In response to Eva Bartlett & other Assadists who say you cannot have informed opinion on Syria unless you’ve traveled there: I have never been to Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, Somalia, Grenada, Panama, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Gaza, or any of the countries where the US does or has militarily intervened. That has never stopped me & thousands of others from organizing opposition to all those wars.

The only people who use that argument–like my three brothers who fought in Vietnam–are right-wingers who support US wars. It’s not just nonsense but it’s war-mongering nonsense to claim one has to go to Syria to understand. But if I did go to Syria, it sure as hell wouldn’t be under the aegis of Assad & protected by his army because that would be just too compromising for a committed antiwar activist.

Besides, there are activists & revolutionists in Syria as well as among refugees who oppose not fraternize with dictators & who can be trusted for on the ground reports.

Eva Bartlett, Assad’s very own Ann Coulter, is upset so many think she’s on his payroll. Well if it isn’t from him, who is she getting checks from?

She says she slowly saves her money to afford several trips a year to Syria. Saves her money from what? Can she show an income report from any job at all? Ever?

And still we wonder: why does the Assad regime–ranked 177 out of 180 countries in freedom for reporters–favor the services of Bartlett & Beeley so highly that they are always accompanied by Assad officials & Syrian military security?

You can learn a lot from reading that lying-assed mainstream media. Like: the UN refugee agency just reported the number of refugees who drowned crossing the Mediterranean in 2016 was 5,022 people.

Now we find out that there is no reliable data because there is no system for knowing how many people are being packed into those plastic rafts & rickety death traps by illegal traffickers. So according to rescuers involved, ‘thousands of people remain unaccounted for after attempting the deadly Mediterranean Sea crossing.’

That is just like May 2015 in the Andaman Sea where thousands of Rohingya refugees adrift without water & food were abandoned & there is not yet an accounting by any human rights or international agency.

Refugee rights is one of the most important human rights issues of our times. Either we get it right or we’re all going down.
Open the damn borders. Immigration is a human right. Refugee asylum is a duty.

Aung San Suu Kyi is feeling political heat from public exposure as the human rights face of genocide. At the same time as the open letter to the UN from 23 notables, including 12 fellow Nobel peace laureates, became public, this video was circulated on Twitter by a user named Rohingya Blogger. Suu Kyi’s office says it is now investigating the incident.

The four officers shown in the video assaulting Rohingya detainees, including the officer who took the video, have already been hauled in by Myanmar authorities.

According to Suu Kyi’s office, the footage was filmed November 5th during a “clearance operation” in Kotankauk village–whatever a “clearance operation” is. What’s going on here is outrageous but nothing compared to what the open letter & of course Rohingya human rights activists have accused Burmese troops of doing, including to women & children.

There will be an attempt by Suu Kyi to make this appear an isolated incident & the guy who filmed this may face charges for reckless disregard for Suu Kyi’s image. The important thing is that Suu Kyi’s response shows Rohingya genocide is no longer Myanmar’s dirty secret.

Rohingya solidarity is emerging & on the march. Social media is a central part of that.

https://twitter.com/rohingyablogger/status/815687445043875840

Assad supporter’s New Year prayer for world peace:

Happy New Year to all humanity. May there be an end to all war, occupation, brutality, bigotry, hatred, & lying in the MSM in 2017.

PS: Don’t get carried away, God. Syria is an exception. Those US-backed head-chopping jihadists have to be taken out by Syrian & Russian bombers in the interests of world peace & national sovereignty. Otherwise Sharia law will take over & all the women will be forced to wear niqab & there won’t be any more Christmas trees.

Amen.

There has been a general news blackout about the refugee crises in the Mediterranean for about a year. There were always three major routes covered: from Turkey to Greece, from Libya to Lampedusa, Italy, & from Morocco to Ceuta & Melilla, both Spanish enclaves on the North African coast.

The Morocco to Ceuta & Melilla route used to receive a lot of coverage because of dramatic photos of hundreds of refugees scaling the heavily-guarded razor-wire fences whilst being beaten back. They would arrive in Morocco from African countries further south & encamp near the fences to wait out a chance to cross. Their encampments were often hassled & broken up by Moroccan security forces. Morocco police, in collaboration with Spanish border guards, would also attack refugees from the rear as they attempted to cross the fences. If any refugees made it across into Spanish territory they could file formal procedures for asylum under Spanish law. That’s why refugees employed the tactic of rushing the fences en masse with the hopes that more would be able to successfully cross. Many landed in Ceuta or Melilla with broken bones, lacerations & gashes from the razor wire, & other serious injuries because many were malnourished & sick to begin with.

There were frequent reports of excessive use of force & abuse by Spanish border guards, including summary returns to Morocco without asylum procedures. In just one out of countless incidents of excessive force, in February 2014 border guards fired rubber bullets & tear gas at refugees attempting to swim past barricades from Morocco to Ceuta. Fifteen died in that incident & they have not yet received legal justice.

On July 1st, 2015, Spain’s new Citizens’ Security Law went into effect. It was the government’s attempt to end massive, frequent protests against the EU-IMF austerity policies by criminalizing public protests. It was a draconian, very comprehensive attack on civil liberties, including internet access, protests, prohibitions on taking or disseminating photos or videos of police officers (including by reporters), exorbitant fines for insulting an officer (with broad definitions of “insult”), crackdowns on freedom of the press.

The security law also included the right to preempt international law & change Spanish asylum procedures by mandating the summary deportation of refugees who managed to cross the barriers & get into the Ceuta & Melilla enclaves. One can only imagine the extremes of violence employed by Spanish & Moroccan border guards against the refugees in order to enforce the new law.

This photo is of an incident yesterday, the first time Ceuta or Melilla has been covered by media in at least a year—almost certainly because of the new legal restrictions on media coverage of police actions. About 1,100 refugees in Morocco attempted to rush the fence at Ceuta but the combined security forces of Morocco & Spain managed to beat them all back & arrested 800. Only two managed to get across & both were taken to hospital for serious injuries. On recovery they will be deported.

One of the young men not yet arrested can be seen here at the top of the fence on the left; he shows how extremely dangerous it is for them to cross. From repeated photos taken of the fences over a few years, we can see they not only doubled up the fences but reinforced them all the way down one side with razor wire.

UN refugee agency figures for the number who managed to cross to Spain in 2016 are oddly reported. It’s unlikely many managed to cross or were given asylum if they did. That will require some investigation to find out.

Meanwhile, immigration is a human right. Refugee asylum is international law, not to mention part of the highest traditions of human civilization. Open the damn borders.

(Photo by Jose Antonio Sempere/Reuters)

Some expert on the news says he visited several US national parks & “never felt prouder to be an American.” From natural beauty to nationalism?

We gotta get this guy on a plane if he thinks Yellowstone is the apex of natural beauty.

This is a reposting from 2014 & 2016 & appears to have become my New Year take on life: it may explain why so many proudly refuse to read the newspapers. They want to stay in a state of “happification.”
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FB prompted me to like the FB wall “Happify” which would teach me the science-based way to stop negative thoughts & feel happier every day. Apparently the system comes recommended by the NY Times & Katie Couric. Well there is just nothing worse than a negative thought so I rushed to the page to get happified hoping that a stupor or induced coma weren’t required.

I had some questions: Does social criticism mean you’re not happified? Does justified outrage mean you’re resisting happification & being controlled by the dark forces of the universe? Or does it just mean you read the newspapers? Just how far does the happifying thing go?

Well after some moments on that wall I felt giddy with glee, purged of all negative thoughts. But when I came back to my own wall a friend had posted about the high court ruling in Delhi, India which let a man go scot-free after the 2010 rape & murder of a 65-year-old woman because she was post-menopausal & thus the crime cannot be considered rape. The judges ruled “even if the sexual intercourse was forceful it was not forcible & contrary to the wishes & consent of the deceased.” They can’t ask her if it was contrary to her consent because he murdered her. The esteemed judges found she might have died from natural causes. And here we thought the US Supreme Court took the cake for judicial dereliction & pompous idiocy.

This happifying thing isn’t working for me. There ain’t no science that can cut across reality without inducing a coma–which may be a lot easier than changing reality but somebody’s got to kick ass. My mother always chided me with the Bible: “Revenge is mine; I will repay saith the Lord.” My answer remains the same: “Why should God have all the fun?” Think of how happified we’ll all feel when these judges are put behind bars after being declared insane?

This is reposted from January 20th, 2016, three days after the suicide of Rohith Vemula, a PhD candidate & Dalit civil rights activist in India. The first anniversary of his death is approaching & there will be tributes to his life & to the role he continues to play in inspiring the movement against caste oppression. This is a very powerful trailer to a tribute & documentary about his life:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yw5mDeW9i8

As a personal aside, January 11th is the 20th anniversary of my brother Paul’s suicide. To me there is resonance between Paul & Rohith because Paul’s psychic energies were exhausted from 40 years of fighting abuse & indignities as a man with learning disabilities.
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We should take a moment to honor & pay our respects to Rohith Vemula, a 25-year-old graduate student in Hyderabad, India, who committed suicide by hanging last Sunday. Rohith was a Dalit activist who fearlessly fought caste oppression & a socialist student activist involved in protests against the discriminatory beef bans, the death penalty, communal violence against Muslims, & against the growing rightwing, nationalism in Indian politics. He was persecuted by the rightwing university administration & a month ago he & four other Dalit students were evicted from university housing & had their monthly research stipends suspended, allegedly for subversive activities.

According to the powerful tributes of friends & co-thinkers, Rohith was a deep, gentle fellow, a political activist & teacher. Suicide is often a political act common among the oppressed & persecuted who develop a profound sensitivity which can be difficult to sustain & manage. Being thrown out of the university must have evoked in him all the outrage & indignities of caste oppression.

To his survivors, the death of such a beloved & respected man must feel as if the world has shifted on its axis because of his role in the struggle against caste oppression. Even in death, officials feared him & took no chances his death would be commemorated since they kidnapped & burned his body in secret–to efface his memory & obliterate his spirit of defiance. But there have been protests around India & his life & death are being memorialized by thousands.

It should not need to be said that we cannot unfavorably judge someone who takes their own life. The grief & psychic pain such sensitive people feel is so profound that they are able to overcome the human instinct for survival. We are not asked to judge but to understand. In the case of young Rohith, we regret the choice he made in death but honor the choices he made in life to resist human degradation & injustice & spend his life trying to end it.

Our deepest respect to his memory. Our most heartfelt condolences to his family, friends, & co-thinkers. We will remember him around the world as a champion of human rights. May he Rest In Peace.
Photo is Rohith Vemula from his FB wall which the university closed down.

Rodrigo Duterte cultivates an image of himself as vulgar, boorish uncultivated, thuggish & speaks in profanities & debased language. In fact, he comes from an extremely prominent, well educated family. His mother Soledad was college educated in the 1930s & worked as a teacher & school administrator. His father Vicente was a lawyer, mayor, governor of the province of Davao, & served as president Ferdinand Marcos’ Cabinet Secretary in the pre-martial law period that began in 1972.

Duterte himself has a law degree, was a prosecutor in Davao city, was a Philippine congressman for the region, & served as mayor of Davao for 22 years.There are many other politicians in Duterte’s extended family, including uncles, aunts, & his kids who appear to think of the mayoralty of Davao city as a hereditary title.

That Duterte is a thug & a populist demagogue is indisputable. That’s usually taken to mean he appeals to unsophisticated, stupid, lower class workers–the same constituency that many insist is Trump’s social base. That’s very questionable not just in terms of demographics but in terms of political analysis. Historically, there is more evidence that the appeal of these fascistic types is rooted in the middle class who feel their privileges & entitlements are jeopardized–very much the class that Duterte comes from–more than among working people.

Media reports that Duterte’s popularity has grown with the acceleration of his death squad campaign. How reliable those polls are depends entirely on who is paying for them. But part of any actual popularity is due to the mythology he created about his achievements as mayor of Davao. He may be boorish but he is also slick.

His election bombast is that his law & order vigilantism in Davao made it one of the safest cities in the Philippines. His use of extrajudicial killings for drug users & criminals has been tracked by human rights groups back to 1998 & up to 2016. His notoriety for vigilantism got him dubbed “the Punisher” by Time magazine in 2002. Reality doesn’t match his rhetoric.

Reuters, which has done significant investigative work on Duterte, reported in May 2016 that Davao city has the highest murder rate & second highest rape rate among 15 Philippine cities. In 2010, while he was mayor, the Philippine Child Protection Unit reported that Davao was one of the top five areas for child prostitution, sex trafficking, & sex tourism in the Philippines. Again in October of this year, child protection groups reported that child prostitution was rising in Davao due to unemployment.

Funeral workers–those questionably deemed Duterte’s constituency–are here removing duct tape from the head & wrists of a death squad victim in Manila last September. There are other photos where the funeral workers handling the bodies of victims are clearly distraught & overwhelmed. This is a gruesome photo but once again, the indignity of this man’s death does not adhere to the victim but documents & condemns Duterte’s criminality. According to the pattern, two or more vigilantes on motorcycles with no license plates & faces hidden by masks or helmets seal off the streets & hunt down their victims for execution.

That’s the same vigilante model used by the Davao Death Squads which Duterte recently admitted to operating while mayor. Human rights groups have documented 1,400 killings in Davao between 1998 & 2016, some of them teenagers. In 2011, investigators from an organization of the forcibly disappeared & the Commission on Human Rights discovered killing fields near Davao where the death squads dumped their victims. Forensics on the skeletal remains found signs of torture.

While he campaigned for president, he promised to make Manila Bay a killing field by dumping the corpses of criminals there to “fatten all the fish.” In a monstrous political sarcasm, Duterte just publicly admitted he is addicted to Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid similar to morphine but 50 to 100 times more potent. It has side effects, including confusion, anxiety, & hallucinations. They could dump his bony ass in the bay but the fish are unlikely to bite. Better he be prosecuted & jailed, given the due process he scorns for the poor.

May this young man Rest In Peace. Our condolences to his family & friends.

Fullest solidarity with the human rights activists & organizations standing against Duterte’s death squads.

(Photo by Ezra Acayan/Reuters)