Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Papua

West Papua Media Alerts (West Papua's Independent Human Rights Media)
[http://westpapuamedia.info/]


West Papua Freedom Flotilla
[http://freedomflotillawestpapua.org]

The canoe that brought 43 West Papuan Asylum Seekers to Australia in 2006


National Committee for West Papua (KNPB, Indonesian acronym) [http://knpbnews.com/]

West Papua National Coalition for Liberation (WMNCL)

Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG)
[http://www.msgsec.info/]
an intergovernmental organization made up of the sovereign states of Papua-New Guinea, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands and Fiji, and the Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front (FLKNS, French acronym) of New Caledonia (an overseas collectivity of France).


2013-06-10 "West Papua Liberation"
by Jay Taber [http://intercontinentalcry.org/west-papua-liberation/]:
West Papua delegates will participate for the first time in a summit of the Melanesian Spearhead Group, an intergovernmental organization of sovereign states including Fiji, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands and Papua-New Guinea. The West Papua National Coalition for Liberation has requested full membership in MSG. Based on their illegal annexation by Indonesia, the National Committee for West Papua is seeking support for West Papuan independence at the UN.


2013-06-10 "West Papuans to internationalize self-determination claim"
[http://www.nationalia.info/en/news/1481]:
West Papuan organization admitted to participate in Melanesian intergovernmental organization meeting · Group plans day of demonstrations next week asking for West Papuan right to self-determination
West Papuans are set to seize a historical meeting next week to advance their claim to self-determination from Indonesia. A West Papuan delegation will participate for the first time ever in a summit of the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) [http://www.msgsec.info/], an intergovernmental organization made up of the sovereign states of Papua-New Guinea, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands and Fiji, and the Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front (FLKNS, French acronym) of New Caledonia (an overseas collectivity of France).
Vanuatuan newspaper Daily Post writes [http://www.dailypost.vu/content/wpncl-asks-full-membership-msg] that the West Papua National Coalition for Liberation (WMNCL) has formally asked the MSG to consider full membership for the West Papuan organization.
Melanesian support is critical for West Papuan pro-independence organizations, who are trying to internationalize their self-determination claim. West Papuans consider they need some sovereign states to support them in the international arena, especially in the United Nations.
And on the ground in West Papua, the National Committee for West Papua (KNPB, Indonesian acronym) [http://knpbnews.com/] is planning to organize a day of demonstrations on June 18th in order to mark West Papuan presence in the MSG summit. According to Radio New Zealand International [http://www.rnzi.com/pages/news.php?op=read&id=76577], the KNPB plans to hold marches in Manokwari, Sorong, Yahukimo, Wamena and other towns. The marches will ask for the self-determination of West Papua.
West Papua was annexed by Indonesia in 1963, although both were separate Dutch colonies. West Papuan nationalists argue that, being a different colony, the territory was entitled to its own process of decolonization. Following this line of reasoning, Indonesian annexation was illegal and thus a referendum on self-determination opening the door to full independence should be organized.
Pro-independence demonstrations are usually crushed by Indonesian security forces. Waving the West Papuan flag is illegal in Indonesia.


2013-06-01 "West Papuans given Aboriginal passports"
[http://intercontinentalcry.org/west-papuans-given-aboriginal-passports/]:
Photo Credit: [http://freedomflotillawestpapua.org]

West Papua Freedom Flotilla – June 1, 2013 – A historical ceremony was held outside the Victorian Trades Hall on June 1 for the issuing of “Original Nations” passports and West Papuan visas in conjunction with the Freedom Flotilla from Lake Eyre to West Papua.
In solidarity with the passport ceremony in Melbourne, a peaceful rally was also held in Manokwari, West Papua.
The “freedom flotilla” convoy, which will travel through central and northern Australia and leave from Cairns, aims to highlight the abuse of human rights and land rights occurring in West Papua.
Indonesia invaded the western half of the island of New Guinea in May 1963. Since then over 500,000 West Papuan deaths and disappearances have been unaccounted for as a result of violence and poverty inflicted by the military occupation.
West Papuan leaders together with traditional owners of the Kulan, Gunnai and Arabunna Aboriginal nations, which once shared the same continent, have initiated this peaceful action to draw international attention to the situation in West Papua and take a stand against the Indonesian military and the governments and multinational corporations that are complicit in the crimes against humanity taking place there.
“For as long as these human rights abuses occur, the Australian and Indonesian government are complicit in genocide,” says Robert Thorpe, an elder of the Gunnai nation.
Jacob Rumbiak, the foreign minister of the Federated Republic of West Papuan government in exile said: “This mission will reunite our Indigenous family link, which was broken by geological evolution and colonial boundaries.”
Uncle Kevin Buzzacott, an elder of the Arabunna nation said: “This was one land; we still are one people, one soul.”
The Freedom Flotilla is being crowd-funded, and has received support from environmental and human rights activists, politicians, musicians, unions and West Papuans inside and outside West Papua.


2012-03-10 "Federal Republic of West Papua"
by Jay Taber [http://intercontinentalcry.org/federal-republic-of-west-papua/]:
The proclamation of the Federal Republic of West Papua has been registered with the UN Security Council. In order to receive international recognition of its independence from the hostile state of Indonesia, the FRWP will likely seek to implement a process similar to that used in Kosovo.


2012-03-02 "Federal Republic of West Papua is registered at the UN"
[http://westpapuamedia.info/2012/03/04/federal-republic-of-west-papua-is-registered-at-the-un/]:
JUBI, 2 March 2012 - At the latest hearing of the trial of Forkorus Yaboisembut, Forkorus  announced that  the proclamation of the Federal Republic of West Papua had been registered with the UN Security Council in order to receive international recognition. This happened on 26 February, said Edison Waromi, the prime minister of the Federal Republic of West Papua, in response to questions from the judge at the trial.He also announced that they had received an acknowledgement from the secretariat of the UN. The registration of the Federal Republic at the UN has been recorded under No Rr.827567846 BT, he told the court.
Forkorus also confirmed this, and went on to say that the Papuan people should work together to get recognition of the Federal Republic and should stop calling for a referendum or for dialogue. ‘Let us focus on getting international recognition,’ he said .
‘Very soon, there will be a country that will recognise our independence and our people should prepare themselves to support this,’ said Forkorus without mentioning which country he had in mind.
Hariyadi Wirawan, an international observer connected with the University of Indonesia, said: ‘This move is intended to get international recognitions because the problem of West Papua has never being solved. What is being demanded for West Papua would follow the scenario of the independence of Kosovo which succeeded in gaining recognition of its independence with the help of an international institution.’


[http://westpapuamedia.info/2011/10/20/800-arrested-many-tortured-after-troops-open-fire-on-papuan-congress/]

[http://newmatilda.com/2011/10/20/troops-open-fire-papuan-gathering]

"Mission Indians" of Alta California

Reserved and Unceded lands of south California natives




Celtic (Keltic)

Expressions of Celtic national identity include political organizations, with the most well known being
The Celtic League [CelticLeague.net] [groups.yahoo.com/group/Celtic_League]
Director of Information J.B. Moffatt [jb.moffatt@) talk21.com]  
[celtic_league@yahoogroups.com]
(Current as of 2014) The Celtic League is an inter Celtic organisation that campaigns for the political, language, cultural and social rights of the Celtic nations. It does this across a broad range of issues. It highlights human rights abuse, monitors military activity and focuses on political, socio-economic, environmental, language and cultural issues, which generally or specifically affect one or more of the Celtic countries in some way. The organisation also aims to further each of the Celtic nations right to independence and to promote the benefits of inter Celtic cooperation. Additionally, the League draws attention to matters that we believe bear a wider concern for the peoples of the Celtic countries.
Our work is achieved through the activities of our organisation at branch and central level, the publication of a high quality quarterly magazine, CARN and a regular Celtic League news service.


"Where the Celts come from and have lived for 3,000 years"
2014-02-08 from [IrishCentral.com/roots/history/A-guide-to-identifying-the-Celtic-regions.html?showAll=y]:
The Celts were a group of tribal societies tied by similar language, religion and culture in Iron Age and Medieval Europe. Celtic culture began to develop as early as 1200 BC and spread through migration to the British Isles, France and other parts of Europe.
“Celtic" refers to people descended from one of the current Celtic regions on the western extremities of Europe. Each of these regions has retained much of its indigenous culture and distinctive language throughout the centuries.
Here are the eight Celtic regions as defined by the Northern Arizona Celtic Heritage Society [NACHS.info/asturias.shtml]:

ASTURIAS
* Ancient name: Asturias.
* Asturias lies between the region of Galicia and Cantabria in northern Spain. It is a prehistoric land as the many cave paintings illustrate. The area was inhabited by the Iron-age Celtic tribes who fought off the Romans and the Moors.
* Folklore: Verbenas are outdoor dances, always accompanied by bagpipes; the Descent of the Sella is a world-renowned canoe competition).
* Food: Fabada is a white bean soup, made from the fabe de granja – a bean only grown in this area.
* Symbol: Horreos (grain storage outbuildings); The Cruz de la Victoria, dating to 908 AD, is the model for the cross on the Asturian flag.
* Notable people: Severo Ochoa won the 1959 Nobel Prize in Medicine and Physiology, for his discovery (with Arthur Kornberg), of RNA and DNA.

BRITTANY
* Ancient name: Breizh
* Located on the northwest coast of France, Brittany’s Celtic heritage makes it distinct from other French regions. Brittany’s unique culture can be attributed to its long isolation from the rest of France. Breton culture can still be seen today during church festivals and other events when the old costumes with their “coiffes” (hats of lace) – a different hat in each area – can be seen. A quarter of the people still speak Breton, a Celtic language similar to Cornish and Welsh.
* Folklore: Brittany has a direct connection to Camelot and Arthurian Week is held in Broceliande every July.
* Food: Crepes, oysters, pain mirau is a bread roll, featured annually at the Bread Festival at St. Branda.
* Symbol: The ermine. The flag had five black bands representing the former bishoprics of Upper Brittany, four white bands representing the former bishoprics of Lower Brittany, and a field of stylized ermines.
* Notable people: Theodore Botrel, Gauguin lived in Pont-Aven

CORNWALL
* Ancient name: Kernow
* Cornwall is the most westerly county in England.
* Folklore: Tintagel (“TIN tajel”) Castle is reputedly the birthplace of King Arthur, Dozmary Pool on Bodmin Moor is closely associated with the sword Excalibur.
* Food: A Cornish pasty is meat in a pastry wrapper or shell.
* Symbol: St. Piran's flag is a black flag with a white cross and is the banner of Saint Piran, the patron saint of the tin-miners of Cornwall.
* Notable people: Daphne du Maurier, William Golding, Kristin Scott Thomas

GALICIA
* Located on the northwest coast of Spain, Galicia boasts green hills and a rainy climate reminiscent of the British Isles.
* Folklore: One strongly rooted tradition is the belief in the existence of “meigas” (witches). The city of Finisterre was named based on the belief that this area was the end of the world (in Latin, “finis terrae” means “end of the world”).
* Food:“Torta de Santiago” is a cake decorated with the Cross of Santiago.
* Symbol: The pine tree. Os Pinos (The Pine Trees) is the national hymn.
* Notable people: Camilo José Cela, Ramón del Valle Inclán, Julio Iglesias’s father was born here.

IRELAND
* Ancient name: Eire
* Ireland is comprised of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland with 32 counties, 26 in the south and six in the north. On December 6, 1921 the southern counties obtained independence from Great Britain and are known as The Republic of Ireland.  The northern counties remained with Britain and are called Northern Ireland.
* Folklore: St. Patrick brought Christianity to Ireland and drove the snakes out of the country; Leprechauns grant wishes; the shamrock symbolizes the Holy Trinity.
* Food: Beer, whiskey, black pudding, salmon, dairy products, potatoes
* Symbol: The claddagh represents love (the heart), faith in friendship (the clasped hands) and loyalty (the crown).
* Notable people: James Joyce, Jack Dempsey.

ISLE OF MAN
* Ancient name: Mannin
* The Isle of Man is part of the British Isles, but is not part of the United Kingdom. The Manx cat comes from this region.
* Folklore: Tales and lore of ghosts and fairies
* Food: Kippers
* Symbol:The Trinacria (Three Legs of Man) was first officially used in the 14th century. The source of the legs emblem is attributed to a variety of pagan references to the sun, Sicily’s emblem, Medusa, and the swastika.
* Notable people: The BeeGees (Barry, Robin, Maurice, and Andy Gibb)

SCOTLAND
* Ancient name: Alba
* Scotland has over 750 islands. Edinburgh is the capital city.
* Folklore: Loch Ness Monster, Clootie Well
* Food: Haggis, shortbread, whisky
* Symbol: Thistle, heather, Scottie dog, bagpipe
* Notable people: Robert Louis Stevenson, Walter Scott, Robert Bruns, Andrew Carnegie, Alexander Graham Bell

WALES
* Ancient name: Cymru
* Wales is the Celtic region which has most successfully retained its native language.
* Folklore: King Arthur’s court is said to have been in Caerleon,while Merlin’s birthplace is Carmarthen.
* Food: Cockles, laver bread (made from dark seaweed), leek & potato soup
* Symbol: Leek, daffodil, red dragon (draig goch)
* Notable people: Dylan Thomas, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Sir Anthony Hopkins   

Afrikaner

Orania is a city of around 320 families who are building autonomy and self-reliance for Afrikaners according to Chapter 14 Section 235 of the Constitution of South Africa which states: "The right of the South African people as a whole to self-determination, as manifested in this Constitution, does not preclude, within the framework of this right, recognition of the notion of the right to self-determination of any community sharing a common cultural and language heritage, within a territorial entity in the Republic or in any other way, determined by national legislation".

Orania Mayor Carel Boshoff says the extension of the right to vote to all South Africans is a good thing, but he adds that the past two decades have also been accompanied by a victimization and marginalization of Afrikaners. (Nicolas Brulliard/GlobalPost)
Map showing the cities with Afrikaaner residents. Oriana is the sovereign enclave:



Orania Movement
[www.orania.co.za/english]
The Orania Movement is an Afrikaans cultural movement with the aim to restore Afrikaner freedom in an independant, democratic Republic based on Christian values and a healthy balance between independence and cooperation with surrounding areas.

South Africa Project: Stop the Genocide of the Boer Farmer Families
[southafricaproject.info]
P.O. Box 282, Converse, Louisiana 71419




2002-11-24 "Fearful Boers flee to South Africa's last white enclave" by Jane Flanagan
[http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1414160/Fearful-Boers-flee-to-South-Africas-last-white-enclave.html] Orania-
Orania, an Afrikaner enclave on the edge of a desert, is being flooded with applications from whites disillusioned with South Africa's black government.
Founded in the early 1990s as white rule ended, the enclave, named after the local river, was an attempt by Afrikaner purists to preserve their culture around an independent Boer republic.
The founding fathers expected thousands to join them but only 600 moved to the dusty, windswept town on the edge of the Karoo desert.
Now, with a widespread fear that South Africa will follow Zimbabwe into political and racial turmoil, Orania is beginning to fill up.
"We are overwhelmed by calls from people inquiring about moving here," said John Strydom, a former GP who moved to Orania five years ago. "We have had 200 calls and e-mails in the last month alone."
Racial tensions have been growing elsewhere in South Africa. A previously unknown group called the Warriors of the Boer Nation have claimed responsibility for a string of explosions in Soweto two weeks ago. Twenty men - including farmers and university lecturers - are being held following the discovery of arms caches and a threat of a Christmas terror campaign.
In Orania, however, such groups are condemned as "hypocrites". Wynand Boshoff, a grandson of Hendrik Verwoerd, the former prime minister and architect of apartheid, said: "These people are professionals who don't mind taking money from blacks, having them as customers or employing them cheaply. But they can't tolerate the idea of them having any power."
While a perimeter fence around the town is strung with warning signs declaring the area "private property", its residents decry violence and choose their words carefully to emphasise the incompatibilities between the Afrikaner and African cultures.
Whereas the old nationalist rulers advocated racial separation yet relied on cheap black labour, the Oranians are prepared to get their hands dirty.
As she picked up a spade to turn the soil in her garden, Riekie de Jager, 62, admitted that she missed the services of the black staff she left behind to move to Orania two years ago. "People think we are here because we hate the blacks - we don't," she said. "We are very friendly with them when we meet. But I am happier here with people like myself.
"Things are going the way of Zimbabwe and we have come here for some security. Things are very bad now, but you wait - when Nelson Mandela dies there will be nothing but chaos. But at least in Orania we can feel safe."

Sunday, February 26, 2012

People's Republic of India

The people of the areas where the People's Republic of India has taken root have suffered the corruption and excesses of capitalism...
2012-02-25 "Suicides in India linked to microfinance debts" from "Associated Press"

[http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/02/24/MNGD1NC04A.DTL]
Mumbai, India --
First they were stripped of their utensils, furniture, mobile phones, televisions, ration cards and heirloom gold jewelry. Then, some of them drank pesticide. One woman threw herself in a pond. Another jumped into a well with her children.
Sometimes, the debt collectors watched nearby.
More than 200 poor, debt-ridden residents of Andhra Pradesh killed themselves in late 2010, according to media reports compiled by the government of the south Indian state. The state blamed microfinance companies - which give small loans intended to lift up the very poor - for fueling a frenzy of overindebtedness and then pressuring borrowers so relentlessly that some took their own lives.
The companies, including market leader SKS Microfinance, denied it.
However, internal documents obtained by the Associated Press, as well as interviews with more than a dozen current and former employees, independent researchers and videotaped testimony from the families of the dead, show that top SKS officials had information implicating company employees in some of the suicides.
An independent investigation commissioned by the company linked SKS employees to at least seven of the deaths. A second investigation commissioned by an industry umbrella group that probed the role of many microfinance companies did not draw conclusions but pointed to SKS involvement in two more cases that ended in suicide. Neither study has been made public.
Both reports said SKS employees had verbally harassed over-indebted borrowers, forced them to pawn valuable items, incited other borrowers to humiliate them and orchestrated sit-ins outside their homes to publicly shame them. In some cases, the SKS staff physically harassed defaulters, according to the report commissioned by the company. Only in death would the debts be forgiven.
The videos and reports tell stark stories:
One woman drank pesticide and died a day after an SKS loan agent told her to prostitute her daughters to pay off her debt. She had been given $3,000 in loans but only made $12 a week.
Another SKS debt collector told a delinquent borrower to drown herself in a pond if she wanted her loan waived. The next day, she did. She left behind four children.
SKS continues to deny all responsibility for the deaths. SKS spokesman J.S. Sai said the company stands by its September 2011 affidavit before India's Supreme Court. In that affidavit, chief executive M.R. Rao says SKS "is neither the cause of nor responsible for any suicides in the state of Andhra Pradesh."
Originally developed as a nonprofit effort to lift society's most downtrodden, microfinance has increasingly become a for-profit enterprise that serves investors as well as the poor. As India's market leader, SKS has pioneered a business model that many others hoped to emulate.
But the story of what went wrong at SKS has led current and former employees and even some major shareholders to question that strategy and raises fundamental questions for the multibillion-dollar global microfinance industry.

Saturday, February 25, 2012

Jamahiriya in Kuffra

2012-02-25 "Jamahiriya Anthem `The God is Great` and Green Flag Continue in Kuffra" from "Mathaba"
[http://www.mathaba.net/news/?x=629942]
After two weeks of intense fighting between non-African NATO western state terrorists and their mercenary Arab rats, the Libyan city of Kuffra in the South East near to Sudan, is maintaining Jamahiriya
In spite of attempts by traitorous rats including neighbouring Sudan's Arab dictatorship regime headed by bankers' prostitute Ali Osman Mohamad Taha and the puppet Omar Bashir, to suppress the People's Authority of the Libyan Jamahiriya, Kuffra continues to fly the green flag of freedom and the Jamahiriya national anthem "Allahu Akbar" (The God is Great) continues to ring in the ears and hearts of the masses who are defending their city in line with the laws of the Holy Qur'an, which is the Law of Society in the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya.

Friday, February 24, 2012

Nueva Aztlan

[fifthworldnews.blogspot.com/2012/02/nueva-aztlan.html]

2012-02-24 "Outlawing Solidarity in Tucson" by "Rethinking Schools"
[http://rethinkingschoolsblog.wordpress.com/2012/02/23/outlawing-solidarity-in-tucson/]
“Banned in Tucson.”
As many Rethinking Schools readers know, in January Tucson school officials ordered our book Rethinking Columbus removed from Mexican American Studies classes, as part of their move to shut down the program. In some instances, school authorities confiscated the books during class—boxed them up and hauled them off. As one student said, “We were in shock. . . . It was very heartbreaking to see that happening in the middle of class.”
Other books banned from Mexican American Studies classes included Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Rodolfo Acuña’s Occupied America, and Elizabeth Martínez’ 500 Years of Chicano History in Pictures.
We are in good company.
Many commentators focused on the outrageous act of banning books. But the books were merely collateral damage. The real target was Tucson’s acclaimed Mexican American Studies program, whose elimination had long been a goal of rightwing politicians in Arizona. Their efforts ultimately found legislative expression in House Bill 2281, passed shortly after Arizona’s now-infamous Senate Bill 1070, which mandated racial profiling in immigration enforcement. National outrage focused on SB 1070, with barely any attention paid to HB 2281, a law whose origins lay in the same racial prejudice.
The law’s punchline comes in Section 15-112, which prohibits any courses that “advocate ethnic solidarity instead of the treatment of pupils as individuals.” Tom Horne, the former Arizona superintendent of public instruction and the state’s current attorney general, sums up the law’s curricular dogma: “Those students should be taught that this is the land of opportunity, and that if they work hard they can achieve their goals. They should not be taught that they are oppressed.”
Of course, by “those students,” Horne means Mexican Americans. To assert that oppression is a myth, especially the oppression of Mexican Americans, one must be historically illiterate—or lying. A few examples: The state of Arizona itself was acquired by the United States through invasion, war, and occupation—an enterprise justified by notions of racial supremacy. As the Congressional Globe insisted in 1847, seizing Mexican territory for the United States “is the destiny of the white race. It is the destiny of the Anglo-Saxon race.” A 1910 government report, quoted in the now-banned Occupied America, concluded: “Thus it is evident that, in the case of the Mexican, he is less desirable as a citizen than as a laborer.” Today in Arizona, according to the National Center for Children in Poverty, more than twice the percentage of Mexican American children live in poverty as white children: 64 percent to 30 percent. And Mexican Americans are twice as likely as whites to be incarcerated.
To demand that students think purely in terms of individuals and ignore race, class, and ethnicity is to enforce stupidity as state policy. Moreover, to erase solidarity from students’ conceptual vocabulary leaves them ignorant of how people have struggled to improve their lives—and have made the world a better place. Proposing that we rise purely as individuals—“I think I can, I think I can”—may be a comforting notion for social elites, but it’s simply wrong, empirically as well as morally. Outlawing solidarity benefits only those whose interests are threatened by people organizing for greater equality.
Today’s curricular ethnic cleansing in Arizona is the product of a toxic blend of fear and racism. Here’s Superintendent of Public Instruction John Huppenthal on NPR’s Tell Me More: “These issues are going to be huge philosophical issues for the United States as we become—as our whole racial makeup changes. And we need to know that there are a lot of serious concerns about how you educate kids, the values that you pass on to them.”
Translation: Whites are becoming a minority in this country. If children of color are taught to question structures of wealth and power; to think in terms of race, class, and ethnicity; to learn the history of solidarity and organizing; and come to see themselves as activists . . . well, the United States will be a very different place. In his 2010 campaign ads, Huppenthal promised to “Stop la raza.” Destroying Tucson’s Mexican American Studies program is one way he intends to keep that promise.
For rightwing politicians like Tom Horne, John Huppenthal, and Gov. Jan Brewer, it’s not the failure of the Mexican American Studies program that they fear—it’s the program’s success. According to Tucson’s own director of accountability and research, “there are positive measurable differences between MAS students and the corresponding comparative group of students.” Mexican American Studies students score higher on standardized reading, writing, and even math tests than their peers, are more likely to graduate from high school, more likely to attend college, and—a feature that doesn’t show up in the data printouts—are more likely to see themselves as activists.
This kind of education is a threat to those who would prefer Mexican Americans as quiet and compliant workers. Mayra Feliciano, a co-founder of the Tucson student activist group UNIDOS and an alumna of the Mexican American Studies program, told Jeff Biggers in an interview, “As long as people like Superintendent John Huppenthal and TUSD board members are afraid of well-educated Latinos, they will try to take away our successful courses and studies.”
Following one of Biggers’ fine Huffington Post blog posts on the Mexican American Studies program, one respondent, “Tucson Don,” directed his comments to a student Biggers had quoted:
“Hey Chicka, nobody is stopping you from learning about your own culture. But you now live in the US, and you can do that on your own time and your own dime! We Americans want you to learn to read (English), write (also in English) and be able to add, subtract, multiply, and divide well enough to complete a business transaction without needing a computer to tell you that a $1.99 Egg McMuffin plus a $.99 hash browns and free coffee adds up to $2.98 before tax.”
Tucson Don and his ilk echo the century-old words quoted above: the Mexican American is “less desirable as a citizen than as a laborer.”
This is the “gutter education,” as the youth of South Africa used to call it, that the Mexican American Studies program was designed to supplant. Those who have read the letters and articles online by MAS teachers Curtis Acosta and Maria Federico Brummer, or who have seen the excellent film Precious Knowledge, know that this is not a program that teaches hate or “resentment.” It sparks curiosity, honors students’ lives, demands academic excellence, prompts critical thinking, invites activism, and imagines a better world.
Its ethos of love, mutual respect, and solidarity is expressed in the poem that has come to symbolize the program, borrowed from Luis Valdez’ 1971 Mayan-inspired “Pensamiento Serpentino”:

In Lak’ech (I Am You or You Are Me)

Tú eres mi otro yo.
You are my other me.

Si te hago daño a ti.
If I do harm to you.

Me hago daño a mí mismo.
I do harm to myself.

Si te amo y respeto,
If I love and respect you,

Me amo y respeto yo.
I love and respect myself.

We encourage Rethinking Schools readers to join the national solidarity campaign, “No History Is Illegal,” launched by the Teacher Activist Groups (TAG) network, to teach about this important struggle. In fact, Tucson’s program should not only be defended, it should be extended: We should demand that local, state, and federal policies support more multicultural, anti-racist education initiatives. As the U.S. school curriculum becomes increasingly shaped by giant multinational publishing corporations, it’s essential to stand up for—and spread—community-supported, social justice curriculum, as exemplified by Tucson’s Mexican American Studies program.
In Lak’ech. An injury to one is an injury to all.

Nueva Aztlan

[fifthworldnews.blogspot.com/2012/02/nueva-aztlan.html]

2012-02-24 "At the End of the Stairway in Arizona; The Abandonment of the Barrio" by RODOLFO ACUÑA
[http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/02/24/the-abandonment-of-the-barrio/]
RODOLFO ACUÑA, a professor emeritus at California State University Northridge, has published 20 books and over 200 public and scholarly articles. He is the founding chair of the first Chicano Studies Dept which today offers 166 sections per semester in Chicano Studies. His history book Occupied America has been banned in Arizona. In solidarity with Mexican Americans in Tucson, he has organized fundraisers and support groups to ground zero and written over two dozen articles exposing efforts there to nullify the U.S. Constitution.
---
Throughout the history of Mexican Americans, education has been considered the stairway to the middle-class. Education meant security and basics such as health insurance. This heaven meant better jobs and a small house or two for old age.
As with the European immigrant, the stairway was built in stages. Those with limited education could often get union jobs. After a generation or two in factories, Mexican Americans accumulated sufficient capital to keep their children in school, and a few sent them to college.
To build the stairway, workers and their families fought for compulsory education,  they petitioned school boards, and led walkouts protesting de jure and de facto school segregation.
Mutalistas,  el Congreso Mexicanista, Alianza Hispano-Americano, La Liga Protectora Latina, League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), led campaigns for better schools. George I. Sánchez was a giant in advocating for this stairway.
However, it was not the 1960s that Chicano youth forced major breakthroughs. The Mexican American Youth Organization (MAYO) walkouts, the East LA School Walkouts, and small walkouts throughout the southwest and elsewhere had similar themes — better education, more college prep classes, more Mexican American teachers, and the teaching of Mexican American Studies.
As a result Mexican Americans went to college in greater numbers. In 1968 there were about 100 Latino PhDs – a decade later they were an identifiable mass. In the intervening years at Cal State Northridge the Latino student population exploded from about 50 in 1969 to some 11,000 today.
Despite the gains the Latino dropout rate remains at about 60 percent; most barrio schools still offer a limited number of college prep classes.  A larger portion of Latino students are being recruited and admitted from parochial, magnet and schools on the fringes of the barrio.  Few males are enrolling.  In some universities the ratio of Latino female/male is 65/35.
Like the nation’s roads, the Mexican American stairway to the middle-class heaven has fallen into disrepair. There are potholes everywhere. Outreach and special programs have become expendable and are under attack. The excuse is the budget.
Many Latino students could only afford college through financial assistance. However, early on financial aid was diluted by expanding the eligibility for assistance while shrinking funding.
The straw that broke the camel’s back was the rising tuition. Without financial aid and loans, the bridge is beginning to tumble. At the California State Universities tuition will rise to $10,000 a year, which will put education out of the reach of students from barrio schools.
Putting this in perspective, I paid about $10 a year at Los Angeles State in the late 1950s; in 1969 fees amounted to about $50 a semester.
American corporations simply refuse to pay for the cost of social production. The baby boom generation that benefited from free education, the GI Bill, low interest housing, low gas and food prices, selfishly do not want to pay for the education of the young.
Mexico graduates more engineering students than the United States. Among sixteen 16 First World nations, the United State ranks number 13th in affordability.
At the beginning of the last century, Mexican workers were excluded from unions and relied on self-help organizations. This became more difficult as the nation became highly urbanized.
The Americans consider themselves a generous people, and certain Americans are. However, this generosity does not extend to the poor. A few will give to the homeless on Christmas and feel somewhat less guilty, as long as it does not interfere with their Christmas meal.  They give through organizations that qualify them for tax exemptions.
Historically Latinos have had a small middle-class. They are generous to family members. However, there is not a tradition of contributing to philanthropic organizations. Selected immigrant groups send money back to their communities, such as the Clubes Unidos Zacatecanos that remit billions of dollars annually to Zacatecas.
Latinos usually give through their churches. But, philanthropy is seen as foreign to most Latinos, especially Mexican Americans. They are concentrated in the working class. At the turn of this century, 25.8 percent of Mexican-born immigrants lived in poverty, over double the rate for natives.
According to one report, “[c]urrently, 53 percent of Latino households make charitable contributions to charities as opposed to 72 percent of all U.S. households.” It could be argued that comparisons are not fair. Poverty plays a role, as does the tax code where the middle-class get write offs. The reason Mexicans give for not contributing more is that they are not asked.
Let’s face it; we all owe our careers to the stairway. Without that stairway we would not have a middle-class to broker our gains in population into political and economic power. National Latino and Hispanic organizations cater to the middle class.
Keeping the stairway somewhat operable will be the greatest challenge for Latinos. Let us not be naïve and believe that everything will return to as it was in 1970 or 80. Tuition will continue to spiral. In California, fifty percent of the professors’ salaries and operational costs are derived from student tuition.
Surely administrators are blame for the inflation with university presidents earning in excess of $300,000 annually with perks. The bureaucracies in the university makes navigating them near impossible, and professor salaries at the top are near $100,000 annually and more.
I will not argue that professor salaries are not justified, just that they are part of the problem.  I ask myself, would most teacher unions oppose plans to begin alternative institutions that did not include teacher contracts?
After long deliberation I have come to the conclusion that whether teacher unions or others like it or not, we have to find our own solutions. The maintenance of the stairway should be our first priority.
Presently Latino education is not very high on the priority list of progressives in this country. Perhaps they have seen too many movies on the Alamo.
I am under attack for a statement that I made in the early 1990s when educational access was again being limited. I said that we would not allow ourselves to be pushed into the intellectual ovens of ignorance and lack of opportunity. Education is a basic right, and we who are active with youth know the consequences of not being able to read.
The stairway represents the only hope for many.
In the near future we will be making a call for Latinos and others to come to a meeting to explore the possibility of starting a non-profit university that would keep the costs under $1,000 a year.
It is criminal how many for profit schools have sprung up in the past decade. Full-time students at for-profit schools paid an average of $30,900 annually in the 2007-2008 academic year. This was almost double the $15,600 average paid at public universities. The average cost of attending a private nonprofit college was $26,600.
If the government can allow such outlandish costs to be handed down to students then it can sanction real non-profit universities. The truth be told, universities and colleges have become as predatory as the loan sharks and Wall Street.
We will outline a plan which we will telecast throughout the nation in an effort to get retired teachers and professors to put together a non-profit institution. This is imperative because public education today is being privatized. Even at the California State Universities which were once called the “people’s college” there are for profit entities where students can get an alternative education – at a cost.

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Tawargha


2012-02-16 "S.O.S. Libya Report"
[http://libyasos.blogspot.com/2012/02/report-libya-16-february-2012.html]
Racist demolition in #Libya the same as in #Palestine -Houses of black Tawargha people bulldozered by new government. Public was accustomed to seeing this in Gaza, where the Israel is demolishing houses of Palestinians with bulldozers as part of the punishment. Today the same method and the same punishment, but in Libya, particularly in Misurata, where bulldozers are demolishing houses of black Tawargha Libyans.
Bulldozers are demolishing houses of black Tawargha Libyans
Photo shows one of the buildings in Al Goshi neighborhood getting bulldozered, while everyone is busy, taking advantage of the anniversary of Nakba for the Implementation of scheme of ethnic cleansing of the black-skinned Tawargha Libyans.




2011-09-12 "Libya – The Racist Revolution – Tawargha"
[http://humanrightsinvestigations.org/2011/09/12/libya-the-racist-revolution-tawargha/]
As our regular readers will be aware, we have been reporting on the fate of the people of Tawergha since the local rebel commander Ibrahim al-Halbous, said he was going to wipe the town off the map. We reported the storming of the town, with NATO support, and the extremely worrying reports of prisoners in shipping crates and the people of the town being “handed over to the red cross,”  which they weren’t (see ‘Tawergha no longer exists, only Misrata’ [http://humanrightsinvestigations.org/2011/08/13/tawergha-no-longer-exists-only-misrata/]).
We relayed the reports from Diana Eltahawy of Amnesty International about the inhabitants who managed to flee being persecuted in Tripoli [http://humanrightsinvestigations.org/2011/08/31/amnesty-racist-rebel-atrocities-libya/].
Andrew Gilligan, a reporter from The Sunday Telegraph, now reports from Tawergha [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/8754375/Gaddafis-ghost-town-after-the-loyalists-retreat.html]:
[begin excerpt]
This pro-Gaddafi settlement has been emptied of its people, vandalised and partly burned by rebel forces. The Sunday Telegraph was the first to visit the scene of what appears to be the first major reprisal against supporters of the former regime.
“We gave them thirty days to leave,” said Abdul el-Mutalib Fatateth, the officer in charge of the rebel garrison in Tawarga, as his soldiers played table-football outside one of the empty apartment blocks. “We said if they didn’t go, they would be conquered and imprisoned. Every single one of them has left, and we will never allow them to come back.”
[end excerpt]
Andrew Gillighan is a serious reporter and he even mentions the racial context:
[begin excerpt]
And as so often in Libya, there is also a racist undercurrent. Many Tawargas, though neither immigrants nor Gaddafi’s much-ballyhooed African mercenaries, are descended from slaves, and are darker than most Libyans.
Along the road that leads into Tawargha, the Misurata Brigade has painted a slogan. It says, “the brigade for purging slaves [and] black skin.”
[end excerpt]
We have to say, the racist element is more than an undercurrent, but if more journalists had reported the truth rather than turning a blind eye, refusing to report or to investigate then perhaps lives could still be saved.
In this context we should just mention the ”reporting” of so-called journalists such as Chris Stephen who has been in Misrata for weeks writing pro-war, pro-NATO propaganda for the benefit of the Guardian’s readership and failing miserably to report on the racist atrocities and ethnic cleansing.
---
Update (12 September) – The Washington Post [http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle-east/in-libya-the-peril-of-being-black/2011/09/09/gIQAY2FoFK_print.html] reports Human Rights Watch Emergencies Director Peter Bouckaert as confirming: “It really is racist violence against all dark-skinned people, this situation for Africans in Tripoli is dire.”
---
Update (14th September) – The ethnic cleansing of Tawergha is now being made permanent with the seal of approval of Mahmoud Jibril [http://humanrightsinvestigations.org/2011/09/14/tawargha-the-final-solution/].
---
Please click here for a comprehensive update on the Tawergha [http://humanrightsinvestigations.org/2011/09/26/libya-ethnic-cleansing-tawargha-genocide/]

Toubou (Jamahiriya of Libya)

2012-02-23 "The city Kofra is freed from the clutches of the NTC" from "ALGERIA ISP"
[http://libyaagainstsuperpowermedia.com/]
ALGERIA ISP / Elmokawama According to Akhbar Libya, to Kofra, Toubou tribal fighters are assisted by Chadian helicopters.


The (NTC) rebels use a commercial cargo ships to transfer the wounded and dead rebels from the town of Kofra. In Kofra today Toubous fighters killed two (NTC) rebels and wounded three others. The city Kofra is under total control of the forces of Toubou tribes.


2012-02-23 "A video of a large army convoy in the Liberation of Libya" from "ALGERIA ISP"
[http://libyaagainstsuperpowermedia.com/]
ALGERIA ISP / Dhida Yawme17 fibrayr Fi Libya, has released this video of army combatants of the liberation of Libya Libya’s south.
Since the advent of the son of the guide “Saadi Gaddafi” on TV channel “Al Arabiya“, the signal has been issued for the Liberation of Libya from the clutches of mercenaries and traitors.
The fighters from the tribes of Toubou gave a sacred lesson to the barbarians of the NTC who found themselves very low in the absence of NATO planes.
This video shows a large convoy of pickups, trucks carrying ammunition and rocket launcher trucks.Inchaelah it will be a great and good shot to break the cold hearts of the barbarians of NTC.
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=mTG040dJgXY]



2012-02-23 "Libya: STRATEGIC IMPORTANCE OF KUFRA"
[http://libyasos.blogspot.com/2012/02/libya-strategic-importance-of-kufra.html]
Kufra is the largest province in Libya, approximately one fifth (20%) of the country.
It is in the south-east, and it is the only place in Libya which borders the 3 countries with hundreds of kilometers long borders.

This region which is famous for its basin and many oasis in the middle of the Sahara is a link between Sudan, Chad and Libya. Safe passage to Africa. Centre of Libyan import and export.
It has very rich oil and gas fields stretching from Libya to the mountains of Owainat. And has the largest underground basin of fresh water in the world, Al-Jawf, rich with palms and gardens.
The word Kufra comes from the Arabic word kafir, the Arabic term for non-Muslims (often translated as "infidels", literally "those who conceal [the truth]") with reference to the Toubou people native to the region.
Kufra did not fall under the dominion of either the Arabs or the Ottomans and was part of a Toubou Sultanate with capital in Tazirbu.In the 1840s, the Toubou were colonized by the Arabized Berber tribe of Zuwayya and eventually by the Italians in the 1930s.
 Importance of Kufra for Italians increased when the Second World War started and, after the Suez Canal was closed to Italian shipping, connections with Italian East Africa became mainly aerial, using Kufra and its strategic location.
Kufra, thanks to its key role for the Italian Occupation Army, soon became a target for the Allies, with France and British desert troops beginning a long battle for its conquest, which ended with the war.
In recent decades, Kufra has become a major point on the route of African migrants who try to reach Europe by various routes. In 2007, European Parliamentary Delegations defined Kufra as "a free zone, a sort of starting Centre of Temporary Permanence CPT against the law... These gathering centres are places, in which the first contacts with the criminal organizations occur. Such organizations promote the "journey of hope", with a flexible handling of the Migrants' African routes according to the restriction policies adopted by the various governments."
At the beginning of the 1970s, Muammar Gaddafi launched in Kufra a great cultivation project aimed at developing agriculture in the desert. LEPA irrigation is provided by fossil water beneath the ground surface, the Nubian Sandstone Aquifer System, the only accessible water resource in the area. Rotors (high sprinkler that rotates) provide irrigation and the obtained circles have a diameter of about 1 km and can be observed from space.


This is one of Libya's largest agricultural projects.
Because only about 2 percent of Libya's land receives enough rainfall to be cultivated, this project uses the underground aquifer. The green circles in the desert frequently indicate tracts of agriculture supported by center-pivot irrigation.
The agricultural project is an easy-to-recognize landmark for orbiting astronauts aboard the International Space Station.The Libyan government also has a project called the Great Manmade River to pump and transport these groundwater reserves to the coast to support Libya’s growing population and industrial development.
Kufra - cultivated areas seen from space

Kufra has the largest proportion of solar brightness in Libya (according to the Solar Energy Research Center), making it one of the first cities in the world to generate clean solar energy.
It has the variety of natural materials, sand, copper, gold, and other (this is from studies carried out by the Industrial Research Center, previously).
Kufra also has spiritual and cultural value. It is also attractive for Safari tourism, and its lakes in the middle of the desert.


2012-02-22 "Kuffra Update"
[http://libyasos.blogspot.com/2012/02/report-libya-22-february-2012.html]
(1) Bodies of Libyan rebels have been left unclaimed inside Aozou strip in Chad, since rebels entered via Sudan to force natives of Chad, taking all the men and leaving women and children to languish around the Sahara, Chad responded with full military foce, helicopters and Chadian forces have entered 753 km inside Libya, 93 Libyan rebels bodies lay in the Aozou strip on the Chadian territory, Chad took armed measures against the rebels, capturing over 320 Libyan rebels, the rebels also took one Chadian army officer to Benghazi, they beat the Chadian army with marks over his face.
The Aozou strip area was the cause of dispute betweeen Libya and Chad, which led to of the two countries. In 1973, Libya engaged in military operations in the Aouzou Strip to occupy the area because of native black Toubou who are also Libyan citizens, Libya did gain access to minerals in the area. This led to Chadian–Libyan conflict called Toyota war, where mounted Toyota Pick-ups with machine guns were used to attack the neighbor and brotherly country.
During Toyota War in 1987, the final stage of the conflict, Chadian forces were able to force Libyan commando brigades to retreat from the Aouzou Strip. A cease-fire between Libya and Chad from 1987 to 1988, followed by unsuccessful negotiations next several years. Finally in 1994 International Court of Justice decision found by majority of 16 to 1 in favour of Chad sovereignty over the Aouzou strip because it was established more Toubou of Chad also claim the Aozous strip as their ancestral home, and were forcefully kicked out by Arabs during the Senousi era, and ended the Libyan claim.
The United Nations Security Council established UN Aouzou Strip Observer Group in Resolution 915 (May 1994) to monitor withdrawal of Libyan commandos, and was terminated in Resolution 926 (June 1994) when it was completed. Ever since relations betweeN Libya and Chad went back to normal, rebels know Aozou strip to near Tibesti mountains belong to Chad, but yet they provoked Chad by invading the territory again, today it has turned to a bloodbath between Chad and the rebels, green army has left Chad an open access to attack rebels on Libyan soil whenever rebels cross to cause trouble inside Chad via Sudan.
Libyan rebels think black people have no value, and every black person need be colonized, conquered, if not, they be forced to obey their inhumane Quran at gun point laws.
The black Libyan city of Kufra was named the city of infidels, because many people of Toubou origin followed African spirituality, and worshipped diety, creator, Jah, God, Gaya and whatever you name it and identify with in African sense of spirituality, Kuffra has always enjoyed tremendous amount of autonomy since the green revolution by Moammar Al Gadhaffi, the people of Kuffra can move freely from Libya to Sudan, Niger, Chad, Mali, Algeria and all over the Sahara without passport, the native of the land law applied to them, including the Touareg, the people of Tawharegha, and Toubou.
All the black people of Sahara to the Bile rivers are known as the real native Africans, and in Libya green policy, Africa first and the rest comes after.
---
(2) 425 heavy convoy of green army has entered Kuffra with water, food, medicine, facility to treat 293 civilians wounded in the conflict, treatment of people with dehydration, supply of wheat, meat, sugar, green vegetables, corn flower and cold drinks.
Green Federation Africa, and Libyan International Investment Company LIICO, a subsidiary of Moammar Algathaffi International has set up $10 billion to supplement Kuffra with liquidity of cash, and infusion of economic support. [S.G.]
---
I received a phone call now from #Kufra - NATO revolutionaries are displacing Chadian families located in the northern suburbs of Kufra,burning their homes,detaining men,and leaving women and children to flee into desert.


2012-02-22 "S.O.S. Libya Report"
[http://libyasos.blogspot.com/2012/02/report-libya-22-february-2012.html]
---
Information from [http://www.alarabonline.org/index.asp?fname=%5C2012%5C02%5C02-22%5C963.htm&dismode=x&ts=22-2-2012+6%3A35%3A37]: Fighting between the tribes Tobou & Azwaip in the desert in southeastern #Libya ,more than 100 ppl & 6 children killed. Said Isa Abdul Majid, leader of the tribe, Tobou, told AFP: "They killed 113 people from our tribe, including six children." A source of the NTC said "Isa Abdul Majid controls the southern border,he took control of the smuggling and Tobou tribes are controling the smuggling trade in the region. While Abdul Majid said that Tobou are the victims of a "genocide plan," adding that his tribe invoked the NTC but has not received any reply so far"
---
From the rats channel "First joy" - doctors in #Kufra hospital said that 75 Eastern Libyan fighters were captured by "Chadian forces".


2012-02-21 "S.O.S. Libya Report"
[http://libyasos.blogspot.com/2012/02/report-libya-21-february-2012.html]
KUFRA - More than 120 people killed & around 300 injured in tribal clashes in southern Libya in the last 10 days [RussiaToday]
---
 KUFRA - a complete withdrawal of NATO mercenaries from the airport because of the intense attack they suffered Libya
---
KUFRA - Green flags and national anthem in Kufra, Libya, today
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHgQ62BhxS0]

---
KUFRA - Green forces managed to capture several rebel tanks in Kufra, Libya
---
Libyan refugees who were displaced to Chad & Sudan during war, have vowed to come back & defend their friends & families in Kufra in Southern Libya
---
KUFRA threaten seccession from Libya because of the clashes in South-Eastern Libya after NTC failed to stop the conflict and ignored South-East, although this is the biggest territory which extends to the Libyan provinces on the Chad and Sudan's borders. [http://www.alquds.co.uk/index.asp?fname=today%5C13z493.htm&arc=data%5C2012%5C02%5C02-13%5C13z493.htm]
---
TUAREGS - The south will be separated from Libya:
Based on reality and events, as well as the new international situation and the project east to Aawst the great based on the division of country into regions, I can say that we are in the second phase of the secession of the south Libya,  The south Libyan decision it is to be the territory of the TPU and Tuaregs , and won't be subjected to ethnic cleansing and displacement, and this is clearly evident in several cities Katragn and Murzuq and Kufra and elsewhere, where there is a mobilization of Tabu and all their forces to get hold of the southern province, and they will have it sooner or later, in light of the weakness and fragmentation of the new Libyan state , and the conflicts raging between the tribes and all that which is preventing the unity of the state


2012-02-18 "S.O.S. Libya Report"
[http://libyasos.blogspot.com/2012/02/report-libya-18-february-2012.html]
A Libyan Toubou in Kuffra singing for Libyan Resistance
[Translation by Stephen Gule]
We are born here.
We live here.
We die here.
No to aggression.
No room for aggressors.
No room for invaders and imperialists.
Kuffra is not the place of agression.
The people here detest aggression.
Yousuf was killed by the aggressor he went to join.
The aggressor knows no peace.
This is our land, the history of eternity knows us.
Our soul lives in this sand, this is our land.
We will never and not will compromise.
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGjq2Gs1bjA]

---
NATO mercenaries fleeing Kufra, Libya, going back to the north
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HK50dDiJIIs]

---
KUFRA: STILL CLASHES-28 DEAD OF NTC MILITIAS, 25 CIVILIANS WOUNDED [via We are all Muammar Gaddafi]
Violent clashes in the town of Kufra southeast of the country and the infidels fist supporters Gaddafi: Coinciding with the celebrations fateful day Nakba Fresh clashes erupted between rats and supporters of Colonel Aalqmafa in the city of Kufra, southeast Libya, wounding at least 25 people wounded, 28 dead militias, rebels of NATO, as reported by the German Agency for News. Earlier, the said tribes in the far distant city of infidels, that dozens of people have been killed since last week in clashes between rival tribes for control of the disputed territories.
---
KUFRA -we received #news today confirming the renewed clashes within the kodrvi district & shoting indiscriminately in the neighbouring districts


2012-02-18 "S.O.S. Libya Report"
[http://libyasos.blogspot.com/2012/02/17-february-2012-reuters-flags-and-hope.html]
WHATS REALLY GOING ON IN KUFRA ???
People speaking. They said the fighting isn't between 2 tribes but these people are pro-gaddafi and they will not stop until they reach the sea.
And also they said that they are against NTC and their customers, and against their rules/laws...and that life was more better under Gaddafi.
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBhMZO_tLTw]



2012-02-16 "S.O.S. Libya Report"
[http://libyasos.blogspot.com/2012/02/report-libya-16-february-2012.html]
Benghazi - arrival of 12 wounded from #Kufra to #Benghazi on a plane, they were wounded yesterday evening in the clashes that take place in Kufra.



Wednesday, February 22, 2012

6th World

The 6th World is composed of sovereignty projects which do not share the definition of what constitutes nationhood.

Republic of the United states of America
[fifthworldnews.blogspot.com/2012/07/republic-of-united-states-of-america.html]

Nation of Islam (USA)
[fifthworldnews.blogspot.com/2013/02/nation-of-islam-usa.html]

People's Republic of Peru
[fifthworldnews.blogspot.com/2012/02/peoples-republic-of-peru.html]

Bolivarian Republic of Colombia
[fifthworldnews.blogspot.com/2012/04/bolivarian-republic-of-colombia.html]

Jamahiriya of Libya
[fifthworldnews.blogspot.com/2012/04/jamahiriya-of-libya.html]

Republic of Mombasa
[fifthworldnews.blogspot.com/2013/03/republic-of-mombasa.html]

Empire of All-Russia
[http://fifthworldnews.blogspot.com/2012/02/6th-world-empire-of-all-russia.html]

People's Republic of India
[fifthworldnews.blogspot.com/2011/12/peoples-republic-of-india-union-of.html]

People's Republic of Nepal

People's Democratic Republic of the Philippines
[fifthworldnews.blogspot.com/2012/02/peoples-republic-of-philippines.html]


6th World: Empire of All-Russia

2011-09 "Russian millionaire refounds the Russian Empire"
The Russian Empire has come to life again in the Pacific Ocean. To proclaim its serious (but also tongue-in-cheek) rebirth is 45-year-old Russian entrepreneur Anton Bakov. The new territory of the Russian Empire is an atoll of the Cook Islands archipelago, which was obtained with substantial local investments. The atoll is 168 hectares (415 acres) and uninhabited. Bakov, former right-wing deputy, has launched the refounded Russian Empire with 5 friends.

Signature and Title of the Emperor and Regent for the Empire of All-Russia


Российская Империя
[http://russianempire.org]


Passport for the Empire of All-Russia

 Copy of the 1st proclamation issued by the Empire of All-Russia


Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Great Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahiriya

2012-02-21 "Statement by the Supreme Commander of the armed factions of the Libyan resistance" published by "TATJANA-IV" [za-afriku.ru], reloaded by "LibyanFreePress.net"
[http://libyanfreepress.wordpress.com/2012/02/21/statement-by-the-supreme-commander-of-the-armed-factions-of-the-libyan-resistance/]
In the name of Allah!
Dear people of the Great Jamahiriya, greetings in honor of fighting and those who have received the greatest honour-honour of the martyr, who sacrificed life to precious homeland and honor and religion.
Greetings and love those who betrayed the precepts and the nation fell into the hands of enemies and subjected to all kinds of torture and executions, paying with their lives for their resilience.
A greeting and a tribute to all the families who have been displaced worldwide and cannot support themselves in order to survive.
We also welcome the Libyan army, the Mujahideen brigades and volunteers, all soldiers, soldiers and militia who are fighting in black times, without fear of death, and have shown persistence and courage.
In our beloved country is now the hard times that have plunged our people a few idiots and fools and stupid puppies that become deadly instruments of war, lies and deceit to flush blood into Libya and to submit it to the Americans and Europeans and that it would become an arena and a source of food for the heretics and the new old argument for foreign interference and hostile intelligence services.
Today we can say that we are aware of what is happening on the ground and that has been concealed from views and these events do not appear in the minds of ordinary Libyan nationals who lived in 42 security and stability.
And we say to our people that we made a promise to you and to our Chief Muammaru Gaddafi, who said: “keep up the resistance, even if you can’t hear my voice, and we said yes, we will continue our resistance to injustice in our country and has not been offended, we will fight, the brother leader and our goals are clear, we did not explode at home and not kill innocent people without indulging in massacres or forced displacements and do not distribute terror kidnappings and executions and torture and humiliation of the person and not blame the people unjustly and falsely and aggressively, but moving upwards and technique is clear and consistent from the Elimination of leaders of the rebellion and leaders of evil and aggression to strangers characters and traitors and mercenaries.
February 17 traitors don’t just show their stupidity and failure every day and around the world, and now most Libyans see their inability to conduct business in the country, and taking into account the interests of the citizens and they claim that all this is because were enemies and indeed murder and homicide and homicide and nothing but murder and this mask of false illusions of freedom and democracy will drop soon and nobody can fool all the people all the time.
And we say – we continue our way to the end and to lead the Green Brigade and fire control in our hearts and bequeath to future generations and we say these traitors – you’ll struggle with us and fight the generations that will come after us, and this continuity will continue day and night until victory, inšalla, and we will continue our struggle and the traitorswho know more than others and their supporters from the secret service, which does not stop its work nor for a moment that our leaders have fallen one after the other, and we were able to enter it in confusion, but the truth will spread and burn their range and lies.
Our struggle will bring and restore the legitimate right of all Libyans at the fair, free and fair elections under international supervision and with the participation of brother leaders Saif al-Islam Muammar al-Gaddafi as a candidate for the Presidency.
The whole world should know that it is in our interest to establish peace and stop the flow of blood, but the freedom and honour not an empty phrase for our people and we will continue our response to aggression and our faith gives us the strength to struggle against all those involved in the military and political treason and was responsible for the deaths of martyrs and innocent children.

Forward
God is great …
For honour and faith
Supreme Commander of the armed factions of the Libyan resistance
Released 15 Navara 1380
Keep up to date for security reasons

Monday, February 20, 2012

2012-02-20 "'It's Going to Be War': First Nations Battle Canadian Tar Sands" from "Common Dreams"
[http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/02/20-4]
The indigenous First Nations of Canada, along with environmentalists and civil society groups, are gearing up for an epic battle as the oil giant Enbridge continues to press for its 'Northern Gateway' pipeline that would transport tar sands oil from Alberta to the coast of British Columbia.  The fight against the Keystone XL has won at least a temporary victory in the United States, but its Canadian counterpart, despite vocal opposition by environmentalists and community members along its westward route, has been largely championed by the ruling conservative government in Ottawa.
The Los Angeles Times reports [http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-canada-pipeline-20120220,0,4067907,full.story]:
[begin excerpt]
The $5.5-billion Northern Gateway project, which would carry 525,000 barrels a day of crude 731 miles from a town near Edmonton through the Rocky Mountains to a new port on the British Columbia coast, has long been in the works as a companion to Keystone XL.
But with Keystone's recent turmoil in the U.S., Northern Gateway has risen to new prominence as a defiant Plan B for a nation increasingly aggressive in combating international hurdles, whether it's greenhouse gas treaties, low-carbon fuel standards or U.S. presidential politics.
"There has always been very strong support by the Harper government, by the province of Alberta and by the oil industry for the Northern Gateway pipeline. But there's no question that for all three of those entities, that urgency increased dramatically with the apparent defeat of Keystone XL," said George Hoberg, a political scientist and professor of forestry at the University of British Columbia. [...]
[end excerpt]
Canada's Harper-run government has lobbied hard on behalf of both the Keystone XL pipeline and Northern Gatway. First Nations and local municipalities, however, have refused to back down from their opposition. The Globe and Mail reported recently [http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/british-columbia/bc-politics/bc-energy-minister-slams-local-council-over-opposition-to-enbridge-pipeline/article2340719/]:
[begin excerpt]
More than 60 B.C. First Nations and aboriginal organizations have signed a declaration opposing the plan to build a 1,177-kilometre twin pipeline from Alberta to the northwest B.C. port of Kitimat, where huge oil tankers will ship oil to Asia and the United States.
The Union of B.C. Municipalities also voted against the oil pipeline at their meeting last fall. Terrace announced its opposition at a council meeting [last] week.
[end excerpt]
"Debate is especially intense here in British Columbia," according to the Los Angeles Times' Kim Murphy, who was in the town of Fort St. James for her report:
[begin excerpt]
Although some residents are eager for the tax revenue and thousands of local jobs the pipeline could bring, many who live along the corridor and in many First Nations territories, homelands of Canada's aboriginals, are mobilizing to fight it.
Crucial are the streams and tributaries of the Fraser and Skeena rivers that lie in the pipeline's path — possibly the greatest salmon rivers on Earth.
Along the coast, there are fears that piloting more than 200 oil tankers a year through the fiords of Douglas Channel and then southward could jeopardize the spectacular coastline of the famed Great Bear rain forest, full of azure waters and rocky waterfalls.
"We truly live in one of the most beautiful places on Earth. We live right at the start of the Fraser River watershed, and if we have a spill, it will devastate everything from here straight to the Pacific Ocean in Vancouver," said Bev Playfair, until recently a municipal councilor in Fort St. James, where a hearing on the pipeline this month was preceded by dozens of townspeople marching down the main street with signs such as "Say No to Enbridge."
The most formidable opposition comes from the First Nations of British Columbia, most of which, unlike those in other provinces, have never signed treaties with the federal government and thus have never relinquished title to their historic lands.
"We have the ability to go to court in Canada and say, 'What you are proposing violates the Constitution of Canada.' And that's the trump card in all of this," said Art Sterritt, director of the Coastal First Nations' Great Bear Initiative.
On the Saik'uz Reserve, near the town of Vanderhoof, schoolchildren spent part of the afternoon before the pipeline hearing making signs and sitting quietly as tribal leaders explained the project and why it must be stopped.
"You've got to understand that it's a huge, multibillion-dollar project that they're trying to put through our lands. And it's going to be a tough fight, because they have so much money. They probably have 10 lawyers to our one," Geraldine Thomas-Flurer, the Saik'uz First Nation's liaison on the Northern Gateway issue, told the students.
Tribal Chief Jackie Thomas has held meetings and written letters pointing out Enbridge's record on accidents, including the spill of 810,000 gallons of oil from a pipeline in Michigan in 2010, much of which flowed 30 miles downstream into the Kalamazoo River. Enbridge has spent $700 million so far and workers are still trying to clean it up.
"It's going to be a war," she predicted of the fight ahead. "The only question is, who's going to draw the first blood?"
[end excerpt]

Sunday, February 19, 2012

Mandā d-Heyyi (Mandean)

Mandā d-Heyyi (Mandaiia) (Manda ḏ-hiia) from Mandaic language translates as "Knowledge of Life"  

Information: 
[www.mandaeanunion.org]
[www.nineveh.com]
[www.mandaeans.net

A Mandean reads the Ginza the sacred text of Mandeanism on the banks of the Tigris River


2007-10-07 "Threatened in Iraq - Save the Gnostics" by Nathaniel Deutsch from "New York Times"
[http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/07/opinion/07iht-edeutsch.1.7783203.html]
The United States didn't set out to eradicate the Mandeans, one of the oldest, smallest and least understood of the many minorities in Iraq. This extinction in the making has simply been another unfortunate and entirely unintended consequence of the invasion of Iraq - though that will be of little comfort to the Mandeans, whose 2,000-year-old culture is in grave danger of disappearing from the face of the earth. The Mandeans are the only surviving Gnostics from antiquity, cousins of the people who produced the Nag Hammadi writings like the Gospel of Thomas, a work that sheds invaluable light on the many ways in which Jesus was perceived in the early Christian period. The Mandeans have their own language (Mandaic, a form of Aramaic close to the dialect of the Babylonian Talmud), an impressive body of literature, and a treasury of cultural and religious traditions amassed over two millennia of living in the southern marshes of present-day Iraq and Iran. Practitioners of a religion at least as old as Christianity, the Mandeans have witnessed the rise of Islam; the Mongol invasion; the arrival of Europeans, who mistakenly identified them as "Christians of St. John," because of their veneration of John the Baptist; and, most recently, the oppressive regime of Saddam Hussein, who drained the marshes after the first gulf war, an ecological catastrophe equivalent to destroying the Everglades. They have withstood everything - until now. Like their ancestors, contemporary Mandeans were able to survive as a community because of the delicate balance achieved among Iraq's many peoples over centuries of cohabitation. But our reckless prosecution of the war destroyed this balance, and the Mandeans, whose pacifist religion prohibits them from carrying weapons even for self-defense, found themselves victims of kidnappings, extortion, rapes, beatings, murders and forced conversions carried out by radical Islamic groups and common criminals. When American forces invaded in 2003, there were probably 60,000 Mandeans in Iraq; today, fewer than 5,000 remain. Like millions of other Iraqis, those who managed to escape have become refugees, primarily in Syria and Jordan, with smaller numbers in Australia, Indonesia, Sweden and Yemen. Unlike Christian and Muslim refugees, the Mandeans do not belong to a larger religious community that can provide them with protection and aid. Fundamentally alone in the world, the Mandeans are even more vulnerable and fewer than the Yazidis, another Iraqi minority that has suffered tremendously, since the latter have their own villages in the generally safer north, while the Mandeans are scattered in pockets around the south. They are the only minority group in Iraq without a safe enclave. When Mandeans do seek refuge in the Kurdish-dominated north, they report that they are typically viewed as southern, Arabic-speaking interlopers, or, if their Mandean identity is discovered, persecuted as religious infidels. In Syria and Jordan, Mandeans feel unable to practice their religion openly and, after years of severe deprivation, some have begun to convert simply in order to receive aid from Muslim and Christian relief agencies. Mandean activists have told me that the best hope for their ancient culture to survive is if a critical mass of Mandeans is allowed to settle in the United States, where they could rebuild their community and practice their traditions without fear of persecution. If this does not happen, individual Mandeans may survive for another generation, isolated in countries around the world, but the community and its culture may disappear forever. Of the mere 500 Iraqi refugees who were allowed into the United States from April 2003 to April 2007, only a few were Mandeans. And despite the Bush administration's commitment to let in 7,000 refugees in the fiscal year that ended last month, fewer than 2,000, including just three Iraqi Mandean families, entered the country. In September, the Senate took a step in the right direction when it unanimously passed an amendment to a defense bill that grants privileged refugee status to members of a religious or minority community who are identified by the State Department as a persecuted group and have close relatives in the United States. But because so few Mandeans live here, this will do little for those seeking asylum. The legislation, however, also authorizes the State and Homeland Security Departments to grant privileged status to "other persecuted groups," as they see fit. If all Iraqi Mandeans are granted privileged status and allowed to enter the United States in significant numbers, it may just be enough to save them and their ancient culture from destruction. If not, after 2,000 years of history, of persecution and tenacious survival, the last Gnostics will finally disappear, victims of an extinction inadvertently set into motion by our nation's negligence in Iraq.
2004-07-14 "Iraq: Old Sabaean-Mandean Community Is Proud of Its Ancient Faith; Iraq's Sabaean-Mandean religious community is one of the smallest and most peaceful in Iraq. Sabaeans insist their religion is one of the oldest in the world and consider themselves to be the followers of the message given to Adam, whom the Bible says is the first man created on Earth" by Valentinas Mite from "Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty"

[http://www.rferl.org/content/article/1053864.html]
Baghdad, 14 July 2004 (RFE/RL) -- Many in Iraq know Sabaean-Mandeans as a peaceful though strange religious community, more known for silver and gold craftsmanship than their religious beliefs.
Satar Jabar Helo is the head priest and spiritual leader of the Sabaeans in Iraq, a small community of some 75,000 believers.
Sabaeans also live in neighboring Iran. There are a total of 150,000 members worldwide.
Sabaeans are a lonely and reclusive community. Helo says they have not proselytized since 70 years after the death of Jesus Christ, when 365 Sabaean priest were killed in a single day in Babylon.
There is only one way to become a Sabaean, according to Helo: to be born to parents who both belong to the faith.
Helo, dressed in a white robe, with a long beard and flowing hair, speaks about darkness and light, good and evil, life and death, and the role of human beings in these unfolding cosmic events.
He says Sabaeans pray three times a day to God in Aramaic, a language close to the one spoken by Jesus Christ: "In the name of the living Great, in the name of the One and the Only One who is the world of pure light who gives a soul, gives health, peace and peace of heart and forgiveness of sins with the force of the explosions of light."
A Sabaean house of prayer, which bears a cross, resembles a Christian church. There is a difference, however, the Sabaean cross is half-covered with a piece of cloth.
Helo says the symbol has nothing to do with Christianity and Sabaeans do not consider Jesus Christ to be the son of God. The Sabaean cross has a different meaning.
"The symbol [of the cross] -- Darf -- symbolizes two branches of the olive tree [put on one another] making a plus sign, and the plus sign represents four sides of the universe," Helo says. "And God's light is symbolized by pure silk cloth [put on the sign]."
Helo says Sabaeans have no doubts their religion is older than Christianity, Judaism, or Islam.
"We believe our religion is older than Judaism, Islam or Christianity, and has nothing to do with those religions," he says. "The teaching we have is inherited generation by generation by copying [our sacred book] by hand. We believe that he who re-writes the book from the first to the last page will receive great blessings."
Helo says Sabaeans share some similarities with both Muslims and Christians. "We are similar with Islam in describing the God as one and indivisible," he says. "And we, like Christians, believe in the secret powers of baptism and give immense importance to Prophet Zakariya [John the Baptist]." Some say it is one of the reasons that Sabaean communities prefer to live near the water.
However, the differences seem to overweigh the similarities. Helo says the teachings of the Sabaeans was sent to Adam, the first human being on earth, by an archangel.
Sabaean dogma is written in the holy book "Kinzeraba," or "The Holy Treasure." The book describes light as fighting against darkness or evil. White and other light tones are the favored colors of Sabaeans.
Helo explains why: "Wearing white means belonging to the world of light and means wearing the clothes of angels. We [priests] do not wear anything but white. We pray only when we wear white. All colors come from the color white. You can't make any colors from black."
Sabaeans need to obey the provisions written in "The Holy Treasure." They are forbidden to kill, lie, commit adultery or theft, or consume alcohol. They are also forbidden to mourn the dead, and must fast 36 days a year, abstaining from eating meat, eggs, and fish.
Members of the community should help poor people, making no distinction between co-religionists and outsiders. Wafah Sabah, a woman in her 20s, tells RFE/RL that Sabaeans treat one another as members of a family.
"We are all brothers and sisters. If somebody needs help, we will help," Sabah says. "If you help another person, another day he will help you. We, Mandeans, are one family; we are all brothers and sisters. There is no difference between this man and that girl."
However, nowadays Sabaeans are often disliked by radical Muslim groups.
"We suffered from [the Saddam Hussein] regime but our main grievance is that we suffer as a nation which is [always] treated as third-rate,” says Helo. “Not only Sabaeans [suffer] but also our Christian brothers [in Iraq]. This is a complex [of this society]. They consider those of us who are not Muslims to be atheists. And it is permissible to kill or rob an atheist.
Helo says that some radical Shi'a Muslim clerics have delivered fatwas, or religious orders, condemning Sabaeans.
"A courageous Muslim cleric should go and read our sacred book and see that what we follow is a pure teaching," Helo says.



"Old religion survives on banks of Tigris" by Khaled Yacoub Oweis
BAGHDAD, June 17 (Reuters) - Iraqi devotees of an obscure religion perform virginity tests on their brides and take a dip in the murky Tigris river every Sunday to purify the soul.
"It is okay if the bride has lost her virginity. Only the ceremony would be different," Sheikh Asaad Fayyad of the Sabea Mandean Nation, a relic of the ancient Gnostic religions, said at a wedding for five couples at the sect's compound in Baghdad.
John the Baptist, New Testament forerunner to Jesus Christ, is the central figure for the world's 20,000 or so Mandeans, most of whom live in southern Iraq and southwestern Iran.
The Mandeans, forbidden to marry outside the sect, are dwindling in number. Their scholars trace the religion's roots to Adam, whom they say lived 980 million years ago -- pushing mankind's origins far earlier than those proposed by science.
Apart from a now tiny Jewish community, the Mandeans form the smallest group on Iraq's religious spectrum, which ranges from majority Shi'ite and Sunni Muslims to minority Christians and Yazidis, an offshoot of Shi'ism.
Mandeans are secretive, wary of revealing their rites for fear of antagonising their compatriots, especially after the U.S.-led invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein in April.
The former Iraqi ruler did not interfere with them and allowed an Arabic edition of their holy book, Kanz Irba (Great Treasure), to be published two years ago.
Prayer and ceremonies are conducted in Aramaic, the language Jesus spoke. The Mandean ethic is similar to the Judeo- Christian tradition. They regard Jesus with suspicion, saying he added nothing to the message of John the Baptist and prophets before him.
The Mandeans encourage procreation and prefer mass weddings.
[...]
 

2003-09-02 “Dwindling sect attempts to rebuild in Iraq” By Pamela Hess, UPI Pentagon Correspondent  BAGHDAD, Iraq, Sept. 2 (UPI) --
The end of the short war brought long-awaited news for the Mandeans, an obscure religious sect that follows the teachings of John the Baptist and takes a somewhat dim view of Christ and Mohammed though it respects all religions.
 Documents recovered from the vaults of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein provided answers for what happened to 69 of the sect's members who disappeared. They were executed. A mass funeral laid their souls to rest Aug. 8.
 The Mandeans, or Sabeans as they are known in Iraq, are still awaiting news of 73 others, all of who disappeared during the 40 years Saddam's Baath Party was in power. It's a paltry number compared to what other groups have lost to political violence in Iraq, but when you are among 20,000 like-minded believers, each one counts, says Alaa Dhlh Kamar, the spokesman for the church in Baghdad.
 The U.S. led war exacted its own toll -- 31 Mandeans died in the bombing of Baghdad, 13 of them in a single house, Kamar said.
 Despite the losses, which are felt grievously, it is a great relief for the Mandeans to be free of Saddam. The regime made a big show of allowing the Mandeans to practice their religion unfettered, as they were considered "people of the book" -- actually mentioned in the Koran -- but Kamar says it was just that: show.
 "We practices freely in the public media only," he said.
 The Mandeans were a periodic stop for the international media as it trouped through pre-war Baghdad. Their unusual baptismal ritual -- often once weekly, with the adherents in glowing white robes -- and multiple simultaneous weddings made for good television and good public relations for the regime, which systematically slaughtered Kurds, Shiites and political opponents.
 [...]
 The Mandeans were not allowed to have schools for their children to teach them the ancient Aramaic in which their sacred texts are written. Al-Ginza Raba, which means "the greatest treasury," their holy book was translated into Arabic by a famous Iraqi poet two years ago after more than 2,000 years in the lost language. The religion will have a hard time recovering from 40 years of oppression.
 [...]


1994-03-21 "MANDAEANS IN EXILE IN AMERICA: A Report"
[http://www.gnosis.org/mandean.america.html]
These years, there are several hundred Iraqi and Iranian Mandaeans in the U.S. and Canada, who have arrived especially during or after the wars since l980. A Mandaean family in La Mesa, California, headed by a poet famous throughout the Arab world, Lamea Abbas Amara, publishes an international newsletter-- mainly in Arabic--for Mandaeans (and others): Mandaee. The family would like to know whether anyone is interested in--and might find the means to make-- Mandaic computer fonts. Two other, larger, concerns that we wish to make known to the scholarly public are:
-
1. Ms. Amara possesses a number of original Mandaean manuscripts from her (deceased) maternal grandfather, Sheikh Jawda of Amara, Iraq. They are:
2 Ginzas; 1 book of 'nianas; 1 very long scroll containing 5 zraztas; 1 book of masbuta and masiqta prayers, bound together with 1 Book of John; 1 Book of the Zodiac.
All are in beautiful condition, in clear script, written in the present or in the l9th century. As very few Mandaean mss. --certainly none of the "great texts"-- exist in university libraries in the USA, it would be desirable to make these mss. available to scholars and research libraries in microfilm/ microfiche. However, funds are needed for this project. Suggestions and proposals are encouraged for arrangements whereby the original mss. would remain in L. A. Amara's ownership, microfilm/fiches made, and a fee paid to her each time new copies are ordered. For example, a university library or research institution house the first film/fiches, and arrange to have them multiplied under an agreement with L. A. Amara.
-
2. There is a strong wish to create a Mandaean center and museum on a river in Florida. So far, Mandaeans on this continent are unable to be baptised, married, and, at bodily death, be conveyed to the Lightworld (almad-nhura) in the prescribed manner. Considerable funds are needed to purchase land, build a culthut (mandi), and to support a priest either to live in Florida, or to travel regularly from the Near East to conduct ceremonies here. Other buildings, such as a museum with a library, a small Mandaean restaurant, and gold-and-silversmith shops, are also envisioned. The general public would be able to learn about Mandaean religion, and to watch ceremonials from a respectful, specified distance.
Currently, Australia has an immigration agreement with Iran enabling a Mandaean priest to enter annually to N.S.W. (to the Sydney suburbs) so that he may conduct ceremonials for the Mandaeans there. However, they have no mandi, so the rituals are not really "correct," and the Florida plan for the Mandaeans here would the most satifying arrangement, according to L. A. Amara.
-
It is our hope to elicit suggestions and proposals in these matters from among the AOS membership. Mandaeans wish to establish memselves on this continent as a religious group, not to be absorbed into the secular cultures, but to nourish and uphold their identity by making a sacred space here. In the strength of Yawar Ziwa and Simat Hiia! May Life be victorious!
 Jorunn J. Buckley
 P.O.Box 1053
 Eastham, MA 02642
 Lamea Abbas Amara
 5757 Lake Murray Blvd. #50
 La Mesa, CA 91942-2212