latin american princesa {LAP}

Mike Gravel was right when he exclaimed “his lips are moving, the President’s lying“. IPS interviewed Chuck Lewis from the Centre for Public Integrity on a report that documents the lies told by the administration to justify invading Iraq.

Eight key players in the George W. Bush administration, including the president himself, made at least 935 false statements in the run-up to and aftermath of the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

The analysis shows that Bush made the most false statements of all eight officials. His namesake, who couldn’t even lie about chopping a cherry tree down, must be rolling in his grave!! But who am I kidding? That’s just another lie in America’s history of lies.

I can’t say it better than Mr. Lewis:

What the world needs most, though, is real-time truth, not years later. Maybe, because of this debacle of the past five years, reporters and citizens will become more sceptical and discerning of politicians and those in power.

And while some may dismiss bloggers as being less credible and professional than journalists, journalism as an industry is in a crisis. Mr. Lewis describes the state of U.S. journalism like this:

Not good, emaciated economically, thousands of reporters and editors fired since 2000, still too easily misled, not sufficiently sceptical of officialdom, of government, of power.

In ‘Can Newspaper Journalism Survive Blogs, Fox News, and Karl Rove?‘ David Wessel addresses several of the problems newspapers are facing today, but is rather positive about the future of newspapers and journalism. He also reveals an important validation for blogs: keeping reporters honest.

It’s very hard for the press, if it ever wanted to, to conspire to keep secret the foibles of the president today because some blog will put it out and everybody will be talking about it, and we feel we’ll have to respond.

There are people out there challenging the lies we are told everyday. Dismissing us as not credible or as crazy liberals is just another lie, much like calling extreme environmental activists ‘terrorists’. I don’t see blogs as a replacement for journalism, but as serving a check and balance role and giving ordinary citizens a chance to have their say. Why should we wait for the elite? It’s our freedom too. In my view, the elite only enrich themselves and protect their own interests.

Einstein said:

In order to form an immaculate member of a flock of sheep one must, above all, be a sheep.

The powers-that-be like to herd the sheep along, terrifying them into submission using their barking ever-loyal best friend crying out in the past about the “evil communists” and now about the “evil terrorists”. The modern day Inquisition known as McCarthyism was replaced by the War on Drugs and now the War on Terror. Guantanamo is the worst manifestation of it but Arab/Middle Eastern/Muslim immigrants have endured the repercussions in every Western nation. The Dutch now screen immigrants with a required inburgerings cursus from which all Western immigrants are exempt and which is funded by the perspective migrant before entering the country (a prohibitive amount for people from developing countries). But we all pay the price of this war cry. Even animal rights activists are labeled “terrorists” these days.

So am I a wolf in sheep’s clothing? Hmm, tough one. I don’t eat sheep (I do respect the choice of those who wish to do so), but I wouldn’t mind helping the sheep be free. Question is: Do they want to be free? The left is not without its own faults. The Western liberal assumption that the “oppressed masses” are desperately waiting to be saved (ala Zoe’s Ark) stems from the same paternalistic Christian ideology (”saving the savages”) that also fuels the right’s xenophobic intolerance of non-white, non-Christians (”savage pagans to be ‘cleansed’”).

Awareness and communication will increase knowledge. And with knowledge the “sheep” can find their own path. This wolf will just keep howling, because biting would be resorting to the level of the extremists on both sides.

Here’s a clip from Mike Gravel’s myspace:

And he’s lying then. And he’s lying now. Because he went in there for oil. He wasn’t going to sell democracy. That only came about after they couldn’t find the weapons of mass destruction. You can tell his lips are moving…the president’s lying!!

Ok so I’m a sucker for an underdog. But gosh darn it he’s speaking the truth!!!!! Oh right the truth is an underdog.

I’ve been catching up on my race fix with the Addicted to Race podcast and in one episode Carmen was discussing Jena Six and the media with Baratunde. They talked about how the blogosphere, in this case the blackosphere or bloggers-of-colorsphere, kept the Jena story alive, beating out the mainstream media. Exposing these kinds of stories is important because many have the misguided idea that well “the blacks” got their civil rights so “what are they always complainin’ about?” Well civil rights (as well as equal rights for women) was the first step. There is so much to do still.

I’ve been away for a few years and things have changed. Blogs, activism, protests, people standing up for their rights and the things they believe in. This is what is different. And perhaps the increase is due to growing discomfort and disgust with the economy and Iraq, but it’s also about a change in power. Somehow these new connections and interactions in the virtual world signify a shift in power. Or is it just me? No, there is some serious empowerment going on.

But not just here. No, I’m not going to play that Amero-centric game. Let’s go to Myanmar. Photos, videos and news traveled through an international blogosphere and brought the historic protest to the world. Until the Burmese rulers shut down the Internet ostensibly to stop the outside world from witnessing the crackdown, but the real reason, I think, was to quelch the hope of its citizens. Isn’t that the “real” (I mean is real anyway) link? The Internet and mobile phones are links to hope, to our fellow human beings. Not virtual beings, but real flesh and blood humans with feelings, emotions and issues.

Pakistan is in lockdown now too. Why? Because another megalomaniac doesn’t want to give up power. And the idiots in Washington can’t even pretend to condemn the removal of freedom for our allies, the Pakistanis. What are we doing in Iraq? Freeing the Iraqis? Hmmm, but we don’t mind if the “Pakis” lose theirs in the meantime. There are still some other Bush family members who might want to start another war later. But I digress…. With TV shut down, Pakistanis turn to another external connection: the web!

Back in September I went to visit a good friend in Istanbul. Well to my disappointment I could not blog while there because wordpress had been blocked. Why? Because a certain man wanted to censor blogs that “defamed” him. The Internet, the web, and now bloggers are being subjected to more and more scrutiny and repression.

And while this news is disturbing and we should worry about it and most definitely fight against it…it heartens me to know that we are big enough to get the big guy’s attention. Remember a tiny virus can bring even the biggest man down.

Einstein said:

The health of society thus depends quite as much on the independence of the individuals composing it as on their close political cohesion.

It amazes me how people go on and on about their freedom and constantly harp about how no one has the right to take their freedom away. I mean freedom comes with responsibility. We have to work for it, protect it and nourish it. We don’t live in individual little bubbles of personal freedom as if we were totally unconnected with those around us. We depend on one another and affect one another with our “individual” actions. It is our interactions that make us who we are, because we are defined by the Other.

It’s in your own best interest to get involved, to make a difference. Maybe one individual can’t change the world, but together we can revolutionize it. Look at global warming. Without even working together we have managed to ravage the planet and affect societies we have never even heard of. Imagine what we might accomplish by consciously working towards particular development goals. Now that doesn’t mean we all have to agree on every point or do everything the same. It does mean that we should work towards a better future for all of us, by find the best solutions in our own networks.

There are no one size fit all answers. Let’s use our freedom responsibly to find diverse solutions to the world’s many problems.

After reading Live From New York, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s Unreality Show slamming the Iranian leader’s claims during his two appearances on Monday, I couldn’t help but make a connection to our own totally incompetent leader. Just when we thought he couldn’t get any dumber, Bush declares Mandela dead and argues that individuals and their doctors should have control over their health care, not the federal government. Can someone please explain to him that people without health insurance DON’T HAVE doctors!

In a scathing interview on CNN, Donald Trump openly declared that Bush is possibly the worst president in our history and he thinks that Bush should ‘go into a corner and hide’. Trumps states with conviction: “IT’S ALL A BIG LIE” “EVERYTHING IS A LIE”.

Are we going to sit back and allow two morons tripping over their own lies to bring the world into a war that could possibly destroy us all? We want freedom and democracy, well we have to work at it. So let’s get to work. Register to vote, protest, read new and alternative sources of information, talk to your neighbors, meet up with others, learn more about the world and respecting diversity. Just take some action!

A friend of mine has been working hard on The Free Berhanu Nega Campaign in support of democracy and freedom in Ethiopia. Dr. Nega, the first democratically elected mayor of Addis Ababa, was arrested for protesting irregularities in the elections of 2005 and spent two years as a political prisoner. He was recently released and will be speaking in NYC on September 6, 2007.

Dr. Nega will address his experiences working for democracy in Ethiopia in the face of a government that has repressed all opposition. He will also address the role of the United States in the support of the Ethiopian government and the war in Somalia and what U.S. citizens can do to help.

All support and help is welcome!! If you are in NY, please join in.

Pardon my absence, but I was gone for a few days. Yes very lucky me went to Paris. Mi esposo querido surprised me for my birthday. It still amazes me the luck I’ve had in this short life. What more can be left?

I’ve been catching up on news and blogs today and there are so many people who aren’t so lucky. I won’t feel guilty though because that is demeaning to my life and the courageous lives of others. Buddha forbid I should ever feel superior! As if a good life is proof of your goodness or superiority as some seem to believe. I mean my life is not perfect. We all suffer, some more than others, but I try to fully appreciate my life and to make the best of it. I hope with all my heart that others experience their own joy and love despite all the tragedy that surrounds us. I also hope that they find a way to make their own joy and love in their own way. And I really hope that those of us who are lucky enough not to live in daily fear and violence, can do something to help those who find themselves in unimaginable spaces, even if that something is just trying to understand and challenging our own preconceived ideas.

So what am I talking about? Social responsibility and empowerment. By social responsibility I mean responsibility to the communities we exist in and to the communities connected to our own. Well really I mean responsibility to all humanity. By empowerment I mean an individual or group is self-directing and neither dominated nor dominating.

Continue reading Some thoughts on social responsibility and empowerment…