Dreamer

2006-07-14T14:01:00.000-07:00

GOD BLESS YOU NASRALLAH !!

"The Prisoners: Criminals or Victims??"

2006-06-19T13:12:00.000-07:00

It is said that today there are almost 60 political prisoners in Bahrain.

Many of them have been charged with participating in an illegal gathering. According to Bahraini law, any gathering of more than five people in a public place without a permit is considered illegal and is punishable by law (upto 2 yrs imprisonment).

In the press, these prisoners have been shown as criminals. But do you think it is wise to depend only on the Bahraini press for information on this issue??

Do you want to know more???

"The Prisoners: Criminals or Victims??"

Organized by: The Committee of the Prisoners Families

Place: Al-Sadeq mosque (near Al-Salmaniya roundabout)

Date: Wed. 21st June

Time: 8pm

A documentary about the incidents which lead to the arrests will be shown. You will get a chance to see what really happened in the airport and Dana mall.

In addition there will be some speakers, including Hassan Mshaime3, and the mother of one of the prisoners.

Come to the seminar,

hear the other side of the story,

and have an informed opinion.

What I Heard About Iraq

2006-04-20T19:24:00.000-07:00

A month ago, on the 20th of March, it was the annivrrsary of the "Political Lie" In response, readings of the text "What I heard about Iraq" were organized in cities around the world, including Athens, Basel, Berlin, Bruxelles, Calcutta, Durban, Frankfurt, Los Angeles, New York, Prague, Zurich and other cities. One of those places was Beloit, Wisconsin.

I attended this reading, and now a month later there are parts of it that I want to quote here. You can read the whole text, by Eliot Weinberger, here. I must warn you that it is long, but totally worth it. It quotes the American administration's lies, and American soldiers, and ordinary Iraqi citizens. It's a good reminder of the reality of the what happened inIraq after 9/11.

Here are the parts that I thought were most important:

I heard the vice president say: "I really do believe we will be greeted as liberators"

I heard the president tell the Iraqi people, on the night before the invasion began: "If we must begin a military campaign, it will be directed against the lawless men who rule your country and not against you"

I heard the Pentagon spokesman say that 95% of the Iraqi casualties were "military-age males"

I heard the Red Cross say that casualties in Baghdad were so high that the hospitals had stopped counting.

As the riots and looting broke out, I heard a man in Baghdad market say: "Saddam Husseins greatest crime is that he brought the American army to Iraq"

I heard it would be a matter of months before Starbucks and McDonalds opened branches in Baghdad. I heard that HSBC would have cash machines all over the country"

I heard Colonel Nathan Sassaman say: "With a heavy dose of fear and violence, and a lot of money for projects, I think we can convince these people that we are here to help them"

I heard that 7% of all military American deaths in Iraq were suicides.

I heard the president say "I wouldn't be happy if I was occupied either"

I heard Makki Al-Nazzal, who was managing a clinic in Fallujah, say, in unaccented English: "I have been a fool for 47 years. I used to believe in European and American civilization."

I heard an American soldier say: "It's kind of bad we destroyed everything, but at least we gave them a chance for a new start"

I heard that the American ambassador, John Negroponte, had requested that $3.37 billion intended for water, sewage and electricity projects to be transferred to security and oil output.

I heard 100,000 Iraqi civilians were dead.

I heard the US military had purchased 1,500,000,000 bullets for use in the comming year. That is 58 bullets for every Iraqi adult and child."

Let's not forget what this political lie has led to!

Chris Hedges

2006-04-20T18:53:00.000-07:00

If you havn't heard about this guy, its about time you do. Chris Hedges is a "Pulitzer Prize-winning veteran foreign correspondent, having covered foreign conflicts in Argentina, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Columbia, Guatemala, Bosnia, Iraq, Sudan, Algeria, India, Israel/Palestine, Turkey, and Kosovo"

This book of his is really interesting because it gives you insight on wars from a person who has experienced them and not in one region. I read this book in Bahrain and never thought I would meet the author. But last week Mr. Hedges came to Beloit Campus to speak out against the war in Iraq. Before comming here he was booed off the stage on another campus for being anti-war.

One of my favourite parts of his speech is when he answered one of the audeince questions, this is how it went:

"Why is the American administration trying to impose American style democracy in the world?"

"They don’t have any interest in imposing democracy at all.They don’t want democracy in Iraq or anywhere else. Democracy- that’s what they use to sell it. And if democracy ever is on the rise and it's not in their ineterest, you can be very sure they will work behind the scenes to crush it. All of these enterprises are given moral language, as a kind of cover. I mean what was the first Gulfwar about? We consume 25% of the world petrol, and that war was about our right to keep consuming a disproportionate share of the world’s petrol at a cheap price. And the message it gave to the dispossessed of the world, is that we have everything and if you try to take it away from us, we’ll kill you. Now they all get it, and we don’t."

I was lucky to meet Hedges personally after his speech, and I asked him about his experience in Palestine. He told me that he published his diary which he wrote in Gaza, and he got into alot of trouble here in the US because of that. I will quote a small part of this diary:

"Children have been shot in other conflicts I have covered - death squads gunned them down in El Salvador and Guatemala, mothers with infants were lined up and massacred in Algeria, and Serb snipers put children in their sights and watched them crumple onto the pavement in Sarajevo - but I have never before watched soldiers entice children like mice into a trap and murder them for sport."

You can read his Gaza Diary here

I give all my support to Chris Hedges and all activists like him who arn't afraid to speak the truth.

Powerful Poems

2006-04-19T21:00:00.000-07:00

I read these poems by the Yemeni activist Zain Alsaqqaf and I was really moved.
Zain Alsakkaf was a man who believed in freedom and fought for it, and his dedication to the cause will contnue to inspire people even after his death.

Situation Announcement

The dress of our illusions is worn out
Holes widened from every side
I begged her… mom, stop mending it
It’s useless!
We need new attire
That’s fit for our glories!

Adam

He sleeps on the sidewalk
And when he wakes up from his heaven,
He wanders around the streets
Walks in the markets
His palm spread in front of him
Begging for an apple!

In the Cage

I know that the yearning comes with the clouds
It might rain here, or in other places
But I am not waiting for the clouds of nostalgia
I am waiting for my belovedI know the signs of her coming
From the color of the horizon,
And the smell of the wind,
From the shivering of my eyelashes
And the taste in my mouth
I know these signs are never mistaken
I am here,
Waiting for freedom’s arrival
full of the scent of dignity…

The Cave and I

It doesn’t make a difference for me
If u don’t come tomorrow
For you did not come yesterday
I have been waiting for a century:
For love, and bread
For work, and hope
Whether standing or walking,
I am still waiting
In this cave that’s called home
It doesn’t really matter
But what I am afraid of
Is that because of my long stand, waiting,
I’d grow a tail!
So, if you finally come,
And see what I fear you would,
Don’t be scared,
Nor sad
If I drag behind me,
A long tail… of disappointments...

note: the poems were translated from arabic.

Who's the Boss at www.bahrainblogs.org ???

2006-02-15T15:04:00.000-08:00

Since I didn't get my last post on bahrainblogs.org I started wondering about this issue...

I used to have the understanding that earlier all Bahraini blogs were included in this site and whatever we post on our blogs automatically goes there. However, I think this is not true anymore.

So... this leads to many questions. Why has this changed? and if there is a good reason, who should decide what is worthy of making it to Bahrainblogs and what is not? and who decides which blogs will be on the list or not?

I personally thought it was awesome that everyones posts were included before, especially that we live in a country where freedom of speech is not enjoyed by many. I think all bahraini bloggers need to discuss this...

Action in London

2006-01-16T14:42:00.000-08:00

I spent my christmas break in UK, 10 days of which I was in London. While I was there I met Moosa Abdali (the guy who was sexually assaulted by the Bahraini police). We heard of the demonstrations taking place in Bahrain and the protesters that were being held in detention and facing trials, so we decided to take action in London. It wasn't much but the main purpose was to support those people who get beaten up and go to prison for going on demonstrations, and to protest against the crimes of the goverenment.

First we went to Hyde Park, Speakers corner where we talked to people about human rights abuses in Bahrain. Ali Mshaime3 joined us to speak in Arabic. To my surprise there were many people who were very interested in the situation, and we had very long discussions about Bahrain in particular and the Gulf region in general.

Next we held a small protest infront of the Bahraini Embassy in London. For two hours the group that had come to protest shouted slogans like "Free our Hostages" and "We want democracy in Bahrain". Reports on human rights abuses in Bahrain were also distributed.

Finally we visited 5 different human rights organizations who have offices in London. We spoke to them and handed over the reports on the latest abuses in Bahrain. They were very cooperative and promised to do what they can to help.

I really hope that the day will come when every Bahraini has the right to speak his mind without risking his health and freedom.

Risk from Mobiles

2005-12-30T04:51:00.000-08:00

Advice to all mobile users: It is preferable that you use the mobile on your left ear, because if you use it on the right ear there is direct damage to the brain.

(In case there are Americans reading this: mobile = cell phone :p)

A Detainee in Danger

2005-12-30T02:44:00.000-08:00

After the airport incident, and the tragic breaking of the glass of course, 4 people were arrested. More protesters went to protest the arrest and beating of these detainees. This time not in the airport. More people were beaten up and arrested. Making them alltogether 15 detianees now. One of the datainees is Mohammed Abdulla Alsingais.

The riot police broke his leg while beating him up in the demonstration, then he got arrested. Last night his family was allowed a visit and they were shocked when they saw their son covered in blood, his face swollen, and ofcourse his leg broken. He could not speak much, but his family asked the police if they could take him to the hospital and they were denied.

There are reports that say Mohammed was taken to the hospital this morning but now he has disappeared and his family don't know where he is. They were told he was taken to Alhoora prison but when they went there they were told that he was never taken there.

Mohammeds family fear for their sons life.

As for the bloggers who replied to my last post, this post is not for you. After all, glass and tourist impressions are much more important than your fellow Bahraini brothers being tortured and arrested.

What bothers you more??

2005-12-27T14:25:00.000-08:00

I want to ask all the bloggers.... what bothers you more...
the broken glass doors in the airport ...... or this?

What was NOT in the newspapers

2005-12-26T05:25:00.000-08:00

Shouldn't we ask why all these people came to the airport?
And why is this old woman is angry at the police?

These pictures were not in our newspapers.

It was not surprising what the Bahraini newspapers chose to publish this day about what happened in the airport. SHeikh Sanad was arrested at the aorport because he said that there must be a public poll taken on the legitimacy of the Bahraini Government in Bahrain. THe Bahraini government considered this as "inciting hatred against the government" which as I remember was one of the sentences usually used against my father as well.

After the arrest people went to the airport to find out what happened to the sheikh and to demand his release. There was a big crowd but no violence, people were just waiting to see what happened. Until the riot police came and attacked the peaceful protesters. Eye witnesses say that a pregnant woman was amongst those who got beaten up. The riot police attacked not only with thier clubs on the protesters backs. But they also used tear gas and rubber bullets. Most people started running outside trying to escape, while some stayed and fought back.

Now, I am against violence and I think that even when beaten up the protesters shouldn't retaliate. However, why don't our newspapers, for once, tell the story like it is. Even Alwasat only published the governments statement. That is not how a "free media" works. It is very clear that if one wants to know the truth, the Bahraini newspapers is the last place to look.

Memory

2005-12-17T09:51:00.000-08:00

(left)Dressed up as a torturer. There is evidence and pictures to prove that these instruments were used on many detainees, in the 90's.

(right) Where is Justice. On one side it says "Martyrs blood" and on the other it says "The oppressor"

There was a demonstration today in memory of our martyrs. It is easy for somebody who did not suffer to ask for all this to be forgotten. But to start clean these people have to be recognized, what they went through must be condemned. And the criminals who are responsible must pay the price for their crimes. That is the only way this wound would heal.

National Day

2005-12-17T09:17:00.000-08:00

Yes today is our National Day, today we celebrate the sacrifices our people have made for our country. Afterall what is a national day?? Is it the day we celebrate "aljolous", is it the day we celebrate that the British occupiers decided to give our country to the Bedoiun tribe that were the other occupiers.

History is important, you don't just try to forget it and hope for the best. Instead we should all know our history well and learn from it. The Alkhalifas are a tribe that was in a war with the Bahraini people and defeated us and then occupied the country. This is not something I want to celebrate. We are not independent but someday we will get our independence. Until we do however, our national day will be to thank those who lost their lives for Bahrain.

I will never celebrate the fact that a dictator sat on his throne as the day of our independence.
Instead I will salute our Bahraini martyrs.

Quote

2005-12-16T13:54:00.000-08:00

"Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it." Mark Twain

2005-12-14T07:23:00.000-08:00

Urgent Appeal

A group of Human Rights activists went to The United Nations building in Bahrain to protect themselves from the continuous harassments of the government but the Head of the United Nations office in Bahrain, Mr. Alloush, considered this an invasion of a governmental building and called for security forces to remove them by force.

We request from the Human Rights Organizations to interfere and send an urgent appeal to Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to prevent Mr. Alloush from calling for the security forces for they will bein grave danger should the forces attack while they are inside.

The Activists inside the building:
1. Abdulhadi AlKhawaja – President of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR)
2. AbdulRaof Alshayeb – National Committee of Martyrs and Victims of Torture
3. Layla Dashti – HR Activist
4. Hassan AbdulNabi – Unemployed Committee
5. Mohsin AlSalman – Unemployed Committee
6. Sayyed Sharaf Elsitri - Bahrain Youth Society For Human Rights(BYSHR)
7. Hassan AlHaddad – HR Activist
8. AbdulRedha Abdulla – HR Activist
9. Nader Ibrahim – HR Activist

It should be noted that this is the 15th day that Abdulhadi Alkhawaja is on hunger strike and he was taken to the hospital today where he was told that his heart rate has gone down and his blood pressure is low.

A picture = 1000 words

2005-12-05T09:24:00.000-08:00

A very powerful picture of the riot police stopping the second walk of the supporters of Moosa AbdAli.

No Bags of Rocks

2005-12-03T12:40:00.000-08:00

The second walk did take place today. However, this time the government decided to use force. Abdulhadi and the group with him were surrounded and they were beaten up. Abdulhadi decided to continue his walk anyway, so he was arrested. After an hour of his arrest he was released but with a fractured shoulder.

That is the price of freedom of speech in our beloved country.

Violence by the demonstrators: None. No bags of rocks or anything. Makes it difficult to blame the demonstrators doesn't it?

anti-Anon

2005-12-03T01:14:00.000-08:00

I recieved an email today from a person who wanted to let me know that he thinks I am biased in my opinions regarding the latest issues in Bahrain. His arguments were not new to me. Especially the classic view of reffering to the protesters as "thugs" to use his word.

Anyway what interested me more than all of this was his very first question in the email: "why you do not allow anonymous to post comments?"

I believe in freedom of speech, but I also believe in the responsibility that comes with it. I realize that sometimes safety is an issue, but in my personal opinion people should take some responsibility for what they say. That is why I choose to write under my name and not a nickname.

And frankly it gets on my nerves when during discussions on other blogs some "anon" people come in and make a comment and get away with it. Because they don't have to defend what they say, they can just post anything. Furthermore, arguments in which the authors are responsible for what they say tend to be of much higher standard. That is why I respect a person like Mahmood (who I disagree with on nearly everything) more than an anon person who would agree with me.

So until I am convinced otherwise, my blog will be anti-anon.
I admit, This is not an anon-friendly blog.

HAHA

2005-12-03T00:34:00.000-08:00

Do you hate Bush? If yes keep reading....

This is totally wrong timing for this, especially that I am really worried about what is happening in Bahrain. But only one thing could get my mind of all the trouble. At least for 5 minutes that is. After that I felt somewhat guilty, even though it is Bush. Check it out!! :D And dont just watch, use your mouse.

The Walk of Dignity and Honor

2005-12-02T22:39:00.000-08:00

The walk of dignity and honor will take place today. Inshalla it will be as succesful and peaceful as the last one. Hopefully the government will be wise and wouldn't provoke more violence.

The Walk of Support

2005-12-02T11:37:00.000-08:00

With a few supporters the walk begins

More people join

The picture speaks for itself

Abdulhadi gives his speech outside Moosa's house

Today at three Abdulhadi Alkhawaja started his walk of pride and appreciation of Moosa Abd ALi. He started walking from Daih and his final destination was Moosa's house in 3ekr. In the same morning Abdulhadi had arrived from Egypt, a trip which he had cut short after hearing of the news.

As he walked and passed through different villages Abdulhadi was joined by others who wished to show their support of Moosa. About 3 hours later when they reached Moosa's house they were more than 4000 supporters. At this point Abdulhadi gave a short speech where he said that "we are against violence, and we don't need to be violent". He stressed on unity, and ended his talk by saying that "Moosa is a symbol of all the oppressed"

Abdulhadi will continue his hunger strike, and tomorrow he will walk to the Royal Court.

For more pics click here

To watch a video of the event (with an interesting choice of music) click here

Human Rights Week

2005-12-02T09:33:00.000-08:00

The latest events in Bahrain have really started to look like the 90's., as the Aljazeera reporter stated. 15 people were arrested and released, police cars have been burnt, people are in and out of hospitals, and some streets are closed.

This poster lists the events of the Human Rights week that has been planned. All this is happening at a very significant time, the 10th of December is Human Rights day, and the 17th is the day of martyrs in Bahrain. As a freind reminded me we have gone through much more difficult times.

Yes this country did sacrifice people in its call for freedom and democracy, and until this very day we are sacrficing.

All my respect for my Brother Moosa AbdAli.

State Terrorism

2005-11-28T15:41:00.000-08:00

What are you going to do next Hamad? The same as what your father did in the 90's? As they say the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

Bahraini Activist Sexually Abused

2005-11-28T14:30:00.000-08:00

Moosa AbdAli has been sexually abused by security forces today. He is a member in the Unemployment committee which has planned a peaceful demonstration tomorrow the 29th of November.

Meet our "democratic" government everybody.... to stop a peaceful demonstration they abuse a 24 year old activist. But the demonstration tomorrow will be strong, and I hope that many people will go to demand their rights.

Day by day I am more convinced that no democracy is possible with this family in power. The Alkhalifas MUST be overthrown. Whether its Hamad, Khalifa or the "educated" Salman, they are all representatives of a regime that does not respect the rights of the Bahraini citizen.

Condemning the Bahraini Gov.

2005-11-09T20:15:00.000-08:00

Exclusion condemned
Published: 10 November 2005

CIVIC organisations in the region are protesting an alleged decision by the Bahrain government to exclude a human rights activist from taking part in the Forum for the Future. They were attending workshop officially held by the forum's organisers in Doha, Qatar, which concluded on Tuesday.The condemnation was in its final communiqué, which will now be presented to the forum attended by foreign ministers from Broader Middle East and North Africa (BMENA) region and the Group of Eight (G8) industrial democracies.

The now-dissolved Bahrain Centre for Human Rights president Abdul Hadi Al Khawaja was nominated along with five other human rights activists to present its recommendations at the forum but was allegedly not allowed to do so. "Participants in the workshop denounce the objection of the Bahrain government on one of the leading defenders of human rights in the Arab region from taking part in Forum for the Future," they said in the communiqué."We are surprised with the action of the Bahrain government on this attack on human rights and the right of the civic organisation to choose who they want to represent them.

Forward msg

2005-11-01T09:13:00.000-08:00

Last month, a world-wide survey was conducted by the UN.
The only question asked was... : "Would you please give your honest opinion about solutions to the food shortage in the rest of the world?"

The survey was a huge failure because...:
In Africa they didn't know what " food " means.
In Eastern Europe they didn't know what " honest " means.
In Western Europe they didn't know what " shortage " means.
In China they didn't know what " opinion " means.
In the Middle East they didn't know what " solution" means.
In South America they didn't know what " please " means.
In the USA they didn't know what " the rest of the world " means.

Real Jews

2005-10-26T19:02:00.000-07:00

After reading this book I was shocked by the conflicts between Jews, and well other Jews. Each claiming to be the real Jews. First you have the zionist jews and the anti-zionist jews. It's not the way we think of anti-zionist, they are not pro-palestinain (although there are some pro-palestinain jews) . They are anti-zionist because simply they are anti-secular. At the same time the secular zionists seem to despise the ultra-orthodox Jews, the Haredi. Also, amongst those categories, there are the Ashkenazi Jews (from european descent) and the saphardic Jews. These different groups all claim to be real Jews. and throughout the book they accuse each other of being like the Nazis. It is actually very complicated and by the time you finish reading the book you feel that there is real chaos. Before reading this book I had no idea of how serious and complex the situation is. Now I understand why they still don't have a written constitution.

Its the Media, STUPID!

2005-10-26T18:01:00.000-07:00

In a series of talks this week, John Nichols came to speak to us yesturday. I had to go because it was about the American media and I blame the media for all the ignorance in America. Nichols is a writer who is mainly concerned with the media problem in the US.

In his talk he compared the media in America to the media in Europe. "We ask ourselves why the rest of the world didn't react to to 9/11 the way we did, well because they know the world better, we don't". He went step by step to explain the laws that had existed in America to protect the media, and how these laws were thrown out one by one. Because these laws are gone, we now have a media in America that is controlled by 5 major companies, he said.

He went on to say that the news in America has degraded from a search for truth to mere entertainment. He asked the audience how many knew about O.J. SImpson and Michael Jacksons trial, and they all did. Then he asked them if they knew which law was being passed by congress the day they were all glued to their tv sets to check if Jackson was guilty or not. Nobody did.

He also made the obvious points about how Americans fell for the relationship between Osama and Saddam, and the WMD's. He says "it was the media's job to tell the Americans the truth when the president was lying. Instead they supported the lies and by doing so they hurt us".

John had written a book titled "Its the Media, Stupid". Nichols new book is titled "Tragedy and Farce: How the American Media sell wars, spin elections, and destroy democracy". This book has been described as "an appeal to reason in a dark time".

I got to chat with John after his talk, he has hope and thinks there will be changes soon. I sure do hope he is right. He gave me his copy of the new book and I'm looking forward to reading it.

If you want to know more, check out John Nichols blog, The Online Beat.

Gloom and Doom

2005-10-26T17:28:00.000-07:00

On Monday night there was a talk on Campus by my prof. Beth Dougherty about Iraq. She mentioned some facts that I did not really know about or had not thought of before and I thats why I want to share them with you.

About Saddams trial, she mentioned that it was viewed by many as being the victors justice. In her opinion the trial must go on, not because there is a chance that Saddam is innocent but to show the Iraqis how a fair judicial system works. That is why the rule of law must be conveyed. However, the larger purpose is that the trial is a historical record for society. This trial should be the proof of all Saddams crimes, so that nobody in the future can say that there is not enough proof that Saddam is guilty.

However she did not deny that there are elements that make the trial somewhat illegitimate. One is that the Americans are the ones who wrote the first copy of the statute. Giving the US a dominant role. This leads some to believe that it was written to further US interests. This becomes obvious when you read in the statute that only Iraqis who commited crimes will be tried. Usually in statutes it would say that any crimes committed in this region during a certain period would be taken to court. However the Americans made sure that it said only Iraqis were to be punished for any crimes commited in Iraq during Saddams rule.

It is important to mention that because of the death penalty there is no International involvement in the trial. Therefore making it totally in the control of the Americans. The American government pays for the trial and they are the ones who did all the training and the workshops for the judges and the lawyers.

Beth concluded by saying that the statutes must be amended. Generally she thinks that the US should have never gone to war. Now that they have, they made many mistakes that dug them deeper and deeper. At the present time there are no good options in her opinion. Instead there are a series of bad options and the US must try to choose the best of bad options, which is to withdraw. This is humpty dumpty, and it will not be put back together again, she said. The future is filled with gloom and doom, where her final words.

Who should we invade next???

2005-10-23T00:34:00.000-07:00

Listen to the answers of some Americans here

Disrupting the Demographic Makeup

2005-10-19T21:42:00.000-07:00

As I was reading the Iraqi constitution I came across Article 18:

5th -- Iraqi citizenship may not be granted for the purposes of a policy of population settlement disrupting the demographic makeup in Iraq.

Thats exactly what Hamad is doing, trying to disrupt the demographic makeup in Bahrain. At first when I heard this I couldn't believe it. But then I saw the facts that supported this, and I saw the tape of Saudis talking about how easily they got the Bahraini citizenship. Evidently, a Shia majority in Bahrain is not in the interest of the Sunni government.

It took the Bahrainis of Iranian origin forever to get their citizenship, some still don't have it.
And others who were in exile lived without citizenship for years. I personally didn't have a citizenship or a passport until I was 18.

Getting a citizenship should be about being Bahraini, not about the kings interests. But it seems that as long as we are a monarchy under the dictator Hamad, its always going to be about the kings interest!

Brainwashed young Americans!

2005-10-19T20:43:00.000-07:00

I found this tape on www.truthout.org. It shows a group of some young Americans who support the war in Iraq.

Her sign says "Kick their ass and take their gas"

The keyword here: BRAINWASHED!
The other option would be: Evil.

Would she repeat the words on her sign if she sees pictures of dead Iraqi children?

A few with the courage to speak out...

2005-10-19T19:39:00.000-07:00

"Wealth governs this country! And wealth uses military violence to control the rest of the world as best it can! And we’re responsible! And we will pay the price for it!”

"As appalling as what we’ve done and what we’ve threatened to Iraq, the worst violence that all of our technology could unleash and then the strangulation of the sanctions, the thing we have to realize is, it’s what our government leadership has been doing all along. It is not terribly different than how we addressed the folks that were here to meet the Mayflower standing on the dock. The North American aboriginal peoples, the Indians as we call them.

A long steady course of destruction of those peoples. It is not terribly different than what we did to the slaves that were brought over in chains from Africa, those that survived the transit, which wasn’t easy. You look in our history books, you don’t read about a Philippine-American War, you read the Philippine history books and they know about the Philippine-American War. We call it the Spanish American War. We were liberating the Filipinos! We killed more than a million. Now we are bragging about the covert actions we are going to engage in against Iraq."

-Former US attorney General, Ramsey Clark

Meen Erhabi? Who's the terrorist?

2005-10-19T19:00:00.000-07:00

Who's the terrorist?
I'm the terrorist?!
How am I the terrorist when you've taken my land?
Who's the terrorist?
You're the terrorist!

Your countless raping of the Arabs’ soul
Finally impregnated it
Gave birth to your child
His name: Suicide Bomber

This is a song by a Palestinian group: DAM (Blood)
watch and listen to it here

The song is in arabic but there is an English translation.

Its starts out with this quote:

"We’ve had 50 years of assault on Palestinian rights.
I think they are the most terrorized… at least with the Iraqi people…. They’re the most terrorized people on earth… and have been for so many years

Practically every Palestinian lives in constant harassment, threat of violence, humiliation,

It’s been that way for a long long time…." -Former US attorney General, Ramsey Clark

Liberation

2005-10-18T19:24:00.000-07:00

No Support for Bush

2005-10-18T19:00:00.000-07:00

28% of Americans think the president is doing a good job...

28%! When it was 50% people were surprised. And now its 28%.

I got this number from an article in Aljazeera. The same article also quoted an editorial in The Minneapolis Star-Tribune:

President Bush and those around him lied, and the rest of us let him. Harsh? Yes. True? Also yes.

Americans are pissed and they are not supporting their president anymore. When the Vietnam war was won, the victors said "We won the war on two fronts, here in Vietnam. And in the US because of American support"

So is there gonna be enough pressure to make Bush end the war? Although it is too late, but better late than never.

"Dude, Where's My Country?"

2005-10-17T21:25:00.000-07:00

Its midterm break and it seems like there is no1 on campus. I am one of the few international students who cant afford to go home for a week, simply because our homes are half way round the world. I am not complaining for this gives me alot of time to read, and what did I start with, well "Dude, where's my country" By Michael Moore. If you're anywhere near my floor you would hear my laughter. I really liked the book and I didn't stop reading except to go eat french fries for fa6oor. Now that I am done I have to quote some of it, but I think everyone should read this book. It doesn't just have good information but is actually a lot of fun.

The laughing starts from the very first page when you see the letter that is suposedly issued by the US Department of Homeland Security. "FREEZE! DROP THE BOOK! HANDS IN THE AIR! YOU HAVE A RIGHT TO ... SCREW IT! YOU DONT HAVE ANY RIGHTS!!"

In the first chapter Moore explains what the US-approved Saudi Arabian model of good government is = stronghand oppression while giving the west what it needed. When reading this first chapter there are many eye openers. I mean seriously I scribbled all over the margins "DAMN! NOWAY! MA2SAAA" You will find out what kinds of things the Americans had planned in Afghansitan and what prevented it, in all details.

In the second chapter Michael brings to light all the lies told by the Bush administration. But his style differs from other writers, as usual. Michael says these lies are like Whoppers, and then he lists all the lies as whoppers. One with cheese, and one with french fries and so on. If you read one chapter out of this book it should be chapter 2.

"George W. Bush likes his whoppers, too. His are Huge. Texas-sized. ... ANd the American people gobble them up. One whopper after another." (p43)

" There were never any chemical or biological weapons - other than the ones we gave Saddam in the 1980's, the ones he used on the Kurds and the ones he used on the Iranians ..." (p48)

"But the United States never gave a rats ass about how badly Saddam the dictator treated his own people. ... In fact we like dictators! They help us get what we want..." (page58)

Michael totally makes fun of the freedom fries thing, commenting that, by the way, french fries are not even French, they are Belgian. HAHA

When talking about the coalition fo the willing, Michael renames them "The Coalition of the Coerced, Bribed and Intimidated" (p73)

One of the lies listed under Junior whopper kids Meal is that the American gov. is doing everything they can to avoid the loss of civilian lives.

"The pentagon brags about how ... no civilians need die. Tell that to the family of Razek al-Kazem al-Khafaji, who lost his wife, six children, his father, his mother and two brothers in one attack. "God take our revenge on America," he wailed to reporters amid the rubble and body parts. Wow, what an ingrate!" This book is filled with Moores sarcastic comments.

In the United States of Boo (ch. 4), Michael deals with fear in American society. "Irrational fear" he states "is a killer". The patriot act is as un-American as Mein Kampf" (p104)

"September 11 is now the answer. ... Want a new waepons system? Have to have it! Why? Well...9/11! Want to relax the pollution laws? Its a must! Why? 9/11! Want to outlaw abortion? Absolutely! Why? 9/11! What does 9/11 have to do with abortion? Hey, why are you questioning the government? Someone call the FBI!" (p. 113)

HAHA I really laughed at that one

WHy dont we define Osama as multi millionaire? the author asks. Instead of defining him as an arab and a Muslim.

"Instead of rounding up suspicious Arabs, why dont we say, "Oh my God, a multi-millionaire killed 3,000 people! Round up the multi-millionaires! Throw them all in jail! No charges! No Trials! Deport the millionaires!" (p.116) hehe Gotta love Michael Moore. :)

Chapter 6 is a letter from God:
" Lets get this straight - God dont't bless America, God dont bless anyone. Go bless yourselves and quit using my name as a justification for feeling superior to everyone else. You arn't. (p134-135)

Michael nominates Oprah Winfrey for next president. Amongst other things, Moore points out that "she'd get us all reading a book a month! ("Good evening. This is your president. This month we are all going to read...")" (p207)

You hafta read this book, I've never read a book about politics that is so entertaining. It's good I got my own copy. :)

Mohammed Redha

2005-10-13T09:23:00.000-07:00

My brothers: Mohammed Redha and Hussain

Have you ever had the feeling that everything is going as planned, and its all routine, and it will be that way for a long time?? I had that feeling this week, and everytime you get that feeling something happens. SOmething shocking.

When me and my family lived in Denmark there were other Bahraini families in exile. One of those families was bait abu Ayat. For all my life those families were my relatives. Abu Ayat and Um Ayat are my aunt and uncle, there kids are like my brothers. We met at least once a week, we celebrated all the occasions together. and I remember the many days I slept over at their house.

I always think of their youngest son, Mohammed Redha as a kid. Even after we came to Bahrain, and they became our neighbors, I still thought of him as my little brother. He was 16 but to me he will always be a 6 year old. I used to tease him when we chatted on the msn, and when I met him by the parking he would always tell me whats going on with him. Either that he can drive, or that he is leaving to go study in denmark.

He did go, and two days ago, I got the news that my little brother Mohammed passed away. His brother had made Fa6oor and was waiting for him at home. Mohammed Redha was on the bus and he fell. He died of a heart attack. Mohammed is 16 years old, he didn't have any medical history. A fun sweet and innocent boy.

I couldn't accept that, I still can't.

Mohammed Redha, we all love you and we will miss you.

sLeEeEeEeEePy

2005-10-11T06:17:00.000-07:00

I'm so SLEEEEEPY

Man I hate when this happens. Since Ramadan started I havn't slept well. We always stay up, the small arab minority, we eat sa7oor and watch a movie or something. Then we go to sleep at 3am and sometimes later.

But whats worse is that I woke up "late" today and started running all around the room, changing and brushing and everything. 8:50 I got outa the room and prepared to start running to class. Until I looked at my watch and realized that its 7:50. AAAAAAAAAAAAAH

I have a presentation today and I'm gonna look something like this. I just hope I dont sleep during the presentation.

Tossing pebbles

2005-10-09T16:41:00.000-07:00

Check out Philip Robinson's blog (http://philiprobinson.blogspot.com) , he is a Canadian Unitarian minister who lives alone on the edge of the Temagami Wilderness. This is a picture of a stream by his cabin.

This is what he says about his blog:

"This blog is my place to sit and toss pebbles into the stream. The stream of Life relentlessly passing before us. We can affect it little. For the most part I just watch it passing and follow the flow. Occasionally, I need to comment on its passing, tossing a pebble at it to enjoy the ripple affect upon Life's surface. "

I would like to think that as individuals we are more powerful, and could have more effect on life than the ripple effect of a pebble. But Phillip puts this very beautifully and I found his blog to be very interesting.

Good luck with your blog Phil

Write a speech for Bush

2005-10-09T15:52:00.000-07:00

I just found this site, its alot of fun. You write a speech for Bush and then hear him say it. I enjoyed it, I hope you do too. :)
click me

A future US president

2005-10-09T14:07:00.000-07:00

After eating our fa6oor me and some of the guys usually go and hang out at the Java Joint, which is kinda like a student coffee house. As we were sitting there drinking our tea a guy came in who looked like a younger Abe. Seriosly he even had a little beard and everything. My friends told me that this guy could draw the map of the whole world of the top of his head. I didn't believe it so I had to go ask.

He seemed very happy to show off his talent and asked me

"Do you want the whole world or a specific region?"
Ofcourse I told him "the Perisan Gulf."

He started drawing staright away. A very detailed map, I was amazed. After he was done he asked me where I am form, when I said Bahrain, he pointed it out on the map and asked casually "Manama?"

I looked around me and a small group had gathered to take a look, some1 asked him why he doesn't work for the CIA, and he said, just as casually "I'm gonna become president", To me that meant ENTERTAINMENT. SO I was the first to ask "WHats your foreign policy Mister president?"

"I will first of all issue apologies, an apology to Iraq, and an apology to Iran and to Afghanistan. I would let the arabs get rid of their monarchies, and then they can be a big Arabia. with no borders" As he said this he started erasing the borders he had drawn on his map. Making all the gulf one country and writing ARABIA in the middle. "And also I would treat the zionists and the Palestinians equally. I would rather not sell weapons at all, but if I do I would sell an equal amount to both"

"Man you'll never be president, the zionist lobby will make sure of it".
"No dont worry, I'm half Jewish, they wont know, I'll make fake promises then when I'm president, things will go my way"

hmmmmm, the guy has everything planned out. I started liking the map he was making with the new world he would help create. He went on to give chechnya independence and the kurds. Making borders wherever he saw fit and erasing the borders he didn't think are necessary.

Before I left this guy he signed his map handed it to me and said, "when I'm president you can come and visit me in the white house" :)

Come on guys don't be pessimists, after all he does look like Lincoln :p

Chicago

2005-10-07T15:58:00.000-07:00

We are starving for some good food here, last night my fa6oor was a salad, I wonder what the cafeteria will have tonight. I really miss my mamas cooking. Thats why we will go to Chicago next weekend to find some Arab places to eat and by food for the rest of Ramadan. Not that it will taste as good as my mums cooking, but its the next best thing.

This is a picture taken on my last trip to Chicago, we were in a market when these guyz came up and started drumming. It was really fantastic. When I first heard it I wouldn't have believed those were their instruments. I wish I had a Video of it...

The Wefaq Vote

2005-10-07T15:43:00.000-07:00

As everybody probably knows by now, the results of the votes are out and its a yes. This issue is very controversial and is being debated by many people. Mahmood and I have also been discussing this in the comments on his blog. Here it goes:

I dont think this is the right move, to register under a law that is against basic human rights. If Wefaq had stood against it then maybe something could have been done. But accpeting it and registering under it will just make them the new MP's who cant do anythign to help themselves let alone help the people in Bahrain.
I wish I am wrong and that they are able to do something for the people.
Otherwise they will be the new disappointment, in the line of many many disappointments.
Zainab Alkhawaja

There is some measure of truth in what you say. The constitution and the parliamentary bylaws are not the best the world has seen, and they certainly are lacking as far as the normal Bahraini is concerned, however it has been amply proven over the last 3 years that (1) parliament does have a voice, (2) working on the sidelines produces nothing but noise, and (3) the only method available that can correct the bylaws and constitution is through peaceful pressure from within the system.
The alternative is civil war, which is no one's interest.
Given the above, the vote to register - which I hope is the precursor for the boycotters to enter the parliamentary elections come 2006 - is the correct path to tread.
Now that they have democratically chosen to register, they should not sit on their laurels, but continue to pressure the government in changing if not the constitutions, at least the demarcation of the constituencies, limit the role of the Shura council or its membership numbers, and work out a cohesive battle-plan to guarantee that they get as many seats as possible (observers say they can win anything between 14 to 18 seats in the 40 seat Chamber of Representatives, which is a sizable majority that can truly affect the way laws and regulations are forged and passed.
Taking your way just allows the country to descend into chaos much more than we have seen in the 70s to the 90s.
I choose the path of participate and resist from within the establishment.

Allow me to disagree with you yet again. Until now we have seen that everyone who says they will work form within the system fail to do so. It is very simple why they fail, the rules they are agreeing to abide by ensure their failure. For these laws give the government the right to dispose of them the minute they find that they are not serving its interest.
Secondly most changes in the world happen by the people who protest without being involved in the government. For if the viewer doesn't like the movie and cannot change the events.... he sure as hell can change the channel..... for he has the remote!
Zainab Alkhawaja

You're really sold into this "revolution" bit aren't you?
Did you not stop and think of the chaos that would ensue should your version of "change" come to be? Do you not value stability or gradual change at least?
I, like the majority of Bahraini citizens are actually happy enough with this channel but we do agree that the programming needs to be modernised and its operators held accountable by the people.

how long are you going to accept Mahmood?? How long are you willing to live under a government who has no rights to rule. Nobody chose this government, they killed and stole to get the power they have.
Sometimes making changes takes sacrifice, if you do not want to make that sacrifice then your children and their children will live in the world you are living in. DO you want them to accept it as well. The government wont give anything unless it is forced to do so.
As an Arab I will never forget about the occupied territory of Palestine and I will never accept the zionist rule, and in the same way as a Bahraini I will never forget how the ALkhalifas took power and what they did to my country.
I will not be one of those people who put my hand in the hand of criminals, who detained and tortured and killed my people. And I am sorry but I do not value stability more than freedom.
Zainab Alkhawaja

Post your opinion on this issue...

A Trip To Madison

2005-10-05T10:25:00.000-07:00

The new face of Bahrain??!

When me and my fiance Wafi realized how bored we would be by staying on Campus in Beloit, we decided to rent a car and travel around. Beloit by the way is what we call "The Village", if you have seen the movie you would know what I mean. There is nothing here, except a Walmart a Macdonalds and a shoestore. Or at least thats what it feels like :p

Anyway one of the places we went to was Madison, it was very nice there. We found an arabic restaurant, we went in as fast as we could and ordered. For some reason all the arab restaurants I have been to in America have only halal lamb. I dont know what the secret is but thats always the answer. "Is your meat halal?"... "Only the lamb."

But whats even more funny is that when we were driving to the Oregon Coast, we stopped by a fast food place and my Jordanian friend insisted that this fast food place was owned by a muslim and they have halal meat. So she went ahead and asked "Is you meat halal", the girl looked at her blankly... so my freind continued "Is your meat Kosher". The answer was "No ma'am its grilled". The minute we were out of that door we exploded with laughter.

Anyway back to Madison, when we left the restaurant we met a group of men who said hello. Not surprisingly their first question was "where are you guys from?" I said "Bahrain" and took a deep breath to start explaining where that is. As usual thinking, how can I explain it without mentioning Saudi Arabia. To my surprise one guy said "OHHHHHHHHH Bahrain". I was amazed....
"You KNOW Bahrain??"
"Yes..."
"Really??" I was still in shock
"Yes, thats where Michael Jackson is, isn't it"

That was really a slap in the face, thats all he knows about Bahrain....

I came across global souls blog where she said :

"I guess now the new F1 circuit should make Bahrain more recognizable. However, just to set the record straight, I have to say that neither Shakira’s song, nor the runaway princess, nor F1 which are all true “phenomena” are accurate depictions of Bahrain."

I would like to add Michael Jackson to that list!

Jewish Fundamentalists

2005-10-04T18:48:00.000-07:00

Everyone is always talking about Muslim Fundamentalists. Actually most people think that these two words go together now. Maybe we need to make them into one word since they are so inseperable... musfundi or something. That will make it much easier for everyone.

While the musfundi's are mentioned EVERYWHERE, the Jewish fundamentlists are unknown to the world. I am writing a paper on "israeli" Fundamentalists and I read things that I couldn't even believe. I mean as a highschool student I used to scrible on all my papers "Zionism = Nazism" but I never thought that they had this much in common.

So there is this group called the Gush, and they have alot of power and control in the occupied territory. This group believes that Jews are the chosen people, yeah I know you all know that. But did you know that they believe that Jews were made as an end in themselves, but everybody and everything else was made for them. The Jews are Gods partners and they are physically different than the rest of us. Their bodies are different and they have different blood. The Jewish blood is sacred. Because of that they can kill Palestinians but they as jews should not be killed.

They also believe that if they are powerful on earth, that makes God happy, and if they are weakened then that is failing God. And therefore they have to be powerful to glorify God. They say that for the time being Palestinians can live on the occupied land but only if they accept that they are inferior, otherwise they should be killed.

Their aim is that Zionists must continue settling until they have control over "Eretz Israel" which extends from the Mediterranean sea to the Jordan River. They also oppose any peace negotiations, Yitzhak Rabin was killed by one of them (not that we mind). Furthermore they do not believe in democracy and they see the current government as illegitimate, they want a Jewish theocracy.

If you want more information read "Jewish Fundamentalism in "israel"" by Israel Shahak and Norton Mezvinsky. The authors are jews, they say in the preface "This book is a jouney of understanding - often painful, often dreary, often disturbing - for us as Jews"

Wake up!

2005-10-04T18:28:00.000-07:00

Are the days of Arab Nationalism over??

Every time I mention Arabs being united I realize that poeple think of it as a failed experiment. One response was "leave it in the past". Another was by my Politics prof. "those days are gone". It seems that because the representatives of Arab nationalism in the past were loosers who went down and took the arabs down with them that the whole idea is gone forever.

Every politics class the "arab humiliation" is mentioned, we sit there and we are humiliated. Especially that there are Zionists in our class. Whenever the prof. starts talking about the arabs, I always seem to be looking down at my table. Come on seriously have we done anything to be proud of in the last... say 50 years at least??

We were divided and occupied by the French and the British, when they were having trouble back home they handed us to arab allies of theirs. Those allies became our new masters, the people still being slaves. And then its the Americans turn. Until today we are still living under "democtaric" kings, or fake "presidents"(Yemen) Until today we are still colonies, except now we can be proud to call ourselves "neo-colonies".

Is it true that we have been slaves for so long that we will no longer demnad our rights? That the people will not be united in a revolution someday that will bring us back our honour. I do not think arabs are superior to anybody else, and I am against that kind of nationalism. However I am totally against the arab populations being in such a pathetic situation. Not only do we not help ourselves but we help our enemies!

Not only did we fail to protect Palestine, but we welcome the American fifth fleet into our land. When will we wake up, if ever? When will poeple have hope instead of humiliation in their chests?

ITS PALESTINE!!!

2005-10-04T15:34:00.000-07:00

Since I came here I got back into my old habit that i used to have in Denmark. And thats crossing out Israel on all the maps in my book and writing Palestine. It might be silly but seeing Israel written on the occupied territory makes me want to explode.

Moreover, if I am talking to someone and they say Israel I would get offended. In my discussions I talk about the occupied territory of Palestine, inhabited by zionists.

I will not accept Israel as a state because it is not a legitmate one. And once we accept it we might as well not fight for our land that was taken by the zionists.

Today i was talking to a Palestinian student here and he made me reach a dead end where there is no hope whatsoever. He was telling me to accept Israel because there is no hope of us getting that land back. I was shocked that he would say something like that.

Z. "Come on, the arabs will rise soon, and then we will free Palestine"

P. "The Arabs... HA. what do you think it will take for them to rise???"

Z. "Well there will be a revolution, we will get rid of our bad governments and then we will fight the zionists"

P. "We said the same, Zainab come on! We have intifadas in Palestine and the arabs... they march. They march around the block and then they go home. We finally accepted that no arabs are going to fight for Palestine. When the Americans invaded Iraq, thats when we were hopeful again. We said Now... Now the arabs will rise. Finally. But they did not. Dont talk of arabs, the arabs are on their knees and they wont stand up. If they were going to, now would be the time, the Palestinians are being killed, look what happened to the Iraqis.
the Arabs are known for their generosity though, they welcomed American fleets into their countries.

Z. "Come on, there is hope You think it will just go on like this?"

P. "It has been going on for a very long time and the arabs are used to it."

Yes what he said is logical but I refuse to give up hope, and to me there is no Israel on the map. As for the occupied territory, we will take it back.

Americans in the Arab World

2005-09-22T18:15:00.000-07:00

I had nightmares about the Hope not Hate event for many nights. But I heard about two American singers who were comming on campus to sing arabic songs. I checked out their site before they came and I was impressed, I could tell their presentation was going to be very interesting.

I attented the presentation and I must say that it was much better than my high expectations. Cameron and Kristina have been around the arab world, they have been to Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Palestine and Iraq. They talked to a largely American audience about the arabs and their culture. All the time Cameron had a 3ood in his hand and Kristina has her beautiful voice, and every now and then they would sing a famous arabic song. All kinds of songs, from Fairooz to "6ala3 al Badr 3alaina"

They spoke about how hospitable and friendly arabs are. They spoke of the pain we go through. They spoke of Palestinian refugees. As an Arab I had never been more proud since I came here. But what really effected me was that after they were done I saw many Americans from the audience going up to them and thanking them for changing their perspective.

I went and thanked them myself, for they are a bridge that is badly needed.

Representing Islam

2005-09-22T18:02:00.000-07:00

There is an Arab club on our campus and I must admit that unfortunatly the first seminar they held was a complete failure. It was the "Hope not Hate" event. Its title was Islam and the US. Many people showed up and I was one of them.

There were two speakers, one talked and talked without making much sense. Confusing everything and seriously I couldn't even give you a summary of what he said. The second guy who is a new convert to Islam talked like he was there to convert everyone. He would say things like "All your souls KNOW that Allah is your God, you just have to be brave and admit it"

I buried my face in my hands and felt so ashamed. But wait, that was not the end of my misery. SOme articles were being passed around, they were supposed to be a MUST READ. So I did read..... just to find out that the article was all about how Katrina is a punishment from God. CAN YOU BELIEVE IT??!

No wonder muslims have such a bad image here.

Mike does it again

2005-09-17T18:49:00.000-07:00

Friday, September 2nd, 2005Vacation is Over... an open letter from Michael Moore to George W. Bush
Friday, September 2nd, 2005

Dear Mr. Bush:

Any idea where all our helicopters are? It's Day 5 of Hurricane Katrina and thousands remain stranded in New Orleans and need to be airlifted. Where on earth could you have misplaced all our military choppers? Do you need help finding them? I once lost my car in a Sears parking lot. Man, was that a drag.

Also, any idea where all our national guard soldiers are? We could really use them right now for the type of thing they signed up to do like helping with national disasters. How come they weren't there to begin with?

Last Thursday I was in south Florida and sat outside while the eye of Hurricane Katrina passed over my head. It was only a Category 1 then but it was pretty nasty. Eleven people died and, as of today, there were still homes without power. That night the weatherman said this storm was on its way to New Orleans. That was Thursday! Did anybody tell you? I know you didn't want to interrupt your vacation and I know how you don't like to get bad news. Plus, you had fundraisers to go to and mothers of dead soldiers to ignore and smear. You sure showed her!

I especially like how, the day after the hurricane, instead of flying to Louisiana, you flew to San Diego to party with your business peeps. Don't let people criticize you for this -- after all, the hurricane was over and what the heck could you do, put your finger in the dike?
And don't listen to those who, in the coming days, will reveal how you specifically reduced the Army Corps of Engineers' budget for New Orleans this summer for the third year in a row. You just tell them that even if you hadn't cut the money to fix those levees, there weren't going to be any Army engineers to fix them anyway because you had a much more important construction job for them -- BUILDING DEMOCRACY IN IRAQ!

On Day 3, when you finally left your vacation home, I have to say I was moved by how you had your Air Force One pilot descend from the clouds as you flew over New Orleans so you could catch a quick look of the disaster. Hey, I know you couldn't stop and grab a bullhorn and stand on some rubble and act like a commander in chief. Been there done that.

There will be those who will try to politicize this tragedy and try to use it against you. Just have your people keep pointing that out. Respond to nothing. Even those pesky scientists who predicted this would happen because the water in the Gulf of Mexico is getting hotter and hotter making a storm like this inevitable. Ignore them and all their global warming Chicken Littles. There is nothing unusual about a hurricane that was so wide it would be like having one F-4 tornado that stretched from New York to Cleveland.

No, Mr. Bush, you just stay the course. It's not your fault that 30 percent of New Orleans lives in poverty or that tens of thousands had no transportation to get out of town. C'mon, they're black! I mean, it's not like this happened to Kennebunkport. Can you imagine leaving white people on their roofs for five days? Don't make me laugh! Race has nothing -- NOTHING -- to do with this!

You hang in there, Mr. Bush. Just try to find a few of our Army helicopters and send them there. Pretend the people of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast are near Tikrit.
Yours,

Michael MooreMMFlint@aol.com www.MichaelMoore.com

P.S. That annoying mother, Cindy Sheehan, is no longer at your ranch. She and dozens of other relatives of the Iraqi War dead are now driving across the country, stopping in many cities along the way. Maybe you can catch up with them before they get to DC on September 21st.

Lack of Identity

2005-09-08T16:19:00.000-07:00

I was reading Chanads "Just Say No to Public Bumlicking" and as I was reading the comments I noticed one anonymous dude who said

"I dont know wich bahraini homes youve visited but ive seen quite a few who proudly display picture of the qeyada… its called patriotism
this article is exactly whats wrong with the arab world today… no solidarity no feeling of unity"

blablabla

well what a coincidence, in my last "politics in the Middle East" class we were discussing lack of identity in the Middle East. The conclusion I reached from that class is that in some countries in the Middle East the problem is that the government treats a certain part of the population as outsiders, making them feel like they do not belong in that country. And to stop opposition they accuse those same people of being unpatriotic. The prof. gave examples of Iraq and Turkey.

How do governments make certain people into "the other", well 2 examples would be: 1) They favour other groups of citizens 2) through Education.

About Bahrain, well you cant really say that Shiites are treated equally with other Bahraini citizens. And how much do school books tell us about shiites?? The government is the one excluding the shiites from being part of the country. And then when people demand their rights, suddenly they are not patriotic!

The so-called king of Bahrain needs to know that if he wants Shiite Bahrainis to be "patriotic" he needs to treat them like citizens!

100% happy?

2005-09-06T15:04:00.000-07:00

There was a picnic downtown last week. It was celebrating the beginning of the semester here at Beloit College in Wisconsin. This is the college I will be spending my next two years in and graduating from.

After I started eating my sandwich (filled with lettuce andpickles) I realized that it was a very nice sunny day. There was live music and everybody was happy and dancing. Afterall, why not be happy, right? WRONG, I found myself sitting there and wondering... at this very moment how are other people around the world. Specifically how are Iraqis living? and Palestinians, what are they thinking about. Can one be 100% happy when there is all this injustice in the world?

I talked to a friend of mine who said "we should celebrate the present and not think about the past"... yes even if the past included an original sin. Lets say, killing Native Americans and taking their land. I gave her that, but argued that even if u want to forget about the past, can u ignore the present?? You are paying taxes to a government who is causing pain to so many. ANd her answer was " As long as I am happy and comfortable I have no reason to think about any1 else". For her that was a very normal thing to say. For me.... it was an explosion. It had never occured to me that some people, after they find out the truth, they would simply not care. They are happy, that is what matters.

In my English class today we read a short story that is really powerful, about a perfect society. However this perfect society has a little child imprisoned in a little room, and this child is what all their happiness depends on. It would make them sad, but eventually they would accept it and realize how lucky they are. The ending presents the reader with two choices: accepting or leaving this "perfect" society. My choice would be.. none of the above. My responsibility would be to help that child. It is the responsibility of every citizen in this society, for that child is the innocent prisoners at Guantanamo, and the innocent Iraqis who are suffering, that child is every Palestinian.

I would recommend this short story to everyone, it really is something that will make you think. I will post the title and author of the story later...

An Intervention Presented to a seminar at the House of Lords - UK

2005-08-30T12:46:00.000-07:00

An Intervention Presented to a seminar at the House of Lords - UK
By: Abdulhadi Alkhawaja
President of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights
London 25 August 2005

Assalam Alaykum and Good morning

All of us may know that as a result off internal unrest and external pressure, Bahrain has witnessed positive changes 1n 2000/2001. However, events took a different direction after the voting on the National Charter, the declaration of the new ruler as a king, and securing closer relation between the regime and the US administration.

In the past three years, human rights conditions has been deteriorating, both in laws and in practice, and at the different aspects of human rights: civil, political, economic and social. Recent reports issued by the US State department, Crises Group International, and many national and international NGO’s illustrate the setback.

During the last three years, the people in Bahrain have experienced the deference between true and false hope. For true hope is based on knowledge supported by struggle and hard work, while false hope is built on promises and depending on the kindness of others.

Five years ago, Bahrain people thought that heavens had sent them a savior. Many of us had put their trust in him and voted to make him a king, but we found out that, in real life you may not rely on miracles and other people good intentions.

The people of Bahrain woke up from the sweet dream to find out that the new ruler has been working cleverly to maintain absolute power but in the form of constitutional monarchy. He has been also working in secrecy for ten years to accomplish demographic changes by granting citizenship to thousands of tribal Arabs brought from other countries to serve in the military and security.

He has also acquired for himself and for members of his family, as private property, all public lands and the lands to be reclaimed from the see. In the last five years members of the royal family became more rich and acquired more influence on political and economic life.

On the other hand, discrimination, corruption have been mounting. While more than half of the people are suffering from unemployment, underpayment, poor housing conditions, at the time of growing oil revenues.

It was a shock when the special military forces, build by the king himself, and supervised by the Crown prince, savagely assaulted peaceful demonstrators who were demanding jobs, that’s we understand, to send a clear message to all the people to point out who is in control, and to declare the end of the transition period, as his father did in 1975 when he declared an end to short period of democratic life after independence.

So no wonder, the hastiness of the King last month in approving the restrictive low on political societies in two days, despite appeals by civil societies and society figures. Many people expect the king is going to approve many other restrictive lows in the coming few months such as the law on gatherings and demonstrations and the law against terrorism.

All of that has been happening with blessing of a rubberstamp parliament, and under the eyes of the press which is either state controlled or partially free but self censored, and in the existence of week civil and political societies.

As for the international role, there has been a lot to learn about hypocrisy and double standards of the western governments. They work hard for political changes in the countries that are governed by regime hostile to their influence and interests, but when the regime is an ally like in Bahrain, stability of the regime is of more importance than reforms, strategic interests replaces real democratization, and economic globalization lead political reforms.
So, no wonder that the US has approved the cosmetic fake democracy in Bahrain and present it as a model for the region.

The UN bodies and procedures are International nongovernmental organizations, were more supportive and are more credible when it comes to standards and morals, but their role is still off minor affect. They act only in urgencies, and when selecting there priorities in countries and issues they are influenced by states policies and funding, there were Bahrain become misfortunate.

However, and despite all the setbacks, there are great space for optimism. The main ground for that is the well and potential power of the people. For in Bahrain, the power and the will of thy people brought about the current intention for reforms, and that power will be a main factor in the future. And the story of the Bahrain Center for human rights is related to that factor.

As you may know, the Bahrain Center for human Rights was closed by the authorities in September 2004, for organizing activities and issuing reports in issues which were considered as taboo, namely privileges enjoyed by members of the ruling tribe, discrimination, and poverty related to mismanagement and corruption. But what happened since the closure of the center one year ago?

Every body now is talking about discrimination and corruption. Poverty, unemployment, housing is on the top of the political agenda.

As a result of the strategy adopted by the Center to empower the people, specially the disadvantaged and the vulnerable groups, Groups that were established as a part of the Center, have become independent societies and committees. Such as the Society for Migrant Workers, the Committee for Persons Deprived of Citizenship and the Bahrain Youth for Human Rights. All in addition to the Committee for Victims of Torture which was established by the center as an independent group three years ago.

In regard to the center strategy to promote economic and social rights, the unemployed were assisted by the Center to form there own organization, which has in few months become one of the most active actors on the issue, despite the aggressiveness and restrictions by the authorities. On the other hand, families suffering poor housing were also assisted by the center to start a popular protest movement which has been growing and active in the last few weeks.

On top of that, the closure of the Bahrain Center for human rights did not stop the center from issuing reports and statements in deferent issues an participating in regional and international conferences including the meetings of the committee against torture and the committee on racial discrimination. It is worth noting that both International committees questioned the official delegation on the closure of the center and recommended to insure the safety of its members.

In conclusion,

I would say that Bahrain is in a bottle neck, either it will returns inside the bottle with some cosmetics and more tensions and violations, or come out of the bottle to the democratic free world. We are working on the latter, despite difficulties, for we now that the expenses of the first is damaging.

Thank you for your patience, and allow me to specially thank Lord Eric Avebury, not only for hosting this seminar, but for his struggle for human rights in Bahrain and other countries around the globe.

Thank You.

A VICTORY FOR BAHRAIN IN UK

2005-08-25T18:32:00.000-07:00

Today the topic in the house of lords in Britain was Bahrain. Although the Bahraini government tried to prevent this occasion it did happen and it proved to be very succesful.

A number of Bahraini human rights activists gave speeches on the deterioration of human rights in Bahrain and a video of one of the demonstrations was shown.

I would like to thank all the people who work hard to get our voice heard everywhere. And I would like to thank Lord Avebury who has been working with us and others for human rights for so long.

For those of you who speak arabic, this was broadcasted in AlJazeera news. Abdulla Hashim, trying to speak for the government, made some very weak accusations. Making it seem like Bahrain is a democracy and the people who are demonstarting peacefully are the ones who are aginst it.

Congrats to all the Bahrainis, we will make it one step at a time.

Ashamed? Yes I am!!

2005-08-25T16:27:00.000-07:00

As I was sitting in the bus I noticed a black man comming towards me. He sat next to me and I could tell he wanted to talk. I waited until...

Man: Hello, are you form Egypt?
Me: No I am from Bahrain. (with pride)
Man: Bahrain?? How are Asian and Indian maids treated there?
Me: emmm... (looking down and ashmed) well, honestly... bad.
Man: What do you mean by bad?
Me: (I thought of Anita Verma whom I had met personally) I mean bad as in neo-slavery. They have no rights and no laws to protect those rights. If the family is good then they are lucky. Otherwise, which is more common, they overwork for very low wages, and sometimes dont get paid at all. Also they get raped and have noway to protect themselves. On top of all that the family keeps their passports so they cannot go back to their countries without the families consent. Many commit suicide, I could go on and on.
Man: (giving me a bad look) Why do you treat them like that?
Me: Well, racism. I guess many people are born and raised treating Indians and other nationalities as an inferior race. They grow up believing it.

I love my country Bahrain and I love my people as well. But when it comes to this issue, I am ashamed. I wish I could have told that man that racism comes only from the upper class and not the average poor Bahraini. But I know that would be a lie.

Some PLUS students here criticize me for the negative things I say about my country when it comes to this issue and the the government. They say we are here in the States to give the best picture possible of our countries. However, I know that as a muslim it is my job to speak up when I see something wrong. We cannot cry for our democracy and turn around and abuse other people.

I would like to mention that not all Bahrainis are racist ofcourse. Many Bharainis work for the rights of Migrant workers. But in Bahraini society it has become something very normal to treat others with disrespect because of their origin.

Bush lied, People died!!

2005-08-20T00:46:00.000-07:00

"Bush Lied... People Died... Cindy Sheehan wants to know why!!"

This is what the demonstrators in Portland where chanting as they walked downton. Me and Lamya went for a last walk around Pioneer square, when we saw a group of people standing with posters. Now this is the first time I have seen a demonstration since I got here that isn't about abortion, I was impressed.

I must admit they were not a large number, about 25-30, however they were really strong and they also knew alot. The guy speaking was talking about the Palestinian issue as well, and he was telling people that "we are seeing the Israelis crying as they are being pulled out of their houses, by unarmed soldiers. The Palestinians were given two minutes to leave their houses before it was bulldozed on their heads, But we did not see that!!"

Then People started shouting at the top of their lungs "Israel out of Palestine... END THE OCCUPATION!" I must tell you that by this time me and Lamya were really happy. We kept reminding each other to stop smiling because this was a serious issue. But there was a reason we were smiling. Because we are both here to try to make people understand, and here we saw this group of people, who not only understand very well what is happening, but are also doing something about it.

This old man was one of the protesters. Other than the banner he is holding in his hand, he had two hanging from his neck. One on his back and the other on his chest. When he saw us he called us and said "Don't be afraid, always speak up, because there still is something good about America. Everyone has the right to speak." Then he went on and said "Tell your people there are Americans who know"

Goodbye L&C

2005-08-17T15:08:00.000-07:00

This is my friendship family.

Lamya (Yemen), Me (Bahrain), Benazir (India), Rama (Jordan), Adel (Syria),

Zoubida (Morocco), Adla (Jordan), Bilal (Morocco), Priyanka (India)

These are all the PLUS students at Lewis and Clark this summer. It was interesting because during this summer we interacted much more with students coming from different parts of the world then with Americans. We all take pretty much the same classes and we live in the same dorm. So we ended up learning a lot about different countries and cultures. It has been very interesting.

Now, that we have finished this summer orientation, we will all move to new universities but this time its the real thing. It will be very interesting and a big challenge, but I must say that this orientation really taught me a lot and gave me a wider perspective on many things.This does not mean that we did not meet many Americans, one of the classes we took in this summer session was a normal summer class where we had the chance to interact with others. The class I chose was American Foreign Policy, and it was great. Great discussions and I learnt a lot.

Another thing is that we all have friendship families, and my friendship family was a sweet couple, Becky and Roger Warren. They took me to the zoo on a picnic and we went hiking, and I really enjoyed my time with them. We had great discussions and I was really lucky to meet them.

I will miss downtown shopping with my friends, and meeting new people. Nothing is better than going to the Italian restaurant and then getting lost downtown.

In two days it will be goodbye to Portland Oregon but along with my two bags I will be carrying many memories.

A Peoples History of the United States

2005-08-17T13:01:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone

I know I havn't posted anything lately, and as I mentioned in one of the comments the reason is I am moving from Oregon, and at the moment I am packing...

The reason I am moving is because this is how our scholarship works, we take an orientation in the summer at one college and then we move to another college for the two years and graduate there. This is so that we get exposed to different parts of the US.

I have started reading a book that I have very high expectations of, the reason being.... that I really liked the first chapter. But... one should never judge a book by the cover, or the first chapter that is. Anyway the title of the book is "A Peoples History of the Unite States" by Howard Zinn.

The author talks about the intention of this book, and I quote:

"And in such a world of conflict, a world of victims and executioners, it is the job of the thinking people, as Albert Camus suggested, not to be on the side of the executioner."

I thought that was brilliant.

Zinn goes on to explain that he is not writing this book "to grieve for the victims" but to be "skeptical of governments and their attempts through politics and culture, to ensnare ordinary people in a giant web of nationhood pretending to a common interest."

There are many things in what I have read so far that are very interesting and I think I will write at least a couple of posts on the issues that are discussed.

Take care every1

Operation Iraqi Liberation (OIL)

2005-08-08T02:30:00.000-07:00

Is America in Iraq for Oil...?? Or Freedom and Democracy??

Although in our countries there isn't much doubt in peoples minds about this question, I was surprised that there are many Americans who would disagree and would tell you that it is about freedom.

One of those people commented on one of my postings and said :

"it's more about helping our fellow human beings in the Middle East achieve freedom so they will no longer feel helpless and turn to terrorism to gain a sense of control over their lives."

Is it just me or does there seem to be a big misunderstanding..? I actually loose sleep at night over this topic. Some Arabs would say that they are not only against the American government but also the American people for voting for Bush. They say that logicaly since many Americans vote for Bush then they like what Bush is doing to us. Well this comment that I quoted earlier should make us realize why some Americans do vote for Bush and they think they are actually doing something good for humanity by doing so.

The American governmant realizes that although many Americans have little knowledge of the world around them they still have an approach of deeply held principles and values. And therefore if they are to be convinced of something these principles must be brought forth. Afterall who would say no to helping other people gain liberty, especially if it means they would stop being terrorists. And who would say no to fighting "the axis of evil". If that was what I knew on the issue I would support Bush as well.

To some Americans this is a reality, why?? Because of the media . I read something in a book the other day which said that among FOX viewers greater attention to news increased the liklihood of misperceptions. ANd then it stated that FOX news emerged from the war as the most popular cable news network.

This might get you depressed, however there is hope. Because once people start realizing the truth, they oppose their governments actions. That is actually happening now, support for the invasion has inflated when Americans realized that 1) there is no link between Saddam and Alqaeda, 2) There were no Weapons of Mass destruction and 3) that global public opinion is not on their side.

These realizations have been made too late and its not even full realization of the situation but this is not surprising especially that in recent years the American gov. has abolished many rules designed to foster diversity in the media. SO now the news media is limited to a few national networks.

The solution is simple and very clear to me, if Americans were more "informed" and knew what was actually happening, they themselves would oppose it. However, according to Hook, the largest group of the American population, the Mass Public, are not informed and not interested in foreign policy and therefore have little impact.

(It is worth noting that there are many Americans who are informed and do oppose Bush, some are more anti-American foreign policy than some arabs I have met)

Who is to blame??

2005-08-08T02:02:00.000-07:00

In one of my last postings "Make-up and Hunger" (July 20th, 2005) I got a comment from Blewyn. Part of this comment was:

"what has the western economy got to do with governments whose people starve ? Apart from the cash-crop issue, whose place is it to feed these people but themselves, ie their own governments ? "

I found this question very interesting and I thought the answer is important enough for a new posting.

What has this got to do with western governments... well isn't it obvious??? My answer to you, my friend, is colonialism and neo-colionialism. You may ask why I say this, to answer that question I would like to quote:

"Even when the developing countries work harder it is of little use; the structure of the international economy is biased against them and keeps them in a subordinate position as suppliers of cheap raw materials for the rich Western states and as consumers of their finished products. The developing world seems condemned to poverty and to continuing political weakness. (...) They remain chained economically to the Western industrialized economies, unable to grow in their own rights. Indeed their status ramains neocolonial because their economies are geared not to the needs of their own markets but to those of the developed countries markets"

These are not my words, but the words of Steven W. Hook and John Spanier, in their book "American Foreign Policy Since World War II". So you see the suffering of many poor countries is the result of either direct colonialism or todays neo-colonialism, or most of the times... both.

UnEmPlOyMeNt

2005-08-08T00:34:00.000-07:00

My sister Batool writing about her experience:

Yesterday I had one of the most heartbreaking experiences in my life. It started with a tour within the villages of Bahrain where we saw the effects of poverty everywhere. We then visited a house in AlDuraz where we had permission to go in and look around. One of the sons was showing us around and as soon as I stepped in I was devastated. The place was simply falling apart and it was merely a few rooms held together by an outer fence.

As we stepped in he told us that there were mice everywhere, and that the mice were eating everything. He also showed us this small shack where they usually stay during the winter because it tends to be a bit warmer. As we walked through the place we were told that the place was rented, and that everything in the house from cupboards to the refrigerator were all charity from people who had seen the house.

We also got to see the father who worked as a fisherman. He was telling us how he wanted to build a new house for his family but they simply had no money to build it. We then asked the son where he worked. He answered “I’ve been through many jobs but I’m currently unemployed”. In his last job he worked at a cleaning company from 2 in the morning till 11 at night. As I stood there figuring out the math, I was shocked beyond belief.

I said to myself that surely a person so overworked would at least have a good salary?? Well, I was wrong. His salary was a mere 150 BD. And what’s worse is that with all his hard work, he finally got fired for unknown reasons. I left that house with a sinking feeling. Why should anyone… Anyone… Have to live like that?? I have to say that I was proud of the people that lived in that house, because many people, if forced to live in those conditions, would have other (illegal maybe?) ways to deal with it. And yet this young man, as we left, held his head up high, smiled, and bid us farewell.

My TrEaSuRe: My FaMiLy

2005-07-29T18:59:00.000-07:00

Mama, Baba, Fatima, Maryam, Lula and Waffooy.... I miss you.

In the words of Siavash (In his song, Deltangi):

"khayli vakteh ke delam, baraye to tang shoda, qalbam az dooriya tu, badjouri diltang shoudeh"

tHe ChOsEn PeOpLe ??

2005-07-28T21:50:00.000-07:00

Since I have come to America I have discovered something very disturbing about American beliefs. Not the belief of all Americans, but a belief of many. Alot of times when I get into discussions about American foreign policy with people, I expect that they see me as an equal. I discuss everything with them and it has disturbed me how in the end they would say this one comment. We would talk about Bush and I would try to explain how he is not in Iraq for democracy but for OIL. When I back up my opinions with facts, they would finally just say "Well you arabs dont believe in Democracy and freedom".

This happened today at a picnic for PLUS students and their freindship families. Us people, we just like being controlled and having someone on the top. A prof. had actually said that in class to us... that in some cultures democracy is not accepted, even the people who are being abused accept it and want it. This, they think, makes them special. It is the people of the democratic world who want freedom, and therefore they are special. The city on a hill.

The city on a hill.... sigh. Making everyone else lesser beings. Even animals know what freedom is, but us arabs we dont. When you try to explain to these people that America plays a big role in preventing us from our freedom, they proudly say they dont know much about that. The man went on to say that "Bush is a good guy because he thinks EVEN arabs are born with the want of freedom, but Bush is trying to draw an optimistic picture of arabs and muslims."

I see myself as a strong person and I have read and know enough to reply to his accusation. However what he said was like the sky falling on my head and I had to leave for awhile. I left him to talk to Lamya and tried to relax. As I came back I heard him saying to Lamya, "Please I want to ask you guys to treat Christians in your country better, dont behead them just because they are Christians".

I have never had ignorance and arrogance stare me in the face so bluntly!

Sometimes it is really hard to be a dreamer, just feels like there is so little hope.

Make-up and Hunger

2005-07-20T22:57:00.000-07:00

Are you one of those people who think the big problems in the world are impossible to solve. Problems like hunger for example. Well take a look at this:

Annually $18 billion is spent on Makeup, $12 billion is needed to have reproductive health care for all women!!!

$17 billion is spent on pet food in Europe and the US, $19 billion is needed for the elimination of hunger and malnutrition!!!

$15 billion is spent on perfumes, and $5 billion is needed to achieve universal literacy!!!!

$14 billion is spent on ocean cruises, only $10 needed to supply clean drinking water for all!!!

Finally $11 Billion is spent on Ice cream in Europe, only $1.3 billion is needed to immunize every child in the world!!!

I got this information from a book titled "State of the World" by the Worldwatch Institute.

CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS???

Isn't it sad that so much is spent on luxury items, while there are so many problems in the world.

Can you see how easily so many of these problems can be solved. All these luxury items are not vital. Theoreticaly if all women decided not to wear make up for a year they could solve the hunger and malnutrition problems.

It is important to note here also that the people using these luxury items live mostly in countries who have abused and stolen from others. America and Europe are imperialists who steal other countries natural resources, and can therefore afford these things. Therefore the problems in our part of the world are direct results of their actions. So unequal division of economic prosperity is not something natural, it is the result of imperialism!!

YeMeN

2005-07-20T13:16:00.000-07:00

Today 13 people died in Yemen in demonstrations because of the rise in the oil prices. 13 people, simply shot dead. One of these people is a 12 year old boy. The government claims that these people are creating unrest and are being unconstitutional and they were shooting at the police. Why then are there no police dead??? Why are all the 12 who died citizens. If they are islamic findamentalists who are being violent, why then did a 12 year old boy die.

These arab governments all work in the same way, and they have learned form the biggest liar. Yes.... BUSH! They do whatever they want and then cover it up and flip the whole story around. Killing poor people who are simply demanding their rights, and then talking about laws and the constitution.

To hell with you and your fake constitutions!!!!

Check my Yemeni friends blog.... where she writes about this in more detail.

The Oregonian

2005-07-20T00:12:00.000-07:00

"Classroom with a World View" an article in the Oregonian

Check it out.....

Any good American is UnAmerican??

2005-07-19T23:28:00.000-07:00

In their book "American Foreign Policy Since World War II" Hook and Spanier state that America reacts to foreign threats in two different ways. The first is external and it is the destruction of the enemy. The second however is internal, and that is violating civil liberties.

One way of doing that is labeling people. In the cold war, people who spoke against the American actions were accused of being Communists. Now Americans who are against US occupation of Iraq are labelled Unamericans. This makes it much harder for people to oppose the government. One example of this is Senator Dick Durbin who spoke out against what is happening in Guantanamo and said it reminded him of the Gulags. His comments were similar to those made by Amnesty International earlier. Dick Durbin was seen as a traitor to his country for making this statement, and after some days he was forced to apologize to America. To say the least, this method limits freedom of speech.

This topic reminds me of my professor in Bahrain, Colin. It reminds me of a song he used to play in his office. A song he sent me right before I came to the States. This song, by Ian Rhett, is about being labelled an Unamerican. I must warn you though it is addictive, once you play it, you will never stop. Click here for the song.

BaHrAiN

2005-07-19T22:49:00.000-07:00

My roots,
My roots are so deep into this land,
so intertwined into the soil.
Leaving this soil would mean instant death
the instant death of my soul
for Bahrain is my soul
but,
as long as i believe in Bahrain
and I believe in the survival of its palm trees
in the strength of their roots
I will always be alive
and Bahrain
Bahrain will always be my pearl

2005-07-16T01:14:00.000-07:00

WE WILL FIGHT FOR OUR FREEDOM!!

All my respect and admiration for the fighters of freedom in Bahrain

2005-07-16T00:30:00.000-07:00

Friday, the 15th of July 2005. Fighters of freedom in Bahrain you will be remembered and let it be known to the world how honorable the Bahraini people are. As I sit here in America it burns my heart to see the pictures of my father beaten up by the riot police, but my chest is filled with pride. Not just because my father has dedicated his life to human rights but because of the Bahraini people.

Like any dictatorship, Bahrain is a land where the people are stepped on by the government. Although a country of oil and other natural resources Bahrainis suffer from poverty. Furthermore, they have no freedoms, speaking about your rights could mean risking everything.

Yet these Bahraini heroes choose to go out and join peaceful demonstrations. Where they demand their rights to have jobs, and to earn a decent living. Simply the right to speak up. In one word they demand their freedom. These people could sit in their homes and accept their bad fortune, or they could be violent. But they choose the peaceful solution, and they are patient.

With this determination and patience Bahrain will be free someday. The government will be overthrown. And even the American government will be slapped in the face for supporting such a tyranny. That day will come because nothing in the world is stronger than "the people".

Nothing in the world is stronger than people who are fighting for their rights. That is why my people will prevail, and the Alkhalifa government will fall.

I want to thank all those Bahrainis who sacrifice for the freedom of our beloved country, and I wish I could be with you.

iRaQ iS aRaBiC 4 ViEtNaM!!

2005-07-12T01:33:00.000-07:00

Reading about Vietnam for my midterm and pausing after every couple of sentences just to remind myself that I am reading about Vietnam and not Iraq. Thousands of Americans dead for a war that McNamara says was not necessary, in a country that was not fighting the fight of communism but nationalism. Fighting Ho, who thought of Jefferson as an idol. Any American can see how wrong that war was, and how immoral it was. But the dead will not come back.

More important are the victims of those thousands of American soldiers. Well, the victim of the American government. Yes, the millions of Vietnamese. 3 million Vietnamese died in an "Unnecessary war", that had no effect on the security of the United States. Yes these are numbers, but close your eyes and imagine just one scene in the vietnam war, think of one family who lost a father. If you are an American and cannot sympathize with a vietnamese, well think of an American family who lost a father.

The point is, is there anything we can do now?? The americans who died were sacrificed for a cause that was not just, and they had trusted their government. The vietnamese on the other hand died because of the brutal and imperialistic American foreign policy. However, couldn't one learn a lesson from the first Vietnam, to end the second one. The American people having gone through the first Vietnam war should have prevented a second one. After all, didn't the American people decide that the president had had too much power and lead an immoral war. Didn't they sign the War Powers Act in 1973. However, unfortunely, many fell in the same trap. And trusted a greedy government out of fear, a government that is willing to abuse its own people let alone people overseas. This historical amnesia Americans have must be cured or everyone will suffer.

Wasn't one Vietnam enough?? How many Americans and Iraqis have to die before Americans start chanting once again "NO MORE VIETNAM!"

Friends

2005-07-09T04:16:00.000-07:00

Sometimes when you feel isolated, when u feel like you are screaming but nobody can hear your cries. When everything seems hopeless, you find a friend. Someone who knows exactly how you feel, simply because they feel the same way too.

LiGhT

2005-07-09T03:31:00.000-07:00

The world is gloomy, it is dark.

The sun shines, and the moon is radiant, but they cannot overcome the evil in this world. They look down and see a child looking up. Looking up with eyes wide open. Asking, why??

Why do people kill?
Why do they lie?
WHy do people starve?
Why do they die?

The sun keeps shining and the moon does too.

They shine. Yet, it is dark.

I can curse the dark...
But no,

I will light a candle.