A review of Peace Plays by Johan Galtung, Vitahl Rajan, and S. P. Udayakumar
by Gary Corseri / October 6th, 2016
But where can wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding?”
— The Book of Job
… with the finding of the language the feelings begin to change again.
— Phyllis Rose
Part One
These are ideational works. They are clever and literate, but rather unusual, and even the judicious reader might like a little “framing.” The authors, and/or publisher, seem aware of that need with this blurb on the book’s back cover:
“Peace studies are usually presented as essays, in social science, political or philosophical-ethical discourses. This book is an experiment with drama as peace discourse, by authors versed in the other three. …
by Ahmad Barqawi / October 6th, 2016
He was a Jordanian Journalist, a Leftist, a self-proclaimed “anti-Imperialist”. He was a pro-Syria activist and a fierce supporter of Syrian President Bashar Al Assad’s Government against the West’s war of aggression for regime change in that country. And now he is the victim of Jordan’s first ever political assassination.
Nahed Hattar, a secular Jordanian author and writer, was shot dead on September 25th, at the steps leading to the High Court Of Justice in Amman, the very court he was about to be tried in for “offending the Islamic religion” after sharing a “caricature” drawing mocking ISIS’s skewed version of …
by Alli McCracken / October 6th, 2016
Pressure from human rights organizations like Oxfam to victims of the 9/11 attacks are helping erode the bond between these old political allies, but the results of this election season could squander our chance at change.
Congress recently passed the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA) allowing families of victims of the September 11, 2001 attacks to sue other governments, including Saudi Arabia, for possible damages.
Despite threats by the Saudi government to sell billions of dollars’ worth of their assets and reexamine the bilateral relationship with the U.S., Congress snubbed the …
by Allen W. Smith / October 5th, 2016
My article, “Let the Public Know the Truth About Social Security,” Dissident Voice, September 26, 2016, raised doubts in the minds of some readers. One reader wrote: “Unlike protests such as Occupy Wall Street and Black Lives Matter, no one is taking to the streets to protest this big theft. So, what will it take to well up enough anger to stage protests?”
The reason there are no protests is that most people don’t know about the theft, and they are still getting their checks on time. On July 12, 2011, during a stalemate between President Obama and the Congress over …
by Frank Scott / October 5th, 2016
With daily bulletins from consciousness control informing us of the dangers of electing a textbook capitalist as president while daily news of textbook capitalism’s increasing dangers to humanity go unreported, it is long past time for an “alt-left” to balance the “alt-right” which seems to represent the only organized critical voice in american politics.
An electorate is being forced to choose between a lesser evil representative of the rich with excrement clogging his brains and a lesser evil representative of the rich with pus clogging her veins, while a real alternative for the 90% is not allowed to debate them for …
by Binoy Kampmark / October 5th, 2016
We believe in what we are doing… If you are pushed you push back.
— Julian Assange
The mutterings have become furious, and it is clear that the Democratic contender for the White House has again shown how traditional her ploys towards power are going to be. Julian Assange and WikiLeaks have again managed to pull the blinds off an episode of some consequence, not least because it casts insight into the inner workings of the already maligned Clinton complex.
For one, it shows that Hillary Clinton will not be averse to muddying the waters of international law she is so happy to …
by Yves Engler / October 4th, 2016
When reading wild propaganda about Canada’s role in Haiti I often wonder if the reporter is a sycophant or whether they’ve been duped.
With the Caribbean nation set to hold its most credible presidential election in sixteen years Ottawa announced it was withdrawing support for the October 9 poll. The Trudeau government’s decision to follow Washington in seeking to undermine the election was confirmed in an anti-Haitian screed titled “Canada showing Haiti some tough love”. In it CBC reporter Evan Dyer ignores …
by Matt Peppe / October 4th, 2016
As the Syrian Arab Army dug in for a fight against the self-declared Islamic State on September 17, they were struck by an air raid that killed 62 soldiers and injured 100 more. The culprit was a foreign military that has never been attacked by, and has not declared war on, Syria. Two weeks later, that same nation’s military killed 22 soldiers in a strike inside Somalia, another country which it had never been attacked by nor declared war on. The very next day the New York Times published a stinging editorial decrying flagrant violations of international law …
by Nozomi Hayase / October 4th, 2016
“To me, freedom of speech is something that represents the very dignity of what a human being is… that’s what marks us off from the stones and stars.” These are words spoken by Mario Savio, the spokesperson for the Free Speech Movement in the 60’s. Decades later, the power of free speech has surged onto the global stage and began reclaiming the dignity of humanity.
We are now entering WikiLeaks 10 year anniversary. The organization registered their domain on October 4, 2006 and blazed into the public limelight in the spring of 2010 with the publication of Collateral …
by Denis Rancourt / October 4th, 2016
In my recent article “The Climate Religion”, I argued that “climate change”, the widespread belief that atmospheric CO2 controls climate and climate events, satisfies the defining criteria of a state religion. Professor Paul Brown responded to my article in his article entitled “The Religion of Climate Change Denial”. This is my reply to Professor Brown.
Professor Brown is silent on my argument that climate change science and policy serve global financiers and US-dominated geopolitics. He prefers a sanitized argument essentially limited to a pronouncement that “most scientists…”. Fine, let us examine the scientific question.
An elementary rule of scientific theorizing, …
by Rick Sterling / October 4th, 2016
There is a hypocritical disconnect in Western and especially U.S. foreign policy. When it comes to Israel, the US is quick to claim “Israel has a right to defend itself”. For Syria, that same right does not seem to exist.
Is Israel Defending Itself or Defending Occupation/Apartheid?
When Israel executed intense bombing campaigns against Gaza in 2008, 2012 and 2014 the US justified the attacks. At the United Nations on 18 July 2014, US Ambassador Samantha Power said:
President Obama spoke with Prime Minister Netanyahu this morning to reaffirm the United States’ strong support for Israel’s right to defend itself…. Hamas’
…
by Syria Solidarity Movement / October 3rd, 2016
On 29 April, 2016, Syria Solidarity Movement member Vanesa Beeley placed the following petition on Change.org. On or about 27 September, Change.org removed the petition, citing “violation of community standards”. What community standards? Judge for yourself.
Do Not Give the Nobel Peace Price 2016 to the Syrian White Helmets
To do so would prolong the suffering of the Syrian people and reward the White Helmets for being US and UK Government funded and trained agents of “regime change” in Syria.
The White Helmets have received over $40 million in funding from the US Government [USAID] and the UK Foreign Office despite their claims of …
The Anti-Empire Report #145
by William Blum / October 3rd, 2016
“Russia suspected of election scheme. U.S. probes plan to sow voter distrust.”
That’s the Washington Post page-one lead headline of September 6. Think about it. The election that Americans are suffering through, cringing in embarrassment, making them think of moving abroad, renouncing their citizenship; an election causing the Founding Fathers to throw up as they turn in their graves … this is because the Russian Devils are sowing voter distrust! Who knew?
But, of course, that’s the way Commies are – Oh wait, I forgot. They’re no longer Commies. So what are they? Ah yes, they still have that awful old hangup …
by John R. Hall / October 3rd, 2016
By the turn of the 21st century, the United States military had already appropriated the entire earth, and was ready to flood the most obscure areas of it with troops at a moment’s notice. The Pentagon divided the planet into five area commands–similar to the way that the Indian Country of the American West had been divided in the mid-nineteenth century by the U.S. Army…’Welcome to Injun Country’ was the refrain I heard from troops from Columbia to the Philippines, including Afghanistan and Iraq. To be sure, the problem for the American military was less (Islamic) fundamentalism than anarchy. The
…
by Ramzy Baroud / October 3rd, 2016
Former Israeli Prime Minister and President, Shimon Peres, was a very successful brand. He was presented to the world as stately, wise, a relentless advocate of peace, and a sane voice amidst a conflict deemed senseless and unending.
Now that he is dead at 93, international media are rife with touching tributes and heartwarming eulogies of the Nobel Peace Prize winner, one of Israel’s most sagacious ‘founding fathers’, who was also seen as a ‘giant among men’.
These attributes were mostly based on sentiment rather than fact, however. Full knowledge of the man’s legacy certainly lingers among many Palestinians, …
by Kim Petersen / October 3rd, 2016
On his second day in office as president of the United States, Barack Obama issued an executive order to make good on his promise to shut down the Guantánamo Bay incarceration facility in Cuba. Nearly at the end of his second term as president, Obama has not yet realized his promise. The act of holding rendered people continues.
It is hardly surprising to the people when their political representatives fail to make good on their pledges. It is all too common in a system that the ruling classes bill as “democracy.”
North of the border the political process plays out much the …
by Media Lens / October 3rd, 2016
National newspapers were ‘unimpressed by Jeremy Corbyn’s victory’ in the Labour leadership election, Roy Greenslade noted in the Guardian, surprising no-one. Corbyn secured almost 62% of the 506,000 votes cast, up from the 59% share he won in 2015, ‘with virtually no press backing whatsoever’.
In reality, of course, Corbyn did not just lack press backing. He won in the face of more than one year of relentless corporate media campaigning to politically, ethically, professionally, psychologically and even sartorially discredit him. That Corbyn survived is impressive. That he won again, increased his vote-share, and took Labour Party membership …
by John Stanton / October 3rd, 2016
There is an inverse relationship between public access to the Internet and the inability of governments and institutions to control information flow and hence state allegiance, ideology, public opinion, and policy formulation. Increase in public access to the Internet results in an equivalent decrease in government and institutional power. Indeed, after September 11, 2001, Internet traffic statistics show that many millions of Americans have connected to alternative news sources outside the continental United States. The information they consume can be and often is contrary to US government statements and US mainstream media reporting. Recognizing this, terrorists will coordinate their assaults
…
by James Petras / October 2nd, 2016
Washington’s quest for perpetual world power is underwritten by systematic and perpetual propaganda wars. Every major and minor war has been preceded, accompanied and followed by unremitting government propaganda designed to secure public approval, exploit victims, slander critics, dehumanize targeted adversaries and justify its allies’ collaboration.
In this paper we will discuss the most common recent techniques used to support ongoing imperial wars.
Propaganda Techniques of Empire
Role Reversal
…
by Andre Vltchek / October 2nd, 2016
Cairo, Egypt — It is hard to imagine a more resilient, more heroic nation than Syria!
With only 17 million inhabitants (according to 2014 estimate), Syria is now facing the mightiest coalition on Earth – the coalition that consists of virtually all traditional Western colonialist and neo-colonialist nations.
It is also facing some of the cruelest and deadliest inventions of the West – the extremist and murderous post- and pseudo-Islamic groupings, similar to those that were already unleashed against the Soviet Union during the war in Afghanistan.
Because of tremendous determination of its people, Syria is still standing! But it is standing against all …
