The 727 immigrants “rescued” by the Myanmar navy in a leaking boat on Friday have disembarked after being kept on the ship for four days. They disembarked in Rakhine state, Myanmar–the very place they were fleeing from. This ship is thought to be mainly Rohingya refugees though hundreds of Bangladeshi refugees have been “rescued” on other boats & detained in Rakhine. They are apparently trying to get the hell out of there & be deported back to Bangladesh fast because the situation is Rakhine is not only surreal but treacherous.

The Myanmar government said authorities are moving the immigrants to a “safe” location where their identities can be determined. One report says some may face prosecution for illegal immigration–meaning they embarrassed & exposed the Myanmar regime before the world as monstrous ethnic cleansers & they will be punished for that. Others will surely be incarcerated & tortured. If they survive they will end up back in the concentration camps the regime runs for Rohingya.

It’s impossible to imagine what these young men & others must be feeling as they’re moved around like livestock–unwilling to stay, unable to flee, in fear for their lives & those of their beloved.

Now that we know what’s going on, we cannot turn away. We need to begin elaborating a committed, coordinated, international campaign of political education, solidarity, & political pressure, including demanding sanctions on the Myanmar regime.

Our fullest solidarity with the Rohingya. Your grief & your outrage at oppression is ours.

(Photo by Soe Zeya Tun/Reuters)

Feminists who object to the corporate presentation of transgenderism also objected to the corporate cooptation of feminism through such figures as Madonna–where sexual exhibitionism was promoted as “empowerment”–so that now one can’t distinguish porn from empowerment.

Feminists are being shouted down as hateful & intolerant because cheesecake is a stereotype we object to. Transgenderism is being used–often by males–to castigate & divide feminism as many have tried to divide whites from Black, Latina, & Native American feminists & feminists around the world.

Feminism is an emancipatory vision with a wide spectrum of differences to be resolved. This might be the place to ask men to “know their place.” Women don’t need men to tell us how to think.

Lest for one moment we think the refugee crisis in the Andaman Sea has resolved, we should remember there are at least four thousand people still adrift in boats without water, food, or medical care. There was some big talk from the presidents of Ecuador & Turkey about sending ships & aid which has not transpired. Military aid they can get anywhere in a flash but humanitarian aid never seems to get beyond big talk.

The Myanmar navy intercepted this drifting boat with 727 refugees fleeing Rakhine State, Myanmar & held it offshore for more than three days. Journalists on small boats attempting to document the event were turned around by armed naval patrol vessels & ordered to delete any footage from their memory cards. They were also ordered to sign documents promising not to attempt to return.

The person on this boat gesturing to journalists is a Myanmar military officer who commandeered the refugee boat. Today it’s being reported that after three days of detention & starving at sea, the refugees are being transported back to Rakhine State–likely so Myanmar can get their persecution out of the public eye.

Politicians like Obama are making wimpy-assed statements of protest to the Myanmar regime. They should be issuing international sanctions & ceasing all business with Myanmar. The regime should be isolated & sealed up tighter than a drum until the Rohingya are granted full citizenship, full rights, & the end of persecution. Of course the criminal US regime is in no position to protest; it’s the braying of a jackass. But we have every obligation to justice to demand our regimes sanction Myanmar & cease all business ventures until violence & persecution of Rohingya have ended.

And one last question: where is the UN–so Johnny-on-the-spot when it comes to sanctions for war purposes? If they were actually what they claim, shouldn’t they be holding emergency sessions of the General Assembly to impose sanctions on Myanmar?

If you live long enough under neoliberalism, the barbaric phase of capitalism, without questioning, you end up thinking & braying like a jackass too. Spare yourself that ignominy & stand with the Rohingya until they have found a safe haven now & justice in Myanmar.

(Photo by Soe Zeya Tun/Reuters)

This is a group of rescued immigrants jubilant after being rescued by an Italian coastguard vessel in the Mediterranean. Over 400 men, women, & children disembarked in a Sicilian harbor. Military operations against immigrants are scheduled for launch this month led by the Italian navy & including several other European countries with warships & surveillance helicopters.

These jubilant young men may not yet know they will more than likely be processed, fingerprinted, & deported back to their home countries. Very few will be given residency & work permits in Europe. But at least they got on shore without drowning or before the EU starts torpedoing ships under the guise of taking out traffickers. Immigrants & refugees will not be the “collateral damage” rued by the murderous EU but the intended victims.

When you contrast the resources deployed by the EU to rescue thousands of drowning refugees to the resources used to terrorize & deter them, it says everything you need to know about EU immigration policy: in any sane society it would be called barbarism.
Immigration is a human right! Open the borders!

For the moment, we celebrate with these young refugees & wish them Godspeed on their way.

(Photo by Antonio Parrinello/Reuters)

Recently I told a teenage friend I would get him my protocol for acne control. After I was laid off my job of 25 years, I studied Chinese medicine & combined that with a study of physiology for classes I taught on skin care (including sun protection) without chemicals.

Sulphur is the basis of all remedies in any modality for skin problems, especially pimples–from homeopathy to drug store products. My protocol included organic sulphur capsules (MSM) & a Dr. Bronner’s olive oil soap diluted with aloe vera juice. (Homeopathic sulphur works well but the cost adds up.)

The boycott of Israeli products has thrown a monkey-wrench into the protocol. The labels on Dr. Bronner’s products are covered with spiritual slogans about world peace but their political savvy is nothing to sniff at. In 2007, a few years after BDS was launched by Palestinians, the company announced they were sourcing 90% of their olive oil (150 metric tons per year) from Palestinian producers in the West Bank through the trading firm Canaan Fair Trade (CFT) working with the Palestine Fair Trade Association (PFTA)–both organizations founded by an American-Palestinian entrepreneur.

This is where the plot thickens. According to Dr. Bronner’s, the other ten percent of their olive oil comes from Israel, including an unspecified amount through Sindyanna, a fair trade business in Israel run by Jewish & Palestinian women. A closer look at Sindyanna suggests they are not so much New Age or apolitical entrepreneurs as compromised with Israeli apartheid. Another unspecified portion of that ten percent from Israel is from what Dr. Bronner’s calls the “Jewish Israeli Strauss family farm.” Here’s where things get real dicey indeed.

The Strauss firm is hardly a family farm. It’s Israel’s foremost food & beverage company; in 2004 the Israeli Antitrust Authority labeled it a monopoly–an enterprise engaged in all sorts of felonies. The Strauss family has deep connections to the Israeli military (IDF). From 1975 till 2001, the company was run by Michael Strauss, a former elite IDF scout. It’s now run by his daughter, Ofra, who posted not just support for but “adoption” of the Golani & Givati Brigades of the IDF on the Strauss website.

The Golani & Givati Brigades are elite units of the Israeli military in operation since the 1948 war to dispossess Palestinians. Both have been involved repeatedly in Israeli wars against Palestinians, including every murderous siege on Gaza.

Well now, Dr. Bronner’s can’t have it both ways. You can’t be all New Age on your labels & continue doing business with ethnic cleansers in your board room. It isn’t splitting hairs to say Dr. Bronner’s should be boycotted until they get rid of that 10% from Israel & sever business (& probably political) relations with Strauss.That 90%-10% split between sources for olive oil may well not be reliable–any more than their designation of Strauss as a family farm.

Some may say, well that’s a lot of business for olive producers in the West Bank to lose if Dr. Bronner’s dumps them as a supplier. The first response is “what is the price we place on human lives in Gaza?” Less than 150 metric tons of olive oil? And the second response is, trust in the power of BDS to bring Dr. Bronner’s to its business senses.

(Photo is of Dr. Bronner’s soap bottle)

Sepp Blatter-ass, the president of FIFA, resigned today, less than a week after being re-elected to another term. Things weren’t looking good for our man: FIFA was exposed as a criminal syndicate, the long reach of the law was circling his cement head, & he, along with other top officials, couldn’t attend the women’s soccer games in Ottawa, Canada without fear of being arrested & extradited to the US.

Our man’s resignation was probably forced on him by the big guns behind him who want to save not just the image of FIFA from infamy, but FIFA itself. There’s way too much corporate money involved to let it go down the tubes. Sending Blatter-ass packing is a damage control stunt, leaving FIFA completely corrupt & unreconstructed.

This is a Burundi protester against the regime of president Pierre Nkurunziza who is attempting to run for a third term of office in the election this month. The dispute is likely less over the illegalities of his campaign so much as what his tenure in office represents. One could be confused & think the protester just got off work at the cassava mill & didn’t have time to wash up but the state of democracy is so volatile in Burundi that protesters show up in disguise, including under foliage headdress, to avoid identification by the regime police.

Burundi has been in a state of acute social crisis since the country became independent in 1962, including a 12-year civil war that ended in 2005–not because the people are belligerent & can’t get along but because colonialism left a hell of a mess & aggravated class divisions. They were still reeling from that misery when neoliberalism moved in to implement the updated form of colonialism.

Nkurunziza is a guy who plays ball with the IMF & they want to see him re-installed. Which is probably why they gave him a nearly $7 million loan in April & have promised $14 million more next year. They’re given Burundi nearly $42 million over the past three years. The country, considered one of the poorest in the world, appears to be living on the dole, with nearly half of the 2015 national budget of $966 million (1.5 trillion franc) funded by “international donors.” Whoever the hell they are, we can be certain they aren’t doing it in a spirit of largesse but to facilitate plunder.

The IMF reports their “economic reform program” for the country is moving a little slow but all-in-all the outlook for plunder is positive: coffee plantations are exporting; infrastructure projects including fiber optics, hydropower, & roads to serve the plantations are proceeding; healthcare & education are in a shambles. Eighty-percent of 10 million Burundians live below the poverty line & the country has the miserable distinction of being the hungriest in the world. Things couldn’t be better from the IMF point of view.

Protests against Nkurunziza’s regime have been going on for weeks. Media reports about 20 protesters have been killed. This is almost certainly an underestimate & doesn’t include the number of those injured & arrested. They are also reporting 90,000 people have fled to neighboring countries, including many leaders of the protests.

Rebellion against neoliberalism, the barbaric phase of capitalism, may take on what seem inchoate political forms. But to paraphrase Black prisoners from the 1971 Attica prison rebellion in New York, ’tis but the sound before the fury of those who are oppressed.’

(Photo by Goran Tomasevic/Reuters)

This extraordinary photo is a young man working in a cassava processing plant in the town of Bujumbura, Burundi in central Africa. Media coverage (what there is of it) of civil conflict there focus on disputes over undemocratic elections. You don’t have to investigate the history but only view this image to know the causes of massive protests go much deeper than which politicians are administrating tyranny.

Cassava was a staple food for pre-Columbian peoples in the Americas, particularly the region now Brazil. It was taken to Africa along with maize culture by Portuguese traders in the 16th century. Under the whip of neoliberal agribusiness, called the Green Revolution, African farming is now switching from maize growing to cassava production. Nearly half is intended for industrial use, including animal feed, glue, bio-fuel, & glucose syrup; the other half is used as a food staple in several African countries. This may be one of the worst cases of “let them eat cake” that human history has ever seen because it’s unlikely Bill & Melinda Gates, whose foundation is promoting cassava production in Africa, consider cassava edible in any form. After all they’re not livestock but the elite.

Ostensibly cassava production is being promoted because it’s a hearty plant that will grow almost anywhere–which doesn’t particularly speak to its nutritional value. The chief problem is its high toxicity in cyanide. In food preparation, people use several different detoxification processes including drying, boiling, fermenting, & elaborate cooking methods. Because if they don’t, they’re subject to any number of catastrophic health problems; acute cyanide poisoning can bring death within hours. Among the health consequences are endemic goiter; neurological disorders, including spasms & loss of control over bodily movements; cognitive disability; & in pregnant women, toxicity can cross the placental barrier & affect the fetus. All of these health problems are showing up among people in African countries where cassava has become a staple food & at a time when neoliberalism in agriculture is accompanied by neoliberalism in health care–the kind of health care systems that facilitate such things as the Ebola epidemic.

This is much worse than a case of “let them eat cake.” This is unspeakable, cynical, treacherous. The people of these countries understand what cassava is doing to them & their children but, given the state of neoliberal isolationism, they often have no alternative for survival. In one instance of drought in Mozambique, all food crops were lost except the most toxic variety of cassava. Due to urgency, processing was curtailed & there was insufficient detoxification. Many died within a few hours with symptoms of nausea, vertigo, & confusion.

So if cassava has to be processed before it is non-toxic, why is this worker in a cassava mill not wearing protective gear? He’s sucking it into his lungs, swallowing it in his saliva & the Gates Foundation didn’t consider safety protection for these young workers an essential part of cassava production? The mind reels before neoliberal barbarism.

The neoliberal agencies promoting this misery are rooted in the US & Europe & the greatest solidarity we can render to our brothers & sisters is to rout them out, not just from Africa, but out of the US & Europe. They’re entirely incompatible with human life.

(Photo by Goran Tomasevic/Reuters)

This is my 1962 high school year book photo on the left. I just came across it googling an old friend. My sister Nancy, who was a junior, is on the right. We had moved from northern Minnesota to Fargo, North Dakota because of my dad’s job for a pipe line company. We detested the move, detested Fargo, & detested being put in a Catholic high school.

Fargo is like tundra & winds howl down from Canada without mercy. They were good years for my mother since she stopped having babies & had a decent house for the first time. We lived across the street from the Mormon temple & our neighbors were quirky Mormons who ran an old folks home & evangelized for health foods–believe it or not, in advance of the times. In US history, healthful practices & preoccupations often associated with religion.

The UN just issued its annual world hunger report titled “The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2015” (SOFI 2015). The report claims the number of starving people in the world dropped to just under 800 million—216 million fewer than reported in 1990-92. They posit that this means fewer people in the world are hungry. How do they know more people aren’t just dropping dead from starvation?

The UN report has a giant methodology problem, even though it elaborates the most up-to-date statistical approach, because their data relies on official statistics reported from each country. Hilaire Belloc once said “statistics are the triumph of the quantitative method.” Indeed they are often more likely to be the triumph of the obscurantist method, negating political methods of analysis.

The report is replete with euphemisms, beginning with the term “food insecurity” & continuing with the distinction between “developed” & “developing” nations. Since each country reports for itself, is there a uniform definition of what constitutes “food insecurity”? Is there an agreed income standard? Does it mean you’re hungry most of the time & don’t eat every day? Or does it mean you & your kids are starving to death? At what US dollar level do you stop being food insecure: $2.00 a day, $2.50 a day, $4.00 a day? Because in most places that won’t get you a junior burger at McDonald’s.

Are they required to count those in refugee camps & undocumented immigrants? Or does no country have to claim them? What about the millions immigrating around the world? Which country claims them? And what about people like the Rohingya, denied citizenship in Myanmar & considered stateless? Are they counted in Myanmar, or in Bangladesh refugee camps where they live on stingy UN aid, or in Indonesian refugee camps—or still adrift in the Andaman Sea, starving to death? The SOFI 2015 report claimed Myanmar went from 27 million hungry in 1992 to 8 million in 2015. That’s nearly miraculous & they need to share their secrets for eliminating starvation with the rest of the world—though ethnic cleansing isn’t something every country will want to employ.

As for that distinction between developed & developing nations, it should be rejected with contempt as a colonial distinction signifying white supremacy. Neoliberal capitalism has no intention of allowing countries to develop while multinationals strip them of their natural resources.

The report doesn’t itemize country by country for “developed” countries, as it does for the “developing” countries. An interesting omission since we can’t see how much starvation there is in any European or North American country. Instead it tells us there are just less than 15 million starving people in the “developed” countries. How do they account for the contradictory estimates in 2013 from hunger NGOs that over 49 million Americans live in “food insecure” households, including 16 million children & 5 million seniors? It’s the end of the school term coming up now & without free school lunch programs, thousands of children (mostly Black & Latino) will be scouring dumpsters & food kitchens begging for food.

There are other notable problems in estimates from some of the “developing” countries—all of which highlight the methodology problems of letting countries do their own accounting. China reported a reduction from 289 million hungry in 1992 to 133 million in 2015. Now that beats even the miracle of Myanmar. In fact, it’s almost unbelievable. Especially when you read that the chief economist of the Asian Development Bank says the number of Chinese living under the poverty line of US $1.25 a day is more than 400 million people, or 30% of the population. Added to the confusion are the Chinese writers—call them friends of the regime—who claim in prestigious journals that “Hunger as a social problem has largely disappeared after being prevalent in China for several thousand years with the rise & decline of dynasties” (Jianhua Zhang in Oxford Journal of Experimental Botany). It’s a toss-up between the apologist & the regime over who’s more ridiculous.

The report says the greatest concentration of hunger in the world is in Southern Asia with about 281 million starving people. Accordingly, India reported 210 million starving in 1992, now down to 194 million. Curious, because the World Bank in 2011 reported about 276 million Indians lived below $1.25 a day. So is the discrepancy between the World Bank & Indian officials because you can eat real well on $1.25 a day in India? Or at least not starve to death? Or are we looking at another statistical miracle?

Africa is the second region with the most world starvation with at least 220 million hungry in 2015, showing an increase of 44 million since 1992. That would more than explain the tsunami of immigration to Europe. Gambia, where immigrants are fleeing by the thousands, reports no change between 1992 & 2015 in their 0.1 million hungry people out of its population of 2 million. Somebody needs to explain how that’s possible in a country where nearly 50% live under the poverty line. Nigeria reported 13 million hungry people out of a population just under 179 million–but again that’s at odds with the estimate that 70 percent live below the poverty line. Again, can somebody explain the discrepancy?

And last but not least, South Africa reports that from 1992 through 2015 hunger is “not significant.” Really? Because other statistical reports estimate from 10 million to 23 million South Africans are hungry. The CIA World Fact Book reported in 2012 that 50% of the 54 million South Africans were living in extreme poverty. Can those in extreme poverty still eat well in South Africa? Or are statistics all around just all messed up? Are we looking at another example of statistical miracles?

The UN needs to coordinate better between its different agencies. UN-Habitat claimed last year that 863 million people in the world live in slum conditions, an increase of 210 million since 1990. That would suggest world hunger is increasing. That would explain predictions that by 2030, 2 billion people will live in slums, primarily in Africa & Asia, lacking access to clean water, working toilets, employment, & food.

That would also suggest most of the SOFI 2015 report is statistical baloney. But even if it doesn’t rise above the level of baloney 800 million hungry people is massive. That is nearly three times the size of the entire US population.

The picture is a senior in China scrounging for vegetables that may have fallen off a delivery truck. Dumpster diving, food kitchens, scrounging: none of this will improve under neoliberalism, the barbaric phase of capitalism. Humanity has some hard choices to make.

(Photo from Getty)