BLOG

May 2004

THIS MONTH's THEME:

Torture

the most barbarian crime,
112 countries in the world
routinely use it!

Are we that scared? Are we so scared that we are willing to knowingly let others perpetrate, in the dark and in our name, acts of terror that will eternally corrode and corrupt us?

Ariel Dorfman The Guardian, 08-05-2004


Torture

The Italian Parliament has voted for torture!
The facts: Italian parliament was voting a banish for torture, as indicated by UN and, for ex., Amnesty International , but the neo-nazi-like party Lega Nord (which is officially in the governing alliance) blackmailed Berlusconi: kind of "either you vote for changing the low on torture or we won't vote for the new media law, which makes your interests". What did Berlusconi decide so? Yes, sure, to allow torture, of course, 201 members of the Italian parliament approved the use of torture, but only if it is not “repeated”. So it is allowed to torture “just“ once, in Italy.
A journalist, Alessandro Robecchi, wrote a funny (if not tragic) comment about that [translation is mine]: “As an Italian I am really relieved: it will be possible they will torture me, but only once. I just hope not to be lifted and hung on my balls, because I am afraid it would really hurt, even the first time” (il manifesto, 25-04-2004)


Torture / 2

As a final proof that bad news never come alone, some really disgusting tortures by american military people on iraqis have been uncovered.
Sorry, I am feeling sick.


Welcome to Europe

Welcome to the people from 10 eastern countries.
Even if you actually always have been there, it is nice to know some borders have become thinner.
See you, my friends, being a true “Europaholic” I'm looking forward to this.


Torture / 3

Tony Blair had just condemned the disgusting tortures in a prison in Iraq, as Daily Mirror published photos of British soldiers doing the same dirty stuff.
The worst is: how can this people really be so hypocrite? They all have been knowing it for a long time and tried to conceal it. They condemned these facts only when it became clear that they wouldn't be able to hide the truth anymore.
There is a very detailed article about this story in the magazine New Yorker , where even more pictures can be seen, of the same revolting style.
Even worse is, for days I couldn't find one single line about this scandal in American newspapers like Washington Post or New York Times .
This is the democracy we are exporting to the barbarian world.


Torture / 4

Might this be the Year Of Torture? Hope not, but just after I uploaded my last comment, I saw this news in a danish online newspaper (Politiken): “Denmark accused of torture”
It's because a man was kept in complete isolation for 17 months (!), in a danish prison.
The European Court Of Justice will have to look at this case.


Torture / 5

LIARS!!!

George W. Bush: he did know about the tortures going on in Iraq, already and at least since last December (the White House has admitted he got a report at that time)

Pentagon: they made pressures on the TV-channel CBS not to show the torture pictures (with success for two weeks), while they were planning some ways to put a lid on the whole matter.

Anders Fogh Rasmussen (the danish prime minister and a shameless and obsessive liar): he was questioned yesterday by some opposition members of the Parliament, and he had this face to answer he didn't knew anything about the tortures in Iraq before the scandal became public.
LIAR: Amnesty International states they sent a report to Foreign and Defense Ministries already last September and again last March. Really unbelievable!!!


Torture / 6

There is an article today by Attilio Bolzoni in the italian newspaper laRepubblica. He staid in front of the Abu Ghraib prison and interviewed some prisoners about the tortures they were subjected to. Horrible things, even worse than what we knew until now.
Systematic, cruel, devastating torture.


Torture / 7

Washington Post has woken up and has got now a CD with hundreds of pictures about the tortures going on at Abu Ghraib. They have a funny self-defense about the fact they didn't report the abuses immediately: something like “we couldn't believe the Bush administration could be so idiotic”.
It is just what the rest of the world has been saying for years.
Better late than never...

And, hey, do you realize what is going on in Sudan? And what about the Chinese prisons? And, and, and...

Anyway, just to distract a bit from all this suffering, I wrote an humorous F.A.Q. about raw food.


Fallujah / 2

Gino Strada, the famous doctor working for “Emergency”, is in Baghdad now, and tells about what he directly saw in Fallujah. He confirms all what I wrote on the 13th. of April. The city is widely destroyed, there is no water, no electricity, the hospital is extremely under pressure, also because the American soldiers shot all available ambulances. They killed doctors and nurses. The number of civilians killed is now assessed like this:
700 dead, 80 children, 1700 injured, many of them died of infections. Many injured are still under the ruins.


Tortures / final?

I kept quiet in the last days because I even didn't need to shout, events were crying by themselves.
What an awful load of news!
But the final proof came today from the glorious The New Yorker, with these very direct accuses against Donald Rumsfeld.


A new keyboard!

Sorry, I go back to my own affairs for a while. Today I got my new keyboard (or more precisely my new midi-controller)! So, now I can start working again with my songs. As soon as possible I will upload some MP3 files to my music section. But, please, be patient, because it will take some time.


Torture / The Big Washing Up

So, the strategy is clear now: they are trying to condemn the small fishes, as if the orders for the tortures didn't come from the highest level. They won't succeed in that, so it is really childish.
Did you see today all those generals in front of the commission: lying and lying and lying.
Obviously they knew about what was going on; obviously they didn't stop it, obviously the rules were dictated by the Pentagon, obviously it was Donald Rumsfeld to approve it, and obviously he did so because daddy Bush was happy for that.


What did I say?

You see, I don't need to wait more than a few days before what I write is confirmed. On the 19th I wrote that the USA generals witnessing in front of the Senate commission were lying.
How did I know? It was evident, their nonverbal communication was so much in contrast with what they were saying. And each time someone was asking precise yes-no questions, they were not answering or using all kind of distraction techniques or plain lying. For ex. when, finally, the democratic senator Robert Byrd asked the direct, straight and decisive question: “Did the Pentagon know about what was going on in Abu Ghraib prison?”, they refused to answer. When someone doesn't answer, then the answer is YES, sure they knew. Otherwise they could simply have, very easily and without the minimum effort, answered “no!”, but they didn't.
Today in the Washington Post we can read that there are witnesses ready to testify that general Ricardo Sanchez, the highest in Iraq, was personally witnessing the tortures in Abu Ghraib.

On the home front: I am composing some beautiful anti-war songs.
Added a world-map, an image map actually, in The Ecological Traveler section. And some books on raw food in the Biblio list.

There are two good news on the Danish environmental front today.
The first is, it seems the economy experts invited by Bjørn Lomborg to suggest what we should use money for instead of contrasting the Greenhouse effect, they are actually saying we should rather use them to contrast the Greenhouse effect...because it is worth it! So, let's see when Lomborg will finally learn to shut up, about things he doesn't have a clue about.
The second is, an alternative (to Lomborg) conference has been arranged, called “Global Conscience”, and it sounds very interesting. Today and tomorrow at the Danish Parliament (Christiansborg). Vandana Shiva is coming! She will also present her new book about water resources, in a public meeting tonight.


Amnesty International report 2004

Yes, it has been launched, regarding human rights situation in 155 countries and territories in 2003. Read it here, serious and thorough stuff.


Lucantropo hits again

Luca's alter-ego is really changing the way we look at reality and shading a light on the most fundamental questions in life. Who are we, where do we come from? Read Lucantropo.


Common sense

Having had a very intriguing week-end, full of contacts of all sort, I am not going to write too much, today.
Anyway, reflecting about this common way of saying that you can win wars but not build peace with that, I feel like reminding of this saying by Talleyrand:

“A government can do everything
with bayonets except sit on them”

That was clever, wasn't it?