No More Crusades

'Slavery by Another Name' Official Selection of 2012 Sundance Film Festival

2012-02-14T08:46:00.006-08:00

This program premiere(d) Monday night but there is also another viewing
Wednesday at 7 and 10 AM (SEE KQED WORLD Channel 9 -- Quite early but it's California time usa & may be seen by internet?)

‘Slavery by Another Name’ An official selection of the 2012 Sundance Film Festival This would be a superb film to order when available later or to tape from the show
for your class or group discussion.

There's also an interview with Blackmon by Bill Moyers (which took place when the book came out in 2008) Find interview transcribed at “‘Slavery by Another Name’: the re-enslavement of Blacks from the Civil War to World War II.”

SLAVERY BY ANOTHER NAME is a 90-minute documentary that challenges the belief that slavery ended with the Civil War. Go here The Book "Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black People in America from the Civil War to World War II"
Author: Douglas A. Blackmon Publisher: Doubleday here Also look for the Online Film Guide | Sundance Institute

Sam Pollard performs a remarkable act of historical reclamation in this documentary, recounting the many ways in which American slavery persisted -- See Film guide:
here

A Long Way to Go... from poem by Tomas Transtromer

2012-02-13T15:12:00.016-08:00

This poet as most readers here may know was just last year given the international laurel wreath for poetry.

I am fascinated by the images and density of the words and find them so appropos...

"He who has gone furthest has a long way to go."

"The Europeans mostly stay clustered by the car as if it were Mama."

"The crickets are as strong as electric razors."

Tomas Transtromer's "From an African Diary"/thanks to Hal Johnson
(1963)

On the Congolese marketplace pictures
shapes move thin as insects, deprived of their human power.
It's a hard passage between two ways of life.
He who has arrived has a long way to go.

A young man found a foreigner lost among the huts.
Didn't know whether to take him for a friend or a subject for extortion.
His doubt disturbed him. They parted in confusion.

The Europeans mostly stay clustered by the car as if it were Mama.
The crickets are as strong as electric razors. The car drives home.
Soon the beautiful darkness comes, taking charge of the dirty clothes.
Sleep.
He who has arrived has a long way to go.

It helps perhaps with handshakes like a flight of migratory birds.
It helps perhaps to let truth out of the books.
It is necessary to go further.

The student reads in the night, reads and reads to be free
and having passed his exam he becomes a step for the next man.
A hard passage.
He who has gone furthest has a long way to go.

--Tomas Tranströmer
tr. Robin Fulton

fr. Bells and Tracks (1966)
and in The Great Enigma: New Collected Poems
[New York: New Directions, 2006]

==========
I found the above here

See this Tomas Stranstromer Interview here

More Stranstromer poems - short Bio here

I feel a resonance with this newly-discovered poet because of the poetry and also because I am one-half swedish.

The photos above found as follows:

The Orient-Express train here

The Congo River (with village in background) 1889. Photo from Vingt années de vie africaine: 1874-1893, by Alexandre Delcommune, 1922. Public domain.

Healing Hearts on Valentine's Day

2012-02-13T15:12:00.003-08:00

"Love is just a matter of practice."

Annie Renaud had a very important question for Rais Bhuiyan during a fourth-period class Friday at Glastonbury High School."Do you think there is any crime that is unforgivable?" Annie, a freshman, asked.

"Well —" Bhuiyan responded, pausing. "On a regular basis, we ask God, 'Please forgive me.' Why you cannot pass it to others? …There is nothing you can't forgive, if I can forgive my attacker who tried to end my life. It's just a matter of practice." See the full story below*** on World Without Hate.

Here's the latest By Rais Bhuiyan:

Can we make Valentine’s day a LOVE day for all? February 14th is Valentine’s Day - a day to celebrate the heart and love.

Some of us will give cards, flowers, chocolates, hugs and kisses (maybe virtual ones!) to our loved ones to show we care.

While we are opening our hearts, let us open that same heart to those who hurt us.
We can forgive them and reach out by email, text message, or phone call to tell them they are forgiven. And, we can ask them to forgive us. It will heal our hearts.

Can we make this LOVE DAY one of compassion and forgiveness, a love day for all?...

See more at World Without Hate here and here

*** See the full post about Rais speaking with High School Students here

From Rumi: Mature yourself and be secure from a change for the worse. Become the light. Only from the HEART Can you touch the sky.

From a Prayer by Allama Iqbal

2012-02-13T14:56:00.002-08:00

These lines are from "The Secrets of the Self" XVIII An invocation.

O THOU that art as the soul in the body of the universe,
Thou art our soul and thou are ever fleeing from us.
Thou breathest music into Life's lute...
Once more let us hear thy call to honour,
Strengthen our weak love...

Give us the sleepless eye
and the passionate heart,
Give us again the nature of quicksilver...

Burn with our fire all that is not God!

When the people let the clue of Unity go from their hands,
They fell into a hundred mazes.

We are dispersed like stars in the world;
Though of the same family, we are strange to one another...

========

"I stand under the starry sky and feel the world creeping in and out of my coat as in an ant-hill". from Swedish Poet Tomas Stranstromer (see more of his work under post for February 14 above on this site)

* Star Painting by Laura Rispoli fineartamerica.com

Brief Comments Re: Dr. Aafia Siddiqui Appeal

2012-02-10T16:35:00.000-08:00

Further Update Saturday 2:01 PM ET 2012

Plz send post cards to Dr. Aafia Siddiqui...GO to:

One Heart For Peace or here

Be sure to watch the official family (of Dr. Aafia siddiqui) website at Free Aafia dot org

Some brief media is coming in late Friday night to early Saturday am ET 2:09 a:

The Nation Pk here and International Justice Network here

World GO to http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/world/ci_19936955
to see this excerpt in context:

"...Back in Pakistan, people are perturbed by her plight and have been protesting on the streets urging the government to secure her release. Her capture and subsequent trial is rightly seen as a classic example of ‘extraordinary rendition’- a tool with which the US has been secretly picking up alleged terror suspects. Even forensic investigations have revealed that the gun she is accused of handling, did not have her fingerprints. The charge that she was an Al-Qaeda sympathiser does not hold water. The case was attached undue hype by the US government demonising a convenient capture and tapping into fears of the American public concerning terrorist activities. The subsequent sentence of 86 years has made a travesty of the American judicial system..."
-----
Note mid-Friday:

There is the same pattern going on as in Dr. Aafia's trial among journalists/headlines...the superficial habit of merely copying much of the last persons work or using the various "wires" for a model-- whether by using the same article, the same title and/or the same terminology.

In the case today, the same misleading description of Aafia is being circulated with a very similar title...like it's been somehow arranged ahead...Hmmn...the reader surely must ask...what' going on? Are the journalists merely robots?

There is no information available yet which can prove that Aafia actually shot the US Soldiers...yet the implication is here that she was the instigator -- look into the facts to find the opposite...

Here is an example of the only mainstream headlines -- news available on the mainstream at the moment:

Court Hears Appeal For Pakistani Scientist Who Shot At U.S. Soldiers CBS New York - 2 hours ago

Court hears appeal for woman who shot at US troops Associated... - 5 hours ago

NY court hears appeal for Pakistani scientist who shot at US troops in Afghanistan Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune - 6 hours ago

Universal Prayer for the Social Order

2012-02-09T07:18:00.000-08:00

Grant, O God, that your holy and life-giving Spirit may so move every human heart...

that barriers which divide us may crumble, suspicions disappear, and hatreds cease;

that our divisions being healed, we may live in justice and peace...

Let it be so...

(from the Book of Common Prayer)

Hebe Kohlbrugge Interview with Tips for Today

2012-02-09T07:17:00.001-08:00

“You Do Not Have to Answer All the Questions”
an interview with a member of the Dutch Resistance of World War II

by Jim Forest

Hebe Kohlbrugge was one of the few Dutch people who had a clear idea of the nature of Nazism before the invasion of Holland in 1940. Working in Germany at the time of Hitler’s rise to power, she was arrested for her opposition to Nazism, imprisoned, and eventually deported to her native country, the Netherlands. There, following the Occupation, she became one of the organizers of the resistance, especially to Nazi anti-Jewish policies. Caught in 1944, she was sent first to a Dutch prison camp and later to Ravensbrück, Germany. There she developed friendships with Eastern European prisoners which, in the post-war years, drew her to work with human rights activists in the Warsaw Pact countries. She also plunged into material and spiritual aid for Germany on behalf of the Netherlands Reformed Church. Later, on the staff of the Department for Interchurch Aid with her work expanded to many other countries, including Vietnam, she was one of the first church leaders to offer support to the social service programs of Vietnam’s Unified Buddhist Church.

For her work on behalf of victims of war and racism, Hebe Kohlbrugge has received various awards. There is, however, no evidence of the awards in her home or on her person. She draws attention to them only when to do so might further her efforts for those persons in trouble today. Once, during the Vietnam War, while trying to arrange a meeting between a Vietnamese Buddhist representative and a Minister of the Dutch Cabinet, an assistant assured her the Minister was too busy. Hebe put on the desk the Bronze Lion Award she had received from the Dutch government for courage and gallantry in the resistance. The meeting with the Minister followed immediately.

Jim Forest: What were you doing when the war began? What drew you ln the direction of resistance?

Hebe Kohlbrugge: I was 25. I had been working in the “Bekennende Kirche” — the anti-Nazi Confessing Church — in Germany, and I had seen what was going on. I worked there until l was imprisoned in Berlin in 1939. Thanks to the Dutch ambassador, I was released. I was ordered out of Germany “für Ewig” — for eternity — and I came home. So in 1939 when the war started, I knew what was going to happen. I didn’t have to have it explained to me who Hitler was. I had seen him, and I had made up my mind when I went to the Confessing Church.

What was it that brought you to the Confessing Church in Germany to begin with?

I had originally gone to Berlin to study. I was very interested in what was going on politically. In Berlin I happened to live in the parish of Martin Niemöller, so I saw and heard Hitler, and Niemöller as well. Arriving in Berlin as someone very interested in what was going on — not at all against Hitler, just interested — I discovered from Niemöller and from what l saw myself that Hitler was quite the wrong man. So I decided that I had to take the side of Niemöller. When I finished my course, I wrote my parents, “I want to help where help is needed.” And they wrote, “Okay.” So I went and helped until I was thrown out.

Did you have any sense at all of what was coming for the Jews?

I was in Germany on Kristallnacht in 1938… Of course, in the Confessing Church we often talked of “the great sin of anti-Semitism.” I can remember Bonhöffer coming and talking about such things as: What does it mean to help Jews? It couldn’t be spoken of so openly, but it was talked about.

One of the reasons I was put into prison in 1939 was that I had told the groups of children I worked within the church that Jews were nice people. Of course, the kids had told their parents, and some of the parents were Nazis. “How do you know?” they would ask. “Well, Hebe said . . .”

What other reasons did they give for imprisoning you?

Not saying “Heil Hitler,” but saying “Good morning!” Ringing the bells for Niemöller together with the children.

Why the bells?

When Niemöller was imprisoned, all the churches of the Confessing Church began ringing the bells at six o’clock to think of Niemöller and pray for him. It was for Niemöller at first, but later for all the others in prison. I went with all the kids to the bell tower of our church and said, “Now you ring, and now I ring, and now you ring.” I wanted them, by doing it themselves, to understand what we were doing. We wanted to remind people that it was time to pray. And the kids loved it. Kids love ringing church bells. Of course they went home and said, “We did this for Niemöller.” So, it was Niemöller, it was the Jews, and it was “Guten Tag,” instead of “Heil Hitler.”

Tell me more about the Confessing Church.

As always in church life, what a church did depended a great deal on the individual pastor, the church members, and so on. But if I were to generalize, I would say there were regular meetings — sometimes a whole Saturday or Sunday, sometimes several evenings over a few weeks. There were many gatherings, many chances for people to get to know each other and become each other’s friends. Church life was far more intensive than I had ever known it at home.

In the Confessing Church, all questions of interest were taken seriously. Things like this are normal now, but at that time it was all new. What happened with the church offerings gives one illustration of how it was. All of a sudden the state began to confiscate them. So it became a question for us: What shall we do with our offerings? I had never before thought about that! This was new. Finally it was agreed the offering should be taken and put on the altar. The SS didn’t dare take it from the altar. They were afraid. Then the next day the pastor took the offering and put it where it had to go.

But before this decision was reached, there was much discussion. One pastor came saying, “I don’t want to be a member of the Confessing Church any longer, because I don’t think it is worthwhile to fight with the state over some money.” He brought biblical texts showing money is not so important in the church. It was a big question: “Have we to fight for money in the church?” In the end we saw that we were not to fight for our own money, but that we had to fight for the money people gave us, to use it in the right way — and that the state must not be allowed to steal it. Therefore we had to hide it from the stealer.

We talked about everything concerning life, including church and politics. This was a very new thing to think about. Far more openness came. In the Confessing Church for the first time it became clear that Reformed and Lutheran had to take Holy Communion together. This was new.

All these conversations seemed to be frightfully important. And they were.

In 1939 you were sent out of Germany. What next?

First, in April, I went to Basel and studied with Karl Barth — but only one semester, because then the war came. I was home on holiday in September 1939 when the war started and then I couldn’t go back. I had to earn some money, and the Council of Churches in Amsterdam hired me as secretary. It was a half-time job for very little money, but it was enough. Eight months later, in May 1940, the German army invaded Holland

Did you anticipate the invasion?

No. No one did.

What happened then?

I talked with friends about what we could do. I couldn’t say, “We must do this.” But to very good friends, I said, “We must do something. We can’t wait. What can we do?” These friends decided to come together as a group and talk things over. That was in July 1940. Such a meeting was still possible then — very openly writing letters: “Will you come to a conference?” So we came together, a group of 35 people, and talked over what we might possibly do. Practically nothing was agreed upon immediately. But all of those who came together could be relied upon later on.

What was the first action you took part in?

In October 1940 the Germans asked all those who were in official jobs to put down if they were Jews or not. Just a question: “Are you a Jew, or not?”

In our group of 35 there had earlier been discussions of secretly publishing samizdat papers and pamphlets. Now one person from the group came to me and said, “We have talked about samizdat publishing, and now we have to do it.” I agreed. So we wrote the first pamphlet. Together with my sister — we lived together at the time — we decided 30,000 copies would be the right number. We found a little printer and in a very short time he had printed them.

What was the first pamphlet called?

Bijna te laat — “It’s nearly too late.” Our group of 35 was able to distribute them all over Holland.

What was its main point?

The main statement was: You are not allowed to answer nasty questions. Remember, we lived in a time when people were polite to one another. If you asked me, “Are you a Jew?” I answered, “No, I’m not,” or “Yes, I am.” So one of the main issues was that if a non-trustworthy person asks you a question like that; you answer: “That has nothing to do with you.”

That was new. Even today some people wonder about this sentence. When I received the Münster Prize, I had in my speech the sentence: “You do not have to answer all the questions.” The speech was sent to several friends in Rumania, and five different friends in Rumania wrote that this was the most important sentence. This was new to them, still.

Isn’t this still an issue for people everywhere? To dare to be silent before certain questions, certain orders?

And to say quite clearly, “This I will not answer. This is not your business.” You not only kept your mouth shut if they asked you with whom you worked. That was clear; you could not betray people. But even a Dutchman who resisted the Nazis said to me about the pamphlet: “You can’t send this! If someone asks you a question, you have to answer. Otherwise you are wrong, because then you are nasty.” He said you must answer; I said you can’t. He said, “No, if something happens to the Jews, then we will do something.” But then it was too late. And so it happened. “Nearly too late” became too late.

What effect did the first publication have?

It’s hard to say. This was not the very first action, though it was the first large one. I know the Nazis were furious that they couldn’t find where it came from and who had run the whole thing. We had done a thing that was rather clever at that time — we took the available lists of names from all the schools, and the addresses were done in many different handwritings and on many typewriters.

Then we posted the envelopes on the same night, between six and eight, from all the various places. So they tried to find out: “Does it come from Utrecht?” “No, it comes from Groningen.” “No, it comes from Zeeland.” “Oh no, it’s coming from Alkmaar! ”

Were you personally suspected by the Nazis at first?

No, not at all.

You continued with your job at the Council of Churches?

Yes. That was lovely. I had the whole church to hide my things — the Nieuwe Kerk, the biggest church in Amsterdam. No one could find anything. There was just myself there, and the custodian — and he didn’t know what I was doing.

What did you do after the first booklet?

We continued publishing. We had a series of subjects we had decided on.

How quickly did the German removal of Jews begin?

Almost immediately. In October they asked the question, and then the arrests began. They didn’t take them all together. If they had, they would have had a big fight in Holland. They took them one by one.

How did you feel when you first heard a Jew had been taken away?

To answer that, I have to remind you that we knew nothing about Auschwitz then. What we knew was that children were being taken, women were being taken, and whole families. We were afraid for their lives. Jews were taken to Westerbork in Holland, which was not nice but it was heaven compared to the death camps. We knew transports were taken from there to Germany — we did not know where. We did not know about gas.

What did your group do at that point?

The only thing we could do — we began to hide the Jews.

How?

It was all very easy — and very difficult! You started with your parents, and after your parents you went to uncles and nieces and friends of parents and friends of nieces — and friends and friends of friends. We didn’t make big organizations. We went from one to the other. We just followed our own track.

How did Jews find you?

It happened. Holland is a small country. It happened like it happens today. A call comes: “Can you help . . . ?” As soon as you started, the connections were made.

Have you any idea how many, ultimately, were sheltered in this way? In the thousands?

Yes. But many were found halfway down — in hiding, like Anne Frank’s family. And there were others hiding who couldn’t stand it any longer and went out into the street.

Were there times when the Nazis were close to breaking your ring?

Very often. Practically all of my friends were shot.

How many were shot?

I never counted.

Many?

Yes. Some had a trial, some were just shot.

It was just a matter of fortune that you weren’t shot?

Some groups, of course, had a spy in them, and then the whole group was taken. Our group never had a spy. Some groups had the bad luck that one was taken and tortured so badly that he gave all the names. But we decided that, if one was taken, we would all leave our addresses, immediately.

We wouldn’t come back until we had a message from the person, or we heard what had happened. This arrangement was also a help for those who were arrested. If you finally gave in, you knew no one would be in danger — they would have left.

Did the Gestapo ever come for you?

Yes. In February 1942, the Gestapo found me at my office in the Nieuwe Kerk. I had with me a package of samizdat papers. Normally I never had anything with me, but I wanted to give these papers half an hour later to a boy who was to deliver them somewhere.

I walked into my office, and there sat three gentlemen from the Gestapo. I thought of my bag, and I thought, “This is the end.” They said, “We want to look through your office!” I said, “My office is upstairs.” This wasn’t true. At the time I was working downstairs because the upstairs was so cold. “Then we’ll go upstairs,” they said. “Take everything with you. Bring your bag.” (I had tried to leave it behind.) To go upstairs we had to climb an old spiral staircase. They wanted me to go first, but I said, “No, if you are gentlemen, you go first.” And they did! They wanted to be gentlemen. So on the way upstairs, while walking as loudly as I could, I threw the package of papers downstairs — hoping it wouldn’t bump too hard. It was the only chance I had. When we got upstairs, they said, “Open your bag.” Well, I opened it — and there was nothing but a dirty handkerchief!

Then they looked through my “office” — and there was nothing there, of course. When we came back downstairs, I dreaded that the package would still be where it fell, but the wife of the custodian had been so kind as to remove it. So the Gestapo found nothing at the church. But they insisted on going to the room where I lived. I said, “I must first call my boss, because he is due any moment and I can’t just go away like this.” They agreed, but of course they listened. I called my boss and said, “I am here with the German police. They want to go with me to my house, so I’m sorry, if you come I will not be in.” “Okay,” he said, and he immediately rang the house where I was staying to warn them I was coming with the police, and they were able to take certain things out of the house.

I was staying with a pastor and his wife. They had no children, and they were willing to take in young people who didn’t earn much money. Another girl and myself were staying there. I knew the other girl did nothing illegal — so I took the Gestapo into her room and said, “This is my room! ”

They searched her room up and down. The only thing they found was a picture of the Queen [who was with the government-in-exile in London]. They were furious, but that was not a thing for which they could take me to prison. They searched for three hours and finally left. The girl was furious with me! Ridiculous girl . . . She was angry because they made such a mess.

Then I knew it was dangerous for me and that it was now better for me to hide. I went to another address.

And there were no more encounters with the Gestapo?

After I had left, I remembered that I had left something at the house which I needed very badly. So I thought, “Well, it’s Friday evening — I will go and get it.” I went to the house, got to my former room, and at that moment the Gestapo arrived at the house and rang. I thought, “There they are! “You just feel it, you know?

I went out of the room up to the attic. It was the only thing I could do. I heard the very nice pastor’s wife say, “Yes, she must be in the house, because her bicycle is here.” She had the idea, like most people at that time, that no matter what, you had to be honest. They went up to my room. It was clean and in order. Then they began a search. For five hours they searched that house, and they didn’t find me. They were terrible hours. But I was lucky, I had found a small cupboard — just a crawl space under the eaves. I got in and put something in front of me and laid there and didn’t move. They went over the whole attic, but they did not open the door. I think they didn’t realize a door was there. It was all in the same color, and by the time they got to the attic they were tired.

By this time it was clear that they wanted to arrest you?

Yes, absolutely. As it was, they took the pastor’s wife. Three hours later I came out of the attic — after eight hours. I couldn’t stay there any longer. By then the pastor was frantic. “My wife! My wife! You have to go and turn yourself in.” But I said, “No. Nothing will happen to her, but for me there is great danger.” He was furious! She was released the next morning, as I expected.

For another day I had to stay there in the attic. There was at all times a Gestapo man posted in front of the house — we saw him walking up and down. Finally on Saturday evening at 5 o’clock, they had free time, and they left. So I was able to go. It was very dangerous, of course, and very frightening, but I went. From that time on, I lived underground.

What was your work then?

The same. Finding homes for Jews, helping with ration cards, helping with other things. First it was the Jews, then there were students, then laborers who didn’t want to go to forced labor in Germany, and then other underground people. We also went on with the samizdat papers, which came out regularly every four to six weeks.

What was in them?

News. Warnings. Information. Articles explaining in a popular way why we were fighting against Nazism. Then in July 1942, someone had to go to Switzerland, so I went.

How did you do that?

Walking, mostly — Holland to Belgium, then the train into northern France, and then walking into Switzerland.

What was the purpose of that trip?

To get information to London — to the Dutch Queen and the government in exile.

At that time they had several radio stations, like “Voice of Holland,” broadcasting to us. And sometimes they were sending absurd information. It was vital that the government should have clearer reports about what was happening, so they wouldn’t risk people’s lives. We also wanted to give them information about where troops were and what they were doing, and to remind them of the dangers.

What kind of dangers?

Well, you can drown a country like Holland if you blow up the electrical generators — because these run the pumps, and most of the country is below sea level. The Germans placed dynamite near all the power stations. We were always fighting this. We would steal the dynamite. We expected that all Holland would be drowned.

interviewer’s note: In 1944 Hebe Kohlbrugge was finally arrested, though she managed to give a false name and to convince her captors she was a German citizen. After a period in a Dutch prison camp, she was transferred to Ravensbrück, 80 kilometers north of Berlin — the concentration camp known as “the women’s hell.”

At least 50,000 persons died here, and many others were sent on to death camps. I once talked with a girl in Ravensbrück, and she was very down, and I said to her, “Keep your head up!” And she said, “You can. You know why you’re here. I’m here only because of my nose.” I think that’s very important. We knew why we were there; we had been fighting. This poor girl hadn’t. She was there only, as she said, because of her nose.

When were you at Ravensbrück?

From September 4, 1944, until February 1945.

What did you do there?

I worked in the hospital, as I had in the Dutch prison camp. I had to look after the babies. Their mothers were mainly from Poland. The Germans had taken whole villages, and some of the women, of course, were pregnant. Every day, one or two babies were born. I never had more than 35, so you can count how many died. Most were born beautifully. The births were like anywhere — the mothers rejoicing about their nice new babies, so beautiful. But the mothers did not have enough food. They couldn’t nurse. After three days the babies would begin to shrink. They died, generally very quietly. It was hard, especially for those mothers who had lost their husbands. The baby was all they had left.

But the ones who had perhaps the worst situation at Ravensbrück were the gypsies. They were even more crowded than the rest of us, more pressed together. The Nazis had decided that these people, like the Jews, should be wiped out. The mothers would be told that if they allowed their daughters to be sterilized, the daughters could be let free. The mothers would say, “Okay. Then my little girl gets out.” Then there were these girls — eight, nine, ten, twelve years old — who were sterilized with electric shock. It was too terrible for words. Their screams were unbearable. It was the most awful thing I experienced at Ravensbrück. It was torture of children.

But I don’t think one should stay too long with these old memories. Torturing is still going on. All the countries are doing it. In 1980 we can’t talk too much about the torturing by the Nazis. We cannot say they were the most evil. Black is black.

What was important in helping you survive the experience?

There were various things. One was that I wanted to overcome. I wanted to survive, not only because I was afraid of dying, but because I didn’t want to give the Germans the chance to rejoice! Secondly, I had come through the experiences of prison, of not giving names, of pretending to be a German, of being one of the many in the camps, and I had the feeling, “I have come through so far — I will come through to the end.” I didn’t want to die as Christina Dormann [her false name] — I wanted to go home as Hebe Kohlbrugge.

I was very busy with the mothers and babies, and trying to do something for them. I first heard from the Polish mothers about life in Poland in the war. I hadn’t known Poland had been so much worse than Holland. Much worse. So I started to realize that my experiences were not so important — in fact they were unimportant in light of what these Polish girls had to tell me. We had been busy only with ourselves; now we started to get busy with more important things.

Working for the babies, I really had to work from roll call in the morning until midnight. I hardly had any sleep. So I really hadn’t much time to think of what would keep me alive. I hadn’t even much time for religious life or praying. Probably not enough. I knew that I was a Christian, I knew that as a Christian I fought against the lie of Nazism, I knew that I tried to help these mothers, and I did what I could.

How do the sorts of experiences you had affect your religious faith?

There is a book which has recently been published here, How Can I Believe After Auschwitz? I think the question is ridiculous. Evil didn’t begin or end with the Nazis. There is all we know about Vietnam, Afghanistan, the Gulag Archipelago, Cambodia, Argentina, Chile, many countries in Africa . . . And there are events like these all through human history. How can we just talk about believing after Auschwitz? If we read the Revelation of St. John, we are told that history will go this way. And it does go this way. So if I believe, I believe. If I don’t, I don’t. We push away our present difficulties by thinking only of 1944-45.

What about the guards — people who kill and torture? Does this require a certain kind of person, or can it be anyone?

I remember at Ravensbrück one day there came new guards — ten or twenty. They were girls sent from a factory that had been closed. They came and were told what they had to do. And they said, “We don’t want to do that.” All of them. Then they were told, “Either you are a guard, or you are a prisoner.” Now what shall the normal factory girl do? Can you expect her to choose to be a prisoner? So she becomes a guard. And then what happens? She tries not to be too nasty. But they tell her she must be more nasty. “If you are not, we will send you to be a guard some place even worse.” So she starts shouting. But it wasn’t true for everyone. Not everyone became cruel. We knew some who would never tell what they had seen. But many just went along step by step. A few were real sadists, and they tried to push the rest.

What happened when you were released?

I went home — which took me a good week — and I had to go to bed immediately, because I had very bad tuberculosis. I had known in Ravensbrück that I had it; in fact I had already been sick in bed in the camp. It was not allowed to release sick people, but the doctor did. He liked me — I don’t know why. At home they looked after me and I had a good doctor. The war ended in May.

In the years since then, you have spent a great deal of time working for refugees and for people in trouble because of war. Was it inevitable that you should go on to do these kinds of things?

Immediately after I came back from Switzerland where I had been recuperating for two years, the churches of Holland asked me to take up contact with Germany. The churches were very much aware of the hatred Holland had for Germany, and aware that for the churches the hatred couldn’t go on. They wanted someone to build bridges, and they asked me. I did this work from 1948 to 1957.

How did you get involved in work in Eastern Europe?

I had so many friends, especially in Czechoslovakia and Poland. Most of the Polish friends I never found again after the war, but the Czech friends I did find. I was very interested in life in their countries, very interested in what Communism did when it was in the chair. They had convinced me everything would be fine in Czechoslovakia, so I wasn’t against it. I wanted to see what it would be like. Then I found out that it was not what they had promised it would be. Most of my friends were in charge of very important jobs in Czechoslovakia, and then they all went with Dubcek, and they were thrown out — out of their jobs, out of the party, and all of that. I have no personal contact anymore, because I am not allowed to go in.

What are appropriate ways for people in the West to gain an understanding of what is happening in Eastern Europe and do something to help?

People must read one or two books about the problems of Eastern Europe. Otherwise we are just like the Germans who said after the war, “We didn’t know it, and we didn’t want it.” I think of the book To Build a Castle: My Life as a Dissenter by [Vladimir] Bukovsky. He gives a clear account of how he came to be one of the dissidents, what happened to him, how he lived through prison. It’s not difficult to read, and there’s lots of humor in it, so you needn’t be afraid of reading it.

People are obliged to read books like that. You can’t live in one world and not know anything about it. You can’t know everything about everywhere, but people should have at least some basic information about what it’s like. What does it mean if you have lived through the lie of Nazism — which is not to compare that with Communism, for they are quite different — and if you know Communism, the “real existing socialism” as it is now, is also a lie and is forcing people into a lie? If you once have fought against a lie, for the truth, it is impossible to come home and say, “Now I will sit in my chair and not fight anymore.”

I am struck by the lack of bitterness in the way you speak about things which could, for other people perhaps, be rather embittering.

It is much easier for those who have been in it to be without rancor and bitterness than for those who have stood aside. Those who didn’t do anything — mainly out of fear — still have hatred, because they feel in some way that they themselves have not done the right thing. They hate those who hindered them from being as they know they ought to have been.

And of course if you have lost a husband or someone dear to you, it is different. You can’t make an absolute line. I had no husband, no children. My sisters did not die. My father and mother did not die. They all survived. My father was once driven around for half an hour with a pistol in his back, but at the last moment they did not shoot him. If he had been shot, I don’t know what I would feel now, what I would say.

We can only account for what has happened to us. Nothing very bad happened to me. I was not once beaten in prison, because they believed I was German. I went through no torment at all — except in the concentration camp, like everybody. I must state that very clearly, because otherwise I would give an impression that is not true.

References easy to cut & paste:

http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20061209094557AA3W8oE

http://www.bookfinder.com/author/hebe-kohlbrugge/

http://www.jimandnancyforest.com/jims-essays/

Citizens for Diplomacy with Iran

2012-02-02T22:18:00.000-08:00

It is critical that President Obama take concrete steps to set a new tone with Iran...

These steps should include:

- Pursuing wide-ranging, direct negotiations without preconditions with Iran.

- Refraining from hostile rhetoric and saber-rattling with Iran.

- Announcing that the US does not threaten regime change in Iran.

For years America's relationship with Iran has been defined by fear, and the Bush presidency set us on a course towards military confrontation. Unfortunately, the Bush approach of isolation and aggression still has powerful supporters, several of whom are advisors to President Obama. Change will not come easily....

(We need to get) average Americans involved in Citizen Diplomacy, to help shape the American conversation about a more hopeful exchange with Iran. To counteract the fear, we are showing how much Americans and Iranians have in common, including a shared desire for peace.

From the ground up, we (must) remind our political leaders that we can't afford a military confrontation with Iran, and that Americans need a more constructive relationship with Iran to solve our common problems, including stabilizing Iraq and making progress towards a nuclear weapons free world.

Iran: Congress Must Prevent a New War
Despite the Bush administration’s repeated insistence that they are not planning to invade Iran, they have not pursued the serious diplomatic negotiations needed to resolve conflict between the two governments. In fact, the administration (and Congress) keeps taking actions that are likely to inflame tensions with Iran.

Write to your representative asking for concrete Congressional action to prevent another war.

Iran: Take Action for Proactive Diplomacy with Iran
Even after the November elections, voices both within and outside the administration have continued pushing for a military strike on Iran. It is critical that Congress call for forceful diplomatic action now.

Speak out now in support forceful and proactive diplomacy.

Send a letter to your representative.

Keep Speaking Up Against Military Attacks on Iran

(Plz see PeaceAction; FCNL; World Cant Wait)

Compassion for Self and Others Leads to Freedom:

2012-02-01T04:42:00.000-08:00

He saw death as a path to freedom. He had spent so much time ministering with the dying – one of the greatest privileges of ministry, as far as he was concerned – that I felt he was, while totally committed to living life to the full, somehow also looking forward to his own death. Not in a morbid sense, but simply because he did believe that our own death is a step forward.

He often said ‘when you enter into freedom, possibility comes to meet you’ – I imagine that he is, right now, experiencing a kind of freedom about which he would – at the very least - write some pretty marvellous poetry. It is hard to begrudge him his death when part of him was so ready for it. I wonder how he’d describe it. For those of us left behind, well, we miss him dearly, and are grateful for the spaces he opened in our lives. I find it almost impossible to believe that he is gone; but if he was right about his own future, we will meet again.

A BLESSING FOR EQUILIBRIUM.
BY JOHN O’DONOHUE, from ‘Benedictus – A Book of Blessings’:

Like the joy of the sea coming home to shore,May the music of laughter break through your soul.

As the wind wants to make everything dance,
May your gravity be lightened by grace.

Like the freedom of the monastery bell,
May clarity of mind make your eyes smile.

As water takes whatever shape it is in,
So free may you be about who you become.

As silence smiles on the other side of what’s said,
May a sense of irony give you perspective.

As time remains free of all that it frames,
May fear or worry never put you in chains.

May your prayer of listening deepen enough
To hear in the distance the laughter of God.

Also see O'Donohue's Talk on Compassion for Self and Others:
here

Vigils and Conversations for Diplomacy with Iran

2012-01-30T14:11:00.000-08:00

*

Candlelight Peace Vigil for Diplomacy with Iran Tuesday, February 21, 2012 - 6:00pm| American Friends (use as an idea to initiate your own local action) for details GO here

You may also want to visit the inspiring/informative American/Iranian Friendship Committee here and here

Be sure to see the post just below this on nomorecrusades.blogspot.com and at oneheartforpeace.blogspot.com

* Photo above is from the American Iranian Friendship Committee website

IRAN: Time to Learn about and Cherish a Rich Culture & Land - A Beautiful People

2012-01-25T23:08:00.001-08:00

For more than one thousand years, the Silk Road was the vital trade link between medieval Europe and the exotic lands that stretched across the vast expanses of Asia.

The inner life of the people who lived along the Silk Road is carried on in the music, poetry, and visual arts that express the most profound experiences of the soul.

From Istanbul, a choir of Dervishes sings Persian poetry in its traditional form, as performed at the court of the Ottoman Empire in the 18th century.

A Sufi call to prayer is performed on the ney, a reed flute whose tone is the symbol of the ecstatic, in an order of Dervishes founded in the 13th century by the poet and mystic Jallaludin Rumi. A Sufi melody is performed on the ney in the mode of nostalgia, bringing the past and present together in a timeless rhythm. A flute solo from Samarqand improvises on a Sufi theme, evoking the mystical feeling of this ancient land.

The DVD includes a 20-page booklet with detailed music and photo identification. "Judith Frey's DVD on the Silk Road brings to life a marvelous artistic combination of visual representations of architectural treasures with rare and wondrous musical selections from a private collection." Dr. Brenda Romero, Chair of Musicology, University of Colorado-Boulder "The DVD is a stunning journey through music, art, and poetry from Istanbul to Samarqand."
Wes Blomster, music critic, The Boulder Daily Camera
Find this review here

(While unavailable at Amazon - surely there are some available other ways. Do let readers of this blog know if you find copies of this interesting DVD and/or other such ways to learn and celebrate Iranian culture, nature, history and land with a comment below.)

More Gems at these sites:
here
and
here

Friends Committee on National Legislation (USA) on Iran

2012-01-24T05:11:00.000-08:00

Diplomacy—Not War—With Iran!

Now that the House has passed an indiscriminate and anti-diplomacy sanctions bill, FCNL will be stepping up its lobbying focus on the Senate, where additional Iran sanctions legislation is expected to move early in 2012.

Join the effort by using FCNL's "Diplomacy—Not War—With Iran!" postcards in your lobby visits, or sending them to FCNL, so that we can hand deliver your postcards to your Senator's office. Order free postcards for your meeting or group, or print your own.

See a very short post on FCNL and The Friends (Quakers) at oneheartforpeace.

For ways you may want to be involved GO to fcnl.org/issues/iran/ .

When Space is Free (Paraphrase of an Hafiz poem)

2012-01-18T13:36:00.000-08:00

For a while
The sandpiper in flight might say,

"Look dear, I am home--
Space is no longer being rationed."

For a while you might feel
I am complete,

When the touch from another upon certain
Of your fields

Has the power to dissolve all that
Is known.

Wholeness, I think,
Draws its life somewhere where the breathing
Stops,

Somewhere where the mind cradles light,
Where the only senses that remain

Blush and stumble
If they try to speak with our language so new
It is still trying to
Invent,

Still shaping
Its first intelligible sound,
Still sculpting its first true image of
God.

###

I used the sandpiper rather than the eagle in this paraphrase by Daniel Landinsky because of overuse of the "eagle" in general and to avoid a symbol too often representing the USA in an "over-taking" way. I am familiar with sandpipers from many a reflective visit of various shores and love how I feel in their presence -- thus the connection is so natural in this case.

Find the above sandpiper and a description of this delightful bird which is resonant with my own experience in this site -- here -- where you will also find the following quote "Sometimes as I walk along a beach and watch the skittering sandpipers chasing the waves, I think about just how far each individual bird has traveled to reach the spot that it and I share the same sand. I suppose that is a bit too metaphysical for some birders but it was, for example, essentially the premise of Last of the Curlews, the personalized and fictional story of the last Eskimo Curlew on earth (Bodsworth 1954)." This implied analogy strikes me as similar to what Hafiz had in mind for part of the poem.

I also changed the Hafiz/Daniel Ladinsky translated phrase "not rationed" in title "When Space is Not Rationed" to "free" as this feels like a metaphor more in keeping with the poem's overall intention - given the way our nations' skies are used militarily these days. Yet I kept Ladinsky's use of rationed within the poem.

A final note: I love the way the poem takes external metaphors such as a bird in flight; sky space; implied outer touch; sculpting; fields; and language and then draws readers into the internal spaces of mind; sensation; and imagining.

Metaphor is nearly everything to Hafiz as his devotees know well. Without making application inside ourselves and among ourselves -- as well between ourselves and the Divine -- we will miss the sweeping beauty, joy and transformative wisdom offered so lovingly by this poet of poets.

Palestine-Israel: 20 Basic Historical Facts

2012-01-16T08:48:00.000-08:00

Dr. Mazin Qumsiyeh

While I'm trying hard to make most my posts shorter, I want to leave this intact as is with references I haven't been able to find for awhile for the record. I heard Dr. Qumsiyeh speak in North Carolina a few years ago. He is one tireless, knowledgeable man. As a Christian, he's rare in that he has remained a resident among Palestinians in his homeland (to my knowledge) -- while most Christians continue to move permanently aboad -- leaving few to continue to speak for justice and peace among their sisters and brothers (of a variety of faith persuasions) in the homeland.

==========

FROM: Mazin Qumsiyeh Human Rights Newsletter Saturday, January 14, 2012 3:12

20 Points that are made in Dr. Qumsiyeh’s speech (Palestine-Israel in brief)

1- Palestine is the Western part of the Fertile Crescent: an area that
includes Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq. In this Fertile
Crescent the first human agriculture developed. Here the first
domestication of animals (e.g. goats, donkeys, camels) and plants (e.g.
wheat, barley, chickpeas, lentils, olives) happened.

2- This is also where civilization began including development of the first
alphabet (by Phoenician Canaanites) and the first laws. It was where we
first developed sciences like astronomy, engineering, and mathematics.

3- The original inhabitants of the Western part of the Fertile Crescent were
called Canaanites and the original language was called Aramaic which Jesus
spoke (he was born in the country called then Palestine and thus he was
Palestinian)

4- The old Aramaic language gave rise to derived languages including Syriac,
Arabic, and Hebrew and this language group is called Semitic languages.

5- Arabic alphabet evolved in Southern Canaan (today’s Jordan and Palestine)
while the Latin alphabet evolved in Northern Canaan (Phoenicia, present day
Lebanon and Syria). The Alphabet used in Europe today came from our part of
the world.

6- The people of Southern Canaan including Palestine endured (so) many invasions
of armies ... nearly 15 times that local people were ruled by kings or
emperors (Persian, Roman, Umayyad, Abbasid, Israelite etc).

7- Local religious ideas evolved over the ages from Canaanitic Pagan ideas
to monotheistic ideas to Christianity (first century), Rabbinical Judaism
(3rd century), Islam (7th Century).,

8- Palestine was always (a) multi-cultural, multi-religious society despite
attempts to homogenize it in certain periods (e.g. the Crusaders killed and
exiled Jews, Muslims, and Christians of other sects).

9- Jews of today, like Christians and Muslims of today, come from various
ethnic and cultural backgrounds. They are thus genetically (biologically)
heterogeneous.

10- Before the wave of European Jewish immigration, Palestinians were of
various religions: about 85% Muslim, 10% Christian, 5% Jewish and others.
For hundreds of years Palestinians of various religions lived in relative
harmony.

11- Zionism is a political idea that spread among a minority of European
Jews who adapted to the European notions of ethnocentric nationalism and
thus claim Jews of today should gather in Palestine and create a Jewish
state because of discrimination in Europe. Socialist Jews and other Jews
believed in fighting for equal rights. Zionists thought that anti-Jewish
feelings in Europe serve(d) their interests and thus even collaborated with
racists. There was a transfer agreement between the third Reich and the
Zionist movement. Zionists also lobbied Western governments not to take in
European Jewish refugees so that they all go to Palestine.

12- Zionism started in the mid 19th century with formation of the “Jewish
Colonization Association” and became an international movement in 1897 at
the first World Zionist Congress. To achieve its goals, its leaders
advocated transferring the native non-Jewish Palestinians.

13- The United States and other Western countries under influence of a
Zionist lobby pushed for the creation of a “Jewish state” of Israel in
Palestine despite the wishes of the native people.

14- Between 1947-1949, 530 Palestinian villages and towns were completely
destroyed and their people made refugees. This process of forcing
Palestinians out of their land continued in other forms since the founding
of Israel in May 1948. Today 70% of the 11 million Palestinians in the
world are refugees or displaced people.

15- Current day Israel has a set of discriminatory laws that fit the
descriptions given in the International Convention on the Suppression and
Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid. Every month, the Israeli Knesset takes
on more such racist laws.

16- In 1967, Israel occupied the West Bank (including the old city of
Jerusalem) and Gaza strip. Together these two areas are 22% of historic
Palestine. Israel began immediately to build Jewish colonial settlements in
these Palestinian lands. Contrary to International law, there are now over
200 settlements on our lands housing over half a million Jewish colonial
settlers.

17- Israel has built walls around the remaining Palestinian enclaves
(ghettos, people warehouses, cantons, reservations) and isolated them from
each other and from the rest of Palestine. These walls separate
Palestinians from their lands, from other Palestinians, from schools, from
hospitals etc. As an example, the Bethlehem district houses 180,000
natives, some 50,000 of us living there are refugees from 1948 period. All
of us are restricted now to develop and live on only 13% of the original
Bethlehem district size. 87% of the district is now under control of
Israeli settlements, military bases, closed military zones etc. The
Bethlehem people are isolated behind a wall and even Jerusalem (6 km away)
is off-limits to us.

18- Colonialism involves violence. Over 80 massacres were committed against
native Palestinians. Over 60,000 Palestinian civilians were killed by
Israeli forces and settlers. This is ten times more than the number of
Israeli civilians (most colonial settlers) killed by Palestinians.
Palestinians resisted colonialism over the past 130 years mostly by using
non-violent popular resistance something not widely discussed in the Western
countries because of attempts to vilify the victims.

19- Palestinians and other Arab countries in conflict with Zionism have been
“unreasonably reasonable” as one diplomat described it. We accept all
elements of International law` and all UN (United Nations) resolutions on
the issue. Israel by contrast, violated over 60 UN Security Council
resolutions and over 200 UN General Assembly Resolutions. Without the USA
using its veto power to shield Israel from International law at the UN SC,
the number would have been doubled.

20- We Palestinians demand and are struggling for our right to return and to
self-determination. We call for a democratic pluralistic state for people
of all religions in our historic homeland of Palestine. We call for
equality and justice. People in Europe and around the world can support us
by using education, by coming to visit us, and by Boycotts, Divestments, and
Sanctions (BDS). This is a collective human struggle similar to what
happened in challenging apartheid in South Africa.

There are many books and references available to document each point
==============================
20 punti toccati dal Dr. Qumsiyeh nel suo discorso

http://popular-resistance.blogspot.com/2012/01/20-puntipoints.html

Find the above list also here: http://desertpeace.wordpress.com/about/

==============================
I, the blogger at nomorecrusades, am adding these other Sites/Publications without links so that they will be easier to cut/paste for some readers.

More startling facts and figures here as well:

http://www.palestineremembered.com/Acre/Maps/Story583.html

http://www.palestineremembered.com/Maps/index.html

http://uprootedpalestinians.blogspot.com/2012/01/palestine-is-western-part-of-fertile.html

MLK: Dreams and Possibilities

2012-01-16T07:07:00.000-08:00

Middle East Peace Quilt**

(quotes below are from a sermon given Sunday am 15 January 2012)

"Martin Luther King saved my life"

"A life of fear is no life at all."

"A man dies when he refuses to stand up for that which is right...for justice..."

"Without a vision there's no future...only repitition of the past."

"We can evolve only if we know what we're evolving to..."

"It takes no effort to despair."

MLK...had a great imagination.

These are just some of the challenging quotes Mills offered (which included Goethe, Kant, and an expert on Aphasia (used as a metaphor for that which drastically limits imagination).

I highly recommend the link below to this sermon/reflection as one of the most powerful and uplifting on Martin Luther King (or anyone else) ever spoken in my home town. Not only does this personal talk include Martin Luther King's vision for a world minus racism, hate and hopelessness - other poignant quotes from other visionaries are offered as well.

Each of the points made by Mills can be so easily applied TODAY to our nation and world and related to racism of ALL kinds whether to a person's skin, citizenship, religion, nation of origin, gender, struggle, age and so much more. (For example, Mills brings up-to-date a text King used to condemn the careless bombing in Vietnam -- by simply adding the name of our various current wars).

After a needed yet sobering couple of weeks many of us spent exposing our nation's treatment of people detained in Guantanamo -- this visionary speech offers possibilities of change and the needed energy to carry out a better future.

Ernie Mills heard a famous MLK speech in 1973 -- five years after it was first delivered...

To hear how MLK's speech "I Have a Dream" helped transform the life of one young American -- formerly a self-admitted racist -- GO here

Ernie is a longtime friend of mine and as I told him - he's spent years doing the homework which led to this superlative talk.

The opposite of a doomsday talk, at the end Ernie said with conviction, "The possibilities" for change "are infinite."

Civil Rights Memorial Museum Montgomery, Alabama

**quilt above chosen because it's a serene symbol for finding peace among groups of all kinds. I found the photo here

Let us bend our work toward peace...

Week of Human Rights Reminders

2012-01-10T13:26:00.001-08:00

*

This week is full of current events on items related to this painting around the world -- including the USA at the White House where a Day of Action against Guantanamo has been called for 11 January.

How reassuring to see peacemakers from a number of perspectives remind their followers and viewers of their sites of such similar concerns.

NOTE that 12 of JANUARY was the day genocide was outlawed world-wide (1951) - a day to mourn ALL victims of genocide.

*The Witness (painting shown above)
The doves, without eyes, beaks, or legs, are caged within barbed wire. How can peace move forward in such circumstances? Tamam Al-Akhal is the artist.

10 Years Too Many: National Day of Action Against Guantanamo:

2012-01-10T13:17:00.000-08:00

(This notice is from Amnesty I - USA -- I got the phone call this morning from the leaders and want to be sure to get this out. I'm with several groups at once at heart and in spirit.)

Join us in Washington, DC on January 11, 2012 to close Guantanamo! To mark the 10th anniversary of unlawful counter-terrorism detentions* at Guantanamo and to call for an end to indefinite detention and unfair trials, we will be creating a human chain between the White House and the Capitol. We need 2,700 people – the number of detainees still unlawfully held by the US government at Guantanamo and Bagram. Meet us January 11, 2012 at Lafayette Square (across from the White House) at Noon. Sign up below to pledge to join us!

here

Here's a basic schedule for ALL groups involved in this action:

After meet-ups with various groups --
1PM: Public Witness and Human Chain connection the White House to the Capital.

3PM: Interfaith Service and Reception, sponsored by NRCAT, at the New York Ave Presbyterian Church. Here's more info and a place to lay your cot --

GO here

IF YOU QUESTION the reasons for such a Day of Action, you may want to read the post just below this one on oneheartforpeace (for Sunday, January 8th) or CLICK here.

Besides unlawful detentions, be aware of the despair-induced suicides, illnesses untreated, force-feedings, deaths listed as unknown causes. Some of these deaths under US detention have been considered "extra-judicial executions". Deaths and extreme physical and mental injury due to rights abuses can't be ruled out at Guantanamo and the same goes for US prisons or US "oversight" at various cells hidden and open world-wide.

HOWEVER, this Amnesty Action is one of many others by dozens of national and international human rights groups along with well-known speakers, and writers. What a positive unified action this is for peace, justice and the rights by which we as Americans once were said to have lived. Actions such as this one will help to restore us to the sanity of a true humanity.

Thanx for tuning in.

Connie

An Open Letter to Rev. Billy Graham

2012-01-01T09:55:00.000-08:00

I just found this letter I'd written in 2003 -- sent to The Cove -- where your large home center is. This was also sent your Evangelistic Association center in Minnesota. I also sent this by FAX and email to four of your large radio stations with all my contact info clear to each of these above locations. I never received a reply.

Since you are still with us in this world, Rev. Graham, why not respond even now?

March 18, 2003

Dear Rev. Graham,

In March, 1979, during an interview with Sojourners Magazine called 'A Change of Heart', you confessed that you had not thought through certain implications of Christ's lordship regarding how we, as a nation, might or might not fuel or fan a nuclear war. You said "I believe that the Christian especially has a responsibility to work for peace in our world."

You also said, "I would have to admit that the older I get the more aware I am of the kind of world my generation has helped shape, and the more concerned I am about doing what I can to give the next generation at least some hope for peace."

You continued: "I have gone back to the Bible to restudy what it says about the responsibilities we have as peacemakers. I have seen that we must seek the good of the whole human race, not just the good of any one nation.

'There have been times in the past when I have, I suppose, confused the kingdom of God with the American way of life...the kingdom of God is not the same as America and our nation is subject to the judgement of God just as much as any other nation.

'I have become concerned to build bridges of understanding among nations and want to do whatever I can to help...We cannot afford to neglect our duties as global citizens...the world is a very small place, and what one nation does affects all others."

In that same issue, you were congratulated for your "courageous confession" by Dick Barnet, author of the book "Global Reach", who said, "If we do not have the clarity of moral vision to see that (other) people cannot ever deserve one hundred Auschwitzes whatever their leaders do, then our faith rests not on the reverence of God and his world but on power fantasies and fears...

'The biblical injunction to love one another does not rest on the idea that people are lovable...

...love is difficult -- people are hard enough to love one by one and harder still to love by the millions. Yet the injunction is inescapable because creation cannot be sustained without it.

'The choice is between love and hate, and hate is death. Hate demands an enemy. The identity hardly matters. Enemies change, but the spirit of enmity and fear remains.

'The big lie behind all murder from random street killings, to the efficient ovens of Auschwitz, to the even more efficient hydrogen bomb, is that the victims deserve to die."

NOW, Rev. Graham, is the "hour of decision." Perhaps it is YOUR hour of decision. What are YOU going to do to influence our president whom you have mentored? What will YOU do to encourage him to have a CHANGE of HEART and become one of the heroes of the world instead of one of the most dangerous men who has ever lived?

Or will there be any more history for our children to live?

Please Act Now!

Most Sincerely,

Connie Nash

==========
Although the above letter was written March 18, 2003, and received NO response that I have ever seen, I am praying that Rev. Graham will read this letter even now and respond to the world at large --thereby perhaps lightening his conscience and legacy a little.

Likewise, perhaps many Christians and Americans today will see that it is OUR Hour of Decision -- ministers and leaders of all kinds. What will OUR decisions be? What sort of legacy will WE leave our children during 2012?

Call Me by My True Names by Thich Nhat Hanh

2012-01-01T08:29:00.000-08:00

The following poem embodies the essence of what this poetic spiritual guide calls "interbeing," the innerconnectedness of all things. From: Peace is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life by Thich Nhat Hanh

Here is the introduction:
In Plum Village, where I live in France, we receive many letters from the refugee camps in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, and the Philippines, hundreds each week. It is very painful to read them, but we have to do it, we have to be in contact. We try our best to help, but the suffering is enormous, and sometimes we are discouraged. It is said that half the boat people die in the ocean. Only half arrive at the shores in Southeast Asia, and even then they may not be safe.

There are many young girls, boat people, who are raped by sea pirates. Even though the United Nations and many countries try to help the government of Thailand prevent that kind of piracy, sea pirates continue to inflict much suffering on the refugees. One day we received a letter telling us about a young girl on a small boat who was raped by a Thai pirate. She was only twelve, and she jumped into the ocean and drowned herself.

When you first learn of something like that, you get angry at the pirate. You naturally take the side of the girl. As you look more deeply you will see it differently. If you take the side of the little girl, then it is easy. You only have to take a gun and shoot the pirate. But we cannot do that. In my meditation I saw that if I had been born in the village of the pirate and raised in the same conditions as he was, there is a great likelihood that I would become a pirate. I saw that many babies are born along the Gulf of Siam, hundreds every day, and if we educators, social workers, politicians, and others do not do something about the situation, in twenty-five years a number of them will become sea pirates. That is certain. If you or I were born today in those fishing villages, we may become sea pirates in twenty-five years. If you take a gun and shoot the pirate, all of us are to some extent responsible for this state of affairs.

After a long meditation, I wrote this poem. In it, there are three people: the twelve-year-old girl, the pirate, and me. Can we look at each other and recognize ourselves in each other? The tide of the poem is "Please Call Me by My True Names," because I have so many names. When I hear one of the of these names, I have to say, "Yes."

Call Me by My True Names

Do not say that I'll depart tomorrow
because even today I still arrive.

Look deeply: I arrive in every second
to be a bud on a spring branch,
to be a tiny bird, with wings still fragile,
learning to sing in my new nest,
to be a caterpillar in the heart of a flower,
to be a jewel hiding itself in a stone.

I still arrive, in order to laugh and to cry,
in order to fear and to hope.
The rhythm of my heart is the birth and
death of all that are alive.

I am the mayfly metamorphosing on the surface of the river,
and I am the bird which, when spring comes, arrives in time
to eat the mayfly.

I am the frog swimming happily in the clear pond,
and I am also the grass-snake who, approaching in silence,
feeds itself on the frog.

I am the child in Uganda, all skin and bones,
my legs as thin as bamboo sticks,
and I am the arms merchant, selling deadly weapons to
Uganda.

I am the twelve-year-old girl, refugee on a small boat,
who throws herself into the ocean after being raped by a sea
pirate,
and I am the pirate, my heart not yet capable of seeing and
loving.

I am a member of the politburo, with plenty of power in my
hands,
and I am the man who has to pay his "debt of blood" to, my
people,
dying slowly in a forced labor camp.

My joy is like spring, so warm it makes flowers bloom in all
walks of life.
My pain if like a river of tears, so full it fills the four oceans.

Please call me by my true names,
so I can hear all my cries and laughs at once,
so I can see that my joy and pain are one.

Please call me by my true names,
so I can wake up,
and so the door of my heart can be left open,
the door of compassion.

Thich Nhat Hanh

UPDATE on Peace Instead of Washington's Addiction to War: Rep. Dennis Kucinich

2011-12-31T08:01:00.000-08:00

Published on Saturday, December 31, 2011 by CommonDreams.org Living Peacefully With One's Neighbors by Phil Tajitsu Nash

Imagine that your community and a neighboring community had been at war a half century ago. Many men had been killed, and women and children had been kidnapped.

Then, imagine what it would take for those two communities to sit down together to look at archival films of life in their region, share memories of common ancestors, and allow their children to interact peacefully with one another.

Read about these trend-setters for peace:

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/12/31-1 or click here

(Since a New Year resolution of mine is to seek out the true positive despite all that we must face that is not...I wanted to include the above article as an antidote to the concerns of Kucinich's as RIGHT ON as his concerns always are...and to show how we of all ages can learn from peacemakers of ALL ages and persuasions.

Connie)

==================

Truthdigger of the Week: Rep. Dennis Kucinich
For original GO here

Posted on Dec 30, 2011

As the year draws to a close, the U.S. government risks repeating the costly mistakes of the recent past by ratcheting up tensions with Iran, emphasizing risky sanctions over diplomatic negotiations and making fact-challenged claims about Iran’s nuclear program. Good thing Rep. Dennis Kucinich is on Capitol Hill to call Congress on its deadly war addiction. For his willingness to make a stand against almost all of his congressional cohorts and his refusal to accept shoddy arguments and distressingly repetitive rationalizations for entering into yet another precarious foreign entanglement, we salute Congressman Kucinich as the last Truthdigger of the Week for 2011.

It’s alarming how short our nation’s collective memory, not to mention its attention span, can be when it comes to missing signs of the manipulation of information during the lead-in stages of conflicts with other nations. Rep. Kucinich called in Friday with a history lesson and an update on the debate he brought to the floor of the House about why we shouldn’t listen to the building drumbeat of war with Iran that seems to hold most of Washington in its thrall.

First, a little background. Two bills have made the legislative rounds proposing sanctions against Iran in the last year: The Iran, North Korea and Syria Nonproliferation Act (H.R. 2105) and the Iran Threat Reduction Act (H.R. 1905). On Dec. 14, H.R. 1905 passed with only 11 members of the House, including Kucinich, opposing the bill. Minutes later, H.R. 2105 also passed, and this time only two congressmen—Kucinich and California Rep. Pete Stark—voted against it.

“We actually warned members about this,” Kucinich said Friday. “We sent out letters to members of Congress, and I went to the floor to speak against it.” But Kucinich’s arguments were shot down from both sides of the political aisle, as his colleagues seemed eager to accept the predominant rhetoric claiming that Iran was dead set on developing its own nuclear weapon and that imposing tough sanctions is the most effective way to thwart the threat from Tehran.

This, despite warnings from the likes of Former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Michael Mullen, who noted in September that open diplomatic channels were key in preventing big miscalculations and miscommunications. As Kucinich pointed out in his letter to Congress members on Dec. 12, “Section 601 of H.R. 1905 prohibits contact by a U.S. government official or employee with any Iranian official or representative who ‘presents a threat’ to the United States,” a clause that sharply curtails diplomatic interactions between the two nations, but the prospect of this potential gag order apparently failed to stir up much concern. “You see how little attention is paid to any details and facts,” Kucinich said of his opponents in Washington.

So, here are the facts as Kucinich saw them as he took a moment to talk to Truthdig’s Associate Editor Kasia Anderson on the last business day of the year.

Kasia Anderson: There appears to be some push back from other members of Congress about this issue of whether our hands would be tied, diplomatically speaking, by H.R. 1905. How can you all be looking at the same document, and yet one member of Congress says this won’t compromise diplomatic communication and another says it would?

Rep. Dennis Kucinich: I can tell you from my perspective. Everything I try to do is fact-based; I work from a fact-based position. There are some members who made up their minds a long time ago to advance conflict against Iran, and I think the impact on the U.S. and the world would be devastating. There’s no reason whatsoever for us to move into a war against Iran. And we should not be rattling sabers—we should not be taking steps that escalate. And so I think from my perspective when these issues have come up in the past regarding Iran, I understood that the neocons have had extraordinary influence in keeping up the tensions, but someone has to say that they were wrong about Iraq. Someone has to hold the neocons responsible for the drumbeat for war that cost the lives of thousands of American troops and perhaps over a million Iraqis, that will have a long-term cost of about $5 trillion and that has further damaged America’s position in the world. The same people that brought us Iraq are changing the q to an n and advancing a whole new war based on the same type of flimsy predicate that brought us to war against Iraq.

Anderson: In your debates about the sanctions against Iran, you drew parallels to the lead-in to the Iraq War and to the Gulf of Tonkin, among other historical lessons. Can you expand on those here?

Kucinich: The Gulf of Tonkin is relevant here because the American people were largely unaware of what transpired during an encounter—a so-called encounter—in the Gulf of Tonkin that led directly to the war in Vietnam. We are now in the Strait of Hormuz, in an area where there’s a tremendous amount of traffic, and the potential for conflict is real. This is why I quoted Admiral Mullen in saying that he wasn’t looking towards any escalation here. Anybody in the Navy understands how real the risks are of ratcheting up a military presence in the Strait of Hormuz as a means of [imposing] sanctions from the very beginning—sanctions were in and of themselves a path towards escalation—a direct path towards war. … Congress can’t seem to get away from this drumbeat of war. As an institution it seems incapable of avoiding another war. The American people don’t want another war.

I led the effort in Congress in 2002 in challenging the march towards war. There was no evidence that Iraq had the intention or the ability of attacking the United States of America. There were no WMDs—it was all a put-up job to take us into a war. And the people who took us into it have never been held accountable, from Bush on down; members of Congress are equally accountable because they voted in favor of the war. We cannot break free of the hold that war has on our country. The implications of conflict with Iran are extraordinary. Unlike Iraq, Iran has the ability to fight back. Unlike Iraq, Iran is a major player in the economy of the world, and the implications of conflict with Iran will be felt globally and can put the U.S. in a much broader conflict with other nations as well. This is a very dangerous moment.

Anderson: How is it that Congress gets swept up in this kind of rhetoric?

Kucinich: It’s really a kind of reverse Houdini phenomenon. Houdini was famous for escaping being bound, but members of Congress are famous for binding themselves—binding our nation into perilous conditions. And so how does that happen? I don’t see war as being inevitable. I see that we have an obligation to use diplomacy to avoid war, and we have a greater obligation in this heavily mediated society to work to get at the truth and not be swept up into war by ideologues or by war profiteers who both cashed in in Iraq.

With an American economy falling apart. ... We are at a decisive moment in the history of this country where we have to begin to make a conscious choice of a domestic agenda over foreign conflict. If we fail to do that, we will lose our nation.

Anderson: Do you think anything can be done with respect to a potential conflict with Iran?

Kucinich: Yes! Back off. That’s what we need to do.

I want to go back over the dynamics in Washington. There’s always a certain group of people—Republicans and Democrats alike—who will vote for war. They’ll vote to fund wars, seeing it their patriotic duty to do so. We need a new type of thinking. That new type of thinking has to be demanded by people like your readership and by constituents aross the country. We have become so enamored of war as a nation we can’t break from it. If you look at the Republican debate, it’s all about war with them—all but Ron Paul. What’s this about? What are we doing? Why aren’t we taking care of things at home?

There’s a psychology of aggression which permeates our society. It is as though we are riding a death star. Yet I refuse to believe that America will perish through this kind of thinking. I’m hopeful that we can reverse the direction. But you can only do it if people have the truth—if people have information about what’s really going on.

Anderson: What about the claims that Iran is developing its own nuclear weapon?

Kucinich: The changes in the International Atomic Energy Agency are very disturbing. Instead of a dispassionate technician running the IAEA, you have a politician who used politics to get his appointment, and now he’s willing to do his servile best to give those who want war the leverage to claim that Iran is moving towards getting a nuclear weapon. That poisons the dialogue.

Know that lies are being told right now to get us into a conflict with Iran. We need to take steps to avoid it, otherwise we’re looking at a condition that would be calamitous to the economy of the nation and to the long-term health of the United States of America. Also think of the Cuban Missile Crisis, how the military was trying to go for war. And the political strength it took President John F. Kennedy to pull back and to curtail war. There was a real conflict there, and the chances of conflict were real. The chances of a nuclear war were real, and yet we had leaders who understood the need for diplomacy. Diplomacy is not weakness—it’s strength. The use of arms as a substitute for diplomacy is idiocy. Those who are responsible for that kind of thinking need to be called on it—need to be held accountable. It’s lazy intellectualism and lazy politics that cause people to vote for war. We can no longer afford this. We need to change our position in the world. If we don’t we will lose our nation. That’s why I’ve been speaking out in Congress for years to try to avert conflict.

You can look at what I said in the lead-up to the war against Serbia. You can look at what I said coming out of 9/11 and the lead-up to the war in Iraq and these other wars that we’ve had. The one ray of light that I saw was that some of the conservative Republicans questioned our actions in Libya.

Look, if you want to stop war, you have to have communication with people. I mean, if you look back to the Cuban Missile Crisis, which is one of the gravest crises of the 20th century, it was the fact that the United States and Russia were able to engage in communication [that saved us]. So we have to be very careful that we don’t pass any kind of a law that would restrict not just our First Amendment rights and not just freedom of association, but would restrict the basic kind of diplomacy that’s used, because everyone here knows that diplomacy is not just leaders talking to leaders. All kinds of backdoor diplomacy goes on, and I think that that needs to be taken into consideration.

So why are the drones allowed at all?

2011-12-24T02:41:00.001-08:00

This girl was left with horrific burns after U.S. drone attack in Pakistan. She was brought to America to receive surgery.

Shakira was pulled from a bin by a medical mission where two other children died of their injuries

By Daily Mail ReporterLast updated at 11:40 AM on 23rd December 2011 Read more: here

Gutsy Silent Angels Want Peace in Mexico

2011-12-19T16:33:00.000-08:00

Raymundo Aguirre for NPR

After 20 minutes of silent witness, the angels gather around a group of neighbors and pray with them for employment, for better living conditions, for salvation from sin, and for an end to the murders.

With their silver makeup complete, the young people pile into a decrepit green van nicknamed "the weenie," and make their way to the first stop of the day. Their wings are strapped on the roof.

The van pulls up in front of a supermarket at a busy intersection.

The angels, well rehearsed, take their positions on street corners and medians. They stand on folding chairs in long white robes, so that they look like giants...

READ more on npr.org for December 19, 2011 here or GO here to listen to the 6 minute story.

American Voices for Peace features forgiver Rais Bhuiyan

2011-12-19T15:43:00.000-08:00

GO here

CAIR: Highlights/News/Actions -- Esp. Texas Leaders

2011-12-18T12:36:00.001-08:00

Be sure to see call to action on NDAA (Yes, we should call no matter what has been signed or not and ask for our representatives and President to get rid of such a law.

Here's an older and timeless letter from CAIR Houston

"And what will explain to you what the steep path is? It is the freeing of a (slave) from bondage; or the giving of food in a day of famine to an orphan relative, or to a needy in distress. Then will he be of those who believe, enjoin fortitude and encourage kindness and compassion"

(Holy Qur'an Chapter 90, Verses 12-17)

"Show forgiveness, speak for justice and avoid the ignorant" (Holy Qur'an Chapter 7, Verse 199)

Executive Director's Message

Different Faiths, One Family, Come Together: Focus on the Good!

As Salaamu Alaikum Wa Rahmatullah Wa Barakatoh! In June CAIR-TX initiated its Peace and Unity Campaign as a response to anti-Muslim sentiment, Islamophobia, and a call for unity among all Americans. If there was ever a time to heed the call for peace and unity in America … it’s now. The current polarizing narratives that are amok in our society do not serve our country well. The freedoms that we have enjoyed as Americans cannot survive this onslaught of negativity unless we change those narratives to more peaceful, unifying overtures. On Thursday June 23, 2011 we announced the release of “Same Hate, New Target” Although this Islamophobia report had some troubling trends that must be addressed, it has more important positive trends that should be our focus. Achieving balance and focusing on “the good” in these times can be challenging for advocacy groups and community alike. You may recall Pareto’s Law or the 80/20 rule. This rule can be applied to almost any situation. It essentially says we spend 80% of the time dealing with 20% of our challenges. June 15, 2011 marked my one year anniversary with CAIR-TX, Houston Chapter, and what a year it’s been! Al hamdu-illah, we have met many of our challenges head-on. We continually have opportunities to promote an accurate image of Islam and Muslims, while empowering Muslims to be their own advocate. The Houston community seems to have embraced our outreach efforts, and we continue to build coalitions that promote justice, mutual respect, and a sense of unity. These relationships are invaluable, and we hope to make our peace and unity initiative the mantel in everything we do! Insha Allah, we will spend 80% of our time building relationships and focusing on the good in the Greater Houston Community!

As-Salaam'u'Alaikum!

Mustafaa Carroll

Executive Director

Find this letter in this older inspiring newsletter from Cair Houston here

Introduction to a man who has been a featured peacemaker of the year in a variety of places - who has been supported by CAIR Houston -- Here's an intro to Rais Bhuiyan and his international campaign and website: "World Without Hate" in many places --
Attacked man forgives attacker here

Find these items of interest on the CAIR website along with suggested actions for more justice and peace where we live:

Interfaith Leaders Challenge Anti-Sharia Bill lA rabbi, an interfaith leader, and a Temple University professor joined the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) on Wedne... CAIR-PA: Lessons of Ramadan and 9/11 (Philly Inquirer)This season brings a confluence of two important events for me as an American Muslim, one spiritual, one civic....

CAIR: Manhattan Children's Museum Gets Funding for 'Muslim Worlds'"Muslim Worlds" will have hands-on exhibits, performances and other events geared toward getting children...SEE here and CAIR > HomeCouncil on American-Islamic Relations ... Manhattan Children's Museum Gets Funding for 'Muslim Worlds' "Muslim Worlds" will have hands-on exhibits, ... Childrens Museum of Manhatten

NEW Attack in Texas here

Per Positive Actions to Negative Ones:

I found this on CAIR fb = CAIR
Christians, Muslims, Jews to Boycott Lowe's Over 'Bigotry' hereChristians, Muslims, and Jews alike are speaking out against Lowe’s Hardware Store’s decision to pull advertisement from the TLC television show “All American Muslim.” On Saturday, demonstrations in front of various Lowe’s locations across the country will seek to raise awareness

LAST BUT NOT LEAST:

http://www.cair.com/ OR go here Action Alert: Ask President Obama to Veto Indefinite Detention of U.S. CitizensContact President Obama and urge him to veto the National Defense Authorization Act (H.R. 1540), which authorizes the military to arrest and indefinitely detain American citizens suspected of terrorism without charge or trial.

END

note from blogger here on "no more crusades" plz consider calling your congressional representatives too...what about mayor of your state and religious leaders? With enough folk calling - we the people may get this horrendous law removed.

Also go to oneheartforpeace dot blogspot dot com or click here for plenty more items on this recent finalized ruling...

THANX CAIR for ALL you do for peace, justice, and our precious yet often fragile nation and world!

US: Lowe's pulls ads from Muslim show, sparks protest

2011-12-18T04:43:00.000-08:00

By JEFF KAROUB | AP – 17 December 2011

ALLEN PARK, Mich. (AP) — Protesters descended on a Lowe's store in one of the country's largest Arab-American communities on Saturday, calling for a boycott after the home improvement chain pulled its ads from a reality television show about five Muslim families living in Michigan.

About 100 people gathered outside the store in Allen Park, a Detroit suburb adjacent to the city where "All-American Muslim" is filmed. Lowe's said this week that the TLC show had become a "lightning rod" for complaints, following an email campaign by a conservative Christian group.

Protesters including Christian clergy and lawmakers called for unity and held signs that read "Boycott Bigotry" and chanted "God Bless America, shame on Lowe's" during the rally, which was organized by a coalition of Christian, Muslim and civil rights groups.

Rep. Rashida Tlaib, a Detroit Democrat and the first Muslim woman elected to the Michigan Legislature, said it was "disgusting" for Lowe's to stop supporting a show that reflects America — the conservatives, liberals and even "the Kim Kardashians" in the Muslim community, she said.

"We're asking the company to change their mind," said protester Ray Holman, a legislative liaison for a United Auto Workers local. He said he was dismayed that the retailer "pulled sponsorship of a positive program."

A local rabbi extended his support to clergy at the protest and local Arab Americans, saying he and other Jews would have been at the protest had it not fallen during the Jewish Sabbath.

"I hope that they would likewise stand up and demonstrate should something outrageous like this take place against another religion," Rabbi Jason Miller said in a statement.

Lowe's spokeswoman Karen Cobb said Saturday that the company respected the protestors' opinion.

"We appreciate and respect everyone's right to express their opinion peacefully," she said.

The show premiered last month and chronicles the lives of families living in and around Dearborn, a suburb of Detroit at the heart of one of the largest Arab-American populations outside the Middle East.

Dearborn is home to the Islamic Center of America, one of the largest mosques in North America. Overall, the Detroit area has about 150,000 Muslims of many different ethnicities and is served by about 40 mosques.

It airs Sundays and ends its first season Jan. 8.

The Florida Family Association has said more than 60 companies it emailed, from Amazon to McDonalds, pulled their ads from the show, but Lowe's is the only major company so far to confirm that it had done so. The group accused the show of being "propaganda that riskily hides the Islamic agenda's clear and present danger to American liberties and traditional values."

The travel planning site Kayak.com also pulled its ads, though its marketing chief said the decision was made because the company was dissatisfied by the show's quality and TLC wasn't upfront with advertisers about how the show would be presented.

Saturday's rally was met by about 20 counter-protesters including John White, who lives in nearby Livonia and called those protesting against Lowe's "terribly misdirected." He acknowledged that he hadn't watched the show, saying he'd seen previews and read about it, but believed the company made a decision based on business, not bigotry.

"Americans are not suspicious ... of baseball-playing, apple-pie eating Muslims," he said. "It's the ones you see on the news."

The manager of the Lowe's store, Doug Casey, said the company wasn't influenced by any outside group or ideology. He said those who criticized Lowe's have a right to their opinion, but that "it's not the opinion of most of the customers I spoke to in the store today."

"I'm deeply sorry if it's caused any divide in our community," he said. "It was never our intention to offend or alienate anyone."

The US Privatizing of Crimes Against Humanity

2011-12-10T09:57:00.000-08:00

Excerpt from Annie Byrd's "Feeding the Monster..." Rights Action December 9, 2011

Privatizing Crimes Against Humanity

The use of private security contractors by the State Department, the Department of Defense and the Central Intelligence Agency has skyrocketed since September 11, 2001.

A two year Washington Post investigation published in July 2010 showed that just in the CIA one third of all employees, approximately 10,000 people, actually worked for private security contractors. Defense Secretary Robert Gates explained that he has not been able to get a number on how many private contractors work in the Secretary of Defense.

Blackwater, among the largest and best known government contractors, was founded in 1997 in McLean Virginia, home of the CIA, the same year that an internal directive limited the possibility of the use of torture by informants on the CIA payroll, and the same year approximately 1,000 CIA informants, at that time reported to be a third of the CIA employees, were purged from their payroll for participation in crimes following controversies that exposed involvement in drug trafficking, torture and murder.

Many known human rights abusers have been involved in the private security industry. Billy Joya, a former member of the 1980s Honduran death squad Batallion 3-16, is reported to own private security companies in Central America, and founded a company in the US in 1997. He was also sighted in the 15th Batallion near Tocoa, Colon in March 2010, a date that coincided with the birth of a death squad reportedly operating out of the 15th Batallion which, to date, has been implicated in close to 50 assassinations.

In September 2011 Joya appeared on the Honduran national news program 'Frente a Frente' with a strange cost benefit analysis of police in Honduras, apparently promoting the argument that the police are expensive and inefficient, the inevitable discourse that proceeds privatization of any state enterprise.

The AUC Colombian state-sponsored paramilitary forces, deeply implicated in massacres, murder, torture and drug trafficking, have long been connected to private security companies. Chiquita Brands Fruit Company is currently being sued by the surviving families of Colombian unionists murdered by the AUC after Chiquita made payments in 2004 to AUC affiliated private security companies.

There is no doubt that private security contracting companies are a means of facilitating impunity for States and corporations by contracting out repression and other dirty business. Lawsuits forced Blackwater to change its name to Xe and move its headquarters to the United Arab Emerites.

The birth of denationalized mercenary armies, contracted for military and police functions, and involved in heinous crimes, is a real threat to the rule of law on a global scale, and it looks like Honduras and Central America may already be their next big theater of operations.

Calls for International Commissions

The measures undertaken thus far demonstrate no real commitment or capacity to achieve effective reform. In reaction, in early November, Julieta Casetallanos put out a call to form an international commission to intervene in the police and carry out a reform process. Real reform and international observation is urgent, especially as Honduras enters a volatile yet potentially transformative electoral process while at the mercy of deeply corrupt and violent state institutions controlled by people put in place by a military coup and willing to do anything to retain political control of the nation.

After the 2009 military coup, a proposal surfaced to create an office of the United Nations High Commissioner on Human Rights in Honduras, but few advances have been made in establishing one, and the mandate of a UNHCR office would not be broad enough to encompass the need to oversee a purge of state institutions...

Muslim Men March on FMC Carswell

2011-12-08T15:56:00.000-08:00

Find links to the case and concerns re. Dr. Aafia below this announcement...

Muslim Men March on FMC Carswell
(Ft. Worth Texas)
Saturday, December 31, 2011
An emergency mobilization for
Dr. Aafia Siddiqui, and all other female prisoners suffering abuse in a federal institution that has a long, shameful record of violating the U.S. Constitution’s guarantee against “cruel and unusual punishment.”

While ALL ARE INVITED to join this urgently needed mobilization, we feel it is a
special obligation on Muslim Men!

PLEASE SUPPORT THIS URGENTLY NEEDED MOBILIZATION
1. HELP US SPREAD THE WORD
2. PLAN TO ATTEND
3. DONATE
You can mail a donation to:
The Peace Thru Justice Foundation
11006 Viers Mill Road
STE L-15, PMB 298
Silver Spring, MD. 20902
For More Information:
E-mail: peacethrujustice@aol.com or Tel: (202) 246-9608

===========
To learn more about the facts of this case you may wish to go to
the International Justice Network - GO here and Just the Facts here

Find a most interesting sweeping, long yet also clear talk given by this dedicated human rights lawyer who has been working with Aafia's family on the well-being and return of her children:
here

"The Window"

2011-11-28T16:27:00.001-08:00

As I enter the solitude of prayer
I put these matters to Him, for He knows
That's my prayer-time habit, to turn and talk
That's why it's said "My heart delights in prayer"
Through pureness a window opens in my soul
God's message comes immediate to me
Through my window the Book, the rain and light
all pour into my room from gleaming source
Hell's the room in which there is no window
To open windows, that's religion's goal

Rumi's Masnavi 3: 2400-2404

The Windows above found here

Allama Iqbal's Marghdeen: Light for Us Today

2011-11-17T15:45:00.001-08:00

Whether we consider the emphasis all over the world on "green" living, the need for freedom which does not limit the freedom of others, the longing for a world without war and overbearing law-enforcement, Iqbal has something to say. Look at the goals of the "Occupy...the Banks or the 99% movements". Or see how often religion has become the opiate of people in various places, times and with different names. Consider not only how we sabatage the free expression and imagination of our children yet also do the same to our own.

Then read the following reflectively. This is from Iqbal's imaginary journey with Rumi in his book "Javidnama". Iqbal called this one book (for the childlike of all ages and times) his life work. How generous he left behind such wisdom for us all!

From JAVIDNAMA "Sphere of Mars" p. 27 Retold by Hina Tanvir, Ed. by Khurram Ali Shafique and Illustrated by Tabassum Khalid - available from Iqbal Academy Pakistan.

The city of Marghdeen is a magnificent place with tall buildings. Its people... speak a language that sounds melodious to the ears. They are not after material goods; rather they are the guardians of knowledge and derive wealth from their sound judgment. The sole purpose of knowledge and skill in that world is to help improve the life. Currency is unknown, and temperaments are not to be governed by machines that blacken the sky with their smoke...there are no landlords to plunder their harvest, and the tillers of the land enjoy the entire fruit of their labor. Learning and wisdom don’t flourish on deceit and hence there is neither army, nor law keepers...because there is no crime in Marghdeen. The marketplace is free from the...heartrending cries of the beggars.

“In this world there is no beggar,”...“Nor anyone is poor; no slave, no master – no ruler and thus none dominated.”

(The visitor) said, “Being born a beggar or a destitute, to be ruled or suppressed, is all by the decree of God. He alone is the architect of destiny. Destiny cannot be improved by reasoning.”

“If you are suffering at the hands of destiny,” replied the (Marghdeenian)..., “It is not unfair to ask God for a new one. He has no shortage of destinies for you. Failure to understand the mystical significance of destiny has led the inhabitants of the Earth to lose their identities. Here is a hint to the secret of destiny: change yourself and your destiny will change with you. If you are dust, you shall be scattered by the wind. But if you become solid as a rock, you can break the glass. If you are dewdrop, then you are destined to fall but if you are an ocean, then you will remain. To you, faith means conformity to others while your imagination remains confined because you do not conform to yourself. Shame on the faith that serves like an addiction to opium!”

Then he paused, and added, “A gem is a gem as long as you think it is valuable, otherwise it is just a stone. The world will shape itself according to your perception of it. The heavens and the earth too will adjust.”

Thumbnail above is "Evening in Amsterdam"
Lower represents painting "Lights and Shadows"
both painting are by artist Leonid Afremov Find him at afremov.com

Now Is the Nonviolence Moment

2011-11-17T08:39:00.002-08:00

WarIsACrime.org STRONG as usual that NONVIOLENCE is the ONLY way to respond to and initiate action TODAY in the murk of violence to personhood on all levels.

From the
WarIsACrime site:

Now is NOT the moment to declare "We tried nonviolence and it didn't work."

The purpose of a nonviolent movement is not to prevent police violence. The purpose is to change the society. And there is always every expectation that the police will be ordered to respond with violence if we begin to have any success. We are having success and the 1% is scared. Big city mayors are holding conference calls to discuss those fears and their militarized responses. War criminals and pirates like Cheney, Rice, and Paulson are canceling their events. Referenda are being passed in favor of working people. States are pulling out of mortgage (non)settlement deals.

Obama is at least pretending to listen to the people on the tar sands pipeline.

The corporate media is discussing inequality and the unfair concentration of wealth, power, and tax breaks in our corporatocracy. The Occupy camps are returning, resisting, growing, and finding ways to build a movement broader than the encampments. Now, when there are encouraging (if brutal) signs that the other side knows we are winning, now is the moment when we need a nonviolent movement.

Until now it has just been a movement. Now is when we nonviolently escalate. Now is when we take it from the streets to the suites. Now is when we refocus the discussion on taxing the rich, ending the wars, and moving the money from the military and corporate handouts to people and our natural environment. Now is when we shut down the stock exchange, the committee hearings, and the gated communities. Now is the winter of our discontent. Now is the nonviolence moment.

Watch this video from Keith Olbermann. SEE war is a crime dot org

Also watch OccupyWashingtonDC on CNN.

Also check out the new bill just introduced in Congress to overturn corporate personhood.

Lead Us

2011-11-17T08:39:00.001-08:00

*

If there's ONE Rumi poem which keeps coming to mind the most it's this one (Even the very beginning works well by itself and the middle is perhaps too dense for now.)

A Zero-Circle

Be helpless and dumbfounded,
unable to say yes or no.

The a stretcher will come
from grace to gather us up...

Crazed, lying in a zero-circle, mute,
we will be saying finally,
with tremendous eloquence, Lead us.

When we've totally surrendered to that beauty,
we'll become a mighty kindness.

-----------

In addition, I'm not at all sure if this is the accurate poet of this one...yet I find it quite interesting:

I saw this in an older forum - the poster said:

This is a poem by Rumi's oldest son, Bahauddin:

Where Are All the Others?

Those full of fear are not really on the way.
Everyone here is a king. No servants.

The wave can never be afraid of the ocean.
Inside that motion, how can anything be "other?"

When you feel separate, you're in your imagination.
Saints are the lights we see within this

exquisite fluid, and I'm not talking
about the elements! There's a light

that's the opposite of fire, as white to black.
When what I'm pointing to arrives,

there's no trace of burning. Don't ask
for a lineage of revelation, or explication

of texts, or rules of morality. There's nothing
here but love and mystery. Welcome to the tavern

where drunkards get sober and transparent,
until they disappear altogether in the face

of the one they love. Whatever loosens the taste
of their joy comes new with each breath.

In this orchard, and for the garden we farm,
there's no summer or winter. Roses open

every direction. This world's existence
is one night long. There's a great lively

gathering that night, but some people sleep
through it. Anyone who has seen the Beloved

wonders, "Where are all the others?" This
has nothing to do with thinking or belief.

Bahauddin, you've been left here alone
without your father, the great Mevlana.

From now on you'll have no friend,
no form to love, only what's real.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From a Commenter on this older forum:

What I really love about Rumi's poem is this, every single poem of him tell us his search for Allah. Some of his poem are so sad, some so mad, some so crazy and some filled with joy. The absolute beauty of his poem will be know if we follow it from his early stage of his life, before he meet Shams, then when He meet Shams we could see the difference in his view, as he keep searching and searching from the beginning to the end, we could feel the transformation in Him...

(Finally) in Rumi's world there is no Rumi or Shams or anyone else, only the One, Allah.
==========
Image above found on blogsite called HeavenlyMindedEarthlyGood with this quote underneath it:
"That which does no earthly good cannot be heavenly minded." R. Rivera

Allama Iqbal Day: In Honor of the Poet/Philosopher

2011-11-09T15:13:00.000-08:00

who was also a jurist, a politician, a social reformer, and a great scholar.

* find link below to source of photo
and to a shortened version of reference page...

(Note from other sources:
The first funeral prayer was attended by over twenty thousand people at Islamia College Railway Road and the second one outside Baadshahi Mosque. The then Imam of the Mosque, Moulana Ghulam Murshid led the prayer which was attended by over sixty thousand people.)

On April 21, 1938, Iqbal died in Lahore. People swarmed to his house; they included MUSLIMS, HINDU and SIKHS...when the funeral procession started in the evening it contained no less than twenty thousand people. Children from the orphanage of Anjuman Himayat-i-Islam paid their homage by holding little black flags in their hands and standing silently in a queue on a nearby road. They lowered their flags when the procession passed by. It was not forgotten that the poet had started out as a fundraiser for HOMELESS children thirty-eight years ago.

...His last book, an imaginary travelogue to Madinah in Persian verse was still unpublished. It came out later that year by the title he had given to it, Armughan-i-Hijaz, or The Gift of Hijaz...

...the Prime Minister designate Jawaharlal Nehru called the first session of his parliament on the 14th and let it linger on till midnight when he could greet the awakening of his country with a moving speech. The session did not adjourn until Suchitra Kirplani, who would later become the first woman Chief Minister in an Indian province, had sung Iqbal’s Saray jahan say achha Hindustan hamara (Our India is better than the whole world) alongwith Jana mana gana of the Bengali poet Tagore.

The next morning in Karachi, Jinnah hoisted a green and white flag to start the first day’s work in the state that was officially seen as the brainchild of Iqbal. Here, each successive ruler would feel obliged in one way or another to pledge commitment to the “message of Iqbal.”

The two states fought three wars against each other in less than three decades but Iqbal remained dear to them both. (It is believed that Nehru)...had enjoined upon his daughter (who became prime minister)to always honor the memory of Iqbal.

(Iqbal) had immortalized (Nehru) by mentioning him in his greatest work, Javid Nama.

(Indira Gandhi) initiated a second round of accolades for Iqbal by way of an international conference in New Delhi when Pakistan announced its own centennial of the poet four years later. However, it would be wrong to guess that such appreciation in India was restricted to the Nehru family – Morarji Desai, who wrested power from Indira Gandhi in the meanwhile, took pains to ensure that the conference in New Delhi takes place as planned...

Find this complete page here

People bestowed on Iqbal the title of "Shaere-Mashriq" (Poet of the East!). It may sound strange that Iqbal never considered himself a poet as is evidenced by his correspondence with Syed Sulaiman Nadvi [1885-1953].

"I have never considered myself a poet. Therefore, I am not a rival of anyone, and I do not consider anybody my rival. I have no interest in poetic artistry. But, yes, I have a special goal in mind for whose expression I use the medium of poetry considering the condition and the customs of this country." (translated from the original in Urdu; Maktoobat, Volume I, page195)

Iqbal: A Reference Page on The Republic of Rumi Website here

In honor of a major biographer's of Iqbal's life here

Other Notations such as Quaid-i-Azam's message on Iqbal Day
12:01 AM Posted 9 November 2011 by Khurram Ali Shafique
here

You Tube video discussion with Khurram Ali Shafique here

Recent International Iqbal Awards include Muhammad Abdul Rahim from Bangladesh on his book in Bengali ‘Iqbalaur Rajnaiti Ki Chintadhara’

2011-11-07T19:36:00.001-08:00

Three poems about Waking Up:

Pied Beauty

GLORY be to God for dappled things—
For skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow;
For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim;
Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches’ wings;
Landscape plotted and pieced—fold, fallow, and plough;
And áll trádes, their gear and tackle and trim.

All things counter, original, spare, strange;
Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?)
With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim;
He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change:
Praise him.

Gerard Manley Hopkins

********

Break the Mirror

In the morning
After taking cold shower
—–what a mistake—–
I look at the mirror.

There, a funny guy,
Grey hair, white beard, wrinkled skin,
—–what a pity—–
Poor, dirty, old man!
He is not me, absolutely not.

Land and life
Fishing in the ocean
Sleeping in the desert with stars
Building a shelter in the mountains
Farming the ancient way
Singing with coyotes
Singing against nuclear war–
I’ll never be tired of life.
Now I’m seventeen years old,
Very charming young man.

I sit down quietly in lotus position,
Meditating, meditating for nothing.
Suddenly a voice comes to me:
“To stay young,
To save the world,
Break the mirror.”

Nanao Sakaki

********

Song Of Dawn

It's dawn, -
open the door,
wake up, Khukumoni!
The jasmine flowers
from their vines
are calling you to come running,
wake up, Khukumoni!
Uncle Sun
is crawling out
all dressed in a crimson shirt,
listen - the gatekeeper
is singing
his song, 'Rama hoi.'
The birds
are leaving their nests
to fly in the sky,
listen to them
singing continuously,
filling the morning air!
The restless
Bulbul birds
whistle from flower to flower,
this time,
this time,
Khukumoni will open her eyes!
Setting the rudder,
hoisting the sail,
the boat begins its journey,
this time,
this time,
Khukumoni has opened her eyes!
Lazy
she's not-
she's an early-riser,
that's why
Brother Moon
gives a teep everyday for her!
Up
and running-
all the little boys and girls,
listen to them
babbling
about who woke up first!
Night's
wash up
wake up, Khukumoni!
With a hymn
let's begin
asking for a blessing from God!

Kazi Nazrul Islam

Gaza-Bound Flotilla Again...

2011-11-03T21:50:00.000-07:00

EXCLUSIVE: Video Report from Gaza-Bound Flotilla …13 hours ago

Nov 03, 2011 · Democracy Now! correspondent Jihan Hafiz filed this video report from the Tahrir boat from international waters and joined us live on the telephone …www.democracynow.org/2011/11/3/exclusive_video_report_from_gaza_bound

Reporter for Democracy Now!
http://www.linkedin.com/in/jihanhafiz

No More Crusades - By Tom Hayden

2011-10-25T00:49:00.000-07:00

Let Us Beat Swords into Plowshares *

Somehow I missed seeing the following 2007 article until just now - as the war in Iraq launched by the US is purportedly ended and as debris from the Japan Tsunami is said to be potentially landing on the West Coast October 25, 2011

Whether or not we are anymore allowed isolation is an irrelevant question.
What is begging an answer from us each and all is this:

Just what/how/when and in which manner are we Each and All going to make ourselves an instrument of our mutual worldwide suffering?

blogger here, Connie

Tom Hayden was described above the following item , posted at Huff Post: Former state senator and leader of Sixties peace, justice and environmental movements

Excerpts from speech I (Tom Hayden) gave to "Progressive Christians Uniting"

It's good to see 500 progressive Christians becoming organized in response to the highjacking of the faith by right-wing Christian networks. The fact that voters turned away the agenda of social and religious conservatives in the Nov 2006 election is a sign of the times. Those in high places who have been attacking progressive Christians like the All-Saints Church hopefully have heard the voice of the people. If not, we must turn up the volume on the voter mandate. That the voters in November heralded the coming of a progressive agenda on Iraq, on fair trade, on energy independence as well as religious tolerance should make you all exceeding glad that this organization exists in this time and place, and I hope that you will tithe yourselves to make your voices heard more clearly.

I have been instructed by your preachers to make only brief remarks, as their example teaches. So let me make these points in addition to thanking you.

First, I hope that my book the "Lost Gospel of the Earth" will be helpful as you rise to the challenge of environmental justice with your Eighth Day Project.

When I chaired the Natural Resources Committee in the California senate, I noticed that the clergy never testified against the destruction of species, forests, clean air and water, the wellsprings of life itself. Even today, the California Fish and Game Code refers to fish and wildlife as "the property of the people" and says they provide a contribution to the state economy. The forest practices law mandates "maximum sustained production of high quality timber products" while limiting any other values to only being "considered".

The environment thus is valued as a utilitarian resource, a giant storehouse of raw materials for the use of humankind. Right-wing Christians like Reagan's former interior secretary James Watt have argued against preservation of the environment in light of the Second Coming. Liberals have argued for environmental stewardship, often citing the "dominion" reference in Genesis as justification.

Well certainly stewardship is to be preferred to pillage. But I want to challenge the stewardship notion that we were placed here, at some distant time in the past, to suddenly become stewards of nature, as if nature was doing badly on its own. The stewardship concept extracts us from, and places us above, the realm of nature. The scriptures place us in this role to underscore our special, sacred status above the lesser world of living things and ecosystems. As stewards, we become the plant managers for the absentee owner. If this preposterous idea was true, we would have been overthrown or fired from our administrative roles for malfeasance and neglect long ago.

The Rev. Martin Luther King wrote in his 1963 letter from a Birmingham jail, in a rebuke to segregation, that all God's children are sacred. I wait the day when an environmental Martin Luther King writes of dying and disregarded species that all God's creation is sacred.

We will never win the argument against pollution and the decline of species by driving our Priuses. This will take a leap of faith, not just technical fixes.

That day is coming but it will take great soul-searching, in theology and practice, for Christianity - and other faith traditions as well - to make the adjustment. I agree with Al Gore who wrote that "when we rise, we will experience an epiphany as we discover that this crisis is not really about politics at all, it is a moral and spiritual challenge."

I am not sure that the theological and institutional adjustment can be made. We are living on borrowed time. But I believe we can rediscover a Lost Gospel of the Earth, an indigenous and mystical sense of the cosmos buried within all our religious traditions as evidence of past religious wars.

It is there in the rainbow covenant between God and earth itself. It is there when Isaiah speaks of the holy mountain and the earth being full of the knowledge of the Lord. It is there in the voice of the Whirlwind lecturing Job. It is there in the Tree of Life in Eden. It comes again in Francis of Assisi praising brother sun, sister moon, and mother earth. It is there in Hildegard of Bingen quoting the Holy Spirit as the breeze that nurtures all things green and makes the grasses to laugh with the joy of life.

But our dominant story is upside down, and the challenge is to make it right. Eve is not Adam's rib, but the early goddess made dependent on man; the snake is not the Devil, but the symbol of nature brought low. To truly experience the Lost Gospel, we have to acknowledge those old wars against nature worship and goddess cults, and make a just peace at last with those enemies. We must acknowledge and no longer be threatened by the pagan and goddess spirits within the mystic traditions of Christianity, among those who experienced the Christ as Cosmic, a divine presence in all creation.

Let me say it again. We must ensure that the religious wars of the Old Testament truly are over, and that means recognizing, respecting and reconciling with the visions of former enemies, not perpetuating a triumphalism. Making a just peace with the past may be the only path to a just peace in the future.

All those epic culture wars took place in the deserts and oases between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, the place of today's Iraq, the center of the world's mad scramble for oil, and the scene of the greatest environmental injustice, pollution and destruction on earth today. The Christian crusaders in the Pentagon, those like Gen. Jerry Boykin, the under-secretary in charge of intelligence, who boasts of Christianity's superiority over Islam and claims - insanely- to have aerial photographs of Satan himself in the dark clouds above Mogadishu, these are the modern claimants of rada, the Hebrew for "dominion over", ancient Eden, its present Muslim inhabitants and their tempting reservoirs of oil.

An environmentalism that does not speak of Iraq, one that speaks of global warming but not of global suffering, is an environmentalism that seeks only to replace Caesar's chariots with more fuel-efficient models. But if we would follow the path of Jesus today, we must denounce as sinful the Empire being installed in Eden today, a sin that brings us ever closer to the crucifixion not only of Iraq but nature itself.

And so I ask you tonight, in the best spirit of your tradition, to rise up and stop this latest and most lethal chapter of the Crusades.

==========
* a sculpture by Evgeniy Vuchetich, given by the Soviet Union to the United Nations in 1959; photo was taken from UN grounds showing sculpture in front of the East River. Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License (blogger found photo in Wikipedia under "Swords into Ploughshares"

Palestinian Prisoners Are Not “Unpeople”

2011-10-21T14:20:00.001-07:00

They Are Children of God

22 Oct 11 by James M. Wall

In a talk at New York City’s Barnard College the night the Hamas-Israeli prisoner exchange was announced, Noam Chomsky anticipated the one-sided media coverage of the exchange.

He charged the media with treating Israeli Jews as people, while dismissing Palestinians as “unpeople”.

Chomsky, who is Jewish, brings credentials to this issue as both an acclaimed linguistic scholar, and a strong advocate of Palestinian human rights.

To illustrate his point at Barnard, Chomsky described a front-page New York Times story, dated October 12, with the headline: “Deal with Hamas Will Free Israeli Held Since 2006

The Israeli, of course, is Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier held by Hamas for five years after he was captured June 25, 2006. Shalit, an Israeli army corporal, was on a patrol along the Israeli-Gaza border when he was captured.

Next to the Times story, Chomsky says, is a picture of four [Israeli] women, who are “kind of agonized over the fate of Gilad Shalit”.

The picture caption reads, he tells his audience, “Friends and supporters of the family of Staff Sgt. Gilad Shalit received word of the deal at the family’s protest tent in Jerusalem.”

Chomsky adds:

Well, that’s understandable, actually. I think he should have been released a long time ago. But there’s something missing from this whole story. So, like, there’s no pictures of Palestinian women, and no discussion, in fact, in the story of—what about the Palestinian prisoners being released? Where do they come from?

We finally have pictures of Palestinian men and women released from Israeli prisons, What we do not have are the names of most of them. And we still do not know where most of them “come from”.

The woman in the picture above, shown with a man we must presume is her father, was taken at the Mukataa (headquarters) close by Yasir Arafat’s tomb in Ramallah and adjacent to what was once the headquarters in which Arafat spent his final months.

The photo caption does not explain the meaning of Mukataa for non-Arabic readers. It also does not provide the name of the woman.. The picture, taken by Ilia Yefimovich for Getty Images, is available worldwide, but so far as I have been able to ascertain, it has not appeared in any American media outlet.

Read on here

Christian-Muslim Dialogue reaches out to find mutual respect, understanding

2011-10-20T14:58:00.000-07:00

Christian-Muslim Dialogue reaches out to find mutual respect, understanding
20 October 2011 found on Islamophobia 20 October 2011

Lexington, Kentucky

For a dozen years a diverse group of believers has convened monthly to find mutual understanding and respect – for their diverse faiths.

This group, the Christian-Muslim Dialogue, meets monthly to discuss issues between the two faiths. Sometimes the issues revolve around headline news stories, while other times the group simply discusses similarities and differences between the two religions. Though discussions typically focus on relations between Christians and Muslims, the meetings are open to anyone.

“We open it to all faiths. The topics are Christian-Muslim mainly, because we felt that was a needed thing,” said Dr. John Parks, co-founder of the Christian-Muslim Dialogue and member of Masjid Bilal Ibin Rabah mosque on Russell Cave Road.

The group was established more than 12 years ago when Parks and a group of other interested people met casually because they felt a Christian-Muslim dialogue was needed in Lexington. Shortly after their first meeting, they formalized the group, Parks said.

The group began to meet once a month at Hunter Presbyterian Church, where they would listen to both Christian and Muslim guest speakers and hold group discussions.

“We try to identify a topic that is relevant to our traditions that might have interest amongst the participants,” said Ihsan Bagby, participant in the Christian-Muslim dialogue and professor of Islamic Studies at University of Kentucky. “Sometimes we are theological, sometimes we cover headline-news type stuff.”

When it was first established, the group consisted of mainly older Christians and Muslims, Parks said. But in the last few years, the group has tried to reach out more to students.

“Particularly, in the last two years, we’ve put an effort into connecting with the Muslim Student association and UK students,” Parks said. “We’ve encouraged the younger speakers to do the presentations.”

The group also brings in professors, like Bagby, to speak about current issues.

At the group’s meeting on Oct. 22, the discussion is titled “Sharia law: what it is and what it isn’t” in light of current events surrounding Sharia law, which is the legal interpretation of Quran, the Muslim scripture.

“It has become a very contentious issue. In about 20 states there are bills called anti-Sharia bills in the state legislature that would ban Sharia. Usually the rhetoric surrounding these bills are very anti- Muslims,” Bagby said. “From an objective scholarly approach, and from a Muslim approach we want to have a better understanding of Sharia.”

The panel discussion at the meeting will feature Paul Salamanca, a professor at the UK College of Law, Roula Allouch, a Cincinnati attorney and Nabeel Jawahir, a pre-law student who has worked with the Council of American Islamic Relations regarding civil rights.

The goal of the discussion at the group’s meeting is “to put the whole issue of Sharia in perspective, so that people can understand what Sharia is,” Bagby said.

The Christian-Muslim Dialogue will be held Saturday, Oct. 22, at 10 a.m at the Unitarian Universalists Church at 3564 Clays Mill Road instead of Hunter Presbyterian Church due to the football game at Commonwealth Stadium. A potluck lunch will be held following the discussion and attendees are invited to bring a dish to share.

To Find Our Common Celestial Bond

2011-10-09T18:36:00.000-07:00

" Don't look at your form,
however ugly or beautiful.
Look at love and at the aim of your quest. ...
O you whose lips are parched, keep looking for water.
Those parched lips are proof that eventually you will reach the source."
-Rumi-

It’s a familiar analogy, but quite accurate, to talk about our relationship with the sacred in the same way we describe a beautiful gemstone. There are many facets to a gem, and depending upon the angle from which we view it, we see light reflected and refracted differently. Several people looking from different angles may report seeing something different, and yet they are all describing the same gem. In the same way, there are many facets to the sacred, and we all see it differently depending upon the “angle” of our culture and experience. And yet there is but one sacred.

There is an old saying that actually comes prior to Walt Whitman (who is often credited with saying it) that “the central urge of every atom is to return to its source.” When you look at the gamut of religions – all of which describe their own versions of the many-faceted gem – the one truth that runs through every one of them is that each of us is called to discover our true essence – our connection with the Divine.

That discovery is the whole of the spiritual journey, no matter what the religious path or discipline may be. And the beauty that is inherent in all of these individual religions is that they each provide an opportunity for individuals to discover the truth of themselves through their particular tradition.

It’s essential for us to realize that in spite of all the differences that seem to exist between us as individuals – color, race, creed, religious background – we all have a need within us that almost never leaves us alone – an almost incessant sense that something vital is missing from our life.

According to each different culture and tradition, that which is vital is named differently. Individuals pursue what has been named, hoping that somehow it will put an end to the sense that something is missing.

But when people get caught up in the particulars of their own religion, they often lose sight of the fact that the vital thing that seems to be missing is already within them, it has always been within them, and the same vital element that is within them lives within every human being on this planet.

To find it in myself is to see it in everyone else. And if I can see it in myself and in everyone else, I can’t be in conflict with others anymore. I can’t judge them. It’s impossible not to be compassionate if I see that I am everyone, and that every one of us is born with the same central need and the longing to fulfill it.

Now, more than ever, it is critical that individuals come to realize this common bond between us. There has probably never been as much conflict in our world, as much individual suffering, and as much global potential for a nightmarish situation, including what is happening to our environment, regardless of its cause. When we look at the planet at this moment, we’re looking at what has come from all that we’ve known, and known to do, from our understanding.

If I can see for a fact that the world that I am in today is not a better place than the one I came into, then inherent in seeing the world as it is, and recognizing that I am the world that I see, comes the understanding that the world cannot possibly change until something in me changes – until I begin seeing in a new way.

And this is where we come back to the unifying principle across religions. All true spiritual writings help individuals see the truth of themselves as they are. When we see the truth, in the very seeing of it an action is mandated. We must stop blaming others and start working to change ourselves so that we can experience personal fulfillment while also making the world a better place.

We must realize that every other human being, regardless of the surface differences, is after the same thing we are. We are all here to find the sacred, and it’s a difficult journey for every one of us. That understanding can lead to compassion, peace, and a world where we work together, instead of tearing ourselves apart.

Excerpted from The Seeker, The Search, The Sacred: Journey to the Greatness Within by Guy Finley. Published by Weiser Books.

GUANTÁNAMO AT HOME: An evening with the families of US 'terror suspects'

2011-10-06T11:43:00.000-07:00

Danny Glover, Gareth Peirce, Kathleen Chalfant, Wallace Shawn, and Deborah Eisenberg host an evening focused on the human rights crisis in the US' federal justice system with firsthand accounts from the families of US terror suspects.

As the tenth anniversary of September 11th is commemorated across the country, most public attention to the civil liberties and human rights abuses of the US ‘War on Terror’ still focuses overseas – to the abuses at Guantánamo, Bagram, and CIA rendition sites.

Renowned human rights lawyer Gareth Peirce, along with stage and screen actors Danny Glover, Wallace Shawn, and Kathleen Chalfant, and 2011 PEN/Faulkner Award winner Deborah Eisenberg will co-host an evening focused on the stories of families whose loved ones are suffering rights abuses in terrorism cases being prosecuted within the American federal judicial system.

Family members will tell their own stories of the human and civil rights violations here in US courts and prisons – stories of the inhumane conditions of confinement terror suspects face pre-trial and post-conviction; of over-reaching material support charges often accompanied by flimsy evidence; of years of intrusive and often illegal government surveillance; of FBI informants disrupting mosques and instigating conspiracies.

Featured speakers will include family members of the Newburgh Four, Fahad Hashmi, Lynne Stewart, the Holy Land Five, Tarek Mehanna, the Fort Dix Five, Ahmed Abu-Ali, and Shifa Sadequee among others.

Co-sponsored by The Center for Constitutional Rights; The Center for Place, Culture and Politics, The Graduate Center, CUNY; The Center for Humanities, The Graduate Center, CUNY; Theaters Against War; and Educators for Civil Liberties, with support from The North Star Fund.

WHEN and WHERE:
Friday, October 14 · 7:00pm - 9:30pm
Proshansky Auditorium, CUNY Graduate Center
365 Fifth Avenue (at 34th Street)
New York, New York 10016

or GO to fb (you don't need to be a fb member to just read the info) Facebook page: here

Abdul Sattar Edhi

2011-10-06T10:30:00.000-07:00

Go here

Count for Hunger Victims!

2011-10-06T09:27:00.000-07:00

Keep in touch with One.org and Sign up to help comfort the hungry GO here and do more...which comes from your own spirit of Love...

Plz Comment and Share your own ideas and Actions...

Peace Groups NOT giving up....recent reports

2011-10-06T09:18:00.000-07:00

Reports and Stay connected with recent delegation in Kabul. Non-Violent Peacemakers
Christian Peace-Maker Teacm

10 Years After: Welcome to the Failed State of Americastan
by Johnny Barber
October 4, 2011

As we step off the Turkish Air flight and walk across the dusty tarmac to the terminal, we are greeted by a large billboard. In big bold English it proclaims, “Welcome to the Home of the Brave.” It stops me in my tracks. I shake my head, thinking, “damn weird” and continue in to passport control. After waiting in a short line, I present my American passport to the guard in the booth. He doesn’t acknowledge me. He flips through the shiny new pages until he gets to the visa. He stamps it. He turns to the picture. He gives me a precursory glance and hands the passport back to me. I turn and enter Afghanistan.

I have come here with two friends from Voices for Creative Non-Violence, forming a small delegation interested in developing relationships with ordinary Afghans and gathering stories of everyday life since the American invasion in 2001. After collecting our luggage and taking a short bus ride to the parking area, Hakim, Mohammed Jan, and his brother Noor greet us warmly. Hakim and Mohammed Jan are our hosts and the organizing force of the Afghan Youth Peace Volunteers.

Read the rest of the report

Stop the Machine: Create a New World!

October 2011 will mark the start of the 11th year of the invasion of Afghanistan and the onset of the 2012 US federal budget, which provides unlimited funds for war and corporate welfare, yet withholds essential funds for services that meet human needs.

Starting on October 6, 2011, thousands of concerned Americans will assemble in Freedom Plaza, in Washington DC to take control of our country and our lives. We will occupy the plaza and hold a People's Assembly where we come up with just and sustainable solutions to the crises we face and demand that these solutions be presented and that the people's needs be addressed. We will plan and engage in creative acts of civil resistance and demand that our inherent rights and freedoms be protected, and that our children have a chance to live in peace,to breathe clean air, and to grow edible natural food.

Will you stand with us and denounce the systems and institutions that support endless war and unrestrained corporate greed ?

Connect with a U.S. "Tahrir Square" demonstration at October2011.org.

=======================
Hello,

After a little "catch-up work" you will find newer items here either as updates to older posts or as comments. Plz add your own comments to encourage more international dialogue.

Thanx for coming by.

Connie

CHOOSING LIFE

2011-09-27T20:09:00.001-07:00

Jewish High Holidays Reflection 2011

COALITION FOR PEACE
WITH JUSTICE

The Coalition for Peace with Justice would like to express its deep gratitude for its friends and supporters who have worked, advocated and donated toward a just peace in Palestine-Israel.

CHOOSING LIFE

A Personal Reflection on the Jewish High Holidays

by Maggid Rachel Galper

For many Jews, the High Holidays is the time of year we celebrate Creation and the sweetness of the New Year. It is also the time we rededicate ourselves to being Holy vessels by doing teshuvah - turning toward God. We do this by calling out to the Holy One with the Shofar (ram's horn), casting all that separates us from God (our "sins") into the waters during Tashlich, performing mikveh (ritual immersion) in living waters, and doing our best to repair the harm we have caused in the world through prayer, fasting, self-examination, and making amends. We renew our commitment to live and love with a willing spirit, a full heart, and a clear mind. Only then can we be sealed in the Book of Life for another year.

On Yom Kippur (The Day of At-One-Ment), we study the story of Jonah to remind us of the ways in which we, like him, are reluctant prophets trying to avoid our sacred responsibility to care for one another. This responsibility is clearly stated in Isaiah 57-58. Here God tells us to unlock the fetters of wickedness, let the oppressed go free, share our bread with the hungry, take the suffering into our homes and hearts, clothe the naked, and to pay attention to other beings (our kin). "This is the fast I desire!" God tells us. And we are told that if we do this Holy work, we will bring healing, light, and compassion to a dark and troubled world.

In Deuteronomy 30:14, we are reminded that God's teachings are never far away; they are within us, accessible and available. In verses 19-20, God tells us, "I have put before you life and death, blessing and curse. Choose life- if you and your offspring would live...." So why, with such clear and loving instruction and guidance, is it so hard for us to choose life? Why must we set aside time and space to repent and return to God, ourselves and each other year after year?

Let me tell you a story....

Several days ago, I drove up to the mountains with a friend. It was raining, and everything was blanketed with mist. We visited the plants and trees as we always do, weeding where needed, picking tomatoes and peppers, enjoying the smells of rosemary, lavender, and basil. I noticed that on many of the plants, there were intricately woven spiders webs, laced with countless drops of rain glistening like precious gems along their many strands. I was awed by the beauty of God's creation. But at the same time, I realized that the spiders were constantly building and rebuilding their webbed homes to survive and trap their prey. The earth, my Torah, was showing me that what is beautiful and purposeful entangles and takes life. She was also teaching me that the webs we weave must constantly be made and remade.

I believe this is the blessing and the curse God speaks to us of in Deuteronomy. Thousands of years ago my ancestors stood on two separate mountains, six tribes on each, to shout amen to each of the blessings and curses recited by the Priests and Priestesses in the valley between them- the place of balance and clear seeing. They shouted acknowledgement to show God that they were choosing to live life with full understanding of the consequences for their actions.

During the High Holidays, I accept the same challenge offered my ancestors: to choose life by accepting the blessings and the curses and dwelling in the valley between them. It is a time of being humble and raw before my Maker, and releasing all that does not serve. For me, this means many things. It means accepting Divine guidance and becoming a clear vessel for God's will. It means combating despair. It means pursuing justice and speaking out when it is not being done. It means being compassionate and open to the Divine in everyone I meet- without exceptions. It means confronting bigotry and fundamentalism within and without. It means challenging oppression. And it means weaving a web without becoming entangled in it.

But if the High Holidays were the only time I had in which to do this deep inner searching and cleansing, I would be utterly lost. Fortunately, my tradition gives me opportunities every day and night to do teshuvah, turning toward God, by choosing to be in deep connection with the Holy. Herein lies the core of God's teachings for me: The world I seek to create is not baffling or beyond my reach. It is here and now- already within me, within us, within each moment, within each droplet, strand, and web, within every prayer, and within every amen.

May each and every day be our day for choosing life.

Coalition for Peace with Justice | P.O. Box 2081 | Chapel Hill | NC | 27515

Palestinian and Israeli Bereaved Families for Peace

2011-09-27T04:38:00.000-07:00

To read more GO here See the newest effort - "Blood Relations"

Chaplain speaks on racism toward Muslims after 9/11

2011-09-26T16:39:00.000-07:00

Student Newspaper - The Daily Orange > News

Chaplain speaks on racism toward Muslims after 9/11
By Hailey Temple

Contributing Writer

Published: Monday, September 26, 2011

Updated: Monday, September 26, 2011 01:09

Earlier this month, Syracuse University students and Americans across the nation recognized the loss of thousands of lives from the terrorist attacks on 9/11 ten years later.

For former U.S. Army Chaplain James "Yusuf" Yee, the 10-year anniversary marked not only a tragedy for the nation, but the revival of the American ideology called Islamophobia, or the sense of fear and hostility toward Muslims that leads to discrimination and racial profiling.

Yee spoke at the Life Sciences Complex on Thursday to a packed lecture hall after being invited by SU's Muslim Students' Association.

When Yee served as a chaplain to Muslims at Guantanamo Bay's Camp Delta in late 2002 into 2003, he said his purpose at the terrorist prison was two-fold: to be a religious adviser to the camp's command and to serve as a chaplain to both American Muslims and Muslim prisoners.

During his 12-month term at Guantanamo Bay, Yee saw firsthand the type of neglect and exploitation Muslim prisoners received from American counterparts.

"I saw religion being used as a weapon," Yee said. "Military guards would intentionally abuse the Quran in order to try and pressure these individuals in Guantanamo to give up some type of information, intelligence if they might have it."

"They wanted to try and break these individuals from their core belief as Muslims," he added.

Despite earning military recognition and high rankings for his religious efforts at Guantanamo Bay, Yee said he became a victim of Islamophobia in 2003 as he was traveling home to visit his wife and child in Seattle before finishing his term at Camp Delta.

While at a stop at Jacksonville Naval Air Station, Yee said he was swarmed by security and intelligence officers, interrogated and secretly arrested and accused for taking classified documents from Guantanamo Bay.

Yee spent 76 days at the Naval Consolidated Brig, a maximum-security prison for American enemy combatants.

"There were stories swirling around in the media that I was this ‘terrorist spy,' that I was working for al-Qaeda and the Taliban as a spy for the prisoners," Yee said.

As a military prisoner, Yee said he experienced the same neglect he saw other Muslim prisoners endure. Much like those prisoners, Yee was shackled "at the wrists, at the waist, at the ankles, in a suit of chains."

Once Yee's name was cleared of these allegations, he was released and reinstated as a military chaplain. He resigned and was honorably discharged from the military in 2003.

Although Yee is no longer a military member, the exploitation he witnessed and experienced as a Muslim continues to be a part of American society, he said.

Despite promises that Guantanamo Bay would close following President Barack Obama's election, the prisons are open and continue to house Muslims that are arrested and accused of terrorist acts.

Yee said he was enthusiastic about Obama's campaign "because he had the strongest position on Guantanamo and taking care of this human rights situation, but it has yet to be done." Now, Yee said he is very disappointed in how Obama has handled the Guantanamo situation.

Yee also described how Islamophobia has taken many forms in American government. After a prominent imam was invited to give the opening invocation for a state legislature, a state representative left the meeting.

"The guy walked out because he said ‘Mohammed is not my God,'" said Yee, followed by a few chuckles from the audience. "Well, Mohammed is not our God either … and this shows the ignorance, the lack of knowledge even our elected officials have about Islam."

Despite the profiling Muslims have received since Sept. 11, Yee and other Muslims remain optimistic about the status of Islam religion in American society.

One way that Yee described as a means of eliminating Islamophobia is by sharing the ‘Muslim narrative,' or as Yee said, by sharing stories of Muslims who also lost their lives on 9/11. Yee said Muslims need to be proactive in the media and share the stories.

Ismail Pathan, vice president of SU's Muslim Students' Association and junior finance major, also said he feels that this message needs to be heard.

"Many people often don't understand that Muslims are Americans, too, and any act against America is an act that is against them, too," Pathan said.

Pathan said this is a time when Muslim Americans need to talk about their experiences, and Yee did that.

For Mushaf Haque, a freshman communications and rhetorical studies major, improving the image of Muslims in America starts at a personal level.

"I am a big believer in leading by example," Haque said. "If my actions portray a positive image of Muslim peoples' lives, then that is my main goal."

htemple@syr.edu

=========
See related news items
Andy Worthington's Site here
No More Gitmos here

Support the work of Project Salam dot org

2011-09-18T12:47:00.000-07:00

Please go to oneheartforpeace.blogspot.com or CLICK here for Sunday September 18, 2011

Flood Victims Need Our Love, Prayers and Acts

2011-09-13T07:32:00.000-07:00

GO here and the one right below that post on One Heart For Peace...

ALLAH: A Christian Response (Three Reviews)

2011-09-04T15:10:00.001-07:00

Miroslav Volf (Author)

Frequently bought together with A Common Word: Muslims and Christians on Loving God and Neighbor by Miroslav Volf

Recent disputes like the "ground zero" mosque controversy have their roots in historical conflicts, according to Yale professor and author Volf (Exclusion and Embrace). The author, who grew up in what was then Yugoslavia, explains that Christians' ability to live in community with Muslims depends on their answer to one question: is the God of the Qur'an the same as the God of the Bible?

With a conversational tone and the backing of both sacred texts, the author argues that while beliefs about God may differ, the object of worship for both religions is the same (or at least the objects are "sufficiently similar"). Such "claims are spicy," but come after careful consideration. Volf provides a thorough examination of theology to show the complexity of what seems a simple question of terminology.

Perhaps the most stirring and involved debate concerns the comparison of the Christian Trinity to Allah. On such a heated topic, readers will appreciate Volf's sense of humor and optimism. Though the text may not convince those who fear religious pluralism, his timely call for Christian love toward Muslims should at least lead to further dialogue, if not increased social cooperation. This is an important book.

Product Description
Three and a half billion people—the majority of the world’s population—profess Christianity or Islam. Renowned scholar Miroslav Volf’s controversial proposal is that Muslims and Christians do worship the same God—the only God. As Volf reveals, warriors in the “clash of civilizations” have used “religions”—each with its own god and worn as a badge of identity—to divide and oppose, failing to recognize the one God whom Muslims and Christians understand in partly different ways.

Writing from a Christian perspective, and in dialogue with leading Muslim scholars and leaders from around the world, Volf reveals surprising points of intersection and overlap between these two faith traditions:

• What the Qur’an denies about God as the Holy Trinity has been denied by every great teacher of the church in the past and ought to be denied by Christians today.

• A person can be both a practicing Muslim and 100 percent Christian without denying core convictions of belief and practice.

• How two faiths, worshipping the same God, can work toward the common good under a single government.

Volf explains the hidden agendas behind today’s news stories as he thoughtfully considers the words of religious leaders and parses the crucial passages from the Bible and the Qur’an that continue to ignite passion. Allah offers a constructive way forward by reversing the “our God vs. their God” premise that destroys bridges between neighbors and nations, magnifies fears, and creates strife.

The most surprising part of the book was his analysis of the Christian doctrine of the Trinity in the light of Islamic monotheism. By his accounting, and he relies on traditional orthodox accounts of the Trinity, the affirmations and denials that make up the doctrine are well in line with Muslim teachings on the nature of God. Particularly interesting was his use of Nicholas of Cusa, a Christian theologian and philosopher who wrote eirenically toward Islam in the medieval era.

If you are looking for a thoroughly biblical and deeply Christian rationale for engagement with Muslims, you need to consider this book and its arguments. Volf's style is clear and accessible, with plenty of scholarly substance, yet written in a way accessible to non-scholars. Volf brings in the masterful argument set forth by theologian Nicholas of Cusa (1401 - 1464) and that of Reformer Martin Luther. Volf gave a good summary of the explanation of Nicholas of Cusa of the Trinity to the Muslim so that there is "no dispute between Christians and Muslim about God's unity" (51). One part of his explanation is that "[n]umbers are for creatures. God is not a creature. Therefore God is beyond number - beyond the number one as much as beyond the number three" (52). It must be noted that Nicholas of Cusa came up with this ingenious explanation of the Trinity after the fall and rape of Constantinople in 1453 by the Muslim armies of Sultan Mehmed II and the Christians were trying to sue for peace.

A Timely and Important Work by a Thoughtful and Loving Scholar, April 20, 2011
By Daniel A. Walter "Steelyeye" (Midland, TX USA):

In Allah, Miroslav Volf tackles the controversial question, "Do Christians and Muslims worship the same God?" Volf points out that it is only since 9/11 and the emergence of Muslim terrorist groups into the forefront that Christians have begun to ask this question. The book is a timely and carefully written argument from the point of view of a Christian theologian to fellow Christians (with Muslims as an intended and important secondary audience) that demonstrates that indeed the God of the Qur'an and the God of the Bible share sufficient similarities to be deemed the same.

Volf opens the debate by briefly touching on the modern issues contrasting the opposition's viewpoint, exemplified by Pat Robertson, who believe that Allah is a different God from that of Christians, with that of his own. In the wake of the violent reactions throughout the Muslim world to the Danish cartoons that satirically portrayed Muhammad in 2006 and the peacemaking overture of the Islamic scholars who issued the "Common Word" document in 2007, knowing whether Christians and Muslims worship the same God is critical to achieving peace and combatting extremism. Volf does not address the issue of salvation. His stated goal is to lay the theological foundation for peaceful Muslim-Christian relations.

Volf examines the record of Muslim-Christian relations for precedents. His first is Nicholas of Cusa was a cardinal during the sack of Constantinople by Ottoman armies. His recommendation to the pope to arrange an interfaith conference rather than a new crusade was based on his conviction that Christians and Muslims worship the same God with different names and in different ways. His second example is from a century later when the Ottoman armies had invaded Hungary. Martin Luther described Muslims using the same fiery rhetoric as he did for all his opponents. For Luther the Muslims didn't worship a separate God, but like Catholics, Jews, and heretical groups, they did not rightly know the one true God, while acknowledging significant overlaps between the Christian and Muslim understanding of God.

Then Volf returns to the book's central question. He suggests that no two people have the exact same belief in God, even if they share a common faith, so he proposes that the God of Christians and Muslims can be said to be the same if they show sufficient similarity. Volf examines portions of the Qur'an, the Hadith, and the Bible and compares beliefs for normative Muslims and Christians: God is One, God is the Creator, God is transcends creation, and God is good. Also God commands that people love Him and love their neighbor. The key here is "normative." Volf sets aside extremist positions for the moment. Then, he examines the practices of Muslims and Christians. Stated beliefs are one thing. What person practices reflects what he truly believes. He concludes that to the extent that Muslims and Christians hold to the normative beliefs of their religion and practice the commandments to love God and love others, they do worship the same God. Muslims may worship God deficiently since they do not know God as revealed through Jesus Christ, but Volf is not examining the question of salvation.

Volf then examines some of the key differences between the Muslim and Christian conception of God. He clears up many of the misconceptions held by Muslims about the Christian doctrine of the Trinity and paints a picture of the Triune God to highlight another important difference, the nature of God's love. Though in both religions, God commands his followers to love, only in Christianity does God ask believers to love their enemies. The difference comes from the quality of divine love. For Muslims, God's self-love is the source of all human love. For Christians, the inter-personal love of the Trinity is the source. God's love is self-giving rather than self-directed. God does not love what is pleasing to Him, rather God loves and so transforms what is displeasing to Him to what pleases Him. These differences do not indicate that Muslims and Christians worship a different God, but are the basis for fascinating and rigorous debate about the nature of the one true God.

One of the most important points in Volf's argument is the inclusive nature of monotheism. Any attempt the confine God to a marker of identity (his example: the Christian Serbs) effectively reduces God to tribal deity. A community must instead align its own aspirations with God's character and demands. Both Muslims and Christians claim to worship the one God, but both communities often fall prey to having God align with their own narrow viewpoints. Since God does underly the ultimate values of both, this is a foundation for unity and peace.

Volf believes that unity and peace can be shared by Muslims and Christians who maintain an exclusivist religious worldview. Volf does not suggest that Christianity is the same as Islam, just because both adherents worship the same God. Nor must either group surrender the truth claims of their respective religions. Muslims and Christians do not need to settle for relativism. They can disagree with one another on important religious beliefs such as the nature of salvation, while remaining committed to treating one another with dignity and fighting for the common good of all. The foundation for this "political pluralism" for "religious exclusivists" is in the shared belief that the two most important commands are to love God and love one's neighbor. Additionally, a commitment to justice precludes treating the other as second-class citizen. Thus, Volf also has critics of religion, such as the new atheists, in is sights. Monotheism is the basis for a just and ethical, peaceful society, committed to political pluralism. In his words, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of political wisdom in a multi-religious state" (241).

Volf concludes his work by giving ten ways the arguments of his book can be used by Christians, primarily, but also by Muslims to combat religious extremism, including terrorism. The book thus achieves its practical purpose of promoting peace and the common good of Muslims and Christians in society. I highly recommend this book to any Christian (or Muslim!) involved in interfaith dialogue, religious ministry, or mission work. While I don't agree with every point that Volf makes, his writing is very clear, logical, and easy to read. His arguments are well constructed, with a good balance of reason and revelation, with modern and historical examples. Though some of the topics are challenging theologically, it should not be difficult to follow for the layperson. There is a lot of material worth debating and discussing in Christian, Muslim, or interfaith groups.

Look Inside at Amazon.com

Product Details
Hardcover: 336 pages
Publisher: HarperOne (February 15, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0061927074
ISBN-13: 978-0061927072
Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 1.2 inches
Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)

Rendition Links (As of Early September 2011)

2011-09-04T14:58:00.000-07:00

One way the USA demonstrates the desire for far more than freeing the world of terror is the nearly complete lack of accountability in extraordinary renditions and accompanying torture. This looks like empire mentality along with plain greed for oil and other resources including location. (Which becomes a kind of Crusade once again.)

The following renditions --atrocities and illegal movements to capture (or kidnap) people not even charged yet considered or "used" as "suspects" -- implicates well-known and not-so-well-known airlines and planes. Some of which is coming into focus because of a recent court trial...

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2011/0903/1224303429524.html

http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/anger-at-rendition-flights-through-shannon-166249.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/01/cia-rendition-program_n_944410.html

http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/subjects/e/extraordinary_rendition/index.htmlhttp://www.ibtimes.com/articles/207086/20110901/rendition-cia-cia-rendition-extraordinary-rendition-cia-black-sites-cia-black-prisons.htm
(Be sure to see links on right side for international references)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andy-worthington/former-insider-shatters-c_b_229978.html
(Andy Worthington on insider)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rev-richard-l-killmer/cheney-torture-is-never-acceptable_b_945177.html
(by key leader of Inter-religious activists against torture)

http://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/323-95/7284-the-vast-and-expansive-us-secret-army
(North Carolina Link)

Civilian Contractors own site:

http://civiliancontractors.wordpress.com/2011/09/02/did-cia-rendition-flights-rely-on-bogus-state-dept-letter/

Misc. earlier items:

September 01 2011 or late August:
http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=15654 SEE list of corporations
including Boeing on top

Fayetteville (may have interesting comments?)

http://fayobserver.com/articles/2011/09/01/1119904

August 2011 yet some refer to current concerns or may be earlier:
http://www.andyworthington.co.uk/category/extraordinary-rendition-and-secret-prisons/
(See Andy's links to UN reports he helped make and to one by HRW)

http://www.andyworthington.co.uk/2011/08/23/more-evidence-of-the-use-of-water-torture-at-guantanamo-and-in-afghanistan-and-iraq/

Obama's acceptance of torture, renditions:
http://blog.amnestyusa.org/waronterror/obamas-alleged-link-to-secret-prisons-and-extraordinary-rendition/

Interesting use of commentary while not our usual source:
http://patriotsagainsttyranny.blogspot.com/2011/09/contract-with-atrocity-torture.html

The Guardian Aug. 31 2011
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/aug/31/cia-rendition-flights-cost

http://nationaljournal.com/nationalsecurity/legal-dispute-reveals-details-of-secret-cia-rendition-program-20110901

More North Carolina items some MUCH earlier:
http://dancewater.blogspot.com/2007/02/more-on-rendition-flights-out-of-north.html

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2011/09/01/2570311/rights-chief-countless-crimes.html

http://www.wect.com/story/15373112/court-case-reveals-details-of-secret-flights

Older for record:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extraordinary_rendition_by_the_United_States
(I suspect this one will be updated soon?)

And of course, the State of the Art on State Activism re. torture, ER
and related (keep coming back for more)
http://www.ncstoptorturenow.org/

Torture is How We Become Villains

2011-09-04T14:49:00.000-07:00

Sent from Chuck Fager - a longtime staff director at the Quaker House

Friends:

During the Quaker House 40th anniversary in 2008, we presented an award to the Fayetteville Observer, for its series of hard-hitting editorials against torture. It was a series unprecedented in "mainstream media", never mind a paper in a major military town.

It remains so; and the OpEd below, just out, is a distinguished addition to this series:

As the paper wrote in 2008: “Torture is not how we overcome villainy. It’s how we become villains. It must be stopped.”

Hang your heads, News-Observer editors. Your craven complicity has been outed once again.

http://fayobserver.com/articles/2011/09/03/1119577?sac=Opin or CLICK here

Published: 12:00 AM, Sat Sep 03, 2011

And from the law professor ... silence
By Gene Smith

Even when I've disliked the drift of certain of President Obama's policies, there's usually been a discernible pattern of thought, an unspoken reassurance that at least he knows the location of "the right track." In one area, though, he's been a total disappointment.

I never expected him to round up Bush administration officials by the busload and haul them off to court, or to have the attorney general prosecute an ex-president and vice president whom Congress had shown little interest in impeaching even when many Americans were calling for just that. But neither did I expect acquiescence.
Pause for a couple of distinctions, small but important.

First, there is such a thing as executive privilege; it is legitimate, and it is deserving of protection.

Second, the Justice Department has some responsibility to mount a vigorous legal defense of whatever is defensible about a previous administration's actions, even if the current occupant of the White House hopes the courts rule the other way.

But: The Obama administration has consistently sided with, remained neutral toward or deflected attention from wrongdoing that needed confronting. And if his argument is that those past deeds were not things he wanted cluttering his first-term agenda, my reply is that his argument makes sense in regard to, say, gun control, but not in regard to the very essence of what America is and does.

"We do not torture," said President Bush, in what became a mantra. "America does not torture."

Everybody now knows that Bush's ritual reassurance was a cold, deliberate lie, recited to a nation that wanted to believe it because we had not yet sacrificed honor on the altar of partisan politics.

Obama's response was to rescind Bush's torture "policy" and substitute his own anti-torture "policy." There can be no such thing. Torture isn't a policy matter. Torture has no constitutional foundation - is in fact contrary to the Constitution every president vows to preserve, protect and defend. The president has no authority to allow it.

What we needed was a carefully drawn lawsuit leading to reaffirmation, in all three branches of government, that the United States, despite these aberrations, still forbids torture and prosecutes torturers. Instead, we got a paper-shuffle.

On the day that Bush leapt to defend the ultra-secret warrantless wiretap program that he'd ordered because he was dissatisfied with the emergency FISA court, he publicly confessed to impeachable offenses. Again, there was a total lack of constitutional authority, total contempt for law. But Obama has steadfastly refused to pursue anyone in Bush's legal brain trust.

This is tricky, but only slightly so. Legal advice to a president from his lawyers, even bad advice, generally is protected. But what John Yoo and his counterpart in the vice president's office concocted was not serious advice. It was chaff, a wordscreen, nonsense clad in legalese so the lot of them wouldn't be left standing there stammering if they were caught doing what all of them knew to be criminal.
I never believed Yoo's legal parody was protected. More importantly, neither did the Bush administration, which did everything in its power to keep the scheme from going to court and being ruled unlawful (which, years later, it was). But now Yoo's yammering that the law is whatever the president wants it to be from moment to moment gets an executive-privilege shrug from Obama.

And Obama's successors, if they wish, can cite his non-response as legal precedent.

A Harvard law professor doesn't get to plead ignorance of that.

Gene Smith is the Observer's senior editorial writer. He can be reached at smithg@fayobserver.com

=============================

Deep Concerns about our US Constitution

2011-08-17T08:36:00.001-07:00

How easy to see why so many worldwide interpret US policies and actions as a kind of Crusade against certain peoples...

http://motherjones.com/politics/2011/08/state-secrets-fazaga-v-fbi

Amnesty International USA's Security with Human Rights campaign aims to gather, and then deliver to President Obama, 100,000 signatures either in on line response or upon paper airplane petitions by May 1, 2012, with the goal of prompting him to apologize to Maher Arar during whatever remarks he delivers to commemorate the United Nations' International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, observed annually on June 26.When the struggle to promote, protect and defend human rights seems overwhelming, try to remember the courage of Mr. Arar and the other victims and survivors of torture and their families.

There are links to the action via the North Carolina Stop Torture Now - NCSTN Web site: GO here

or, more directly: GO here

CUT PASTE for your friends:
http://www.ncstoptorturenow.org/action.html#apologize
or, more directly: http://tinyurl.com/Apologize2Arar

ALSO VISIT Bill of Rights Defense Committee bordc@mail.democracyinaction.org

Find all these below at bordc.org or GO here

US MAYORS Call for END to War!

2011-08-13T10:21:00.000-07:00

Since much of the world see the US overkill and provocations around the world as Greed or Power driven if not "Empire Seeking"...I'm including some articles here on my "No More Crusades" site - related to the large ongoing efforts among thousands of US groups to END THE WARS and related corruptions. Today also find a posting focused on Somalia's Children: One Way to Help on my blogsite "One Heart For Peace" GO here

The following is from David Swanson:

Congress Finally Finds Its Purse

For years there was debate on Capitol Hill over whether or not Congress could end a war by cutting off the funding. Despite the Constitution's clarity, and the clarity of numerous precedents, Senator Russ Feingold was obliged to hold hearings to explain to his colleagues what the power of the purse is. That debate is over.

Those who pretended for years they didn't have the power to cut off the dollar spigot have dropped the pretense. Now it's purely about whether they have the will. The reason for this shift, of course, is that they are actually close to having the will.

Credit Mayor Dave Norris

Unless Rahm Emanuel talks them out of it over the weekend, come Monday the US Conference of Mayors will vote to pass its first resolution since Vietnam calling for the end of war and the re-allocation of all that money to something useful.

...The first mayor to sign onto this resolution other than the original sponsor Antonio Villaraigosa of Los Angeles was Charlottesville, Va.'s Dave Norris. Norris signed on immediately upon being asked, and his name helped encourage others to join the list of sponsors.

Eventually 21 mayors signed onto the resolution prior to the commencement of the conference now underway in Baltimore.

Here is the resolution that will make news on Monday, just as President Obama appears likely to violate his commitment to a major withdrawal from Afghanistan, and just as Congress is moving to cut off funding for the unauthorized war in Libya:

*****

CALLING ON CONGRESS TO REDIRECT MILITARY SPENDING TO DOMESTIC PRIORITIES

WHEREAS, the severity of the ongoing economic crisis has created budget shortfalls at all levels of government and requires us to re-examine our national spending priorities; and

WHEREAS, the people of the United States are collectively paying approximately $126 billion dollars per year to wage war in Iraq and Afghanistan; and

WHEREAS, 6,024 members of the US armed forces have died in these wars; and at least 120,000 civilians have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan since the coalition attacks began.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the U.S. Conference of Mayors supports efforts to speed up the ending of these wars; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the U.S. Conference of Mayors calls on the U.S. Congress to bring these war dollars home to meet vital human needs, promote job creation, rebuild our infrastructure, aid municipal and state governments, and develop a new economy based upon renewable, sustainable energy

*****

Credit where it's due.

Thank your Mayor, Charlottesville! (And others if deserved)

Ramadhan Event (Link)

2011-08-07T12:33:00.000-07:00

GO here MANCHESTER: Ramadhan Event (one week to go)

Five Scriptures You Won’t Hear at Rick Perry’s Prayer Event

2011-08-06T22:36:00.000-07:00

Published on Wednesday, August 3, 2011 by CommonDreams.org

by Jim Rigby

As a native Texan, I’m used to crazy religion and crazy politics. So, the announcement of Gov. Rick Perry’s plans for “The Response,” a prayer event scheduled for Aug. 6 at Houston’s Reliant Stadium, was not a surprise.

But as a Presbyterian minister and community organizer, it’s part of my job to stand up for my neighbors. The use of the governor’s office to promote one religion in a country with such rich religious diversity is obviously unhealthy politics, but -- if one takes the Christian and Jewish scriptures seriously -- it is also unhealthy religion. Here are five rather important verses of scripture you aren’t likely to hear at “The Response”:

Don’t make a show of prayer

“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray in public places to be seen by others… But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your heavenly parent, who is unseen.” (Matt. 6:5-6)

While Jesus never addressed the issues most important to some of this event’s co-sponsors, such as homosexuality and abortion, he did speak out against public displays of religion. Whatever Jesus meant by the word “prayer,” it seems to have been about the quiet and personal. The disciples had to ask Jesus how to pray, which is a pretty good indication that he wasn’t praying a lot publicly. What he did say about prayer carried a warning label: “Don’t rub it in other people’s faces.”

God doesn’t withhold rain because we’ve done something wrong

“God causes the sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” (Matt. 5:45)

Perry recently called Texans to pray for rain, which implies that God steers clouds toward the worthy. According to Right Wing Watch, one of the events co-sponsors has said the earthquake in Japan happened because the emperor had sex with the Sun Goddess. It may be a part of our lower nature to blame disasters on people we don’t like or understand, but Jesus taught that God sends rain on the just and unjust. Furthermore, he said our love should be equally nonselective.

I have chosen Christianity as my life’s religion, but when nonjudgmental love is taken out of its center, it becomes poisonous and predatory. The word “God” can be a helpful symbol for all the transcendentals of life, but the symbol becomes instantly pathological when used as a scientific explanation or political justification.

God doesn’t have favorites

Then Peter began to speak: “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism.” (Acts 10:34)

When the Bible says that God is not a “respecter of persons” it means that God doesn’t have a favorite country or religion. The idea that God wants Christians to be in charge of other people violates Jesus’ teaching that we are to take the lowest place. We are to change the world by humble persuasion and good example, not by messianic coercion. The assumption that Christianity and America are God’s two favorite things will be particularly ironic, as the prayer event falls on the anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima.

Worship by those who neglect the poor is offensive to God

“I hate, I despise your religious festivals; your assemblies are a stench to me… Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps. But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!” (Amos 5:21-24)

The prophet Amos chastised the religion of his day for praying to God while mistreating people. Texas leads the nation in citizens who are uninsured, who work for minimum wage, and who die from unsafe working conditions on construction sites. Our state has the widest gap between rich and poor of any in the union. If the governor wants to call us to repentance it should begin with our real sins against the poor not the imaginary sins dreamed up by his friends.

The heart of Christian ethics is being a good neighbor

When Jesus told the story of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:30-37) it was to teach humility to a rich young zealot who thought he was approaching moral perfection. The Samaritans were the scapegoats of the day. The rich young ruler would consider Samarians heretics and immoral people. Jesus used a merciful Samaritan as the example of ethical perfection. It is a lesson many Christians have yet to learn.

One sponsor of the event, the American Family Association, is listed by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a hate group. The group’s director of analysis for government and policy is quoted by the SPLC as saying that Hitler was “an active homosexual” who sought out gays “because he could not get straight soldiers to be savage and brutal and vicious enough.” He also said Muslims should not be allowed in the military or be allowed to build mosques in the United States.

None of this analysis springs from malice. In fact, I must confess that I have a soft spot for Rick Perry. When the James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act in Texas was passed, I had the honor of pushing the wheelchair of Byrd’s mother into the governor’s office for the signing. I privately thanked Perry for his courage in standing up to all the groups who had fought against the bill; I knew he might pay a political price for signing the bill. Tears came to his eyes, and he said, “It’s the right thing to do.”

I can’t know what is in Perry’s heart, of course, but I do know the problem isn’t one politician but rather a nation that has embraced an unhealthy political arrogance undergirded by even unhealthier religious hubris. The “prayer” that is most needed at this time is for each of us, believer or not, to go into our own heart and find the humility and empathy that is at the core of righteousness, political and spiritual.

Jim Rigby is pastor of St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Austin, TX. He can be reached at jrigby0000@aol.com, and videos of his sermons are available online here

KABUL Report & More from Voices for Creative NonViolence

2011-08-04T15:44:00.001-07:00

Mid-Trip Report From Voices' Delegation in Kabul

By Ed Kinane

August 2, 2011 Kabul

Drop someone off at the airport here and you’ll be searched three times before getting into the parking lot.

Kabul is a city of sandbags and armed men, both on foot and in big, shiny, assertive, urgently-honking vehicles. In Kabul much life is lived opaquely — behind barbed wire and thick metal doors and high walls.

Early on we are told that, according to the Red Cross, the area is enduring the worst security situation in 30 years. Those with a stake in how things are dread the talked-about (and fanciful?) departure of international forces – of the invaders and occupiers — for fear of civil war.

Some seem to prefer the devil they’ve come to know this past excruciating decade to other devils harder to predict, harder to identify.

Our little delegation is severely restricted in our movements – we keep a low profile: we don’t linger outside those high walls. We stay inside until our driver arrives and then quickly hop in the van. We may not even be able to get beyond Kabul – a tan, dusty, decaying, sprawling town with what must be some of the densest, scariest, least regulated traffic on the planet.

(Not once in our two weeks here have we stopped for a red light.)

Do we avoid venturing forth from the clipped lawns and rose gardens of our guest house compound? Hardly. We are blessed with our unflappable driver, who with preternatural reflexes plunges us into the swirling traffic. And, especially, we are blessed with our interpreter and mentor, “Hakim” – the Singaporean physician who for years has worked among Afghan refugees and the rural youth of Bamiyan province.

Together with our driver and Hakim and often with some of those youth, we visit a primary school, a hospital, an orphanage, and a displaced persons camp. We sit down with filmmakers, journalists, editors, social entrepreneurs, and with the staff of various NGOs — internationals, Afghan-Americans, Afghans young and old, Afghans high and low.

Between Hakim and delegation coordinator Mary Dean, both working their cell phones, we somehow manage to have two, three, sometimes an exhausting four, hastily arranged but often extended encounters a day, day after day.

Whether guarded or candid, perplexing or illuminating, depressing or inspiring, each provides a piece (a figment?) of the puzzle. We glimpse complexities and contradictions – and tragedies — perhaps beyond our sheltered imaginations.

===============
Lowering America’s War Ceiling? Imperial Psychosis on Display
by Tom Engelhardt
August 2, 2011

By now, it seems as if everybody and his brother has joined the debt-ceiling imbroglio in Washington, perhaps the strangest homespun drama of our time. It’s as if Washington’s leading political players, aided and abetted by the media’s love of the horserace, had eaten LSD-laced brownies, then gone on stage before an audience of millions to enact a psychotic spectacle of American decline.

And yet, among the dramatis personae we’ve been watching, there are clearly missing actors. They happen to be out of town, part of a traveling roadshow. When it comes to their production, however, there has, of late, been little publicity, few reviewers, and only the most modest media attention. Moreover, unlike the scenery-chewing divas in Washington, these actors have simply been going about their business as if nothing out of the ordinary were happening.

The next Global Days of Listening will be:August 21, 2011 beginning at approximately 11 am Eastern / 7:30 pm Afg. for ~4 hours

FULL GLOBAL DAYS OF LISTENING for the International Day of Peace September 21, 2011 24-hours long!For all days of listening:Listen to, and talk about, what it is like to live in war-torn countries & about the wish to live without wars.Listen online: LiveStream

If you would like to talk . . .Register by email: globaldaysoflistening@gmail.com to get a call-in time.

North America Call: (661) 673-8600 & access code: 295191#.OUTSIDE North America: Request a time to talk & your SKYPE ID to: globaldaysoflistening@gmail.comInspired by the Afghan Youth Peace Volunteers, Afghans For Peace, and the Iraqi & American Reconciliation Project.

Talk with ordinary people from Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine, Israel, Egypt, Yemen, and other countries.

==============

Joint Solidarity Statement by the October 2011 Movement, the National Catholic Worker Gathering and SOA Watch South Florida/ SouthComWatchGrassroots resistance actions are being coordinated around the country in early October.

Three efforts in particular share common cause:* The October2011 Movement in Washington, DC to decry the start of the eleventh year of war on the people of Afghanistan;* The National Catholic Worker Movement and Nevada Desert Experience to demonstrate at Creech Air Force Base near Las Vegas, Nevada where armed drone aircraft are headquartered and controlled;*

School of the Americas Watch South Florida / SouthCom Watch to march to the new headquarters of the U.S. Southern Command (SouthCom) outside of Miami, Florida, which is responsible for all U.S. military operations throughout Latin America and the Caribbean.

Hear/Read Pepe Escobar and Derric Crowe from "ReThink Afghanistan" interviewed on "The Stream."Why the US won't leave AfghanistanSurge, bribe and run? Or surge, bribe and stay? How US military bases and the energy war play out in Afghanistan.

NORWAY: Muslims share grief, hope, unity...

2011-07-31T14:37:00.001-07:00

Muslim men pray at the World Islamic Mission Mosque in Oslo
Reuters from July 26 2011 Photo of Mosque in Norway where grievers prayed-
internet cache

Muslims in Norway said they shared the pain of their Christian compatriots after the massacre

Norway Muslims share nation's grief and hope for unity
By Mohammed Abbas and Aasa Christine Stoltz | Reuters – Tue, Jul 26, 2011
(Additional reporting by Wojciech Moskwa)

OSLO (Reuters) - As central Oslo reeled from Norway's worst massacre in modern history, a blond man in the grieving crowd asked Iraqi-born Iman al-Kofi, wearing a headscarf, for a hug.

Kofi, who had a friend in intensive care with three bullet wounds and had learned that at least one other friend of Iraqi origin had been killed in Friday's massacre by an anti-Islamic extremist, obliged, and the man walked back into the crowd without another word.

Kofi, 19, and other Muslim immigrants say they would have been treated very differently had the perpetrator of one of the country's most heinous crimes been a fellow Muslim, and not far-right Norwegian zealot Anders Behring Breivik.

"If it was a Muslim, they would blame all foreigners and hate us all," she said, adding that she had come to Oslo to grieve with the tens of thousands of others who converged on the Norwegian capital on Monday to pay their respects to the dead.

Muslims in Norway said they shared the pain of their Christian compatriots after the massacre, in which Breivik gunned down young people, mainly teenagers, on a holiday island and bombed an Oslo government building, killing a total of 76 people.

Norwegians of all backgrounds united to condemn his actions and views, and Muslim leaders said they hoped the atrocities would lead to a better future for race relations.

Muslims said they felt relief that the rising tide of anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim sentiment in Europe had not been given fresh momentum by another Muslim killing innocent people in the name of Islam.

"We thought 'Praise God it wasn't a Muslim'," said Algerian immigrant Mahmoud Tariq, 23, who was at an Oslo mosque when its windows were blown open by the bomb Breivik had planted.

"Of course we were scared. We thought they'd clamp down on us," said Tariq's friend Mohammed Khaled, 31.

..."I have a big hope that this will change Norway in a positive direction. Everyone is united, regardless of color, cultural background, ethnicity. We are all affected, we are all wounded," said Najeeb Ur Rehman Naz, a prominent Imam based in Norway.

READ more here

Also find article here on influence of right-wing media here

Instead...

2011-07-14T10:44:00.000-07:00

from an amazing photographer named Alex - this scene reminds me of one of my favorite and holiest moments since childhood.

Instead of only sorrow - instead of only more war drumming and blaming - instead of giving up hope day after day - how about we bring about newness and joy ourselves? Become our own cameras of the beauty within each day and relationship? How about if we bring lightness out of the dark of sorrow? How about if we get out of our narrow tunnels and ruts?

We can do this together if we will...

You may want to go to the post near or at the top at oneheartforpeace called "Turning with the Spirit" for a few insights...

A MUST READ (on US preemptive prosecutions)

2011-07-14T07:42:00.000-07:00

This following article with link is a MUST read for any concerned about the internal workings of our FBI and apparently near-complete lack of accountability to our nation.

This link to Harper's Magazine prints out easily on regular sheet (not enlarged or reduced) 9 pages. And nearly free...I was with Petra Bartosiewicz during the entire Aafia Siddiqui trial in New York a year ago January - her reports of that and more are stellar...

Do read this one Harper's article under catagory Pre-crime Reports: Thoughtcrime & Manufactured Charges Prosecutions:

A. Harper’s Magazine (8/2011): To catch a terrorist: The FBI hunts for the
enemy within:

here

Also see Project Salam which has been highlighted recently as a major site by top Rights Group...here

Voices Denouncing Multiculturalism and Needed Focus

2011-07-09T17:54:00.000-07:00

Article and Photo from "The Boston Review" and english.alarabiya.net

Last Updated: Sat Jul 09, 2011 15:09 pm (KSA) 12:09 pm (GMT) Boston Review: Rightward creep of Europeans against multiculturalism targets Islam and Muslims

By JOHN R. BOWEN

One of the many signs of the rightward creep of Western European politics is the recent unison of voices denouncing multiculturalism. German Chancellor Angela Merkel led off last October by claiming that multiculturalism “has failed and failed utterly.”She was echoed in February by French President Nicolas Sarkozy and British Prime Minister David Cameron. All three were late to the game, though: for years, the Dutch far right has been bashing supposedly multicultural policies.Despite the shared rhetoric, it is difficult to discern a common target for these criticisms. Cameron aimed at an overly tolerant attitude toward extremist Islam, Merkel at the slow pace of Turkish integration, and Sarkozy at Muslims who pray in the street.But while it is hard to know what exactly the politicians of Europe mean when they talk about multiculturalism, one thing we do know is that the issues they raise—real or imagined—have complex historical roots that have little to do with ideologies of cultural difference. Blaming multiculturalism may be politically useful because of its populist appeal, but it is also politically dangerous because it attacks “an enemy within”: Islam and Muslims.Moreover, it misreads history...

Read More here

Fourth of July Challenge from Allama Iqbal

2011-07-04T06:51:00.000-07:00

Having been away from home & computer due to family & personal responsibilities, I am hesitant to respond without reviewing what has transpired in the Iqbal course & other RR items...

Yet I must because during last night I read an academic article on how people of various faiths in scriptural academia looked at their faith AFTER many years experience in academia.

I was struck by the observation that each was really only partly affected by academia (or used the same as part of their reasoning) to leave their various "faith" positions. (i.e. whether or not there is an actual God...which prophets or scriptures they saw as metaphor or took literally and whether or not they became atheist, agnostic or even changed religion.)

The other dynamic which affected their "faith" in a "real" God and how they saw "Him" was who their friends and associates were and some personal tragedy: the death of a child, the birth of a child with a great handicap, etc.

In this particular article there was also little seeking in the context of the Divine for a RESPONSE to a particular evil or tragedy yet instead only the insistance of the need to KNOW the ins and out of an answer as to why God allowed such.

When I heard one tale after another of combining both academia AND subjective reasoning with personal experience being listed as reasons for their departure from or change within a particular "faith perspective", I was struck by the following:
a) That anger at God or in some ways "trashing Him" was in this article seeing "Him" as THE REASON for suffering in their personal life and in the world. This was the result of a strange mixture of academic polemic and debate mixed with personal experience.
b) I heard in this article all too little of our personal and national/"tribal" or group identity responsibility for both our personal and human collective experiences. This in reference to both tragedy which may have been partly or mostly the result of human error or evil.
c) I read more assumptions that until "God" answered the "reasons" for "His" allowing of suffering, some would feel free to discard any need to take personal responsibility for their own (or their "tribe's" earlier or current) actions.
c) Then having blamed "God" for corporate and/or personal suffering some of the participants in this article or "His nonexistance" they seemed to assume anything at all goes in their own philosophies or religious expressions.

Having not been able to sleep after that, I felt the need to write down these observations for further exploration later.

How striking that here the first email I look at after a ten day trip and after such an article as described above is this quote:

"God does not change a nation until it changes itself’ governs both the individual and the collective spheres of life..."

Here are a few more comments posted by the historian, writer, scholar, teacher considered to be the most respected Allama Iqbal biographer of our time - these are from Iqbal in much earlier times. Let's pray and act that our time may not be too contaminated with current lack of compassion, truth and courage to change what is currently the state of American life and culture for the better.

Perhaps these earlier observations might help readers to return to the best within our earlier freedoms?

"Regarded from a purely literary standpoint, the debilitation of the forces of
life in Europe after the ordeal of the [First World] war is unfavorable to the
development of a correct and mature literary ideal.

Indeed, the fear is that the minds of the nations may be gripped by that slow-pulsed Magianism which runs away from life's difficulties, and which fails to distinguish between the sentiments of the heart and the thoughts of the brain.

However, America seems to be a healthy element in Western civilization,
the reason for which perhaps is that it is free from the trammels of old
traditions and that its collective intuition is receptive to new ideas and
influences.

The East, and especially the Muslim East, has opened its eyes after a centuries-long slumber. But the nations of the East should realize that life can bring about no revolution in its surroundings until a revolution takes place in its inner depths and that no new world can take shape externally until it is formed in the minds of men. This ineluctable law, which has been stated by the Quran in the simple but eloquent words, ˜Verily, God does not change a nation until it changes itself governs both the individual and the collective spheres of life; and it is the truth of this law that I have tried to keep in view in my Persian works."

Iqbal, 'Preface' to The Message of the East (1923)

Posted By Khurram Ali Shafique to The Republic of Rumi website at 7/01/2011 12:01:00 AM

Europe's only Muslim state gave Jews Refuge

2011-06-18T12:44:00.000-07:00

A portrait of King Lekka, son of Albania’s King Zog, who helped rescue Jews including the family of Fritzi Weitzmann Owens is included in an exhibition by American photographer Norman Gershman called ‘Besa: Muslims Who Saved Jews In World War II.”Photo Courtesy of Norman Gershman
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Thousands of Jews found refuge in Europe's only Muslim state, where an ancient honor code saw all as guests.

Albania's Untold Story By Heba Aly, Contributor / January 31, 2011 Christian Science Monitor (Often called "The Monitor" and published weekly)

Fritzi Weitzmann Owens came from a "cultured city." So in 1938, when Hitler's invasion of Austria forced her to flee her native Vienna, Albania – "a backwards country," as far as she was concerned – wasn't her family's first choice.Skip to next paragraph Fritzi Weitzmann Owens displays photo albums from her time in Albania at her New York home. Her family fled Vienna with the help of Albanian King Zog (shown in album, bottom right) to escape Nazi rule. The family became the official royal photographers. FIND full article here

The Pentagon Papers June 13, 1971

2011-06-13T09:27:00.002-07:00

The Pentagon Papers June 13, 1971

June 13, 1971

The New York Times began publishing the “Pentagon Papers,” a series of excerpts from the Defense Department’s classified history of the Vietnam War, giving details of U.S. involvement in Vietnam from the end of World War II to 1968. Publication was interrupted after the Nixon administration went to court to block it, asserting its power to exercise prior restraint over its public release. The Washington Post then began publishing the papers. On June 30 the Supreme Court, 6-3, allowed publication to resume.

What started that day and how Nixon’s people dealt with it - GO here

Reflex Responses

2011-06-13T09:27:00.001-07:00

June Updates - GO here

According to an article that appeared in the August 6, 2009, edition of the Economist ("Eric Prince and the Last Crusade"), in an affidavit lodged with a court in Virginia, a former Blackwater employee stated the following: "Prince views himself as a Christian crusader tasked with eliminating Muslims and the Islamic faith from the globe." He also noted that many Blackwater employees "used calls signs based on the Knights of Templar, the warriors who fought the crusades."

Jeremy Scahill on Blackwater Founder Erik Prince’s Private Army of “Christian Crusaders” in the UAE

The United Arab Emirates has confirmed hiring a company headed by Erik Prince, the billionaire founder of the military firm Blackwater. According to the New York Times, the UAE secretly signed a $529 million contract with Prince’s new company, Reflex Responses, to put together an 800-member battalion of foreign mercenaries.

The troops could be deployed if foreign guest workers stage revolts in labor camps, or if the UAE regime were challenged by pro-democracy protests like those sweeping the Arab world. Prince has one rule about the new force: no Muslims. We speak to investigative journalist Jeremy Scahill and Samer Muscati of Human Rights Watch. [includes rush transcript]

Interview with Jeremy Scahill May 18, 2011 here

from May 15, 2011 NYT GO here

No Justice in Kafka’s America

2011-06-13T08:54:00.000-07:00

Posted on Jun 12, 2011
By Chris Hedges
Truth Dig

In Franz Kafka’s short story “Before the Law” a tireless supplicant spends his life praying for admittance into the courts of justice. He sits outside the law court for days, months and years. He makes many attempts to be admitted. He sacrifices everything he owns to sway or bribe the stern doorkeeper. He ages, grows feeble and finally childish. He is told as he nears death that the entrance was constructed solely for him and it will now be closed.

Justice has become as unattainable for Muslim activists in the United States as it was for Kafka’s frustrated petitioner. The draconian legal mechanisms that condemn Muslim Americans who speak out publicly about the outrages we commit in the Middle East have left many, including Syed Fahad Hashmi, wasting away in supermax prisons. These citizens posed no security threat. But they dared to speak a truth about the sordid conduct of our nation that the state found unpalatable. And in the bipartisan war on terror, waged by Republicans and Democrats, this ugly truth in America is branded seditious.

The best the U.S. government could offer as evidence of Fahad’s crimes was that an acquaintance who stayed in his apartment with him while he was a graduate student in London had raincoats, ponchos and waterproof socks in luggage at the apartment and that the acquaintance eventually delivered these to al-Qaida. But I doubt the government is overly concerned with a suitcase full of waterproof socks taken to Pakistan. The reason Fahad Hashmi was targeted was because, like the Palestinian activist Dr. Sami Al-Arian, he was fearless and zealous in his defense of those being bombed, shot, terrorized and killed throughout the Muslim world while he was a student at Brooklyn College. Fahad was deeply religious, and some of his views, including his praise of the Afghan resistance, were to me unpalatable, but he had a right to express these sentiments. More important, he had a right to expect freedom from persecution and imprisonment because of his opinions. Facing the possibility of a 70-year sentence in prison and having already spent four years in jail, much of it in solitary confinement, he accepted a plea bargain on one count of conspiracy to provide material support to terrorism.

It has been a year since his 15-year sentence was pronounced in a New York courtroom. He is now held in Guantanamo-like conditions in the supermax ADX [Administrative Maximum] facility in Florence, Colo. He is isolated in a small cell for 22 to 23 hours a day. He has only extremely limited contact with his mother, father and brother, often going weeks without any communication. Between his transfer to Florence last August and this March he was permitted only one phone call. The rule of law in America, especially if you are Muslim, fits Kafka’s grim parody. The tyranny we impose on those held in Guantanamo, Bagram and the secret CIA “black sites” we impose on ourselves. This is and always has been the disease of empire. Empire imports the crude and brutal tools of control and violence back to the homeland. It creates internal as well as external colonies.

We no longer have freedom; there is only the appearance of freedom. We are consumed by an endless and vague war on terror in which the perfidiousness of our enemy, whose number, location and nature are never clearly defined, justifies the shredding of constitutional rights, torture, kidnapping, detentions without charges or trials and an occult-like battle against an absolute evil. And if you think the state intends to limit itself to the persecution of Muslims, especially once there is an increase in domestic unrest and instability, you know little about human history.

I spoke Saturday night to Fahad Hashmi’s father, Syed Anwar Hashmi. The elder Hashmi came to the United States from Pakistan when Fahad was 3 and his other son, Faisal, was 4. He worked for more than two decades as an accountant for the city of New York. He came, as most immigrants have, for his children. He believed in America, in its fairness, its chances for opportunity, its freedoms. And then it all crumbled when the state proved as capricious and cruel as the Pakistani dictatorship he had left behind. On the day of his son’s arrest, he says, “my American dream became an American nightmare.”

Three law enforcement officials appeared at his home in Flushing, Queens, on June 6, 2006, to inform him that Fahad, who had been in London completing a master’s degree in international relations, had been arrested at Heathrow Airport on terrorism charges. Fahad, after fighting the order for 11 months, was the first American citizen extradited under the post-9/11 laws. He was taken in May 2007 to the Metropolitan Correctional Center in lower Manhattan and placed in solitary confinement.

“I came to this country from Pakistan nearly 30 years ago, in 1982 with my wife and two young boys,” Fahad’s father said. “Coming from a Third World country, we were full of hope and looked towards America for liberty and opportunity. I had an American dream to work hard and give my sons good educations. I worked as an assistant accountant for the city of New York, six days a week, nine hours a day, including overtime, to support my family and to send both my kids through college. We all became U.S. citizens, and my sons fulfilled my dreams by completing their undergraduate and postgraduate education. I was very proud of them.”

“In high school and then as a student at Brooklyn College, Fahad became a political activist, concerned about the plight of Muslims around the world and the civil liberties of Muslims in America,” he went on. “Growing up here in America, Fahad did not fear expressing his views. But I was scared for him and urged him not to speak out. He would remind me that everything he did was under the law. But having grown up in a Third World country, I had seen that it did not always work this way, and so I worried. He was monitored by law enforcement and quoted in Time magazine. But he kept speaking out. And then, with his arrest, my fears came true.”

Judge Loretta Preska denied Fahad bail partly on the grounds that he had no ties to family and community. His family and friends, who sat crowded together in the courtroom, listened in stunned silence. And then, after five months, Hashmi, already isolated in solitary confinement, was suddenly put under “special administrative measures,” known as SAMs. SAMs are the legal weapon of choice used by the state when it seeks to isolate and break prisoners. They were bequeathed to us by the Clinton administration, which justified SAMs as a way to prevent Mafia or other gang leaders from ordering hits from inside prison. The use of SAMs expanded widely after the attacks of 2001. They are frequently used to isolate terrorism case detainees before trial. SAMs, which were renewed by Barack Obama in October, severely restrict a prisoner’s communication with the outside world. They end calls, letters and visits with anyone except attorneys and sharply limit contact with family members. Fahad, once in this legal straitjacket, was not permitted to see much of the evidence against him under a legal provision called the Classified Information Procedures Act, or CIPA. CIPA, begun under the Reagan administration, allows evidence in a trial to be classified and withheld from those being prosecuted.

The weekly visits Hashmi’s family made to the jail in Manhattan were canceled. A single family member was permitted to visit only once every two weeks, and on a number of occasions the family member was inexplicably denied admittance. During the last five months of the trial Hashmi’s family was barred from visiting him. Anyone who has contact with a prisoner under SAMs is prohibited by law from disclosing any information learned from the detainee. This requirement, in a twist Kafka would have relished, makes it illegal for those who have contact with an inmate under SAMs—including attorneys—to speak about his or her physical and psychological condition.

Once the SAMs were imposed, “He wrote us occasionally—one letter on no more than three pages at a time—but he was allowed no correspondence or contact with anyone else,” his father said of his son. “In addition, because of Fahad’s SAMs, we were not allowed to discuss anything we heard from him, including his health or any details of his detention or what he was experiencing, with anyone else. It was like being suffocated.”

In a pretrial motion, Hashmi’s lawyer presented the extensive medical and scholarly research that demonstrates the severe impact solitary confinement has on human beings, often leaving them incapable of defending themselves during their trial. It did not sway the judge. Fahad lived in a universe, before ever being sentenced, where he had no fresh air and was subjected to 23-hour lockdown and constant electronic surveillance including when he showered or relieved himself. He was barred from group prayer. He exercised alone in a solitary cage. He was denied access to television or a radio. His newspapers were cut up by censors. And this was all before trial.

“These years have brought deep disillusionment for my family in the American justice system,” his father said. “Fahad was restricted in reviewing much of the evidence against him, and even his attorney could not discuss much of the evidence with him. Secret evidence is something we knew from back home. The judge accepted the prosecutor’s motion to introduce Fahad’s political activities and speeches into the trial to demonstrate his mind-set. Where was the First Amendment to protect Fahad’s speech? Two days before the trial was set to begin, Judge Preska agreed to the prosecutor’s motion to keep the jury anonymous and kept under extra security—even though this could have frightened the jury and affected how they viewed Fahad.”
“On the day before trial, nearly four years since he had been arrested, I had just returned from dropping off clothes for Fahad to wear to court when I received a call from my attorney,” Fahad’s father said. “The government had offered a deal to drop three of the four charges against Fahad, if he accepted one charge which carried a 15-year sentence and Fahad had agreed to this plea bargain. I was shocked by my son’s decision on the eve of his trial, but after I thought more, I wondered how anyone could have decided differently in his situation. Fahad had been in solitary confinement, under SAMs, for nearly three years. The judge had in every instance sided with the government in pretrial motions. If convicted, Fahad faced a possible 70-year sentence. Under those circumstances, Fahad’s decision to accept one charge was no longer surprising. He has been in for five years this June.”

“The U.S. government is concerned about human rights in China and Iran,” he went on. “I wonder about Fahad’s rights, and how they have been blatantly violated in this great land. It seems like ‘innocent until proven guilty’ is only a saying. My son was treated as guilty until proven innocent.”

“The Muslim community supported my son by offering prayers, particularly in the month of Ramadan,” he said. “But they were initially afraid to raise their voices against injustice. This reminds me of the fear the Chinese have under Communist rule, or Iranians under Ahmadinejad. As a citizen, I now have developed fear of my own government.”

“For one charge for luggage storing socks, ponchos and raincoats in his apartment, he is serving a 15-year sentence in the harshest federal prison in the country, still in solitary confinement, still under SAMs,” his father said. “The cooperating witness in the case, the one who brought and delivered the luggage, is now free and able to enjoy his life and family.”

The state, by making us afraid, is able to justify the disease of permanent war and the silencing of those who dare to dissent. The terrible suffering we have unleashed throughout the Middle East is rendered invisible if there is no one to decry it and document it. Communities and families, not only in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan but at home, have been plunged into needless grief and suffering because of the atrocities committed in our name. The despair and bewilderment of Fahad’s father are a reflection of the wider despair and bewilderment that have gripped the lives of hundreds of thousands of Muslims who have been forced to confront the dark heart of empire. In their pain we stand condemned.

“There are many things I’d like to be able to say about the visit and my son’s continuing detention, but because of Fahad’s SAMs, I am forbidden,” his father said. “Everything has changed for my family. Our first grandchild was born 19 days after Fahad’s arrest, our second two years later. But now everything has a cloud over it—graduations, birthdays, holidays, going to the store or the park or visiting family or running errands, and particularly the Eid day. In other words, we have lost our happiness.”

Chris Hedges is a weekly Truthdig columnist and a fellow at The Nation Institute. His newest book is “The World As It Is: Dispatches on the Myth of Human Progress.”
Copyright © 2011 Truthdig, L.L.C. All rights reserved.

FIND here

Call for Peaceful Revolution Against Absolutism of Papal Power: Peacemaker/Scholar Hans Kung

2011-06-11T15:18:00.001-07:00

Hans Kung

Home > Hans Kung urges peaceful revolution against Roman absolutism

Jun. 11, 2011 Faith & Parish [1]

'few people realize how powerful the pope is,' Kung said hans_kung-acc.jpg [2]
Hans Küng (CNS)

DETROIT -- Famed theologian Fr. Hans Kung has called for a “peaceful” revolution by world Catholics against the absolutism of papal power.

He made the call in a video message June 10, the first evening of a conference in Detroit of the American Catholic Council.

“I think few people realize how powerful the pope is,” Kung said, likening papal power today to the absolute power of French monarchs that the French people revolted against in 1789.

“We have to change an absolutist system without the French Revolution,” he said. “We have to have peaceful change.”

Kung, who was perhaps the most famous of the theological experts at the Second Vatican Council nearly 50 years ago, was born in Switzerland but spent most of his life teaching at the University of Tubingen, Germany.

Now 83, Kung is ecumenical professor emeritus at Tubingen and rarely travels for health reasons, so his message to the ACC was delivered in the form of a half-hour videotaped interview with American theologian Anthony T. Padovano, conducted last year at Kung’s home.

John Hushon, co-chairman of the ACC, said the conference, being held June 10-12 at Detroit’s Cobo Hall had more than 1,800 registered participants, from at least 44 states and 13 foreign countries.

In the interview with Kung, played on two giant screens in one of the convention center’s main rooms, the theologian predicted change in the church despite resistance from Rome. Vatican II “was a great success, but only 50 percent, he said.

On the one hand, he said, many reforms were realized, including renewal in the liturgy, a new appreciation of Scripture, and other significant changes such as recognition of the importance of the laity and the local church and various changes in church discipline.

“Unfortunately the council was not allowed to speak about the question of celibacy, about the question of birth control and contraception. Of course, ordination of women was far away from all the discussions,” he said.

“Many documents of the council are ambivalent documents because the Rome machinery -- the Roman Curia -- was able to stop any movement of reform, to stop it not completely, but half way.”

“What also I did not expect,” he added, was “that we could have such a restoration movement as under the Polish pope, and the German pope now.”

When asked what reasons he had for hope of reform in the church today, he answered that hope today is “sometimes a little difficult” in the face of a restorationist hierarchy, but “the world is moving on, going ahead, with or without the church” and “I believe the Gospel of Jesus Christ is stronger than the hierarchy.”

Referring to current crises in the church -- clerical sexual abuse of minors, the shortage of priests, alienation of women and youth -- he said, “Humanity learns most by suffering” -- whether in the church or in the recent U.S. economic crisis. Even though many economists and others saw the economic meltdown coming, “it was not possible to have a law in Congress before the catastrophe,” he said.

He said he thinks at least some Vatican officials are similarly recognizing that change is needed in the church.

“If we do not learn now, we have to suffer more -- more priests will be leaving, more parishes will be without pastors, more churches will be empty” and more young people and women will leave the church or dissociate internally from it, he said. “All these are indications, I think, that we have to change now.”

Chief sponsors the American Catholic Council are three independent Catholic groups seeking changes in the church: Voice of the Faithful, CORPUS and FutureChurch.

Hushon said when the ACC was formed three years ago it sought to create a “big tent dialogue among all” sectors of the U.S. church, independent of partisan or ideological lines, but “group after group, bishop after archbishop, said no, or ignored us.”

The divide was highlighted last October when Archbishop Allen Vigneron of Detroit warned his priests and people against participating in the ACC conference.

It was exacerbated further June 3 when Vigneron threatened to laicize any priest or deacon who participated in the ACC closing liturgy Pentecost Sunday, June 12, saying, “There are good reasons for believing forbidden concelebration will take place by the laity and with those not in full communion with the church.”

In a pre-meeting exchange with NCR Hushon denied the claim and documented it with correspondence in which the ACC told the archdiocese that “there will be only one presider, a priest in good standing.”

The ACC chose Cobo Hall as its venue because this year is the 35th anniversary of the bicentennial Call to Action conference, a national gathering of Catholic laity sponsored by the U.S. bishops, was held there, with Detroit’s Cardinal John Dearden as presider and host.

The 1976 conference, despite its flaws, has been credited with providing groundwork for and impetus to the bishops’ economic and peace pastorals in the 1980s as well as greater attention to racism, minorities, family life, people with disabilities, respect for human life and a wide range of other pastoral and social justice initiatives developed nationally or in dioceses in the ensuing years.

[Jerry Filteau, NCR Washington correspondent, is covering the Detroit meeting. Watch NCRonline.org for updates.]

Related Stories

Hans Kung urges peaceful revolution against Roman absolutism [3], June 11
Detroit archbishop warns clergy not to attend Catholic gathering [4],June 7
American Catholic Council to convene in Detroit in June [5], May 2
0

Faith & Parish
Copyright © The National Catholic Reporter Publishing Company
115 E. Armour Blvd., Kansas City, MO 64111
(TEL 1-816-531-0538 FAX 1-816-968-2268)
Send comments about this Web site to: webkeeper@ncronline.org PRIVACY POLICY ADVERTISING POLICY

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Source URL: http://ncronline.org/news/faith-parish/hans-kung-urges-peaceful-revolution-against-roman-absolutism
Links:
[1] http://ncronline.org/taxonomy/term/161
[2] http://ncronline.org/files/hans_kung-acc.jpg
[3] http://ncronline.org/node/25115
[4] http://ncronline.org/node/25035
[5] http://ncronline.org/node/24242/edit

Read more here

Or paste this link into your browser: http://ncronline.org/node/25115 [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=i8t49xbab&t=aixqx4fab.0.svvfx4fab.i8t49xbab.1091&ts=S0627&p=http%3A%2F%2Fncronline.org%2Fnode%2F25115]

Supreme Court: Is this the going trend? Immunity for folk like Ashcroft?

2011-06-10T10:16:00.002-07:00

at the expense of whomsoever these "big shots" decide to pull of street or out of airport?

Former Attorney General John Ashcroft, left, and Abdullah Kidd. (Cliff Owen, Damian Dovarganes / AP Photo)

Supreme Court: The Ashcroft Immunity

LA Times - June 10, 2011

Editorial

A U.S. citizen argued his detention was a deliberate misuse by former Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft of a statute intended to compel witness testimony. But the high court ruled Ashcroft couldn't be liable.

Not for the first time, the Supreme Court has refused to hold high government officials responsible for outrageous abuses of human rights. Late last month, the court rejected a lawsuit against former Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft by a U.S. citizen who was unfairly imprisoned and mistreated under the pretense of securing his appearance as a witness.

Abdullah Kidd, a convert to Islam who was known as Lavoni Kidd when he played football for the University of Idaho, claimed that Ashcroft had authorized a policy of using the material witness statute — designed to ensure the presence of witnesses at trial — as a way of holding suspected terrorists when there was no probable cause to do so...

Kidd was detained at Dulles International Airport in 2003 as he prepared to fly to Saudi Arabia to study. Supposedly the FBI feared that he wouldn't appear at the trial of an acquaintance suspected of visa fraud and terrorism. But in seeking the material witness warrant, FBI agents falsely said that Kidd had purchased a one-way ticket and omitted the fact that he was a U.S. citizen who had cooperated with the bureau in the past.

Kidd was handcuffed and shackled and held for two weeks before being released on the condition that he live with his wife and in-laws and report to a probation officer. Even then, he was deprived of his passport and subjected to limitations on his travel. The restrictions were lifted in 2004, but he was never called to testify at his acquaintance's trial.

The Supreme Court ruled unanimously that Ashcroft couldn't be held personally liable for Kidd's mistreatment. In the majority opinion, Justice Antonin Scalia emphasized that the warrant to arrest Kidd was "objectively reasonable" and had been properly obtained from a magistrate. The warrant couldn't be challenged, he said, "on the basis of allegations that the arresting authority had an improper motive." Scalia also found that Ashcroft didn't disregard clearly established law, another requirement for stripping a public official of immunity.

Providing some consolation for Kidd, four justices noted that the court didn't say the treatment of Kidd was legal, merely that Ashcroft couldn't be sued as an individual. In a separate suit against the United States, Kidd might still be able to claim that FBI agents misrepresented the facts in obtaining the warrant. But a judgment against Ashcroft would have sent the message that senior officials will be held accountable for abuses of power. As Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said in her opinion, Kidd's ordeal "is a grim reminder of the need to install safeguards against disrespect for human dignity, constraints that will control officialdom even in perilous times."

NY bill bans health professionals’ involvement in torture

2011-06-10T10:16:00.001-07:00

No more Crusades...just Just Bills and Campaigns...

The kind of bill we need Nation-Wide and across the professional spectrum.

A bill in New York would ban health professionals involvement in torture. It is a sad comment that such a bill is needed. The state medical association is opposed. In contrast, the state psychological association supports it. We are pushing a similar bill in Massachusetts, as are psychologists in other states. Here is an article from the AMA newsletter:

Medical board could discipline physicians for torture under N.Y. bill
The unique proposal would give the state board the authority to punish doctors and others who take part in, or conceal evidence of, torture

By Kevin O’Reilly

A New York bill that is the first of its kind in the nation would make participation in torture or interrogation of prisoners grounds for board discipline of physicians and other health professionals.

Dozens of medical students and other health professionals in training lobbied in favor of the legislation in late May, meeting with nearly 40 New York state legislators, said Allen Keller, MD. He helped organize the lobbying trip and directs the Bellevue Hospital Center/New York University Program for Survivors of Torture in New York City.

The bill, which was introduced in March by Democratic Assemblyman Richard N. Gottfried and has 39 co-sponsors, would give the state medical board and other health professional licensing boards the explicit authority to suspend or revoke practice rights based on evidence presented in accordance with the state’s usual due-process procedures (assembly.state.ny.us/leg/?default_fld=%0D%0At&bn=A05891&term=&Summary=Y). or GO here

Under the bill, physicians and other health professionals would be barred from directly participating in torture, treating patients with the intent of determining when torture could continue, concealing medical evidence of torture or taking part in individual interrogations. Health professionals could generally advise interrogators on rapport building or other nonabusive techniques.

The bill is needed to give medical licensing boards clear authority to discipline doctors and others for participating in torture, supporters say. In 2007, a complaint was brought against one psychologist alleged to have participated in abusive interrogations at Guantanamo Bay, but the New York state body that licenses psychologists said it did not have jurisdiction to investigate the matter.

“We want to clarify that this is, indeed, grounds for discipline and also to achieve a preventive effect,” said Dr. Keller, associate professor of medicine at NYU School of Medicine. “It’s easier for individuals to torture than we’d like to think, because of hierarchies and environments that allow it. We believe this legislation would help physicians who are put in an untenable position to say, ‘I can’t do this; I’d lose my license.’ ”
A state matter?

The American Medical Association and the Medical Society of the State of New York have policy opposing physician participation in torture or direct participation in interrogations. But the MSSNY said the matter is best handled at the federal level, noting that torture is already criminal under federal law. In a June 2 letter to the New York State Assembly, MSSNY Senior Vice President and Chief Legislative Counsel Gerard Conway noted other concerns.

“The bill provides no practical recourse for physicians who are intimidated by military superiors into withholding reports of torture,” Conway wrote. “There are inherent challenges and barriers to evidentiary discovery for accusations of torture in the military and prisons. Physicians may be poorly positioned to defend themselves since, ostensibly, many of these incidents would occur overseas. Physicians would have to overcome claims of national security and national defense and would have to operate in domains in which civil authority will be limited.”

In response, Dr. Keller said that, with regard to accessing classified documentary evidence, physicians would be on a level playing field with anyone bringing a complaint. If the evidence were classified, then neither the medical board nor the physician would have it to use in a proceeding. On the other hand, if national-security documents were brought into evidence, then both the physician and the board would have equal access to them.

And, he said, it is appropriate for state medical boards to act because they are the bodies charged with regulating physician practice.

“Health professionals — whether they practice in their state or in the Army or wherever — they do so because they have a license that is issued not by the federal government or the Army but by a state,” Dr. Keller said.

The New York legislative session is scheduled to end June 20. Advocates are pushing to have similar legislation proposed in other states.

Supreme Court: The Ashcroft Community

2011-06-10T10:04:00.000-07:00

Former Attorney General John Ashcroft, left, and Abdullah Kidd. (Cliff Owen, Damian Dovarganes / AP Photo)

LA Times June 10, 2011

Editorial

A U.S. citizen argued his detention was a deliberate misuse by former Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft of a statute intended to compel witness testimony. But the high court ruled Ashcroft couldn't be liable.

Not for the first time, the Supreme Court has refused to hold high government officials responsible for outrageous abuses of human rights. Late last month, the court rejected a lawsuit against former Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft by a U.S. citizen who was unfairly imprisoned and mistreated under the pretense of securing his appearance as a witness.

Abdullah Kidd, a convert to Islam who was known as Lavoni Kidd when he played football for the University of Idaho, claimed that Ashcroft had authorized a policy of using the material witness statute — designed to ensure the presence of witnesses at trial — as a way of holding suspected terrorists when there was no probable cause to do so.

* Related
* When fear trumps liberty When fear trumps liberty
* The U.S. and the International Criminal Court: An unfinished debate The U.S. and the International Criminal Court: An unfinished debate
* Supreme Court ethics Supreme Court ethics
* Creating a 4th Amendment loophole Creating a 4th Amendment loophole
* Carving out class-action exceptions Carving out class-action exceptions
* Supreme Court: Class (action) dismissed Supreme Court: Class (action) dismissed
* See more stories »
o
X
Prop. 8: Who's fit to judge?Let sun shine on dependency courtFor Alejandra Tapia, prison as punishmentScrutinizing Wal-Mart

Kidd was detained at Dulles International Airport in 2003 as he prepared to fly to Saudi Arabia to study. Supposedly the FBI feared that he wouldn't appear at the trial of an acquaintance suspected of visa fraud and terrorism. But in seeking the material witness warrant, FBI agents falsely said that Kidd had purchased a one-way ticket and omitted the fact that he was a U.S. citizen who had cooperated with the bureau in the past.

Kidd was handcuffed and shackled and held for two weeks before being released on the condition that he live with his wife and in-laws and report to a probation officer. Even then, he was deprived of his passport and subjected to limitations on his travel. The restrictions were lifted in 2004, but he was never called to testify at his acquaintance's trial.

The Supreme Court ruled unanimously that Ashcroft couldn't be held personally liable for Kidd's mistreatment. In the majority opinion, Justice Antonin Scalia emphasized that the warrant to arrest Kidd was "objectively reasonable" and had been properly obtained from a magistrate. The warrant couldn't be challenged, he said, "on the basis of allegations that the arresting authority had an improper motive." Scalia also found that Ashcroft didn't disregard clearly established law, another requirement for stripping a public official of immunity.

Providing some consolation for Kidd, four justices noted that the court didn't say the treatment of Kidd was legal, merely that Ashcroft couldn't be sued as an individual. In a separate suit against the United States, Kidd might still be able to claim that FBI agents misrepresented the facts in obtaining the warrant. But a judgment against Ashcroft would have sent the message that senior officials will be held accountable for abuses of power. As Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said in her opinion, Kidd's ordeal "is a grim reminder of the need to install safeguards against disrespect for human dignity, constraints that will control officialdom even in perilous times."

"If the law does not protect Jose Padilla - it protects no one."

2011-06-09T15:39:00.000-07:00

Detention, Torture

"If the Law Does Not Protect Jose Padilla . . . It Protects No One"

In February, a federal district court in South Carolina dismissed our lawsuit on behalf of American citizen Jose Padilla against Donald Rumsfeld and other current and former officials, saying the former Secretary of Defense was entitled to "qualified immunity" for his role in the arbitrary detention and torture of Padilla. Today we appealed that dismissal to the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals.

As you might recall, Padilla was arrested in March 2002, held without charge for four years in a South Carolina military brig and without access to a lawyer for two years, and was tortured to the point that brig authorities described his behavior (or lack thereof) as "like a piece of furniture." The Bush administration first claimed that Padilla was plotting with al-Qaeda to detonate a radiological “dirty bomb” in a U.S. city, but no evidence of such a plot has ever been presented. A maze of several legal proceedings, including one trip to the Supreme Court and back again to lower courts, landed Padilla where he is today.

In a statement today, Ben Wizner, litigation director of our National Security Project, said: "If the law does not protect Jose Padilla — an American citizen arrested on American soil and tortured in an American prison — it protects no one."

US - ACLU national website blog

=============
Also see the following video and statements on solitary confinement as torture

Noted South African judge Albie Sachs on the horrors of solitary confinement

May 18th, 2011

Albie Sachs, a former judge on the Constitutional Court of South Africa, recalls being placed in solitary confinement without trial while living under South African apartheid. Sachs describes the experience as worse than the car bomb that took his right arm and left him blind in one eye.

here

Bitter Lemons Intl. Middle East Roundtable for June 09

2011-06-09T11:30:00.000-07:00

bitterlemons-international.org
Middle East Roundtable

Edition 16 Volume 9 - June 09, 2011

US policy toward Arab revolution
• Out of Arabia - Issandr El Amrani
President Obama's latest speech on the Middle East generated a shrug from the region.

• The voice is Obama's; the hands are Bush's - Joel Beinin
Obama's support for democracy in the Arab world sounded like Bush-era rhetoric.

• Much ado about very little - Chuck Freilich
The US will support reform where it serves its interests and as long as the price is minimal.

• Obama's emerging philosophy of self-determination - Daniel Kurtzer
Obama articulated a kind of political "liberation theology" that he says will guide US policy.

For all the above Op Ed GO here

Yemen and Syria

2011-06-09T10:03:00.001-07:00

Syrians Flee into Turkey (video) Thursday June 09 midday ET GO here

========

US ups strikes in Yemen:

aljazeera.net English on US in Yemin GO here

US ups Strikes in Yemen AfP
GO here

========

Yemeni Photographer Turns Her Lens On The West Earlier this year, Amira Al-Sharif came to New York City to document the lives of young American women. The 24-year-old was born in Saudi Arabia, grew up in Yemen and was the first person from her family to graduate from university. And while Western journalists often document Arab women, Al-Sharif wanted to flip the script.

LISTEN to this delightful Yemini photographer here
==========

Radio Times with Marty Moss-Coane
The crises in Yemen and Syria
Thursday, June 9th, 2011

Hour 1

Yemeni children and female anti-government protestors celebrate President Ali Abdullah Saleh's departure to Saudi Arabia, Monday, June 6, 2011. (AP Photo/Hani Mohammedi)

The government crackdown in Syria has resulted in the killing hundreds of protesters amid reports of extreme human rights violations . Pressure on President Bashar al-Assad is mounting as the U.N. considers an official condemnation on his authoritarian regime. Meanwhile tensions on the Israel-Syrian border remain high. In Yemen, where peaceful protests have also turned violent, the political opposition is pushing for an immediate transition in government, but the situation has been complicated by the evacuation of President Ali Abdullah Saleh to Saudi Arabia where he is recovering from massive injuries incurred in an attack on his compound. We talk about the roots of the uprisings that have swept Syria and Yemen and the complications that challenge the situation in these countries and the broader Arab world. Our guests are CHRISTOPHER BOUCEK of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and MONA YACOUBIAN of the United States institute of Peace.

Listen here

=========

Commentary about endless war on Social Justice (Christian) blog: GO to blog.sojo.net/2011/06/06 Could the US be Moving to a State of perpetual war?

Also see at this blogsite Yemen - the Difference Between a Peaceful Revolution and Violent Clashes here and a blog called Women of Yemen here

Camp Sol: Spain's "Indignant" Give Lessons in True Democracy

2011-06-07T10:51:00.000-07:00

by María Carrión From Common Dreams Posted originally 3 through 7th June 2011

María Carrión is an independent journalist living in Madrid, Spain. She is also the former senior producer of Democracy Now!

( Note inserted here by blogger, Connie: although history may be repeating itself again, the forms certainly do vary. Even the word Crusades given to many campaigns make me shudder. Interesting to watch Spain today in it's nonviolent work toward real change and to remember the enormous loss of blood that was sanctioned by Rome and waged by kings and nobles up in Spain until the 15th century although to little avail.

The Crusades were fought mainly by Roman Catholics against Muslims and EVEN against Greek Orthodox Christians in Byzantium, with smaller campaigns waged against pagan Slavs, pagan Balts, Mongols, and Christian heretics. How we forget that such proud "Christian?" knights marched as if towards forgiveness of their sins could be filled with greed, hate and bloodthirsty obsession certainly reminds today of other extremists.

YET TODAY in Spain...)

MADRID, Spain -- The crowd of three thousand sat patiently on the hard pavement of the plaza as the fourth hour of the popular assembly came and went. The issue was whether Camp Sol, a protest that had persevered for two weeks in Madrid's main square known as Puerta del Sol, would dismantle or stay on. Protesters were exhausted from living on the streets; there had been a few cases of harassment and tensions between groups; the infrastructure of the camp was fragile; electricity was scarce. The camp's legal team had kept police at bay but there were no guarantees that it would remain that way (a similar camp in Barcelona had been attacked by police the day before). And even if those problems were resolved, how much longer did it make sense to occupy this enormous public space? Had the movement consolidated enough to dismantle its most visible and symbolic gathering?

Camp Sol, Madrid:
A slight, young woman addressed the crowd. Trembling from nerves but with fire in her voice, she said other camps were springing up like wildflowers all over the country. She had come from the western region of Extremadura, where protesters in different cities were sleeping under the night sky, prevented by authorities from pitching tents. "Our survival depends on Camp Sol," she begged. "If Sol disappears, the police will dissolve our camp and all the others in Spain." As the moderator was about to take another comment his telephone rang: after a few seconds, he told the gathering that thousands of students in Paris who had gathered at the Bastille in solidarity with the Madrid protest were being gassed by police. Many in the crowd vowed to head for the French embassy after the assembly (protesters in Barcelona remained at the French consulate all night blocking the entrance and it was forced to stay closed for most of the following day).

As the towering clock over Puerta del Sol struck midnight and consensus remained elusive, the moderator reminded the crowd that organizers had agreed to wrap up the assembly so neighbors could get some rest. Racing against time, the issue was simplified -- the assembly would only decide on whether to remain for the short term or leave the next morning, postponing a final decision on how long Camp Sol should exist. A few dissenting voices were heard, and then at last, thousands of hands waved towards the night sky as the crowd agreed to keep Camp Sol going --at least for the time being.

Thus ended one of the many assemblies that have become the life force behind Spain's blossoming popular uprising. The decision-making mechanism is far from new: older folks here nod their heads remembering the hours spent in their youth trying to reach consensus. But Spain's young people have managed to transfix society and confound an out-of-touch political élite with their level of organization and ability to rapidly spread to other neighborhoods, cities and even countries. They do not speak the language of politicians and reject vertical models of organization. They reach decisions through consensus. They listen. They are inclusive. And what they seek is a profound transformation, one that transcends political parties and traditional methods of government; they envision a system that brings grassroots democracy rooted in the communities. Their weapons are their words and the social media networks.

Camp Sol, which began spontaneously on May 15th with a few pitched tents to protest against corruption and the lack of opportunities and to ask for democratic changes, is now a small city, a maze of plastic carps held together with chicken wire and makeshift poles, complete with its own radio station, daycare center, dining areas, first aid posts, legal aid clinics, libraries (including one for children) and information centers, which conduct meetings and workshops on issues ranging from the environment to immigration rights. At any one time, a walk through this "micropolis" might yield a live poetry reading, a political debate, a cello concert, a yoga class, a kids' theater performance, or a film screening on a king-sized bed-sheet. Sandwiches and drinks are handed out for free all day; in return, many people visit the camp with armloads of food, building materials and other donated supplies. Protesters keep the camp clean, recycle garbage and have created orderly corridors and a large perimeter for passersby. Tahrir Square is their model.

The camp is in the heart of Madrid's commercial and tourist district, a cross between Times Square and Piccadilly Circus. Known as Kilometer Zero because of its central location, the area receives thousands of visitors and shoppers on a daily basis. On a recent afternoon, a group of French sightseers toured the camp as part of their itinerary. "I knew about Spain's art and food, but I am now discovering the enormous potential that its young people have," remarked Patrick Joseph, a middle-aged writer from Toulouse. And indeed, Camp Sol is also a massive shop window into Spain's social movements, a chance for thousands of social justice groups and activists to converge and to get their message across to a wider audience.

But the camp is also under fierce pressure from the conservative local government, local business leaders and police to disband as quickly as possible. Some businesses complain that the occupation has diminished their sales (others, especially the cafés and grocery stores, are doing healthy business thanks to the protesters). The camp has so far avoided police intervention, despite Spain's main electoral governing body declaring the site illegal on May 21st, the eve of local elections, commonly referred to as the "day of reflection." Over 25.000 people turned out in the plaza to protest the prohibition. The final decision on whether to send in police to break up the camp rests with the Socialist government of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, who so far has been reluctant to intervene. But pressure to disband the protesters continues to mount.

The seeds sown by Camp Sol are the assemblies and open mike sessions that have spread to hundreds of neighborhoods, towns and villages across Spain. Although there is a prevalence of young people, the movement is increasingly attracting older folks ranging from families with children to middle-aged professionals and retirees -- all deeply affected by the deep economic crisis and the government's austerity measures. Young "Indignants" in other cities such as Paris, Athens, Buenos Aires, Bogotá and Brussels have supported the movement with protests of their own. Organizers hope these assemblies will take over once the main camp is dismantled. Unemployment, social injustice, lack of true democracy, declining social services, rising costs of education and corruption are just some of the topics they debate.

"I am here to say that if the police takes my son away I will take his place, and so will many other mothers," said Gloria Agulló, a 63 year-old woman at a recent open mike session. "He has graduated from university and obtained a Masters degree but has not been able to find work in two years. Where else should he be, but here in Sol reclaiming his future?"

So what drove Spain's young people to create a parallel society in the heart of the capital? Or perhaps the question should be: what took them so long? After all, almost half of Spaniards under the age of 24 are unemployed, twice the European rate, and of those who have work, more than half are underemployed or earn close to minimum wage (614 Euros or $887 per month). The lack of affordable housing prevents most young people from leaving their parents' home and many young couples cannot afford to have children, resulting in a steep drop in Spain's birth rate. Spain's Socialist government has not been able to address these needs: panicked at the possibility of a Greece-style bailout, it has heeded the International Monetary Fund's instructions to cut social spending, slashing pensions, public payrolls and educational programs. At the same time as schoolteachers are being laid off, the government has bailed out Spanish banks to the tune of 50 billion Euros (about 14 percent of its GNP).

In addition, many point to a bankrupt political system. On May 22, municipal and regional elections gave the conservative party, known as the PP (Partido Popular), an enormous victory over the Socialist Party, which suffered a stinging defeat. Many of those elected have been accused of political corruption and some, such as the reelected President of the Valencia autonomous region, Francisco Camps, are even facing trial for involvement in a widespread corruption scandal known as Gürtel uncovered by judge Baltasar Garzón. Refusing to endorse what they see as a corrupt system, most Camp Sol protesters decided to stay away from the polls. "They do not represent us" is one of the rallying cries in the plaza.

"Just two months ago I had been asking young people why they had not taken to the streets like their peers in France or in Portugal," said Elena García Quevedo, a journalist working on a documentary about Spain's youth. "They told me it was a matter of time; they were sure that it would happen. As soon as the protests began, I called all my contacts and none of them picked up their cell phones. It turns out they were at the heart of the movement."

On a global scale, today's young people were written off in early 2010 by former IMF director Dominique Strauss-Khann, who referred to them as the "lost generation". In Spain, the mainstream media refers to Spanish youth as the "Neither-Nor" or "Ni-Ni" generation: neither studying nor working. Massive youth gatherings, at least those covered by the media, have usually involved the consumption of large amounts of alcohol, a practice known as botellón (one of the largest signs hung by protesters in Sol says "Revolución no es botellón" or "Revolution is not boozing," and the camp rejects the sale or distribution of alcohol on its premises). Spanish society, suffocated by a structural economic crisis that has almost left five million unemployed, has practically given up on its young people. Many university graduates have been leaving Spain for German jobs or for emerging employment markets in Brazil and Mexico.

These young people have re-named their generation: they are now "the Indignant." They are tired of a system that condemns them to unemployment and underemployment. They feel that asking for change is not sufficient; they need to force it. "Spain's democracy does not seem real to them," says García. "They are more prepared than the generation that preceded theirs: they are better educated, speak more languages, are more well-rounded. They have so much to offer, but their country has nothing to offer them. Meanwhile, the political parties are mired in corruption and infighting, and unions have negotiated rights away. They are not models for them."

"The movement is still working on a blueprint, but so far we have been able to agree on four main demands," says Iván Martinoz, a young publicist who is one of the movement's spokespeople. "We want to change Spain´s electoral law, which favors a two-party system, so that we can move towards a representative democracy. We want a real separation between government and the judiciary, because in Spain judges are often tied to political parties and act accordingly. We want politicians accused of corruption to be banned from running for office. And we are asking for the creation of control mechanisms on government so that citizens have more access to information. This will allow greater transparency and political accountability."

Where will this movement lead? Some young people who originally occupied Puerta del Sol under the name 15-M have already left the camp and are organizing through social networks; they believe that Camp Sol has served its purpose and that work must continue in neighborhood squares. Others who remain in the square and call themselves "Real Democracy Now" want to make sure that neighborhood assemblies, hundreds of which convened for the first time on May 28, take root before Sol is dismantled. All agree that Sol will continue to be a reference for the movement, and are looking for ways to leave a sign of permanence in the square. As the moderator said on the night when the assembly decided to remain in Sol, "no matter what happens to Camp Sol we now exist as a force to be reckoned with, and if Spanish society does not pay attention, we will be back."

María Carrión

Ireland -US- Other Nations? Time for Government Action

2011-06-07T09:18:00.004-07:00

Although this mentions US and Ireland, why not add Pakistan and other places as well which have allowed US to aggressively use others nations' airports for kidnapping and torture flights. We don't know where these are still taking place and so the world needs people concerned about human rights holding watch in these places and more.

EXCERPT from the post below:

Since it is now likely that no more prisoners are being taken through Shannon Airport for torture purposes it is already too late to close that stable door. But it not too late to ensure that the same thing never happens again. Nor is it too late to close the door on U.S. troops and munitions transiting to Shannon. The present government have said they will "enforce the prohibition on the use of Irish airspace, airports and related facilities for purposes not in line with the dictates of international law". It is time they showed this is not another meaningless public statement by a government engaging in more cover-up and lies.

Wikileaks Ireland Cables: Time for Government Action
Mon, 06/06/2011 - 15:41 by shannonwatch
Recent wikileaks revelations show that successive Irish governments were more worried about being caught lying over renditions and Shannon than they were in stopping kidnapping and torture. International law and human rights were never even mentioned as Irish politicians looked after their own careers and provided unwavering support for U.S. foreign policy and wars.

The present government now has a responsibility to immediately end the use of Shannon Airport for purposes not in line with international law, as they promised in their programme for government. This should not only cover renditions; it should also deal with breaches of humanitarian and neutrality law. And the only way to do this is to end the U.S. military use of Shannon.

The Irish Independent's coverage of wikileaks cables from Ireland has put the spotlight once again on Fianna Fail and Green Party willingness to accept whatever the Americans wanted to take through Shannon - so long as the Irish public didn't find out. We know from the cables that they took Apache helicopters to Israel and that these were not listed as munitions of war. They may also have taken prisoners through in innocent looking white executive jets or the military's Hercules C-130 aircraft.

One of the cables (04DUBLIN1770) says that in a 2004 meeting at the U.S. embassy, former Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Bertie Ahern “said that while there are no plans to alter arrangements with the U.S. at Shannon, the subject is ‘beginning to worry people.’ He noted the Irish government's repeated defense of the U.S. military's use of Shannon to parliament, in which he and other ministers referred to U.S. assurances that enemy combatants have not transited Shannon enroute to Guantanamo or elsewhere. And he then asked the ambassador ‘Am I all right on this?’.

We are not told the ambassador's reply. But we are informed that Senator John McCain told the ambassador he planned to raise Shannon with the Washington Administration "to underscore how very important it is that the U.S. not ever be caught in a lie to a close friend and ally.” As Harry Browne notes in an article published last Thursday, McCain’s words appear to indicate that he was less trusting of US assurances on Shannon than the Irish government was.

This issue was covered in an RTE Primetime programme in which Shannonwatch's Ed Horgan highlighted that fact that Ireland has failed to uphold the UN Convention Against Torture by simply relying on diplomatic assurances that Shannon has not been used for renditions. These assurances are worthless - after years of denials that U.S. rendition flights had passed through British territory it was discovered that two flights had stopped on Diego Garcia in 2002. There is no reason to believe the same was not true of Shannon.

Ireland has ratified the Convention Against Torture through the Criminal Justice (United Nations Convention against Torture) Act 2000. It therefore has an obligation to arrest and charge anyone reasonably suspected of having committed torture.

Ireland must now live up to its responsibilities to comply with international law. A former Minister for Foreign Affairs and Justice was quite sure that rendition planes had come through Shannon (see wikileaks cable 04DUBLIN1739), so that alone should be enough for a full and transparent investigation of the matter. But much more is required of the current Irish government. By continuing to make Shannon Airport available to the U.S. military, Ireland is already complicit in war crimes and is violating international humanitarian law. We are also breaking neutrality law (the Hague Convention), despite the pretense of successive governments that we are a neutral state.

Since it is now likely that no more prisoners are being taken through Shannon Airport for torture purposes it is already too late to close that stable door. But it not too late to ensure that the same thing never happens again. Nor is it too late to close the door on U.S. troops and munitions transiting to Shannon. The present government have said they will "enforce the prohibition on the use of Irish airspace, airports and related facilities for purposes not in line with the dictates of international law". It is time they showed this is not another meaningless public statement by a government engaging in more cover-up and lies.

Find this post with this URL : http://www.shannonwatch.org/blog/wikileaks-ireland-cables-time-government-action or GO here

KEY Debate Video on Torture & It's Role in Hunt of OBL

2011-06-07T08:29:00.000-07:00

The following discussion concerns a Debate offered by AEI and now available by Vido to general public. See the AEI home page description of the group here

June 6, 2011 at 11:59 pm as of this recent sending while this video was broadcast May 16th Some of the Comments were posted, evidently, after Human Rights First re-sent the video...

I hold the Bronze Star, two Purple Hearts, and the Combat Infantryman’s Badge from Vietnam. I risked my life repeatedly for the values that the Bush administration tossed aside as soon as the going got rough: The search for the dignity of every individual, the spirit of shared sacrifice, the realization that torture can be as much physical as mental, refusing rationalization [where you do what you please and think up a reason for it afterward!!]. Torture is an act of despair, not of patriotism. It joins the practice of slavery as a black mark on the honor that makes and keeps our country great.–Tom Reilly (One of the Comments following this debate posted in June. )

Watch Human Rights Watch - Elisa Massimino - Debate Torture’s Role in the Death of Osama bin Laden
5-16-2011

In a panel moderated by John Yoo at the American Enterprise Institute, Human Rights First President and CEO Elisa Massimino debates with Judge and former U.S. Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey and former Acting General Counsel of the CIA John Rizzo, amongst others, on torture. This panel was organized in response to the re-ignition of the torture debate coming out of the operation that killed Osama bin Laden.

How important were CIA interrogations in the killing of bin Laden? Are critics right that enhanced interrogations do not produce reliable intelligence? In light of recent events, should the Obama administration continue its current policy of killing rather than capturing and interrogating terrorists? And if not, should the United States bring captured terrorists to Guantanamo again? Participants will discuss these and other questions.

Watch the panel:

here June 7, 2011 at 6:14 am

Panelists:
ELISA MASSIMINO, Human Rights First
JUDGE MICHAEL B. MUKASEY, Former US Attorney General
JOHN RIZZO, Former Acting General Counsel of the CIA
MARC A. THIESSEN, AEI
BENJAMIN WITTES, Brookings Institution

Read Speakers' Bios GO here

Moderator:
JOHN YOO, AEI

Following this Debate there have been Six Comments supplied so far:

John Perry says:
May 16, 2011 at 6:21 pm
Let’s see… We’ve got Elisa against Bush yes man AG Mukasey, Bush torture architect John Rizzo, Bush legal lackey Yoo, who wrote the memos that said it was all legal, and Marc Thiessen sophomorically trying to justify torture by reading quotes from people who have undergone worse torture tactics than waterboarding. What a joke. These “men” are just pushing the same old lies to cover up obvious war crimes. The UN Convention Against Torture is clear and unequivocal. And we’re talking about a lot more than just waterboarding.

Reply
John says:
May 16, 2011 at 6:32 pm
If enhanced interrogations worked we would have had this guy years ago – IMHO they had solid leads given to them and they followed those leads – and bingo – bobs your uncle – Torture can make a person say anything and lead the interrogators around in circles- chasing their tales (pun)- It defies logic and common sense that torture years ago had anything to do with this outcome. Torture may have a negative impact on those that could and would help in coming forward with information – even the slightest bit of info can be useful – but if people think they might disappear; they won’t risk it (most wont anyway – would you) and who gets the reward monies for OBL? Someone out there helped and helped big time at great risk to themselves and family. As for killing OBL and others like him– armed or not, it makes no difference – his ideology, voice and the willingness of people to follow; made him deadly.

Reply
Erik Wood says:
June 6, 2011 at 8:20 pm
Let’s all be clear, torture or “Enhanced Interrogation” was never an instrument for the extraction of information. It is a weapon of intimidation used to scare the living hell out of an entire population. It has a very chilling effect on those who would speak out against or oppose the activities and policies of an authority. Especially when the precedent has been set forth that in spite of any established legal freedom of speech, one may be singled out as an enemy combatant and subjected to the same incarceration and treatment for exercising that right in a manner inconvenient to the establishment. Torture doesn’t achieve it’s desired effect if it remains undiscovered. Leaks about the practice of torture are fully intentional. The thinly veiled nomenclature which “attempts” to distinguish the practices from one another (torture vs. not torture) is intended to be transparent and unconvincing. It only strengthens it’s impact when the media discuss the matter endlessly, and the population is polarized in conflict over it’s morality.

Reply
Mark Seifert says:
June 6, 2011 at 9:11 pm
Torture was used to extract confessions, so that the real terrorist perpetrators of 9/11, Cheney, Bush, Silverstein, Giuliani, Rummy, et al. could point the finger at someone else, so they could get away with both mass murder (Iraq) and the murder of US citizens (9/11). An “ignoranus” is a dummy who is also an asshole. This title should be applied to anyone in the AEI and to Mukasey, Yoo, Thiessen, and Rizzo.
Since these bums are not in jail, where they belong, they should at least have their Medicare benefits taken away.

Reply
Gladys says:
June 7, 2011 at 6:14 am
Elisa handles this beautifully. She makes her points without getting caught up in the other panelists defensive points.

The 6th Comment was placed above on this post...

How Torture Hindered Hunt for OBL & more RIGHTS concerns - USA & International

2011-06-07T07:56:00.000-07:00

Originally posted June 6, 2011

From the President and CEO

Our New Report below (also) Details Due Process Failures at Afghanistan Prison>

News of the Osama bin Laden operation wasn't even a day old when torture apologists began claiming vindication. To hear former vice president Dick Cheney and his allies tell it, without the CIA's water-boarding program, the United States would never have found OBL. Cheney and company want Americans to believe that torture makes us safe, and they don't seem to care about the dangers it poses-to our national security, our national character, and our men and women in uniform.

But their propaganda push has run into a few hurdles, otherwise known as facts. The truth is that torture hindered the hunt for bin Laden. It failed to get critical information, and two detainees lied under torture, setting back the investigation. In fact, just like the operation that led to Saddam Hussein, it was legal, humane interrogation that produced the key intelligence-not torture. This was no surprise to the many veteran interrogators who for years have argued that torture is inefficient and counterproductive.

Armed with these facts, opponents of torture are setting the record straight. After getting the inside story from CIA director Leon Panetta, Senator John McCain took to the Senate floor to reveal that the bin Laden operation had nothing to do with torture, and Americans shouldn't either. I went to the American Enterprise Institute to debate the issue with prominent torture supporters, former Attorney General Michael Mukasey and former Bush speechwriter Marc Thiessen, on a panel moderated by John Yoo. Watch the debate

here

But the renewed debate has made clear that we can't sit back and let the torture apologists speak unopposed. We're doing everything we can to strengthen the consensus against torture. As the hunt for Bin Laden shows,torture isn't just wrong; it's also wrongheaded.

Sincerely,

Elisa Massimino
President and CEO
Human Rights First

=======

Our New Report Details Due Process Failures at Afghanistan Prison

Question: Which prisoners held by the United States would have more due
process protections if they were at Gitmo? Answer: The ones being held at
Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan. Sometimes referred to as "Gitmo East," in
many ways that moniker is too generous for Bagram. The 1700 prisoners there
don't have the right to an attorney and can't see the evidence against them,
conditions that violate minimum due process standards. Some have been locked
up for eight years, without charge or trial, while the evidence, if it
exists, remains secret.

These are the findings of our new report,
here

Detained and Denied in Afghanistan: How to Make U.S.Detention Comply with the Law.

Daphne Eviatar, who wrote the report after a
fact-finding mission to Afghanistan, points out that the system at Bagram not only violates the rights of detainees, it also "flies in the face of the well-founded wisdom of our top military leaders who have warned repeatedly of the dangers of denying Afghan detainees due process."

The report-which received coverage in the New York Times and numerous other media outlets-urges the U.S. to provide Bagram prisoners with attorneys and to stop relying so heavily on secret evidence. It also recommends that even as the United States begins to withdraw from Afghanistan, it should continue to provide civilian assistance to the country's fledgling justice system.

==================
Faith Shared - June 26th

Tensions around Islam in America have erupted throughout the country in the past year, leading to misconceptions, distrust and in some cases violence. Media coverage has focused on extremists-bigots and Qur'an burners-which stokes fear and masks the shared commitment to tolerance and freedom that unites most Americans.

That's why Human Rights First is partnering with the Faith Shared movement and faith groups across the country will host events involving clergy reading from each
other's sacred texts. For example, a Christian Minister, Jewish Rabbi and Muslim Imam would participate in a worship service or other event. 60 houses of worship in 30 states have already agreed to participate.

For more information and to find out how to plan an event in your community,
visit http://www.faithshared.org/
=====================

Bahraini Regime Continues to Brutalize Activists

In his recent speech on the Middle East and North Africa, President Obama directed criticism at not only adversaries of the United States but also one of its allies: Bahrain. This was a welcome change, after many weeks in which U.S. officials remained mostly silent as the regime, with the assistance of Saudi troops, violently cracked down on democratic protestors.

Prior to President Obama's speech, Human Rights First published a report based on the firsthand testimonies of Bahraini activists. HRF's Brian Dooley traveled to Bahrain and interviewed activists who were critical of the U.S. for failing to condemn widespread illegal detention, sham trials, and torture.

President Obama's words were welcome, but alone they will do little to stop the abuses. Indeed, following his speech, the home of prominent human right activist Nabeel Rajab was attacked, and the regime confirmed death sentences for two young Shiite men, Ali Al Singace and Abudul Aziz Abdul Redha. Both were convicted of murdering police officers in trials that fell far short of international standards.

It's time for the United States to take action to back up the President's
words.

=================

Working to Defeat a Dangerous Anti-Terrorism Bill

Congress is considering sweeping new war powers for the president, while at the same time tying his hands on how to deal with terrorism suspects. For months, we've been working against this dangerous bill, rounding up opposition in Congress, and pressing the White House to oppose it.

The new bill would give the President virtually unfettered authority to wage war anywhere in the name of fighting terrorism. The bill would also prevent federal trials for terrorism suspects and make closing Gitmo impossible by prohibiting the transfer of prisoners to the United States.

The good news is that the White House has now threatened to veto the bill if it contains either the Gitmo transfer restrictions or the new Authorization for the Use of Military Force. We will continue to fight to strip out the most dangerous parts of the bill.

===========
Human Rights First,
333 Seventh Avenue, 13th Floor, New York, NY 10001-5004
============
From Another Rights Group - always ahead of most: No More Gitmos... See News Digest from NoGitmos.org/news for June 7, 2011

06/06 / Vincent Iacopino / Guardian (U.K.) / Comment is free Cif America A memo on torture to John Yoo

06/06 / Chase Madar / CounterPunch / Torture's Comeback

06/06 / James Russell / TruthOut / Activists Converge on Kansas Base, Demand Fair Trial for Manning

06/06 / Andy Worthington / Quarterly Fundraiser: Help Me Raise $2000 for My Work on Guantánamo and Torture

06/06 / Mike Scarcella / BLT (Blog of the Legal Times) / Judge Gives DOJ Reprieve In WikiLeaks Document Dispute

More news at http://www.nogitmos.org/news

The Storyteller's Daughter: One Woman's Return to Her Lost Homeland

2011-06-06T07:17:00.001-07:00

By Sarai Shah

"Deep in the sea are riches beyond compare. But if you seek safety, it is on th eshore." from The Rose Garden via Gulistan, Sheikh Sa'adi of Shiraz

"I am the slave of whoever will not at each stage imagine his journey is ended. Many a caravan serai must be left behind before the traveller reaches his destination." from Masnavi, by JALALUDDIN RUMI

"...as soon as I'm eighteen I'm going to go to see for myself," I said...then perhaps I'll have fresh experiences that will help me grow up." Saira

"If you would only grow up a little in the first place," he snapped, "then you would realize that you don't need to go at all." The daughter's story-telling father

IDRIES SHAH (See the description of his whimsical yet practical book "Learning How to Learn" on the Shah family album)

Here is a tale of contradictions and the colorful solace of maps connecting these ironies. I love the way quotes from Rumi and other literary geniuses in and out of the "Storyteller's Daughter" embellish the front of each chapter while little large stories and homespun bits of wisdom run through every page or two...

Saira Shah is an award-winning journalist, war reporter and documentary film-maker whose work includes the films ‘Beneath the Veil’ and ‘Unholy War’. Her documentary, ‘Death in Gaza’, is a tribute to James Miller and so is this translucent, blockbuster memoir by the way - along with her family story-telling heroes and heroines. James was her long-term cameraman and collaborator who was shot dead without explanation by Israeli forces in 2003 while filming with Saira. Shah is a freelance journalist born in Britain of an Afghan family, the daughter of Idries Shah, a writer of Sufi fables and many other legendary relatives which she has herewithin made eternal celebrities for her readers. She first visited Afghanistan at age twenty-one and worked there for three years as a freelance journalist, covering the guerilla war against the Soviet occupiers. ALAS, there is way more to this rich, thick, golden story of stories.

In the next weeks and months web sites devoted to Saira Shaw's family and their work will go online, with links to specific pages...To see a fascinating quick mini-album of the author's literary and adventuresome family GO here For many years - over three generations - and perhaps even earlier through the global connections and myths of great stories - the Shah family has worked to explain the East to the West, and the West to the East. This tightly-knit yet inclusive family have published scores of books on Eastern traditions and folklore, philosophy, travel, lettres from the past and kept their story-telling fully alive - riches they value much more than land or physical wealth.

Note from blogger here, Connie:

I'm rapidly wanting to spend every second to finish Saira's embroidered yet visceral book - alas writing deadlines of my own and other responsibilities are forcing me to ration out this book of beyond genius writing into small dollaps of a rich - albiet sometimes bitter dessert of reality and dreams seamlessly intertwined. So, I felt that I would deprive blog readers if I waited another second to let you in - DO find it somewhere anywhere you can. We will all learn something to live by within these pages. If you are a would-be world traveler and are also hungry to read a gamut of the best writers on earth today, like me you'll take a long time with this one as well because on every page is a line or paragraph or two you'll want to read two or three times to fully grasp the depth,beauty and wisdom.

More personal comments from me once I finish the book.

Here's just a longer passage to show how easily Shah skips from a story to her present reality:

"Mullah," he exclaimed, "whatever happened to your fishing net?"

"Ah," replied the mullah, "what need is there of the net now that the fish has been caught?"

We passed a checkpoint maned by unfriendly mujahidin. Instead of the usual warm greetings, were hostile questions. There was something else differnt about them, but for a while I could't put my finger on it. Then I got it: there was no laughter, and none of the disrespectful banter that usually accompanies any group of Afghans. These cold-eyed men didn't relax until they had watched us leave.

It struck me that a sense of humour may be the opposite of fanaticism, or at least its antidote. It is difficult to dream of martyrdom if you can see the funny side of life. Of course, the great Afghan poet Jalaluddin Rumi got there centuried before me, and said it better: "If you have no sense of humour, then you have an incompleteness in your soul."

Sarai's infamous story-telling and tradition-bearer Grandfather
S I R D A R
I K B A L
A L I
S H A H

======================
Two reviews:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must read and buy!!, January 8, 2010
By Nyx

This review is from: The Storyteller's Daughter: One Woman's Return to Her Lost Homeland (Paperback)- A beautiful book. Well presented, well written and moving. One of the very few books I actually want to thank an author for taking the time to write.

[taken from Nyx' blog]

This book is intense, its fabulous, its emotional, it is well thought out, well written, it is one that I have had to add to my to buy list because checking it out is just not good enough.
This book struck a chord with me.

Some extra bonuses with the hard cover are thicker paper, and its not insanely bright white. When you have issues with colour and sight that is a god send.

I converted to Muslim a few months ago, when i found this book, it was one of two with similar titles and I skimmed what this was about before adding it to my list not really thinking anything about it one way or the other.

Saira Shah has blown me away.
She takes you on her journey literally with her, there is no sitting by the sidelines and reading about it.
You are filled with stories of a personal nature, combined with historical fact and legends.. Which is what (living)life is, or rather, what it should be.

The book is filled with tibits that you will find yourself stopping to record for your own reflection later.
It's definitely added to my to buy list. I am amazed my library had it and saddened I appear to be one of the few whose checked it out.

This book has changed the way I think about a lot of things and identified some things I have been wrestling with lately. Things I have been trying to find on my own spiritual journey to Allah and know I know now more about what it is that I am seeking along the way.

===========
18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Multifaceted Jewel of a Book, January 16, 2004
By A Customer

This review is from: Storyteller's Daughter (Hardcover)
Saira Shah's stunning new memoir is one of those rare and wonderful books that's hard to classify because it touches the reader in so many different ways. A jewel of many facets -- from high adventure to geopolitics to the wisdom of the ages -- it takes us on a journey of the human spirit as compelling as it is rewarding. The setting of the book is Afghanistan, a country that, despite its recent prominence on the world stage, remains for most of us little known and much misunderstood. Shah opens up Afghanistan for the reader, revealing it to be far more complex and culturally rich than the evening news would lead us to believe; and in so doing, she opens up much, much more. An acclaimed London-based journalist whose powerful television documentary "Beneath the Veil" exposed the horrors of the Taliban to the world just prior to Sept. 11, Shah comes from an accomplished Afghan family of ancient pedigree. Her brother, Tahir Shah, is a celebrated travel writer, and her father, Idries Shah, who died in 1996, was a well-known Sufi philosopher whose 30-plus books have been translated into a dozen languages. But growing up in England, where her family had settled, Saira Shah's main contact with her Afghan heritage was through the stories her father told her and her siblings -- timeless stories of fairytale mountain landscapes peopled by proud and fearless warriors upholding a centuries-old code of honor. THE STORYTELLER'S DAUGHTER is built around her search for her own identity as she attempts to reconcile the romantic Afghanistan of her father's tales with the country's reality after years of devastating civil war. In gripping fashion tempered with gentle humor, it recounts her clandestine forays into Afghanistan with the mujahidin as a fledgling reporter in the mid-1980s, as well as her equally risky trips there in 2001 to film "Beneath the Veil" and its follow-up documentary, "Unholy War." In the process, it sheds considerable light on the conflict that has ravaged that country for decades, as well as on the upsurge of Islamic fundamentalism -- quite alien to Afghanistan's moderate, Sufi-influenced tradition -- that has given rise to al Qaeda. But the book goes far beyond those things in scope and appeal and, like the very best literature, serves as a lens through which the reader can gain a greater self-understanding. Thought-provoking, moving and beautifully written, THE STORYTELLER'S DAUGHTER is, among many other things, a timely reminder that we can rarely fit the world's complexities into the narrow confines of our own preconceived notions and oversimplifications.

The Children of Gitmo

2011-06-05T20:54:00.001-07:00

Abdul Salam Ghetan

The UC Davis Center for the Study of Human Rights in the Americas released today a study of the Guantanamo files recently made public by Wikileaks. The report can be found here:

In a nutshell, the report finds that military documents now in the public domain acknowledge that fifteen children were imprisoned, at some time or another, at Guantánamo. This is three more than the twelve the State Department acknowledged to the public after our earlier report on the subject, and seven more than the eight the State Department reported to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child.

In short, military documents recently wikileaked indicate that the number of children that have been imprisoned at Guantanamo is one-and-a-quarter times what the State Department has admitted to the public and almost twice as many as it reported to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child.

For the Documents - The Wikileaked Testimonies here

"Journey of Death" Rendition Logs here and other Reports here

Sent to those concerned and following the abuses of Gitmo prisoners

With best wishes,

Almerindo

Almerindo E. Ojeda, Director
Center for the Study of Human Rights in the Americas
University of California at Davis

http://humanrights.ucdavis.edu or GO here
===============
UNRELATED Tip: for a balance from our usual sad barage of human rights travesties:

See the following for an upbeat in your day:

"Music of a Nation as a Weapon of Peace"

posted during Sunday to Monday night on: oneheartforpeace dot blogspot.com

June 6, 1949

George Orwell's dystopian novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four,
was published. It described a world in which totalitarian government controls the behavior of all, including the way one thinks. This was summed up in the government’s slogans: War Is Peace, Freedom Is Slavery, Ignorance Is Strength.

For a exceptional documentary in every way which demonstrates an even rarer
non-violent and finally utterly successful ousting of the Soviet totalitarian occupation of Estonia, see the following:

I can't find the words and emotions to express the exhilaration I had watching such a film ...

God Is Not a Christian - By Archbishop Desmond Tutu

2011-06-02T15:57:00.001-07:00

02 June 11

The following is excerpted from the Archbishop Desmond Tutu's new book, "God Is Not A Christian: And Other Provocations." This talk also comes from a forum in Britain, where Tutu addressed leaders of different faiths during a mission to the city of Birmingham in 1989.

They tell the story of a drunk who crossed the street and accosted a pedestrian, asking him, "I shay, which ish the other shide of the shtreet?" The pedestrian, somewhat nonplussed, replied, "That side, of course!" The drunk said, "Shtrange. When I wash on that shide, they shaid it wash thish shide." Where the other side of the street is depends on where we are. Our perspective differs with our context, the things that have helped to form us; and religion is one of the most potent of these formative influences, helping to determine how and what we apprehend of reality and how we operate in our own specific context.

My first point seems overwhelmingly simple: that the accidents of birth and geography determine to a very large extent to what faith we belong. The chances are very great that if you were born in Pakistan you are a Muslim, or a Hindu if you happened to be born in India, or a Shintoist if it is Japan, and a Christian if you were born in Italy. I don't know what significant fact can be drawn from this - perhaps that we should not succumb too easily to the temptation to exclusiveness and dogmatic claims to a monopoly of the truth of our particular faith. You could so easily have been an adherent of the faith that you are now denigrating, but for the fact that you were born here rather than there.

My second point is this: not to insult the adherents of other faiths by suggesting, as sometimes has happened, that for instance when you are a Christian the adherents of other faiths are really Christians without knowing it. We must acknowledge them for who they are in all their integrity, with their conscientiously held beliefs; we must welcome them and respect them as who they are and walk reverently on what is their holy ground, taking off our shoes, metaphorically and literally. We must hold to our particular and peculiar beliefs tenaciously, not pretending that all religions are the same, for they are patently not the same. We must be ready to learn from one another, not claiming that we alone possess all truth and that somehow we have a corner on God.

We should in humility and joyfulness acknowledge that the supernatural and divine reality we all worship in some form or other transcends all our particular categories of thought and imagining, and that because the divine - however named, however apprehended or conceived - is infinite and we are forever finite, we shall never comprehend the divine completely. So we should seek to share all insights we can and be ready to learn, for instance, from the techniques of the spiritual life that are available in religions other than our own. It is interesting that most religions have a transcendent reference point, a mysterium tremendum, that comes to be known by deigning to reveal itself, himself, herself, to humanity; that the transcendent reality is compassionate and concerned; that human beings are creatures of this supreme, supra mundane reality in some way, with a high destiny that hopes for an everlasting life lived in close association with the divine, either as absorbed without distinction between creature and creator, between the divine and human, or in a wonderful intimacy which still retains the distinctions between these two orders of reality.

When we read the classics of the various religions in matters of prayer, meditation, and mysticism, we find substantial convergence, and that is something to rejoice at. We have enough that conspires to separate us; let us celebrate that which unites us, that which we share in common.

Surely it is good to know that God (in the Christian tradition) created us all (not just Christians) in his image, thus investing us all with infinite worth, and that it was with all humankind that God entered into a covenant relationship, depicted in the covenant with Noah when God promised he would not destroy his creation again with water. Surely we can rejoice that the eternal word, the Logos of God, enlightens everyone - not just Christians, but everyone who comes into the world; that what we call the Spirit of God is not a Christian preserve, for the Spirit of God existed long before there were Christians, inspiring and nurturing women and men in the ways of holiness, bringing them to fruition, bringing to fruition what was best in all. We do scant justice and honor to our God if we want, for instance, to deny that Mahatma Gandhi was a truly great soul, a holy man who walked closely with God.

Our God would be too small if he was not also the God of Gandhi: if God is one, as we believe, then he is the only God of all his people, whether they acknowledge him as such or not. God does not need us to protect him. Many of us perhaps need to have our notion of God deepened and expanded. It is often said, half in jest, that God created man in his own image and man has returned the compliment, saddling God with his own narrow prejudices and exclusivity, foibles and temperamental quirks. God remains God, whether God has worshippers or not.

This mission in Birmingham to which I have been invited is a Christian celebration, and we will make our claims for Christ as unique and as the Savior of the world, hoping that we will live out our beliefs in such a way that they help to commend our faith effectively. Our conduct far too often contradicts our profession, however. We are supposed to proclaim the God of love, but we have been guilty as Christians of sowing hatred and suspicion; we commend the one whom we call the Prince of Peace, and yet as Christians we have fought more wars than we care to remember. We have claimed to be a fellowship of compassion and caring and sharing, but as Christians we often sanctify sociopolitical systems that belie this, where the rich grow ever richer and the poor grow ever poorer, where we seem to sanctify a furious competitiveness, ruthless as can only be appropriate to the jungle.

You may find comments on Reader Supported News on this piece posted there today.

New Memorial - Gaza City Port - 2nd Flotilla Set to Sail...

2011-06-02T14:26:00.001-07:00

Photo found on The Electronic Intifada
The Gaza City port -
memorial paying tribute to those slain on the Mavi Marmara.

Second flotilla set to sail one year after massacre
Eva Bartlett
The Electronic Intifada
Gaza City
1 June 2011

GAZA CITY (IPS) - A gleaming new memorial towers over the center of Gaza City’s battered port. Flanked by flags of various nations whose citizens have sailed to the Gaza Strip to highlight the all-out siege on Gaza, the memorial’s inscription bears the names of the Turkish solidarity activists who died one year ago when Israeli commandos firing machine guns air-dropped onto the Freedom Flotilla, killing nine and injuring more than fifty of the civilians on board.

On the one year anniversary of the illegal Israeli attack on and abduction of more than 600 civilians on the Freedom Flotilla from international waters, Gaza’s harbor bustled with people and energy: they had come to mourn the dead and to herald the coming boats of the second Freedom Flotilla. Palestinian Prime Minister in Gaza Ismail Haniyeh addressed the audience, thanking the Turkish activists and government for their continued solidarity with Palestine.

Since Free Gaza boats arrived in 2008 — the first blockade-breaking boats and first boats to dock at Gaza since Israel’s 1967 occupation of the Strip — the boat movement has grown exponentially. Free Gaza successfully docked in Gaza five times, with another four voyages violently thwarted by the Israeli navy.

The December 2008 sailing ended when an Israeli warship rammed a Free Gaza vessel carrying medical supplies, activists, surgeons and journalists. The February 2009 attempt ended with Israeli soldiers forcibly boarding the ship, beating and abducting the passengers from international waters. A June 2009 sailing was likewise forcibly halted by the Israeli navy, the passengers aboard abducted and deported.

Force used against siege-breaking boats

The various vessels have carried activists, international television and newspaper journalists, European parliamentarians, Jews in solidarity with Palestine, including Holocaust survivors and Israeli activists and journalists, and even Palestinians unable to get out of Gaza for studies in universities abroad and those unable to enter Gaza to reunite with family.

Israel’s pretext in blocking boats’ passage to and from Gaza is for security reasons, claiming weapons are being smuggled into Gaza. In each instance when a Free Gaza or Flotilla vessel has been forcibly absconded to Israel, only humanitarian supplies were found aboard. Rather than defeating the boat movement, Israel’s aggressions have had the opposite effect.

Vessels from Libya, Malaysia and a boat carrying Jewish activists have all sailed for, and been blocked by Israeli gunboats from, the Gaza Strip. Two weeks ago, Israeli soldiers fired upon a Malaysian aid ship carrying piping for a sanitation project in Gaza, forcing it to dock in Egyptian waters.

In May 2010, Free Gaza, supported by the Turkish humanitarian organization IHH, again sent vessels and activists sailing to the besieged Strip, this time accompanied by the massive Turkish ship the Mavi Marmara. As the six vessels with more than 600 passengers in the Freedom Flotilla approached Gaza, Israeli commandos unleashed a barrage of machine gun fire on the boats still sailing in international waters. Equipped with satellite streaming, the Israeli assault was videoed and broadcast to disbelieving viewers in Gaza and worldwide.

Keven Niesh, 53, a Canadian activist on board the Mavi Marmara, described the killings. “There were several guys who had two neat bullet holes side by side on the side of their head — clearly they were executed,” Neish told CounterPunch in an interview after the Flotilla massacre last year.

Second flotilla planned for next month

Undaunted by last year’s massacre, international activists have organized the Freedom Flotilla 2, due to sail in one month’s time with at least ten boats and more than 1,000 activists. Canadian and US boats will join those of Europe, Turkey and other nations.

Immediately following the massacre one year ago, Egyptian authorities partially opened the Rafah crossing. In an effort to deflect criticism, Israeli authorities subsequently announced they would ease the siege on Gaza. The International Committee of the Red Cross’ Mathilde De Riedmatten, in a May 2011 interview, noted that “the entry of goods into Gaza is also still highly restricted, not only in terms of quantity but also in terms of the particular items allowed.”

More recently, Egyptian authorities announced the continued opening of the Rafah crossing. The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR), however, notes that this change will not impact on imports, exports or Gaza’s economy. “These procedures will not ease the suffering of the Palestinian civilian population or change the economic situation caused by the strict closure imposed on the Gaza Strip,” a PCHR statement reads.

It calls for “lifting the Israeli closure imposed on the Gaza Strip, opening the crossings for commercial transactions and allowing the freedom of movement of persons, including the movement between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, through the outlets that are controlled by the Israeli occupation forces.”

The siege on Gaza impacts drinking water (95 percent of Gazan water is below the World Health Organization standards), the sanitation system (untreated sewage is pumped into the sea daily for want of storage capabilities) and the agriculture and fishing sectors (farmers and fishermen are shot at on a daily basis by Israeli soldiers). Unemployment and malnutrition levels soar, power outages occur daily (impacting on hospital machinery) and Palestinians continue to live in what more and more outsiders are describing as an “open-air prison.” Renowned classical pianist Anton Kuerti, endorsing the Canadian boat to Gaza, says the siege has rendered Gaza “indistinguishable from a concentration camp.”

Activists determined to sail

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon suggested nations prevent their citizens from sailing, saying governments should “use their influence to discourage such flotilla, which carry the potential to escalate into violent conflict.”

Free Gaza’s attorney Audrey Bomse stated “the flotilla violates no international laws or laws of the sea and so an outright ban on our sailing to Gaza is essentially a statement against the rights of the Palestinian people to control their own ports and lives.”

Turkey has demanded an apology and compensation from Israel to the martyred activists’ families, with Turkey’s Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on NTV television warning “Turkey will give the necessary response to any repeated act of provocation by Israel on the high seas.”

As was Free Gaza’s goal, the expanded Flotilla aims to end the illegal siege on Gaza. The Canadian Boat to Gaza will “challenge Canadian foreign policy and the uncritical support of Israeli war crimes by the current government.”

Canadian Boat to Gaza’s David Heap says the Freedom Flotilla participants are not intimidated. “Where our governments have failed the Palestinians of Gaza, civil society must act instead.”

All rights reserved, IPS - Inter Press Service (2011).

Ratko Mladic: the end of impunity?

2011-06-02T06:25:00.000-07:00

Date: Thu, 2 Jun 2011 02:38:40 -0400 (EDT)

Gwynne Dyer is an independent military/international affairs analyst mainly black-balled out of US papers, but is widely syndicated internationally.

And here he does it again. His latest column argues that the arrest of Ratcko Mladic for war crimes in Bosnia may well mark "The End of Impunity" for leaders who slaughter the innocent, and herald the slow but inexorable rise of international accountability actions.

Dyer's column never mentions the U.S. But if his analysis is correct, some formerly high American officials familiar to us all should be waking up in a cold sweat.

It took 16 years to catch Ratko. Too long; but also a long time for our former masters of war to be looking over their shoulder, wondering when they'll face similar warrants. If Dyer is right, the warrants may well be coming. Not tomorrow. But coming.

http://www.straight.com/article-395715/vancouver/gwynne-dyer-ratko-mladic-and-end-impunity or GO here

Gwynne Dyer: Ratko Mladic and the end of impunity

By Gwynne Dyer, June 1, 2011

Last week’s arrest of the former Bosnian Serb military commander, Ratko Mladic, for the murder of 7,500 Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica in 1995, helped Serbia’s campaign for membership in the European Union. But more importantly, it is a big step in the international effort to enforce the law against those who used to be free to murder and torture with impunity.

They were free to do so because the old rule was: kill your wife or your neighbour, and you will be punished for murder. Kill thousands of innocent people while in the service of the state, and you will get a medal. The state was above the law, and so were its servants.

That ancient tradition was first challenged after the Second World War, when political and military leaders of the defeated Axis powers were tried for war crimes and for the newly defined crimes of aggression and genocide. But it was an innovation with no followup—ntil the genocides in former Yugoslavia and Rwanda in the early 1990s forced the international community to act again.

In 1993 the United Nations Security Council set up the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia. The following year a similar tribunal was created to investigate the genocide in Rwanda. But these were ad hoc courts to address specific crimes.

What was really needed was a permanent international court to enforce the law against politicians and officials in countries where the government could not or would not bring them to justice in the local courts. The Rome Statute creating the International Criminal Court (ICC) was signed by over 150 countries in 1998, and the treaty came into effect in 2002.

Since its creation, the ICC has opened three investigations at the request of the local government (Uganda, the Central African Republic, and Congo-Kinshasa), two at the request of the UN Security Council (Libya and Sudan), and one at the initiative of chief prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo (Kenya). Most of the killers will escape its net, of course, but two dozen people have already gone to trial.

The ICC has no jurisdiction over crimes committed before it created, so Ratko Mladic will go before the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia, but it’s really all part of the same institution. The major complaint against this new international legal system is that it moves too slowly—but that could even be an advantage.

It took 16 years to track down and arrest Mladic, and his trial will probably take several more. That is a long time, but it also suggests a certain inexorability: they will never stop looking for you, and eventually they will probably get you. That has a powerful deterrent effect.

It is almost universally assumed by ordinary Kenyans, for example, that the intertribal carnage in Kenya in 2008 after the ruling party stole the last election was launched and orchestrated by senior political and military figures. Supporters of the leading opposition party, which was cheated of its electoral victory, began killing people of the Kikuyu tribe (most of whom backed the government), as soon as the results were announced.

The ruling party responded by using not only its own tribal supporters but also the army and police to kill opposition supporters, especially from the Kalenjin tribe. Over a thousand people were killed and more than half a million became “Internally Displaced Persons”.

Another national election is due next year, and Kenyans fear that it might happen again. However, three powerful men from each side, including the deputy prime minister, the secretary to the cabinet, and the former commissioner of police, have been summoned before the ICC to answer charges of “crimes against humanity”.

There will inevitably be a long delay before these men are tried, but that is actually a good thing, said Ken Wafula, a human rights campaigner in Eldoret, the city in the Rift Valley that was the epicentre of the slaughter. “Those who are supposed to incite will see what ICC has done, and they will not be ready to (stir up violence) for fear of maybe a warrant coming out.”

Many suspect that the Sudanese regime’s acceptance of the overwhelming “yes” vote in the recent independence referendum in southern Sudan was similarly driven by fear among top officials in Khartoum that using force would expose them to the same kind of ICC arrest warrant that has already been issued for President Omar al-Bashir over the Darfur genocide.

So long as they stayed in power, of course, they would be safe. But what if the wave of democratic revolutions sweeping the Arab world comes south to Sudan? They would become hunted men, and probably be handed over to the ICC for trial. So they seem to have opted for the peaceful path instead.

Even after 16 years, the ICC got Ratko Mladic. It got most of the surviving organisers of the genocide in Rwanda. The likelihood of being pursued by the ICC represents a real risk for senior political and military leaders who contemplate using force against their own people. They may do it anyway—consider Libya, Syria, and Yemen at the moment—but it is nevertheless a genuine deterrent, and sometimes it saves lives.

Rafah

2011-05-28T21:55:00.000-07:00

Egypt Reopens its Border with Palestinian Gaza Strip, After 4 Years of Israeli-Led Siege Aljazeer.info Sunday 29 May, 2011

Gaza gets gateway to the world

Egypt lifts four-year blockade on Rafah post bringing relief to 1.5m Palestinians

By Nasser Al-Najjar, Correspondent Published: 00:00 May 29, 2011

My Father was a Freedom Fighter

2011-05-28T06:24:00.000-07:00

internet cache posted on venue of March meetings in Britain.

'My Father was a Freedom Fighter: Gaza’s Untold Story' is published by Pluto Press.

By Stephen Lendman

Ramzy Baroud is a veteran Palestinian-American journalist and former Al-Jazeera producer. He also taught Mass Communication at Australia's Curtin University of Technology, is a frequent speaker, a regular media guest, and is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of the Palestine Chronicle, a leading resource for information on Israel/Palestine and much more.

He's also written numerous articles, commentaries, short stories, and authored several books, including "The Second Intifada: A Chronicle of a People's Struggle," and his latest and topic of this introductory review, "My Father was a Freedom Fighter: Gaza’s Untold Story."

Baroud knows his subject well, having been born and raised in a Gaza refugee camp where he saw Israeli soldiers regularly oppress, harass, humiliate, and attack young Palestinians like himself in an attempt to crush their spirit and break their will to resist, to no avail no matter how hard they tried.

What follows is a snapshot of Baroud's forthcoming book titled, "My Father was a Freedom Fighter: Gaza’s Untold Story." As distinguished Palestinian author, historian, activist and founder and president of the London-based Palestine Land Society, Salman Abu Sitta, explained in the forward:

Ramzy is Mohammed Baroud's son, a heroic "freedom fighter, (and himself) a gifted writer (who) eloquently unearthed the recent history of Beit Daras" village, chronicled his family's struggle in exile, and recounted their determination to survive and endure under siege and assaults that continue to this day.

Many books covered the early years, but most were in Arabic. Baroud's is one of the few in English "about the life, depopulation and (literal) struggle for survival of the people of a Palestinian village in southern Palestine." In spanning over seven decades of history and survivor recollections, "it stands out as an unblemished depiction of their plight" as only those who experienced it can describe.

As a freedom fighter's son, Baroud's book is proof of a people's persistence to survive, endure, and ultimately prevail in their historic quest for liberation, because of heroic men like father and son Baroud who'll accept no less. Nor should anyone wanting everyone to be free, especially the long-suffering Palestinians and oppressed peoples everywhere.

Born in Beit Daras, Mohammed Baroud's beloved village was conquered, leveled, and erased, except from the memory he took to his grave. One of seven children, he was born during the 1938 turmoil that erupted a decade later in merciless war that destroyed Beit Daras, 530 other villages, 11 urban neighborhoods in cities like Tel-Aviv, Haifa and Jerusalem, and slaughtered or displaced about 800,000 Palestinians with tactics reminiscent of Nazi WW II ruthlessness.

Mohammed and his family survived, were exiled to the Gaza Nuseirat refugee camp, dreamed always of going home, as a young man joined the Palestinian unit of the Egyptian army, later fought heroically for the Palestine Liberation Army (PLA) in the Six Day War, was wounded, and was horrified that historic Palestine was gone, its people captives on their own land, forced to endure Israeli occupation viciousness, that, for Gazans, is in the world's largest open-air prison.

Throughout his life, he endured decades of struggle, conflict, violence, occupation, oppression, what Edward Said called "a slow death," shattered hopes, and the incalculable horror of it all. It took its toll. Yet he raised six children, used his resources to educate them, believed occupation and poverty killed his young son Anwar, and then his wife Zarefah at age 42.

In his early 50s, he grew frail, needed two canes to walk, was weakened by various ailments by the late 1980s, and became increasingly disillusioned and impoverished.

Ill, in pain, and incapacitated, he was dying. The end came on March 18, 2008. Thousands turned out for his funeral, oppressed people like himself who shared his vision, struggles, and plight. "The resilient (freedom) fighter had finished the battle for a well-deserved moment of peace" while those left behind continue his courageous struggle, his son Ramzy one of them through his heroic work the way many others are equally committed and will be until Palestine is again free.

The book is available at Amazon.com and also through the publisher, Pluto Press.

- Stephen Lendman is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization. He lives in Chicago. Contact him at: lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

Find newest news on the (Permanent) re-opening of the Rafah Border today here and original posting of the above review as well as many links on Palestine Chronicle here

Also find a most touching article written by Ramzy Baroud just before the re-opening today of the Rafah Border on my other blogsite oneheartforpeace 28 May 2011

Palestine Chronicles

On this date 26 May 1945

2011-05-26T13:37:00.000-07:00

Here is "Report From San Francisco - Part 5" as broadcast on May 26, 1945. As found
here

This day in 1945 the San Francisco Peace conference was getting underway, laying the groundwork for what would become the United Nations Charter. With war still going on in the Pacific, delegates from Europe, the Middle East, Africa and South America met to establish a means of working together as a Post-War world was coming into view.

But even then, even as the war was continuing, suspicions were raised over the future relationship between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. Was all this euphoria going to last? Some didn't think so. And even Assistant Secretary of State Archibald MacLeish made mention of it in this broadcast, part of a radio series devoted to the San Francisco Conference and our Foreign Policy.

Archibald MacLeish (Asst. Sec. of State): “Political events in Europe are regarded in some quarters not only as denying the promise of San Francisco but as qualifying the hope that the continuing collaboration between the great powers, upon which San Francisco is based, can continue. Certain commentators have even spoken openly of an inevitable conflict of interest between the Russians and ourselves, and have debated the question whether Russia, our present ally in this war, is our enemy or our friend. A curious debate, one would think, with our soldiers living side by side in conquered Germany and our common dead but freshly buried.”

Interesting when you consider the Cold War became a reality not that long after these suspicions were cast. Interesting too, when you consider many members of the State Department at the time, including Alger Hiss, were hounded out of the State Department and labeled Communist operatives, triggering the Witch Hunts and Red Scare that permeated our National psyche for the better part of four decades.

But it all started out so optimistically.

United Nations Photo 1945

To Add your opposition to Obama and all the designs toward ongoing war - GO here

Today's US Vote in the House to a large degree in favor of war $ is delineated further with voting recorded here and some helpful nuanced commentary (as usual) from FireDogLake here

See David Swanson's War is a Crime blog for ways to oppose these trends and stay updated.

Day of Grieving over Lost Chance at Peace!

2011-05-26T12:55:00.001-07:00

Detainee Amendments Sent midday Thursday May 26 2011

Find items related directly to detainees below: Note Amendment #43 passed evidently.

The War Vote May 26, 2011 here

Also related to Renditons/detainees see how complicit the US/Obama still is with Shannon Airport - see esp. May 23, 24, 25th here

You can find documents on some of the rendition flights which have come through Shannon Airport and find most credible witnesses to these travesties by going to shannonwatch.org and look for articles about and by Edward Horgan articles: here and also here See the ShannonWatch reference material page here - esp. the "Killing machines as usual refuelling at Shannon" article on - Indymedia Ireland - Jan 10, 2011 by Edward Horgan - ===============
Some key amendments affecting detainees & results in the House (as I understand these)

Amendment 42 by Adam Smith, which allows detainee transfers to the US for prosecution, makes the restrictions on transfers to foreign countries less stringent, and strikes the ban on DOD spending on domestic facilities to imprison Guantanamo detainees (such as Thomson). Failed

Amendment 43 by Vern Buchanan (R-FL), which would prohibit the prosecution in federal criminal courts of all terrorism suspects who are not US citizens. Passed

Amendment 50 by Amash, Lee, Conyers, Jones (NC), Nadler, Paul to strike section 1034, the worldwide war authority provision. Failed

What a sad, sad day we have come to see. Yet there is more need than ever for our increasingly unified efforts - nationally and globally - among all citizens of the Human Family for peace with and thru justice, truth, beauty and various forms of actual compassion....

Today's US Vote in the House to a large degree in favor of war $ is delineated further with voting recorded here and some helpful nuanced commentary (as usual) from FireDogLake here

See David Swanson's War is a Crime blog for ways to oppose these trends and stay updated.

Connie