ARS NOTORIA

Sending in the Marines A Q & A with the State Department on Haiti Judith Scherr, Counterpunch, 29 January 2010 The French Cooperation Minister Alain Joyandet accused the U.S. of “occupying” Haiti rather than helping in the wake of the devastating January 12, 7.0 earthquake. Doctors Without Borders and officials from the Caribbean community expressed similar frustrations, as US military personnel controlling the airport turned away their planes. With just under 20,000 U.S. boots on the ground in Haiti or just off shore, the U.N. military force has augmented its numbers to around 12,000. Still, more than two weeks after the disaster, Haitians lack water, food, medicine, shelter and equipment to dig out those that may still be alive under the rubble. On January 25 I spoke by phone to Virginia Staab a state department deputy press advisor for Western Hemisphere affairs. I asked about the role of the U.S. and U.N. military forces in post-quake Haiti, and the U.S. reaction to for...

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King's sacrificial bull escapes African Eye, News24, 21 January 2010 Mbabane - Swaziland's recent Incwala, or first fruits ceremony, went awry when a black ceremonial bull escaped, injuring seven young warriors with his horns in the process. Now there are whispers that the escape was an ill omen for the landlocked kingdom, which is led by King Mswati III, the last remaining absolute monarch in Africa. Spokesperson of the Swaziland Solidarity Network Lucky Lukhele said the “ancestors are angry with the kingdom for hiding the fact that Mswati was not suppose to be king in the first place, because he has a brother from his mother's side who has been hidden away. 

No, Mister, You Can't Share My Pain John Maxwell, Jamaica Observer, 17 January 2010 If you shared my pain you would not continue to make me suffer, to torture me, to deny me my dignity and my rights, especially my rights to self-determination and self-expression. Six years ago you sent your Ambassador Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to perform an action illegal under the laws of your country, my country and of the international community of nations. It was an act so outrageous, so bestially vile and wicked that your journalists and news agencies, your diplomats and politicians to this day cannot bring themselves to truthfully describe or own up to the crime that was committed when US Ambassador James Foley, a career diplomat, arrived at the house of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide with a bunch of CIA thugs and US Marines to kidnap the president of Haiti and his wife.

The British Establishment F***s us over. The British establishment once f****d over the whole world, but now they are relegated to f**** over the British people and piggy-backing on the murderous US imperial adventure. I am furious. Cadbury is being taken over by Kraft and the news media sees it as something natural and normal. They focus on "keeping jobs in Britain". The bullshit excuses begin on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme just after their uncritical little vignette on Prince William visiting Australia. The Today programme talks about the takeover of a emblematically British company as if it were an inevitable and natural event. In no way does our establishment sees itself as British. It has no loyalty whatsoever to people simply because they happen to be living on these British Isles. The establishment's flim-flam disguise of Britishness is so absolutely pathetic it is stunning. Cue the flowing hypocrisy in all British media outlets. But think of it. These par...

   Online nominations process launched for scaled-back planning body Terence Creamer, Engineering News, Johannesburg, 15 January 2010 The Presidency of South Africa launched a Web-based nomination process on Friday for the 20 commissioners it was seeking to appoint to serve on government's National Planning Commission (NPC) - the appointment process was initiated following the release of a revised green paper, outlining the nascent body's more narrowly defined role, functions and powers. Minister in The Presidency Responsible for the NPC Trevor Manuel said that the application process would close on February 10, 2010, a day before President Jacob Zuma was scheduled to open Parliament, and that the selection of the part-time commissioners should be completed by the end of March. 

   CP of Bohemia & Moravia, Request for Support And Solidarity [En., Fr.] From: Communist Party of Bohemia & Moravia, Wednesday, 13 January 2010 Web site : http://www.kscm.cz E-mail: leftnews@kscm.cz We address you with requests for support and solidarity with the CPBM (Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia). As you were already informed, in past years attempts to discredit the CPBM in order to exclude the party from the spectrum of democratic parliamentary parties were repeatedly made. Especially in the last 6 months there is an expansion of the anti-communist campaign in the Czech Republic. In this campaign has been used also the public media that inform unfair or conceal a positive outcomes of our party work. For the intensified propaganda against the CPBM and for the "re-writing“ of our history was used also the 20th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution of 1989. 

Paulo Freire the Brazilian    This is the last of the supplementary or optional material given to accompany Chapter 2 of Paulo Freire’s “Pedagogy of the Oppressed” (linked below). It is Chapter 1 of the same book, also linked below. In the first sentence of the book”, Freire “problematises” humanization, immediately placing Freire side-by-side with Karl Marx, where Marx in the whole of “Capital” wanted to restore humanity to itself. Freire is often described as a “Christian Marxist”, and Freire’s methods were widely adopted by the Christian advocates of the “ Liberation Theology ” that arose in South America from the 1960s onwards. Paulo Freire (1921-1927) was Brazilian. Others called him a humanist. 

Return to basics Editorial, Business Day, Johannesburg, South Africa, 14 January 2010 THE new school year has just kicked off. To ensure we do not fail the class of 2010, it is important that we reflect critically on what needs to change in our underperforming education system. We must stop acting surprised when poor matric results are released. The obvious truth is that a school career spans at least 12 years. We know, for example, that our primary school pupils consistently score worse than our international competitors — including other African countries — on comparative test scores for core subjects such as maths and science. 

Che Guevara (Whose photo?) To give you a little background TQM... I saw a copy of Che's African diaries about three years ago and was asked to translate them, [In fact I still have them in the original Spanish and intend to read them in their unedited form] but that offer soon faded away. At the time I said I would be honoured to translate the diaries. I am not so sure now. Che's language was dense and circular and confusing in its references, alluding to conversations and events that he didn't specify or detail. If Che was writing for posterity, there was absolutely no sign of it in the Spanish he used. Pure stodge. And he did go through a period of being quite obese. And then, a few days ago I was chatting to one of the former senior leaders of the African revolutionary and anti-colonial movements and he enlightened me somewhat. He said that he had respected Che's ideas to some extent, but didn't like Che as a person. Accordi...

   The Dead End of Climate Justice How NGO Bureaucrats and Greenwashed Corporations are Turning Nature into Investment Capital Tim Simons and Ali Tonak, Counterpunch, 8-10 January 2010 On the occasion of its ten-year anniversary, the antiglobalization movement has been brought out of its slumber. This is to be expected, as anniversaries and nostalgia often trump the here and now in political action. What is troublesome, though, is not the celebration of a historical moment but the attempted resurrection of this movement, known by some as the Global Justice Movement, under the banner of Climate Justice. If only regenerating the zeitgeist of a radical moment was as simple as substituting 'Climate' for 'Global'; if only movements appeared with such ease! In fact, this strategy, pursued to its fullest extent in Copenhagen during the UN COP15 Climate Change Summit, is proving more damaging than useful to those of us who are, and have been for the past decade, activel...

Now for our younger viewers A long time ago I went on holiday to Cuba. I took this shot (once again I have had to take a photo of a paper photo) just off a market square in Havana - I believe they were local prostitutes, but I was unaware at the time, I just loved their expressions, their style, the woman's tough eyes. Hard eyes. As I said before I am not a political animal, so have no wish to comment on the last posting, but I do remember from my experiences in Cuba (as a holiday maker) the fear of speaking about Castro amongst the ordinary folk, also that the market square had lots of booksellers, but all of the books were about Castro or Che. I also recall being told by our hotel bar man that Coca Cola was imported through Spain, in order to avoid the embargo on American goods (how true this is, who knows). At the time, from my limited experience of the country, it seemed like the stereotypes were not based on myth. Of course I remember the beaut...

The 51 st Anniversary of the Cuban Revolution was celebrated on 1 January, 2010 Cuba. Again. Still. Forever. William Blum, Anti-Empire Report , USA, 6 January 2009 More than 50 years now it is. The propaganda and hypocrisy of the American mainstream media seems endless and unwavering. They can not accept the fact that Cuban leaders are humane or rational. Here's the Washington Post of December 13 writing about an American arrested in Cuba: "The Cuban government has arrested an American citizen working on contract for the U.S. Agency for International Development who was distributing cellphones and laptop computers to Cuban activists. ... Under Cuban law ... a Cuban citizen or a foreign visitor can be arrested for nearly anything under the claim of 'dangerousness'." That sounds just awful, doesn't it? Imagine being subject to arrest for whatever someone may choose to label "dangerousness". But the exact same thing has happened repeatedly i...

Umsebenzi Online, Volume 9, No. 1, 6 January 2010 In this Issue: Ours was never a struggle about replacing the white with a black elite! Red Alert : Ours was never a struggle about replacing the white with a black elite! SACP message on the 15th anniversary commemoration of the passing away of Cde Joe Slovo Blade Nzimande, General Secretary Cde Joe Slovo passed away on this day 6 January, exactly 15 years ago in 1995. This is the first mass activity of the SACP for 2010. There could have been no better way to start this important year for our country, than through the commemoration and celebration of the life, struggles and sacrifices of one of the greatest heroes of our South African revolution, our former General Secretary and National Chairperson, a former member of the ANC NEC and NWC, Cde Joe Slovo. Cde Slovo embodied some of the best qualities that came to characterise our revolution - selflessness, solidarity and complete dedication to the liberation of the overwhelm...

King Kong - I hope that you don't mind me uploading something silly, but hopefully it will make you smile, a New Year smile. This morning I pulled up the blind in our loft and wow, what beautiful light I witnessed. I ran downstairs for my camera. Back in the loft, I pulled the window down and focused. Snap. One shot, lovely frost on the rooftops, caramel skies, church spire blah blah....as I took the second shot (8.00am) a man appeared on the loft roof of a neighbours house. At first I wondered if he was a burglar....I snapped away as King Kong surveyed the roof (he was later joined by his co-worker) - unfortunately a 21st century Fay Wray or Tim Curry did not appear straddling the spire, but it was still a wonderful sight. I hope that you agree. Happy New Year! TQB

Democracy or Freedom? A review of “The State and Local Government”, by Peter Latham, Manifesto Press 2010 To pre-order this book, please e-mail Dr Peter Latham, drpalatham@lcolg.fsnet.co.uk Domza in the 1970s Dominic Tweedie, Johannesburg, South Africa, 5 January 2010 What is democracy for? Is it good? Why? Are freedom and democracy the same thing, or do these two contradict one another? These are some of the prior questions that need to be answered before studying local or municipal government in detail. The thirteen chapters of Peter Latham’s “The State and Local Government” begin with four on the necessary theoretical underpinnings to precede his examination of Local Government. The last three, and particularly the very last chapter, attempt to synthesise the theoretical background with the valuable, detailed, empirical and historical material that makes up the middle part of the book. Now, which is boss: Democracy or Freedom? Christopher Caudwell had no doubt. In his essa...

Nepal begins 2010 with nationwide strike Nepal News, 1 January 2010 Nepal has stepped into New Year 2010 not with a celebratory bang but with a nationwide bandh. A conglomerate of various indigenous and ethnic community associations has called a general strike throughout the nation, Friday, demanding the implementation of Convention 169 concerning Indigenous and Tribal Peoples by the International Labor Organization (ILO).