Category: politics

Tunisia’s transitional cabinet has decided to recognise all banned political parties and agreed on a general amnesty for all political prisoners. The interim government, appointed earlier this week, held its first session on Thursday. Full article.

a surprisingly good report on palestinian land confiscation by NPR’s lourdes garcia navarro. hope to see more. full NPR report here.

“There is nothing wrong with power if power is used correctly. And one of the great problems of history is that the concepts of love and power have usually been contrasted as opposites – polar opposites – so that love is identified with a resignation of power, and power with a denial of love.

Now power properly understood is nothing but the ability to achieve purpose. It is the strength required to bring about social, political, and economic change.”

A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death. (Martin Luther King Jr)

Two South African groups have launched a move to get an arrest warrant issued against Tzipi Livni, the chairperson of Israel’s Kadima party, during a visit to the country next week. Full article.

The downfall of Tunisia’s President Ben Ali and his flight from the wrath of the street, may signal the opening act of an awakening of the poor and oppressed of North African and the Arab world. The rulers of these police states are traditionally propped up by the finance and support of either the United States or European allies. Full article.

For years, Koch, King and others who share their anti-Muslim views hid behind that word: “radical”. They said that they have no problem with Muslims as people or Islam as a religion. It is only “radical Islam” or “Islamists” that they can’t abide. Lately that caveat has been thrown to the winds. To Islamophobes (actually Islamohaters) “radical” Islam is just Islam. And “radical” Muslims are just Muslims. Full article.

There is no military solution in Afghanistan, so the supreme irony is that in siding with the Americans all we have done is send the levels of violence up in Pakistan. The “war on terror” has weakened the state and then, thanks to the George Bush-sponsored National Reconciliation Ordinance in 2007, which allowed an amnesty for all the biggest political crooks, we now have the most corrupt government in our history. Full article.

most interesting doc, shot and directed by an israeli. entire film can be watched on youtube. this is the first of 10 parts. inside look at abe foxman/the ADL and also a school trip to poland where israeli school children (more than 30,000 per yr) r indoctrinated in bizarre ways. check it out.

there r several diff versions of the film on youtube. in one of them someone added text on top of the footage. another one has french subtitles. might have to look around to find the best version or watch instantly on netflix.

Political prisoners? Surely, that can’t be right, can it? Surely, it’s only dictatorships in far-flung corners of the world who hold political prisoners, and not the United States of America? Full article.

unrest in tunisia and algeria due to the inequitable distribution of wealth, massive corruption, and bad governance in general – the price nations have to pay for “stability.” watch al jazeera report here.

From Cindy Sheehan: I just got a card from Lynne Steward today from her prison in Texas (google her). She told me her treatment greatly improved after she received so many letters and cards her first week there. Please write her, she is such a brave and outstanding human being. She’s also in very good spirits.

Address here:

Lynne Stewart
REG No 53504-054
Federal Medical Center
PO BOX 27137
Ft Worth, Tx 76127

Palestinians in Gaza are depicted either as violent terrorists or as helpless victims. The Awajah family challenges both portrayals. Through one family’s story, the larger tragedy of Gaza is exposed, and the courage and resilience of its people shines through.

One Family in Gaza from Jen Marlowe on Vimeo.

The following is a message from Jen Marlowe:

DVDs are available on a sliding scale from $10-$50.

$10: discounted price for an individual DVD (for those who need a discount)
$15: regular price for an individual DVD
$30: discounted price for an institutional/educational DVD (for those who need a discount)
$50 regular price for an institutional/educational DVD (or for a public screening)

Proceeds from DVD sales will go to the Awajah family in Gaza.

To purchase a DVD, please send a check made out to “donkeysaddle projects” and include a note letting me know how many DVDs you are requesting and whether they are individual DVDs or institutional DVDs and where to send them.

Please send the check to:
Jen Marlowe
926 N. 72nd Street
Seattle, WA 98103

AND PLEASE EMAIL ME AT donkeysaddle@gmail.com TO LET ME KNOW THAT THE CHECK WAS SENT, HOW MANY DVDS YOU ORDERED AND AT WHAT PRICE!

I will be hopefully seeing the Awajah family in person next week and will deliver whatever proceeds I know about to them at that point, even if I have not yet physically received the checks.

If you need to use a credit card, let me know and I can direct you to the fiscal sponsor of “donkeysaddle projects” for you to make a donation for that amount. But, as the fiscal sponsor takes 6% for their own overhead, it would be helpful if you could include that much extra to your purchase.

I am traveling out of the country until the beginning of February. I plan to fill all DVD orders upon my return to the US. If you need your DVD beforehand, please let me know via email and I can make arrangements to get you a DVD more quickly, though it will not have the official packaging yet.

If you are able to forward the link to the video in the meantime, via email, facebook, twitter, etc. that would be very helpful–I am hoping for as many people as possible to see the film over the next several days.

Link to One Family in Gaza

Thank you again for being a part of making sure that the Awajah family’s story is told.

In solidarity,
Jen Marlowe
www.donkeysaddle.org
donkeysaddle@gmail.com

at least now we know: the problem with pakistan is anti-americanism. if only pakistanis everywhere (including us american anti-war activists) could embrace america and its “modern” values everything would be hunky dory. — two words: client state.

full article.