Tickle Me Bitter

It’s been 6 years — 6 years in vain? 6 years in pain?

Or are we any better now?

Well, here’s my humble 6 suggestions for this September 11th. I believe if we could all do a little, all those lost lives could at least mean something.

1. Watch Loose Change, if you haven’t already
And if you have, well, watch it once more.

It is true that this movie is produced by a bunch of young guys, it is true that it contains several errors and inconsistencies, and if you have heard of it at all, it’s very probable that you’ve heard it torn down to pieces by expert critiques in the mainstream media.

I say, fuck all that. I say, watch the movie yourself. A movie is about feelings, and inspiration. These guys might be trying to make a point, they may be biased, and they are even inaccurate at certain spots. But just watch it, without prejudice, from start to end. Try to think what made these guys put up a movie like that, and put it on the internet. Money? Fame? Disbelief? Rage? Hope?

Just watch the movie, and see how that makes you feel.

2. Take a moment, and think about the 3.000 lives lost at ground zero
They deserve to be remembered. They should never be forgotten. They were mothers, and fathers, and lovers. Pray for them, if you’re so inclined, and for the people who lost them.

And ask yourself, what have they died for?

3. Take another moment, and think about the 13.000 lives lost in Afghanistan, during Operation Enduring Freedom
The hunt for Bin Ladin, you remember that?

13.000 dead, and 4.000 were civilians. This is, i remind, the official toll. We were still holding our breaths back then, waiting in front of the tv, not to miss the first footage of Osama captured. Nobody thought or dared to count the casualties. Thus today, we can only accept what we were told.

They were mothers and fathers, they were lovers, they were kids. Take a moment, and pray for them, if you feel like it. And ask yourself, what have they died for?

4. Take yet another moment, and think about the 1.000.000 lives lost in Iraq
One million people killed. Sounds unbelievable, doesn’t it?

Well, after Afghanistan, we were more prepared. This time, civilian observers from the cutest UN collected the toll. One million dead, they were mothers and fathers, they were lovers, they were kids.

Please take a moment, and think about them. Pray for them, if you wish to. If you feel like crying, do join me. We have witnessed the murders of one million people on our tv sets — if we won’t cry now, when will we cry?

We have grown so thick, so indifferent — 25 dead today, 10 tomorrow, 50 yesterday, 100 on friday. Day by day, this war has driven all of us insane. We don’t care anymore.

Take a look at the news, the way they present it to us, so sterile. They’re not even people, who are killed — they’re shiites, sunnis, kurds, turkomans. That’s how we see them — we don’t see them as mothers or children anymore, they’re just figures.

This war has made us all psychopaths. We are not humans any more.

Well, take a moment and ask yourself, what have they died for?

I’ll tell you what they didn’t die for: not for WMDs, not for Saddam Hussein, not for freedom and democracy in Iraq.

What have they died for?

5. Ask yourself, is this the world I want to live in?
If you don’t know why all these people have died — or if you do know — or perhaps you’re unsure. Well, it’s doesn’t make that much of a difference really.

Not when you take a moment and think of them as people, like you and me.

Not some primitive species, not some ethnical stats, not some powerpoint death toll slide — but people.

So ask yourself, please, is this the world you want to live in? Where the powers-that-be can go out and kill a million people, and actually continue doing it every fucking day, unchallenged?

6. Hit the streets
If you want to say No — if you want to scream No!

If you want the truth.

If you want peace.

If you don’t want to be embarrassed by your grand children, twenty years from now.

Hit the streets. This September 11th, there is no work, no school, no shopping.

Okay, seems i was a little late with that news about the Space Hijackers campaign. It seems they’ve already bought their tank!

According to this news, however, the tank (actually an armoured personnel carrier) is now under police surveillance.

Let’s see if they’ll be able to drive it to the DSEi tomorrow..

Yet another creative gig, this time pulled out by comedians from an Australian show, “Chaser’s war on everything”.

Apparently, the crew boarded 3 black cars, and with a few motorbikes and men dressed in black running alongside the convoy, they freely drove through all the security points in the APEC summit.

They even had security passes, labelled Insecurity, and It’s pretty obvious this isn’t a real pass.

Still, the hilarious motorcade managed to pass through 2 high-security checkpoints, ending up at the Intercontinental Hotel, where W Bush was staying.

And that’s where Osama got out from the middle car, to meet Bush.

And only then, the bright police knew something was odd, and decided to interfere.

What a stunt!

Youtube has removed the actual recordings of the convoy, but I’m sure they’ll be put online again somewhere soon.

Meanwhile, if you like to learn more, you could try Indymedia or the Daily Telegraph.

This is one of the greatest campaigns I’ve heard about recently. I encourage — well no, I urge — you to take part.

Remember the Disarm DSEi event, trying to shut down the upcoming giant arms fair in London on September 11-14?

Well, here’s a different take, from the amazing Space Hijackers:

Every two years the ExCeL exhibition centre in East London plays host to DSEi, Europe’s largest arms fair. Representatives from all of the major arms manufacturers pimp their wares to rogue states, impoverished nations and invading armies with the full support of the UK government. In fact the police firearms squad tried to raid the fair in 2005 only to be turned back by the government.

On the last two occasions we have attempted to infiltrate the fair, embarrass the dealers and cause a ruckus. In 2003, we caught the trains to the fair with the arms dealers. Suited up and looking business-like we pulled prosthetic limbs (arms) from our cases and attempted to sell them to the dealers. In 2005, worried about their obsession with phallic objects such as rockets we attempted to sell sex toys to the dealers to make up for their lack of “weapons capabilities”. Generally however we are escorted out by the police.

This year we have decided to take things up a notch or ten. We want to buy a tank, we want to drive it into the arms fair! We don’t want to be shoved around by burly policemen any more. Can’t really say much more at the moment, but you get the gist.

Currently, they still need some more cash to get their tank. Do help them if you have some spare money to put to a good cause: kicking arms dealers in the butt, with their own goodies.

And if you’re a smallprint kind of person, they even provide a guarantee on the collected donations:

Money donated will be put towards a tank, if we don’t raise enough then we are still going to cause lots of mischief with the cash.

Check out yourself, and chip in: We want a tank!

I also hear that the Artists Anonymous are also in this gig. Can’t wait to see how this all turns out.

Still ticking down..

From the World Peace Herald:

Gen. Michael V. Hayden, director of the CIA, said yesterday that al Qaeda is plotting a massive new attack on the U.S. as Osama bin Laden released a new video that did not contain new threats.

“Our analysts assess with high confidence that al Qaeda’s central leadership is planning high-impact plots against the American homeland,” Gen. Hayden told the Council on Foreign Relations in New York.

“Al Qaeda is focusing on targets that would produce mass casualties, dramatic destruction and significant economic aftershocks,” Gen. Hayden said just days before the sixth anniversary of the September 11 attacks.

And possibly a war with Iran?

I just fucking cannot believe this is actually happening, while the whole world watching.

Are you ready?

Welcome to Australia, Mr. President!

The photo probably says it all — ah, the enthusiasm..

Just as a side note, me humbly reminds that Australia was one of the two hottest allies (a.k.a. lapdogs) of the US of A along with the UK.

It’s funny to see how the tables are turning around..

Where will the US be bringing democracy next?

Last night local time, Israeli fighter jets entered Syrian territory, and were repelled by heavy ground fire. Here’s from the Reuters coverage:

“It appears that the Israeli planes were on a reconnaissance mission when they got caught by Syrian defenses and were forced to drop their bombs and extra fuel tanks,” said a Western diplomat in Syria’s capital Damascus. He declined to be named.

Israeli officials, of course, have denied to comment — at least so far.

What was it all about? I guess the US is finally realizing the fact that Iran is in full compliance with the IAEA on nuclear procedures. So like I’ve written earlier, W Bush will either have to trigger the new 9/11 — or he’ll have to find a new target for the bloodthirsty Cheney warmachine.

Foreign fighter jets trespassing into your territory is casus belli in it’s own right. But Syrian officials have restrained from aggressive reaction so far. I just hope they analyze the situation thoroughly before taking any hasty steps.

And as it has always been, it’s tough to decide who’s the pawn — Israel or the US?

And just look at how that title seems perfectly normal. We turned on our tv sets, got our popcorns, and awaiting the missiles seen through night-vision goggles. The whole world has gone mad. We all know the US will attack Iran soon, and we’re all perfectly comfortable with it. Damned century..

Anyway, here’s a very good analysis on the soon-to-come war, by Jean Bricmotnt:

All the ideological signposts for attacking Iran are in place. The country has been thoroughly demonized because it is not nice to women, to gays, or to Jews. That in itself is enough to neutralize a large part of the American “left”. The issue of course is not whether Iran is nice or not ­according to our views — but whether there is any legal reason to attack it, and there is none; but the dominant ideology of human rights has legitimized, specially in the left, the right of intervention on humanitarian grounds anywhere, at any time, and that ideology has succeeded in totally sidetracking the minor issue of international law.

International law? When was the last time you heard such a thing?

The only thing that might stop the war would be for Americans themselves to threaten their own government with massive civil disobedience. But that is not going to happen. A large part of the academic left long ago gave up informing the general public about the real world in order to debate whether Capital is a Signifier or a Signified, or worry about their Bodies and their Selves, while preachers tell their flocks to rejoice at each new sign that the end of the world is nigh. Children in Iran won’t sleep at night, but the liberal American intelligentsia will lecture the ROW (rest of the world) about Human Rights. In fact, the prevalence of the “reassuring arguments” cited above proves that the antiwar movement is clinically dead. If it weren’t, it would rely on its own forces to stop war, not speculate on how others might do the job.

Damned century, indeed.

to the gypsy part of town