The Video the BBC doesn’t want you to see…

And when the BBC won’t let you, you force them to (this is utterly classic Tony Benn!)

And it keeps going…

Another week has passed and I am another week closer to the end of my 4th year… Scary.

Gaza is experiencing an escalation in violence perpetrated by Israel (the main aggressor in this sad story) against its people. The people who suffer most, of course, are the civilians who are caught in the middle. It is vital that governments from around the world speak out loudly to condemn these crimes against humanity. The Israeli military has weapons which the Palestinian resistance could not even dream of and believes it is legitimate to use these and collectively punish the Palestinian people.

Alas, I fear there is not much hope. Israel willfully neglects to listen to UN resolutions and international pressure and has repeatedly shown that it is willing to use force even where there is a very high risk of civilian casualties. The BBC’s reporting has become so poor in this (and other issues) now that I have found myself turning to Al Jazeera in an attempt to access some more interesting news. But the best place is the blogosphere where I can hear all voices, from all sides and make up my own mind.

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Thank you to Derek for putting a link to this article on patenting crops in Iraq on his blog. Well worth a read!

the drumbeat

We seem to be moving ever faster towards a war with Iran, a war which was perhaps planned several months or years ago by the most hawkish and un-human of our species. Blair, in his new role as middle-east peace envoy (!), has been pushing the case for war with vigour:

“Out there in the Middle East, we’ve seen… the ideology driving this extremism and terror is not exhausted. On the contrary it believes it can and will exhaust us first. … This ideology now has a state, Iran, that is prepared to back and finance terror in the pursuit of destabilising countries whose people wish to live in peace.”

I suppose we should have learnt by now not to be disgusted by such statements of malice by western powers, but this, taken along side the resignation of Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator and several hawkish comments by US figures it can only mean that there are people out there trying their damnedest to bring another war to the region. Unless we speak out with increasing vigour from now this war will be a certainty. Indeed, much like in Iraq, even our speaking out probably won’t be enough. Yet another sad episode in human history… and perhaps all we can do is bear witness to its absurdities.

Even talk of war is harmful even if war were not to happen: it is putting back the human rights movements within Iran as people are forced to choose between a government they may disagree with and a war of aggression on their nation. For most, the choice will be an obvious one and reform will be forgotten about for many years. An actual war would, of course, put reform back even further. As the nobel peace prize winner Shirin Ebadi said recently, “Democracy is not merchandise to be exported to another country.Democracy cannot be brought to a nation with cluster bombs’

A quote from the famous 13th Century Persian poet Rumi:

With love bitter things seem sweet
With love bits of copper are made gold
With love pains are as healing herbs
With love thorns become roses
With love vinegar becomes sweet wine
With love the scaffold becomes a bed
With love mishap seems good fortune
With love a prison seems a rose garden
Without love a garden is a desolate place
With love burning fire is pleasing light
With love the devil becomes an angel
With love hard stones melt like butter
Without love soft wax hardens like iron
With love poison turns into honey
With love lions are harmless as mice
With love wrath turns into mercy
With love the dead rises to life
With love the king becomes a slave
(from Masnavi, Jalaluddin Rumi)

A couple of links worth reading:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohammed_Mossadegh

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._support_for_Iraq_during_the_Iran-Iraq_war

DSEi

Two police officers at every platform of the DLR today. Lots of military figures from far away places (e.g., Canada) and lots of salespeople for weapons of mass (or minor) destruction. If only the police would spend as much effort looking after me and my family and friends. If only they would spend the time and effort looking after the people in the local area (Tower Hamlets, the borough has some of the highest crime rates in London). Perhaps they could spend the money on helping victims of domestic violence: Tower Hamlets has the second highest rate of domestic violence in London. The could even spend the time policing our roads to prevent car accidents.

Instead, as an insult to Londoners, Canary Wharf is aided by the police to host an ‘arms fair’ (what a euphemism). This island of wealth in one of the country’s poorest areas is a disgrace in itself: the land it is on is privately owned rather than looked after by the state: the owners can ask you to leave for no reason. Minutes away are 1960’s council estates and under-funded schools as well as roads which a council seems unable to keep clean. To fete military ‘top brass’ here so that they can buy more weapons for illegal wars in the middle east is truly wrong.

I am proud that the Mayor and our two London Green Party assembly members have spoken out against this travesty. Sometimes to Green Party feels like a small voice of sanity in a sea of (at worst)psychopathy and (at best) apathy.

Mmmmmm…

Interesting meeting at the London Federation of Green Parties last night. Important decisions were made, in particular with regards to ethnic balance on our candidate list for the next euro election which is a great step in the right direction. It is vital that politics in London represents the capital’s great diversity.

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Green politics is a fantastic mode of politics which has a truly refreshing vision for our future. However, I do not and cannot agree with everything all people who identify as ‘Green’ say. One recent occasion has been with the Israeli Green Party. Not only do they oppose boycotts against Israel (similar to those used to bring an end to the apartheid in South Africa) but they attempt to mount a defense of some inexcusable government policies. The following link will take readers to a press release which gives a flavour of their views on the matter: http://www.green-party.org.il/public_statement.htm

To me, this makes the party very un-Green indeed.

I have never been one to condone suicide bombings. I detest violence wholeheartedly. This, logically, compels me to abhor violence on both sides: whether committed by the state or by the individual or other groups. To not remember the huge number of atrocities committed by a state is to twist facts unfairly.

Disaffected with Labour? Join the Green Party today.

Went to the ‘Troops Out Now/Anti-Trident Replacement’ demo yesterday. Had a good turnout with estimates ranging from 60,000 (from the StWC) to 10,000 (the police). It was a good chance to see all the stalls from various groups, man our Green Party stall and hand out some leaflets. I think we have several new members from it. I engaged in several interesting discussions with people who were interested about our party and wanted to know more about our policies and how we operate.

The ‘Leaving Labour’ leaflets were incredibly popular and we had very few. People are attracted to the Green Party not only because of our consistently anti-war stance but also for all our other policies: anti-globalization, pro-rights (be they human or animal), pro-’trade unions’, pro-’public sector’. Importantly, we are the only party that makes the vital link between global warming and capitalism and then moves further to show how we need to make the change in how society operates. That change will help to reduce climate change and help to improve other aspects of people’s lives. We take a holistic view of society: rather than trying to apply plasters to the cuts we look at the underlying causes for them.

Encouraging people to think about the Green vision is vital for us: we will only make progress by informing people of our views. Once people know our policies and the reasons behind them, they tend to find them very attractive.

I should link here to an article by Mary Riddell against Trident. Worth a gander and a few thoughts.

I’m back! Still having issues with the laptop but have access to other computers now I found an excellent edition of the studentBMJ waiting for me when I got home – a special edition on HIV/AIDS. It is all available online for free for anyone interested: www.studentbmj.com.

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Interesting things happening in Palestine at the moment. I still find it interesting how willing Blair is to say that Hamas should be stopped, despite the fact that is has been democratically chosen by the Palestinian people.  Nothing surprising: we hardly have a history of supporting democracy…

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Great LondonFed seasonal social on Saturday: enjoyed by all I think. Well done to Noel and Neil for organizing it. I think I should be thinking up something suitable to put up for Christmas. Suggestions please!