There was an overreaction to the Lasha Darkmoon’s item. Some people tried to make more out of it than it was meant. Unfortunate delving into South African affairs added to it. Some of our friends are exceedingly touchy to possibly “racist” subject. They called to bans and purges. No way. We shall continue our pluralist publication. However, certain items could go in as a part of an omnibus, but as standalone they annoyed. The reason was that we have now a few inexperienced moderators, who let in too many items. Spoofs of a reader were sent out for a real thing. We’ll try to calm things down. All your responses will be screened and published (if suitable) as a part of omnibus of responses.

While disapproving of racism, I am not fond of antiracism, and even less enchanted by racistophobia. Often the racism we encounter is a mild prejudice, or an uncomfortable way of looking at things.

Ordinary people are being tired of this racistophobia, vide the backlash caused by the “bigot” remark of Gordon Brown.

So I ask our friends to calm down. Do not faint when the terrible name of David Duke is uttered, and do not shrill if people have a different view on Balkans or Stalin. Even better, do not shrill at all.

We do not do much on black-and-white issue, but Jews often call us ‘racists’ when we notice Jewishness of an offender. Still we did it and we shall, without fear of racist label.

Our friend Jeff Blankfort have wrote the following to Stephen Zunes when accused of racism: “Am I blaming Jews (not the Jews, mind you) for the situation of the Palestinians? You’re damn right, I am.” He added that Jewishness of Barbara Boxer is relevant while discussing her defense of Israeli war crimes. Uniquely in the US Israel is exempt from criticism, for wealthy Jews contribute at least 60% of the funding to the Democratic Party. Of the top individual contributors to both political parties, seven of the top ten, 12 of the top 20 and at least 125 of the top 250 were Jewish.”

Is Jeff’s attitude ‘racist’? Well, so many people call Jeff, and Gilad Atzmon, and me – racists. Our list is not afraid of this name-calling.

Black-and-white subject in the US and in the SA can be also discussed without knee-jerk reaction to suppress. However, we do not intend to dwell on this subject overmuch – it is not our writ, not our turf.

To conclude Darkmoon polemics, a few words. Lasha is a gifted writer; she is being carried away from time to time. In the last essay, she certainly did. If you actually read it, it contained a sensational description of a crime, calling an American white citizen to imagine that he and his girlfriend are hijacked, raped, mutilated and killed. Apparently, no such crime took place – though a young couple went by its own design to drug dealers and they were indeed raped and killed. Hijacking and mutilation were just added for sensationalism. The black killers were severely sentenced by a black judge. Things are not that simple.

Attitude to race in the US is a social thing – members of lower social strata do have more non-privileged encounters with low-class non-whites where cultural differences are the widest. Naturally our working-class friend Tom Mysiewicz’s view of Hispanics and blacks in his wilderness of Oregon is quite different from that of John Spritzler in his professorial position in LA.

In the SA, the problems are different: too big social gaps, society still adjusting itself after apartheid’s end. It took many years for the US to overcome abolition of slavery.

To sum it up: we can and we will deal with race issue if necessary, but it is not our forte. It is not a top priority now.

Now, when the US and its Jewish financial elites are shaking in the Goldman Sachs affair we do have more urgent things to discuss than black-on-white crime.

By Zahi Sahli

Globalization was forever a dream of civilizations in order to spread the beliefs that serve the common good. In other words, the dream was to cross all borders with spiritual goodness, but globalization was manifested in material terms. The multiplication of goodness turned into a powerful and centralized control of minds. This control occurs through the tools of globalization such as the internet and the mass media. This control directs minds and causes everyone to think that there is only one right way to think of every aspect. Standardization causes the rise of standard culture and a common flow of ideas that are acceptable. Other thoughts, cultures and ways of life become rejected. The dangers of this phenomenon are beyond a limit and stretch to all fields of life. Today, there is standard beauty! Can we imagine a beautiful woman with features unseen in advertisements? No! Also, we accept not a beauty that reflects difference! We want common beauty; standardization has made of us creatures that long for bodily and style perfection! We demand perfection-is this realistic? Television series and sit-coms have made a certain school of thought propagate into the minds of people and made youngsters subject to constant control from what they see as the method of approach to life. The brilliant ideas, once held, by “different” (or special) people are now rejected, since there is a standard to thoughts and the way of life. We are thus left to wonder: is globalization truly a blessing? Is this the type of globalization we want? Why are Arabs speaking foreign languages on Arab lands and taking foreign ideas and making them their own? Can’t every man have his own ideas and views in life without being looked at as against “the flow”? Why are we as weak as slaves and have to “go with the flow”? Let standardization out of your lives! Be not a slave for those thoughts that are not your own! Wander freely and find your true self and true thoughts for everyone of us is a free person with his or her own thoughts! Now, let those thoughts out, freely! Break the bars of imprisonment and clichés and leave to a free sanctuary of your own where you can be yourself and not another, standard person!

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It’s a world of selfishness, the world we dwell. Not that it has been this vicious forever… But it is the fact that we adopt the rule of “every man for himself” that has devalued the ever-so valuable justice. Equilibrium and balance are a necessity in creating a successful society-and balance here isn’t restricted to financial equality. The fact that many eras have been successful in attaining more happiness, less stress and a lower suicide level than the modern times is extremely intriguing. Happiness is therefore not a direct result to an evolution in technology. Rather, it is directly influenced by the evolution of the human side of the society. Man has ever wondered about and chased the ultimate happiness, searching for a way to capture satisfaction once and for all. The sexual satisfaction, the happiness of receiving a gift, the delight after one’s own child is born, or the thrill of finding love is eventually covered by the coats of human selfishness. However, a feeling of internal happiness can be a form of energy and can thus be transported from one person to another. “Collective good” refers to the theory that states that the material on earth should have collective ownership. In other words, everybody owns everything, with equal shares without capital. But the focus of this article is “collective goodness” which I regard as the human side of the collective thought. How does it work? It’s quite simple. If a man treats his friend well, his friend will return the good behavior. Both of them will influence their surrounding in the same manner, giving the positive energy out to other people; those people will have a different circle of friends they can carry their energy to. By and by, the circle will grow. Compromise will come from two sides at a time and the positive energy can fill the once-miserable folks of this denatured, liberal world.

Zahi Sahli

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It is the the long-awaited globalization stamp that we have been waiting for to create the perfect conditions of life for all. Every kid from around this ill-fated world now has a tag. Surely there are no slaves for sale, but aren’t we all slaves of the market? The shocking downfall of the economy last year just comes to prove the fact that consumers are always the victims of any economic crisis. Yes, big companies did crash out of business but why shed a tear on a case where a billionaire has been made millionaire? The sad stories are those of the poor-made-poorer, the people who have little power to purchase. There are stocks for everything, as corporations take over the world, much to the delight of the owners of these corportations. Let’s take a quick peak at the future of our stock market provided that the morons running this world continue on the road of liberalism: I imagine that soon there will be stocks for lettuce and tomatoes. People will be standing in queues for food and supermarkets will have the latest roundups of the market on digital televisions as prices are automatically updated. Meat, fish and chicken will be luxuries, only afforded by the filthy-rich of the society. Meanwhile, due to the effect of global warming, water will be sold in 10mL “mini-cans” while vegetables will be sold online through up-to-date pricing via the stock service. Off course, the price can change after you order, that’s why motorcycles won’t be used for delivery. The chronosphere technology will be introduced. Yes, we will imitate Red Alert. I now understand a beautiful saying that dares to defy the schemes of liberalists. It says that the shirt you wear is probably stolen from a poor, shirtless person. True, if a market contains limited cash, 10 million, for example, and this money is to be shared by 10 people. If one takes a penney more than 1 million, then he or she takes this from the share of their fellow human being. But if we share the wealth of the world, wouldn’t it be a better idea? If we plant for every person to eat instead of wasting a great amount of our harvest when the stocks go down to keep them in limited amounts and thus, always on the rise, wouldn’t it be a better world? If we sell at a controlled price, wouldn’t we be securing the rights of all to buy. And if everyone buys, firms will produce, people will be employed, they will have money, they will commit no crimes, because they will not be hungry. But as I see it, there will be what I call a “Great Human Revolution” when hunger strikes and unfairness reaches an unbearable level.

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I never quite understood why we say that technology is a form of advancement. Yes, ‘technological advancement’ is a term coined to illustrate the progress in the technological world. But how is technology a form of progress for humanity? From day one of technology’s ‘life’, divisions were introduced. Man first invents the car, but who gets to drive the car? Who gets to ride the chariot, plant using then-new tools and gets the profit of selling nature’s production? When luxury is directed towards and driven by a class of the society, then the ‘peasants’ suffer. Not a real advancement, is it? What technology brought was against the freedom of the human mind and spirit. Do children want to be at schools? Do we want to be studying, applying for work and working for hours in offices until we reach a time where we are jaded and in-need for a small vacation in a natural and green area to look at sunrise and sleep? Wouldn’t we really enjoy a natural life more? Laying in between the trees without paying mortgage, drinking from the rivers without having to pay for every mL of water we drink, having time to appreciate sunrise and running freely without traffic lights? Isn’t happiness what we pursue? Then freedom is advancement! Yes, technology is a devil’s work, for we are confound into cities with misery belts, trapped in front of TV’s, far away from our leaders! There was a time when leaders were part of the society! But not now! Yes, technology is inhumane! Why should we all be the same? Perfect the SAT’s, talk to a computer in TOEFL? Are we computers and machines or are we human beings, men and women, with emotions and senses? Why should papers have value, and be maintained by a group of people? Why can’t we all share? It’s liberalism, the modern times and globalization! They are the faults for these inequations, for men and women once wandered with joy, ate from the land, drank from the rivers and submitted to nature’s beauty with freedom? And they say globalization’s goal is to bring people and classes closer to each other? That expression is worthy a ‘Joke of the Century’ award! But unfortunately, we are heading toward a stage of ‘total inhumanity’. Yes, there is no time to see the poor for they are locked behind doors where they are ‘nurtured’. No time to feed hungry children since we are busy surfing the Internet and no time for us to relax because we want to produce. Produce what exactly? Industry brings money, money goes to the owners and the rest of the people work for them? And they say slavery has been extinguished. No. We are the slaves of modern times. And who knows, soon, lettuce and tomatoes might be introduced to the stocks at Wall-Street. That will benefit us, won’t it? 10 dollars for a bite of tomato is fair, isn’t it? Thank you globalization!

Guinea: The Transition Has Only Just Begun

Dakar/Brussels, 5 March 2009: National and international pressure is urgently needed to ensure a return to civilian rule in Guinea, a country rich in natural resources but struggling to come to terms with the legacy of 50 years of dictatorship.

Guinea: The Transition Has Only Just Begun,* the latest policy briefing from the International Crisis Group, says the junta that took control on 23 December 2008, hours after the long-time, authoritarian President Lansana Conté died, is in danger of resorting to repressive measures of its own, as its popular support dives along with the economy. Since there is also a risk of a counter-coup from dissatisfied army elements, a democratic transition at best faces a long and difficult road.

Conté left a legacy of abusive security forces, a collapsed economy and a lack of trust among a divided civil society and quarrelsome political parties. Many people, fearing open civil strife, welcomed the junta as a least-worst option. It has spent more than two months consolidating its grip on power by replacing dozens of administrators with its own supporters.

“Some of the new leaders are sincere when they say they want to clean up Conté era corruption”, says Richard Moncrieff, Crisis Group’s West Africa Project Director. “But some have been accused of serious Human Rights abuses. And none know how to run a country”.

Although the junta, led by Moussa Dadis Camara, a captain, has said it is willing to hand over to a civilian president, most of the key posts in the government named on 14 January are held by the military. The junta’s governance style is unlikely to be sustainable, but power may prove too attractive for the soldiers to give up voluntarily.

A return to civilian rule, at least by year’s end, is paramount. Ideally this should be through free and fair elections, but some in the junta may try to delay. To prevent further entrenchment of the military in politics, discussions must start now on establishing a civilian transitional leadership, in case the elections are not held on schedule by the end of 2009.

Guinean civil society and political parties, alongside the international community, must stimulate this process. Donors can hasten the junta’s release of power by making aid conditional on its leaving by year’s end, even if elections have not yet been held. Meanwhile, it is vital to start the work of creating stable governing institutions soon – before rivalry over the country’s rich resources turns violent.

“The transition can succeed”, says Francois Grignon, Crisis Group’s Africa Program Director, “but the junta will need to show good faith, hard work and political sensitivity to prevent it and the army splintering, including on ethnic lines, and to avoid an impatient public again taking to the streets”.

Read the full Crisis Group briefing on our website: http://www.crisisgroup.org

(MAF – 2/25/09) – “Hand me the cup of death but with dignity, and do not give me life in disgrace” is another famous Arabic saying we can all subscribe to. We always talk about human rights, civil rights, the rights to this and the rights to that, but often forget the one right that is most important of all.

Every human was born with one entitlement – that is freedom. From that basic right to freedom comes all other rights. From freedom you choose what to believe or think, what life and future to have, what contribution to make to your family and community, what to die for, and what to leave behind. We all own these rights, but we do not all enjoy the rights we are all entitled to.

Whenever you see injustice, you know that these rights are being taken away. Whenever you see oppression and corruption, you know that someone is taking something that is not theirs, and whenever you see misery, you must know that someone is taking more than what they are entitled to.

These are not things we normally like to think or talk about, particularly when things are going well for us. After all, why all the blues and why spoil the fun? But now things are not going well for us, and things have not been going well for much longer for many more people other than us.

You just cannot live at a time knowing that somebody else is living in despair thinking it is not your problem, and expect that your life will be just fine. Human race and communities are intrinsically connected and when you lose that connection to someone else’s suffering, no matter who that someone is, you are calling for a life of misery that is bound to come back to you at one point or another.

America is miserable today and the American people just cannot accept that. We must first before we judge our misery remember two things. There are millions out there who are born in misery, die in misery, and are only remembered in misery. We must also remember that we did have a hand in either making or having many of these millions miserable.

We voted for an “unusual” president to take us out of misery. But Obama did not bring us misery. We did. No matter how much of a super hero Obama may be or wants to be, there are forces of history, logic, and nature that are more powerful than any super president.

In all religions and ethics, when you sin you fall down a step on the scale of human integrity that you may never recover unless you recognize your failure first. Then you must do something to remedy that failure by repenting and trying to alleviate whatever damage your sin caused.

In relations between people it is no different. When I sit down and think what do we need to do as nation and how much do we need to do to be morally solvent and start clean, it just appalls me how enormous our task is. But we must never forget that we are now at a detrimental phase called “payback” with no emergency exits to escape.

The debt collector of humanity came knocking on the only door we have left with no locks to keep him away. The late notice is ages past due, and the collector this time either collects payment or confiscates our soul. The payment this time is not only monetary in terms of how much money we must give but also how much of our spirit we must pay back to debtors. Our debtors are totally nameless and faceless, but only to us, while everybody else knows all too well who and how many they are. Unlike all we are accustomed to know, our debtor this time is one we are not used to. Our debtor is not some greedy banker, corrupt politician, or our neighborhood bully.

Our debtor is someone just like you and I, born sometime, somewhere, to some parents, with just the same rights. We lived our life taking very much all that is ours, and some of what is not ours. We had our freedom, and a little bit of someone else’s. In the process we went about life enjoying pleasures, good life, and family. All the while that someone just never got his. But first and foremost that someone did not cry for all the toys we had and he never got to see. All he wanted was one thing. It is called freedom. It is called life with dignity.

Whenever you hear the word extremism, remember that no one is born as such. Some people turn into bullies and in the process some become victims. Some victims decide to fight back, and the cycle of violence, suffering, oppression and terror turns.

In a world where we interconnectively live, we are either bullies or victims. If you either contribute to or merely condone someone else’s suffering, no matter what your argument may be, then you are a bully.

When you put your head on that pillow tonight, remember that it is an invention many people have never seen. While at it, also remember that there are so many people who are too frightened to fall asleep fearing what may happen to them in their sleep, or too scared to relive the nightmares of their reality, and sadly we have been a part of much of that.

A miracle president may help us feel a little easier at times of despair, but getting out of our misery takes an entirely different kind of miracle. The miracle we really need is to understand what being human really means and the responsibility that comes with it.

Also see: Humanity in Distress

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