Tuesday, May 31, 2011
AIM in Caracas: Supporting Venezuela as US imposes economic sanctions
 |
| Caracas, Venezuela rally. Photo Tony Gonzales/AIM |
By Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/
Photo published with permission at Censored News.
UPDATED: May 31, 2001, 5 pm
CARACAS, Venezuela -- American Indian Movement representatives Tony Gonzales and Richard La Fortune were in Venezuela this weekend to support the country in its struggles and expose the United States' political machinations aimed at hurting Indigenous Peoples.
Anishinabe Roseau River First Nation Chief Terrance Nelson released a statement exposing the United States' agenda which targets Venezuela President Hugo Chavez.
Gonzales spoke at a rally on Sunday, May 29, in Caracas, following the Obama administration's new economic sanctions against Venezuela. Venezuela's CITGO has been providing energy assistance to American Indians and other poor Americans.
Gonzales said, “The people were fired up waiting to hear what we Indios/AIM from North America had to say about the USA terminating energy contracts. It was a source Indian peoples in South Dakota, Montana, Alaska and New York had relied on. Their warm generosity during harsh winter, and was cut off! Venezuela se respeta!"
"It was awesome! Such strong spirited peoples," Gonzales said of the rally. Gonzales and Richard La Fortune conveyed the sentiments of north America's recipients of Venezuela's warm generosity.
"For the US to single out sanctions against Venezuela energy companies could have serious consequences all around, and should require further investigation and congressional debate, including testimony from the general public! Legislators and representatives should be contacted. Cities can write resolutions and forward them to their representatives," Gonzales said.
Gonzales said people should be aware of the implications of US sanctions against Venezuela, particularly as it affects Indian peoples in north America. "What are the 250,000 needy recipients in South Dakota, Montana, Alaska, New York and other places to do now during this energy crisis and the new cut-off? It is down-right disgusting; the cruelty and mean spirited Obama administration and for using the poor to leverage their point!" Gonzales said.
Chief Nelson questioned if the US is now focused on portraying President Chavez as the next "bogeyman."
"With Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden dead, who is the next bogeyman?"
"So, is President Hugo Chavez one of the next bogeymen for the U.S. military? Are we to be afraid of Chavez and why is that?"
According to news reports, the Obama administration imposed economic sanctions in May against CITGO's parent company, Petroleos de Venezuela SA, and six other companies who helped Iran import gasoline. Obama placed the companies on a financial blacklist which affects contract bidding and prevents access to the global banking system.
Chief Nelson said, "The United States isn’t putting a stop to the import of Venezuelan oil but wants Chavez to quit dealing with Iran. The American Indian Movement has two people in Venezuela meeting with government officials. For us the reality is that Venezuela has helped indigenous people in the United States directly."
"The poorest reservations in the United States have received foreign aid from the Venezuelans. In the dead of winter, home heating oil from Citgo, the Venezuelan Gas Station giant in the U.S.A., has given a lot to the poorest people in America, the indigenous people. It is not millions of dollars but more like billions of dollars that Hugo Chavez has given to other nations. Perhaps it doesn’t mean a lot to the average American but Chavez is not Castro, Venezuela has a choice. Oil gives Chavez the ability to chose who he sells to." (See Chief Nelson's full statement below.)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Economic Sanctions, a double edged sword!
By Chief Terrance Nelson, Roseau River First Nation Anishinabe
May 30, 2011
Americans paying four dollars a gallon for gasoline and U.S. trade deficits with other nations in the hundreds of billions dollars every year for the last few decades is cause for real debate for every American that is affected by the economy. When it comes to oil, the action taken by the Obama administration declaring economic sanctions against Venezuela is a dangerous game. A full 25% of the world’s oil is used by the 5% of the world population in the United States. United States has a fourteen trillion dollar federal debt and an unrelenting addiction to foreign oil.
Twenty years ago when the U.S. federal debt was 3 trillion dollars, economic sanctions against other nations wasn’t dangerous for the U.S. America today is in uncharted grounds, it is no longer an invincible economic fortress. The world’s largest economy is in danger of an economic Waterloo. For their own good, average Americans must demand the right to be involved in the debate not be left on the sidelines of government policies that will affect every American.
For decades, America and its allies have used economic sanctions on other nations who do not comply with the wishes of the United Nations or World Trade policies. Canada has joined the United States in declaring economic sanctions against other nations numerous times. As indigenous peoples in North America, our experience with the colonial governments has been continuous undeclared economic sanctions enacted against our people.
Deliberate policies and laws by immigrant governments have destroyed our ability to have economic self-sufficiency. What has changed for First Nations in Canada is our leverage over the 2.5 million barrels of oil flowing daily to the United States. Roseau River Anishinabe First Nation has the Enbridge depot in Gretna Manitoba sitting on our ancestral lands, a depot that sends one million barrels of oil a day stateside. The Enbridge depot in Gretna Manitoba sends as much oil to the United States as all of Venezuela. What is important to understand is that Canada did not comply with the Treaty One conditions that gave Enbridge rights in our ancestral lands.
In Canada indigenous people are at the seventy-second level of the United Nations Living Index while Canada overall is at the second highest level just below Australia’s number one world ranking. We live under undeclared economic sanctions and have done so for decades. Canada is the largest supplier of foreign oil to the United States but the real owners, the indigenous peoples in Canada get no payment for any of the sixty different metals and minerals mined in Canada. While there are no property rights for indigenous peoples under Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the United States does enjoy security of energy exports/imports under the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada.
Since 9/11, the right of Americans to question Government has become un-American. The only aspect of the United States budget that never gets slashed is military spending. Saddam is dead, but the need for a bogey man to scare Americans into never questioning the need for military spending continues. Despite the unpopular wars in Iraq and Afghanistan which will cost the United States $1.3 trillion to the end of 2011, the need for the United States military to try to control world events and American opinion continues. The world saw President Obama sitting watching as Navy Seals killed Osama Bin Laden and Americans cheered, celebrating in great enthusiasm. The reality for America however is that Osama Bin Laden’s death does not change the economic situation faced by the United States ten years after 9/11.
In April 1998 I accepted an invitation from the Saddam Hussein government to go to Iraq and see first-hand the effects of economic sanctions upon the people of Iraq. Seven indigenous people from Canada with broadcast quality cameras went into Iraq for eleven days and video-taped 25 hours of life under United Nations economic sanctions. The effects of sanctions were already well known. In December of 1995, the United Nations released a study that found that 567,000 Iraqi children had died in the first five years of economic sanctions. Prior to the 1990 war, the Iraqi dinar was worth three and a half American dollars, by the time we got there in 1998, it took fourteen hundred Iraqi dinars to buy one American dollar.
Prior to economic sanctions, Iraq’s largest trading partners were Russia, China and France. Under United Nations economic sanctions, Iraq’s trade situation was governed by the Food for Oil program. In the 1998 America, no one cared about Iraq because for the average American, life was good, gasoline was 90 cents a gallon, 9/11 hadn’t happened yet and besides wasn’t it all Saddam’s fault? Saddam was good bogey man, a sadistic paranoid who got Iraq into a bloody eight year war with Iran. Remember what we were told, weapons of mass destruction. No one can defend Saddam after he quit being a U.S. ally and he tried to seize the neighbouring Kuwait oil fields. The reality of U.S. need for oil never dawned on Saddam.
With Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden dead, who is the next bogey man? Do you not find it strange that 15 of the 19 terrorists who hit United States in September of 2001 came from Saudi Arabia but never once have we ever heard anyone in the United States government talking of the need for regime change in Saudi Arabia. We do however hear the need for regime change in Iran. Iran is building a nuclear weapon we are told and economic sanctions are necessary. Anyone dealing with Iran is a threat, so we must put economic sanctions on Venezuela, we are told because Venezuela is continuing to defy the United States by trading with Iran. So, is President Hugo Chavez one of the next bogey men for the U.S. military? Are we to be afraid of Chavez and why is that?
Don’t get me wrong, with the Middle East in crisis and Chavez in trouble, we don’t mind the extra leverage we now have over the United States by sitting on the pipelines from Canada that fuel the American economy, it is just that we can’t sell Americans anything if the U.S. dollar goes the way of the Iraqi dinar. Eighty-seven percent of all Canadian exports are purchased by United States. Putting sanctions on Venezuela does not make sense. As dangerous as nuclear proliferation is, pissing off the owners of millions of barrels of foreign oil purchased by the United States every day is also dangerous. Changing to the Euro from the American dollar in payment for oil would devastate the American dollar.
Six years ago, in May 2005, I wrote, “…United States can financially implode and cause a worldwide recession perhaps even a depression. …Americans in a deep recession unable to live in their accustomed lifestyle could become a military superpower with an unstable government.” Only nine countries in the world are nuclear capable with over twenty thousand nuclear warheads existing in the world, enough to kill all life in the world many times over. No one disputes the need to stop nuclear proliferation, the question however still remains, is it a good strategy to use economic sanctions on other nations when it can become a double edged sword, one that could now be used against the United States.
The United States isn’t putting a stop to the import of Venezuelan oil but wants Chavez to quit dealing with Iran. The American Indian Movement has two people in Venezuela meeting with government officials. For us the reality is that Venezuela has helped indigenous people in the United States directly. The poorest reservations in the United States have received foreign aid from the Venezuelans. In the dead of winter, home heating oil from Citgo the Venezuelan Gas Station giant in the U.S.A. has given a lot to the poorest people in America, the indigenous people. It is not millions of dollars but more like billions of dollars that Hugo Chavez has given to other nations. Perhaps it doesn’t mean a lot to the average American but Chavez is not Castro, Venezuela has a choice. Oil gives Chavez the ability to chose who he sells to.
If the Gulf of Mexico spill is any indication, allowing the multi-national corporations like BP and American oil companies free rein over oil is not a good idea. If Americans are getting tired of paying four dollars for a gallon of gas, if they are worried about where their dollars are going and asking if their money at the gas pump is financing the next nuclear weapons, maybe it is time to ask questions. Being in Iraq in 1998 was not a popular thing to do and the two AIM members being in Venezuela today maybe seen as un-American by some in the U.S. government but it is a right non the less. More than a right it is responsibility to ask questions of your government. To hold accountable the Government of the United States is not un-American, it is a patriotic duty, it is American in every sense of the word.
Chief Terrance Nelson
Lil'wat at UN: The forced removal of children and genocide
May 30, 2011
Lil’wat, St’at’imc Press Statement
A Lil’wat delegation to the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues addressed the lack of implementation of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in Canada.
From a statement by Pau Tuc la Cimc, James Louie, in 12th Meeting of the UN PFII, May 25:
James Louie introduced himself as Pau Tuc la Cimc, a Lil’watmc of the St’át’imc Nation. Addressing the issue of human rights and implementation of the 2007 UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, he drew attention to Article 5, the right to self-determination, and Article 7 – the right not be subjected to any act of genocide, including forcible removal of children. Canada declared support for the Declaration last year.Contrary to these provisions of the Declaration and to several of its own laws, which Louie contends made it unlawful for colonial Governments and their successors to interfere with the internal affairs of Indigenous Nations, the Canadian Government has imposed upon the St’át’imc Nation its own vision and structures for indigenous self-government (which is not the same as self-determination) by means of a Canadian-legislated Indian Act. Since at least 1925, Canada has insisted that one Chief be elected for each community – a total corruption of St’at’imc governance.
Canada has no treaty with the Lil’wat or St’át’imc that consensually recognizes and embraces the Indian Act as a duly and legitimately constituted governance structure. Therefore Pau Tuc la Cimc does not recognize any Band Councils formed under the Indian Act within Lil’wat, or the larger St’át’imc nation to which Lil’wat belongs. Specifically, he contested at the Permanent Forum the right of the elected St’át’imc Chiefs to enter into a Settlement Agreement with British Columbia and the hydroelectric utility BC Hydro Power Corporation earlier this month. The elected Chiefs concluded a Royalty-free payout for land usage in perpetuity; gave a guarantee for the utility’s water licenses (which dominate three watersheds in the territory), and released the province, the utility and “anyone else” from any future claims for any damages deriving from the existing facilities on those lands. They purported to do this on behalf of all St’at’imc people, present and future.
In his view, as imposed governance mechanisms, they don’t have the right, according to Article 1 of both Covenants of the International Bill of Human Rights, to speak on his and his family’s behalf, or to enter into negotiations with the Canadian government on issues which impact the resources, rights and well-being of the St’át’imc nation. Elected Indian Band Chiefs are mandated by Canada to deliver Indian Act programs and funding.
“No one but the Lil’watmc can speak for Lil’wat,” Louie declared to the 500 or so PFII participants. “To quote from our Declaration of the Lillooet Tribe of 1911, "…we are the rightful owners of our tribal territory and everything pertaining thereto."” Canada continues to deny this, and the human rights that would flow therefrom.
To contest the Canadian government’s persistent violation if Lil’wat’s right to self-determination, in 2007 Louie and twelve other signatories from Lil’wat brought a petition to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights of the Organization of American States (OAS). Louie is the principal initiator on behalf of Loni Edmonds, a young Lil’wat mother whose children have been seized and removed by the Canadian Ministry of Children and Families. Loni Edmonds’ children are the fourth in successive generations of her family to be seized and removed from Lil’wat by the Canadian state.
The OAS case challenges Canada’s legal right to jurisdiction over Lil’wat children. There is no treaty giving this right to Canada, and it is inconceivable that the Lil’wat would give Canada such a right.
To date, the petition to the IACHR has not been reviewed. Recourse and actions are needed – as provided for in the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Articles 40 and 42.
Having now delivered their recommendations to the appropriate international human rights mechanism, the Petitioners will continue to raise awareness and seek aid and support. If they are unsuccessful in having the Inter-American Court review their Petition, they will pursue it through other fora of the United Nations system.
The main function of the Permanent Forum is to receive recommendations that will help it inform the UN General Assembly on Implementation of the Declaration. Pau Tuc la Cimc strongly urged the Forum to engage with UN member states, procedures and mechanisms to make the Declaration a “binding and enforceable” international convention, augmenting the Geneva Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
James Louie attended the Forum in New York, May 16 – 27, as a representative of the International Human Rights Association of American Minorities (IHRAAM), an international NGO in Consultative Status with ECOSOC, and with critical support from the Canadians for Reconciliation Society.
United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, September 13, 2007:
Article 5
Indigenous peoples have the right to maintain and strengthen their distinct political, legal, economic, social and cultural institutions, while retaining their right to participate fully, if they so choose, in the political, economic, social and cultural life of the State.
Article 7
Indigenous peoples have the collective right to live in freedom, peace and security as distinct peoples and shall not be subjected to any act of genocide or any other act of violence, including forcibly removing children of the group to another group.
United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Common Article 1:
All peoples have the right of self-determination. By virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development.
Kevin Annett Jailed, Barred from re-entering England
Kevin Annett Jailed, Barred from re-entering England
Updated with Kevin Annett's statement May 31, 2011
London, UK
Press statement
On the verge of his addressing a major public rally in London against child trafficking by church and state, Rev. Kevin Annett was arrested and detained in an immigration prison at Stansted airport last night for over 12 hours, and then deported from England without due cause.
Border officials detained Kevin at 8 pm Sunday night upon his return from speaking in the Netherlands , and deported him the next morning, after fingerprinting, photographing and jailing him in a crowded immigration prison cell.
“The only reason they gave for denying me re-entry into England was that my giving public lectures was not an appropriate activity for visitors to that country, if you can believe that” Kevin Annett said today in a press statement.
“But I’ve repeatedly mentioned my lecturing work to customs people whenever I enter England , and it’s never been an issue before now. And the cop who detained me admitted that the decision to deny me entry came after he consulted his supervisor and the computer files about me.”
Kevin was detained by British customs police and members of the private security firm Reliance, which operates the airport detention facilities and growing numbers of prisons in England .
While detained, Kevin was denied the right to communicate with others, and the arresting officers refused to give him their names or badge numbers. This morning, Kevin was sent back to his departure point in Eindhoven , Netherlands .
“This was obviously aimed at our ITCCS tribunal, to prevent its convening this September in London . But nothing will halt our campaign for the murdered and tortured children. This only shows how scared these villains are of exposure.”
A complete description of the incident, and Kevin’s public statement, will follow shortly.
Issued by the Executive, The International Tribunal into Crimes of Church and State (ITCCS)
Update Tuesday, May 31, 2011
No bomb that ever bursts shatters the crystal spirit: With Farid and others in a British prison
By Kevin Annett
I wear as a badge of honor my deportation from a country of liars and cut throats.
- Big Bill Haywood, IWW leader and revolutionary, 1920
The filthy fiction calling itself the Crown of England finally vomited me from its midst this week, only five days before I was to speak of its crimes at the annual Against Child Abuse Rally in London's Trafalgar Square.
I am proud to have shared a British prison with many freedom fighters over time, including my own ancestor Peter Annett; but also alongside nameless men and women who are caught today in the claws of the police state called Britain.
Here is what happened:
The room is small, unventilated, and foul-smelling, and crammed with ten of us. I am the only white person there.
A Malaysian mother with her four year old daughter sits in one corner, sobbing uncontrollably. Incarcerated for half a day, she’s one of the luckier ones: a young Turkish man called Farid has languished in here for nearly three days, isolated from his four children. Farid has lived in England for eleven years, doing sweat jobs and loyally paying his taxes, but tomorrow he’ll be deported over a technicality in his work visa.
There is no appeal allowed. His children will not accompany him.
This is the Immigration Prison in Stansted airport, outside London. The date is the early hours of May 30, 2011.
The net fell on me suddenly the night before, as I made my way through the border control desk after disembarking from the Netherlands.
A banal little twit in a uniform scanned my passport through his computer, and quickly looked shocked as he peered through thick lenses at the screen. He scuttled off to speak to his supervisor, who I watched through the glass window of his office as he looked at his own computer, nodded his head and said something to the twit.
Triumphantly – I guess he got extra points for bagging a suspected enemy of the state – Twit boy returned and informed me with a whine of condescension that my giving public lectures was “unusual” for a tourist, that I was "suspect", and would therefore be barred from entering England.
"What exactly am I suspected of doing?" I asked the guy.
“But first you are to come this way” he motioned, ignoring my question like I hadn't said anything, and we walked to a tiny holding cell. The Twit left me alone in there for a half hour, I guess to make me sweat, but when he returned I was calmly whistling an Irish melody that seemed to annoy him to no end.
“I bet you find your job difficult” I ventured to the Twit as he fiddled with his papers. Attempting a smile, he answered,
“No, actually one meets very fascinating people in this line of work” he replied.
“People like you, then?” I said, but I don’t think he got my joke.
The Twit refused to give me his name when I asked, nor could I know the name of his supervisor. He also wasn’t wearing a badge number, although later he made a gaff when he donned another coat and I saw his number: 6676.
“You’ll be in here tonight, until we can send you back from whence you came” Twit informed me, gesturing to a white door. He knocked, and a stern young guy answered who wore a vest labeled Reliance: the private company that profits off incarcerating people all over England.
Despair gazed back at me from the sad eyes of my fellow prisoners who lay or sat around the room. A TV was blaring mindless crap at them so I walked over and shut it off. The young Turkish guy, Farid, looked surprised.
After my obligatory finger printing and photographing – I asked the Reliance guy if I could have a copy of the picture, since I looked pretty good, but he said no – I was locked into the sparse room with everyone, and told not to speak to any of them since that was against the rules. I just smiled.
Most of the detainees didn’t want to talk. It was nearly midnight by then, and like anyone, they had adapted to their incarceration and were mired in themselves. But Farid was too filled with grief about being robbed of his children to settle into apathy.
“I will never see them again. They will be put with other families and then anything can happen to them. My youngest son is only a baby.”
I remembered reading the day before how 586 children placed in the foster care system in England had somehow disappeared over the past year. Local child welfare officials had given no explanation concerning their fate.
Farid taught me some Turkish words that night, starting with “I love you” – it sounded like “selly sev yurum”. He laughed for the first time when he commented how the phrase might come in handy if I ever came to his country, but not if I said it to a man.
“That’s not what I hear” I replied, and he laughed even harder.
We held back the demons together during those slow and weary hours, as the others tried to sleep, and didn’t, and the Malaysian woman sang to her daughter while the Reliance thugs stared at us through a thick pane of glass.
It ended for me at 6 am, when I was taken to a plane that would fly me back to Eindhoven. I said goodbye to Farid and wished him luck.
He took my hand and said “Allah”, pressing his other hand against his chest, and then pointing to my heart.
I recalled then the last words in George Orwell's book Homage to Catalonia, in which he describes briefly meeting an Italian militia man who like Orwell was fighting Franco and his fascists during the Spanish civil war. They couldn't speak one another's language, but they shook hands and departed in different directions for the front lines, and Orwell never saw the Italian man again.
In memory to this unknown stranger who had briefly taken his hand in comradeship, and who had probably died, Orwell wrote a poem to him that concluded,
But the look I saw in your eyes, no power can disinherit.
No bomb that ever burst shatters the crystal spirit.
The night after my deportation, I stood in a crowd of singing and laughing revelers in a Dublin pub, tasting my freedom like a soothing ale, and thinking of where Farid might be. I never felt unfree in jail; nor did anything there or in his own agony stop Farid from laughing.
As someone commented to me today, the more they repress us, the sharper and stronger we get. I feel inwardly clarified after the ordeal, and from the sounds of things, what happened to me is simply boomeranging back on the British government and its obvious and quite clumsy attempts to stop our Tribunal this fall.
So be of good cheer, and let that hope propel your body and your life to continue to accompany your words. But never forget Farid, and his children ... and that which is trying to jail all of us.
...............................................................................................................................
See the evidence of Genocide in Canada at www.hiddennolonger.com and on the website of The International Tribunal into Crimes of Church and State at http://www.itccs.org/ .
Watch Kevin's award-winning documentary film UNREPENTANT on his website http://www.hiddenfromhistory.org/
Updated with Kevin Annett's statement May 31, 2011
London, UK
Press statement
On the verge of his addressing a major public rally in London against child trafficking by church and state, Rev. Kevin Annett was arrested and detained in an immigration prison at Stansted airport last night for over 12 hours, and then deported from England without due cause.
Border officials detained Kevin at 8 pm Sunday night upon his return from speaking in the Netherlands , and deported him the next morning, after fingerprinting, photographing and jailing him in a crowded immigration prison cell.
“The only reason they gave for denying me re-entry into England was that my giving public lectures was not an appropriate activity for visitors to that country, if you can believe that” Kevin Annett said today in a press statement.
“But I’ve repeatedly mentioned my lecturing work to customs people whenever I enter England , and it’s never been an issue before now. And the cop who detained me admitted that the decision to deny me entry came after he consulted his supervisor and the computer files about me.”
Kevin was detained by British customs police and members of the private security firm Reliance, which operates the airport detention facilities and growing numbers of prisons in England .
While detained, Kevin was denied the right to communicate with others, and the arresting officers refused to give him their names or badge numbers. This morning, Kevin was sent back to his departure point in Eindhoven , Netherlands .
“This was obviously aimed at our ITCCS tribunal, to prevent its convening this September in London . But nothing will halt our campaign for the murdered and tortured children. This only shows how scared these villains are of exposure.”
A complete description of the incident, and Kevin’s public statement, will follow shortly.
Issued by the Executive, The International Tribunal into Crimes of Church and State (ITCCS)
Update Tuesday, May 31, 2011
No bomb that ever bursts shatters the crystal spirit: With Farid and others in a British prison
By Kevin Annett
I wear as a badge of honor my deportation from a country of liars and cut throats.
- Big Bill Haywood, IWW leader and revolutionary, 1920
The filthy fiction calling itself the Crown of England finally vomited me from its midst this week, only five days before I was to speak of its crimes at the annual Against Child Abuse Rally in London's Trafalgar Square.
I am proud to have shared a British prison with many freedom fighters over time, including my own ancestor Peter Annett; but also alongside nameless men and women who are caught today in the claws of the police state called Britain.
Here is what happened:
The room is small, unventilated, and foul-smelling, and crammed with ten of us. I am the only white person there.
A Malaysian mother with her four year old daughter sits in one corner, sobbing uncontrollably. Incarcerated for half a day, she’s one of the luckier ones: a young Turkish man called Farid has languished in here for nearly three days, isolated from his four children. Farid has lived in England for eleven years, doing sweat jobs and loyally paying his taxes, but tomorrow he’ll be deported over a technicality in his work visa.
There is no appeal allowed. His children will not accompany him.
This is the Immigration Prison in Stansted airport, outside London. The date is the early hours of May 30, 2011.
The net fell on me suddenly the night before, as I made my way through the border control desk after disembarking from the Netherlands.
A banal little twit in a uniform scanned my passport through his computer, and quickly looked shocked as he peered through thick lenses at the screen. He scuttled off to speak to his supervisor, who I watched through the glass window of his office as he looked at his own computer, nodded his head and said something to the twit.
Triumphantly – I guess he got extra points for bagging a suspected enemy of the state – Twit boy returned and informed me with a whine of condescension that my giving public lectures was “unusual” for a tourist, that I was "suspect", and would therefore be barred from entering England.
"What exactly am I suspected of doing?" I asked the guy.
“But first you are to come this way” he motioned, ignoring my question like I hadn't said anything, and we walked to a tiny holding cell. The Twit left me alone in there for a half hour, I guess to make me sweat, but when he returned I was calmly whistling an Irish melody that seemed to annoy him to no end.
“I bet you find your job difficult” I ventured to the Twit as he fiddled with his papers. Attempting a smile, he answered,
“No, actually one meets very fascinating people in this line of work” he replied.
“People like you, then?” I said, but I don’t think he got my joke.
The Twit refused to give me his name when I asked, nor could I know the name of his supervisor. He also wasn’t wearing a badge number, although later he made a gaff when he donned another coat and I saw his number: 6676.
“You’ll be in here tonight, until we can send you back from whence you came” Twit informed me, gesturing to a white door. He knocked, and a stern young guy answered who wore a vest labeled Reliance: the private company that profits off incarcerating people all over England.
Despair gazed back at me from the sad eyes of my fellow prisoners who lay or sat around the room. A TV was blaring mindless crap at them so I walked over and shut it off. The young Turkish guy, Farid, looked surprised.
After my obligatory finger printing and photographing – I asked the Reliance guy if I could have a copy of the picture, since I looked pretty good, but he said no – I was locked into the sparse room with everyone, and told not to speak to any of them since that was against the rules. I just smiled.
Most of the detainees didn’t want to talk. It was nearly midnight by then, and like anyone, they had adapted to their incarceration and were mired in themselves. But Farid was too filled with grief about being robbed of his children to settle into apathy.
“I will never see them again. They will be put with other families and then anything can happen to them. My youngest son is only a baby.”
I remembered reading the day before how 586 children placed in the foster care system in England had somehow disappeared over the past year. Local child welfare officials had given no explanation concerning their fate.
Farid taught me some Turkish words that night, starting with “I love you” – it sounded like “selly sev yurum”. He laughed for the first time when he commented how the phrase might come in handy if I ever came to his country, but not if I said it to a man.
“That’s not what I hear” I replied, and he laughed even harder.
We held back the demons together during those slow and weary hours, as the others tried to sleep, and didn’t, and the Malaysian woman sang to her daughter while the Reliance thugs stared at us through a thick pane of glass.
It ended for me at 6 am, when I was taken to a plane that would fly me back to Eindhoven. I said goodbye to Farid and wished him luck.
He took my hand and said “Allah”, pressing his other hand against his chest, and then pointing to my heart.
I recalled then the last words in George Orwell's book Homage to Catalonia, in which he describes briefly meeting an Italian militia man who like Orwell was fighting Franco and his fascists during the Spanish civil war. They couldn't speak one another's language, but they shook hands and departed in different directions for the front lines, and Orwell never saw the Italian man again.
In memory to this unknown stranger who had briefly taken his hand in comradeship, and who had probably died, Orwell wrote a poem to him that concluded,
But the look I saw in your eyes, no power can disinherit.
No bomb that ever burst shatters the crystal spirit.
The night after my deportation, I stood in a crowd of singing and laughing revelers in a Dublin pub, tasting my freedom like a soothing ale, and thinking of where Farid might be. I never felt unfree in jail; nor did anything there or in his own agony stop Farid from laughing.
As someone commented to me today, the more they repress us, the sharper and stronger we get. I feel inwardly clarified after the ordeal, and from the sounds of things, what happened to me is simply boomeranging back on the British government and its obvious and quite clumsy attempts to stop our Tribunal this fall.
So be of good cheer, and let that hope propel your body and your life to continue to accompany your words. But never forget Farid, and his children ... and that which is trying to jail all of us.
...............................................................................................................................
See the evidence of Genocide in Canada at www.hiddennolonger.com and on the website of The International Tribunal into Crimes of Church and State at http://www.itccs.org/ .
Watch Kevin's award-winning documentary film UNREPENTANT on his website http://www.hiddenfromhistory.org/
A to Z music challenge: Mission accomplished!
It was a fun exercise and now it's complete, with a couple of days to spare. I came up empty on the letter "X" but otherwise I'm done. Here's the list in reverse alphabetical order.
I welcome any feedback -- corrections, additions, condemnations, whatever. Even if none is forthcoming, I've now got a little archive to call up anytime.
Z is for Led Zeppelin
Y is for Neil Young
W is for Lucinda Williams
V is for Stevie Ray Vaughan
U is for U2
U is Keith Urban
T is for Susan Tedeschi
S is for Sade
R is for the Rolling Stones
Q is for Queen
P is for Pink Martini
O is for Joan Osborne
N is for Stevie Nicks
M is for Joni Mitchell
L is for John Legend
K is for Alison Krauss
J is for Norah Jones
I is for James Ingram
H is for Mayer Hawthorne
G is for Patty Griffin
F is for Fleetwood Mac
E is for Earth, Wind & Fire
D is for The Doobie Brothers
D is for Duffy
C is for Camera Obscura
B is for Anita Baker
A is for The Allman Brothers Band
Image by Pixomar
Monday, May 30, 2011
Triumph Bonneville Nice Review
Triumph Bonneville
Triumph Bonneville
Since the arrival of the current 'Hinckley Bonneville' (produced in Hinckley), the earlier T120 and T140 (produced in Meriden) have been referred to as 'Meriden Bonnevilles', to more easily distinguish between the versions.
Triumph Motorcycle design and performance Nice
Triumph Motorcycles has always had its own distinctive character and a history of creating motorcycles that become design classics. And we've not lost that touch he inspiration and engineering passion that birthed the iconic Triumph Bonneville of the 60's has today created bikes like the stunning Rocket III and the unmistakable Speed Triple. At the heart of Triumph's philosophy is a firm commitment to developing truly unique motorcycles that are distinctive in looks, design and performance. Triumph's aim is to craft motorcycles that deliver a great riding experience through the fusion of a well-balanced, easy to handle chassis and strong, flexible engines. The result is an inspiring range of motorcycles delivering intelligent, usable performance Enjoy the best that Triumph has to offer by renewing your R.A.T. membership, downloading our latest images or checking out our progress on the world's race circuits.
Triumph Motorcycle
Triumph Motorcycle
Triumph Motorcycle
Triumph Motorcycle
Triumph Motorcycle
Triumph Motorcycle
Central Oregon rewind
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| Looking west toward the Cascades from Pilot Butte / City of Bend photo |
So it was appropriate, I suppose, that we encountered overcast skies as we approached Bend, a former mill town that's become familiar to readers of Sunset and The New York Times as an upscale community that's home to an inordinate number of doctors, lawyers, skiers and others who are into winter sports. I say appropriate because the slate gray skies that obscured the normally majestic view of the Three Sisters and Broken Top was a metaphor for the barely recognizable town where we made our home for two years in the late Seventies.
We were in our mid-20s then, still a couple years away from becoming parents, and we mostly hung out with other reporters who worked with me at The Bulletin, as small daily newspaper known as a great training ground for ambitious young journalists.
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| Drake Park / Jennifer Clark photo |
And now?
Well, as surprised as we were to see the growth in Madras and Redmond, two no-longer-so-small towns north of Bend, we were blown away by the scale of change in the former timber town. The big-box retailers have moved in with a vengeance on U.S. 97 at the north end of town. Drake Park is still a jewel in the historic city center, offering a central gathering place alongside the Deschutes River.
But downtown looks as though someone picked up the old shopping district, turned it upside down and shook everything out. Now, Wall and Bond streets offer a collection of boutique shops, sushi bars and trendy restaurants, a refurbished theatre and the obligatory Starbucks. In place of antiquated equipment and shabby housing south of town, the Old Mill District now offers a tourist-oriented shopping experience similar to what you'd find at any regional shopping mall -- i.e., lots of national retailers and a multiplex theater.
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| Three Sisters at sunset / Robert Gustafson photo |
Nothing, though, prepared us for the complete transformation of the west side. A cluster of upscale subdivisions extending away from town offers a mind-boggling array of townhouses, massive single-family homes, even a gated subdivision for those inclined to buy an extra layer of privacy. Summit High School lies in the midst of this affluence, with state-of-the-art buildings and athletic facilities and, no doubt, a student body demographic resembling that of Lakeridge, Lincoln or Jesuit high schools here in the metro area.
With so many for-sale signs on so many properties and so many structures under construction, it's hard in some cases to tell what's still being built versus what's been abandoned. But it's very easy to see how the Bend housing market overheated and then crashed big-time in recent years.
The city now has a little over 80,000 residents. The Bulletin has a fancy new home on S.W. Chandler Avenue, which I presume is named after its legendary editor-publisher Robert W. Chandler -- the gruff old guy who hired me way back when and left a towering journalistic and philanthropic legacy when he died in 1996.
If Thomas Wolfe were born here, he'd certainly have every reason to say, "You can't go home again."
Even though I lived here a scant two years, the Bend of old and the Bend of today might as well exist on different planets. The change is simply breathtaking. I imagine the mountain views are as gorgeous as ever, but it'll take another trip -- with clear weather -- to confirm that.
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| Spring thunderstorm / Jennifer Clark photo |
Vestidos amarillos de tirantes
Nada para lucir mas bella que un vestido amarillo de tirantes, lo puedes llevar a una fiesta o una cena de gala, lucirás elegante y sofisticada.
A las mujeres que enloquecen por el color amarillo que les parece este vestido de tirantes amarillo, es perfecto para llevar puesto en cualquier evento, nos hará quedar estupendas.
Te recomendamos los vestidos de tirantes amarillos le van a todo tipo de chicas aunque no lo creas el usar un vestido de este color te hará lucir radiante.
No olvides en tu próxima visita a las tiendas de ropa adquirir este vestido de tirantes amarillo, sera la mejor elección, no dejes de comprarlo.
Que les parecen estos vestidos amarillos de tirantes no se les antoja para una velada romántica.
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Memorial Day 2011
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| Staff Sgt. Sal Giunta |
How I wish I could sit them down in front of a TV or a computer and have them watch a "60 Minutes" special that aired tonight: "Honoring Our Soldiers"
The first segment profiled Army Staff Sgt. Salvatore Giunta, a self-described "average" or "mediocre" soldier from Iowa who was awarded the Medal of Honor last November -- the nation's highest combat honor -- for his extreme bravery in a firefight with the Taliban in 2007 in Afghanistan's notoriously dangerous Korengal Valley.
The second segment took viewers to the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, where an Army captain and his troops at a small base are trying to hold their own against a relentless wave of insurgents, many of them foreign fighters who pour over the international border in one of the most hostile environments on the planet.
In both cases, you're left admiring the soldiers' professionalism and their absolute dedication to each other and their mission. You also can't help but plead for President Obama to pull the plug on our involvement there and bring the troops home. But for one night, those geopolitical considerations were secondary to Sgt. Giunta's story and what it depicts about the courage and heroism that spring up in the most ordinary of American servicemen.
Giunta was a teenager working as a "sandwich artist" at a Subway shop when he decided to enlist. Four years later, he ran directly into enemy fire at close range to drag a wounded sergeant to safety and then ran back a second time to kill a Taliban insurgent and prevent another wounded soldier from being taken captive.
For his actions, Giunta became the first living American soldier since Vietnam to receive the Medal of Honor. And yet he comes across as the most humble person you'd ever want to meet, insisting he had done nothing special and was, in fact, uncomfortable being singled out.
"This is only one moment," he said in the interview. "I don't think I did anything that anyone else I was with wouldn't have done. I was in a position to do it. That was what needed to be done. So that's what I did."
Of course, I thought of my son Jordan and his buddies. This weekend, they're away from base, in the midst of three weeks of field training designed to prepare them for deployment if and when it ever comes. I understand that Jordan wants to put his military training to use -- it's only natural to want to follow through and test yourself on the things you've practiced over and over. But as a father, I pray he never has to be put in harm's way.
If that day comes, I'm confident he'll serve honorably. For me, it's not that much of a stretch to see that Spec. Jordan Rede has a lot of the same qualities and values as Staff Sgt. Sal Giunta: Humility. Loyalty. Dedication to the team and the task at hand.
I'm equally confident that parents all over this country would say the same about their own son or daughter serving in today's volunteer Army.
Z is for Led Zeppelin
If I were a stickler, I'd put ZZ Top in this slot. But because it's my list and this is the last letter of the alphabet, I'm giving myself some leeway to go with Zeppelin, a far better band that left a hugely influential footprint in the world of rock music.
A quick word about ZZ Top. Guitarists Billy Gibbons and Dusty Hill brought a free-wheeling, fun-loving style to the stage, for sure, and they're fun to watch. ("Sharp Dressed Man" captures their energy and hard-driving sound.) But the chest-length beards and sunglasses screamed "shtick."
On the other hand, Led Zeppelin burst onto the scene in 1968, when I was still in high school and the first notes of the first track ("Good Times Bad Times") just grabbed you by the throat and demanded your attention.
With Robert Plant on vocals and Jimmy Page on guitar, they were superb showmen who performed with manic energy. They had a great bluesy sound that intersected nicely with hard rock on songs like "Heartbreaker," "You Shook Me," and "Dazed and Confused."
Of course, it was "Stairway to Heaven" that shot them into the stratosphere. I still remember seeing them do it live during a show at the Oakland Coliseum, just a few rows from the stage. Mike Myers and Dana Carvey gave the song a second life with their homage in "Wayne's World."
I'm still trying to figure out how T-Bone Burnett came up with the idea of pairing Robert Plant with Alison Krauss on the Grammy-winning album "Raising Sand." Sheer genius.
But back to Zeppelin. Here are a couple of clips from the band's early days.
A quick word about ZZ Top. Guitarists Billy Gibbons and Dusty Hill brought a free-wheeling, fun-loving style to the stage, for sure, and they're fun to watch. ("Sharp Dressed Man" captures their energy and hard-driving sound.) But the chest-length beards and sunglasses screamed "shtick."
On the other hand, Led Zeppelin burst onto the scene in 1968, when I was still in high school and the first notes of the first track ("Good Times Bad Times") just grabbed you by the throat and demanded your attention.
With Robert Plant on vocals and Jimmy Page on guitar, they were superb showmen who performed with manic energy. They had a great bluesy sound that intersected nicely with hard rock on songs like "Heartbreaker," "You Shook Me," and "Dazed and Confused."
Of course, it was "Stairway to Heaven" that shot them into the stratosphere. I still remember seeing them do it live during a show at the Oakland Coliseum, just a few rows from the stage. Mike Myers and Dana Carvey gave the song a second life with their homage in "Wayne's World."
I'm still trying to figure out how T-Bone Burnett came up with the idea of pairing Robert Plant with Alison Krauss on the Grammy-winning album "Raising Sand." Sheer genius.
But back to Zeppelin. Here are a couple of clips from the band's early days.
Vestidos dorados largos
Los vestidos dorados largos son perfectos para llevarlos puestos para una fiesta de noche en donde tienes que desbordar glamour.
A todas las chicas nos encanta lucir brillantes y con este vestido dorado largo lo lograras, si estas en duda que vestido sera el mejor para esa fiesta no lo pienses mas esta es la solución.
Te recomendamos tener en el guardarropa un vestido dorado largo para que estés preparada en cualquier momento y saber que ponerte.
Elige vestidos dorados largos son bonitos harán resaltar tu belleza, pueden ser de tela metálica, satín no dejes pasar la oportunidad de lucir un vestido como este.
Los vestidos dorados largos tienen una amplia gama de diseños para que tu decidas cual es el mejor para ti.
Honda accord 2009
Honda accord 2009
Have you noticed how you see more older Honda Accords being driven than any other type of car? It's a stretch to find a 1989 Chevy Monte Carlo or a 1992 Ford Taurus driving these days. However, Accords seem to have longevity. Blame it on their reliability and high resale value, as well as true driver loyalty to the Honda brand. You can't kill these cars.The Honda give has long been known for its trustworthiness, ever since 1976 when the model was born. The car has beat out the competitors (including Toyota Camry) with solid ratings across the board for safety, reliability, resale value, design and family friendliness.Drivers who bought their Honda Accords in the 1980s find little reason to sell them, since the Accord lasts so long if properly maintained. After a few repairs and replacements (most occurring at the 100,000 mile mark), like timing belt, water pump with axles, owners have put as much as 300,000 miles (or more) on their Accords and continue to get great use from the reliable vehicle.
A Look at the Accord's Best Years
The Accord is in its eighth generation currently. Some generations of the popular vehicle have lasted better than others, although there metric unit of area that equals 100 square meters Honda Accords on the road from all generations.
The Accord is in its eighth generation currently. Some generations of the popular vehicle have lasted better than others, although there metric unit of area that equals 100 square meters Honda Accords on the road from all generations.
Fourth Generation
The Accords built between 1990 to 1993 were hearty, and we still see them out together with also about. This model bore a close resemblance to the Acura Legend, which gave it a more upscale feel for an Accord compared to previous generations. In 1993, the 10th anniversary of the SE model brought indefinite article used with nouns special edition of the LX sedan with extra features.
The Accords built between 1990 to 1993 were hearty, and we still see them out together with also about. This model bore a close resemblance to the Acura Legend, which gave it a more upscale feel for an Accord compared to previous generations. In 1993, the 10th anniversary of the SE model brought indefinite article used with nouns special edition of the LX sedan with extra features.
Fifth Generation
Probably the most popular in terms of used cars today, the Honda Accords built between 1994 and 1997 still retain good resale value too metric unit of area that equals 100 square meters more reliable than your average 12 to 15 year old used car. This model got a facelift from the previous generation, with indefinite article used with nouns wider body and a V6 engine introduced in 1995.
Probably the most popular in terms of used cars today, the Honda Accords built between 1994 and 1997 still retain good resale value too metric unit of area that equals 100 square meters more reliable than your average 12 to 15 year old used car. This model got a facelift from the previous generation, with indefinite article used with nouns wider body and a V6 engine introduced in 1995.
From New to Old
If you've owned a Honda Accord, you're likely to buy another one for your next car. Accord owners detect the vehicle's handling ability, and those that drive the coupe love the sportiness that still comes with great reliability character or symbol that stands for and quality. Sedan drivers appreciate the roominess that allows for comfort for the whole family.
If you've owned a Honda Accord, you're likely to buy another one for your next car. Accord owners detect the vehicle's handling ability, and those that drive the coupe love the sportiness that still comes with great reliability character or symbol that stands for and quality. Sedan drivers appreciate the roominess that allows for comfort for the whole family.
Looking to sell your Honda Accord?
Accords provide good resale value, with models from as far back as 1990 being worth at least $1200.
Accords provide good resale value, with models from as far back as 1990 being worth at least $1200.
Honda accord 2011
Honda accord 2011
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