February 2011
102 posts
“Unless the administration seriously envisages a future that includes the continued private ownership of Libya and its people by Qaddafi and his terrible offspring, it’s a sheer matter of prudence and realpolitik, to say nothing of principle, to adopt a policy that makes the opposite assumption. Libya is—in point of population and geography—mainly a coastline. The United States, with or without allies, has unchallengeable power in the air and on the adjacent waters. It can produce great air lifts and sea lifts of humanitarian and medical aid, which will soon be needed anyway along the Egyptian and Tunisian borders, and which would purchase undreamed-of goodwill. It has the chance to make up for its pointless, discredited tardiness with respect to events in Cairo and Tunis. It also has a president who has shown at least the capacity to deliver great speeches on grand themes. Instead, and in the crucial and formative days in which revolutions are decided, we have had to endure the futile squawkings of a cuckoo clock.”
—Christopher Hitchens (via kateoplis)
Well put.
“I would say that what we’re looking at here is political and legal gang rape of my son.”
Bad call, Ms. Assange.
While the role that Wikileaks plays in this world is of vital importance, and I would be one of the first to put my hand up to protest any threat on it’s existence, inflammatory comments like this do nothing to garner support for Assange’s legal battles.
In high-profile cases involving allegations of sexual assault and rape, all too often the speculation around the “truthfulness” of the allegations quickly becomes unhealthy and intimidatory.
My concern is not just for the alleged* victims in these cases, but the countless women watching in silence at home, themselves victims of sexual assault, hearing the public speculation about the integrity of the “accusers”, every minute taking them another step further from coming forward.
I don’t know if Assange is innocent or guilty in regards to these allegations, but what I do know is that it is not for the media or politicians to decide. It is for the courts. None of the arbitrating should take place in a newspaper, or an interview, or on blogs.
Regardless of the profile of the accused, every single case involving allegations of sexual assault or rape MUST be conducted with respect, discretion and dignity.
*I have a particular dislike of the word “alleged” in these cases, but alas, until the case is tried, it is correct to use it.
Play
“It’s an historic and international phenomenon that still astonishes me. No matter the country, the ethnic group, the religion, the power structure of a particular country and war zone, the male combatants target the women and the female children, and their violence is always sexual. The UN has done painstaking work detailing the appalling and widespread sexual violence done to women in war zones: rape; forcible impregnation and imprisonment until birth; sexual violence ending in death and forced rape by one family member on another is routine in many places. It’s just what happens to women in war, and it has nothing to do with blonde hair or good looks. Women are part of the symbols of capture and destruction that must be declared.”
—
Virginia Trioli (via lippykid)
I often wonder if all that separates us from savagery is the rule of law and the provision of comfort.
(via clementineford)
Take heart. There is plenty that separates us from savagery, for there are many of us that see women not as symbols of capture and destruction, nor as pieces of a war puzzle, but indeed see every single woman as a human being, as an equal to a man, and it follows that we also view the men that would have them used for other purposes as cowards. We need not the rule of law to decide such things.
This, of course, does nothing to prevent the atrocities occurring this very second, and I only wish that those of us with pure intentions and good hearts could each take a second to sit down with every coward, every evil or misguided or brainwashed soldier, and tell them exactly how it should be, and have them listen.
Again, I find my heart hurting and an overbearing desire to just be able to do something…
Anything.
Edit: I find it hard to verbalise my opinions on these sorts of matters. It seems so far removed from my beliefs to even think of any other human being, regardless of gender, sexuality, religion, race, creed, or ability, as lower than myself. I almost feel weird talking about myself as being in some way removed from women; to say “I am a male and this is how I think of women…” feels far more foreign than “I am a human being and this is how I think of other human beings…”
I only hope my intentions come across accurately in my words.
The Escapist
All these walls were never really there
Nor the ceiling or the chair
I’m eking weeks of peace at the beach
I see the breezes weave the trees
These walls you’ll find are yours and mine
Defined not by them I
I’m in times that lie behind my eyelids
The sunset still the rising silence
I’m not full of fear ‘cause I’m not really here
I’m nowhere near here
There’s no rain on roof that grates and beats me
My favorite tree breaking light to pieces
Sprinkling, sharded light on me
Throw a stone as high as you can
And hearing with hand not hear it land
Nothing taxing dusting sand
My window world spins and twirls
The walls then fall, I recall the sort
White clouds white wash faded spotless
The weighty shadows, ranges of rocks
The cold is all illusion thought up
Stroll on the shore, snooze and explore
All possibilities in each new morning
‘Til satisfied reaching out, yawning
Fish in a big dish, some rice and spice
Salt over shoulder, never salted so tight
The truth I have told was silence sometimes
But who’s soul does not hide any crimes
Wrapped in walls, encircled by work
The walls fall, the story occurs
No barrier, no boundary or ‘low us ID’s
The freedom to stay off straight
Be fiend or friend cause no harm but charm
The peaceful end
I’m not full of fear ‘cause I’m not really here
I’m nowhere near here
I’m not full of fear ‘cause I’m not really here
I’m nowhere near here
Pale ancient woods, strew white sandy bays
This ugly room pales away today
I’m swimming in the ocean, I sink slow motion
Fingers, toes, floating
Every year ‘til yesterday
I see the eternal setting sea
I compare all this to me
It’s all fleeting momentary me
I blink my eyes, this is reminding me
Life lies in the blink of an eye
The old die for reasons, new tides for seasons
New life born is like teasing
All these walls were really never there
Nor the ceiling or the chair
I’m eking weeks of peace at the beach
I see the breezes weave the trees
I am not here at all, you are dearly fooled
I see bristling trees, the shush at the sea
Mischievous, fluttering seagulls
No, I’m not trapped in a box, so I am glancing at rocks
I’m dancing off docks, since this stance began that’s where I am
I’m not full of fear ‘cause I’m not really here
I’m nowhere near here
I’m not full of fear ‘cause I’m not really here
I’m nowhere near here
So done.
- The Streets
“The world is indeed full of peril and in it there are many dark places. But still there is much that is fair. And though in all lands, love is now mingled with grief, it still grows, perhaps, the greater.”
—The Fellowship of the Ring, J.R.R. Tolkien (via fuckyeahliteraryquotes)
Howling Clementine: Watching the news, I realise I’ve been hoping the tweets coming from... →
clementineford.tumblr.com
Watching the news, I realise I’ve been hoping the tweets coming from Libya have been exaggerated. But footage from the ground and Gaddafi’s own rambling speech of insanity indicates that’s not the case. I just can’t believe the depths humanity can stoop to at the same time as the heights to which…
Nailed it, Miss Ford. I don’t want to take away from the enormity of the situation in Christchurch, but it does confuse me when we seem to care (or at least are brainwashed to care) more about certain human lives than others. I find it particularly absurd when our mainstream media outlets seem to narrow-in on Australian fatalities in these situations. It’s HUMANS that are dying. People like you and me. In New Zealand, in Libya, in Yemen, in Sudan, and more. The value of a human life is exactly that: one beautiful, gloriously deep and love-filled finite existence. It matters not from where that life has come from, one life equals one life.
But ultimately, I too feel your optimism for the resilience of the human spirit.
Randomly got the urge to wander into Everest Trekking in North Fitzroy and ended up chatting for an hour to the lovely manager Kath. Looks like I’ll have a good chance of volunteering in Nepal for a month teaching English, Computer Studies, Design and Sustainability! I love this game!
My Libya tweet in Melbourne's "The Age" newspaper →
yfrog.com
People are making noise for you, Libya. Stay strong freedom fighters! Thanks to my friend Tim for spotting this.
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Can anyone remember a time when natural/human disasters/uprisings were so frequent, random and widespread?
