I’d like to say something about one of the “world leaders” who walk for a “Solidarity March” in Paris yesterday.  The leader I am talking about is Benjamin Netanyahu, head of the state of Israel, which regularly butchers innocent Palestinian civilians in the name of "self defense" attended the "solidarity rally" in Paris! What should we call it? A joke? A fascist and Zionist with sectarian world view, a man who thinks every Palestinian man, woman and children is Hamas terrorist, walks for "solidarity rally"! Where was his sense of "solidarity" when Israel soldiers kills journalists of Palestine? Israel, like ISIS, BOKO-HARAM, and al-Quida, is a habitual offender of Freedom of Expression, human rights and right to life of people. Recently Israel killed a Palestinian Statesman, but no country in the civilised "west" marched for solidarity like they are doing now. Netanyahu offered French Jews to settle in Israel for "security"! What a sense of solidarity and brotherhood this Zionist hypocrite possesses! Save the Jews only and kill others! I wonder why Mahmood Abbas agreed to join with him in the so-called "solidarity march"? Like al-Quida and ISIS, Israel is suppressing the voice of the people and killing innocent civilians. We should be careful about the enemies of the humanity.  

Taliban butchered 132 children in the name of "Jihad". I strongly condemn this ghastly act. Taliban is a product of CIA and the hypocritical western powers are also in the act of condemnation and blaming! Their crocodile tears make me laugh. We are no fool, Mr Obama and Mr Cameron. You killed many more Pakistani children by “Drone Strike” in the name of war on terror and termed it collateral damage. Only this year Israel, armed with weapons supplied by you, killed 396 children in Gaza and you supported that act and termed it as “self-defense”. Where was your humanity then? You created Taliban that killed those hapless children and you’re saying you feel for those parents and relatives! Hypocrisy should have a limit. I also request people like Malala Yousufzai to speak up against this kind of hypocritical western powers which created Taliban, Al-qaida, and IS.

Horrifying experience at Kolkata Book Fair 2014

I visited Kolkata Book Fair on 1^st February, 2014, Saturday and had to have a horrifying experience. Since my childhood I have a special sentiment for Book Fair. But this year I’m really disturbed and disappointed with the way the event is being organized. The stalls of some TV channels which telecast cheap & popular entertainment programs like daily soaps or some stupid reality shows are really become nuisances. These channels are organizing stupid talk shows and cheap music contests in very loud volume in their stalls inside the fairground which are causing noise pollution and destroying the atmosphere of Book Fair. This type of substandard, sub-cultured and distasteful things like quiz contest on Bengali TV-serials or “Antakshari” or dance contest don’t go with the flavor of the booklovers like me who have passion for books for serious thoughts.  The stalls of entertainment TV channels like Star-Jalsa and others are really killing the true spirit of Book Fair. I visited Stall No. 371B that is of “International Publication” to meet my friends there, but cannot talk to or hear a single word as a quiz show on Bengali Daily soaps was going on in a very high volume from the “Star-Jalsa” stall which was making very loud noise. That experience was very appalling and I was wondering what the hell this entertainment TV channels were doing in Book Fair. My friends said they lodged complaints to the Book Fair organizers but there has been no response from their end. People are just coming to Book Fair to visit this stalls of the channels for some cheap entertainment and then go to the food park to have biriyanis and chow-meins and go home. Thus the real spirit Book Fair is being constantly undermined and ruined. I request the Publishers and Booksellers Guild no to allow these channels inside the Book Fair if they at all want to retain it as a “Book-Fair”. Otherwise the “Kolkata Boi –Mela” should be renamed as “TV Channel Mela” or “Biriyani-Mela”!

MALALA AND NABILA

Unlike now-famous Malala Yousafzai, the name of Nabila Rehman, another Pakistani young girl who along with her father Rafiq and 13 years old brother Zubair, travelled from her North Waziristan village to appear before members of Congress and urge the US to end its drone attacks, haven’t found any place in the pages of any mainstream media. On October 24, 2012 a Predator drone flying over North Waziristan came upon eight-year-old Nabila Rehman, her siblings, and their grandmother as they worked in a field beside their village home. Her grandmother, Momina Bibi, was teaching the children how to pick okra as the family prepared for the coming Eid holiday. However on this day the terrible event would occur that would forever alter the course of this family's life. In the sky the children suddenly heard the distinctive buzzing sound emitted by the CIA-operated drones - a familiar sound to those in the rural Pakistani villages which are stalked by them 24 hours a day - followed by two loud clicks. The unmanned aircraft released its deadly payload onto the Rehman family, and in an instant the lives of these children were transformed into a nightmare of pain, confusion and terror. Seven children were wounded, and Nabila's grandmother was killed before her eyes, an act for which no apology, explanation or justification has ever been given. This past week Nabila, her schoolteacher father, and her 12-year-old brother traveled to Washington DC to tell their story and to seek answers about the events of that day. However, despite overcoming incredible obstacles in order to travel from their remote village to the United States, Nabila and her family were roundly ignored. At the congressional hearing where they gave testimony, only five out of 430 representatives showed up. In the words of Nabila's father to those few who did attend: "My daughter does not have the face of a terrorist and neither did my mother. It just doesn't make sense to me, why this happened… as a teacher, I wanted to educate Americans and let them know my children have been injured." The translator broke down in tears while recounting their story. But the United States made it a point to snub this family and ignore the tragedy it had caused to them. Nabila, a slight girl of nine with striking hazel eyes, asked a simple question in her testimony: "What did my grandmother do wrong?" There was no one to answer this question, and few who cared to even listen. Symbolic of the utter contempt in which the government holds the people it claims to be liberating, while the Rehmans recounted their plight, Barack Obama was spending the same time meeting with the CEO of weapons manufacturer Lockheed Martin. It is useful to contrast the American response to Nabila Rehman with that of Malala Yousafzai, a young girl who was nearly assassinated by the Pakistani Taliban. While Malala was feted by Western media figures, politicians and civic leaders for her heroism, Nabila has become simply another one of the millions of nameless, faceless people who have had their lives destroyed over the past decade of American wars. The reason for this glaring discrepancy is obvious. Since Malala was a victim of the Taliban, she, despite her protestations, was seen as a potential tool of political propaganda to be utilized by war advocates. She could be used as the human face of their effort, a symbol of the purported decency of their cause, the type of little girl on behalf of whom the United States and its allies can say they have been unleashing such incredible bloodshed. Tellingly, many of those who took up her name and image as a symbol of the justness of American military action in the Muslim world did not even care enough to listen to her own words or feelings about the subject. Western fawning over Malala has become less about her efforts to improve conditions for girls in Pakistan, or certainly about the struggles of millions of girls in Pakistan, and more about our own desire to make ourselves feel warm and fuzzy with a celebrity and an easy message. It's a way of letting ourselves off the hook, convincing ourselves that it's simple matter of good guys vs bad guys, that we're on the right side and that everything is okay. But where does Nabila fit into this picture? If extrajudicial killings, drone strikes and torture are in fact all part of a just-cause associated with the liberation of the people of Pakistan, Afghanistan and elsewhere, where is the sympathy or even simple recognition for the devastation this war has caused to countless little girls such as her? The answer is clear: The only people to be recognized for their suffering in this conflict are those who fall victim to the enemy. Malala for her struggles was to be made the face of the American war effort -  against her own will if necessary - while innumerable little girls such as Nabila will continue to be terrorized and murdered as part of this war without end. There will be no celebrity appearances or awards ceremonies for Nabila. At her testimony almost no one even bothered to attend. But if they had attended, they would've heard a nine-year-old girl asking the questions which millions of other innocent people who have had their lives thrown into chaos over the past decade have been asking: "When I hear that they are going after people who have done wrong to America, then what have I done wrong to them? What did my grandmother do wrong to them? I didn't do anything wrong." Zubair recounted how he was hit by shrapnel in his leg — an injury that would take expensive laser surgeries to heal — while Nabila looked down to see her hand bleeding. "I tried to bandage my hand but the blood wouldn't stop," she said. "The blood kept coming." Momina Bibi's wounds were so severe that neighbours would not allow her sons to see the body, said Rafiq, a primary-school teacher in Pakistan who was away in town when the attack happened. Rafiq said the newspapers reported that fighters had been killed in the strike. As far as he knows, his mother’s was the death. The Rehman family also participated in an Amnesty International report about casualties of drones. According to the London-based Bureau of Investigative Journalism, 376 total strikes have taken place in Pakistan, killing up to 926 civilians and as many as 200 children. In 2009, the first year of Obama’s administration, there were 51 reported drone bombings in Pakistan—there were 45 during the entire GeorgeW. Bush administration. Obama’s use of drones has increased since. Obama has unleashed 284 drone attacks on Pakistan alone. Between 2,532 and 3,251 people have been killed by drone bombings in Pakistan since 2004, most of them in the Obama years. At least 175 of them have been children. In June 2011, Obama ordered the U.S. to extend its drone bomb attacks to include Somalia. Since 2002, there have been hundreds of drone strikes in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, and perhaps other countries. Thousands have been killed. So I want the readers of this blog to be aware of the stories of children like Nabila and Zubair, who unlike Malala Yousafzai, were and still being attacked, not by the Taliban or al-Qaeda, but by the United States of America.

RUDRA SEN

Red salute to MADIBA!

On 7^th December, 2013, the day after Nelson Mandela passed away, many reports, articles and features on the life and struggle of the great departed leader has been published in all the dailies. But none of these have focused on an important feature of Mandela’s character – his opposition to United States’ dominance and aggression on the Middle East and Israel’s occupation and suppression on Palestine and its people. He condemned US’s war on Iraq by saying “If there is a country that has committed unspeakable atrocities in the world, it is the United States of America. They don’t care for human beings. All that America wants is Iraqi oil. If you look at those matters, you will come to the conclusion that the attitude of the United States of America is a threat to world peace.” After his becoming president of South Africa, Mandela was categorical in his opposition to Israel and war in Iraq. He condemned it. He supported Palestinian demand for their homeland and said, “Israel should withdraw from all the areas which it won from the Arabs in 1967, and in particular Israel should withdraw completely from the Golan Heights, from south Lebanon and from the West Bank.” It is not mythological story that the American, British and rest of the western governments had no shame in supporting the racist South African regime till 1986. Mandela for them was a terrorist and ANC a terrorist organization. In fact US Congress passed Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act in 1986 against the veto of President Ronald Regan who termed ANC as terrorist organization. Dick Chaney, American Vice President was a member of American Congress and voted against the bill. The ruling Republican Party was against the bill which was putting some stricter restrictions against the apartheid regime of South Africa. Chaney is not unhappy for what he did in 1986. Mrs. Margret Thatcher and President Regan have openly supported the racist P.W.Botha regime of South Africa against the wishes of international community. It is a fact that the same ‘champions’ of human rights have no shame in defending the illegitimate government of Israel and its discriminatory attitude towards the Palestinians. Nelson Mandela is universally admired (except in Apartheid Israel) for his courageous persistence for decades until the evil racism of Apartheid was dismantled and equal rights were finally delivered to Africans, Chinese, Indians and Coloureds as well as Whites in South Africa. He has accordingly been greatly admired by the Palestinians for his courage and persistence and his support for Palestinian human rights. Thus Nelson Mandela in an address at the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, 4 December, 1997: “The UN took a strong stand against apartheid; and over the years, an international consensus was built, which helped to bring an end to this iniquitous system. But we know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians.” Winnie Mandela, former wife of Nelson Mandela on defeating Apartheid Israel, said "Apartheid Israel can be defeated, just as apartheid in South Africa was defeated." Nelson Mandela visited Australia in 1990 and stated: “We identify with them [the Palestinians] because we do not believe it is right for the Israeli government to suppress basic human rights in the conquered territories… We agree with the United Nations that international disputes should be settled by peaceful means. The belligerent attitude which is adopted by the Israeli government is to us unacceptable… If one has to refer to any of the parties as a terrorist state, one might refer to the Israeli government, because they are the people who are slaughtering defenseless and innocent Arabs in the occupied territories, and we don't regard that as acceptable.” He also offered his support and solidarity to the people of Cuba by saying “From its earliest days, the Cuban Revolution has also been a source of inspiration to all freedom-loving people. We admire the sacrifices of the Cuban people in maintaining their independence and sovereignty in the face of the vicious imperialist-orchestrated campaign to destroy the impressive gain made in the Cuban Revolution. … Long live the Cuban Revolution. Long live comrade Fidel Castro.”

Currently leaders from the US, UK and Australia are disingenuously offering praise for Nelson Mandela. However the historical record exposes their shameful hypocrisy. Thus the US and the UK disgracefully supported Apartheid South Africa diplomatically as did racist White Australia The US and UK only permitted the removal of Apartheid in South Africa on condition of Business As Usual otherwise – ordinary African South Africans still have appalling housing and unemployment and rampant HIV/AIDS meant an enormous increase in the death rate in South Africa after the fall of Apartheid in 1993, jumping in deaths per 1,000 from 7.9 1990-1995 to 9.6 in 1995-2000 and at 13,7 (2000-2005), 14.8 (2005-2010), 12.9 (2010-2015). And of course the US, UK and their warmongering lackey, racist White Australia, still support the Apartheid rogue state in the Middle East where of 12 million Palestinians only 7% adults of Palestinian Israelis can vote for the government ruling all of the former Mandated Palestine and 6 million are forbidden to even step foot in their own country by democracy-by-genocide Apartheid Israel. Thinking Americans and Brits will be disgusted at the hypocrisy of statements war criminal warmongers and Apartheid Israel supporters like Barack Obama and former British PM Tony Blair. Decent Australians will be disgusted by the utter hypocrisy involved in the attendance at Nelson Mandela's funeral of pro-Zionist Coalition Australian PM Tony Abbott and pro-Zionist Labor Opposition Leader Bill Shorten. Decent people around the world will honour the memory of Nelson Mandela by heeding his words “Our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians” and by being inspired by his solidarity and support to the oppressed people around the world.

RUDRA SEN
08/12/2013

BOYCOTT DOWLYMPIC!

Dow Chemicals are sponsoring the London Olympics, gaining millions of pounds of contracts and boosting their reputation. The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games is supposed to promote environmental, social and ethical issues, but Dow is responsible for this ongoing humanitarian and environmental disaster. 1984 saw the biggest industrial disaster in human history. A Union Carbide factory in Bhopal leaked toxic gas, killing 7000 to 10,000 people in just a few days. Today the death toll has reached at least 25,000, and an estimated 500,000 have been affected. Survivors suffer extreme health problems, the groundwater is contaminated, and birth defects in Bhopal are many times higher than the average in India. In 2001, Union Carbide (UCC) was bought by Dow Chemical, so the responsibility to adequately compensate the gas victims, clean up the site and compensate those poisoned by the contaminated water falls to Dow. Dow Chemicals are the prime example of an unethical sponsor, their subsidiary is wanted on criminal charges of culpable homicide and the IOC are looking increasingly like a faceless and shameless corporation. 25,000 people have died as a result of the Bhopal Gas Disaster and people are still being poisoned today. There has never been a clean up of Union Carbide’s mess in Bhopal and their toxic waste is still poisoning the people of Bhopal. The toxic waste has leached into the water table and tens of thousands of people have no choice but to drink this diluted poison. Unsettled court cases name Dow Chemical, and subsidiary Union Carbide, as respondents. Dow’s subsidiary Union Carbide faces criminal charges of culpable homicide. By refusing to present its subsidiary in court to face charges of ‘culpable homicide’, Dow is sheltering Union Carbide, the perpetrators of the 1984 Bhopal Disaster from the law, and preventing justice being done. 120,000 people in Bhopal are estimated to live with chronic health problems because of the disaster, and because of the water contamination caused by Union Carbide dumping its toxic waste in the ground, which has leached into the water supply for over 30,000 people. Dow, the official ‘chemistry partner’ of the Olympics, has a grim history. When Nazi war criminal Otto Ambros (also known as Doctor Death), convicted for crimes against humanity at Auschwitz, was released Dow happily employed him. In Vietnam, Dow found plenty of uses for their deadly chemistry as one of the major suppliers of Agent Orange and with their own product, Napalm. The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and IOC must stop defending Dow’s toxic legacy, and apologise to the survivors of Bhopal for allowing Dow to be part of London Olympics. India should boycott London Olympic if Dow Chemicals are not dropped from its sponsors list if she considers the 1984 Bhopal Victims as Indians.

Rio+20: A conference to propagate Imperilist's agenda on climate

The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, also known as Rio 2012 or Rio+20, hosted from 13 to 22 June 2012 by Brazil in Rio de Janeiro failed completely to address the looming climate crisis that the planet is facing. The climate conference was dubbed Rio+20 because it was a 20-year follow-up to the historic 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) also held in the same city in which broad goals were negotiated to control greenhouse gas emissions, protect ecosystems and biodiversity, and prevent desertification. Two decades on, the planet’s ecosystems are still degrading fast. Any green gains have been wiped out by soaring consumption. Humanity’s annual requirement for natural resources is about double what it was then. The rate of species extinctions is undiminished. Carbon dioxide emissions are up 40 percent, and the concentration of the heat-trapping gas this year for the first time hit 400 parts per million (ppm) in the Arctic air — up about 40 ppm from 1992. Rio+20 summit achieved nothing more than a weak affirmation of the 1992 document. The 58-page document it published, titled “The Future We Want,” is nothing but a demonstration of the massive political power of the world’s financial and military superpowers. As US President Barack Obama declined to attend the summit, Hillary Clinton only showed in Rio for a few hours there. That clearly underscores the low priority the US Government has given to addressing climate change. Mrs. Clinton suggested that any effort to address pollution and climate change is subservient to the interests of the corporate elite, particularly that of the United States. She advised the delegates to think about “harnessing the power of the market,” and claimed that “private sector investments, using targeted resources and smart policies, have catalyzed more balanced, inclusive, sustainable growth.” Her comments again exposed the imperialist climate policy of the Obama administration which is nothing but a corporate conspiracy under the guise of supporting the “green economy.” She went on to support the big corporate houses by suggesting the people of the to “use the private sector, particularly the consumer goods companies, as they have agreed to do, to make sure they have sustainable supply chains, the right kind of packaging and marketing.” It seemed she was addressing an investment forum rather than a climate summit! She concluded her speech by calling for a new type of cooperation between “the nonprofits, the civil society organizations, faith groups and individuals, all of us.” Her call to shift responsibility for dealing with the global ecological crisis to regional organizations and individuals represents a rejection of any responsibility on the part of the US ruling classes. The reality is that the American government has not merely failed to advance and strengthen solutions to climate change, but has actively undermined any serious attempt to address the pending ecological crisis if it cuts across corporate interests. Their climate policy and all other considerations are subordinated to the interests of America’s corporate and financial aristocracy.
Environment organizations like Oxfam and Greenpeace denounced the summit as a “hoax” and “an epic failure”. But these organizations are also paralyzed by the pro-capitalist politics of the upper class “green” movement that can offer no solution to the real crisis. In the context of a capitalist world economy dominated by the big corporate and financial houses, no progressive solution to the climate crisis is possible. Faced with national governments reluctant to engage in its grand plans, the UN is increasingly turning to corporations to make a difference. This too is seen as part of the brave new world of green economics. Tim Wirth, the former U.S. senator who now heads the UN Foundation, which fosters UN links with business, told journalists that “magic” public-private partnerships were more important than any conference declaration. As long as the big multinational corporate houses have control over all the political and economic decisions, no fundamental issue, from unemployment to climate change, can be addressed by any government. Making them party in any process of development, as deserved by Mrs. Hilary Clinton only exacerbate the crisis. If the political monopoly of the wealthy class, which is the main characteristic of capitalist economy, is broken by a unified and politically conscious movement of the common people of the world then the problems of pollution and climate change will only be dealt with seriously. The director of the UN Environment Programme Achim Steiner has rightly said “If we do not go into the heart of economic policy, we will meet here at Rio+40 even more culpable. Markets are social constructs. They are not a force like gravity. They can be governed.”