News of the Restless

Your attention, please…

Posted on January 18, 2010 by Sabina Becker

Yes, these badges are real, and were worn by security contractors trained by an obscure Hungarian mercenary named Tibor Revesz, at Glengad Beach, Ireland, while “defending” the Corrib Gas Project from the objections of peaceful protesters.

Commenter Ruairi Delaney has asked for signatures on this petition to suspend Shell’s infamous Corrib Gas Project in Ireland.

The Corrib project, as some of you may be aware, formerly employed (via a contractor, I-RMS) at least one of the would-be assassins of Evo Morales as a security guard, and is still brutalizing Irish citizens and the fragile coastal environment of the Emerald Isle. It is also notorious for having basically bought out the Irish government.

I’ve added my signature to the petition, and also joined the Facebook group. If you care about corporations subverting democracy (or trying to), feel free to add your voice.

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Posted in All About Evo, Fascism Without Swastikas, If You REALLY Care | 1 Comment

Haiti: The UNtold story

Posted on January 18, 2010 by Sabina Becker

If you’re wondering why aid has so much trouble reaching Haiti, here’s a broad and rather interesting hint, in video form. Those who’ve been trying to “help” Haiti for years have in fact been actively weakening it because the uppity niggruhs keep trying to elect the “wrong” candidate. And when those aforementioned uppities turn out in the streets to protest the obvious foreign interference in their democratic process, guess what happens? Here’s another hint…

Criminalizing dissent. It’s the Amurrican Way.

And Canada is being dragged along into this quagmire of utter disgrace, as are the Brazilians–who were chosen specifically because of their color and affinity for the Haitians.

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Posted in Brazil is the Bomb!, Canadian Counterpunch, Fascism Without Swastikas, Good to Know, If You REALLY Care | 4 Comments

Amazing! CNN reports positively on Cuban doctors, for a change

Posted on January 17, 2010 by Sabina Becker

Finally, the Chicken Noodle Network reports something in a way that’s not so chicken-noodly. Steve Kastenbaum shows Cuban and Cuban-trained Latin American medical crews at work, saving lives in Haiti. They were able to set up their field hospitals in very short order, thanks to the fact that Cuban healthcare has long been geared to providing emergency aid on a large scale; Cuba, like Haiti, is heavily prone to natural disasters, as well as the constant threat of invasion from just ninety miles offshore. They are also used to providing troops and medics to poor countries abroad, such as Angola. The fact that their doctors can provide quality care on a shoestring budget isn’t news to me, or to Michael Moore, but it’s apparently astonishing to CNN and their usual audience, who have few if any good impressions about Cuban medicine.

Now that the US is finally aware of how dedicated the Cubans really are to nonprofit medicine, will the Venezuelan oppos realize that the Cuban doctors treating the poor in THEIR country are for real?

(Thanks to my friend Corey for directing me to the video.)

PS: By way of contrast, look what El Duderino has found on the way the US is handling their “aid” mission. Leaves a lot to be desired compared to Cuba, no?

PPS: Also, Greg Palast is God.

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Posted in Crapagandarati, Cuba, Libre (de los Yanquis), Good to Know, Huguito Chavecito, If You REALLY Care, She Blinded Me With Science, The "Well, DUH!" Files | 13 Comments

Music for a Sunday: Haiti

Posted on January 17, 2010 by Sabina Becker

“Haiti is here. Haiti is not here.”

Full lyrics, and translation, here.

BTW, these lyrics, referring to racial injustice in Haiti and Brazil, are especially appropriate in light of a scandal concerning a Haitian diplomat in Brazil a couple of days ago:

The Haitian consul in São Paulo, George Samuel Antoine, not knowing that his microphone was open, commented before a journalistic interview that the earthquake “would be good for” his country, because thanks to it, “we are now more recognized”. The diplomat blamed the ills of his country on the fact that “every place where there are Africans is fucked”.
The consul also blamed the earthquake on macumba, the religion practiced by a majority of Haitians in spite of official Catholicism: “I believe that because of all this practice of macumba, we don’t know if it’s that. Africans are cursed in and of themselves.”
Upon learning that his words, spoken in confidentiality to an investigator, had been recorded, the diplomat became very nervous and excused himself, saying that he could not speak Portuguese very well, and had been misinterpreted. However, he has been living in Brazil for 35 years, since 1975.
By way of apology, Antoine also recalled that his grandfather, born in Africa, was president of Haiti in the late 19th century, and being so nervous as a result of the earthquake in his country, he managed to avoid getting into an argument.
Throughout the interview, Antoine fingered a rosary. “It’s to calm my nerves and receive positive energy,” he said.
In Brazil, it is hoped that the government of Haiti takes a firm position on the matter, seeing that this is an offence not only against that country, but against all Africans.

Translation mine.

The reason this is so scandalous should be obvious.

In Brazil, as in Haiti, black slavery, though abolished, still works its malign influence to the present day in the form of racism (and in some cases, de facto slavery still).

A great many Brazilians–some estimate a majority–are mulattoes, although the higher up the class order you go, the less African and more European faces you’ll see. It is possible for many a middle-class Brazilian to look white and still carry a lot of “black” blood, as Caetano Veloso does. But he is just as much a mulatto as his friend and collaborator in the song, Gilberto Gil, who looks more black.

In Haiti, as El Duderino reminds us, “black” is supposed to be a deracialized term (under the Haitian constitution), and even white-skinned permanent residents of the land are referred to as “blacks”, in a radical interracial solidarity and a vehement rejection of the old slave-order of things. When all are black, all are equal, goes the reasoning; no one gets to lord anything over his neighbor, no matter what color. And no one gets to own another person outright, as chattel. To be a Haitian “black” is to be free, or so it should be.

Yet the racism of colonial times persists in the mentality of many. It is an internalized racism, and even a man of known African heritage can and does let it slip from time to time, as Mr. Antoine has done. The fear and mistrust of macumba, or Voudou, plays into this mindset; it is both racist and superstitious, since Voudounsis (practitioners) are largely peaceful and in fact have maintained the religion as a direct tie back to Africa, as well as a means of gaining liberty for Haiti (and by extension, the rest of the Americas). The fact that Voudou is syncretic is also proof of its peaceful nature; it signals a reconciliation of Catholic saints (bequeathed by white colonists) with African spirits, ancestors and deities. Voudounsis pray to both in the same breath and in the same ceremonies; in fact, they recognize that the “two” are one. The power summoned in the practice of Voudou is personal and can also be political, giving the practitioner the strength that a long struggle for liberty demands.

And that’s why this internalized-racist statement of Africans being “cursed” and “fucked” by macumba is so offensive. It directly insults the entire Haitian (and Brazilian) struggle against slavery and racism–a struggle that still goes on to this day.

Haiti is here. Haiti is not here.

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Posted in Brazil is the Bomb!, Isn't It Ironic?, Music for a Sunday | 2 Comments

Wankers of the Week: Bad judgment issue

Posted on January 16, 2010 by Sabina Becker

Crank up the mood music, maestro…we need to let people know what kind of judgment is in store for the bad…

Yeah…blast those bastards!

Ahem. And now, order in the court! Oyez, oyez, oyez.

This has been a banner week, if you could call it that, for judges issuing bad decisions. Who knew that so much wanking could go on beneath judicial robes? Well, who but your Aunt Bina, who sits in informal judgment and can pass verdicts, if not sentences. Here’s who gets hit with the old gavel this week:

1. Janice Fucking Rogers Brown. Remember when the Geneva Conventions were declared “quaint” by Dubya’s legal advisors? Well, that decision has now been ratified regarding Gitmo, which Barack Obama promised to shut down. In-justice Rogers Brown has decided that not only is international human rights legislation “quaint”, it’s an “old wine skin” which is “ill-suited to the bitter wine of this new warfare.” WTF? Since when is drinking allowed in court? And what the hell was in the booze these two out of three judges were guzzling?

2. Whoever the fuck is responsible for issuing this acquittal. Gross human rights abuses are apparently acceptable on a personal as well as a political scale, at least in the UAE–and at least, if you’re a sheikh from a very wealthy ruling family, who takes a lot of seriously bad drugs and then claims them as his excuse for beating and torturing some poor bastard, on video, for three hours.

3. and 4. Michael Fucking Conahan and Mark Fucking Ciavarella, AGAIN. Ciavarella’s latest episode of kids-for-kickbacks is one that should have him EATING crow, instead of forcing juveniles to count ’em to learn how many months they get sent to the slammer.

PS: Hey judge, count this!

5. BTW, Richard Fucking Caputo, the judge who earlier let Conahan and Ciavarella off the hook for the part in this kickback-sentencing scheme that took place inside the courtroom, is also a major, MAJOR fucking wanker. What part of “abuse of judicial authority” does he not understand?

6. Carolyn Fucking Mellanby. Apparently, if you are a Muslim, protesting war and killing during a military funeral procession in England makes you “guilty of threats”. I’m so glad we have Madame Justice Mellanby to clarify that for us, aren’t you?

7. Thomas Fucking Griesa. Yeah, freezing the Argentine Central Bank’s funds is a terrific idea…if you don’t give a shit about the lives, livelihoods and well-being of the people of Argentina. It’s also a terrific idea if you want to look like a complete and utter crapitalist dick. Because, you know, all this fiscal juggling and jiggery-pokery, contrary to popular belief, is not all fun and market games. It has real world consequences, and they are devastating. Always nice to see judges so totally unconcerned that their actions could set off massive political instability and another possible military coup in a country with a long track record of just that, eh?

8. Robert Fucking Brown. A group-sex fantasy on the part of a victim does not excuse a gang rape on the part of the perps. In fact, sex and rape are two different things, but this judge isn’t learned enough to know the difference. Let’s just hope no one ever learns of his secret fantasy of, oh, say, sodomy involving a cricket bat…

9. through 13. The fucking conservative majority of the SCOTUS. Heaven forfend that even a small portion of the country get to see Prop Hate go on trial! I mean, it’s only the most important marriage-rights case since Loving v. Virginia, after all. But since it’s got to do with Teh Ghey, it has to be censored…because heaven forfend that children learn that gay people actually fall in love and want to get married, not just have sex-sex-SEX! (Or however the conservatard “logic” goes. I learned long ago that anything other than knee-jerk stupidity is not to be expected of these five guys.)

And finally, a non-judicial case of bad judgment à deux:

Yep, that’s Rush Fucking Limbaugh and Marion Fucking Robertson, both hating on Haiti. Neither of them has the guts to say nigger, but you can hear them thinking it every time they open their mouths on anything even remotely to do with race; everything they say about blacks is code-worded racism. And of course, Haiti being overwhelmingly black–and the cradle of independentist revolution in the Americas–these guys have nothing good to say about that impoverished country, and no words of solace or sympathy for its current misery. Neither of these racists can forgive those uppity niggruhs for standing up to bullies and setting a good example to the rest of the continent. And for that, no one should forgive them.

Good night, and get fucked, Rush and Patwa.

Court dismissed. Take it away, boys:

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Posted in Wankers of the Week | Comments Off

Quotable: Jean-Bertrand Aristide on Haiti and exile

Posted on January 16, 2010 by Sabina Becker

“As we all know, many people remain buried under tons of rubble and debris, waiting to be rescued. When we think of their suffering, we feel deeply and profoundly that we should be there, in Haiti, with them, trying our best to prevent death. As far as we are concerned, we are ready to leave today, tomorrow, at any time, to join the people of Haiti, to share in their suffering, help rebuild the country, moving from misery to poverty with dignity.

“The spirit of Ubuntu, that once led Haiti to emerge as the first independent black nation in 1804, helped Venezuela, Colombia and Ecuador attain liberty, and inspired our forefathers to shed their blood for the United States’ independence, cannot die. Today, this spirit of solidarity must and will empower all of us to rebuild Haiti.”

–Jean-Bertrand Aristide, on Democracy Now!

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Posted in If You REALLY Care, Quotable Notables | 3 Comments

Teh Heterostoopid: He thinks he’s a wit…

Posted on January 16, 2010 by Sabina Becker

…but he’s only half right.

BTW, ladies: The only proper comeback, in a situation like this, is ~~“Take your club and go get it yourself, Captain Caveman!”~~ a go-away. (Thanks, Snarla!)

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Posted in Teh Heterostoopid | 1 Comment

Evo just keeps callin’ it…

Posted on January 15, 2010 by Sabina Becker

Can you spot the parallels in this montage of awkward side-by-sides? Evo can, and he can also make a solid prediction based on it…

The president of Bolivia, Evo Morales, said today that the de facto leader of Honduras, Roberto Micheletti, will become a “second Pinochet”, thanks to the decision of the Honduran congress to declare him a member-for-life.
Morales spoke of the matter in a speech in Cochabamba, during the presentation of a book on his political and union struggles by Argentine writer Stella Calloni.
Morales said that after reading reports from Honduras over the decision of the Honduran congress, he immediately thought that Micheletti “is the second (Augusto) Pinochet”, referring to what had happened in Chile after a 17-year right-wing dictatorship, headed by the bloodiest repressor of that South American nation.
“Sooner or later, it will be the people who judge,” said the Bolivian president.
In Honduras, the head of the parliament, Alfredo Saavedra, awarded Micheletti the “Extraordinary Great Cross With Gold Plaque”, and a gold medal, declaring him a deputy-for-life for his 28 years in the legislature and his presidency, designated by the congress on June 28, 2009, after the coup against Manuel Zelaya.
This “recognition” by the majority of the de-facto congress was repudiated by some deputies of the left and rejected by the populace, which denounced it as a strategy to protect the dictator for life.
President Morales, along with the nations of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas (ALBA), the OAS, and the international community, has called various times for Zelaya to be restored to office.
For his part in the Honduran electoral farce, Porfirio Lobo, the “president-elect” as a result of elections rejected by virtually all the American nations, will take power on January 27th in an inauguration ceremony which virtually no one will attend, a fact which Lobo himself complained about recently.

Translation mine.

BTW, word is that Evo will be personally delivering humanitarian aid to Haiti. Stand-up guy? You bet.

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Posted in All About Evo, Chile Sin Queso, Not Hiding in Honduras | 2 Comments

Haiti: A three-minute primer

Posted on January 15, 2010 by Sabina Becker

Ever wonder why Haiti is poor? Hint: it’s punishment for that slave revolt that led to liberty in 1804, the one Patwa calls a “deal with the devil”. Turns out, the devil…was France. (Zut alors!) And the deal…entailed a debt that took over a century to pay back, and still has Haiti mired in a cycle of debts, dictatorships and dependency. Only this time, the devil is the IMF. Whaddya know, it turns out that Satan really IS a master of disguise–and no, his name is not Papa Legba! (Legba is actually syncretized to St. Peter. He is likened to Peter because he opens the “pearly” gates to the spirit world, enabling Voudou practitioners to speak with the saintly figures called loa, and also their ancestors. And yes, I’ve paid him tribute too–and can attest that he is a beneficent old guy who listens. And he doesn’t care what color you are, either.)

BTW, the only things in Avi Lewis’s otherwise excellent reporting that I’d take issue with is that problematic “some say” bit (who are these “some”? Don’t do like FUX Snooze, Avi–let’s see “them” say it on camera!) and the part about Toto Constant “claiming” to be on the CIA payroll (uh, he was.)

PS: Far be it from me to not give credit where due. France has just called upon the Paris Club for debt forgiveness for Haiti. A wise move, and good for the karma. Très bien fait!

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Posted in Fascism Without Swastikas, Filthy Stinking Rich, Good to Know, If You REALLY Care, Morticia! You Spoke French! | Comments Off

Festive Left Friday Blogging: Caption time!

Posted on January 15, 2010 by Sabina Becker

I call this one “When Evo met Bev”, but I’m sure you have something better:

BTW, by way of backgrounder, that’s Canada’s minister of international co-operation, Bev Oda…who used to be on the Status of Women portfolio before she bobbled it up big-time at Harpo’s behest. Bev is there to pledge $28 million CDN to help Bolivia fight poverty.

Captions, please, amig@s!

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