Archive for December 18th, 2011
Appoint “moderators” for censuring comments? Is Censuring free expressions applied in social platforms?
Posted by: adonis49 on: December 18, 2011
Why blogs appoint “moderators” for censuring comments? Censuring of free expressions is applied in social platforms?
I am plagued by this problem: blogs subscribe to mine and urgently ask me to publish in their blogs and then I have to face “moderators” to allow my posts and even comments to be published. And I wondered: “What’s the point of appointing moderators unless your intention is to screen out expressions and opinions not framing well within “political” views and purposes?” Mind you, a blog will be restricted to poems and yet moderators will banish your poems on political grounds! I had to suffer this ridiculous anomaly and indignity and had to published my experience.
Before posting my recent experience with social platform censorship, let me repost my prior experience with “Poetic” censorship
I published a liberal translation of an epic poem by late Syrian poet Mohammad al Maghout.
I gave it the title “Face-off: Gilgamesh and the Storm”. It was written over 30 years ago; way before Desert Storm on Iraq in 1991 or the recent 2003 invasion.
I was invited by a new site, with only four members, to contribute poems.
After “approving” a dozen poems and commenting laudatory on them, the “administrator” or “moderator” in other sites amazed me by demanding clarification on this particular poem: He wanted to know if this poem refers to American soldiers! First, it might relevant to read the poem to comprehend my dismay.
“Waiting for the storm to hit
How could anyone cope with a storm?
What could you do in a desert storm?
Where is the storm?
It is on the horizon, hesitating;
A tramp at the hotel entrance.
Old eagle Gilgamesh, maybe the last of his species,
Lonely, quiet, waiting for the desert storm;
A chauffeur waiting for his master.
Old eagle is tired of tasting occasional serene clouds;
An old chef tasting the remains of a banquet.
Queen storm is taking her time in front of the mirror.
Old eagle is ready to chase out the storm up front;
What could he do with a worn out beak?
Decrepit and turned straight from frequent shattering to pieces on rocks.
How could old eagle hurry to meet the storm?
A tottering bicycle crossing river bed?
For years, old eagle’s white feathers have been dirty;
Dirtier than an old waiter’s apron.
A gentle breeze nudging old eagle from rock to rock,
From plain to plain;
A bored old soldier in a camp
Anxious for his last battle, confronting a fly.
A soothing breeze floated over old eagle;
He fluttered, a youth touched by the first girl.
Old eagle heaves a sigh; he is reminiscing youth
Strong wings spanning the valley, glittering with sweat.
Tiny birds, out of breath, trailing valiantly behind,
Mobs running after the King’s horse,
Chants hoarse, hallelujah feeble.
Old eagle is back dozing, in the scorching sun;
Epoch stretching out.
Suddenly, the universe blackened;
The world is still;
So still that the silence created religions out of fear;
Old eagle’s tail is waving.
Old eagle is hopping in circle;
A baby lamb welcoming its mother.
The storm thundered and hastened;
An ice skater showing off.
Old eagle is whispering an old victory song;
An eagle fallen off mountain tops,
A bride with no pendants and no cries.
Old eagle opened his old beak and retreated
In respect of his old master and teacher.
Old eagle is spinning amid his broken plumes,
His shouts clacking like rifle bullets
A mass of blood proudly lecturing
On the art of thirsting and ripping apart enemies.
The storm danced around old eagle and sneaked away.
Old eagle is mad; he is jumping cat-like;
A frightened baby stumbling for the door knob;
A drunkard coming back in the bar
Kicked out a hundred times and coming back.
Old eagle is wailing like a baby.
The storm lost steam on the sea-shore,
Medals and crowns scattered.
The bludgeoned face of a boxer;
A drunk washing his face.
Mighty storm is aching:
It recollects that a tiny creature fought to death.
Mighty storm is sprawled on the beach:
A monstrous tent shrinking to a headgear;
Tears dropping in eagle’s shape.” End of poem
I replied that this story is about the epic struggle of mankind against calamities; natural and man-made. I insisted that the eagle does not represent a symbol to any State or tribe, religion, or any culture.
I had a mind to ask this tight administrator what, in the animal kingdom, is convenient for his imagination to confront a storm. I received no reply and the poem was not posted on the site.
Excellent poets perceive invariants in human history and rephrase them in indelible images. Consequently, I changed the title according to the perception of this infamous site.
After approving another half a dozen of my poems, this non-poetic administrator felt beyond himself reading this poem: https://adonis49.wordpress.com/2010/09/12/puny-avatar-why-in-the-name-of-god/
This poem was approved, and then immediately, the site “suspended” me without providing reasons.
It is to be noted that the site never presented any constraints beforehand for joining or the kind of poems “satisfactory” to their “ideology”.
Now to the next moderator. A blog subscribed to my blog. I checked it out and left a comment on one of its pieces, and added a thank you note for patronizing my blog.
I went on with another developed comment on another piece that lambasted Friedman for his position on current undemocratic Israel political climate.
My comment was: “How many Mosques have to be burned down before Your blog consent that this is a trend in Israel political climate? How many new colonies and settlements have to be built before your blog admit that it is becoming a cause to resistance and not just a consequence as you claim?”
I faced this statement: “Waiting for moderator approval before posting…”. I immediately replied: “Why do you need a moderator to censure free expressions”?
Again, the same waiting for moderator green light that never materialized…
“Justice rendered” and “Grapes of wrath”: Books or military operations?
Posted by: adonis49 on: December 18, 2011
“Justice rendered” and “Grapes of wrath”: Books or military operations?
In July 1993, during Yitzhak Rabin PM, and April 1996 (Shimon Perez PM), Israel launched two devastating military operations into Lebanon, destroying all Lebanon infrastructure, hydraulic and electrical systems, roads, bridges…
Over 500,000 Lebanese civilians in south Lebanon had to flee their villages and towns, and hundreds were killed…
In 1993, Timor Goksel (UN contingent spokesman) clarified the reason for the vast Israeli military operation called “Justice rendered”: “Hezbollah (resistance movement against Israel occupation of south Lebanon) has managed to kill too many (relative to previous periods) Israeli soldiers in short lapse of time…Hezbollah was leading a resistance very much within the rules of the game: Israeli soldiers for resistance fighters killed in engagements…”
In the decade 1983-93, for every Israeli civilian killed by obsolete Katiousha rockets, 30 Lebanese civilians were harvested by Israel shelling of towns and villages. Now, since Israel soldiers were being targeted, deadly and punitive military operations were the response.
Israel main objective was to pressure the State of Lebanon (its army) to restrain Hezbollah zeal for resisting occupation. Israel know that Lebanon never enjoyed any valid central power to confront any faction, much less a resistance more heavily armed and supported by Iran in organization and funding.
The Israeli military propaganda was that Israel was equipped with the latest technologies to automatically locate incoming rockets and respond within seconds and destroy rockets before impact…Reality proved to be very different: Israel just applied random violence on Lebanese civilians… The question in the high command was: “How Israel army was to pulverize 54 Lebanese towns and villages bordering Israel and force the civilians to transfer northward?”
In 1993, and for 7 days and nights, Israel bombed and ruined 70 villages and destroyed Lebanon infrastructure. Over 140 Lebanese civilians were killed, over 350,000 fled, and only 9 resistance fighters fell martyrs in retaliation for two dead Israeli civilians.
This time around, Israel was retaliating against Lebanese and Not against any “Palestinian terrorists“. The internal political climate in Lebanon rallied around Hezbollah’s right to resist the occupiers.
The US of Clinton had to hurry to Damascus to strike a cease fire agreement with Hafez al Assad. Hezbollah won politically: The US agreed to recognize Hezbolla’s rights to resist occupation: fighting is among fighters! Three weeks later, Hezbollah killed 9 Israeli soldiers in a single day: The July 1993 operation was supposedly in retaliation for 7 Israeli soldiers killed between 1985 and 1993.
In October 1994, Hezbollah climbed a mountain and planted its flag on an Israeli bunkers manned by 70 soldiers of the “elite” Givati: The Israeli soldiers dispersed haphazardly in the adjacent forests.
And this exploit was filmed by “embedded” Hezbollah cameramen who showed the document the same night on Hezbollah’s TV station “Al Manar“. An instant hit story around the Arab world. This valiant operation by Hezbollah came in retaliation of the Israeli bunker in Dabcheh shelling the large town of Nabatieh and killing an entire two families.
The “Grapes of wrath”Israeli vast operation in April 1996 had for purpose to pressuring Syria to “restraining” Hezbollah and consequently to alienating Syria from Iran.
The operation lasted 17 days and nights: 500,000 Lebanese civilians fled, 165 were killed, 13 resistance fighters fell, and again all Lebanon infrastructure destroyed, to be rebuild for the nth time.
In this operation, the UN contingent in the town of Qana warned Israel of the existence of Lebanese civilians in their compound: Israel thus shelled the compound with 13 mortar shells of the 155 mm caliber and killed 102 civilians! Lebanese totally backed Hezbollah and even “right wing and isolationist” Christians donated money and acclaimed Hezbollah.
The US of Clinton had to hustle back to Damascus for another cease-fire deal. The French headed the negotiation and US Christopher had to bow down to the new agreement: Israel has no longer any “rights” to targeting Lebanese civilians.
Since 1996 operation, Hezbollah escalated its operations from 200 on average to 1,000 in 1998. By 1999, the number of Hezbollah’s operations climbed to 1,500. In 2000, Israel was forced to withdraw without negotiation or any preconditions.
In June 2006, Israel tried one more time with an operation that lasted 33 days with full backing of Bush Junior.
Israel lost the war and the political clout and is reduced to count Hezbollah as a true army and at par as a determined and efficient deterrence force to consider in any later operations.
Note 1: details taken from “A history of Lebanon” by David Hirst, correspondent in Lebanon and the Middle-East for 30 years
Note 2: You may read on genesis of Hezbollah https://adonis49.wordpress.com/2011/09/11/part-1-genesis-of-hezbollah-in-lebanon-accounts-of-robert-fisk/
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