Monday, June 29, 2009



It is difficult to be called a Muslim; if one is truly a Muslim, then he may be called one.
First, let him savor the religion of the Prophet as sweet; then, let his pride of his possessions be scraped away.
Becoming a true Muslim, a disciple of the faith of Mohammed, let him put aside the delusion of death and life.
As he submits to God’s Will, and surrenders to the Creator, he is rid of selfishness and conceit.
And when, O Nanak, he is merciful to all beings, only then shall he be called a Muslim.
Allah is hidden in every heart; reflect upon this in your mind. The One Lord is within both Hindu and Muslim;
Kabir proclaims this out loud.
Be kind and compassionate to me, O Creator Lord. Bless me with devotion and meditation, O Lord Creator. Says Nanak, the Guru has rid me of doubt.
The Muslim God Allah and the Hindu God Paarbrahm are one and the same.

To be Muslim is to be kind-hearted, and wash away pollution from within the heart. He does not even approach worldly pleasures; he is pure, like flowers, silk, ghee and the deer-skin.
One who is blessed with the mercy and compassion of the Merciful Lord, is the manliest man among men. He alone is a Shaykh, a preacher, a Haji, and he alone is God’s slave, who is blessed with God’s Grace.
The Creator Lord has Creative Power; the Merciful Lord has Mercy. The Praises and the Love of the Merciful Lord are unfathomable.
Realize the True Hukam, the Command of the Lord, O Nanak; you shall be released from bondage, and carried across.


Sri Guru Granth Sahib

SHALOK, FIRST MEHL


ethics of reciprocity = the golden rule


Testament Deuterocanonical books of Tobit and Sirach accepted as part of the Scriptural canon by Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, and the Non-Chalcedonian Churches also expressed as the Silver Rule.

Tobit 4:15 "Do to no one what you yourself dislike."

Sirach 31:15 "Recognize that your neighbor feels as you do, and keep in mind your own dislikes."


Gospel

Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets. (mathew 7:12)


And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise. (Luke 6:31)


And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou? And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself. And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live. (Luke 10:25-28)


Confucius

Never impose on others what you would not choose for yourself. analects xv. 24 (V.13, VI30)


Anusasana Parva, Section CXIII, Verse 8

One should never do that to another which one regards as injurious to one’s own self. This, in brief, is the rule of dharma. Other behavior is due to selfish desires. (Brihaspati, Mahabharata)


Muhammad

Hurt no one so that no one may hurt you. (The Farewell Sermon)


Jainism

Nothing which breathes, which exists, which lives, or which has essence or potential of life, should be destroyed or ruled over, or subjugated, or harmed, or denied of its essence or potential.

In support of this Truth, I ask you a question - "Is sorrow or pain desirable to you ?" If you say "yes it is", it would be a lie. If you say, "No, It is not" you will be expressing the truth. Just as sorrow or pain is not desirable to you, so it is to all which breathe, exist, live or have any essence of life. To you and all, it is undesirable, and painful, and repugnant (Acaranga Sutra)


Sikhism (Guru Granth Sahib)

Whom should I despise since the one lord made us all. (Var Sarang)


The truly enlightened ones are those who neither incite fear in others nor fear anyone themselves. (Slok)


Taoism

Regard your neighbor's gain as your own gain, and your neighbors loss as your own loss (T'ai Shang Kan Ying P'ien)





Officials at a Texas public school have no right to force a Native American elementary school student to cut his hair, which he wears long for religious reasons, says Americans United for Separation of Church and State. Americans United today filed a friend-of-the-court brief supporting student Adriel Arocha and his family. The family is challenging a grooming policy at the Needville Independent School District that bans long hair for male students. “Public schools must never sponsor prayer or other religious activities,” said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United. “At the same time, they have an obligation to allow voluntary student religious expression that doesn’t interfere with the rights of others. “Adriel’s decision to wear his hair long for religious reasons is a private expression of faith, and the school should respect that,” Lynn continued. Needville’s policy does not allow boys to wear their hair past the collar or over the eyes. The Houston Chronicle reported last year that many rural school districts in Texas have similar rules.


Needville school officials met with Adriel’s family but refused to grant them a religious exemption to the policy. School officials did say Adriel could stuff his hair into his shirt, but the family said that was not enough. A federal district court ruled in the family’s favor in January, but the school district has appealed to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Americans United, which is joined on the brief by the Anti-Defamation League, is asking the 5th Circuit to uphold the lower court’s decision. The family is being represented by the Texas branch of the American Civil Liberties Union. “Public school students have the right to engage in religious activities as long as they are not disruptive and don’t infringe on anyone else’s rights,” said Richard B. Katskee, assistant legal director of Americans United. “Adriel’s decision to wear long hair easily meets both of those tests.” The case is A.A. v. Needville Independent School District.
"Most of the luxuries and many of the so-called comforts of life are not only not indispensable, but positive hindrances to the elevation of mankind.”



Henry David Thoreau


by radIOhead

You can't take it with you
Dancing for your pleasure
You are not to blame for
Bittersweet distractor
Dare not speak its name
Dedicated to all human beings

Because we separate
like ripples on a blank shore (in rainbows)
Because we separate
like ripples on a blank shore (in rainbows)

Reckoner
Take me with you
Dedicated to all human beings

Sunday, June 28, 2009

Push and pull factors are those factors which either forcefully push people into migration or attract them. A push factor is forceful, and a factor which relates to the country from which a person migrates. It is generally some problem which results in people wanting to migrate. Different types of push factors can be seen further below. A push factor is a flaw or distress that drives a person away from a certain place. A pull factor is something concerning the country to which a person migrates. It is generally a benefit that attracts people to a certain place.


("a scattering [of seeds]") refers to the movement of any population sharing common ethnic identity who were either forced to leave or voluntarily left their settled territory, and became residents in areas often far remote from the former. It is converse to the nomadic culture, and more appropriately linked with the creation of a group of refugees. However, while refugees may or may not ultimately settle in a new geographic location, the term diaspora refers to a permanently displaced and relocated collective.


exodus, movement of the people

Friday, June 26, 2009

a wonderfully ambivalent parable...


again, the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

peruvian Justice for the amerindian

june 22, 2009



The Peruvian Congress has voted to repeal two controversial Amazonian laws after protests that led to the death of an unknown number of policemen and indigenous people. The Congress voted to repeal the laws at the end of last week. The laws undermined indigenous peoples’ rights and made it easier for outsiders to take control of their land. Peru’s Amazon Indian organisation, AIDESEP, described the government’s decision as ‘historic’. ‘Our struggle and the lives of our indigenous brothers and sisters have not been in vain,’ said AIDESEP’s vice-president, Daysi Zapata Fasabi. ‘(This decision) shows that our struggle is a just one and that no one is manipulating us.’ Peru’s president, Alan Garcia, admitted that the laws were passed without consulting the Amazon’s indigenous inhabitants and that a ‘succession of errors’ was made in the government’s handling of the protests. The government’s official figure is that 24 policemen and 10 indigenous people were killed during the protests, but those figures are disputed by local sources. According to reports, the mayor of local town Bagua has said that up to sixty indigenous people are still missing.

charles davenport will forever be known as the founder of eugenics in america. this is not to say that he did not receive support from his fellow ignorant minded businessmen who supplied the capital for his research. the eugenics research board was created in 1910 and was closed just in time for the beginning of world war II in 1939. one of the primary donors to the eugenics research that coincidentally, highlighted the superiority of the aryan race, was the carnegie institution. the term eugenics was coined by Francis Galton, a cousin of Charles Darwin in the late 19th century. by the time the 1900's rolled around, every "civilized" nation had blossoming fields of eugenics research.


the idea of racial supremacy and nazi-era germany go hand in hand. few take the time to step back a see that most anglo-saxon nations developed research programs in coordination including germany, the united states, and the united kingdom. it is not hard to imagine the era that surrounded world war II, eugenics would become a staple to all regimes bent on the brutal suppression of is various ethnic populations. anti-semitism is the most notable mind set attributed to eugenics and the holocaust. the mindset behind aryan scientist who felt a great degree of inferiority towards their semetic brethren, led to winding dead end trails. these trails were an attempts at justifying the superiority of the aryan race in contrast to the african native. in 1929 with the publication of race crossing in jamaica, mr. davenport made his initial intentions clear in an absent minded attempt at genealogy to justify the aryan race.


it is a wonder that the proponents of eugenics chose to blame others for the alleged shortcoming of their neighbors. im sure the constant reminder in the eye of their friends and family, of their own personal short comings were sufficient. one need only look to the royal families of european nobility during the 18th and 19th century to discover the ignorance of a master race. hemophelia ran through europes families that chose to stay wed and reproduce along a very thin genetic line.


the 1927 supreme court ruling in favor of the state of virginia and its policy of compulsory sterilization for "feebleminded" individuals, was a landmark case that reaffirmed a bitter practice. the mere fact that the word "feeblemind" was used as legal term is a stark reality to the mentality of the united states government in the 1920's.

the first phase of the nazi eugenics program was the systematic screening of all german citizans. the process identified children that were mentally impaired, who were then starved or poisoned to death. forced sterilization was in the 100,000's during the nazi era of europe.


read more:



Monday, June 22, 2009

Little Black Boy

William Blake


My mother bore me in the southern wild,
And I am black, but oh! my soul is white.
White as an angel is the English child,
But I am black as if bereaved of light.

My mother taught me underneath a tree,
And, sitting down before the heat of day,
She took me on her lap and kissed me,
And pointing to the east began to say:

"Look on the rising sun, -there God does live
And gives his light, and gives his heat away;
And flowers and trees and beasts and men receive
Comfort in morning, joy in the noonday.

And we are put on earth a little space
That we may learn to bear the beams of love;
And these black bodies and this sunburnt face
Is but a cloud, and like a shady grove.

For when our souls have learned the heat to bear
The cloud will vanish, we shall hear his voice
Saying: `Come out from the grove, my love and care,
And round my golden tent like lambs rejoice!' "

Thus did my mother say, and kissed me;
And thus I say to little English boy:
When I from black and he from white cloud free,
And round the tent of God like lambs we joy,

I'll shade him from the heat till he can bear
To lean in joy upon our father's knee;
And then I'll stand and stroke his silver hair,
And be like him, and he will then love me.



The violence in Cauca, as elsewhere, is part of the expulsion of peasants from the best lands...

http://www.zmag.org/sustainers/content/2002-07/13chomsky-podur.cfm

Cauca: Chomsky Interview By Noam Chomsky and Justin Podur ZNet Commentary, 15 July 2002

At the time of this writing, the municipalities of Toribio and Jambalo in Northern Cauca are being bombarded by both FARC and the Colombian government. Northern Cauca is home to one of the most remarkable experiments in resistance to neoliberalism and in the actual construction of alternatives in the hemisphere, not to mention a courageous and unarmed struggle for peace.

The current battle begain when the FARC entered the area with the intention of executing the indigenous mayors of these municipalities for 'corruption'. The mayors were elected in a direct-democratic, consultative process developed by the people of Cauca (see “Snapshot of Colombia” for more detail on this process) and the accusation of corruption leveled at them is not warranted.

The indigenous organizations of Cauca have asked for international action to protect them from this threat and for all armed actors to leave their territory so they can continue their construction of autonomy.

Noam Chomsky visited Cauca several months ago. He gave his assessment of the situation there in an email interview today.

1) You visited the indigenous of Cauca recently, and now they are being hit quite hard from all quarters-- the FARC, the paramilitaries, and aerial fumigation from the US. Why is that? Do their achievements qualify as the kind of 'threat of a good example' that has to be destroyed?

That's a fair conclusion, I think.

I spent a few days in Cauca, but met mostly people from the southern part, campesinos and indigenous mostly, with personal testimonies that are really painful to listen to. Also met activists from many different groups, very impressive people, and was able to spend a few hours talking to the governor, Floro Tunubala, a thoughtful, articulate, proud indigenous man, maybe the first indigenous elected official at that rank in the hemisphere. His election was a shock to the elites that have run the place forever.

It's reminiscent of Haiti 10 years ago. His election was a reflection of the success of local organizing among the popular sectors, the “Bloque Social”—the Social Bloc. In answer to your question, I'll just quote what he said in a published interview. He warned a year ago of the growing presence of paramilitaries in the north, another step in extending their control over large parts of Colombia.

He attributed their invasion of northern Cauca to the successes of the Social Bloc, which has “won economic and territorial rights, and social rights in the areas of education and health.” That “attracted the attention of the paramilitaries,” who do not tolerate such deviation from the traditional structures of power they protect. I think that's the basic answer to the question you raise.

But it's more complex. In recent years, he said, the guerrillas have “sought to manipulate the social movements,” and it is clear from personal testimonies that they—particularly FARC—are feared by campesinos, Afro-Colombians, and indigenous people, and that FARC has lost its former social program as the conflict has become increasingly militarized.

The Social Bloc is seeking to separate the region from the conflict, to free themselves from the military-paramilitary and from the guerrillas, and to pursue a path towards independent social and economic development under their own control. None of the militarized forces accept that. There are similar efforts in many parts of Colombia, including quite sizeable networks of communities, in one case an area about the size of El Salvador.

Perhaps the oldest is San Jose de Apartado, which declared itself a zone of peace over 30 years ago, and has suffered bitterly from the refusal of the armed groups to accept that. They had been under siege by paramilitaries for weeks when I was there, food and other supplies were running short, and the situation may be desperate unless they receive some outside support beyond the human rights and solidarity groups that are attempting to do something and arouse international attention.

Those I met described the US chemical warfare campaign (“fumigation”) as a particularly vicious atrocity. Peasant testimonies were graphic and heart-rending, and even a casual visit suffices to see some of the effects directly. Most of the those met were coffee farmers. They had managed to overcome the sharp decline in coffee prices (which devastates the farmers; the multinational distributors are doing fine) by developing a niche market for export, mostly to Europe: very high quality organically-grown coffee.

That's destroyed by the fumigation, forever. Not only are all the coffee bushes killed, but the land is poisoned, and will not be certified again, even if they can somehow survive the years it takes to re-establish what has been destroyed, along with all other crops: yucca, asparagus, much else. Their farms and lives are ruined, their animals killed, their children often sick and dying.

They are left destitute, with little hope. At least in the areas from which I heard personal testimonies, the crop destruction had little if anything to do with guerrilla presence or drug production—grotesque as even those projects are. There hadn't even been an attempt to investigate on the ground the areas subjected to ruinous crop destruction.

These programs appear to be another stage in the historical process of driving poor peasants from the land, opening up rich resources to exploitation by foreign capital, and probably laying the basis for agroexport controlled by multinationals using laboratory-produced seed, once the biodiversity is destroyed, along with the rich but fragile tradition of peasant agriculture.

Along with the governors of the neighboring provinces, Tunubala has called for an end to fumigation, with manual eradication along with programs of social and economic development. But that doesn't fit the aims of the Colombian elite and Washington's “Plan Colombia,” so it receives virtually no support.

There's background that should be kept in mind. In 2001, Cauca had the worst record for human rights violations in Colombia, which is quite an achievement. Next was Choco, mostly Afro-Colombian, the scene of a terrible massacre when a FARC bomb hit a church where people were taking refuge from fighting that broke out after paramilitaries invaded the area. These are the latest stages in an ugly history.

From far back, the violence in Cauca, as elsewhere, is part of the expulsion of peasants from the best lands, escalating under the neoliberal programs but with deep historical roots, leading to a social order with extreme concentration of wealth, linked to foreign capital, and awful misery in a country with rich and varied resources. That's been true of Cauca for a long time. The Social Bloc has been reversing the process, and that is not welcome to concentrated power, domestic or international.

2) How credible is the Colombian government's claim that they are trapped between a guerrilla insurgency and a paramilitary army, neither of which they can control, both of which they need military help from the US to bring to heel?

Both international and Colombian human rights organizations now attribute the large majority of atrocities to paramilitaries, who are so closely, and so visibly, allied to the military that Human Rights Watch calls them the “Sixth Division,” alongside the five official divisions.

There's overwhelming evidence of intimate connections and cooperation, both from ample personal testimony and published reports of the major human rights organizations, which are detailed and informative. The proportion of atrocities attributed to the military/paras has been steady over the years: about 75%-80%, with the military component declining as atrocities are “farmed out” to the paras in ways that are familiar elsewhere.

That's useful for “plausible deniability”—plausible enough for State Department pretenses when they go through the annual charade of certifying “improvements” in the military's human rights record, most recently a disgraceful performance by Colin Powell a few months ago after he had been presented with extensive documentation from the main human rights organizations showing in careful detail that accreditation would be a farce.

The transfer of atrocities to paramilitaries is a form of privatization that fits well into the “neoliberal model,” of which Colombia is a stellar example generally. US participation in state terror is proceeding along a similar track. Increasingly, it is privatized. The tasks are handed over to companies like MPRI and Dyncorps that hire US military personnel and operate on government contracts, but aren't subject to the congressional surveillance that somewhat constrains direct participation in state terror.

3) Can concerned North Americans actually help protect the work of people in Cauca? How?

It's no exaggeration to say that their fate lies in our hands. The Social Bloc in Cauca is one of quite a few popular formations throughout the country. They cannot alone withstand the overwhelming resources of violence in the hands of the Colombian elite linked to US power.

As for the guerrillas, power centers may not defeat them in conventional military terms, but have already succeeded to a large extent in one primary goal: driving the guerrillas to become a military force without meaningful social programs, hence just another source of terror for the population that seeks to find a way to escape the criminal socioeconomic system and pervasive violence that is closely connected to it. That's again a classic device of state-directed international terrorism.

The courage and dedication of the Social Bloc, and the activists who work with them, are extraordinary and inspiring. But the heavy hand of oppression has to be removed right here. It is also right here that they should be receiving direct support for the very impressive and promising work that they are doing. To some extent that is happening, with sister city projects and other forms of solidarity. How these processes develop will determine the fate of millions of Colombians. We're not observing from Mars, and even a tiny fraction of what they do every day, under incomparably harsher conditions, can make an enormous difference.

The Rebel

by Charles Baudelaire


An angry Angel plunges out of the sky,

grips the sinner's hair and shakes him hard,

shouting: "Hear and obey, it is the law!

I am your Guardian Angel. Do my will!

Learn that you must love, with all your heart,

the poor in body and spirit, the low, the lost,

so that your charity may spread for Christ

a proper carpet when He walks the earth.

Such is true love! Before your heart goes numb,

let the glory of God awaken it to joy,

for that alone among your pleasure lasts!"

And the Angel, punishing to prove his love,

torments his victim with his giant fists;

but still the damned soul answers: "I will not!"

the constitution of mexico, in the second article of its main body, states that the confederation of states are rooted in the "indigenous american" community. the term "pluricutural" is added to nation to form a directive to all mexican citizenry:
  • the right to decide the internal forms of social, economic, political and cultural organization;
  • the right to apply their own normative systems of regulation as long as human rights and gender equality are respected;
  • the right to preserve and enrich their languages and cultures;
  • the right to elect representatives before the municipal council in which their territories are located
these are explicit terms, amongst a sea of support for the AMERINDIAN or indigenous american community that makes up roughly one third of the mexican national population. it is a wonder that chiapas has become such a zone of political dispute to the point of violence.



William Lloyd Garrison and slavery in the new millenium



abolitionism is a word that carries much weight in the united states. that fact that slavery is just over two hundred years old does not help but inflame the remnants of the jim crow laws throughout the post civil war south. the sad truth of our present world is that slavery is still very much in existence, throughout all the civilized world not excluding the americas. an excerpt from the honorable mr. garrsons first public speech rallying for support against slavery in the United States.

"This, I am aware, is a delicate subject, surrounded with many formidable difficulties. But if delay only adds to its intricacy, wherefore shun an immediate investigation? I know that we, of the North, affectedly believe that we have no local interest in the removal of this great evil; that the slave States can take care of themselves, and that any proffered assistance, on our part, would be rejected as impertinent, dictatorial or meddle-some; and that we have no right to lift up even a note of remonstrance. But I believe that these opinions are crude, preposterous, dishonorable, unjust. Sirs, this is a business in which, as members of one great family, we have a common interest; but we take no responsibility, either individually or collectively. Our hearts are cold—our blood stagnates in our veins. We act, in relation to the slaves, as if they were something lower than the brutes that perish.

On this question, I ask no support from the injunction of Holy Writ, which says: —"therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets." I throw aside the common dictates of humanity. I assert the right of the free States to demand a gradual abolition of slavery, because, by its continuance, they participate in the guilt thereof, and are threatened with ultimate destruction; because they are bound to watch over the interests of the whole country, without reference to territorial divisions; because their white population is nearly double that of the slave States, and the voice of this overwhelming majority should be potential; because they are now deprived of their just influence in the councils of the nation; because it is absurd and anti-republican to suffer property to be represented as men, and vice versa. Because it gives the South an unjust ascendancy over other portions of territory, and a power which may be perverted on every occasion …

Now I say that, on the broad system of equal rights, this monstrous inequality should no longer be tolerated. If it cannot be speedily put down—not by force, but by fair persuasion; if we are always to remain shackled by unjust Constitutional provisions, when the emergency that imposed them has long since passed away; if we must share in the guilt and danger of destroying the bodies and souls of men, as the price of our Union; if the slave States will haughtily spurn our assistance, and refuse to consult the general welfare; then the fault is not ours if a separation eventually take place..."

these words carry much brevity in the face of slavery in our modern society. in america as of 2009, it is estimated that seventy-five percent of all agricultural workers in america are illegal migrants. these people come from the poor indigenous and mestizo communities of mexico and central america, some as far as south america. the conditions that afford them minimal pay, to send back to their respective countries, are the same conditions that our forefathers faced as immigrant workers and indentured servants during the early days of america. from the trafficking of young slave teen women to the forced acts against young adolescent slave boys. from the forced labor and inhuman work conditions brought upon migrants who do not speak the native tongue, so are unable to speak up against the abuses they face.

it is up to the developed world to step up and lend a helping hand to end the injustice of slavery and all its manifestations. the obligation is placed on the developed world because we claim freedom the loudest in the name of liberty, yet we turn the most apathetic and blind eye towards the plight of those enslaved. we end with another excerpt from mr. garrisons speech that was quoted earlier:

"Every Fourth of July, our Declaration of Independence is produced, with a sublime indignation, to set forth the tyranny of the mother country, and to challenge the admiration of the world. But what a pitiful detail of grievances does this document present, in comparison with the wrongs which our slaves endure! In the one case, it is hardly the plucking of a hair from the head; in the other, it is the crushing of a live body on the wheel—the stings of the wasp contrasted with the tortures of the Inquisition. Before God, I must say, that such a glaring contradiction as exists between our creed and practice the annals of six thousand years cannot parallel. In view of it, I am ashamed of my country. I am sick of our unmeaning declamation in praise of liberty and equality; of our hypocritical cant about the unalienable rights of man. "
the 1688 Germantown Quaker Petition Against Slavery

These are the reasons why we are against the traffick of men-body, as followeth:

Is there any that would be done or handled at this manner? viz., to be sold or made a slave for all the time of his life? How fearful & fainthearted are many on sea when they see a strange vassel - being afraid it should be a Turck, and they should be tacken, and sold for slaves into Turckey. Now what is this better done, as Turcks doe? yea, rather is it worse for them wch say they are Christians, for we hear that the most part of such Negers are brought heither against their will & consent and that many of them are stollen. Now tho they are black, we can not conceive there is more liberty to have them slaves, as it is to have other white ones. There is a saying that we shall doe to all men licke as we will be done ourselves; macking no difference of what generation, descent or Colour they are. and those who steal or robb men, and those who buy or purchase them, are they not alicke? Here is liberty of conscience wch is right and reasonable; here ought to be likewise liberty of the body, except of evildoers, wch is an other case. But to bring men hither, or to robb and sell them against their will, we stand against. In Europe there are many oppressed for Conscience sacke; and here there are those oppressed wch are of a Black Colour. and we who know that men must not comitt adultery, some doe comitt adultery in others, separating wifes from their housbands and giving them to others. and some sell the children of those poor Creatures to other men.

Ah ! doe consider well this things, you who doe it, if you would be done at this manner? and if it is done according Christianity? You surpass Holland and Germany in this thing. This mackes an ill report in all those Countries of Europe, where they hear off, that the Quackers doe here handel men licke they handel there the Cattle. and for that reason some have no mind or inclination to come hither. And who shall maintaine this your cause, or plaid for it? Truely we can not do so, except you shall inform us better hereoff, viz: that christians have liberty to practise this things. Pray, what thing in the world can be done worse towards us, then if men should robb or steal us away, & sell us for slaves to strange Countries, separating housband from their wife and children. Being now this is not done at that manner we will be done at, therefore we contradict & are against this traffick of men body. And we who profess that it is unlawfull to steal, must lickewise avoid to purchase such things as are stollen, but rather help to stop this robbing and stealing if possibel. and such men ought to be delivered out of the hands of the Robbers, & made free as well as in Europe. Then is Pensilvania to have a good report, in stead it hath now a bad one for this sacke in other Countries. Especially whereas the Europeans are desirous to know in what manner the Quackers doe rule in their Province, & most of them doe loock upon us with an envious eye. But if this is done well, what shall we say is done evill?

If once these slaves (wch they say are so wicked and stubbern men) should joint themselves, fight for their freedom and handel their masters & mastrisses, as they did handel them before; will these masters & mastrisses tacke the sword at hand and warr against these poor slaves, licke we are able to belive, some will not refuse to doe? or have these Negers not as much right to fight for their freedom, as you have to keep them slaves? Now consider well this thing, if it so good or bad? and in case you find it to be good to handel these blacks at that manner, we desire & require you hereby lovingly that you may informe us herein, which at this time never was done, viz., that Christians have such a liberty to do so. To the end we shall be satisfied in this point, & satisfie lickewise our good friends and acquaintances in our natif Country, to whose it is a terrour, or fairfull thing that men should be handeld so in Pensilvania.
ethnic cleansing is the systematic process of dismantling an established ethnic community to promote a more homogeneous state. the native americans who were subsequently forced from the southern united states during the trail of tears, are an example of the united states early attempts at manifest destiny. the five civilized nations, ironically named, were the tribes that were willing to play at the united states political level, thus they gained the aforementioned title. despite taking steps to civilize, the first generation inhabitants of the eastern mississippi were systematically driven from their home land. southern capital saw its economic prospects of the day yurn for new land to feed the burgeoning textile industry centered on slave labor. undeniably, the south was central to the creation of what is today the united states. slavery became not only an issue for the enslaved black man, but also for the alienated natives that were the first generation americans.

the constitutional convention in 1798 ended with a clause declaring that the united states congress could not outlaw slavery until 1808. in 1807 congress passed an amendment that banned the importation of slaves new years day of '08. from here we begin to gain a picture of the early half of the nineteenth century in america. a unified nation allowed for a strong federal force to clear out traditional native land for the new cotton industry that exploited the black slave from every step of his or her life.

king mob and the anarchy of the state:

seeds for the devils insurrection


andrew jackson was the seventh president of the united states. his success in the war of 1812, his subsequent victory over the maroons and seminoles in florida, edified his image to the american public. he carried the ideals of manifest destiny to its most lethal extremes. the legacy he would leave in the wake of his official duties would be known as "jacksonian democracy". jacksonian democrats would become the confederate minded individuals that would eventually form the South during the american civil war. andrew jacksons name will remain synonymous with every ideology designed to oppress any groups of people systematically through the democratic process. president jacksons presidency would be summed up with the events that surrounded his inauguration. the jacksonian democrats felt that the legal voting age should be lowered to eighteen, this was a central campaign issue. in honor of his supposed populous tendencies, president jackson held the first presidential inauguration open to the general public. the white house became overcrowded with eager jacksonian supporters. reportedly the crowd became so rambunctious that tubs of punch and bottles of liquor were placed on the white house lawn to lure people out. jacksons form of fanatical democracy preyed on the uneducated, yet earned him the distinct title "King Mob".


jackson would see to the creation of legislation that would directly result in the mass exodus of native americans who inhabited land that stretched the mississippi valley to the coast of georgia and florida. the indian removal act was signed by andrew jackson in 1830, the united states quickly ceded southern land along the mississippi. under the guise of a false treaty known as new echota, andrew jacksons successor to the presidential seat enforced the removal of native american from what is present day west georgia, mississippi, alabama, and arkansas. these states would become that back bone to the southern slave institution. older slave holding colonies had overused their land with the unforgiving tobacco and cotton crops. georgia was the southern most point of the united states prior to the trail of tears.

Geronimo's great-grandson wants bones returned
News From Indian Countryhttp://indiancountrynews.net/
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SANTA FE (AP) - Legend has it that Yale University's ultrasecret Skull and Bones society swiped the remains of American Indian leader Geronimo nearly a century ago from an army outpost in Oklahoma, and now Geronimo's greatgrandson wants the remains returned. Harlyn Geronimo, of Mescalero, N.M., wants to prove the skull and bones that were purported spirited from the Indian leader's burial plot in Fort Sill, Okla., to a stone tomb that serves as the club's headquarters are in fact those of his greatgrandfather. If so, he wants to bury them near Geronimo's birthplace in southern New Mexico's Gila Wilderness. “He died as a prisoner of war, and he is still a prisoner of war because his remains were not returned to his homeland,” said Harlyn Geronimo, 59. “Presently, we are looking for a proper consecrated burial.”

If the bones aren't those of Geronimo, Harlyn Geronimo is certain they belonged to one of the Apache prisoners who died at Fort Sill. He said they should still be returned. Harlyn Geronimo sent a letter last year to President Bush, asking for his help in recovering the bones. He figures since the president's grandfather, Prescott Bush, was allegedly one of those who helped steal the bones in 1918, the president would want to help return them to their rightful place. But Harlyn Geronimo said: “I haven't heard a word.” The White House did not respond to messages asking for comment. Both President Bush and his father, former President George H.W. Bush, attended Yale and joined the elite club. Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, the Democratic presidential nominee in 2004, is also a Bonesman, as are many other men in powerful government and industry positions. Members are sworn to secrecy, one reason they won't say whether the club has Geronimo's bones.

“The reason there's all these conspiracy theories around Skull and Bones is because their loyalty to one another goes beyond their public differences,” said historian and former Yale Alumni Magazine editor Marc Wortman. Skull and Bones is one of a dozen secret Yale societies, according to Yale spokeswoman Gila Reinstein. “If it's true about the bones, that's disrespectful and disturbing,” she said. John Fryar, a retired Bureau of Indian Affairs special agent in antiquities recovery and a member of Acoma Pueblo, said if the secret society does have remains, they should be returned to Fort Sill.“To ignore a request like this for the return of human remains is totally uncalled for. Look at our guys going to Vietnam to recover remains. It's the same thing,” he said. For Harlyn Geronimo, this is the beginning of what he assumes will be a long fight and he's preparing in a traditional way. Six months ago, he and a group of fellow medicine men traveled to Fort Sill and to the Gila Wilderness for prayer ceremonies. Before any major endeavor, Harlyn Geronimo said, it's typical to hold “a prayer session that will guide us in the right direction.” Harlyn Geronimo grew up hearing stories about his great-grandfather and other Apache warriors who fought relentlessly against the Mexican and U.S. armies. After their families were captured and sent to Florida, Geronimo and 35 warriors finally surrendered to Gen. Nelson A. Miles near the Arizona-New Mexico border in 1886. Geronimo was eventually sent to Fort Sill, where he died of pneumonia in 1909.

Harlyn Geronimo has said he wants to the world to know that the famed Indian fighter was also a healer and spiritual leader. “Yes, he was a great warrior. At one time a quarter of the entire United States Army was after him - along with 500 scouts and 3,000 men from the Mexican Army - and they still couldn't find him,” Harlyn Geronimo said. “They had their top athletes involved in tracking him but they couldn't keep up. He was a great military strategist. But many people don't know about his spiritual side.” Harlyn Geronimo wants to create a 12-foot bronze of his great-grandfather to be placed at the warrior's birthplace in the Gila. He also would like to see a new biography of Geronimo that incorporates sound historical research and also mines the wealth of information still available from living family members. “We have a lot of oral history that has been passed down to us that has never been published,” he said.

Sunday, June 21, 2009

ecce homo

Love of the enemy, or the realization of the humanity of all people, is a fundamental concept of philosophical nonviolence. The goal of this type of nonviolence is not to defeat the enemy, but to win them over and create love and understanding between all.[7] It is this principle which is most closely associated with spiritual or religious justifications of nonviolence, the central tenets of which can be found in each of the major Abrahamic religious traditions (Islam, Judaism and Christianity) as well as in the major Dharmic religious traditions (Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism). It is also found in many pagan religious traditions. Nonviolent movements, leaders, and advocates have at times referred to, drawn from and utilised many diverse religious basis for nonviolence within their respective struggles. Examples of nonviolence found in religion and spirituality include the Sermon on the Mount when Jesus urges his followers to "love thine enemy," in the Taoist concept of wu-wei, or effortless action, in the philosophy of the martial art Aikido, in the Buddhist principle of metta, or loving-kindness towards all beings; and in the principle of ahimsa, or nonviolence toward any being, shared by Buddhism, Jainism and some forms of Hinduism. Additionally, focus on both nonviolence and forgiveness of sin can be found in the story of Abel in the Qur'an; Liberal movements within Islam have consequently used this story to promote Jewish ideals of nonviolence.

Respect or love for opponents also has a pragmatic justification, in that the technique of separating the deeds from the doers allows for the possibility of the doers changing their behaviour, and perhaps their beliefs. Martin Luther King said, "Nonviolence means avoiding not only external physical violence but also internal violence of spirit. You not only refuse to shoot a man, but you refuse to hate him."


courtesy of public education