» Archive: March 2005
Seven Oaks and Spartacus
Charles Demers' I love(d) you, Spartacus, is one of many good articles in the latest issue of Seven Oaks.
It seems that a small, up-and-coming band of cola-making entrepreneurs called "Pepsi" has related to the classic story of the slave revolt that nearly collapsed the economic foundations of the Roman Empire. As though Michael Jackson's trial for child molestation weren't reminder enough of the inherent dignity of endorsing Pepsi, this past week, my eyes welled with Kirk Douglas-like tears as I saw the company's t.v. spot hijacking one of the most touching scenes in cinematic history (before Hillary Swank tried to bite off her own tongue): Roman centurions, on horseback, demand of a group of chained, captured slave warriors that they give up the leader of their uprising; rather than sell him out, each of his comrades instead stands to claim his identity: "I'm Spartacus!" So touched by their support, the square-jawed gladiator himself begins to cry.This must be a plot by someone inside Pepsi to triggers a revolt against commercial appropriation and saturation of culture. But, no.
The schills at Pepsi read the scene a bit differently: The Romans ask if any of the prisoners has lost a bagged lunch, marked 'Spartacus', that they have found. Since it contains a delicious, refreshing cola, the slaves stand and claim, no longer in unison but in a cacaphony, "I'm Spartacus!", i.e. "That's my lunch, ergo, my Pepsi." I am not making this up. Spartacus's tears are now shed not from the touching swell of solidarity, but for his having lost his lunch. I know the feeling.
Canadian Spectator
The Canadian Spectator is a news filter with lots of good stories and links, and a refreshing functional, minimalist design that still manages to be pretty.
Undermining effective AIDS programs
Guardian: "Uganda, considered a beacon in Africa for its Aids-beating policies, is adopting sexual abstinence-only programmes financed by the US which could undo all its successes, a report says today."
Gold in them thar autocracies
As usual, minimal levels of honesty and accuracy would involve disclosing Canadian interests in goings-on abroad. As usual, that's not happening.
Democracy Now! Kyrgyzstan Protests Topple Government
JUAN GONZALEZ: And is there any major investment, foreign investment or U.S. investment, in Kyrgyzstan? Any major resources that western nations might covet?
ROBERT TEMPLER: There's quite a lot of gold, and there are a number of major gold mines there which have been very much linked to the Akayev family. They're mostly run by Canadian companies rather than U.S. companies. But gold is probably the most significant resource. Kyrgyzstan also provides most of the water for the rest of Central Asia, and that's going to be a critical resource that it could make more money from.
Legalize it?
Maisonneuve has a mediocre article about prostitution up, which has some good discussion at the end.
The ongoing discussion seems to be over what model of legalization is the best. There is the Dutch/general European model, which simply legalizes prostitution and attempts to regulate it, while providing the right for female prostitutes to unionize. And then there's the Swedish model, which makes it legal to be a prostitute, but illegal to profit from the work of prostitutes, and illegal to visit a prostitute.
The idea behind the latter model is that the problem with prositution is not adultery per se, but violence against women. The argument against it seems to be that prostitution will exist no matter what, and its better if it's above-ground. The problem, some Swedish-model-advocates point out, is that a) this perpetuates and accentuates a culture of objectification of women (and the inevitable violence) and b) opens the door to even more of a below-ground sex trade, of which there is evidence in the Netherlands, for example.
While some of the attacks on the Swedish system seem a bit vociferous, it's easy to get distracted from what seem to be unavoidable points: any sound policy has to...
- ...aim to eliminate, not perpetuate, violence against women
- ...take into account the socio-economic situations that make prostitution necessary or appealing, including histories of abuse, lack of decent jobs, lack of pay equity
- ...reach out to all of those (arguably the vast majority) who are working as prostitutes who not by choice, but by necessity
- ...not criminalize the activities of those being exploited (which often intensifies their exploitation
I think this one is a good starting point:
Elaine Audet: Prostitution: Rights of Women or right to women?
Tyee Twofer
thetyee.ca: Haida Blockaders Vow "As Long as It Takes"
"The reasons for the blockade are long and complicated, yet utterly simple -- the Haida want control over their traditional lands and resources."
Murray Dobbin: 'Pro-Canadian' Means Much More than 'Anti-American'
"Tom d'Aquino, meet Canada."
Sea Change
In These Times has an excellent piece by Christopher Hayes on Progressives' fight for America’s soul. It offers a number of interesting yet simple proposals and, not incidentally, proves instructive on many levels beyond American politics. It’s the beginnings of a political tract, and may prove indispensable in the future. I suggest it be read, bookmarked, read, emailed, read, and reposted—maybe even here on Dominion.
Ralph Shoenman video
Ralph Shoenman, former Executive Director of the Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation, is seen here in this video speaking about 9/11.
Always articulate, often controversial, this is a rare interview with the man who brings "Taking Aim" to air every week.
Canada Denies US Soldier Refugee Status
The verdict is in -- American conscientious objector Jeremy Hinzman has been denied refugee statusby the Canadian Immigration and Refugee Board. They argued that the 26-year-old Hinzman had not convinced them that he would be subject to persecution if he returned to the US, despite the fact that he will face a court martial and possibly five years in prison as a "deserter".
Canada and Haiti, action, news
Haiti Solidarity B.C. delivers U of Miami's human rights report to five NDP MP's on global day against war and occupation. See here...
Also, see Canada's Duplicitous 'Leadership' in Haiti, by Anthony Fenton.
And this just in, see Cesar Chelala's Japan Times piece, Human Rights and Public Health in Haiti...Significantly, Chelala corroborates an assertion made several months ago by Kevin Pina on Flashpoints Radio, concerning 600 bodies that had collected in the State hospital in the wake of the new wave of violence, beginning on September 30th when Haitian police fired on unarmed demonstrators. Chelala writes:
"Last October, the General Hospital in Port-au-Prince called the Ministry of Health demanding emergency vehicles to remove more than 600 corpses that had been deposited there, the result of killings that had taken place in the previous weeks."
Cellucci joins Magna
Former US ambassador to Canada, Paul Cellucci will join Magna Entertainment, which is owned by Frank Stronach, (Conservative MP Belinda Stronach's father).
You may remember the stink that arose in 2003 when the Eves government decided to announce the provincial budget at Magna's auto parts HQ in a departure from the democratic tradition of making the announcement at Queen's Park.
Ward Churchill Under Neocon Threat
University of Colorado professor Ward Churchill is at risk of being fired for arguing that many people who were killed in the World Trade Center on 9/11 were the financiers and technocrats of U.S. imperialism. Ward has been under attack by right-wing pundits ever since he compared these employees to Adolf Eichmann, the logistics head of the Nazi Holocaust.
The Republican Govenor of Colorado, Bill Owens, spearheaded the call for his dismissal. Owens is a member of the American Council of Trustees and Alumni, an organization spearheaded by Lynn Cheney that has proposed monitoring university faculty for liberal bias.
Meanwhile, controversial Harvard President Lawrence Summers is facing increasing pressure to resign after the faculty of arts and science passed a vote of no confidence in him. The conservative Summers has been in the hot seat since taking over the Harvard presidency for making contentious remarks, the most recent of which suggested that women are biologically less capable then men in the sciences.
Bush Nominates War Hawk as World Bank Head
George Bush has nominated Paul Wolfowitz, a chief architect of the Iraq war, to head the world bank.
The appointment of Wolfowitz, a neoconservative war hawk with little knowledge or experience on poverty or development issues, has shocked diplomats and development workers, but should come as no huge surprise to those who already view the World Bank as an tool of American imperialism.
Haiti Resource Page
Be sure to check out the Haiti Resource Page at Autonomy and Solidarity, for the latest news, commentary and analysis pertaining to the ongoing occupation and de facto colonization of Haiti's poor majority.
New Seven Oaks Magazine Up
*The March 15-22 issue of Seven Oaks is now available
at www.SevenOaksMag.com*
This week includes:
-Am Johal's Middle East Powder Keg: Israeli-Iranian tensions
-Seth Sandronsky's Freedom 55 disappearing in Bush's USA
-Derrick O'Keefe's Liberal 'star power' reloaded
-Charles Demers' A review of Crude: The Story of Oil
-March 19: Still Fighting the Empire
-Plus, 7 Questions with Judy Rebick, who discusses her
new book and the history of the women's movement in
Canada.
Rachel Corrie in memoriam
Two years ago today, Rachel Corrie, a 23-year old American volunteer with the
International Solidarity Movement, was crushed to death by an Israeli Defence
Force bulldozer as she sought to prevent it from demolishing the home of a
Palestinian doctor. Her family's efforts to find justice have so far been
unsucessful, and her story now all but forgotten by the mainstream media.
To honour her memory, please take a moment to read the writings of, and about,
this woman who died for her conviction that we all have a responsibility to
stop preventable injustices, and who thought her body and her passport would be
enough to stop a man in a bulldozer from going forward.
Rachel Corrie Memorial
Rachel's letters home (which were published in both the Guardian and the Globe and Mail):
The International Solidarity Movement
Background on Palestine, Israel and the Arab-Israeli Conflict
Time to Move on from MoveOn?
Norman Solomon discusses MoveOn.org's total lack of anti-war activity in recent months. MoveOn.org was established on the strength of the antiwar movement, but it seems that their message has been increasingly watered down since campaigning for the last presidential election started.
All you need to know about John Bolton...
...the new US ambassador to the UN.
"John Bolton is the kind of man with whom I would want to stand at Armageddon."
--Jesse Helms, 2001
But if you want to know more read on.
Chomsky's riff on the toothpaste election is good (and uncharacteristically short for a Chomsky talk) as well.
Student General Strike in Quebec
Check out the latest on the spreading student strike in Quebec.
The Essentials of Post Cold War Deterrence
A perfect read for anyone wanting to get inside the mind of those "policy wonks" who churn out endless reports and studies leaving you with the question: "Who ever thought war would be a good idea."
The Facts on U.S. Social Security
It makes sense that Social Security should become the new bone to fight over in the ongoing class war given the ever widening gap between the rich and poor.
As the middle class disappears, what rationale is left for the elite to sustain the poor financially? Why pay into a system that doesn't make your money mulitply as quickly as you're used to? If you hold the belief that poverty is self-inflicted, what reason would you have to dump your hard earned cash into a system that invests in society as a whole, when the carrot of private bank accounts is being dangled before your eyes?
Bush says Social Security is broke. He's lying. More importantly, he's being fed lies. It's a lie on the scale of WMD, and just about every other piece of major policy that has been called into action.
Ikea Manuals Sexist (and I Can't Figure Them Out), says Norwegian PM
Ikea's instruction manuals are sexist, complains Norwegian Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik. Only men are ever shown assembling furniture in Ikea manuals, a practice the the Swedish furniture giant defends, arguing that portraying women assembling bookshelves and barstools could offend Muslims.
PM Bondevik isn't buying their argument. "It's important to promote attitudes for sexual equality, not least in Muslim nations," he said.
"I myself have great problems with screwing together such furniture," he also admitted.
Two Points for the Toronto Star
So hey, looks like the Toronto Star broke ranks with the rest of the mainstream media yesterday and actually printed something accurate about the situation in Haiti, and Canada's despicable role in it all.
In the words of Ella Fitzgerald, this could be the start of something big.
Frente Amplio
Anarchogeek has some extensive thoughts on the new leftist government in Uruguay.
Incidentally, Uruguay may become the first Latin American country (besides Cuba) to legalize abortion.
It's only democracy when we fund it
CBC News: Huge pro-Syria rally clogs Beirut square
There are reports that Syria bused people into Lebanon and pressured people to turn out.Interesting that this merits mention when the protesters are pro-Syrian, and not pro-western and Canadian-funded.
Justin Podur: Democracy in Lebanon!
Canada's national newspaper the Globe and Mail's editorial on the topic made a cold war analogy, in which they said that the flowering of democracy in the Middle East (implication being thanks to the American invasion and occupation of and mass murder in Iraq) could be like the 'Arab 1989'. Well there is one sense in which that analogy does apply - the USSR's control of the countries to the west of it was brutal and authoritarian and, like Syria, motivated by the fear of being invaded by powerful neighbours - Western Europe for Russia, Israel for Syria. Of course this kind of geopolitical 'buffer state' thinking does nothing for the people who live in the buffer states other than make them pawns and their lives miserable. But being able to see that a state has a security concern is important.
Tsunami Law Suit against U.S.
The Tsunami Victims Group has filed a lawsuit against a host of Defendants; U.S. Government, NOAA, the Accor Group which owns a string of hotels, to name a few.
Read the claim here and kudos to these people for trying to bring theU.S. Government's prior knowledge of the Tsunami to light.
Just like that.
BBC: "China's government has passed a renewable energy law which is intended to increase production of energy from sustainable sources. The law, which will come into force early next year, seeks to increase the usage of solar and wind power to 10% of China's total consumption."
Emphasis added.
CBC vs. Reuters
Check out the difference in coverage between the CBC and the wire stories that the CBC report was based on. Someone at the CBC was paid to rewrite this story for no other reason than to change the words around to take the edge off of the actions of the Haitian police, which the RCMP is training.
I've highlighted the differences in terminology.
It's bad enough when the CBC regurgitates the misinformation of the wire services, but on the rare occasion that the AP or Reuters can't avoid reporting an incident like this, the CBC apparently needs to twist the facts further.
Here's the CBC:
At least two people were killed Monday at a police roadblock in a suburb of Port-au-Prince where militant supporters of former Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide rallied to mark the one-year anniversary since he left power.
Police fired tear gas at the crowd as they charged the roadblock, then followed that with live ammunition.
And Reuters:
Three people were killed on Monday when Haitian police opened fire on a crowd of demonstrators protesting the ouster of former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide a year ago, witnesses and officials said.
Chanting "Aristide for life," thousands of protesters marched in the Bel-Air slum to demand the return of the exiled president, who fled Haiti on Feb. 29 in the face of a bloody rebellion by street gangs and former soldiers and under pressure from the United States and France.
Police began shooting as the demonstrators rounded a corner at an intersection, scattering the panicked crowd.
And the Associated Press:
Police on Monday fired at peaceful protesters marking the one-year anniversary of the ouster of former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, and at least two people were killed and nearly a dozen were wounded.
About 2,000 protesters waving Aristide pictures and chugging rum started marching toward the National Palace when they encountered a police vehicle blocking the road in Bel Air neighborhood, an Aristide stronghold.
As crowds passed the vehicle, police fired tear gas, then bullets. With weapons drawn, U.N. peacekeepers surrounded the area.
Arrest at the Cologne New Philharmonic
Guardian: "The raid last week, in which 15 members of the Cologne New Philharmonic were taken into custody, followed allegations that the 49-year-old conductor had been illegally employing musicians from eastern Europe without work permits."
Aid is "hypocritical and self-serving"
Aid agencies are accusing rich countries of "using aid to reward strategic allies and pet projects at the expense of the neediest countries". They note that "only one-fifth of global aid is actually going to the world's poorest countries".
Not Canada, though. That would be out of character for the humanitarian nation.
Malaysia set to "remove" non-status workers
Malaysia, which has "at least 200,000" non-status immigrant workers, has set a deadline for them to get out before armed "volunteers" come after them and take them into custody, upon which they will be subjected to fines, jail time, and whipping.
See No Gannon
Salon.com: See no Gannon, hear no Gannon, speak no Gannon
Ordinarily, revelations that a former male prostitute, using an alias (Jeff Gannon) and working for a phony news organization, was ushered into the White House -- without undergoing a full-blown security background check -- in order to pose softball questions to administration officials would qualify as news by any recent Beltway standard. Yet as of Thursday, ABC News, which produces "Good Morning America," "World News Tonight With Peter Jennings," "Nightline," "This Week," "20/20" and "Primetime Live," has not reported one word about the three-week-running scandal. Neither has CBS News ("The Early Show," "The CBS Evening News," "60 Minutes," "60 Minutes Wednesday" and "Face the Nation"). NBC and its entire family of morning, evening and weekend news programs have addressed the story only three times. Asked about the lack of coverage, spokeswomen for both ABC and CBS said executives were unavailable to discuss their networks' coverage.