Adonis Diaries

Archive for August 30th, 2014

Stories of 13 million refugees from the four corners of the world: 3 million from just Syria. And what Hanan reported

Posted by: on: August 30, 2014

Stories of 13 million refugees from the four corners of the world: 3 million from just Syria

And what Hanan reported

Half of Syria population of over 20 million has been displaced in the last 4 years of internal/external wars on its territory.

3 million took “refuge” in Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey. 8 million are internal refugees and cannot return to their hometowns.

And the US is still deliberating on “how appropriate it is” to coordinate attacks on Da3esh with the elected Syrian government.

We have refugees from Sudan, Somalia, Libya, Iraq, Yemen…

And Lebanon is barely receiving crumbs from the world community to aid the refugees.

And the children of refugees (far more numerous than Lebanese children) who need to join our rickety and badly funded school system.

And refugee mothers giving birth in far greater numbers than Lebanese mothers… in our rare public hospitals, which are barely funded

Half the population in Lebanon are refugees of some kinds

And the other half took refuge in other countries, just to enjoy basic human rights and facilities.

Hanane Kai posted a few weeks ago on FB:

I spent the day yesterday in Halba (town in north Lebanon in the Akkar district) listening to the stories of women Syrian refugees for my illustration book.
For me stories like this existed only in the movies and on TV.

To hear a woman talking, for one hour, about her 10-hour barefoot walk from Syria to Lebanon, carrying on her shoulders her 6 year old daughter and next to her, her 9 year old boy, and all the things that happened on the way…

To hear another woman say that at some point she even thought about leaving behind her disabled child so she could save her other 4 children, but she couldn’t.

(It actually happened for the Yazidi minorities on mount Sinjar in north Iraq, fleeing ISIS Islamic extremists)

To hear a woman tell us about the prefect relationship with her sweet brother, and how she heard about his death on the news, with the word terrorist attached to his name.

To see a woman cry to the thought of the situation she’s living in now, compared with all the lands and houses and pride she had in Syria.

To hear about how all these women had to leave their lives behind to save their lives, is just overwhelming!

These women are strong!

They are strong even to have shared what they have shared with us.
What hurts even more is that one of the hardest thing they are facing now is the way Lebanese look at them, the way Lebanese look at Syrians.

Their wishes? To go back to their homes, farms, lands and businesses in Syria, even if they are demolished.
After all, women say الحمد لله ‘thank god’ we have a place to live now, and we are able to eat.

After this day, I go back home, and I’m thanking god I have a home.

I open the door and William smiles at me, and I thank god I have a partner, I have a family, I have friends.

I thank god for everything my parents had gone through to provide me with food, care, support, and what they believe is the best education.

Lebanon is the country with the highest per capita concentration of refugees worldwide.

I understand that this is hard on us Lebanese, though it’s way harder on the refugees.

The least we can do is respect these people, put ourselves in their shoes for at least one single moment.

PS: yesterday I was part of a team working on a project to make the voices of Syrian refugees heard.

It’s a beautiful project with the American journalist Masha Hamilton, through Concern Worldwide, an NGO that works with the world poorest people to transform their lives. More details about the project very soon.

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A few Genocides committed in the 19th century and early 20th

Posted by: on: August 30, 2014

 A few Genocides committed in the 19th century and early 20th

In 1864, Russia under Alexander II, massacred 600,000 Cherkess  around the region of Sochi (men, women, and children) and forced over one million to be displaced toward Turkey.

(The same Tsar who was assassinated shortly after by “anarchists”, the day he was supposed to sign on a new constitution.

What happened?

In 1861, 12 tribes from this Caucasus region united to fend off another Russian invasion, and demanded a self-autonomy within Russia, but the demand was rejected.

In the 19th century, Russia expanded greatly at the expense of the Ottoman Empire. At each Russian incursion, the “Christian” Armenians in Turkey supported the invading Russian troops. One of the cursed city was Kars in Turkey, and situated strategically by the border to Russia.

By 1915 and the engagement of Turkey on the side of Germany, it was a golden opportunity for the Turks to transfer the Armenians far away from the Russian borders. Destination: Deir el Zour in north-east current Syria, and in control of the ISIS extremist Islamic faction, a century later.

The Turkish leaders appointed the Kurds to execute the transfer and turned blind eyes to the exaction, massacre, looting and grabbing the properties of the Armenians. Most of the refugees died on their way to Syria from all kinds of inhuman treatment, famine and thirst.

Shall I mention a few of the recent genocide?

1. In Rwanda (Africa) against the Hutu ethnics. The genocide lasted 6 months.

2. Serbia against the Muslims in Kosovo Srebrenica Genocide,

3. Cambodia. The genocide lasted 2 years.

4. Darfur in Sudan. a still ongoing problem

All of these genocide took their full time to complete, and the international community refused to intervene to stop the genocide, until the genocide was exhausted.

A few of ongoing genocide:

1. Zionist Israel dehumanizing the Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza. Israel apartheid had been at it for over 70 years and the western States kept aiding Israel preemptive wars and settlements.

2. South Sudan, in the newly established “independent” State

3. ISIS in north Syria and Iraq, committing atrocities on christian sects and all religious sects and…

4. Boko Haram in north Nigeria

 May Al Awar posted this photo.
‎حملة كفى اطلقها اتراك بمئات المواقع والصفحات التركية</p><br /><br /><br /> <p>ارادوا ايصال صوتهم الى العالم ليضغطوا على اردوغان والعثمانيون الجدد لايقاف جرائمهم ضد البشرية<br /><br /><br /><br /> 3.5 مليون ضحية جرائم العثمانيون ضد البشرية‎

(I’m not sure of the number of massacred Greeks  who occupied Turkey. But the Greek troops were routed and vacated Turkey)

Stages of genocide, influences leading to genocide, and efforts to prevent it[edit]

Hassan Kakar wrote in Wikipedia:

For genocide to happen, there must be certain preconditions.

Foremost among them is a national culture that does not place a high value on human life.

A totalitarian society, with its assumed superior ideology, is also a precondition for genocide

Members of the dominant society must perceive their potential victims as less than fully human: as “pagans,” “savages,” “uncouth barbarians,” “unbelievers,” “effete degenerates,” “ritual outlaws,” “racial inferiors,” “class antagonists,” “counterrevolutionaries,” and so on.[89]

In themselves, these conditions are not enough for the perpetrators to commit genocide.

To commit genocide, the perpetrators need a strong, centralized authority and bureaucratic organization as well as pathological individuals and criminals.

A campaign of vilification and dehumanization of the victims by the perpetrators is carried out over decades, who are usually new states or new regimes attempting to impose conformity to a new ideology and its model of society.[88] 

(The same process done by Zionist Israel against the Palestinians for over 70 years)

In 1996 Gregory Stanton, the president of Genocide Watch, presented a briefing paper, shortly after the Rwandan Genocide,  called “The 8 Stages of Genocide” at the United States Department of State.[91]

Stanton suggested that genocide develops  8 stages that are “predictable but not inexorable“.[91][92]

The preventative measures suggested, given the briefing paper’s original target audience, were those that the United States could implement directly or indirectly by using its influence on other governments.

Stage Characteristics Preventive measures
1.
Classification		 People are divided into “us and them”. “The main preventive measure at this early stage is to develop universalistic institutions that transcend… divisions.”
2.
Symbolization		 “When combined with hatred, symbols may be forced upon unwilling members of pariah groups…” “To combat symbolization, hate symbols can be legally forbidden as can hate speech“.
3.
Dehumanization		 “One group denies the humanity of the other group. Members of it are equated with animals, vermin, insects, or diseases.” “Local and international leaders should condemn the use of hate speech and make it culturally unacceptable. Leaders who incite genocide should be banned from international travel and have their foreign finances frozen.”
4.
Organization		 “Genocide is always organized… Special army units or militias are often trained and armed…” “The U.N. should impose arms embargoes on governments and citizens of countries involved in genocidal massacres, and create commissions to investigate violations”
5.
Polarization		 “Hate groups broadcast polarizing propaganda…” “Prevention may mean security protection for moderate leaders or assistance to human rights groups…Coups d’état by extremists should be opposed by international sanctions.”
6.
Preparation		 “Victims are identified and separated out because of their ethnic or religious identity…” “At this stage, a Genocide Emergency must be declared. …”
7.
Extermination		 “It is ‘extermination’ to the killers because they do not believe their victims to be fully human”. “At this stage, only rapid and overwhelming armed intervention can stop genocide. Real safe areas or refugee escape corridors should be established with heavily armed international protection.”
8.
Denial		 “The perpetrators… deny that they committed any crimes…” “The response to denial is punishment by an international tribunal or national courts”
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Racket for the privileged in British society: Mostly graduated from private universities?

Posted by: on: August 30, 2014

 

Top of British society is a racket for the privileged

Judges sit in the House of Lords

Do you believe graduates from public universities would be caught dead wearing these stupid lawyer hats?
71% of senior judges in Britain were privately educated. Photograph: Toby Melville/REUTERS

Much of the upper crust of British society is a racket for the privileged in defiance of the democratic wishes of the majority.

That really is the core of Elitist Britain, that while 95% of Britons believe “in a fair society every person should have an equal opportunity to get ahead”, the figures in a government report published on Thursday reveal an ingrained unfairness.

Only 7% in Britain are privately educated.

And yet this section of society makes up 71% of senior judges, 62% of the senior armed forces and 55% of permanent secretaries.

It is quite something when the “cabinet of millionaires” is one of the less unrepresentative pillars of power, with 36% hailing from private schools.

The statistics should provoke Britain’s media into a prolonged period of self-reflection.

They probably won’t since 54% of the top 100 media professionals went to private schools, and just 16% attended a comprehensive school – in a country where 88% attend non-selective state schools.

43% of newspaper columnists had parents rich enough to send them to fee-paying schools.

In the case of the media this has much to do with:

1. The decline of the local newspapers that offered a way in for the aspiring journalist with a non-gilded background.

2. The growing importance of costly post-graduate qualifications that are beyond the bank accounts of most; and

3. The explosion of unpaid internships, which discriminate on the basis of whether you are prosperous enough to work for free, rather than whether you are talented.

Why does the unfairness highlighted by the report matter?

As it points out, elitism leaves “leading institutions less informed, less representative and, ultimately, less credible than they should be”.

They focus “on issues that are of salience only to a minority but not the majority in society”.

If there are so few journalists and politicians who have experienced, say, low wages or a struggle for affordable home, then the media and political elite will be less likely to deal with these issues adequately.

Instead, they will reflect the prejudices, assumptions and experiences of the uber-privileged.

The flaw with the report is an implicit assumption that inequality is not the problem, but rather that our current inequality is not a fair distribution of talents.

“If only a few bright sparks from humble backgrounds could be scraped into the higher echelons,” seems to be the plea.

Certainly Britain is in desperate need of radical measures to ensure all can realise their aspirations, including the banning of unpaid internships, the scrapping of charitable status for private schools, investment in early-years education, and dealing with issues such as overcrowded homes that stifle educational attainment.

But surely Britain’s chronically unequal distribution of wealth and power has to be tackled too.

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adonis49

adonis49

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