Not because we think we can

Tonight I watched 'Battle in Seattle'. In the movie, a reporter asks how the protesters keep going and the the cameraman says that they do what they do because they believe they can win... but I don't think so. I think it is because we have to. It's the last stand and if we don't win, everything worth standing for is lost. That's the belief that makes us all take the beating over and over again. Be it in Seattle, Paris, Delhi or in Tienanmen!

By the way... the movie is awesome. Watch it!

72 Virgins

It was May 22 1991, I was sleeping in my bed when my mom woke me up and told me that Rajiv Gandhi was assasinated. That was the first time I ever heard of suicide bombing.A 17 year old girl named Dhanu tied 700gram RDX belt bomb and killed Rajiv Gandhi and 14 other. The next suicide bomber I heard of was the one that killed Premadasa. In both cases,  the culprit was LTTE. A violent group of rebels in Sri Lanka fighting for their own homeland. In both cases, they didn't die for the promised 72 virgins. They died believing that they were fighting for a just cause. It was not the promise of heaven that drove them to kill themselves and others but the hellish realities of life. 

Nowadays, sucide bombings are commonplace and we suddenly found a new reason for why they happen. We simply blame it on extremism and the promise of 72 virgins. Not to say that they are not a part of the reason why they happen, but to stop there would be a big mistake. We need to learn a bit more about people who are willing to sacrifice everything they have, everything tangible for the promise of something that no one knows for sure. To die like this, the belief in the ideology is not enough. It takes much more than that. And not willing to look at it is not just ignorance but arrogance. 

Pandora's box

I was watching Louise Brooks' Pandora's Box, a story about a innocent beautiful girl Lulu, whose beauty dooms her. It made me wonder and draw some parallels between her and us the humanity. I wonder if we are just like Lulu. It's beauty in her case and intelligence in ours. For all the self-admiration about our own intelligence, in the end, we all are doomed just because of our intelligence.

If we look at it, Homosapiens look stupid. As a race, we are failing. In the larger picture, we are loosing to cockroaches. We are not going to outlast them. They stayed here on the earth for about 350 million years and we should be lucky to stay for 1 million years. Yes we are intelligent. We can launch rockets into space, we can amazing gizmos...but we always tend to miss the bigger picture. In fact we look retarded. In search of instant gratification, we are making nukes, heating earth and poisioning our water streams. To put it simple, we are lighting our own house on fire. If this is not stupid... I don't know what is.

Bail me out!

Read a lot about the TARP and bail out of financial sector. Reading a lot about bail out for big three. Now, I hope I am next in the line. Not that I am in any trouble, but I sure can use few extra dollars in these holidays. But I am not big enough to sink the whole ship going to. So, I guess I will be responsible for everything I do.

The baffling thing about both the bailout plans is the trick that was used to scare everyone. One of the very early solution from the Government was to buy preferred stocks in the failing institutions and get a controlling stake in these failing institutions. While I was against Government bailing out the irresponsible financial institutions, the whole country was held for ransom, this idea felt much more reliable than giving Henry Paulson all the money and forgetting about everything. But socialism has such an bad rap, once you call something socialist, a majority of America will fear and loath it without thinking for a second. For me, it seems like common sense. Just like we are seeing, all the recipients of the 290 billion dollars are trying to balance their books instead of loaning that money out... the credit freeze is still here. May be, we are better off with government having a little say in how our money is used.

Myth of Olympic spirit

Past weekend there were protests for an end of occupation of the Tibetan plateau by China. There were scuffles in London and Paris. The flame went off quite a few time before its "majestic" march through the cities of London and Paris ended. There are two camps who are condemning these protests. One is from the official Chinese sources, who brand these protesters as a few separatist who are raising hell and the other is from the people who look at Olympics as a very sacred thing to sully it's reputation with politics. I think both are absurd. I guess it is the perfect time to demonstrate and protest against the injustices that are being perpetrated by the Chinese government. Once this opportunity is lost, it is lost for ever. I think if Olympic games were hosted in US or Britain, we would have seen similar protests against war in Iraq, US treatment of prisoners in Guantanamo, secret rendition and other infractions.

I learned from my experience that the Main Stream Media (MSM) turns a blind eye towards the issues that are not supportive of their plans. After the antiwar rally in San Diego last month and few other rallies before in LA and New York, I eagerly watched news to see if there is any news about these antiwar rallies. With out a doubt, these are examples of the best in humanity. It is thousands of people marching for no selfish end( sometimes facing some dire consequences) to show their camaraderie to the people who are suffering injustices. These merit the best coverage in next day news. But this would never happen. This news is either swept off under the rug or mentioned as a small footnote. But if it were at something that is this grand, MSM can't turn it's head away. It has to cover this if it has to cover the great event. This will bring in more people in to the mix.

For people who are so worried about the spirit of games, I think they are just plain naive. It is a romantic view of the world to think that all the wars should cease for these games. Nothing stops. The injustices of the world won't stop, the sports stars peddling the brands built on sweatshops won't stop, the injustices of war won't stop, the apathy towards the starving people across the world won't stop. So, why should the protests stop?

As for me, I am not in San Francisco. But I am going to pass this information on to as many friends as possible and ask them to be there in solidarity with the people who are fighting against an unjust government while our present governments are cozying up next to a brutal government giving the trade excuse.

When 1200000 failed, can't expect much from 4000

What happened to humanity? What happened to the brotherly compassion. On this Easter we reached another milestone in Iraq... 4000 American dead. But day after day the Iraqi news coverage is shrinking. The American public is growing weary of the war and even the antiwar rallies are shrinking in size. There is a sense of inevitability that is creeping into the American and the world public about the war. With a sense of helplessness, we are abandoning our brethren to their fate on all sides of the war. We are waiting for the congress to act and stop funding the war. We are waiting for an antiwar candidate to become the president and draw down the troops. But it ain't gonna happen!! Tough luck but it ain't gonna happen.

As long as we think of change as something that is brought in top-down manner, nothing is going to change. Leaders will change but the promises will remain the same. As long as democracy is looked to be the easiest form of governance, we are not going to achieve anything. As long as we don't realize our leaders are actually our representatives, not a bit will change. As George Bernrad Shaw said," Democracy is a device that ensures we shall be governed no better than we deserve. " It about time we realize that for things to change it is people who need start the process. The time for symbolic rallies, weekend demonstrations is long gone. The protests should be much more direct. The disagreement should have much more visibility and maturity and above all it should be that much more confrontational.

If there is a camp Casey at every senator's office irrespective of their stand on the war, if there is a camp Casey at the Capitol hill. If you don't let our representative in state senates and US senate do nothing but talk about war and do something to bring back the troops, there are chances that these protests will become so glaring that the "media" can no longer turn a blind eye... As of now, we lost nearly 1.2 million people to the conflict. I don't know about the logicality of the domino theory that was used to start Vietnam war. But it makes perfect sense with terrorism. Every person killed in Iraq is going to give birth to a new terrorist. And just like in any country, there are always opportunistic people who will try and succeed in convincing these young people that killing and dieing is solution to all the problems and there is some nobility in that.

Work for Peace - Gil Scott-Heron

Back when Eisenhower was the President,
Golf courses was where most of his time was spent.
So I never really listened to what the President said,
Because in general I believed that the General was politically dead.

But he always seemed to know when the muscles were about to be flexed,
Because I remember him saying something, mumbling something about a Military Industrial Complex.
Americans no longer fight to keep their shores safe,
Just to keep the jobs going in the arms making workplace.
Then they pretend to be gripped by some sort of political reflex,
But all they're doing is paying dues to the Military Industrial Complex.

The Military and the Monetary,
The Military and the Monetary,
The Military and the Monetary.
The Military and the Monetary,
get together whenever they think its necessary,

They turn our brothers and sisters into mercenaries, they are turning the planet into a cemetery.
The Military and the Monetary, use the media as intermediaries,
they are determined to keep the citizens secondary, they make so many decisions that are arbitrary.

We're marching behind a commander in chief,
who is standing under a spotlight shaking like a leaf.
but the ship of state had landed on an economic reef,
so we knew he was going to bring us messages of grief.

The Military and the Monetary,
were shielded by January and went storming into February,
Brought us pot bellied generals as luminaries,
two weeks ago I hadn't heard of the son of a bitch,
now all of a sudden he's legendary.

They took the honour from the honourary,
they took the dignity from the dignitaries,
they took the secrets from the secretary,
but they left the bitch an obituary.

The Military and the Monetary,
from thousands of miles away in a Saudi Arabian sanctuary,
had us all scrambling for our dictionaries,
cause we couldn't understand the fuckin vocabulary.

Yeah, there was some smart bombs,
but there was some dumb ones as well,
scared the hell out of CNN in that Baghdad hotel.

The Military and the Monetary,
they get together whenever they think its necessary,
War in the desert sometimes sure is scary,
but they beamed out the war to all their subsidiaries.
Tried to make So Damn Insane a worthy adversary,
keeping the citizens secondary,
scaring old folks into coronaries.

The Military and the Monetary,
from thousands of miles in a Saudi Arabian sanctuary,
kept us all wondering if all of this was really truely, necessary.

We've got to work for Peace,
Peace ain't coming this way.
If we only work for Peace,
If everyone believed in Peace the way they say they do,
we'd have Peace.

The only thing wrong with Peace,
is that you can't make no money from it.

The Military and the Monetary,
they get together whenever they think its necessary,
they've turned our brothers and sisters into mercenaries,
they are turning the planet... into a cemetery.

Got to work for Peace,
Peace ain't coming this way.

We should not allow ourselves to be mislead,
by talk of entering a time of Peace,
Peace is not the absence of war,
it is the absence of the rules of war and the threats of war and the preparation for war.
Peace is not the absence of war,
it is the time when we will all bring ourselves closer to each other,
closer to building a structure that is unique within ourselves
because we have finally come to Peace within ourselves.

The Military and the Monetary,
The Military and the Monetary,
The Military and the Monetary.
Get together whenever they think its necessary,
they've turned our brothers and sisters into mercenaries,
they are turning parts of the planet, into a cemetery.

The Military and the Monetary,
The Military and the Monetary,
We hounded the Ayatollah religiously,
Bombed Libya and killed Quadafi's son hideously.
We turned our back on our allies the Panamanians,
and saw Ollie North selling guns to the Iranians.
Watched Gorbachev slaughtering Lithuanians,
We better warn the Amish,
they may bomb the Pennsylvanians.

The Military and the Monetary,
get together whenever they think its necessary,
they have turned our brothers and sisters into mercenaries,
they are turning the planet, into a cemetery.

I don't want to sound like no late night commercial,
but its a matter of fact that there are thousands of children all over the world
in Asia and Africa and in South America who need our help.

When they start talking about 55 cents a day and 70 cents a day,
I know a lot of folks feel as though that,
thats not really any kind of contribution to make,
but we had to give up a dollar and a half just to get in the subway nowadays.

So this is a song about tommorrow and about how tommorrow can be better. if we all,
"Each one reach one, Each one try to teach one".

Nobody can do everything,
but everybody can do something,
everyone must play a part,
everyone got to go to work, Work for Peace.

Spirit Say Work, Work for Peace
If you believe the things you say, go to work.
If you believe in Peace, time to go to work.
Can't be wavin your head no more, go to work.

Torture

Today Crooksandliars.com hosted a video from Morning Joe. It is a discussion about the legality, morality and necessity of water boarding. As the conversation went along, Joe brought up Dresden bombing by American forces. Speaking about it, Joe was emphatic in describing the carnage by the American military. He opines that though the bombing of Dresden didn't have any stretigic value, it had to be done to send message to Germany... you brought us this nasty war and this is what happens to you. We will burn your children, women, old and men. This was the message to Germans should have got from the fires and charred flesh. To add to this, he says that though its morality can be questioned, he doesn't find a problem with that and he doesn't want to see the videos of that... he is fine as is- conveniently turning his faces other side.

When the rhetoric stoops to this level, how can you even argue. When the morality becomes a non-issue, everything is flexible. There is nothing wrong in killing an innocent man to save yourself. Killing millions for better life for some others is okay and all the crimes can be justified by realistic and non-realistic threats. It seems that the world is slipping into yet another dark age. People forgetting means are as much important as ends. Now, the world is already boxed into camps of good and evil. Both camps have a mandate from God. We already waved goodbye to Habeas Corpus, right to privacy. Now, people in power are trying to strip us of our humanity and compassion. This is the time to resist. Say no to torture. Irrespective of who does it, it is cruel. Nuremberg trials, however hypocritical they were, gave us a rule book. Let's try to follow at least a few rules.

Nandigram

The sad thing about the "democracy" that is being practices in India and whole world is that it is not democracy but corporatocracy. But on the second thought, is it not too naive on our part to expect anything good out of a system that is corrupt to the core? When crooks are in charge, compromise between them is not going to help anyone. Right now, the communist party realized how much they can make being "pro-development" and they know they are far behind in the game. They are trying to catch up. They are no longer interested in fame and glory anymore! Now we are seeing all around the world the insurgence of neo-feudalism or Oligarchy.
When ever I hear the word communist China I realize how dangerous words can be. I guess they are the most powerful tools one can have. They can be used to free and also to suffocate ideas. The idea of communism is so suffocated that what we see today is nothing but the dead cadaver of a beautiful idea which was murdered by the despots like Mao, Stalin and now being scavenged by vultures like Buddhadev and Chinese communist party. The soul, equality and decency of every human being, is long gone. The only rotten remnants of it are the despotic tyrannies and their paternalistic stone-age ideas. The intent and effectiveness of the Indian communists is obvious when they look up to China (the worst of communism and capitalism bottled in corporatism here!!) for ideas. The Communist Party of India which fought for betterment of the downtrodden is long dead. Now all the leaders we see are Modis, Advanis, Manmohans just in a different uniform.

In addition to this, the people's perception that democracy is going to be easy should be banished form hearts and minds of all the people. Democracy is not the smoothest, most efficient way of governance. It is just the best idea yet. In present day democracies, where free press is for only for people who own a news channel or news paper, corrupt police( sorry for the redundancy) and paternalistic judiciary, Bandhs, Dharnas and demonstrations are the only effective channels to comment on the way things are done. Even those are being hijacked by the political parties which are more worried valentine's day than poor people getting swept off the new emerging canvas of development. We have no way but to disobey the power that be and be vocal. If not, the new portrait of India will not have any green paint. It will be full of chimney stacks and SEZs. It won't have farmers and labourers but IT professionals and mega rich entrepreneurs. Not because all is well...but because they are forgotten and swept aside.

Now showing...Animal farm in Pakistan

So Pakistan slides from Military dictatorship to Military Emergency. In his speech,"President" General Pervez Musharraf said that,"My guiding principal has always been Pakistan first. I am sure the whole nation thinks on similar pattern." He added to it saying , "if we don’t take those decisions then there is a grave danger to the solidarity and security of the country." The first question that popped in to my head is if this speech is plagiarized from George Orwell's dystopia classics 1984 and Animal Farm.

In his self proclaimed status of protector of Pakistan and its interests, the fist step the President General Dictator took is to tighten the nuts of the media. In his new media policy it is illegal to criticizing the head of the state, military or judiciary or showing bodies of the suicide bombers or their victims. It never surprises but baffles me to see these people in power anointing themselves as vanguards of everything that is good and common folks accepting that it can't be any other way. Time and again it is proved right to be skeptical about the intentions of these "vanguards." All the despots spewed the same garbage and time and again we accepted. It is time to realize that the adage "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men" is more of a truism.