a major achievement for democracy

sadam's guilty verdict. does anyone else out there appreciate the hollow irony of a death by hanging sentence serving as a major achievement for democracy in a country riddled with violence? what does bush-43 mean by democracy? he called iraq a democractic country. really? that's what we're calling it these days, when 50 or 60 citizens get brutally murdered? when ordinary citizens cannot really trust the police force, because of a raging infiltration by the militias?

ok. cause i thought its something else ... like CIVIL WAR! lets take a few steps back here. and ask ourselves. can democracy exist there? i mean, really? think ... think ... think ... before answering. i really believe its so complex - politics and society in that the middle east. the entire historical and present-day context we must consider when speaking of this region. the waters seem muddied indeed. what impact would leaving iraq have upon iran? upon gaza? upon israel? and what of staying? does iraq remain one homgenous society? or does it become a confederation of smaller states/cantons/provinces?

and we must always consider that the cultures of the middle east differ markedly from our own. i really believe in the mutual exclusivity, for societies, of fundamentally extreme religious beliefs and democratic principles of social inequality. i venture the assertion that societies such as iraq and iran differ from western societies in that they find themselves hundreds of years behind, in terms of social evolution. so, that said. can that region really become democratic, in the western sense of the word?

what constitutes democracy in any society? did we think south africa had democracy when apartheid remained in effect? likely not. so ... why does removing sadam and staging some elections create a democracy? did the democracies of canada and the usa evolve to their current states in 5 years? NOPE. so ... what's going in iraq? good question. but i doubt any of it constitutes a major achievement for democracy.

assimilation and resistance

[this post is directed to the incredibly xenaphobic interviewee i saw on a CNN feature report. it is not - i repeat NOT - directed at americans in general. just to the man i heard on the screen. no offense intended - ok? just so you know.]

a man from georgia, on CNN, just told the reporter he thinks its awful that he has to choose a language in which to receive service. that man from georgia says the growing hispanic culture threatens the USA. oh pulleeeese! gimme a break. fuck - i'm disgusted when i hear about cultural encroachment in the USA. and some REDNECK spewing off some verbal diarrhea about the dangers of a bilingual society! fuck d'ya got stones in your heads?! perhaps ... perhaps ... you could get you're head outta your ass long enough to realize that losing that whole borg approach to culture could be good for america?

"you will be assimilated. resistance is futile"

d'yall really think that's a recipe for a healthy society? ok. so ... apparently you haven't heard about switzerland ... ? the folks there have no problems at all with polyglotism. in fact ... it makes them better humans! don't get me wrong - i agree wholeheartedly that illegal immigrants arriving in droves - in some places as many as 100 per day - puts huge financial, social, moral, emotional burdens upon those affected local economies. that said ... the aliens live among you DEAL WITH IT ... WORK WITH IT! embrace it!

so... you have a big problem with mexican aliens - actually you should think of them as refugees of poverty. and then ... hmmm. doesn't it ever make you think -- what can we do to alleviate poverty? to make it better for those people, where they originate, so they don't need to escape? i gotta tell ya ... its fucking repulsive to hear and see a white redneck on my tele screensaying to another human 'these aren't your schools, go home.'

it sorts reminds me of the nazi-like nationalism that rears its head from time to time in germany. they have xenophobes there, too. xenophobes. i know i know. it seems a tad judgemental. but ... i gotta say it. i gotta. i'm the daughter of an immigrant that lives in a country whose infrastructure and prosperity, immigrants built. i haven't forgotten that my dad arrived in this country 40 years ago with $35 dollars in his pocket and the clothes on his back ... that he never collected any sort of social security or unemployment insurance in his life ... that he always worked and paid taxes and still does, even in retirement.

i have not forgotten that new blood keeps old blood vibrant ... living ... honest.
how sad that others don't have such a perspective of humanity. american resistance?
resisting what? resisting humanity?

"you will be assimilated. resistance is futile"

"yankee, go home"

that's the first english phrase my husband learned, as a young boy growing up in 1960s switzerland. he says he had no idea what it meant. just that its what people said back then. and still say, to this day. when i asked why, M. replied, "they never left after the 2nd world war!" indeed. ask any german citizen about this - they will utter expressly anti-american sentiments. i recall, about 7 years ago, having dinner with a relative visiting from germany. i'll never forget the tone of her voice when she told us, "germany is still an occupied land." i could her the angry despair in her voice as she said those words in her native german.

just thought i'd share an interesting, european perspective.

freedom of the press?

remember this story? effectively, CNN made a decision to air video clips depicting insurgent fighters targeting US soldiers. and then ... oh outrage flew about. hmmm. why? coz we wanna take the blue pill? y'know - just look away and hope it'll all go away?

maybe if none of the tax paying americans see exactly what is going on in iraq, then ... well, maybe the government could keep a lid on this thing until after the election? RIGHT. and if you believe that ... well, i got some land to sell you. ha ha.

so ... given that the clips shown BLACKED OUT any scenes actually showing a US soldier getting shot ... what's the problem? do we kid ourselves as to what, indeed goes on during war? and ... are those who oppose CNN's decision to air the clips going to tell me some story about the sanctity of life? ok. so, its only dissing the sanctity of life to watch death when its real, not when its staged (ie fictional) purely for entertainment? riiiiight. [can you here that my voice is dripping with sarcasm here? sorry - hard to resist letting the sarcasm gremlin out for a post].

PTOSH! take your blinders off. the only way to put an end to all this suffering is to acknowledge it ... that means witness the suffering. oh - but is this asking too much? would we all rather be watching monday night football, or desperate housewives or something equally as assanine? i hope not!

without a national identity: iraq

in march of 1933, feisel I, then british-assigned monarch of iraq, had this to say about his country:

'There is still -- and I say this with a heart full of sorrow -- no Iraqi people but an unimaginable mass of human beings, devoid of any patriotic idea, imbued with religious traditions and absurdities, connected by no common tie, giving ear to evil, prone to anarchy and perpetually ready to rise against any government whatever.'

in 1959 historian hanna batutu wrote the following of iraq:

"For four days and four nights Kurds and Yezidis stood against Arabs; Assyrian and Aramaean Christians against Arab Muslims; the Arab tribe of Albu Mutaiwat against the Arab tribe of Shammar; the Kurdish tribe of al-Gargariyyah against Arab Albu Mutaiwat; the peasants of Mosul country against their landlords; the soldiers of the Fifth Brigade against their officers; the periphery of the city of Mosul against its centre; the plebeians of the Arab quarters of al-Makkawi and Wadi Hajar against the aristocrats of the Arab quarter of ad-Dawwash; and with the quarter of Bab al-Baid, the family of al-Rajabu against its traditional rivals, the Aghawat."

so ... if we read these thoughts correctly, we begin to see the tribal forces at play in the region known as iraq. did you know, dear reader, of such a tangled and complex historical context in iraq? did you really think it would simply take removal of saddam hussein to "correct" the region? how naive, indeed! and did the region need correcting at all, any more than the usa needed 'correcting' during its own civil war? any more than canada required 'correcting' during the FLQ crisis?

and ... dear reader, what do you think happened to this region in the post WWI period, when victors of the great war carved up the lands of the defeated ottomans? well, exploitive distribution, of course. with western interests in mind. does it surprise you to know that little regard was given to involving the iraqi people in the formation of their own fate?

its interesting, isn't it? learning that colonial interest in mosul-kirkuk did not surface until AFTER discovery of oil in this region? and that oil - and western dependence on same - motivated the brits' invasion and subsequent occupation of iraq during WWII?

historical context. sociologic context. tribal underpinnings of the populace. when one considers iraq, one MUST consider context. and so, that means ... what? simply, that one must consider the current uprising of insurgents in its context. the region and peoples of iraq have suffered occupation and domination for very much of the past 748 years. knowing this, king feisel I's remarks, made 73 years ago seems so very fitting today.

and ... it leads me to ask. what does america think its doing, in iraq? and why are we, the world, so surprised at the reaction of iraqis?

and, more importantly. this begs me to ask. through what process does a mass of humans become a nation of people? can external and culturally alien entities impose such a process on the population of iraq? how much of a nation's development and social progress must simply originate from WITHIN? and what can the west do to assist? and that line separating domination from guidance? do we know where it exists? do we even know it exists, at all?