Month: June 2010

(Zia is reading students’ answers from the Pakistan Public Service Commission examination. MBBS=Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery; OAU=Organization of African Union; NATO=North Atlantic treaty Organization; NAM=Non-Aligned Movement; AM=Ante Meridien or before noon; AD=Anno Domini or In the year of our Lord. Ed.)

Link

by EVA GOLLINGER

A revealing report published in May 2010 by the FRIDE Institute, a Spanish think tank, prepared with funding from the World Movement for Democracy (a project of the National Endowment for Democracy, or NED), has disclosed that international agencies are funding the Venezuelan opposition with a whopping $40-50 million USD annually.

This exorbitant amount of financing well exceeds the approximately $15 million USD previously believed to have been channeled to Venezuelan opposition groups via the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the NED.

Venezuela Analysis for more

“Naomi Klein visited the Gulf coast with a film-crew from Fault Lines, a documentary programme hosted by Avi Lewis on al-Jazeera English Television. She was a consultant on the film.”

Link

by VINOD MUBAYI

A sustained world-wide campaign of boycott, divestment, and sanctions aimed at Israel is needed, just as it was in apartheid South Africa, to end the many decades long oppression of Palestinians by the State of Israel. [Also see article #13 by Pervez Hoodbhoy] Read more…

Israel’s helicopter raid in international waters on the flotilla bringing relief supplies to Gaza, killing 9 peace activists, has been severely condemned by the entire world, barring the pro-Israel lobby in the US, for which there is no atrocity Israel can commit that it would not try to justify. India’s reaction, however, was extremely disappointing. A general condemnation of violence serves little purpose in this situation where the issues are clear cut and leave little room for obfuscation.
Continue reading “Israeli apartheid: Sustained international sanctions needed”

Dear Friends, It would be wonderful to see you at this reading. I just returned from the Kundiman residency and will read some new work as well as practice everything I learned in Regie Cabico’s workshop! Take care, Bushra

Watch It! Agent 409 Zine Launch and Reading
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Time: 7:00pm – 8:30pm
Location: Bluestockings Bookstore
172 Allen St, near the F/V at 2nd Ave or J/M/Z/F/V at Delancey/Essex
New York, NY

View Map

Description
The city’s heating up, the Gulf Coast’s slicked up bad, and corporations are as evil as ever. Lucky for you, Agent 409’s about to secure for you an evening of literary revolt. Join us as we celebrate the release of our 6th zine, the Security Agent edition. Open your ears to literature that blows up checkpoints, smashes border walls, and handcuffs you to desire.

Agent 409 is
~ an unruly multi-racial bunch of queers and trannies who have been writing together for six years and have performed around the East Coast
~ anti-everything that is oppressive and wrong, and pro-everything liberating and good
~ Bushra Rehman*, cory schmanke parrish*, Danielle Morgan Feris*, Elaine Kim, Judy Yu, Ronica Sanyal*, Tamiko Beyer*, and Yasmine Chahkar Farhang

* Agents reading

SOUTH ASIAN MEDIA NET

DHAKA: Bangladesh is going to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with neighbouring India to start rail connectivity with Nepal and Bhutan, official sources said. The MoU is likely to be signed next month to facilitate smooth and speedy flow of transit traffic to and from Nepal by the overland rail route through India and Bangladesh.

South Asian Media Net for more

(Submitted by Pritam Rohila)

THE ASAHI SHIMBUN (editorial)

It is no secret that gambling on professional baseball is a revenue source for yakuza groups. But that did not deter ozeki Kotomitsuki. According to investigators, when he demanded his winnings, totaling millions of yen, he was threatened by a former gang member. The thug ended up extorting 3 million yen ($33,000) from Kotomitsuki to keep quiet about his gambling activities.

The Asahi Shimbun for more

DEMOCRACY NOW

Oliver Stone and Tariq Ali talks to Amy Goodman

Oliver Stone: I’ve been going down to South America off and on for twenty years. I did Salvador there in 1985 with—about the Central America situation. I was shocked, what I saw. I just—I had been back from Vietnam for about fifteen years at that point, and I saw all these American soldiers down in Honduras, you know, fighting against the Nicaraguan government. I saw them in Salvador, and I saw them in—a form of them—in Costa Rica. I was shocked. And from that thing, I went back and saw Chiapas. I saw Commander Marcos. I rode with him a bit in the jungle. And then I went down there to Cuba. I had problems with Cuba, because my films were censored here. They were not shown. One of them was not shown; Comandante was taken off the air. It was shown in Europe. And then, so, Chávez—

Democracy Now for more

Chimpanzee warfare is of particular interest because of the possibility that both humans and chimps inherited an instinct for aggressive territoriality from their joint ancestor who lived some five million years ago. Only two previous cases of chimp warfare have been recorded, neither as clear-cut as the Ngogo case.

The New York Times for more

by NAOMI KLEIN

“Obama cannot order pelicans not to die (no matter whose ass he kicks). And no amount of money – not BP’s $20bn, not $100bn – can replace a culture that’s lost its roots.” PHOTO/Lee Celano/Reuters/Guardian

In the late 90s, an isolated indigenous group in Colombia captured world headlines with an almost Avatar-esque conflict. From their remote home in the Andean cloud forests, the U’wa let it be known that if Occidental Petroleum carried out plans to drill for oil on their territory, they would commit mass ritual suicide by jumping off a cliff. Their elders explained that oil is part of ruiria, “the blood of Mother Earth”. They believe that all life, including their own, flows from ruiria, so pulling out the oil would bring on their destruction. (Oxy eventually withdrew from the region, saying there wasn’t as much oil as it had previously thought.)

Guardian for more