WRITTEN BY ZAHRA CARLA PILAVDZIC (artwork by Carlos Latuff)
So and so thinks she's too fat. She not only wants some liposuction but a nose job while she's at it. And if she could afford it, maybe some new boobs. She thinks then she'll be famous and people will love her.
Another one has more serious problems, [...]
While it is true that most in Pakistan are very upset by what has befallen Dr. Aafia Siddiqui as yet another victim of imperial mobilization – only one among the millions in Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine, Pakistan's Tribal-Belt, all along the 'arc of crisis' in the global zone of percolating violence, etc. – the handful who did publicly protest this latest visitation of empire's justice upon a frail tortured woman in a nation of almost 200 million, did so only symbolically. And many an English-enabled 'house Negro' only expressed faith in empire's Justice. The English language Pakistani press is full of their editorials which span the gamut of intellectual servitude from heaping scorn on any public expression of empathy with the victim, to outright blaming the victim. And this combined show of moral bravado despite the fact that Dr. Aafia has become the inextricable symbol of the summation of all the abhorrent injustices purveyed upon women in wars – from rape to rape – and no mere words can ever capture her indescribable agony! Yet, most Pakistanis among the 'field Negroes' daring to express a modicum of moral outrage only displayed our fine moral tenor from the comforts of our living room. Just as we did when Iraqi women were being raped, tortured, and disappeared in the service of empire not too long ago. Then we returned back to our daily grind.
The recent war waged by the Israeli government and the Israeli army on the Gaza Strip, already under a blockade, underlines the particular responsibility of the United States and of the European Union in the perpetuation of the injustice done to the Palestinian people, deprived of its fundamental rights.
It is important to mobilize the international [...]
The Global Peace Index Rankings have been released. Vision of Humanity has published them, and nothing there is surprising. The least peaceful nation is Iraq, followed by Afghanistan, Somalia and in the fourth position: Israel. Not surprising, as on many of the parametres used to measure peace. quite specifically respect for human rights, they fall short [...]
Palestinian organisations for rights and justice have issued a joint press statement in which they ask that Impunity must not be allowed to prevail. International law, and the respect for the fundamental human rights of peoples throughout the world, must not be subject to the whim of powerful States. As Palestinians and representatives of the victims we demand justice, and the possibility of a peaceful future.
The General Assembly must request that the Security Council not only consider the Goldstone Report, but also implement its recommendations.
Africa’s Last Colony: Spain’s Error, Morocco’s Sin aptly describes the situation and dire circumstances under which the Saharawi live. Water poisoning, torture, forced disappearances and other inhumane situations are some of the conditions under which the Saharawi live.
Over 150,000 Saharawi are internally displaced refugees living on a daily ration provided by the United Nations Food Programme while many are hounded into detention without trials or forced into exile.
By Dr. Alan Sabrosky *
The UN Human Rights Council (HRC) Resolution based on the Goldstone Report is a damning condemnation of Israel. The original meaning of being "caught red-handed" was literally being "caught bloody-handed," with the victim's blood on one's own hands. In Gaza, Israel has been caught red-handed in that literal sense, and for [...]
What peace, Mr. Nobel for Peace, if you cannot stop settlements? What peace when the British Foreign Secretary considers the Israeli war a democratic decision by a democratic state? What peace when European Union countries have refrained from voting to form an investigation delegation, a mere delegation to investigate the murder of 1,400 Palestinians, three quarters of whom were civilians? We are before a western ethical crisis. These countries, which teach daily lessons on the independence of the judiciary and human rights and the importance of accountability, stand naked at Israeli checkpoints, incapable of demonstrating even minimal credibility. International justice in Belgium retreated before Sharon. In Spain, it retreated before the generals of “Operation Cast Lead”. We have no idea where else in the aging continent (as Rumsfeld calls it) it will retreat. Has the Israeli war criminal become stronger than judicial buildings that are over two centuries old? This is the question before judicial, national, regional and international institutions today.
By Alan Hart*
On Monday 12 October, Prime Minister Netanyahu opened the Knesset's winter session by blasting the Goldstone Report that accuses Israel of committing war crimes and vowing that he would never allow Israelis be tried for them. But that was not his main message. It was an appeal, delivered I thought with a measure [...]
By Dr. Alan Sabrosky*
There is always something compelling about a "David and Goliath" confrontation. Most of us prefer winners to losers, and almost everyone feels a thrill when the underdog takes a stand and prevails.
This is the surprising situation now unfolding in the rising drama of the Goldstone Report on Gaza. Goliath — in [...]
