For The Indonesians ...

Caught between Mount Merapi & the Tsunami,

natures beautifully destructive showpiece 

 

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Born Here By Dam

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIo6lyP9tTE&feature=related

 (Picture Source: Google)

For The Palestinians Who Suffer Police Brutality At Umm Al-Fahm

Ominous Wikileak Predictions

We were standing in the hot desert sun, 50 degrees of lava bearing down on our heads. It was June 2003, three months after the unlawful, illegal invasion of Iraq. After six sleepless nights, under the hawkish surveillance of the occupying force, I couldn't bear the thought of another moment of pretending to be friendly to them.

Our mission was supposed to be simple but we were one of the first missions not affiliated to the "coalition of the willing" to be allowed in after the invasion. I was certainly unwilling and made sure they knew it from the moment we landed. They took my passport, flipped through it, contaminating it with their blood-tainted paws, and then stood me against the wall for a mugshot - I glared at the cameraman with unflinching defiance! Here they were, having bombarded their way into Baghdad, destroying the beauty of this city in an instant and now controlling the borders - we had to go through them to get permission to land, to move about and of course there was the curfew they expected us to adhere to. I'm a desert demon - I don't play by American rules and I gladly broke curfew every night! Then again, breaking the rules is part of the job!

So back to the midday sun, day six of the mission. Arrogant marines armed to the teeth watching us from every possible angle while we waited for permission to enter what used to be one of the Presidential palaces of Saddam Hussein, now occupied by CENTCOM when my colleague starts chummying up to one of the marines, wanting to take photographs with him, arms around his shoulders, and saying "we support you". Horrified at these unauthorised statements I called him to order (discreetly of course), pointing out their blatant activities of intimidation and harrassment over the past few days and so began the heated argument that stretched on for the rest of the journey and even once we returned to our headquarters. It baffled me that he was so oblivious to the atrocities that were already being committed and there he was patting them on the backs for their crimes against humanity. I argued, as heatedly as the scorching sun above us, that these were murderers and occupiers who came here on the pretext of WMD that were unfounded. These were the criminal war mongers who violated any international laws that they themselves had invented and forced others to abide by. It sickened me to even acknowledge their presence, let alone "respect the flag" as they kept reminding me, pointing to the stars and stripes on their arms while I imagined those colours lighting up in flames. My fellow, extremely gullible and naive operative responded, saying, "they've saved this country from a tyrant, haven't you heard about the mass graves that were uncovered in Halabja"? Indeed I had. But this is where the argument took a new angle and I remember flaring up inside - "today you're commending them for a job well done in saving the Iraqis from themselves, tomorrow, we'll be uncovering the mass graves of the civilian Iraqis they have killed in the name of liberation and freedom." It'll never happen, he said but deep in my soul, I knew that this was only a glimpse of the hell the Iraqi people would be forced to succumb to. And hadn't it already begun with the indiscriminate bombing of Iraqi towns and villages, using depleted uranium - collateral damage - the lives of millions of Iraqi children is worth it, Madeline Albright had said.

The next day I had little else to say him on the trek through Falluja and Ramadi en route to Amman, across the border. When we returned to head quarters, I asked to be reassigned, although as the situation in Iraq deteriorated further, I kept a constant reminder of the debate we had. When the Abu Ghraib scandal was made public I sent him the photographs to prick his conscience. And now, with the Wikileaks Report, I hope, wherever he is, he remembers my ominous prediction (even without a coffee cup).

My heart still bleeds for the loss of innocent lives to imperialism, for the rape of mesopotamia and the torture of Sumeria. But I don't think they've yet come to the end of their war to win back their freedom.

The Rashaida Women Of Sudan

(Photo from www.africanceremonies.com)


The Rashaida migrated to Sudan from the Arabian Peninsula. For them the mask is considered an expression of female beauty and its elaborate style has remained unchanged for more than 150 years.

String of Pearls

Fadl Ashsha'ira (d.871) was a poetess of the Abbasid Period (750-1258). She was born in Yamama, Bahrain, and was raised in Basra, Iraq. She was sold by her brothers to a leading court secretary, who in turn, gave her to the Khalif Mutawakkil (821-861). She became one of the court's entertaining poets. According to the bibliographer Ibn Annadim (d. 1047) she had a diwan (collection of poems) of twenty pages. The following poem was written in response to the poet Abu Dhulaf (d.840) who hinted in a poem of his own that she was not a virgin and he preferred virgins, whom he compared to unpierced pearls:

إن المطية لا يلذ ركوبها
 ما لم تذلل بالز مام و تركب 
و الدر ليس بنافع أربابه 
حتى يؤلف للنظام بمثقب 


Riding beasts are no joy to ride until they're bridled and mounted.
So pearls are useless unless they're pierced and threaded.


(Source: Classical Poems by Arab Women - Abdullah Al Udhari)

The Sky Is The Limit

Photo: "Sahara by Night"
Photographer: Thomas Young.
Source: flickr.com 


"When you sleep in a house your thoughts are as high as the ceiling, when you sleep outside, they are as high as the stars." - Bedouin proverb

Genocide in the Ogaden

 

(image source: google.com)

The Ogaden region lies in the east of Ethiopia and was once part of an independent, multi-ethnic Islamic Kingdom, the Sultanate of Adal. The people of the Ogaden are ethnically Somali and have been persecuted by the Ethiopian regime. The legacy of colonialism in Africa allowed for the Ethiopians to occupy the Ogaden region, dominate its people, waging war on them, enslaving their women and children and exploiting their resources. Britain had control of Northern Somalia, while Italy controlled the south and rewarded Ethiopia for their loyalty by signing over the Ogaden region in a treaty.

Once Britain gave independence to its colony in 1960, the north and south of Somalia joined to form a single state, though Ethiopia still wanted to stake its claim over Ogaden sparking a devastating war that weakened Somalia and hampered dreams of a united, greater Somali state. Since 2007, the Ethiopian government embarked on an onslaught against the Ogaden National Liberation Front, branding the movement as a terrorist organisation.

International media and human rights organisations have been severely restricted, if not banned altogether from the region. Human Rights Watch has reported on atrocious human rights abuses committed by the Ethiopian regime against the people of the Ogaden, including collective punishment, the annihilation of entire villages and communities, mirroring ethnic cleansing, and using systematic rape of women and children, stripping them of any dignity and dehumanizing them. Often, these rapes are done in the presence of the fathers, brothers, husbands of the women, as a form of humiliation and there have even been reports of the Ogaden men being forced, at gun-point, to rape their own mothers, sisters, daughters. The women are then enslaved and repeatedly raped, even with foreign objects such as bayonets.

The United Nations and international community continue to turn a blind eye to the forgotten people of Ogaden, allowing the genocide to continue in the name of the war against terror. Somali and muslim life and dignity are of no value to the world and when they rise up against injustice, they are the terrorists! Lo how Beautiful is Terrorism. 

Empty

(image source: google.com)


I remember the last time I watched you sleep
memorising the curve of your lips,
the softness of your eyelids
the comfort of your embrace
waking up next to you as the sun's rays grew on your cheeks
your smile the first thing i saw in the morning

I reach out to where you once lay

searching for the warmth of your hand

the rise and fall of your chest

the rhythmic thud of your heartbeat

reminding me that this is where I belong

I find nothing but empty icy cold sheets

Kurbaan Hua

I'm a huge fan of Saif Ali Khan and while this movie didn't quite live up to its expectations, the music was fantastic. I particularly like this video for its unique goth/rock-star style, a total break away from your usual indian filmi songs (and of course Saif looks ultra sexy). The song and the lyrics are powerful!

Lyrics:

Kurbaan hua 
Teri tishnagi mein yun 

I am sacrificed in your desire
Kurbaan hua 
Teri aashiqui mein yun 
I am sacrificed in your love
Bekhudi mein 
Bekali mein 
Bekafi mein hua 
In raptureness, in uneasiness, and in unpleasantness
Tujhko har dua di 
Aur daga bhi 
Aur fanaa hua 
I prayed for you, betrayed you and lost myself for you
Kurbaan hua 
Kurbaan hua ha haaa 
Ada pe 
Wafa pe 
JAfa Pe 
I have sacrificed myself
on your charm, on your faithfulness, on your unfaithfulness

Kurbaan hua 
Kurbaan hua aaa aa aa
I have sacrificed myself 
Rubaru Tu Magar 
Tanaha hai yeh jahan 
You are in front of me but this world feels so lonely
Jal uthe Meri kuft se 
Saanson ka yeh saamaa 
The air I breathe is burning with my unfaithfulness
Kya hua 
Pal mein jane kho gaya kyun 
What happened? In a moment you were lost
Tu mila 
Aur judaimaa hua yun 
I had you but then again we were separated
Bekhudi mein 
Bekali mein 
Bekafi mein hua 
In raptures, in uneasiness and in unpleasantness
Tujhko har dua di 
Aur daga bhi 
Aur fanaa hua 
Kurbaan hua 
Kurbaan hua ha haaa 

I prayed for you, betrayed you, and lost myself to you

I have been sacrificed

Ada pe 
Wafa pe 
JAfa Pe 
Kurbaan hua 
Kurbaan hua aaa aa aa 
on your charm, on your faithfulness, on your unfaithfulness
I have sacrificed myself
Marne ka sabba mangata raha 
Dar badar
I kept asking for a reason to die at every place
Mitne ko to dil pal mein razzi hua 

My heart was ready to end itself immediately
Puri hui har arzoo har dastaaan meri
Every desire of mine was fulfilled, every dream completed
ki Tum suru hue jahan mein khatam hua 
I end where you begin
Kurbaan hua 
Kurbaan hua aaa aa aa 
Ada pe 
Wafa pe 
JAfa Pe 
Kurbaan hua 
Kurbaan hua aaa aa aa 

Lyrics:Kurbaan Hua 
Movie :Kurbaan 
Music Director :Salim Suleman 
Singer(s) :Vishal Dadlani 
Lyricists :Parshoon Joshi

A Kenyan Horror Movie

Just when you think you’ve heard everything and the world couldn’t possibly vomit out something worse… you read the newspapers.

This week 1000 Kenyan teachers have been dismissed on charges of sexual abuse, which occurred over the past 2 years. Last year, 600 male teachers were dismissed and so far this year 550 teachers have lost their jobs for either kissing, touching or impregnating girls out a total teaching staff of 240,000 countrywide. Although Most of the cases have occurred in rural primary schools, the problem is a countrywide one.

In one school a children’s rights NGO found that, over 20 girls were pregnant and nearly half the number were actually impregnated by the teachers themselves. According to the NGO the biggest problem is the lack of proper reporting that could result in convictions and often teachers who are caught defiling their students end up paying the parents in order to prevent cases going to court. In this year's report of abuse in relation to Kenyan children, sexual violence topped the list at 86 percent.


This is not to say the rest of the world is any better on child abuse statistics however the Kenyan government has elected to go transparent and set up networks as well as countrywide help-lines to assist the victims and their families as well as to de-stigmatise those who do step forward.



This raises a question of mistaken identity. Often we tell children to be weary of strangers and even in grade school kids are taught ‘stranger danger’, but how is this relevant when they’re being abused by the very people who are suppose to protect, motivate, educate and empower them?

San Frontiers...

(Picture: http://www.my-southafrica.com)

Cookie Anyone ?

For Nigeria...

(Picture: http://simplifythepositive.blogspot.com)

A moment of silence for the Nigerians, whose government continued to celebrate their 50th year of independence with pomp and ceremony, while bombs exploded in Abuja killing 8 and injuring over 30 people.