Grains of Folly

Watch this well informed video about the origins of today's misunderstandings and suspicions. Extremists on both sides have common roots and campaign mostly for each other.

> See Parts III, IV, V & VI.

The Power of Nightmares - BBC 2004

Grotesque Institutionalized Feudalism

The ceremony hastily organized to "choose" a successor to Benazir Bhutto at the head of the Pakistan "People"'s Party, was a complete masquerade. A tragic-comedy, glorifying the Bhuttos and celebrating nepotism and the feudal system which kept this region of the world as backward as it is! I have to admit, I was myself naively dragged into thinking (hoping) that the PPP was a kind of representative of a shining, secular and progressive branch of Muslim World's politics. I'm afraid I was wrong. And the way, the Aftermath of the murder of Ms. Bhutto has been handled goes to show how power-obsessed the people around her were, especially her husband. I've come across this enlightening article by Tariq Ali, Pakistan-born writer, broadcaster and commentator, published last monday in The Independent, which I think, puts thinks in their right order.

Pictures courtesy of Christiane Michaud & PPPUSA.org

Time to Use the F Word

And Part II.

Amy Goodman interviewing Naomi Wolf (November '07), best-seller author of "The End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot," in which she explains how Fascism has been steadily creeping over America. Learn how in just ten steps, a democratic society can be literally shut down.

See Also:

> Democracy Now's Year in Review

Zeroes & Heroes

Many actors played different roles in shaping the ups and downs of last year events. Some usual suspects who left already their print in previous years have proven to be resiliently present in 2007. Others have emerged as new figures. Here are the makers and breakers who caught my eye in '07.

The Zeros

The gangster administration in Washington

Responsible for the killing (in a way or another) of well over one million Iraqis (according to the most conservative estimates) and the displacement of more than four million others, the Bush administration has persevered in manipulating the facts and succeeded in stirring up factional and sectarian divisions within Iraq. Divide and rule as the old adage goes. The puppet regime in Baghdad, a rubber stamp of what ever Washington decides has shown complete incompetence and subservience and proved to be completely disconnected from the Iraqi people. Although one can only be pleased by the relative decrease in the number of terrorist attacks (from whatever source they might come) and casualties among civilians, the fact remains that Iraq is still under occupation by a colossal number of foreign troops, backed by some hundred thousands mercenaries; and that its oil resources have now been de facto mortgaged by major American oil companies through the euphemistically called Production Sharing Agreements (PSAs).

The Apartheid regime in Israel

Israel has shown, yet again, to those who had a shred of doubt about its real -barely hidden- intentions, that it is not, had not and will not be prepared to pay the price of JUSTICE, the only and genuine road-map for PEACE. Its lobby and supporting "think" tanks have shown, beyond any reasonable doubt how influential they were in shaping American foreign policy towards the question of Palestine. Scholars have yet again been silenced and the systematic accusation of anti-Semitism has been brandished to all those who dared challenging the received wisdom about Israel branded as the "only democracy in region," when it is the only remaining apartheid state in the World. The Gaza concentration camp has been squeezed into a cruel embargo which is aimed at collectively punish the Palestinians for having democratically voted in the wrong way. A stooge government has been anointed: "the legitimate government of Palestine," effectively playing the role of the I'D'F in oppressing the occupied people in Palestine. Signed agreements (remember Annapolis?) have been dishonoured and more illegal settlements have been built up on equally illegal colonies planted on the land stolen from the Palestinians.

Arab despots and potentates (without exception, from the Atlantic to the Arabian-Persian sea)

At the very root of the complete tragedy experienced by Arabs and Muslims all over the world, the Arab regimes, 22 in total, managed to stay in power in large part because (or thanks to) the Western support. These are the most incompetent, backward, inept, power-obsessed and megalomaniac heads of states on the planet. Of course, the peoples have only the kind of government they deserve." This is true to a large extent, and one should not easily put all the blame on external conspirators, although the conspiracy is not all theoretical. Taha Hussein, the dean of contemporary Arabic literature and a pioneer of enlightenment in the Arab World (according to ArabWorldBooks.com) once said:

"We want to be free people in our countrie[s], free of foreigners such that they cannot oppress us or treat us unjustly, and free with respect to ourselves, such that no one of us can oppress or treat another unjustly."

Religious fanatics of all sides

Since 9/11, religious fanaticism has been thriving. Alqaeda found in the actions of the Bush administration, which has mainly gained the white house -especially in its second term-thanks to the very "generous" support of very influential Christian fundamentalists -most of them openly Zionists-, the more powerful recruitment argument for its campaign of terror and nihilist destruction. Extremes have always campaigned for each other!

The Heroes

President Hugo Chavez

The Venezuelan president has won more democratic and transparent elections, and more popular referenda than any other living leader. He is independent and pro-people, hence the hostility of the Western establishment towards him. More power to you Chavez!


Illan Pappé

The courageous Israeli historian has published at the beginning of this year, the English version of his book ""Ethnic Cleansing in Palestine." A refreshingly honest account of how Israel seeks, as it had always sought to, to systematically and methodically kill, harass, terrorise and push the Palestinians to the edge so that they lose hope and renounce their rights and eventually leave their homeland.


Norman Finkelstein

Another victim of the Israel lobby in America, forced to resign from his position for no reason other than being forensically objective about the realities of the middle east. Fascism is still alive and kicking!

John Pilger

Award-winning independent journalist and a renowned documentary film-maker. "The War on Democracy" is his latest opus. A startling reminder of the ravages that capitalism has already caused in Latin America, considered for decades to be the American (USA) preserve. Based on an arrogant imperial vision of the world and on the so-called Washington Consensus which theorized and underpinned the neo-liberal policies for the last two or three decades, successive American administrations made sure that no genuine democracy springs in the southern half of the continent: putting absolute potentates at the head of States, overthrowing democratically elected governments and sponsoring a class of plutocrats monopolizing their country's wealth at the expense of impoverished populations.

Aboubakr Jamaï

The founder of the most popular Moroccan magazine, Le Journal Hebdo, was forced earlier this year, to leave Morocco in order to avoid paying a record breaking fine of $350,000, that would otherwise bankrupt his magazine. He is one of the most popular and charismatic young journalists that the country has ever produced, and one who marked the recent Moroccan journalistic scene by bringing a revolutionary new style of professional investigative journalism. He openly challenged the monarchy and the military and literally paid the price. In November 2005, Jamaï wrote a ground-breaking open letter to Mohamed VI in which he urged the monarch to grab the opportunity of his political virginity and his capital of popular sympathy to put the country on the tracks of reform. The letter fell on deaf ears.

Happy new year to all.

What a Real Happy New Year Would Mean

One Answer Would Be: Getting Rid of Poverty and Child Labor

This is not meant as a miserabilist attempt to hamper the joy of those who, legitimately, want to forget about the ills and miseries of our society. But it is a reminder of the kind of obstacles still ahead.

Thanks for Amine, my indefatigable and tremendously resourceful correspondent and friend.

Short movie by a young Moroccan director (name not communicated), posted on the Internet last September

Qui Bono?

Benazir Bhutto 1953 - 2007

Multiple Choice Question:

Who benefits from the murder of Ms. Bhutto?

A. The Pakistani ruling junta ready for anything to maintain the status-quo?
B. The fundamentalist nutcases and their nihilist and cowardly vision of the world?
C. Some external forces who might find some benefit in keeping Pakistan as volatile and unstable as possible?

Ms. Bhutto has been accused of incompetence, nepotism and corruption in the past, nevertheless she has never been convicted nor has any evidence ever been brought against her. One thing is for sure: she was a hell of a courageous, beautiful and charismatic woman. A Muslim woman who undeniably loved her country and refused to hand it over to arbitrary rulers or to absolutist fanatics.

Pakistan -a nuclear power- is a bullet away from Islamic revolution which would plunge the whole country into a night, darker than the one it already struggles to override. I think that the best homage that her followers may offer to her memory is for their party to get rid of the current prevailing nepotistic system and transform it into a modern and democratic party, offering the secularist alternative that most Pakistanis are today in bad need for.

Rest in peace Ms. Bhutto.

Some Links:

> Murtaza Shibli's summing up of the life and death of Binazir Bhutto and the surrounding drama unfolding in Pakistan.

> Benazir Bhutto hosted by Aljazeera's David Frost, last november.

> The life and death of Benazir Bhutto.

> This is what the Moroccan blogosphere thinks about this tragedy (Thanks Jillian!)

Image courtesy of Aljazeera.net

Meditations on Mary, Jesus and the Wall

If Mary was to give birth to Jesus Christ today, she would have to go through Israeli checkpoints and be harassed by I'D'F soldiers, only to find herself blocked by the apartheid wall from making her journey from Jerusalem to Bethlehem!

Merry Christmas to all, especially those living under occupation in the holy land of Palestine.

Keep Walking America

A Reflexion on What Comes Next

Studying the rapacious behavior of US governments one after the other and in the face of the utter helplessness of most of the ordinary people to even beginning to curb or influence any of these American policies despite the -often- detrimental effects on these same people's lives, security, sovereignty and independence, many resort to a passive and fatalistic state of mind, considering that nothing, nobody, nowhere could ever affect in any effective way, shape or form the pervasive, imperialistic attacks on their lives; thinking that maybe taming the world's only superpower is the only way out.

There is indeed no reason to believe that a violent confrontation would produce any good, but rather reinforce the more fundamentalist, imperialistic and hawkish elements of the American establishment, giving them yet another pretext for more unthinkable adventures.

Non-violent decent, engagement and active progressive political involvement is -in my humble view- the way forward. And equally important is the sens of the "middle-way" as eatbees (definitely my favourite blogger, now taking some rest) very eloquently put it in his very moving and extraordinarily honest post when he reflected on the way and intensity with which he would try to change the world around him without having to lose his independence or his soul.

No reasonable mind can ever deny the huge benefits that America has brought to the world, but the same once-great nation is pushed by a sort of mad drive; a system that went out of control; a foreign policy led by so-called pressure groups and lobbies who only serve private rather than public interests; a consumerist model based on waste and futility that now threatens the survival of the species; a military-industrial complex always pushing for more blood and wars; powerful oil companies pressing for ever more invasions and mad military adventures; wealthy and influential religious fundamentalists who have decided that you're either with them, hence "good" or against them, hence "evil"; a political class that has sold its soul and pledged allegiance to the oligarchy, the real power holders.

Yet, the path in which America walks today has led nations before her to complete disasters and failures. Oppressive and dominating powers end-up corrupting their own people and dangerously corroding their morals.

As the new year looms at the horizon, one only hopes that the worrying dynamics now underpinning world politics will hopefully evolve to a situation where ideally the people of the world take matters into their own hands and a sort of global democracy takes place where the wealth produced is fairly distributed and where the governments are working for addressing the real needs of the people, as sustainably as they can, in full respect of the environment, rather that simply serving the wealthy influential oligarchy: the private tyrannies who are now running the world and leading us all to an inexorable disaster.

America must change course. Untill that happens, keep lying, keep manipulating, keep conspiring, keep vetoing... keep walking America untill you realize that you can no longer afford failing your own people, betraying the spirit of your own constitution, losing your soul and the World in the process.

Some are Beginning to Introspect...

Some Have Already Warned...

It's the People We're Talking About!

It's always refreshing to find that someone out-there is sticking the argument right on the correct place and making the good diagnosis and proposing the right answer:

No to imperialist war!
No to the theocratic regime!
The immediate and unconditional withdrawal of US/UK troops from the Gulf region!
Opposition to Israeli expansionism and aggression!
Support to all working class and progressive struggles in Iran against poverty and repression!
Support for socialism, democracy and workers' control in Iran!
For a nuclear-free Middle East as a step towards a nuclear-free world!

These are the words of the people of Iran (look at "Hands Off the People of Iran"), not the Mullahs, nor the puppets presenting themselves as "the Iranian opposition" and who are fuelling the rhetoric in Washington and helping the neocons campaign to go further in their path to demonise Iran and push the theocratic regime there to commit the unthinkable, offering them the cassus belli they've been waiting for for so long. The recent joint American intelligence agencies' report which confirmed a bit of what any reasonable observer knew already, doesn't seem to deter the Bushies from keeping on with their calumny business.

Bang on Target

The Political Compass

• Economic Left (-5.38)
• Social Libertarian (-6.10)

I've been pleased to discover on Ibn Kafka's blog (Obiter Dicta) that most of the usual progressive bloggers I've been meeting there and who submitted themselves to the "Political Compass Test" proposed by the blog's author, were that close to my own results on the same test (insofar as the test is as accurate and credible as the site claims and that it draws an outline of user's political leaning.)

Anyways; I would be really pleased to know what the same test's yield would be if applied to some usual suspects of the kind of Abdelilah, eatbees, Wassim, Jillian and all the others.

Strange Encounter

There she stood in the darkest corner of the room, looking dazed, probably altered by some earlier sipped doses of heavy alcohol but still looking terribly handsome. The room was saturated by a thick fog of cigarette smoke, some rock music was beaming out of the loudspeakers connected to a laptop reading some "illegally" downloaded mp3 files and everybody was speaking and laughing out-loud. Although I'm not an alcohol drinker, I rarely object to sharing my friend's (almost all of them drinkers) party times. Indeed I enjoy it most of the time. The scene I'm describing happened last Saturday in my colleague's place when he invited us all over to celebrate his... mm... how shall I say?... "career promotion." I know... it sounds pompous, but it was more of a pretext for partying. Anyway; at one point that night, I was approached by this young lady:

"Hi! my name is Cécile. I know you're a Moroccan. My parents were Moroccans too"

At which point I woke up from the state of lethargy I was slipping into. The whole evening I was listening to stupid argumentation about football, politics and some boozed-up stories of absolute nonsense, so I was pleased to engage into what seemed to be a promising conversation with a becoming interlocutor of the sort any sober being would be pleased to chat with.

"Yes indeed I am a Moroccan. Have you ever been in Morocco yourself?"

Her eyes were looking tired but she managed to gather strength and looked as if she was struggling to focus on every word she was going to pronounce. As if her life depended on it:

"No, I've never been in Morocco and my parents left the country when they were teenagers; they fled the country with the French in the late 50's and they never wanted to go back. The country will never be as it was in the past, my father always explains."

I thought: "F-L-E-D the country? what the hell is she talking about?"

"Are you sure you're talking about Morocco? I don't understand. If your parents were Moroccans, why would they have to leave with the French, why didn't they stay and enjoy independence?"

"My parents are Jews and they were afraid of the aftermath" she answered. "They feared the reaction of Muslims after the French protectors were gone. Now; don't get me wrong, I have nothing against Muslims but you can see how Jews are treated there nowadays... I think my parents took the right decision."

I always worry when anyone starts saying: "I do like Muslims, BUT..."; "I'm not a racist, BUT..." It's often a disclaimer for an issuing covered up racist diatribe. At that point, I felt that my blood was starting to boil and that I had to hold my fire and try to dig this intriguing matter up as dispassionately as I could.

"With respect, I really don't see what you're talking about. In my whole life I've never heard of or witnessed a Moroccan being attacked or discriminated against because he was a Jew. Yes you can find some scarce instances of mean racist behavior of the kind you'd find in every western society, but nothing really malign. In fact Jewish people -with all due respect to your parents- have fled the country not because they were threatened but because they were encouraged to do so, or deliberately pushed into a state of irrational fear of the Arabs (I mean Muslims) by the so many pernicious activities of Israel's Zionist agencies."

She turned red, but I didn't quite work out whether she was hurt, upset or just going to go berserk.

"I'm a secular Jew, I don't quite care about religious matters. In fact I'm agnostic. I'm suspicious of everything religious. You can't deny mounting antisemitic feelings amongst Muslims... and you cannot just put the blame on Israel... the only democracy in the region and a secular state."

There we go. My goodness! I glanced to my watch thinking: "I don't wanna get bogged down into this... Is this really worth loosing my time?" I was really annoyed by what I've just heard 'cause I really started to like the irresistibly attractive lady standing in front of me, looking offended.

"I'm not denying mounting antisemitic feelings not only amongst Muslims," I replied " but in every corner of the planet and I'm deeply saddened and concerned by that. It's very difficult to deny the obvious and I have no reason to denying that... But I think you've missed my point. Antisemitism is a despicable phenomenon; a symptom of a much profound disease. If you think like a Doctor you would surely want to treat the symptoms but you know that as long as the deep and pernicious source is left undiagnosed, you're running the risk of relapse. And you don't have to work it out that hard. The diagnosis has got a name: it's Zionism. Now, sure Zionism cannot be blamed for all the filthy antisemitic nut cases out there but it's surely a fundamental motive for many ignorant extremists and racists who find in Israel's actions and those of her supporters, the ideal pretext for further stigmatizing and defaming Jews for no reason other than they are Jews. But I think that you should stop deluding yourself with regard to Israel: First it is not a democracy... Did you get that? IT IS NOT A DEMOCRACY. No democracy in the world would divide its citizens into two or three classes: Ashkenazi being first-class citizens, Sephardi and Falasha being arguably the second, and last & indeed least, the unwanted pesky Arabs put in some sort of non-citizenship status. As for Israel being a secular state: I agree that the founding figures of Zionism, from Herzl onward, have been for the most part secular; in fact most of them were atheists, but you have to admit that Judaism was used by those same figures to gain political and moral support for their scheme. If you mistrust anything religious as you claim, I don't see how you can miss the ludicrously obvious religious undertone of the Israeli state which claims to represent all Jews on this planet?"

Now she's seriously blushing. May be I should work out a way out of this. I don't want to be ripped apart by this young lady. Cowardice? Yea! maybe. Who wouldn't lack courage in front of such a delicate creature? She finally replied:

"I don't like Israel, nor do I like Arabs... I mean Arab countries... I mean States. I know where you're coming from but I don't like politics anyway. I don't like politics..."

Well I didn't ask her to dislike Israel or even to love Arabs... All I was asking for, is a bit more of fairness. Now I can't help defining as racist anyone proclaiming his or her dislike or even liking of one group of human beings or another because this is the typical kind of irrational mindset that brought terrible tragedies in the very near past. I mean Arabs, Jews, Blacks or Asians are not clones or a bunch of perfectly homogeneous individuals; therefore there is no reasonable basis for liking or disliking each group as a whole. There is no black and white (no pun intended) kind of answer for that.

We decided to cut short the conversation, changing the subject and trying to enjoy the rest of the evening, not without a little pinch of disappointment in my heart. "Never trust appearances" my grandmother always told me... yes! but I still wonder if I should have asked for her number... to expand on the conversation of course not for what some twisted minds would think... of course!

(picture credit: "JMC")

Sunlight at Midnight

News coming from Palestine those days are quite depressing. Nothing new one might argue, but the deepening divisions amongst the Palestinian society have made it painful for the so many supporters of the noble cause of liberation in Palestine to keep on fighting. So I was delighted to hear (a bit late I have to admit) about this play called "Sunlight at Midnight." Created by the Palestine Theatre in Motion group and supported by Amnesty International, the play commemorates the 25th anniversary of the brutal massacre of Palestinian refugees in the Sabra-Shatila camps. The cast include Najla Said, the daughter of the late Palestinian scholar Edward Said.

"A British Palestinian solicitor, Naji, lives in London doing his best to avoid involvement with the politics that affected his fellow Palestinians. He is successful, happy and assimilated into British society. On a night out celebrating his engagement to his long time girlfriend Alice, they hear a beautiful song by a young woman. Although he cannot understand much about the song, a few days later Naji comes back alone to the same restaurant to hear it again. His growing attachment to the young singer breaks the illusion of his carefully ordered life.

"Guided by the young singer's haunting voice and snippets of emails and articles, Naji follows the story of Hani, a 19 year old boy in from Shatila. It's 1982 and all Palestinian fighters have been allowed safe exit out of Beirut under a peace agreement. Hani bids his family goodbye not realizing it is not he but they who are in danger and that he will never see them again.

"Naji's interest in the past soon reveals more about his own feelings. Are his arguments with Alice over wedding arrangements merely cold feet or a deeper disquiet? Can he really escape the effects of what happened to his fellow Palestinians in Beirut 25 years ago?"

The Palestine Theatre in Motion website doesn't mention dates other than those planned in the UK. If anybody is listening and maybe aware of further presentations throughout Europe (especially in France) please let me know.

(picture credit: "FreePal")