The Right to Exist

"I am not a terrorist, but neither am I a pacifist. I am simply a regular guy from the Palestinian street advocating only what every other oppressed person has advocated—the right to help myself in the absence of help from anywhere else."
It is often the case in human history that the course of this escapade is determined by who is allowed to exist and who is not. Everyone from Caesar to Christ to Gandhi can bear testimony to the veracity of this statement. On this very day that we have all just lived, there are a great number of people whose existence is being challenged, either through incarceration, censorship or assassination. In the amazing amalgamation that is modern human society some people therein are fiercely persecuted for merely being who they are where they are. One of these individuals is someone I've followed for eight years in the news and have been perpetually impressed with. His name is Marwan Bourghouti and he is sitting in an Israeli jail today wondering if he will ever be set free. Of all the leaders of the Palestinian resistance, Marwan stands in a category all his own. He has been likened to a Palestinian Nelson Mandela, primarily for being imprisoned for being basically a moderate and always seeking a peaceful resolution. Despite this Bourghouti will never be called a coward, because he has never once hesitated to fight for his right to be a human being born where he was who he was. Being a pivotal leader in both the First ('87-'93)and Second (2000-today) Intifadas he often led marches of thousands of regular unarmed Palestinians to Israeli checkpoints. It is difficult to fathom where courage comes from, but to live in a situation of complete vulnerability to your enemies and utter helplessness to defend against them must do something to a persons perspective. most madness ridden sliver of land in the world. For what its worth Marwan Bourghouti, I respect and admire you for your life; may you be allowed to continue and hopefully be set free.
"Rebellion, though apparently negative, since it creates nothing, is profoundly positive in that it reveals the part of man which must always be defended." -Albert Camus

Law and Order part I Dia de los Muertos

"Disobedience, in the eyes of any one who has read history, is man’s original virtue. It is through disobedience that progress has been made, through disobedience and through rebellion." -Oscar Wilde
Despite the impressive progress made in the past several decades to bring the entire world into the global market there are still regions that seem rather serious about resisting. The mindblowing spectacle of modernity is a phantasmagoria of desire difficult to resist when it is offered as a birth right. For those however that see their lands, culture and people consumed for the grand pageant there is often a point of no return were you either sign on with the New World Order or you get ready for the bombs to start falling. This conflict is most frequently painted in the West as a battle between the forward march of freedom/progress that is being impeded by anachronistic and inherently belligerent peoples. In most instances however, it is a battle against centralized authority, which is often synonymous with exploitation. British Raj era term for Waziristan mountains- Hell's Door Knocker. The Pakistani military started on Oct. 17th an offensive dubbed "Operation Path to Salvation". This is a civil war that has been on the horizon since the mass migration of people to what is today called Pakistan after the partition and subsequent wars with India. The various tribes that are hostile to the Government forces there are some of the most warlike people on the planet, so there down to throw down; not like they really had a choice anyway. We'll have to see how that one works out. Aside from resistance in this fashion, there is always the gold old fashioned cluster fuck of internecine warfare, like that in Eastern Congo. A recent statistic said that 1,200 people die from ongoing violence and its consequences every single day. The fighting hasn't really stopped in this area since the 1994 Rwandan Genocide, but ebbs and flows with the various ferocity. The UN forces just announced today that they will no longer being giving logistical or military support for the Congolese Army on account of the fact that they have been killing Hutu civilians in North Kivu. Lawlessness on a level incomprehensible to most of mankind is just how things are done in the Congo Basin. On another front in the ongoing battle between authority and anarchy, the Great Mexican Drug war is rumbling right along. Gargantuan profits lead to battles erupting along the border and smuggling routes. The "Law" in Mexico rarely wants to go engage in combat with any of the cartels because nobody really wants to have their head cut off and family murdered. Because so many of the foot soldiers the cartels employ are ex-military, using that institution often proves very difficult to say the least. One of the newer cartels, Los Zetas, is largely ex Mexican Special Forces that maintain much contact and access with the Military. These people are clearly not fucking around, in case the picture fails to convey this fact.
"Árbol que crece torcido jamás su tronco endereza"
The tree that grows bent will never get straight again."
-Mexican Proverb

Bravery

"Courage is in the air in bracing whiffs
Better than all the stalemate an’s and ifs."
Throughout the timeless trial of thought
can we define what it is we've got
the buildings are built
and the people then wilt
like a flower without water
why do we even bother?
to construct a world such as ours
the endless roads filled with cars
Our soul and brain are clearly insane
if we can happily embrace the mundane
then we deserve the world we get
and we have no place to talk shit
for iff courage and imagination don't dominate
then forever shall we feel fear, despair, hate
As the coward dies many times before his death
So the brave live life in every single breath
if we're ever to pull ourselves out of this abyss
and build a world of transcendant bliss
we need to shed the lies that cloud our eyes
must be prepared to raid and raze
all the aspects of this malaise phase
I probably wouldn't want to live another day
unless i thought we're going to find a way
for me i can only handle the matter
with copious amounts of laughter

Pakistan

"No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare."
-James Madison
"War is not so much a matter of weapons as of money." -Thucydides
"Originally war was nothing but a struggle for pasture grounds. To-day war is nothing but a struggle for the riches of nature. By virtue of an inherent law, these riches belong to him who conquers them." -Adolf Hitler
The United States of America is an Empire, and to maintain an Empire one must spill blood from time to time. What is currently transpiring in the Pashtun areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan is such a blood letting session. The Pashtuns are a proud, tenacious and tribal people that, much like the Chechens, don't really give a flying fuck who they are fighting. Their society is so prepared for conflict that its a cornerstone of their culture. Pashtunwali is the code by which they live and it leaves no room for ambiguity. When the countries of Pakistan and Afghanistan came into being it effectively cut the Pasthun community in two, at least on maps. In reality however the thousand year old bonds that form the foundation of this community means they generally ignore the border unless they are using to flee attack from one side to the other. Like many people in their area, the Pashtuns understand very well that if you want to keep your land you have to fight for it, this is just how things work in this part of the world. As the confrontation between the Pakistani military and the Taliban reaches new levels of animosity and violence, the likelihood of a full scale civil war (although in reality more of a ethnic war) is going to erupt grows daily. The nature of asymmetrical warfare necessitates extreme tactics like suicide bombings, guerrilla warfare, and sabotage. Well, one things you gotta say for the Americans, we generally start wars with pretty tough people. We killed a third of Vietnam, and they didn't give up. The Pashtuns are just as hardcore, if not more so. Don't think that the Pashtuns don't have friends, for the Balochi whose territory is virtually half of Pakistan, are sympathetic and also hostile to the government. Although we aren't trying to occupy the region like the Ruskies did, we are setting up strategic bases to use potentially against Iran or China. We are there to exercise our Imperial prerogative. A people does not sink a large portion of their capital for 60 years and not utilize it... its just simply not done. But don't worry my fellow Americans, these people love killing each other and will surely continue doing so long after we are gone. We just have to try our hand and ruling Eurasia, every truly great Empire has to try it once. With our unprecedented military and technological advantage we might make a go of it, for awhile.
"Haha.. you fool! You fell victim to one of the classic blunders. The most famous is: Never get involved in a land war in Asia."-Vizzini in The Princess Bride

Well

Another day under the 5th Sun

The Eurasians and Africans just finished up another wild and woolly day that included: An ambush upon Pakistani paramilitary forces that killed 40, a day after a major raid on an army headquarters by Taliban forces. New figures are emerging that show a meteoric rise in Cancer rates in parts of Iraq where the US has dropped a lot of Depleted Uranium ordinance- people in the Arab world care about this even if others don't. North Korea once more demonstrated its ability to fire missiles into the Pacific, launching 5 for no known reason as the South tries to engage it on flooding concerns that have already killed several people... different priorities I suppose. China once again got an opportunity to show the world that unlike many places in the world, they get to exercise their sovereignty, which in this instance means killing some of the rioters from Xinjiang (almost certainly to be all Uyghurs). Africa, being the completely chaotic clusterfuck that it is these days experienced a hell of a day too: Guinea reeled from a strike called to commemorate deadly protests several weeks ago, to which the government/armed forces of Captain Camara naturally responded to with violence (the West is still debating whether or not to keep slanging guns to them or not). Despite the surrender of thousands of fighters in the Niger Delta under an amnesty program, MEND and other groups announced that it will keep up the fight and that most of those that went over where 'rented'. As has been the case for many years now, Somalia was the scene of fighting. A raid by the Ethiopians sparked diplomatic outcries, a threat by Islamic militants to blow up hospitals unless they stop using western aid is leading to that most likely becoming a reality. So then the Sun rose upon us in the Americas and we start another day. Heavy trading and fluctuations in the US dollar on the global market makes for an uncertain American economy that is far and away the most important thing to the average US citizen. An Iraq War veteran opened fire on Indiana police after they tried to take him in on suspicion of a triple homicide. A large favelha in Sao Paulo was smoldering and the night ended, with thousands of people from the shantytown now completely screwed. Mexico shut its major state run energy company because it, like many subsidized firms, was an economic train wreck bleeding money from many open wounds. This was no doubt a boon for those who greedily wait to buy up its assets and promptly raise prices for the average Mexican. So goes another day on Earth for the Humans in the strange year of our madness 2009. No need for concern, my song goes:
Fun times and the day has just gotten started for me
every time you awake in this world something to see
the brutal and beautiful all wrapped up into one
think of this when day dawns and you see the sun

damn their eyes

I'm of the persuasion that one must either keep ones mind and ears open at all times for all things or live in a world of lies and illusions. This is a rather intense proposition for someone who wants to comprehend the goings on in this strange and savage reality and still maintain any hope for our species and the planet upon which we live. For example, it was released in the news recently that the RAF killed a little Afghan girl by dropping a box full of propaganda leaflets on her from a aircraft. The image of a little girl in a village without running water or electricity being killed by 20 kilos of leaflets meant to persuade the Afghans that the Western Armies occupying their country are there to do good is a situation that only our world could produce... I swear this world runs on idiocy and irony. As cruise missiles fall over Northern Pakistan and the poor people of Iraq and Afghanistan live in constant fear, the leaders of the G20 wrapped up a meeting where they discussed what is really important to them- economics. Desperately are they trying to find a way to inject a few more years of life into the sickly body of modern consumer-capitalism. They aren't doing this from any ideological conviction, they doing it because it is this system of production, the process of the free market, from whence all their power and populations flow from. The modern economic order is an extremely powerful force, far and away the most powerful institution every created by the mind of man. For better or worse all our fates are now inextricably linked with the functioning of this monstrous market. All the criticism of the system fails to offer an alternative capable of providing for our insatiable appetite for everything. The great thing about this system for Westerners is that the whole shit show was created for the economic benefit of those industrialized countries (most particularly the Bourgeoisie of those nations) that got the ball rolling with Colonialism several centuries ago. The G20 is a perfect culmination of incorporating the few countries that have been able to pull themselves up to the level of economic powerhouses, and thus take their place at the table where the mighty leaders meet to discus how our collective life will proceed. What sort of perspective does all this lead to for the poor father and mother of that little girl killed by western ambitions in the remoteness of Afghanistan's mountains... I'm sure they see all the fusing and the fury for what it really is, just humans acting cruel towards each other, something Central Asians have some history in dealing with. It would seem to me the affluent part of the world is living in some sort of suspended animation, a state of revelry if you will, caused by the spectacle of a society based on materialism with mass media entertainment substituting for a culture. The other part of the world that is being exploited, bombed and steadily starved surely sees things substantially different. I hope above all other hopes that we humans will have the courage in my lifetime to create a dialogue amongst ourselves that supersedes any sort of nationality, class or ideology to focus on what we can all agree on- that we would like to keep living and consequently need to get our shit together or perish. At some point the might makes right ethos that is the geopolitical foundation of the current status quo must give way, whether it will be to a more equitable world or another dark ages it yet to be seen, but I contend one should watch the proceedings with open eyes and a fearless mind.

another strange day

Today has been an exceptionally strange one, even as 21st Century American days go. A woman was beaten to death by 5 Wal-Mart employees in Southern China for allegedly shoplifting... no comment. A Bolivian preacher hijacked a plane in Mexico with the purpose of getting President Calderon on the phone so he could tell him of a dire vision he had. Yesterday NATO for the first time admitted they had killed civilians in an air strike when two oil rigs where bombed in a village, killing something like a hundred people, 45 of which were claimed to be Taliban. The level of complete and utter absurdity in Western reporting of our Imperial adventures never ceases to blow me away. So here are some cool Hubble pics to remind us the universe isn't as bat shit crazy as we humans are.

Poor Peru

Since about April of this year Indigenous people in the Amazonian regions of Peru have been taking part in a non-violent resistance to plans by the Government of Alan Garcia to sell off the rights to exploit subsoil resources. You see, the capitalists found out that even if you have a native group that has legal right to the land, you can still exploit it as long as it is in the subterranean fashion. Of course mining and drilling pretty much ruin the surface too, but in the world of business the profits always justify the means. So since April the native tribes have been blocking pipelines and roads in an attempt to force the government into accountability for what is essentially no different than what Pizarro did almost 500 years ago. The recent round of abuses was spurred by a free trade agreement with the United States that gives multinational corporations free reign on the resources and people of Peru. On Friday, the military assaulted an unarmed group of several thousand Natives who were blocking one of the main roads. Although reports vary, the fact that the troops opened fire upon the crowd and killed many is beyond debate. The official count, by the government, is 30, but Native sources say the troops were dumping bodies in rivers and using helicopters to hide them in remote areas. We also know that 22 members of the paramilitary force that engaged the barricade were killed, some after being taken hostage and being executed. Considering that the people they were engaging were unarmed, this would seem to indicate what the troops goal was. It is a time honored tradition of the ruling classes of Latin America for government to piss on their people and tell them its raining. The spin has been intense in the media: 'In a speech in Lima, Garcia accused Indians opposed to oil, gas and other development on their native lands of impeding progress, either through "elemental ignorance" or manipulation by outside interests he didn't name.' With a long standing reputation for corruption and much blood on his hands from the war against Sendero Luminoso, Garcia is part of a long line of people that have made it their business to see that the people of Peru are as exploited as possible. During his first presidency, some 15 years ago, his government saw hyperinflation and over half of Peru's population being below the poverty line (an increase of some 13% in just a few years). How long can the West sow the wind and not expect to reap the harvest it deserves. The pendellum of history is in full swing, with both Venezuela and Bolivia electing Indigenous leaders that refuse to answer to Washington and Wall Street. A full blown oil war is already raging in the Niger Delta over the exact same issues as in Peru. One could also make the argument that our entire involvement in South West and Central Asia is the same fundamental quest for hydrocarbons and the geopolitical power that it fuels. Since it wouldn't be a blog without a quote, here is one from the Sage of the South that says it all: "The big bankers of the world, who practise the terrorism of money, are more powerful than kings and field marshals, even more than the Pope of Rome himself. They never dirty their hands. They kill no-one: they limit themselves to applauding the show." Although the fat, sedated and ignorant Americans don't like to admit it, but our Culture of excess consumption is the reason why so many people in the global south are thin, determined and pissed. In this day and age of the modern market, by the very nature of system, the wealth and ease of American life is facilitated by the blood, sweat and tears of many millions. How long will it all go on? Until Imperialism either becomes unprofitable or we start valuing human life, anyones guess which one of those will come first.