Soon the US elections will be held and we'll all hold our breaths to see if Bush will be re-elected or if a new but simlar kind of leader is elected. For now, it's obvious there's a media bias towards the ruling party in America from the lack or scarcity of serious coverage of the huge protests in NY against Bush and his party who're having their convention now. Check this link to see a story on the protestors and their passionate outrage and protests against Bush and his local and international policies.

These last few weeks, there's been some allegations of secret nuclear weapons programs in Iran from the Europeans-French and Germans, and the US. In addition, even Iraq, under its caretaker government had threatened Iran because of concerns over political interference in local matters. I certainly hope that this isn't the precursor of moves to create political and social upheaval or worse in Iran. I mean, the US already messed up in Iraq and certainly they've learned their lesson. Right? Or not. Let's hope for the best.

Iraq -
the fighting that continues on there is really serious especially in Najaf, yet the mainstream news outlets don't seem to be taking much notice. I never see any substantial footage or feature on the fighting on CNN or CBC these days or weeks actually. However there are heavy casualties on the Iraqi side especially Shiite cleric al-Sadr's militia and for the Americans, the number of dead servicemen/women keeps inching up. Still even the reporting of american casualties by western media may not be fully reliable as this story says.

Here's a transcript of a speech made last year by renowned Indian author and social-rights activist Arundhati Roy, on the invasion of Iraq by America. Very passionate and honest words.

Palestine/ Palestinian territories -
while a lot of the world's attention is focused on the Olympics, the troubles in this nearby region continue with officials of the UN strongly criticising the treatment of Palestinians under the Israeli regime. With these terribly unjust conditions that Palestinians live under, it's no wonder hatred and bitterness festers and grows in Palestinian youth.

An interesting discussion on the circumstances surrounding American Nick Berg's execution on video by supposed fundamentalists in Iraq. This deals with the American government's use of manipulations of half-truths and unsound facts to convince the public of the legitimacy of their war/occupation of Iraq.

The fighting in Iraq intensifies, day by day, month by month, inspite of the handover of power to Iraqis back in June, with the hatred and bitterness against America continuing and growing without any near solution.
In the holy city of Najaf, where prophet Muhammad's son-in-law was buried, US forces still attempt furious assaults on Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's militia's positions which hold on desperately. In other cities, fighting between the US and al-Sadr's militia rage on.
Though public opinion is with al-Sadr and his forces, both sides have done wrong in my opinion, and it just goes to show how prevalent evil is in, how it spreads and corrupts, no matter which side.

In another part of the world though same continent, Nepal, a bitter civil war continues as Maoist- rebel forces blockade the capital Kathmandu. Both sides- government and rebels, have been accused of atrocities. This is sadly the case in many wars and conflicts.

Africa

a continent with so much tragedy, so much evil, many think of as doomed and hopeless,some wonder why they should even bother thinking on this issue. Some don't even think about this issue at all. But how many of them realise the West or developed world is as much to blame as the locals for the tragedies that enfold this continent?

For hundreds of years, black Africans were enslaved, shipped and sold like commoditites to whites, not to mention that over the last few centuries, almost all of Africa was colonised by Europeans.
Why blame the former masters when African countries are now independent and run their own destiny? The fact is that a large part of the structure of many (especially African) countries is based on their former masters' influence, control and practices.
For example: Hong Kong had been occupied by England for just a hundred years and a large part of its (civil structure) culture and society is based on British customs and practises like government, law, business and education.

How then can the developed world not take major blame and responsibility for Africa? A large (part) of the terror and unrest in Africa, from Liberia to Congo to Zimbabwe is a result of Western policies during their rule, most notably that of 'tribal favoritism'.
Africa has been occupied for hundreds of years up to the middle of the last century by the English, Portuguese, French, Belgian, Italians, Spanish and Dutch, all of whom in one way or another carried out great injustices and oppressions on native Africans.
The number of African countries that were NOT ever occupied or ruled by Europeans can be counted on one hand.
Basically Africa served as a treasure chest for Europeans, with its peoples, natural resources, wildlife, land all subjugated, looted and taken over, in the process killing off large numbers of Africans, destroying tribal cultures (ways of life), and imposing their own systems including exacerbating and encouraging ethnic animosity ( as in the founding of Liberia, where returning slaves from America became the elite of the new country, lording it over original inhabitants acting same as the masters who they were freed from).

Here's a few sources of good information on the tragedies in Africa:
-this is a website of an individual freelance journalist who's done a lot of work on troubled areas.

-Zmag has a comprehensive section on African affairs and news , scroll down to near the bottom on the articles under "Africa and the world" to find out more on the relationship between Africa and the western world

Tonight's posting is a brief one, there's always a lot of war and terror going on around the world, and this Newsweek article is from a Russian journalist on the tragedy in Chechnya in which young people are driven by anger, bitterness and vengeance for lost loved ones to perform suicide bombings against their Russian occupiers. This ongoing occupation in Chechnya, a 'country' near Georgia, has lasted since the late 90s, and resulted in most of this country devastated by warfare and its peoples living in constant discrimination and fear.
This newsletter is just one of several found on http://www.williambowles.info
which contain letters, interviews, news and accounts of the events in Iraq from American soldiers' perspectives, none of which is optimistic. It's quite long, 24 pages on PDF, but worth the read.

These past few days have been kind of hard, and sobering but also a real shock to me. I may write on this last experience later.
For now, I've been reading the writings of Naomi Klein on her site -nologo.org. These articles on the globalisation movement that I've recently read are actually written a few years back-2000 the supposed turn of the milennium, and among the oldest in her site's archive. However the information is still relevant as the conditions in the world haven't improved at all but only worsened, regarding globalisation, the continued domination and exploitation of poor countriesby large corporations.
The selected articles are: the growing resistance from different groups and reasons for their strong anger against the WTO, the IMF and the global capitalism they seek to spread, the resistance against the WorldBank and IMF in Prague and the (valid) reasons why ex-communist subjects would feel so much anger against the introduction of free-market capitalism and supposed prosperity,
why the UN is unable to really help in dealing with human-rights, the environment and workers in the world because of its growing involvement with those same corporations that are themselves the cause so much of this injustice,
a case where a supposed good use of genetically-modified crop actually covers up for the exploitation of poor farmers and peasants,
On a local note, this concerns the activists involved in the riot that broke out between homeless protestors and police outside of Queen's Park in 2000, and about the way that OCAP (Ontario Coalition against Poverty) operates and the challenges involved , by considering homeless not as helpness or mere statistics, but actual individuals fully capable of speech and thought.
Naomi Klein is a fine writer and social activist, and wrote for the Globe and Mail (which most of these articles first appeared).
With more like her, people in society might actually become fully aware of how unjust western society is (not for most of those living in it, but for the rest of the world).

Anyhow, moving on to the World Social Forum,a massive meeting involving workshops, lectures and seminars by a diverse range of NGOs and groups and movements on women's rights, anti-corporate, environmental, worker-rights and poor people, which was held early this year January 16-21 in India, here is a critique of the event , with a description of what went on and how the forum can improve on.
Finally, a posting on the blog of noted intellectual, Noam Choamsky on the vast social differences existing in India, especially between the high-tech centers and the surrounding countrysides.

I'm linking to an article from my homecountry's media, on the circumstances in which the US has made so much of a big issue on the terrible events in Darfur,Sudan whilst ignoring similar, if not worst cases in neighboring countries like Somalia and Congo (formely known as Zaire).
Though Trinidad is a small country, the media there is quite good, they're always critical of the government and of any important issues, and there are many talented columnists of which this one is one.

Tonight's links are to articles dealing with Iraq and the Darfur crisis in Sudan.
Firstly the crisis in Sudan is ongoing with hundreds of thousands of refugees still in refugee camps fearing for their lives and in danger of suffering outbreaks of malaria and other diseases in the cramped, squalid conditions. The Sudanese government (which is strongly believed to have causes this crisis indirectly through military and logistical support of the militias hunting the Darfurians as well as causing the root of the conflict which has been going on for years now) is still making unclear and (mostly) untrue statements on resolving this conflict. The article can be read here and it provides detailed description of the history and culture surrounding the Darfur conflict/ insurrection.
These articles, one and two provide some clearer insight into why there is so much hatred by Iraqis (especially the resistance fighters/militants/terrorists) against the US.