First, a reasonably good source on what is happening is the International Nepal Solidarity Network. They are pulling mainstream coverage (what little there is) and posting it several times a day.
Author: Justin Podur
Author of Siegebreakers. Ecology. Environmental Science. Political Science. Anti-imperialism. Political fiction.
So much to free speechify about, so little time…
I want to do some more assessment of material coming out of Nepal today. But a few things first.
Yesterday was the end of ‘Israeli Apartheid Week’ at the University of Toronto. It was organized by some energetic and brilliant young people who are called the ‘Arab Students Collective’. I didn’t attend the full week’s events, but I did attend last night’s closing event. There were two speakers, both extraordinary and actually complementary of one another in interesting ways.
Continue reading “So much to free speechify about, so little time…”
The Nepal Media Coup
If you haven’t heard about the coup in Nepal, you shouldn’t blame yourself. After all, Nepal is a monarchy, so when the monarch asserts power, you can’t hardly call it a coup, can you?
Take a look at this anonymous note we got at ZNet. The entire country has been shut down. There is another piece on ZNet about this with a bit more analysis.
America, the place of ‘big dreams’
Full disclosure: I lacked the stomach to watch the whole thing, and anyway the television in the house was in intensive use (Gilmore Girls). But I caught the end, where Bush was talking about how America was the place of ‘big dreams’. From memory: “The abolition of slavery seemed like a big dream, until it happened.”
(I thought – yes, about 60 years after almost every other jurisdiction in the world and all the suffering and death implied there. And of course, the fact that every reference Bush makes to abolition is actually a coded message to his anti-abortion constituency).
Iraq’s election
Apologies for yet another absence.
It was technical difficulties again – a strange virus attack that had someone using my machine to send huge amounts of data (perhaps spam?). By the time I cleaned my machine my operating system was irretrievably damaged.
And so, those of you who have been advising me over the past weeks to switch to Linux – you have your wish. I am typing this from my old computer with a new operating system. There will be a time to talk about this more – I am getting more interested in both the technical side of these things and their larger implications.
The Iraq Election
A radio link from Dahr Jamail seems to point out the obvious. The elections aren’t free. If you’ve been following the debate between Gilbert Achcar and Alex Callinicos, which has some interesting parts in it, you’re familiar with some of the things that have been said. Schwartz’s media guide was interesting and useful as well.
Colombia Venezuela cools down a little
Just a quick glance around and it looks like Colombia and Venezuela have arrived at some kind of accord.
I’ll try to do more analysis of this, looking back over the files I’ve been gathering, in the next few days.
Hotel Rwanda
I watched Hotel Rwanda last night.
It was a good movie on multiple levels.
Nick Nolte played the person who was supposed to be Romeo Dallaire, and he played the helpless hapless general’s role well. At one point he’s explaining to the main character how the world won’t intervene because the West thinks Africans are dirt. Such a raw acknowledgement of racism is rare.
The Colombia Venezuela Crisis
As of yesterday Colombians will require visas to visit Venezuela.
Colombia’s President Alvaro Uribe Velez is planning a visit to the border.
The chancellors of the two countries are still meeting in Lima.
The Wayuu indigenous people who live on both sides of the border, hundreds of whom were displaced last year by paramilitary massacre in Colombia and fled to the Venezuelan side of the border, declaring war on the paramilitaries and on the Colombian government, demonstrated for their right to travel, trade, and cross the border freely – they don’t recognize the border, after all.
No excuses
The Colombian government representative at the Colombia-Venezuela meeting, Carolina Barco, said “there will be no apologies, there will be no nothing” (that’s a rough translation). Barco and her counterpart Ali Rodriguez (also Venezuela’s foremost oil expert with a long career in that field) met in Peru to try to defuse the crisis. Apart from that, Barco said the meeting was “very positive”.
Apparently Colombia’s official position is still that there was no kidnapping and that Granda was arrested in the Colombian town of Cucuta.