</p>
<p>On May 30, at 10:06am, the United States exchequer turned over its trillionth dollar to the U. S. armed forces for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. A trillion dollars is a lot of money. As my friends at the National Priorities Project put it, if I made a $1 million a year, it would take me a million years to earn a trillion dollars. The U. S. government expended the same amount in nine years, fighting two wars. So what did our trillion tax dollars buy?</p>
<p>The best way to answer this question is to see if the U. S. government was able to attain its war aims in each theatre. But what are the war aims? These are unclear. Albeit a democracy, the United States government has been chary with its intentions. Of such silences are conspiracies made. The bilious Daniel Patrick Moynihan once wrote that most of what is classified by the government is meaningless (Secrecy, 1999). Much of it is already in the public domain. War aims are not hidden because they are secret. Most of the time they are unarticulated because the wars themselves are embarrassingly tied to certain limited class needs: power and resources lead the pack. Patriotism is much easier as social glue than patrimonial entitlement.</p>
<p>The banners at the anti-war demonstrations in 2002 and 2003 said, “No Blood for Oil.” At the time, the media decided to mock the linkage. Then along came Alan Greenspan, four years later, with this rather charmless sentence, “I am saddened that it is politically inconvenient to acknowledge what everyone knows: the Iraq war is largely about oil” (The Age of Turbulence, 2007, p. 463). Was the war for oil? Not entirely. The war was also about power, about the continued attempt by the G7, led by the United States, to maintain dominance over an increasingly unruly and unreliable planet. In 2007, the U. S. military formed AFRICOM and began to turn the drug-runners of the Sahel into a detachment of al-Qaeda, as well to pretend that the Somali pirates came out of Old History rather than the overfishing of the Indian Ocean. The answer to every question was military action, and if the question was simply, “could we have some more fish, please,” the answer (bombardment) began to produce an entirely different, and now a new, self-perpetuating question (why do they hate us?).</p>
<p>If the war aims were resources and power, they have largely failed. U. S. power is in drift, not yet in decline. Goldman Sachs is able to force New York City to move the West Side Highway so that its limousines can make a right turn; China Youth Daily calls Goldman Sachs a “gold slurping black-hand” (June 8, 2010). The steretypes are upended; it is the New Yorkers who are deferential to Money, and it is the Chinese who write their editorials with the Middle Finger. Oil plumes and the carcasses of potentially extinct species are blackening the Gulf of Mexico. Corporations run rings around Washington, D. C. Drift is hardly worth a trillion dollars.</p>
<p>Whether Bush or Obama, the government has failed to articulate definitive war aims. Without war aims, how do the military planners construct a strategy, and then, how do they produce tactics? The National Security strategy of the Bush years was simply a promissory note to the world that it would get a good clobbering every once in a while. The strategy was obvious; the tactics followed. At least it had the merit of being honest. It was war without end.</p>
<p>The Obama strategy, from May 2010, has been largely unheralded – very few analysts have given it the time of day. I don’t blame them. It is pabulum, all about interconnected worlds and enhanced prestige. The Obama team promises to “pursue a strategy of national renewal and global leadership – a strategy that rebuilds the foundation of American strength and influence.” To this end, the Obama team says, “Our Armed Forces will always be a cornerstone of our security, but they must be complemented. Our security also depends upon diplomats who can act in every corner of the world, from grand capitals to dangerous outposts.” Not much of this on offer. When the Brazilians and Turks produced a diplomatic gambit with Iran, the U. S. diplomats, in their dangerous outpost at the United Nations, went for new sanctions – all this during the same period as the Turks are up in arms about the Mavi Marmara, and the U. S. remains obdurate about not condemning Israel’s actions in the Mediterranean. It is hard to take the Obama strategy seriously when the administration seems not to be following its own promises.</p>
<p>What of those trillion dollars? Were they well spent? Let’s take four of the openly articulated war aims.</p>
<p>Afghanistan.</p>
<p>(1) Destroy and Disrupt al-Qaeda. After 9/11, the Taliban government informed the U. S. government that it was ready to hand over Osama Bin Laden and the rest of the al-Qaeda leadership to an international court, if the U. S. was able to provide a dossier on their crimes. This was a diplomatic opening. Rather than engage it, the U. S. went to war. Al-Qaeda has not been destroyed. Bin Laden remains at large, so does his deputy (Ayman al-Zawahiri). Al-Qaeda’s operation has now moved into Pakistan, where it threatens to disrupt the nuclear-armed State. For that, the U. S. government now uses the term Af-Pak. The existence of such a term is itself a sign of defeat.</p>
<p>(2) Bring Democracy to Afghanistan. In early June, the U. S. backed Afghan government conducted a jirga whose purpose was to bring the Taliban back into the corridors of power. This is a government that has already adopted much of the Taliban program, including a Supreme Court that banned female singing on television and permits husbands to starve wives who are unwilling to have sex. Recall that it was the U. S. in the 1980s that backed these Islamists in the first place, and used them to attack the progressive laws passed by the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan (including the right to divorce and land reform). Between the Taliban and the Warlords there is little difference; the U. S. government has empowered one against the other, and both against the Afghan people.</p>
<p>Iraq.</p>
<p>(3) Destroy Weapons of Mass Destruction. The United States government went to war in Iraq in 2003 on the pretext of weapons of mass destruction. None were found. Iraq had been starved by the sanctions of the 1990s. It barely had an army left, as the U. S. troops soon found. What army was left became the guerrilla force that morphed into the sectarian militias, which continue to bedevil Iraq. No weapons of mass destruction, although with the U. S. military bogged down in Afghanistan and Iraq, an emboldened North Korea went ahead and tested its own nuclear device. The next best thing for isolated Pyongyang is if its football team is able to make the quarter-finals at the 2010 World Cup (as it did during its last outing, in 1966).</p>
<p>(4) Create a Stable Ally in the Middle East. We were told that an Iraq absent Saddam Hussein would look like Lebanon before the 1975-1990 sectarian civil war, with Beirut, the Paris of the East, now to be found in Baghdad. The destruction of Iraq in 2003 resembled the invasion by the Mongol Helegu in 1258: all that remained were facades of a city that once was. From the ashes of a destroyed people rose the sectarian militias and a civil war as brutal as broke apart Lebanon for fifteen years. Iraq remains unstable, with suicide bombing a constant and unreported feature. Trapped in Iraq, trapped by Israel’s variances from normality, unable to find any allies among the Turks or the Iranians: a miserable soup for the planners at Foggy Bottom.</p>
<p>What did the American people get for the trillion dollars? At least a million dead in Iraq and Afghanistan, and instability in key parts of the world. The United States could continue to throw money into these two conflicts, but in neither case will the articulated and unarticulated war aims be attained. Iraq and Afghanistan deserve another future, one that is not to be determined by military force. No point being dragged again and again down what Martin Luther King, Jr. called, “the shameful corridor of time reserved for those who possess power without compassion.”</p>
<p>It is time to consider other solutions.</p>
<p>VIJAY PRASHAD is the George and Martha Kellner Chair of South Asian History and Director of International Studies at Trinity College, Hartford, CT His most recent book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1565847857/counterpunchmaga" type="external">The Darker Nations: A People’s History of the Third World,</a> won the Muzaffar Ahmad Book Prize for 2009. The Swedish and French editions are just out. He can be reached at: <a href="mailto:vijay.prashad@trincoll.edu" type="external">vijay.prashad@trincoll.edu</a></p>
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<p /> | true | 4 | let contradictions prevail let one thing contradict another let one line poems contradict another walt whitman leaves grass may 30 1006am united states exchequer turned trillionth dollar u armed forces wars iraq afghanistan trillion dollars lot money friends national priorities project put made 1 million year would take million years earn trillion dollars u government expended amount nine years fighting two wars trillion tax dollars buy best way answer question see u government able attain war aims theatre war aims unclear albeit democracy united states government chary intentions silences conspiracies made bilious daniel patrick moynihan wrote classified government meaningless secrecy 1999 much already public domain war aims hidden secret time unarticulated wars embarrassingly tied certain limited class needs power resources lead pack patriotism much easier social glue patrimonial entitlement banners antiwar demonstrations 2002 2003 said blood oil time media decided mock linkage along came alan greenspan four years later rather charmless sentence saddened politically inconvenient acknowledge everyone knows iraq war largely oil age turbulence 2007 p 463 war oil entirely war also power continued attempt g7 led united states maintain dominance increasingly unruly unreliable planet 2007 u military formed africom began turn drugrunners sahel detachment alqaeda well pretend somali pirates came old history rather overfishing indian ocean answer every question military action question simply could fish please answer bombardment began produce entirely different new selfperpetuating question hate us war aims resources power largely failed u power drift yet decline goldman sachs able force new york city move west side highway limousines make right turn china youth daily calls goldman sachs gold slurping blackhand june 8 2010 steretypes upended new yorkers deferential money chinese write editorials middle finger oil plumes carcasses potentially extinct species blackening gulf mexico corporations run rings around washington c drift hardly worth trillion dollars whether bush obama government failed articulate definitive war aims without war aims military planners construct strategy produce tactics national security strategy bush years simply promissory note world would get good clobbering every strategy obvious tactics followed least merit honest war without end obama strategy may 2010 largely unheralded analysts given time day dont blame pabulum interconnected worlds enhanced prestige obama team promises pursue strategy national renewal global leadership strategy rebuilds foundation american strength influence end obama team says armed forces always cornerstone security must complemented security also depends upon diplomats act every corner world grand capitals dangerous outposts much offer brazilians turks produced diplomatic gambit iran u diplomats dangerous outpost united nations went new sanctions period turks arms mavi marmara u remains obdurate condemning israels actions mediterranean hard take obama strategy seriously administration seems following promises trillion dollars well spent lets take four openly articulated war aims afghanistan 1 destroy disrupt alqaeda 911 taliban government informed u government ready hand osama bin laden rest alqaeda leadership international court u able provide dossier crimes diplomatic opening rather engage u went war alqaeda destroyed bin laden remains large deputy ayman alzawahiri alqaedas operation moved pakistan threatens disrupt nucleararmed state u government uses term afpak existence term sign defeat 2 bring democracy afghanistan early june u backed afghan government conducted jirga whose purpose bring taliban back corridors power government already adopted much taliban program including supreme court banned female singing television permits husbands starve wives unwilling sex recall u 1980s backed islamists first place used attack progressive laws passed democratic republic afghanistan including right divorce land reform taliban warlords little difference u government empowered one afghan people iraq 3 destroy weapons mass destruction united states government went war iraq 2003 pretext weapons mass destruction none found iraq starved sanctions 1990s barely army left u troops soon found army left became guerrilla force morphed sectarian militias continue bedevil iraq weapons mass destruction although u military bogged afghanistan iraq emboldened north korea went ahead tested nuclear device next best thing isolated pyongyang football team able make quarterfinals 2010 world cup last outing 1966 4 create stable ally middle east told iraq absent saddam hussein would look like lebanon 19751990 sectarian civil war beirut paris east found baghdad destruction iraq 2003 resembled invasion mongol helegu 1258 remained facades city ashes destroyed people rose sectarian militias civil war brutal broke apart lebanon fifteen years iraq remains unstable suicide bombing constant unreported feature trapped iraq trapped israels variances normality unable find allies among turks iranians miserable soup planners foggy bottom american people get trillion dollars least million dead iraq afghanistan instability key parts world united states could continue throw money two conflicts neither case articulated unarticulated war aims attained iraq afghanistan deserve another future one determined military force point dragged martin luther king jr called shameful corridor time reserved possess power without compassion time consider solutions vijay prashad george martha kellner chair south asian history director international studies trinity college hartford ct recent book darker nations peoples history third world muzaffar ahmad book prize 2009 swedish french editions reached vijayprashadtrincolledu 160 words stick 160 | 813 |
<p>A Dallas jury, a week ago, caused a mistrial in the government case against this country’s largest Islamic charity. The action raises a defiant fist on the sinking ship of American democracy.</p>
<p>If we lived in a state where due process and the rule of law could curb the despotism of the Bush administration, this mistrial might be counted a victory. But we do not. The jury may have rejected the federal government’s claim that the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Land_Foundation_for_Relief_and_Development" type="external">Holy Land Foundation</a> for Relief and Development funneled millions of dollars to Middle Eastern terrorists. It may have acquitted Mohammad el-Mezain, the former chairman of the foundation, of virtually all criminal charges related to funding terrorism (the jury deadlocked on one of the 32 charges against el-Mezain), and it may have deadlocked on the charges that had been lodged against four other former leaders of the charity, but don’t be fooled. This mistrial will do nothing to impede the administration’s ongoing contempt for the rule of law. It will do nothing to stop the curtailment of our civil liberties and rights. The grim march toward a police state continues.</p>
<p>Constitutional rights are minor inconveniences, noisome chatter, flies to be batted away on the steady road to despotism. And no one, not the courts, not the press, not the gutless Democratic opposition, not a compliant and passive citizenry hypnotized by tawdry television spectacles and celebrity gossip, seems capable of stopping the process. Those in power know this. We, too, might as well know it.</p>
<p>The Bush administration, which froze the foundation’s finances three months after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and indicted its officials three years later on charges that they provided funds for the militant group Hamas, has ensured that the foundation and all other Palestinian charities will never reopen in the United States. Any organized support for Palestinians from within the U.S. has been rendered impossible. The goal of the Israeli government and the Bush administration — despite the charade of <a href="http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1669093,00.html" type="external">peace negotiations</a> to be held at Annapolis — is to grind defiant Palestinians into the dirt. Israel, which has plunged the Gaza Strip into one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, has now begun to ban fuel supplies and sever electrical service. The severe deprivation, the Israelis hope, will see the overthrow of the Hamas government in Gaza and the reinstatement of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who has become the <a href="http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/FWWpetain.htm" type="external">Marshal Pétain</a> of the Palestinian people.</p>
<p />
<p>The Dallas trial — like all of the major terrorism trials conducted by this administration, from the Florida case against the Palestinian activist <a href="http://www.freesamialarian.com/home.htm" type="external">Dr. Sami al-Arian</a>, which also ended in a mistrial, to the recent decision by a jury in Chicago to acquit two men of charges of financing Hamas — has been a judicial failure. William Neal, a juror in the Dallas trial, told the Associated Press that the case “was strung together with macaroni noodles. There was so little evidence.”</p>
<p>Such trials, however, have been politically expedient. The accusations, true or untrue, serve the aims of the administration. A jury in Tampa, Chicago or Dallas can dismiss the government’s assaults on individual rights, but the draconian restrictions put in place because of the mendacious charges remain firmly implanted within the system. It is the charges, not the facts, which matter.</p>
<p>Dr. al-Arian, who was supposed to have been released and deported in April, is still in a Virginia prison because he will not testify in a separate case before a grand jury. The professor, broken by the long ordeal of his trial and unable to raise another million dollars in legal fees for a retrial, pleaded guilty to a minor charge in the hopes that his persecution would end. It has not. Or take the case of Canadian citizen <a href="http://www.maherarar.ca/" type="external">Maher Arar</a>, who in 2002 was spirited away by Homeland Security from JFK Airport to Syria, where he spent 10 months being tortured in a coffin-like cell. He was, upon his release, exonerated of terrorism. Arar testified before a House panel this month about how he was abducted by the U.S. and interrogated, stripped of his legal rights and tortured. But he couldn’t testify in person. He spoke to the House members on a video link from Canada. He is forbidden by Homeland Security to enter the United States because he allegedly poses a threat to national security.</p>
<p>Those accused of being involved in conspiracies and terrorism plots, as in all police states, become nonpersons. There is no rehabilitation. There is no justice.</p>
<p>“He was never given a hearing nor did the Canadian consulate, his lawyer, or his family know of his fate,” Amnesty International wrote of Arar. “Expulsion in such circumstances, without a fair hearing, and to a country known for regularly torturing their prisoners, violates the U.S. Government’s obligations under international law, specifically the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.”</p>
<p>You can almost hear Dick Cheney yawn.</p>
<p>The Bush administration shut down the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development six years ago and froze its assets. There was no hearing or trial. It became a crime for anyone to engage in transactions with the foundation. The administration never produced evidence to support the charges. It did not have any. In the “war on terror,” evidence is unnecessary. An executive order is enough. The foundation sued the government in a federal court in the District of Columbia. Behind closed doors, the government presented secret evidence that the charity had no opportunity to see or rebut. The charity’s case was dismissed.</p>
<p>The government has closed seven Muslim charities in the United States and frozen their assets. Not one of them, or any person associated with them, has been found guilty of financing terrorism. They will remain shut. George W. Bush can tar any organization or individual, here or abroad, as being part of a terrorist conspiracy and by fiat render them powerless. He does not need to make formal charges. He does not need to wait for a trial verdict. Secret evidence, which these court cases have exposed as a sham, is enough. The juries in Tampa, Chicago and Dallas did their duty. They spoke for the rights of citizens. They spoke for the protection of due process and the rule of law. They threw small hurdles in front of the emergent police state. But the abuse rolls on. I fear terrorism. I know it is real. I am sure terrorists will strike again on American soil. But while terrorists can wound and disrupt our democracy, only we can kill it.</p> | true | 4 | dallas jury week ago caused mistrial government case countrys largest islamic charity action raises defiant fist sinking ship american democracy lived state due process rule law could curb despotism bush administration mistrial might counted victory jury may rejected federal governments claim holy land foundation relief development funneled millions dollars middle eastern terrorists may acquitted mohammad elmezain former chairman foundation virtually criminal charges related funding terrorism jury deadlocked one 32 charges elmezain may deadlocked charges lodged four former leaders charity dont fooled mistrial nothing impede administrations ongoing contempt rule law nothing stop curtailment civil liberties rights grim march toward police state continues constitutional rights minor inconveniences noisome chatter flies batted away steady road despotism one courts press gutless democratic opposition compliant passive citizenry hypnotized tawdry television spectacles celebrity gossip seems capable stopping process power know might well know bush administration froze foundations finances three months sept 11 2001 terrorist attacks indicted officials three years later charges provided funds militant group hamas ensured foundation palestinian charities never reopen united states organized support palestinians within us rendered impossible goal israeli government bush administration despite charade peace negotiations held annapolis grind defiant palestinians dirt israel plunged gaza strip one worlds worst humanitarian crises begun ban fuel supplies sever electrical service severe deprivation israelis hope see overthrow hamas government gaza reinstatement palestinian president mahmoud abbas become marshal pétain palestinian people dallas trial like major terrorism trials conducted administration florida case palestinian activist dr sami alarian also ended mistrial recent decision jury chicago acquit two men charges financing hamas judicial failure william neal juror dallas trial told associated press case strung together macaroni noodles little evidence trials however politically expedient accusations true untrue serve aims administration jury tampa chicago dallas dismiss governments assaults individual rights draconian restrictions put place mendacious charges remain firmly implanted within system charges facts matter dr alarian supposed released deported april still virginia prison testify separate case grand jury professor broken long ordeal trial unable raise another million dollars legal fees retrial pleaded guilty minor charge hopes persecution would end take case canadian citizen maher arar 2002 spirited away homeland security jfk airport syria spent 10 months tortured coffinlike cell upon release exonerated terrorism arar testified house panel month abducted us interrogated stripped legal rights tortured couldnt testify person spoke house members video link canada forbidden homeland security enter united states allegedly poses threat national security accused involved conspiracies terrorism plots police states become nonpersons rehabilitation justice never given hearing canadian consulate lawyer family know fate amnesty international wrote arar expulsion circumstances without fair hearing country known regularly torturing prisoners violates us governments obligations international law specifically convention torture cruel inhuman degrading treatment punishment almost hear dick cheney yawn bush administration shut holy land foundation relief development six years ago froze assets hearing trial became crime anyone engage transactions foundation administration never produced evidence support charges war terror evidence unnecessary executive order enough foundation sued government federal court district columbia behind closed doors government presented secret evidence charity opportunity see rebut charitys case dismissed government closed seven muslim charities united states frozen assets one person associated found guilty financing terrorism remain shut george w bush tar organization individual abroad part terrorist conspiracy fiat render powerless need make formal charges need wait trial verdict secret evidence court cases exposed sham enough juries tampa chicago dallas duty spoke rights citizens spoke protection due process rule law threw small hurdles front emergent police state abuse rolls fear terrorism know real sure terrorists strike american soil terrorists wound disrupt democracy kill | 585 |
<p>By Victoria Brittain, TomDispatchThis piece first appeared at TomDispatch. Read Tom Engelhardt’s introduction <a href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175657/tomgram%3A_victoria_brittain%2C_fighting_a_global_war_of_terror/#more" type="external">here</a>.</p>
<p>Once, as a reporter, I covered wars, conflicts, civil wars, and even a genocide in places like Vietnam, Angola, Eritrea, Rwanda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, keeping away from official briefings and listening to the people who were living the war.&#160; In the years since the Bush administration launched its Global War on Terror, I’ve done the same thing without ever leaving home.</p>
<p>In the last decade, I didn’t travel to distant refugee camps in Pakistan or destroyed villages in Afghanistan, nor did I spend time in besieged cities like Iraq’s Fallujah or Libya’s Misrata.&#160; I stayed in Great Britain.&#160; There, my government, in close conjunction with Washington, was pursuing its own version of what, whether anyone cared to say it or not, was essentially a war against Islam.&#160; Somehow, by a series of chance events, I found myself inside it, spending time with families transformed into enemies.</p>
<p>I hadn’t planned to write about the war on terror, but driven by curiosity about lives most of us never see and a few lucky coincidences, I stumbled into a world of Muslim women in London, Manchester, and Birmingham.&#160; Some of them were British, others from Arab and African countries, but their husbands or sons had been swept up in Washington’s war. Some were in Guantanamo, some were among the dozen Muslim foreigners who did not know each other, and who were surprised to find themselves imprisoned together in Britain on suspicion of links to al-Qaeda. Later, some of these families would find themselves under house arrest.</p>
<p />
<p>In the process, I came to know women and children who were living in almost complete isolation and with the stigma of a supposed link to terrorism. They had few friends, and were cut off from the wider world. Those with a husband under house arrest were allowed no visitors who had not been vetted for “security,” nor could they have computers, even for their children to do their homework.&#160; Other lonely women had husbands or sons who had sometimes spent a decade or more in prison without charges in the United Kingdom, and were fighting deportation or extradition.</p>
<p>Gradually, they came to accept me into their isolated lives and talked to me about their children, their mothers, their childhoods — but seldom, at first, about the grim situations of their husbands, which seemed too intimate, too raw, too frightening, too unknowable to be put into words.</p>
<p>In the early years, it was a steep learning curve for me, spending time in homes where faith was the primary reality, Allah was constantly invoked, English was a second language, and privacy and reticence were givens. Facebook culture had not come to most of these families. The reticence faded over the years, especially when the children were not there, or in the face of the kind of desolation that came from a failed court appeal to lift the restrictions on their lives, an unexpected police raid on the house, a husband’s suicide attempt, or the coming of a new torture report from Washington’s then-expanding global gulag of <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/08/13/070813fa_fact_mayer" type="external">black sites</a> and, of course, Guantanamo.</p>
<p>In these years, I met some of their husbands and sons as well.&#160; The first was a British man from Birmingham, Moazzam Begg. He had been held for three years in Washington’s notorious offshore prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, only to be released without charges. &#160;When he came home, through his lawyer, he asked me to help write his memoir, the first to come out of Guantanamo.&#160; We worked long months on <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/1595582061/ref=nosim/?tag=tomdispatch-20" type="external">Enemy Combatant</a>. It was hard for him to relive his nightmare days and nights in American custody in Kandahar and in the U.S. prison at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan and then those limbo years in Cuba. It was even harder for him to visit the women whose absent husbands he had known in prison and who, unlike him, were still there.</p>
<p>Was My Husband Tortured?</p>
<p>In these homes he visited, there was always one great unspoken question: Was my husband or son tortured? It was the single question no one could bear to ask a survivor of that nightmare, even for reassurance. When working on his book, I deliberately left the chapter on his experiences in American hands in Bagram prison for last, as I sensed how difficult it would be for both of us to speak about the worst of the torture I knew he had experienced.</p>
<p>Through Moazzam, I met other men who had been swept up in the post-9/11 dragnet for Muslims in Great Britain, refugees who sought him out as an Arabic speaker and a British citizen to help them negotiate Britain’s newly hostile atmosphere in the post-9/11 years. &#160;Soon, I began to visit some of their wives, too.</p>
<p>In time, I found myself deep inside a world of civilian women who were being warred upon (after a fashion) in my own country, which was how I came upon a locked-down hospital ward with a man determined to starve himself to death unless he was given refugee documents to leave Britain, children who cried in terror in response to a knock on the door, wives faced with a husband changed beyond words by prison.</p>
<p>I was halfway through working on Moazzam’s book when London was struck by our 9/11, which we call 7/7. The July 7, 2005, suicide bombings, in three parts of the London underground and a bus, killed 52 civilians and injured more than 700. The four bombers were all young British men between 18 and 30, two of them married with children, and one of them a mentor at a primary school. In video statements left behind they described themselves as “soldiers” whose aim was to force the British government to pull its troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan. Just three weeks later, there were four more coordinated bomb attacks on the London subway system.&#160; (All failed to detonate.) The four men responsible, longterm British residents originally from the Horn of Africa, were captured, tried, and sentenced to life imprisonment. In this way, the whole country was traumatised in 2005, and that particularly includes the various strands of the Muslim community in Great Britain.</p>
<p>The British security services quickly returned to a post-9/11 stance on overdrive. The same MI5 intelligence agents who had interrogated Moazzam while he was in U.S. custody asked to meet him again to get his thoughts on who might be behind the attacks. However, three years in U.S. custody and five months at home occupied with his family and his book had not made him a likely source of information on current strains of thought in the British Muslim community.</p>
<p>At the same time, the dozen foreign Muslim refugees detained in the aftermath of 9/11 and held without trial for two years before being released on the orders of the House of Lords were rearrested. In the summer of 2005, the government prepared to deport them to countries they had originally fled as refugees.</p>
<p>All of them had been made anonymous by court order and in legal documents were referred to as Mr. G, Mr. U, and so on. This was no doubt intended to safeguard their privacy, but in a sense it also condemned them.&#160; It made them faceless, inhuman, and their families experienced it just that way. “They even took my husband’s name away, why?” one wife asked me.</p>
<p>The women I was meeting in these years were mostly from this small group, as well as the relatives of a handful of British residents — Arabs — who were not initially returned from Guantanamo with the nine British citizens that the Americans finally released without charges in 2004 and 2005.</p>
<p>Perhaps no one in the country was, in the end, more terrorised than them, thanks to the various terror plots by British nationals that followed. And they were right to be fearful.&#160; The pressure on them was overwhelming.&#160; Some of them simply gave up and went home voluntarily because they could not bear house arrest, though they risked being sent to prison in their native lands; others went through years of house arrest and court appeals against deportation, all of which continues to this day.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.mi5.gov.uk/home/the-threats/terrorism/international-terrorism/international-terrorism-and-the-uk/terrorist-plots-in-the-uk.html" type="external">Among the plots</a> that unnerved them were one in 2006 against transatlantic aircraft, for which a total of 12 Britons were jailed for life in 2009, and the 2007 attempt to blow up a London nightclub and Glasgow International Airport, in which one bomber died and the second was jailed for 32 years. In the post-9/11 decade, 237 people were convicted of terror-related offences in Britain.</p>
<p>Though all of this was going on, much of it remained remote from the world of the refugee women I came to know who, in the larger world, were mainly preoccupied with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that, with Palestinian developments, filled their TV screens tuned only to Arabic stations.</p>
<p>These women did not tend to dwell on their own private nightmares, but for anyone in their company there was no mistaking them: a wife prevented from taking her baby into the hospital to visit her hunger-striking husband and get him to eat before he starved to death; another, with several small children, turned back from a prison visit, despite a long journey, because her husband was being punished that day; children whose toys were taken in a police raid and never given back; midnight visits from a private security company to check on a man already electronically tagged.</p>
<p>Here was the texture of a hidden war of continual harassment against a largely helpless population.&#160; This was how some of the most vulnerable people in British society — often already traumatised refugees and torture survivors — were made permanent scapegoats for our post-9/11, and then post-7/7 fears.</p>
<p>So powerful is the stigma of “terrorism” today that, in the name of “our security,” whether in Great Britain or the United States, just about anything now goes, and ever fewer people ask questions about what that “anything” might actually be. Here in London, repeated attempts to get influential religious or political figures simply to visit one of these officially locked-down families and see these lives for themselves have failed. In the present political climate, such a personal, fact-finding visit proved to be anything but a priority for such people.</p>
<p>A Legal System of Secret Evidence, House Arrest, and Financial Sanctions</p>
<p>Against this captive population, in such an anything-goes atmosphere, all sorts of experimental perversions of the legal system were tried out.&#160; As a result, the British system of post-9/11 justice contains many features which should frighten us all but are completely unfamiliar to the vast majority of people in the United Kingdom.</p>
<p>Key aspects for the families I have been concerned with include the <a href="http://www.cps.org.uk/publications/reports/neither-just-nor-secure/" type="external">use of secret evidence</a> in cases involving deportation, bail conditions, and imprisonment without trial. In addition, most of their cases have been heard in a special court known as the Special Immigration Appeals Commission or <a href="http://www.justice.gov.uk/tribunals/special-immigration-appeals-commission" type="external">SIAC</a>, which is housed in an anonymous basement set of rooms in central London.</p>
<p>One of SIAC’s innovative features is the use of “special advocates,” senior barristers who have security clearance to see secret evidence on behalf of their clients, but without being allowed to disclose it or discuss it, even with the client or his or her own lawyer. The <a href="http://www.gardencourtchambers.co.uk/news/news_detail.cfm?iNewsID=268" type="external">resignation on principle</a> of a highly respected barrister, Ian Macdonald, as a special advocate in November 2004 exposed this process to the public for the first time — but almost no one took any interest.</p>
<p>And a sense of the injustice in this arcane system was never sufficiently sparked by such voices, which found little echo in the media. Nor was there a wide audience for reports from a <a href="http://pb.rcpsych.org/content/29/11/407.full" type="external">team of top psychiatrists</a> about the devastating psychological impact on the men and their families of indefinite detention without trial, and of a house-arrest system framed by “ <a href="http://www.liberty-human-rights.org.uk/human-rights/terrorism/control-orders/index.php" type="external">control orders</a>” that allow the government to place restrictions of almost any sort on the lives of those it designates.</p>
<p>An even less noted aspect of the anti-terror legal system brought into existence after 9/11 was the financial sanctions that could freeze the assets of designated individuals.&#160; First <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/law/2010/aug/25/un-security-council-asset-freezing" type="external">ordered by</a> the United Nations, the financial-sanctions regime was <a href="http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/fin_sanctions_index.htm" type="external">consolidated here</a> through a European Union list of designated people. The few lawyers who specialized in this area were <a href="http://ukhumanrightsblog.com/2011/12/21/terrorist-asset-freezing-an-intrusion-too-far-dr-cian-murphy/" type="external">scathing</a> about the draconian measures involved and the utter lack of transparency when it came to which governments had put which names on which list.</p>
<p>The effect on the listed families was draconian.&#160; Marriages collapsed under the strain. The listed men were barred from working and only allowed £10 a week for personal expenses. Their wives — often from conservative cultures where all dealings with the outside world had been left to husbands — suddenly were the families’ faces to the world, responsible for everything from shopping to accounting monthly to the government’s Home Office for every item the family purchased, right down to a bottle of milk or a pencil for a child. It was humiliating for the men, who lost their family role overnight, and exhausting and frustrating for the women, while in some cases the rest of their families shunned them because of the taint of alleged terrorism. Almost no one except specialist lawyers even knew that such financial sanctions existed in Britain.</p>
<p>In the country’s <a href="http://www.judiciary.gov.uk/you-and-the-judiciary/going-to-court/high-court" type="external">High Court</a>, the <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/apr/24/meanandsqualidmeasures" type="external">first judicial challenge</a> to the financial-sanctions regime was brought in 2008 by five British Muslim men known only as G, K, A, M, and Q. In response, Justice Andrew Collins said he found it “totally unacceptable” that, to take an especially absurd example, a man should have to get a license for legal advice about the sanctions from the very body that was imposing them. The man in question had waited three months for a “basic expense” license permitting funds for food and rent, and six months for a license to obtain legal advice about the situation he found himself in.</p>
<p>In a related case before the judicial committee of the House of Lords, Justice Leonard Hoffman expressed incredulity at the “meanness and squalor” of a regime that “monitored who had what for lunch.” More recently, the United Kingdom’s Supreme Court endorsed the comments of Lord Justice Stephen Sedley who described those subject to the regime as being akin to “prisoners of the state.”</p>
<p>Among senior lawyers concerned about this hidden world of punishment was Ben Emmerson, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms While Countering Terrorism. He devoted one of his official U.N. reports to the financial sanctions issue. His recommendations included significantly more transparency from governments who put people on such a list, the explicit exclusion of evidence obtained by torture, and the obligation of governments to give reasons when they refuse to remove individuals from the list.&#160; Of course, no one who mattered was paying the slightest attention.</p>
<p>Against ideological governments obsessed by terrorism on both sides of the Atlantic and a culture numbed by violent anti-terrorist tales like “24” and Zero Dark Thirty, such complicated and technical initiatives on behalf of individuals who have been given the tag, implicitly if not explicitly, of “terrorist” stand little chance of getting attention.</p>
<p>“Each Time It’s Worse”</p>
<p>Nearly a decade ago, at the New York opening night of Guantanamo: Honour Bound to Defend Freedom, the play Gillian Slovo and I wrote using only the words of the relatives of prisoners in that jail, their lawyers, and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, an elderly man approached Moazzam Begg’s father and me.&#160; He introduced himself as a former foreign policy adviser to President John Kennedy. “It could never have happened in our time,” he said.</p>
<p>When the Global War on Terror was still relatively new, it was common for audiences to react similarly and with shock to a play in which fathers and brothers describe their bewilderment over the way their relation had disappeared into the <a href="http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&amp;aid=1523512" type="external">legal black hole</a> of Guantanamo Bay. In the years since, we have become numb to the destruction of lives, livelihoods, futures, childhoods, legal systems, and trust by Washington’s and London’s never-ending war on terror.</p>
<p>In that time, I have seen children grow from toddlers to teenagers locked inside this particular war machine.&#160; What they say today should startle us out of such numbness. Here, for instance, are the words of two teenagers, a girl and a boy whose fathers had been imprisoned or under house arrest in Britain for 10 years and whose lives in those same years were filled with indignities and humiliations:</p>
<p>“People seem to think that we get used to things being how they are for us, so we don’t feel the injustices so much now. They are quite wrong: it was painful the first time, more painful the second, even more so the third. In fact, each time it’s worse, if you can believe that. There isn’t a limit on how much pain you can feel.”</p>
<p>The boy added this:</p>
<p>“There is never one day when I feel safe. It can be the authorities, it can be ordinary people, they can do something bad for us. Only like now when we are all in the house together can I stop worrying about my mum and my sisters, and even me, what might happen to us. On the tube [subway], in class at university, people look at my beard. &#160;I see them looking and I know they are thinking bad things about me. I would like to be a normal guy who no one looks at. You know, other boys, some of my friends, they cut corners, things like driving without a current license, everyone does it. But I can’t, I can’t ever, ever, take even a small risk. I have to always be cautious, be responsible… for my family.”</p>
<p>These children have been brought up by women who, against all odds, have often preserved their dignity and kept at least a modicum of joy in their families’ lives, and so, however despised, however unnoticed, however locked away, made themselves an inspiration to others. They are not victims to be pitied, but women our societies should embrace.</p>
<p>South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/13/opinion/drones-kill-lists-and-machiavelli.html" type="external">response</a> to recent proposals that Washington establish a secret court to oversee the targeting of terrorist suspects for death-by-drone and President Obama’s expanding executive power to kill, speak for the world beyond the West.&#160; They offer a different perspective on the war on terror that Washington and Great Britain continue to pursue with no end in sight:</p>
<p>“Do the United States and its people really want to tell those of us who live in the rest of the world that our lives are not of the same value as yours? That President Obama can sign off on a decision to kill us with less worry about judicial scrutiny than if the target is an American? Would your Supreme Court really want to tell humankind that we, like the slave Dred Scott in the nineteenth century, are not as human as you are? I cannot believe it.&#160; I used to say of apartheid that it dehumanized its perpetrators as much as, if not more than, its victims. Your response as a society to Osama bin Laden and his followers threatens to undermine your moral standards and your humanity.”</p>
<p>Victoria Brittain, journalist and former editor at the Guardian, has authored or co-authored two plays and four books, including Enemy Combatant with Moazzam Begg. Her latest book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/0745333265/ref=nosim/?tag=tomdispatch-20" type="external">Shadow Lives: The Forgotten Women of the War on Terror</a> (Palgrave/Macmillan, 2013) has just been published.</p>
<p>Copyright 2013 Victoria Brittain</p> | true | 4 | victoria brittain tomdispatchthis piece first appeared tomdispatch read tom engelhardts introduction reporter covered wars conflicts civil wars even genocide places like vietnam angola eritrea rwanda democratic republic congo keeping away official briefings listening people living war160 years since bush administration launched global war terror ive done thing without ever leaving home last decade didnt travel distant refugee camps pakistan destroyed villages afghanistan spend time besieged cities like iraqs fallujah libyas misrata160 stayed great britain160 government close conjunction washington pursuing version whether anyone cared say essentially war islam160 somehow series chance events found inside spending time families transformed enemies hadnt planned write war terror driven curiosity lives us never see lucky coincidences stumbled world muslim women london manchester birmingham160 british others arab african countries husbands sons swept washingtons war guantanamo among dozen muslim foreigners know surprised find imprisoned together britain suspicion links alqaeda later families would find house arrest process came know women children living almost complete isolation stigma supposed link terrorism friends cut wider world husband house arrest allowed visitors vetted security could computers even children homework160 lonely women husbands sons sometimes spent decade prison without charges united kingdom fighting deportation extradition gradually came accept isolated lives talked children mothers childhoods seldom first grim situations husbands seemed intimate raw frightening unknowable put words early years steep learning curve spending time homes faith primary reality allah constantly invoked english second language privacy reticence givens facebook culture come families reticence faded years especially children face kind desolation came failed court appeal lift restrictions lives unexpected police raid house husbands suicide attempt coming new torture report washingtons thenexpanding global gulag black sites course guantanamo years met husbands sons well160 first british man birmingham moazzam begg held three years washingtons notorious offshore prison guantanamo bay cuba released without charges 160when came home lawyer asked help write memoir first come guantanamo160 worked long months enemy combatant hard relive nightmare days nights american custody kandahar us prison bagram air base afghanistan limbo years cuba even harder visit women whose absent husbands known prison unlike still husband tortured homes visited always one great unspoken question husband son tortured single question one could bear ask survivor nightmare even reassurance working book deliberately left chapter experiences american hands bagram prison last sensed difficult would us speak worst torture knew experienced moazzam met men swept post911 dragnet muslims great britain refugees sought arabic speaker british citizen help negotiate britains newly hostile atmosphere post911 years 160soon began visit wives time found deep inside world civilian women warred upon fashion country came upon lockeddown hospital ward man determined starve death unless given refugee documents leave britain children cried terror response knock door wives faced husband changed beyond words prison halfway working moazzams book london struck 911 call 77 july 7 2005 suicide bombings three parts london underground bus killed 52 civilians injured 700 four bombers young british men 18 30 two married children one mentor primary school video statements left behind described soldiers whose aim force british government pull troops iraq afghanistan three weeks later four coordinated bomb attacks london subway system160 failed detonate four men responsible longterm british residents originally horn africa captured tried sentenced life imprisonment way whole country traumatised 2005 particularly includes various strands muslim community great britain british security services quickly returned post911 stance overdrive mi5 intelligence agents interrogated moazzam us custody asked meet get thoughts might behind attacks however three years us custody five months home occupied family book made likely source information current strains thought british muslim community time dozen foreign muslim refugees detained aftermath 911 held without trial two years released orders house lords rearrested summer 2005 government prepared deport countries originally fled refugees made anonymous court order legal documents referred mr g mr u doubt intended safeguard privacy sense also condemned them160 made faceless inhuman families experienced way even took husbands name away one wife asked women meeting years mostly small group well relatives handful british residents arabs initially returned guantanamo nine british citizens americans finally released without charges 2004 2005 perhaps one country end terrorised thanks various terror plots british nationals followed right fearful160 pressure overwhelming160 simply gave went home voluntarily could bear house arrest though risked sent prison native lands others went years house arrest court appeals deportation continues day among plots unnerved one 2006 transatlantic aircraft total 12 britons jailed life 2009 2007 attempt blow london nightclub glasgow international airport one bomber died second jailed 32 years post911 decade 237 people convicted terrorrelated offences britain though going much remained remote world refugee women came know larger world mainly preoccupied wars iraq afghanistan palestinian developments filled tv screens tuned arabic stations women tend dwell private nightmares anyone company mistaking wife prevented taking baby hospital visit hungerstriking husband get eat starved death another several small children turned back prison visit despite long journey husband punished day children whose toys taken police raid never given back midnight visits private security company check man already electronically tagged texture hidden war continual harassment largely helpless population160 vulnerable people british society often already traumatised refugees torture survivors made permanent scapegoats post911 post77 fears powerful stigma terrorism today name security whether great britain united states anything goes ever fewer people ask questions anything might actually london repeated attempts get influential religious political figures simply visit one officially lockeddown families see lives failed present political climate personal factfinding visit proved anything priority people legal system secret evidence house arrest financial sanctions captive population anythinggoes atmosphere sorts experimental perversions legal system tried out160 result british system post911 justice contains many features frighten us completely unfamiliar vast majority people united kingdom key aspects families concerned include use secret evidence cases involving deportation bail conditions imprisonment without trial addition cases heard special court known special immigration appeals commission siac housed anonymous basement set rooms central london one siacs innovative features use special advocates senior barristers security clearance see secret evidence behalf clients without allowed disclose discuss even client lawyer resignation principle highly respected barrister ian macdonald special advocate november 2004 exposed process public first time almost one took interest sense injustice arcane system never sufficiently sparked voices found little echo media wide audience reports team top psychiatrists devastating psychological impact men families indefinite detention without trial housearrest system framed control orders allow government place restrictions almost sort lives designates even less noted aspect antiterror legal system brought existence 911 financial sanctions could freeze assets designated individuals160 first ordered united nations financialsanctions regime consolidated european union list designated people lawyers specialized area scathing draconian measures involved utter lack transparency came governments put names list effect listed families draconian160 marriages collapsed strain listed men barred working allowed 10 week personal expenses wives often conservative cultures dealings outside world left husbands suddenly families faces world responsible everything shopping accounting monthly governments home office every item family purchased right bottle milk pencil child humiliating men lost family role overnight exhausting frustrating women cases rest families shunned taint alleged terrorism almost one except specialist lawyers even knew financial sanctions existed britain countrys high court first judicial challenge financialsanctions regime brought 2008 five british muslim men known g k q response justice andrew collins said found totally unacceptable take especially absurd example man get license legal advice sanctions body imposing man question waited three months basic expense license permitting funds food rent six months license obtain legal advice situation found related case judicial committee house lords justice leonard hoffman expressed incredulity meanness squalor regime monitored lunch recently united kingdoms supreme court endorsed comments lord justice stephen sedley described subject regime akin prisoners state among senior lawyers concerned hidden world punishment ben emmerson un special rapporteur promotion protection human rights fundamental freedoms countering terrorism devoted one official un reports financial sanctions issue recommendations included significantly transparency governments put people list explicit exclusion evidence obtained torture obligation governments give reasons refuse remove individuals list160 course one mattered paying slightest attention ideological governments obsessed terrorism sides atlantic culture numbed violent antiterrorist tales like 24 zero dark thirty complicated technical initiatives behalf individuals given tag implicitly explicitly terrorist stand little chance getting attention time worse nearly decade ago new york opening night guantanamo honour bound defend freedom play gillian slovo wrote using words relatives prisoners jail lawyers secretary defense donald rumsfeld elderly man approached moazzam beggs father me160 introduced former foreign policy adviser president john kennedy could never happened time said global war terror still relatively new common audiences react similarly shock play fathers brothers describe bewilderment way relation disappeared legal black hole guantanamo bay years since become numb destruction lives livelihoods futures childhoods legal systems trust washingtons londons neverending war terror time seen children grow toddlers teenagers locked inside particular war machine160 say today startle us numbness instance words two teenagers girl boy whose fathers imprisoned house arrest britain 10 years whose lives years filled indignities humiliations people seem think get used things us dont feel injustices much quite wrong painful first time painful second even third fact time worse believe isnt limit much pain feel boy added never one day feel safe authorities ordinary people something bad us like house together stop worrying mum sisters even might happen us tube subway class university people look beard 160i see looking know thinking bad things would like normal guy one looks know boys friends cut corners things like driving without current license everyone cant cant ever ever take even small risk always cautious responsible family children brought women odds often preserved dignity kept least modicum joy families lives however despised however unnoticed however locked away made inspiration others victims pitied women societies embrace south african archbishop desmond tutus response recent proposals washington establish secret court oversee targeting terrorist suspects deathbydrone president obamas expanding executive power kill speak world beyond west160 offer different perspective war terror washington great britain continue pursue end sight united states people really want tell us live rest world lives value president obama sign decision kill us less worry judicial scrutiny target american would supreme court really want tell humankind like slave dred scott nineteenth century human believe it160 used say apartheid dehumanized perpetrators much victims response society osama bin laden followers threatens undermine moral standards humanity victoria brittain journalist former editor guardian authored coauthored two plays four books including enemy combatant moazzam begg latest book shadow lives forgotten women war terror palgravemacmillan 2013 published copyright 2013 victoria brittain | 1,720 |
<p>Ha’aretz correspondent Gideon Levy described the situation in the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoun in a searing article on Sunday. He proposed, half seriously, that the Israeli colonies removed last year as part of Israel’s so-called “disengagement” from Gaza should be returned because they would serve “as the last human shield for a million and a half residents who now comprise one of the most helpless populations in the world. Incarcerated, without any assistance, they are liable to starve to death. Exposed, without any protection, they fall prey to the Israel Defense Force’s operations of vengeance.”</p>
<p>How can we Americans ignore this? How can we bear it? How can we bear to continue paying for Israel’s atrocities? How can we possibly allow this inhumanity to be perpetrated in our name without crying out in horror, without bringing down our own government that sits by doling out the money and the weapons to keep this horror going, without severing altogether any ties with Israel’s Nazi government?</p>
<p>“Burying its 350 dead since the summer,” Levy goes on,</p>
<p>“Gaza threatens to become Chechnya. There are thousands of wounded, disabled and shell-shocked people in Gaza, unable to receive any treatment. Those on respirators are liable to die due to the frequent power outages since Israel bombed the power plant. Tens of thousands of children suffer from existential anxiety, while their parents are unable to provide help. They are witnesses to sights that even Gaza’s old-timers have never seen before.”</p>
<p>The horrors are unspeakable; I’m not making this up. Nor is Levy.</p>
<p>“Anyone who does not believe this can travel to Beit Hanoun, an hour from Tel Aviv. The trauma is only intensifying there, in a town that lost nearly 80 of its sons and daughters within a week [in early November]. The shadows of human beings roam the ruins. Last week, I met people there who are terrified, depressed, injured, humiliated, bereaved and bewildered. What can one say to them? That they should stop firing Qassams? But the vast majority of them are not involved in this at all. That they should return Gilad Shalit? What do they have to do with him? They only know the IDF will return and they know what this will mean for them: more imprisonment in their homes for weeks, more death and destruction in monstrous proportions, without them being guilty of a thing. In Israel’s dark southern backyard, a large-scale humanitarian tragedy is unfolding. Israel and the world, including the Arab states, are covering their eyes and the last resort, as absurd as it sounds, might be to long for the settlements. The situation is that desperate.”</p>
<p>How can we possibly allow this to go on, blithely ignoring it, blithely affirming Israel’s “right to defend itself,” ignoring the absence of any actual threat to Israel, blithely assuming that it is right and proper to murder, starve, imprison, deny medical treatment, deny water to an entire people simply because they are not Jews and are resisting Israel’s domination?</p>
<p>“Brutal and dizzy ideas compete against each other,” Levy continues, “the defense minister suggests liquidations and the agriculture minister proposes tougher action; one advocates ‘an eye for an eye,’ the second wants to ‘erase Beit Hanoun’ and the third ‘to pulverize Beit Lahiya.’ And no one pauses for a moment to think about what they are saying. What exactly does it mean to ‘erase Beit Hanoun’? What does this chilling combination of words mean? A town of 30,000 people, most of them children, whose measure of grief and suffering has long reached breaking point, unemployed and hungry, without a present and without a future, with no protection against Israel’s violent military responses, which have lost all human proportionality.</p>
<p>“Proportionality is also needed when examining the extent of suffering in the neighboring town, Sderot [the Israeli town frequently hit by Palestinian Qassam rockets]. It should be stated honestly: Sderot’s suffering, as heart-rending and difficult as it is, amounts to nothing when compared to the suffering of its neighbor. Sderot is now mourning one fatality, while Beit Hanoun is mourning nearly 80 dead. . . . Did the futile killing of the people in Beit Hanoun contribute anything to the security of Sderot’s residents? The events of the past days clearly demonstrate that the answer is no. . . .</p>
<p>“Soon Gaza will look like Darfur, but while the world is giving some sort of assistance to Darfur, it still dares to play tough with Gaza. Instead of boycotting the one who is abusing the residents of Gaza, the world is boycotting the victim, blocking assistance that it so desperately needs. Tens of thousands of workers who are not receiving their meager wages because of the boycott are the world’s gift to Gaza, while Israel is not only killing them, but also stealing their money, locking them in from all sides and not allowing them any chance to extricate themselves.”</p>
<p>How can we allow this to go on? C-SPAN is asking this week for one-minute video-taped statements, which it will begin airing on Thanksgiving, answering the question “what does being an American mean to you?” I have no video camera and no intention of submitting a tape, but the invitation got me thinking. Does being an American mean that I must sit back and quietly allow my government to starve the entire Palestinian people, in the name of some kind of dedication to a flag and a bill of rights that applies only to white people? Does it mean that I must approve, or even merely accept, the subhuman behavior of my government’s closest ally, Israel?</p>
<p>Or does being an American mean that I must do something — at least speak out, scream out — to stop the bleeding inflicted on innocents by America and Israel? And does not being an American mean that I must challenge my fellow Americans to speak out as well? Here is the challenge: any Jew anywhere who allows Israel to commit these acts and pursue these policies in the name of all Jews — for Israel does claim to act in the name of Jews everywhere — without speaking out against Israel, without screaming protests, must be ashamed. Any American who allows the United States to support Israel — to support it militarily with infusions of arms in the billions of dollars every year and to sustain it morally and psychologically — without loud protest should be ashamed. The time has come to stand up and be counted as Americans truly interested in justice and human rights and humanity.</p>
<p>Can we not match Gideon Levy’s courage in speaking the truth? Palestine is the conscience of us all.</p>
<p>KATHLEEN CHRISTISON is a former CIA political analyst and has worked on Middle East issues for 30 years. She is the author of <a href="" type="internal">Perceptions of Palestine</a> and <a href="" type="internal">The Wound of Dispossession</a>.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | true | 4 | haaretz correspondent gideon levy described situation northern gaza town beit hanoun searing article sunday proposed half seriously israeli colonies removed last year part israels socalled disengagement gaza returned would serve last human shield million half residents comprise one helpless populations world incarcerated without assistance liable starve death exposed without protection fall prey israel defense forces operations vengeance americans ignore bear bear continue paying israels atrocities possibly allow inhumanity perpetrated name without crying horror without bringing government sits doling money weapons keep horror going without severing altogether ties israels nazi government burying 350 dead since summer levy goes gaza threatens become chechnya thousands wounded disabled shellshocked people gaza unable receive treatment respirators liable die due frequent power outages since israel bombed power plant tens thousands children suffer existential anxiety parents unable provide help witnesses sights even gazas oldtimers never seen horrors unspeakable im making levy anyone believe travel beit hanoun hour tel aviv trauma intensifying town lost nearly 80 sons daughters within week early november shadows human beings roam ruins last week met people terrified depressed injured humiliated bereaved bewildered one say stop firing qassams vast majority involved return gilad shalit know idf return know mean imprisonment homes weeks death destruction monstrous proportions without guilty thing israels dark southern backyard largescale humanitarian tragedy unfolding israel world including arab states covering eyes last resort absurd sounds might long settlements situation desperate possibly allow go blithely ignoring blithely affirming israels right defend ignoring absence actual threat israel blithely assuming right proper murder starve imprison deny medical treatment deny water entire people simply jews resisting israels domination brutal dizzy ideas compete levy continues defense minister suggests liquidations agriculture minister proposes tougher action one advocates eye eye second wants erase beit hanoun third pulverize beit lahiya one pauses moment think saying exactly mean erase beit hanoun chilling combination words mean town 30000 people children whose measure grief suffering long reached breaking point unemployed hungry without present without future protection israels violent military responses lost human proportionality proportionality also needed examining extent suffering neighboring town sderot israeli town frequently hit palestinian qassam rockets stated honestly sderots suffering heartrending difficult amounts nothing compared suffering neighbor sderot mourning one fatality beit hanoun mourning nearly 80 dead futile killing people beit hanoun contribute anything security sderots residents events past days clearly demonstrate answer soon gaza look like darfur world giving sort assistance darfur still dares play tough gaza instead boycotting one abusing residents gaza world boycotting victim blocking assistance desperately needs tens thousands workers receiving meager wages boycott worlds gift gaza israel killing also stealing money locking sides allowing chance extricate allow go cspan asking week oneminute videotaped statements begin airing thanksgiving answering question american mean video camera intention submitting tape invitation got thinking american mean must sit back quietly allow government starve entire palestinian people name kind dedication flag bill rights applies white people mean must approve even merely accept subhuman behavior governments closest ally israel american mean must something least speak scream stop bleeding inflicted innocents america israel american mean must challenge fellow americans speak well challenge jew anywhere allows israel commit acts pursue policies name jews israel claim act name jews everywhere without speaking israel without screaming protests must ashamed american allows united states support israel support militarily infusions arms billions dollars every year sustain morally psychologically without loud protest ashamed time come stand counted americans truly interested justice human rights humanity match gideon levys courage speaking truth palestine conscience us kathleen christison former cia political analyst worked middle east issues 30 years author perceptions palestine wound dispossession 160 160 | 594 |
<p>You’ve probably heard about the three hikers being held in Iran since last summer. Their case has become a political football, highlighting the inherent tensions and absurd machinations of the U.S.-Iran relationship. If you’ve followed the story even casually, you also likely have an impression of the hikers as either being dumb and naive or spoiled kids deserving of their fate. These perceptions are actually well off the mark, and in some ways have served to perpetuate their plight. Incarcerated for nearly a year now, we might finally consider taking a moment to set the record straight, and in the process come to appreciate the dedicated activism of these remarkable individuals.</p>
<p>First, a bit of background. Four friends who have made it their life’s mission to travel (especially to troubled regions) in pursuit of cultural exchange and human understanding decide to take a break from their work in Damascus and go on a hike. They’re told of a beautiful, safe spot not too far away in northern Iraq. For these knowledgeable travelers, who harbor none of the dominant prejudices held by most Americans about the purported dangers of the Muslim world, the location is one that is recommended by numerous friends who have visited there previously. So they set out for Suleimaniya in Iraqi Kurdistan, where one falls ill and remains behind at the hotel on the appointed day of the hike. For the other three, the hike started out as a “beautiful time” — but in short order, the trail would lead unexpectedly to an Iranian jail.</p>
<p>I recently spoke with the “fourth hiker,” Shon Meckfessel, the one who stayed behind. He told me that all of the hikers were “well-established in the Middle East,” spoke Arabic (Sarah achieved conversational fluency, and Shane a high level of fluency rare among Arabic learners), and had spent the better part of their adult lives “trying to correct cultural misunderstandings” about the region. The fateful hike in Kurdistan was actually “just a trail” and not some tortuous backcountry experience — “a t-shirt and tennis shoes kind of hike,” as Shon put it. Suffice to say, none of them was expecting trouble of any sort, and in fact hadn’t even deviated from the one trail they had been told about. “I don’t know for sure if they were even in Iran,” Shon reflected, further noting that “Iran never came up” during the planning for the hike as a potential border that might be confronted along the recommended trail which they were confident was well within Iraq’s borders. “No one ever mentioned that the village and the trail they were sending us to was anywhere near Iran — we thought it was to the northwest of Suleimaniya, not to the east,” he recalls. As if to confirm this sense of geographical doubt and the lack of certainty as to what Shon termed “hazy borders,” one of the three that was apprehended subsequently “denied that they had walked into Iran, as they were accused of doing, before stopping himself and saying, ‘We can’t really talk about that.’”</p>
<p>What ensued is still a matter of conjecture, but what’s certain is that the three hikers — Shane Bauer, 27, Sarah Shourd, 31, and Joshua Fattal, 27 — were apprehended by Iranian authorities on allegations of espionage. Ten months later, they’ve been charged only with illegal entry, although Iranian officials still invoke the espionage allegations in public discourse despite the lack of formal charges and a dearth of evidence to support the claim. In fact, even a cursory review of their public record, revealed through online postings and numerous pieces of published journalism, indicates that they have been highly “critical of U.S. interventions in the Middle East,” as Shon observes, and strongly supportive of justice for Palestine in particular. Indeed, their efforts were a conscious attempt to overcome the “blind fear on the part of most Americans that actually obliged us to be in the Middle East,” he notes, and furthermore that they were influenced by the political realities of a post-9/11 landscape to become “invested in the world.” It was in this spirit that Shane began studying Arabic the day after 9/11 in order to be a better antiwar activist. Sarah’s work in the Middle East was a logical extension of years of work around the femicides in Juarez, Mexico, and Josh wished to understand the Middle East as he had China, South Africa, and India with the exchange students under his charge as a teaching assistant.</p>
<p>If you look closely at their histories, a pattern of serious reflection and thoughtful engagement readily emerges. Shane had previously filed incisive articles for outlets including Democracy Now! and Mother Jones, looking at issues related to the U.S. military involvement in Iraq; he also authored a cover story for The Nation about death squads in Iraq trained by the same CIA agents who had worked in El Salvador. Sarah had recently written evocative and empathetic articles about people struggling to survive and displaying great dignity in places such as the Golan Heights and Yemen, following her earlier work in locales ranging from the streets of Oakland to the villages of Chiapas. Josh was an old friend from the States who was just joining them in the Middle East, and has been described as someone who is “deeply committed to issues of ecology and truly democratic politics,” including “issues such as sustainable agriculture, food justice, and permaculture.” For his part, Shon started studying Arabic in 2000, has spent many years working on Palestinian issues including an in-progress doctoral dissertation on solidarity actions, and is the author of “a uniquely intellectual book” documenting his experiences as “a North American anarchist in the Balkans.” They are also close friends with Tristan Anderson, an American peace activist who was shot and critically wounded by Israeli troops during a protest in the West Bank, with Shane and Sarah in fact being the first to visit him in the hospital.</p>
<p>All of this indicates their sophistication about and dedication to the myriad causes of justice both in the Middle East and around the world. It also demonstrates a robust public record of working against the tide of U.S. imperialism in the region. These activist-journalists have stood against U.S. and Israeli aggression, and have sought to humanize the people in the Middle East who are striving to cope with it. So why are they being held by Iran on trumped-up allegations? “I’m sure they knew immediately what kind of people we are,” said Shon. “I don’t know why they’re holding my friends, but I’m certain it’s not because they think they’re actually spies or that they pose any threat to Iran.” In fact, in an open letter to Iranian President Ahmadinejad last November, Shon boldly asserted that “by continuing to deprive Shane, Sarah and Josh of their liberty, Iran is working against some of the very causes it supports. Each of these three has a long and public record of contesting injustice in the world and addressing some of the inequities between rich and poor which you have spoken about through their humanitarian work in their own country and overseas.”</p>
<p>Why then are they still being detained? Even a recent visit by their mothers that was filled with courtesies and heartfelt pleas ended with the status quo of their confinement remaining intact. A principal reason, as noted by the New York Times, is that the three “have become pawns in the troubled relationship between the United States and Iran.” The U.S. State Department has few official conduits to Iran, often relying upon Switzerland as a diplomatic intermediary. This means that every point of contact is infused with the full measure of the tensions between Iran and the U.S., amplifying the stakes and opening the door to political maneuverings. Thus was it recently reported by MSNBC that an Iranian arms dealer being held in a federal prison in Minnesota may be a key to freeing the hikers, but that “so far, the U.S. has rejected a possible exchange.” But days later, two Iranian prisoners who had been arrested by U.S forces were freed in Iraq, prompting the Los Angeles Times to speculate that this hinted at “behind-the-scenes deal-making between Iran and the West over the fate of detainees” (including the hikers) who are viewed as “bargaining chips.” The Washington Post added fuel to the fire in this cryptic report:</p>
<p>“Some Iranian analysts interpreted the move as a possible diplomatic gesture toward Iran that could increase the chances for the release of one or more of the detained American hikers. In Iraq, however, it was not immediately clear whether the decision to free the two men had anything to do with the case of the Americans, who were detained last summer after crossing into Iranian territory during what they said was a hiking expedition in the mountains of Iraq’s Kurdistan region bordering Iran…. A spokesman for the Iranian Embassy in Baghdad, Amir Arshadi, said the release had nothing to do with the three U.S. citizens held in Iran. He said the men were released after negotiations between the Iranian Embassy and the office of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki…. In his remarks about the freed Iranians, Kazemi-Qomi made no mention of the three American hikers held in Iran. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has used the Americans’ case to call attention to several Iranians imprisoned by the United States, prompting speculation that the Islamic Republic would be interested in an exchange. Iranian authorities strongly deny this.”</p>
<p>For obvious reasons of not wanting to be seen as capitulating to “the enemy,” both Iran and the U.S. generally deny having any inclination to engage in prisoner exchanges, even as media reports often imply otherwise. (Somewhat surprisingly, Iranian Intelligence Minister Haidar Moslehi signaled in an up-to-the-minute Associated Press report that Tehran might be open to a prisoner swap “once Washington makes a humanitarian gesture toward Iranians in U.S. custody similar to the one Iran made last week toward the [hikers’] mothers,” a sentiment likewise expressed in February by President Ahmadinejad that was flatly “ruled out” by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.) The diplomatic hurdles to orchestrating exchanges and the concomitant political wrangling certainly factor into the hikers’ continued detention, but there’s another aspect at play here that is less apparent and perhaps not quite as intuitively obvious. A large portion of the media coverage of the hikers has created an essentially decontextualized, vapid image of them as (in Shon’s words) “some sort of granola-munching, REI-club idiots.” This coverage may have been intended to create sympathy by suppressing their radical roots, but all it seems to have accomplished is to “infantilize and disrespect” them, as Shon notes:</p>
<p>“There’s a large part of the country preoccupied with reminding themselves why they deserve everything they have, why they belong in the situation they’re in, and insisting that others’ misfortunes are what they deserve is the best way to argue that. I’m not surprised that they don’t recognize that my friends are the Woodward/Bernsteins, the de Beauvoirs, and the John Muirs of our generation — those folks were dismissed by the same types in their time as well. It also doesn’t help that the media has effectively infantilized them, and completely written the work they’ve done out of the picture.”</p>
<p>As if to reinforce this sense of callous preoccupation, consider just a few of the many typical comments on a recent Huffington Post article that reprinted the Associated Press story about the hikers’ mothers returning home from their visit to Iran without their children: “I hear North Korea is beautiful in the spring. They should go hiking there next. Morons.” “If you are this dumb then I think the Iranians should keep you.” “No sympathy here …. of all the F~ing places on earth to hike they Iran Iraq…. you wanna dance you gotta pay the piper.”</p>
<p>In this light, we can discern the dominant depiction of the hikers as so dumb that they deserve their fate. Even well-meaning columnists have used the hikers’ misfortune as an opportunity to advance their own views about U.S. mistreatment of prisoners, curiously implying that the case against the hikers is stronger than that against many U.S. detainees: “Unlike the three American hikers who wandered into Iran and are held in that country according to its laws, the men held at Guantanamo never wandered into the US….” It’s understandable to criticize U.S. treatment of prisoners (as have the hikers themselves) and even to contrast it with the hikers’ treatment in Iran, but once again this constructs them more as political pawns or soulless dupes despite their incredibly rich histories as activists, journalists, humanitarians, and ostensible citizens of the world. Indeed, I wonder if the reaction to the hikers’ situation would have been different if a simple rhetorical shift had been made at the outset, and they had been referred to as “three American journalists” rather than mere hikers. Or perhaps more to the point, as suggested in a friend’s blog, if the spin had been to portray them as three activists “dedicated to working for a better, more just, and more sustainable world.”</p>
<p>At the end of the day, whatever else gets folded into their case, at root there are three decent and compassionate human beings languishing in captivity half a world away. In speaking with Shon, he continually referred to the pain of being separated from his friends, the sense of futility in not being able to bring them home, and the frustrations of riding an emotional roller coaster for the past ten months. He also notes that it would be a “terrible irony” if the result of their travails was that it might “discourage people from traveling, when we’ve spent our lives encouraging people to see the world for themselves.” Similarly, he lamented the fact that this episode could lead to increasing tensions with Iran and worse relations with the Middle East in general despite the fact that their entire purpose has been to promote exactly the opposite. “I hope someday this experience can somehow be worked in, consistent with the lives they’ve been leading,” he said.</p>
<p>As a final thought, I asked Shon what he planned to do when his friends are finally released. “I’ll drop everything and race to see them,” he beamed. “I’ve been concerned about their mental state, and will do whatever it takes to help them reacclimate and catch up with their lives. I’m sure they’ll want to be outside with people they’re close to and spend some quality time in nature.” After all, they still have a hike to finish — one that was cut short by the misconceptions and machinations of a world that they’ve spent their lives working to help heal.</p>
<p>RANDALL AMSTER, J.D., Ph.D., teaches Peace Studies at Prescott College and serves as the Executive Director of the Peace &amp; Justice Studies Association. His most recent book is the co-edited volume <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/144381329X/counterpunchmaga" type="external">Building Cultures of Peace: Transdisciplinary Voices of Hope and Action</a> (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2009).</p>
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<p><a href="http://greentags.bigcartel.com/" type="external">WORDS THAT STICK</a></p>
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<p /> | true | 4 | youve probably heard three hikers held iran since last summer case become political football highlighting inherent tensions absurd machinations usiran relationship youve followed story even casually also likely impression hikers either dumb naive spoiled kids deserving fate perceptions actually well mark ways served perpetuate plight incarcerated nearly year might finally consider taking moment set record straight process come appreciate dedicated activism remarkable individuals first bit background four friends made lifes mission travel especially troubled regions pursuit cultural exchange human understanding decide take break work damascus go hike theyre told beautiful safe spot far away northern iraq knowledgeable travelers harbor none dominant prejudices held americans purported dangers muslim world location one recommended numerous friends visited previously set suleimaniya iraqi kurdistan one falls ill remains behind hotel appointed day hike three hike started beautiful time short order trail would lead unexpectedly iranian jail recently spoke fourth hiker shon meckfessel one stayed behind told hikers wellestablished middle east spoke arabic sarah achieved conversational fluency shane high level fluency rare among arabic learners spent better part adult lives trying correct cultural misunderstandings region fateful hike kurdistan actually trail tortuous backcountry experience tshirt tennis shoes kind hike shon put suffice say none expecting trouble sort fact hadnt even deviated one trail told dont know sure even iran shon reflected noting iran never came planning hike potential border might confronted along recommended trail confident well within iraqs borders one ever mentioned village trail sending us anywhere near iran thought northwest suleimaniya east recalls confirm sense geographical doubt lack certainty shon termed hazy borders one three apprehended subsequently denied walked iran accused stopping saying cant really talk ensued still matter conjecture whats certain three hikers shane bauer 27 sarah shourd 31 joshua fattal 27 apprehended iranian authorities allegations espionage ten months later theyve charged illegal entry although iranian officials still invoke espionage allegations public discourse despite lack formal charges dearth evidence support claim fact even cursory review public record revealed online postings numerous pieces published journalism indicates highly critical us interventions middle east shon observes strongly supportive justice palestine particular indeed efforts conscious attempt overcome blind fear part americans actually obliged us middle east notes furthermore influenced political realities post911 landscape become invested world spirit shane began studying arabic day 911 order better antiwar activist sarahs work middle east logical extension years work around femicides juarez mexico josh wished understand middle east china south africa india exchange students charge teaching assistant look closely histories pattern serious reflection thoughtful engagement readily emerges shane previously filed incisive articles outlets including democracy mother jones looking issues related us military involvement iraq also authored cover story nation death squads iraq trained cia agents worked el salvador sarah recently written evocative empathetic articles people struggling survive displaying great dignity places golan heights yemen following earlier work locales ranging streets oakland villages chiapas josh old friend states joining middle east described someone deeply committed issues ecology truly democratic politics including issues sustainable agriculture food justice permaculture part shon started studying arabic 2000 spent many years working palestinian issues including inprogress doctoral dissertation solidarity actions author uniquely intellectual book documenting experiences north american anarchist balkans also close friends tristan anderson american peace activist shot critically wounded israeli troops protest west bank shane sarah fact first visit hospital indicates sophistication dedication myriad causes justice middle east around world also demonstrates robust public record working tide us imperialism region activistjournalists stood us israeli aggression sought humanize people middle east striving cope held iran trumpedup allegations im sure knew immediately kind people said shon dont know theyre holding friends im certain think theyre actually spies pose threat iran fact open letter iranian president ahmadinejad last november shon boldly asserted continuing deprive shane sarah josh liberty iran working causes supports three long public record contesting injustice world addressing inequities rich poor spoken humanitarian work country overseas still detained even recent visit mothers filled courtesies heartfelt pleas ended status quo confinement remaining intact principal reason noted new york times three become pawns troubled relationship united states iran us state department official conduits iran often relying upon switzerland diplomatic intermediary means every point contact infused full measure tensions iran us amplifying stakes opening door political maneuverings thus recently reported msnbc iranian arms dealer held federal prison minnesota may key freeing hikers far us rejected possible exchange days later two iranian prisoners arrested us forces freed iraq prompting los angeles times speculate hinted behindthescenes dealmaking iran west fate detainees including hikers viewed bargaining chips washington post added fuel fire cryptic report iranian analysts interpreted move possible diplomatic gesture toward iran could increase chances release one detained american hikers iraq however immediately clear whether decision free two men anything case americans detained last summer crossing iranian territory said hiking expedition mountains iraqs kurdistan region bordering iran spokesman iranian embassy baghdad amir arshadi said release nothing three us citizens held iran said men released negotiations iranian embassy office prime minister nouri almaliki remarks freed iranians kazemiqomi made mention three american hikers held iran president mahmoud ahmadinejad used americans case call attention several iranians imprisoned united states prompting speculation islamic republic would interested exchange iranian authorities strongly deny obvious reasons wanting seen capitulating enemy iran us generally deny inclination engage prisoner exchanges even media reports often imply otherwise somewhat surprisingly iranian intelligence minister haidar moslehi signaled uptotheminute associated press report tehran might open prisoner swap washington makes humanitarian gesture toward iranians us custody similar one iran made last week toward hikers mothers sentiment likewise expressed february president ahmadinejad flatly ruled secretary state hillary clinton diplomatic hurdles orchestrating exchanges concomitant political wrangling certainly factor hikers continued detention theres another aspect play less apparent perhaps quite intuitively obvious large portion media coverage hikers created essentially decontextualized vapid image shons words sort granolamunching reiclub idiots coverage may intended create sympathy suppressing radical roots seems accomplished infantilize disrespect shon notes theres large part country preoccupied reminding deserve everything belong situation theyre insisting others misfortunes deserve best way argue im surprised dont recognize friends woodwardbernsteins de beauvoirs john muirs generation folks dismissed types time well also doesnt help media effectively infantilized completely written work theyve done picture reinforce sense callous preoccupation consider many typical comments recent huffington post article reprinted associated press story hikers mothers returning home visit iran without children hear north korea beautiful spring go hiking next morons dumb think iranians keep sympathy fing places earth hike iran iraq wan na dance got ta pay piper light discern dominant depiction hikers dumb deserve fate even wellmeaning columnists used hikers misfortune opportunity advance views us mistreatment prisoners curiously implying case hikers stronger many us detainees unlike three american hikers wandered iran held country according laws men held guantanamo never wandered us understandable criticize us treatment prisoners hikers even contrast hikers treatment iran constructs political pawns soulless dupes despite incredibly rich histories activists journalists humanitarians ostensible citizens world indeed wonder reaction hikers situation would different simple rhetorical shift made outset referred three american journalists rather mere hikers perhaps point suggested friends blog spin portray three activists dedicated working better sustainable world end day whatever else gets folded case root three decent compassionate human beings languishing captivity half world away speaking shon continually referred pain separated friends sense futility able bring home frustrations riding emotional roller coaster past ten months also notes would terrible irony result travails might discourage people traveling weve spent lives encouraging people see world similarly lamented fact episode could lead increasing tensions iran worse relations middle east general despite fact entire purpose promote exactly opposite hope someday experience somehow worked consistent lives theyve leading said final thought asked shon planned friends finally released ill drop everything race see beamed ive concerned mental state whatever takes help reacclimate catch lives im sure theyll want outside people theyre close spend quality time nature still hike finish one cut short misconceptions machinations world theyve spent lives working help heal randall amster jd phd teaches peace studies prescott college serves executive director peace amp justice studies association recent book coedited volume building cultures peace transdisciplinary voices hope action cambridge scholars publishing 2009 words stick 160 | 1,345 |
<p>Courtesy of Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures</p>
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<p>Yes, <a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/thor_the_dark_world/" type="external">Thor: The Dark World</a>—a new film about a Norse-myth-inspired superhero traveling through space and fighting elves with a hammer—had scientific consultants working on it. One of them was <a href="http://tedxcaltech.caltech.edu/content/sean-carroll" type="external">Sean Carroll</a>, a theoretical physicist at the California Institute of Technology.</p>
<p>“ <a href="" type="internal">Marvel</a> is very, very interested, with every movie they make, in trying to meet with scientists,” Carroll says. “With real-world sciences and the comic-book universe, they just try to make it all hang together.”</p>
<p>Carroll is a 47-year-old cosmologist who researches in the fields of particle physics and general relativity, and wrote a book on cosmology and time called <a href="http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052748703436504574640151374207392" type="external">From Eternity to Here</a>. He was an informal consultant on <a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/thor/" type="external">both</a> Thor: The Dark World and Thor,&#160;its 2011 predecessor. He met with the writers, directors, and production staff to help massage the scientific details.</p>
<p>For the first Thor, Carroll and two other physicists (Prof. <a href="http://web.physics.ucsb.edu/~hartle/" type="external">James Hartle</a> and&#160; <a href="http://science.jpl.nasa.gov/people/Hand/" type="external">Kevin Hand</a>, who was also a consultant on both Thor pictures) were introduced to director <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/01/movies/kenneth-branaghs-thor-film-of-marvel-comic-hero.html" type="external">Kenneth Branagh</a> through the <a href="http://www.scienceandentertainmentexchange.org/about" type="external">Science &amp; Entertainment Exchange</a>, a National Academy of Sciences program that connects the entertainment industry with engineers and scientists. Carroll is married to <a href="http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/cocktail-party-physics/" type="external">Jennifer Ouellette</a>, founding director of the Exchange, and has also consulted on the Fox series <a href="https://twitter.com/BONESonFOX" type="external">Bones</a> and the Ron Howard thriller <a href="http://www.preposterousuniverse.com/blog/2009/03/04/a-teaching-moment-angels-demons/" type="external">Angels &amp; Demons</a>.</p>
<p>“As a consultant, my goal isn’t to make the film consistent with the laws of physics,” Carroll says. “It’s about using details of the science to make the story more interesting…Telling a good story comes first.”</p>
<p>When Carroll finally saw the 2011 film, he witnessed exactly how his advice translated onto the big screen. For instance, a conversation he had with&#160; <a href="http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2012/05/avengers-military/" type="external">Marvel</a> Studios chief <a href="http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/kevin-feige-multi-studio-marvel-653116" type="external">Kevin Feige</a> was turned into a bit of dialogue. Carroll recalls that the <a href="http://www.scienceandentertainmentexchange.org/article/under-microscope-thor" type="external">conversation</a> went something like this:</p>
<p>KF: We need the [fictional] <a href="http://marvel-movies.wikia.com/wiki/Bifrost_Bridge" type="external">Bifrost Bridge</a> to provide a way for the characters to travel great distances in space in a very short period of time.</p>
<p>SC: Sure, you probably want to say that it makes use of <a href="http://science.howstuffworks.com/science-vs-myth/everyday-myths/time-travel4.htm" type="external">wormholes</a>.</p>
<p>KF: Well, we can’t call it a “wormhole.”</p>
<p>SC: Why not?</p>
<p>KF: Sounds too ’90s.</p>
<p>SC: I suppose…you could call it an “ <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wnet/hawking/strange/html/wormhole.html" type="external">Einstein-Rosen bridge</a>.” Means the same thing.</p>
<p>“And what you get in actual movie is Jane Foster saying they must have used an Einstein-Rosen bridge,” Carroll says. “ <a href="http://www.eonline.com/news/476530/kat-dennings-reveals-how-she-juggled-shooting-2-broke-girls-and-thor-the-dark-world-simultaneously" type="external">Kat</a> <a href="http://www.eonline.com/news/476530/kat-dennings-reveals-how-she-juggled-shooting-2-broke-girls-and-thor-the-dark-world-simultaneously" type="external">Dennings</a>‘ character asks, ‘what’s that?’ and Stellen says, ‘it’s a wormhole!'”</p>
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<p>For Thor: The Dark World, Carroll lent director <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0851930/" type="external">Alan Taylor</a> and company a hand by giving them some pointers on a subject he <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxFfUsDgnaU" type="external">knows much about</a>: Dark matter. “They told me they needed to have darkness in the theme and wanted to know how to connect <a href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/13.7/2013/11/05/243081116/dark-matter-eludes-capture-science-and-the-unseen" type="external">dark matter</a> to the story.” In the film, the supervillian Dark Elf hunts for the Aether, a scary and extremely powerful source of dark matter. “This adapted physics to the screenplay,” Carroll says.</p>
<p>Carroll hasn’t seen the latest Thor installment, but hopes to this weekend. When asked for his assessment of the scientific accuracy of the first one, he responded as any Caltech physicist would when discussing a film about a blond alien prince flying around the universe saving Natalie Portman.</p>
<p>“I don’t think it is scientifically accurate, but that’s not the point,” he says. “Scientists often given Hollywood people a bad rap…But the thing to make the world a better place isn’t to complain about scientific inaccuracies in movies; it’s to constructively engage with storytellers so that they can take advantage of the science. For example, in <a href="" type="internal">Iron Man</a>, realistically, Robert Downey, Jr. is not <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4BJBz8GpzI" type="external">going to be able to build that suit in a cave</a> and then fly away. But the process he goes through—designing his new suit, modeling, experimenting—this is all quite a realistic portrayal of the attitude that a scientist brings to what he or she does.”</p>
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<p>Marvel is indeed playing up this sort of outreach to the broader&#160;scientific community. Marvel and Disney recently held their <a href="http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2013/10/02/girls_and_stem_marvel_comics_competition_for_high_school_girls.html" type="external">Ultimate Mentor Adventure</a> competition for American girls (14 years or older and enrolled in grades 9-12) interested in science, tech, engineering, and mathematics. “Do you have what it takes to be the next Jane Foster?” the contest page <a href="http://dep.disney.go.com/ultimatementoradventure/index.html" type="external">read</a>. The <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYvUm1YJBSs" type="external">Oscar</a>-winning Portman—who has some legit <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/01/science/01angier.html?_r=0" type="external">science cred to her name</a>, including making it to the semifinals in America’s most elite high school research contest—starred in an introductory <a href="http://dep.disney.go.com/ultimatementoradventure/index.html" type="external">video</a> for the contest. “Could Portman become the new role model for female scientists…?” <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/01/showbiz/natalie-portman-science-unlikely-heroine/" type="external">CNN</a> asked last week.</p>
<p>Carroll agrees that Portman’s Foster serves as a great role model for young women aspiring to study and work in the fields of science. But he does harbor one regret about how the character was presented, at least in the previous film. “So much of the consulting is saying, ‘What is this person going to be like?'” Carroll says. “I think they could’ve done a better job at, for instance, having her react to Thor like a physicist would react. She could have done a lot more active questioning, like, ‘What is the world of physics as you understand it?’ or ‘How exactly did you get here?'”</p>
<p>In the grand scheme, it’s a small objection. But it’s stuff like this that Carroll keeps in mind when he’s trying to bring some of his world to Hollywood. “It’s about getting the attitudes of scientists right!” he emphasizes. “Scientists have their own flaws, their own jealousies, they react in certain ways—and that’s humanizing. It’s a big part of how we can help them produce a more accurate portrayal of the profession in film and television.”</p>
<p>Here’s a trailer for Thor: The Dark World:</p>
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<p /> | true | 4 | courtesy walt disney studios motion pictures yes thor dark worlda new film norsemythinspired superhero traveling space fighting elves hammerhad scientific consultants working one sean carroll theoretical physicist california institute technology marvel interested every movie make trying meet scientists carroll says realworld sciences comicbook universe try make hang together carroll 47yearold cosmologist researches fields particle physics general relativity wrote book cosmology time called eternity informal consultant thor dark world thor160its 2011 predecessor met writers directors production staff help massage scientific details first thor carroll two physicists prof james hartle and160 kevin hand also consultant thor pictures introduced director kenneth branagh science amp entertainment exchange national academy sciences program connects entertainment industry engineers scientists carroll married jennifer ouellette founding director exchange also consulted fox series bones ron howard thriller angels amp demons consultant goal isnt make film consistent laws physics carroll says using details science make story interestingtelling good story comes first carroll finally saw 2011 film witnessed exactly advice translated onto big screen instance conversation with160 marvel studios chief kevin feige turned bit dialogue carroll recalls conversation went something like kf need fictional bifrost bridge provide way characters travel great distances space short period time sc sure probably want say makes use wormholes kf well cant call wormhole sc kf sounds 90s sc supposeyou could call einsteinrosen bridge means thing get actual movie jane foster saying must used einsteinrosen bridge carroll says kat dennings character asks whats stellen says wormhole thor dark world carroll lent director alan taylor company hand giving pointers subject knows much dark matter told needed darkness theme wanted know connect dark matter story film supervillian dark elf hunts aether scary extremely powerful source dark matter adapted physics screenplay carroll says carroll hasnt seen latest thor installment hopes weekend asked assessment scientific accuracy first one responded caltech physicist would discussing film blond alien prince flying around universe saving natalie portman dont think scientifically accurate thats point says scientists often given hollywood people bad rapbut thing make world better place isnt complain scientific inaccuracies movies constructively engage storytellers take advantage science example iron man realistically robert downey jr going able build suit cave fly away process goes throughdesigning new suit modeling experimentingthis quite realistic portrayal attitude scientist brings marvel indeed playing sort outreach broader160scientific community marvel disney recently held ultimate mentor adventure competition american girls 14 years older enrolled grades 912 interested science tech engineering mathematics takes next jane foster contest page read oscarwinning portmanwho legit science cred name including making semifinals americas elite high school research conteststarred introductory video contest could portman become new role model female scientists cnn asked last week carroll agrees portmans foster serves great role model young women aspiring study work fields science harbor one regret character presented least previous film much consulting saying person going like carroll says think couldve done better job instance react thor like physicist would react could done lot active questioning like world physics understand exactly get grand scheme small objection stuff like carroll keeps mind hes trying bring world hollywood getting attitudes scientists right emphasizes scientists flaws jealousies react certain waysand thats humanizing big part help produce accurate portrayal profession film television heres trailer thor dark world | 529 |
<p>No IED, no insurgent force, no lurking Talib killed 21-year-old PFC Matthew Scarano sometime between 9 PM Saturday and 4:45 AM Sunday, March 19. He wasn’t in Iraq or Afghanistan or even, despite his rank and year-plus of service, in the United States Army, at least as full membership in that force is officially construed. Matthew Scarano died in his bunk, in the barracks of Bravo Battery 95th, Fort Sill, Oklahoma, but he was as surely a casualty of the War on Iraq as any of the 2,318 US soldiers killed in action. In 2005 he had injured his shoulder during basic training, and on March 1 of that year entered the netherworld of Fort Sill’s Physical Training and Rehabilitation Program, or PTRP. More than a year later he was still there, no closer to being healed but still subject to the restrictive rules and routine humiliations associated with basic training, still plagued by what he described in an e mail of March 7, 2006, as “chronic, piercing and sometimes debilitating pain”. The Army considered PFC Scarano a trainee; he and the 39 other soldiers in PTRP at Fort Sill considered themselves prisoners.</p>
<p>PTRP is where the Army, desperate for bodies in a time of war, puts broken enlistees whom it is committed neither to cure nor to release, nor even to respect as soldiers and human beings. There they are warehoused, in anticipation of the time they manage to recuperate, pass the grueling PT (physical training) test and can be sent to battle; or fail the test, try again, fail again, stumble through the bureaucratic labyrinth until the point they are chaptered out or medically discharged. All were injured in basic training or advanced individual training and so have yet to be granted “permanent party” status in the Army, even those who have been in service for six months or longer, when that status is supposed to be automatic. In military hierarchy this makes them lower life forms, which is how they’ve been treated at Fort Sill.</p>
<p>Shortly before Scarano’s death, the inspector general at Fort Sill had been forced to undertake an internal investigation of the program for assault and abuse of soldiers, inadequate medical attention, command irresponsibility and overall incompetence. To that list (which I should note is unofficial) they may now add negligence and wrongful death. As of March 20, the Army wouldn’t comment on its investigation or on what killed Scarano, but in the week prior, his comrades in the PTRP barracks say, Army doctors had doubled the dose of his pain medication, Fentanyl, an analgesic patch 80 times more potent than morphine, whose advertised possible side effects include difficulty breathing, severe weakness and unconsciousness.</p>
<p>On the night of March 18, according to Pvt. Richard Thurman, Scarano appeared quite pale and weak. The soldier, however, had been in the program for so long — longer than anyone else in terms of continuous service — and was often so visibly suffering or so drugged up as to drool and gaze vacantly that his infirmity on this particular night did not cause special alarm. Shortly after lights out, at 9, Pvt. Clayton Howell noticed that Scarano was lying on his bad shoulder and turned him so he would not be in greater pain when he awoke. At that time Scarano was breathing. When lights came on the next morning and everyone else had risen from their bunks, Howell again went to Scarano; by then he was dead.</p>
<p>What happened next typifies the trapped situation of injured soldiers at Fort Sill’s PTRP.</p>
<p>Someone handed Pvt. Thurman a cell phone, saying, “Call your mom.” He didn’t say, Call the medic, or the chaplain, or the sergeant, or anyone on post. Phoning at all meant breaking the rules, as did having a cell phone, contraband for soldiers in PTRP. Thurman crouched in a corner and amid the near-panic of the barracks hurriedly dialed his mom, Pat deVarennes.</p>
<p>DeVarennes, an apprentice dog groomer who lives near Sarasota, Florida, is about the only person the PTRP soldiers can confidently regard as their advocate. In January, concerned for the well-being of her son Richard and the other men, she began posting reports on a web log she set up called onlyvolunteers.blogspot.com. As a result of those reports and her relentless appeals to Fort Sill’s Public Affairs Office, inspector general, others in the Army and her Congressman, Connie Mack (whose office initially told her there was nothing it could do), the aforementioned investigation was begun in February. By March 5 some changes, notably the removal of a sadistic drill sergeant, the introduction of a Medical Center liaison to monitor the troops’ medical needs, the suspension of punishing physical tasks and the restoration of weekend on-post passes, had been instituted. At a briefing with relatives and friends at the start of Family Weekend on March 10, the Fort Sill cadre were all smiles, assuring the soldiers’ loved ones that PTRP was a “work in progress” and that each man would get the individualized treatment or therapy he needed.</p>
<p>Now talk of reform and progress sounds empty, the corpse of PFC Scarano the latest accusation against an Army up to its ears in complaints of abuse, dehumanization, torture and worse. As deVarennes wrote earlier on her blog in “An Open Letter to members of the cadre who can’t stop laughing and to those who claim to have no knowledge of any abuse”: “I’m beginning to understand a great deal more about how [the tortures at Abu Ghraib] must have come to happen. It all starts when you have no loyalty or compassion for your own men, your own soldiers.”</p>
<p>Before reviewing the most egregious abuses recently visited upon injured recruits at Fort Sill, it is necessary to understand the benchmark for normal at PTRP. As deVarennes neatly puts it, “Imagine basic training that never ends.” By the old Army standard, the nine weeks of basic training will “break you down to build you up”. Lately there have been some changes in that approach, driven by Army psychologists who reckoned that breaking the spirit accomplishes little beyond creating emotional wrecks or sadists. No longer are new recruits regularly addressed as “ladies” or “shitsacks” or subjected to the “shark attack” of drill sergeants screaming top volume into their ears on the bus the moment they arrive. But the regimen of absolute control and arbitrary rules is unchanged, which is why it is time-limited and why even the most hardened soldier will tell you, “Hell, no, I wouldn’t want to do it again”.</p>
<p>In PTRP, where soldiers have been stuck for months, time seems to have been stopped. The men live in long, narrow barracks that can sleep 42 in bunk beds. They must stand in formation, on crutches, in pain, four times a day in all kinds of weather, sometimes for 20 minutes to an hour, at the drill sergeant’s pleasure. They may not smoke, drink, look at porn, go off post, have sex, have soda from a machine or have any food except during set mealtimes. They may not have cell phones or laptops, may use approved electronic devices only at certain hours, and must compete to use the outdoor pay phones in the 35 minutes to an hour that is allowed after dinner. On weekdays, they may not go anywhere on post except with permission and an escort. At times they have been impressed to enjoy “mandatory entertainment” — a Southern rock concert, the Superbowl, Christian concerts.</p>
<p>When first processed into PTRP, they are not given individualized therapy plans, and doctors at the Medical Center are too stretched to have much time for them, so they use a gym and may sit in a windowless closet-like room to apply ice, but until recently had no sustained medical guidance. They must carry canteens for no other reason — because these are disgusting and no one drinks from them — than to advertise their low status. Their dining hall is festooned with nutrition posters that would suit an elementary school. The bathroom in the auditorium they sometimes use is filthy and looks as if it’s been decorated by a deranged Martha Stewart, with an Americana wall strip of Teddy bears, apple pies and the flag. Elsewhere, walls are dominated by rugged propaganda posters, battle scenes, life-size blow-ups of soldiers and invocations to “Live the Army Values”.</p>
<p>Periodically the PTRP barracks is subject to what its drill sergeants call a health and welfare check, “better known as a shakedown”, says Pvt. Thurman. Drill sergeants enter the bay, ordering the men to empty their drawers and lockers. Bedding is stripped, mattresses upended, vent covers unscrewed. During one of these routines, Thurman, who’s been in PTRP since November of 2005, was discovered to have a pack of cigarettes and a lighter and was given an Article 15, or nonjudicial punishment, and a fine of $270. Almost everyone who’s been in PTRP for any length of time has received an Article 15 for something.</p>
<p>Although the cadre says only “motivated” soldiers are accepted into PTRP, that toys as much with truth as saying everyone in the Army is a volunteer. Soldiers injured in training cannot un-volunteer. They cannot say, “On second thought, I’d rather not ruin my leg” or ankle or back or shoulder, and go home. After he was seven months in the Army, doctors discovered that Pvt. Thurman has flat feet, once an automatic disqualifier, but Pvt. Thurman cannot leave. He actually completed basic training and advanced individual training in November. At the time he had stress fractures in his ankle, and because he couldn’t run as required for the final PT test, a post doctor prescribed an alternate walking event. He graduated with ceremony, but that same day the Army changed its mind. An officer pulled him and two other soldiers aside and told them walking wasn’t good enough and they were being sent to PTRP; there, to satisfy formal requirements, the three were “ungraduated”.</p>
<p>In pro forma questioning Thurman had been asked if he wanted to go to PTRP.</p>
<p>“No”, he said.</p>
<p>The inquiring officer wrote on his file, “Soldier is unmotivated”, and “Soldier is cleared for administrative action”, meaning nonjudicial punishment or court martial.</p>
<p>“Lack of motivation is a punishable offense in the US Army”, Thurman says, so the cadre’s job is to talk soldiers into motivation. They threatened Thurman with being recycled back to day one of basic training. After eight months in PTRP another soldier, who had completed eight weeks of the nine-week basic course before he was injured, opted to do just that to get out of this supposed rest and rehab program.</p>
<p>“You have an area you can be in. If you leave that area without permission you can go to jail”, Thurman explains. “You have people over you with unquestioned power, and your daily life is at their will. Everything’s a privilege.” Using the phone is a privilege. Going to the PX on the weekend is a privilege. And as in prison, privileges can be taken away. The culture breeds tormentors and tattle-tales among the inmates — soldiers who haze their comrades, who report on others for piddling infractions like drinking a Coke from the soda machine for the imagined benefit that might bring the snitch.</p>
<p>“I liken being here to being incarcerated”, Scarano wrote to deVarennes less than two weeks before his death. “And it often helped during the bleaker points in PTRP history to think of it as such: I’m far from being any kind of expert on the subject, but perhaps it was a psychological self-defense mechanism to try to perceive what was going on as being punitive in nature.”</p>
<p>The soldiers have been ordered not to speak of events that are part of the ongoing investigation, so as not to jeopardize it, but enough was put on the public record earlier via deVarennes’ blog to indicate that punishment and not therapy or rehab was in fact the program. What follows is drawn from her reports. In January a Drill Sgt. Langford was put in charge of the soldiers at PTRP, and he arrived spitting vinegar, telling the men, as deVarennes recaps, “You’re worthless, you’re malingerers, you’re scared, you’re useless, you’re not soldiers”. Every day, addressing men keenly aware of their failure, he picked at the scab of vulnerability. He cancelled their weekend on-post passes, confining them to the small area around their barracks, and ordered that on weekdays they could not sit on their beds except during the three hours of free time from 6 PM to 9 PM. He assigned them jobs around the post, which while aggravating some of their injuries at least gave the soldiers one place where they are treated as responsible grown-ups.</p>
<p>In January, before the first Family Weekend, the drill sergeant ordered the men to clean and wax the floor of their barracks. After they did it once, moving the heavy bunks and wall lockers in and out of the room, he declared the job inadequate and ordered that they get down on their knees with small scrapers and remove every speck of old wax. Out and in went the furniture again. A soldier with a herniated groin dared not slack off in the moving operation lest he and everyone else incur extra abuse for his offense.</p>
<p>One night another drill sergeant, by the name of Bullock, decided to have some fun with the soldiers and give them a taste of sleep deprivation, ordering them to line up in formation outside every hour from 10 PM to 2 AM. After each line-up they could not simply fall on their bunks fully dressed for the next time because he ordered that they present themselves in different apparel. Soldiers on sleep medication were pulled from their beds by their comrades and hustled into line, since if everyone did not appear at formation, everyone would be punished. At the most recent Family Weekend, Drill Sgt. Bullock was still on premises, still wearing his Smoky the Bear hat, still in apparent good standing.</p>
<p>As she was receiving word of these abuses, deVarennes was trying to get someone to care. Rep. Connie Mack’s office told her Richard would have to fill out a form before it could act, and since that was impossible, the door slammed. John McCain’s office sent her a form letter saying he’d need something in writing from Richard. John Kerry’s office never replied at all, which was the most common response she got from members of Congress.</p>
<p>Then an injured soldier simply lost it. He’d been in PTRP for several months, was declared healed and sent upstairs to the Fitness Training Unit, or FTU, where uninjured soldiers who couldn’t pass the PT test go through exercise drills to pass it. But his injury prevented him from doing the required exercises, and in the hopelessness of the situation he cut himself up, smeared himself with excrement and marched out of the barracks naked except for his socks and boots. He was packed off to a mental ward for a few days and put on suicide watch. He is now awaiting a discharge, though after his freak-out the Army gave him one more chance to fail just to assure itself that he wasn’t faking.</p>
<p>The soldier’s breakdown shook the others in PTRP, and that night Pvt. Thurman called his mother and said, “You’ve got to find a way to help us.” Soon after, a soldier who’d been sitting on watch at the mental ward, whom deVarennes nicknamed Pvt. Gopher, committed his own small act of defiance in front of Drill Sgt. Langford and was ordered to “take a knee”, meaning to genuflect. As he’d recently had knee surgery, he told Langford that he wasn’t able to do that, whereupon the drill sergeant kicked his legs out from under him, sending him to the floor screaming. A first sergeant on the scene ordered the others to turn away, and just as at Abu Ghraib, told them they didn’t see anything. Earlier some of them had tried to report abuses to the medical center, to mental health counselors, to highers-up. Now they’d been ordered to shut up, meaning any action they might contemplate would be in direct violation of an order.</p>
<p>Pvt. Thurman was not aware of his mother’s blog at that point, and after hearing from him she decided caution was the way to catastrophe. “I was no longer afraid”, she told me, “because I felt that at the moment that assault occurred, the dice were rolling for all of these guys. I thought, ‘The lunatics are running the asylum, so I have to do everything I can do, and if I have to go by God trooping around and getting arrested outside the Fort Sill gates, I will do that.’ At that point I felt nobody’s kid was going to be any safer for not saying anything — on the contrary.”</p>
<p>Apart from her own posts, she spent $300 in ads on other popular websites, and, as she put it, “the hits kept coming”.</p>
<p>It is illegal for a drill sergeant to strike a soldier, but Langford was not arrested. It is illegal to cover up a crime, but the first sergeant remains in his position. Langford was removed as a drill sergeant; he “lost his hat”, as they say on post. Whether he suffers any further indignity or punishment depends on the outcome of the current investigation.</p>
<p>Yet for all this intervention, PFC Scarano still perished. The inspector general did not know about the death until deVarennes e-mailed him. The base commander didn’t know until Monday. On that day, a spokeswoman at Fort Sill’s Public Affairs Office said she couldn’t tell me anything about the soldier’s death “because I’ve never heard of that person”. In death as in life, this soldier didn’t count for much in the Army.</p>
<p>In his March 7 e mail to deVarennes, thanking her for “becoming our champion when no one else would”, he wrote:</p>
<p>“My injury is degenerative and getting worse.</p>
<p>“I was lied to about surgery, as were many others, and it was brought to the attention of the Inspector-General that the medical community had been telling us that we face courts-martial or severe forms of non-judicial punishment if we declined the surgery suggested to us by the doctors here at Fort Sill. This has since been demonstrated as a bald-faced lie.</p>
<p>“I was told that I’d receive arthroscopic shoulder surgery initially, which had little chance of success, and when that failed I would receive a full shoulder replacement, after which my left shoulder would be essentially disabled for the rest of my life.</p>
<p>“Just a little rudimentary research into the subject revealed that there are countless other, infinitely more promising options available to me in the civilian world, which I choose to explore, instead of being a guinea pig to a medical system I have no faith in, whatsoever. This is the same medical system which has botched surgeries and performed procedures without the patient’s knowledge. I guess their rationale is that up until recently, the patients, in our case, were under the impression that we had virtually no input in the matter, anyway.</p>
<p>“I’ve recently been told, by our case worker, that I’m getting an MEB [Medical Evaluation Board hearing] but as of now my consultation is pending. I’ve heard no further word yet but am hopeful that as a result of the controversy caused by the attention garnered by your blog, I’ll be out of here soon. I am a casualty of a broken system; I fell through the cracks of the bureaucracy that is the system which all of us must go through.</p>
<p>“I am a living symbol of the failure of the system and after having been ignored for so long, despite trying to raise as much attention as I could, I might finally be able to get on which my adult life after spending over a third of it in PTRP, deprived of everything from being able to be with my family, to fundamental physical needs such as sleep and recuperation from my injury, to the basic human freedoms and creature comforts which I will never again take for granted.”</p>
<p>Scarano was working on a more formal document right before he died, trying to understand cognitive dissonance, the psychological process of accommodating when what one knows or believes to be true collides with a contradictory reality.</p>
<p>At Family Weekend in March, Private Howell who has been in and out of PTRP for fourteen months, gave deVarennes a paper he was working on, compiling the complaints of Bravo Battery and reflecting on his own predicament. Toward the end of it, he wrote:</p>
<p>“For the initial 9 weeks of basic training I can understand the hazing and ruthless treatment, but not for over a year. I used to be able to cope by listening to music, calling people on a hidden cell phone, or talking to my friends in the bay. But now they will no longer let me talk to my friends or listen to music on the radio, and they found the hidden cell phone and confiscated it. If I was just able to do anything to mentally get away from this place I would. Just to forget who I am and what I am doing day in and day out. An hour or two of disassociation is the only way I was able to put up with the meaninglessness and mindless bullshit and torment of being here ‘on duty’ 16 hours a day. The only way to describe my life is sorrow, loathing, spitefulness, depression, and endless torturous misery. Nobody is willing to help improve our treatment or listen to our complaints.</p>
<p>“I joined the army to make a difference and to help other people. Now I am being held prisoner, doomed to a fate worse than death. At one point I know I had a purpose. At one point I know I cared. I do not know when I lost it and if I will be capable of ever possessing it again. I do not think I have shown any of the army values for a very long time. I believe I projected the image that I cared for many months and it was just an act; but it was all that I could do. I am being set up for failure and have been for weeks. The fact that this unit will not follow regulations does not inspire hope or willingness to comply with any orders or any of their bogus policies. In my opinion none of the cadre show any of the army values to any of the soldiers here. That is just my opinion and I may not see the whole picture. On exodus [the name for Christmas break] I came back with renewed motivation that I have not had since basic training. Drill sergeant Frazier and Langford managed to snuff out all of my hope and drive within the first few days we were all back.</p>
<p>“I will try to do my best, but I cannot manage a positive thought for very long. The army values did mean something to me at one point even though it is just propaganda on paper. I have always known it was just propaganda, but they are a good base for morals if people would lead by example. In conclusion I hope this paper reaches somebody and they read it in whole and are not too judgmental. I also hope I can improve myself and the situation that I am in. Perhaps I can be what they want me to be. Perhaps I can fulfill my enlistment and be productive, but that is not realistic. And it is not what I really want; all I want in this world is to be anywhere but here. I believe that I have permanent physical and psychological damage from this place. If I could describe this place in 2 words it would be ‘Malevolentia Imperium.’</p>
<p>“1 Malevolentia: Latin, malevolent; having or exhibiting ill will; wishing harm to others; malicious. Having an evil or harmful influence</p>
<p>“2 Imperium: Latin, can be translated as ‘power’. In Antiquity this concept could apply to people, and mean something like ‘power status’ or ‘authority’, or could be used with a geographical connotation and mean something like ‘territory’.”</p>
<p>It is estimated that 15 percent to 37 percent of men and 38 percent to 67 percent of women sustain at least one injury due to the rigors of basic training. Although Fort Sill’s is believed to be the worst, the Army has PTRP units also at Fort Knox, Fort Jackson, Fort Leonard Wood and Fort Benning.</p>
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<p>JoAnn WYPIJEWSKI can be reached at jwyp@earthlink.net</p>
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<p>&#160;</p> | true | 4 | ied insurgent force lurking talib killed 21yearold pfc matthew scarano sometime 9 pm saturday 445 sunday march 19 wasnt iraq afghanistan even despite rank yearplus service united states army least full membership force officially construed matthew scarano died bunk barracks bravo battery 95th fort sill oklahoma surely casualty war iraq 2318 us soldiers killed action 2005 injured shoulder basic training march 1 year entered netherworld fort sills physical training rehabilitation program ptrp year later still closer healed still subject restrictive rules routine humiliations associated basic training still plagued described e mail march 7 2006 chronic piercing sometimes debilitating pain army considered pfc scarano trainee 39 soldiers ptrp fort sill considered prisoners ptrp army desperate bodies time war puts broken enlistees committed neither cure release even respect soldiers human beings warehoused anticipation time manage recuperate pass grueling pt physical training test sent battle fail test try fail stumble bureaucratic labyrinth point chaptered medically discharged injured basic training advanced individual training yet granted permanent party status army even service six months longer status supposed automatic military hierarchy makes lower life forms theyve treated fort sill shortly scaranos death inspector general fort sill forced undertake internal investigation program assault abuse soldiers inadequate medical attention command irresponsibility overall incompetence list note unofficial may add negligence wrongful death march 20 army wouldnt comment investigation killed scarano week prior comrades ptrp barracks say army doctors doubled dose pain medication fentanyl analgesic patch 80 times potent morphine whose advertised possible side effects include difficulty breathing severe weakness unconsciousness night march 18 according pvt richard thurman scarano appeared quite pale weak soldier however program long longer anyone else terms continuous service often visibly suffering drugged drool gaze vacantly infirmity particular night cause special alarm shortly lights 9 pvt clayton howell noticed scarano lying bad shoulder turned would greater pain awoke time scarano breathing lights came next morning everyone else risen bunks howell went scarano dead happened next typifies trapped situation injured soldiers fort sills ptrp someone handed pvt thurman cell phone saying call mom didnt say call medic chaplain sergeant anyone post phoning meant breaking rules cell phone contraband soldiers ptrp thurman crouched corner amid nearpanic barracks hurriedly dialed mom pat devarennes devarennes apprentice dog groomer lives near sarasota florida person ptrp soldiers confidently regard advocate january concerned wellbeing son richard men began posting reports web log set called onlyvolunteersblogspotcom result reports relentless appeals fort sills public affairs office inspector general others army congressman connie mack whose office initially told nothing could aforementioned investigation begun february march 5 changes notably removal sadistic drill sergeant introduction medical center liaison monitor troops medical needs suspension punishing physical tasks restoration weekend onpost passes instituted briefing relatives friends start family weekend march 10 fort sill cadre smiles assuring soldiers loved ones ptrp work progress man would get individualized treatment therapy needed talk reform progress sounds empty corpse pfc scarano latest accusation army ears complaints abuse dehumanization torture worse devarennes wrote earlier blog open letter members cadre cant stop laughing claim knowledge abuse im beginning understand great deal tortures abu ghraib must come happen starts loyalty compassion men soldiers reviewing egregious abuses recently visited upon injured recruits fort sill necessary understand benchmark normal ptrp devarennes neatly puts imagine basic training never ends old army standard nine weeks basic training break build lately changes approach driven army psychologists reckoned breaking spirit accomplishes little beyond creating emotional wrecks sadists longer new recruits regularly addressed ladies shitsacks subjected shark attack drill sergeants screaming top volume ears bus moment arrive regimen absolute control arbitrary rules unchanged timelimited even hardened soldier tell hell wouldnt want ptrp soldiers stuck months time seems stopped men live long narrow barracks sleep 42 bunk beds must stand formation crutches pain four times day kinds weather sometimes 20 minutes hour drill sergeants pleasure may smoke drink look porn go post sex soda machine food except set mealtimes may cell phones laptops may use approved electronic devices certain hours must compete use outdoor pay phones 35 minutes hour allowed dinner weekdays may go anywhere post except permission escort times impressed enjoy mandatory entertainment southern rock concert superbowl christian concerts first processed ptrp given individualized therapy plans doctors medical center stretched much time use gym may sit windowless closetlike room apply ice recently sustained medical guidance must carry canteens reason disgusting one drinks advertise low status dining hall festooned nutrition posters would suit elementary school bathroom auditorium sometimes use filthy looks decorated deranged martha stewart americana wall strip teddy bears apple pies flag elsewhere walls dominated rugged propaganda posters battle scenes lifesize blowups soldiers invocations live army values periodically ptrp barracks subject drill sergeants call health welfare check better known shakedown says pvt thurman drill sergeants enter bay ordering men empty drawers lockers bedding stripped mattresses upended vent covers unscrewed one routines thurman whos ptrp since november 2005 discovered pack cigarettes lighter given article 15 nonjudicial punishment fine 270 almost everyone whos ptrp length time received article 15 something although cadre says motivated soldiers accepted ptrp toys much truth saying everyone army volunteer soldiers injured training unvolunteer say second thought id rather ruin leg ankle back shoulder go home seven months army doctors discovered pvt thurman flat feet automatic disqualifier pvt thurman leave actually completed basic training advanced individual training november time stress fractures ankle couldnt run required final pt test post doctor prescribed alternate walking event graduated ceremony day army changed mind officer pulled two soldiers aside told walking wasnt good enough sent ptrp satisfy formal requirements three ungraduated pro forma questioning thurman asked wanted go ptrp said inquiring officer wrote file soldier unmotivated soldier cleared administrative action meaning nonjudicial punishment court martial lack motivation punishable offense us army thurman says cadres job talk soldiers motivation threatened thurman recycled back day one basic training eight months ptrp another soldier completed eight weeks nineweek basic course injured opted get supposed rest rehab program area leave area without permission go jail thurman explains people unquestioned power daily life everythings privilege using phone privilege going px weekend privilege prison privileges taken away culture breeds tormentors tattletales among inmates soldiers haze comrades report others piddling infractions like drinking coke soda machine imagined benefit might bring snitch liken incarcerated scarano wrote devarennes less two weeks death often helped bleaker points ptrp history think im far kind expert subject perhaps psychological selfdefense mechanism try perceive going punitive nature soldiers ordered speak events part ongoing investigation jeopardize enough put public record earlier via devarennes blog indicate punishment therapy rehab fact program follows drawn reports january drill sgt langford put charge soldiers ptrp arrived spitting vinegar telling men devarennes recaps youre worthless youre malingerers youre scared youre useless youre soldiers every day addressing men keenly aware failure picked scab vulnerability cancelled weekend onpost passes confining small area around barracks ordered weekdays could sit beds except three hours free time 6 pm 9 pm assigned jobs around post aggravating injuries least gave soldiers one place treated responsible grownups january first family weekend drill sergeant ordered men clean wax floor barracks moving heavy bunks wall lockers room declared job inadequate ordered get knees small scrapers remove every speck old wax went furniture soldier herniated groin dared slack moving operation lest everyone else incur extra abuse offense one night another drill sergeant name bullock decided fun soldiers give taste sleep deprivation ordering line formation outside every hour 10 pm 2 lineup could simply fall bunks fully dressed next time ordered present different apparel soldiers sleep medication pulled beds comrades hustled line since everyone appear formation everyone would punished recent family weekend drill sgt bullock still premises still wearing smoky bear hat still apparent good standing receiving word abuses devarennes trying get someone care rep connie macks office told richard would fill form could act since impossible door slammed john mccains office sent form letter saying hed need something writing richard john kerrys office never replied common response got members congress injured soldier simply lost hed ptrp several months declared healed sent upstairs fitness training unit ftu uninjured soldiers couldnt pass pt test go exercise drills pass injury prevented required exercises hopelessness situation cut smeared excrement marched barracks naked except socks boots packed mental ward days put suicide watch awaiting discharge though freakout army gave one chance fail assure wasnt faking soldiers breakdown shook others ptrp night pvt thurman called mother said youve got find way help us soon soldier whod sitting watch mental ward devarennes nicknamed pvt gopher committed small act defiance front drill sgt langford ordered take knee meaning genuflect hed recently knee surgery told langford wasnt able whereupon drill sergeant kicked legs sending floor screaming first sergeant scene ordered others turn away abu ghraib told didnt see anything earlier tried report abuses medical center mental health counselors highersup theyd ordered shut meaning action might contemplate would direct violation order pvt thurman aware mothers blog point hearing decided caution way catastrophe longer afraid told felt moment assault occurred dice rolling guys thought lunatics running asylum everything go god trooping around getting arrested outside fort sill gates point felt nobodys kid going safer saying anything contrary apart posts spent 300 ads popular websites put hits kept coming illegal drill sergeant strike soldier langford arrested illegal cover crime first sergeant remains position langford removed drill sergeant lost hat say post whether suffers indignity punishment depends outcome current investigation yet intervention pfc scarano still perished inspector general know death devarennes emailed base commander didnt know monday day spokeswoman fort sills public affairs office said couldnt tell anything soldiers death ive never heard person death life soldier didnt count much army march 7 e mail devarennes thanking becoming champion one else would wrote injury degenerative getting worse lied surgery many others brought attention inspectorgeneral medical community telling us face courtsmartial severe forms nonjudicial punishment declined surgery suggested us doctors fort sill since demonstrated baldfaced lie told id receive arthroscopic shoulder surgery initially little chance success failed would receive full shoulder replacement left shoulder would essentially disabled rest life little rudimentary research subject revealed countless infinitely promising options available civilian world choose explore instead guinea pig medical system faith whatsoever medical system botched surgeries performed procedures without patients knowledge guess rationale recently patients case impression virtually input matter anyway ive recently told case worker im getting meb medical evaluation board hearing consultation pending ive heard word yet hopeful result controversy caused attention garnered blog ill soon casualty broken system fell cracks bureaucracy system us must go living symbol failure system ignored long despite trying raise much attention could might finally able get adult life spending third ptrp deprived everything able family fundamental physical needs sleep recuperation injury basic human freedoms creature comforts never take granted scarano working formal document right died trying understand cognitive dissonance psychological process accommodating one knows believes true collides contradictory reality family weekend march private howell ptrp fourteen months gave devarennes paper working compiling complaints bravo battery reflecting predicament toward end wrote initial 9 weeks basic training understand hazing ruthless treatment year used able cope listening music calling people hidden cell phone talking friends bay longer let talk friends listen music radio found hidden cell phone confiscated able anything mentally get away place would forget day day hour two disassociation way able put meaninglessness mindless bullshit torment duty 16 hours day way describe life sorrow loathing spitefulness depression endless torturous misery nobody willing help improve treatment listen complaints joined army make difference help people held prisoner doomed fate worse death one point know purpose one point know cared know lost capable ever possessing think shown army values long time believe projected image cared many months act could set failure weeks fact unit follow regulations inspire hope willingness comply orders bogus policies opinion none cadre show army values soldiers opinion may see whole picture exodus name christmas break came back renewed motivation since basic training drill sergeant frazier langford managed snuff hope drive within first days back try best manage positive thought long army values mean something one point even though propaganda paper always known propaganda good base morals people would lead example conclusion hope paper reaches somebody read whole judgmental also hope improve situation perhaps want perhaps fulfill enlistment productive realistic really want want world anywhere believe permanent physical psychological damage place could describe place 2 words would malevolentia imperium 1 malevolentia latin malevolent exhibiting ill wishing harm others malicious evil harmful influence 2 imperium latin translated power antiquity concept could apply people mean something like power status authority could used geographical connotation mean something like territory estimated 15 percent 37 percent men 38 percent 67 percent women sustain least one injury due rigors basic training although fort sills believed worst army ptrp units also fort knox fort jackson fort leonard wood fort benning 160 joann wypijewski reached jwypearthlinknet 160 160 160 160 | 2,128 |
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<p>First, a confession: I hate blogs. I’m also addicted to them. Hours dissolve into nothing when I suit up and dematerialize into the political blogosphere, first visiting one of the larger, nearer online opinion diaries — <a href="http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/" type="external">talkingpointsmemo.com</a>, <a href="http://andrewsullivan.com/" type="external">andrewsullivan.com</a>, <a href="http://slate.msn.com/id/2085030/" type="external">kausfiles.com</a> — then beaming myself outward along rays of pixelated light to dozens of satellites and lesser stars, <a href="http://www.calpundit.com/" type="external">Calpundit</a>, <a href="http://www.instapundit.com/" type="external">InstaPundit</a>, <a href="http://oxblog.blogspot.com/" type="external">OxBlog</a>, each one radiant with links to other galaxies — online newspapers and magazines with deep, deep archives, think-tank websites, hundred-page electronic reports in PDF — until I’m light-years from the point of departure and can rescue myself only by summoning the will to disconnect from the whole artificial universe. With a jolt, I land in front of my computer. Before long I’ll venture forth again to see what’s new out there — because the blogosphere changes from instant to instant.</p>
<p>My private habit (and others’) has emerged as the journalistic signature of the 2004 campaign. Although only 13 percent of Americans regularly get their campaign news from the Internet — still far less than from local, cable, and network TV news — nonetheless a whole industry of analysts has risen up to declare 2004 the dawn of a new political era. Part of the mystique of blogs is their protean quality: They work both sides of the divide between politics and media, further blurring the already fuzzy distinctions between reporter, pundit, political operative, activist, and citizen. The universe of blogs includes those of both major parties; candidates’ campaign websites (most famously, Howard Dean’s, which became the hottest organizing tool since direct mail — until it turned into an online echo chamber that failed to deliver actual votes); the blogs of more traditional journalists on the websites of news organizations such as The New York Times, The New Republic, and ABC; and the proliferation of one-man electronic soapboxing by the known and the obscure alike.</p>
<p>In other words, the blog documents, comments, and participates. Nothing new here: Theodore H. White grew so close to John F. Kennedy that he ended up writing campaign speeches for the Democratic nominee even as he reported The Making of the President 1960. Somewhere out there in the infinite spaces of the Internet floats a site called bloggingofthepresident.com, whose homepage declares: “ <a href="http://www.bopnews.com/" type="external">The Blogging of the President</a> (or BOP) is dedicated to the great writer Theodore H. White, whose documentary series of books, The Making of the President, inspired generations of journalists…. We believe that the story of how America chooses its leader is fundamental to how America conceives of itself, and something about this story changed in 2004. Somehow, HTML and ‘blogs’ are now pillars of the republic; indeed, a whole new way of doing politics seems emergent and potentially dominant.”</p>
<p>BOP then quotes the proclamation, originally made in Wired, of Stanford law professor Lawrence Lessig: “When they write the account of the 2004 campaign, it will include at least one word that has never appeared in any presidential history: blog. Whether or not it elects the next president, the blog may be the first innovation from the Internet to make a real difference in election politics.”</p>
<p>These are large claims — and the thought that the republic is perched atop “ <a href="http://www.democrats.org/blog/" type="external">Kicking Ass: Daily Dispatches From the DNC</a>,” let alone such pillars of salt as <a href="http://www.wonkette.com/" type="external">wonkette.com</a>, frankly makes me nervous. Yet I have to face the fact that blogs are emergent, potentially dominant, and making a real difference in my election year. For a political junkie, they’re pure and uncut. If blogs are to our age what White’s campaign books were to the dramatic years 1960 to 1972, how is the story changing in 2004?</p>
<p>The constellation of opinion called the blogosphere consists, like the stars themselves, partly of gases. This is what makes blogs addictive — that is, both pleasurable and destructive: They’re so easy to consume, and so endlessly available. Their second-by-second proliferation means that far more is written than needs to be said about any one thing. To change metaphors for a moment (and to deepen the shame), I gorge myself on these hundreds of pieces of commentary like so much candy into a bloated — yet nervous, sugar-jangled — stupor. Those hours of out-of-body drift leave me with few, if any, tangible thoughts. Blog prose is written in headline form to imitate informal speech, with short emphatic sentences and frequent use of boldface and italics. The entries, sometimes updated hourly, are little spasms of assertion, usually too brief for an argument ever to stand a chance of developing layers of meaning or ramifying into qualification and complication. There’s a constant sense that someone (almost always the blogger) is winning and someone else is losing. Everything that happens in the blogosphere — every point, rebuttal, gloat, jeer, or “fisk” (dismemberment of a piece of text with close analytical reading) — is a knockout punch. A curious thing about this rarefied world is that bloggers are almost unfailingly contemptuous toward everyone except one another. They are also nearly without exception men (this form of combat seems too naked for more than a very few women). I imagine them in neat blue shirts, the glow from the screen reflected in their glasses as they sit up at 3:48 a.m. triumphantly tapping out their third rejoinder to the WaPo’s press commentary on Tim Russert’s on-air recap of the Wisconsin primary.</p>
<p>All of this meta-comment by very bright young men who never leave their rooms is the latest, somewhat debased, manifestation of the old art of political pamphleteering, a lost form in this country through much of the 20th century. The modern American idea of journalism as objectivity, with news and editorial pages strictly separated, emerged in the Progressive Era with books like Walter Lippmann’s classic Public Opinion. For most of the last century, this idea anointed political journalists as a mandarin class of insiders with serious responsibilities; access was everything. At some point during the Reagan years, this mandarinate lost interest in politics as a contest of beliefs and policies with some bearing on the experience of people unlike themselves. Instead, elite Washington reporters turned their coverage into an account of a closed system, an intricate process, in which perceptions were the only real things and the journalists themselves were intimately involved. The machinations of Michael Deaver and Roger Ailes, followed by Lee Atwater and James Carville, became the central drama. We’ve grown so familiar with this approach that today you can open the New York Times and be unsurprised to find its chief political correspondent, Adam Nagourney, writing about polls and campaign strategies day after day.</p>
<p>Blogs came along to feed off this fascination with the interior mechanics of politics. Many bloggers emerged from the ranks of the press itself; unlike the elite press corps, though, anyone with a computer and an Internet connection can blog. This is potentially the most radical innovation of the form: It opens up political journalism to a vast marketplace of competitors, reminiscent of earlier ages of pamphleteering. It also restores unvarnished opinion, for better and worse, to a central place in political writing. Insult and invective were the stock-in-trade of the English political essayists of the 18th century, and of their American counterparts during the early years of the republic (when bimbo eruptions made their first appearance in press coverage of presidential campaigns). The explosion of blogs has blown a needed hole in the sealed rooms of the major editorial pages and the Sunday talk shows. It has also affected political reporting, by forcing Washington journalists accustomed to the caution of the mainstream to follow less traveled tributaries — for example, the examination of President Bush’s National Guard service was partly pushed along by evidence laid out for reporters by Calpundit.</p>
<p>And yet, if blogs are “a new way of doing politics,” there is also something peculiarly stale and tired about them — not the form, but the content. The campaign of 2004 is important not just for the arrival of blogs. Thanks to September 11, this happens to be one of those rare years when a real election will take place. By “real,” I mean an election in which the stakes are genuinely high, the differences between the candidates far-reaching, the consequences for the country and the world potentially huge. 1932 was a real election year; so were 1968 and 1980. We haven’t had one since Reagan trounced Carter. Especially during the Clinton years, with the Cold War over and the economy flush, politics grew more and more into a spectacle of personalities and gossip-mongering, a trend both reflected and furthered by the political journalism of those years. Until recently, Frank Rich, a former drama critic, wrote an op-ed column for the Times largely devoted to reviewing politics as entertainment.</p>
<p>Campaign coverage in 2004 still belongs to that era — nowhere more than in the blogosphere, where the claustrophobic effect of the echo chamber and the hall of mirrors is at its most intense, where the reverberations of trivialities last far longer than in print or on TV. This new pillar of the republic turns out to be an inadequate mode for capturing a real election.</p>
<p>So far this year, bloggers have been remarkably unadept at predicting events (as have reporters, who occupy a different part of the same habitat). Most of them failed to foresee Dean’s rise, Dean’s fall, Kerry’s resurgence, Bush’s slippage. Above all, they didn’t grasp the intensity of feeling among Democratic primary voters — the resentments still glowing hot from Florida 2000, the overwhelming interest in economic and domestic issues, the personal antipathy toward Bush, the resurgence of activism, the longing for a win. The blogosphere was often caught surprised by these passions and the electoral turns they caused. Rather than imitating or reproducing external reality, it exists alongside, detached, self-encased, in a stance of ironic or combative appraisal. Theodore H. White’s books, as well as the magazine form of nonfiction narrative known as New Journalism that was as characteristic of the ’60s as blogs are of this decade, gave readers the sense — illusory, of course — that they were watching a coherent story unfold from a front row (or even backstage) seat. The Making of the President turned politics into the stuff of high novelistic drama, with larger-than-life actors and passionate ideological conflict played out in halls of power and city streets. The style of thickly descriptive storytelling, based on heavy reporting, immersed readers in the arc of an election year, achieving a sense of unity between the protagonists and the spectators, so that the campaign seemed to involve the whole of American society in the theatrics.</p>
<p>Blogs, by contrast, are atomized, fragmentary, and of the instant. They lack the continuity, reach, and depth to turn an election into a story. When one of the best of the bloggers, Joshua Micah Marshall of talkingpointsmemo.com, brought his laptop to New Hampshire and tried to cover the race in the more traditional manner, the results were less than satisfying; his posts failed to convey the atmosphere of those remarkable days between Iowa and the first primary. Marshall couldn’t turn his gift for parsing the news of the moment to the more patient task of turning reportage into scenes and characters so that the candidates and the voters take life online. He didn’t function as a reporter; there was, as there often is with blogs, too much description of where he was sitting, what he was thinking, who’d just walked into the room, as if the enclosed space in which bloggers carry out their work had followed Marshall to New Hampshire and kept him encased in its bubble. He might as well have been writing from his apartment in Washington. But the failure wasn’t personal; this particular branch of the Fourth Estate just doesn’t lend itself to sustained narrative and analysis. Blogs remain private, written in the language and tone of knowingness, insider shorthand, instant mastery. Read them enough and any subject will go dead.</p>
<p>I went to New Hampshire the weekend before the primary because, for all the millions of words written in both blogs and conventional journalism, I suspected that I’d been missing something. It was true: I felt at once that something more interesting than the usual quadrennial spectacle was going on. There were large crowds everywhere, with a strong current of excitement — not just because the horse race was then wide open, but because its outcome so obviously matters. The issues, not the personalities, filled those rooms. In 2004 the public seems to have rediscovered politics. But I had to go to New Hampshire to find out. I blame my addiction.</p>
<p /> | true | 4 | first confession hate blogs im also addicted hours dissolve nothing suit dematerialize political blogosphere first visiting one larger nearer online opinion diaries talkingpointsmemocom andrewsullivancom kausfilescom beaming outward along rays pixelated light dozens satellites lesser stars calpundit instapundit oxblog one radiant links galaxies online newspapers magazines deep deep archives thinktank websites hundredpage electronic reports pdf im lightyears point departure rescue summoning disconnect whole artificial universe jolt land front computer long ill venture forth see whats new blogosphere changes instant instant private habit others emerged journalistic signature 2004 campaign although 13 percent americans regularly get campaign news internet still far less local cable network tv news nonetheless whole industry analysts risen declare 2004 dawn new political era part mystique blogs protean quality work sides divide politics media blurring already fuzzy distinctions reporter pundit political operative activist citizen universe blogs includes major parties candidates campaign websites famously howard deans became hottest organizing tool since direct mail turned online echo chamber failed deliver actual votes blogs traditional journalists websites news organizations new york times new republic abc proliferation oneman electronic soapboxing known obscure alike words blog documents comments participates nothing new theodore h white grew close john f kennedy ended writing campaign speeches democratic nominee even reported making president 1960 somewhere infinite spaces internet floats site called bloggingofthepresidentcom whose homepage declares blogging president bop dedicated great writer theodore h white whose documentary series books making president inspired generations journalists believe story america chooses leader fundamental america conceives something story changed 2004 somehow html blogs pillars republic indeed whole new way politics seems emergent potentially dominant bop quotes proclamation originally made wired stanford law professor lawrence lessig write account 2004 campaign include least one word never appeared presidential history blog whether elects next president blog may first innovation internet make real difference election politics large claims thought republic perched atop kicking ass daily dispatches dnc let alone pillars salt wonkettecom frankly makes nervous yet face fact blogs emergent potentially dominant making real difference election year political junkie theyre pure uncut blogs age whites campaign books dramatic years 1960 1972 story changing 2004 constellation opinion called blogosphere consists like stars partly gases makes blogs addictive pleasurable destructive theyre easy consume endlessly available secondbysecond proliferation means far written needs said one thing change metaphors moment deepen shame gorge hundreds pieces commentary like much candy bloated yet nervous sugarjangled stupor hours outofbody drift leave tangible thoughts blog prose written headline form imitate informal speech short emphatic sentences frequent use boldface italics entries sometimes updated hourly little spasms assertion usually brief argument ever stand chance developing layers meaning ramifying qualification complication theres constant sense someone almost always blogger winning someone else losing everything happens blogosphere every point rebuttal gloat jeer fisk dismemberment piece text close analytical reading knockout punch curious thing rarefied world bloggers almost unfailingly contemptuous toward everyone except one another also nearly without exception men form combat seems naked women imagine neat blue shirts glow screen reflected glasses sit 348 triumphantly tapping third rejoinder wapos press commentary tim russerts onair recap wisconsin primary metacomment bright young men never leave rooms latest somewhat debased manifestation old art political pamphleteering lost form country much 20th century modern american idea journalism objectivity news editorial pages strictly separated emerged progressive era books like walter lippmanns classic public opinion last century idea anointed political journalists mandarin class insiders serious responsibilities access everything point reagan years mandarinate lost interest politics contest beliefs policies bearing experience people unlike instead elite washington reporters turned coverage account closed system intricate process perceptions real things journalists intimately involved machinations michael deaver roger ailes followed lee atwater james carville became central drama weve grown familiar approach today open new york times unsurprised find chief political correspondent adam nagourney writing polls campaign strategies day day blogs came along feed fascination interior mechanics politics many bloggers emerged ranks press unlike elite press corps though anyone computer internet connection blog potentially radical innovation form opens political journalism vast marketplace competitors reminiscent earlier ages pamphleteering also restores unvarnished opinion better worse central place political writing insult invective stockintrade english political essayists 18th century american counterparts early years republic bimbo eruptions made first appearance press coverage presidential campaigns explosion blogs blown needed hole sealed rooms major editorial pages sunday talk shows also affected political reporting forcing washington journalists accustomed caution mainstream follow less traveled tributaries example examination president bushs national guard service partly pushed along evidence laid reporters calpundit yet blogs new way politics also something peculiarly stale tired form content campaign 2004 important arrival blogs thanks september 11 happens one rare years real election take place real mean election stakes genuinely high differences candidates farreaching consequences country world potentially huge 1932 real election year 1968 1980 havent one since reagan trounced carter especially clinton years cold war economy flush politics grew spectacle personalities gossipmongering trend reflected furthered political journalism years recently frank rich former drama critic wrote oped column times largely devoted reviewing politics entertainment campaign coverage 2004 still belongs era nowhere blogosphere claustrophobic effect echo chamber hall mirrors intense reverberations trivialities last far longer print tv new pillar republic turns inadequate mode capturing real election far year bloggers remarkably unadept predicting events reporters occupy different part habitat failed foresee deans rise deans fall kerrys resurgence bushs slippage didnt grasp intensity feeling among democratic primary voters resentments still glowing hot florida 2000 overwhelming interest economic domestic issues personal antipathy toward bush resurgence activism longing win blogosphere often caught surprised passions electoral turns caused rather imitating reproducing external reality exists alongside detached selfencased stance ironic combative appraisal theodore h whites books well magazine form nonfiction narrative known new journalism characteristic 60s blogs decade gave readers sense illusory course watching coherent story unfold front row even backstage seat making president turned politics stuff high novelistic drama largerthanlife actors passionate ideological conflict played halls power city streets style thickly descriptive storytelling based heavy reporting immersed readers arc election year achieving sense unity protagonists spectators campaign seemed involve whole american society theatrics blogs contrast atomized fragmentary instant lack continuity reach depth turn election story one best bloggers joshua micah marshall talkingpointsmemocom brought laptop new hampshire tried cover race traditional manner results less satisfying posts failed convey atmosphere remarkable days iowa first primary marshall couldnt turn gift parsing news moment patient task turning reportage scenes characters candidates voters take life online didnt function reporter often blogs much description sitting thinking whod walked room enclosed space bloggers carry work followed marshall new hampshire kept encased bubble might well writing apartment washington failure wasnt personal particular branch fourth estate doesnt lend sustained narrative analysis blogs remain private written language tone knowingness insider shorthand instant mastery read enough subject go dead went new hampshire weekend primary millions words written blogs conventional journalism suspected id missing something true felt something interesting usual quadrennial spectacle going large crowds everywhere strong current excitement horse race wide open outcome obviously matters issues personalities filled rooms 2004 public seems rediscovered politics go new hampshire find blame addiction | 1,162 |
<p>In October 1990, when the George H.W. Bush administration was cranking up public support for the Gulf War, the House Human Rights Caucus took much-publicized testimony from a 15-year-old girl who told of having been a volunteer worker in the al-Addan hospital in Kuwait City. She said she had seen 15 premature babies dumped out of respirators by Iraqi soldiers. The babies, she said, were left “on the cold floor to die” and the incubators were then shipped to Baghdad.</p>
<p>Only the girl’s first name was given: Nayirah. She had family in Kuwait, it was said, and she feared for their lives and her own if her identity were made public. She was taking a mighty risk in bringing this dastardly truth to the American people.</p>
<p>Nayirah’s testimony was a major factor in shifting American public opinion in support of Bush’s proposed Gulf war. It was one thing for George H.W.</p>
<p>Bush to say that Iraq was the evil enemy but quite something else to have the specificity of a young eyewitness who saw helpless babies left to die by vile men stealing hospital hardware. George H.W. Bush quoted and summarized her testimony in at least five speeches. Seven pro-war senators quoted it on the Senate floor. Amnesty International cited it in their list of governmental atrocities.</p>
<p>As it turned out, she did have a last name. And she had seen nothing.</p>
<p>The young woman’s name was Nayirah al-Sabah. She was the daughter of the Kuwaiti ambassador to the United States. Her story had been manufactured for her by the public relations firm of Hill &amp; Knowlton, a fact known by the Bush administration and by the congressmen who took her testimony. They also knew her identity.</p>
<p>Amnesty International later apologized for having helped circulate her story. The two congressmen who sponsored her testimony_Tom Lantos (D., California) and John Porter (R., Illinois)_did not. Lantos is still in Congress; Porter decided not to run for reelection in 2002. Hill &amp; Knowlton is said to have received more than ten million dollars for its efforts on Kuwait’s behalf during that brief period when America was deciding what sort of action it would take in the Persian Gulf. The war resolution passed the Senate by a margin of five votes.</p>
<p>George H.W. Bush is no longer president of the United States but his son is. Bush II hasn’t offered us his Nayirah al-Sabah.</p>
<p>This Bush never feels the need to offer evidence. Like his sanctified Attorney General, he smiles and asserts, confident that his firm belief will suffice for all of us. For him, belief is evidence. It’s government by tent meeting He simply says Saddam is evil and must be destroyed, and with minor variations he repeats it like a modern Cato the Elder demanding in every speech the total destruction of Carthage: Carthago delenda est! would become Saddam delenda est! if Bush II knew Latin or knew or cared who Cato the Elder was, which he probably doesn’t, given the way he brags about never reading anything longer than a single page.</p>
<p>Perhaps he has far less interest in even the appearance of operating on the basis of evidence, anecdotal or otherwise, than his father. Saddam delenda est! Perhaps he really believes that revisiting father’s Persian Gulf adventure will dissolve the hydra-headed threat of international terrorism which every other world leader of substance insists remains outside the reach of conventional weapons of war and can only be solved by dealing with root causes: politics, not bombs and guns. Saddam delendus est!</p>
<p>More likely, he really does believe that 9/11 is the testimony that justifies all action against all perceived enemies, foreign or domestic, the fact that trumps all argument and discussion, the event that supercedes all written documents, guarantees, rights. Saddam delenda est!</p>
<p>Even George W. Bush, who does not read books, probably knows that in the spring of 146 BCE the consul P. Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus led the Roman force that destroyed Carthage. That’s one of the things you learn in prep schools and at Yale, or used to.</p>
<p>The Carthaginian survivors were sold into slavery, the city pillaged and then set on fire and kept ablaze for ten days. The Romans did not, as legend has it, cover the land with salt so nothing would grow, but they might as well have: Carthage was gone forever. So ended the Third Punic War. Cato had died in 149, the war’s first year, so we can only speculate at his reaction to Scipio’s triumph. Scipio’s behavior was documented by his former tutor, the Roman historian Polybius:</p>
<p>At the sight of the city utterly perishing amidst the flames Scipio burst into tears, and stood long reflecting on the inevitable change which awaits cities, nations, and dynasties, one and all, as it does every one of us men. This, he thought, had befallen Ilium, once a powerful city, and the once mighty empires of the Assyrians, Medes, Persians, and that of Macedonia lately so splendid. And unintentionally or purposely he quoted–the words perhaps escaping him unconsciously–“The day shall be when holy Troy shall fall And Priam, lord of spears, and Priam’s folk.”</p>
<p>And on my asking him boldly (for I had been his tutor) what he meant by these words, he did not name Rome distinctly, but was evidently fearing for her, from this sight of the mutability of human affairs. . . . Another still more remarkable saying of his I may record. . . [When he had given the order for firing the town] he immediately turned round and grasped me by the hand and said: “O Polybius, it is a grand thing, but, I know not how, I feel a terror and dread, lest some one should one day give the same order about my own native city.” . . . Any observation more practical or sensible it is not easy to make. For in the midst of supreme success for one’s self and of disaster for the enemy, to take thought of one’s own position and of the possible reverse which may come, and in a word to keep well in mind in the midst of prosperity the mutability of Fortune, is the characteristic of a great man, a man free from weaknesses and worthy to be remembered.</p>
<p>That was the consul Scipio, who knew his Homer. That was then, and this is now.</p>
<p>BRUCE JACKSON is SUNY Distinguished Professor and Samuel P. Capen Professor of American Culture at University of Buffalo. He edits <a href="http://buffaloreport.com/" type="external">Buffalo Report</a>.</p>
<p>His email address is <a href="mailto:bjackson@buffalo.edu" type="external">bjackson@buffalo.edu</a>.</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | true | 4 | october 1990 george hw bush administration cranking public support gulf war house human rights caucus took muchpublicized testimony 15yearold girl told volunteer worker aladdan hospital kuwait city said seen 15 premature babies dumped respirators iraqi soldiers babies said left cold floor die incubators shipped baghdad girls first name given nayirah family kuwait said feared lives identity made public taking mighty risk bringing dastardly truth american people nayirahs testimony major factor shifting american public opinion support bushs proposed gulf war one thing george hw bush say iraq evil enemy quite something else specificity young eyewitness saw helpless babies left die vile men stealing hospital hardware george hw bush quoted summarized testimony least five speeches seven prowar senators quoted senate floor amnesty international cited list governmental atrocities turned last name seen nothing young womans name nayirah alsabah daughter kuwaiti ambassador united states story manufactured public relations firm hill amp knowlton fact known bush administration congressmen took testimony also knew identity amnesty international later apologized helped circulate story two congressmen sponsored testimony_tom lantos california john porter r illinois_did lantos still congress porter decided run reelection 2002 hill amp knowlton said received ten million dollars efforts kuwaits behalf brief period america deciding sort action would take persian gulf war resolution passed senate margin five votes george hw bush longer president united states son bush ii hasnt offered us nayirah alsabah bush never feels need offer evidence like sanctified attorney general smiles asserts confident firm belief suffice us belief evidence government tent meeting simply says saddam evil must destroyed minor variations repeats like modern cato elder demanding every speech total destruction carthage carthago delenda est would become saddam delenda est bush ii knew latin knew cared cato elder probably doesnt given way brags never reading anything longer single page perhaps far less interest even appearance operating basis evidence anecdotal otherwise father saddam delenda est perhaps really believes revisiting fathers persian gulf adventure dissolve hydraheaded threat international terrorism every world leader substance insists remains outside reach conventional weapons war solved dealing root causes politics bombs guns saddam delendus est likely really believe 911 testimony justifies action perceived enemies foreign domestic fact trumps argument discussion event supercedes written documents guarantees rights saddam delenda est even george w bush read books probably knows spring 146 bce consul p cornelius scipio aemilianus led roman force destroyed carthage thats one things learn prep schools yale used carthaginian survivors sold slavery city pillaged set fire kept ablaze ten days romans legend cover land salt nothing would grow might well carthage gone forever ended third punic war cato died 149 wars first year speculate reaction scipios triumph scipios behavior documented former tutor roman historian polybius sight city utterly perishing amidst flames scipio burst tears stood long reflecting inevitable change awaits cities nations dynasties one every one us men thought befallen ilium powerful city mighty empires assyrians medes persians macedonia lately splendid unintentionally purposely quotedthe words perhaps escaping unconsciouslythe day shall holy troy shall fall priam lord spears priams folk asking boldly tutor meant words name rome distinctly evidently fearing sight mutability human affairs another still remarkable saying may record given order firing town immediately turned round grasped hand said polybius grand thing know feel terror dread lest one one day give order native city observation practical sensible easy make midst supreme success ones self disaster enemy take thought ones position possible reverse may come word keep well mind midst prosperity mutability fortune characteristic great man man free weaknesses worthy remembered consul scipio knew homer bruce jackson suny distinguished professor samuel p capen professor american culture university buffalo edits buffalo report email address bjacksonbuffaloedu 160 | 602 |
<p>At this time of rising fascism in the U.S., my thoughts turn to George Orwell’s chronicle of his involvement fighting fascists in the Spanish Civil War. Although largely a catalog of the lack of food, firewood and effective weapons, Orwell’s narrative seem achingly relevant to me for one reason: their failure. My favorite part of&#160; <a href="" type="internal">Homage to Catalonia</a>&#160;is when the anarchists are shouting across an empty ravine to the fascists whom they can see but whose bullets would never reach. They said, “Buttered toast!… We’ve just sitting down to buttered toast over here!” Come join us, brothers, the anarchists would shout. We have hot buttered toast. I love this moment for its simplicity–because the anarchists are recognizing the fascist brothers kin to themselves and because, who doesn’t love hot buttered toast? But this moment is exactly the reason why I believe the anarchists cause failed and why so many radical politics are essentially unappealing to many people.</p>
<p>Anarchists in the Spanish Civil War focused on people’s daily needs—who doesn’t love hot, buttered toast? People in Spain were starving–they needed food. People–were homeless and needed homes; people were jobless and needed something to do; people were rejected from their communities needed to be included. Anarchists focused on these practical, attainable and above all human needs. And, these&#160;are&#160;the basic rights that should undergird all human social organizations. But, while it seems a compelling reason to me, and too many other people with radical politics, these simple and basic needs are not enough for most people. I struggled for a long time to try and understand why the meeting of peoples’ basic needs for daily existence were not appealing. I believe now, that a close look at Francisco Franco’s fascism offers a concise reason why. It is said that man cannot live on bread alone and fascism understands this profoundly.</p>
<p>Franco’s fascism promised people a filament of their destiny. Destiny. What is it? It is dreams beyond which they could even rationally or consciously comprehend them. The fulfillment of destiny offers the idea of a larger meaning and purpose to life. Why are we here? Is it just to eat buttered toast? Why do we struggle? Why are things always so bad? Surely the goal of all this loss and suffering isn’t just to survive… Franco promised people a future in which not only were their daily meat needs met but their full potential as human beings would be realized. It promised a community where people not only had their basic necessities but had a fulfillment and their purpose for living. It didn’t even have to deliver. If you promise people buttered toast and don’t give it to them, they will say you lied. If you promise people their dreams, they can always be deferred.</p>
<p>Fascism is dynamic and, like capitalism, fascism says that people only get what they deserve. Both fascism and capitalism label certain people as deserving of this kind of destiny. For Franco, it was people who are identified as Spanish. But not all fascism is based on ardent nationalism. Hitler, for example, had an idea of being deserving that was tied to a biological understanding of human being. Capitalism identifies only those who have achieved wealth or those who will work on endingly and sacrifice others in the pursuit of wealth as the deserving of this destiny. But essentially, destiny is the thing that most people want. They want it more than bread. And this search for destiny, by those who deserve it, has a dynamism. It is empowering. It says, if you try; if you belong; if you devote yourself to this, then you can get more than your daily bread. You can get more than the world can seem to possibly offer. You can become the ideal version of yourself. You can achieve your wildest dreams.</p>
<p>This promise, although a chimera, has so much vitality. It overwhelms any basic need that we may have. We learn to live with these daily needs anyway and they seem paltry in comparison to the realization of our dreams. Hunger pains or the lack of electricity in our house maybe something that we have experienced and don’t enjoy. It may depress us. It may make us feel less worthy. But, when the lights are on and it’s warm we may still feel a lack. Peoples’ greatest needs are our dreams. Our dreams manifest as jealousy when we look upon something we desire whether it be beauty or success, a happy family, comfort and stability, a career, public recognition of our worth or any number of other things. These things ultimately mean more to people than maintaining our basic needs.</p>
<p>This, I believe, is the reason why anarchism was not more successful in Spain. My husband disagrees with me. He cites the communist infiltration of the anarchists movement, the guns the Russians gave and their control over the anarchists’ organizing. He talks about how Franco mustered forces from all over Europe in pursuit of his cause and how, many people who fought for Franco we’re not ardent fascist but doing it for the money. I remain skeptical of these arguments and the reason why is because I fundamentally believe that if people embrace an idea, if people believe and work together, that we can make the world that we want to see. If a small group of people with money and guns can control all the rest of us then what future could we possibly have? We may as well give up now.</p>
<p>I’m also not convinced that I see this at work in my daily life. I encounter many people, all the time, that show me and tell me in many different, simple ways that they believe that something other than their basic necessities are the most important things in their life. I live in a rural area with many trailers and outside many of them, prior to the election, were Trump signs. These people want to feel Great. They want to have respect. They want to be seen as worthy. They want to be part of a collective effort that they can believe in. Money of course plays a role in this. But, if people were singularly focused on attaining money, I think that most people would have supported a candidate who promised to elevate the working classes living wages. That was not what happened. People wanted wealth, not a living wage. People supported someone who articulated their deepest dreams, not their daily concerns.</p>
<p>I also don’t believe that the threat of violence is what makes people support these kinds of politics. Violence and force is certainly used in order to coerce people to cooperate in our society and in every society. However, our society does not operate solely because of the threat of force. Many people are threatened by violence—but most of those people didn’t support Trump and don’t elect the politicians that continue to press the fascist agenda.</p>
<p>People want to believe that they can do and achieve what their deepest dreams are made of. They want to believe and so, they continue to buy into a system that promises them that if they try hard enough, if they belong, if they sacrifice enough, if they cooperate with the plan, then their deepest dreams will be realized. This is what fascism and capitalism promise and that is why no radical politics based solely upon the material and every day, quotidian and pedestrian needs that we all share is going to compel people to abandon their dreams. We need a radical politics that offers a dream that is compelling–that has vitality that asks for people’s energy. That gives them a reward that their heart can latch onto. It’s time for radical politics to offer people something beyond their daily needs it’s time for radical politics to imagine a dream beyond a world that we could even hope for. It’s time to give people an image of the future that is beyond their wildest hopes and desires.&#160;This kind of creation is dangerous but it’s also promising and we can no longer be afraid of the danger because the danger is already upon us instead we must embrace it.</p>
<p>Moira Marquis is a PdH candidate and senior teaching fellow at UNC Chapel Hill. She also teaches reading at Orange County Correctional and was a public school teacher for ten years.&#160;</p> | true | 4 | time rising fascism us thoughts turn george orwells chronicle involvement fighting fascists spanish civil war although largely catalog lack food firewood effective weapons orwells narrative seem achingly relevant one reason failure favorite part of160 homage catalonia160is anarchists shouting across empty ravine fascists see whose bullets would never reach said buttered toast weve sitting buttered toast come join us brothers anarchists would shout hot buttered toast love moment simplicitybecause anarchists recognizing fascist brothers kin doesnt love hot buttered toast moment exactly reason believe anarchists cause failed many radical politics essentially unappealing many people anarchists spanish civil war focused peoples daily needswho doesnt love hot buttered toast people spain starvingthey needed food peoplewere homeless needed homes people jobless needed something people rejected communities needed included anarchists focused practical attainable human needs these160are160the basic rights undergird human social organizations seems compelling reason many people radical politics simple basic needs enough people struggled long time try understand meeting peoples basic needs daily existence appealing believe close look francisco francos fascism offers concise reason said man live bread alone fascism understands profoundly francos fascism promised people filament destiny destiny dreams beyond could even rationally consciously comprehend fulfillment destiny offers idea larger meaning purpose life eat buttered toast struggle things always bad surely goal loss suffering isnt survive franco promised people future daily meat needs met full potential human beings would realized promised community people basic necessities fulfillment purpose living didnt even deliver promise people buttered toast dont give say lied promise people dreams always deferred fascism dynamic like capitalism fascism says people get deserve fascism capitalism label certain people deserving kind destiny franco people identified spanish fascism based ardent nationalism hitler example idea deserving tied biological understanding human capitalism identifies achieved wealth work endingly sacrifice others pursuit wealth deserving destiny essentially destiny thing people want want bread search destiny deserve dynamism empowering says try belong devote get daily bread get world seem possibly offer become ideal version achieve wildest dreams promise although chimera much vitality overwhelms basic need may learn live daily needs anyway seem paltry comparison realization dreams hunger pains lack electricity house maybe something experienced dont enjoy may depress us may make us feel less worthy lights warm may still feel lack peoples greatest needs dreams dreams manifest jealousy look upon something desire whether beauty success happy family comfort stability career public recognition worth number things things ultimately mean people maintaining basic needs believe reason anarchism successful spain husband disagrees cites communist infiltration anarchists movement guns russians gave control anarchists organizing talks franco mustered forces europe pursuit cause many people fought franco ardent fascist money remain skeptical arguments reason fundamentally believe people embrace idea people believe work together make world want see small group people money guns control rest us future could possibly may well give im also convinced see work daily life encounter many people time show tell many different simple ways believe something basic necessities important things life live rural area many trailers outside many prior election trump signs people want feel great want respect want seen worthy want part collective effort believe money course plays role people singularly focused attaining money think people would supported candidate promised elevate working classes living wages happened people wanted wealth living wage people supported someone articulated deepest dreams daily concerns also dont believe threat violence makes people support kinds politics violence force certainly used order coerce people cooperate society every society however society operate solely threat force many people threatened violencebut people didnt support trump dont elect politicians continue press fascist agenda people want believe achieve deepest dreams made want believe continue buy system promises try hard enough belong sacrifice enough cooperate plan deepest dreams realized fascism capitalism promise radical politics based solely upon material every day quotidian pedestrian needs share going compel people abandon dreams need radical politics offers dream compellingthat vitality asks peoples energy gives reward heart latch onto time radical politics offer people something beyond daily needs time radical politics imagine dream beyond world could even hope time give people image future beyond wildest hopes desires160this kind creation dangerous also promising longer afraid danger danger already upon us instead must embrace moira marquis pdh candidate senior teaching fellow unc chapel hill also teaches reading orange county correctional public school teacher ten years160 | 711 |
<p><a href="http://samidoun.net/2014/08/take-action-send-a-letter-demanding-cancellation-of-khalida-jarrars-expulsion/" type="external">Samidoun.net</a></p>
<p>Every week the Truthdig editorial staff selects a Truthdigger of the Week, a group or person worthy of recognition for speaking truth to power, breaking the story or blowing the whistle. It is not a lifetime achievement award. Rather, we’re looking for newsmakers whose actions in a given week are worth celebrating.</p>
<p>In the middle of the night April 2, less than 24 hours after Palestine obtained membership in the International Criminal Court (ICC), dozens of Israeli soldiers burst into the Ramallah home of the prominent Palestinian lawmaker and leftist activist Khalida Jarrar and seized her.</p>
<p>Insofar as we believe the Israeli authorities, Jarrar is the most dangerous woman in the Middle East.</p>
<p />
<p>Given her leadership in cementing the Palestinian bid to join the ICC treaty — which covers the Israel-Gaza conflict last summer in which more than 2,100 Palestinians were killed — this may well be the case. Palestinian leaders have described accession to the ICC as a key means to “internationalizing” the conflict, with their membership to the Hague-based court paving the way for prosecution of Israel for war crimes.</p>
<p>Jarrar, a 52-year-old mother of two who suffers from serious health issues, has been declared a security risk for decades without ever being charged with any criminal offense.</p>
<p>She is a senior lawyer for the PLO and a member of the leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. She was elected to the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) in 2006 and heads its committee on prisoners, and she serves as the Palestinian representative on the Council of Europe.</p>
<p>She has long been a vociferous opponent of Israel’s policy of <a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2015/03/plo-security-coordination-israel-150305201025380.html" type="external">security coordination</a>, is one of the region’s most prominent feminist voices and is a tenacious advocate for the rights of Palestinian political prisoners.</p>
<p>A member of several women’s rights organizations, Jarrar has worked with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees and is vice chair of the board of the Palestinian human rights organization Addameer.</p>
<p>According to the Israel Defense Forces, she was arrested for breaching travel restrictions imposed in August that banned her from leaving the Jericho area. Rejecting the “special supervision order,” she set up a protest tent outside the PLC office in Ramallah, where she had been living and working and which was frequented by numerous Palestinian and international delegations.</p>
<p>In the words of <a href="http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/1.650809" type="external">a Haaretz editorial</a>, she was held in “vindictive administrative detention” and charged April 15 by an Israeli military tribunal on a dozen seemingly trumped-up political charges. An <a href="http://samidoun.ca/author/samidoun/page/3/" type="external">open letter</a> signed by 58 members of the European Parliament describes the move as “a clearly political attempt to undermine Palestinian leadership and thwart Palestinian attempts to pursue justice in the International Criminal Court.”</p>
<p>The letter states:</p>
<p>“The arrest of Jarrar and other Members of the Palestinian Parliament and their transfer from occupied territory into Israel are not only in violation of Articles 49 and 76 of the Fourth Geneva Convention but also blatantly violate international conventions and practices regarding the immunity of elected officials. Palestinian parliamentarians are frequently held in administrative detention without charge or trial, or tried in military courts that are mechanisms to produce a political result and in no way meet standards for a fair trial.”</p>
<p>Jarrar now joins 16 other elected Palestinian lawmakers held in Israeli jails, and her arrest means that more than 10 percent of Palestinian parliamentarians have now been detained by Israeli forces. More than half of those have not stood trial or been charged.</p>
<p>She also joins some 424 administrative detainees held by the Israeli state without legal process. According to the United Nations Human Rights Office, 181 were held at the same point last year. Since 1967, Israel has detained and imprisoned more than 800,000 people from the occupied Palestinian territory.</p>
<p>An <a href="http://www.addameer.org/etemplate.php?id=754" type="external">April 7 statement</a> issued by several human rights organizations expressed “grave concern” for the welfare of Jarrar, who must take medical lab tests every three days because of chronic conditions affecting her brain and circulatory system. The ban imposed on her movement since 1998 means that she has been allowed to travel on only one occasion for medical treatment, in 2010 following diplomatic intervention and legal proceedings. It is unlikely that Jarrar will receive the necessary medical care in Israel’s HaSharon Prison, where she is being held indefinitely.</p>
<p>Jarrar “apparently dared to violate the foolish order,” the Haaretz editorial explained, “and for that she is being punished now with administrative detention. This is how Israel seeks to deter every Palestinian public activist — not to mention one involved with advancing the processes in the International Criminal Court — from realizing his or her rights.”</p>
<p>“If Jarrar broke the law, Israel must put her on trial and prove she committed a crime. If, on the other hand, the reason for her detention is revenge, she must be released immediately.”</p>
<p>When Palestinian leaders applied to join the ICC, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared they had chosen “a path of confrontation” and that Israel would “not sit idly by.” Soon afterward, the Israeli government stopped the transfer of about $400 million in tax revenues collected on behalf of the Palestinian Authority between January and March 2015. As a result, 160,000 Palestinian government employees were paid only 60 percent of their salaries for three months.</p>
<p>These measures — including the aggressive persecution of Jarrar, an elected official — are Israel’s message to the Palestinian people not to challenge its power. As Israel attempts to silence and break her down, what makes Khalida Jarrar, our Truthdigger of the Week, so dangerous is her speaking truth to this power.</p> | true | 4 | samidounnet every week truthdig editorial staff selects truthdigger week group person worthy recognition speaking truth power breaking story blowing whistle lifetime achievement award rather looking newsmakers whose actions given week worth celebrating middle night april 2 less 24 hours palestine obtained membership international criminal court icc dozens israeli soldiers burst ramallah home prominent palestinian lawmaker leftist activist khalida jarrar seized insofar believe israeli authorities jarrar dangerous woman middle east given leadership cementing palestinian bid join icc treaty covers israelgaza conflict last summer 2100 palestinians killed may well case palestinian leaders described accession icc key means internationalizing conflict membership haguebased court paving way prosecution israel war crimes jarrar 52yearold mother two suffers serious health issues declared security risk decades without ever charged criminal offense senior lawyer plo member leftist popular front liberation palestine elected palestinian legislative council plc 2006 heads committee prisoners serves palestinian representative council europe long vociferous opponent israels policy security coordination one regions prominent feminist voices tenacious advocate rights palestinian political prisoners member several womens rights organizations jarrar worked united nations relief works agency palestine refugees vice chair board palestinian human rights organization addameer according israel defense forces arrested breaching travel restrictions imposed august banned leaving jericho area rejecting special supervision order set protest tent outside plc office ramallah living working frequented numerous palestinian international delegations words haaretz editorial held vindictive administrative detention charged april 15 israeli military tribunal dozen seemingly trumpedup political charges open letter signed 58 members european parliament describes move clearly political attempt undermine palestinian leadership thwart palestinian attempts pursue justice international criminal court letter states arrest jarrar members palestinian parliament transfer occupied territory israel violation articles 49 76 fourth geneva convention also blatantly violate international conventions practices regarding immunity elected officials palestinian parliamentarians frequently held administrative detention without charge trial tried military courts mechanisms produce political result way meet standards fair trial jarrar joins 16 elected palestinian lawmakers held israeli jails arrest means 10 percent palestinian parliamentarians detained israeli forces half stood trial charged also joins 424 administrative detainees held israeli state without legal process according united nations human rights office 181 held point last year since 1967 israel detained imprisoned 800000 people occupied palestinian territory april 7 statement issued several human rights organizations expressed grave concern welfare jarrar must take medical lab tests every three days chronic conditions affecting brain circulatory system ban imposed movement since 1998 means allowed travel one occasion medical treatment 2010 following diplomatic intervention legal proceedings unlikely jarrar receive necessary medical care israels hasharon prison held indefinitely jarrar apparently dared violate foolish order haaretz editorial explained punished administrative detention israel seeks deter every palestinian public activist mention one involved advancing processes international criminal court realizing rights jarrar broke law israel must put trial prove committed crime hand reason detention revenge must released immediately palestinian leaders applied join icc israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu declared chosen path confrontation israel would sit idly soon afterward israeli government stopped transfer 400 million tax revenues collected behalf palestinian authority january march 2015 result 160000 palestinian government employees paid 60 percent salaries three months measures including aggressive persecution jarrar elected official israels message palestinian people challenge power israel attempts silence break makes khalida jarrar truthdigger week dangerous speaking truth power | 536 |
<p>Photo by DVIDSHUB | <a href="" type="internal">CC BY 2.0</a></p>
<p>More than 40,000 civilians were killed in the devastating battle to&#160; <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/mosul-latest-iraqi-government-forces-recapture-city-heaviest-defeat-a7832186.html" type="external">retake Mosul from Isis</a>, according to intelligence reports revealed exclusively to&#160;The Independent&#160;– a death toll far higher than previous estimates.</p>
<p>Residents of the besieged city were killed by Iraqi ground forces attempting to force out militants, as well as by&#160; <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/isis-baghdadi-mosul-air-strikes-civilians-killed-us-a7836261.html" type="external">air strikes</a>&#160;and&#160; <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/topic/isis" type="external">Isis</a>&#160;fighters, according to Kurdish intelligence services.</p>
<p>Hoshyar Zebari, until recently a senior minister in Baghdad, told&#160;The Independent&#160;that many bodies “are still buried under the rubble”. “The level of human suffering is immense,” he said.</p>
<p>“Kurdish intelligence believes that over 40,000 civilians have been killed as a result of massive firepower used against them, especially by the Federal Police, air strikes and Isis itself,” Mr Zebari&#160;added.</p>
<p>Mr Zebari, a native of Mosul&#160;and top Kurdish official who has&#160;served&#160;as the Iraqi Finance Minister and prior to that Foreign Minister, emphasised in an exclusive interview that the unrelenting artillery bombardment by units of the Federal Police, in practice a heavily armed military unit, had caused immense destruction and loss of life in west Mosul.</p>
<p>The figure given by Mr Zebari for the number of civilians killed in the nine-month siege is far higher than those previously reported, but the intelligence service of the Kurdistan Regional Government has a reputation for being extremely accurate and well-informed. Isis prevented any monitoring of casualties while outside groups have largely focused on air strikes rather than artillery and rocket fire as a cause of civilian deaths. Airwars, one such monitoring group, estimated that attacks may have killed 5,805 non-military personnel in the city between 19 February and 19 June 2017.</p>
<p>Mr Zebari accuses the government in Baghdad, of which he was until recently a member, of not doing enough to relieve the suffering. “Sometimes you might think the government is indifferent to what has happened,” he said. He doubts if Christians, Yazidis, Kurds and other minorities, who have lived in and around Mosul for centuries, will be able to reconcile with the Sunni Arab majority whom they blame for&#160; <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/mosul-sunni-residents-isis-collaboration-persecution-city-liberation-iraq-fighters-killed-massacres-a7839716.html" type="external">killing and raping them</a>. He says some form of federal solution for future governance would be best.</p>
<p>Reading from Kurdish intelligence reports, Mr Zebari says that a high level of corruption among the Iraqi military forces occupying Mosul is undermining security measures to suppress Isis in the aftermath of its defeat. He says that suspect individuals are able to pass through military checkpoints by paying $1,000 (£770) and can bring a vehicle by paying $1,500. He says corruption of this type is particularly rife in the 16th and 9th Iraqi Army Divisions and the Tribal Volunteers (Hashd al-Ashairi), drawn in part from the Shabak minority in the Nineveh Plain.</p>
<p>The ability of Isis militants to remain free or be&#160; <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/isis-mosul-iraq-fighters-killed-thrown-off-buildings-reasons-corruption-revenge-patrick-cockburn-a7845846.html" type="external">released from detention by paying bribes</a>&#160;has led to a change in attitude among people in Mosul whom Mr Zebari says “were previously willing to give information about Isis members to the Iraqi security forces.” They are now wary of doing so, because they see members of Isis, whom they had identified and who had been arrested, returning to the streets capable of exacting revenge on those who informed against them. Several anti-Isis people in Mosul have confirmed to&#160;The Independent&#160;that this is indeed the case and they are frightened of these returnees and Isis “sleeper cells” that continue to exist.</p>
<p>Civilians in Mosul say they do not fault the behaviour towards them of combat units that have borne the brunt of the fighting, such as the Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS), but they are concerned about what to expect from less well-disciplined troops. A belief that Isis fighters and officials detained in Mosul are later able to bribe their way free explains why soldiers, most of whom are not complicit in bribery networks, have summarily executed Isis prisoners, sometimes by&#160; <a href="" type="internal">throwing them off high buildings</a>.</p>
<p>Corruption by the occupying military forces takes different forms, according to Kurdish intelligence information cited by Mr Zebari. Some people are “being charged $100 for removing a body from the rubble and others $500 to reoccupy their house”, where it is still standing. Iraqi army and militia units have always been notorious for exacting fees and protection money from civilians, with trucks moving goods on the roads being a particularly profitable target when they pass through military checkpoints.</p>
<p>Much of the blame for the calamitous level of destruction in west Mosul has been put on air strikes, but it is evident at ground level that a lot of the damage was caused by artillery shells and rockets. This is confirmed by an Amnesty International report issued last week titled At Any Cost: The Civilian Catastrophe in West Mosul, which points to a greater and more indiscriminate use of its firepower by pro-government forces in the final stages of the attack on east Mosul, starting in January 2017 and continuing over the following six months during the assault on west Mosul. It says that Iraqi government and US-led coalition forces “relied heavily upon explosive weapons with wide area effects such as IRAMs (Improvised Rocket Assisted Munitions). With their crude targeting abilities, these weapons wreaked havoc in densely populated west Mosul, where large groups of civilians were trapped in homes or makeshift shelters.” The UN estimated that Mosul had 1.2 million inhabitants at the start of the siege.</p>
<p>In addition, Isis snipers killed great numbers of civilians trying to escape whose departure would have robbed Isis of its “human shields”, though in the event their presence shielded very little. Mr Zebari said that intelligence had even intercepted messages “from Isis fighters to their commanders saying they were tired of killing civilians”.</p>
<p>Mr Zebari says that he is disappointed by the lack of Iraqi government plans to reconstruct Mosul. As Finance Minister in Baghdad until late last year, he had made provision for $500 million in the budget for rebuilding Mosul. He says: “I wanted $500 million upfront to encourage other donors, but now the government has withdrawn from the fund and used the money elsewhere. This was not an encouraging sign.”</p>
<p>Even if there is reconstruction, Mr Zebari, who grew up in Mosul and still has a house in the east of the city (though long confiscated, first by Saddam Hussein and later by Isis), laments that “the soul of Mosul has gone and its iconic buildings are destroyed.” He says he cannot imagine Mosul without the Nabi Yunus mosque (the tomb of Jonah) that Isis blew up as a heretical shrine in 2014 and&#160; <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/mosul-minaret-mosque-iraq-isis-a7814366.html" type="external">the al-Nuri mosque</a>, with its 12th century leaning minaret, which Isis&#160; <a href="" type="internal">destroyed in the last stage of the battle&#160;</a>to prevent its capture by government forces. In addition, there is “an unimaginable level of human suffering with more than one million people displaced.”</p>
<p>He agrees that the government has won a big victory by destroying the Islamic State as a state structure controlling extensive territory. But he warns that Isis has shown that it is capable of “adapting themselves to new realities.” He says that the arms and heavy equipment from three Iraqi army divisions that Isis captured when it seized Mosul in June 2014 has never been fully accounted for. He says that there have been reports that much of it was hidden by Isis in tunnels, gorges and valleys in the arid wastelands of western Iraq and eastern Syria. “This is where they came from when they started their attacks,” he says.</p>
<p>Asked if the self-declared Caliph Abu Baqr al-Baghdadi is&#160; <a href="" type="internal">alive or dead</a>, Mr Zebari said he did not know. But he added that, if Baghdadi was dead, it was strange that no new Caliph or Isis leader had been declared since part of the ideology of such movements is that they do not rely on a single human being. Successors had been quickly announced when Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq, was killed in a US air strike in 2006 and Osama bin Laden was shot dead by US special forces in Pakistan in 2011. Moreover, he says that there “has been no sign of a change in the Isis command and control structure.”</p> | true | 4 | photo dvidshub cc 20 40000 civilians killed devastating battle to160 retake mosul isis according intelligence reports revealed exclusively to160the independent160 death toll far higher previous estimates residents besieged city killed iraqi ground forces attempting force militants well by160 air strikes160and160 isis160fighters according kurdish intelligence services hoshyar zebari recently senior minister baghdad told160the independent160that many bodies still buried rubble level human suffering immense said kurdish intelligence believes 40000 civilians killed result massive firepower used especially federal police air strikes isis mr zebari160added mr zebari native mosul160and top kurdish official has160served160as iraqi finance minister prior foreign minister emphasised exclusive interview unrelenting artillery bombardment units federal police practice heavily armed military unit caused immense destruction loss life west mosul figure given mr zebari number civilians killed ninemonth siege far higher previously reported intelligence service kurdistan regional government reputation extremely accurate wellinformed isis prevented monitoring casualties outside groups largely focused air strikes rather artillery rocket fire cause civilian deaths airwars one monitoring group estimated attacks may killed 5805 nonmilitary personnel city 19 february 19 june 2017 mr zebari accuses government baghdad recently member enough relieve suffering sometimes might think government indifferent happened said doubts christians yazidis kurds minorities lived around mosul centuries able reconcile sunni arab majority blame for160 killing raping says form federal solution future governance would best reading kurdish intelligence reports mr zebari says high level corruption among iraqi military forces occupying mosul undermining security measures suppress isis aftermath defeat says suspect individuals able pass military checkpoints paying 1000 770 bring vehicle paying 1500 says corruption type particularly rife 16th 9th iraqi army divisions tribal volunteers hashd alashairi drawn part shabak minority nineveh plain ability isis militants remain free be160 released detention paying bribes160has led change attitude among people mosul mr zebari says previously willing give information isis members iraqi security forces wary see members isis identified arrested returning streets capable exacting revenge informed several antiisis people mosul confirmed to160the independent160that indeed case frightened returnees isis sleeper cells continue exist civilians mosul say fault behaviour towards combat units borne brunt fighting counterterrorism service cts concerned expect less welldisciplined troops belief isis fighters officials detained mosul later able bribe way free explains soldiers complicit bribery networks summarily executed isis prisoners sometimes by160 throwing high buildings corruption occupying military forces takes different forms according kurdish intelligence information cited mr zebari people charged 100 removing body rubble others 500 reoccupy house still standing iraqi army militia units always notorious exacting fees protection money civilians trucks moving goods roads particularly profitable target pass military checkpoints much blame calamitous level destruction west mosul put air strikes evident ground level lot damage caused artillery shells rockets confirmed amnesty international report issued last week titled cost civilian catastrophe west mosul points greater indiscriminate use firepower progovernment forces final stages attack east mosul starting january 2017 continuing following six months assault west mosul says iraqi government usled coalition forces relied heavily upon explosive weapons wide area effects irams improvised rocket assisted munitions crude targeting abilities weapons wreaked havoc densely populated west mosul large groups civilians trapped homes makeshift shelters un estimated mosul 12 million inhabitants start siege addition isis snipers killed great numbers civilians trying escape whose departure would robbed isis human shields though event presence shielded little mr zebari said intelligence even intercepted messages isis fighters commanders saying tired killing civilians mr zebari says disappointed lack iraqi government plans reconstruct mosul finance minister baghdad late last year made provision 500 million budget rebuilding mosul says wanted 500 million upfront encourage donors government withdrawn fund used money elsewhere encouraging sign even reconstruction mr zebari grew mosul still house east city though long confiscated first saddam hussein later isis laments soul mosul gone iconic buildings destroyed says imagine mosul without nabi yunus mosque tomb jonah isis blew heretical shrine 2014 and160 alnuri mosque 12th century leaning minaret isis160 destroyed last stage battle160to prevent capture government forces addition unimaginable level human suffering one million people displaced agrees government big victory destroying islamic state state structure controlling extensive territory warns isis shown capable adapting new realities says arms heavy equipment three iraqi army divisions isis captured seized mosul june 2014 never fully accounted says reports much hidden isis tunnels gorges valleys arid wastelands western iraq eastern syria came started attacks says asked selfdeclared caliph abu baqr albaghdadi is160 alive dead mr zebari said know added baghdadi dead strange new caliph isis leader declared since part ideology movements rely single human successors quickly announced abu musab alzarqawi leader alqaeda iraq killed us air strike 2006 osama bin laden shot dead us special forces pakistan 2011 moreover says sign change isis command control structure | 769 |
<p>What kind of language can do justice to capturing the horrors of war in any society ravaged by wars? In this article, I would like to take the readers in a journey to ponder two issues: First, what does it mean when language becomes the only “home” to inhabit when all else is lost for displaced and exiled writers (and people)? Second, why writers and intellectuals seek to find an alternative language to capture the horrors of war? I try to unpack these important questions by looking at selected literary works from post-occupation Iraq. Before that, it is important to note that the need for revolutionizing language as a medium in capturing post-war realities is far from unique to the Iraqi context.</p>
<p>If the Canadian novelist, Margret Atwood, is correct to write, “war is what happens when language fails,” then it follows, that the pre-war language used by all sides involved is necessarily inadequate to capture the post-war atrocities as well as come up with a vision for another possible future. As soon as I finished reading Hassan Blasim’s collection of short stories,&#160; <a href="" type="internal">The Corpse Exhibition</a>, when it first came out, I asked myself, how could such ugliness be depicted so beautifully? Is it the language? Is it a language that goes beyond the limited binaries of the beautiful and the ugly? Is it the notion that a great mind is one that is capable of capturing, holding, and expressing two or more opposing ideas at once? Perhaps there are multiple ways to approach these questions. Yet, it seems to me, that the very language with which post-war writers write is critical for unpacking some of these questions. What Balasim does in his use of the graphic, shocking, violent, yet also eloquent and beautiful language is not unique to post-2003 Iraqi literature. Indeed, one could argue that changing, challenging, and revolutionizing language as we know it becomes a necessity in every post-war society to capture the horrors of war. To be from certain places; places where there is an abundance of death and rubble mixed with blood and broken glass, survivors would have likely come as close to death as possible. To look death in the face without dying can make some survivors reconsider the meaning of life, and therefore how to live, how to speak, and&#160;how to do language. It creates a language within the language we already have, or replaces it altogether, as the latter becomes inadequate in capturing the reality on the ground. It can perhaps even change how we “make living”, because the purpose of earning a living is no longer to just stay alive, but rather to learn how to choose our death, amidst all the meaningless and free death surrounding us. To survive death, some of us can start seeing another form of hope in hopelessness, even in the hopelessness and helplessness of language itself. Simone de Beauvoir writes, “if you live long enough, you will see that every victory turns into a defeat.” These words, for me as a war survivor, are not necessarily sad or hopeless. On the contrary, they simply remind me that a time comes when everything falls apart. They remind me that even my body parts will be defeated eventually as one organ fails after another for one reason or another. Sad? Perhaps. But nonetheless it is an awakening call to choose what to do with this short interval between womb and tomb. What to do in this waiting room for death, also known as life.</p>
<p>The ugliness of war for many survivors challenges Friedrich Nietzsche’s worn out wisdom claiming that “that which doesn’t kill us makes us stronger.” Perhaps we should also consider that that which doesn’t kill us can also make us barely alive in a shattered world. Rainer Maria Rilke writes, “shattered people are best represented by bits and pieces.” But to represent shattered people and shattered societies in bits and pieces, one ought to find another language to do so. A language that departs from and revolts against everything we know about language itself. A language that is not only painfully aware of what it is writing about, but also aware of the linguistic luxuries and deceitfulness of those who control thinking and knowledge production; those who make the rules of what a good literary language should look like. In some ways, it is a language that is deeply mindful of what the Swedish poet, Tomas Tranströmer, meant when he declared that “language marches in step with the executioners. Therefore we must get a new language.”</p>
<p>But, one might ask, why does language become such a precious medium for post-war writers and thinkers? One way to further understand this question, I believe, is to take seriously what many displaced and dislocated writers and <a href="" type="internal" />thinkers over the centuries have felt upon losing everything they once held dear, particularly upon losing home. For such writers, and I include myself among them, language becomes the only “home” left to inhabit. The only space that nobody can demolish with bombs or bulldozers. Surviving wars and violence made me realize the power of George Orwell’s words when he writes in&#160;1984, “Nothing was your own except the few cubic centimeters inside your skull.” And it is precisely inside my skull where the only home I ever had remains today. It is precisely there where the language, or the multiple languages that I speak live. They make me hopeful at times, or feeling helpless in multiple languages at others! My skull is my home.</p>
<p>To provide a simple illustration as to how important language as a “home” becomes for displaced and exiled writers, there are countless examples just from Europe after the two devastating world wars. To mention just a few: when asked during an interview with Günter Gaus in 1964 about what remains with her of her lost life in Germany, Hannah Arendt responds, “What remains? The language remains…there is no substitution to the mother tongue.” The Romanian philosopher, Emil Cioran, who was exiled into France and who wrote some of his best philosophical works in French, writes in that second language, “one does not inhabit a country; one inhabits a language. That is our country, our fatherland—and no other.” Theodore Adorno who continued to write in the German language, wrote, “For a man who no longer has a homeland, writing becomes a place to live.”</p>
<p>But still, we may ask, when language becomes the only home to inhabit for post-war writers, why the dire need to “get a new language”? Why the need to do language in the way Balasim and many post-occupation Iraqi writers do it? If language becomes the only “home” when all else is lost, perhaps, like any home, language, too, must be a good representation of our experiences, tastes, joys, sorrows, losses, and pains. It must be a sincere reflection of our past, present and our vision of the future, hence the necessity to come up with a language capable of accounting for everything that happened. In fact, this new language must also be able to equally capture everything that shouldn’t have happened. Ghassan Kanafani writes, “Do you know what the ‘homeland’ is, Safia? The homeland is for all of this not to happen.” So, one might ask, can a post-war writer capture “all of this that should not be happening” without at the same time stretching and breaking the rules, boundaries, and aesthetics of language as we know it, or as critics like to see it? Without turning language into an explosive device with which to combat the explosive reality of the writer?</p>
<p>Reacting to how certain critics insist on divorcing language from experience, the Serbian-American poet, Charles Simic, referring specifically to deconstructionist critics, writes that such critics, “remind me of middle-class parents who do not allow their children to play in the street.” In this sense, a language like that of Balasim and other post-occupation Iraqi writers who understood the unbearable limits of the polite, embellished, and neutral literary language in exposing the frightening gap between experience and language, are not only children playing in the streets. They are authors whose favorite literary hobby is to let their words dance on the dead bodies of the victims; their language is bathed with the blood of the post-war victims, they insist on playing the silent and loud screams of these victims as&#160;&#160;symphonies for the readers to hear. In doing so, they are, in many ways, paying homage for the dead. The English diasporic novelist Zadie Smith writes, “you never know, until it happens, what you will owe the dead.” I find it important for us to reflect on what this statement means for writers writing about the corpses of their fellow humans, whether in their own countries or elsewhere. Indeed, to pay their dues to the dead, to know what they owe the dead, these writers must come up with another language to tell the stories of the dead. Their language is not just powerful words thrown together like dice throws to form intriguing sentences. Instead, each sentence is like a dead body sown with another sentence-another dead body- to produce works to disturb comfortable readers so that they are less numb and desensitized to the daily free death and blood baths of wars and explosions.</p>
<p>The Iraqi novelist, Ahmed Sadaawi, for example, literally and metaphorically revolts against language and storytelling as we know them in his award-winning novel&#160; <a href="" type="internal">Frankenstein in Baghdad</a>, to tell the horrific realities of the occupation and the subsequent sectarian violence in post-2003 Iraq. In many ways, he, like Rilke writes, captures the shattered bodies of Iraqi people in bits and pieces. The novel revolves around a nameless&#160;figure, an Iraqi version of Frankenstein, which is made by a garbage man, Hadi al- ‘Atak, from the remains of the bodies of bombing victims. Frankenstein turns into a living person to avenge the killers of the victims&#160;from whom his body is made. The novel shows how killing begets nothing but more revenge and more killing. Saadawi has been cited as saying that his nameless figure in the novel is not really nameless—it is all of us! In fact, fantasy in his novel, upon further reflection, is not a fantasy at all. Saadawi once shared one of the multiple real accidents that inspired him to write the novel, which was during the peak of sectarian killings and violence in Iraq; a time when hospitals were littered with corpses and body parts of barely identified victims: “One day at a hospital, someone came looking for the corpse of his brother. They told him that all the corpses for the day had been delivered to the families of the victims, except some unidentified body parts from different corpses.” And because it was hard to identify the body parts, they suggested to the man that he takes enough body parts that make a full dead body to bury as his brother! In an interview with&#160; <a href="" type="internal">Al-Monitor</a>, Saadawi said that fantasy is just one of the aspects of this novel, which also includes many social and political dimensions. “Fantasy is not an escape or alienation from reality. It is rather a way to reach greater depth in this reality, which is packed with fantasy as a daily behavioral and rhetorical practice, no matter how organized and logical it looks. We see fantasy as a general headline for the supernatural that prevails over social and popular consciousness. We see it as an inclination to believe illogical explanations or think in a specific spiritual and metaphysical way of salvation from depression and despair,” Saadawi noted. Saadawi sees the “nameless” Frankenstein character as a symbolic figure that is a representation of the Iraqi political reality that surfaced in 2003, which failed to preserve and protect the country. In this sense, this post-war language is indeed a roadmap of the Iraqi cultural and political reality—it tells us so much about its bloody past and present, but it also sounds the alarm bells of what needs to be done, if we want a more tolerable future.</p>
<p>Balasim’s short stories in&#160;The Corpse Exhibition&#160;are no less tragic and shocking than Saadawi’s novel. Yet Balasim extends the horror and the consequences of wars and violence beyond Iraqi borders. He seeks to capture the magnitude of atrocities suffered by both the living and the dead, at home and in exile. Balasim’s shocking language is itself a reflection of the writer’s shock of how the world could become so numb and indifferent towards what has been going on in Iraq. In the Arabic introduction to Balasim’s collection of short stories, ‘Adnan al-Mubarak notes that Balasim uses “his literary knife to cut the wounds of the Iraqi reality open.” In doing so, he presents to Arab readers an aesthetic language with which they have little familiarity. Balasim, al-Mubarak writes, presents a different kind of literary beauty; a beauty derived and distilled from the ugly reality of life and history. The writer is unapologetic and uncompromising in confronting the dilemmas of existence. In this way, writing for Balasim is an explosive act that first and foremost aims at reckoning with the post-war reality. Al-Mubarak also notes that, just as Jean Paul Sartre spent so much time reflecting on the frightening gap between being and nothingness, Balasim spends so much time reflecting on the gap between language and reality (or experience). To situate Balasim’s work within world literature, al-Mubarak reminds us that, for Balasim, the disasters in his country are inseparable from the existential dilemmas and the reality of the human condition at large. Indeed, the recent history of Iraq, with all its bloody struggles, is part and parcel of worldwide atrocities committed against humanity everywhere. The excessive brutality in Balasim’s stories, then, aims at shocking our numbed consciousness and perhaps even forces us to confront our arrogant self-image on the “goodness” of the human nature.</p>
<p>In the first story in this collection,&#160;The Reality and the Record, and I use the original Arabic version of the book, we immediately notice how Balasim blurs the boundaries between the real and the imaginary. What can be told for the record for those seeking asylum or refugee status and what is too horrific to be told and even believed by listeners. The writer presents the character of the driver who confesses that all the sectarian crimes, all the recorded videos of different actors claiming responsibility for these crimes in his story are in fact recorded by the same person—the driver himself, who was kidnapped by a militant group and forced to make these different recordings. They move him from one dark room to another, forcing him to record different videos claiming that he belongs to the treacherous Kurds, the Christian disbelievers, the Saudi terrorists, the Syrian Baathist intelligence forces, the Iranian National Guard, and so on. In each recording, he had a specific script of the crimes and atrocities he had supposedly committed for which he claims responsibly in the name of each group.&#160;&#160;In doing so, Balasim asks readers to expand their imagination to ask how far atrocities and killing can go in a war zone. The horrors of wars are so beyond comprehension that even an attempt to distinguish between the real and the imagined becomes futile. The living experiences of war are so horrific that each survivor, especially those who seek a refugee status in another country, will have two versions of the story: one to be archived by the authorities who will grant them asylum or refugee status, and another, the real story, which remains imprisoned in the chests of the survivors—they live with their real stories quietly and perhaps many real stories die with them. There is a moment in the story where the main character seeking asylum asks authorities bluntly, “I don’t know which details of my story you need exactly to hear to grant me asylum.” In stating so, Balasim is not suggesting that the asylum-seeker’s story is false, but rather, it is so horrific that he only wants to tell enough of it to be eligible for asylum. After all, to retell a story is to relive it. Why relive horrific details if one can avoid it? There is a moment in the story where narrator says that men killing each other is not particularly shocking. Man, he writes, is not the only living creature that kills for the sake of bread, love, or power—all different animals in the wilderness do so, too, in various ways, but man is the only creature that kills for their beliefs. Perhaps doing away with the latter will not solve the problem of men killing each other, it would simply make it more bearable, or perhaps decrease the number of the killings, if we at least stop killing each other for our faiths and beliefs.</p>
<p>In the second story,&#160;The Berlin Truck, inspired by the young Syrian refugees who died by suffocation inside a smuggler’s truck, Balasim once again sheds light on the darkness of the stories of war and exile. It begins with, “this story took place in the dark.” The main character in the story describes how he toiled as a refugee in Turkey to make money that he later pays to one of the smugglers specialized in “smuggling Middle Eastern human cattle to the farms of the West.” The narrator tells us that his need to write this story is for it to become like “a stain of shit or a wild flower on humanity’s sleeping robe.” Surely enough, the story is filled with human pain, hunger, thirst, fighting to remain alive while boxed in the back of a dark truck; smuggled refugees defecating and urinating on each other, and then killing each other. In this story, Balasim shows in the most graphic- yet convincing- way why for many, choosing such a dangerous path becomes the only option. He shows that allowing yourself to be smuggled in such an inhumane way is an option for those who have no other options.</p>
<p>For Balasim the relationship between language and reality or the lived experience of the writer as well as the characters in each story, is so critical that writers can die when unable to find the right language with which to express their reality. Likewise, when reality robs writers of their language and setting, that, too, can lead to death or suicide. In another short story titled,&#160;Ali’s Bag, the narrator, very likely Balasim himself, states, “it often seems to me that I will spend my life writing about the stories and the surreal events I experienced in the secret corridors of exile. It is a cancer from which I know not how to cure myself. I worry that my end will be like that of the Iraqi writer, Khaled al-Hamrani who spent his life writing about the bazar near his home. When the bazar was demolished and replaced with new buildings, al-Hamrani committed suicide leaving behind six collections of short stories—all dealing with the bazar and its inner secrets.” I find this story within a story significant, because it once again shows the intimate relationship between writers and the experiences about which they write. In this case, depriving this Iraqi writer of his setting or his most nourishing literary experience in a sense killed his writing by killing the language he had worked all his life cultivating to write about the inner secrets of the bazar.</p>
<p>There is death and corpses in each of Balasim’s stories. So much that one wonders whether each character in each story is no more than a corpse brought back to life by the writer to have them testify and bear witness to what happened to them before they were killed. The story,&#160;The&#160;Corpse Exhibition, the most horrific of all, poses the big question of what it means when some people master the art of killing. Death and suicide follow the characters in their wakefulness and in their sleep alike. In another powerful story in the collection,&#160;The Nightmares of Carlos Fuentes, Balasim deals with the issue of identity in exile. It is about the struggle of an Iraqi man in the Netherlands whose real name is Salim Abdul-Hussein, but to distance himself from Iraq and what Iraqiness represents in the Western imagination and memory as well in his own violent experience with death and war, Salim decides to adopt another name, Carlos, and to forget all about his past life in Iraq. Yet, Balasim, like other post-war writers, including for example those who wrote during and after the Lebanese civil war, shows to us how escape is impossible when everything that happened will remain alive inside the heads of those who survive. In this way, we are strongly reminded of the well-known poem,&#160;The City, by C.P. Cavafy:</p>
<p>You said: “I’ll go to another country, go to another shore, find another city better than this one. Whatever I try to do is fated to turn out wrong and my heart lies buried as though it were something dead. How long can I let my mind moulder in this place? Wherever I turn, wherever I happen to look, I see the black ruins of my life, here, where I’ve spent so many years, wasted them, destroyed them totally.”</p>
<p>You won’t find a new country, won’t find another shore. This city will always pursue you. You will walk the same streets, grow old in the same neighborhoods, will turn gray in these same houses. You will always end up in this city. Don’t hope for things elsewhere: there is no ship for you, there is no road. As you’ve wasted your life here, in this small corner, you’ve destroyed it everywhere else in the world.</p>
<p>In the story, Balasim shows how all Salim’s attempts to denounce his Iraqi past fail. Salim, who adopts the name Carlos and claims to be a Mexican who had once lived in Iraq because of his father’s job, repeatedly tells those around him how he hates everything about that “tribal, savage, and barbaric country” full of death and blood. In doing so, it is as if he is telling others this script to convince himself about his new identity. It is more about him than about what he wants others to know about Iraq. The narrator tells us that Salim was very happy with his new name, Carlos. He loved the beauty of Amsterdam. He vowed not to speak in Arabic or mingle with Arabs and Iraqis. He loudly says, “enough misery, backwardness, death, shit, urine, and camels!”&#160;But, alas, his Iraqiness and his violent past never leave him alone, and they start to infiltrate his nightmares. His nightmares are in stark contrast with his attempts to become more Dutch than the Dutch by attaining the Dutch citizenship, marrying a Dutch woman, mastering the Dutch language, and so on. He often dreamt of young children in the old neighborhood where he was born and raised, chasing him and mocking his new name and identity in exile. Moreover, in his dreams and nightmares, Carlos was unable to speak in Dutch, despite having mastered the language. On one nightmare Carlos gets so frustrated with his “old Salim” identity that he starts shooting to kill his old self, but all the bullets miss Salim who jumps from the window of the high-rise building where Carlos lived with his Dutch wife. The wife is awoken by a scream. As she looks out the window, she sees Carlos dead on the pavement, with a pond of blood around his head. The narrator closes the story with: “Perhaps Fuentes will forgive the Dutch newspapers for their titles reading ‘an Iraqi man commits suicide by throwing himself from the sixth floor,’ instead of writing ‘a Dutch man commits suicide,’ but he will never forgive his siblings who returned his dead body to be buried in a cemetery in Najaf.” In this way, Balasim’s characters in exile are cursed by the home they lost wherever they go. Whatever methods and ways they use to forget, to discard, or wash off home form their memories, it always comes back not only to haunt them, but to influence their understanding of their new surroundings and lives in a way that the influence itself can be deadly. It resembles how the Austrian poet, Ingeborg Bachmann, puts it when she writes, “Once one has survived something then survival itself interferes with understanding, and you don’t even know which lives came before and which is your life of today, you even mix up your own lives.” It is perhaps ironic that Bachmann herself never survived this interference of the past with her present as she herself committed suicide in 1973 at the age of 47!</p>
<p>In another story,&#160;The Bad Habit of Undressing, Balasim’s character in exile struggles with what seems to be an imaginary wolf in his apartment; a wolf that chases him around everywhere and interferes with his ability to go on with his daily life. Everywhere he goes in his apartment, he finds this wolf lurking to attack him. In this way, Balasim tries to show that the horrors of what was left behind, are like a wolf that never leaves survivors alone. Like Bachmann’s notion, this wolf interferes with everything that goes on in the life of the exiled person, and may even lead to his demise.</p>
<p>In yet another story, similar to the previous one, but presented in a more comic, or rather, tragi-comic way, Balasim shows how “surviving” the atrocities of war can produce a type of person who is permanently cursed by their inability to subscribe to collective human ways of thinking, doing, sensing, and expressing in this world. The story is built around Albert Camus’ notion that the body not the ideas is what needs to be preserved or protected. For Balasim, doing so entails that one ceases to use collective and agreed upon human expressions and reactions that unite us in fear or in times of joy. It is to challenge these expressions at an individual level. The story titled&#160;The Inauspicious Smile, presents to us a character that is cursed by his inability to rid himself of a smile that is permanently printed on his face. The smile becomes particularly a big source of trouble and misfortune when the character is in situations where smiling is the last expected reaction, like watching a sad movie about death and dying, attending a funeral, or mistakenly entering a neo-Nazi bar in Finland, where the last thing they want to see is a smiling Middle Eastern, Semitic, Arab face.</p>
<p>In the end, I see that one important message that Balasim tries to convey in his language, particularly about death and exile, is to make us rethink the privileged, misleading, and worn out notion that the world is one little happy global village. The author’s stories and characters, instead, draw attention to the millions of lost lives for whom this world is not a village, for whom staying is not possible, mobility is almost impossible, and if they succeed in moving after paying a very dear price to get to “Camelot”, the destroyed villages they left behind will continue chasing them in their daydreams and nightmares. Balasim clearly articulates this message in a story titled&#160;Sun and Paradise. The story is about a village most of whose residents leave as a result of war, violence, and death practices committed by its new rulers. The story ends with the narrator telling us, “One morning, as I was sitting on a branch of an apple tree in Sawsan’s mother’s house, an idea crossed my mind and preoccupied my waiting time: what if the paradise was this abandoned village?” In this way, the writer is not necessarily negating the possibility of finding paradise elsewhere, but in fact, reminding us that the paradise we are searching for may well be the village we left burning behind us, as we see in Cavafy’s poem cited earlier.</p>
<p>Balasim’s language, despite its shocking style, remains deeply poetic and one full of mourning for human losses in Iraq and the world. Whether the author succeeds in finding another language to convey the post-war horrors will remain an open question for debate. But, for me, the author, like many writers and intellectuals from post-war societies, still poetically reminds us that pre-war language is itself a cause and even a trophy of war and of the occupiers. He, therefore, asks also poetically, as Pablo Neruda once asked, “In what language does rain fall over tormented cities?” In posing this poetic question, Neruda and many writers perhaps are being mindful to acknowledge that, regardless of how we use post-war language, language will remain inadequate to capture so many complex atrocities, pains, and human sufferings. That there are always silences that will remain uncapturable and unspeakable. Rumi knew the limits of language centuries before when he wrote:</p>
<p>This is how it always is when I finish a poem. A great silence comes over me, and I wonder why I ever thought to use language!</p>
<p>Perhaps asking for a perfect language to capture what happened is akin to asking for all human atrocities to vanish at a blink of an eye. Orwell writes in&#160;1984, “the Revolution will be complete when the language is perfect.” And so, one might ask, how can a species so imperfect and so imprecise as us come up with a perfect language?</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | true | 4 | kind language justice capturing horrors war society ravaged wars article would like take readers journey ponder two issues first mean language becomes home inhabit else lost displaced exiled writers people second writers intellectuals seek find alternative language capture horrors war try unpack important questions looking selected literary works postoccupation iraq important note need revolutionizing language medium capturing postwar realities far unique iraqi context canadian novelist margret atwood correct write war happens language fails follows prewar language used sides involved necessarily inadequate capture postwar atrocities well come vision another possible future soon finished reading hassan blasims collection short stories160 corpse exhibition first came asked could ugliness depicted beautifully language language goes beyond limited binaries beautiful ugly notion great mind one capable capturing holding expressing two opposing ideas perhaps multiple ways approach questions yet seems language postwar writers write critical unpacking questions balasim use graphic shocking violent yet also eloquent beautiful language unique post2003 iraqi literature indeed one could argue changing challenging revolutionizing language know becomes necessity every postwar society capture horrors war certain places places abundance death rubble mixed blood broken glass survivors would likely come close death possible look death face without dying make survivors reconsider meaning life therefore live speak and160how language creates language within language already replaces altogether latter becomes inadequate capturing reality ground perhaps even change make living purpose earning living longer stay alive rather learn choose death amidst meaningless free death surrounding us survive death us start seeing another form hope hopelessness even hopelessness helplessness language simone de beauvoir writes live long enough see every victory turns defeat words war survivor necessarily sad hopeless contrary simply remind time comes everything falls apart remind even body parts defeated eventually one organ fails another one reason another sad perhaps nonetheless awakening call choose short interval womb tomb waiting room death also known life ugliness war many survivors challenges friedrich nietzsches worn wisdom claiming doesnt kill us makes us stronger perhaps also consider doesnt kill us also make us barely alive shattered world rainer maria rilke writes shattered people best represented bits pieces represent shattered people shattered societies bits pieces one ought find another language language departs revolts everything know language language painfully aware writing also aware linguistic luxuries deceitfulness control thinking knowledge production make rules good literary language look like ways language deeply mindful swedish poet tomas tranströmer meant declared language marches step executioners therefore must get new language one might ask language become precious medium postwar writers thinkers one way understand question believe take seriously many displaced dislocated writers thinkers centuries felt upon losing everything held dear particularly upon losing home writers include among language becomes home left inhabit space nobody demolish bombs bulldozers surviving wars violence made realize power george orwells words writes in1601984 nothing except cubic centimeters inside skull precisely inside skull home ever remains today precisely language multiple languages speak live make hopeful times feeling helpless multiple languages others skull home provide simple illustration important language home becomes displaced exiled writers countless examples europe two devastating world wars mention asked interview günter gaus 1964 remains lost life germany hannah arendt responds remains language remainsthere substitution mother tongue romanian philosopher emil cioran exiled france wrote best philosophical works french writes second language one inhabit country one inhabits language country fatherlandand theodore adorno continued write german language wrote man longer homeland writing becomes place live still may ask language becomes home inhabit postwar writers dire need get new language need language way balasim many postoccupation iraqi writers language becomes home else lost perhaps like home language must good representation experiences tastes joys sorrows losses pains must sincere reflection past present vision future hence necessity come language capable accounting everything happened fact new language must also able equally capture everything shouldnt happened ghassan kanafani writes know homeland safia homeland happen one might ask postwar writer capture happening without time stretching breaking rules boundaries aesthetics language know critics like see without turning language explosive device combat explosive reality writer reacting certain critics insist divorcing language experience serbianamerican poet charles simic referring specifically deconstructionist critics writes critics remind middleclass parents allow children play street sense language like balasim postoccupation iraqi writers understood unbearable limits polite embellished neutral literary language exposing frightening gap experience language children playing streets authors whose favorite literary hobby let words dance dead bodies victims language bathed blood postwar victims insist playing silent loud screams victims as160160symphonies readers hear many ways paying homage dead english diasporic novelist zadie smith writes never know happens owe dead find important us reflect statement means writers writing corpses fellow humans whether countries elsewhere indeed pay dues dead know owe dead writers must come another language tell stories dead language powerful words thrown together like dice throws form intriguing sentences instead sentence like dead body sown another sentenceanother dead body produce works disturb comfortable readers less numb desensitized daily free death blood baths wars explosions iraqi novelist ahmed sadaawi example literally metaphorically revolts language storytelling know awardwinning novel160 frankenstein baghdad tell horrific realities occupation subsequent sectarian violence post2003 iraq many ways like rilke writes captures shattered bodies iraqi people bits pieces novel revolves around nameless160figure iraqi version frankenstein made garbage man hadi al atak remains bodies bombing victims frankenstein turns living person avenge killers victims160from body made novel shows killing begets nothing revenge killing saadawi cited saying nameless figure novel really namelessit us fact fantasy novel upon reflection fantasy saadawi shared one multiple real accidents inspired write novel peak sectarian killings violence iraq time hospitals littered corpses body parts barely identified victims one day hospital someone came looking corpse brother told corpses day delivered families victims except unidentified body parts different corpses hard identify body parts suggested man takes enough body parts make full dead body bury brother interview with160 almonitor saadawi said fantasy one aspects novel also includes many social political dimensions fantasy escape alienation reality rather way reach greater depth reality packed fantasy daily behavioral rhetorical practice matter organized logical looks see fantasy general headline supernatural prevails social popular consciousness see inclination believe illogical explanations think specific spiritual metaphysical way salvation depression despair saadawi noted saadawi sees nameless frankenstein character symbolic figure representation iraqi political reality surfaced 2003 failed preserve protect country sense postwar language indeed roadmap iraqi cultural political realityit tells us much bloody past present also sounds alarm bells needs done want tolerable future balasims short stories in160the corpse exhibition160are less tragic shocking saadawis novel yet balasim extends horror consequences wars violence beyond iraqi borders seeks capture magnitude atrocities suffered living dead home exile balasims shocking language reflection writers shock world could become numb indifferent towards going iraq arabic introduction balasims collection short stories adnan almubarak notes balasim uses literary knife cut wounds iraqi reality open presents arab readers aesthetic language little familiarity balasim almubarak writes presents different kind literary beauty beauty derived distilled ugly reality life history writer unapologetic uncompromising confronting dilemmas existence way writing balasim explosive act first foremost aims reckoning postwar reality almubarak also notes jean paul sartre spent much time reflecting frightening gap nothingness balasim spends much time reflecting gap language reality experience situate balasims work within world literature almubarak reminds us balasim disasters country inseparable existential dilemmas reality human condition large indeed recent history iraq bloody struggles part parcel worldwide atrocities committed humanity everywhere excessive brutality balasims stories aims shocking numbed consciousness perhaps even forces us confront arrogant selfimage goodness human nature first story collection160the reality record use original arabic version book immediately notice balasim blurs boundaries real imaginary told record seeking asylum refugee status horrific told even believed listeners writer presents character driver confesses sectarian crimes recorded videos different actors claiming responsibility crimes story fact recorded personthe driver kidnapped militant group forced make different recordings move one dark room another forcing record different videos claiming belongs treacherous kurds christian disbelievers saudi terrorists syrian baathist intelligence forces iranian national guard recording specific script crimes atrocities supposedly committed claims responsibly name group160160in balasim asks readers expand imagination ask far atrocities killing go war zone horrors wars beyond comprehension even attempt distinguish real imagined becomes futile living experiences war horrific survivor especially seek refugee status another country two versions story one archived authorities grant asylum refugee status another real story remains imprisoned chests survivorsthey live real stories quietly perhaps many real stories die moment story main character seeking asylum asks authorities bluntly dont know details story need exactly hear grant asylum stating balasim suggesting asylumseekers story false rather horrific wants tell enough eligible asylum retell story relive relive horrific details one avoid moment story narrator says men killing particularly shocking man writes living creature kills sake bread love powerall different animals wilderness various ways man creature kills beliefs perhaps away latter solve problem men killing would simply make bearable perhaps decrease number killings least stop killing faiths beliefs second story160the berlin truck inspired young syrian refugees died suffocation inside smugglers truck balasim sheds light darkness stories war exile begins story took place dark main character story describes toiled refugee turkey make money later pays one smugglers specialized smuggling middle eastern human cattle farms west narrator tells us need write story become like stain shit wild flower humanitys sleeping robe surely enough story filled human pain hunger thirst fighting remain alive boxed back dark truck smuggled refugees defecating urinating killing story balasim shows graphic yet convincing way many choosing dangerous path becomes option shows allowing smuggled inhumane way option options balasim relationship language reality lived experience writer well characters story critical writers die unable find right language express reality likewise reality robs writers language setting lead death suicide another short story titled160alis bag narrator likely balasim states often seems spend life writing stories surreal events experienced secret corridors exile cancer know cure worry end like iraqi writer khaled alhamrani spent life writing bazar near home bazar demolished replaced new buildings alhamrani committed suicide leaving behind six collections short storiesall dealing bazar inner secrets find story within story significant shows intimate relationship writers experiences write case depriving iraqi writer setting nourishing literary experience sense killed writing killing language worked life cultivating write inner secrets bazar death corpses balasims stories much one wonders whether character story corpse brought back life writer testify bear witness happened killed story160the160corpse exhibition horrific poses big question means people master art killing death suicide follow characters wakefulness sleep alike another powerful story collection160the nightmares carlos fuentes balasim deals issue identity exile struggle iraqi man netherlands whose real name salim abdulhussein distance iraq iraqiness represents western imagination memory well violent experience death war salim decides adopt another name carlos forget past life iraq yet balasim like postwar writers including example wrote lebanese civil war shows us escape impossible everything happened remain alive inside heads survive way strongly reminded wellknown poem160the city cp cavafy said ill go another country go another shore find another city better one whatever try fated turn wrong heart lies buried though something dead long let mind moulder place wherever turn wherever happen look see black ruins life ive spent many years wasted destroyed totally wont find new country wont find another shore city always pursue walk streets grow old neighborhoods turn gray houses always end city dont hope things elsewhere ship road youve wasted life small corner youve destroyed everywhere else world story balasim shows salims attempts denounce iraqi past fail salim adopts name carlos claims mexican lived iraq fathers job repeatedly tells around hates everything tribal savage barbaric country full death blood telling others script convince new identity wants others know iraq narrator tells us salim happy new name carlos loved beauty amsterdam vowed speak arabic mingle arabs iraqis loudly says enough misery backwardness death shit urine camels160but alas iraqiness violent past never leave alone start infiltrate nightmares nightmares stark contrast attempts become dutch dutch attaining dutch citizenship marrying dutch woman mastering dutch language often dreamt young children old neighborhood born raised chasing mocking new name identity exile moreover dreams nightmares carlos unable speak dutch despite mastered language one nightmare carlos gets frustrated old salim identity starts shooting kill old self bullets miss salim jumps window highrise building carlos lived dutch wife wife awoken scream looks window sees carlos dead pavement pond blood around head narrator closes story perhaps fuentes forgive dutch newspapers titles reading iraqi man commits suicide throwing sixth floor instead writing dutch man commits suicide never forgive siblings returned dead body buried cemetery najaf way balasims characters exile cursed home lost wherever go whatever methods ways use forget discard wash home form memories always comes back haunt influence understanding new surroundings lives way influence deadly resembles austrian poet ingeborg bachmann puts writes one survived something survival interferes understanding dont even know lives came life today even mix lives perhaps ironic bachmann never survived interference past present committed suicide 1973 age 47 another story160the bad habit undressing balasims character exile struggles seems imaginary wolf apartment wolf chases around everywhere interferes ability go daily life everywhere goes apartment finds wolf lurking attack way balasim tries show horrors left behind like wolf never leaves survivors alone like bachmanns notion wolf interferes everything goes life exiled person may even lead demise yet another story similar previous one presented comic rather tragicomic way balasim shows surviving atrocities war produce type person permanently cursed inability subscribe collective human ways thinking sensing expressing world story built around albert camus notion body ideas needs preserved protected balasim entails one ceases use collective agreed upon human expressions reactions unite us fear times joy challenge expressions individual level story titled160the inauspicious smile presents us character cursed inability rid smile permanently printed face smile becomes particularly big source trouble misfortune character situations smiling last expected reaction like watching sad movie death dying attending funeral mistakenly entering neonazi bar finland last thing want see smiling middle eastern semitic arab face end see one important message balasim tries convey language particularly death exile make us rethink privileged misleading worn notion world one little happy global village authors stories characters instead draw attention millions lost lives world village staying possible mobility almost impossible succeed moving paying dear price get camelot destroyed villages left behind continue chasing daydreams nightmares balasim clearly articulates message story titled160sun paradise story village whose residents leave result war violence death practices committed new rulers story ends narrator telling us one morning sitting branch apple tree sawsans mothers house idea crossed mind preoccupied waiting time paradise abandoned village way writer necessarily negating possibility finding paradise elsewhere fact reminding us paradise searching may well village left burning behind us see cavafys poem cited earlier balasims language despite shocking style remains deeply poetic one full mourning human losses iraq world whether author succeeds finding another language convey postwar horrors remain open question debate author like many writers intellectuals postwar societies still poetically reminds us prewar language cause even trophy war occupiers therefore asks also poetically pablo neruda asked language rain fall tormented cities posing poetic question neruda many writers perhaps mindful acknowledge regardless use postwar language language remain inadequate capture many complex atrocities pains human sufferings always silences remain uncapturable unspeakable rumi knew limits language centuries wrote always finish poem great silence comes wonder ever thought use language perhaps asking perfect language capture happened akin asking human atrocities vanish blink eye orwell writes in1601984 revolution complete language perfect one might ask species imperfect imprecise us come perfect language 160 | 2,551 |
<p>On January 4th, Guillaume Long resigned his position as Ecuador’s permanent representative to the United Nations in Geneva. His letter of resignation, translated below, eloquently expresses dismay with Ecuador’s new president, Lenin Moreno, who is presently attempting an audacious power grab with the support of Ecuador’s private and public media. Background on Moreno’s betrayal of the progressive platform on which he won the presidency is provided in previous articles available on CounterPunch ( <a href="" type="internal">here</a> and <a href="" type="internal">here</a>).</p>
<p>***</p>
<p>I accepted to be your government’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations to contribute to the valuable efforts that Ecuador has been making in the multilateral sphere. I am convinced that one of Ecuador’s most important advances in recent years has been its role in the decision-making processes that affect the future of humanity. Ecuador has become a bulwark of progressive positions on human rights and the environment. It seemed essential, for example, to continue fighting for a treaty on transnational corporations and human rights. This universal cause, supported by numerous states and non-governmental organizations, and led by Ecuador at the United Nations, has been advancing steadily despite boycotts and threats by powerful interests. For me personally, it has been an honor and a great responsibility to chair the working group in charge of elaborating a binding instrument that seeks to abolish corporate impunity for human rights abuses.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, I have come to the conclusion that I cannot continue to represent a government that commits the type of abuses that I have witnessed over the past few months. I refuse to be complicit with authoritarianism, however poorly disguised behind a fictitious “spirit of dialogue”. It is therefore with great regret and concern that I am compelled to resign from my position as Permanent Representative of Ecuador to the United Nations in Geneva.</p>
<p>This week marks the beginning of the campaign for the referendum you decreed unilaterally: an election that is not only unconstitutional, but a flagrant attack on democracy and the rule of law in Ecuador. I truly believe in the use of direct democracy to allow the people to decide on major changes in the country’s political future. Precisely because of the transcendence of this mechanism, it is essential not to dishonor it. Today we are facing a referendum that seeks to change the constitution without passing through the basic requirements mandated by our Constitution. The recordings that have emerged over the last few days, featuring discussions that took place during meetings amongst members of the Constitutional Court, reveal that there was a plot to prevent the Court from ruling on the unconstitutionality of at least two questions you presented. Your government’s disingenuous interpretation of the law, leading to the decision to bypass the Constitutional Court and call elections by decree, is neither a necessary evil, nor a minor procedural slip. It’s a serious assault on democracy and the rule of the law.&#160; The brazen manipulation of the Constitutional Court and the National Electoral Council is in fact an ominous power grab that imperils the future of our country.</p>
<p>Along the same lines, the proposal to eliminate the Council for Citizen Participation and Social Control (CPCCS) means the establishment of a transitional council appointed by you. This council will in turn name Ecuador’s judicial authorities and those responsible for state audit mechanisms and controls. Is this intended to enhance your power to persecute your political enemies? Whatever your political motivation may be, there are times when we must have the wisdom to overcome political acrimony and act to protect the future of our democratic institutions. This is one of those times, Mr. President, and I urge you to reflect upon that.</p>
<p>If your intention regarding the CPCCS is alarming from the standpoint of preserving the essential freedom of our citizens, our liberty, the proposal to eliminate the law on land speculation tax is disturbing from the perspective of equality, a cornerstone of Ecuador’s social contract. No politically progressive person can endorse a proposal to erase one of the most important laws of the Citizens’ Revolution. If you really want to reform the law, that is what the National Assembly is for – and where you now have the votes of the “ex opposition” at your disposal. But it seems that you have yielded to the demand of the banking and other oligarchic sectors who will settle for nothing less than a referendum to banish, for good, any inconvenient regulation on land and real estate. Such is the urgency of the elites to abolish this law, that you are cynically calling on citizens to vote in favour of their own subjugation to the forces of speculative capital. The Ecuadorian Left cannot be complicit to this manipulative and reactionary deed.</p>
<p>I am also concerned that, lacking any initiative of its own over these past months, your government has devoted itself almost exclusively to disparaging the works of its predecessor – to discrediting one of the most interesting and awe-inspiring political processes in the history of Latin America. It is easy to focus on mistakes that were made during an intense decade of public works. Surprisingly, however, your government has also sought to tarnish its most noteworthy successes, including one of the most remarkable achievements of the Citizens’ Revolution: the economic policies that allowed Ecuador to overcome the great external difficulties of 2015-2016.</p>
<p>This is not merely a personal tale of disloyalty, but rather the betrayal of an entire political project, one that exposed neoliberalism as an unjust and unwise pathway to development. Correa’s government demonstrated that an anti-austerity, post-neoliberal approach reaps benefits both when times are fair and when conditions are pressing. But as you have clearly understood, this historical example must be erased from the memory of the people. The Citizens’ Revolution must be destroyed, so that the ideological fatalism encompassed in Thatcher’s phrase that “there is no alternative” to austerity, inequality, and the individualism of neoliberal dogma, can be imposed once again. &#160;As for those who proudly “rode with Correa” but now try to annihilate his legacy, it will be their responsibility – and I fear, penitence – to eventually reach their own verdict.</p>
<p>To disguise what is really at stake, it has been claimed that those of us who are worried about the direction of your government never intended to allow the new government to govern, that we have not been able to leave office in a dignified way, that we reject self-criticism, or simply that we have fallen prey to a cult of personality. If only this was about self-criticism. We certainly made many mistakes. Without a doubt, fighting the structural corruption that has afflicted Ecuador was a priority. It was vital to generate a more vigorous, autonomous, and ideologically coherent political movement. It was important to rebuild relations with certain social sectors that had moved away from the Citizens’ Revolution, more due to misunderstandings than fundamental political differences. It was necessary to improve government intervention in many areas and evaluate and adjust public policy.</p>
<p>Painfully, with the passing of time, we see that you are not seeking to improve or correct the errors of the Citizens’ Revolution. Your goal is to bury it. Each blow is calculated: weekly scandals carefully contrived by sinister spin doctors so that, little by little, behind the smokescreen of a contrived spirit of conciliation, you try to erode public support for the Citizens’ Revolution.</p>
<p>Mr. President, the modest victories you have achieved over the last few months are pyrrhic. After the referendum, when you have played out the role that has been assigned to you by the elites, the various political factions that temporarily support you will start devouring each other in their quest for power. History will not absolve you and I am confident that Ecuadorians will awake from their momentary confusion to discover that they have been deceived.</p>
<p>The honor of my life has been to serve Ecuador, to work with dedication for a progressive political project, without losing sight that our process responded to a historical context with specific conditions and circumstances. Seeing that your government seeks a return to a more pre-modern state, to backroom deals with elites, to bowing before plutocratic sectors and foreign powers, to first ladies delivering toys to poor children at Christmas, I realize that I must end my participation as a civil servant.</p>
<p>One’s conscience is the most precious asset. Mine compels me to resign.</p>
<p>Sincerely,</p>
<p>Guillaume Long</p>
<p>Translated for CounterPunch by Joe Emerberger.</p> | true | 4 | january 4th guillaume long resigned position ecuadors permanent representative united nations geneva letter resignation translated eloquently expresses dismay ecuadors new president lenin moreno presently attempting audacious power grab support ecuadors private public media background morenos betrayal progressive platform presidency provided previous articles available counterpunch accepted governments permanent representative united nations contribute valuable efforts ecuador making multilateral sphere convinced one ecuadors important advances recent years role decisionmaking processes affect future humanity ecuador become bulwark progressive positions human rights environment seemed essential example continue fighting treaty transnational corporations human rights universal cause supported numerous states nongovernmental organizations led ecuador united nations advancing steadily despite boycotts threats powerful interests personally honor great responsibility chair working group charge elaborating binding instrument seeks abolish corporate impunity human rights abuses unfortunately come conclusion continue represent government commits type abuses witnessed past months refuse complicit authoritarianism however poorly disguised behind fictitious spirit dialogue therefore great regret concern compelled resign position permanent representative ecuador united nations geneva week marks beginning campaign referendum decreed unilaterally election unconstitutional flagrant attack democracy rule law ecuador truly believe use direct democracy allow people decide major changes countrys political future precisely transcendence mechanism essential dishonor today facing referendum seeks change constitution without passing basic requirements mandated constitution recordings emerged last days featuring discussions took place meetings amongst members constitutional court reveal plot prevent court ruling unconstitutionality least two questions presented governments disingenuous interpretation law leading decision bypass constitutional court call elections decree neither necessary evil minor procedural slip serious assault democracy rule law160 brazen manipulation constitutional court national electoral council fact ominous power grab imperils future country along lines proposal eliminate council citizen participation social control cpccs means establishment transitional council appointed council turn name ecuadors judicial authorities responsible state audit mechanisms controls intended enhance power persecute political enemies whatever political motivation may times must wisdom overcome political acrimony act protect future democratic institutions one times mr president urge reflect upon intention regarding cpccs alarming standpoint preserving essential freedom citizens liberty proposal eliminate law land speculation tax disturbing perspective equality cornerstone ecuadors social contract politically progressive person endorse proposal erase one important laws citizens revolution really want reform law national assembly votes ex opposition disposal seems yielded demand banking oligarchic sectors settle nothing less referendum banish good inconvenient regulation land real estate urgency elites abolish law cynically calling citizens vote favour subjugation forces speculative capital ecuadorian left complicit manipulative reactionary deed also concerned lacking initiative past months government devoted almost exclusively disparaging works predecessor discrediting one interesting aweinspiring political processes history latin america easy focus mistakes made intense decade public works surprisingly however government also sought tarnish noteworthy successes including one remarkable achievements citizens revolution economic policies allowed ecuador overcome great external difficulties 20152016 merely personal tale disloyalty rather betrayal entire political project one exposed neoliberalism unjust unwise pathway development correas government demonstrated antiausterity postneoliberal approach reaps benefits times fair conditions pressing clearly understood historical example must erased memory people citizens revolution must destroyed ideological fatalism encompassed thatchers phrase alternative austerity inequality individualism neoliberal dogma imposed 160as proudly rode correa try annihilate legacy responsibility fear penitence eventually reach verdict disguise really stake claimed us worried direction government never intended allow new government govern able leave office dignified way reject selfcriticism simply fallen prey cult personality selfcriticism certainly made many mistakes without doubt fighting structural corruption afflicted ecuador priority vital generate vigorous autonomous ideologically coherent political movement important rebuild relations certain social sectors moved away citizens revolution due misunderstandings fundamental political differences necessary improve government intervention many areas evaluate adjust public policy painfully passing time see seeking improve correct errors citizens revolution goal bury blow calculated weekly scandals carefully contrived sinister spin doctors little little behind smokescreen contrived spirit conciliation try erode public support citizens revolution mr president modest victories achieved last months pyrrhic referendum played role assigned elites various political factions temporarily support start devouring quest power history absolve confident ecuadorians awake momentary confusion discover deceived honor life serve ecuador work dedication progressive political project without losing sight process responded historical context specific conditions circumstances seeing government seeks return premodern state backroom deals elites bowing plutocratic sectors foreign powers first ladies delivering toys poor children christmas realize must end participation civil servant ones conscience precious asset mine compels resign sincerely guillaume long translated counterpunch joe emerberger | 713 |
<p>As the continuities and disjunctures between the Bush and Obama administrations come into focus it becomes increasingly clear that while Obama’s domestic agenda has some identifiable breaks with Bush’s, at its core, the new administration remains committed to staying the course of American militarization. Now we have an articulate, nuanced president who supports elements of progressive domestic policies, can even comfortably say the phrase LGBT in public speeches, while funding military programs at alarming levels and continuing the Bush administration’s military and intelligence invasion of what used to be civilian life.</p>
<p>The latest manifestation of this continuity came last week when Dennis C. Blair, Director of National Intelligence, announced plans to transform the Pat Roberts Intelligence Scholars Program (PRISP) from a pilot project into a permanent budget item. Blair also announced plans to establish a “Reserve Officers’ Training Corps” to train unidentified future intelligence officers in US college classrooms. Like students receiving PRISP funds, the identities of students participating in these programs would not be known to professors, university administrators or fellow students—in effect, these future intelligence analysts and agents would conduct their first covert missions in our university classrooms.</p>
<p>Four years ago I wrote a series of CounterPunch exposés on the Pat Roberts Intelligence Scholars Program (PRISP), then a pilot project funded under section 318 of the 2004 Intelligence Authorization Act. PRISP links undergraduate and graduate students with US security and intelligence agencies like the NSA or CIA, and unannounced to universities, professors or fellow-students, PRISP-students enter American university campuses, classrooms, laboratories and professor’s offices without disclosing links to these agencies. PRISP was originally conceived by anthropologist Felix Moos, long a proponent of using anthropological knowledge in waging of counterinsurgency campaigns—an area of growing interest to the Obama administration as it prepares for prolonged soft power counterinsurgency campaigns in Afghanistan.</p>
<p>It seems likely that many of the affected disciplines will offer little resistance and some may quickly warm to announcements of any new funding stream. Traditionally, the disciplines of political science, history or area specialists coming from the humanities have seldom resisted such developments; but for disciplines like anthropology, these undisclosed intelligence-linked programs present devastating ethical and practical problems, as the non-discloser of funding and links to intelligence agencies flies in the face of the basic ethical principles of the discipline. But even without the problems for individual disciplinary ethics codes, the presence of these undisclosed secret sharers in our classrooms betrays fundamental trusts that lie at the core of honest academic endeavors.</p>
<p>While the National Intelligence Director’s move to make PRISP a permanent budget item will damage the academic freedom and integrity of American universities, it will likely be met by the open arms of university administrators facing crashed university endowments and dwindling budgets. That some administrators would so easily accommodate themselves and their institutional integrity for the promise of funds should be of little surprise, but I fear that the combined forces of the current economic collapse conjoined with President Obama’s ability to bring a new liberal credibility to the this warmed-over Bush era project will induce many faculty and students to seriously consider participating in these programs. Times are hard and as funds get scarce it will be increasingly difficult for many to say no.</p>
<p>This development is just the latest installment in on ongoing efforts to increase the militarization of American higher education. None of this should be surprising in a nation that alone spends about 48% of the planet’s military budget. In the social sciences, these shifts away from broad funding sources designed to create independent knowledgeable scholars, to those now requiring indentured servitude has been a long time coming.</p>
<p>Back in the early 1990s when the National Security Education Program (NSEP) was first introduced it was widely condemned by professional associations like the Middle East Studies Association and the African Studies Association, Latin American Studies Association for blurring the lines between independent scholarship raised by NSEP’s its requirements that program participants later seek employment in governmental agencies. But with the depressed economy, plummeting endowment funds at universities and foundations, the difficult academic job market, and scarce academic funding sources, I fear that professional associations’ reactions against these developments will be muted. As pilot programs, PRISP and the Intelligence Community Scholars Programs made scarce funds available to students, as traditional non-payback funding programs were being cut. Programs like PRISP that seek to tie young scholars to agencies like CIA early in their career as a means of bringing new ideas and skills to these agencies will fail in meeting the claimed goal of getting these agencies to think in new ways because such ties to institutional culture early in student-agent careers will increase the influence of agency cultural groupthink while diminishing the impact of academic culture. If the Obama administration really wants to improve governmental agencies’ knowledge of and approaches to the world, they need to increase funding to a broad range of educational funding programs that do not encumber or limit the range of knowledge in the ways that programs like PRISP do.</p>
<p>This move to establish PRISP as a permanent budgetary item is the sort of program that likely will speed through congress—which can then claim it is both supporting education funding, and military and intelligence sectors, with a bonus feel-good work-ethic mandate thrown-in by requiring students to payback their funds through required future governmental service. But this push will be done without an outside assessment of PRISP as pilot program. PRISP needs an independent assessment of what it has accomplished—including an assessment of the impact of the predatory penalties facing former PRISP students who come to realize that they do not wish to fulfill their commitments to work for these agencies upon graduation. Because of the lack of transparency surrounding PRISP, we have little idea what is really going on with the program. Last year I was able to identify one social science recipient of PRISP funds who explained to me that PRISP had been such a failure in finding social scientists to fund that PRISP had sought out this person and provided them with funds for work that was already underway just to spend-down the PRISP budget. Given these recent difficulties with the program, I wonder if the current expansion of PRISP is a supply-side effort to troll the pool of increasingly underfunded and debt-carrying desperate young scholars with few other funding options.</p>
<p>Professional associations like the American Association of University Professors, the American Psychological Association and the American Anthropological Association need to speak out in opposition of the permanent establishment of PRISP. PRISP risks further blurring already hazy borders marking proper independent academic roles, and it stands to confuse academic identities in ways that many will not even realize. Some of these processes are reminiscent of a recurrent motif in Philip K. Dick’s stories where protagonists becomes unclear of their own agency and identity; becoming unsure of their own histories and memories, or true political alliances—in effect becoming undercover agents with identities unknown even to themselves. As this new generation of programs covertly brings undeclared and unidentifiable students into our universities they disrupt university identities and transforms the roles all who teach, research, study and work there in ways that they will not necessarily understand—as institutions of higher learning further lose their independence and become unwitting agents of state intelligence functions.</p>
<p>DAVID PRICE is a member of the <a href="http://concerned.anthropologists.googlepages.com/home" type="external">Network of Concerned Anthropologist</a>.&#160; He is the author of <a href="" type="internal">Anthropological Intelligence: The Deployment and Neglect of American Anthropology in the Second World War,</a> published by Duke University Press, and a contributor to the Network of Concerned Anthropologists’ forthcoming <a href="" type="internal">Counter-Counterinsurgency Manual</a> published later this month by Prickly Paradigm Press. He can be reached at <a href="mailto:dprice@stmartin.edu" type="external">dprice@stmartin.edu</a></p> | true | 4 | continuities disjunctures bush obama administrations come focus becomes increasingly clear obamas domestic agenda identifiable breaks bushs core new administration remains committed staying course american militarization articulate nuanced president supports elements progressive domestic policies even comfortably say phrase lgbt public speeches funding military programs alarming levels continuing bush administrations military intelligence invasion used civilian life latest manifestation continuity came last week dennis c blair director national intelligence announced plans transform pat roberts intelligence scholars program prisp pilot project permanent budget item blair also announced plans establish reserve officers training corps train unidentified future intelligence officers us college classrooms like students receiving prisp funds identities students participating programs would known professors university administrators fellow studentsin effect future intelligence analysts agents would conduct first covert missions university classrooms four years ago wrote series counterpunch exposés pat roberts intelligence scholars program prisp pilot project funded section 318 2004 intelligence authorization act prisp links undergraduate graduate students us security intelligence agencies like nsa cia unannounced universities professors fellowstudents prispstudents enter american university campuses classrooms laboratories professors offices without disclosing links agencies prisp originally conceived anthropologist felix moos long proponent using anthropological knowledge waging counterinsurgency campaignsan area growing interest obama administration prepares prolonged soft power counterinsurgency campaigns afghanistan seems likely many affected disciplines offer little resistance may quickly warm announcements new funding stream traditionally disciplines political science history area specialists coming humanities seldom resisted developments disciplines like anthropology undisclosed intelligencelinked programs present devastating ethical practical problems nondiscloser funding links intelligence agencies flies face basic ethical principles discipline even without problems individual disciplinary ethics codes presence undisclosed secret sharers classrooms betrays fundamental trusts lie core honest academic endeavors national intelligence directors move make prisp permanent budget item damage academic freedom integrity american universities likely met open arms university administrators facing crashed university endowments dwindling budgets administrators would easily accommodate institutional integrity promise funds little surprise fear combined forces current economic collapse conjoined president obamas ability bring new liberal credibility warmedover bush era project induce many faculty students seriously consider participating programs times hard funds get scarce increasingly difficult many say development latest installment ongoing efforts increase militarization american higher education none surprising nation alone spends 48 planets military budget social sciences shifts away broad funding sources designed create independent knowledgeable scholars requiring indentured servitude long time coming back early 1990s national security education program nsep first introduced widely condemned professional associations like middle east studies association african studies association latin american studies association blurring lines independent scholarship raised nseps requirements program participants later seek employment governmental agencies depressed economy plummeting endowment funds universities foundations difficult academic job market scarce academic funding sources fear professional associations reactions developments muted pilot programs prisp intelligence community scholars programs made scarce funds available students traditional nonpayback funding programs cut programs like prisp seek tie young scholars agencies like cia early career means bringing new ideas skills agencies fail meeting claimed goal getting agencies think new ways ties institutional culture early studentagent careers increase influence agency cultural groupthink diminishing impact academic culture obama administration really wants improve governmental agencies knowledge approaches world need increase funding broad range educational funding programs encumber limit range knowledge ways programs like prisp move establish prisp permanent budgetary item sort program likely speed congresswhich claim supporting education funding military intelligence sectors bonus feelgood workethic mandate thrownin requiring students payback funds required future governmental service push done without outside assessment prisp pilot program prisp needs independent assessment accomplishedincluding assessment impact predatory penalties facing former prisp students come realize wish fulfill commitments work agencies upon graduation lack transparency surrounding prisp little idea really going program last year able identify one social science recipient prisp funds explained prisp failure finding social scientists fund prisp sought person provided funds work already underway spenddown prisp budget given recent difficulties program wonder current expansion prisp supplyside effort troll pool increasingly underfunded debtcarrying desperate young scholars funding options professional associations like american association university professors american psychological association american anthropological association need speak opposition permanent establishment prisp prisp risks blurring already hazy borders marking proper independent academic roles stands confuse academic identities ways many even realize processes reminiscent recurrent motif philip k dicks stories protagonists becomes unclear agency identity becoming unsure histories memories true political alliancesin effect becoming undercover agents identities unknown even new generation programs covertly brings undeclared unidentifiable students universities disrupt university identities transforms roles teach research study work ways necessarily understandas institutions higher learning lose independence become unwitting agents state intelligence functions david price member network concerned anthropologist160 author anthropological intelligence deployment neglect american anthropology second world war published duke university press contributor network concerned anthropologists forthcoming countercounterinsurgency manual published later month prickly paradigm press reached dpricestmartinedu | 776 |
<p>Editor's note: This article was originally published on <a href="http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/32387-from-japan-to-vietnam-radiation-and-agent-orange-survivors-deserve-justice-from-the-us" type="external">Truthout</a>.</p>
<p>We have just marked anniversaries of the war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by the U.S. government against the people of Japan and Vietnam. Seventy years ago, on August 6, 1945, the U.S. military unleashed an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, killing at least 140,000 people. Three days later, the United States dropped a second bomb, on Nagasaki, which killed 70,000. And 54 years ago, on August 10, 1961, the U.S. military began spraying Agent Orange in Vietnam. It contained the deadly chemical dioxin, which has poisoned an estimated 3 million people throughout that country.</p>
<p>Devastating Effects of Radiation in Hiroshima and Nagasaki</p>
<p>On the day of the first atomic bombing, 19-year-old Shinji Mikamo was on the roof of his house in Hiroshima helping his father prepare it for demolition when he saw a huge fireball coming at him. Then he heard a deafening explosion and felt a searing pain throughout his body. He said he felt as if boiling water had been poured over him. Shinji was three-quarters of a mile from the epicenter of the bomb. His chest and right arm were totally burned. Pieces of his flesh fell from his body like ragged clothing. The pain was unbearable. Shinji survived but most of his family perished.</p>
<p />
<p>Shinji's daughter, Dr. Akiko Mikamo, told her father's story at the Veterans for Peace convention in San Diego on August 7. She wrote the book "Rising From the Ashes: A True Story of Survival and Forgiveness From Hiroshima." Akiko's mother Miyoko, who was indoors about a half-mile from the epicenter, was also severely injured in the bombing, but she too survived.</p>
<p>Akiko said 99 percent of those who were outdoors at the time of the blast died immediately or within 48 hours. A week after the bombing, thousands of people had experienced a unique combination of symptoms, Susan Southard wrote in the Los Angeles Times:</p>
<p>"Their hair fell out in large clumps, their wounds secreted extreme amounts of pus, and their gums swelled and bled. Purple spots appeared on their bodies, signs of hemorrhaging beneath the skin. Infections ravaged their internal organs. Within a few days of the onset of symptoms, many people lost consciousness, mumbled deliriously and died in extreme pain; others languished for weeks before either dying or slowly recovering."</p>
<p>Southard notes that the U.S. government censored Japanese news reports, photographs, testimonies and scientific research about the condition of the survivors.</p>
<p>Gen. Leslie Groves, director of the Manhattan Project, which created the atom bombs, testified before Congress that death resulting from exposure to large amounts of radiation takes place "without undue suffering." He added it is "a very pleasant way to die."</p>
<p>Thirty years after the end of World War II, numerous cases of leukemia, stomach cancer and colon cancer were documented.</p>
<p>The bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were criminal because at the time Japan was already defeated and had taken steps to surrender. With these atomic bombings, the United States launched the Cold War, marking the beginning of its nuclear threat.</p>
<p>The Continuing Legacy of Agent Orange in Vietnam</p>
<p>Sixteen years after the United States' nuclear attacks on Japan, the U.S. military began spraying Vietnam with Agent Orange-dioxin. In addition to the more than 3 million Vietnamese people killed during the Vietnam War, an equivalent number of people suffer serious diseases and children continue to be born with defects from Agent Orange. U.S. veterans of the Vietnam War and their children suffer as well.</p>
<p>Agent Orange caused direct damage to those exposed to dioxin, including cancers, skin disorders, liver damage, pulmonary and heart diseases, defects to reproductive capacity and nervous disorders. It resulted in indirect damage to the children of those exposed to dioxin, including severe physical deformities, mental and physical disabilities, diseases and shortened life spans.</p>
<p>Dan Shea joined the U.S. Marine Corps in 1968 at the age of 19. He served in Vietnam a little more than two months. But he was in Quang Tri, one of the areas where much of the Agent Orange was sprayed. When Shea saw barrels "all over" with orange stripes on them, he had no idea the dioxin they contained would change his life forever. When they ran out of water, he and his fellow Marines would drink out of the river.</p>
<p>In 1977, Shea's son Casey was born with congenital heart disease and a cleft palate. Before his third birthday, Casey underwent heart surgery for the hole in his heart. Ten hours after surgery, Casey went into a coma and died seven weeks later.</p>
<p>Just as the U.S. censored information about the effects of radiation after the atomic bombings, the U.S. government and the chemical companies that manufactured Agent Orange - including Dow and Monsanto - also suppressed the 1965 Bionetics study that demonstrated dioxin caused many birth defects in experimental animals. The spraying of Agent Orange finally stopped when that study was made public.</p>
<p>Shea, who also addressed the Veterans for Peace convention, works with me on the Vietnam Agent Orange Relief and Responsibility Campaign. We seek to obtain relief for the Vietnamese, Vietnamese-American and U.S. victims of Agent Orange through the recently introduced H.R. 2114. U.S. vets have received some compensation, but not nearly enough. Vietnamese people and Vietnamese-Americans have received nothing for their suffering.</p>
<p>This bill would assist with the cleanup of dioxin still present in Vietnam. It would also provide assistance to the public health system in Vietnam directed at the 3 million Vietnamese people affected by Agent Orange. It would extend assistance to the affected children of male U.S. veterans who suffer the same set of birth defects covered for the children of female veterans. It would also lead to research on the extent of Agent Orange-related diseases in the Vietnamese-American community, and provide them with assistance. Finally, it would lead to laboratory and epidemiological research on the effects of Agent Orange.</p>
<p>Agent Orange in Japan</p>
<p>The U.S. government has also denied that Agent Orange is present on Okinawa, the Pentagon's main support base during the Vietnam War. In February 2013, the Pentagon issued a report denying that there is Agent Orange on Okinawa, but it did not order environmental tests or interview veterans who claimed exposure to Agent Orange there. "The usage of Agent Orange and military defoliants in Okinawa is one of the best kept secrets of the Cold War," according to Jon Mitchell, a journalist based in Tokyo.</p>
<p>"The U.S. government has been lying about Agent Orange on Okinawa for more than 50 years," Mitchell said. An investigation by Okinawa City and the Okinawa Defense Bureau found dioxin and other components of Agent Orange in several barrels found on Okinawa. Many bore markings of Dow Chemical, one of the manufacturers of Agent Orange. The Japan Times cited reports of military veterans who said that burying surplus chemicals, including Agent Orange, "was standard operating procedure for the U.S. military on Okinawa."Two hundred and fifty U.S. service members are claiming damages from exposure to Agent Orange on Okinawa during the Vietnam War, but very few have received compensation from their government. In spite of the Pentagon report, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs granted relief in October 2013 to a retired Marine Corps driver who has prostate cancer. The judge ruled that his cancer was triggered by his transport and use of Agent Orange.</p>
<p>Abolish Nuclear Weapons and Compensate Victims of Agent Orange</p>
<p>Besides being criminal, the United States' use of nuclear weapons in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and poisoning of Vietnam and Okinawa with Agent Orange, are a shameful legacy. The denial and cover-up of each of these crimes adds insult to injury.</p>
<p>As we work toward a nuclear deal with Iran, the U.S. government should abide by its commitment to nuclear disarmament in the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.</p>
<p>It is also time to fully compensate the victims of Agent Orange and fund a total cleanup of the areas in Vietnam that remain contaminated by the toxic chemical. Urge your congressional representative to cosponsor H.R. 2114, the Victims of Agent Orange Relief Act of 2015.</p>
<p>Finally, we must hold our leaders accountable for their crimes in Japan and Vietnam, and ensure that such atrocities never happen again.</p>
<p>Copyright Truthout. Reprinted with permission.</p> | true | 4 | editors note article originally published truthout marked anniversaries war crimes crimes humanity committed us government people japan vietnam seventy years ago august 6 1945 us military unleashed atomic bomb hiroshima killing least 140000 people three days later united states dropped second bomb nagasaki killed 70000 54 years ago august 10 1961 us military began spraying agent orange vietnam contained deadly chemical dioxin poisoned estimated 3 million people throughout country devastating effects radiation hiroshima nagasaki day first atomic bombing 19yearold shinji mikamo roof house hiroshima helping father prepare demolition saw huge fireball coming heard deafening explosion felt searing pain throughout body said felt boiling water poured shinji threequarters mile epicenter bomb chest right arm totally burned pieces flesh fell body like ragged clothing pain unbearable shinji survived family perished shinjis daughter dr akiko mikamo told fathers story veterans peace convention san diego august 7 wrote book rising ashes true story survival forgiveness hiroshima akikos mother miyoko indoors halfmile epicenter also severely injured bombing survived akiko said 99 percent outdoors time blast died immediately within 48 hours week bombing thousands people experienced unique combination symptoms susan southard wrote los angeles times hair fell large clumps wounds secreted extreme amounts pus gums swelled bled purple spots appeared bodies signs hemorrhaging beneath skin infections ravaged internal organs within days onset symptoms many people lost consciousness mumbled deliriously died extreme pain others languished weeks either dying slowly recovering southard notes us government censored japanese news reports photographs testimonies scientific research condition survivors gen leslie groves director manhattan project created atom bombs testified congress death resulting exposure large amounts radiation takes place without undue suffering added pleasant way die thirty years end world war ii numerous cases leukemia stomach cancer colon cancer documented bombings hiroshima nagasaki criminal time japan already defeated taken steps surrender atomic bombings united states launched cold war marking beginning nuclear threat continuing legacy agent orange vietnam sixteen years united states nuclear attacks japan us military began spraying vietnam agent orangedioxin addition 3 million vietnamese people killed vietnam war equivalent number people suffer serious diseases children continue born defects agent orange us veterans vietnam war children suffer well agent orange caused direct damage exposed dioxin including cancers skin disorders liver damage pulmonary heart diseases defects reproductive capacity nervous disorders resulted indirect damage children exposed dioxin including severe physical deformities mental physical disabilities diseases shortened life spans dan shea joined us marine corps 1968 age 19 served vietnam little two months quang tri one areas much agent orange sprayed shea saw barrels orange stripes idea dioxin contained would change life forever ran water fellow marines would drink river 1977 sheas son casey born congenital heart disease cleft palate third birthday casey underwent heart surgery hole heart ten hours surgery casey went coma died seven weeks later us censored information effects radiation atomic bombings us government chemical companies manufactured agent orange including dow monsanto also suppressed 1965 bionetics study demonstrated dioxin caused many birth defects experimental animals spraying agent orange finally stopped study made public shea also addressed veterans peace convention works vietnam agent orange relief responsibility campaign seek obtain relief vietnamese vietnameseamerican us victims agent orange recently introduced hr 2114 us vets received compensation nearly enough vietnamese people vietnameseamericans received nothing suffering bill would assist cleanup dioxin still present vietnam would also provide assistance public health system vietnam directed 3 million vietnamese people affected agent orange would extend assistance affected children male us veterans suffer set birth defects covered children female veterans would also lead research extent agent orangerelated diseases vietnameseamerican community provide assistance finally would lead laboratory epidemiological research effects agent orange agent orange japan us government also denied agent orange present okinawa pentagons main support base vietnam war february 2013 pentagon issued report denying agent orange okinawa order environmental tests interview veterans claimed exposure agent orange usage agent orange military defoliants okinawa one best kept secrets cold war according jon mitchell journalist based tokyo us government lying agent orange okinawa 50 years mitchell said investigation okinawa city okinawa defense bureau found dioxin components agent orange several barrels found okinawa many bore markings dow chemical one manufacturers agent orange japan times cited reports military veterans said burying surplus chemicals including agent orange standard operating procedure us military okinawatwo hundred fifty us service members claiming damages exposure agent orange okinawa vietnam war received compensation government spite pentagon report us department veterans affairs granted relief october 2013 retired marine corps driver prostate cancer judge ruled cancer triggered transport use agent orange abolish nuclear weapons compensate victims agent orange besides criminal united states use nuclear weapons hiroshima nagasaki poisoning vietnam okinawa agent orange shameful legacy denial coverup crimes adds insult injury work toward nuclear deal iran us government abide commitment nuclear disarmament nuclear nonproliferation treaty also time fully compensate victims agent orange fund total cleanup areas vietnam remain contaminated toxic chemical urge congressional representative cosponsor hr 2114 victims agent orange relief act 2015 finally must hold leaders accountable crimes japan vietnam ensure atrocities never happen copyright truthout reprinted permission | 833 |
<p>With accumulating war clouds ominously looming over the world’s most ancient civilization, and the planet’s leaders demanding that the Iraqi president hand over his weapons of mass destruction leaving his nation naked and vulnerable, nobody is asking this question: why on earth should he?</p>
<p>Imagine that America or Britain had been the object of United Nations sanctions for 12 years leading to the deaths of more than half a million children and babies. Imagine that Western countries had to put up with international weapons inspectors crawling all over them for years, including enemy spies. How would you feel if the Iraqis had been regularly dropping bombs on Alaska and Florida, or Inverness and Cornwall for a decade while the world pretends not to notice?</p>
<p>Imagine if the shoe were on the other foot and Iraqis and their allies were surrounding the US or Britain with hundreds of thousands of service personnel wielding state-of-the-art weapons, and refusing to rule out the use of nukes. You can’t can you? It could only happen to poor, weak third world countries not to ‘proud’ nations like ours.</p>
<p>Ask yourselves these questions: Would the US, Britain or Israel lead UN and IAEA inspectors to their stocks of biological, chemical and nuclear weapons? Would Britain let Iraqi spy planes crisscross over its skies? Would the White House or Downing Street submit to their very own scientists flying off to a third country to be interrogated or to allow inspectors to rummage under the beds of their sick wives? The answer is of course not.</p>
<p>“Ah, but that’s different”, I hear you muttering. “Saddam Hussein gassed the Kurds and has used chemical weapons on his Iranian foes”. You are right, he did. But is he any worse than a succession of American leaders who were responsible for crimes against humanity and horrendous death tolls in Japan and South East Asia? Is he worse than those stalwarts of Britain’s upper crust who rudely carved up the Middle East and brutally subjugated hundreds of millions on the Indian subcontinent? Is he so very far apart from Ariel Sharon who was found by an Israeli commission to have been responsible for the murder of hundreds of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon and who is even today slaughtering them in their thousands on the West Bank and Gaza?</p>
<p>What is clear is that there is one rule for the Superpower, its satellite Tony Blair’s Britain, and its protectorate Israel but there is quite another for everyone else. There is no moral high ground in their aggressive stance. There is no justice. Just a hotchpotch of propaganda, and paranoia-inducing rhetoric designed to elicit fear in the populace. Bush, Blair and Sharon are the ultimate conmen and we are their victims. All three are presently engaged in the theft of oil and/or land under cover of protecting us from the ubiquitous enemy.</p>
<p>Dancing a diplomatic minuet</p>
<p>The Bush-Blair combo is determined to go to war with or without a credible pretext. They would, of course, prefer to do this with the blessing of the world community and they are currently dancing a diplomatic minuet in the UN, but at the end of the day they will simply say ‘Screw the lot of you’ and go ahead anyway. Those countries they cannot bribe or bamboozle that is. Sharon is rubbing his plump hands together eagerly awaiting a pretext to inflict even more pain and suffering on the Palestinians people.</p>
<p>The UN itself has been the object of the American president’s derision and it constantly been put under threat of being deemed irrelevant. American Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has described Jacques Chirac and Gerhardt Schroeder as being of ‘Old Europe’ while the Potentate of Poodlestan has labeled his detractors as treasonous.</p>
<p>George Bush has called the opposition among the Democrats as unpatriotic and going by all the statements emanating from the Oval Office and Downing Street, there is no doubt that Bush and Blair are on the same page when it comes to Iraq.</p>
<p>What page is that exactly? There are various interpretations of this. According to the stammering Texan, Saddam Hussein with his deadly arsenal is a danger to the entire world, while Britain’s own smooth talking Prince of Spin concurs.</p>
<p>This motley pair, however, appear little bothered by the real threat looming over the planet, which is Kim Jong-Il of North Korea. Kim is a peculiar pipsqueak who actually does have nuclear weapons, the missiles with which to deliver them to Alaska, Hawaii and London, and has threatened the US with their use.</p>
<p>If you call me ‘evil’ again I’ll make you eat your words is Kim’s reaction to being included in the evil Axis. In Bush’s State of the Union address last Tuesday he stopped short of re-labeling the Korean leader as ‘evil’ but his personal attacks on Kim Jong-Il were just as venomous. Incredibly they come just when Japan, South Korea and China are trying to diplomatically resolve the crisis.</p>
<p>Saddam Hussein, the dictator who Bush accuses of representing an imminent threat to the entire world, has opened his doors to weapons inspectors. However, they’ve failed to produce anything other than a dozen rusting warheads, and an out-of-date document on laser technology. The Iraqi leader has made it clear that he doesn’t want to attack anyone and his neighbors believe him. The weapons inspectors have asked for more time. So, why not let sleeping Saddams lie?</p>
<p>The answer is clear. This planned invasion of Iraq has nothing at all to do with threats that Iraq will radiate the planet or spread smallpox in downtown Seattle. The inspectors have found no evidence that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction. Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei said as much last Monday in front of the UN Security Council, although you would hardly realize that the way that their words have been twisted, turned and taken out of context by Powell, Negroponte and Straw.</p>
<p>The ‘Great Leader of the Universe’, on the other hand, didn’t even bother to twist and turn, preferring outright lies. In his Tuesday address, he said that Iraq had imported large quantities of aluminum rods for the purpose of building nuclear weapons. Yet on the very day before, Monday, ElBaradei of the IAEA had told the UN Security Council and the world that whereas those aluminum rods could indeed be utilized for dual purposes, in this particular case they had been employed in a commercial capacity. He said that his team had checked this out carefully and was wholly satisfied.</p>
<p>Who are we supposed to believe? The American president in his ivory tower surrounded by warmongering sycophants, or nuclear experts on the ground who have seen how those aluminum rods are being used with their very own eyes? It is now patently clear that Bush will distort the truth to back up his self-serving agenda.</p>
<p>Let’s face it. In the event that Britain and America knew that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and wished to launch them on an unsuspecting world, would they be treating that country with so much disrespect? No, they would not.</p>
<p>The glaring truth is that the Bush administration, backed by Whitehall, is on an oil grab. They know it, we know it and the Iraqis certainly know it. Non-Opec oil is dwindling fast, a fact, which lends far more importance to the rich deposits of black gold under the soil of Iraq, the second largest in the world. Lending credence to this argument is the President’s own words on Tuesday. He stressed that he wanted America to be less reliant on foreign energy sources and wants to devote 1.2 billion dollars to fund research on hydrogen-powered automobiles.</p>
<p>Now that there is such a large allied force in the Gulf, the world’s richest energy resources are under Washington’s control. The Rand presentation to a Pentagon committee last year, which nominated Egypt as ‘the Prize’ could well have been referring to the Suez Canal, gateway to Arabia and the key to its rich underground deposits.</p>
<p>This strangulation of the region not only insures that gas-guzzling America can continue enjoying cheap petrol but could only mean that the expansion of ‘strategic competitors’ (to use a Bushism) like China could be curtailed at the whim of the White House.</p>
<p>Showdown at the Crawford Corale</p>
<p>Another spin-off from an invasion would be the ‘display of power and might’ factor. Experts say that the Pentagon’s war plan includes bombarding Iraq with more missiles in one day than the total expended during the entire duration of the Gulf War. If the Iraqis aren’t cowering in their boots after that then they can expect more of the same until they discard their footwear and run for the dunes.</p>
<p>Iraq would serve as the perfect testing ground for new weapons too. There are plans to test new microwave technology, designed to render the enemy’s electronic weapons as useless. Experts have suggested that bunker busting nuclear warheads could be part of the Pentagon’s armory too. If the campaign goes as planned by the hawks in the form of a short Blitzkrieg, like the fastest gun in the Old West, the US would reign supreme over all of us.</p>
<p>Anyone who sashayed into the Crawford Corale wanting a showdown at dawn would be terminated before he could utter ‘Skull and Crossbones’. ‘Naturally, though, Britain’s Blair, the trusty sidekick, would be allowed to flex his puny muscles and bask in the ensuing, Bush-approved, benefits, including, perhaps, a place on the board of Carlyle like his Prime Ministerial predecessor John Major.</p>
<p>But like in the Old West, there is always somebody out there who is even more ruthless, someone who will not shirk from shooting his enemy in the back or someone with an even faster draw. George Bush and his cohorts are creating the soil in which contenders for top gun will flourish. He is virtually saying to America’s foes: ‘Come and get us. We are invincible’.</p>
<p>Sadly, Mr. Bush, no individual and no nation is invincible forever. Unless you stop creating enemies where none exist, and fuelling the flames of anti-Americanism around the world, then the day will come when you too will be challenged by a merciless opponent… and another… and another.</p>
<p>Defenders of truth and justice</p>
<p>My heroes in this murky mess are those who boarded a London bus en route for Baghdad, led by Kenneth Nicholls O’Keefe, a former marine, where they will willingly serve as human shields. Keefe said on BBC World’s Hard Talk that he wanted to look an Iraqi in the eye and tell him that there are Westerners who care and he’s one of them.</p>
<p>The incredibly honest and authentic O’Keefe reminds me of Lawrence of Arabia who in the movie attempts to explain how he is very different from the ‘fat’ people in England. Lawrence succeeded and garnered the trust of the Arab tribes only to be stabbed in the back by the British establishment. O’Keefe will, no doubt, share a similar fate.</p>
<p>In the same way that Lawrence turned his back on his own and went into obscurity, the former marine already has. He took the step of relinquishing his American citizenship because, as he says, he could no longer swear allegiance or pay taxes to the country of his birth.</p>
<p>The Greenpeace guys and girls on the Rainbow Warrior, presently anchored in the Solent blocking Britain’s warships from sailing off get my vote, along with those protestors who marched to Fairford RAF base in Gloucestershire demanding inspection of Britain’s weapons of mass destruction. I wish I had half their courage and commitment. I can only glue my fingers to the keys and hope that someone out there is listening.</p>
<p>Come on Americans and Britons. Let’s see your mettle. Our grandfathers and great-grandfathers who swallowed mud in the World War I trenches have been designated ‘the finest generation’. Let’s show the world that we are just as fine and we will not allow egomaniacal greedy leaders to endanger the very existence of humanity in our name.</p>
<p>LINDA HEARD is a specialist writer on Middle East affairs. She can be reached at: <a href="mailto:freenewsreport@yahoo.com" type="external">freenewsreport@yahoo.com</a></p>
<p>&#160;</p> | true | 4 | accumulating war clouds ominously looming worlds ancient civilization planets leaders demanding iraqi president hand weapons mass destruction leaving nation naked vulnerable nobody asking question earth imagine america britain object united nations sanctions 12 years leading deaths half million children babies imagine western countries put international weapons inspectors crawling years including enemy spies would feel iraqis regularly dropping bombs alaska florida inverness cornwall decade world pretends notice imagine shoe foot iraqis allies surrounding us britain hundreds thousands service personnel wielding stateoftheart weapons refusing rule use nukes cant could happen poor weak third world countries proud nations like ask questions would us britain israel lead un iaea inspectors stocks biological chemical nuclear weapons would britain let iraqi spy planes crisscross skies would white house downing street submit scientists flying third country interrogated allow inspectors rummage beds sick wives answer course ah thats different hear muttering saddam hussein gassed kurds used chemical weapons iranian foes right worse succession american leaders responsible crimes humanity horrendous death tolls japan south east asia worse stalwarts britains upper crust rudely carved middle east brutally subjugated hundreds millions indian subcontinent far apart ariel sharon found israeli commission responsible murder hundreds palestinian refugees lebanon even today slaughtering thousands west bank gaza clear one rule superpower satellite tony blairs britain protectorate israel quite another everyone else moral high ground aggressive stance justice hotchpotch propaganda paranoiainducing rhetoric designed elicit fear populace bush blair sharon ultimate conmen victims three presently engaged theft oil andor land cover protecting us ubiquitous enemy dancing diplomatic minuet bushblair combo determined go war without credible pretext would course prefer blessing world community currently dancing diplomatic minuet un end day simply say screw lot go ahead anyway countries bribe bamboozle sharon rubbing plump hands together eagerly awaiting pretext inflict even pain suffering palestinians people un object american presidents derision constantly put threat deemed irrelevant american defense secretary donald rumsfeld described jacques chirac gerhardt schroeder old europe potentate poodlestan labeled detractors treasonous george bush called opposition among democrats unpatriotic going statements emanating oval office downing street doubt bush blair page comes iraq page exactly various interpretations according stammering texan saddam hussein deadly arsenal danger entire world britains smooth talking prince spin concurs motley pair however appear little bothered real threat looming planet kim jongil north korea kim peculiar pipsqueak actually nuclear weapons missiles deliver alaska hawaii london threatened us use call evil ill make eat words kims reaction included evil axis bushs state union address last tuesday stopped short relabeling korean leader evil personal attacks kim jongil venomous incredibly come japan south korea china trying diplomatically resolve crisis saddam hussein dictator bush accuses representing imminent threat entire world opened doors weapons inspectors however theyve failed produce anything dozen rusting warheads outofdate document laser technology iraqi leader made clear doesnt want attack anyone neighbors believe weapons inspectors asked time let sleeping saddams lie answer clear planned invasion iraq nothing threats iraq radiate planet spread smallpox downtown seattle inspectors found evidence iraq weapons mass destruction hans blix mohamed elbaradei said much last monday front un security council although would hardly realize way words twisted turned taken context powell negroponte straw great leader universe hand didnt even bother twist turn preferring outright lies tuesday address said iraq imported large quantities aluminum rods purpose building nuclear weapons yet day monday elbaradei iaea told un security council world whereas aluminum rods could indeed utilized dual purposes particular case employed commercial capacity said team checked carefully wholly satisfied supposed believe american president ivory tower surrounded warmongering sycophants nuclear experts ground seen aluminum rods used eyes patently clear bush distort truth back selfserving agenda lets face event britain america knew iraq weapons mass destruction wished launch unsuspecting world would treating country much disrespect would glaring truth bush administration backed whitehall oil grab know know iraqis certainly know nonopec oil dwindling fast fact lends far importance rich deposits black gold soil iraq second largest world lending credence argument presidents words tuesday stressed wanted america less reliant foreign energy sources wants devote 12 billion dollars fund research hydrogenpowered automobiles large allied force gulf worlds richest energy resources washingtons control rand presentation pentagon committee last year nominated egypt prize could well referring suez canal gateway arabia key rich underground deposits strangulation region insures gasguzzling america continue enjoying cheap petrol could mean expansion strategic competitors use bushism like china could curtailed whim white house showdown crawford corale another spinoff invasion would display power might factor experts say pentagons war plan includes bombarding iraq missiles one day total expended entire duration gulf war iraqis arent cowering boots expect discard footwear run dunes iraq would serve perfect testing ground new weapons plans test new microwave technology designed render enemys electronic weapons useless experts suggested bunker busting nuclear warheads could part pentagons armory campaign goes planned hawks form short blitzkrieg like fastest gun old west us would reign supreme us anyone sashayed crawford corale wanting showdown dawn would terminated could utter skull crossbones naturally though britains blair trusty sidekick would allowed flex puny muscles bask ensuing bushapproved benefits including perhaps place board carlyle like prime ministerial predecessor john major like old west always somebody even ruthless someone shirk shooting enemy back someone even faster draw george bush cohorts creating soil contenders top gun flourish virtually saying americas foes come get us invincible sadly mr bush individual nation invincible forever unless stop creating enemies none exist fuelling flames antiamericanism around world day come challenged merciless opponent another another defenders truth justice heroes murky mess boarded london bus en route baghdad led kenneth nicholls okeefe former marine willingly serve human shields keefe said bbc worlds hard talk wanted look iraqi eye tell westerners care hes one incredibly honest authentic okeefe reminds lawrence arabia movie attempts explain different fat people england lawrence succeeded garnered trust arab tribes stabbed back british establishment okeefe doubt share similar fate way lawrence turned back went obscurity former marine already took step relinquishing american citizenship says could longer swear allegiance pay taxes country birth greenpeace guys girls rainbow warrior presently anchored solent blocking britains warships sailing get vote along protestors marched fairford raf base gloucestershire demanding inspection britains weapons mass destruction wish half courage commitment glue fingers keys hope someone listening come americans britons lets see mettle grandfathers greatgrandfathers swallowed mud world war trenches designated finest generation lets show world fine allow egomaniacal greedy leaders endanger existence humanity name linda heard specialist writer middle east affairs reached freenewsreportyahoocom 160 | 1,068 |
<p>August 23, 1927. Sacco and Vanzetti, two anarchists accused and convicted of a double murder in the course of an armed robbery, are sent to the electric chair. Ten thousand mourners come to pay their last respects, twenty thousand take to the Boston Common in protest, and many thousands more march in the streets or attack US embassies and banks around the world to honor their passing.</p>
<p>Historian Paul Avrich convincingly argued that the two were innocent of the robbery and murders, and were the victims of a judicial lynching. The evidence was spotty, the media convicted them in advance, and the judge didn’t even hide his political vendetta against the two.</p>
<p>On the other hand, Sacco and Vanzetti were probably engaged in other highly illegal activities, as participants in a tense and bloody workers’ struggle. And it’s beyond dispute that the two of them, from prison, continued to call for revolution against capitalism, and for vengeance against their executioners.</p>
<p>The most remarkable aspect of the whole affair is how much public support they received, not only on the streets, but from internationally renowned political figures and intellectuals. People like John Dos Passos, George Bernard Shaw, Dorothy Parker, H.G. Wells, Edna St. Vincent Millay, and Albert Einstein wrote letters and protested in their defense. In today’s political climate, no one who cared about their social status would be caught dead speaking out in favor of a political criminal who espoused fiery and radical ideas.</p>
<p>The War on Terror is even more replete with frame-ups and judicial lynchings than the Red Scare, although life imprisonment and solitary confinement, arguably far more cruel than capital punishment, have come to replace the electric chair.</p>
<p>The main targets of this War are Muslims and Middle Eastern or South Asian immigrants, radical environmentalists, and anarchists. In one sense, not so much has changed, as immigrants also bore the brunt of the Red Scare. The resounding difference is the general silence outside the most directly affected communities.</p>
<p>How many people today even know the names of Tarek Mehanna, Marie Mason, and Eric McDavid?</p>
<p>In a massive campaign of racial profiling after September 11th, 2001, the FBI visited and questioned people in every single Muslim and Middle Eastern or South Asian immigrant community in the country. Afraid of groups they saw as not culturally integrated, they pressured thousands of people into becoming informants for them, repeating the COINTELPRO tactic that helped destroy resistance in black communities in the ’60s and ’70s. An unknown number of Muslims have been disappeared to secret prisons in other countries, separated from their children, and tortured over the course of years. Some are unaccounted for and may have been killed.</p>
<p>Tarek Mehanna is a 27 year old Muslim Egyptian born in the US, with a doctorate from the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy. He is respected both in the local Muslim and interfaith communities, which may explain why the FBI was so interested in turning him into a snitch. They began visiting him several years before his first arrest, trying to recruit him as a paid informant, which would involve giving fill-in-the-blank testimony for the feds against other people in his community. As he consistently refused, the FBI became more and more threatening.</p>
<p>In 2008 they seized the opportunity to arrest him on a technicality, indicting him for making false statements during an earlier interrogation in 2006, concerning the whereabouts of a friend of his.</p>
<p>Mehanna was released, but then rearrested in October, 2009, amid a wave of Terror arrests carried out in the first year of the Obama administration, at a time when the new president needed to demonstrate his toughness. No new evidence was presented for the second arrest, except for the testimony of another member of the Muslim community, who had rolled over and agreed to work for the FBI after being bribed with a reduced prison sentence, doing exactly the kind of dirty work Mehanna refused.</p>
<p>With the second arrest, the media hyped any story the FBI fed them, perfectly comfortable with the Bureau’s long track record of manufacturing evidence and using the press to spread disinformation. In no time, Tarek Mehanna was turned from a tolerant Muslim into a “fanatic” who was plotting to go on a shooting rampage in a shopping mall (that most sacred of American temples), to kill US officials, and to join terrorist training camps along with a friend (or rather, “co-conspirator”). For lack of evidence, the FBI story had to concede that the pair did not actually succeed in making contact with any training camps, but this did not at all diminish their concocted image as dangerous terrorists. An article in Time even made a big deal out of repeating the rumour that at his first court appearance, Mehanna wore all black and acted rudely. Oddly enough, none of these accusations of concrete terror plots actually appear in any of the indictments filed against Mehanna, according to his supporters.</p>
<p>Nonetheless, Tarek is currently being held in solitary confinement and charged with aiding and abetting terrorism, which could come with a prison sentence of life plus 75 years.</p>
<p>Marie Mason is a 46 year old mother of two, a member of Earth First! and the IWW, a gardener, musician, and community organizer who worked as an extended care assistant at a Cincinnati school at the time of her arrest in March, 2008. After it came to light that her former husband was working as an FBI informant, Marie pled guilty to two politically motivated acts of property destruction, against a genetic research laboratory at Michigan State University in December, 1999, and against logging equipment in Mesick, Michigan, in January 2000. Both actions were claimed by the Earth Liberation Front, which the FBI identified as the number one domestic terrorism threat after September 11th, even though no one had ever been harmed in any ELF action.</p>
<p>Marie Mason’s arrest came as part of the Green Scare, the targeting of environmental activists that has put over a dozen people in prison for political acts of property destruction. During the Green Scare, the FBI has made frequent use of grand juries to force activists and independent media workers to snitch on their friends or give information on political protests. Those who have refused have been jailed for up to a year.</p>
<p>In 2009, Marie Mason was sentenced to 22 years in prison.&#160; Recently, she was transferred to FMC Carswell in Fort Worth, Texas. Carswell is believed to be the location of a third Communication Management Unit (CMU). The CMU is an even more extreme form of isolation, another of the gruesome artefacts developed for the War on Terror. Prisoners held in the CMU are closely monitored and their contact with the outside world is strictly limited. They are only allowed one fifteen minute phone call per week, only four hours of visitation, behind glass, per month, and all correspondence and conversations have to be in English, which is especially cruel for the majority of CMU inmates who are Muslim immigrants. In fact, one of the few CMU inmates who is not a Muslim is Daniel McGowan, another prisoner of the Green Scare.</p>
<p>Eric McDavid was presented as a dangerous terrorist upon his arrest, but as the details of his case emerged it became increasingly apparent that the bombing plot for which he was convicted was the fabrication of a paid FBI informant who was hired to infiltrate the US anarchist movement. The informant, known as “Anna,” went to various anarchist gatherings around the country and found three other young people whom she pressured into forming a group with her. Over the course of a year and a half, Anna was paid $65,000 to manipulate and bully Eric and the two others into discussing potentially illegal political acts with her. She concocted a plan, fed to her by the FBI, to build a bomb, and used various forms of pressure, including sexual and romantic, to keep the group together. When finally the three had reached a point where they wanted out, the FBI sprang its trap before its entire conspiracy fell apart. They arrested Eric, along with Zachary Jenson and Lauren Weiner, in January 2006. Despite having no criminal record, Eric was denied bail and kept in solitary confinement for nearly two years until trial. In the meantime, Zachary and Lauren, who had very limited experience with political activism and were being threatened with decades in prison, snapped and agreed to testify against Eric in exchange for lighter sentences.</p>
<p>Only Eric refused to lie or snitch, and in 2007 he was convicted in a trial rife with misinformation provided by the FBI. Before jury deliberations the judge gave improper instructions that seriously hampered Eric’s entrapment defense. Subsequent to the trial, after they had gotten all the facts two of the jurors even denounced FBI misconduct and stated Eric should get a new trial. The judge&#160; sentenced Eric to 20 years in prison.</p>
<p>In all of these cases, despite the extremely abusive nature of the prosecution and the way the defendants were treated, and despite the threat these political maneuvers by the FBI represent to all of us, awareness about these cases and support for the defendants has generally remained within their own communities. Few other people know about them, and many of those who do remain silent. The executive board of the IWW, the famed wobblies of American labor history, even denounced Marie Mason after she admitted to participation in the acts of eco-sabotage.</p>
<p>Clearly, radical movements today are much weaker than they were in the days of Sacco and Vanzetti. But at least a part of that is our own choosing. Nowadays politically active people show a much greater sensitivity to the timeless smear campaigns of the media than they did in the past. Once upon a time everyone knew the newspapers belonged to the bosses, and their headlines were just the police truncheon in a new form. These days people are often afraid to be associated with anyone branded as “radical.” Some folks even give credence to the term “terrorist,” or to the accusations of FBI agents, even though the Bureau is composed of the same mix of liars, torturers, racists, homophobes, murderers and snitches as in the days of J. Edgar Hoover.</p>
<p>People continue to donate to NGOs that are already rolling in dough, and that have long since been shown to form a nonprofit industrial complex that opts for careers over real change, but they won’t have anything to do with the support committees for prisoners like these.</p>
<p>What all this represents, far deeper than a general climate of fear, is an alienation of resistance itself, from a broad and multiform but nonetheless connected movement or struggle into a menagerie of isolated single-issues, each with their resident specialists and careerists. And the sites of struggle themselves have been split to such an extent that someone can “care about the issues” or “be informed” while being entirely apathetic towards, ignorant of, or even hostile to those who have put themselves on the line and suffered the consequences for following their conscience and not selling out to the various forces that have pacified resistance, from the FBI strong-arming people into becoming snitches to the NGOs persuading people to be pragmatic while paying their pricey rent through the perpetual management of these social problems.</p>
<p>We can break out of this isolation by choosing now to build a spirit of solidarity and a practice of common resistance against the War on Terror. An attack on one of us really is an attack on all of us, and all these judicial frame-ups are nothing but political repression.</p>
<p>Supporting our prisoners means defeating their attempts to terrify us, insisting on the dignity of our causes, and building communities in which we really do take care of one another, no matter what powerful interests we may be contradicting. Under capitalism, all true community is subversive.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.freetarek.com/" type="external">www.freetarek.com</a> <a href="http://freemarie.org" type="external">freemarie.org</a> <a href="http://www.supporteric.org/" type="external">www.supporteric.org</a></p>
<p>PETER GELDERLOOS is the author of <a href="" type="internal">How Nonviolence Protects the State</a>.</p> | true | 4 | august 23 1927 sacco vanzetti two anarchists accused convicted double murder course armed robbery sent electric chair ten thousand mourners come pay last respects twenty thousand take boston common protest many thousands march streets attack us embassies banks around world honor passing historian paul avrich convincingly argued two innocent robbery murders victims judicial lynching evidence spotty media convicted advance judge didnt even hide political vendetta two hand sacco vanzetti probably engaged highly illegal activities participants tense bloody workers struggle beyond dispute two prison continued call revolution capitalism vengeance executioners remarkable aspect whole affair much public support received streets internationally renowned political figures intellectuals people like john dos passos george bernard shaw dorothy parker hg wells edna st vincent millay albert einstein wrote letters protested defense todays political climate one cared social status would caught dead speaking favor political criminal espoused fiery radical ideas war terror even replete frameups judicial lynchings red scare although life imprisonment solitary confinement arguably far cruel capital punishment come replace electric chair main targets war muslims middle eastern south asian immigrants radical environmentalists anarchists one sense much changed immigrants also bore brunt red scare resounding difference general silence outside directly affected communities many people today even know names tarek mehanna marie mason eric mcdavid massive campaign racial profiling september 11th 2001 fbi visited questioned people every single muslim middle eastern south asian immigrant community country afraid groups saw culturally integrated pressured thousands people becoming informants repeating cointelpro tactic helped destroy resistance black communities 60s 70s unknown number muslims disappeared secret prisons countries separated children tortured course years unaccounted may killed tarek mehanna 27 year old muslim egyptian born us doctorate massachusetts college pharmacy respected local muslim interfaith communities may explain fbi interested turning snitch began visiting several years first arrest trying recruit paid informant would involve giving fillintheblank testimony feds people community consistently refused fbi became threatening 2008 seized opportunity arrest technicality indicting making false statements earlier interrogation 2006 concerning whereabouts friend mehanna released rearrested october 2009 amid wave terror arrests carried first year obama administration time new president needed demonstrate toughness new evidence presented second arrest except testimony another member muslim community rolled agreed work fbi bribed reduced prison sentence exactly kind dirty work mehanna refused second arrest media hyped story fbi fed perfectly comfortable bureaus long track record manufacturing evidence using press spread disinformation time tarek mehanna turned tolerant muslim fanatic plotting go shooting rampage shopping mall sacred american temples kill us officials join terrorist training camps along friend rather coconspirator lack evidence fbi story concede pair actually succeed making contact training camps diminish concocted image dangerous terrorists article time even made big deal repeating rumour first court appearance mehanna wore black acted rudely oddly enough none accusations concrete terror plots actually appear indictments filed mehanna according supporters nonetheless tarek currently held solitary confinement charged aiding abetting terrorism could come prison sentence life plus 75 years marie mason 46 year old mother two member earth first iww gardener musician community organizer worked extended care assistant cincinnati school time arrest march 2008 came light former husband working fbi informant marie pled guilty two politically motivated acts property destruction genetic research laboratory michigan state university december 1999 logging equipment mesick michigan january 2000 actions claimed earth liberation front fbi identified number one domestic terrorism threat september 11th even though one ever harmed elf action marie masons arrest came part green scare targeting environmental activists put dozen people prison political acts property destruction green scare fbi made frequent use grand juries force activists independent media workers snitch friends give information political protests refused jailed year 2009 marie mason sentenced 22 years prison160 recently transferred fmc carswell fort worth texas carswell believed location third communication management unit cmu cmu even extreme form isolation another gruesome artefacts developed war terror prisoners held cmu closely monitored contact outside world strictly limited allowed one fifteen minute phone call per week four hours visitation behind glass per month correspondence conversations english especially cruel majority cmu inmates muslim immigrants fact one cmu inmates muslim daniel mcgowan another prisoner green scare eric mcdavid presented dangerous terrorist upon arrest details case emerged became increasingly apparent bombing plot convicted fabrication paid fbi informant hired infiltrate us anarchist movement informant known anna went various anarchist gatherings around country found three young people pressured forming group course year half anna paid 65000 manipulate bully eric two others discussing potentially illegal political acts concocted plan fed fbi build bomb used various forms pressure including sexual romantic keep group together finally three reached point wanted fbi sprang trap entire conspiracy fell apart arrested eric along zachary jenson lauren weiner january 2006 despite criminal record eric denied bail kept solitary confinement nearly two years trial meantime zachary lauren limited experience political activism threatened decades prison snapped agreed testify eric exchange lighter sentences eric refused lie snitch 2007 convicted trial rife misinformation provided fbi jury deliberations judge gave improper instructions seriously hampered erics entrapment defense subsequent trial gotten facts two jurors even denounced fbi misconduct stated eric get new trial judge160 sentenced eric 20 years prison cases despite extremely abusive nature prosecution way defendants treated despite threat political maneuvers fbi represent us awareness cases support defendants generally remained within communities people know many remain silent executive board iww famed wobblies american labor history even denounced marie mason admitted participation acts ecosabotage clearly radical movements today much weaker days sacco vanzetti least part choosing nowadays politically active people show much greater sensitivity timeless smear campaigns media past upon time everyone knew newspapers belonged bosses headlines police truncheon new form days people often afraid associated anyone branded radical folks even give credence term terrorist accusations fbi agents even though bureau composed mix liars torturers racists homophobes murderers snitches days j edgar hoover people continue donate ngos already rolling dough long since shown form nonprofit industrial complex opts careers real change wont anything support committees prisoners like represents far deeper general climate fear alienation resistance broad multiform nonetheless connected movement struggle menagerie isolated singleissues resident specialists careerists sites struggle split extent someone care issues informed entirely apathetic towards ignorant even hostile put line suffered consequences following conscience selling various forces pacified resistance fbi strongarming people becoming snitches ngos persuading people pragmatic paying pricey rent perpetual management social problems break isolation choosing build spirit solidarity practice common resistance war terror attack one us really attack us judicial frameups nothing political repression supporting prisoners means defeating attempts terrify us insisting dignity causes building communities really take care one another matter powerful interests may contradicting capitalism true community subversive wwwfreetarekcom freemarieorg wwwsupportericorg peter gelderloos author nonviolence protects state | 1,100 |
<p>As the reactions come in and the arguments get rolling, we are now getting a clearer look at the debate over the Iran nuclear deal – now in a real and definitive document rather than agreed parameters or leaked details. Here are a few points I think it is worth pointing out.</p>
<p>The first is that while there’s criticism of the tightness of the inspections regime, most arguments actually don’t question that the deal agreed in Vienna will prevent Iran from building a nuclear weapon for 10 or 15 years. Some questions this. Sure. But look at the key arguments … We’re hearing that 10 or 15 years isn’t that long. We’re hearing that Iran will get a massive financial windfall and new international legitimacy which it can use to amp up its aggressive behavior in the region even if it doesn’t build a nuclear weapon. They can intervene more aggressively in Lebanon, Syria, the Gaza Strip, Yemen, Iraq and other countries. They can use the extra money to finance terrorism or speed its development of ballistic missiles.</p>
<p />
<p>Some of these claims are true, others are false; some are over-stated or just silly. But they all share one thing in common: they’re not the Iranian nuclear program.</p>
<p>When the argument does turn to the nuclear program it is some version of Israeli Ambassador Ron Dermer’s <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/a-bad-deal-today-a-worse-deal-tomorrow/2015/07/14/5d34ba00-2a39-11e5-a250-42bd812efc09_story.html" type="external">claim</a> that “this deal does not block Iran’s path to a nuclear bomb. It paves it.” But this is just silly and rhetoric. Iran could quickly assemble a nuclear weapon now. If this deal blocks it for 10 to 15 years but does not explicitly say how the US would stop the Iranians from building a weapon after that 10 or 15 years that is not, in English at least, “paving”. That is “delaying”. The Iranians don’t need a road, paved or otherwise. They’re already there.</p>
<p>Certainly some people are complaining out of simple partisanship. Obama is for it. So they’re against it. But I think <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/war_stories/2015/07/the_real_reason_israel_saudi_arabia_and_neocons_hate_the_iran_deal_they.html" type="external">the real story is the one picked up by Slate’s Fred Kaplan</a>. As he explains, the opposition to the deal isn’t really about the deal. Or, more precisely, it’s not about the terms of the deal. The problem is the existence of a deal itself because it will allow Iran to re-enter the community of nations and create at least a detente between Iran and the US. To put it another way, it will take the US out of the confrontation with Iran business. For Israel and especially for Saudi Arabia that’s really not a good thing. But that doesn’t mean it’s not the best option on offer for the US.</p>
<p>Now, there are good reasons, as Kaplan’s notes, to be worried about bringing Iran in the from the diplomatic cold. This is a country that has a deep rejectionist stance toward one of our closest allies, Israel. The regime is deeply illiberal at home. It is keeping Bashar al Assad in power in Syria. Its intelligence agencies blew up a Jewish cultural center in Argentina 21 years ago. The list goes on and on. And with its neighbor/counterweight Iraq effectively enfeebled for the foreseeable future, its relative power has already grown substantially. There’s little question that some part of the cash windfall Iran will get won’t go to its proxy wars in Syria, Yeme and on Israel’s borders. The question is how much and how we will react to more aggressive behavior.</p>
<p>Israel really does have reasons to fear or at least really not want an empowered Iran. It funds anti-Israel proxy armies to the north and south. If Iran has a nuclear weapon, even if it wouldn’t use it in some eschatological blaze of glory, it would still erase Israel’s regional nuclear monopoly. No country would welcome that from a hostile regional neighbor. What Britain’s Tory Foreign Minister, Philip Hammond, said is true. It’s not about the terms of the deal. The current Israeli government <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/news/israel-wants-permanent-standoff-with-iran-britains-foreign-secretary-says/" type="external">prefers a “permanent standoff”</a> with Iran.</p>
<p>Saudi Arabia’s position is deeper and darker. There’s a good argument that Saudi Arabia’s whole hold on power or sense of security is being the United States’ ace in the hole for keeping the oil flowing and the revisionist Arabs and Muslims at bay in the region – whether that’s Iran or Iraq or Syria or whoever. Yes, the US has had a strategic relationship with Saudi Arabia for over 70 years. But it only got really deep (and arguably toxic) after the US lost its other strategic ally in the region against whom it once played off the Saudis. That is to say, Iran.</p>
<p>It’s certainly possible that Iran will moderate with greater engagement with the West, a restive younger population and new prosperity driven by engagement. But we shouldn’t count on it. Indeed, even if you think medium to long term liberalization is likely or likelier with this deal, there are good reasons to think that in the short term hardliners will try to assert themselves even more strongly. But simple truth is that this deal doesn’t count on that happening or trust Iran at all. The entirety of it is built on verification and mistrust. The simple truth is that the regional players who feel most threatened by the deal feel so threatened not so much because it would fail but because it would work and effectively get the US out of the endless wars in the Middle East business. As I said yesterday, I really do not think it’s a question of this deal or war. I think it’s this deal or continued confrontation but no war. Meanwhile, we remain in the confrontation business while Iran builds a nuclear weapon. Kaplan puts the point baldly …</p>
<p>What Netanyahu and King Salman want Obama to do is to wage war against Iran—or, more to the point, to fight their wars against Iran for them. That is why they so virulently oppose U.S. diplomacy with Iran—because the more we talk with Iran’s leaders, the less likely we are to go to war with them. Their view is the opposite of Winston Churchill’s: They believe to war-war is better than to jaw-jaw.</p>
<p>The Return of “Romney Strength”</p>
<p>Now here is a distinct but related point – one that <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2015/07/iran-nuclear-deal-obama/398450/" type="external">Peter Beinart hits on in this article</a> in The Atlantic and <a href="" type="internal">Brendan Gilfillian touches on here</a> at TPM. As Peter puts it, what Republicans and neocons can’t stand about the agreement is that its merits are based on the premise (assumption, realization?) that the US cannot simply dictate its will to other countries. There are limits to US power. We’re frequently faced with deciding how to best secure our vital interests from a mix of far from ideal options. Or, as Gilfillian puts it here …</p>
<p>The uncomfortable (and unpopular) subtext of many opponents’ public statements is clear: Despite the immense amount of blood and treasure spent in Iraq, some have still not learned the lesson that wars in the Middle East fought in the name of nuclear non-proliferation are best avoided if there is a better option.</p>
<p>Most of the critiques of the President’s diplomacy come down to a reemergence of “Romney Strength” from the 2012 election. Why won’t jihadists attack our consulates and diplomatic compounds under Mitt Romney? Because of Romney Strength. He’s just a strong guy and they’ll see his strength and so they’ll fall in line. In part this is just wishful thinking, the privilege of not being in the White House: you can paint your alternative canvas on a totally blank canvas. The sky is the limit. But it’s also a worldview: with enough certainty, force and perseverance, America can always get what it wants. It can dictate outcomes.</p>
<p>That really is the mindset that got us the Iraq War. It’s the mindset that wanted us to “roll back” communism in Eastern Europe rather than opt for containment. It’s the mindset that dictates endless future wars in the Middle East, what President Obama was elected to end and is trying to pull the country back from.</p> | true | 4 | reactions come arguments get rolling getting clearer look debate iran nuclear deal real definitive document rather agreed parameters leaked details points think worth pointing first theres criticism tightness inspections regime arguments actually dont question deal agreed vienna prevent iran building nuclear weapon 10 15 years questions sure look key arguments hearing 10 15 years isnt long hearing iran get massive financial windfall new international legitimacy use amp aggressive behavior region even doesnt build nuclear weapon intervene aggressively lebanon syria gaza strip yemen iraq countries use extra money finance terrorism speed development ballistic missiles claims true others false overstated silly share one thing common theyre iranian nuclear program argument turn nuclear program version israeli ambassador ron dermers claim deal block irans path nuclear bomb paves silly rhetoric iran could quickly assemble nuclear weapon deal blocks 10 15 years explicitly say us would stop iranians building weapon 10 15 years english least paving delaying iranians dont need road paved otherwise theyre already certainly people complaining simple partisanship obama theyre think real story one picked slates fred kaplan explains opposition deal isnt really deal precisely terms deal problem existence deal allow iran reenter community nations create least detente iran us put another way take us confrontation iran business israel especially saudi arabia thats really good thing doesnt mean best option offer us good reasons kaplans notes worried bringing iran diplomatic cold country deep rejectionist stance toward one closest allies israel regime deeply illiberal home keeping bashar al assad power syria intelligence agencies blew jewish cultural center argentina 21 years ago list goes neighborcounterweight iraq effectively enfeebled foreseeable future relative power already grown substantially theres little question part cash windfall iran get wont go proxy wars syria yeme israels borders question much react aggressive behavior israel really reasons fear least really want empowered iran funds antiisrael proxy armies north south iran nuclear weapon even wouldnt use eschatological blaze glory would still erase israels regional nuclear monopoly country would welcome hostile regional neighbor britains tory foreign minister philip hammond said true terms deal current israeli government prefers permanent standoff iran saudi arabias position deeper darker theres good argument saudi arabias whole hold power sense security united states ace hole keeping oil flowing revisionist arabs muslims bay region whether thats iran iraq syria whoever yes us strategic relationship saudi arabia 70 years got really deep arguably toxic us lost strategic ally region played saudis say iran certainly possible iran moderate greater engagement west restive younger population new prosperity driven engagement shouldnt count indeed even think medium long term liberalization likely likelier deal good reasons think short term hardliners try assert even strongly simple truth deal doesnt count happening trust iran entirety built verification mistrust simple truth regional players feel threatened deal feel threatened much would fail would work effectively get us endless wars middle east business said yesterday really think question deal war think deal continued confrontation war meanwhile remain confrontation business iran builds nuclear weapon kaplan puts point baldly netanyahu king salman want obama wage war iranor point fight wars iran virulently oppose us diplomacy iranbecause talk irans leaders less likely go war view opposite winston churchills believe warwar better jawjaw return romney strength distinct related point one peter beinart hits article atlantic brendan gilfillian touches tpm peter puts republicans neocons cant stand agreement merits based premise assumption realization us simply dictate countries limits us power frequently faced deciding best secure vital interests mix far ideal options gilfillian puts uncomfortable unpopular subtext many opponents public statements clear despite immense amount blood treasure spent iraq still learned lesson wars middle east fought name nuclear nonproliferation best avoided better option critiques presidents diplomacy come reemergence romney strength 2012 election wont jihadists attack consulates diplomatic compounds mitt romney romney strength hes strong guy theyll see strength theyll fall line part wishful thinking privilege white house paint alternative canvas totally blank canvas sky limit also worldview enough certainty force perseverance america always get wants dictate outcomes really mindset got us iraq war mindset wanted us roll back communism eastern europe rather opt containment mindset dictates endless future wars middle east president obama elected end trying pull country back | 689 |
<p>Photo Credit: Evan El-Amin / Shutterstock</p>
<p>A new poll revealed&#160;that&#160; <a href="//nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/04/trump-voters-have-no-regrets-but-his-support-still-dropping.html" type="external">98 percent</a>&#160;of Donald Trump voters said they don’t regret their choice for president. It’s a number that’s simultaneously too difficult to believe and infuriating. By any reasonable account, whether from&#160;experts in presidential history or relatively nonpartisan commentators, Trump’s first 100 days have been an endurance test for the republic. His erratic, ignorant, deeply incompetent presidency is, day by day, causing damage — to the traditions of the White House and indeed to the spoken and unspoken rules that preserve our constitutional democracy.</p>
<p>At the center of it all is a chief executive who&#160; <a href="//www.salon.com/2017/04/24/donald-trump-literally-knows-nothing-the-moronic-fiction-of-his-really-really-good-health-care-plan-is-now-obvious/" type="external">knows nothing</a>. When he desperately avoids details by rotating through his mental rotisserie of superlatives&#160;(“very, very” or “tremendous” or “terrific” or whatever hyperbolic pitchman gibberish he’s trained himself to repeat), he comes off as an uninformed dolt, conspicuously avoiding questions with more vigor than he avoids strong gusts of wind. Conversely, when Trump struggles to repeat issue-oriented details, he comes off as a scattered, barely coherent toddler attempting to repeat something he heard at the grown-ups’ table and failing badly.</p>
<p>Both aspects of Trump’s ignorance were on mind-blowing display for&#160; <a href="//www.salon.com/2017/04/24/donald-trumps-ap-interview-10-takeaways-from-his-most-jaw-dropping-statements/" type="external">his recent one-on-one interview with the Associated Press</a>. It was a journey through the Hieronymus Bosch hellscape of Trump’s brain, and not even a legendary news outlet like the AP could decipher Trump’s incoherence — peppering the interview with more “unintelligible” parentheticals than an interview with Ozzy Osbourne.</p>
<p>Let’s dig into the&#160; <a href="https://apnews.com/c810d7de280a47e88848b0ac74690c83" type="external">three worst quotes</a>.</p>
<p>Among other things, Trump delivered perhaps the best example of word salad since Sarah Palin’s&#160;“ <a href="//thedailybanter.com/2015/01/handy-guide-epic-sarah-palin-speech-ever/" type="external">broken prompter” incident</a>&#160;several years ago. In this quote, Trump elaborated on the responsibilities of the president, and whether he anticipated the gravity of the job.</p>
<p>Number One, there’s great responsibility. When it came time to, as an example, send out the 59 missiles, the Tomahawks in Syria. I’m saying to myself, “You know, this is more than just like, 79 [sic] missiles. This is death that’s involved,” because people could have been killed. This is risk that’s involved, because if the missile goes off and goes in a city or goes in a civilian area — you know, the boats were hundreds of miles away — and if this missile goes off and lands in the middle of a town or a hamlet . . .&#160;every decision is much harder than you’d normally make. [Unintelligible.]</p>
<p>This is involving death and life and so many things. . . . &#160;So it’s far more responsibility. [unintelligible.]</p>
<p>The financial cost of everything is so massive, every agency. This is thousands of times bigger, the United States, than the biggest company in the world. The second-largest company in the world is the Defense Department. The third-largest company in the world is Social Security. The fourth-largest — you know, you go down the list.</p>
<p>One of the responsibilities of being president is knowing exactly how many missiles were launched while attacking an airfield operated by a sovereign nation. Trump doesn’t appear to know for certain whether it was 59 or 79. The last time he talked about Syria, he told Fox Business Channel’s Maria Bartiromo&#160; <a href="//www.newshounds.us/maria_bartiromo_had_to_remind_trump_he_bombed_syria_not_iraq_041217" type="external">that he had bombed Iraq</a>. This is apparently something he does: He tends to forget details about whom he bombed and how many bombs were used. Incidentally, Syrian state media reported that the cruise missile strike did indeed kill a number of civilians, including&#160; <a href="//www.newsweek.com/syria-attack-children-civilian-killed-580555" type="external">four children</a>.</p>
<p>Oh, and Trump apparently thinks that the United States government, along with the Pentagon and Social Security, are “companies” — two of the three largest companies in the world. They’re not. In any way. Governments and government agencies, at least in America, are not companies; nor do they operate anything like companies.</p>
<p>Furthermore, when I repeat the phrase “Trump knows nothing,” I’m not exaggerating all that much. Take, for example, his remarks about NATO in which he admitted not knowing what NATO was or how it operated.</p>
<p>They had a quote from me that NATO’s obsolete. But they didn’t say why it was obsolete. I was on Wolf Blitzer, very fair interview, the first time I was ever asked about NATO, because I wasn’t in government. People don’t go around asking about NATO if I’m building a building in Manhattan, right? So they asked me, Wolf . . .&#160;asked me about NATO, and I said two things. NATO’s obsolete — not knowing much about NATO, now I know a lot about NATO — NATO is obsolete, and I said, “And the reason it’s obsolete is because of the fact they don’t focus on terrorism.” You know, back when they did NATO there was no such thing as terrorism.</p>
<p>“Back when they&#160;did&#160;NATO”? What? I assume he meant “when they created NATO” but what actually came out sounded not unlike when you ask a child his or her age and the kid holds up five fingers and answers “this many.” Regarding the assertion about&#160;terrorism&#160;not existing&#160;when NATO was created, it’s hard to know what to say. No, terrorism has existed since the dawn of civilization, contrary to Trump’s assumption that it’s somehow a recent phenomenon. Worse, he based his entire NATO platform — the idea that it’s obsolete and they have to pay up (for something, something, something) — on an answer he yanked out of his ass with the help of Wolf Blitzer, apparently.</p>
<p>This is the exact same reverse-engineering process Trump consistently uses as president. Here’s how it works: He blurts an array of gibberish on Twitter or during an interview, perhaps something he heard Steve Doocy say on “Fox &amp; Friends.” Then he and his staff turn said gibberish into an incoherent and ill-considered White House policy. Hence, his NATO posture.</p>
<p>Finally, if we lived in normal times and if the president were halfway normal, the following quote would have erupted into a major scandal — especially if the president was a Democrat. Trump, on the other hand, can apparently get away with madness like this:</p>
<p>Associated Press:&#160;And that’s one of the difficulties I think presidents have had is that you can have these personal relationships with people from the other party, but then it’s hard to actually change how people vote or change how people —</p>
<p>Trump:&#160;No I have; it’s interesting; I have, seem to get very high ratings. I definitely. You know Chris Wallace had 9.2 million people; it’s the highest in the history of the show. I have all the ratings for all those morning shows. When I go, they go double, triple. Chris Wallace, look back during the Army-Navy football game; I did his show that morning. It had 9.2 million people. It’s the highest they’ve ever had. On any, on air, [CBS News’ “Face the Nation” host John] Dickerson had 5.2 million people. It’s the highest for “Face the Nation” or, as I call it, “Deface the Nation.” It’s the highest for “Deface the Nation” since the World Trade Center, since the World Trade Center came down. It’s a tremendous advantage.</p>
<p>First of all, let’s be clear about something: Trump gets ratings because people tune in to hear him say crazy things. His ratings are largely due to the spectacle of watching a cartoon supervillain spouting random insults, some of which threaten to precipitate a war or worse. It’s the same reason why people slow down while passing traffic accidents.</p>
<p>That aside, bragging about having the biggest ratings since&#160;the worst terrorist attack on American soil&#160;ever&#160;should be enough to summarily drag the president’s approval ratings as close to zero as possible. If the same nonsensical blurt, culminating in the 9/11 thing, had been uttered by former President Barack Obama, he probably would have been impeached, convicted and tossed in a federal prison. One last thing, not that it matters: The ratings audience for that Chris Wallace interview Trump mentioned was&#160; <a href="//www.mediaite.com/online/fox-news-sunday-scores-second-highest-rated-broadcast-ever-with-trump-interview/" type="external">2.3 million viewers</a>, not 9.2 million. So he&#160;lied — again.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, 98 percent of Trump voters are supposedly cool with all &#160;this. It’s difficult to make sense of this other than it’s like the fandom surrounding sports franchises. No amount of losing will force superfans away from their favorite team, regardless of how awful they are. Hell, Philadelphia sports fans were mostly OK with it when the Eagles hired Michael Vick after he was caught torturing and murdering dogs for money. In the case of Donald Trump, however, the consequences are far more damaging — more than&#160;Trump voters will ever admit. But someday soon they’ll owe the rest of us an apology.</p>
<p>Bob&#160;Cesca&#160;is a regular contributor to Salon.com. He's also the host of " <a href="http://www.bobcesca.com/" type="external">The Bob &amp; Chez Show</a>" podcast, and a weekly guest on both the "Stephanie Miller Show" and "Tell Me Everything with John Fugelsang." Follow him on&#160; <a href="https://www.facebook.com/bob.cesca.7" type="external">Facebook</a>&#160;and&#160; <a href="https://twitter.com/bobcesca_go" type="external">Twitter</a>.</p> | true | 4 | photo credit evan elamin shutterstock new poll revealed160that160 98 percent160of donald trump voters said dont regret choice president number thats simultaneously difficult believe infuriating reasonable account whether from160experts presidential history relatively nonpartisan commentators trumps first 100 days endurance test republic erratic ignorant deeply incompetent presidency day day causing damage traditions white house indeed spoken unspoken rules preserve constitutional democracy center chief executive who160 knows nothing desperately avoids details rotating mental rotisserie superlatives160very tremendous terrific whatever hyperbolic pitchman gibberish hes trained repeat comes uninformed dolt conspicuously avoiding questions vigor avoids strong gusts wind conversely trump struggles repeat issueoriented details comes scattered barely coherent toddler attempting repeat something heard grownups table failing badly aspects trumps ignorance mindblowing display for160 recent oneonone interview associated press journey hieronymus bosch hellscape trumps brain even legendary news outlet like ap could decipher trumps incoherence peppering interview unintelligible parentheticals interview ozzy osbourne lets dig the160 three worst quotes among things trump delivered perhaps best example word salad since sarah palins160 broken prompter incident160several years ago quote trump elaborated responsibilities president whether anticipated gravity job number one theres great responsibility came time example send 59 missiles tomahawks syria im saying know like 79 sic missiles death thats involved people could killed risk thats involved missile goes goes city goes civilian area know boats hundreds miles away missile goes lands middle town hamlet 160every decision much harder youd normally make unintelligible involving death life many things 160so far responsibility unintelligible financial cost everything massive every agency thousands times bigger united states biggest company world secondlargest company world defense department thirdlargest company world social security fourthlargest know go list one responsibilities president knowing exactly many missiles launched attacking airfield operated sovereign nation trump doesnt appear know certain whether 59 79 last time talked syria told fox business channels maria bartiromo160 bombed iraq apparently something tends forget details bombed many bombs used incidentally syrian state media reported cruise missile strike indeed kill number civilians including160 four children oh trump apparently thinks united states government along pentagon social security companies two three largest companies world theyre way governments government agencies least america companies operate anything like companies furthermore repeat phrase trump knows nothing im exaggerating much take example remarks nato admitted knowing nato operated quote natos obsolete didnt say obsolete wolf blitzer fair interview first time ever asked nato wasnt government people dont go around asking nato im building building manhattan right asked wolf 160asked nato said two things natos obsolete knowing much nato know lot nato nato obsolete said reason obsolete fact dont focus terrorism know back nato thing terrorism back they160did160nato assume meant created nato actually came sounded unlike ask child age kid holds five fingers answers many regarding assertion about160terrorism160not existing160when nato created hard know say terrorism existed since dawn civilization contrary trumps assumption somehow recent phenomenon worse based entire nato platform idea obsolete pay something something something answer yanked ass help wolf blitzer apparently exact reverseengineering process trump consistently uses president heres works blurts array gibberish twitter interview perhaps something heard steve doocy say fox amp friends staff turn said gibberish incoherent illconsidered white house policy hence nato posture finally lived normal times president halfway normal following quote would erupted major scandal especially president democrat trump hand apparently get away madness like associated press160and thats one difficulties think presidents personal relationships people party hard actually change people vote change people trump160no interesting seem get high ratings definitely know chris wallace 92 million people highest history show ratings morning shows go go double triple chris wallace look back armynavy football game show morning 92 million people highest theyve ever air cbs news face nation host john dickerson 52 million people highest face nation call deface nation highest deface nation since world trade center since world trade center came tremendous advantage first lets clear something trump gets ratings people tune hear say crazy things ratings largely due spectacle watching cartoon supervillain spouting random insults threaten precipitate war worse reason people slow passing traffic accidents aside bragging biggest ratings since160the worst terrorist attack american soil160ever160should enough summarily drag presidents approval ratings close zero possible nonsensical blurt culminating 911 thing uttered former president barack obama probably would impeached convicted tossed federal prison one last thing matters ratings audience chris wallace interview trump mentioned was160 23 million viewers 92 million he160lied nevertheless 98 percent trump voters supposedly cool 160this difficult make sense like fandom surrounding sports franchises amount losing force superfans away favorite team regardless awful hell philadelphia sports fans mostly ok eagles hired michael vick caught torturing murdering dogs money case donald trump however consequences far damaging than160trump voters ever admit someday soon theyll owe rest us apology bob160cesca160is regular contributor saloncom hes also host bob amp chez show podcast weekly guest stephanie miller show tell everything john fugelsang follow on160 facebook160and160 twitter | 801 |
<p>Reuters may be “satisfied” with the Pentagon’s investigation concluding that US troops were “justified” in their slaying of the news organization’s working journalist Waleed Khaled back in 2005, but the rest of us shouldn’t be.</p>
<p>Khaled and his driver were killed by US troops when they came on a firefight involving US troops and Iraqi police who were allegedly under attack. The Pentagon report into the incident concluded that the two men came onto the scene, and American forces, seeing Khaled’s videocam and tripod, thought it was a rocket launcher. They reportedly fired warning shots. When Khaled’s driver did the logical thing, backing slowly from the scene, US troops “assumed it was an insurgent tactic” and fired to “disable” the vehicle, killing the two men.</p>
<p>First of all, let’s note that Khaled is not the only journalist to have been killed by US forces in Iraq. There has been a pattern that makes it clear that journalists who step outside the controlled bubble of the embedded propagandist traveling with the troops are fair game, which explains why we in America know so little about the reality of the US assault on the people of Iraq.</p>
<p>But beyond this journalistic issue, what this story tells us, besides the fact that an innocent reporter and his innocent driver, just doing their jobs, were murdered by overly aggressive US soldiers (whose initial response, and that of Pentagon “investigators,” appears to have been to cover up their actions) is that any innocent parties who stumble into a battle zone are liable to be slaughtered by US forces in Iraq.</p>
<p>The only thing that distinguishes this tragic incident from hundreds of others like it that occur routinely in Iraq is that Khaled was a journalist employed by a major Western news organization with the clout and prominence to demand a real, and public, investigation into the case.</p>
<p>For Iraqis killed under similar circumstances, not only is there no investigation; there is simply no report of their deaths. As US commanders have famously and disgustingly said, “We don’t do bodycounts.”</p>
<p>There is a reason why ordinary Iraqis are almost unanimously opposed to the neo-colonial “deal” the Bush is trying to force their puppet regime to approve, granting US forces legal immunity and a free rein in Iraq to attack and arrest anyone they choose, and to be protected from arrest by Iraqi authorities for any of their actions in that country. Iraqis daily see the US behaving like Nazi stormtroopers, killing their countrymen with impunity, and they want it to stop.</p>
<p>Anyone who thinks that running this kind of brutal occupation is going to end any way but disastrously is delusional. Imagine if we had Iraqi troops running around the US blowing up innocent drivers without fear of any consequence. We’d have an army of vigilantes taking action—which is just what is happening in Iraq.</p>
<p>The situation in Iraq for ordinary Iraqis has actually been getting worse, as the Pentagon turns increasingly to aerial bombardment and even the use of remote-controlled Predator drones, run by video jockeys back in the US, to conduct its attacks on “suspected insurgents,” instead of sending ground troops. This approach may reduce US casualties, but it inevitably increases the number and the percentage of so-called “collateral damage” deaths of innocent non-combatants.</p>
<p>Khaled’s murder by American troops is a personal tragedy for his colleagues and his family, but at least it serves to demonstrate, if anyone is paying attention, the wretched reality of the Bush/Cheney/Democratic Congress war and occupation of Iraq.</p>
<p>Returning veterans of the war who have joined Iraq Veterans Against the War IVAW), have been bravely speaking out against this ongoing horror. They tell of soldiers and marines so brutalized and frustrated by their repeated deployments to Iraq that all they want to do is survive and get home. They tell of troops who hate all Iraqis, calling them “hajjis” and “ragheads,” who are doped up and sent out on patrol with diminished judgment—a sure recipe for the kind of thing that happened to Khaled and his driver. One IVAW member, Camilo Mejia, who refused redeployment and was sentenced to a year in the brig for desertion, in an excellent book titled “Road from ar Ramadi: The Private Rebellion of Staff Sergeant Camilio Mejia, an Iraq War Memoir” (Haymarket Books), also writes of how US commanders push their troops into pointless confrontations at which civilians are often the victims, because they want to go home with combat badges on their chests.</p>
<p>Just ask yourself for a moment, what should Khaled and his driver have done, when they came on the scene of the firefight?&#160; If they had simply stopped their car, having already been fired on (and no doubt not knowing who was doing the firing)? Sitting still was clearly a bad option. Going forward was suicide. So they did the only logical thing: they backed up slowly—surely the least threatening option available. But the US troops saw that action as “a typical insurgent tactic,” and opened fire on them.</p>
<p>If retreat is seen as an enemy “tactic,” then there is really no hope for some innocent person caught up in a firefight.</p>
<p>No wonder over a million Iraqis have died in this criminal war, most of them victims of American weaponry!</p>
<p>No wonder Iraqis overwhelmingly want the US out of their country!</p>
<p>No wonder even the puppet regime established by the US is opposed to the Bush/Cheney effort to establish a permanent occupation, with legal immunity for US forces, with 58 permanent bases around the country, and with the US getting control of the air and the right to bomb at will!</p>
<p>The story of Khaled’s murder—and the fact that the Pentagon can call it “justified”–should make it crystal clear that the only answer to the ongoing crisis in Iraq is for the US to leave the country immediately.</p>
<p>DAVE LINDORFF is a Philadelphia-based investigative journalist and columnist. His latest book is “The Case for Impeachment” (St. Martin’s Press, 2006 and now available in paperback). His work is available at <a href="http://www.thiscantbehappening.net/" type="external">www.thiscantbehappening.net</a></p>
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<p>&#160;</p> | true | 4 | reuters may satisfied pentagons investigation concluding us troops justified slaying news organizations working journalist waleed khaled back 2005 rest us shouldnt khaled driver killed us troops came firefight involving us troops iraqi police allegedly attack pentagon report incident concluded two men came onto scene american forces seeing khaleds videocam tripod thought rocket launcher reportedly fired warning shots khaleds driver logical thing backing slowly scene us troops assumed insurgent tactic fired disable vehicle killing two men first lets note khaled journalist killed us forces iraq pattern makes clear journalists step outside controlled bubble embedded propagandist traveling troops fair game explains america know little reality us assault people iraq beyond journalistic issue story tells us besides fact innocent reporter innocent driver jobs murdered overly aggressive us soldiers whose initial response pentagon investigators appears cover actions innocent parties stumble battle zone liable slaughtered us forces iraq thing distinguishes tragic incident hundreds others like occur routinely iraq khaled journalist employed major western news organization clout prominence demand real public investigation case iraqis killed similar circumstances investigation simply report deaths us commanders famously disgustingly said dont bodycounts reason ordinary iraqis almost unanimously opposed neocolonial deal bush trying force puppet regime approve granting us forces legal immunity free rein iraq attack arrest anyone choose protected arrest iraqi authorities actions country iraqis daily see us behaving like nazi stormtroopers killing countrymen impunity want stop anyone thinks running kind brutal occupation going end way disastrously delusional imagine iraqi troops running around us blowing innocent drivers without fear consequence wed army vigilantes taking actionwhich happening iraq situation iraq ordinary iraqis actually getting worse pentagon turns increasingly aerial bombardment even use remotecontrolled predator drones run video jockeys back us conduct attacks suspected insurgents instead sending ground troops approach may reduce us casualties inevitably increases number percentage socalled collateral damage deaths innocent noncombatants khaleds murder american troops personal tragedy colleagues family least serves demonstrate anyone paying attention wretched reality bushcheneydemocratic congress war occupation iraq returning veterans war joined iraq veterans war ivaw bravely speaking ongoing horror tell soldiers marines brutalized frustrated repeated deployments iraq want survive get home tell troops hate iraqis calling hajjis ragheads doped sent patrol diminished judgmenta sure recipe kind thing happened khaled driver one ivaw member camilo mejia refused redeployment sentenced year brig desertion excellent book titled road ar ramadi private rebellion staff sergeant camilio mejia iraq war memoir haymarket books also writes us commanders push troops pointless confrontations civilians often victims want go home combat badges chests ask moment khaled driver done came scene firefight160 simply stopped car already fired doubt knowing firing sitting still clearly bad option going forward suicide logical thing backed slowlysurely least threatening option available us troops saw action typical insurgent tactic opened fire retreat seen enemy tactic really hope innocent person caught firefight wonder million iraqis died criminal war victims american weaponry wonder iraqis overwhelmingly want us country wonder even puppet regime established us opposed bushcheney effort establish permanent occupation legal immunity us forces 58 permanent bases around country us getting control air right bomb story khaleds murderand fact pentagon call justifiedshould make crystal clear answer ongoing crisis iraq us leave country immediately dave lindorff philadelphiabased investigative journalist columnist latest book case impeachment st martins press 2006 available paperback work available wwwthiscantbehappeningnet 160 160 160 ad 160 160 160 160 160 160 | 551 |
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<p /> Abby Martin: We're here at a national gathering in Washington D.C. called the People's Congress of Resistance. About 1,000 activists, organizers, and community leaders from all over the country have converged here to build the real resistance against the Trump regime. Participants here say, "They are the representatives of the majority," and they're not here to simply lobby the U.S. Congress, but they want to replace Congress altogether.
<p />Yasmina Mrabet: Sisters and brothers, as the United States Congress works to cut deals with the Trump administration, we have assembled to represent the alternative of steadfast resistance, political independence, and a vision of revolution. According to our registration, as of Thursday night we had resistors from 37 states and 159 different towns and cities.
<p />Eugene Puryear: People say to me all the time, "You can't bring together the undocumented people with the Black workers. It can't be done. You can't bring together Harlem with Appalachia. It can't be done. You can't bring together people who maybe only speak Spanish and people who only speak English. It can't be done. There are too many divisions. People are too divided. We're fighting too much amongst ourselves. There's no way we can unite." Honestly, what they mean is that you can never win. My message to those people is look around.
<p /> Not only can it be done, it is being done. It's a worldwide struggle. It won't be contained in the categories that they try to put on us. It can't be contained in the false borderlines that they draw. We will fight for every person who is under the boot of oppression and exploitation. Let me just close, I'm very inspired by these young people here and we need to send a message to everyone who is watching this right now, if you are undocumented and you are afraid, if you are a DACA recipient and you are afraid, we have your back.
<p />Mara Verheyden: We all know we're facing a massive assault on our civil rights and our civil liberties. We're facing racist police violence, racist police murders, assaults on immigrants, terrorizing of immigrant communities, and we also know that none of this started with Trump. We know that these are institutions that we have all been fighting and we also know to say the truth. That these institutions weren't changing with Clinton, but these institutions we also have to recognize why they exist. These are the pillars that create the society for the few, the unnatural society of the few, and we are here to fight for the society of the many.
<p />Karina Garcia: One of our key objectives here is to establish a clear and unshakeable basis of radical and revolutionary politics. We want nothing less than the reorganization of society and the transformation of who holds power.
<p />Brian Becker: It is a completely and entirely distinctive and contradictory orientation that demonstrate the Democratic party, the conservative centrists, Wall Street wing, and the liberal wing, seeks to mildly tweak the imperialist, capitalist system based on Wall Street power, the military industrial complex, and the police state. Our goal is to smash that state and to build a new entity that truly represents the people, the working people of this country.
<p />Peta Lindsay: The extent to which any of us have won rights, or dignity, or any consideration whatsoever from the elite powers and their laws has been the extent to which we've organized and fought for it. Because our history is not just the history of the movement, it is the history of the power of the movement. It's not just a story of people fighting back. It is a story of ordinary people united, resisting, and forcing this country to move forward.
<p />Abby Martin: Has anything changed for you and your community since Trump took office?
<p />Speaker 7: Oh, definitely. I come from an immigrant family and also people that are DACA recipients. Recently, with the DACA attack and just since Trump took office, all of the ICE raids that have been happening ... I mean, my family is scared. They're living in the shadows, as well as, 12 million immigrants in this country.
<p />Speaker 8: For my community, everybody's paranoid, everybody's scared. Some people try to avoid turning streets now, and everybody has to keep tight communication with each other in order to feel some sort of comfort that they're not going to be taken away from their families.
<p />Speaker 9: My parents are immigrants, so it's really tough. They've been discriminated against. When we go out to places that are White populated, they get racist comments like, "Oh my God, what are you doing here? You don't deserve to be here."
<p />Speaker 10: Yeah well, myself, not only ... I'm second generation, so I was privileged enough to be born here, but I'm a teacher in one of the most affected communities in San Francisco in the Mission District, and a lot of our families are coming with trauma, the fact that they've come as refugees from Central America, the fact that they haven't gotten paperwork here, and their kids are afraid to come to school. The very next day, after the Trump election, we had maybe ... We're a school of like 700 people, maybe 100 students did not come to school because they thought they were going to get raided right away. The fact that we can empower folks and tell them, "We're not ... We can create sanctuary cities, defend sanctuary cities, defend sanctuary states." I think having a left politic keeps pushing the agenda forward and so being able to take a politic like this, and building around that gives people hope, and more importantly empowers them.
<p />Speaker 11: If we're talking about the Black community, Trump's open and overt support of the police. Not only that, but if you recall his sort of open request to police that basically intensified their brutality, is something that's going to have a direct impact on Black communities and other poor working depressed communities, because this is precisely where the police play such a repressive role. Within a capitalist society, they sort of ... The police basically serve as a means to keep the lid on the pot of frustrations that simmers and oppress communities based on the state of underdevelopment because of sort of the social political economic degradation that they experience under the system.
<p />Speaker 12: Embolden fascists, and Nazi and racist individuals to continue terrible attacks. Myself, in Brooklyn, the issues of police brutality, in my opinion, have soared. I'm seeing more mothers coming to the front lines and fighting for their families. I'm seeing more mothers fearing for their children, because we have somebody who's an outright racist in office. With someone who is showing clearly who he is, people are afraid and there's a real fear in the community.
<p />Speaker 11: It's dangerous thinking to try to equate the violence of White supremacists, complete fascists, neo-Nazis, all the different names that they call themselves, it's all the same really, to conflate that with leftist, and anti-fascists, and anti-racists activists who are only trying to protect themselves, is dangerous because if you don't see the difference, then you may not know where you sit on the issue, right? To me, to compare ... Because I felt like he was comparing me to actually genocidal maniacs and I don't appreciate that.
<p />Speaker 13: I think I've seen a change in the consciousness of my family, my friends, people in my community. People are starting to understand that Trump is simply a symptom of this system. Because the thing is, it's not like Trump got into office and then all of a sudden Black people started getting shot in the streets and no justice was served, or trans-women getting killed and no justice was served, or people are going hungry and no justice is served for them. We understand that he's simply a symptom of this capitalist system in decay of the Democratic party in a disarray because they don't represent the people that they claim to represent.
<p /> We understand that people wanted something different, people wanted a change, and see that the only reason why he won was because we haven't reformed our electoral system in 200-plus years, when someone like me would've been a slave. You know what I mean? It's just kind of like, I think people are starting to see that things have always been screwed up and that the fact that Trump can just get into office and repeal DACA in a second and all these different things, it just kind of shows the fragility and the underlying root issues of this system.
<p />Speaker 14: I am a nurse and every day ... I work in Los Angeles in a big metropolitan hospital, and every day I see the direct effects of denial of healthcare, denial of access, what the profit systems does to the standard of living, the healthcare, health of our people.
<p />Speaker 15: [Foreign language 00:09:31].
<p />Interviewer: Why do you feel like a party that calls itself The Resistance does not really represent the people?
<p />Speaker 16: I think the Democrats in this moment find it convenient to sort of couch themselves the resistance. Number one, I mean, they're embarrassed by their defeats to Trump. Secondly, they need to poise themselves for the 2020 election, presidential election, and the sort of upcoming primary elections as well I believe in 2018. Even though they have absolutely no interest in supporting any measures that would positively impact the material conditions of the very elements that they shunned during the election, they can put this mantel on because they know that people think that they're the only alternative to what they see in Trump and the White House.
<p />Speaker 17: They take credit for the people's work. They don't align themselves with the people until they feel it's convenient for them, until it's time for primaries that are coming up soon, when it's time for their interests.
<p />Speaker 18: What we have seen since before Trump that the Democratic party has really actually pushed a lot of the policies that have affected our people, have deported our people in masses, have proposed programs that are just band-aid solutions, like DACA, have not gotten to the root of the issues that affect people.
<p />Speaker 19: They see things like the GOP trying to take away healthcare. They see that as a win, because they see that as an opportunity for them to take over the next election, or whatever. They don't see it as millions of people dying from the lack of healthcare. They don't care about that.
<p />Speaker 20: We really cannot rely on politicians to do this work for us. We have to be the ones to build power in our communities, and pressure them, and tell them what it is that we demand, because their class interest is really what's going to be primary at the end of the day and we have to put our interests first in our communities.
<p />Speaker 21: All those parties are influenced by lobbyists and they'd rather take upon their own interests, instead of the people's interests, which they should be doing in the first place. A lot of the politicians and candidates that we're supposed to supposedly vote on are chosen for us and we don't choose them.
<p />Monica: I think a perfect example that I can think of off the top of my head is Cory Booker. We know that people are saying, "Oh Cory Booker, 2020," yet he's taking millions of dollars from big pharma who's funding people getting addicted to opioids.
<p />Abby Martin: Monica, the Democratic party calls itself, The Resistance. I mean, are they not resisting Trump?
<p />Monica: I mean, you see they're ready to step aside and may compromise for Trump. We see Nancy Pelosi and even Bernie Sanders, arguably the most progressive person in the Democratic party right now, sitting there saying things like, "Oh, abortion rights are something we can compromise on."
<p />
<p />Speaker 23: I think of Nancy Pelosi and how she denied standing up for abortion rights, because she was saying "We got to talk to people. We can't just take a stance. We're going to divide the party." That's what you need to do. You need to stand up for everybody. The Democrats, they toy around with these things, with these things that are actually our rights.
<p />Speaker 23: I think they try to exploit us. They try to take away our money, instead of helping us. They don't find ways to actually, actually help us. We need that and the Democratic party or the Republican party doesn't do that.
<p />Monica: We see students organizing, protesting walkouts. As soon as the DACA, Trump's repeal of DACA was announced, we saw middle schoolers across the country walking out of school. We see that the resistance is in the streets and it will never be in Congress. It will never be on Capitol Hill.
<p />Abby Martin: [Sean 00:13:33], what is the People's Congress all about? Why do you guys feel like you need to replace the existing Congress?
<p />Sean: The People's Congress of Resistance is about bringing together grassroots activists and organizers from all across the country, from all different fields of struggle, if you will. Develop ... Well, I don't even want to say develop, because I feel like if people are here, they kind of understand how a lot of these issues are connected. What it's really for is to strengthen ties and make sort of concrete sort of face-to-face personal connections with different people fighting on different fronts in different parts of the country so that we can put forth a national front, if you will, and that can sort of push against what we're seeing coming from the Congress and from America's two-party system.
<p />Speaker 25: This is a chance to have a voice and to project a vision of what kind of country, what kind of Congress, what kind of government we want. The elite, the rich, the billionaire class has been in charge for too long and look at the suffering. It increases every day.
<p />Speaker 26: We finally can provide a way that has a program for the people. For example, just recently Trump's announcement to cancel DACA, you already hear the immigrant rights more, the more formal elements of the immigrant rights movement claiming that we have to support more Democrats. With the People's Congress of Resistance, which has an amazing resolution standing in full solidarity with all immigrants, not just the DACA students, we can actually go back to our communities and organize around such a program.
<p />Speaker 27: [Foreign language 00:15:00].
<p />Speaker 25: We have so many different struggles. We're under such attack on so many levels of many issues in our communities and around the world. We need to bring them all together so we have each other's back, so we can be effective in turning back this tide of reaction that's sweeping the country through Trump and his supporters.
<p />Crowd: Back up, back up, we want freedom, freedom. [inaudible 00:15:30] Stand up, fight back.
<p />Abby Martin: The People's Congress is ending with a big march to the White House to show the millionaires on Capitol Hill that this Congress is a Congress of action and the real force of resistance.
<p />Speaker 29: Are we ready to fight?
<p />Crowd: Yeah.
<p />Speaker 29: Are we ready to win?
<p />Crowd: Yeah.
<p />Speaker 29: The same people, the same people who think that the leadership should be able to murder and kill with impunity in St. Louis, think the police, think the military should be murdering and killing all around the world, think that most nations don't have the right to do anything but be under the heel of the U.S. boot, is the same people, is the same system and we can't allow those folks to be separated.
<p />Crowd: I believe that we will win. I believe that we will win. I believe that we will win. I believe that we will win. | true | 4 | abby martin national gathering washington dc called peoples congress resistance 1000 activists organizers community leaders country converged build real resistance trump regime participants say representatives majority theyre simply lobby us congress want replace congress altogether yasmina mrabet sisters brothers united states congress works cut deals trump administration assembled represent alternative steadfast resistance political independence vision revolution according registration thursday night resistors 37 states 159 different towns cities eugene puryear people say time cant bring together undocumented people black workers cant done cant bring together harlem appalachia cant done cant bring together people maybe speak spanish people speak english cant done many divisions people divided fighting much amongst theres way unite honestly mean never win message people look around done done worldwide struggle wont contained categories try put us cant contained false borderlines draw fight every person boot oppression exploitation let close im inspired young people need send message everyone watching right undocumented afraid daca recipient afraid back mara verheyden know facing massive assault civil rights civil liberties facing racist police violence racist police murders assaults immigrants terrorizing immigrant communities also know none started trump know institutions fighting also know say truth institutions werent changing clinton institutions also recognize exist pillars create society unnatural society fight society many karina garcia one key objectives establish clear unshakeable basis radical revolutionary politics want nothing less reorganization society transformation holds power brian becker completely entirely distinctive contradictory orientation demonstrate democratic party conservative centrists wall street wing liberal wing seeks mildly tweak imperialist capitalist system based wall street power military industrial complex police state goal smash state build new entity truly represents people working people country peta lindsay extent us rights dignity consideration whatsoever elite powers laws extent weve organized fought history history movement history power movement story people fighting back story ordinary people united resisting forcing country move forward abby martin anything changed community since trump took office speaker 7 oh definitely come immigrant family also people daca recipients recently daca attack since trump took office ice raids happening mean family scared theyre living shadows well 12 million immigrants country speaker 8 community everybodys paranoid everybodys scared people try avoid turning streets everybody keep tight communication order feel sort comfort theyre going taken away families speaker 9 parents immigrants really tough theyve discriminated go places white populated get racist comments like oh god dont deserve speaker 10 yeah well im second generation privileged enough born im teacher one affected communities san francisco mission district lot families coming trauma fact theyve come refugees central america fact havent gotten paperwork kids afraid come school next day trump election maybe school like 700 people maybe 100 students come school thought going get raided right away fact empower folks tell create sanctuary cities defend sanctuary cities defend sanctuary states think left politic keeps pushing agenda forward able take politic like building around gives people hope importantly empowers speaker 11 talking black community trumps open overt support police recall sort open request police basically intensified brutality something thats going direct impact black communities poor working depressed communities precisely police play repressive role within capitalist society sort police basically serve means keep lid pot frustrations simmers oppress communities based state underdevelopment sort social political economic degradation experience system speaker 12 embolden fascists nazi racist individuals continue terrible attacks brooklyn issues police brutality opinion soared im seeing mothers coming front lines fighting families im seeing mothers fearing children somebody whos outright racist office someone showing clearly people afraid theres real fear community speaker 11 dangerous thinking try equate violence white supremacists complete fascists neonazis different names call really conflate leftist antifascists antiracists activists trying protect dangerous dont see difference may know sit issue right compare felt like comparing actually genocidal maniacs dont appreciate speaker 13 think ive seen change consciousness family friends people community people starting understand trump simply symptom system thing like trump got office sudden black people started getting shot streets justice served transwomen getting killed justice served people going hungry justice served understand hes simply symptom capitalist system decay democratic party disarray dont represent people claim represent understand people wanted something different people wanted change see reason havent reformed electoral system 200plus years someone like wouldve slave know mean kind like think people starting see things always screwed fact trump get office repeal daca second different things kind shows fragility underlying root issues system speaker 14 nurse every day work los angeles big metropolitan hospital every day see direct effects denial healthcare denial access profit systems standard living healthcare health people speaker 15 foreign language 000931 interviewer feel like party calls resistance really represent people speaker 16 think democrats moment find convenient sort couch resistance number one mean theyre embarrassed defeats trump secondly need poise 2020 election presidential election sort upcoming primary elections well believe 2018 even though absolutely interest supporting measures would positively impact material conditions elements shunned election put mantel know people think theyre alternative see trump white house speaker 17 take credit peoples work dont align people feel convenient time primaries coming soon time interests speaker 18 seen since trump democratic party really actually pushed lot policies affected people deported people masses proposed programs bandaid solutions like daca gotten root issues affect people speaker 19 see things like gop trying take away healthcare see win see opportunity take next election whatever dont see millions people dying lack healthcare dont care speaker 20 really rely politicians work us ones build power communities pressure tell demand class interest really whats going primary end day put interests first communities speaker 21 parties influenced lobbyists theyd rather take upon interests instead peoples interests first place lot politicians candidates supposed supposedly vote chosen us dont choose monica think perfect example think top head cory booker know people saying oh cory booker 2020 yet hes taking millions dollars big pharma whos funding people getting addicted opioids abby martin monica democratic party calls resistance mean resisting trump monica mean see theyre ready step aside may compromise trump see nancy pelosi even bernie sanders arguably progressive person democratic party right sitting saying things like oh abortion rights something compromise speaker 23 think nancy pelosi denied standing abortion rights saying got talk people cant take stance going divide party thats need need stand everybody democrats toy around things things actually rights speaker 23 think try exploit us try take away money instead helping us dont find ways actually actually help us need democratic party republican party doesnt monica see students organizing protesting walkouts soon daca trumps repeal daca announced saw middle schoolers across country walking school see resistance streets never congress never capitol hill abby martin sean 001333 peoples congress guys feel like need replace existing congress sean peoples congress resistance bringing together grassroots activists organizers across country different fields struggle develop well dont even want say develop feel like people kind understand lot issues connected really strengthen ties make sort concrete sort facetoface personal connections different people fighting different fronts different parts country put forth national front sort push seeing coming congress americas twoparty system speaker 25 chance voice project vision kind country kind congress kind government want elite rich billionaire class charge long look suffering increases every day speaker 26 finally provide way program people example recently trumps announcement cancel daca already hear immigrant rights formal elements immigrant rights movement claiming support democrats peoples congress resistance amazing resolution standing full solidarity immigrants daca students actually go back communities organize around program speaker 27 foreign language 001500 speaker 25 many different struggles attack many levels many issues communities around world need bring together others back effective turning back tide reaction thats sweeping country trump supporters crowd back back want freedom freedom inaudible 001530 stand fight back abby martin peoples congress ending big march white house show millionaires capitol hill congress congress action real force resistance speaker 29 ready fight crowd yeah speaker 29 ready win crowd yeah speaker 29 people people think leadership able murder kill impunity st louis think police think military murdering killing around world think nations dont right anything heel us boot people system cant allow folks separated crowd believe win believe win believe win believe win | 1,357 |
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<p>According to the information supplied by the International Press, on August 9, 2005, the Court of Appeals of the Eleventh Circuit Court of Atlanta declared null and void the decision passed in Miami which had condemned Gerardo Hernández Nordelo, René González Sehwerert, Ramón Labañino Salazar, Antonio Guerrero Rodríguez and Fernando González Llort for infiltrating the extremist Cuban American groups in the south of Florida in order to obtain information about terrorist activities directed against Cuba. Their prison sentences have already been declared illegal by the Working Group on Arbitrary Detentions of the Human Rights Commission of the United Nations.</p>
<p>For the past seven years, these five young men have been held in maximum security prisons; they have been held incommunicado in isolated cells for long periods of time and two of them have been denied the right to receive family visits.</p>
<p>At this present time, considering the nullification of the sentence, nothing justifies their incarceration. This arbitrary situation which is extremely painful for them and their families, cannot be allowed to continue. We, who have signed below, are demanding their immediate liberation.</p>
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<p>Wole Soyinka Adolfo Pérez Esquivel Nadine Gordimer Desmond Tutu Rigoberta Menchú Noam Chomsky Oscar Niemeyer Mario Benedetti Harry Belafonte Pablo González Casanova Ernesto Cardenal Thiago de Mello Danny Glover Eduardo Galeano Alice Walker Manu Chao Atilio Borón Francois Houtart Ignacio Ramonet Luis Sepúlveda Tariq Ali Ramsey Clark Gianni Miná Frei Betto Miguel Bonasso Howard Zinn Jorge Sanjinés Rusell Banks Alfonso Sastre León Rozitchner Gianni Vattimo Belén Gopegui Jorge Enrique Adoum Tato Pavlovsky Pascual Serrano Juan Mari Brás James Petras Adolfo Sánchez Vázquez Silvia Iparraguirre Abelardo Castillo Volodia Teitelboim Rosa Regás Ramón Chao Salim Lamrani Daniel Ortega Michel Collon Eric Toussaint Emir Sader Ariel Dorfman Saul Landau Theotonio dos Santos Istvan Mestzaros Victor Flores Olea Walter Tournier Silvio Rodríguez Daniel Viglietti Victor Heredia Pablo Milanés Beth Carvalho Danny Rivera Fernando Morais Keith Ellis Alicia Alonso Hebe de Bonafini Raúl Zurita James Cockcroft Giulio Girardi Paulo Lins Juan Bañuelos Marco Martos Rémy Herrera Carlo Frabetti Hernando Calvo Ospina James Early Wim Dierckxsens Joseph Mulligan Fernando Birri Roberto Fernández Retamar Martin Almada Eusebio Leal Spengler Amiri Baraka Amina Baraka Cintio Vitier Fina García Marruz Marcos Roitman Georges Labica Heinz Dieterich Pierre Kalfon Roy Brown Chiqui Vicioso Andrés Sorel Jorge Ruffinelli Graziella Pogolotti Richard Gott Alfredo Guevara Oscar González Lisandro Otero Domenico Losurdo Eva Forest Luis Britto Isabel Parra Victor Victor Frank Fernández Constantino Bértolo Julio García Espinosa Luciano Vasapollo Omara Portuondo Hildebrando Pérez Grande Schafik Handall Andy Spahn Miguel Barnet Henri Alleg Roberto Fabelo Ann Sparanese Rafael Cancel Miranda Vicente Feliú Jane Franklin Tomás Borge Tony Word Gaspar Llamazares Nora de Izcue Alex Cox Edgardo Lander Coriún Aharonián Noel Colón Martínez Leo Brower Faheem Hussain Paul-Emile Dupret Jesusa Rodríguez Liliana Felipe Carlos Gallisá Raúl Pérez Torres Osvaldo Martínez Claribel Alegria Raúl Suaréz Robert R. Bryan Juan Madrid Abelardo Estorino Diamela Eltit Jaime Augusto Shelley Kofi Taha John Beverley Ben Treuhaft Arnoldo Mora Michael Avery Fidel Castro Díaz Balart Tarek William Saab Michelle Gross Jorge Nadal Edmundo Aray Francisco Jarauta Nancy Morejón Jhannett Madriz Sotillo Cristián Tattembach Yglesias Stella Calloni Gilberto López y Rivas Manuel Cabieses Miguel D’Escoto Fernando Butazzoni Tubal Páez Carlos Martí Alpidio Alonso José Steinsleger Manuel Talens Beverly Keene Néstor Kohan Carlos Taibo Eric-Holt Gimenez Hans Otto Dill Aldo Díaz Lacayo Vicente Battista Ana de Skalon Luciano Alzaga Christian Parenti Arnel Medina Cuenca Ida Rodríguez Prampolini Adolfo Colombres Montserrat Ponsa i Tarrés Claudio Katz Lee Lorch Alessandra Riccio Alcira Argumedo Julio Fontanet Alain Lambert John Saxe Fernandez Alan Woods Jesús Orta Ruíz Husni Abdel Wahed Fernando Alonso Douglas Valentine Juan Martín Jaime Sarusky Leo Gabriel Pedro Rivera Daniel Vaca Narvaja Rosita Fornés Héctor Pesquera Sevillano Claufe Rodríguez Plinio de Arruda Sampaio Jr Celina González Michael Lebowitz Marta Harnecker Augusto Boal Beto Almeida Noelle Narran Gennaro Carotenuto Julio Rodríguez Puértolas Adán Chávez Frías Isidora Aguirre Kintto Lucas María de los Angeles Santana Francisco “Pancho” Villa Marta Rojas Gloria la Riva Richard Becker Angel Guerra Carlos Fernández Liria Harold Gramatges Carlos Fazio Andrés Thomas Conteris César López Irene Amador Isaura Navarro José Antonio Rodríguez Alan Mills Esther Borja Octavio Cortázar Tunai Loipa Araujo Sandra Levinson Quintín Cabrera Amaury Pérez Emeka Udemba Pablo Armando Fernández Humberto Solás Verónica Lynn Marina Minucci Josefina Méndez Senel Paz Horacio Cerutti-Guldberg Héctor Díaz-Polanco Luis Carbonell Carmen Bohórquez Carilda Oliver Labra Guillermo Núñez Sergio Rodriguez Lazcano Nelson P.Valdés Pablo Guayasamín Alfredo Vera Javier Corcuera Alejandro Moreano Saskia Guayasamín Alejandro Torres Miren Uriarte Bob Guild Marcos Reyes Dávila Steve Brouwer Ana Esther Ceceña Arturo Corcuera Javier Ortiz Reynaldo González Antonio Maira Santiago Alba Rico Vicente Revuelta Rosario Murillo Pablo Marcano García Angel Augier Eduardo Roca Chiara Varesse Alfredo Sosabravo Luis Rosa Pérez Richard Egües Mercedes C. de Meroño Orlando Núñez Soledad Bianchi Ramiro Guerra Suárez Oscar René Vargas Anibal Quijano Marilia Guimarães Héctor Quintero Saúl Arana Carlos Raúl Argüelles Rogelio Martínez Furé Francoise Lopez Alberto Méndez Nicolas Frize Zenaida Armenteros Jean Ortiz Adigio Benitez Cristy Domínguez Juan Luis Martin Patricio Pardo Aurora Basnuevo Evel A. de Petrini Maria Antonia Antoine Armando Soler Cristine Tarquis Ricardo Antunes Jeremy M. Glick Higinio Polo Juan Blanco Roberto Argüello Hurtado Alejandro Horowicz Brian Becker Sarah Guggenheim-Deri Jean Ives Guezenec Claude Marks Eduardo Heras León Matías Bosch Osneldo García Raúl Fornet-Betancourt Humberto Tumini Jorge Ceballos Felipe Meneses Electo Silva Lito Borillo Hector Santarén César Portillo de la Luz Antonio Vidal Jorge Farinacci García Marcelo Cafiso Norberto Galazo Fernando Ramón Bossi Sara Rosemberg Estela Fernández Nadal Francisco Berdichevsky Cipe Fridman Mario Hernández Jorge Beinstein Milagros Rivera Beatriz Rajland Daniel de Santis Julia Constenla Osvaldo Gallone Lucía Alvarez de Toledo Rubén Dri Andrés Soliz Rada Luis Fernando Novoa Garzon Ivana Jinkings Mano Mell José Arbex Jr K. Beeman Carlos Varea Jean-Pierre Daubois José Juan Nazario de la Rosa Omar Lara Juana Donoso Casanellas Justo Soto Castellanos Sergio Zúñiga Pavio Julián Sabogal Tamayo John Walton Cotman Pablo Guadarrama Rita Martufi Mario Sáenz Raúl Izquierdo Canosa Daniel del Solar Eugenio Hernández Espinosa Guillermo Almeyra Berta Martínez López Miguel Cruz Manuel Rodríguez Marta P. de Badillo Hilda Oates William Domingo Aragú Antonio Scocozza José Loyola Nayar López Castellanos Juan Brom José Ramón Artigas Domenico Jervolino José Villa Alicia Castellanos Guerrero Ivair Coelho Itagiba Carlos Padrón Camilo Soares Rafael Trelles Francisco López Sacha Rogger Tabeada Enrique González Yuliana Valenzuela Cecilia Conde Claudia Korol Catherine Murphy Francisco Alonso Dario López Desvar Omar Felipe Mauri Yamandú Acosta Manuel Hernández Orlando García Antonio Alberto Pérez Gervasio Morales Rodríguez Hebe P. de Mascia Julio Miguel Llánes Sarah Peish Roberto Bullón Ernesto Agüero Carlos Tamayo Juana M. de Pargament Jorge Hidalgo Lucía Muñoz Jorge Núñez Oscar Ugarteche Rodulfo Vaillant Marcelo Larrea Eduardo Tamayo G John Pateman Jose Rodena Iosu Perales José Mendi José Manuel Martín Medem Francisco José Pérez Esteban Elvira de Triana Mauricio Valiente Pepe Mejía Raúl Wiener Miguel Riera Juan José Tamayo Acosta René Weber Teodoro Buarque de Holanda Arturo Robles Arias Raquel Arias Manuel Lidón Medina Marcello Guimarães María Suárez Santos Luisa Campuzano Alida Millán Ferrer Zenobia Marcano Rafael Pla-Lopez Mariano Pujadas Luis García Céspedes Alfredo Diez Nieto Ricardo Santos Ramos Beat Dietschy Juan Camacho Moreno Roberto Jiménez Maggiolo Gutenberg Charquero Ana Luisa Escobar Mauricio Langón Adolfo Alfonso Marelis Pérez Marcano Alba Carosio Nelson Guzmán Jessica Vargas Alicia Jrapko Bill Hackwell Domingo Rafael Ojeda Liendo Angela Nocioni Georges Bartoli Maritza Pérez Juan Santiago Nieves Elizardo Martínez Hélène Boulais Darrel Furlotte Virginia Fontes Alberto Rabilotta Celia P. de Prósperi María Elisa H. de Landín Ada F. de Senar Elsa F. de Manzotti María N. de Gutman María del Carmen O Elena S. de Gerbilski Angel Parra James Sober Carmela Prizzi de Lago Visitación Folgueiras de Loyola Nadya Ricny Josefina N. de Paludi Irene Lizzi de Córtez Rosa A. de Camarotti Claudia P. de San Martín Aurelio Narvaja Lorenzo Osores Fabio Basilone Maria José Caramez Leticia Spiller Jalusa Barcelos Olny Freitas Terezinha Limeira Judy Wicks Jesus Chediak Monica Montone Carmen Vargas Geraldo Moreira José Caramez Vivaldo Franco João Grillo João Braga Caique Botkay Paula Nobrega Andrea Paola Iedo Ivo Dalmo Marins Inês Gomide Alexandre Brandão Anne Lamouche Diane Ladjouzi Jean-Pierre Marguerat Juliette Mabille Patrick Perez Secheret Juliette Mabille Roland Labarre Serge Lengendre Marc-Olivier Gavois Aurélien Gavois Martine Bonmati Marie-France Fovet Bruno Drweski Ivan Lavelle Louis Michel Bonnemaire David Lopez Eric Lopez Pierre Sahores Nemours Francis Le Herisse Jean-Pierre Page Tania Noctiumnes Jean-Pierre Neel Freddy Ernesto Ilanga Ilunga Danielle Bleitrach Hiram Guadalupe Pérez Pedro Varela Fernández Rita E. Zengotita Neeltje van Marissing Méndez Carlos Muñiz Pérez Madeline Ramírez Marilena Román Ebenecer López Ruyol Rodolfo Sandino Argüello Mariano Barahona Ramón Leets Álvaro Ramírez Edwin Castro Gustavo Porras Ernesto Aburto Edgardo García Dora Zeledón Sixto Ulloa Roberto González Nelson Artola Rita Fletes Jacinto Suárez Orlando Sobalvarro Álvaro Argüello Hurtado Uriel Molina Oliú Rafael Aragón Indiana Acevedo H. Margarita Zavala Arnaldo Zenteno S.J Jeanne Laurent Alain Matiz Alfredo Lo Picollo Annie Boudin Carlos Ruiz-Eldredge Claude Vatican Denis Lemercier Henri Boudin Jacqueline Coignard Jacques Leyrat Laurence Choko Luis Diego Romero Michel Maillet Mireille Guézénec Mireille Matiz Miriam Hernández Salazar Raquel Zamorano Roberto Flores Guevara Stans Choko Virgilio Ponce Fernando García Deborah James Ana Perez Ariel Golan Sterling Evans Shirley Pate Favianna Rodríguez David Kent Peterson Lucien Lenoire Joanne Schwarz Suzanne Ross Chesa Boudin Ann F. Schafer Anne Marie Lamb Ronald Margolis Ed Rimbaugh Alex Turner Cindy Domingo Richard Levins Dana Kaplan Morgan Alexander Francisco Guzmán Pasos Millard A. Murphy Víctor Winer Al Campbell Kirsten Moller Ivy Meeropol Thomas Ambrose Rachel Bruhnke Sonja de Vries Karil Daniels Lydia Howell Hunter Lenihan Derrel Myers Naomi White Joan Malerich Tony Prokott Daniel Alvin Arturo Roig Eliézer Meleán Ivonne Caldera Orlando Zabaleta Polo Gilberto Maringoni Mário Augusto Jakobskind José Artur Poerner Elsa Neves Moraes Eugene R. Murphy Dee Brooks Gloria Berrocal Javier Maqua Jim Diers Gaudêncio Frigotto João Quartim de Moraes Paulo Tumolo Fernando Antonio Lourenço Claudia Nogueria Dana Lubow Victor Wallis Leslie Reindl Katalina Montero Gaudêncio Frigotto João Quartim de Moraes Paulo Tumolo Fernando Antonio Lourenço.</p>
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<p>&#160;</p> | true | 4 | 160 according information supplied international press august 9 2005 court appeals eleventh circuit court atlanta declared null void decision passed miami condemned gerardo hernández nordelo rené gonzález sehwerert ramón labañino salazar antonio guerrero rodríguez fernando gonzález llort infiltrating extremist cuban american groups south florida order obtain information terrorist activities directed cuba prison sentences already declared illegal working group arbitrary detentions human rights commission united nations past seven years five young men held maximum security prisons held incommunicado isolated cells long periods time two denied right receive family visits present time considering nullification sentence nothing justifies incarceration arbitrary situation extremely painful families allowed continue signed demanding immediate liberation 160 wole soyinka adolfo pérez esquivel nadine gordimer desmond tutu rigoberta menchú noam chomsky oscar niemeyer mario benedetti harry belafonte pablo gonzález casanova ernesto cardenal thiago de mello danny glover eduardo galeano alice walker manu chao atilio borón francois houtart ignacio ramonet luis sepúlveda tariq ali ramsey clark gianni miná frei betto miguel bonasso howard zinn jorge sanjinés rusell banks alfonso sastre león rozitchner gianni vattimo belén gopegui jorge enrique adoum tato pavlovsky pascual serrano juan mari brás james petras adolfo sánchez vázquez silvia iparraguirre abelardo castillo volodia teitelboim rosa regás ramón chao salim lamrani daniel ortega michel collon eric toussaint emir sader ariel dorfman saul landau theotonio dos santos istvan mestzaros victor flores olea walter tournier silvio rodríguez daniel viglietti victor heredia pablo milanés beth carvalho danny rivera fernando morais keith ellis alicia alonso hebe de bonafini raúl zurita james cockcroft giulio girardi paulo lins juan bañuelos marco martos rémy herrera carlo frabetti hernando calvo ospina james early wim dierckxsens joseph mulligan fernando birri roberto fernández retamar martin almada eusebio leal spengler amiri baraka amina baraka cintio vitier fina garcía marruz marcos roitman georges labica heinz dieterich pierre kalfon roy brown chiqui vicioso andrés sorel jorge ruffinelli graziella pogolotti richard gott alfredo guevara oscar gonzález lisandro otero domenico losurdo eva forest luis britto isabel parra victor victor frank fernández constantino bértolo julio garcía espinosa luciano vasapollo omara portuondo hildebrando pérez grande schafik handall andy spahn miguel barnet henri alleg roberto fabelo ann sparanese rafael cancel miranda vicente feliú jane franklin tomás borge tony word gaspar llamazares nora de izcue alex cox edgardo lander coriún aharonián noel colón martínez leo brower faheem hussain paulemile dupret jesusa rodríguez liliana felipe carlos gallisá raúl pérez torres osvaldo martínez claribel alegria raúl suaréz robert r bryan juan madrid abelardo estorino diamela eltit jaime augusto shelley kofi taha john beverley ben treuhaft arnoldo mora michael avery fidel castro díaz balart tarek william saab michelle gross jorge nadal edmundo aray francisco jarauta nancy morejón jhannett madriz sotillo cristián tattembach yglesias stella calloni gilberto lópez rivas manuel cabieses miguel descoto fernando butazzoni tubal páez carlos martí alpidio alonso josé steinsleger manuel talens beverly keene néstor kohan carlos taibo ericholt gimenez hans otto dill aldo díaz lacayo vicente battista ana de skalon luciano alzaga christian parenti arnel medina cuenca ida rodríguez prampolini adolfo colombres montserrat ponsa tarrés claudio katz lee lorch alessandra riccio alcira argumedo julio fontanet alain lambert john saxe fernandez alan woods jesús orta ruíz husni abdel wahed fernando alonso douglas valentine juan martín jaime sarusky leo gabriel pedro rivera daniel vaca narvaja rosita fornés héctor pesquera sevillano claufe rodríguez plinio de arruda sampaio jr celina gonzález michael lebowitz marta harnecker augusto boal beto almeida noelle narran gennaro carotenuto julio rodríguez puértolas adán chávez frías isidora aguirre kintto lucas maría de los angeles santana francisco pancho villa marta rojas gloria la riva richard becker angel guerra carlos fernández liria harold gramatges carlos fazio andrés thomas conteris césar lópez irene amador isaura navarro josé antonio rodríguez alan mills esther borja octavio cortázar tunai loipa araujo sandra levinson quintín cabrera amaury pérez emeka udemba pablo armando fernández humberto solás verónica lynn marina minucci josefina méndez senel paz horacio ceruttiguldberg héctor díazpolanco luis carbonell carmen bohórquez carilda oliver labra guillermo núñez sergio rodriguez lazcano nelson pvaldés pablo guayasamín alfredo vera javier corcuera alejandro moreano saskia guayasamín alejandro torres miren uriarte bob guild marcos reyes dávila steve brouwer ana esther ceceña arturo corcuera javier ortiz reynaldo gonzález antonio maira santiago alba rico vicente revuelta rosario murillo pablo marcano garcía angel augier eduardo roca chiara varesse alfredo sosabravo luis rosa pérez richard egües mercedes c de meroño orlando núñez soledad bianchi ramiro guerra suárez oscar rené vargas anibal quijano marilia guimarães héctor quintero saúl arana carlos raúl argüelles rogelio martínez furé francoise lopez alberto méndez nicolas frize zenaida armenteros jean ortiz adigio benitez cristy domínguez juan luis martin patricio pardo aurora basnuevo evel de petrini maria antonia antoine armando soler cristine tarquis ricardo antunes jeremy glick higinio polo juan blanco roberto argüello hurtado alejandro horowicz brian becker sarah guggenheimderi jean ives guezenec claude marks eduardo heras león matías bosch osneldo garcía raúl fornetbetancourt humberto tumini jorge ceballos felipe meneses electo silva lito borillo hector santarén césar portillo de la luz antonio vidal jorge farinacci garcía marcelo cafiso norberto galazo fernando ramón bossi sara rosemberg estela fernández nadal francisco berdichevsky cipe fridman mario hernández jorge beinstein milagros rivera beatriz rajland daniel de santis julia constenla osvaldo gallone lucía alvarez de toledo rubén dri andrés soliz rada luis fernando novoa garzon ivana jinkings mano mell josé arbex jr k beeman carlos varea jeanpierre daubois josé juan nazario de la rosa omar lara juana donoso casanellas justo soto castellanos sergio zúñiga pavio julián sabogal tamayo john walton cotman pablo guadarrama rita martufi mario sáenz raúl izquierdo canosa daniel del solar eugenio hernández espinosa guillermo almeyra berta martínez lópez miguel cruz manuel rodríguez marta p de badillo hilda oates william domingo aragú antonio scocozza josé loyola nayar lópez castellanos juan brom josé ramón artigas domenico jervolino josé villa alicia castellanos guerrero ivair coelho itagiba carlos padrón camilo soares rafael trelles francisco lópez sacha rogger tabeada enrique gonzález yuliana valenzuela cecilia conde claudia korol catherine murphy francisco alonso dario lópez desvar omar felipe mauri yamandú acosta manuel hernández orlando garcía antonio alberto pérez gervasio morales rodríguez hebe p de mascia julio miguel llánes sarah peish roberto bullón ernesto agüero carlos tamayo juana de pargament jorge hidalgo lucía muñoz jorge núñez oscar ugarteche rodulfo vaillant marcelo larrea eduardo tamayo g john pateman jose rodena iosu perales josé mendi josé manuel martín medem francisco josé pérez esteban elvira de triana mauricio valiente pepe mejía raúl wiener miguel riera juan josé tamayo acosta rené weber teodoro buarque de holanda arturo robles arias raquel arias manuel lidón medina marcello guimarães maría suárez santos luisa campuzano alida millán ferrer zenobia marcano rafael plalopez mariano pujadas luis garcía céspedes alfredo diez nieto ricardo santos ramos beat dietschy juan camacho moreno roberto jiménez maggiolo gutenberg charquero ana luisa escobar mauricio langón adolfo alfonso marelis pérez marcano alba carosio nelson guzmán jessica vargas alicia jrapko bill hackwell domingo rafael ojeda liendo angela nocioni georges bartoli maritza pérez juan santiago nieves elizardo martínez hélène boulais darrel furlotte virginia fontes alberto rabilotta celia p de prósperi maría elisa h de landín ada f de senar elsa f de manzotti maría n de gutman maría del carmen elena de gerbilski angel parra james sober carmela prizzi de lago visitación folgueiras de loyola nadya ricny josefina n de paludi irene lizzi de córtez rosa de camarotti claudia p de san martín aurelio narvaja lorenzo osores fabio basilone maria josé caramez leticia spiller jalusa barcelos olny freitas terezinha limeira judy wicks jesus chediak monica montone carmen vargas geraldo moreira josé caramez vivaldo franco joão grillo joão braga caique botkay paula nobrega andrea paola iedo ivo dalmo marins inês gomide alexandre brandão anne lamouche diane ladjouzi jeanpierre marguerat juliette mabille patrick perez secheret juliette mabille roland labarre serge lengendre marcolivier gavois aurélien gavois martine bonmati mariefrance fovet bruno drweski ivan lavelle louis michel bonnemaire david lopez eric lopez pierre sahores nemours francis le herisse jeanpierre page tania noctiumnes jeanpierre neel freddy ernesto ilanga ilunga danielle bleitrach hiram guadalupe pérez pedro varela fernández rita e zengotita neeltje van marissing méndez carlos muñiz pérez madeline ramírez marilena román ebenecer lópez ruyol rodolfo sandino argüello mariano barahona ramón leets Álvaro ramírez edwin castro gustavo porras ernesto aburto edgardo garcía dora zeledón sixto ulloa roberto gonzález nelson artola rita fletes jacinto suárez orlando sobalvarro Álvaro argüello hurtado uriel molina oliú rafael aragón indiana acevedo h margarita zavala arnaldo zenteno sj jeanne laurent alain matiz alfredo lo picollo annie boudin carlos ruizeldredge claude vatican denis lemercier henri boudin jacqueline coignard jacques leyrat laurence choko luis diego romero michel maillet mireille guézénec mireille matiz miriam hernández salazar raquel zamorano roberto flores guevara stans choko virgilio ponce fernando garcía deborah james ana perez ariel golan sterling evans shirley pate favianna rodríguez david kent peterson lucien lenoire joanne schwarz suzanne ross chesa boudin ann f schafer anne marie lamb ronald margolis ed rimbaugh alex turner cindy domingo richard levins dana kaplan morgan alexander francisco guzmán pasos millard murphy víctor winer al campbell kirsten moller ivy meeropol thomas ambrose rachel bruhnke sonja de vries karil daniels lydia howell hunter lenihan derrel myers naomi white joan malerich tony prokott daniel alvin arturo roig eliézer meleán ivonne caldera orlando zabaleta polo gilberto maringoni mário augusto jakobskind josé artur poerner elsa neves moraes eugene r murphy dee brooks gloria berrocal javier maqua jim diers gaudêncio frigotto joão quartim de moraes paulo tumolo fernando antonio lourenço claudia nogueria dana lubow victor wallis leslie reindl katalina montero gaudêncio frigotto joão quartim de moraes paulo tumolo fernando antonio lourenço para adherirse freethe5cubartecultcu 160 160 160 | 1,578 |
<p>On January 15th, at Kane Hall, on the campus of the University of Washington in Seattle, former L.A. cop and self-described 9/11 investigator Mike Ruppert told a standing-room only crowd the obvious:</p>
<p>“[Ruppert] believes that no sanctions, indictments or criminal prosecution [against the Bush warmongers] will ever be handed down. Rubicon [Ruppert’s book], he says, remains a base map of the decades before and the years since 9/11. But now he says we must look at the herd of elephants charging at us, instead of the one elephant that just ran us over,” Ken Levine summarizes on Ruppert’s From the Wilderness website.</p>
<p>No kidding.</p>
<p>Of course Bush and Crew will never face indictment or criminal prosecution, at least not under current conditions. That’s not how it works. Evidence of this abounds: Henry Kissinger, one of the most notorious war criminals of recent history, walks around a free man, as does Bill Clinton, responsible for invading the former Yugoslavia, imposing murderous sanctions on Iraq—killing hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, mostly kids—and blowing up a pharmaceutical factory in the Sudan (el-Shifa), an especially vile war crime that resulted in massive suffering a death. Bush Senior is responsible for deliberately bombing Iraq’s water purification system, an act of premeditated savagery resulting in untold disease and death, and yet he walks around a free man too. Instead of war criminals, these guys are considered “elder statesmen,” the substance of best selling books and CNN and Fox News interviews. Millions of Americans revere them.</p>
<p>Dispensing more dubious information, Ruppert told the crowd to put their money, “or whatever cash we have left, into precious metals; that we must rid ourselves of debt, get out of the stock market and begin to think about a more self-sufficient living style. We must reduce personal consumption.”</p>
<p>Said just like a wealthy Libertarian.</p>
<p>It was obviously an evening tailored for the middle class, the sort of people who have enough money to buy Ruppert’s book and apparently have problems with “personal consumption,” that is to say buying things they don’t need with credit cards. Precious metals aside, millions of Americans are finding it increasingly difficult to pay for shelter and food. Millions of Americans, living hand-to-mouth on Walmart wages, have absolutely no money to put into gold or silver and thus feed themselves after “a tremendous devaluation of the dollar” hits, as predicted by Ruppert and more than a few economists.</p>
<p>For instance, as an unemployed web designer and photographer, I have no money for gold ingots or silver coins. I have lived a more or less Spartan lifestyle for years and do not rush out to the mall to buy the latest consumerist thingamajig as advertised on television (in fact, I don’t watch television). I do not own a home–sorry, no mortgages for the unemployed–and own a car only because I have little other choice in this society as presently arranged (unless I want to walk five or ten or however many miles every day to a job I can’t seem to find, thanks to Bush’s war economy). Mike offers no solution for people like me, living precariously near the economic periphery. As Mike apparently sees it, I am cosigned to a fate of pushing a wheelbarrow down Main Street, piled with useless greenbacks to buy a loaf of bread, like German paupers of yore.</p>
<p>But enough about me.</p>
<p>For many Americans–an increasing number of Americans–Mike Ruppert offers nothing except scary predictions of “peak oil” and a weak palliative while hawking his latest book and “treating” his audience to “some very important and poignant ‘new releases,'” likely soon available to Ruppert fans who have credit cards and can afford to shell out the bucks for additional “personal consumption,” be it Ruppert’s book or Nintendo Gamecube Platinum. Instead of urging political action, he tells Americans to invest in gold, sounding oddly like an investment banker or somebody from the gold industry. Ruppert may call Dick Cheney “a murderer,” again stating the obvious, but offers no concrete solution for getting rid of such multiple and repeat felons beyond slimming down the consumption habits of middle class Americans in preparation for the Grapes of Wrath, the sequel. If he did offer other political alternatives, they were not mentioned in the article penned by Mike’s agent, Ken Levine. But then, I suppose, to get the whole story we have to buy Mike’s book.</p>
<p>Finally, until Americans wake up from their corporate media induced somnolence–taking the utterances of right-wingers at Fox News as the gospel truth–many of them will not only support Bush’s up-coming invasions and occupations of Iran and Syria (or at least his “shock and awe” bombardment of these countries), but they will blissfully continue to drive gas-guzzling SUVs and consume useless consumer junk right up to the moment the economy crashes, as Ruppert correctly predicts.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, precious few of them will have stockpiles of gold and silver, presumably stuffed in their mattresses, metal we are to assume they will use to barter for food and shelter. If the impending collapse of the U.S. economy–precipitated by a falling dollar and deficits run up by Bush’s war machine and the unconscionable greed and squander of rich people and multinational corporations–translates into anything positive, it will be massive and unrelenting activism on the part of average Americans, same as the last time the economy tanked and people were pitched into misery and suffering. For as Howard Zinn notes, during the so-called Great Depression social activism reached a fever pitch, threatening government and the ruling elite, although this is not a story you will read in corporate published school textbooks.</p>
<p>Of course, in order to save predatory capitalism and stave off serious reform, if not the trashing of the entire system, Roosevelt hurriedly passed a few amelioratory laws–including Social Security, now under attack–and, more importantly, embroiled America in the largest and most destructive war in modern history, effectively channeling anger directed against a parasitical system in another direction, namely against foreign enemies who were, as the Bush family history attests, supported and financed by the very people responsible for the Great Depression.</p>
<p>Instead of urging a few hundred middle class people to buy gold and stop frivolous consumption, Mike Ruppert should tell them to prepare for the struggle ahead–a social revolution that will either result in change of a predatory system, lorded over by “murderers” such as Dick Cheney, or yet another diversionary tactic, a shuffling of the deck that will result in more of the same, albeit with a few minor “reforms” put into place.</p>
<p>No amount of hoarded gold will make a whit of difference.</p>
<p>KURT NIMMO is a photographer and multimedia developer in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Visit his excellent no holds barred blog at <a href="http://www.kurtnimmo.com/" type="external">www.kurtnimmo.com/</a>. Nimmo is a contributor to Cockburn and St. Clair’s, <a href="" type="internal">The Politics of Anti-Semitism</a>. A collection of his essays for CounterPunch, <a href="" type="internal">Another Day in the Empire</a>, is now available from Dandelion Books.</p>
<p>He can be reached at: <a href="mailto:nimmo@zianet.com" type="external">nimmo@zianet.com</a></p> | true | 4 | january 15th kane hall campus university washington seattle former la cop selfdescribed 911 investigator mike ruppert told standingroom crowd obvious ruppert believes sanctions indictments criminal prosecution bush warmongers ever handed rubicon rupperts book says remains base map decades years since 911 says must look herd elephants charging us instead one elephant ran us ken levine summarizes rupperts wilderness website kidding course bush crew never face indictment criminal prosecution least current conditions thats works evidence abounds henry kissinger one notorious war criminals recent history walks around free man bill clinton responsible invading former yugoslavia imposing murderous sanctions iraqkilling hundreds thousands iraqis mostly kidsand blowing pharmaceutical factory sudan elshifa especially vile war crime resulted massive suffering death bush senior responsible deliberately bombing iraqs water purification system act premeditated savagery resulting untold disease death yet walks around free man instead war criminals guys considered elder statesmen substance best selling books cnn fox news interviews millions americans revere dispensing dubious information ruppert told crowd put money whatever cash left precious metals must rid debt get stock market begin think selfsufficient living style must reduce personal consumption said like wealthy libertarian obviously evening tailored middle class sort people enough money buy rupperts book apparently problems personal consumption say buying things dont need credit cards precious metals aside millions americans finding increasingly difficult pay shelter food millions americans living handtomouth walmart wages absolutely money put gold silver thus feed tremendous devaluation dollar hits predicted ruppert economists instance unemployed web designer photographer money gold ingots silver coins lived less spartan lifestyle years rush mall buy latest consumerist thingamajig advertised television fact dont watch television homesorry mortgages unemployedand car little choice society presently arranged unless want walk five ten however many miles every day job cant seem find thanks bushs war economy mike offers solution people like living precariously near economic periphery mike apparently sees cosigned fate pushing wheelbarrow main street piled useless greenbacks buy loaf bread like german paupers yore enough many americansan increasing number americansmike ruppert offers nothing except scary predictions peak oil weak palliative hawking latest book treating audience important poignant new releases likely soon available ruppert fans credit cards afford shell bucks additional personal consumption rupperts book nintendo gamecube platinum instead urging political action tells americans invest gold sounding oddly like investment banker somebody gold industry ruppert may call dick cheney murderer stating obvious offers concrete solution getting rid multiple repeat felons beyond slimming consumption habits middle class americans preparation grapes wrath sequel offer political alternatives mentioned article penned mikes agent ken levine suppose get whole story buy mikes book finally americans wake corporate media induced somnolencetaking utterances rightwingers fox news gospel truthmany support bushs upcoming invasions occupations iran syria least shock awe bombardment countries blissfully continue drive gasguzzling suvs consume useless consumer junk right moment economy crashes ruppert correctly predicts unfortunately precious stockpiles gold silver presumably stuffed mattresses metal assume use barter food shelter impending collapse us economyprecipitated falling dollar deficits run bushs war machine unconscionable greed squander rich people multinational corporationstranslates anything positive massive unrelenting activism part average americans last time economy tanked people pitched misery suffering howard zinn notes socalled great depression social activism reached fever pitch threatening government ruling elite although story read corporate published school textbooks course order save predatory capitalism stave serious reform trashing entire system roosevelt hurriedly passed amelioratory lawsincluding social security attackand importantly embroiled america largest destructive war modern history effectively channeling anger directed parasitical system another direction namely foreign enemies bush family history attests supported financed people responsible great depression instead urging hundred middle class people buy gold stop frivolous consumption mike ruppert tell prepare struggle aheada social revolution either result change predatory system lorded murderers dick cheney yet another diversionary tactic shuffling deck result albeit minor reforms put place amount hoarded gold make whit difference kurt nimmo photographer multimedia developer las cruces new mexico visit excellent holds barred blog wwwkurtnimmocom nimmo contributor cockburn st clairs politics antisemitism collection essays counterpunch another day empire available dandelion books reached nimmozianetcom | 664 |
<p>A just and peaceful solution to the protracted Palestinian-Israeli conflict is only possible when the US ceases to block every attempt made towards it.</p>
<p>This assertion might raise many questions, for example, just how is one to define a just and peaceful resolution? And for what reasons would the US obstruct such a possibility, considering that stability in the Middle East is, or at least should be a top American priority?</p>
<p>A just and peaceful resolution is difficult to define, considering that the conception of justice varies both in definition and interpretation. In the case of this conflict, the long-held assumption is that a just resolution is one that would be consistent with international and humanitarian laws, and which would enjoy the largest possible consensus worldwide.</p>
<p>A consensus is indeed at hand and has been for decades; it is one that recognizes the Israeli military occupation of Palestinian territories as illegal and immoral, that unconditionally acknowledges the illegality of all Jewish settlements in occupied Palestine and the illegal transfer of Israeli settlers to inhabit unlawfully acquired Palestinian land. Strangely enough, despite its very cautious phraseology, the US, especially under the current administration of President Barack Obama recognizes these very facts. But then why is the man who leads the world’s only superpower proving not only incapable of achieving what should be a practicable feat, but also going so far as to hinder the efforts of other parties to simply recognize Palestinian rights or pinpoint Israeli injustices?</p>
<p>This is precisely what has just taken place, a repeat of the same infuriating episode for the thousandth time.</p>
<p>A recent proposal presented by Sweden — the current holder of the rotating European Union presidency — called on EU members to recognize an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital. The proposal was watered down to a mere communiqué, issued by EU foreign ministers on December 8, which calls for the division of Jerusalem to serve as “the future capital of the two states.” Naturally, Israel, as the occupying power rejected the statement. But so did the United States. “We are aware of the EU statement, but our position on Jerusalem is clear. We believe that is a final-status issue,” declared Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs P.J. Crowley. He further declared that “this is best addressed inside a formal negotiation among the parties directly.”</p>
<p>Crowley, like all of his bosses, Obama included, knows well that Israel is neither keen on ‘direct’ nor indirect negotiations, and is deliberately prejudicing any possible just solution with its continuing colonization of occupied East Jerusalem and the rest of the West Bank. Israel’s rightwing extremist government is not bashful about its true intentions, and the smart and savvy Obama is not ignorant of the prospects of a ‘direct’ negotiation between those with the bulldozers, the tanks and big guns (based in Tel Aviv) and those with dismal press releases (based in Ramallah). But it’s not just the rare initiatives of the EU that are being summarily dismissed by the US.</p>
<p>All initiatives, whether by individual states or regional groups, for example by the Arab League, or through international forums such as the United Nations are rejected, derided and at times suspected of anti-Semitism.</p>
<p>This is a continuation of a terrible legacy that goes back decades. The reason such a redundant policy is being highlighted now — as it should be — is because Obama promised change and pledged to lead a new decisive course, led by a gentler, kinder and more sensible America. In the Middle East, this is hardly being realized.</p>
<p>Why? Shouldn’t the US, in desperately trying to maintain its role as a world leader, and to preserve its economic and strategic interests in the Middle East, embark on the frequently promised new course — not for the sake of Palestine and the Arabs, but its own?</p>
<p>Israeli newspaper Haaretz suggests an answer, one that many of us have already recognized long prior to Obama’s presidency, or even his involvement in politics altogether. “In the case of Obama’s government in particular, every criticism against Israel made by a potential government appointee has become a catalyst for debate about whether appointing ‘another leftist’ offers proof that Obama does not truly support Israel,” wrote Natasha Mozgovaya on December 4.</p>
<p>Haaretz highlighted several cases in point, amongst them the intense war lead by the pro-Israel lobby in Washington against Chas Freeman, a widely respected US official nominated by the Obama administration months ago to chair the National Intelligence Council. He dared voice guarded critique of US foreign policy in the Middle East and became a victim of the worst possible vilification campaign, forcing him to concede the nomination.</p>
<p>Other examples include Robert Malley, a daring American political adviser who wished to believe that his country’s national interests took priority over Israel’s. He was let go even before the Obama presidency commenced.</p>
<p>More, a ‘controversy’ is currently ‘raging’ — as in, the Israeli lobby is not happy — over the appointment of former Republican Senator Chuck Hagel as an intelligence aide. According to Haaretz, “Republican Jews have…protested Hagel’s appointment, citing an incident in 2004 when Hagel refused to sign a letter calling on then-president George Bush to speak about Iran’s nuclear program at the G8 summit that year.”</p>
<p>Stephen M. Walt, a Harvard University professor and co-author of the widely-read The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy, recently wrote that “groups in the lobby target public servants like Freeman, Hagel…because they want to make sure that no one with even a mildly independent view on Middle East affairs gets appointed. By making an example of them, they seek to discourage independent-minded people from expressing their views openly, lest doing so derail their own career prospects later on.”</p>
<p>Luckily, neither Walt nor numerous other independent-minded Americans like him are afraid to speak their mind, to safeguard the independence and integrity of their country. This should always be the case.</p>
<p>For the time being, don’t be surprised when you hear that the US continues to block the path for peace in the Middle East. At least now you know why.</p>
<p>RAMZY BAROUD is an author and editor of <a href="http://www.PalestineChronicle.com" type="external">PalestineChronicle.com</a>. His work has been published in many newspapers and journals worldwide. His latest book is <a href="" type="internal">The Second Palestinian Intifada: A Chronicle of a People’s Struggle</a> (Pluto Press, London). His forthcoming book is, “ <a href="" type="internal">My Father Was a Freedom Fighter: Gaza’s Untold Story</a>” (Pluto Press, London), now available for pre-orders.</p> | true | 4 | peaceful solution protracted palestinianisraeli conflict possible us ceases block every attempt made towards assertion might raise many questions example one define peaceful resolution reasons would us obstruct possibility considering stability middle east least top american priority peaceful resolution difficult define considering conception justice varies definition interpretation case conflict longheld assumption resolution one would consistent international humanitarian laws would enjoy largest possible consensus worldwide consensus indeed hand decades one recognizes israeli military occupation palestinian territories illegal immoral unconditionally acknowledges illegality jewish settlements occupied palestine illegal transfer israeli settlers inhabit unlawfully acquired palestinian land strangely enough despite cautious phraseology us especially current administration president barack obama recognizes facts man leads worlds superpower proving incapable achieving practicable feat also going far hinder efforts parties simply recognize palestinian rights pinpoint israeli injustices precisely taken place repeat infuriating episode thousandth time recent proposal presented sweden current holder rotating european union presidency called eu members recognize independent palestinian state jerusalem capital proposal watered mere communiqué issued eu foreign ministers december 8 calls division jerusalem serve future capital two states naturally israel occupying power rejected statement united states aware eu statement position jerusalem clear believe finalstatus issue declared assistant secretary state public affairs pj crowley declared best addressed inside formal negotiation among parties directly crowley like bosses obama included knows well israel neither keen direct indirect negotiations deliberately prejudicing possible solution continuing colonization occupied east jerusalem rest west bank israels rightwing extremist government bashful true intentions smart savvy obama ignorant prospects direct negotiation bulldozers tanks big guns based tel aviv dismal press releases based ramallah rare initiatives eu summarily dismissed us initiatives whether individual states regional groups example arab league international forums united nations rejected derided times suspected antisemitism continuation terrible legacy goes back decades reason redundant policy highlighted obama promised change pledged lead new decisive course led gentler kinder sensible america middle east hardly realized shouldnt us desperately trying maintain role world leader preserve economic strategic interests middle east embark frequently promised new course sake palestine arabs israeli newspaper haaretz suggests answer one many us already recognized long prior obamas presidency even involvement politics altogether case obamas government particular every criticism israel made potential government appointee become catalyst debate whether appointing another leftist offers proof obama truly support israel wrote natasha mozgovaya december 4 haaretz highlighted several cases point amongst intense war lead proisrael lobby washington chas freeman widely respected us official nominated obama administration months ago chair national intelligence council dared voice guarded critique us foreign policy middle east became victim worst possible vilification campaign forcing concede nomination examples include robert malley daring american political adviser wished believe countrys national interests took priority israels let go even obama presidency commenced controversy currently raging israeli lobby happy appointment former republican senator chuck hagel intelligence aide according haaretz republican jews haveprotested hagels appointment citing incident 2004 hagel refused sign letter calling thenpresident george bush speak irans nuclear program g8 summit year stephen walt harvard university professor coauthor widelyread israel lobby us foreign policy recently wrote groups lobby target public servants like freeman hagelbecause want make sure one even mildly independent view middle east affairs gets appointed making example seek discourage independentminded people expressing views openly lest derail career prospects later luckily neither walt numerous independentminded americans like afraid speak mind safeguard independence integrity country always case time dont surprised hear us continues block path peace middle east least know ramzy baroud author editor palestinechroniclecom work published many newspapers journals worldwide latest book second palestinian intifada chronicle peoples struggle pluto press london forthcoming book father freedom fighter gazas untold story pluto press london available preorders | 597 |
<p>Frederick Taylor’s 1911 Principles of Scientific Management came to define the treatment of workers in a system where efficiency: the most work done in the most time was what managers cared about. To an author who infamously provided the decisive answer to “how many times per minute should my secretary be able to open and close a file drawer?” (25 times–for other tasks, exactly 0.04 minutes per folder and .026 minutes per drawer), we now owe everything from class rank by grade point average to ring-per-minute tracking on retail workers to the U.S.’s standing army of management consultants. But it is doubtful that even Taylor would apply his wide-ranging theories on maximum efficiency to international diplomacy in the same way that the Bush and Sharon administrations have implicitly agreed to do in the case of Israel’s “goals” in Palestine.</p>
<p>Following the brutal fighting on both sides and Sharon’s decision to invade by military force the small portion of the West Bank that is actually under the control of the Palestinian Authority, Bush and Powell made their formulaic and insistent pleas for Israel to withdraw from the occupied territories–pleas that could easily become demands if the United States threatened to actually end, or even reduce, its constant financial and military support of Israel’s current occupation of Palestinian territory.</p>
<p>These empty calls for “peace” would seem no different than any other interaction between the U.S. and its client state–except for the odd notions of diplomatic effort that are belied by both what Bush has left unsaid and what Sharon has said in return: human lives ranking somewhere south of uncomfortable lengths of time.</p>
<p>Bush, predictably, voiced no real deadlines in his call for the Israeli army to withdraw, and spoke of no penalties for Israel’s current flagrant neglect of a recent and groundbreaking Security Council resolution. He also placed the blame squarely on Arafat for the recent wave of suicide bombings by Palestinian extremists (although how Arafat was supposed to create a more perfect Bantustan when his own security forces bore the brunt of Israeli “reprisals” is uncertain). But the U.S. administration is clearly distraught over Israel’s rather ill-timed decision to take up the mantle of the “war on terrorism”. Arab solidarity against Iraq, even among the despots of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, is fast disappearing, and Bush sorely needs another military target to continue his most politically successful venture to date. An Israeli offensive that will rile up the popular elements of Arab society against their &lt;U.S.-allied&gt; dictators is not a good way to start a “regional” invasion to remove Iraq’s own dictatorship.</p>
<p>So how has Sharon responded? Statements that he will “expedite” his military operations so as not to extend his army’s diplomatically irritating stay in the already-devastated cities of Palestine. Get in, ensure that Palestine has no stable position from which to fight for its people, and get out before anyone important has time to get truly angry about it. The administration, if it meant what it said, should take this as a slap in the face by Israel. A certain amount of civilians attacked, imprisoned and killed over thirty days is no more disgusting than the same amount over ten days (and if anything can be said by either side of the conflict, it is that more civilian casualties are inevitable if Israel’s offense continues).</p>
<p>But to Bush and Co., the destabilizing of an already corrupt and unpopular Arafat regime (to make way for what?), the increasing popularity of Hamas and other fundamentalists in the face of Israeli state terrorism, an indiscriminate Israeli offensive and the Palestinians and Israelis that it will destroy, are all peripheral next to the threat of a thoroughly inefficient and long-lasting campaign that might ruin the plans of the United States.</p>
<p>So Sharon’s statement is taken as satisfactory on Capitol Hill–“without delay” is defined as “without delay” by Condoleeza Rice in an interview, or, alternatively, as “right now”. No one claims that anything adverse will happen to, say, the U.S.’s massive foreign aid to Israel, if the army does not withdraw “without delay”, as this would imply that there was actual care for Palestinian lives weighing on Bush. But all Bush requires is an “efficient” invasion and withdrawal, one that accomplishes its “goal” of destroying anyone who threatens to provide an actual negotiating partner on the Palestinian side.</p>
<p>So how long should it take a client state to impose ruin and general disillusionment on a devastated populace? Obviously faster than Sharon’s current speed, which is what might finally lead Bush to support a more compliant replacement. Of course, it’s not as if the Palestinian or Israeli people are worth much more to the masters of diplomatic efficiency than a folder or a desk drawer. Taylorism reigns supreme in the judgment not only of employees but of policy-makers: Sharon will show his worth to the U.S.’s way of doing things by his ability to carry out an unpleasant task in a short period of time, no matter how deadly, sloppy, or destructive that task may be.</p>
<p>So what can Bush, Powell, and the rest do to prove that substance, not speed, is what they desire from Sharon? They can use their preoccupation with haste to demand actual deadlines for Israel’s withdrawal from the territory that it has already begun to demolish, with corresponding reductions in American military aid if Israel continues to use weapons supposedly provided to ward off foreign invasion against civilians within the occupied territories.</p>
<p>If Israel wants surface-to-air missiles to destroy refugee camps, it will have to buy them from the same less savory elements that provide Iraq with its arms (another U.S. client turned rogue). And the administration can refuse as meaningless Sharon’s plea that the invasion and destruction will occur more “quickly”, and begin to focus on the Israeli army’s own complicity, along with that of Arafat and Hamas, in what is currently occurring in the occupied territories.</p>
<p>Nick Ring is currently unschooled in Cary, NC and is on the Board of Directors for Youth Voice Raleigh. Ring can be reached at: <a href="mailto:nick_ring@hotmail.com" type="external">nick_ring@hotmail.com</a></p>
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<p>&#160;</p> | true | 4 | frederick taylors 1911 principles scientific management came define treatment workers system efficiency work done time managers cared author infamously provided decisive answer many times per minute secretary able open close file drawer 25 timesfor tasks exactly 004 minutes per folder 026 minutes per drawer owe everything class rank grade point average ringperminute tracking retail workers uss standing army management consultants doubtful even taylor would apply wideranging theories maximum efficiency international diplomacy way bush sharon administrations implicitly agreed case israels goals palestine following brutal fighting sides sharons decision invade military force small portion west bank actually control palestinian authority bush powell made formulaic insistent pleas israel withdraw occupied territoriespleas could easily become demands united states threatened actually end even reduce constant financial military support israels current occupation palestinian territory empty calls peace would seem different interaction us client stateexcept odd notions diplomatic effort belied bush left unsaid sharon said return human lives ranking somewhere south uncomfortable lengths time bush predictably voiced real deadlines call israeli army withdraw spoke penalties israels current flagrant neglect recent groundbreaking security council resolution also placed blame squarely arafat recent wave suicide bombings palestinian extremists although arafat supposed create perfect bantustan security forces bore brunt israeli reprisals uncertain us administration clearly distraught israels rather illtimed decision take mantle war terrorism arab solidarity iraq even among despots saudi arabia kuwait fast disappearing bush sorely needs another military target continue politically successful venture date israeli offensive rile popular elements arab society ltusalliedgt dictators good way start regional invasion remove iraqs dictatorship sharon responded statements expedite military operations extend armys diplomatically irritating stay alreadydevastated cities palestine get ensure palestine stable position fight people get anyone important time get truly angry administration meant said take slap face israel certain amount civilians attacked imprisoned killed thirty days disgusting amount ten days anything said either side conflict civilian casualties inevitable israels offense continues bush co destabilizing already corrupt unpopular arafat regime make way increasing popularity hamas fundamentalists face israeli state terrorism indiscriminate israeli offensive palestinians israelis destroy peripheral next threat thoroughly inefficient longlasting campaign might ruin plans united states sharons statement taken satisfactory capitol hillwithout delay defined without delay condoleeza rice interview alternatively right one claims anything adverse happen say uss massive foreign aid israel army withdraw without delay would imply actual care palestinian lives weighing bush bush requires efficient invasion withdrawal one accomplishes goal destroying anyone threatens provide actual negotiating partner palestinian side long take client state impose ruin general disillusionment devastated populace obviously faster sharons current speed might finally lead bush support compliant replacement course palestinian israeli people worth much masters diplomatic efficiency folder desk drawer taylorism reigns supreme judgment employees policymakers sharon show worth uss way things ability carry unpleasant task short period time matter deadly sloppy destructive task may bush powell rest prove substance speed desire sharon use preoccupation haste demand actual deadlines israels withdrawal territory already begun demolish corresponding reductions american military aid israel continues use weapons supposedly provided ward foreign invasion civilians within occupied territories israel wants surfacetoair missiles destroy refugee camps buy less savory elements provide iraq arms another us client turned rogue administration refuse meaningless sharons plea invasion destruction occur quickly begin focus israeli armys complicity along arafat hamas currently occurring occupied territories nick ring currently unschooled cary nc board directors youth voice raleigh ring reached nick_ringhotmailcom 160 160 | 554 |
<p>BATON ROUGE, La. — I recently attended a meeting with community members in Louisiana who called our office because they need help. They live in a small African American community surrounded by industrial infrastructure on the west bank of the Mississippi River south of Baton Rouge. Their community has been here for a long time. They feel strongly that the surrounding industry affects their health and poses a threat to their safety.</p>
<p>In particular, this community is concerned about the lack of an adequate emergency evacuation plan for their residents in the event of an industrial accident — and for good reason. Just within the last month their have been two industrial accidents in the surrounding area.</p>
<p>On June 14, an&#160; <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/2013/06/19/cfindustries-explosion-idUSL2N0EU1EU20130619" type="external">accident at CF Industries in Donaldsonville, La.</a> killed one worker and injured seven. This accident occurred only a day after an explosion at the Williams Olefin’s plant in Geismar, La. which killed two and sent about 100 people to the hospital, according to news reports.</p>
<p>Thirty years ago, I didn’t pay much attention to these sorts of problems but in 1983 my youngest son was born with a respiratory illness. He had difficulty breathing. Before that time I was unaware that Louisiana, as some people say, had made a name for itself as a state that often built its economy at the expense of residents and the environment. I was not aware that industrial facilities lined the banks of the mighty Mississippi River between Baton Rouge, where I live, and New Orleans, where I grew up.</p>
<p>Now, I’m concerned about hazardous pollution entering our land, air and water. Ultimately, the workers within these facilities face the greatest threat from accidents and hazardous working conditions but the affects of this heavy industry reaches far beyond the property boundaries of these facilities.</p>
<p>To educate myself to better protect my son and my family, I formed a group called Mothers Against Air Pollution. Our first struggle was focused on stopping the burning of PCB’s in a hazardous waste incinerator just north of Baton Rouge. Through this effort I met other state residents who were struggling with environmental issues.</p>
<p>Together, in 1986, we formed the Louisiana Environmental Action Network (LEAN) to unify individuals and organizations across the state. I have been the group’s executive director for over 26 years.</p>
<p>During this time, I’ve had the privilege of working with families and communities facing environmental struggles that pose severe threats to their health, quality of life and livelihoods. LEAN has helped support and empower communities that often feel powerless and disposable.</p>
<p>Watch this interview in which <a href="http://www.jonbowermaster.com/videoplayer/videoplayer.php?videoid=1045" type="external">Marylee Orr talks about the health affects</a> of the massive Gulf oil spill in 2010 that caused damage to Louisiana and other states in the South.</p>
<p><a href="http://leanweb.org/about-us/staff/" type="external">Read this 2012 interview</a> with Orr from The Advocate newspaper about her work.</p>
<p>We’ve worked with historic African American communities that developed as freed slave communities alongside plantations and now exist as fence-line areas subject to industrial pollution, a Native American community living alongside open air oil field waste pits and a Vietnamese community with hazardous landfills near the areas they farm and fish. These communities have become organized and empowered.</p>
<p>We provide organizational and leadership development and technical assistance. Heavy industries within Louisiana, I believe, have large, well organized, well funded and powerfully represented trade organizations and lobbyists that do an excellent job of making sure the state has a political and economic climate that has their best interest at heart.</p>
<p>For over 27 years, LEAN has worked with everyday people and families to have an equal voice in the environmental issues that affect their communities, health and way of life. While I feel that Louisiana has a long way to go in making progress, I am proud to say that I feel confident that our group’s efforts have given everyday people a place at the table when it comes to environmental decision making.</p>
<p>We’ve addressed extensive environmental contamination caused by flooding, household contaminants, mold, industrial spills (due to flooding and storm damage), as well illegal dumping and the proper disposal of the enormous amount of hazardous debris after storms. While hurricanes&#160; and severe weather are an inevitable and unfortunate part of life in South Louisiana, environmental threats occur consistently without the excuse of a natural disaster.</p>
<p>LEAN and our partners have assisted individuals and communities as they develop the knowledge, skill and support to effectively address environmental challenges. Many of these challenges are long-term struggles that require committed support and long-term perspective.</p>
<p>We work to address the immediate needs of communities so that we can alleviate the affects to their health and quality of life but also we can shift Louisiana’s culture of environmental exploitation to one of equitable and thoughtful innovation.</p>
<p>Louisiana’s wealth of natural virtues is what makes us unique, what has shaped our culture and ultimately has set the stage for a beautiful but often complicated coexistence between man and nature. The rich geology of this region and the transportation superhighway of the Mississippi river has led Louisiana to being a highly industrialized processing and manufacturing center for gas, petroleum and chemical manufacturing.</p>
<p>But within this petrochemical capital of the South lies some of the most beautiful and bountiful forest land, the most important river in the country, the nation’s largest swamp as well as one of the most productive and important fishing grounds in the world.</p>
<p>Participating in all of these industries, in all of these environments, are the hard-working people of Louisiana.</p>
<p>Marylee Orr is the executive director of the&#160; <a href="http://leanweb.org/" type="external">Louisiana Environmental Action Network</a> (LEAN). The organization works with residents and groups to improve the environment, give voice to community concerns and&#160;hold polluters accountable. A U.S. Environmental Protection Agency report gives LEAN credit for helping to raise awareness about the release of toxic chemicals from facilities in the state.&#160;</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">Contact author</a></p>
<p>&#160;&#160; <a href="" type="internal">Environment</a>, <a href="" type="internal">Families</a>, <a href="" type="internal">Health</a>, <a href="" type="internal">Louisiana</a>, <a href="" type="internal">Louisiana Environmental Action Network</a>, <a href="" type="internal">Marylee Orr</a></p> | true | 4 | baton rouge la recently attended meeting community members louisiana called office need help live small african american community surrounded industrial infrastructure west bank mississippi river south baton rouge community long time feel strongly surrounding industry affects health poses threat safety particular community concerned lack adequate emergency evacuation plan residents event industrial accident good reason within last month two industrial accidents surrounding area june 14 an160 accident cf industries donaldsonville la killed one worker injured seven accident occurred day explosion williams olefins plant geismar la killed two sent 100 people hospital according news reports thirty years ago didnt pay much attention sorts problems 1983 youngest son born respiratory illness difficulty breathing time unaware louisiana people say made name state often built economy expense residents environment aware industrial facilities lined banks mighty mississippi river baton rouge live new orleans grew im concerned hazardous pollution entering land air water ultimately workers within facilities face greatest threat accidents hazardous working conditions affects heavy industry reaches far beyond property boundaries facilities educate better protect son family formed group called mothers air pollution first struggle focused stopping burning pcbs hazardous waste incinerator north baton rouge effort met state residents struggling environmental issues together 1986 formed louisiana environmental action network lean unify individuals organizations across state groups executive director 26 years time ive privilege working families communities facing environmental struggles pose severe threats health quality life livelihoods lean helped support empower communities often feel powerless disposable watch interview marylee orr talks health affects massive gulf oil spill 2010 caused damage louisiana states south read 2012 interview orr advocate newspaper work weve worked historic african american communities developed freed slave communities alongside plantations exist fenceline areas subject industrial pollution native american community living alongside open air oil field waste pits vietnamese community hazardous landfills near areas farm fish communities become organized empowered provide organizational leadership development technical assistance heavy industries within louisiana believe large well organized well funded powerfully represented trade organizations lobbyists excellent job making sure state political economic climate best interest heart 27 years lean worked everyday people families equal voice environmental issues affect communities health way life feel louisiana long way go making progress proud say feel confident groups efforts given everyday people place table comes environmental decision making weve addressed extensive environmental contamination caused flooding household contaminants mold industrial spills due flooding storm damage well illegal dumping proper disposal enormous amount hazardous debris storms hurricanes160 severe weather inevitable unfortunate part life south louisiana environmental threats occur consistently without excuse natural disaster lean partners assisted individuals communities develop knowledge skill support effectively address environmental challenges many challenges longterm struggles require committed support longterm perspective work address immediate needs communities alleviate affects health quality life also shift louisianas culture environmental exploitation one equitable thoughtful innovation louisianas wealth natural virtues makes us unique shaped culture ultimately set stage beautiful often complicated coexistence man nature rich geology region transportation superhighway mississippi river led louisiana highly industrialized processing manufacturing center gas petroleum chemical manufacturing within petrochemical capital south lies beautiful bountiful forest land important river country nations largest swamp well one productive important fishing grounds world participating industries environments hardworking people louisiana marylee orr executive director the160 louisiana environmental action network lean organization works residents groups improve environment give voice community concerns and160hold polluters accountable us environmental protection agency report gives lean credit helping raise awareness release toxic chemicals facilities state160 contact author 160160 environment families health louisiana louisiana environmental action network marylee orr | 575 |
<p>Editor's note: This is the second article in a two-part series about the impact of racism on African American men. Click <a href="" type="internal">here</a> to read the first installment.</p>
<p>The topic of racism often generates discussions of justice, equality, freedom and human rights. But what about trauma? Although trauma is often accepted as a predictable outcome of war, physical and sexual abuse, and witnessing violence, racism is <a href="http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/culturally-speaking/201305/can-racism-cause-ptsd-implications-dsm-5" type="external">only recently</a> being viewed as a cause of trauma.</p>
<p>In an earlier column, based on conversations I had with three friends - <a href="http://uprisingradio.org/home/2014/09/08/i-am-a-man-jons-story/" type="external">Jon</a>, <a href="http://uprisingradio.org/home/2014/09/15/series-explores-black-male-experience-in-the-us-i-am-a-man-featuring-marks-story/" type="external">Mark</a> and <a href="http://uprisingradio.org/home/?p=41575" type="external">Hop</a> - who are black men, I shared the racial animosity they faced on a daily basis. Their experiences are typical of most black men. But it is just as important to consider how racism impacts their mental health as it is to confront the cause of their suffering.</p>
<p>My conversations with all three men left me shaken for days, as I turned over and over in my mind what it might feel like to have guns trained on me by uniformed cops multiple times in a lifetime, starting sometimes from childhood. What must it feel like to be routinely handcuffed on a sidewalk or slammed into the back of a patrol car for no good reason? What must it feel like to worry about my child surviving an encounter with police? What must it feel like to simply be treated with suspicion at every turn? Even thinking about these questions conferred on me a sort of secondary trauma.</p>
<p />
<p>Jon told me he has often wanted to ask cops, "Why do you hate me? Why would you hate me? I weigh 140 pounds. I'm one of the skinniest people I know. Why would somebody look at me like I'm a threat?"</p>
<p>"It's really hard to deal with," he said shrugging, "but who really has a choice?"</p>
<p>Hop confessed, "It's very painful. It's taxing, it's emotionally draining and it's spiritually debilitating to have to deal with this all the time."</p>
<p>We expect black men to simply accept the horrors of racism, to internalize it and not express rage or frustration. Jon told me, "For the average black guy, there's this anger, and fear, and nervousness when they're around the police. And police pick that up." He raised a hypothetical scenario: "If you pull over four black guys in a car, well, one out of four black guys maybe just is going to feel like he's had enough. Maybe he's not going to do anything violent. Maybe he just wants to be mad about it. Just to be angry. Just to show his anger."</p>
<p>Hop deals with it in different ways. For example, he feels he is a lot more gregarious than he would be if he were not black. "When I'm in an elevator, I speak to everybody. Because I know that there's a narrative out there about being in an elevator or in enclosed spaces with a black man. I try to be friendly in those environments - so that it interrupts those narratives." He admits that it gets tiring to have to do that on a constant basis.</p>
<p>Even more disturbingly, Hop fears being alone with white people:</p>
<p>I'm not going to be alone with white people that I don't know because I'm concerned about what could happen based on that. In particular a white woman - I don't want to put myself in a position of being alone with them without any witnesses because I know historically how that's played out for black men.</p>
<p>Jon expressed his frustration to me, saying, "You're trying to do the right thing all the time but you're still being treated like you're not. You're still being viewed like you're the criminal. Ladies grab their purses. The police show up in these weird situations and they're always going to handcuff you."</p>
<p>Mark told me the problem is so widespread he can't let it get to him. "At a certain point you just have to be realistic about it. You have to understand really early on that it's not something intrinsically wrong with you."</p>
<p>I asked Mark about his 13-year-old son Miles, a tall young man with chocolate skin and long hair similar to his father's. How did Mark deal with the fact that his son was surely having experiences with people and the police similar to his own? It is a testament to the societal violence young black men routinely face that their parents feel compelled to have - <a href="http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2147710,00.html" type="external">the talk</a>.? "The talk's been going on for a long time now," Mark said quietly. "It's a difficult thing to navigate because we know a child shouldn't have to deal with this."</p>
<p>Mark emphasized the importance of making clear to his son not to internalize racism, telling Miles, "This is society's issue; this is something that you didn't bring on yourself. But just because you didn't bring it on yourself doesn't mean you can ignore it. You have to survive so you can see things change."</p>
<p>Survival is a key factor in these discussions of racism. Hop told me he harbors a fear every single day that he could die. "I know every day that I leave my house to go somewhere - from the moment I leave my house, that there's a good chance if I run into law enforcement that I may be dead. I know that every day." He added, "To live with that reality on a day-to-day basis is very painful." I found that even talking about the experiences was painful. "It's really difficult to talk about this, isn't it?" I asked Jon. "We don't talk about it enough, do we?" He replied, "No, and if I don't have to, I don't." He went on to acknowledge the shame that is often generated from racist encounters by the victims themselves:</p>
<p>Most of the people that are trapped in these horrible situations have a hard time not believing that it's their fault. And everything on television tells you it's your fault. There's so much to make you believe that it's all your fault and you should just shut up and not think about it.</p>
<p>All three men I spoke with said the pain runs deep. We know that there are long-term health impacts from having constant emotional trauma. If experiencing racism on a consistent level causes the type of emotional trauma that these conversations with black men have revealed to me, how debilitating could they be on long-term physical and mental health?</p>
<p>Black men, who have the lowest life expectancy rates of any demographic in the U.S., suffer from higher than average rates of diabetes, heart disease and cancer. Although these disparities could be attributed to differences in income and access to health care and healthy foods, studies like <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12811228" type="external">this one</a> and <a href="http://news.emory.edu/stories/2013/03/racism_and_cardiovascular_disease/" type="external">this one</a> are increasingly implicating racism as a potential trigger of disease because it "acts as a stressor."</p>
<p>Frequent near-death experiences and encounters with armed police can also have an effect similar to what survivors of war experience. Hop likened the impact on his psyche to that of soldiers in war:</p>
<p>Some of the instances that I've talked about, I've walked away shaking. Literally, physically shaking in my body because there's so much that's happening. Soldiers do it. When you get in these near-death experiences, that's a medically acknowledged reaction that your body's having. PTSD [post-traumatic stress disorder]. - Black men have PTSD. It's the same manifestations that happen when you leave a war-torn environment - the same realities that people of color, particularly black men, face walking through this society.</p>
<p>The mere fact of not being believed can also add to the trauma caused by a racist act. Jon explained that "there are a lot of situations where, regardless of how well you may do your job, how well you make speak, you just aren't perceived as intelligent or as believable, which has an effect."</p>
<p>Take the example of the Michael Brown shooting in Ferguson, Mo., this summer. A <a href="http://www.people-press.org/2014/08/18/stark-racial-divisions-in-reactions-to-ferguson-police-shooting/" type="external">Pew Research Center poll</a> in mid-August found that blacks were twice as likely as whites to view the shooting as raising "important issues about race that need to be discussed."</p>
<p>Hop is quick to point out that overcoming racism is "work that white people need to do with other white people - and create other white allies," as it is a "double burden to put that on people of color." But he did have one concrete suggestion, saying with a smile: "At Thanksgiving, when Uncle Bob says that racist thing, you need to challenge Uncle Bob."</p>
<p>We need to stop denying the lived experiences of people of color, but particularly black men. When black American men are telling us that the abuse is unending, that the pain is so deep it is often unbearable, we need to listen. And we need to act. If we don't, we are all responsible for allowing a whole segment of our society to die a little every day.</p> | true | 4 | editors note second article twopart series impact racism african american men click read first installment topic racism often generates discussions justice equality freedom human rights trauma although trauma often accepted predictable outcome war physical sexual abuse witnessing violence racism recently viewed cause trauma earlier column based conversations three friends jon mark hop black men shared racial animosity faced daily basis experiences typical black men important consider racism impacts mental health confront cause suffering conversations three men left shaken days turned mind might feel like guns trained uniformed cops multiple times lifetime starting sometimes childhood must feel like routinely handcuffed sidewalk slammed back patrol car good reason must feel like worry child surviving encounter police must feel like simply treated suspicion every turn even thinking questions conferred sort secondary trauma jon told often wanted ask cops hate would hate weigh 140 pounds im one skinniest people know would somebody look like im threat really hard deal said shrugging really choice hop confessed painful taxing emotionally draining spiritually debilitating deal time expect black men simply accept horrors racism internalize express rage frustration jon told average black guy theres anger fear nervousness theyre around police police pick raised hypothetical scenario pull four black guys car well one four black guys maybe going feel like hes enough maybe hes going anything violent maybe wants mad angry show anger hop deals different ways example feels lot gregarious would black im elevator speak everybody know theres narrative elevator enclosed spaces black man try friendly environments interrupts narratives admits gets tiring constant basis even disturbingly hop fears alone white people im going alone white people dont know im concerned could happen based particular white woman dont want put position alone without witnesses know historically thats played black men jon expressed frustration saying youre trying right thing time youre still treated like youre youre still viewed like youre criminal ladies grab purses police show weird situations theyre always going handcuff mark told problem widespread cant let get certain point realistic understand really early something intrinsically wrong asked mark 13yearold son miles tall young man chocolate skin long hair similar fathers mark deal fact son surely experiences people police similar testament societal violence young black men routinely face parents feel compelled talk talks going long time mark said quietly difficult thing navigate know child shouldnt deal mark emphasized importance making clear son internalize racism telling miles societys issue something didnt bring didnt bring doesnt mean ignore survive see things change survival key factor discussions racism hop told harbors fear every single day could die know every day leave house go somewhere moment leave house theres good chance run law enforcement may dead know every day added live reality daytoday basis painful found even talking experiences painful really difficult talk isnt asked jon dont talk enough replied dont dont went acknowledge shame often generated racist encounters victims people trapped horrible situations hard time believing fault everything television tells fault theres much make believe fault shut think three men spoke said pain runs deep know longterm health impacts constant emotional trauma experiencing racism consistent level causes type emotional trauma conversations black men revealed debilitating could longterm physical mental health black men lowest life expectancy rates demographic us suffer higher average rates diabetes heart disease cancer although disparities could attributed differences income access health care healthy foods studies like one one increasingly implicating racism potential trigger disease acts stressor frequent neardeath experiences encounters armed police also effect similar survivors war experience hop likened impact psyche soldiers war instances ive talked ive walked away shaking literally physically shaking body theres much thats happening soldiers get neardeath experiences thats medically acknowledged reaction bodys ptsd posttraumatic stress disorder black men ptsd manifestations happen leave wartorn environment realities people color particularly black men face walking society mere fact believed also add trauma caused racist act jon explained lot situations regardless well may job well make speak arent perceived intelligent believable effect take example michael brown shooting ferguson mo summer pew research center poll midaugust found blacks twice likely whites view shooting raising important issues race need discussed hop quick point overcoming racism work white people need white people create white allies double burden put people color one concrete suggestion saying smile thanksgiving uncle bob says racist thing need challenge uncle bob need stop denying lived experiences people color particularly black men black american men telling us abuse unending pain deep often unbearable need listen need act dont responsible allowing whole segment society die little every day | 750 |
<p />
<p>Well, Riffers, this will be my last Top Ten for a few weeks as I’m leaving for a European Tour this coming weekend; yes, that’s right, Europeans will apparently part with their hard-earned euros (and zloty and koruny!) to watch me play CDs. Zut alors. So for this Top Ten, I figured I’d start the long, tortuous process of winnowing down a year-end “Best Albums” list by taking a look at the Metacritic <a href="http://www.metacritic.com/music/bests/2007.shtml" type="external">Top Ten Best-Reviewed Albums of the Year</a>.</p>
<p>Metacritic is a site that tallies up reviews from around the world of cultural criticism with a somewhat fallible mathematical formula, assigning points from 1 to 100 based on the grade given in the review. They’ve been adding up the points for the year so far, and their list is interesting both for its errors and its accuracy (for instance, hip-hop is noticeably absent from the top ten). Here’s their list with my thoughts and where each album might end up on my personal year-end list.</p>
<p>10. Robert Wyatt – Comicopera The 62-year-old former drummer for Soft Machine famously lost the use of his legs in an accident in 1973, and found his voice as a solo artist in the ’90s. Comicopera is airy and jazzy, and Wyatt sounds delicate and emotional, almost like the reincarnation of Nick Drake. The album’s themes revolve around protest; protest against war, against civilization in general. It’s often quite beautiful and affecting, but also a bit scattered.</p>
<p>9. Battles – Mirrored Prog rock is back, and it’s got techno in it! The New York combo sound distinctly British here in their ability to combine rock intensity with electronic experimentalism, and the album was appropriately released on Warp Records, home to Aphex Twin. But despite all that, it’s immensely listenable, with lead single “Battles” taking on a kind of Gary Glitter-style swagger and ending up in Diplo DJ sets mashed up with M.I.A.</p>
<p>8. Panda Bear – Person Pitch Good vibrations indeed, this reverb-laden tribute to the major-chord psychedelic pop of Brian Wilson has something in common with the Magnetic Fields: it achieves its traditional-sounding warmth via decidedly non-traditional methods. This is basically the solo project of Animal Collective’s Noah Lennox, yet the sound is full and rich with harmonies.</p>
<p>7. LCD Soundsystem – Sound of Silver A triumphant and grief-stricken album of plain-spoken dance music, Silver so perfectly defines its own place that it’s hard to imagine how we lived in its absence. Band leader James Murphy digs in the crates of classic disco, Talking Heads, and New Order, and created an album that holds together as such, despite the standout brilliance of many of its singles. The unlikely centerpiece, “Someone Great,” has entered the pantheon of melancholy electro classics like “Don’t You Want Me,” with its mechanical blips coalescing into a majestic tribute to a lost friend.</p>
<p>6. Les Savy Fav – Let’s Stay Friends The indie-punk band has built a reputation as a blistering live act, and this album captures an intensity that’s infectious. The Fav were doing angular guitar rock before Bloc Party knew how to walk, and Friends has moments of “this is how it’s done” greatness. “What Would Wolves Do” is the highlight, a ticking, melancholy track with soaring guitar lines reminiscent of early U2, but they also wander a bit into muddy ballads.</p>
<p>5. M.I.A. – Kala I’ve written enough about Kala here to fill a whole separate blog, but the album hasn’t diminished at all for me, even after months of listening. While its most powerful tracks are, basically, hipster mashups (“Paper Planes” sees M.I.A. singing Wrecks n Effect over The Clash, and on “20 Dollar” we hear the Pixies over New Order), the rest has an eclectic open-mindedness that redefines “world music” as a kind of fluorescent-colored agit-pop techno.</p>
<p>4. Patty Griffin – Children Running Through I’ll admit it: this is the least-familiar album for me in the Metacritic Top Ten, and I’m having a hard time finding an entry point. Yes, I understand that Bonnie Raitt-style country singer-songwriters can be affecting and uplifting, and “Heavenly Day” has a simple piano melody that wouldn’t sound out of place in church. But I don’t go to church, and this just isn’t my thing.</p>
<p>3. Arcade Fire – Neon Bible Amusingly enough, my personal feelings about religion are much more in evidence on the Montreal collective’s follow-up to the cathartic masterpiece Funeral. “Working for the church, while your family dies,” they spit out on “Intervention,” and it’s as much of a mission statement as any on this ambitious attempt to turn the band’s focus outwards. It’s often deeply affecting, but rarely reaches the heights of Funeral, and unsettlingly, the album’s greatest song, “No Cars Go,” is a remake of a track from their first album.</p>
<p>2. Radiohead – In Rainbows That was fast: it’s only been out a few weeks and it’s already nipping at the heels of the #1 best reviewed album of 2007, only one point behind on the Metacritic tally. Amazingly, amidst all the hype about changing the music industry or whatever, the album truly deserves the accolades, managing to somehow feel both like a great leap forward for the eternally experimental combo as well as a comfortable settling into emotional territories that might seem cliché in less talented hands.</p>
<p>1. The Field – From Here We Go Sublime How odd is this: an album of abstract loopy techno from German label Kompakt is the most unifying musical statement of the year? Really? It’s not even like most of the blippy stuff on Kompakt: the tracks are made up of almost-too-simple loops of tiny excerpts of other songs, so short as to be unrecognizable, except when it’s made explicit, like when “A Paw In My Face” breaks down at the end to reveal the guitar sample has been nothing other than Lionel Richie’s “Hello.” It’s often quite lovely, but as an audio editor by trade, I can’t help but feel that this all sounds kind of easy, like the accidental loops I’d stumble across while cutting up tracks for a commercial promo or something. Could the album’s status as the most basic of “found art” be part of its genius? Maybe, but it ain’t my album of the year.</p>
<p>Thoughts, Riffers? Your favorite albums of the year so far, and CDs that are way over- or underrated? Comments please…</p>
<p /> | true | 4 | well riffers last top ten weeks im leaving european tour coming weekend yes thats right europeans apparently part hardearned euros zloty koruny watch play cds zut alors top ten figured id start long tortuous process winnowing yearend best albums list taking look metacritic top ten bestreviewed albums year metacritic site tallies reviews around world cultural criticism somewhat fallible mathematical formula assigning points 1 100 based grade given review theyve adding points year far list interesting errors accuracy instance hiphop noticeably absent top ten heres list thoughts album might end personal yearend list 10 robert wyatt comicopera 62yearold former drummer soft machine famously lost use legs accident 1973 found voice solo artist 90s comicopera airy jazzy wyatt sounds delicate emotional almost like reincarnation nick drake albums themes revolve around protest protest war civilization general often quite beautiful affecting also bit scattered 9 battles mirrored prog rock back got techno new york combo sound distinctly british ability combine rock intensity electronic experimentalism album appropriately released warp records home aphex twin despite immensely listenable lead single battles taking kind gary glitterstyle swagger ending diplo dj sets mashed mia 8 panda bear person pitch good vibrations indeed reverbladen tribute majorchord psychedelic pop brian wilson something common magnetic fields achieves traditionalsounding warmth via decidedly nontraditional methods basically solo project animal collectives noah lennox yet sound full rich harmonies 7 lcd soundsystem sound silver triumphant griefstricken album plainspoken dance music silver perfectly defines place hard imagine lived absence band leader james murphy digs crates classic disco talking heads new order created album holds together despite standout brilliance many singles unlikely centerpiece someone great entered pantheon melancholy electro classics like dont want mechanical blips coalescing majestic tribute lost friend 6 les savy fav lets stay friends indiepunk band built reputation blistering live act album captures intensity thats infectious fav angular guitar rock bloc party knew walk friends moments done greatness would wolves highlight ticking melancholy track soaring guitar lines reminiscent early u2 also wander bit muddy ballads 5 mia kala ive written enough kala fill whole separate blog album hasnt diminished even months listening powerful tracks basically hipster mashups paper planes sees mia singing wrecks n effect clash 20 dollar hear pixies new order rest eclectic openmindedness redefines world music kind fluorescentcolored agitpop techno 4 patty griffin children running ill admit leastfamiliar album metacritic top ten im hard time finding entry point yes understand bonnie raittstyle country singersongwriters affecting uplifting heavenly day simple piano melody wouldnt sound place church dont go church isnt thing 3 arcade fire neon bible amusingly enough personal feelings religion much evidence montreal collectives followup cathartic masterpiece funeral working church family dies spit intervention much mission statement ambitious attempt turn bands focus outwards often deeply affecting rarely reaches heights funeral unsettlingly albums greatest song cars go remake track first album 2 radiohead rainbows fast weeks already nipping heels 1 best reviewed album 2007 one point behind metacritic tally amazingly amidst hype changing music industry whatever album truly deserves accolades managing somehow feel like great leap forward eternally experimental combo well comfortable settling emotional territories might seem cliché less talented hands 1 field go sublime odd album abstract loopy techno german label kompakt unifying musical statement year really even like blippy stuff kompakt tracks made almosttoosimple loops tiny excerpts songs short unrecognizable except made explicit like paw face breaks end reveal guitar sample nothing lionel richies hello often quite lovely audio editor trade cant help feel sounds kind easy like accidental loops id stumble across cutting tracks commercial promo something could albums status basic found art part genius maybe aint album year thoughts riffers favorite albums year far cds way underrated comments please | 609 |
<p>What is, perhaps, most horrific and incomprehensible about the Abu Ghraib photos are the photos themselves. Why would American prison guards take pictures of themselves smiling triumphantly and making fun of Iraqi prisoners as they humiliated, tortured, and in some instances, raped them? Was this a result of following orders in the dangerous, overcrowded, undisciplined prison milieu of Abu Ghraib, haphazardly trickling down from a chain of command that extended up to Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, as Seymour Hersch’s New Yorker article suggests? Or was it due to some insidious psychological dynamic that not only affected these lower echelon prison guards, but also the Bush administration’s approach to Iraq?</p>
<p>The answer might ultimately lie in the dynamics of exhibitionism: the basic human need to show one’s self and be seen. Many psychoanalysts have concluded that the development and preservation of one’s fundamental sense of self depends on the need to receive accurate, empathic mirroring. In other words, “I am seen, therefore I am.” Humiliating blows to the self-image not only shatters self-esteem and self-confidence, but on the deepest level, can threaten psychic survival. Such narcissistic wounding often unleashes overwhelming rage and the need for revenge, to restore one’s pride and self-integrity. Throughout history, this defensive revenge has taken the form of displaying sadistic triumph over a humiliated enemy.</p>
<p>For example, it was commonplace for the ancient Romans to display their defeated scourged, enemies nailed to crosses, for European conquerors during the middle ages to parade the heads of their enemies on pikes, and for American Indians and United States cavalry to wear the scalps of their adversaries as cosmetic ornaments. In addition, there have been innumerable wars in which soldiers have murdered their male adversaries and raped their women so that the children born of these unconscionable unions would serve as living exhibits of the conqueror’s triumphal image for future generations to come.</p>
<p>Saddam Hussein intimidated his enemies, not only by torturing, raping and murdering them, but by plastering enormous self-aggrandizing pictures of himself on buildings throughout Iraq, as did Mao Tze Tung in China, Joseph Stalin in Russia and Adolph Hitler in Nazi Germany. An awesome publicly exhibited photograph psychologically broadcasts the despot’s power, and is intended to intimidate his adversaries and ensure his political survival.</p>
<p>It was therefore not surprising when American soldiers entering Iraqi cities immediately removed Saddam’s posters from buildings and encouraged the populace to topple his statutes, to destroy the influence of these exhibitionistic symbols. The ultimate revenge for Saddam’s defiance of America was showing photographs of his humiliating capture and videos of him as a defeated, confused, disheveled old man with bad teeth. The videos demonstrated that he had lost his bite.</p>
<p>The same dynamics were evident when Saddam sympathizers in Fallouja mockingly displayed the burned, severed, hanging corpses of American soldiers and construction workers, while dancing triumphantly in the streets. This horrific act of revenge, in addition to instilling terror, was intended to humiliate and destroy America’s invincible image and to salvage the shattered pride of Saddam’s supporters.</p>
<p>Similarly, the American Abu Ghraib guards were in a frightening, overcrowded prison in which they could have been killed at any moment, within or outside its walls. Although it now appears that some of them may have been operating under orders, their obvious pleasure in photographing themselves triumphantly humiliating these Iraqi prisoners, as if they had nothing to fear, was clearly, compensatory for their endangered self-esteem and threatened lives. Emasculating and humiliating Iraqi men by posing them hooded and electrically wired, or engaged in homosexual acts, or having them lie on one another nude, or raping them with broom handles and chemical lights, or treating them like animals, wearing dog collars, while laughing and mocking them, gave the impression that these Americans were in total control of a weak, impotent enemy and had nothing to fear. Even if ordered to do this, the psychological drive to take photographs of this sadistic domination must have been so strong that it overrode the obvious judgment that these practices resembled Saddam’s and undermined the humanity of America’s mission in Iraq.</p>
<p>Subsequently, Al Qaeda’s exhibitionistic retaliation was through an internationally accessible video of the beheading of American contractor, Nicholas Berg. The executioner declared that the beheading was an act of revenge for the humiliation of Arabs at Abu Ghraib, and intended to redeem Arab dignity. The conspicuous absence of condemnation from most Arab leaders suggested a widespread empathy for this viewpoint. Following Abu Ghraib, a poll indicated that eighty-two percent of Iraqis wanted the United States to end its occupation immediately.</p>
<p>Now we have learned, from Seymour Hersch’s investigation reported on Meet the Press on May 16th, that the photography spree at Abu Ghraib might have been inspired by representatives of a secret undercover contingent of elite operatives, sanctioned by Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld, which had used humiliating photographs of Al Qaeda suspects in Afghanistan and other hot spots to extract vital intelligence data from the suspects’ families.</p>
<p>With this possible link to the Bush administration, one wonders to what extent the vengeful exhibitionism at Abu Ghraib might represent, in microcosm, a symptom of America’s underlying dynamic after 9/11. After having been profoundly humiliated as the world’s greatest superpower by 19 Arab terrorists, the Bush administration has attempted to restore America’s wounded pride by humiliating and destroying the Arab world’s most powerful despot, Saddam Hussein, and by aggressively and unilaterally imposing democracy on a reluctant, defeated Iraq. How can America establish democracy in the Arab world if its underlying motivation is revenge?</p>
<p>PETER WOLSON, Ph. D., is a Training and Supervising Psychoanalyst and former President and Riector of Training at The Los Angeles Institute and Society for Psychoanalytic Studies. He has a private practice in Beverly Hills. He can be reached at: <a href="mailto:peterwolson@earthlink.net" type="external">peterwolson@earthlink.net</a></p> | true | 4 | perhaps horrific incomprehensible abu ghraib photos photos would american prison guards take pictures smiling triumphantly making fun iraqi prisoners humiliated tortured instances raped result following orders dangerous overcrowded undisciplined prison milieu abu ghraib haphazardly trickling chain command extended secretary defense donald rumsfeld seymour herschs new yorker article suggests due insidious psychological dynamic affected lower echelon prison guards also bush administrations approach iraq answer might ultimately lie dynamics exhibitionism basic human need show ones self seen many psychoanalysts concluded development preservation ones fundamental sense self depends need receive accurate empathic mirroring words seen therefore humiliating blows selfimage shatters selfesteem selfconfidence deepest level threaten psychic survival narcissistic wounding often unleashes overwhelming rage need revenge restore ones pride selfintegrity throughout history defensive revenge taken form displaying sadistic triumph humiliated enemy example commonplace ancient romans display defeated scourged enemies nailed crosses european conquerors middle ages parade heads enemies pikes american indians united states cavalry wear scalps adversaries cosmetic ornaments addition innumerable wars soldiers murdered male adversaries raped women children born unconscionable unions would serve living exhibits conquerors triumphal image future generations come saddam hussein intimidated enemies torturing raping murdering plastering enormous selfaggrandizing pictures buildings throughout iraq mao tze tung china joseph stalin russia adolph hitler nazi germany awesome publicly exhibited photograph psychologically broadcasts despots power intended intimidate adversaries ensure political survival therefore surprising american soldiers entering iraqi cities immediately removed saddams posters buildings encouraged populace topple statutes destroy influence exhibitionistic symbols ultimate revenge saddams defiance america showing photographs humiliating capture videos defeated confused disheveled old man bad teeth videos demonstrated lost bite dynamics evident saddam sympathizers fallouja mockingly displayed burned severed hanging corpses american soldiers construction workers dancing triumphantly streets horrific act revenge addition instilling terror intended humiliate destroy americas invincible image salvage shattered pride saddams supporters similarly american abu ghraib guards frightening overcrowded prison could killed moment within outside walls although appears may operating orders obvious pleasure photographing triumphantly humiliating iraqi prisoners nothing fear clearly compensatory endangered selfesteem threatened lives emasculating humiliating iraqi men posing hooded electrically wired engaged homosexual acts lie one another nude raping broom handles chemical lights treating like animals wearing dog collars laughing mocking gave impression americans total control weak impotent enemy nothing fear even ordered psychological drive take photographs sadistic domination must strong overrode obvious judgment practices resembled saddams undermined humanity americas mission iraq subsequently al qaedas exhibitionistic retaliation internationally accessible video beheading american contractor nicholas berg executioner declared beheading act revenge humiliation arabs abu ghraib intended redeem arab dignity conspicuous absence condemnation arab leaders suggested widespread empathy viewpoint following abu ghraib poll indicated eightytwo percent iraqis wanted united states end occupation immediately learned seymour herschs investigation reported meet press may 16th photography spree abu ghraib might inspired representatives secret undercover contingent elite operatives sanctioned secretary defense rumsfeld used humiliating photographs al qaeda suspects afghanistan hot spots extract vital intelligence data suspects families possible link bush administration one wonders extent vengeful exhibitionism abu ghraib might represent microcosm symptom americas underlying dynamic 911 profoundly humiliated worlds greatest superpower 19 arab terrorists bush administration attempted restore americas wounded pride humiliating destroying arab worlds powerful despot saddam hussein aggressively unilaterally imposing democracy reluctant defeated iraq america establish democracy arab world underlying motivation revenge peter wolson ph training supervising psychoanalyst former president riector training los angeles institute society psychoanalytic studies private practice beverly hills reached peterwolsonearthlinknet | 554 |
<p>There was a brief setback to Britain’s plans for a comprehensive data law last month when a key witness at an official hearing dropped a bombshell, telling lawmakers that the Bad Guys do not openly communicate their evil intentions on Facebook or any other media that they might monitor.</p>
<p>Only the most stupid type of criminal or hapless activist should fear new police powers to access personal communications, Britain’s Information Commissioner <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/oct/17/government-data-protection-terror" type="external">Christopher Graham</a> told the panel of supposed experts.</p>
<p>“If you are the sort of international terrorist or organized criminal whom this system is designed for, you presumably will have the wit not to go to one of the big six [providers],” he said. “You might well be able to afford…your own private network registered overseas and then all your traffic will be encrypted and you’re home free. The really scary people will have worked that out for themselves."</p>
<p>He added, “This is a system which, on the face of it, is looking for the incompetent criminal and the accidental anarchist.”</p>
<p>And, of course, he was right. If we were living in a sane world, the lawmakers here would have had a mighty pause for thought. Such a revelation should have shaken their faith to the core. Why else would they devote so much energy to observing the population at large if not to weed out the criminals?</p>
<p>Logically, at this point, the legislators – knowing they were barking up the wrong tree – would instantly drop all attempts to monitor the general public, certain that they would fail, and look elsewhere in their quest to combat crime. Curiously, that was not the case.</p>
<p>Those with the wit long ago abandoned the surface web in favor of the hidden networks of the deep web. Drug dealers, gun runners, contract killers, pedophiles and terrorists are all plugged into a parallel Internet that allows them to communicate secretly among themselves, to post what they like and download all manner of material.</p>
<p>They can buy and sell using their own underground currency, the <a href="http://bitcoin.org/" type="external">BitCoin</a>, and nobody can trace them.</p>
<p>Doubtless, Mr. Graham’s comments came as little shock to those in Britain’s security services because they also use these hidden networks for their own nefarious purposes.</p>
<p>For all anybody knows, there are hundreds or thousands of hidden networks. Back at the turn of the century, the U.S. Navy invested in one particular network – known as the Onion Router, or Tor, for short – and it is widely used today by numerous agencies and others to transmit and receive sensitive information.</p>
<p>As it happens, anyone can access Tor by downloading and installing the free <a href="https://www.torproject.org/download/download-easy.html.en" type="external">Tor/Firefox</a> browser. This diverts Internet traffic through a worldwide volunteer network of servers to conceal a user’s location and activities, effectively hiding users among all the other users. It works by encrypting and re-encrypting data multiple times as it passes through successive Tor relays. This way the data cannot be unscrambled in transit.</p>
<p>Most modern devices can access Tor and there are also apps for <a href="https://www.torproject.org/docs/android.html.en" type="external">Android</a> smartphones and <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/covert-browser/id477438328?mt=8" type="external">Apple iPhones and iPads</a>.</p>
<p>Any criminal worth their salt will know that Tor has its flaws and should not be considered completely safe. Although the IP address is concealed, a digital fingerprint can linger allowing someone accessing the local network – a Wi-Fi provider or an ISP working with law enforcement – to glean some idea of a person’s activities.</p>
<p>As such, extra levels of security need to be added. There are secure email services like <a href="http://tormail.org/" type="external">TorMail</a> and social networks where users share documents, photos, videos, music and other things with total anonymity.</p>
<p>With the Tor browser up and running, the best entry point is the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hidden_Wiki#External_links" type="external">Hidden Wiki</a> which lists other hidden networks, secure email and messaging services, Deep Web search engines, and numerous disreputable businesses, through to the kind of pornography that would give most people lasting nightmares.</p>
<p>There is also a very odd feel to the place. Traveling on the Onion Network is like going back in time to the days of dial-up when pages took an age to load and there were no flashy graphics. But everything is here: websites, bulletin boards, forums and even clones of Twitter and Facebook.</p>
<p>It is just possible that Britain’s parliamentarians tasked with drafting the new communications law are entirely clueless. But it would seem very strange if the police knew nothing of these hidden networks.</p>
<p>So why are police forces globally fighting hard for enhanced surveillance powers? There are two possible explanations. Either they do know all about them but actually want the enhanced powers to keep tabs on the rest of us for other unstated purposes. The other alternative is that they are less than bright, but that’s not very kind.</p>
<p>Over in Canada, the police are vigorously campaigning for the resurrection of Bill C-30 to monitor citizens without the need for those pesky warrants, and they don’t want to be left out when everybody else is doing it.</p>
<p>“Canadians need the same protection against criminals that other Western democracies enjoy,” insists the country’s top policeman, <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2012/10/26/bc-jim-chu-internet-surveillance.html" type="external">Jim Chu</a>. He apparently believes the police should be able to access all personal data including medical records in the fight against crime.</p>
<p>“If we stand by and do nothing, criminals will continue to exploit today’s technologies to criminally harass and threaten others and commit frauds, scams and organized and violent crimes with little fear of being caught,” Chu said.</p>
<p>Actually, Officer Chu, this is precisely what is happening and there is nothing you can do about it.</p>
<p>Conrad Jaeger is the author of the interactive e-books <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B009ZG0WSK" type="external">"Enter the Dark Net"</a> and <a href="http://www.amazon.de/Deep-Web-Secrecy-Security-ebook/dp/B008KKCXMU" type="external">"Deep Web Secrecy and Security,"</a> published by <a href="http://www.deepwebguides.com/" type="external">Deep Web Guides</a>.</p> | true | 4 | brief setback britains plans comprehensive data law last month key witness official hearing dropped bombshell telling lawmakers bad guys openly communicate evil intentions facebook media might monitor stupid type criminal hapless activist fear new police powers access personal communications britains information commissioner christopher graham told panel supposed experts sort international terrorist organized criminal system designed presumably wit go one big six providers said might well able affordyour private network registered overseas traffic encrypted youre home free really scary people worked added system face looking incompetent criminal accidental anarchist course right living sane world lawmakers would mighty pause thought revelation shaken faith core else would devote much energy observing population large weed criminals logically point legislators knowing barking wrong tree would instantly drop attempts monitor general public certain would fail look elsewhere quest combat crime curiously case wit long ago abandoned surface web favor hidden networks deep web drug dealers gun runners contract killers pedophiles terrorists plugged parallel internet allows communicate secretly among post like download manner material buy sell using underground currency bitcoin nobody trace doubtless mr grahams comments came little shock britains security services also use hidden networks nefarious purposes anybody knows hundreds thousands hidden networks back turn century us navy invested one particular network known onion router tor short widely used today numerous agencies others transmit receive sensitive information happens anyone access tor downloading installing free torfirefox browser diverts internet traffic worldwide volunteer network servers conceal users location activities effectively hiding users among users works encrypting reencrypting data multiple times passes successive tor relays way data unscrambled transit modern devices access tor also apps android smartphones apple iphones ipads criminal worth salt know tor flaws considered completely safe although ip address concealed digital fingerprint linger allowing someone accessing local network wifi provider isp working law enforcement glean idea persons activities extra levels security need added secure email services like tormail social networks users share documents photos videos music things total anonymity tor browser running best entry point hidden wiki lists hidden networks secure email messaging services deep web search engines numerous disreputable businesses kind pornography would give people lasting nightmares also odd feel place traveling onion network like going back time days dialup pages took age load flashy graphics everything websites bulletin boards forums even clones twitter facebook possible britains parliamentarians tasked drafting new communications law entirely clueless would seem strange police knew nothing hidden networks police forces globally fighting hard enhanced surveillance powers two possible explanations either know actually want enhanced powers keep tabs rest us unstated purposes alternative less bright thats kind canada police vigorously campaigning resurrection bill c30 monitor citizens without need pesky warrants dont want left everybody else canadians need protection criminals western democracies enjoy insists countrys top policeman jim chu apparently believes police able access personal data including medical records fight crime stand nothing criminals continue exploit todays technologies criminally harass threaten others commit frauds scams organized violent crimes little fear caught chu said actually officer chu precisely happening nothing conrad jaeger author interactive ebooks enter dark net deep web secrecy security published deep web guides | 513 |
<p>It may be that a political revolution of the kind that Sanders predicts is an impossible dream. On the other hand, perhaps only a grand vision of “the world that should be” is equal to the scale of the challenges we face.</p>
<p>“What you are asking for is a cultural revolution,” said Sen. Bernie Sanders to an overflow audience of students at the University of Chicago on September 28, his voice booming off the massive stone walls of the school’s Rockefeller Chapel. He was answering a student’s question about how to translate the relatively intimate, small-scale politics of Vermont to the national level.</p>
<p>“I think what you’re talking about,” Sanders said, “is creating a nation— it’s pretty radical stuff—in which we actually care about each other rather than looking at the world as, ‘I’m in it for myself. And to hell with everybody else.’”</p>
<p>The brouhaha over Sanders’ self-identification as a “democratic socialist” has largely missed what is truly radical about that identity. It’s not the socialism. Sanders has never used the “S” word with precision—for him, it seems to be simply a shorthand for robust investment in public services and the common good.</p>
<p>That shorthand has proved remarkably useful, allowing him to distinguish himself from liberals and most Democrats, while pointing out that much of what he calls socialism is already deeply embedded in American society in a variety of popular programs and institutions, most notably in public libraries and parks, in the Social Security and Medicare programs, and in various aspects of the military. The ambitious agenda he has laid out would amount to “the largest peacetime expansion of government in modern American history,” as the Wall Street Journal has noted. At the first Democratic debate, the former senator from Virginia, Jim Webb, used one of his few speaking opportunities to toss a pail of cold water on Sanders’ proposals. “I don’t think the revolution’s going to come,” he said blandly, “and I don’t think the Congress is going to pay for a lot of this stuff.”&#160;</p>
<p>Webb was correct about the odds of Congress passing much of Sanders’s agenda for public spending. But he was wrong to conflate that agenda with the revolution Sanders has in mind. What makes Sanders a radical, and what constitutes the essence of his revolution, isn’t his commitment to certain spending priorities or a particular economic plan—it’s his fierce commitment to democracy.</p>
<p>“Change never takes place from the top down,” he told his audience at the University of Chicago. “It always takes place from the bottom up. It takes place when people by the millions, sometimes over decades and sometimes over centuries, determine that the status quo—the world that they see in front of them—is not the world that should be, and they come together. And sometimes they get arrested. … And sometimes they die in the struggle. And what human history is about is passing that torch from generation to generation to generation.”</p>
<p>Though they are very different in their approaches to achieving it, Sanders shares this commitment to a radical version of democracy with Saul Alinsky, the activist and organizer who made Chicago his home and has played an outsized role in our recent national politics. Alinsky’s book Rules for Radicals, the summary of his organizing philosophy that was published a year before his death in 1972, is particularly notorious among right-wing pundits, and he was often invoked by conservatives in the 2008 and 2012 elections as evidence of Barack Obama’s secret radicalism. Obama was, famously, a community organizer in the 1980s for a Chicago-based organization, the Developing Communities Project, inspired by Alinsky’s strategies. Hillary Clinton’s ties are even more direct. She was born in Chicago and grew up in a suburb, and she wrote her thesis at Wellesley about Alinsky. In a letter she sent him in 1971, Clinton wrote that “the more I’ve seen of places like Yale Law School and the people who haunt them, the more convinced I am that we have the serious business and joy of much work ahead.” His ghost will no doubt be conjured once again if Clinton wins the Democratic nomination.</p>
<p>As with Sanders, though, Alinsky’s radicalism wasn’t a matter of the specific reforms he pushed for, which were about winning incremental and often relatively modest improvements in the lives of the poor and disenfranchised. Rather, he was a radical and a revolutionary because he actually believed in democracy.</p>
<p>There are many dimensions to democracy, of course. But for both Sanders and Alinsky, it is essentially about the distribution of power in society. As Alinsky explained in Rules, “My aim here is to suggest how to organize for power: how to get it and to use it.” When Sanders talks about how to end economic inequality, he’s proposing the same project.</p>
<p>To believe in democracy is to believe that a broadly engaged electorate, in which power is relatively equally distributed, fosters a society that works better. “If you don’t believe in people,” Alinsky once told Chicago radio personality and author Studs Terkel in an interview, “then what you have to believe in, of necessity, is a dictatorship, an elitist society, an aristocracy.”</p>
<p>Few political leaders of any party would say that they doubt the wisdom of “the people.” But the actual test of that commitment is how well our systems—educational, economic, political—prepare and empower them to contribute to “a common faith,” as the philosopher and theorist John Dewey called his vision of the democratic project. “The foundation of democracy,” Dewey wrote, “is faith in the capacities of human nature; faith in human intelligence and in the power of pooled and cooperative experience. It is not belief that these things are complete but that if given a show they will grow and be able to generate progressively the knowledge and wisdom needed to guide collective action.”</p>
<p>For those with power, the dilemma is that sharing it with the people can provoke unpleasant questions about what constitutes the common good. One convenient solution is to use power to change the subject. Alinsky was a radical because he—like Sanders—never allowed anyone to change the subject.</p>
<p>He focused relentlessly on the question of power—how it is gained and distributed—and he made concrete demands at the micro level, working for reform brick by brick and block by block. He kept his distance from electoral politics in the belief that formal political ties and ideological commitments would only hinder his pragmatic approach to organizing. But he grudgingly allowed that there was no choice but to work within the political system. “We will start with the system because there is no other place to start from except political lunacy,” he wrote in Rules for Radicals. “It is most important for those of us who want revolutionary change to understand that revolution must be preceded by reformation.”</p>
<p>That this strategy bore fruit is undeniable. Alinsky achieved much for neighborhoods in Chicago that had very little, leaving a legacy that has inspired generations of organizers. But it’s also evident, more than four decades later, that he fell far short of achieving either the reformation or the revolution that he sought.</p>
<p>The divide between those with and without power is starkly, shockingly visible on the South Side of Chicago, where Sanders gave his September speech. The University of Chicago’s expansive lawns and gothic architecture are set among some of the poorest, most violent neighborhoods in the city and the nation. On the day that Sanders delivered his speech, 14 people were shot in the city in a 15-hour period. Six of them died, including a mother and grandmother as they stood outside, preparing to get in a car and visit relatives.</p>
<p>Alinsky likely would not be surprised that the revolution he sought has not been realized. He was allergic to, and impatient with, the kind of dramatic pronouncements that define Sanders’s style. All the talk of peace and love and cooperation among young people in the 1960s, Alinsky told Terkel, had a mystical quality that was disconnected from realities on the ground. “You’re not asking for a revolution,” he said. “You’re asking for a revelation.”</p>
<p>For all his clear-eyed realism, though, Alinsky, who was a secular Jew, did acknowledge the critical importance of a certain element of faith and hope in the quest for social justice, and his parting words in Rules sum up much of what the Sanders campaign is all about: “We must believe that it is the darkness before the dawn of a beautiful new world; we will see it when we believe it.”</p>
<p>It may be that neither Alinsky’s ground-level strategy nor Sanders’ effort to build a broad, national coalition can reverse our march toward increasing inequality and the concentration of power among elites. It may be that a political revolution of the kind that Sanders predicts is an impossible dream.</p>
<p>On the other hand, perhaps only a grand vision of “the world that should be” is equal to the scale of the challenges we face. Perhaps “millions of people at every level,” as Sanders offered at the conclusion of his University of Chicago talk, can indeed come together to foster a healthy democracy, redistribute power and make the American political system work for all people.</p>
<p>That may require a leap of faith. So, too, may a radical commitment to democracy. And given the makeup of Congress and the apparent apathy of much of the electorate, there is ample reason for doubt. But “if you believe in a free and open society,” as Alinsky once put it, “what are the alternatives?”&#160;</p>
<p>Theo Anderson, an In These Times writing fellow, has contributed to the magazine since 2010. He has a Ph.D. in modern U.S. history from Yale and writes on the intellectual and religious history of conservatism and progressivism in the United States. Follow him on Twitter @Theoanderson7 and contact him at theo@inthesetimes.com.</p> | true | 4 | may political revolution kind sanders predicts impossible dream hand perhaps grand vision world equal scale challenges face asking cultural revolution said sen bernie sanders overflow audience students university chicago september 28 voice booming massive stone walls schools rockefeller chapel answering students question translate relatively intimate smallscale politics vermont national level think youre talking sanders said creating nation pretty radical stuffin actually care rather looking world im hell everybody else brouhaha sanders selfidentification democratic socialist largely missed truly radical identity socialism sanders never used word precisionfor seems simply shorthand robust investment public services common good shorthand proved remarkably useful allowing distinguish liberals democrats pointing much calls socialism already deeply embedded american society variety popular programs institutions notably public libraries parks social security medicare programs various aspects military ambitious agenda laid would amount largest peacetime expansion government modern american history wall street journal noted first democratic debate former senator virginia jim webb used one speaking opportunities toss pail cold water sanders proposals dont think revolutions going come said blandly dont think congress going pay lot stuff160 webb correct odds congress passing much sanderss agenda public spending wrong conflate agenda revolution sanders mind makes sanders radical constitutes essence revolution isnt commitment certain spending priorities particular economic planits fierce commitment democracy change never takes place top told audience university chicago always takes place bottom takes place people millions sometimes decades sometimes centuries determine status quothe world see front themis world come together sometimes get arrested sometimes die struggle human history passing torch generation generation generation though different approaches achieving sanders shares commitment radical version democracy saul alinsky activist organizer made chicago home played outsized role recent national politics alinskys book rules radicals summary organizing philosophy published year death 1972 particularly notorious among rightwing pundits often invoked conservatives 2008 2012 elections evidence barack obamas secret radicalism obama famously community organizer 1980s chicagobased organization developing communities project inspired alinskys strategies hillary clintons ties even direct born chicago grew suburb wrote thesis wellesley alinsky letter sent 1971 clinton wrote ive seen places like yale law school people haunt convinced serious business joy much work ahead ghost doubt conjured clinton wins democratic nomination sanders though alinskys radicalism wasnt matter specific reforms pushed winning incremental often relatively modest improvements lives poor disenfranchised rather radical revolutionary actually believed democracy many dimensions democracy course sanders alinsky essentially distribution power society alinsky explained rules aim suggest organize power get use sanders talks end economic inequality hes proposing project believe democracy believe broadly engaged electorate power relatively equally distributed fosters society works better dont believe people alinsky told chicago radio personality author studs terkel interview believe necessity dictatorship elitist society aristocracy political leaders party would say doubt wisdom people actual test commitment well systemseducational economic politicalprepare empower contribute common faith philosopher theorist john dewey called vision democratic project foundation democracy dewey wrote faith capacities human nature faith human intelligence power pooled cooperative experience belief things complete given show grow able generate progressively knowledge wisdom needed guide collective action power dilemma sharing people provoke unpleasant questions constitutes common good one convenient solution use power change subject alinsky radical helike sandersnever allowed anyone change subject focused relentlessly question powerhow gained distributedand made concrete demands micro level working reform brick brick block block kept distance electoral politics belief formal political ties ideological commitments would hinder pragmatic approach organizing grudgingly allowed choice work within political system start system place start except political lunacy wrote rules radicals important us want revolutionary change understand revolution must preceded reformation strategy bore fruit undeniable alinsky achieved much neighborhoods chicago little leaving legacy inspired generations organizers also evident four decades later fell far short achieving either reformation revolution sought divide without power starkly shockingly visible south side chicago sanders gave september speech university chicagos expansive lawns gothic architecture set among poorest violent neighborhoods city nation day sanders delivered speech 14 people shot city 15hour period six died including mother grandmother stood outside preparing get car visit relatives alinsky likely would surprised revolution sought realized allergic impatient kind dramatic pronouncements define sanderss style talk peace love cooperation among young people 1960s alinsky told terkel mystical quality disconnected realities ground youre asking revolution said youre asking revelation cleareyed realism though alinsky secular jew acknowledge critical importance certain element faith hope quest social justice parting words rules sum much sanders campaign must believe darkness dawn beautiful new world see believe may neither alinskys groundlevel strategy sanders effort build broad national coalition reverse march toward increasing inequality concentration power among elites may political revolution kind sanders predicts impossible dream hand perhaps grand vision world equal scale challenges face perhaps millions people every level sanders offered conclusion university chicago talk indeed come together foster healthy democracy redistribute power make american political system work people may require leap faith may radical commitment democracy given makeup congress apparent apathy much electorate ample reason doubt believe free open society alinsky put alternatives160 theo anderson times writing fellow contributed magazine since 2010 phd modern us history yale writes intellectual religious history conservatism progressivism united states follow twitter theoanderson7 contact theointhesetimescom | 839 |
<p>The Nunes-Republican memo on the Trump campaign Russian investigation is a political hack job. If its purpose was to expose flaws in the investigation it failed.&#160; But if its aim was to provide cover for firing special prosecutor Mueller and sowing more partisan alternative facts, then it might have succeeded.&#160; But the real danger with the memo is actually deeper–it is about the rule of law and the independence of the Justice Department to do its job, including investigating the president of the United States.</p>
<p>The Nunes-Republican Thesis</p>
<p>Much to-do was made in the anticipation and release of the Nunes memo. Written by the House GOP and authorized for release by Trump, the basic argument boils down to saying two things.&#160; First, the original FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) Court warrant to follow Carter Page (a volunteer with the Trump campaign) was flawed because it was based on a dossier by Christopher Steele, a former British spy who confesses to have wanted Hillary Clinton to win, that this information was also used as opposition research by Clinton, and the court was not told of this bias.&#160; Second, the FBI and Justice Department was biased against Trump.</p>
<p>The Memo’s Alternative Facts</p>
<p>There are many problems with both of these claims, both factually and legally.&#160; Factually among the most significant, Carter Page was under inquiry about his Russian connections even before the Steele dossier.&#160; Second, not all the material in the Steele dossier was flawed or biased and instead, some had been independently corroborated.&#160; Third, as the Washington Post reports, the FISA Court did know of the Steele-Clinton connection.&#160; Fourth, there was independent evidence beyond the Steele dossier used to support the warrant.</p>
<p>Legal Flaws in the Memo</p>
<p>Legally, there are also many flaws.&#160; While in general one should be concerned about the integrity and respect for individual rights involving the&#160; closed FISA court proceedings, this is the law of the land that Congress created to address national security concerns.&#160; The basic process&#160; here is the same used in all other proceedings so to criticize it in the Page-Trump case is to indict the entire process.&#160; Second, assuming factually all the Nunes’ memo alleges is true,&#160; none of that legally renders the warrant invalid.&#160; Witness bias in and of itself is no reason to discount evidence or testimony.</p>
<p>For example, I do not like the person who robbed me but the court is not going to reject my statements when I testify against him in court.&#160; Second, while tainted evidence may not be used in court to prove the guilt of a person, the courts do allow tainted evidence for warrant and witness impeachment purposes.&#160; There are also many other warrant exceptions.&#160; The point being is that even if the original testimony to secure the warrant was flawed, the law does not say that everything that flows from the original poisoned fruit is also tainted.&#160; Lastly, even if there was some tainted evidence in the original warrant, FISA rules require warrant reviews every 90 days and such a review would have provided checks in investigation (not to mention the fact that new evidence obtained in the investigation would then have provided new support for the warrant).</p>
<p>In the end, the Nunes-GOP memo comes down to saying that everyone is biased against Trump and therefore that bias outweighs any real evidence that there was Trump campaign collusion with Russians n the 2016 elections.&#160; How ironic.&#160; For how many years have the law and order Republicans&#160; complained that technicalities in warrants let criminals go free?&#160; They have long invoked the old adage first stated by Justice Cardozo in an attack on Fourth Amendment Exclusionary rule: “The constable blunders and the criminal goes free,” but now seem to embrace its logic.</p>
<p>But Does it Matter?</p>
<p>If you head is spinning with names, facts, accusations, and what not, then the memo achieved its purpose in sowing doubt. The Nunes memo was meant to cast doubt on the investigation, making it look like a partisan job.&#160; The Democratic Congressional memo will reinforce that image.&#160; For the vast majority of the public, the GOP memo means nothing (especially releasing it on Super Bowl weekend after a stock market collapse) because no one is paying attention to this insider baseball game.&#160; But&#160; this memo is aimed at two audiences: First, it is a very small general public of swing voters who may decide the outcome of the 2018 elections.</p>
<p>The Real Issue–Rule of Law</p>
<p>Second, it is set up to provide cover with the national Fox news of the world so that they can help Trump discredit the FBI and Justice Department investigations. This is the real issue.</p>
<p>Dating back to Watergate when a special independent prosecutor brought down the Nixon administration, a rallying cry of conservatives have been for what they call a “unitary executive.”&#160; Taking language from Alexander Hamilton’s Federalist Paper number 70 (“The ingredients which constitute energy in the Executive are, first, unity”), they argue that the presidency comprises the entire executive branch over which the president has complete control.&#160; &#160;Beyond the obvious conflating the presidency with a corporate CEO, such a view ignores history such as the Pendleton Act and civil service reform as an effort to depoliticize the executive branch.&#160; It ignores the New Deal constitutional revolution, the introduction of the Administrative Procedures Act, and the concepts of checks and balances as means to mitigate abuses of power.</p>
<p>The Nunes memo is an attack against all this. It challenges the independence of FBI and the Justice Department to do its job.&#160; It politicizes these agencies much in the same way Trump did by asking key members in their leadership whether they voted for him.&#160; This memo is really about the integrity of rule of law, of the independence of law enforcement to do its job.&#160; This is the real issue and one hopes that the hack job of the memo is revealed for what it is.</p>
<p>David Schultz is a professor of political science at&#160;Hamline University. He is the author of&#160; <a href="" type="internal">Presidential Swing States: &#160;Why Only Ten Matter</a>.</p> | true | 4 | nunesrepublican memo trump campaign russian investigation political hack job purpose expose flaws investigation failed160 aim provide cover firing special prosecutor mueller sowing partisan alternative facts might succeeded160 real danger memo actually deeperit rule law independence justice department job including investigating president united states nunesrepublican thesis much todo made anticipation release nunes memo written house gop authorized release trump basic argument boils saying two things160 first original fisa foreign intelligence surveillance act court warrant follow carter page volunteer trump campaign flawed based dossier christopher steele former british spy confesses wanted hillary clinton win information also used opposition research clinton court told bias160 second fbi justice department biased trump memos alternative facts many problems claims factually legally160 factually among significant carter page inquiry russian connections even steele dossier160 second material steele dossier flawed biased instead independently corroborated160 third washington post reports fisa court know steeleclinton connection160 fourth independent evidence beyond steele dossier used support warrant legal flaws memo legally also many flaws160 general one concerned integrity respect individual rights involving the160 closed fisa court proceedings law land congress created address national security concerns160 basic process160 used proceedings criticize pagetrump case indict entire process160 second assuming factually nunes memo alleges true160 none legally renders warrant invalid160 witness bias reason discount evidence testimony example like person robbed court going reject statements testify court160 second tainted evidence may used court prove guilt person courts allow tainted evidence warrant witness impeachment purposes160 also many warrant exceptions160 point even original testimony secure warrant flawed law say everything flows original poisoned fruit also tainted160 lastly even tainted evidence original warrant fisa rules require warrant reviews every 90 days review would provided checks investigation mention fact new evidence obtained investigation would provided new support warrant end nunesgop memo comes saying everyone biased trump therefore bias outweighs real evidence trump campaign collusion russians n 2016 elections160 ironic160 many years law order republicans160 complained technicalities warrants let criminals go free160 long invoked old adage first stated justice cardozo attack fourth amendment exclusionary rule constable blunders criminal goes free seem embrace logic matter head spinning names facts accusations memo achieved purpose sowing doubt nunes memo meant cast doubt investigation making look like partisan job160 democratic congressional memo reinforce image160 vast majority public gop memo means nothing especially releasing super bowl weekend stock market collapse one paying attention insider baseball game160 but160 memo aimed two audiences first small general public swing voters may decide outcome 2018 elections real issuerule law second set provide cover national fox news world help trump discredit fbi justice department investigations real issue dating back watergate special independent prosecutor brought nixon administration rallying cry conservatives call unitary executive160 taking language alexander hamiltons federalist paper number 70 ingredients constitute energy executive first unity argue presidency comprises entire executive branch president complete control160 160beyond obvious conflating presidency corporate ceo view ignores history pendleton act civil service reform effort depoliticize executive branch160 ignores new deal constitutional revolution introduction administrative procedures act concepts checks balances means mitigate abuses power nunes memo attack challenges independence fbi justice department job160 politicizes agencies much way trump asking key members leadership whether voted him160 memo really integrity rule law independence law enforcement job160 real issue one hopes hack job memo revealed david schultz professor political science at160hamline university author of160 presidential swing states 160why ten matter | 549 |
<p>The message of John Grant’s article, <a href="" type="internal">“The Vietnam War and the Struggle for Truth”</a>, should be heard as an alarm bell by all who were blind-sided and unsettled upon learning of the Defense Department initiative announced by the President this past Memorial Day to “commemorate” the Vietnam Era by rewriting its history.</p>
<p>The projected duration of the Pentagon’s mandate for this exercise stretches from 2012 to 2025.&#160; Let’s leave aside for the moment that this actuarial calculation has the macabre feel of a death watch in the countdown of who, in the fading ranks, will one day wear the laurel as the “Last Vietnam War Veteran.”&#160; What should trouble especially those whose histories and identities are embedded in their opposition and resistance to that war, is what the Pentagon is tasking itself to accomplish during these unpropitious thirteen years: first, to create, and then, to sustain, a positive legacy for the Vietnam War.</p>
<p>That sow’s ear can&#160;never be transformed into a silk purse.&#160; This is a draconian and despicable undertaking, whatever its eventual reach, and a topic I shall return to often as this revisionist plot unfurls, if only to defend my own identity and memories as but one actor among the waves of soldiers and veterans who rose up to oppose our filthy war, even as it was still being fought.</p>
<p>It’s hard to imagine that the unpopularity, and eventual rejection, of the Vietnam War by the American public could ever be excised fully from the historical record.&#160; But the specific history of the organized opposition to the war is more vulnerable, since it becomes, in the absence of repetition in popular media, more and more abstract and remote to younger generations as it recedes into the past.</p>
<p>The GI Resistance and antiwar Vietnam veterans’ movements of the Sixties and Seventies, so unique in the annals of warfare, become prime targets for erasure in this new and approved version of the war the Pentagon hopes to fashion. Even if it were only these unprecedented chapters of the whole anti-Vietnam war saga that the DOD project succeeded in obliterating by 2025, what an immeasurable loss of inspiration this would represent for later generations who must continue to organize and struggle against the plague of American militarism for the ungodly and unforeseeable future.</p>
<p>The first blow to the memory of our antiwar GI and veteran struggles in this revisionist farce was delivered by President Obama himself in his Memorial Day launch of the neutered sounding “Vietnam War Commemoration Project.”&#160; Obama’s myth-driven <a href="" type="internal">speech</a> is a testament to his abysmal ignorance of this period of our history; or he was simply pandering to a selected audience of true-believer vets <a href="" type="internal" /> gathered at the Wall, who have succumbed to the pernicious view that the war they could never have defended in youth had become, with the salve of passing years, a noble cause. <a href="" type="internal" /></p>
<p>By reinforcing the one-dimensional image of returning Vietnam vets universally ill-treated by an ungrateful nation, Obama exploits the repressed feelings of anger, guilt and shame that unbalanced so many of us.&#160; We suffered the burden of fighting in a war widely opposed at home, not least among our better informed generational peers.&#160; But the deeper wounds resistant to time’s cure for thousands of us were rooted in the horrifying awareness of daily acts of violence that we aimed in Vietnam relentlessly, not only at an armed foe, but at a whole people.</p>
<p>Obama glibly conjures, and bathes in glory, the ambiguous battles of Khe Sanh and Hue, but ignores My Lai.&#160; In doing so he prepares the ground for sanitizing the judgment once commonplace throughout the world — to include vast numbers in the U.S. — that atrocities in Vietnam, while mostly on a lesser scale, were not in any sense exceptional.&#160; “My Lai,” as my generation of Winter Soldiers always emphasized in our public testimonies, “was just the tip of the iceberg.”</p>
<p>Obama now implies that this brush tars too broadly and prefers the consoling fiction that Vietnam veterans as a whole “were blamed for the misdeeds of a few.” But I am too wedded to my own truths about the evils of that war to ever be consoled, and Obama’s lies on this particular occasion infuriate me. I went to Vietnam. I lived the war. It horrified me. I came home and actively opposed it. Like tens of thousands of other Vietnam veterans, I witnessed or participated in atrocities.&#160; I saw the routine use of torture.&#160; These were not the “misdeeds of a few;” they were the essence of that war.</p>
<p>*****</p>
<p>As I wish to make&#160;clear, this active dialog, leading to a major push-back against the Pentagon&#160;re-write of our history, must emerge rapidly and engage many voices, if, ultimately, it is to blunt the impact of this revisionist assault.&#160; I also want to make a tangential observation here concerning a parallel I see between the campaign in contemporary Brazil to defend the historical truths surrounding that country’s decades of military dictatorship, and the militant and popular resistance to it, and the similar campaign we must now undertake.</p>
<p>The similarity lies in the shared moment that requires a defense of resistance to illegitimate authority, and of the peoples’ right to historical memory itself. But there’s also a major difference. In Brazil, the defense of truth is being led by that country’s president, while in the U.S. we have a president who is bent on obstructing it. I have included below a short article that I translated from a Brazilian newspaper to demonstrate how an enlightened leader deals with a barbaric practice long outlawed by modern societies, but still glaringly visible throughout the world, and an acknowledged fixture as well of American wars since Vietnam, the widespread use of torture.&#160; Although Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff was herself once subjected to such brutality, she now chooses to treat torture not as the “misdeeds of a few” but as a policy of State.</p>
<p>In a restrained voice, choking back her emotions, President Dilma Rousseff told the assembled media during the closing session of Rio+20 — an international conference on the environment — that she never wanted to know the identities of her torturers.</p>
<p>Commenting about the recent publication of depositions she gave under torture in the Seventies during her imprisonment by Brazil’s military dictatorship, Dilma noted that many of her torturers didn’t use their real names, but she nonetheless has suspicious as to their identities.</p>
<p>Dilma chose to emphasize, however, that the critical question isn’t the torturer, but the torture, because the torturer was always an agent of policy. “The problem is the conditions under which torture is established and performed. This everyone knows,” she said..</p>
<p>“With the passage of time, the best thing that happened for me, personally, was to not become fixated on these identities, and not harbor toward these agents feelings of hatred, bitterness or revenge … but not forgiveness either.&#160; To want vengeance, or to feel hatred or bitterness, is to remain dependent on those whom we wish to revenge ourselves upon.&#160; This is not a healthy state of mind for anyone,” said Dilma, struggling to avoid tears.</p>
<p>That’s why the [Brazilian] Truth Commission was created, Dilma reminded her audience in conclusion, to turn that page of this country’s history, and not permit that it ever happen again.</p>
<p>Michael Uhl&#160;is the author of &#160; <a href="" type="internal">Vietnam Awakening</a>.</p>
<p>This essay originally appeared on <a href="http://www.inthemindfield.com/" type="external">In the Mind Field</a>.</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | true | 4 | message john grants article vietnam war struggle truth heard alarm bell blindsided unsettled upon learning defense department initiative announced president past memorial day commemorate vietnam era rewriting history projected duration pentagons mandate exercise stretches 2012 2025160 lets leave aside moment actuarial calculation macabre feel death watch countdown fading ranks one day wear laurel last vietnam war veteran160 trouble especially whose histories identities embedded opposition resistance war pentagon tasking accomplish unpropitious thirteen years first create sustain positive legacy vietnam war sows ear can160never transformed silk purse160 draconian despicable undertaking whatever eventual reach topic shall return often revisionist plot unfurls defend identity memories one actor among waves soldiers veterans rose oppose filthy war even still fought hard imagine unpopularity eventual rejection vietnam war american public could ever excised fully historical record160 specific history organized opposition war vulnerable since becomes absence repetition popular media abstract remote younger generations recedes past gi resistance antiwar vietnam veterans movements sixties seventies unique annals warfare become prime targets erasure new approved version war pentagon hopes fashion even unprecedented chapters whole antivietnam war saga dod project succeeded obliterating 2025 immeasurable loss inspiration would represent later generations must continue organize struggle plague american militarism ungodly unforeseeable future first blow memory antiwar gi veteran struggles revisionist farce delivered president obama memorial day launch neutered sounding vietnam war commemoration project160 obamas mythdriven speech testament abysmal ignorance period history simply pandering selected audience truebeliever vets gathered wall succumbed pernicious view war could never defended youth become salve passing years noble cause reinforcing onedimensional image returning vietnam vets universally illtreated ungrateful nation obama exploits repressed feelings anger guilt shame unbalanced many us160 suffered burden fighting war widely opposed home least among better informed generational peers160 deeper wounds resistant times cure thousands us rooted horrifying awareness daily acts violence aimed vietnam relentlessly armed foe whole people obama glibly conjures bathes glory ambiguous battles khe sanh hue ignores lai160 prepares ground sanitizing judgment commonplace throughout world include vast numbers us atrocities vietnam mostly lesser scale sense exceptional160 lai generation winter soldiers always emphasized public testimonies tip iceberg obama implies brush tars broadly prefers consoling fiction vietnam veterans whole blamed misdeeds wedded truths evils war ever consoled obamas lies particular occasion infuriate went vietnam lived war horrified came home actively opposed like tens thousands vietnam veterans witnessed participated atrocities160 saw routine use torture160 misdeeds essence war wish make160clear active dialog leading major pushback pentagon160rewrite history must emerge rapidly engage many voices ultimately blunt impact revisionist assault160 also want make tangential observation concerning parallel see campaign contemporary brazil defend historical truths surrounding countrys decades military dictatorship militant popular resistance similar campaign must undertake similarity lies shared moment requires defense resistance illegitimate authority peoples right historical memory theres also major difference brazil defense truth led countrys president us president bent obstructing included short article translated brazilian newspaper demonstrate enlightened leader deals barbaric practice long outlawed modern societies still glaringly visible throughout world acknowledged fixture well american wars since vietnam widespread use torture160 although brazilian president dilma rousseff subjected brutality chooses treat torture misdeeds policy state restrained voice choking back emotions president dilma rousseff told assembled media closing session rio20 international conference environment never wanted know identities torturers commenting recent publication depositions gave torture seventies imprisonment brazils military dictatorship dilma noted many torturers didnt use real names nonetheless suspicious identities dilma chose emphasize however critical question isnt torturer torture torturer always agent policy problem conditions torture established performed everyone knows said passage time best thing happened personally become fixated identities harbor toward agents feelings hatred bitterness revenge forgiveness either160 want vengeance feel hatred bitterness remain dependent wish revenge upon160 healthy state mind anyone said dilma struggling avoid tears thats brazilian truth commission created dilma reminded audience conclusion turn page countrys history permit ever happen michael uhl160is author 160 vietnam awakening essay originally appeared mind field 160 | 637 |
<p>Don’t know if you happened to catch Frank Schaeffer on Rachel Maddow, but it was a riveting show. Given his own background as the son of a right-wing evangelist who recently converted, it would be wise to listen to Schaeffer pushing the panic button.</p>
<p>I confess, too, that I can’t help thinking about what Sean Penn said when he learned that Barack Obama was elected. We have “an elegant president;” that was as good as it gets, as well as an interview Dick Cavett did, thirty years ago, with another elegant man—Jimi Hendrix.</p>
<p>On the show, Cavett spoke about “red necks,” “white trash,” and how difficult it was to be a gifted black musician in a devoutly racist country. Having had the good fortune to have met Jimi, I suspect that, apart from being an Obama supporter, he’d empathize with him, too.</p>
<p>Not as much has changed over the past few decades as we might like to think. Now there are those who say this president is taking us the wrong way down a one way street, that his vision is one that leads to bigger government, and less free enterprise.</p>
<p>And, there are others who think that Obama isn’t heading in the direction of peace, disarmament, and transparency. They are disillusioned about this president’s openness to hawkish generals when they thought that endgame was to get out of Iraq.</p>
<p>The best way not to get disillusioned is not to entertain illusions in the first place. Any president with a concrete plan for either disarmament, or imminent troop withdrawal would never have been elected in the first place.</p>
<p>George W. Bush is blamed for nearly thousands of American and Iraqi deaths in an eight year war, but it was George H.W. Bush who brought troops into Iraq in the first place. That Papa Bush rightly decided to shrug his shoulders, fold up his tent, declare victory in the Gulf, and go home doesn’t mean that he wasn’t responsible for the error that became a huge mistake.</p>
<p>Likewise, Lyndon B. Johnson is the president most often associated with the Vietnam War when it was his predecessor, John F. Kennedy, who arranged for the first troops to be deployed there. Johnson took an initial commitment of 15,000 troops and raised nearly ten times. In his last speech to the American people, Kennedy acknowledged that he was “rethinking” his commitment of troops to Vietnam, and had plans for phased withdrawal, a plan, not coincidentally, sabotaged by his assassination.</p>
<p>That “war is a racket” we know, and have known for as long as Brigadier General Smedley D. Butlet wrote back in 1932. Still, Americans feign surprise, and disillusionment, when a president is elected who continues the status quo. Where war is concerned, the status quo is our best cash crop.</p>
<p>Others, like myself, see a presidency that is barely one quarter of the way along and remain optimistic that Mr. Obama, like Mr. Kennedy before him, will rethink his military objectives, and will share JFK’s vision of “complete and total disarmament.”</p>
<p>Some may say we’ve drunk the Kool-Aid, and that may be fair. But, there is no denying the precariousness of the more than 100 new paramilitary groups which, as the Southern Poverty Law Center reports, have sprung up since Obama took office. The threats from these fringe groups, these leftover Birchers are real. Demands on the secret service, the president’s bodyguards, have increased by 400%.</p>
<p>While no one is suggesting blind obedience, Frank Schaeffer is right that we need to support this president, and pray for his safety. Those, on the left, who have been going after him with a viscera matching their radical right counterparts would be well advised to lighten up, and recognize that discourse has been racheted up such that it now poses a clear and present danger. The Tea Party of today is just as scary as the John Birch Society in Jimi Hendrix’s day.</p>
<p>This is a presidency under siege, and those who confuse verbal dysentery with dissent do a disservice to the framer’s notion of free speech.</p>
<p>To maintain a healthy political climate, disagreement must be accompanied with deference, and deference isn’t coming from the right, or the left frankly.</p>
<p>One may disagree with a president’s policies, yet still support the president. One may abjure the influence of special interests, the banksters, and Wall Street, and still press for extended unemployment benefits, a higher living wage, and greater access to affordable housing. One doesn’t have to throw out the baby with the bath water.</p>
<p>While Afghanistan is clearly a quagmire, and a McChrystal surge would be a huge mistake, to articulate foreign policy differences with anything less than respect is a disservice to the civil rights efforts of Malcolm X, and the Rev. Martin Luther King.</p>
<p>Someday, what we now witness will be seen as nothing less than civil war, but it’s about more than race, or party affiliation, it’s a war between rich and poor. With our support of this president comes the implicit understanding that he was elected to represent the poor, and hungry. Anything short of that is unacceptable.</p>
<p>The only mandate that can work is one that mandates equal opportunity, and equal justice under the law. So far, I have heard no mention of that kind of mandate. If nothing else, this is one president who can be prevailed upon to listen.</p>
<p>Something is radically wrong when the rhetoric of the left can no longer be distinguished from that of the right. Anti-war posturing must not disintegrate into anti-Obama posturing.</p>
<p>And, more importantly, there is a racial component to the anti-Obama rhetoric that is especially troubling, one that must not be discounted, but addressed, or there will be a moral tsunami that will reverberate for generations.</p>
<p>The election of Barack Obama was not about seeing the world in black or white, but gray. The dream hasn’t died. The dreamers have just woken up.</p>
<p>JAYNE LYN STAHL is a widely published poet, essayist, playwright, and screenwriter, member of PEN American Center, and PEN USA.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p /> | true | 4 | dont know happened catch frank schaeffer rachel maddow riveting show given background son rightwing evangelist recently converted would wise listen schaeffer pushing panic button confess cant help thinking sean penn said learned barack obama elected elegant president good gets well interview dick cavett thirty years ago another elegant manjimi hendrix show cavett spoke red necks white trash difficult gifted black musician devoutly racist country good fortune met jimi suspect apart obama supporter hed empathize much changed past decades might like think say president taking us wrong way one way street vision one leads bigger government less free enterprise others think obama isnt heading direction peace disarmament transparency disillusioned presidents openness hawkish generals thought endgame get iraq best way get disillusioned entertain illusions first place president concrete plan either disarmament imminent troop withdrawal would never elected first place george w bush blamed nearly thousands american iraqi deaths eight year war george hw bush brought troops iraq first place papa bush rightly decided shrug shoulders fold tent declare victory gulf go home doesnt mean wasnt responsible error became huge mistake likewise lyndon b johnson president often associated vietnam war predecessor john f kennedy arranged first troops deployed johnson took initial commitment 15000 troops raised nearly ten times last speech american people kennedy acknowledged rethinking commitment troops vietnam plans phased withdrawal plan coincidentally sabotaged assassination war racket know known long brigadier general smedley butlet wrote back 1932 still americans feign surprise disillusionment president elected continues status quo war concerned status quo best cash crop others like see presidency barely one quarter way along remain optimistic mr obama like mr kennedy rethink military objectives share jfks vision complete total disarmament may say weve drunk koolaid may fair denying precariousness 100 new paramilitary groups southern poverty law center reports sprung since obama took office threats fringe groups leftover birchers real demands secret service presidents bodyguards increased 400 one suggesting blind obedience frank schaeffer right need support president pray safety left going viscera matching radical right counterparts would well advised lighten recognize discourse racheted poses clear present danger tea party today scary john birch society jimi hendrixs day presidency siege confuse verbal dysentery dissent disservice framers notion free speech maintain healthy political climate disagreement must accompanied deference deference isnt coming right left frankly one may disagree presidents policies yet still support president one may abjure influence special interests banksters wall street still press extended unemployment benefits higher living wage greater access affordable housing one doesnt throw baby bath water afghanistan clearly quagmire mcchrystal surge would huge mistake articulate foreign policy differences anything less respect disservice civil rights efforts malcolm x rev martin luther king someday witness seen nothing less civil war race party affiliation war rich poor support president comes implicit understanding elected represent poor hungry anything short unacceptable mandate work one mandates equal opportunity equal justice law far heard mention kind mandate nothing else one president prevailed upon listen something radically wrong rhetoric left longer distinguished right antiwar posturing must disintegrate antiobama posturing importantly racial component antiobama rhetoric especially troubling one must discounted addressed moral tsunami reverberate generations election barack obama seeing world black white gray dream hasnt died dreamers woken jayne lyn stahl widely published poet essayist playwright screenwriter member pen american center pen usa 160 | 542 |
<p>Something is happening in Canada that seems, in the context of a majority Harper government, counter-intuitive. Harper continues implementing his right-wing revolution by fiat, and Preston Manning’s “democracy” institute says Canadians actually want “less” government and more individual responsibility. Yet a flurry of polls in the past few weeks and months suggest two dramatic counterpoints to this self-serving narrative.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>First, in a development that is virtually unprecedented, inequality has become, by far, Canadians’ top concern displacing the perennial front-runner, Medicare. And closely related are a number of polls showing that Canadians in large majorities think wealthy people and corporations should pay more taxes. They are even willing to pay more themselves.</p>
<p>How these attitudes will play out over the longer term is hard to predict. Other trends are not so encouraging.</p>
<p>The trouble with normal, Bruce Cockburn told us, is it always gets worse. And that’s the danger in times like this when we sit and endure the ratcheting back of democratic government and the things that it has provided. The longer term threat to democracy is that we become inured to the systematic assaults on it. It is easy to get demoralized with what one US writer called “surplus powerlessness.” Without an obvious short-term solution to the quasi-dictatorship of the Harper government the easiest response is to deny it is happening – and then get used to it.</p>
<p>No opposition party has so far said that they are committed to reversing all the reactionary and destructive actions of this government. Yet this is what we should be demanding of them.</p>
<p>The myriad assaults on the nation being implemented by Harper are really just the latest chapter in what has been a revolution of lowered expectations: a deliberate and systematic culture war on ordinary Canadians deeply held values about the role of government. Starting in the late 1980s with the FTA campaign corporations and their propaganda agencies like the Fraser Institute, set out to reverse the so-called welfare state, and the belief system it rested on. The slogan for the free-traders was simple and repeated endlessly: there is no alternative. Of course there were alternatives, just none that the corporate state was going to allow.</p>
<p>Neo-liberals and the Christian right have been engaged in a thirty year process of trying to change the political culture into something more akin to the individualism of the US. To do that they had to demonize government – the institution of collective action which distinguished us from our southern neighbours.</p>
<p>The free trade battle was followed by the deficit hysteria campaign promoting the specter of hitting the (non-existent) debt wall, softening Canadians up for huge cuts to social spending (courtesy Paul Martin). Demonizing government and government workers (lazy, privileged, self-interested, overpaid) also prepared the ground for the laying off of 50,000 federal employees. And, of course, as programs were diminished so too was the average citizen’s trust in government.</p>
<p>Lastly was the whole question of taxes and tax cuts – the litmus test of a new political culture of smaller govt and individual responsibility. Framing taxes as a burden, and telling people they knew how to spend their money better than government, the Liberal and Conservative regimes handed out billions upon billions of tax cuts in their efforts to downsize democracy.</p>
<p>Yet the whole enterprise is turning out to be a failure. Canadians’ values have changed very little since the 1960s and ‘70s. What has changed are people’s expectations of what is possible from government. We cling stubbornly to our values but no longer expect to see them reflected in government policies. Until now. Thanks in large part to the wonderful activists in the occupy movement, suddenly Canadians are emerging from this war on democracy with the beginnings of what it will take to turn things around.</p>
<p>There is growing evidence that for a majority of Canadians personal experience is beginning to trump propaganda. As they see services decline, inequality rise, infrastructure crumble and democracy erode, what they have always known comes to the fore – that a civilized society is fair and that you have to pay for it.</p>
<p>For 31 per cent of Canadians to say (as they did in this <a href="" type="internal">Ekos poll</a>) that inequality is their number one concern, placing fiscal issues at 9 per cent means this sentiment has been growing for sometime. It just took the catalyst of the occupy rebellion to bring it forward.</p>
<p>And the many polls revealing we are prepared to pay more taxes is an obvious extension of that moral imperative. The Ekos poll showed 59 per cent chose investing in social programs as the highest government priority, compared to 16 per cent who wanted to keep taxes as low as possible.</p>
<p>The Broadbent Institute’s recent <a href="http://www.broadbentinstitute.ca/sites/default/files/uploaded-manually/equality-project.pdf" type="external">polling</a>&#160;was even more encouraging. Seventy-seven percent identified inequality as a major problem undermining Canadian values, were willing to do their part to address it and believed it should be a government priority to deal with it. While a large percentage supported fairer taxes (with the wealthy and corporations paying more) a significant majority, 64 per cent, were willing to pay more themselves to save social programs – 72 per cent of Liberal and NDP supporters and even 58 per cent of Conservative supporters agreed. The majority support held across regions, gender, age, education level, and family income.</p>
<p>When the provincial NDP in Ontario recently called for a modest 2 per cent tax hike for those earning half a million dollars or more the public response was overwhelmingly in favour – by a margin of 78 per cent to 17 per cent opposed. The Liberal government read the polls – and agreed to the tax increase to get the NDP’s support for its budget.</p>
<p>Even in Calgary – in the heart of anti-tax country – 55 per cent supported increasing municipal taxes while only 10 per cent called for a decrease.</p>
<p>The media seems completely caught off guard by these and other polls. The Globe and Mail did an interactive poll the day before federal budget and declared: “What stood out was the across the board call for higher taxes.” People were willing to see the GST restored to 7 per cent. A columnist for the National Post <a href="" type="internal">worried</a> that the arguments against taxing the wealthy were not very convincing – especially when the mainstream is supportive.</p>
<p>When it comes to tax cuts the message is clear: enough is enough. At the same time as the polling is showing these remarkable results, there are now several organizations calling for fairer taxes: <a href="http://doctorsforfairtaxation.ca/" type="external">Doctors for Fair Taxation</a>, Lawyers for Fair Taxation and Faith Leaders for Fair Taxation. There is also a national group, <a href="" type="internal">Canadians for Tax Fairness</a>(which I am associated with) and groups beginning to form at the provincial level – such as Nova Scotians for Tax Fairness. There is the Canadian section of the international <a href="http://canadauncut.net/about.php" type="external">Uncut</a> anti-austerity movement, with fourteen local chapters across the country. NUPGE, the federation of provincial government employee unions has been running an amazing tax campaign called <a href="http://alltogethernow.nupge.ca/" type="external">All Together Now</a> for a couple of years.</p>
<p>The movement for equality and tax fairness is barely off the ground and it already has majority support across the country. Now the opposition parties have to show that they have the courage and the principles to respond to this progressive sentiment. If the Liberals and the NDP ever manage to form a coalition government the first item on which they should agree is the need tax fairness and sufficient revenue to restore the Canada we once had and go beyond it. The Ekos poll revealed that 60 per cent of Canadians say they would be more likely to vote for a party that pledged to raise taxes on the rich.</p>
<p>For Canadians and opposition parties the time for lowered expectations is over. Expect more.</p>
<p>MURRAY DOBBIN lives in Powell River, BC. He &#160;has been a journalist, broadcaster, author and social activist for over forty years. He now writes a bi-weekly column for the on-line journals the Tyee and rabble.ca. He can be reached at <a href="mailto:mdobbin@telus.net" type="external">mdobbin@telus.net</a></p> | true | 4 | something happening canada seems context majority harper government counterintuitive harper continues implementing rightwing revolution fiat preston mannings democracy institute says canadians actually want less government individual responsibility yet flurry polls past weeks months suggest two dramatic counterpoints selfserving narrative 160 first development virtually unprecedented inequality become far canadians top concern displacing perennial frontrunner medicare closely related number polls showing canadians large majorities think wealthy people corporations pay taxes even willing pay attitudes play longer term hard predict trends encouraging trouble normal bruce cockburn told us always gets worse thats danger times like sit endure ratcheting back democratic government things provided longer term threat democracy become inured systematic assaults easy get demoralized one us writer called surplus powerlessness without obvious shortterm solution quasidictatorship harper government easiest response deny happening get used opposition party far said committed reversing reactionary destructive actions government yet demanding myriad assaults nation implemented harper really latest chapter revolution lowered expectations deliberate systematic culture war ordinary canadians deeply held values role government starting late 1980s fta campaign corporations propaganda agencies like fraser institute set reverse socalled welfare state belief system rested slogan freetraders simple repeated endlessly alternative course alternatives none corporate state going allow neoliberals christian right engaged thirty year process trying change political culture something akin individualism us demonize government institution collective action distinguished us southern neighbours free trade battle followed deficit hysteria campaign promoting specter hitting nonexistent debt wall softening canadians huge cuts social spending courtesy paul martin demonizing government government workers lazy privileged selfinterested overpaid also prepared ground laying 50000 federal employees course programs diminished average citizens trust government lastly whole question taxes tax cuts litmus test new political culture smaller govt individual responsibility framing taxes burden telling people knew spend money better government liberal conservative regimes handed billions upon billions tax cuts efforts downsize democracy yet whole enterprise turning failure canadians values changed little since 1960s 70s changed peoples expectations possible government cling stubbornly values longer expect see reflected government policies thanks large part wonderful activists occupy movement suddenly canadians emerging war democracy beginnings take turn things around growing evidence majority canadians personal experience beginning trump propaganda see services decline inequality rise infrastructure crumble democracy erode always known comes fore civilized society fair pay 31 per cent canadians say ekos poll inequality number one concern placing fiscal issues 9 per cent means sentiment growing sometime took catalyst occupy rebellion bring forward many polls revealing prepared pay taxes obvious extension moral imperative ekos poll showed 59 per cent chose investing social programs highest government priority compared 16 per cent wanted keep taxes low possible broadbent institutes recent polling160was even encouraging seventyseven percent identified inequality major problem undermining canadian values willing part address believed government priority deal large percentage supported fairer taxes wealthy corporations paying significant majority 64 per cent willing pay save social programs 72 per cent liberal ndp supporters even 58 per cent conservative supporters agreed majority support held across regions gender age education level family income provincial ndp ontario recently called modest 2 per cent tax hike earning half million dollars public response overwhelmingly favour margin 78 per cent 17 per cent opposed liberal government read polls agreed tax increase get ndps support budget even calgary heart antitax country 55 per cent supported increasing municipal taxes 10 per cent called decrease media seems completely caught guard polls globe mail interactive poll day federal budget declared stood across board call higher taxes people willing see gst restored 7 per cent columnist national post worried arguments taxing wealthy convincing especially mainstream supportive comes tax cuts message clear enough enough time polling showing remarkable results several organizations calling fairer taxes doctors fair taxation lawyers fair taxation faith leaders fair taxation also national group canadians tax fairnesswhich associated groups beginning form provincial level nova scotians tax fairness canadian section international uncut antiausterity movement fourteen local chapters across country nupge federation provincial government employee unions running amazing tax campaign called together couple years movement equality tax fairness barely ground already majority support across country opposition parties show courage principles respond progressive sentiment liberals ndp ever manage form coalition government first item agree need tax fairness sufficient revenue restore canada go beyond ekos poll revealed 60 per cent canadians say would likely vote party pledged raise taxes rich canadians opposition parties time lowered expectations expect murray dobbin lives powell river bc 160has journalist broadcaster author social activist forty years writes biweekly column online journals tyee rabbleca reached mdobbintelusnet | 739 |
<p>Just as it is ironic for the name of the fight against Western cultural imperialism to be invoked in defense of oppressive traditions and inherited privilege in the non-Western world, it is also ironic for the protection of Western values to be invoked in defense of the social exclusion of (and violence and warfare against) non-Western peoples.</p>
<p>There is no use in denying that for some Europeans (and their descendants in North America, Australia, etc.) a racial worldview in its paleo-conservative form still animates much popular xenophobia, the scapegoating of immigrants, and the justification of military and political-economic imperialism.</p>
<p>There is only so much that progressives can do to dialogue with far right racists. Progressives can continue to articulate the biological facts about race, and continue to testify about the historical and contemporary reproduction of racism and imperialism in Euro-American societies. Most importantly, progressives can form alliances in anti-racist struggles.</p>
<p>With the rise to prominence of the Tea Party in the United States, and the resurgence of far right nationalisms in Europe, the threat from paleo-conservatism has become far more pressing than many had imagined with the triumph of liberalism in the late twentieth century. Just like the racist populisms of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the paleo-con agenda promotes a notion of democracy that is restricted in national, racial, religious and class terms. Like the Democratic Party before and after the American Civil War, the Tea Party claims to believe in Democracy. Democracy, that is, for white, property-owning American citizens of European Judaeo-Christian descent.</p>
<p>Whatever fantasies an intellectual like Marcus Garvey may have had about finding common ground with white racial separatists, this position is untenable in a world where the defense of white privilege remains an important factor in the political economy of many of the world’s advanced capitalist nations. By way of racially stratified labor forces, for example, and by way of the relative ease by which wars of aggression against non-white peoples are justified in comparison with wars against the nations of Europe and its settler colonies.</p>
<p>Furthermore, whatever illusions that some American trade unionists might have once had that they could hide behind nationalism (ally themselves with nativists in order to restrict wage competition by restricting immigration, boost the American economy through militarism, etc.) it now seems likely that the new immigrants are the only hope that the American labor movement has of ever re-building a mass base, and that militarism has helped to bleed the American economy dry of resources that could have been put to far more productive use, and more equitably shared. The struggle of American laborers (clearer today than ever) is to fight alongside the immigrant laborer for better working conditions - against the same enemy, the transnational capitalist class. The struggle to end the War Economy also needs to be seen as inseparable from the struggle for economic justice. The old populist and nationalist illusions must today be rejected in no uncertain terms.</p>
<p>NEO-CONS AND CLASSICAL LIBERALS</p>
<p>For much of the neo-conservative and center-right as well, the specter of race still haunts its rhetoric. On the surface, and in its public discourse, neo-conservatism concedes to liberal democratic theory most of its main tenets about equality and tolerance. But racism haunts the neo-conservative discourse through the use of coded language that white voters and citizens recognize as being statements about race, even when race is not directly mentioned. This discourse has often very clearly shaped policy, and in the America that I grew up in, we all knew that talk about crime, drugs, welfare and poverty was talk about race: regardless of the “color-blind” language, and regardless of the empirical realities of these social phenomena.</p>
<p>But let’s set the far right aside for a moment, and take the neo-conservative rhetoric at face value. The Western values that neo-conservatives claim that they are protecting are not the values of ethnocentrism, colonialism, racism and imperialism. Rather, the values that the neo-cons claim that they are protecting are the values of democracy and reason, whose lineage they trace back to the ancient Greek and Roman worlds, the values of universalism, the Judaeo-Christian tradition, and the values of science, progress, equality, liberty and individualism that emerged out of the Western Enlightenment. All of these, they claim or imply, form the basis of the superiority of American and Western European values over the backwardness of much of the rest of the world. The values of the non-Western world, according to these views, are often rooted in blind adherence to repressive traditions, obedience to undemocratic, arbitrary authority and inherited privilege, resistance to scientific and political progress, tribalism, communalism and conflict based on an attachment to primordial identities, and the suppression of individualism by conformity to the collective. Samuel Huntington articulated these claims by reference to differences in “civilizational” values. According to Huntington, differences in civilizational values often emerged out of differences in religious heritage: the values of Islamic civilization, Confucian civilization, etc., were said to be unavoidably headed towards conflict with the above mentioned values of the enlightened West.</p>
<p>For neo-cons, the West is modern in all of the positive senses of this world, and its duty - its historical mission - is to remake the rest of the world in its own image. In some sense, the neo-con rhetoric is quite faithful to Liberalism as it was classically conceived. David Harvey has made this quite clear in lectures and public talks where he has offered a close analysis of the speeches of George W. Bush, where he has revealed the Bush administration’s affinity to the ideas of classical liberalism.</p>
<p>NEOLIBERALISM IN THEORY</p>
<p>Anyone who was interested in serious political economic analysis during the years immediately before and after the end of the Cold War, was aware that there was considerable continuity between the policies of the Reagan and George H. W. Bush presidencies, and the Clinton presidency. Many of us noted during the 1990s that Bill Clinton seemed to have completed the Reagan revolution: instituting strict welfare reform policies at home, disciplining the labor market through economic policies which exponentially increased the wealth of Wall Street, while keeping Main Street relatively secure by offsetting stagnating or declining hourly wages with an increase in working hours, and an expansion of the availability of consumer credit.</p>
<p>The Clinton administration (albeit with a Republican controlled Congress) helped government absolve itself of responsibility for the poor and working poor, and helped big capital suppress wages, and use the mechanisms of debt to increase its absolute exploitation of the majority of American workers. Meanwhile, internationally, the Clinton administration aggressively pursued the interests of American capital, in the name of a new model of globalization, where a rising tide would lift all boats, and the invisible hand of the market would bring not only economic prosperity, but also, freedom, liberty, and happiness to the world’s poor as well as to the world’s rich.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, the real situation internationally was much like the domestic scene writ large. Big capital, particularly finance capital, experienced a rapid increase in its power worldwide. In the developed world, finance capital often flourished at the expense of industrial capital. In some parts of the developing world (in what dependency theorists once called capitalism’s “semi-periphery”) finance capital leveraged the rapid development of industrial capital, and the consolidation of regional economic blocs and the regional centralization of capitalist class power. These processes could be seen in East Asia, in India, in South Africa, and in Brazil, for instance. Other areas of the developing world, however, became more truly peripheral to the world’s capitalist markets, and whole economies were devastated with a stroke of the pen by the World Bank and the IMF, coupled with the aggressive pursuit by core capitalist countries of the agendas of their own capitalist classes at the expense all other considerations.</p>
<p>This era, which we have come to call neo-liberal (according to its supporters as well as to many of its detractors) was said to be one in which the notion of the nation-state was declining in significance, and state-based regulation and intervention in the economy was said to be counter-productive and a barrier to economic growth. The example of the triumph of Western capitalism over the Soviet Union, and the collapse of Soviet-style centralized and bureaucratized state socialism was seen, in these years just after the fall of the Soviet Bloc, to be all the empirical evidence that was necessary to prove that only free markets, laissez-faire capitalism, and the removal of state regulations could create the environment in which dynamic economic growth was possible.</p>
<p>In <a href="" type="internal">A Brief History of Neoliberalism</a>, David Harvey (2005: 64-67) characterizes the neoliberal theory of the state, as pioneered by theorists such as Friedrich Hayek, and Milton Friedman, as having the following characteristics:</p>
<p>1. “According to theory, the neoliberal state should favour strong individual property rights, the rule of law, and the institutions of freely functioning markets and free trade.”</p>
<p>2. Also according to the theory, divestment of state ownership of assets, and privatization of nearly all state-owned industries and resources was considered imperative to the proper functioning of dynamic economies.</p>
<p>3. With the emphasis on free markets, also came an emphasis on personal and individual responsibility, and the subsequent withdraw of the state from concerns over “welfare, education, health care, and even pensions”.</p>
<p>4. All barriers to the free movement of capital needed to be swept aside.</p>
<p>5. Finally, and some would argue most ominously, democracy was viewed with some suspicion in countries that did not have developed economies and a robust middle class. As in the case of some of the classical theories of liberal democracy, neo-liberal theorists are concerned that the free functioning of the liberal economy be protected from the sometimes irrational influences of the democratic masses, whose demands for equality, a social safety net, collective ownership, or national protection could irrationally interfere with the smooth functioning of otherwise ideal liberal capitalist economies.</p>
<p>While these theories, for the economists, formed an internally consistent whole, there were a series of contradictions inherent in their effects in the real world that have contributed to the economic crisis which the world has experienced from 2007 until the present.</p>
<p>Of particular interest to me, is one contradiction of the neoliberal state that was apparent prior to the presidency of George W. Bush, which events since 9/11 have exacerbated. That is, while neo-liberal theory emphasizes that The State ought not to interfere in the economic realm, this rule is unevenly and unequally applied, in predictable ways, and with predictable consequences. Under neo-liberalism, states have been perfectly willing to increasingly use their coercive powers, not to bring the excesses of capitalism into check. Rather, under the neo-liberalism, the state has increasingly used coercion and force to act on behalf of capital, in order to discipline labor and agents of dissent in the capitalist metropole and peripheries, but also, increasingly, to attempt to discipline any challenge to the continued dominance of world capitalism under American hegemony in the 21st century.</p>
<p>These contradictions, which so many progressives had hoped would be resolved under the Obama administration, to more “moderate” capitalist policies such as those of Keynesianism or of a return to the welfare state policies of the mid-20th century. Unfortunately, most of the tendencies towards the coercive use of the state on behalf of capital have continued, and I would argue have even been expanded and deepened, under the administration of Barack Obama.</p>
<p>CHRISTOPHER CARRICO is a Lecturer II in the Anthropology Programme, Department of Language and Cultural Studies, School of Education and Humanities, University of Guyana.</p>
<p /> | true | 4 | ironic name fight western cultural imperialism invoked defense oppressive traditions inherited privilege nonwestern world also ironic protection western values invoked defense social exclusion violence warfare nonwestern peoples use denying europeans descendants north america australia etc racial worldview paleoconservative form still animates much popular xenophobia scapegoating immigrants justification military politicaleconomic imperialism much progressives dialogue far right racists progressives continue articulate biological facts race continue testify historical contemporary reproduction racism imperialism euroamerican societies importantly progressives form alliances antiracist struggles rise prominence tea party united states resurgence far right nationalisms europe threat paleoconservatism become far pressing many imagined triumph liberalism late twentieth century like racist populisms nineteenth early twentieth centuries paleocon agenda promotes notion democracy restricted national racial religious class terms like democratic party american civil war tea party claims believe democracy democracy white propertyowning american citizens european judaeochristian descent whatever fantasies intellectual like marcus garvey may finding common ground white racial separatists position untenable world defense white privilege remains important factor political economy many worlds advanced capitalist nations way racially stratified labor forces example way relative ease wars aggression nonwhite peoples justified comparison wars nations europe settler colonies furthermore whatever illusions american trade unionists might could hide behind nationalism ally nativists order restrict wage competition restricting immigration boost american economy militarism etc seems likely new immigrants hope american labor movement ever rebuilding mass base militarism helped bleed american economy dry resources could put far productive use equitably shared struggle american laborers clearer today ever fight alongside immigrant laborer better working conditions enemy transnational capitalist class struggle end war economy also needs seen inseparable struggle economic justice old populist nationalist illusions must today rejected uncertain terms neocons classical liberals much neoconservative centerright well specter race still haunts rhetoric surface public discourse neoconservatism concedes liberal democratic theory main tenets equality tolerance racism haunts neoconservative discourse use coded language white voters citizens recognize statements race even race directly mentioned discourse often clearly shaped policy america grew knew talk crime drugs welfare poverty talk race regardless colorblind language regardless empirical realities social phenomena lets set far right aside moment take neoconservative rhetoric face value western values neoconservatives claim protecting values ethnocentrism colonialism racism imperialism rather values neocons claim protecting values democracy reason whose lineage trace back ancient greek roman worlds values universalism judaeochristian tradition values science progress equality liberty individualism emerged western enlightenment claim imply form basis superiority american western european values backwardness much rest world values nonwestern world according views often rooted blind adherence repressive traditions obedience undemocratic arbitrary authority inherited privilege resistance scientific political progress tribalism communalism conflict based attachment primordial identities suppression individualism conformity collective samuel huntington articulated claims reference differences civilizational values according huntington differences civilizational values often emerged differences religious heritage values islamic civilization confucian civilization etc said unavoidably headed towards conflict mentioned values enlightened west neocons west modern positive senses world duty historical mission remake rest world image sense neocon rhetoric quite faithful liberalism classically conceived david harvey made quite clear lectures public talks offered close analysis speeches george w bush revealed bush administrations affinity ideas classical liberalism neoliberalism theory anyone interested serious political economic analysis years immediately end cold war aware considerable continuity policies reagan george h w bush presidencies clinton presidency many us noted 1990s bill clinton seemed completed reagan revolution instituting strict welfare reform policies home disciplining labor market economic policies exponentially increased wealth wall street keeping main street relatively secure offsetting stagnating declining hourly wages increase working hours expansion availability consumer credit clinton administration albeit republican controlled congress helped government absolve responsibility poor working poor helped big capital suppress wages use mechanisms debt increase absolute exploitation majority american workers meanwhile internationally clinton administration aggressively pursued interests american capital name new model globalization rising tide would lift boats invisible hand market would bring economic prosperity also freedom liberty happiness worlds poor well worlds rich unfortunately real situation internationally much like domestic scene writ large big capital particularly finance capital experienced rapid increase power worldwide developed world finance capital often flourished expense industrial capital parts developing world dependency theorists called capitalisms semiperiphery finance capital leveraged rapid development industrial capital consolidation regional economic blocs regional centralization capitalist class power processes could seen east asia india south africa brazil instance areas developing world however became truly peripheral worlds capitalist markets whole economies devastated stroke pen world bank imf coupled aggressive pursuit core capitalist countries agendas capitalist classes expense considerations era come call neoliberal according supporters well many detractors said one notion nationstate declining significance statebased regulation intervention economy said counterproductive barrier economic growth example triumph western capitalism soviet union collapse sovietstyle centralized bureaucratized state socialism seen years fall soviet bloc empirical evidence necessary prove free markets laissezfaire capitalism removal state regulations could create environment dynamic economic growth possible brief history neoliberalism david harvey 2005 6467 characterizes neoliberal theory state pioneered theorists friedrich hayek milton friedman following characteristics 1 according theory neoliberal state favour strong individual property rights rule law institutions freely functioning markets free trade 2 also according theory divestment state ownership assets privatization nearly stateowned industries resources considered imperative proper functioning dynamic economies 3 emphasis free markets also came emphasis personal individual responsibility subsequent withdraw state concerns welfare education health care even pensions 4 barriers free movement capital needed swept aside 5 finally would argue ominously democracy viewed suspicion countries developed economies robust middle class case classical theories liberal democracy neoliberal theorists concerned free functioning liberal economy protected sometimes irrational influences democratic masses whose demands equality social safety net collective ownership national protection could irrationally interfere smooth functioning otherwise ideal liberal capitalist economies theories economists formed internally consistent whole series contradictions inherent effects real world contributed economic crisis world experienced 2007 present particular interest one contradiction neoliberal state apparent prior presidency george w bush events since 911 exacerbated neoliberal theory emphasizes state ought interfere economic realm rule unevenly unequally applied predictable ways predictable consequences neoliberalism states perfectly willing increasingly use coercive powers bring excesses capitalism check rather neoliberalism state increasingly used coercion force act behalf capital order discipline labor agents dissent capitalist metropole peripheries also increasingly attempt discipline challenge continued dominance world capitalism american hegemony 21st century contradictions many progressives hoped would resolved obama administration moderate capitalist policies keynesianism return welfare state policies mid20th century unfortunately tendencies towards coercive use state behalf capital continued would argue even expanded deepened administration barack obama christopher carrico lecturer ii anthropology programme department language cultural studies school education humanities university guyana | 1,068 |
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