Archive for January, 2012

Israel Complicit in Ethnic Cleansing

Saturday, January 21st, 2012

“The incursion and bombardment of Gaza is not about destroying Hamas. It is not about stopping rocket fire into Israel, it is not about achieving peace. The Israeli decision to rain death and destruction on Gaza, to use lethal weapons of the modern battlefield on a largely defenseless civilian population, is the final phase in a decades-long campaign to ethnically-cleanse Palestinians.”

“The assault on Gaza is about creating squalid, lawless, and impoverished ghettos in the West Bank and Gaza, where life for Palestinians will be barely sustainable. It is about building a series of ringed Palestinian enclaves where the Israeli military will have the ability to instantly shut-off movement, food, medicine, and goods to perpetuate the misery.”

“Israel uses sophisticated attack jets and naval vessels to bomb densely-crowded refugee camps, schools, apartment blocks, mosques, and slums to attack a population that has no air force, no air defense, no navy, no heavy weapons, no artillery units, no mechanized armor, no command in control, no army… and calls it a war. It is not a war, it is murder.”

The preceding quotes came from Chris Hedges, espousing an oft unheard perspective about the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestine – a viewpoint I happen to agree with.

Israel’s occupation and systematic degradation of the Palestinian people remains one of the gravest blights facing our world’s people. In terms of atrocities and abuse, it ranks up there with Apartheid in South Africa, or the genocides in Rwanda or Darfur.

And what’s even more shameful is just how oblivious most of us in the Western world remain to the reality and severity of the situation. Much of this is due to Israel’s reach around the globe. The State of Israel has a powerful public relations department along with feelers running deep into the minds of many of the world’s high level politicians and government employees.

The Palestinians, on the other hand, have no PR department, live in impoverished conditions, and are constantly under threat from the region’s largest army.

Yet, despite the lack of PR, the Palestinians have justice on their side, and will eventually triumph. Over the next few years, thanks to the spread of alternative media, the international community is likely to awaken to this decades-long injustice.

Once this happens, and Israel’s atrocities get reigned in by a world no longer willing to tolerate such inhumanity, historians and anthropologists can see how it came to be that the victims of heinous genocide went on to become perpetrators of the same crimes within just a few generations.

No War with Iran!

Friday, January 20th, 2012

Do you remember what happened over the past ten years when more and more of us started to really regret the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The years kept rolling on, the cost and the death toll kept rising and we were left wondering ‘why wasn’t there more critical voices being heard in the lead up to the invasion?’ Mainstream journalists along with most politicians failed to ask whether or not a military endeavor was the best solution, and everyone else was left holding the bag.

Well, if you count yourself amongst the disgruntled, then take heed, because whatever forces made those wars happen are at it again. Except this time the target is Iran. You can see it everywhere, as stories about the Persian nation become more frequent, garnering an ever increasing slice of media coverage. The same thing happened prior to the Libyan invasion. It’s as if the social consciousness is being massaged and cajoled into accepting Iran as this imminent threat growing in severity for every moment we aren’t over there bombing the life out of them.

Don’t get me wrong – Iran is no joke. But so too are many other nations, and if the last ten years of failure have proven anything, its that we cannot hope to secure the world by direct force alone.

But we won’t even get the chance to find an alternative if we allow the pro-war side the inch they need to take their mile. So this time, let’s beat the drums of peace louder than those who are beating the drums of war. We can’t wait until our armed forces get stuck in another decades long quagmire and then bitch about it.

Maybe this time we think less in terms of us and them – Muslims/Christians, or North Americans/ Iranians– and instead take a 21st century mindset, where we recognize that 99% of the citizens of foreign nations are just like the 99% here and that Letting an army attack them would be hurting people no different than us. But, if we work together with them, and essentially unite the 99% of all nations, this global village would be in a far better place to hamper the %1 who’ve been hurting the rest of us.

We’ve tried weapons and war for too long and it has yet to help. Let’s find out if the power of love can work to heal our planet.

America’s War on Democracy

Thursday, January 19th, 2012

America (along with sidekick Britain) are imperialist forces hellbent on global domination, President Obama is the lead man in a military coup which took place in Washington, and despite a supposedly free press, most of these atrocities remain hidden from the Western world. And, according to noted journalist John Pilger, all of this has been happening for over 50 years now.

Here’s an excerpt of his latest piece:

Since the Second World War, the US has:

1. Attempted to overthrow more than 50 governments, most of them democratically-elected.

2. Attempted to suppress a populist or national movement in 20 countries.

3. Grossly interfered in democratic elections in at least 30 countries.

4. Dropped bombs on the people of more than 30 countries.

5. Attempted to assassinate more than 50 foreign leaders.

In total, the United States has carried out one or more of these actions in 69 countries. In almost all cases, Britain has been a collaborator. The “enemy” changes in name – from communism to Islamism — but mostly it is the rise of democracy independent of western power or a society occupying strategically useful territory, deemed expendable.

The sheer scale of suffering, let alone criminality, is little known in the west, despite the presence of the world’s most advanced communications, nominally freest journalism and most admired academy.

While past presidents presided over imperialist agendas in foreign nations, Barack Obama is the first to truly bring this war on democracy back home to the American people. Pilger:

A military coup was taking place in Washington, and Obama was their man. Having seduced the anti-war movement into virtual silence, he has given America’s corrupt military officer class unprecedented powers of state and engagement.

Obama’s most “historic” achievement is to bring the war on democracy home to America. On New Year’s Eve, he signed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), a law that grants the Pentagon the legal right to kidnap both foreigners and US citizens and indefinitely detain, interrogate and torture, or even kill them. They need only “associate” with those “belligerent” to the United States. There will be no protection of law, no trial, no legal representation. This is the first explicit legislation to abolish habeus corpus (the right to due process of law) and effectively repeal the Bill of Rights of 1789.

On 5 January, in an extraordinary speech at the Pentagon, Obama said the military would not only be ready to “secure territory and populations” overseas but to fight in the “homeland” and provide “support to the civil authorities”. In other words, US troops will be deployed on the streets of American cities when the inevitable civil unrest takes hold.

The entire article is certainly worth a read, if only to expand one’s own horizons beyond the typical narrative laid out to those of us the Western world. You know what they say – Knowledge is Power!

Hooray for Humanity!

Wednesday, January 18th, 2012

Coordinated acts of civil and corporate disobedience are afoot this week, making for some exciting times!

The fight for Internet freedom reached a crescendo today as major players in the Internet community worked together to spread awareness of emerging Internet-crippling legislation. So effective has this campaign been that companies are now dropping support for one of these bills – SOPA – like it has the plague.

On another front, the uprising which exploded around the world last year to catapult issues like social disparity and income equality into the mainstream dialogue reached new heights this week. Activists have begun to Occupy Congress, taking the fight right to the source of many bad laws.

Whatever comes out of these uprisings, know that each struggle is a victory in itself. The revolutionary spark is infectious, prompting millions of people from around the world to awaken for the first time ever to embrace an engaged and empowered mindset.

What has been done cannot be undone. The further this great social revolution advances, the more apparent it will become that only through unity and solidarity can we wield enough force to actually fix what is inherently wrong with the system.

Over the next few years, magnificent changes will unfold, eliminating injustices that have persisted for thousands of years. So remarkable will these transformations be that the potential of ending all major armed conflicts will be sitting right upon our doorstep.

The idea of world peace by 2020 might seem ludicrous to some. But the rate of at which our species is advancing is unprecedented, and this pace will only grow exponentially faster with each passing day. Huge feats – accomplishments we might think would take decades or centuries to achieve – are becoming more and more likely all the time.

We still have lots left to do, and our work will never really be done. But given where we are today as compared to just five years ago, one can only gawk in awe at the limitless potentials we’ve already begun to unlock.

Internet Going Black Tomorrow

Tuesday, January 17th, 2012

Stock up on your memes while you still can: wide swaths of the Internet will be unavailable for at least 12 hours, starting tomorrow January 18th!

The outage is part of a coordinated protest against Internet-destroying legislation, like SOPA and PIPA, which have been creeping their way into American law books.

Major players, including Wikipedia, Google and Reddit will remove normal content in lieu of a simple message of protest, along with informative materials explaining the importance of a free internet and why we need to protect it.

Awesome!  No doubt Washington will notice, and hopefully they will learn a valuable lesson: do not piss off the Internet.

Occupy Congress Starts Tomorrow

Monday, January 16th, 2012

Just a friendly reminder to all you freedom loving people in the greater D.C. area, Occupy Congress starts tomorrow, January 17th! If you care about the fact that your political system has been failing for decades, now is the time to speak out.

Democracy goes to who ever shows up.

Presently, the corporations and bankers (and their dollars) have been gaining large amounts of our precious politician’s favor. The only way to counter this (without an equal amount of money) is with massive amounts of people power.

So get involved in the people’s uprising. It has never been easier than it is today, and you can help make a better world just by showing up.

Liberals Lead Legalization Lobby

Sunday, January 15th, 2012

Out of nowhere, the Liberal party has jumped back into the running with the Canadian public, just by adding one simple policy to their platform: legalize marijuana.

Party members announced that “a new Liberal government will legalize marijuana and ensure the regulation and taxation of its production, distribution, and use, while enacting strict penalties for illegal trafficking, illegal importation and exportation, and impaired driving.”

Yes!!! Canada’s pro-cannabis movement just gained new levels of traction. Even though it is being pushed by the Liberals – 3rd prize in Canadian politics – this is still a huge milestone.

As other parties see just how much the issue of legal weed resonates with the Canadian people, they too will be tempted to hop on the ‘Oh Cannabis’ bandwagon.

While Harper and his conservatives cram more crime bills down our throats, it is great to see that not all politicians have abandoned reasonable policies.

How Far Away is World Peace?

Saturday, January 14th, 2012

Organized armed conflict has been a thorn in our side for so long it seems like we’re more inclined to limp around with the pain rather than plucking it out entirely. So ingrained is the institution of war that to even discuss the idea of peace can really bring out the pessimist in all of us.

But when we consider the amazing potential of the human spirit combined with the incredible rate at which humankind is progressing, could it be that world peace is sitting right on our doorstep and we don’t even know it? Forget waiting centuries! Maybe the lofty goal of ending all of earth’s major conflicts is doable within the decade.

Read the rest of this post over at the Universal Peace Flag’s community blog.

Occupy Movement Still Growing Stronger

Friday, January 13th, 2012

You don’t hear much about the Occupy movement in the news anymore. But it’s not due to a lack of news worthy stories. The mainstream news has gone black on the Occupy movement because of what it represents.

See, the same five (5) corporations that produce over 90% of all of our media are amongst those being targeted by the Occupy movement. It is safe to assume that decision makers for these companies will be smart enough to minimize the airspace given to any opposing interests, hence the lack of Occupy coverage.

Yet the people’s uprising has never been stronger. More individuals get involved every day, and those who are already engaged in the process continue to grow more energized and organized.

Take the Reddit group Occupy Wall Street, for example. After three and a half months of consistent growth, membership will breach the 30,000 person mark this week. Along the same lines, the Occupy Wall Street Facebook group now has over 360,000 fans, and the discussion rages on louder than it ever has before.

People really are waking up! It’s a slow process, what with the fierce grip the mainstream media (and other institutions) hold over the social consciousness. But it’s still happening!

The shared vision of a more just civilization has become too real in the minds of too many people. There is no going back now. It’s freedom or bust, and there is no earthly force greater than that of millions of humans working together.

US Marines Shameful Oorah-nation

Thursday, January 12th, 2012

Video has surfaced showing four marines urinating on what has been reported to be dead Afghan militants. Vile, disgusting, illegal, unnecessary and downright idiotic are just a few of the ways to describe these acts.

How did this happen? A bunch of gun-toting, war-happy dudes thought it would be a good idea to do something each of them individually knew was wrong. But not a single one of them spoke up, so they ended up following through with what turned out to be a huge mistake.

What an apt comparison for the entire Afghanistan invasion! US Military brass (and other high level officials) decided it would be a good idea to start a war with the criminal gangs of a severely impoverished nation. And no one spoke out – at least not loud enough to be heard – so here we are 10 years later and American atrocities continue to fall upon the Afghan people.

Curious, though. Why does urine on dead people spark more outrage than bullets and shrapnel in dead people?