Feng shui for the working poor

Hidden behind bolted doors in multimillion dollar high-rises in Hong Kong, thousands of working poor rent densely packed cages as their living quarters (not just bedrooms). Each space, with just enough headroom to sit up, costs about $200 a month to rent. They are miserable, depressed living conditions deemed only preferable to homelessness. Hong Kong was relinquished to China from Britain in 1997 under the principal of one country, two systems. Under the agreement, Hong Kong remained a capitalist economy & retains a different political system than mainland China. It is one of the world’s leading finance & trade centers & has a highly developed economy with the greatest concentration of corporate headquarters in the Asia-Pacific region. In an irony you just couldn’t make up, Hong Kong is romantically described as a place where “east meets west”, combining Chinese cultural traditions with British colonial influences. Reflecting the Chinese traditions, feng shui (a system of geomancy part mystic, part energetic to govern spatial arrangement & used in siting & designing buildings) is taken very seriously, with construction projects requiring consultants to determine placement of the building in relation to nature & surrounding buildings, & including interior design. Mirrors & many other objects & devices are used to deflect evil energy & spirits & buildings are often built without a floor numbered four due to its similarity to the word for “die” in Cantonese. Geomancy is not a system to stand in the way of greed however, so in the catacombs beneath the buildings the working poor are crammed like sardines & it could be said, generating enough evil energy to raze those buildings to the ground. (Photo by Brian Cassey)

The Chinese parliament

Yup, this is the national Chinese parliament. And so the great Chinese Revolution has come to this! It didn’t work that well with the gang of four so they reduced it to one. That way there’s unity & no dissent at all. Especially if you maintain high levels of police & military control, cultivate an enriched group of wannabe capitalists sucking off the body politic, & imprison any plebeian voices who say this isn’t working for them. But hark, in the distance you can hear the thunderous awakening of a mighty angry working force, including children & millions of migrants, who don’t like a return to feudalism under the guise of restoring capitalism. (Photo by Ng Han Guan/AP)

Slick & Slicker "saving" Africa

Some people call Clowney a heart throb but they may be lowballing sex appeal. Let’s be frank, he’s got fishy eyes & his episodic forays into international politics--morphing from playboy into humanitarian & back again--are mighty suspicious. Clowney has made highly-publicized trips to Sudan, hanging out with a shady character named John Prendergast & he always comes back shooting his mouth off about the need for US military involvement in Africa. Prendergast, his guide to colonialism, is a telling study in how covert agents operate & how the oligarchs attempt to preempt human rights from genuine activists & use the language to advance a military & colonial agenda. Prendergast is touted all over the media as a human rights activist in Africa--in other words, another great white savior. There isn’t a media genre he hasn’t invaded in his safari outfits & where he isn’t treated like a self-sacrificing hero: he does op-eds, articles, news interviews, documentaries, books, even “Law & Order” episodes. For over 25 years he has been involved in Sudan, Darfur, & claims he was instrumental in the secession of South Sudan into a separate country. You can bet your bottom dollar, he’s involved in the chaos & trauma of the entire region--with Chinese oil exploration a primary concern. He is weighing in heavy on the side of “Kony 2012” & may even be involved in the making of this political mockery. If you take a close look at who this guy answers to you’ll see his humanitarian credentials stink to high heaven. His colluders include Obama, the Clintons, Susan Rice, the National Security Council, & several foundations that are nothing but fronts for US foreign policy in Africa. You can’t have it both ways in politics: you can’t serve power & oppose power at the same time. In other words, his mission is to advance US economic & military interests in Africa, not human rights, & nothing he says can be trusted. Clowney just returned from the border of Sudan & South Sudan & with Prendergast coaching him, testified to a Senate hearing about war crimes he witnessed & urging more US military engagement. For this he was rewarded with a seat next to Michelle Obama at a state dinner. (Some people sell their puny souls for a pittance & a little flattery.) But the case for US military engagement in Africa is being built--lie by lie, with phony documentaries, movie stars & everything else they can marshall. Here Clowney & Prendergast enter the Senate hearing to spew their lies. This campaign must be answered with a resounding, "Hands off Africa".  (Photo by Kris Connor)

And in the middle runs a wall

Cammy at the races

Cammy Windsor reacts in horror when her horse loses the race. These are the things that excite the moochocrats who play no useful role in life & would otherwise die from boredom. Perhaps you think they should be left alone to do just that but freeloading sustains them enough to live on. Besides, with a year-long spectacle called diamond jubilee, they have to expect opprobrium. It’s a duty to do your part to bring them down even if your only weapon is derision. Problem is the jubilee will carry on long after derision is exhausted. (Photo by Eddie Keogh)

The three stooges

Look at the three losers. If it were just a modern rendition of the three stooges, I’d be okay with that. But these jackasses are the leaders of two of the most predatory militaries on the planet. Biden just cracked what passes for a joke in witless circles; he said his Irish grandfather wasn’t a fan of the British. Hahaha. Well at least we know now where one of those snakes St. Patrick expelled from Ireland ended up. Good to know on the eve of St. Patrick’s Day. If we can't find the birth certificate, maybe we can send him back to Ireland. I've said it before, Ireland; stop making the US the solution to your pest control problem! (Photo by Jonathan Ernst)

Watching "Kony 2012" in Uganda

The news today is a cornucopia of accidental ironies. Here people in the Lira district north of Kampala, Uganda gather to watch the US-made film, “Kony 2012”, used to fire up support for US military intervention into Uganda to save them from Joseph Kony, the murderous militia guy. The photo caption says the showing is to “raise awareness about Joseph Kony”. How is it that a scourge requiring US military occupation to stamp out is all news to the Ugandans? Or is this another photo worth a thousand lies! (Honest to gosh, you can't make this stuff up!) (Photo by James Akena)

Homeless in Dhaka

Homeless in Dhaka, Bangladesh: these little girls live on a brick kiln site in one of the fastest growing cities in the world. There are 8,000 brick kilns in Bangladesh employing over one million workers. Many workers are migrants, many children, many forced labor (despite laws forbidding child & forced labor). Without affordable housing, workers & their families are forced to live on these sites under poor & unhealthy conditions. The dust, along with the toxic gases emitted from tires & coal used to fuel the kilns, cause respiratory & skin diseases. The kilns are also an environmental disaster, polluting air, cultivable land, & devastating forests. It is estimated that nearly 15,000 premature deaths annually in Dhaka are due to poor air quality, mainly attributed to the kilns. Housing is a primary human need that is being denied millions of people around the world. The demand for safe, affordable housing should become a mantra--of the non-negotiable kind. (Photo by Jan Moller Hansen)

Homeless in Las Vegas

Homeless in Las Vegas, Nevada: underneath the glamor of the Las Vegas strip, there are 500 miles of tunnels originally designed as gutters where the homeless live: the elderly, the young, the troubled, the sick, addicts, veterans--all poor. They are subject to police evictions & when it rains they have minutes to run for safety. Housing is a primary human need & the demand for safe, affordable housing must ring from the roof tops. (Photo by Alessandro Gandolfi)

Santorum wooing Florida

The choir renders it's verdict on the US presidential campaign--snoring & weeping. (Photographer not identified)

Thwarting a popular revolution against tyranny

This Syrian woman recovers from severe injuries while grieving the loss of her husband & two children killed when the Syrian army of Assad shelled their home in Idlib, north Syria last Saturday. Many claim the massive social unrest in Syria is political theater fomented by the CIA & Mossad & that Assad is unfairly maligned as a dictator. Yet none of the Arab uprisings are as documented in thousands of videos going back nearly a year as the Syrian uprising. It’s clear nefarious special ops have moved into the situation to thwart the popular revolution against dictatorship & create a mess as they did in Libya. But to consider it an orchestration manipulated in Washington & Tel Aviv is to abandon the democracy movement in Syria & hand their heads to the US & NATO. It may be a contradictory situation, but what’s the dialectic for? Despite important differences on the character of the Syrian revolt, we can unite in demanding “US-NATO forces hands off Syria.” (Photo by Rodrigo Abd/Associated Press)

Neoliberal version of mother & child

This is not a woman practicing “extreme mothering”, a parenting practice in all the headlines where you keep your child with you 24/7. This is an instance of extreme burden on women workers & reckless disregard for children's welfare. And the criticism is not directed at the woman who has no options. With no social services to support working mothers, she has to hold & care for her infant as she works at a brick factory in Bungmati, Nepal. The job is a health hazard for the woman & especially for the child, including dust pollution, gas pollution, & extreme heat stress. IMF policies undercut unionization & union independence. Nothing is more important for this woman than the social & political power of a union; women may well lead that struggle. (Photo by Niranjan Shrestha/AP)

Is it over yet?

Betty & the gargoyle are beaming ear to ear since they think they’ve hit pay dirt with the new generation of moochocrats: WWWWilly, KKKKaty, & Hairy (signifying primal idiocy), now referred to in US media as the “People’s Prince”. Hairy, the man of a dozen apologies for a dozen racist comments against Blacks, Pakistanis, & Arabs, is now doing photo ops galore with Black children to redeem his public image. It’s clear now this diamond jubilee gig will end long before it’s begun to be a pleasure. Tours of charities, tours of former colonies, groupies waving the imperial flag like mad. It looks to be a year chock full of unseemly deference & feudal homage--mostly by the US media. Mark my words, any anatomy of the cheering throngs would turn up ham actors, government officials & their kids, social climbers, & others bribed & coerced into service. (Photo by Leon Neal/AP)

Eurozone ministers throttle each other

The eurozone ministers can’t even stand each other. The PM of Luxembourg, appropriately named Juncker, attempts to strangle the economy minister of Spain while the Dutch minister just snarls. The IMF-EU program for Spain was on the agenda at this eurozone meeting in Brussels. Spain has the highest unemployment rate of the 17 countries that use the euro (nearly 22% officially) & millions of working people have protested government austerity measures. No need for violence, Juncker; let the people of Spain finish him off. The Bible says, "Revenge is mine, I will repay sayeth the Lord". But why should God have all the fun!? (Photo by Virginia Mayo/AP)

Taking shelter from the storm

Children take shelter from a sandstorm on the outskirts of Islamabad. They are from Pakistan’s Mohmand region (on the Afghanistan border) where thousands of families have been displaced & separated as a result of Pakistani & US military operations in the region. It’s an impoverished area to begin with & thousands migrate abroad & within Pakistan to find work. Many migrants are unaccompanied minors. A third of children under 5 years-old suffer malnutrition & under half of the people do not have access to clean water & sanitation facilities. Some analysts claim the impoverishment is due to feudal relations in the district but these same analysts don’t mention the bombing & shelling or predatory practices of the capitalist government. (Photo by Anjum Naveed/AP)

@IDFSpokesperson tweets inaccurate video and fake civilian casualty statistics

Allison Deger- Mondoweiss
"It began with "Israel's bogus case for bombing Gaza." But the Israeli military kept up its war of disinformation over the weekend. The military’s official Twitter account @IDFSpokesperson contributed to the creation of a false narrative by tweeting a dated video of rocket fire and reporting a fake statistic on civilian casualties."
Read more

A picture worth a thousand lies

Photojournalist coverage in mainstream media of Israel’s 3-day bombing rampage in Gaza looks like it came out of Netanyahu’s office & the Israel Hasbara Committee. One marvels, then pukes at the cynicism involved. Photos show Israeli schools girls cowering, an Israeli infant in an incubator being wheeled to what is called a bomb shelter, young men described as “Palestinian Islamic Jihad militants” in Gaza City. Captions explain that “two Palestinian militants & a schoolboy” were killed in Gaza, that “Palestinian rocket squads barraged southern Israel". A few media outlets published photos of building destruction in Gaza, even fewer published photos of Palestinian children injured or killed in the bombing. In fact, 23 Palestinians were killed by Israeli bombing & 60 were injured. Given the “barrage by rocket squads” from Gaza, why doesn’t the media explain why there are no Israeli casualties? Why don’t they get to the bottom of why Israel initiated this carnage? These Palestinian children in hospital are not propaganda props to sell ethnic cleansing; they are victims of Israeli bombs, emotionally traumatized & physically injured. Some have died. Boycott Israeli products to support Palestinians against Zionist terror.

Musical & political collaboration between South African & Palestinian musicians

In a first ever musical collaboration between South African & Palestinian musicians, South African band, The Mavrix, & Palestinian Oud player, Mohammed Omar, have released a music video called "The New Black". The song is taken from The Mavrix' upcoming album,"Pura Vida", due for release in June 2012. Written & composed by Jeremy Karodia & Ayub Mayet, the song was a musical reaction to the horror of the Gaza Massacre of 2008/2009 & then subsequently inspired by the book "Mornings in Jenin", authored by Susan Abulhawa. Mayet penned the first lyrics in 2009 after the massacre & the song went into musical hibernation. Having read the novel, "Mornings in Jenin", he then re-wrote the lyrics & the song evolved into its current version.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Y4rLfja8488

Cooking fire or arson?

In mid-February, a fire at Gundlapochampally village about 6.2 miles/10 km north of Hyderabad, India, burned down a makeshift slum colony for 500 migrant construction workers employed on a housing project. Most of the men & women were away at work & only the elderly & children were at home during the fire. Seven people, including four children, were burnt alive & 100 huts were gutted. Officials said it was caused by a cooking gas cylinder explosion. Many workers allege that the fire was a deliberate act of arson to forcibly vacate the land for real estate development. Less than a month later (on Saturday), another major fire “broke out” in Hyderabad (Sai Nagar, Nagole area), taking the life of a 10-year-old girl, injuring many others, & leaving 500 families homeless. Here, women weep at the site of their gutted homes. Again, the families are migrant construction workers who were away at work with only the elderly & children at home. Officials have yet to identify the cause of the fire or to explain why it took 30 minutes to get to the site to contain the conflagration. Mass urbanization caused by predatory economic policies in rural areas & in every part of the world means that millions are crowded into slums, often of a makeshift nature. The cause of frequent fires is usually attributed to things like cooking accidents, gas pipeline explosions, electrical lines, or shoddy construction materials. There have been hundreds of fatalities. But the huge number & similar nature of these slum fires around the world raises questions, especially when coupled with the slum evictions going on everywhere. It resonates with the gentrification of older neighborhoods in the US & elsewhere (in the 1970s), where arson was used to forcibly evict residents & which also involved fatalities. (Photo by Mahesh Kumar A/AP)

Starvation in Yemen

School children in al-Zailaea, a village in the western Yemeni province of Houdieda: UNICEF reports Yemen has the highest rate of chronic malnutrition in the world with nearly 60% of children diagnosed as stunted. UNICEF, which mostly confines its activities to hand-wringing, jeremiads, & fund-raising, also strongly suggests that the food shortages, increased food prices, & lack of access to education are due to protests against the Saleh dictatorship. Such idiocy would explain why UNICEF should stick to pretty Christmas cards & stop covering for Saleh’s dictatorship & why they don’t demand an end to US bombing in Yemen. (Photo by Khaled Abdullah)