Sep

30

More Gutsy Than All Our Arab Dictators

September 30, 2007 | 7 Comments

The following are excerpts of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe’s speech at the United Nations General Assembly on September 20th. Even though I don’t know much about the history of Zimbabwe, I know that Mugabe is no angel. His human rights violations are to be condemned wholeheartedly, as are the violations of many other “leaders” around the world. But I still loved this speech. Judge for yourself.

Mr President, Clearly the history of the struggle for out own national and people’s rights is unknown to the president of the United States of America. He thinks the Declaration of Human Rights starts with his last term in office! He thinks he can introduce to us, who bore the brunt of fighting for the freedoms of our peoples, the virtues of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. What rank hypocrisy!

Let Mr. Bush read history correctly. Let him realise that both personally and in his representative capacity as the current President of the United States, he stands for this “civilisation” which occupied, which colonised, which incarcerated, which killed. He has much to atone for and very little to lecture us on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. His hands drip with innocent blood of many nationalities.

He still kills.

He kills in Iraq. He kills in Afghanistan. And this is supposed to be out master on human rights?

He imprisons.

He imprisons and tortures at Guantanamo. He imprisoned and tortured at Abu Ghraib. He has secret torture chambers in Europe. Yes, he imprisons even here in the United States, with his jails carrying more blacks than his universities can ever enroll. He even suspends the provisions of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights. Take Guantanamo for example; at that concentration camp international law does not apply. The national laws of the people there do not apply. Laws of the United States of America do not apply. Only Bush’s law applies. Can the international community accept being lectured by this man on the provisions of the universal declaration of human rights? Definitely not!

Mr. President, We are alarmed that under his leadership, basic rights of his own people and those of the rest of the world have summarily been rolled back. America is primarily responsible for rewriting core tenets of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. We seem all guilty for 9/11. Mr. Bush thinks he stands above all structures of governance, whether national or international.

At home, he apparently does not need the Congress. Abroad, he does not need the UN, international law and opinion. This forum did not sanction Blair and Bush’s misadventures in Iraq. The two rode roughshod over the UN and international opinion. Almighty Bush is now corning back to the UN for a rescue package because his nose is bloodied! Yet he dares lecture us on tyranny. Indeed, he wants us to pray him! We say No to him and encourage him to get out of Iraq. Indeed he should mend his ways before he clambers up the pulpit to deliver pieties of democracy.

Read the full speech here, which also makes excellent points about the history and reality of colonialism in Africa.

[hat tip: Fatima]

Sep

21

Woman Missing In VA: Please Take a Look

September 21, 2007 | Leave a Comment

UPDATE: Faten has been found. She apparently suffered from a psychological breakdown. Thankfully she is now home, and I wish her a speedy recovery.

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Read more

Sep

17

No Textbooks for Palestinian Children

September 17, 2007 | 3 Comments

As I enter academia once again as a graduate student, I’ve already amassed a long list of complaints. Too much reading, not enough time, too long of a commute, don’t like my schedule, books are too expensive, etc. After reading articles like the one below, I feel guilty for even making the smallest complaint. Palestinian children do not even have access to textbooks! Long commute? Try going through a checkpoint on your way to and from university everyday. Try being humiliated and beaten up just because the IOF decides you shouldn’t be in class today. Try waiting in line for 3 hours at the checkpoint, missing your class, and possibly a final exam. Try that for a challenging school year.

Two hundred thousand Palestinian children began school in the Gaza Strip this month without a full complement of textbooks. Why? Because Israel, which maintains a stranglehold over this small strip of land along the Mediterranean even after withdrawing its settlers from there in 2005, considers paper, ink and binding materials not to be “fundamental humanitarian needs.”

Israel, attempting to throttle the democratically elected Hamas government, generally permits only food, medicine and fuel to enter Gaza, and allows virtually no Palestinian exports to leave. Lately, it held up delivery of materials needed for printing textbooks. As a result, Gaza students began the year facing a 30 percent shortage of texts.

No full-page advertisements in major American newspapers have publicized Israel’s violations of Palestinian children’s right to an education. No editors, syndicated columnists or presidents of major universities in this country have denounced this callous measure. Our politicians have demanded no remedial action. Instead, they continue, verbally and materially, to support Israel in its near-total blockade of 1.5 million Palestinians, kids and all.

Continue reading…

[related: Birzeit University Right to Education Campaign]

Sep

6

I’m Alive

September 6, 2007 | 2 Comments

Indeed, I am. Except now I’m a starving graduate student. That is, starving for time to blog (and occasionally for caffeine). As usual, I have a lot to write about, and I hope to be back to regular blogging very soon because I miss it desperately. If I accidentally post one of my global history papers or IR theory analyses, please forgive me, I’m quickly discovering how absent minded one can become upon entering academia once again!
I’m studying International Relations in the capital of the most powerful country on Earth, of course I’m going to have a lot to blab about!
:)

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