Gelukkig Nieuwjaar

GELUKKIG NIEUWJAAR IEDEREEN! EN GEZONDHEID!

Het Neoliberale Geloof 77

De slijpsteen voor de geest bericht het volgende:

'Shell gaat banen schrappen'
Gepubliceerd: 31 december 2007 11:43 Gewijzigd: 31 december 2007 11:45

Londen, 31 dec. Shell is van plan duizenden banen te schrappen om de kosten te drukken en de bedrijfsstructuur te vereenvoudigen. Dat meldden diverse Britse media.
Het zou met name gaan om 3600 banen bij de informatietechnologiedivisie. Het olieconcern wil een groot deel van de it-activiteiten uitbesteden. Shell zou ook streven naar banenreducties bij andere onderdelen, waaronder de financiële afdeling. Bij het concern, actief in 130 landen, werken 108.000 mensen.'

Lees verder: http://www.nrc.nl/economie/article876554.ece/Shell_gaat_banen_schrappen

Aldus de NRC/Handelsblad. Wat de kwaliteitsredactie verzuimt te melden is de context. En die is deze: Shell maakt de vele jaren vele miljarden winst voor de aandeelhouders. De aandeelhouders willen niet dat die winsten besteed worden aan grootscheepse investeringen in alternatieve energiebronnen die het voortbestaan van de mensheid niet in gevaar brengen. In diezelfde jaren van winst heeft Shell steeds meer op personeelskosten bezuinigd, al duizenden banen zijn zo verdwenen. Shell is dus nu weer'van plan duizenden banen te schrappen om de kosten te drukken en de bedrijfsstructuur te vereenvoudigen.' Wat bedoeld wordt is dat die miljardenwinsten nog steeds niet voldoende zijn. Winst kent in het kapitalisme geen maximum. Kapitalisten zijn onverzadigbaar. Zoals bekend is hebzucht een psychologische stoornis, die behandelbaar is, als de patient maar realiseert dat hij aan een stoornis lijdt. Onze samenleving is inmiddels zo ziek dat een stoornis als een verworvenheid wordt aangeprezen. En als zodanig wordt het verkocht door mijn collega's die zich als voetvolk van de neoliberalen gedragen. Dat heet vrijheid van meningsuiting. Ook dit bedrog behoort tot het domein van de pathologie.

De Israelische Terreur 287

'ISRAEL-OPT: Aida refugee camp residents say Barrier harming their livelihoods

AIDA REFUGEE CAMP, BETHLEHEM,
31 December 2007 (IRIN) -

Behind a luxurious five-star hotel and close to Bethlehem, yet unknown to most visitors who converged on nearby Manger Square for the recent Christmas mass, residents of Aida refugee camp - home to nearly 5,000 people - say their lives have been adversely affected by the Israeli restrictions on movement, in particular the Barrier built around the city. "I worked in Israel for over 15 years," Muhammed, aged 44, registered with UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, told IRIN. "It's been two years now since I lost my permit. At first I snuck into Israel through valleys and other illegal ways, but now, with the wall completed, I can't get in at all." All Palestinians from the occupied Palestinian territory require an Israeli-issued permit to enter Israel. Israel credits the Barrier for the cessation of suicide bombings, while officials note that some of the last bombers came from Bethlehem. Palestinians say the wall and fence structure "strangles" the city. Unemployment compounded by travel restrictions "When I worked in Israel, I was making close to a US$1,000 a month," Muhammed said. Now, he does odd construction jobs in the camp. "I don't make enough money like this. We only buy the essential things for the home." Without his wife's salary as a teacher, they would not be able to afford even the basics. That is the case of Harbi, aged 41, also a refugee. His wife does not have a job and he has not been able to get work in Israel for the last eight months: "My problem is that I am an unskilled labourer, so there are no jobs for me in the West Bank," he told IRIN. Unemployment is a widespread problem in the territory. Israel's internal West Bank checkpoints also mean travelling is difficult, affecting a worker's ability to take a job in another city. "My brothers give me money for food and clothing. I have no [independent] income at all. I got one food aid package this year from the UN," said the father of five. His youngest daughter, aged two, has asthma. While UNRWA covered 80 percent of the medicines' costs, he had to ask his brothers for the rest. "Without my brothers, I don't know what I would do," Harbi said. The need for permits began in 1991, during the first Gulf War following Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait and the first `intifada’ (Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation). The restrictions became tighter several years later, following the Oslo Accords, and were further intensified at the start of the second uprising in September 2000. The wall, completed in the Bethlehem region in recent years, sealed the area off from neighbouring Jerusalem. Day in the life of a labourer "I wake up every day at 0230am," Adnan, a 41-year-old labourer, told IRIN. "By 3am, I leave the house and 10 minutes later I'm at the checkpoint. I wait at the checkpoint until maybe 0530 or 0545am, when they open it." http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=76052

Zochrot 4

De joods-Israeli's van Zochrot die blijven opkomen voor de rechten van de Palestijnen:

'Tour and Signposting in Al-Malha

On Friday, December 28, 2007 we held a tour in the Palestinian village Al-Malha in Jerusalem.A large part of the village with it's houses and alleys, but without it's Palestinian residents, still stands in the heart of Malha neighborhood in Western Jerusalem.About 100 people took part in the tour, some of them refugees of Al-Malha, whom came from neighboring Sharfat, the village they moved after the expulsion in July 1948. The refugees told us about life in the village before the occupation and we learned about the fighting that took place in the area in the war of 1948.We passed through the village's alleys and the refugees pointed out the names of owners of still existing houses. We overlooked the area standing on the hill-top "Al-Ras", nearby the mosque and the cemetery. Before 1948 the villagers overlooked their olive groves and flock from here. Today, in addition to the houses of the new Jewish neighbohood, "Teddy" soccer stadium, Malha shopping-mall, the Technologic Campus and other new buildings are seen from here.We posted a sign marking the Palestinian cemetery, next to "Ort-Minkoff" high-school. Another sign, bearing the inscription "Al-Malha village - 1948", was posted at the entrance of the village in the beginning of the tour. Someone made sure it would be extracted before the tour came to an end.We handed out the booklet "Remembering Al-Malha" which was produced for the event. It is the 23rd booklet in a series of booklets produced by Zochrot, commemorating the villages and towns existing before the Nakba.'

Zie: http://www.zochrot.org/index.php?id=655

Pakistan 2

Deze analyse zult u niet snel in de Nederlandse commerciele massamedia lezen:

'Daughter of the West
Tariq Ali

Arranged marriages can be a messy business. Designed principally as a means of accumulating wealth, circumventing undesirable flirtations or transcending clandestine love affairs, they often don’t work. Where both parties are known to loathe each other, only a rash parent, desensitised by the thought of short-term gain, will continue with the process knowing full well that it will end in misery and possibly violence. That this is equally true in political life became clear in the recent attempt by Washington to tie Benazir Bhutto to Pervez Musharraf.
The single, strong parent in this case was a desperate State Department – with John Negroponte as the ghoulish go-between and Gordon Brown as the blushing bridesmaid – fearful that if it did not push this through both parties might soon be too old for recycling. The bride was certainly in a hurry, the groom less so. Brokers from both sides engaged in lengthy negotiations on the size of the dowry. Her broker was and remains Rehman Malik, a former boss of Pakistan’s FIA, who has been investigated for corruption by the National Accountability Bureau and who served nearly a year in prison after Benazir’s fall, then became one of her business partners and is currently under investigation (with her) by a Spanish court looking into a company called Petroline FZC, which made questionable payments to Iraq under Saddam Hussein. Documents, if genuine, show that she chaired the company. She may have been in a hurry but she did not wish to be seen taking the arm of a uniformed president. He was not prepared to forgive her past. The couple’s distaste for each other yielded to a mutual dependence on the United States. Neither party could say ‘no’, though Musharraf hoped the union could be effected inconspicuously. Fat chance.
Both parties made concessions. She agreed that he could take off his uniform after his ‘re-election’ by Parliament, but it had to be before the next general election. (He has now done this, leaving himself dependent on the goodwill of his successor as army chief of staff.) He pushed through a legal ruling – yet another sordid first in the country’s history – known as the National Reconciliation Ordinance, which withdrew all cases of corruption pending against politicians accused of looting the national treasury. The ruling was crucial for her since she hoped that the money-laundering and corruption cases pending in three European courts – in Valencia, Geneva and London – would now be dismissed. This doesn’t seem to have happened.
Many Pakistanis – not just the mutinous and mischievous types who have to be locked up at regular intervals – were repelled, and coverage of ‘the deal’ in the Pakistan media was universally hostile, except on state television. The ‘breakthrough’ was loudly trumpeted in the West, however, and a whitewashed Benazir Bhutto was presented on US networks and BBC TV news as the champion of Pakistani democracy – reporters loyally referred to her as ‘the former prime minister’ rather than the fugitive politician facing corruption charges in several countries.
She had returned the favour in advance by expressing sympathy for the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, lunching with the Israeli ambassador to the UN (a litmus test) and pledging to ‘wipe out terrorism’ in her own country. In 1979 a previous military dictator had bumped off her father with Washington’s approval, and perhaps she thought it would be safer to seek permanent shelter underneath the imperial umbrella. HarperCollins had paid her half a million dollars to write a new book. The working title she chose was ‘Reconciliation’.
As for the general, he had begun his period in office in 1999 by bowing to the spirit of the age and titling himself ‘chief executive’ rather than ‘chief martial law administrator’, which had been the norm. Like his predecessors, he promised he would stay in power only for a limited period, pledging in 2003 to resign as army chief of staff in 2004. Like his predecessors, he ignored his pledge. Martial law always begins with the promise of a new order that will sweep away the filth and corruption that marked the old one: in this case it toppled the civilian administrations of Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif. But ‘new orders’ are not forward movements, more military detours that further weaken the shaky foundations of a country and its institutions. Within a decade the uniformed ruler will be overtaken by a new upheaval.
Dreaming of her glory days in the last century, Benazir wanted a large reception on her return. The general was unhappy. The intelligence agencies (as well as her own security advisers) warned her of the dangers. She had declared war on the terrorists and they had threatened to kill her. But she was adamant. She wanted to demonstrate her popularity to the world and to her political rivals, including those inside her own fiefdom, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP). For a whole month before she boarded the Dubai-Karachi flight, the PPP were busy recruiting volunteers from all over the country to welcome her. Up to 200,000 people lined the streets, but it was a far cry from the million who turned up in Lahore in 1986 when a very different Benazir returned to challenge General Zia ul-Haq. The plan had been to move slowly in the Bhuttomobile from Karachi airport to the tomb of the country’s founder, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, where she would make a speech. It was not to be. As darkness fell, the bombers struck. Who they were and who sent them remains a mystery. She was unhurt, but 130 people died, including some of the policemen guarding her. The wedding reception had led to mayhem.'

Lees verder: http://www.lrb.co.uk/v29/n24/ali_01_.html

Robert Fisk 41

'Robert Fisk: They don't blame al-Qa'ida. They blame Musharraf

Weird, isn't it, how swiftly the narrative is laid down for us.
Benazir Bhutto, the courageous leader of the Pakistan People's Party,
is assassinated in Rawalpindi ­ attached to the very capital of
Islamabad wherein ex-General Pervez Musharraf lives ­ and we are told
by George Bush that her murderers were "extremists" and "terrorists".
Well, you can't dispute that.

But the implication of the Bush comment was that Islamists were
behind the assassination. It was the Taliban madmen again, the
al-Qa'ida spider who struck at this lone and brave woman who had
dared to call for democracy in her country.

Of course, given the childish coverage of this appalling tragedy ­
and however corrupt Ms Bhutto may have been, let us be under no
illusions that this brave lady is indeed a true martyr ­ it's not
surprising that the "good-versus-evil" donkey can be trotted out to
explain the carnage in Rawalpindi.

Who would have imagined, watching the BBC or CNN on Thursday, that
her two brothers, Murtaza and Shahnawaz, hijacked a Pakistani
airliner in 1981 and flew it to Kabul where Murtaza demanded the
release of political prisoners in Pakistan. Here, a military officer
on the plane was murdered. There were Americans aboard the flight ­
which is probably why the prisoners were indeed released.

Only a few days ago ­ in one of the most remarkable (but typically
unrecognised) scoops of the year ­ Tariq Ali published a brilliant
dissection of Pakistan (and Bhutto) corruption in the London Review
of Books, focusing on Benazir and headlined: "Daughter of the West".
In fact, the article was on my desk to photocopy as its subject was
being murdered in Rawalpindi.

Towards the end of this report, Tariq Ali dwelt at length on the
subsequent murder of Murtaza Bhutto by police close to his home at a
time when Benazir was prime minister ­ and at a time when Benazir was
enraged at Murtaza for demanding a return to PPP values and for
condemning Benazir's appointment of her own husband as minister for
industry, a highly lucrative post.'

Lees verder: http://news.independent.co.uk/world/asia/article3291600.ece

The Empire 334

'Chief Big Foot Riders Return To Wounded Knee, "We Want To Be Free" 13 Day Ride Began Under Bonds of U.S. Treaty, Ends On December 29th With Free Nation 21ST Annual Ride Returns To New Life for Free Lakota People

WOUNDED KNEE, Lakota (formerly South Dakota)- December 27 - Thirteen days and 287 miles ago, 44 people mounted horses and began the Memorial Chief Big Foot Ride in honor of Si Tanka (Chief Big Foot) and his unarmed band of Mniconjou and Hunkpapa refuges who were slaughtered by U.S. Calvary in 1890 at Wounded Knee.
But while these 44 riders began their journey under the shadow of U.S. Treaty, their numbers will swell to over 100 and end under the protection of a free and sovereign Lakota Nation.
The ride began on December 15th in Standing Rock, the anniversary of Sitting Bull's death, and has traveled through fierce snowstorm and cold, the same conditions faced by the 357 mostly women, children and elder men at Wounded Knee Creek 127 years ago.
"The purpose of the ride is to ride the spirit trail of Chief Big Foot," said Tegihya Kte also known as Garry Rowland, leader of the riders and recent delegate of the Lakota Freedom effort in Washington D.C.. "The Tree of Life died in Wounded Knee in 1890, and the ride was begun to mend the Sacred Hoop."
Riders ranging in age from 10 to 65 travel the footsteps of their Ancestors, along the way offering prayer for the women, children, the Elders, and the conditions the Lakota people are forced to live under today. For the children, the ride is also a powerful introduction to the sacred relationship between the Lakota and the horse and the courage their Ancestors took during their 13 day walk from the site of Sitting Bull's assassination to Wounded Knee.
"My sons and now my grandsons have participated in the ride," shared Tegihya Kte. "They ride for our future and the self-determination of our people."
The self-determination of the Lakota now takes on powerful meeting as the Lakota Freedom Delegation traveled to Washington D.C. and withdrew the Lakota from their treaties with the United States Government. The ride becomes an outward expression of sovereign Lakota rights and spirituality.
Tegihya Kte said, "We don't want the government telling us what to do, we want to be free."
Lakota Freedom delegate and Cante Tenza leader Canupa Gluha Mani (Duane Martin Sr.) agreed, "The Lakota withdrawal in Washington D.C. brings real protection for our people today, exactly the real protection Big Foot sought for his people then."
We are the freedom loving Lakota from the Sioux Indian reservations of Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Montana who have withdrawn from the constitutionally mandated treaties to become a free and independent country. We are alerting the Family of Nations we have now reassumed our freedom and independence with the backing of Natural, International, and United States law. For more information, please visit our new website at http://www.lakotafreedom.com.