november 12, 2011: cops, in full riot gear, closed an intersection on market street to “tackle” occupy denver. i was told by someone that they used pepper spray, pinned protestors to the ground and arrested them.
Category: politics
Guernica / Unsettled
?”…you had in the summer a very interesting and in some ways inspiring social movement for change. I know there is a lot of cynicism about this movement. But in a very short time tens of thousands of young people focused their criticism not on marginal issues, but on neoliberalism, on super-capitalism, on the privatization of the state. Matters of principle. Of course, I say that they did not develop the understanding that occupation is a huge wrong that is connected to Israel and its regime. But on the other hand, I know that Israelis profit from the occupation. So why would they see that occupation is wrong? Still, things happen in a way that surprises. That’s why I’m reluctant to predict. You cannot predict. We are seeing that some patterns of the past twenty, thirty years are being broken. Now what is our way to deepen the cracks? I always talk about the cracks. The cracks are very healthy.” (Amira Hass)
More here.
Kashmir: The Case for Freedom (Complete)
this is the discussion i was going to attend in ny. so grateful for this video. pls watch and learn about kashmir.
how effed up is this?
cartoon by michael ramirez, democrat and chronicle (the biggest selling local newspaper in rochester), november 16th. how effed up is this?
Arundhati Roy: Occupy Wall Street is “So Important Because it is in the Heart of Empire”
?”what they are doing becomes so important because it is in the heart of empire, or what used to be empire, and to criticize and to protest against the model that the rest of the world is aspiring to is a very important and a very serious business. …it makes me very, very hopeful that after a long time you’re seeing some nascent political, real political anger here. …to me, the forests of central india and the protesters in wall street are connected by a big pipeline, and i am one of those people in that pipeline.” (arundhati roy)
more here.
10 Questions for Imran Khan
something different for pakistan…
US Attorney General: Arrest CIA lawyer Stephen Preston for the murder of 16 year old Tariq Aziz!
Tariq Aziz and his 12 year old cousin Waheed Khan were killed by a hellfire missile in a drone strike less than 3 days after Tariq attended a “Waziristan Grand Jirga”, a community council, on behalf of drone strike victims in Pakistan. The final order to kill was allegedly signed by Stephen Preston, the general counsel at the CIA headquarters. What right does he have to be judge, jury and executioner? If these young boys are terrorists, let the CIA show evidence that is the case.
Pls sign petition here.
Where Should the Birds Fly?
pls support this film about the brutality of the israeli occupation and how it affects the people being occupied – half of them are under 18.
Denudation of Swat
The road Shydo plans to build despite strong local opposition will have to be constructed at the cost of more than 40,000 oak trees, which will have to be felled on the eastern hills of Bahrain, in Swat, Pakistan. This ugly denudation will add to the creeping deforestation in the area. It will also increase the number of flash floods. The road designed near the forest will give access to the timber mafia to the precious deodar trees. The diversion of the river will cause tremendous loss to tourism, agriculture, the environment and the already diminishing forests, as well as the livelihoods of the local people. More here.
US Drone Kills 16-Year-Old Pakistani Boy Days After He Attends Anti-Drone Organizing Meeting
the true nature of the war “on” terror, in black and white – a horror of imperialistic domination and operatic human cruelty.
A group of Pakistanis met in Islamabad late last month to discuss the impact of U.S. drone strikes in their communities. One of the attendees was a 16-year-old boy named Tariq Aziz, who had volunteered to learn photography to begin documenting drone strikes near his home. Within 72 hours of the meeting, Aziz was killed in a U.S. drone strike. More here.
The Imperial Messenger: Tom Friedman at Work – an Interview with Belén Fernández
can’t wait to read this book!
“…it was this imperialist hubris and unabashed Orientalism that originally motivated me to write the book, which stars Friedman as mascot for the degenerate mainstream media in the US. Friedman’s treatment of the Arab/Muslim world is the subject of the book’s second section; the first deals with his views on the need for US dominance in the world and the third deals with his special relationship with Israel.” More here.
The Phantom Menace: Fantasies, falsehoods, and fear-mongering about Iran’s nuclear program
to address collective amnesia: a 3 decades long history of continuous lies, hysteria and propaganda about iran’s nuclear bomb. — “Facts are stubborn things. And whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.” (John Adams)
more here.
amy goodman in syracuse!
november 3, 2011: just met amy goodman at syracuse university. she had been invited by the syracuse peace council as part of their 75th anniversary celebration. she talked about the importance of independent media and the power of grassroots movements – occupy wall street, the egyptian revolution, the gaza flotillas. she talked about her arrest (along with two other democracy now reporters) outside the republican national convention in 2008 and how they had just won concessions from the st paul police dept and the u.s. secret service (a rare victory). the lesson there is that when the police tell u to stop filming, that’s exactly when u turn on ur camera – it’s a constitutional right. she talked about covering troy davis’s execution and that was the only time her voice broke. very deliberately, she compared it to lynching. she explained how people involved in social change, whether they see the results in their lifetime or not, r in fact shaping the future. she mentioned frederick douglass, susan b anthony and rosa parks. she called them troublemakers and stressed the importance of not being silent.
she speaks fast and jumps from one world event to another. she is knowledgeable and witty but what i related to most was her passion. u can feel it in everything she says – in her excitement about people’s movements, in her commitment to truth and justice. it’s palpable. it’s contagious. i told her about my documentary work and about how, when i speak to students on college and university campuses, the first thing i urge them to do is to watch democracy now. she was v pleased and introduced me to her producers who r also pakistani-american. on the way out i met dear, like-minded friends and got to catch up with them. the air was brisk but not too chilly and the city of syracuse lit up the view from the campus. a lovely evening…
imran’s political rally in lahore
imran khan’s historic address to the nation in which he talks about breaking the two-party system in pakistan. time for a change.
S. Brian Willson is coming to Rochester!
S. Brian Willson will speak at 7 pm on Tuesday, November 8, 2011 at Spiritus Christi Church, 121 North Fitzhugh Street, Rochester, NY. Brian Wilson is a Vietnam veteran whose wartime experience transformed him into a pacifist. Since the 1980s he’s been educating the public about the effects of US imperialism. In 1987, Brian lost both legs while attempting to stop a train carrying munitions destined for Central America. Striving to “walk his talk” (on prosthetic legs and a three-wheeled hand-cycle), Brian created a model of right livelihood founded on a simpler lifestyle. Here is his website. His new book is entitled “Blood on the Tracks”.
