Selves and Others

DUBAI, July 22 (IPS) - The ordeal of a Filipino truck driver freed by militants after his country withdrew its troops from Iraq has not deterred Philippine migrant workers from making their way to the occupied Middle Eastern country through the United Arab Emirates, despite an official ban by Manila.

The Philippines banned its citizens from going to work in Iraq after Angelo de la Cruz, a father of eight working as a truck driver in Baghdad, was kidnapped by Islamic militants on Jul. 7 and threatened with decapitation unless Manila withdrew all its 51 troops from the United States-led coalition in the country. (...)

Analysis

BANGKOK, Jul 22 (IPS) - U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan had South-east Asia’s premier diplomatic grouping in sight when he released a press statement on Burma, one of its member countries, at the sidelines of the just-concluded International AIDS Conference.

Annan’s statement, released after he met Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, expressed concern about the slow progress in bringing democracy to the country and freeing opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi despite supposed efforts by the Association of South-east Asian Nations (ASEAN) to bring about political change. (...)

It’s been four years since the International AIDS Conference was first held in the developing world, in Durban, South Africa, where the activist demand for universal treatment access was catapulted onto the world stage. Then, the idea of treating the millions of HIV-infected people worldwide was considered farfetched: Even a year afterward, in 2001, US government officials still insisted that Africa’s healthcare infrastructure was too primitive to support the prescription of HIV therapies and, more despicably, that Africans couldn’t successfully take antiretroviral combinations because they couldn’t tell time. And the cost of these patented drugs was prohibitive—as high as $15,000 per year. The official policy of wealthy nations was to focus on prevention and leave the millions already infected to die. (...)

"In a dramatic television broadcast, the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, called upon the million Russian emigrants in Israel to return at once to their homeland, in view of the growing danger to their security there."

That did not happen, of course. But it is easy to imagine what would have been the reaction in Israel if Putin had indeed made such an appeal. Or if the president of France, Jacques Chirac, had called upon the French-speakers in Israel, the hundreds of thousands of immigrants from France and North Africa, to move to France, where their life is not threatened by suicide bombers. (...)

Some months ago, Australia heard with a degree of surprise, the soon-to-be Labor leader, Mark Latham describe John Howard as"an arselicker". This earthy phrase, outraged Conservative supporters of Prime Minister Howard,a mused his army of critics on the left (who by and large had reached that conclusion for themselves, but enjoyed hearing Mark Latham say it), and opened a vigorous debate in Australia about aspects of the US alliance, and Australia’s participation in the Iraq War. (...)

The United States’s continuing false optimism over Iraq, and the potential length of the conflict, are making a comparison between the early years of the Vietnam war and the current Iraqi imbroglio unavoidable.

The decision by the United States-led coalition to transfer formal authority to a new client regime in Baghdad on 28 June - two days ahead of the pre-announced schedule and in conditions of some secrecy - seems guided by two motives: the desire to pre-empt any major insurgency actions to coincide with the planned date of 30 June, and the need for a “good news” story at the Nato summit in Istanbul.

For around a week after the installation of Iyad Allawi’s government, the intensity of the insurgency indeed abated, with fewer deaths among United States troops and no major bomb attacks on Iraqi security and political organisations. The Bush administration registered some satisfaction that the Allawi regime had been established without major incident. (...)

Commentary/Analysis

Editor’s Note: The Philippines’ troop pullout from Iraq did not send the wrong signal, it sent the right one. Not just one life was at stake, but also the livelihoods of millions of guest workers as well as the sovereign right of nations to negotiate with whomever they deem necessary.

American officials, several of their allies and many U.S. media criticized Philippines President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s decision to recall her nation’s small military contingent in Iraq in order to save the life of Filipino hostage Angelo de la Cruz. They called the move cowardly and said it sent terrorists "the wrong signal." For most of De la Cruz’s compatriots, however, and from the standpoint of their national interest, it was a sensible, even courageous, move. (...)

This article was published in Shukan Kinyobi 508 on May 21, 2004. He was interviewed by Kasuya Koichiro. Translation for Japan Focus by Ben Middleton, Associate Professor of Sociology, Ferris University, Yokohama.

As many as 72 wartime forced labor compensation lawsuits were filed between the 1990s and January 1, 2004). In March the Niigata District Court returned a landmark judgment, for the first time ordering the Japanese state to pay compensation in a case concerning the draconian conditions of World War II forced laborers (...)

Todd Gitlin on the irresistible rise of quick, dirty, heavy-breathing media.

I wrote last week about some elements of the deep campaign: mobilizations and countermobilizations churning along beneath the visible surface, adding up to a spotty but real revival of politics. Today, a quick look into another sector of the subterranean depths - the paramedia, rivulet media tunneling under the mainstream. This is the new post-postmodernism with a vengeance.

The visible surface, of course, is what the establishment media render visible: the smash-mouth commercials, the sound-bites, the newspaper horse-race coverage and what you might call the handicapping coverage in which pundits comment on hairdos, swing states, strategies and tactics, and not least, rumors. (“Postpone the elections to cope with terror attacks? Dump Cheney?” No and no, if you ask me, but these tidbits were good for a few days’ bulletins and even a newsless hunk of the front page of the New York Times.) (...)

Bolivia’s fragile government gained temporary breathing room in Sunday’s referendum over the nation’s natural gas and oil reserves, but the "yes" vote also strengthened the position of Evo Morales and his Movement Toward Socialism (MAS) which can revise the measure that will be sent to the legislature on August 7. (...) [posted online on July 21, 2004]

Editor’s Note: A first-of-its-kind popular referendum on Bolivia’s natural resources — coming in the aftermath of last year’s deadly "gas wars" — shows the risky middle path many Latin American leaders must tread since failed neo-liberal policies sparked rebellion.

TomPaine.com : Michael Meacher lays out the case that Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence gave $100,000 to captured Al Qaeda member Omar Sheikh to pass on to 9/11 hijacker Mohammed Atta (the same guy who did not go to Prague). Characterizing ISI as a state within a state, we may here have the real state sponsor of terrorism. Unfortunately, the Bush administration has pushed Pakistan as an ally on the war on terror. Hmmm.

[page 23 | Comment]

Vice President Dick Cheney is a bad guy. He can toss around the F-word all he wants in response to the criticism directed at him as a result of his close ties to Halliburton, the company he headed from 1995-2000, but he can’t hide from the truth.

It was Cheney who urged Congress in 1996 to ease sanctions against Iran, a country that’s part of President Bush’s axis of evil, so Halliburton could legitimately do business there.

During a trip to the Middle East in March 1996, Cheney told some U.S. businessmen that Congress should ease sanctions in Iran and Libya to foster better relationships with those countries. (...)

TomPaine.com : Keeping abortion safe and legal means keeping it safe and legal for everyone who chooses it-regardless of the "validity" of their reasons. Ehrenreich argues that drawing distinctions between pregnancies that are "terminated" for medical reasons and abortions performed for personal reasons some of us might think are superficial hurts the cause. And remember, the cause is guaranteeing a woman’s right to choose-whether we agree with that choice or not. (Free, one-time registration required).

Op-Ed

The memories of another day — missing ruminations of generations. Will we ever remember? Will we ever learn? Who’s to say?

Elvis Presley’s first single was released on this day in 1954. It was "That’s all right" with "Blue Moon Kentucky." The single was a minor hit and one and a half years later, Presley would explode to superstardom with "Heartbreak Hotel."

One and a half years later, on July 19, 1957, the first rocket with a nuclear warhead is launched at Yucca Flat, Nevada. That’s all right, said the smiling rocket engineers. What heartbreak.

Five Massachusetts women were hanged on July 19, 1692 — for witchcraft. Hundreds of years later, on July 19, 1948, a similar witch-hunt opens its first inquiry at the University of Washington in Seattle under the banner of the Un-American Activities Committee chaired by Rep. Albert Canwell. The purpose of the Canwell Committee: to weed-out witches — local Communist subversives — and to hang their souls. (...)

On the mornings I board the Q101 bus from Queens to Manhattan, it’s not uncommon for the majority of my fellow riders to be people of color. This is an unremarkable observation in 2004 New York where integrated buses are hardly news...thanks to Rosa Parks and her spontaneous act of bravery.

Well, that’s what we’re taught, aren’t we? However, to buy into the Rosa Parks mythology* not only involves ignoring some crucial history about 1955, it erases the name of Elizabeth "Lizzie" Jennings from Big Apple lore. (...)

With two words, the governor of California has managed to highlight the confluence of anti-gay bias and misogyny. Open contempt for "girlie men" would have raised fewer eyebrows in the past. Reactions to Arnold Schwarzenegger’s put-down of Democrats in the state legislature — "if they don’t have the guts, I call them girlie men" — tell us a lot about how far we’ve come. The good news is the media outcry; the bad news is that the outcry hasn’t been stronger.

As a rough gauge of media progress on gender-related issues, consider two editorials that appeared — 88 years apart — in the same newspaper. (...)

Anyone who wants to understand the reality of modern America should pick up Gus Russo’s latest book, The Outfit. With diligent research and relentless candor, Russo strips away the façade of America’s pious national myths, showing in great detail how the criminal underworld ­ and the even more criminal "upperworld" of big business and politics ­ have fused in a deadly symbiosis that underlies the nation’s power structure.

You could begin unravelling this dirty skein at almost any point in the last century, but let’s join the story at a critical juncture: 1960, when Democrats Jack Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson battled for the right to face Republican Richard Nixon in the presidential election. Of course, bribery, corruption, violence and vote-rigging have long been an integral part of America’s glorious electoral heritage ­ a shining example to all the world ­ but the 1960 election was the first time that the country’s mobsters had intervened so directly, and so decisively, in the national ballot. (...)

first published in Left Hook.

Fellow radicals: recent events have made it clear that the primary task facing good people everywhere is unconditional support for the Democratic Party, the only party capable not only of removing a very, very bad man from office, but also increasing the pay envelope of starving and desperate Nation, Salon, MoveOn, and Sierra Club coffee-coolata-warriors across America. I submit my humble contribution to this effort by offering a list of ten virtues to cultivate in your personal journey towards becoming a better Democrat. (...)

Is America an empire? Should it be? Stephen Howe examines a powerful treatment of this most topical of issues, Niall Ferguson’s Colossus, and views the book in light of the prolific young historian’s ideological, political, and - not least - media journey.

Tired of right-wing guru Grover Norquist’s reactionary platitudes passing for wisdom? Want to debate more than taxes and terrorism?

Just as conservatives regrouped, retooled and came back strong after their painful loss in 1964, there are multiplying signs of a progressive resurgence sparked by the extremism of the Bush Administration. The huge response to books critiquing Bush, the blockbuster success of Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11, the growth in membership of many liberal organizations and the plunging support for W. and his Iraq invasion are only some of the public indicators of a comeback. (...) [posted online on July 21, 2004]

We speak with former Rep. Cynthia McKinney. She defeated five opponents in a Democratic primary Tuesday and is set to win back her Congressional seat in Georgia.

John Sugg, senior editor for Creative Loafing - an Atlanta-based alternative weekly newspaper - joins us to discuss Georgia politics, the media, the Senate race as incumbent Sen. Zell Miller steps down and much more.

Palestinian freedom fighter Farouk Abdel-Muhti, died Wednesday, apparently of a heart attack, after giving a speech in Philadelphia. He was 57 years old. His death comes just three months after he was released from jail where he was detained for two years without charge. We hear a recording of his last words as well as an address he gave on the night he was released from prison and we speak with his son Tariq and his fiancee and longtime friend Sharin Chiorazzo who was with him when he died.

We continue with our week-long series looking at political party conventions throughout history with a new documentary "A Passel of Pomp and a Circus of Circumstance: Historic Conventions Coverage" produced by the Pacifica Radio Archives in collaboration with Democracy Now!

Israel’s Independence Day fell this year on 27 April. For his homework my nine-year-old son had to interview me about my military past. Before giving out the assignment, his teacher had invited the father of one of the children, an IDF colonel, to give a talk in full military uniform. The children were fascinated. Urged to ask questions, they mostly wanted to know whether he was afraid, though they also asked if he had killed Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, whose picture and the picture of his destroyed wheelchair were quite a hit on Israeli TV. The colonel said it was another unit, not his, ’but he deserved to die,’ and he promised the children that ’we don’t kill unless there is a really good reason.’ He ended the talk by telling the children he hoped that they too would one day have the chance to become senior officers in the IDF. (...)

[Vol. 26, No. 14, pages 32-33]

On January 12 1991, Congress authorised President George HW Bush to engage Iraq in war. Just five days later, Operation Desert Storm commenced in Kuwait. As with the more recent war in the Gulf, it did not take long for the US to claim victory - it was all over by the end of February - but the clean-up would last longer, and was far more expensive than the military action itself. In a senseless act of desperation and defeat, Iraqi troops set fire to more than 700 Kuwaiti oil wells, resulting in a constant fog of thick, black smoke that turned day into night.

It was thought the mess would take no less than five years to clean up, as lakes of oil surrounding each well blazed out of control, making it nearly impossible to approach the burning wells, let alone extinguish them. But with the fighting over, Halliburton angled its way into the clean-up and rebuilding effort that was expected to cost around $200bn (£163bn) over the next 10 years. (...) [pages 16 - 17 | G2 features]

Once again Israel has vowed to flout a United Nations resolution and once again America will let it. In voting against the general assembly’s resolution demanding that Israel obey a World Court ruling to dismantle the wall it is building through the West Bank, the deputy US ambassador James Cunningham said the move was missing the point. "The resolution diverts attention from where it should be - on the practical efforts to move the parties towards realisation of the ultimate goal of two states living side by side in peace and security," he said. But who exactly is making these practical efforts? Not the US, if we are to believe the analysis written by the Department for International Development and signed off by the development secretary Hilary Benn. DfID said there was a real risk of US disengagement from the peace process, just at the moment when diplomatic pressure was needed to stop it collapsing. One can always look for reasons for inaction: the current meltdown within the Palestinian Authority, a fast-approaching presidential election in November in which nothing must be said by either candidate to upset Jewish voters, the all-consuming effort to stabilise Iraq. The same argument that it is never a good time ensured the longevity of attempts to seek a political settlement in Northern Ireland. But time is not on the side of those who maintain that oxygen can be administered to the limp corpse of the road map. The separation barrier is going up, and no one but the profoundly optimistic believes it will come down soon. A new political border is being created, effectively dividing the West Bank into three or four cantons, and America and Europe look on, as if powerless to stop it. (...) [page 25 | Comment]

• Army could be used to protect camps
• A million lives at risk from starvation

Tony Blair has asked Downing Street and Foreign Office officials to draw up plans for possible military intervention in Sudan, where more than a million refugees are at risk from famine and disease.

Despite a heavy commitment of British armed forces in Iraq and other troublespots, the prime minister has had discussions with advisers for on-the-ground involvement of troops.

The prime minister is still hoping that diplomatic and political pressure on the Khartoum government will resolve the crisis without the need for military involvement. (...) [page 1 | News | A refugee in Darfur,where heavy rain has cut off roads and aid,disrupting water supplies to the camps and threatening disease Photograph:Karel Prinsloo/AP]

United Nations — UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan urged Sudan yesterday to take immediate action to disarm Arab-backed militias and warned that the international community may step in if it doesn’t move quickly.

"The urgency is there, and the Sudanese government doesn’t have forever," Mr. Annan told reporters after UN Special Envoy Jan Pronk briefed the Security Council on the issue of Darfur, where a 15-month conflict has killed as many as 30,000 people and forced more than one million to flee.

No deadline has been set, but British Prime Minister Tony Blair has asked officials to draw up plans for possible military intervention, The Guardian newspaper reported this morning. [Globe and Mail - Page A11]

Mutare, Zimbabwe - 22 July is a good day to consider problems caused by the rancid combination of neoliberalism and imperialist geopolitcs, because it’s the 60th birthday of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF). It’s a good time to recall that many of us in the global justice movement often fail to pinpoint the ways ’compradorism’ - collaboration between senior and junior ruling classes — complicates both analysis and activism (although I’m finding that reading the ZNet commentaries/blog by Cape Town-based Mandisi Majavu is a good antidote). (...)

A witty new Iranian film pursuing the adventures of an escaped prisoner in Islamic religious guise is winning acclaim from audiences and disdain from the mullahs. Rouzbeh Pirouz joins the packed queues in Tehran and sees in the film a mirror of Iranian society and its complex longings.

Word of an intriguing new Iranian film, Marmulak, had already spread to Europe several months before my planned visit to Tehran. In fact, the buzz had reached such a fever pitch that a friend suggested he secure tickets to a future showing even before my arrival in the country. As it turned out my trip was postponed and we decided to try to get the tickets once I was there.

Unfortunately, by that time the film had become so notorious that a succession of cinemas refused to sell tickets in advance and advised us to join the queue at least an hour before the movie was due to start. We did so, but not even this warning prepared us for the endless line that stretched across several city blocks. (...)

Official reports in the United States and Britain confirm that United Nations weapons inspectors were effective in dismantling Iraq’s arsenal in the early 1990s. Ron Manley, who helped supervise much of this process, reads the latest British report and sees how its very success later created political problems for the country’s intelligence services.

[Posted on July 21, 2004]