Archive for July 2010
Not Too Proud.
Whatever you think of David Cameron, and I try not to, you have to admire his gall.
Cameron is, at the present moment, sucking up to the Turkish Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, which must be a bit of a come down for a British PM.
Still, these once imperial powers have more in common than people will often admit.
Perhaps Cameron could inquire about Turkey’s treatment and murder of Kurds?
Or maybe the Turkish Prime Minister is advising Cameron on how to avoid charges of torture, or collusion with torture?
Anyone that needs reminding of Turkey’s appalling human-rights record could do worse than read Amnesty international’s and Human Rights Watch’s summaries.
Attacks On Iraqi Trade Unions.
LabourStart highlights a very worrying development in Iraq:
“Iraq: Minister closes all union offices in Saddam-style move
Police raided and shut down electricity unions across Iraq in mid-July, carrying out an order from the Minister of Electricity that could have been lifted from Saddam Hussein’s rule book.
The order prohibits “all trade union activities at the ministry and its departments and sites” and authorizes the police “to close all trade union offices and bases and to take control of unions’ assets properties and documents, furniture and computers.”
The leader of Britain’s Trades Union Congress has called upon the Iraqi government “to withdraw the order, and allow unions to operate freely, underpinned by a fair, just and ILO-compliant labour law.”
The Iraqi trade union movement is calling on trade union members everywhere to raise their voices in protest.”
More on Iraq at LabourStart.
Unreported Afghan Civilian Deaths.
Wikileaks has released a mass of documentation on Afghanistan into the public domain, it should be welcomed.
I assume that this comes in the wake of McCrystal’s dismissal, whatever the reason, it should focus us on how Afghan civilian deaths have been conspicuously underreported in the Western media.
This is Wikileaks and here’s the Afghan war diary.
Update 1: More concerning the leaks can be found on the New York Times’ At War blog.
Update 2: Spiegel’s coverage:
“A total of 91,731 reports from United States military databanks relating to the war in Afghanistan are to be made publicly available on the Internet. Never before has it been possible to compare the reality on the battlefield in such a detailed manner with what the US Army propaganda machinery is propagating. WikiLeaks plans to post the documents, most of which are classified, on its website.
Britain’s Guardian newspaper, the New York Times and SPIEGEL have all vetted the material and compared the data with independent reports. All three media sources have concluded that the documents are authentic and provide an unvarnished image of the war in Afghanistan — from the perspective of the soldiers who are fighting it.
The reports, from troops engaged in the ongoing combat, were tersely summarized and quickly dispatched. For the most part, they originate from sergeants — but some have been penned by the occasional lieutenant at a command post or ranking analysts with the military intelligence service.The documents’ release comes at a time when calls for a withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan are growing — even in America. Last week, representatives from more than 70 nations and organizations met in Kabul for the Afghanistan conference. They assured President Hamid Karzai that his country would be in a position by 2014 to guarantee security using its own soldiers and police. “
Update 3: Again at the NYT, Pakistan Aids Insurgency in Afghanistan, Reports Assert.
Update 4: Afghanistan: the war logs from the Guardian. The selected list of deaths makes grim reading.
Update 5: Key incidents as a spreadsheet at the Guardian.
Ian Tomlinson, Murdered By the Police.
I had been meaning to do a post on the death of Ian Tomlinson, but couldn’t quite get around to it for various reasons.
So here is a compilation of some pertinent posts on his murder :
Ian Tomlinson and Misconduct in Public Office.
Ian Tomlinson: police escape prosecution.
Ian Tomlinson Campaign: Time For Something Different.
The Ian Tomlinson Family Campaign.
The Ian Tomlinson decision is a travesty of justice.
Oh, and don’t forget the video of the attack on Ian Tomlinson.
Mel Gibson And Conspiracies.
One of the joys of having a blog is reading other people’s excellent posts and saying “I wish I had written that!”.
So it is with Judeosphere, and another corker on Mel Gibson.
Read more, The Mel Gibson Conspiracy Theory That You KNEW Was Coming…
Enjoy!
Jack And Johanna.
One time Respect activist and latterly a convert to Toryism, Johanna Kaschke has lost her vexatious libel actions against Dave Osler, John Gray and Alex Hilton.
Despite the obvious cost, stress and strain this is a good outcome not only for the individuals concerned, but for bloggers in general.
Jack of Kent points us to the judgement.
John Gray has his own thoughts on the matter.
Alex Hilton hasn’t posted on it yet, but you can keep up with him here.
Johanna Kaschke’s considered views can be seen from her blog, The Last Cherry:
John Gray has become a fat ponze.
I would, er, recommend her post on The Freemasons and mathematical concepts, if you are in need of a laugh.
John Gray, Alex Hilton And Johanna Kaschke’s Libels.
Jack of Kent has provided a very useful summary of Johanna Kaschke’s libels, which involved Dave Osler, John Gray and Alex Hilton.
It should be read by every blogger.
Update 1: Other related posts can be found here.
Update 2: According to Jack of Kent’s status on Facebook, “Victory – Libel Claim against Alex Hilton and John Gray struck out! Kudos to Robert James Dougans (with a little help from me 🙂 ) ”
Well done, a deserved outcome.
Gutless Coward
The gutless coward in question is Nick Griffin, BNP leader.
Peter Tatchell took the antifascist fight directly to that well known neo-fascist as this marvellous BBC clip shows.
Pink News has more:
“Gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell confronted BNP leader Nick Griffin today over his party’s record of homophobia, anti-Semitism and verbal attacks on Muslims.
Mr Griffin, who was barred from a garden party at Buckingham Palace today, was leaving the BBC studios in Westminster when Mr Tatchell ambushed him in a stairwell.
Mr Tatchell said: “Hi Nick, isn’t it about time you apologised to the British people for your party’s long history of anti-Semitism, homophobia and attacks on the Muslim community?”
As he was manhandled down the stairs by Mr Griffin’s security, Mr Tatchell shouted: “This is the BNP in action. Look at them, they’re thugs.”
He added: “Why don’t you apologise, you gutless coward? You attack the vulnerable and you won’t even face an accuser.”
Mr Griffin did not respond to Mr Tatchell’s taunts but told Radio 4′s PM programme this afternoon that Mr Tatchell had “assaulted” him by shouting and his security feared the activist would become violent.
Mr Tatchell said this afternoon: “Griffin looked sheepish. He seemed stumped for an answer. I asked him again. Then he just ran off. What a coward.”
He added: “For many years, the BNP has preached a totalitarian ideology of anti-Jewish, anti-black, anti-gay and anti-Muslim hatred. The party has a long and strident hatred of non-white immigrants and asylum seekers. It’s racist views are an affront to democratic values.”
Jean Charles de Menezes
Today is the fifth anniversary of the murder of Jean Charles de Menezes.
From 2005, Menezes death ‘a state execution’.
From 2006, Menezes police officer promoted.
From 2007, Police censured over Menezes case.
From 2008, Jean Charles de Menezes: Open verdict.
From 2009, Stockwell shooting comes to stage.
From 2010, Memorial to Menezes unveiled at Stockwell Tube station.
The Inquest into the death of Jean Charles de Menezes web site.
Gilad Atzmon, Double Think And The SWP.
[Editor’s note: I suppose this proves that you shouldn’t blog when a bit tired, I have corrected this post.]
Just got back from a news-free little holiday and I had wanted to study what had been going on in the past week or so before posting anything, but my attention was drawn to a rather weak retraction appearing on the American SocialistWorker.org website:
“An article retracted
SocialistWorker.org editor Alan Maass comments on a recent article.July 14, 2010
ON JULY 13, SocialistWorker.org published an interview with jazz musician and anti-Zionist writer Gilad Atzmon. The interview took up Atzmon’s childhood in Israel and his growing awareness of the oppression of Palestinians, as well as his ideas on music and art.
Since the interview’s publication, we have learned of many allegations that Atzmon has made not just highly inflammatory, but anti-Semitic statements about Jews, be they supporters or opponents of the state of Israel–and that he has associations with deniers of the Nazi Holocaust of the Jews. The evidence for these serious charges is damning.
We knew that Atzmon was a controversial figure among opponents of Israel when we ran our article, but not the full extent of these allegations. And needless to say, there is no trace of such ideas in his interview with SocialistWorker.org, or it never would have been published.
Nevertheless, we believe that our Web site, which is committed to the liberation of the Palestinian people and to the struggle against anti-Semitism, should not have published the interview without any reference to the controversy over someone who could make the comments and advance the ideas that he has–whatever his motives or reasoning. We have therefore withdrawn the article from our site. We invite our readers to comment by e-mail to views@socialistworker.org.”
Readers with a slightly better memory than the SocialistWorker.org editor, Alan Maass, will remember how the British SWP (somewhat once related to the American SocialistWorker.org) defended Gilad Atzmon and apparently still do.
Read the rest of this entry »
Uganda.
From the PA:
“Suicide bombers linked to al Qaida killed more than 60 people in attacks on crowds watching the World Cup final on TV in Uganda.
Explosions targeted a rugby club and a restaurant in the capital Kampala.
Police suspected the Somali militant group al-Shabab was behind the attacks, as Uganda’s president declared on Monday: “We shall get them wherever they are.”
The blasts came two days after an al-Shabab commander called for attacks in Uganda and Burundi, two nations that contribute troops to the African Union peacekeeping force in Somalia.
At least 64 people died and a US aid group said one of its American workers was among the dead. Ethiopian, Indian and Congolese nationals were also among the victims.
There were signs that the simultaneous attacks were by suicide bombers. Blood and pieces of flesh littered the floor among overturned chairs at the scenes.
The attack on the rugby club, where crowds sat outside watching a large-screen TV, left 49 dead. Fifteen others were killed in the restaurant .”
Imagine If….
This piece, unintentionally, highlights the dual standards which exist in the West, when it comes to the welfare of Israelis:
“Imagine if the UN announced tomorrow that it was suspending all UNWRA activities and funding in the Gaza Strip until Gilad Shalit was released. Imagine if the EU refused to allow imports of strawberries and flowers from Gaza until the Red Cross was granted regular access to Gilad in accordance with his rights under international law. Imagine if Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch or B’Tselem did more than release the occasional tepid statement. Imagine if the BBC and the Guardian actually reported this story with the same zeal and intensity as they invested in the kidnapping of Alan Johnston.”
Big Oil And Dictatorships.
Large oil companies are often not to choosy who they do business with, be it dodgy potentates in the Middle East, to the repressive Generals in Burma, but with the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico they are, thankfully, coming under more scrutiny.
Time magazine has more:
“To the list of Big Oil companies with p.r. problems add two more: Chevron and French energy giant Total. In a report published on Monday, the NGO EarthRights International accuses the firms of being implicated in human-rights violations in Burma, claiming that soldiers guarding Chevron and Total’s natural-gas pipeline in the country have murdered locals and forced others to do backbreaking, unpaid labor in order to keep the gas exports flowing smoothly. The report also holds that the revenues from the operation have been propping up the country’s oppressive military government for more than a decade, thus fostering harmful political outcomes that affect the entire country.
EarthRights’ complaints against Total and Chevron are not new. Last year, the NGO, which is based in Washington and Chiang Mai, Thailand, published interviews with locals describing how soldiers protecting the pipeline had dragooned them into unpaid manual labor. The pipeline, which crosses more than 40 miles of Burmese territory, is a joint venture among Chevron, Total, a Thai energy company and the Burmese state oil and gas authority. Activists say it is a short section of the pipeline that travels overland through a remote part of the country that has led to ongoing conflicts between residents and the Burmese army’s Battalion 282, the soldiers charged with protecting the pipeline. Until the pipeline was built in the mid-1990s, the area saw little military action. But according to the EarthRights report, in February some soldiers of the battalion murdered two residents in the pipeline area after suspecting them of being linked to an armed militia group. “
(H/T: Andrew Murphy)
Update 1: The EarthRights International report is here, as a PDF.
Update 2: Reuters’ coverage of the BP’s oil spill is good.
ModernityBlog 