Barackface: Arab World

Showing posts with label Arab World. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Kick Ortega Out

Image via WikipediaThis revolution for democracy that started in the Arab world has to push out every single dictator in the region, but the fire also has to go to China, to black Africa, to Russia, and now looks like to Latin America as well.

The rats are coming out of their holes. Let them come out. One after another.

2011 is the year for democracy. 2011 has the option to become the biggest year for democracy the world ever saw. We have to make it happen. 2011 could end up being that year, which when it ended, there was not a single autocrat left anywhere. That can happen. But that will not happen on its own. We have to make it happen. And by we I mean people everywhere have to pitch in.

Kick Ortega out too. If he is with Gaddafi, he is not with us. We don't need him. Get out into the streets. Kick this guy out. We have no need for him.

Washington Post: Nicaragua prez call Gaddafi to expresses support Nicaragua's leftist President Daniel Ortega says he has telephoned Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi to express his solidarity. .... Ortega says he has called several times this week because Gadhafi "is again waging a great battle" to defend the unity of his nation. ..... Human rights groups say more than 200 people have died as Libyan security forces crack down on protesters

The Straits Times: Gaddafi Latin American allies show solidarity, caution Gaddafi has responded over the years by awarding the Muammar Gaddafi International Human Rights Prize to Castro, Ortega, Chavez and Evo Morales of Bolivia.

The Fuck With Mugabe
The Chinese Communist Party Can Keep The Power If They Agree To Pluralism, Federalism
This Is Also About Women's Rights
The Saudi King Is No Exception, He Has To Go Too
Democracy: An Israeli Plot?
China: 2 PM, Sunday
Bomb Gaddafi's Tent
Khameini, Gaddafi, Caecescu
Et Tu, China?
When They Open Fire
Iran: Brute Force Does Have An Answer
Iran, Bahrain and Yemen, Jordan, Syria, Libya, Saudi Arabia
Arab Democracy: What The US Needs To Do: Stay Deeply Engaged
Arab Dictators Are Shaking
Egypt: A Revolution, Not A Reform Movement
How Many People Could Mubarak Kill?
Arab Dictators Will Fall Like A House Of Cards

The Fuck With Mugabe

Dozens of students, trade unionists and political activists who gathered to watch Al Jazeera and BBC news reports on the uprisings that brought down autocrats in Tunisia and Egypt have been arrested on suspicion of plotting to oust President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe.

Original caption: President of Zimbabwe Robert...

Image via WikipediaKick Mugabe out. Let black Africa wake up too. Why do only Arabs get to have the good stuff?

This dude Mugabe is an absolute nightmare. On the planet he is absolutely the number one example of how a dictatorial virus mutates.

If you want elections, he will give you elections. If you want political parties, he will give you political parties. If you want an opposition leader, he will give you even that. He might even invite that opposition leader to come join his government. But beneath all that is a sheer reign of terror. There is dictatorship. There is autocracy.

This guy likes to talk about race. I know race. I have been offended by racism for as long as I can remember. This guy is no racial messiah. He is a brute dictator. He is an animal. He does not have a second thought about unleashing violence upon his own people.

This guy epitomizes corruption, and brutality. This guy is the prime example of the message that black skin surely is not enough. You also need humanity. You need rule of law. You need basic democracy. You need freedom

Image via Wikipediafrom fear. You need respect for human rights. You need free and fair elections.

You need Mugabe out. I know of an island in the Pacific where he should be sent to spend the rest of his days.

This revolution for democracy has to go beyond the Arab world. It has to go to black Africa. It has to go to China.
The Chinese Communist Party Can Keep The Power If They Agree To Pluralism, Federalism
This Is Also About Women's Rights
The Saudi King Is No Exception, He Has To Go Too
Democracy: An Israeli Plot?
China: 2 PM, Sunday
Bomb Gaddafi's Tent
Khameini, Gaddafi, Caecescu
Et Tu, China?
When They Open Fire
Iran: Brute Force Does Have An Answer
Iran, Bahrain and Yemen, Jordan, Syria, Libya, Saudi Arabia
Arab Democracy: What The US Needs To Do: Stay Deeply Engaged
Arab Dictators Are Shaking
Egypt: A Revolution, Not A Reform Movement
How Many People Could Mubarak Kill?
Arab Dictators Will Fall Like A House Of Cards

Sunday, February 20, 2011

This Is Also About Women's Rights

Image via WikipediaThis tumult in the Arab world has to be taken to its logical conclusion of grand success. Everyone in a position to help has to help. Because this is also about women's rights across the Arab world. Only after a country has become a democracy, and the democratic processes come into play can there be sound hope for concrete advances on women's rights.

Gender equality will not come about right away, but steps towards that gender equality are so much harder if not impossible to take when a country is not a democracy. There are no outlets.

The irrelevant old men who run all these countries need to be all pushed out, and in haste. This is not the time to be polite and civil to people who have reigned mercilessly over their peoples for so long.

The Saudi King Is No Exception, He Has To Go Too
Democracy: An Israeli Plot?
China: 2 PM, Sunday
Bomb Gaddafi's Tent
Khameini, Gaddafi, Caecescu
Et Tu, China?
When They Open Fire
Iran: Brute Force Does Have An Answer
Iran, Bahrain and Yemen, Jordan, Syria, Libya, Saudi Arabia
Arab Democracy: What The US Needs To Do: Stay Deeply Engaged
Arab Dictators Are Shaking
Egypt: A Revolution, Not A Reform Movement
How Many People Could Mubarak Kill?
Arab Dictators Will Fall Like A House Of Cards

The Saudi King Is No Exception, He Has To Go Too

King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz. (2002 photo)

Image via WikipediaGaddafi is about to fall. Then it is going to be the turn of the king of Saudi Arabi. The monarchy in Saudi Arabia has to come to a total end. Monarchies everywhere need to be ended. This is the time to do it.

This is not the time for reform, this is revolution time. Revolution means big, fundamental change.

What is going on in the Arab world has never before happened in the Arab world. The scope of it all is breathtaking. Nothing like this has happened in Arab history in two thousand years. This is a millennial shift. This is tectonic.

Let no one be mistaken. This tide will only subside after every single autocracy in the region has been toppled. The Arab street has spoken. That is the clear verdict.

Democracy: An Israeli Plot?
China: 2 PM, Sunday
Bomb Gaddafi's Tent
Khameini, Gaddafi, Caecescu
Et Tu, China?
When They Open Fire
Iran: Brute Force Does Have An Answer
Iran, Bahrain and Yemen, Jordan, Syria, Libya, Saudi Arabia
Arab Democracy: What The US Needs To Do: Stay Deeply Engaged
Arab Dictators Are Shaking
Egypt: A Revolution, Not A Reform Movement
How Many People Could Mubarak Kill?
Arab Dictators Will Fall Like A House Of Cards

China: 2 PM, Sunday

Image via Wikipedia

“People in cities that fail to organize assembly successfully this time, please go ahead with similar assemblies at 2:00pm of every Sunday afternoon,” said the invitation to protest posted on the overseas Chinese website www.boxun.com, “Persistence means success!”

This is a smart strategy. China will be the very last prize. After every single autocratic regime in the Arab world has been toppled - and that could easily take weeks, possibly a few months - after every autocratic regime in Africa has been brought down, by then the people in China will have warmed up.

Once the people pour out into the streets, there is nothing anybody can do. China could have an interesting outcome. This is what I suggest. Let the people come out into the streets. Don't organize a massacre. Agree to a major constitutional reform such that it becomes legal to organize political parties. Offer federalism.

The revolution in China could see the Communist Party of China keeping power but making way for multi-party democracy and a full fledged respect for human rights. Google gets to go back to China.

Personally I am even more interested in Burma than China. The animals ruling Burma need to be executed by an international tribunal.

Wake up, Burma, wake up.

Bomb Gaddafi's Tent
Khameini, Gaddafi, Caecescu
Et Tu, China?
When They Open Fire
Iran: Brute Force Does Have An Answer
Iran, Bahrain and Yemen, Jordan, Syria, Libya, Saudi Arabia
Arab Democracy: What The US Needs To Do: Stay Deeply Engaged
Arab Dictators Are Shaking
Egypt: A Revolution, Not A Reform Movement
How Many People Could Mubarak Kill?
Arab Dictators Will Fall Like A House Of Cards

Saturday, February 19, 2011

Et Tu, China?

Image via Wikipedia

Washington Post: China cracks down on call for 'Jasmine Revolution': Chinese authorities cracked down on activists as a call circulated for people to gather in more than a dozen cities Sunday for a "Jasmine Revolution." ..... Activists seemed not to know what to make of the call to protest, even as they passed it on. They said they were unaware of any known group being involved in the request for citizens to gather in 13 cities and shout "We want food, we want work, we want housing, we want fairness." ...... in the footsteps of recent protests in Egypt, Tunisia, Bahrain, Yemen, Algeria and Libya. ..... Authorities appeared to be treating the protest call seriously. ..... Tensions were already high in recent days after a video secretly made under house arrest by one of China's most well-known activist lawyers, Chen Guangcheng, was made public. .... The call for a "Jasmine Revolution" came as President Hu Jintao gave a speech to top leaders Saturday, asking them to "solve prominent problems which might harm the harmony and stability of the society." ..... The ruling Communist Party is dogged by the threat of social unrest over rising food and housing prices and other issues. .... The call to protest was first posted on the U.S.-based Chinese-language website Boxun.com. ...... "This is the most serious denial of service attack we have received," it said in a statement. "We believe the attack is related to the Jasmine Revolution proposed on Feb. 20 in China."

When the people rise, empires fall. China is but one country.

The Arab world, Africa, China: all are fair game.

China needs political plurality, China needs federalism, China needs freedom of speech, China needs religious freedom. China needs democracy and human rights as much as any other country.

When They Open Fire
Iran: Brute Force Does Have An Answer
Iran, Bahrain and Yemen, Jordan, Syria, Libya, Saudi Arabia
Arab Democracy: What The US Needs To Do: Stay Deeply Engaged
Arab Dictators Are Shaking
Egypt: A Revolution, Not A Reform Movement
How Many People Could Mubarak Kill?
Arab Dictators Will Fall Like A House Of Cards

Friday, February 18, 2011

When They Open Fire

Image via Wikipedia2011 is 1989, and this year belongs to the Arab world and to Africa. People are rising. People will rise. They will take over the streets. This is a momentum game. If you let the momentum die you have to wait years, perhaps you have to wait for another generation. That would be too wasteful. The time is now. The time is today. The time is this year.

The streets are on fire. Stoke the fire.

Peaceful demonstrators have a right to demonstrate. Regimes that open fire on such demonstrators have to be countered by peoples and governments all over the world. The US government has to step in with everything at its disposal, upto and including use of surgical military strikes.

A regime does not have to accept the demands of peacefully demonstrating people, but no regime has a right to unleash brutality upon peacefully demonstrating peoples. There are reports demonstrators are being shot at, from the ground, from helicopters in the sky.

A composed satellite photograph of Africa.

Image via Wikipedia
That can not be tolerated. America has to step in. It has to warn such governments. It has to use all levers of government power to make sure such brutality is not tolerated.

America was born with a mission. That mission was a total spread of democracy. 2011 is a special year. It is like 1989 all over again. And America has a role to play. People have a right to peacefully demonstrate. That right has to be protected.

A monarcy, any monarchy, is a feudal institution. Every single monarchy in the region has to go. Unelected leaders don't belong in the seats of power. If you were not elected, simply leave.

Iran: Brute Force Does Have An Answer
Iran, Bahrain and Yemen, Jordan, Syria, Libya, Saudi Arabia
Arab Democracy: What The US Needs To Do: Stay Deeply Engaged
Arab Dictators Are Shaking
Egypt: A Revolution, Not A Reform Movement
How Many People Could Mubarak Kill?
Arab Dictators Will Fall Like A House Of Cards

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Arab Democracy: What The US Needs To Do: Stay Deeply Engaged

Image via WikipediaThe US is uniquely positioned to conclude the War On Terror in 2011. The Cold War lasted decades. If we play our cards right, the War On Terror will have only lasted a decade. And Barack Obama might qualify for yet another Nobel Peace Prize.

The way the War On Terror concludes is when every Arab country has been turned into a modern democracy. The roadmap is simple. People come out into the streets and shut the country down completely until the dictator vacates the seat of power. They don't have to leave the country. They just have to vacate the seat of power without engaging in any bloodshed. Then an interim government takes over. That cabinet has one year to hold elections to a constituent assembly. And that's it.

Where the US federal government comes in is there is no other entity that has the option to stay deeply engaged with all levels of the state apparatus in these countries. The idea is to stay neutral politically in the beginning, but make sure there is no bloodshed. And then once the streets have boiled over and achieved tipping point, you call for the dictator's ouster in no unclear terms. You don't incite the street protests. You don't help escalate it. But once they hit that tipping point, you stand on the side of democracy. The clearer stand you take, less bloodshed there will be, and smoother the transitions will be in those countries.

This is not the time to stay neutral. Revolution is not a spectator sport, not for those braving the streets, not for the President Of The United States, not for the Vice President Of The United States, not for the US Secretary Of State.

This momentum that took centuries to build can not be wasted. This is our opportunity to turn the tables across the Arab world. If the sexism in the Arab world has been bothering you, now is the time to act. A country that becomes a democracy starts taking steps to curb all that sexism.

Egypt: The Army May Not Take Over
Arab Dictators Are Shaking
Egypt: A Revolution, Not A Reform Movement
How Many People Could Mubarak Kill?
Arab Dictators Will Fall Like A House Of Cards

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Arab Dictators Will Fall Like A House Of Cards

Image via Wikipedia

New York Times: Violent Clashes Mark Protests Against Mubarak’s Rule: Tens of thousands of people demanding an end to the nearly 30-year rule of President Hosni Mubarak filled the streets of several Egyptian cities on Tuesday, in an unusually large and sometimes violent burst of civil unrest .... Protests also flared in Alexandria, Suez, Mansura and Beni Suef. ..... the protests represented the largest display of popular dissatisfaction in recent memory, perhaps since 1977 ..... opposition to Mr. Mubarak’s rule spreads across ideological lines and includes average people angered by corruption and economic hardship as well as secular and Islamist opponents. ..... a spreading unease with Mr. Mubarak on issues from extension of an emergency law that allows arrests without charge, to his presiding over a stagnant bureaucracy that citizens say is incapable of handling even basic responsibilities. Their size seemed to represent a breakthrough for opposition groups ..... Twitter, the social networking tool that helped spread news of the protests. .... The organizers framed the protest as a stand against torture, poverty, corruption and unemployment....... Asked about their political affiliation, Ms. Khalil’s mother, Mona, said, “We’re just Egyptians.”

When the Soviet Union collapsed, it collapsed like a house of cards. Something similar is going to happen across the Arab world, and the world owes it to the Arab people to not betray. This is not the time to side with Arab dictators, be they in Egypt or Saudi Arabia. The masses deserve nothing less than liberation.

I thought it might start in Iran, but started in Tunisia. But once one house collapses, the domino effect takes over. Every successive collapse gets easier. The masses will rise. The world has to not betray. People and governments across the world have to stand shoulder to shoulder with the rising masses. That is the only way to genuine peace in the Middle East. Only liberated peoples are capable of governments that are capable of peace.

Friday, July 31, 2009

Iran: Yes, We Can

Victory is very possible in Iran. Yes, we can.

Iran is a very important country. It has had limited democracy for decades, something Egypt and Saudi Arabia can not boast of. It is a large population. Iran is one country where if a grassroots movement will bring forth democracy, the Arab world at large will likely see a domino effect.

I have been so very impressed with the resilience of the Iranian people. They can clearly go past the first few weeks. They have proven a democracy movement need not be a passing fad that takes the streets for a week or two or three and then withers away at the first sign of crackdown.

The Iranian people are a very brave people. Yes, we can.

Iran has had a grudge against America. The CIA toppled a democratically elected government in Iran. Then the US punished the Iranian people much later by unleashing Saddam Hussein on them.

But both sides have to look for new beginnings. The US just did the unthinkable. It elected a black guy for president. The America that unleashed Saddam on Iran could not have elected a black guy.

Iran is a big, important country that has to look for fresh beginnings inside and out.

Iran is proving Bush wrong like Obama wanted to prove Bush wrong on the campaign trail in 2008. You don't need a trillion dollars in US military expenditures to take democracy into a country. All that has to happen is the people in that country have to rise up and take over the streets, like in Iran.

On to victory. Yes, we can.

We did it in Nepal in 2006, you can do it in Iran in 2009. Yes, we can.

The First Major Revolution Of The 21st Century Happened In Nepal

Op-Ed Contributor Iran at the Crossroads New York Times

Iran's Ahmadinejad warns rivals their plans will fail Reuters

Iran president: No rift with supreme leader The Associated Press

Iran's Ahmadinejad denies rift with Khamenei AFP
IRAN: Footage emerges from demonstrations across the country Los Angeles Times

Iran FM says Britain, West behind protest deaths AFP

Clashes at Iran memorial services BBC News

Police beat mourners in new wave of unrest in Iran The Associated Press
What's Our Policy on Iran? FOXNews

Turn the screws on Iran Charleston Post Courier

Ms. Clinton's Honesty On Iran's Ambitions Washington Post

Iran activists dread midnight knock of police raid The Associated Press

Concern Over Detainees in Iran Voice of America
US Senate votes to penalize Iran gasoline suppliers Reuters

Senate would ban Iran dealers from supplying reserve Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Senators Renew Call for New Iran Sanctions Law Wall Street Journal