Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Wikileaks(2)
So, we learn this morning that North Korea has minerals...
...which means of course that what Wiki are releasing could damage diplomacy everywhere! I've worked for the British Foreign Office, in the bowels of the Embassy in Paris, and I know some of the secrets we'd like to keep secret. I had to sign the Official Secrets Act four times, and was cleared up to Top Secret. Did you know, for example, that there's a huge incinerator underneath the Embassy, where documents are burned? I know, because it was part of my duties to burn documents, and we had to come in wearing old clothes.
But it's mostly 'boring' old colonial territorial disputes, about which Old Power gets what, and everyone keeps quiet about it 'in the name of National Security'. This is probably what started me on the road to cynicism, and I was one of the few people to resign, as working for the FCO was a gravy train, and no-one likes to upset the apple-cart, if you'll excuse the mixed metaphores.
So that lovely Hilary Clinton is strutting the world stage saying how awful this all is, and we should all be concerned. See above. Very trustworthy lady, especially if you fancy looking into the Clintons' past and the Mena controversy...
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8681225708920427234#docid=7349140906801270904
...which means of course that what Wiki are releasing could damage diplomacy everywhere! I've worked for the British Foreign Office, in the bowels of the Embassy in Paris, and I know some of the secrets we'd like to keep secret. I had to sign the Official Secrets Act four times, and was cleared up to Top Secret. Did you know, for example, that there's a huge incinerator underneath the Embassy, where documents are burned? I know, because it was part of my duties to burn documents, and we had to come in wearing old clothes.
But it's mostly 'boring' old colonial territorial disputes, about which Old Power gets what, and everyone keeps quiet about it 'in the name of National Security'. This is probably what started me on the road to cynicism, and I was one of the few people to resign, as working for the FCO was a gravy train, and no-one likes to upset the apple-cart, if you'll excuse the mixed metaphores.
So that lovely Hilary Clinton is strutting the world stage saying how awful this all is, and we should all be concerned. See above. Very trustworthy lady, especially if you fancy looking into the Clintons' past and the Mena controversy...
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8681225708920427234#docid=7349140906801270904
Monday, November 29, 2010
BP
First Matt Simmons...
https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Matthew_Simmons
Now another death of a witness:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4-7lgxATiU&feature=player_embedded
If you haven't read 'Confessions of an Economic Hit-man', by John Perkins, I recommend it. Here he talks about his motivations...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTbdnNgqfs8
https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Matthew_Simmons
Now another death of a witness:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4-7lgxATiU&feature=player_embedded
If you haven't read 'Confessions of an Economic Hit-man', by John Perkins, I recommend it. Here he talks about his motivations...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTbdnNgqfs8
Wikileaks
"Last night I slept the sleep of the saved" is allegedly a quote by that British National 'Treasure' Churchill. It was attributed to him when he finally heard that the US were going to join the war effort. Mind you, he also said "History will be kind to me, as I'm going to write it", going to prove once again that you cannot believe everything you read.
However, listening to the World Service last night, as I fell asleep, I thought to myself that finally the truth is coming out, as all the frantic attempts by the US Administration to muzzle Wikileaks, and to malign the founder's character, had failed, and pouring out of their interior memos and e-mails came truths about the various conflicts and wars they are involved in around the world. We are no better, of course, and I sincerely believe that as more pressure gets put on people who have held secrets they shouldn't have for too long, we will start to learn the cold, hard reality of what is really going on, internationally. Use of the terms 'security' and 'terrorist' will become obvious to even the most patriotic as excuses for much darker realities.
The wars and invasions occurring at the moment are mostly resource wars: that is to say, the country of choice has something that we want or need, whether it is oil in Iraq, minerals or heroin in Afghanistan, coltan and other minerals in the Congo, oil in the Niger Delta, oil off Haiti, oil in Darfur and oil plus a strategic location as with Yemen. Even the most tightly shut eyes of those who just want to live quietly will be prized open, as the heat gets nearer and nearer to home. We will only start to sit up and notice when our lights start going out, and our financial lives are affected. Shame on us.
The issue is still, and has been for a few decades, energy. There is not enough fossil-fuel based energy to maintain the exponential curve of energy use that our modern-day industrial civilisation requires, and we are willing to have a second scramble for Africa, and everywhere else, in order to try to satiate our unquenchable thirst. But as the Tesla-inspired 'free-energy' is not yet available (at least to the majority, even if its secrets are kept for the few) we are obliged to continue our plunder of this small planet for its scarce natural resources. Resources that were laid down over millennia, and which are being gobbled up in just over 100 years.
http://www.worldoil.com/Haiti_could_have_larger_oil_reserves_than_Venezuela.html
However, listening to the World Service last night, as I fell asleep, I thought to myself that finally the truth is coming out, as all the frantic attempts by the US Administration to muzzle Wikileaks, and to malign the founder's character, had failed, and pouring out of their interior memos and e-mails came truths about the various conflicts and wars they are involved in around the world. We are no better, of course, and I sincerely believe that as more pressure gets put on people who have held secrets they shouldn't have for too long, we will start to learn the cold, hard reality of what is really going on, internationally. Use of the terms 'security' and 'terrorist' will become obvious to even the most patriotic as excuses for much darker realities.
The wars and invasions occurring at the moment are mostly resource wars: that is to say, the country of choice has something that we want or need, whether it is oil in Iraq, minerals or heroin in Afghanistan, coltan and other minerals in the Congo, oil in the Niger Delta, oil off Haiti, oil in Darfur and oil plus a strategic location as with Yemen. Even the most tightly shut eyes of those who just want to live quietly will be prized open, as the heat gets nearer and nearer to home. We will only start to sit up and notice when our lights start going out, and our financial lives are affected. Shame on us.
The issue is still, and has been for a few decades, energy. There is not enough fossil-fuel based energy to maintain the exponential curve of energy use that our modern-day industrial civilisation requires, and we are willing to have a second scramble for Africa, and everywhere else, in order to try to satiate our unquenchable thirst. But as the Tesla-inspired 'free-energy' is not yet available (at least to the majority, even if its secrets are kept for the few) we are obliged to continue our plunder of this small planet for its scarce natural resources. Resources that were laid down over millennia, and which are being gobbled up in just over 100 years.
http://www.worldoil.com/Haiti_could_have_larger_oil_reserves_than_Venezuela.html
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Thanksgiving
All of the Internationals got together last week for a meal, provided by our sole American volunteer. She obtained a turkey and all the trimmings, and a vegetarian option was also provided. Another volunteer went to the Samaritan village a way from here and provided some red wine from Bethlehem. For many of us, it was the first alcohol that had passed our lips since we had arrived.
I'm not sure of the history of this festival, not being too interested in hyped-up opportunities for mass-consumerism, but one of our two German volunteers quipped, in good humour 'so, we're celebrating genocide now, are we?'. My limited knowledge of the history of the creation of the USA stretches far enough to know that the territorial rights of the original inhabitants were not exactly respected. Same can be said for the Aborigines in Australia, who are now also living in 'reserves' (read camps) and to a certain extent the Mauris in New Zealand. I've just finished reading a book about the first arrival of British convicts in what is now called Sydney, on how the locals tried to stop the colonisation of the riversides, where they had hunted and gathered for millennia, to no avail.
The most memorable quote of the evening has to go to the other German, however. Going round the table, we all had to give thanks to something or someone. Quite a few poignant, funny or sad comments, until we got to Jonas who said: "I give thanks to gravity, without which we wouldn't all be sitting here".
I'm not sure of the history of this festival, not being too interested in hyped-up opportunities for mass-consumerism, but one of our two German volunteers quipped, in good humour 'so, we're celebrating genocide now, are we?'. My limited knowledge of the history of the creation of the USA stretches far enough to know that the territorial rights of the original inhabitants were not exactly respected. Same can be said for the Aborigines in Australia, who are now also living in 'reserves' (read camps) and to a certain extent the Mauris in New Zealand. I've just finished reading a book about the first arrival of British convicts in what is now called Sydney, on how the locals tried to stop the colonisation of the riversides, where they had hunted and gathered for millennia, to no avail.
The most memorable quote of the evening has to go to the other German, however. Going round the table, we all had to give thanks to something or someone. Quite a few poignant, funny or sad comments, until we got to Jonas who said: "I give thanks to gravity, without which we wouldn't all be sitting here".
Teds'R'us
My parents are incredible! They are 80 and 84 years old, and yesterday went out in minus 2 temperatures to a Craft Fair, where they set up a stall selling their hand-made crafts. Since retirement 20 years ago, they've been cutting, shaping, planing, varnishing, stitching, recycling, and sowing so many original and sturdy crafts, that they have become mini-celebrities in the area.
Schools telephone them when they're having Xmas Fayres, Community Centres know them, and they even set up their stall in old people's homes sometimes! They are both hard-working, honest, salt-of-the-earth types, and they have an incredible set of skills between them. Oh, and in their spare time they make bread (my Dad was a baker), cakes, quiches, jams...
I've often thought that the way we were brought up set us up for life, and my brother and I have had varied and interesting lives full of energy and originality. I applaud my parents.
Oh, and if you want a Ted for Christmas, let me know...
Schools telephone them when they're having Xmas Fayres, Community Centres know them, and they even set up their stall in old people's homes sometimes! They are both hard-working, honest, salt-of-the-earth types, and they have an incredible set of skills between them. Oh, and in their spare time they make bread (my Dad was a baker), cakes, quiches, jams...
I've often thought that the way we were brought up set us up for life, and my brother and I have had varied and interesting lives full of energy and originality. I applaud my parents.
Oh, and if you want a Ted for Christmas, let me know...
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Freedom Theatre, Jenin
Yesterday was our day off, and a group of us wanted to visit Jenin and try to get to see the Theatre that had been mentioned in the film we saw the other night (Anya's Children, see Project Hope entry of 22.11.10).
We took a service taxi from Nablus, and wound north through the dry countryside in an hour's journey to Jenin. It being a Friday, everything was closed, with the odd exception. We had three local volunteers with us, and one of them knew a good falafel joint: we headed straight there. These falafels were oblong, as opposed to round, and outside we saw the man making them: a slightly bigger version of the machine I bought in the Souk, and he managed to squeeze onions into the middle of the chick-pea mix. They were very good.
There were no road-blocks, as such, but there was an Israeli Army armoured personnel carrier (APC) at the bottom of a new road, leading to a settlement behind a high barbed-wire wall. The soldiers were relaxed, laughing with a girl who sat in the APC front seat, but they still wore full battle fatigues and carried machine guns. The roads to the new settlements are always manned by the Israeli Army, as they are so controversial and not at all welcome - especially as they are viewed as illegal internationally, they have commandeered strategic hills, are taking local water and of course land farmed by locals for centuries. There is a lot of local resentment, and a feeling that Israel wants to divide what is left of Palestine, or the West Bank, up into cantons where you cannot cross from one area to another.
With full bellies we headed into the town itself, to try to find the refugee camp and the theatre. There were hundreds of kids, and they followed us everywhere, shouting 'how are you?' 'what is your name?'. We got to the refugee camp, which was again like an extension of the town itself, being as it was a warren of tiny streets and alleys, with two-storey buildings in grey concrete. The walls were full of graffitti, and we got a local to translate: often it was the names of martyrs, that is to say locals who were killed in the fighting.
It felt strange to be walking along these streets, under the hot sun, where just a few years earlier tanks had rolled, homes were crushed and many people were killed. It took a while for us to realise that every wall was pock-marked by bullet holes, not just the occasional one or two. The now-familiar posters flapping in the breeze of the locals who died in the conflict. We didn't feel too comfortable, a big group of Westerners coming to stare, so we didn't stay long and headed for the theatre.
Once there we were pleasantly surprised, as in the film, Arna's Children, the Theatre had been completely destroyed by shells: I suppose it was seen as a terrorist strong-hold. It had been completely re-built on a different site, and was much larger than I had anticipated. We then had a stroke of luck, as at that moment an International volunteer strolled around the corner. He wasn't expecting to see us at all, as we had come without any arrangements. But he was hospitality itself, and invited us in and made us all a coffee.
He had been here (to Palestine) several times before, funding himself by being a carpenter back home in Wales. He then gave us a talk about the progress of the Theatre since the events in the film, and we were thrilled to hear that they had received International recognition, funding and had actually toured Austria and Germany with one of their productions, selling out all tickets within 40 days, which is amazing.
The son of Arna, a Jewish Film Director, is still very much involved with the Theatre, and they are putting on a production of 'Alice in Wonderland' soon. They had done a production of Orwell's 'Animal Farm', which was pretty poignant. I recommend this book to everyone, along with '1984' and Huxley's 'Brave New World'.
After a tour of the Theatre we watched three short film clips, giving us an idea of what they do and why they are here. They were very powerful films, one of them being 'Fragments of Palestine'. There are no psychologists or psychotherapists here in Jenin, and the Theatre is the only way the children here can be creative and express themselves, and sometimes their frustrations and troubled past. The students themselves were talking to camera, and were eloquent and intelligent, if sad.
Here's the link, for anyone interested:
http://www.thefreedomtheatre.org/
We took a service taxi from Nablus, and wound north through the dry countryside in an hour's journey to Jenin. It being a Friday, everything was closed, with the odd exception. We had three local volunteers with us, and one of them knew a good falafel joint: we headed straight there. These falafels were oblong, as opposed to round, and outside we saw the man making them: a slightly bigger version of the machine I bought in the Souk, and he managed to squeeze onions into the middle of the chick-pea mix. They were very good.
There were no road-blocks, as such, but there was an Israeli Army armoured personnel carrier (APC) at the bottom of a new road, leading to a settlement behind a high barbed-wire wall. The soldiers were relaxed, laughing with a girl who sat in the APC front seat, but they still wore full battle fatigues and carried machine guns. The roads to the new settlements are always manned by the Israeli Army, as they are so controversial and not at all welcome - especially as they are viewed as illegal internationally, they have commandeered strategic hills, are taking local water and of course land farmed by locals for centuries. There is a lot of local resentment, and a feeling that Israel wants to divide what is left of Palestine, or the West Bank, up into cantons where you cannot cross from one area to another.
With full bellies we headed into the town itself, to try to find the refugee camp and the theatre. There were hundreds of kids, and they followed us everywhere, shouting 'how are you?' 'what is your name?'. We got to the refugee camp, which was again like an extension of the town itself, being as it was a warren of tiny streets and alleys, with two-storey buildings in grey concrete. The walls were full of graffitti, and we got a local to translate: often it was the names of martyrs, that is to say locals who were killed in the fighting.
It felt strange to be walking along these streets, under the hot sun, where just a few years earlier tanks had rolled, homes were crushed and many people were killed. It took a while for us to realise that every wall was pock-marked by bullet holes, not just the occasional one or two. The now-familiar posters flapping in the breeze of the locals who died in the conflict. We didn't feel too comfortable, a big group of Westerners coming to stare, so we didn't stay long and headed for the theatre.
Once there we were pleasantly surprised, as in the film, Arna's Children, the Theatre had been completely destroyed by shells: I suppose it was seen as a terrorist strong-hold. It had been completely re-built on a different site, and was much larger than I had anticipated. We then had a stroke of luck, as at that moment an International volunteer strolled around the corner. He wasn't expecting to see us at all, as we had come without any arrangements. But he was hospitality itself, and invited us in and made us all a coffee.
He had been here (to Palestine) several times before, funding himself by being a carpenter back home in Wales. He then gave us a talk about the progress of the Theatre since the events in the film, and we were thrilled to hear that they had received International recognition, funding and had actually toured Austria and Germany with one of their productions, selling out all tickets within 40 days, which is amazing.
The son of Arna, a Jewish Film Director, is still very much involved with the Theatre, and they are putting on a production of 'Alice in Wonderland' soon. They had done a production of Orwell's 'Animal Farm', which was pretty poignant. I recommend this book to everyone, along with '1984' and Huxley's 'Brave New World'.
After a tour of the Theatre we watched three short film clips, giving us an idea of what they do and why they are here. They were very powerful films, one of them being 'Fragments of Palestine'. There are no psychologists or psychotherapists here in Jenin, and the Theatre is the only way the children here can be creative and express themselves, and sometimes their frustrations and troubled past. The students themselves were talking to camera, and were eloquent and intelligent, if sad.
Here's the link, for anyone interested:
http://www.thefreedomtheatre.org/
Friday, November 26, 2010
Win-Win for Israel
Either you agree to 90-day freeze on settlements (except East Jerusalem) and we give you lots of money and military equipment, or you carry on with settlements and get more land:
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=22112
What I want to know is, what have they got over Obama?
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=22112
What I want to know is, what have they got over Obama?
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Sovereign Debt Crises
Well, we were warned about the money lenders, weren't we? Something in the Bible, and quite a few publications since. If you listen to the BBC you'd think these sovereign debt crises were a sudden turn of events and that some naughty countries borrowed too much and they now have to tighten their belts in order to pay back what they owe. Oh yes, and pensions and hospitals and schools and social services are too pricy to be maintained.
I'm sorry, I don't see it like that. Some of my friends laugh at my avid interest in reading blogs, but this is where some of the best minds in the business write, be it economic, political, ecological or other, and I've been following what they've been saying and warning about for years.
Goldman Sachs had a huge part to play in the downfall of Greece, similar amounts of collusion and bribery went into money-laundering and creating an economic boom-to-bust situation in Ireland, soon to be followed by Portugal, Spain, and maybe Italy. Ireland's economy went through the roof without it producing anything new. It is being sold to us as a simple parallel to an individual or family over-stretching themselves, but if you followed the sub-prime mortgage crisis in the US (the so-called 'foreclosure-gate') you'll have some idea of the depth and breadth of the corruption in the banking sector.
The UK also has severe financial problems, but bizarrely has been offered a secret bail-out by someone who presumably doesn't want to see Sterling fail. A very odd entry in Hansard (the official record of events in both Houses of Parliament) given by Baron James of Blackheath, speaks of the offer of a sum of money to be given to the Crown by a shadowy organisation that he called ' Foundation X'. You really couldn't make this stuff up! Have a look:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_James,_Baron_James_of_Blackheath
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld201011/ldhansrd/text/101101-0003.htm#10110215000101
(see 1538, although earlier part of speech is also interesting, about coming food crisis)
If you scroll down on the Wiki page , you will see the entry 'Foundation X', and then see that after his speech in the House of Lords, the meeting he spoke of was denied by the UK Treasury.
Still think this is all a cock-up, or is it a criminal conspiracy?
I'm sorry, I don't see it like that. Some of my friends laugh at my avid interest in reading blogs, but this is where some of the best minds in the business write, be it economic, political, ecological or other, and I've been following what they've been saying and warning about for years.
Goldman Sachs had a huge part to play in the downfall of Greece, similar amounts of collusion and bribery went into money-laundering and creating an economic boom-to-bust situation in Ireland, soon to be followed by Portugal, Spain, and maybe Italy. Ireland's economy went through the roof without it producing anything new. It is being sold to us as a simple parallel to an individual or family over-stretching themselves, but if you followed the sub-prime mortgage crisis in the US (the so-called 'foreclosure-gate') you'll have some idea of the depth and breadth of the corruption in the banking sector.
The UK also has severe financial problems, but bizarrely has been offered a secret bail-out by someone who presumably doesn't want to see Sterling fail. A very odd entry in Hansard (the official record of events in both Houses of Parliament) given by Baron James of Blackheath, speaks of the offer of a sum of money to be given to the Crown by a shadowy organisation that he called ' Foundation X'. You really couldn't make this stuff up! Have a look:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_James,_Baron_James_of_Blackheath
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld201011/ldhansrd/text/101101-0003.htm#10110215000101
(see 1538, although earlier part of speech is also interesting, about coming food crisis)
If you scroll down on the Wiki page , you will see the entry 'Foundation X', and then see that after his speech in the House of Lords, the meeting he spoke of was denied by the UK Treasury.
Still think this is all a cock-up, or is it a criminal conspiracy?
Nablus Chamber of Commerce and Industry
Last night a talk was arranged by Project Hope by the Head of the Nablus CCI. He gave us a slide presentation with some local statistics, mixed with some photographs. Less than 2% of businesses employed more than 10 people!
In what could be perceived as a dry presentation, the figures were actually terribly revealing, and we could see at a glance what a difference the Intifada/blockade of the West Bank made to the economy of the area. Even now, when the blockade is partially lifted, there are still road-blocks and checks, and many, many restrictions on moving goods around Palestine, let alone export problems.
He mentioned the difficulties of getting your lorry-load of goods to the Ports, and then having the constraint of no Palestinian export representative at the Port, so having to provide all of the necessary documentation to the Israeli Authorities, which includes papers on security, destinations, etc, and entails complete un-loading and re-loading of the goods onto pallets of a certain size.
Add to this problem one of the restrictions on imports - aluminium, for example - plus taxes and levies applied by Israel, and you begin to get a tiny picture of the difficulties of getting this economy on its feet again. He explained that although they sincerely want to start exporting, it is often prohibitively expensive and so they sell to Israel, who then ship the goods out as Israeli. They are working to correct this, he told us, so that at least Palestinian goods, such as olive oil and soap, are labeled as such.
One of their best exports, however, is stone. He was understandably proud of this, and said that it is exported to Europe. Presumably this is a product which is less problematic to transport, as it can pretty easily be cleared by 'security'. One of my main concerns, however, is that this is exactly the wrong sort of export as it is totally unsustainable - I had already noticed on my trips to Tulkarem the huge quarries, with large amounts of machinery. The surrounding area was covered in a fine white powdery dust, and the lorries were plying back and forth. The saddest sight of all, for me, was to see the Palestinians earnestly trying to improve their local economy by literally blasting and removing their only asset: the hills and the land around Nablus.
It no doubt brings in a few shekels, and no doubt there is a demand because it is reasonably priced, but once these hills are gone, what next? The West Bank is small enough already, without this geological suicide.
In what could be perceived as a dry presentation, the figures were actually terribly revealing, and we could see at a glance what a difference the Intifada/blockade of the West Bank made to the economy of the area. Even now, when the blockade is partially lifted, there are still road-blocks and checks, and many, many restrictions on moving goods around Palestine, let alone export problems.
He mentioned the difficulties of getting your lorry-load of goods to the Ports, and then having the constraint of no Palestinian export representative at the Port, so having to provide all of the necessary documentation to the Israeli Authorities, which includes papers on security, destinations, etc, and entails complete un-loading and re-loading of the goods onto pallets of a certain size.
Add to this problem one of the restrictions on imports - aluminium, for example - plus taxes and levies applied by Israel, and you begin to get a tiny picture of the difficulties of getting this economy on its feet again. He explained that although they sincerely want to start exporting, it is often prohibitively expensive and so they sell to Israel, who then ship the goods out as Israeli. They are working to correct this, he told us, so that at least Palestinian goods, such as olive oil and soap, are labeled as such.
One of their best exports, however, is stone. He was understandably proud of this, and said that it is exported to Europe. Presumably this is a product which is less problematic to transport, as it can pretty easily be cleared by 'security'. One of my main concerns, however, is that this is exactly the wrong sort of export as it is totally unsustainable - I had already noticed on my trips to Tulkarem the huge quarries, with large amounts of machinery. The surrounding area was covered in a fine white powdery dust, and the lorries were plying back and forth. The saddest sight of all, for me, was to see the Palestinians earnestly trying to improve their local economy by literally blasting and removing their only asset: the hills and the land around Nablus.
It no doubt brings in a few shekels, and no doubt there is a demand because it is reasonably priced, but once these hills are gone, what next? The West Bank is small enough already, without this geological suicide.
3.7% Pay Rise for EU staff...
For 45,000 EU staff, back-dated to 2009.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11828837
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11828837
Rachel
We watched the documentary 'Rachel' a couple of nights ago, about the young American Peace Activist who was killed in Gaza.
She volunteered to be part of a group called 'ISM': the International Solidarity Movement'. This group focuses on areas of the world where injustice is occurring and tries to stop it by using peaceful means of non-cooperation. They were present in Gaza when the wall was being constructed on the 'border' and the land on the Gazan side of the wall was being razed by two bulldozers and one tank. The activists stood in front of the homes that were being demolished, holding up banners and speaking through megaphones, asking the drivers of these vehicles to stop doing what they were doing.
At one stage the driver of one of the bulldozers opened his window, and clearly frustrated shouted "Go away, this is not your war. This is my war". Due to modern technology we now have the ability to have these sorts of exchanges on video and a lot of photographic evidence of what is happening. 100s of Gazan homes were demolished to prove the 'no man's land' between the wall and the town. The activists often stayed, slept and ate in these homes with the local people, which gave the latter a tiny sense that the world cared a little.
All to no avail, however, as the homes were crushed, along with established farmland, water tanks on rooves were systematically shot, and many died from random shootings into the houses. I think most people have heard of the outcome of this documentary: Rachel died under one of the bulldozers, as she tried to stop it. The documentary interviewed her friends, the Gazan locals and the Israeli Defence Force (IDF).
For me the most poignant moment in the film was when one of her friends, who obviously cared for Rachel, said the saddest thing was that this film had been made because an American died: it would not have been made if, and when a Palestinian died.
She volunteered to be part of a group called 'ISM': the International Solidarity Movement'. This group focuses on areas of the world where injustice is occurring and tries to stop it by using peaceful means of non-cooperation. They were present in Gaza when the wall was being constructed on the 'border' and the land on the Gazan side of the wall was being razed by two bulldozers and one tank. The activists stood in front of the homes that were being demolished, holding up banners and speaking through megaphones, asking the drivers of these vehicles to stop doing what they were doing.
At one stage the driver of one of the bulldozers opened his window, and clearly frustrated shouted "Go away, this is not your war. This is my war". Due to modern technology we now have the ability to have these sorts of exchanges on video and a lot of photographic evidence of what is happening. 100s of Gazan homes were demolished to prove the 'no man's land' between the wall and the town. The activists often stayed, slept and ate in these homes with the local people, which gave the latter a tiny sense that the world cared a little.
All to no avail, however, as the homes were crushed, along with established farmland, water tanks on rooves were systematically shot, and many died from random shootings into the houses. I think most people have heard of the outcome of this documentary: Rachel died under one of the bulldozers, as she tried to stop it. The documentary interviewed her friends, the Gazan locals and the Israeli Defence Force (IDF).
For me the most poignant moment in the film was when one of her friends, who obviously cared for Rachel, said the saddest thing was that this film had been made because an American died: it would not have been made if, and when a Palestinian died.
It's War!
There are eight women living in a flat provided by Project Hope. There is an age-range of between 20-60. There are the usual communal problems of washing-up, emptying the bins, making noises, leaving lights on, etc.
How depressing that eight grown people who are here to focus on very difficult and emotionally charged issues cannot even manage to live together for a few brief months without tensions rising and disputes.
But then again, I think this is the nub of the problem: individualism and ego versus community and sharing. Big or small, it starts in the same way, with little issues which are not nipped in the bud by rationality and maturity.
How depressing that eight grown people who are here to focus on very difficult and emotionally charged issues cannot even manage to live together for a few brief months without tensions rising and disputes.
But then again, I think this is the nub of the problem: individualism and ego versus community and sharing. Big or small, it starts in the same way, with little issues which are not nipped in the bud by rationality and maturity.
North Korea
Let's get the truth clear here: South Korea were carrying out military exercises using live arms into disputed territorial waters. The 'line' which has been drawn by South Korea is not accepted by North Korea, and South Korea were firing missiles onto this 'line' in the sea.
I think most countries would see this as provocation, and North Korea fired back, into the disputed waters. South Korea fired back into North Korean territory, i.e. land, and North Korea retaliated by firing back. The USA has now sent a warship to the area, which of course raises the political tensions even higher.
http://tv.globalresearch.ca/2010/11/south-korea-admits-firing-shells-north-korea
I think most countries would see this as provocation, and North Korea fired back, into the disputed waters. South Korea fired back into North Korean territory, i.e. land, and North Korea retaliated by firing back. The USA has now sent a warship to the area, which of course raises the political tensions even higher.
http://tv.globalresearch.ca/2010/11/south-korea-admits-firing-shells-north-korea
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Monsanto
An interesting up-date including some revealing PDF files...
http://www.grist.org/article/2009-12-15-seed-behemoth-monsanto-stumbles-into-antitrust-trouble/
http://www.grist.org/article/2009-12-15-seed-behemoth-monsanto-stumbles-into-antitrust-trouble/
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