Chomsky: Democracy is not a damocracy.

Rethink Afghanistan

Den meget interessante nye dokumentarfilm om krigen i Afghanistan, Rethink Afghanistan, baserer sig på en række forstyrrende footage, som enten for lov at tale deres eget klare sprog eller komplimenteres af kommentarer fra ledende eksperter som tilsammen udgør dokumentaristen Robert Greenwald's stærke argumentationen for, hvorfor Afghanistan-krigen, som et led i Krigen Mod Terror, savner al form for legitimitet og økonomisk ræson. Nedenstående er et 13 minutter langt klip fra filmen. Resten af filmen kan man også se på youtube.



KOMMENTAR.

DemocracyNow Interview med instruktøren Robert Greenwald.

En lille reminder

Interview med Goldstone

Goldstone-rapporten konkluderede for nylig at Israels angreb på Gaza implicerede krigsforbrydelser. Følgende er et citat fra et interview med Goldstone af to amerikanske rabbinere.

But in any event, even though Israel might have been entitled to use force, the real point of the report was that it was disproportionate force. Look at the thousands of homes destroyed, the factories, the agricultural land, this is almost impossible to justify militarily.

BW: Also in your view, in the view of your report, it was deliberate?

RG: I don't think there is any dispute about it. The Israeli army has very sophisticated weaponry, and I don't think they make many mistakes as to what they target.

BW: But I think that is the one piece where your critics are very upset about the report: the whole question of intention. And they do deny that there is intention, they claim that the civilians died accidentally

RG: I think we are talking at two different levels. When it comes to the destruction of infrastructure, they haven't really responded at all to that, and that was part of what the report addressed. None of the Israeli responses have even said a word about the property destruction, the bulldozing of agricultural fields, the bombing of water wells, the bombing of sewage works that caused a huge spill over a huge area. There has been no attempt to justify that. When it comes to the actual killing of civilians in urban areas, that is where the big dispute comes in. I think all I can do is refer to the 36 incidents that we report on. And with almost all of them, we found the Israeli response to be disproportionate.

KILDE.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali og virkeligheden.

Kæden falder her helt af for Ayaan Hirsi Ali.

Selvfølgelig har hun ret i at alle islamiske styreformer på jorden idag er despotiske. Hun har selvfølgelig også ret i, at det er langt at foretrække at leve under en forfatning der er funderet på oplysningstidens frihedstradition. Men…

Ayaan Hirsi Ali glemmer i hendes nærmest apologetiske næsegruse beundring for USA, at det altså er USAs og Storbrittaniens skyld at Iran idag er et islamisk diktatur, og subsidiært (indrømmet spekulativt) at den islamiske verden ikke i højere grad har set en demokratiseringsproces a la den der skete i Europa før og efter anden verdenskrig. Dette fordi man valgte at detronisere den demokratisk valgte Mossadeqh i 1953, da man fra briterne og amerikanernes side så sig truede på forsyningssikkerheden, idet Mossadeqh ønskede at nationalisere olien. Han blev så¨udskiftet med Shahen og dennes rædselsregime som ledtes indtil revolutionen i 1979.

Hun glemmer også lige, eller har en meget bevidst selektiv hukommelse, at USA og Vesten er hovedårsagen til at Saudi-Arabien idag er et diktatur styret af nogle af verdens rigeste mennesker. Vi er i høj grad meddelagtige i den nærmest ufattelige repression som dette styre udøver på deres egen befolkning, i og med at vi finansierer dette rædselsregime. Allerede præsident Carter foreslog, at man skulle omstille en stor del af den amerikanske energiproduktion til vedvarende energi for snart tredive år siden.

Dernæst kan vi med god ro fremhæve, at også Taleban og Al Qaidas opståen kan ledes tilbage til vestlig udenrigspolitik, ligesom vi også med god ro kan nævne, at staten Israel fortsat støttes diplomatisk, militært og økonomisk af det USA som Ayaan Hirsi Ali mener er så smukt et demokrati, på trods af de fakta at Israel udøver tortur, har udviklet masseødelæggelsesvåben, ingen respekt har for international lov, opretholder verdens største fængsel (Gaza) selvom størstedelen af de “indsatte” er uskyldige, og selvom man ikke giver palæstinenserne som bliver stillet for en dommer ved militærdomstolene nogen retssikkerhed.

Vi kan også her fremhæve, at mens Iran's præstestyre velsagtens kan beskrive som et helvede på jord for mange iranerne, så er det langt fra at være lige så slemt som i nabolaget, hvor det benevolente Vesten har jaget millioner på flugt, dræbt hundredetusinder samt ødelagt infrastruktur for milliarder.

Hendes nye arbejdsgiver American Enterprise Institute er en ærkekonservativ tænketank, men det er åbenbart gået henover hovedet på Hirsi Ali, at hvis der er nogen i Vesten der argumenterer mod homoseksualitet og aborter med argumenter hentet i deres tro, så er det den amerikanske konservative højrefløj, som hendes nye arbejdsgiver altså repræsenterer.

Det er nu ikke noget som godt gammeldags hykleri.

US NOW

With contributions from Clay Shirky, Alan Cox, Paul Miller, Don Tapscott and many others, Us Now explores the ways in which new technologies and a closely related culture of collaboration present radical new models of social organization.

The principles of trust, transparency, self-selection and open participation are coming closer and closer to the mainstream of our social and political lives. Us Now describes this transition, telling the stories of the online networks whose radical self-organizing structures may change the fabric of government forever.

The film is streaming online for free and the filmmakers intend to license all of the footage with a Creative Commons license.

Us Now from Banyak Films on Vimeo.

Post-Election Iranian demonstrations. [Frequently updated]

IMPORTANT NOTICE: THE MOST RECENT NEWS/COMMENTARY/ANALYSIS ARE POSTED IN THE TOP!!!!

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Reuters: Iran's Revolutionary Guards threaten crackdown.


Youtube's New Citizen Tube Channel with footage from Iran.

Telegraph: Tehran Protest Diary: An angry muslim mother reports from inside Iran


Tehran Bureau: Iran Update.

Professor of Middle Eastern History, Juan Cole's blogpiece from today.

مکان: خیابان کارگر، تقاطع خسروی و شهید صالحی، ساعت 7:20 مورخه 20 ژوئن، سی خرداد، Basij shots to death a young woman in Tehran's Saturday June 20th protests

At 19:05 June 20th
Place: Karekar Ave., at the corner crossing Khosravi St. and Salehi st.

A young woman who was standing aside with her father watching the protests was shot by a basij member hiding on the rooftop of a civilian house. He had clear shot at the girl and could not miss her. However, he aimed straight her heart. I am a doctor, so I rushed to try to save her. But the impact of the gunshot was so fierce that the bullet had blasted inside the victim's chest, and she died in less than 2 minutes.
The protests were going on about 1 kilometers away in the main street and some of the protesting crowd were running from tear gass used among them, towards Salehi St.
The film is shot by my friend who was standing beside me.
Please let the world know.

Tehran Bureau: Iran Makes History Again.

REUTERS: EU leaders step up Iran election criticism.

BBC NEWS: Khamenei Speech - Iran Reaction.

REUTERS: Highlights from Iran leader Khamenei's address to nation.

Professor of Middle Eastern history, Juan Cole, has an extensive piece on his blog on the most recent developments in Iran.

Teheran Bureau: Iran Updates.

SPREAD THIS!!!!!

"What I have witnessed." A powerful note from a female medical student in Iran, translated from Farsi by a trusty reader.

Hello,

It's painful to watch what's happening.

I don't want anything to do with what has been said this far, as I neither have the strength nor the resilience to face all these unfathomable events.

I only want to speak about what I have witnessed. I am a medical student. There was chaos last night at the trauma section in one of our main hospitals. Although by decree, all riot-related injuries were supposed to be sent to military hospitals, all other hospitals were filled to the rim. Last night, nine people died at our hospital and another 28 had gunshot wounds. All hospital employees were crying till dawn. They (government) removed the dead bodies on back of trucks, before we were even able to get their names or other information. What can you even say to the people who don't even respect the dead. No one was allowed to speak to the wounded or get any information from them. This morning the faculty and the students protested by gathering at the lobby of the hospital where they were confronted by plain cloths anti-riot militia, who in turn closed off the hospital and imprisoned the staff. The extent of injuries are so grave, that despite being one of the most staffed emergency rooms, they've asked everyone to stay and help--I'm sure it will even be worst tonight.

What can anyone say in face of all these atrocities? What can you say to the family of the 13 year old boy who died from gunshots and whose dead body then disappeared?

This issue is not about cheating(election) anymore. This is not about stealing votes anymore. The issue is about a vast injustice inflected on the people. They've put a baton in the hand of every 13-14 year old to smash the faces of "the bunches who are less than dirt" (government is calling the people who are uprising dried-up torn and weeds)

This is what sickens me from dealing with these issues. And from those who shut their eyes and close their ears and claim the riots are in opposition of the government and presidency!! No! The people's complaint is against the egregious injustices committed against the people.

International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran: Mass Arrests and Detentions Signal Increasing Repression.

TEHERAN BUREAU: Why Ahmadinejad Did not Win.

Important news from Iranian human rights activists: 32 deaths confirmed
Dead

17th of June 2009

Source: Majmu‘e-ye fa‘âlân-e hoquq-e bashar dar irân, Human Rights Activists in Iran
http://hra-iran.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1276:464&catid=103:107&Itemid=261

Numbers of dead in recent violence in Iran reach 32

Wednesday, June 17, 2009, 11:29.

The Association of Human Rights Activists in Iran can confirm the deaths of 32 Iranian citizens connected to the events of June 14 and June 15, based on its own fieldwork and despite numerous other reports.

Most of these citizens lost their lives in the attack on Tehran University dormitories on June 14 and the opening of fire by the paramilitary Basij forces on June 15. The violence started after Iranian citizens protested against the results of the tenth presidential elections, and the interference of security and paramilitary forces connected to the government.

In a statement, the public relations office of The Office to Consolidate Unity [Iran’s biggest student organization] yesterday reported the killing of at least seven students during the attack on dormitories of Tehran University and other universities around the country (Amnesty International said on June 15 there had been five deaths).

According to numerous and confirmed reports, the morgue at the Rasul Akram Hospital in Tehran has also stored eight people, who lost their lives during the shooting at defenseless people on Monday June 15.

In addition, Azerbaijani human rights activists have reported the killing of two citizens of Orumiyeh during fights in that city on June 15.

Finally, sources among the doctors at Erfan Hospital (which contains ICU, CCU, NICU and 14 emergency operation rooms) in Western Tehran reported that 15 people were dead in the hospital, all connected to the shooting on June 15.

Reports of civilian deaths across the country received by the Association are very high. However, it is impossible to confirm these because of the highly militarized atmosphere and widespread arrests, so the Association can only vouch for the deaths detailed above but will continue the process of documentation and reporting.

PICTURES FROM THE UPRISING.

Wikipedia article on the election protests.

Analysis by Iran-expert Rasmus Elling of Carsten Niebuhr Institute, Copenhagen University.

Q&A with NYU Prof. Clay Shirky on Twitter and Iran

TEHERAN BUREAU: Iran’s Rural Vote and Election Fraud




June 16th.





Esfahan. 16th June 2009.



Support Demonstration in NY.





Where's My Vote?

Location: Toronto, Canada

This is my way of showing support for the millions of courageous people in Iran who are protesting the results of the Iranian Presidential Elections that took place on June 12, 2009. We must work together to give Iranians a voice outside of Iran.

Thomas Paine & the Promise of America