the guerilla

The challenge for Pakistan

2009-04-27T14:02:00.004+01:00

Pakistan

’s tumultuous relationship with the West has put the country at the forefront of the so called War on Terror. With violence flaring in the North West Frontier province and the recent attacks on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore, many analysts are predicting Pakistan’s future as a failed state.

Since former President Musharraf signed up to America’s so called “War on Terror” the country has been spiralling out of control. The violence in Afghanistan has spread south of the border into Pakistan. The Pakistani military, once respected and admired by Pakistanis, is now engaged in a war against its own citizens, that has resulted in large civilian casualties and thousands of internally displaced refugees from the Bajour Agency ,in the North West Frontier Province, and neighbouring regions.

When the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979 thousands of students from religious schools in and around Pakistan and Afghanistan were encouraged to take part in ‘jihad’ against the Russian occupation. These mujahedeen fighters were trained and financed by both the Americans and the Pakistani military to fight off a common enemy. After the withdrawal of the Russian troops however the mujahedeen fighters turned on each other, and a bloody civil war ended with the Taliban taking control of Afghanistan

Let us think outside the paradigm of the so called war on terror, outside the common narrative that we have just read above. What is really taking place?

War on Terror

The so-called “Pakistani Taliban” have been mounting attacks not only against the Pakistani military but also against ordinary people living in the region. If you ask people in Pakistan including in the provincial capital of the North West Frontier Province, Peshawer, people tell you “these militants are not Taliban”. There is the belief in Pakistan that the so called Pakistani Taliban have no links to the Taliban in Afghanistan. This is in fact supported by a statement from the Afghan Taliban that the so called Pakistani Taliban have nothing to do with them. The ‘militants’ in Pakistan seem to be jumping on the Taliban brand name to gain both religious and political legtimacy. They are well funded, well equipped and trained well enough to battle the Pakistani army.

Possible Balkanisation?

Professor Michel Chossudovsky, director of the centre for research on Globalisation, recently wrote in his article the destabilasation of Pakistan, “Washington's foreign policy course is to actively promote the political fragmentation and Balkanization of Pakistan as a nation” along ethnic lines. Pakistan faces the breakup of itself as a nation, which could lead to an independent Pashtunistan, made up of the NWFP and border regions and also independence for Baluchistan. Pakistan would be left with just the states of Punjab and Sindh.

Far fetched? Well not if you consider the strategic location of Pakistan in the light of American and Chinese interests. China has recently signed a deal to develop the port of Gawadar in Baluchistan; this will be the largest Chinese construction investment outside of China. Chinese access to the Indian Ocean is making both India and the United States uneasy. While America does not want China anywhere near the Straits of Hormuz. India has had a continuous military rivalry with Pakistan, and the presence of China, a close military ally of Pakistan, could be seen as a potential threat to India.

Pakistani Government

The Pakistani government, currently led by the Pakistan Peoples Party, has lurched from one embarrassing incident to another after the end of President Musharraf’s rule in 2008. Apparent splits in the government began to emerge after the attacks in Mumbai in November 2008, with conflicting reports being given regarding the nationality of one of the alleged terrorists. This culminated in the sacking of the National Security Advisor, Mahmud Ali Durrani, by Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani.

However the biggest embarrassment to Pakistan and its people was when the Hilal-i-Quaid-I-Azam was conferred on Richard Boucher, US assistant secretary of State for central and South Asian affairs, by President Asif Ali Zardari for his ‘services to Pakistan’. Zardari has shown he is reluctant to break with the same governments that had favoured Musharraf. He has ignored the will of the Pakistani people and their anger at the war in Afghanistan and the consequences it has for Pakistan. US drone attacks and US troops carrying out operations on Pakistani soil which have resulted in huge civilian casualties have been met not with protest, but with the awarding of Pakistan’s highest civilian award to Boucher. The award was met with shock and criticism by politicians and media alike.

The latest crisis to grip Pakistan’s beleaguered government has just ended in a significant climbdown for President Asif Ali Zardari. The crisis began when the Supreme Court barred opposition leader, Nawaz Sharif, and his brother, Shahbaz, from elected office. The government of Pakistan’s most populous state, Punjab, led by Shabaz was duly dismissed. Sharif then threw his weight into the lawyers’ movement that has been active for the past two years following the sacking of the Chief Justice, Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry. Despite a government clampdown on protestors and attempts to place Sharif under house arrest, the protest gathered strength and thousands of supporters, determined to take their grievances to Islamabad. Zardari’s crackdown even went as far as to shut down independent news channels, which lead to the resignation of the Information Minister, Sherry Rehman. In the face of this Zardari was forced to step down, and to reinstate Chaudhry and other judges sacked by Musharraf. He was also forced to order the release of the political activists who have been arrested over the past week. People have been drawing parallels with Musharraf’s rule and have taken to the streets to demand change, and in doing so, they have shaken Zardari’s government.

Regardless of the incompetence and corruption of the government and the emerging threat from ‘militants’ and any future American plans for Pakistan, the Pakistani people seem to be holding together. On the streets of Pakistan, from Lahore to Islamabad, from Karachi to Peshawar, people seem to be in a defiant mood, and have no appetite for a fragmented nation.

On the busy streets of Peshawar lies a memorial for those that fought the British in the early 20^th century. The same people will fight any occupier or any one that wills Pakistan harm. The Pakistani people are strong and will fight intellectually, verbally and if need be physically to defend their country against any oppressor. However, Pakistan’s biggest threat may come from within.

Continued Breakup Of Two Of Greenland's Largest Glaciers Shown In Satellite Images

2008-08-24T21:25:00.001+01:00

Researchers monitoring daily satellite images of Greenland’s glaciers have discovered break-ups at two of the largest glaciers in the last month.

Read the rest of the article here

Washington's Hypocrisy

2008-08-19T14:41:00.002+01:00

The U.S. administration is trying to stick the label of "bad guy" on Russia for exceeding the peacekeeping mandate and using "disproportionate force" in the peace-enforcement operation in Georgia.

War in Georgia: The Israeli connection

2008-08-17T02:27:00.002+01:00

The Georgians received Israeli weapons and training. The Georgian Defence Minister is an Israeli. What is going on in the Caucasus?

How far will America go to start a war?

2008-08-06T01:11:00.002+01:00

Rage: What will it take to make this generation passionate about change?

2008-07-01T02:36:00.002+01:00

When it wells up from deep inside you, it is immediate, compelling, real. It is the only emotion strong enough to start a war – or stop one. Rage can change laws, take down corporations and topple governments.

Rage drives revolutions.

In the sixties, black America raised its fist and refused to take any more abuse from white society. In the seventies, women turned the age-old masculine order on its head. In the eighties, environmentalists mobilized en masse against the death of nature. But what about today? What is this generation up to? Is there any fire burning inside their guts?

At the Battle in Seattle, I asked people, “Why are you here?”
The answers ranged from Buddhist homilies to anarchist rants. But one man said something I’ll never forget: “Ever since I was a baby, crawling around the TV, I’ve been lied to. I’ve been propagandized. I’ve been told all my life that I’ll be happy if I buy stuff and worship the cool. Now I feel diminished, warped. I’m a pale version of what I could have been. I’ve been mindfucked. And now it’s payback time.”

Three generations have now been raised not as a part of the natural world – like the 30,000 generations before – but in a synthetic reality. A reality defined by advertising, media and consumer-driven culture. These generations have been hyped, suckered, aroused, thrilled – their fears, needs and desires manipulated in the most grotesque ways. Capitalist hype is the music of their anxiety, the gray noise of their depression, the muzak of their despair.

Now, finally, a rage is beginning to stir deep within. And out of this discordant rage, the movement of our information age will be born.

Source: Adbusters

Palestine Latest

2008-02-29T01:09:00.002Z

An Israeli air strike on Gaza has resulted in the death of 27 Palestinians including four youths. This takes place a day after a six month old child was killed by shrapnel while in bed with his parents.

The youths killed aged between 10 and 15 were playing football at the time of the attack.
The BBC’s main headline is of Prince Harry not of the Palestinian deaths. Under the Middle East section there is hardly a mention of the young child killed. There is clear bias in favor of the Israeli’s that runs through the BBC. As long as the western world is blind to the plight of the Palestinians and the Israeli war crimes, they will not be able to understand the roots of the conflict in the Middle East.

Palestine- The Sound of Reason

2008-02-15T12:18:00.002Z

How Rebellion Has Become a Mental Illness

2008-01-30T11:02:00.000Z

Big pharma has some new customers. Not complying with authority is now, in many cases, labeled a disease. Read article here

Iraq Veteran speaks out

2008-01-04T04:05:00.001Z

O Little Town of Bethlehem...

2007-12-24T19:31:00.000Z

Anti-capitalism resist

2007-10-28T11:38:00.000Z

The Guerilla team confronts Bill Rammell

2007-09-17T21:48:00.000+01:00

Last week the Minister for higher education Bill Rammell came to Staffordshire University on a low key visit in an attempt by the University management to persuade him – the government- to donate money for the proposed university quartet development.

The Guerilla team heard of the ministerial visit and headed down to the café where Bill Rammell was expected. Armed with a mobile phone and nothing else apart from our eagerness to confront him and ask some questions. We debated over what our first question should be, Chagos Islands, Free education or a number of other possibilities. We had no idea how much time we would have and whether or not he would even speak to us.

The University management had seen us sitting at the café, they seemed uneasy with our presence. They had heard about us previously as we had raised an issue of JCB investing in the University. JCB profits from the illegal occupation of Palestine, this would make it an un-ethical company, in our view.

As Mr. Rammell was socializing with the University management we slipped through the smiling, smartly dressed management, introduced ourselves and asked the first question. Immediately Rammell took a defensive pose. Earlier this year there was a report published in the Guardian revealing that the government wanted Lecturers and University staff to spy on Muslim and ‘Asian looking’ students, I asked about this and also added that it meant that this would inevitably mean people ‘like me’ and asked Mr. Rammell how he justified such infringements on academic and student freedoms. The minister denied he had said what the Guardian report had revealed adding it was “based on a report that did not see the light of day”. The University management tried to push us along and I had to remind them that they shouldn’t touch us, in a very nice and polite manner, of course.

I then asked that if there was no suggestion on spying then why the Lecturers Union would take a vote on the issue. His reply was that there can be “disagreement” between the government and lecturers sometimes. However this would not explain why they would take a vote, surely they had read the report issued by the government, and thought it was asking them to spy hence taking a vote on it at their annual conference. We were then told that the minister had to leave but before leaving he said he would be happy to discuss any issues with us at Westminster, on camera. Maybe we will pay him a visit.

The track record of Bill Rammell is well known, to the extent of him lying to defend the position of the government on the Chagossians’ returning to their islands in the Indian Ocean, even after the high court ruled that their removal was illegal. Rammell has supported the war in Iraq, then, at the same time, claiming there is no money available for a free education, forgetting the fact that billions of pounds are being spent on an illegal war.

Bill Rammell is not just a standard politician, he is a minister that has defended the indefensible, but not with facts, rather he has used lies and even undermined the democratic structures of this country to achieve the governments’ goal. This was the case after the high court ruling of 2000 in favor of the Chagossians’. Rammell sent an order-in-council to the queen which she approved that essentially meant that the high court ruling was overturned. Unfortunately we didn’t get a chance to ask him all that we had wanted, but maybe we will try to arrange a meeting with him, if he will see us.

9/11 - the big cover-up?

2007-09-14T23:44:00.000+01:00

Interesting points raised in the article. Follow the link or click here

Robert Fisk: Strange goings-on here in Lebanon

2007-09-06T00:00:00.000+01:00

I think something is going to go down round about September 13th. Those of us that are following the news, propaganda and listening to what the language the Americans are using can definitely feel like something is going to take place... soon. Anyway follow the link and read the article for yourself.

Saudis issue Fatwa against Asian Cup Champions

2007-07-30T23:17:00.000+01:00

In a response to their recent defeat at the hands of the Iraqi football team the scholars of Najd and the Saudi family have issued a fatwa against the Iraqis who are the Asian cup champions.

The Fatwa labels the Iraqi national team as infidels and legitimizes the use of foreign players – British and American – to be used in the Saudi national side. The Fatwa also states that the Iraqi national team should be defeated at all costs.

FIFA the football governing body has reacted to the fatwa by stating “foreign nationals cannot play for the Saudi team” and “FIFA does not recognize the Fatwa”. However the Saudi royal family has issued Saudi passports to British and American players making them Saudi nationals.

The American government said “We fully support our friends in the Middle East” and that the “Iraqi team is against our way of soccer”

‘Sheikh’ Beckham as he is now known in Saudi Arabia said “ I looks forward to battling against the Iraqis and I am proud to be liberating the Iraqi people from an unworthy team”

The Iraqi team in response said “We will remain united and defeat the outside threat”

Britain has accused Iran of training the Iraqi team but Iran denies all allegations stating that the Iraqi coach is Brazilian and that the ‘game’ was invented by the British.

FIFA refuse to sanction a rematch but America and Britain say they will go ahead regardless.

By Guevara Serapion

RAF scrambles to intercept Russian bombers

2007-07-20T22:47:00.000+01:00

I didn't hear this story from any of the main news networks. I wonder why? Maybe because of the British weather, or maybe because the government only want us to think that Muslims and women in burkhas are a threat as opposed to a nuclear power like Russia.

Mika Brzezinski of MNSBC rips Paris report

2007-06-30T21:25:00.000+01:00

Is this a thinking journalist?
When there are more pressing issues to be discussed does Paris Hilton constitute as a leading story?

Well done Mika!

Sign the Bamako petition!

2007-04-06T13:22:00.000+01:00

Watch the trailer of the film

Here is Danny Glover talking about the petition

I watched this film and it was very moving, my friend was crying at the end. This film is a must see for all activists, it is rich in content and amazingly put together. The executive producer is Danny Glover. Spread the word, email the link to your friends, colleagues and everybody else. Watch the film and sign the petition.

Dolphin Massacre in Japan

2007-03-17T10:19:00.000Z

glumbert.com - Dolphin massacre in Japan

Campaign for Real Beauty

2007-03-02T22:54:00.000Z

JUST A THOUGHT

2007-02-25T21:00:00.000Z

For a few weeks now I have been thinking about the position of people in Britain. What I mean to say is as British citizens, citizens of a democratic country, we seem to have the illusion of freedom of speech and thought but is it really freedom?

Our thoughts, speech and actions are affected by the environment around us, the television, media and this entire entertainment culture. If all we receive through our senses is controlled, the definition of words are decided by people we don’t know and we are left to work around such definitions, the visual environment is filled with size zero pieces of flesh and clean cut actors, in what way does all this affect our thoughts, decisions and actions?

I hope you are still with me as I try to explain this mental maze in which I have been engrossed in for the past few weeks.

The definitions of terrorism and extremism have become synonymous with Muslims and Islam. One would be forgiven for thinking that the Muslims in this country were a dominate force if you were to believe the Rupert Murdoch press. In reality Muslims only make up approximately 2% of the population in Britain. The point I wish to make is, why any politician, Prime Minister or Home Secretary, would give a shit about the Muslims of this country. In the modern day war fare of politics where votes count, the politicians have Middle England to think about. Politicians could not care less about any minority. This is exactly why Muslims are being made a scapegoat for the disastrous errors in foreign policy, and an excuse to push through draconian laws.

Since the terror raids that took place in Alum Rock, Birmingham (which is 2 minutes from where I live) I have been thinking about the future of Muslims in Britain. The calls for integration and to embrace ‘Britishness’ (whatever that is) has turned the spot light on the Muslim community once again. I am not going to offer a solution but just say, that as long as the imperialist forces continue their quest for oil in the Middle East things will only get more difficult for Muslims here in Britain. Thanks to the Sun and other right wing voices we are being pushed to hate and despise Muslims. We are told to suspect Muslims; anyone of ‘them’ could be a threat, a terrorist. Fear the man with the beard and the women in the veil. This is the message being sent out; Noam Chomsky hits the nail on the head when he calls such actions ‘Manufacturing Consent’. We are told how to feel, who to feel it towards and thus the government steps in to put all our fears at ease, ninety days detention, ID cards, and anything else they can get through parliament.

The actions of this government are not reflective of the feelings of the British people. This was displayed at this weekend’s anti-war demonstration where up to a hundred thousand protesters came out to voice their opinions. But even here freedom of speech is restricted; you cannot use a megaphone within one mile of parliament. The people attending the demonstration are unique, in that they tend to read alternative news, think about the words coming out of the Prime Ministers mouth and generally are hostile to the modern age of a capitalist, consumer world.

If I am to take my university as an example the students there are more concerned with nights out and cheap drinks rather than showing concern for global poverty, injustices or environmental terrorism. Is this a reflection of the education they are receiving or is it that the students are so engrossed in the system that they couldn’t see injustice until someone kicked their door down and killed their family members in front of their eyes. My faith is somewhat restored in the student species after talking to certain people on the coach, on our way to and from the demo who showed genuine concern about the state of our World. I hope they do something about it, standing up for truth doesn’t stop at attending a demonstration, we have a long way to go. In 1961 two students in Portugal raised a toast to freedom. They were imprisoned for seven years. British lawyer Peter Benenson was shocked by the events and he decided to write a letter to the Observer trying to rally support for the students. The response was massive and a committee was formed to organize the campaign, it grew into a world wide movement which is known today as Amnesty International. I believe we can make a difference.

By Michael Olson

I HAVE NO ENEMIES

2007-02-25T20:52:00.000Z

I put this poem on the blog last year, but i thought i would put it up again.

I HAVE NO ENEMIES

I have no human enemies

My enemy is the idle mind

The words that are repeated without thinking

The suppression of free thought

My enemy is the mind that cannot think for itself, that cannot see hypocrisy

The mind that cannot see oppression and tyranny

My enemy is the restriction of thought

My enemy is the mind that justifies wrongs, seeing good for themselves and for a certain group of people, Nationalism, Racism, Zionism

My enemy is the unspoken word, the words that wonder the mind, the words we dream of speaking but never have the courage to say

My enemy is silence in the face of tribulation

My enemy is laziness, inactiveness, idiocy, inanity, inaction and crimes against humanity

My enemy is ignorance

My enemy is words without action

My enemy is corrupt ideology, impiousness

I have no human enemies, just human diseases

by Guevara Serapion

American Troops in Iraq

2007-02-18T23:50:00.000Z

The real face of liberation.

BreakDown: Breaking The War on Terror Facade

2007-02-18T23:05:00.000Z

It has been a while since we have last posted, we have been extremely busy with trying to be good activists. We have been successful in some cases and unsuccessful in others. There has been a lot taking place from terror raids in our home city of Birmingham to the continued media onslaught on the Muslim community. We will be writing and putting stuff up on the blog soon, but mean while watch the videos we put up and leave us your feedback.

Stains

2007-01-15T18:38:00.000Z

Stains of bloody hands on a rusty gate

Broken iron bars remind me of broken dreams

Eyebrows of a goddess moving and scratching the sky

The sky bleeds stars and fallen angels

The smell of wet sand mixed with smashed roses enchants the scene

And there you are

Out of my deepest soul inquisitions

Staring at me with lust of wolves

While the trees play an old symphony of glory

The curtain falls down along with a mad sound of laughter

Time is frozen

And so is everything

By Moustapha Yassine, Lebanon 2006

US launches air strike in Somalia

2007-01-09T14:47:00.000Z

The US has carried out unilateral attacks using an AC-130 gunship on what it considers are al-Qaeda suspects in a village in southern Somalia on Monday night.

CNN, NBC and CBS first reported the military action. Citing Pentagon officials, CBS said the targets included the senior al-Qaeda leader in East Africa and an al-Qaeda operative wanted for his involvement in the 1998 bombings of the American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. AP
The Somalia’s interim Deputy Prime Minister Hussain Aideed, said concerning the raid that the US "have our full support for the attacks", the Associated Press news agency reported.

We can see the US has attacked another poor country in its global so called war on terror. Any government set up as an alternative or opposing Western intentions is soon labeled as terrorists and then subsequently attacked.

The UIC (Union of Islamic Courts) had bought law and order to many parts of Somalia after 15 years of lawlessness. The UIC also drove out War Lords that were over running Mogadishu, the war lords were supported by the interim government. The majority of people were happy with the rule of the UIC; the people of Somalia had suffered as a result of corrupt leaders supported by the interim government.

The American and Ethiopian backed interim government sought the aid of Ethiopian troops to fight out the UIC earlier this month. Ethiopian troops entered Somalia and used air strikes, tanks and Somalia’s government troops to drive out the UIC fighters from UIC controlled areas.
Though the UIC had been accused of links to Al-Qaeda, but its leader Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed was viewed as a moderate and was from an anti-fundamentalist Sufi group which belongs to the Ahl Sunnah wal jama'ah school of thought in Islam. This is opposed to the Saudi Wahabi school of thought that Al-Qaeda is linked to. The UIC had no proven links to Al-Qaeda, only that they opposed the American backed interim government. This seems to have been enough of a reason for the US to link the UIC to Al-Qaeda.

Actions such as the attack on Somalia can only increase bad feeling towards the US and heighten the risk of terrorism not diminish it. As the war on terror has now moved to the horn of Africa there seems to be no end to the unilateral actions that the US is prepared to take in its quest for world domination.

Links to this story

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/6243459.stm

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/068C7A74-4D2A-4E6F-8546-B6E062C1AFC2.htm

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/S/SOMALIA?SITE=PASTR&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

http://www.sweeble.com/story/view/1309

by Michael Olson

ISLAMIC RELIEF’S OFFICES IN ACEH BURNED.

2007-01-02T13:32:00.000Z

25^th December 2006. Islamic Relief’s offices in Meulaboh, West Aceh, Indonesia have been burned by local people. Motives for the attack appear to be accusations that Islamic Relief has been collaborating too closely with the Indonesian government in its aid programmes in Aceh. Islamic Relief’s largest operations in Meulaboh were in partnership with the Indonesian government’s Education and Health Ministries: Three new schools with the former and a clinic with the latter. . Islamic Relief’s other partners in numerous large scale projects in Aceh are CAFOD (a Catholic Charity) and the DEC (British government coordinated collective of British based Agencies, of which Islamic relief is the only “Islamic” one).

In Achinese eyes the Indonesian government is more closely associated to robbery, graft and corruption in Aceh than it is with reconstruction or in any way providing humanitarian aid to the Achinese. For decades the Achinese people’s experience of the Indonesian government has been from the receiving end of a military iron fist.

Local Achinese claim that this ostensibly Islamic organization has not sought to understand the particular problems and circumstances of their brothers in faith, when designing its Aid and reconstruction projects but instead chose to collaborate with Aceh’s oppressors. Other grievances are than very few Achinese have been employed by Islamic relief’s considerable operation. Their offices in Meulaboh are mainly staffed by Javanese.

Coming on the second anniversary of the tsunami disaster of Dec 26^th 2004, those that perpetrated the burning appear to have sought to voice their grievances against the Agency in as clear and public way as possible. Feelings are running increasingly high against the Jakarta Government and the Javanese since the Peace Agreement between GAM and the Central government in August 2005, as people are freer to voice their opinions and the brutal treatment of the Achinese by the TNI (Indonesian Army). Are viewed in retrospect. Local feelings are that Islamic Relief has betrayed their best interests and have contributed less to their gain than to their loss and disadvantage. In any case it looks as if Islamic Relief will have to re-examine its Aid policies in Aceh.

Video Of Saddam Hanging

2007-01-01T04:16:00.000Z

Officials taunted Saddam on the gallows

After he falls through the trap, abruptly cut off in his recitation of the Muslim profession of faith, someone in the room cries "The tyrant has fallen!" and the film shows the 69-year-old former strongman swinging on the rope, his eyes open and his neck twisted at a 90-degree angle to his right.

WARNING

Some viewers may find the video disturbing. It should only be watched by a mature audience.

12/30/06 Runtime 3 Minutes

Saddam Execution

2007-01-01T04:08:00.000Z

Saddam Hussein received so called ‘justice’ as he was executed on the 30^th December 2006 just before the dawn prayer. The former president of Iraq, 69, was sentenced to death by an Iraqi court on 5 November over the killings of 148 Shias from the town of Dujail in the 1980s. We saw the video of him taken to the gallows, the noose placed around his neck we all know what happens next.

Saddam Hussein had already seen his two sons killed by the Americans and now it was his turn to die. The video shows people taunting him, “God damn you” a guard said, “to Hell” someone is heard saying, another man says “Long live Muhammed Baqir al-Sadr” the uncle of the Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Saddam replies questioning their bravery. Saddam Hussein recites the article of faith “There is no God but Allah and I testify that Muhammed is the messenger of God. There is no God but Allah and I testify that Muhammed...” the trap doors open and the former president is executed.

Amnesty International called it an unfair trial, a trial which saw three people to be assassinated including Saddam Hussein’s defense lawyer. There was political interference during the trial undermining the independence and impartiality of the court which caused the first presiding judge to resign.

This is still considered a fair trial by the coalition just as long as the person being tried is an enemy of the West. The trial is only fair if the verdict given is what the American administration wants it to be. Is this justice?

The court was set up by the Americans, the Iraqi government is in place because of the Americans, the trial took place in Iraq because of the Americans, and the death sentence was from the Americans. This is obviously considered justice, dished out American style.

News media across Britain carried headlines of the former Iraqi presidents execution as an execution for his ‘crimes against humanity’. Yet there are many who carry out such crimes, but we do not see them bought to justice. We are witnessing history being written before our very eyes. Those who write history are the ones that have the power to manipulate it to agree with their world view. We are oblivious to the many ‘crimes against humanity’ America and Britain have committed. Due to the illegal war with Iraq we have over six hundred thousand dead civilians, women and children. The very people the so called coalition claimed it was going to help have paid with their lives at the hands of the ‘liberators’.

This dictator who at one time was an ally of the west, who we supplied with weapons, who we supported covertly as he used chemical weapons against Iran, who we turned a blind eye to as he massacred the Kurds. The very same man who we built up was finally executed, thanks to Iraqi ‘justice’.

Saddam Hussein was used to fight Iran in an attempt to weaken the Islamic Republic. The Arab world supported his as they feared the Shia threat, but they turned their backs on him when he invaded Kuwait. The leaders of the Arab world saw it a step to far and a threat to their own leadership.

But it was America that gave Saddam Hussein the green light for the invasion of Kuwait via Ambassador Gilaspie. When discussing the issue with the former President regarding his dispute with Kuwait, she said “We have no opinion on your Arab - Arab conflicts, such as your dispute with Kuwait. Secretary (of State James) Baker has directed me to emphasize the instruction, first given to Iraq in the 1960's, that the Kuwait issue is not associated with America.”

When the Iraqi forces invaded Kuwait the Western powers were quick to react, we showed fake satellite images to Saudi Arabia, of Iraqi troops amassing on the border preparing to invade the kingdom. The Saudis gave their support and invited the Americans on to their soil, and so it began. The Osama Bin Ladens were born, angered at the presence of American troops so close to the Muslim sanctuaries of Mecca and Medina. The entire Muslim world saw the extent of the corruption of the house of Saud, supporting the Americans in their quest for oil.

The embargo which affected the Iraqi people, depriving them of essential medicine, was due to the west. After the first gulf war over half a million children died because of the depleted uranium we used to fight this dirty war. If we are to claim the moral high ground and begin executing people for ‘crimes against humanity’ then let us begin with Bush and Blair for their hand in the murder and constructive chaos of Iraq. Let us hang the Israeli leadership for the death of the Palestinian civilians and policies of apartheid and for their war crimes in Lebanon. Did we forget about Pinochet? Once praised by Margaret Thatcher. The hypocrisy is sickening, the truth is scarce.

With Saddam Hussein’s death comes an assurance to the West that the knowledge of the extent of Western support over the years has died with the former President of Iraq. But what the West fails to realize is that unlike the people of Britain and America the people of the rest of the world do not have short memories. The Muslim world will remember that the execution took place on Eid al-Adha, they will remember it was due to the Americans, an insult to Muslims around the world. Saddam Hussein had his final show, he battled in the court, and he put on a performance that the Arab and Muslim world witnessed. After the pictures of him captured by the Americans and undergoing a humiliating medical were broadcast across the world, the trial inadvertently helped restore his image as a strong and outspoken leader.

The blood bath will continue. Congratulations are in order for the ‘liberators’. Well done for the rape of a country, well done for your constructive chaos, well done for making those in Israel feel slightly more at ease. The corporations are still filling their pockets; the revenues of the oil and gas taken from Iraq are not going towards the Iraqi people. Yet again America has achieved its two main objectives 1) carrying out Israel’s foreign policy 2) Securing Iraq’s oil and gas supplies. Enjoy the blood bath.

By Michael Olson

Islamaphobic Bishop Refuted

2006-12-26T00:16:00.000Z

This article has been written in response to the Rt Rev Michael Nazir-Ali, Bishop of Rochester’s comments on the veil, in which he called for a ban on veils in public. What follows are comments made by the Bishop followed by refutations.

The Rt Rev Michael Nazir-Ali, Bishop of Rochester, urged the Government to introduce legislation that would force Muslims to remove the veil when they are at work or travelling.

I thought there was a separation of church and state. Since when do Reverends urge governments to introduce legislation.

Pakistan-born Bishop Nazir-Ali said the Muslim community needed to make more effort to integrate in British society.
The Reverend is asking for assimilation not integration. Just because his dad converted to Christianity and he now finds himself in England, does not make him an authority on integration. What does he want the Muslim community to do exactly? Does he want the entire Muslim community to follow the example of his father and convert to Christianity? How can he talk about Muslim women wearing veils and integration when the Reverend walks around in a lilac robe. Not to mention the attire of Christian nuns? Surely that is not integrating into British society.

"It is fine if they want to wear the veil in private, but there are occasions in public life when it is inappropriate for them to wear it,"

This statement shows how uneducated Michael Nazir-Ali is in regards to Islam. The veil is meant to be worn in public and it is never worn in private. Dick head!

His call for new laws to control the wearing of the veil in public comes only days after it was revealed that Mustaf Jama, the Somali suspected of murdering WPc Sharon Beshenivsky, is thought to have fled the country by dressing in the niqab, which covers the whole face except the eyes.

This escape was unlikely as women are asked to remove the veil at airports to verify identity. This is usually done by a female member of staff. If Mustaf Jama did escape it is not the fault of the Muslim community or the veil, rather it is a lapse in security and the fact that they did not ask him to remove the veil.

"Given that we are facing an unprecedented security situation, legislation needs to be introduced that allows officials to remove the veil,"
What? No terrorists have blown up anything whilst dressed in veils. No legislation is required. The reverend is oblivious and fails to mention the reasons of this so called threat. Any threat is due to foreign policy not from veils.

He said that the possible failure of airline staff to challenge Jama was symptomatic of people being "too worried about offending Muslims".

Offending Muslims has never been an issue before at airports, why should it now suddenly become one. How does he know? This is just an opinion of the Reverend on an event that may never have taken place. Hypothetical or what? Maybe we should organise a trip to the airport for him so that he may learn more about airport security. We could dress him up like a Muslim and watch him get stopped and questioned by airport security. This will enable him to understand how racial profiling works, but he should already be aware of this, after all he is a ‘Paki’.

The bishop argued, however, that the introduction of new laws would not improve cohesion unless the Muslim community steps up its efforts to integrate.

I agree this will not help cohesion as pushing through legislation that dictats how people should dress, never helps the situation. This is not integration he is asking for, it is assimilation. Maybe the Reverend would be happy only when Muslim women give up the veil and leave it at home and participate in his congregation.

The Reverend is just a tool, just as we saw in America ‘uncle Tom’s’, Black people speaking out against their fellow black counterparts, we now have a Pakistani born Christian that displays his self hate for his ethnicity and Islam, and the only way he feels apart of this society is to attack Muslims and champion the cause of Islamaphobia.

By Michael Olson

Anti Fascist Demonstration

2006-12-18T08:15:00.000Z

The BNP gathered for a small protest in Barking and Dagenham, but they were out numbered by a counter demonstration organised by Unite Against Fascism. Watch the video and leave your comments!

Solidarity with Rossport

2006-11-23T01:04:00.000Z

Protestors carried out some action on Monday 20th November at a Shell petrol station in Five Ways, Birmingham. Protestors blocked off the petrol station for three hours out of solidarity with the people of Ireland, Mayo, Rossport against Shells gas pipeline which continues to threaten the environment and the people of Rossport. Shell is known for its carelessness and disregard for the environment as can be seen with its action in Nigeria.

Three protesters participated in a lock in, but surprisingly no arrests were made and the protest ended peacefully.

Watch the video, a better edited one will be up soon.

links to information on this issue:

http://www.corribsos.com/ (Shell to Sea - Campaign against Shell in Ireland)

There was also a mention on the BBC:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_midlands/6165112.stm

Student Tasered for not producing ID card

2006-11-18T02:05:00.000Z

An American-Iranian student is tasered several times for not producing his ID card.
Are we in Britain heading this way?

If students don't unite and stand up against this kind of crap, we could very well see this kind of stuff, comming to a campus near you!

News articles about it:
Video Shows UCLA Police Using Stun Gun On Student [NBC News]
Student Tasered By UCLA Police Department [ABC News]

email the chancellor and let them know what you think.
chancellor@c...a.edu

The Veil, Spying and the War on Terror

2006-11-09T21:51:00.000Z

Over the last month a major debate has been sparked, due to Jack straws comments on the wearing of the veil by Muslim women. To make matters worse a report by the guardian suggests that special branch intends to ask university lectures and staff to ‘spy’ on Muslim and ‘Asian looking’ students.

To many, these issues may not be linked but to people from the Muslim community it is a continuation of the demonisation of Muslims and what many feel, that the last month has been open season on Muslims.

Jack straw has been an MP serving Blackburn for over twenty years. He suddenly decides to make comments regarding a few inches of cloth that covers the lower part of a women’s face. A minority of Muslim women wear the veil it is believed to be less than ten thousand out of the two million Muslims that live in this country. We have heard MP’s along with other prominent figures come out and say that it is a mark of separation, a hindrance to integration along with some people feeling scared and threatened.

The overwhelming support for Jack Straw’s comments shows the extent of Islamaphobia in this country. The media and the Government seem to have had an unholy alliance bringing the so called ‘War on Terror’ to our shores turning the spotlight on the Muslim communities. Since Jack Straws controversial comments we have seen an increase of Islamaphobic attacks on Muslims. In one incident a women had her veil ripped off her face whilst she waited at a bus stop in Liverpool and then racist abuse hurled at her. We have seen the Prime Minister Tony Blair break Ministerial code by commenting on an active case of the teaching assistant who was involved in an employment tribunal, as she had been suspended from her job for refusing to take her veil off in front of a male staff member. Phil Woolas’s comments “sack the veiled classroom assistant” does not really help an already disturbing situation. As this debate continues the Muslim community is feeling ever more isolated and victimized and this will lead to more Muslim Women wearing the veil out of defiance. Women don’t need middle aged white politicians telling them how to dress.

The reality of the situation is displayed by the report published by the ONS (Office for National Statistics) earlier this week. The report highlights the fact that Muslims have far higher rates of unemployment, overcrowded housing and other problems linked to deprivation than other religions.

Source: the independent

The government wants to tighten its grasp on British society moving into the bastion of free thinking and the mental environment. Asking Universities to spy on Muslim students is a move to crush any dissenting views against the government’s policies. Universities have traditionally been a place of critical thinking and diversity, where students from all parts of the world sit and discuss engaging in activism whether it is against climate change or fascism. But as I look around our University today the cracks are beginning to show. The homeland War on Terror seems to be succeeding, at least in Staffordshire University. Muslim students are viewed with suspicion; Student Union staff have even suggested interviewing members of the ISOC. There is a general lack of coalition between Muslim and non Muslim students on campus. There is not even a visible anti war movement on campus. In many other Universities the anti war movement has bought together peoples of all backgrounds to unite in the cause apposing the war, yet on our campuses we seem to be more interested in partying than caring about anything that effects the rest of the world, whether it be politics or climate change.

The question is not about Muslims integrating with British society, as continually the debate descends into far right language of ‘them’ and ‘us’. Muslims are integrated into this society. We have Muslims in all fields of British society from Universities to Hospitals and television. It is in fact a failure of certain parts of British society in accepting British Muslims: Spurred on by the Media and the Government in its ever increasing racist tone. The ‘War on Terror’ is a disaster, troops are struggling in Afghanistan and Iraq seems to be getting worse by the day. The attention needs to be turned away from these issues onto a home grown ‘threat’. This situation is only benefiting the Government in its attempts to take away British civil liberties, with the introduction of ID cards and draconian terror legislation.

There is definitely an issue of the veil but it is not the few inches of cloth the BNP sounding MP’s would have us believe it is. The issue of the Veil is that the Government seems to be putting the veil over the eyes of the British people, hiding its failure on the international front and deceiving the people to give up there rights for so called protection from an imminent threat.

By Michael Olson

Israel Kills Two Women in Gaza

2006-11-04T07:02:00.000Z

Two women were killed on friday by Israeli forces as they attempted to rescue resistance fighters besieged in a mosque in Gaza.

See the video for yourself. WARNING: SOME MAY FIND THE VIDEO DISTURBING
CLICK HERE

Blair and Brown compete to kiss Murdoch's ass

2006-10-08T04:19:00.000+01:00

I thought democracy was about wining the vote of the public. It seems that this country is run on the opinion of Murdoch and his minions known as The Sun, The Times, The Sunday Times and The News of the World. Very Disturbing.
article: The Observer

US increases funds to support terrorism

2006-10-01T10:46:00.000+01:00

The US gives $2.36 billion in aid to Israel a year; in turn Israel occupies Palestinian lands and kills civilians indiscriminately. The US congress has just approved a further $500 Million to support the terrorist actions of Israel. The extra aid is for joint terrorism operations between Israel and America.

Read Robert Fisk's special report from Lebanon. click here

Read: US To Increase Aid To Israeli Defense Systems

Israel Intended to Assassinate Nasrallah After Ceasefire

2006-09-26T13:04:00.000+01:00

An insight into intentions of illegal assassinations, something Israel is no stranger to.

Cherie Blair denies calling Brown a liar

2006-09-26T11:04:00.000+01:00

Cherie Blair has put her foot in it once again, accusing Gordon Brown of lying, a claim she vehemently denies. The cheek of this women. How can she possibly ever have the nerve to call someone a liar, since she is married to Tony BLIAR!

Muslims must shop extremists

2006-09-20T03:03:00.000+01:00

Comments have been added to this article where appropriate. Comments are in red.

Muslims must shop extremists

By JOHN REID
The Sun
September 19, 2006

EXTREMIST Muslims are calling for jihad, or holy war, after the Pope quoted an ancient text linking the Prophet Muhammad with “things evil and inhumane.”

As tensions rise, this week Home Secretary John Reid will appeal to Muslims to help root out potential terrorists from within their community. Here he writes for The Sun.

OUR world has changed enormously over the last 15 years. The dangers of religious extremism and ethnic tensions have replaced the East-West rivalries of the Cold War.

The media would have us believe that this is the case but in reality the same tensions exist as did 15 years ago. In fact it is not East – West rivalries it is more Capitalism and imperialism against those that stand in its way. Those that are against exploitation and those that stand against the agendas of the corporations and the damage that is taking place upon the environment. These are the continuing ‘rivalries’ not East – West.

The end of communism was a great victory for freedom and democracy but it created new challenges — including global terrorism.

The end of communism was a victory for imperialism and capitalism, I still don’t see freedom or democracy in many countries, yet these countries don’t have a communist ideology. May I also add that there was no end of communism; it was more an end to a certain form of communism in the Soviet Union, not the end of the communist ideology.

Tomorrow, one year on, we will remember the victims of terrorism at Sharm El- Sheikh, Kusadasi and Doha.

Who can forget what happened in New York on 9/11, or London, or Bali, or Madrid? Thousands of lives lost in the name of a war supposedly fought to advance Islam.

We seem to remember the events that took the lives of so many westerners but seem to forget the events concerning non western lives. Let’s add Lebanon, Palestine, Afghanistan, Iraq, Vietnam, Cambodia, Japan, and many other places in the world where people lost their lives and are still losing their lives. Many wars are waged by the West to supposedly free people from tyranny, yet we inflicted upon them unprecedented killing and oppression Replacing one form of injustice for another.

But this is not a war with Islam, this is a battle against extremism and intolerance. And it is vital that we all work together to defeat those twin evils. That’s why there must be no sectarian divide between Muslims and non-Muslims.

The main extremism and intolerance in this world right now is that of neo-conservatism and Zionism and I agree there should be no divide between Muslims and non-Muslims in defeating these twin evils which I have mentioned.

After all, the minority who abuse Islam in their pursuit of violence are not only attacking western values, they are attacking the values of their co-religionists.

Thank you ‘Imam’ Reid I’m sure Muslims will appreciate your concerns.

And mainstream Muslims and Christians share so many common values — devotion to family and society, to faith and good deeds. A belief in the right to life, equality, justice and opportunity.

Indeed the home secretary is correct it is a pity that American and British Foreign policy don’t reflect these common values. British Foreign policy does not have a belief in right to life, otherwise we would not use cluster bombs resulting in so many civilian deaths. We would not support Israel’s apartheid regime which is ruining the lives of the Palestinian people. Equality, there is so much equality in Iraq, occupying forces kill non combatants just as readily as they kill combatants, we even see equality towards women and children, so as not to make them feel left out we show ‘equality’ by killing them too. Justice and Opportunity, we have displayed this by siding with Israel, putting sanctions on the Palestinian people and their democratically elected government.

The terrorists don’t share these values. They are not true Muslims. They seek to achieve their aims through violence — they may use the rhetoric of Islamic teachings, but they behave in ways that contradict the very principles of the Islamic faith.

The people the home secretary calls terrorists do not share the same values as the American and British Governments hence they must be labeled terrorists. If terrorists seek to achieve there aims through violence what would you say about the ‘War on Terror’ the War on Iraq and Israel’s war on Lebanon?

They may claim that their war is a jihad but many of the victims of al-Qaeda have been Muslims in Iraq, Afghanistan, Algeria and Turkey.

The victims of the British War on Iraq and Afghanistan have also been Muslims, does this mean that the British Government and al-Qaeda are the same?

So this is not a battle between religions but a fundamental struggle between opposing values. That’s why the Muslim community must choose between accepting the propaganda of the terrorists and taking on would-be terrorists at every opportunity.

Again we have the mentality of you are either ‘with us o against us’. The Muslim community has a choice of accepting the propaganda of the ‘terrorists’ or accepting the propaganda of the home secretary.

It is because of the level of threat they face that I will start this week to brief the Muslim community, to give them the knowledge to defeat these extremists and ask for their help.

The knowledge to defeat the terrorists is simple, change foreign policy and you greatly reduce terrorism, that’s all the help you need.

This dovetails with the work of Ruth Kelly who, as part of her ongoing engagement with Muslim communities, will be hosting a meeting of Muslim women. Some may think it is better to accommodate extremists in the hopes of influencing them for the better, but as I know from the bitter experience of dealing with militants in the Labour Party, you cannot compromise with fanatical beliefs.

I wonder who he is referring to in the Labour Party? But is he actually likening people in the Labour Party to extremists and does he also believe because he has dealt with ‘militants’ in a political context, that this qualifies him to deal with the Muslim community?

As a father of two boys, I know how hard it is to raise children and know everything they are up to. It is especially difficult to intervene as they get older.

The Home secretary even finds it difficult to sell this crap to his own kids. The advice he wishes to give is, indoctrinate your children when they are young as the task is that much more difficult when they are older.

But there are times when we must confront them to protect them from harm. So I appeal to you to look for changes in your teenage sons — odd hours, dropping out of school or college, strange new friends. And if you are worried, talk to them before their hatred grows.

What the Home Secretary means is, look out for your children hanging around with peoples with beards and headscarves. If your children begin to question the government and its policies they are on the path to terrorism. Also if they start reading the independent or the Guardian these are tell tail signs of extremism.

I don’t want a suspicious society when we have done so well in breaking down differences. But the terrorists want to divide us. We must not let them.

Well with a mentality of ‘them’ and ‘us’ and the fact that the Home secretary seems to be the one that classifies who is a terrorist or a fanatic and who is not, along with his unwillingness to talk to people with dissenting views, if division is not his aim then what is?

The police and security services do a fantastic job protecting us from terrorism. But they cannot do so alone.

I agree, you need to change foreign policy, sorry to repeat myself but it really is that simple. Also why do I get the impression that the Home secretary wants British Muslims to spy and turn on their fellow British Muslims?

Terrorism can be defeated only when we all work together to defeat it. That’s why it is so important that Muslims join us in exiling extremism from our country — and from their communities.

Where exactly does the Home Secretary want to exile these ‘extremists’ to? Guantanamo Bay?

Conclusion
The Home Secretary fails to realise the root causes of terrorism in Britain, mainly foreign policy. Instead he shifts the focus on to the already victimised Muslim communities. If the Government is so keen to engage the Muslim community why has it not taken on the recommendations laid down by the Muslim committee that was set up to advise the Government. The government is in trouble, they have a leader that is clinging to power, they find themselves behind in the opinion polls and the 'War on Terror' is a disaster. What we are seeing is pure desperation and foolishness in shifting the responsibility of fighting terrorism onto the British Muslim community.

By Guevara Serapion

EXCLUSIVE...9/11 Debate: Loose Change Filmmakers vs. Popular Mechanics Editors of "Debunking 9/11 Myths"

2006-09-15T09:41:00.000+01:00

For those of you that are not aware of the debate surrounding 9/11 watch this, it's interesting. The title above says it all.

Click here to watch the debate.

Lonely World

2006-09-12T21:21:00.000+01:00

As I walked through the beautiful streets of Marrakech enjoyed the restaurants, took in local atmosphere a slightly un-nerving feeling tainted the scenery. Something wasn’t quite right, I was been starred at, ignored in a sense, left alone in a city where everyone seems to make friends. For what reason I thought to myself, surely I was imagining it.

Funny looks, looks of suspicion from my fellow British countrymen, somehow making me feel like I shouldn’t be there, I don’t fit the bill. Undeserving of my Birmingham accent and also making me feel like it is unbefitting for me to be walking around in my jeans and t-shirt I should be wearing my ‘own clothes’.

During my journey I saw so many travelers chatting making new friends in Marrakech. British people meeting British people having one thing in common, they all come from the same island. Yet many of them heard me speak in my English accent, most of them looked at me, and glanced with a troubling look. I don’t ‘look’ British, no white skin, no clean shave and no ‘posh’ accent. If you’re a Muslim traveler in the 21st Century, it’s a lonely world.

After my stay I headed to the airport, my favourite place. One can watch people and the, manner in which they look at you and attempt to figure out what they are thinking, what’s going through their mind. I make my way to the departure desk, there sits a Moroccan man, who looks more French than Arab, with his blue military uniform. He takes a look at my passport, there is a bit of a fold on the page with my picture on it, he strains his eyes, looks at the passport long and hard. He speaks with a French accent “Ali?”, “yeah” I reply casually, “what is your origin”, what does he mean and why? They never ask anybody else that question, I used to try and resist and say British and they would look at me like I was thick and say “no, your origin”, of course they mean ethnic origin. “Pakistani”, his eyes open wide, he gets up walks out his little cell like cubicle to talk to somebody else, the people behind me in the queue, all of them are concentrating on me, or the back of me. The officer consults his superior both of the men now stare at me. I'm thinking what the hell is their problem? They look through my passport several times, so I continued to wait, trying not to get annoyed. I know what they are thinking. I want to shout at them “you bloody idiots!, I am British, I speak English, I think in English and terrorists don’t go to airports and try and board planes with big beards on their faces”. What is the intellect of these people? In the departures hall a woman constantly looks over at me even starring at times. I sit behind her on the departure coach, I see her passport, it’s Australian, how dare she! How dare she look at me like that, don’t they still have our queen?

As I take up my window seat, I watch the rest of the passengers walk down the aisle, their eyes catching a look at me then their boarding card, ‘Oh God I hope I’m not sitting next to him’. Even Asians, British Asians look at me, I can tell as soon as they look at me they wish to distance themselves from me, ‘I’m Asian, but not like him’ or ‘not the same as him’. I can hear the BNP drum beating, even succeeding to divide the minorities. The only people that smile at me are the air hostesses and they get paid to smile, even if it’s a strained smile, its welcomed amongst a sea of unwelcome faces full of suspicion.

The man next to me, well one seat away, talks about me in French, his wife on the other aisle leans back to take a look at me. I’m going to give them the benefit of the doubt, he’s probably talking about how dashingly handsome I look in my beard. Forget the benefit of the doubt, he looks scared he sees me making notes in my pad, probably thinking I am taking notes on the running of an aircraft so I can take it over next time.

The world is changing as the war on terror continues, the media is infecting peoples minds with the propaganda of so called terrorism. Muslims are the new victims, targeted, viewed with suspicion if they step out the social norms of appearance. This war has even effected Muslims like myself into being paranoid about peoples opinions and thoughts about us, turning an innocent look into prejudice and racism. All this is causing an atmosphere of unease between what would normally be fellow citizens, travelers or just plain human beings.

By A Muslim Traveler

Hard Hitting 9/11 Documentary

2006-09-10T00:47:00.000+01:00

Momentum is building for the underground documentary Loose Change, Dylan Avery’s $6,000 film that examines the events of 9/11, and uncovers evidence in support of a whole new view of that infamous day. Since the film was released on the internet, where it is still in the top 10 of Google videos top 100,the film has evolved into a much larger project that includes new findings, and is set to be released theatrically some time next year, with the 2nd edition still currently doing the rounds in cyber space. The film manages the all important task of distancing itself from the usual “conspiracy theory” label that becomes attached to many other works on 9/11 simply because it is so meticulously researched, and due to the great care that has gone into presenting its findings. Indeed, the subject has never been tackled in such an honest and inquisitive manner, and the story it tells will no doubt shock those that have only heard the “official” narrative as told by the mainstream media. It seems the internet has now become a new and much welcomed alternative to mainstream documentary film making, offering the opportunity for anyone with something to say, and the ability to say it, a chance at getting themselves heard. Loose Change is compulsory viewing for anyone who wants to understand what really happened. So, subvert the media empire by checking out Loose Change at www.loosechange911.com, and support the search for truth.

In times of universal deceit, telling the truth will be a revolutionary act.

George Orwell

by Castro Serapion

Israeli Terrorists kill 22 Palestinians

2006-07-07T10:40:00.000+01:00

The Palestinian government has urged security forces to fight Israeli troops in Gaza after the most violent day since Israel withdrew from the territory last year.

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Source: ALJazeera.net

The Injustice Continues

2006-06-29T11:16:00.000+01:00

As the terrorist state of Israel continues it's oppression of the Palestinian people, the people are defiant. Read their comments here.

Also you can read a first hand account of what is happening in Gaza from a blogger. From Gaza, With Love

ISRAELI ARMY MOVE IN

2006-06-28T10:13:00.000+01:00

As the Israeli army move into Gaza, the Palestinian resistance is preparing to defend their land and their people. Faced with Tanks, Helicopter gun ship’s and an American funded war machine how can the Palestinians possibly fight back? By any means necessary.
The BBC in a rare report, interview a man whose wife and child are in an Israeli jail.
Read the report here.

The Palestinian Resistance fight back

2006-06-26T11:01:00.000+01:00

I apologize for the images, but I feel that it is important that we are made aware of the actions of the Israeli Military. I am sure we will see the Israeli army 'retaliate', but in reality the Palestinian resistance was retaliating to the occupation of their land and the indiscriminate killing of innocent civilians. It should be noted that that the Palestinian resistance fighters targeted soldiers and not civilians. In a war soldiers are legitimate targets. Freedom for Palestine!

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A deadly attack on an Israeli Army post near the Gaza Strip on Sunday was a message to Israel to stop killing civilians, the groups behind the assault said in a statement Sunday.

"This operation was a clear and final message to the enemy leaders: They need to keep civilians far from their hateful bullets and leave the battle between the heroes of the resistance and the [Israeli] soldiers," the joint statement said.

read more
article The Daily Star

The World is Blind

2006-06-22T09:20:00.000+01:00

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How do we reward Israel, we allow them to join the red cross, but Israel has a red diamond instead of a cross or crescent. The world seems to be blind to the war crimes committed by Israel.The Palestinians are under occupation, with the occupations disregard for human life is it a wonder that Palestinians see no other way but to fight back. It seems that white western life is more valuable then Arab lives, this can be seen with our references to statistics when mentioning the Palestinian dead, and a full blown obituary for an Israeli or American or anybody western. As long as the oppression and double standards continue so will the resistance along with so called 'terrorism'.

NONE OF US IS FREE - WHEN ONE OF US IS CHAINED

2006-06-19T16:12:00.000+01:00

4 minute video - flash presentation

here

Welcome All

2006-06-13T11:18:00.000+01:00

Britain is one of the worlds richest countries. Western countries in the northern hemisphere have 80% of the worlds wealth, yet only 20 % of the worlds population. Our way of life, our extravagance, wealth and standard of living is broadcast across the world for the less fortunate to see. Is it a wonder that people wish to come to this country in an attempt to achieve a better life?

We have been hearing about an influx of immigrants into Britain, some are asylum seekers, others economic migrants from Eastern Europe along with migrants from the rest of the world. Britain has always been a welcoming country for people wishing for a better life. But what is the threshold for the amount of people we accept into this country?

Politicians and the media have increasingly being using harsh language in describing immigration, some borders on racism, some on ignorance. In an attempt to create an exaggeration of the situation the media has been concentrating on this issue, forcing members of the public to place it on the top of their agenda and playing straight into the hands of racist political parties like the BNP.

Immigrants not only bring with them the prospect of work, but they also contribute to the economy as they pay taxes and provide a valued workforce in the British economy. This country is seen as a tolerant and accepting place, why then are we prepared to turn our backs on this tradition and take a hard line approach to such issues? Immigrants add to the multicultural environment that already exists in so many places in Britain, bringing with them new traditions, culture and languages. This can only be seen as a good thing. But many immigrant communities already existing in Britain are adopting a racist attitude to new people entering the country. Age old arguments about jobs, school places and housing are mentioned. Yet these same first and second generation immigrant communities that are complaining about the new immigrants, seem to have a short memory as similar arguments were used against their parents and grandparents when they first arrived on these shores. An example can be the former head of the Conservative party Michael Howard. Michael Howard in his election campaign was concentrating on the issue of immigration, suggesting tougher laws and limits to be set for how many people we accept into this country. Michael Howard’s own parents were immigrants from Poland, but in an attempt to win public opinion and please certain parts of the media he ignored the fact of his past. Under his very own proposals, Michael Howard’s own parents may not have been accepted into this country.

There is a large Somalian community in Birmingham. Certain parts of Birmingham where once desolate with no businesses and no community based activities. Since the Somalian community has arrives we have witnessed a rejuvenation of the area of Sparkbrook, with many new businesses opening from Restaurants to internet cafes. Community based activities for women to young children set up and generally an all round new look to the area. Without these communities arriving these very areas would have been a burden on the local authorities with no business and no prospects, but the immigrant community has changes all this.

Paul Hubbard who has lived in the area for the past thirty years says “ up until a few years ago this are was run down with little or no business. Thanks to the Somalian community arriving here we know have loads of shops and restaurants. I don’t have to travel very far anymore to get a meal or to do my shopping”

I went to visit a friend in hospital who was suffering from a football injury. The doctor was from India, the nurses were from the Philippines, all foreign workers. I called for a taxi cab, the driver was a British born Pakistani, I proceeded to a restaurant to have a meal with a friend, I looked at the menu and decided to have Britain’s national dish, curry!
From my above example it can be seen how multicultural and diverse our society has become, and how many different people contribute to our communities and culture.

First and Second generation immigrant communities must be wary of getting caught up in the media frenzy on immigration, which results in many of them being racist. I for one welcome all people with a legitimate reason for being here whether economic, asylum or a quest for a better life. Immigrant communities add to this societies diversity and contribute greatly to our ‘Britishness’. Welcome all.

By Guevara Serapion

Immigrants on immigrants

2006-06-12T20:27:00.000+01:00

These days, if you ask most people in Britain what their major concern is, there is a strong possibility that you will hear the word Immigration. Sure the average person on the street is worried about Climate Change, Bird Flu and this so-called ‘Terrorist Threat’ we are facing here in the ‘civilized world’, but along with all of these, it is this supposed ‘immigration invasion’ which has begun to take centre stage.

Leaving a side most of the Liberal ideas our British democracy is supposed to be based upon, our collective conciseness seems to have drifted in favour of complete hostility towards our Third World and Eastern European guests, most of whom have dreams of calling Britain their new home.

While it may be conventional to see this attitude as only representative of the white population of Britain, it would also be a gross misrepresentation of the actual situation to continue to do so. The fact of the matter is, that although new immigrants to this country do feel unwanted, even hated by many White people, the same stance towards them is also taken by a growing majority of Black and Asian people. Many of whom are of course themselves immigrants, and the descendents of immigrants, but they nevertheless see the ‘mass influx’ of new comers into their inner-city areas as a major problem.

Recently, parties such as the BNP have been taking advantage of peoples ‘fears’ about immigration, and it seems that many Black and Asian individuals are somehow able to identify with their fascist rhetoric, and some even voted for them in the last local elections. But the question is why?

All this mainstream talk and media focus on the ‘unassailable’ nature of these recent immigrants’ native cultures being a threat to British culture makes little sense in an inner-city context. It cannot be the main concern of Black and Asian people, when we ourselves are still told to this day that we have failed too fully assimilate. If anything, the arrival of these new people should be seen as something positive by us. Since the non-white population of Britain is still a very small voice here, making up only 7.9% in total, the more diverse this place becomes, the more possibility there is of it becoming more egalitarian.

So, while this ‘threat’ to British culture could be argued as one of the causes of grievance for our White citizens, and certainly is as far as the BNP are concerned, it clearly cannot be argued as being one of ours. In fact, anytime you speak to a Black or Asian person about the ‘problems’ of immigration, they merely use it unknowingly as a cover for other, more important concerns. And this is exactly were the problem lies.

Immigrants are blamed for the lack of jobs, housing, and for the poor services we receive in health and education. They are seen as a drain on our welfare system, which we assume is there to serve us alone, so naturally the systems problems can be equated solely to them.

But a closer look at the situation revels that these grievances are all political in nature, and have very little to do with individual immigrants. The problems we face are problems created by an unequal society. Jobs, housing, decent education and health services are all available here in Britain. It is not simply a case of ’others’ taking or using them. It is just that they are ‘more’ available to citizens who are higher on the social ladder then many ethnic minorities currently are, including immigrants themselves.

According to the Office of National Statistics, “Unemployment rates for people from non-White ethnic groups were generally higher than those from White ethnic groups”, Bangladeshi, Black Caribbean and Pakistani groups are “less likely than White British people to have a degree”, and a recent report published by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister claims that people from minority ethnic groups are also more likely to live in “over crowded houses” which are in bad condition.

Bernard Conrad, in his seminal study How the West Indian Child is Made Educationally Subnormal in the British School System, stated that the prejudicial attitudes towards immigrant communities “has the effect of diverting the (British) workers energies and attention away from the main cause of their low socio-economic position-the establishment itself”.

We are not angry with immigrants, we are angry with the establishment.

In light of all this it seems that Black and Asian people have also conveniently forgotten an important part their own history in this country. The same blame we are laying on our new arrivals is exactly the same as that which was laid on us when we first arrived. Working class grievances were articulated back then using the same language of racism that we ourselves ashamedly use today. We are not natives of this land, and it would be wise to remember this fact when viewing others as alien. .

These new immigrants, themselves in no better a position then some of us are today, should be welcomed. They are not the ‘threat’ they have been made out to be, and the focus on them as such is simply a convenient form of self deception, and like Conrad said, takes our attention away from the real issue that faces us.

We should start to channel our energy into confronting the establishment, instead of using it to criticize immigrants. We should lay siege to power and demand our rights as equal citizens, who are entailed to the best healthcare, education and housing that so far only the rich have enjoyed. This is a struggle we should face together. Blacks, Asians, and all immigrant communities alike. We should stop letting our concerns get hidden behind bigotry, and start focusing on our real problems. We should stop blaming the governed, and start blaming the governors. And we should start taking action against them, before we end up taking action against each other.

Terror Raids

2006-06-07T00:30:00.000+01:00

We are continuously hearing of terror raids , where hundreds of police officers raid a house, in an ethnic area. Reports of armed police, threats of chemical or biological attack, and danger to the public. How real are these threats and what effect are these Police raids having on communities around Britain?

Recently a raid on a house in East London, where two Muslim men where arrested, the raid resulted in one of the men being shot through the shoulder. They are currently being held for questioning. This case further highlights the issue of heavy handed Police tactics used in the war on terror. There are conflicting reports of who fired the shot that injured the man, but what matters here is the way the raid was carried out. 250 officers where involved, there was a ‘real threat’ yet no houses where evacuated, no evidence of terrorist activities has been found, and no one charged. What are the criterions for people to be considered as suspects? Brown skin? Muslim name? Middle Eastern clothes? Visiting the mosque? These are the words we hear when the media interview people when ever an incident such as this takes place. We hear from random people about how quiet the individual, who was arrested was, that he was religious. We indirectly associate these statements with legitimizing the suspicion of innocent members of the Muslim community, heavy handed police raids and eventually fear and suspect anyone that fits this description.

The facts are that over a thousand people have been arrested under the terrorism act in Britain since 11th September 2001, 121 have been charged and 23 have been convicted of terrorist offences. That is a charge rate of 12.1% and a conviction rate of 2.3% but how serious the convictions are is anybodies guess. A climate of fear is being built up, British people think that they are under imminent threat from ‘home grown’ terrorists, and in turn the minority communities are feeling scrutinized and victimized, leading them to fear for their safety.

I have spoken to many Muslim people and a lot of them feel unsafe in Britain because of these police raids, they feel that every Muslim, of Asian origin is a suspect. I was speaking to a young male student, Abdullah Latif from Birmingham, who studies at university and works part time. Abdullah talks of growing anxiety within the Muslim community, and the feeling that they are being used as scapegoats in the government’s homeland war on terror. The realty of the ‘war on terror’ is that it is being used as a cover by the Government to bring in repressive social control measures, which will take away many of our civil liberties, and increase the state influence in our lives.

Abdullah says “tomorrow the police could raid my house and arrest me the media would then interview neighbours, who live 20 houses away. They would say “he was a quite lad” some may say he was religious and visited the mosque, “he wore middle eastern clothes”. To me this is not grounds for legitimate suspicion but for many people these are. Through the effects of the media we are drawing out guidelines for people to spot potential threats. If someone is religious and visits the mosque seems to be reason enough for suspicion, and the intelligence agencies have adopted such criteria to raid innocent peoples homes and scare the crap out of them. In inner city areas feelings of tension between ethnic minority communities and the police are high. And where the police seem to be presenting little evidence for their reasons for the raids, just mentioning the word ‘intelligence’, causes communities to get frustrated and scared, which is not a good combination.

The government needs to clarify the reasons behind such police operation, otherwise these actions will increase feelings of victimization in the Muslim community. Similar tactics where used against the Irish, during the IRA attacks in Britain, we don’t seem to have learnt any lessons.
The root causes of terrorism should be tackled. If our government stops meddling in other countries affairs, ends the occupation in Iraq, recognizes the right of the Palestinians to exist and stops playing Americas lapdog, there will ‘be’ no threat to Britain, but what the public needs to know is the greatest threat to us, our freedom, peace and harmony comes from the very people we have elected to represent us, our own Government.

By Guevara Serapion

An Interesting Day

2006-05-27T19:47:00.000+01:00

The day started with a mad dash to the coach, we were late again, but we couldn’t miss it as we had to be at the demonstration. The cause was something close to our hearts, the occupation of Palestinian land, and this was an opportunity for us to show solidarity with the Palestinian people.

The number of people attending the march from Birmingham was low, since the media stops concentrating on certain issues people’s interest in the issue diminish. We need to be told what to associate with even the so called activists. Both young and old were on the Coach, from middle aged hippy looking figures, to young students. The coach journey was tiring and boring, and the guerilla team was stuck at the back of the coach with some college girls, whose conversation ranged from make up to types of shampoo and what the organizer of the coach smelt like.

Upon arrival in London the first thing we realized was the police presence. Vans, cars and coppers were standing all over the place, but the turn out of demonstrators was low. The rain was trickling down our coach window, we were in for a wet day.

In the wait for the demonstration to start, as the rain poured down on us, we started a conversation with a middle-aged police officer with gray hair. We asked him why there was so much police presence. According to him they were there to facilitate our demonstration. To help us carry out our democratic right to protest along with the fact that it gave them the opportunity to put in some overtime.

As soon as the demonstration started we were straight on the megaphones chanting the standard chants. Victory to! The intifada! The Police were stalking the crowd, radioing away, making notes and taking pictures. I was pointed out several times by a young white police officer, who looked like he was fresh out of the academy. You could see his excitement, he thought he was onto something, he called the police cameraman over several times to try and get a picture of me, but I tried to make it as difficult as possible for them, ducking and diving, and generally being difficult. I hate the police, always have done. Maybe it’s because I grew up in an inner city area where you rarely hear people talk about the police in a good manner. They take their time to turn up, and when they do, they are condescending. But one of the underlying reasons is that the police are not here to protect and serve. Well, they protect and serve certain people, those in power to be specific, but not the people. The police throughout the protest were lurking around, waiting to pounce. As we approached Trafalgar Square two police officers called me to the side to warn me. They mentioned some act and told me that if I continued (what?) they would arrest me. I thought about it for a while but before I had come to a decision on whether to continue or not, they swooped on a student who had constantly been on his megaphone. We put up a futile attempt to stop them but the police came in heavy. They dragged him off, put him face down on the floor and sat on him, until more police arrived on the scene. We stood facing the police for a while, shouting and screaming at them as you do, as if they were going to release him. But it was all we could do short of rushing the police, kicking the crap out of them, and taking back the hostage. Melodramatic I know, but this is a result of watching to many Rambo movies throughout my childhood.

We moved on and listened to a few speeches. Same old thing nothing new. You begin to see the same faces at these protests, and you pray for more people, for the passers by to stop and listen and to be effected by the words, but they very rarely do. We went back to the coach, jumped back on, tired and slightly wet from the rain. We continued listening to the college girls chatting on about how their makeup was affected because of the rain. I wanted to turn around and say ‘what the hell is wrong with you, cant you talk about nothing else?’ ‘The Palestinians have Bullets and rockets raining down on them everyday and your complaining about a bit of water’. The majority of people fought through the rain as they understood the situation of the Palestinians. But these girls had just come for a simple day out. Thinking of this made me sit there in silence and wonder about activism of the future. Will activism of the future be reduced to days out that have no affect on those campaigning and those being campaigned against.

As soon as we had got back into Birmingham we had to rush down to the Birmingham University Students guild for the NUS black students conference. We had been informed that the Guerilla Team had been nominated for the best campaign award, and it was possible that we could win a prize. What the hell for? We didn’t do anything. We ended up coming second. In my speech I mentioned we didn’t do much apart from getting thrown out of college, but nevertheless we were thankful and gave our gratitude to Pav, the NUS black students officer, for all his hard work during the campaign. He had to put up with our problem with authority. We were very argumentative, aggressive and stubborn throughout the campaign, and if we didn’t disagree with somebody else we would disagree with each other. Pav did a good job dealing with us considering he was in the midst of an election campaign for the NUS presidency. The last thing he needed was two mature students trying to make up for lost time by fighting the world.

After the awards we sat around talking to some people. I ate the free sandwiches on offer; the taste didn’t bother me, as I had not eaten all day. Nowadays before I open my mouth to complain about the food I try to remember those who don’t have any, or have no money to buy any like the Palestinians who are being punished with collective guilt for voting democratically. Some people wanted their picture taken with us. I warned them that I was not very photogenic, so all pictures were taken at the photographers’ own risk. Our conversations varied. Nothing much I can remember; a girl with an identity crisis, Marxism. As I recall I think there was only two people who actually spoke to us. We had a feeling word had got around about us being difficult individuals, coupled with our anti social, anti mingling view on life. And then there was our military looking personas. Nevertheless we were invited back to the hotel the NUS delegates were staying at to continue ‘chatting’.

In the hotel lobby whilst I sat alone waiting for people to return from a group toilet visit, I got chatting to a large looking middle aged man about the price of coffee. His name was Don, he informed me that it had only been three weeks since he had returned from Iraq, where he was stationed in Basra. The blood rushed to my head, I felt an electric pulse go down to my toes. What a situation I had found myself in. I sat face to face with a British Soldier, Sergeant to be exact. It was my chance to find out about the situation in Iraq along with his views on the war. I don’t like the British army, I see them as the hand of the government that will carry out their orders and oppress on their behalf, a bit like the police. But this was more personal since Don is not the army, he is apart of it, and a father of five working to provide for his family. He wasn’t wearing a uniform, nor was he carrying a gun. He was just a normal man having some overly priced coffee.

I started asking him questions. Why did he think it was ok to fly half way across the world to kill and maim people? Don replied he was just following orders and he didn’t kill anybody. He had a family to feed and he was not allowed to have a political opinion. I didn’t stop at that, the conversation continued. Did he agree with the war? I was presented with an analogy of my boss asking me to do overtime, and although I didn’t want to, I agreed as I needed the money and would follow what my boss said. I explained that this was not the same as engaging in an illegal war and occupying Iraq, which in turn has resulted in thousands of deaths and has made the country worse off then it was before. Usually overtime doesn’t entail people dying, unless you’re occupation is an assassin. How about the Iraqi families? The death they have experienced. The loss of schools, the healthcare situation, the violence. But that’s all ok as long as my family can eat their happy meals? Don said he does what he thinks is right, but surly this only applies to what is right by himself and his family, not by the Iraqi people. So all rules of ethics go out the window when we put on a uniform? Yes sir! No Sir! I will kiss your ass Sir! Don was an honest guy, but his naiveté amazed me. Don has three and a half years left until retirement where he gets his pension. I asked him if he understood that he was a legitimate target for the resistance as he was seen as an occupier. Don duly agreed. I mentioned this to point out to him that there was a chance that he may not make retirement, that he could get killed, leaving a widow and fatherless children.
Don was also of the opinion that people where coming from Afghanistan into Iraq to fight. When I asked if he had seen anybody or captured anyone the answer was no, so how did he know? He had no solid evidence, he was probably reading The Sun, and thinking that Iraq had something to do with 9/11. The subject changed, and Don began to show contempt for the Blarite regime. Don raised his voice and in an authoritarian manner said ‘This would not have happened under Thatcher’. Well I don’t know about that.
Don and his family live in Germany where he is posted. He is visiting a friend who is in hospital after having a stroke upon returning from Iraq because of stress. Don was angry with the Government for messing up the NHS and not taking care of soldiers.
Don has the same concerns as any other British citizen; the state of the market, the strength of the Pound, education, and health. I also pointed out to him that the government has also messed up the Iraqi healthcare system, namely by dropping bombs and occupying the land and leaching off Iraq like blood sucking leaches. He also told us that he was going to stay in Germany, and not return to Britain after he retires, as Britain doesn’t give a ‘shit’ about him. No shit Watson, the British Government doesn’t give a crap about anyone who doesn’t have a large bank account, isn’t white or who doesn’t hold a European passport. He also told us that he would speak against the actions of the government once he retired, but he reiterated that he was just following orders and was not allowed to have an opinion. But as you can see he did have an opinion, and from what else he mentioned so do the rest of the troops out in Iraq. They don’t want to be there, and Don and his colleagues know that they are not defending Britain by remaining in Iraq. Soldiers are not supposed to think. They are supposed to just listen and obey. But what is wrong with him speaking up now? If it is going to be wrong when Don retires, it’s wrong now. The army is probably full of people like Don. He saw it as a job, and didn’t fancy working in a factory, so the only other option left was to join the military. Don mentioned oil and questioned me as to whether I was prepared to give up my car if we had no fuel. I answered that my car is not worth your life, or anybody’s life, and that I would gladly give it up to save some ones life. Don mentioning this example to me, illustrated that even a he, a British soldier understood that the war was for oil. He also said I should join the army. Maybe my aggressive questioning and demeanor made him think that I would make a good, obedient killing machine. I think he mistook my frustration with his naivety about the war in Iraq as something else. Don wants to finish the remainder of his time and get back safely to his family and continue his life, he wants to see his children grow up, graduate, marry and have kids, but somehow we forget sometimes that there are other people who want the same thing. They want the same thing for their children and families and what our governments do, what we are involved in, stands in their way. Before we left Don reiterated, this time with a look of regret in his eyes ‘I am just following orders’

By Guevara Serapion

I HAVE NO ENEMIES

2006-05-25T11:41:00.000+01:00

I have no human enemies

My enemy is the idle mind,
The words that are repeated without thinking
The suppression of free thought

My enemy is the mind that cannot think for itself, that cannot see hypocrisy

The mind that cannot see oppression and tyranny

My enemy is the restriction of thought

My enemy is the mind that justifies wrongs, seeing good for themselves and for a certain group of people, Nationalism, Racism, Zionism

My enemy is the unspoken word, the words that wonder the mind, the words we dream of speaking but never have the courage to say

My enemy is silence in the face of tribulation

My enemy is laziness, inactiveness, idiocy, inanity, inaction and crimes against humanity

My enemy is ignorance

My enemy is words without action

My enemy is corrupt ideology, impiousness

I have no human enemies, just human diseases

by Guevara Serapion

TV's Joanna in illegal protest shock!

2006-04-04T14:20:00.000+01:00

Firstly, sorry about the title. There's just something about tabloid style headlines that I love. That and the Mirror had already taken "Give me hope, Joanna".

To mark the 2nd anniversary of the US assault on Fallujah a group of around 250 demonstrators, among them Joanna Lumley, congregated in Parliament Square for a reading of the names of 1000 Iraqi civilians killed by coalition troops. To list even this tiny fraction of lost lives took over 4 hours. A turnout of 250 for a demonstration would sometimes be seen as a disappointment. Not so for this one, as each person there faced arrest under new laws preventing unauthorised protests with a fine of up to £1000. The organisers were risking a year in prison.

With 5 minutes to go till the scheduled start of 12 noon the grass was entirely empty. Understandably no one wanted to risk arrest before the demonstration began but on the first stroke of Big Ben, all around the surrounding streets, people collected their placards, affixed their badges and marched purposefully in to the centre. Many assumed that the protest would be over within seconds but to the visible surprise of the organisers a human circle was able to form and the solemn recital began. I took personal security in the presence of Ms Lumley. No police officer in his right mind was going to arrest her, and by extension, the rest of us.

Names were read in small batches by those present. In contrast to the extensive biographies produced on fallen British soldiers the details here were embarrassingly brief. "Son of Hussain al-Hayali" read one. "Aged 5. Killed by gunfire. 14th February 2006". Some had known occupations and ages. Others did not. At times, the enormity of what was being described was too much and names were read through fought back tears. It was impossible of course to fully comprehend that each badly pronounced name represented a real person, with a real family, a real life cut short.

The day ended with a solemn funeral procession to Downing Street, again in direct breach of the law, led by members of the London Catholic Worker. Compelled by their faith to promote peace in any way they can, they consider this obligation to be far more important than any legal considerations.

In contrast with other smaller demonstrations no arrests were made, despite a constant but arms length police presence. That said, the threat posed by this pernicious legislation is no less great. At time of writing, the result of the government's appeal over the case of veteran Anti-war protestor Brian Haw who has carried out a permanent one man vigil outside parliament for almost 5 years is unknown. A Judge ruled last year that as his protest predates the legislation, there is no need for police permission but the constant embarrassment that he provides is too much for the government to cope with and so they remain determined to evict him. 11 people have so far been convicted for entirely peaceful activities in the Square with Sunday seeing the biggest mass act of civil disobedience so far against this war. If our right to freedom of expression is going to survive it must not be the last.

by Gabriel Vogt

For further background on the attacks on Fallujah please visit http://www.rememberfallujah.org/

Details of Brian's protest and of other events in Parliament Square at www.parliament-square.org.uk

Guerilla Hall of Shame

2006-03-02T14:59:00.000Z

We have added a new section to our discussion board where you could name and shame people..

We already have our first candidate in it which I'm sure many of you would like to see..

Hall of shame

If you can't see the section you would most likely need to register which only takes about 10 seconds!

The Guerilla Discussion Board!

2006-03-01T01:24:00.000Z

The dicussion board is now open so please register!

Click here for the discussion board.

:::Serapion brothers update:::

Protest was outside college which can be seen here with video...

Channel 4 News

We'd like to thank everyone for there support and thanx to everyone who turned up for the protests..!

Institutional Racism and the Media

2006-02-14T21:57:00.000Z

How refreshing it is to see that the media has found a somewhat uncomfortable term attached to it self recently. The whole establishment has been on the defensive against what it sees as an unjustified statement by Sir Ian Blair of the Metropolitan Police when he accused them of being ‘institutionally racist’, despite them having used the term to attack the Met itself during its handling of the Stephen Lawrence case in the 1990’s. Journalists (white journalists) completely deny that the claim has any truth in it whatsoever, and since the media control the output of information in this country, have used their position to downplay it by hardly mentioning it at all. If another institution in Britain had found itself on the receiving end of such a claim, like the education system or the civil service, the media would have collectively pounced. Like the bloodthirsty dogs they are they would have ripped into anyone they could with questions aimed at exposing them as racists. As it turns out they have become understandably reluctant to even entertain the idea and instead have tried to deflect public attention onto Sir Ian himself. Focusing on his comments about Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, which they describe as ‘belittling’ the tragedy, they continue to ignore the context in which it was said. Sir Ian was quite clearly stating that although the murders were a great tragedy, he could not understand the process whereby the mainstream media choose which stories to cover. There are loads of murders that happen all over the country, and to many different kinds of people, and sometimes they are extremely horrific. The thing is that the media are the ones who choose the murders we should know about and depending on how they cover the story and the length of coverage it receives, how we should care. No doubt there are people who are reading this that say, just as the papers have said, that there ‘has’ been coverage of the murders of Black people on the scale similar to that of Holly and Jessica, and indeed there has. But if we take a closer look a familiar pattern seems to emerge. Stephen Lawrence, Damilola Taylor and Anthony Walker, who the media are referring to and no doubt so are you, were all victims of racially motivated murders, which instantly made their stories ‘newsworthy’. When do you ever hear a story about a murdered black person that isn’t ‘racially motivated’ or ‘gang related’? And when do you similarly hear a story of a murdered Asian person that isn’t ‘racially motivated’ or even worse, apparently ‘religiously motivated’ or ‘culturally motivated’? Are ethnic minorities not murdered in any other way? To the public this would certainly create the impression that they aren’t. All murders are a tragedy, any real human being would agree on that. The problem is that only certain murders receive mass attention. So how are they chosen? The criteria for Black and Asian people seems to be clear. So what criteria is used for white people? Apart from the abduction and murder of children, which is quite obviously tragic, and the following of such stories is itself something of an obsession of the British publics since the early 90’s, the criteria seems to be wide open for all kinds of cases.

So, are the media ‘institutionally racist’? First of all I would like to point out that it would be quite easy for me to launch off from this question into an attack on the ‘establishment’ simply because the term ‘institutionally racist’ creates a narrow framework in which to do so. The term has already assumed that whatever is discussed applies to the media in general and to everyone within it, and considering the diversity that could be possible in such an institution, clearly has no grounds for becoming involved in a rational argument. This use of language is a technique employed in the use of propaganda. It draws us into a debate that begins with a large assumption, thus framing the argument and leaving not much room for maneuver. It will no doubt influence our verdicts, and quite obviously create a large division between those that agree, and those that do not. George Orwell wrote about this very issue throughout his career, which culminated in, ironically, a term used in a similar way, Newspeak, in the novel 1984. The media and politicians alike have become increasingly dependent on using Newspeak to describe the world in an attempt to make it seem less complex then it actually is. The ‘War on Terror’, ‘Axis of Evil’, and ‘Muslim Terrorists.’ All these terms are dangerous and can be applied to such a vast array of things that they can include people, states and actions. How can you engage in a ‘War’ on ‘Terror” when war is open hostility between people and terror is an emotional state the one finds themselves in. So it was interesting to see how the media reacted when they found themselves labeled with a Newspeak term.

The mainstream media in Britain is almost certainty dominated by white middle class and upper middle class individuals, who will almost certainty come from areas dominated by white middle class and upper middle class individuals, and who will almost certainly have been to schools, colleges and universities that are likewise, almost certainty dominated by white middle class and upper middle class individuals. Does this make them racist? No, but as a result, their worldview, or ideology, is that of a white middle class and upper middle class individual. You can see were I am going with this. It is not a case of there being some kind of sinister agenda behind the media’s perceived racism, although it would be entertaining to believe so, it is more a case of their world view which, inherently, has no element of diversity in it. The media is our main source of information about the world we live in, and if one culture dominates that media then the information, which cannot always be of an objective nature, will quite obviously contain a few cultural assumptions to say the least. To give an example, think of women. Women are notoriously under represented in our society, despite their being more women in the world, let alone in Britain, then men. As a result, almost everything we see in the media has been created by a man, with a man’s taste in mind. Advertisements are a good example. How weird it would seem if we woke up one day and every advert that featured a naked or half naked women was replaced with a naked or half naked man. Spooky. So the dominance of man in society creates a worldview that is disseminated through the media and taken to be ‘The Worldview.’ Any feminist will tell you this and as a result they themselves have been portrayed as ‘ugly lesbians’, and ‘stuck up bitchs’ by, you guessed it, the male dominated media. So how surprising is it that the ‘sexist’ media would also find itself classified as ‘racist’? It is all a result of their dominant ideology that can only contain what they readily know. Throughout their daily lives how often do many of them associate with ethnic minorities, who in turn associate with ethnic minorities and thus are themselves representative of an ethnic minority community and not merely someone who has become assimilated and lost all but the color of their skin. Sticking feathers up your butt does not make you a chicken, reading a Black history book does not make you Black and reading a women’s magazine does not make you a female. You can only understand another culture, or another sex, if you have spent time in the company of people from that culture, or of that sex. If the only thing you know about Black people comes from the media or second hand accounts, or even brief meetings, then the only understanding you will have is a stereotypical one that ironically enough is all that comes out of the mainstream media. Also, the media is just like any other ‘business’ in a capitalist society. They to have to make a profit and in order to do that they have to have readers or viewers, and to do that they have to have stories that are newsworthy. But newsworthy to who? The majority of the population is again dominated by white people, and why the majority are not middle or upper middle class, they are nevertheless white. The media is only giving the people what they think the people want, and as they represent the culture of that majority, to some extent, they believe they have a fair idea about what that is. ‘Stories of abducted and murdered children seem to attract our audience and so do stereotypical stories of Black and Asian people’. ‘Give them what they know, what they are familiar with’. This is not an attack on white people; it is just a realistic interpretation of the situation. Again, I am not assuming that there is a sinister agenda at work or that Britain is inherently racist. That would go against what I said previously about ‘terms and labels’ being dangerous and downright illogical. What I am saying is that the majority rules, and in Jamaica or India the situation would be exactly the same there. Their culture would dominate and thus be reflected in their media, but would we call their media ‘institutionally racist’? A better way of describing a situation like ours would be that ethnic minorities, and women, are under represented in the media and serious attempts need to be made to change that. But by who? It would seem that the responsibility should fall not just to the media establishment, but equally to the public educational system, whose curriculum doesn’t seem to be producing individuals of ethnic origin, or even working class backgrounds, with the desire, let alone the skills, to pursue a career in journalism. Oh, and maybe now the media will think twice about using Newspeak terms to label others since it backfired on them. Our maybe they wont, in which case its up to us, when discussing the issues they are referring to, to fight or way out of the narrow framework in which these labels place us in, like I have attempted to do in this case.

‘Don’t you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought?’

George Orwell, 1984

by Castro Serapion

Fallujah - The Hidden Massacre

2006-01-07T02:08:00.000Z

Recently reports have emerged that American troops used Napalm and White phosphorus in the siege of Fallujah. After the showing of the controversial Italian documentary new questions are being asked. Though the White House has admitted the use of white phosphorus, it does not classify it as a chemical weapon.

Why is it that we claim to go half way across the world to free people from oppression, but all we bring is suffering and destruction? The use of Napalm and white phosphorus as a weapon is a bold action. It sends out a message. ‘We will smoke you out of your holes’. Bombs are indiscriminate, they can’t tell the difference between a child or a soldier. There were civilians in Fallujah, but that did not stop the American Military from committing war crimes. Dead people littered the streets, the hospital inundated with burn victims due to the use of ‘chemical weapons’. Dead women and children, sentenced to be burned alive, their only crime being Iraqi, being residents of Fallujah, not leaving their homes. Sentenced to be shot by cowboys besieging the city. How can someone claim to be fighting terrorism, using terrorism? This is how we win hearts and minds. If people don’t submit to our mighty President who receives messages from God, then their hearts and minds must be shown the supremacy and might of America, by unleashing hell on them. Yet still, all we are given is statistics. We don’t see the pictures of the babies burnt to death, their clothes still intact, of women and elderly who have suffered the same fate. Has the World gone crazy? Can people not see the hypocrisy of the American government? We live in a time of ignorance. Where might means you are right, and no one can question America because they have the might, therefore they must be right. History is written by those who win, who after the wars and the conquering are able to write the history books and manipulate everybody into thinking they are the good guys. An illegal war, with illegal methods has lead to drastic consequences. Can anybody blame the Iraqis for resisting their ‘liberators’. Their only choice is fight and be killed, or stay in their homes where they may get killed anyway.

This war is a disaster. Everyday the actions of our governments act as a recruiting agent for the so called terrorists. How will history judge our governments and us? Tyrannical regimes relying on the ignorance of the masses so they can carry out their agendas unopposed. People who would rather be entertained and eat junk food to fill their junk minds. People who are born into servitude to big corporations, having advertisements pumped into us, from the cradle to the grave. We don’t see sense anymore. If it sounds good and is packaged nicely we accept it, like the morons we are.

Hey, survival of the fittest. We have the tanks and bombs so we must be right. Right?

By Guevara Serapion

PoliTricks in DemoCrapcy

2005-12-13T23:16:00.000Z

As the casualties of ‘coalition’ troops mount in Iraq, is it time for this government to acknowledge its mistakes and withdraw its troops?

The war began under the false pretences of the existence of Weapons of Mass Destruction, but as of yet nothing has been found. The British public were duped into believing they were under imminent threat. The government ignored the mass protests of anti war demonstrators, and instead the Blarite regime decided to follow their master Bush on his quest for world domination. Thousands of innocent Iraqis have been killed due to this war and thousands more will die due to the depleted uranium shells that the military use. Is this what we call justice? Is this what we call democracy? Democracy is a fallacy that we buy into, just to make us think that who we vote for matters. What kind of Democracy is it when we have a choice between a liar, hypocrite and a drunk?

This war is not about justice, if Britain was so concerned about justice we would allow the native islanders of Diego Garcia ( a British Island) to return to their island, but the reason they cant return is that the British Government has signed a deal with the Americans to turn it into a military base. The Americans have since launched their bombing campaign on a people who live in mud houses in Afghanistan, in their claim that they are fighting terror. Australia, (another advocate of the war on terror and bringing ‘justice and freedom’ to Iraq), seems to be committing injustices on its own shores, towards the aboriginal people, denying them their land rights and access to decent health care.

If the ‘coalition’ is so concerned with ridding the Middle East from Weapons of Mass destruction, why not start with Israel? That is the only nuclear country in the region. Israel is responsible for numerous atrocities against the Palestinian people, where children use stones to defend themselves against helicopter gun ships and tanks, the full might of the American funded war machine. Palestinian children have to dodge bullets to go to school. The Israeli army takes pot shots at journalists and peace activists and yet they are not held to account.

America is responsible for thousands of death across the world, from Vietnam, Cambodia, Afghanistan to Iraq, and these only mention the wars America was directly involved in. How many people have been killed or oppressed by American funded regimes? This war is not about terrorism, justice or freedom, its about oil, gas and the need for the imperial powers to show their strength and flex their muscles, at the same time sending out a message to the likes of Iran, North Korea and China, or anyone else that questions the tyrannical, double standards and totalitarian policies of America and its lapdogs.

By Guevara Serapion

Welcome to Camp Boulton

2005-12-13T23:01:00.000Z

(The following article was published in The Guerila news letter)

When most people came to the open day of the college I bet they were treated with a warm welcome from a happy member of staff and felt respected as they appeared to be concerned with helping you in anyway they could. So what’s happened since then? Now when you come to college you’re treated with suspicion by rude security guards and are hard pressed to find any member of staff who is concerned about you whatsoever. What’s changed is the fact that they have already received your college fees, they don’t need to be nice to you anymore as your now just another suspect for them to keep their eye on in case you cause them any trouble. Now the college has become more like a boot camp, with students forced to wear ID cards around their necks and told they have to ask to leave the class to go to the toilet. Is this really why you came?

By Castro Serapion

Media: A Propaganda Tool for War

2005-12-13T22:01:00.000Z

Part 1 : The War Consensus

In the 21^st century the media plays a major part in the way information reaches the public. In Britain 97% of the population watch TV and 13 million newspapers are sold daily. It has become a huge influence on the way we view the world, live our lives and on the topics we discuss. In fact, many of our ideas and opinions derive from a media source as opposed to actual personal experience. With this in mind it’s not hard to see that the media has the potential to become a useful propaganda tool for the government, employed to shape the minds of the masses into thinking in a certain way about the important issues of the day. And what could be a more important issue than War?Whatever the true reasons for going to war with Iraq were, the British and American governments needed to ensure the public supported or at least understood the need for military engagement. They are both supposed to be democratic countries after all. The best way to achieve this is to present it as a necessary course of action for the publics protection. Iraq had to be seen as posing a threat to the western nations. A ‘Climate of Fear’ had to be created.

During the period leading up to the invasion, the media saturated the populace with continuos coverage of Iraq. Civilian oppression at the hands of Saddams Hussein’s ‘Tyrannical’ regime, human rights abuses on a ‘Mass Scale’, and most importantly the possession of ‘Weapons of Mass Destruction’. Iraq was portrayed as being a major ‘Threat’ to the western world and its ‘Way of Life’. If Saddam could murderer and torture his own people, imagine what he could do to us. He had to be overthrown.Politicians, various authorities, late night chat show hosts all expressed their concerns, while protesters against the war received no airtime, and the language used in the media’s rhetoric worked to create the impression of it being a simple case of ‘Good versus Evil’. The US and UK had an ‘Army, Navy and Airforce’ waiting to ‘Defend’ the country while Iraq had a ‘War Machine’ ready to ‘Attack’. The US and UK’s soldiers who were ready to fight were described as being ‘Brave’ while the Iraqi soldiers were described as being ‘Fanatical’. In previous conflicts, missile strikes by the US and UK caused ‘Collateral Damage’ while the Iraqis caused ‘Civilian Casualties’. Reporting in this highly opinionated way lead to the issue being seen purely in black and white terms. If the facts were placed before the public to judge for themselves, which is how the news should be, it would have been possible for the population to understand the true nature of the matter, and thus be able to make an actual ‘Informed’ decision. But what use would that be for the government? A moral divide was being drawn between ‘Us and Them’, and the public was forced to take sides. Anyone wanting to take a ‘look at the bigger picture’, or expressing any concern for the wellbeing of the Iraqis was seen as ‘Un-Patriotic’, an enemy ‘Sympathizer’, and thus at odds with the interest of the public. This attitude against such individuals was increased if they just so happened to be Muslim.

The more coverage an issue receives, the more embedded in the public conscience it becomes, until eventually it is used as the standard topic of discussion for everyone, at all times. Friends, family and even strangers begin to converse and unintentionally form a general consensus about the matter.
When the innocent Brazilian Jean Charles DeMenez was brutally murdered by armed police on the London underground the TV, newspapers and airwaves were overflowing with information. The media attempted to downplay the incident by claiming the police were acting in the ‘interest of the public’ and that Jean Charles behavior ‘aroused suspicion’. Almost all of the general public collectively condemned DeMenez before all the necessary evidence had become available, and then all collectively ate their words when it did. But then all of a sudden, when the coverage stopped, DeMenez disappeared from the public conscience as quickly as he had appeared. Thus the media has the power to select what issues the public should know, how they should think about it, and how long it should be discussed.

Using these methods the media was utilized to prepare the populace for war. They created a state of panic amongst the people that infected all. Everyday was seen as a possible threat from a chemical attack. This atmosphere was engineered, the product of government propaganda spread by journalist with a forced sense of duty, and media corporations with as of yet hidden agendas, and the war itself is still ‘Under Construction’.

By Castro Serapion

The need for a reality check

2005-12-08T23:27:00.001Z

The war in Iraq is currently raging in the Middle East as the US and UK attempt to install democracy, their greatest cultural export, and yet the worlds superpower and its British bitch both run countries were democracy seems to be slowly withering away. 9/11 and 7/7 have left the minds of the masses open to manipulation from the government, who uses its muscle and calls to patriotism on journalists to shape the output of mainstream media. An epic story is being constructed and disseminated before our eyes at such a consistent rate that we have no time to question what we are being shown let alone understand it, and thorough our daily diet of fictional programming we allow it to filter into our brains as the structure remains the same as any great tale. A mythical villain (Bin Laden) is threatening the world, and the only person who stands in his way is the hero (Bush) and his sidekick (Blair) who will sacrifice themselves (soldiers) to protect the innocent. Forget being a great tale, it sounds more like a comic book strip from the 50’s. How are people actually buying this crap? Things are not as simple as they are making them out to be, and yet people are unaware of this, as each day that passes many are becoming more and more open to giving up some of their rights and the rights of others in order to be taken care of by these nanny states. We need to wake up and realize that we are sleep walking towards a totalitarian state before its too late. Too much power is being given to the minority, and the majority are the ones who will suffer. The Serapion Brothers were recently suspended from college for distributing our Guerilla newsletter to the other students. No calls to terrorism, no racist remarks, not even a freakin swear word, just some good old fashioned news and articles written for students by students. See for yourself, two of the articles are available on this blog (under manners, wake up and smell the bull). The problem is that the time has come for the spreading of information to be monitored by the powers that be to ensure their fabricated stories play out the way they were meant to. Even ownership of the Internet looks likely to be handed over to the US so it can have greater control over what we say. So fellow surfer, friend, human being, it seems like our time to fully express ourselves is running out. This is 1984 the live version, so get out there, search for the truth and spread the word before a time comes when the Thought Police knock your door. If this is what the west is trying to give to the Iraqis, I don’t think it’s quite what the people had in mind when they heard they were getting a democracy.

By Casrto Serapion

SUSPENDED!

2005-12-08T23:27:00.000Z

The Serapion brothers were recently suspended from college for distributing a newsletter.
They were trying to open the minds of those students that have been captured by the system, chained by the constraints of the mythical laws of the bourgeoisie.
In this modern age of democracy and free speech, where communism is a thing of the past and we have all become liberal and tolerant of other societies and cultures, why is it a college suspends two students for distributing a newsletter?
What is the real reason behind this course of action? The superiors of colleges and schools want to control the minds of their students. Critical thinking is a thing of the past, intellectual debate is reserved for Oxford and Cambridge, questioning the situation we find ourselves in is for the politicians to debate over. Students need to learn one thing and one thing only, obedience. Obedience to the state, to their teachers and in the future their bosses. And if anybody questions our policies, our methods, then we will suspend them. If anybody attempts to get people thinking, tries to stimulate the intellect, encourage critical thinking, then we will show them the door. The managers of colleges are there for a reason, to manage the students, to shape and mould them into the white collar slaves of the future, to direct the students thinking, to get them to comply and not to question. So when two free thinking individuals (Serapion brothers) write a few articles, trying to ruffle the feathers of the intellect, they need to be suspended. Stop the press! Don’t let the newsletter spread! Call security! We have people who are challenging our indoctrination. We have people who have figured out our plans. The Serapion brothers did not use any foul language, did not insight racism, did not propagate any political views, instead they simply encouraged people to use their synapses, to stimulate the parts of the brain that seem to be on holiday. They were suspended. No reason was given, they all ready know the reason. This is a totalitarian regime within the college, we have rules and if we don’t like the look of you, we will make a rule to kick you out. We are the offspring of the ‘Lunar society’, we call the shots so give us your ID cards and make your way off the college premises. But there is one thing the management does not know, the seeds have been planted, the minds stimulated, people are talking, people are thinking, soon their will be ten then twenty then hundreds who will begin to oppose the discrimination, the indoctrination, the masses will not remain silent. When you see these signs, prepare yourself for the advent of the Serapion brothers.

By Guevara Serapion

Under Manners

2005-12-06T22:04:00.000Z

(The following article was published in The Guerilla news letter)

In America during the 60’s it was the students who were the ones who opposed the government, who made sure their voices were heard and who refused to be forced into staying silent. These days if the government says its going to war, wants to detain suspects for 90 days or is planning to build more nuclear PowerStation’s, students are the ones that couldn’t care less and yet are the very group that these actions are going to affect the most. Whatever politicians do with this world now, we are the ones who are going to have to deal with it when there finished. So why is it we seem to care so little? One of the reasons is that ever since childhood educational facilities have attempted to shape us into compliant citizens who will do anything that they tell us to do. The teacher becomes the first authority figure used to keep us under manners, conditioning us to accept future commands from our boss at work and readying us to except the control of the government. The most the population does when the government does something we all don’t like is moan. Where is the action. Where are the mass protests. We have all been turned into robots who are concerned only with what’s going to happen on the next episode of East Enders all the while things are happening behind closed doors that effect is in ways we are not even aware of. College is an extension of their plan as another facility that seeks to keep us under manners. You can see it daily from the way we are treated by the staff. What ever happened to being treated with respect and being seen as adults, which we all are. If we don’t come to realize that we are being conditioned in this way then we will never really be free. If we don’t take an interest in what’s happening in our country and around the world, then the future looks very bleak indeed.

By Castro Serapion

wake up and smell the bull

2005-12-06T22:00:00.000Z

(The following article was published in The Guerilla news letter)

What is the purpose of college? Is it to provide an education for the students or a service for customers. Colleges today have changed from the colleges of the past, whereas students in the past were proactive nowadays when talking to students you are met with a sense of apathy on all subjects, unless it be football or the next pop group. The media and entertainment culture has taken over our lives, along with being institutionalized through compulsory schooling, being hit with advertisement after advertisement and un-beneficial, irrelevant information. We have no views anymore, whether it be on the environment, politics, education or anything else which concerns our everyday lives. Our views are shaped by the media yet we delude ourselves that they are our own, we are told what to think, how long to think and in which way to think about it. The level of emotion we feel on a particular subject, is the amount of coverage it receives on the news. Innocent Iraqi civilians die everyday, yet no interviews with their families, no pictures of the children left behind, or other family members, we are just given numbers, statistics, filtered pictures, desensitizing us to the plight of others across the world. Yet if an American soldier dies we are shown his mourning mother, and attractive girl friend telling us how wonderful and caring her gun yielding minion of the American government boyfriend was. We have a sense of association to the soldier yet no feelings towards a child who happened to pick up an unexploded particle of a cluster bomb, dropped by the British government. The people suffering are far away, they look different, act different and hey they don’t even speak English why should we care, but if Phil and Grant return to Eastenders millions of us are glued to our screens. What does this say about us, where is our sense of justice, individuality and curiosity, do we not have a responsibility to ourselves and those around us to seek the truth and inform others of it. When will students break away from this lifestyle of apathy and not caring about that which will effect us tomorrow, how much longer will corporate bosses influence our education, and government policies? There are only one group of people that are benefiting from the current situation, I will let you in on a secret, its not us!

By Guevara Serapion