Condemnation of the Taliban murder of 145 school children in Pakistan has been swift & furious. Ban Ki-moon called it “blood-curdling” with no possible justification; John Kerry, who does not flinch from genocide in Gaza, said “This act of terror angers & shakes all people of conscience.” Although how the hell would he know how people of conscience respond? Martin Schulz, the head of the EU parliament, said “This crime is abominable & cowardly, & leaves us stunned & speechless.” But not as speechless as he was during the Israeli siege of Gaza! With haughty indignation he rears up on his hind legs to protest: “And what surely shocks us in particular, is that they don’t even hesitate to murder children.” He must have missed when Israeli bombers went after the children of Gaza.

Most of us outside Pakistan don’t have a clue who the Taliban are. They’re a shadowy paramilitary political force likely riddled with police agents. Since information available here is sifted through Islamophobia & war propaganda, most of us don’t know squat about who they are. But it’s pretty clear their politics & perspectives stink to high heaven. Even so, before we follow the lead & start denouncing like Ban Ki-moon & the boys we ought to get the facts straight. It’s not a matter of holding off judgement on the massacre of children but of holding off judgement on who the perpetrators are.

Media reports Pakistan special forces led a rescue operation against seven Taliban terrorists. Media has been more reticent to report on the sustained bombing campaign conducted in that region by the Pakistani military which has surely killed a lot more than 145 civilians & dislocated millions.

It is absolutely vile that school children would be made pawns in the conflict between the Pakistani military & the Taliban–whoever the hell they are. Whoever is behind this massacre should be hunted down & prosecuted. But it’s not inconceivable that hunt will lead straight back to the Pakistani regime.

There isn’t a reason in the world to let Pope Francis off the hook for his silence on Israeli ethnic cleansing in Gaza. But he’s been making some seasonal pronouncements worth nothing. No offense to the Pontiff, but we didn’t need him to speak ex cathedra to tell us there’s a place for pets in heaven. We knew that. It is a big improvement over St. Augustine who didn’t think there was a place for women. So with the Pope’s blessing you can now conduct rituals when you bury your beloved companions & are free to utter “May they RIP.” And you’re free to do the same for your mother.

The Pontiff is less impressive when rebuking those who equate Islam with violence. Turkey might not have been the best choice of venue for making his statement & it would have been good if he had just stopped there. Instead he went on to urge Muslim leaders to issue a “global condemnation of terrorism to help dispel the stereotype.” They may want to consider that right after the Pontiff issues a belated global apology for the Inquisition.

Where our man did good is in his scheduled speech (Jan. 1st 2015) on modern slavery entitled “No Longer Slaves, But Brothers & Sisters.” Our heartfelt desire tempered by skepticism is that his speech will be more than abstract moralizing & will nail neoliberalism as the common denominator in human bondage. Naming names would be a starter. Abstractions let too many off the hook & are indistinguishable from Obama commiserations.

And lastly, Vatican officials met with US war-monger in chief, John Kerry to offer assistance in closing down Guantanamo. The offer will be declined but the willingness to apply moral pressure on the US is an admirable thing. Not ground-breaking, but admirable. The media report on the offer had this to say: “Obama came to power six years ago promising to close Guantanamo, but has been frustrated in his efforts by a combination of opposition from Congress & the difficulties involved in finding homes for prisoners who are often unwanted by their home states &/or suspected of involvement in terrorist actions, including the September 11, 2001, attacks in some cases.” When it comes to alibis, that’s a beauty. They can’t find homes for the prisoners so they continue to waterboard, anally rape, terrorize & humiliate, & threaten to take out their families.

If it’s just a case of finding refuge, there are millions of decent people around the world who would welcome them into their homes; there are actually governments who would provide sanctuary.

So nice job, Pope Francis on Guantanamo. We await your solidarity with Palestinians.

(Photo of Pope Francis from Huffington Post)

One regrettable consequence of the report on CIA atrocities is that Cheney has returned from the crypt to defend torture & his criminality. Everybody likes him better dead. Even Bush is afraid of him. We await that glorious moment when he’s cemented into his tomb, delivered to hell, & millions can recite celebratory obituaries whilst they piss on his image. You won’t want to get near that crypt for the stench. Even now he clears the halls of power when he appears. The man doth reek.

Before he skulks away again in ignominy we should note his repugnant physical & moral resemblance to The Penguin from Batman, rumored to be not just his role model but his ancestry.

Neoliberal agribusiness, which dispossesses millions of farmers & farm workers, has created massive migration abroad & to urban slums. Millions of people create makeshift shanty towns on unused property which brings them into conflict with real estate developers & urban gentrification. There have been pitched, sustained battles between slum residents being evicted & riot cops using tear gas, truncheons & bulldozers–most notably in Cambodia & the Philippines.

But there is a troubling phenomenon associated with these slums in several countries including India, Bangladesh, Brazil, Nigeria, Kenya: massive conflagrations that burn them to the ground & displace the residents. Fire forensics are seldom reported but officials always give the same litany of speculations: could have been a cooking accident, faulty or pirated power lines, flimsy, flammable building materials, overcrowding, piles of recycling materials gathered by residents from dumpsites to resell, or sometimes just “cause unknown”. Sounds reasonable enough except that residents tell a very different story. They claim fire trucks arrived late to the scene; residents were forced to fight the fires themselves with buckets of water; once they did arrive firemen were unable to douse flames due to shortage of water; & perhaps most damning of all, the fires happened after repeated eviction orders from authorities.

There are hundreds of fires going back over a decade. Arson for purposes of land development & gentrification is the most compelling explanation, given the eviction notices & frequent violent eviction battles between riot cops & residents. It wouldn’t be the first time arson was used to facilitate gentrification. It was not uncommon in the US in the 1970s for urban renewal. The combativeness of residents against evictions might make torching the settlements seem the strategy of least resistance to developers.

Some residents have been killed in the fires, including elderly, infirm, children, & pets unable to escape; many have been injured; people have lost all their belongings; & tens of thousands have been dislocated with no place to go.

The process of development & gentrification using forced evictions & fires is nowhere more ruthless than the Manila metropolitan area in the Philippines. There are dozens of fires every year; there were at least one or two a month this year alone in several districts all charted for development orchestrated by Henry Sy, a real estate tycoon, & Enrique Razon Jr., a shipping magnate, who are two of the four Filipino billionaires. What’s interesting about these two guys is that they use complex real estate swindles to illegally reclaim & refurbish prime real estate without permits & on untitled public domain property occupied by shanty towns. Their real estate swindles are just the vehicle for neoliberal privatization policies which is why so many Filipino politicians, government agencies, the courts, & the cops are involved against slum residents.

There have been three fires in Manila this month in different districts. This little guy is swimming in the debris of a December 10th fire in Malabon city, a district along the rim of Manila Bay, one of the primary areas targeted for development by shipping companies & resort/casino developers.

Housing is a primary human need not available to millions of people worldwide & must become a central political demand. “Money for housing, not for war” is an apt slogan in the Philippines since militarism is a feature of Filipino political rule.

(Photo by Bullitt Marquez/AP)