Sonntag, 20. November 2011

No Time for Losers




Darwinian principles should apply in the euro zone and the rule of survival of the fittest prevail, with the strongest economies having the leading say in how the bloc is run, Finland's Europe Minister Alex Stubb said on Thursday. Setting out his argument for the euro zone's six triple-A rated countries to have more influence in the region's economic management, Stubb said the 13-year-old currency needed to look to its strongest members to secure the future. "We've been looking at the whole debate from the wrong end, we've been looking at countries that we need to save and help all the time," he told Reuters in an interview. "For me, the euro is a Darwinist system, it is the survival of the fittest. The markets take care of that, and I think that's the best way we can keep up market pressure," said Stubb, who is himself a fitness fanatic and frequently completing Ironman triathlons.

- Reuters, 17 November 2011







Welche Werkzeuge findet der Planet-Manager vor? Wie kann er seinen Auftrag wahrnehmen, während ringsumher die überflüssigen Massen nicht nur nach Brot, sondern nach Lebenssinn schreien? Wenn die ständigen Massaker auf dem ganzen Globus sich immer unabweisbarer als Schlachten im Kampf um Wasser und Ackerboden entpuppen?

Zunächst muß überwacht werden, und zwar gründlich und lückenlos. Hitlers Drittes Reich hatte für damalige Verhältnisse einen gewaltigen Lausch- und Spähapparat aufgebaut, aber verglichen mit den Verhältnissen unter Stalin, und natürlich erst recht im Vergleich zu den heutigen Möglichkeiten, war er eine recht altmodische und klapprige Angelegenheit…

Es wird auch selektiert werden müssen. Gut, die Sache der Menschenrechte hat in der zweiten Jahrhunderthälfte Fortschritte gemacht, kein Zweifel…

Dennoch, es wird selektiert. Hier und heute.

Manchmal findet die Auswahl äußerst konkret statt, und dann zeigt sich, daß sie immer noch nach alten Kriterien funktioniert. Rupert Neudeck, der Initiator der „Cap Anamur“-Hilfe, hat erst jüngst darauf hingewiesen, daß bei den großen Massakern in Ruanda zunächst und reflexhaft die Weißen ausgeflogen wurden – einschließlich belgischer Nonnen, die sich solche rassistische Präferenz, die nicht ganz ihren Ordensgelübden entsprach, durchaus gefallen ließen. Es konnte dabei zu der grotesken, aber bezeichnenden Situation kommen, daß ein US-amerikanischer Diplomat zurückgelassen wurde, weil er eine schwarze Haut hat und man ihn deshalb automatisch zu den Überflüssigen rechnete.

Selektiert wird von der transnationalen Finanzmacht schon vorher, wenn es um die Verlängerung von Krediten, die Umschuldung der Ärmsten, die Bedingungen für weiter gewährtes Wohlwollen geht.

Selektiert wird durch die GATT-Abkommen, welche der sicherste und unauffälligste Weg zur Ausrottung etwa noch existierender traditioneller Gesellschaften und Kulturen sind.

Selektiert wird an den Grenzen des Schengener Abkommens, auf deutschen Flughäfen, wo das einst sehr liberale deutsche Asylrecht zu einem bürokratischen Fegefeuer geworden ist. Sinn solcher Selektion ist die Bewahrung des Wohlstandsgefälles, das nicht zuletzt durch die vorhergehende Selektion, nämlich die terms of trade, die internationalen Handelsbedingungen, entstanden ist.

Selektiert wird in nie dagewesener Breite und Gründlichkeit in der Arbeitswelt. Die jahrtausendelang geltende Qualifikation eines arbeitswilligen Normalmenschen, der über starke Muskeln, geschickte Hände und einige Ausdauer verfügt, ist völlig unwichtig geworden. Man geht davon aus, daß die erwünschte Produktion der Weltwirtschaft dank der technisch-wissenschaftlichen Innovation von etwa zwanzig Prozent der Weltbevölkerung geleistet werden kann. Der Rest wird vorläufig von der schon etwas tatterigen Wach- und Schließgesellschaft der Nationalstaaten betreut, aber eines Tages, das ist vorauszusehen, muß er entsorgt werden.

Selektiert wird aber auch in den obersten Stockwerken der Weltökonomie. Die Riesensaurier mit den großen Firmen- und Konzernnamen verschlingen einander in mehr oder weniger freundlichen takeovers, wobei mehr oder weniger klar der Endzustand eines weltweiten Gesamtkapitalisten am Horizont erscheint. Wackere Kartellämter versuchen die Entwicklung wenigstens zu bremsen, aber allzuviel Glück haben sie dabei nicht. Man hat für diese Spielchen die Regeln der grausamen Königin in den ökonomischen Regelkreis hineingenommen; was dabei an Schicksalen den Bach hinunter geht, ist unvermeidlich, also uninteressant, und wird höchstens durch sogenannte Sozialpläne abgefedert. Der Gesamtkapitalist am Ende der Selektionskette kann sich dann als Planet-Manager konstituieren und die große Rechnung aufmachen, die über kurz oder lang fällig ist.

- Carl Amery, Hitler als Vorläufer. Auschwitz – der Beginn des 21.Jahrhunderts ?, Luchterhand, München 1998, Seite 176-179 (gekürzt)





Die Bundesrepublik Deutschland ist ein demokratischer und sozialer Bundesstaat. Alle Staatsgewalt geht vom Volke aus. Sie wird vom Volke in Wahlen und Abstimmungen und durch besondere Organe der Gesetzgebung, der vollziehenden Gewalt und der Rechtsprechung ausgeübt. Die Gesetzgebung ist an die verfassungsmäßige Ordnung, die vollziehende Gewalt und die Rechtsprechung sind an Gesetz und Recht gebunden. Gegen jeden, der es unternimmt, diese Ordnung zu beseitigen, haben alle Deutschen das Recht zum Widerstand, wenn andere Abhilfe nicht möglich ist.

- Grundgesetz der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Artikel 20 (der letzte Satz über das Widerstandsrecht wurde 1968, im Zuge der Notstandsgesetze, in den Gesetzestext eingefügt)







***





Music: Queen’s "We Are the Champions", released as single the 7 October 1977, is from their studio album "News of the World". It has become an anthem for sporting victories and was recently voted catchiest pop song of all time by some sort of 'rocket scientists' who were relying on ‘maths, science, engineering and technology’… I don't like this song, because for me it’s the secret anthem of neoliberalism.




Mittwoch, 16. November 2011

This Is Not America


Das System der Befehle ist allgemein anerkannt. Am schärfsten ausgeprägt hat es sich wohl in den Armeen. Aber viele andere Bereiche des zivilisierten Lebens sind vom Befehl ergriffen und gezeichnet. Der Tod als Drohung ist die Münze der Macht. Es ist leicht, hier Münze auf Münze zu legen und enorme Kapitalien anzusammeln. Wer der Macht beikommen will, der muß den Befehl ohne Scheu ins Auge fassen und die Mittel finden, ihn seines Stachels zu berauben.

- Elias Canetti, Masse und Macht (Crowds and Power), Schluß


According to the Syrian Uprising 2011 Information Center (16/11/2011), the place where this man is tortured and mistreated is Kafr Nabl, 40 km south of Idlib, Syria.

Donnerstag, 10. November 2011

Fear Form Flying


- Politics is over, Charles, it doesn’t touch the public imagination any longer. Religions emerged too early in human evolution – they set up symbols that people took literally, and they’re as dead as a line of totem poles. Religions should have come later, when the human race begin to near the end. Sadly, crime is the only spur that rouses us. We’re fascinated by that “other world” where everything is possible.

- Most people would say there’s more than enough crime already.

- But not here !

-- J. G. Ballard, Cocaine Nights (1996), Counterpoint, Washington, D.C. 1998, page 245


Über solch gut und so rein geschriebenen Nonsens mag man nicht diskutieren. Zwischen der beliebig hervorragenden Ästhetik gewisser Phänomene, z.B. der Kristallisierung der Welt oder des vom Busch und Krokodilen überschwemmten London und der wachsenden Existenz, die in diesen Phänomen vernichtet wird, gibt es keinerlei Übergänge. Eine Guillotine, ganz mit Veilchen geschmückt, bleibt eine Guillotine. Die Ästhetik der Vernichtungsformen, das ist eine Sache, und ihr, das persönliche Sein vernichtender Charakter, ist eine andere Sache; zwischen den Kategorien der Eschatologie und der Ästhetik gibt es keine Konjunktionen. Wenn wir das sagen, dann tun wir das nicht als blinde, hartnäckige Anhänger des empirischen Credo. Keineswegs ! Nur, in welche ontologische und metaphysische Ordnung eigentlich sollen wir diese Art der Beziehung „Subjekt – Objekt“ hineinstecken, damit eine Begriffsadäquation entsteht ? Denn rein ästhetische Argumente sind kein Fundament für eine Metaphysik als Existenztheorie. Wenn Glaubensliturgien schöne Objekte benutzen, dann gilt diese Schönheit nicht als autonom: ist sie doch sakral geweiht. Dadurch kann sie nicht völlig geschlossen in ihrer Ästhetik gehalten werden. Sie ist nur ein Signum der Offenbarung, ein Hinweis auf die Anmut der Transzendenz, sie tritt hier nur zeitweilig in den Rechten eines symbolischen Vertreters auf. Wir würden daher jeden für irre halten, der das Kreuzeszeichen durch ein Kreiszeichen zu ersetzen verlangt, weil – seiner Meinung nach – „ein Kreis schöner als ein Kreuz“ sei; als einen Irren und nicht als einen Metaphysiker sollen wir auch denjenigen ansehen, der uns die Vernichtung schmackhaft machen will, indem er ihr ein ästhetisch attraktives Äußeres gibt. Nicht der ist heiliger, der auf dem Scheiterhaufen schöner brennt …

Die Erzählungen Ballards sind jedoch im allgemeinen gut geschrieben.

-- Stanisław Lem, Phantastik und Futurologie I (polnisch 1970), Frankfurt am Main 1984, Seite 283 (über Ballards Roman „The Illuminated Man“ und die Erzählung „The Drowned World“)


While in the RAF, Ballard also wrote his first science fiction story, "Passport to Eternity", as a pastiche and summary of the American science fiction he had read.


He left the RAF in 1954 after two years and returned to England. In 1955 he married Helen Mary Matthews and settled in Chiswick, the first of their three children being born the following year. From 1957, Ballard worked as assistant editor on the scientific journal "Chemistry and Industry". In 1960 Ballard moved with his family to the middle-class London suburb of Shepperton in Surrey. In 1964 Ballard's wife Mary died suddenly of pneumonia, leaving him to raise their three children – James, Fay and Bea Ballard – by himself.

--http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._G._Ballard



Ballard zog seine drei Kinder alleine auf. Er behauptete, die Hausarbeit lasse sich in fünf Minuten erledigen, vorausgesetzt, man mache keinen Fetisch aus der Sache. Die Presse belegte ihn mit dem Beinamen "Prophet von Shepperton".

-- http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Graham_Ballard



1955 heiratete J.G. Ballard die aus wohlhabenden Verhältnissen stammende Sekretärin Mary Matthews. In „Wunder des Lebens“ erinnert er sich, daß sie im Gegensatz zu seinen Eltern von seiner Zukunft als Autor überzeugt war, ihm anfangs sogar ihre Schreibmaschine lieh. Pragmatisch, aber auch romantisch.

--Wolfgang Frömberg, „Ein Leben wie im Flug“, FAZ, 10. November 2011, Seite 30 (über Ballards jetzt in deutscher Übersetzung bei Edition Phantasia erschienene Autobiographie „Miracles of Life")




PHOTO: JG Ballard and his children. He acknowledged reading his daughters' copies of the "New Musical Express" during the punk era. "I'd grab it from them and start reading avidly, because it seemed to convey the news, not about rock music, which I wasn't interested in, but about the larger world." - J. G. Ballard mit seinen Kindern Fay, James und Beatrice

http://www.rrr.org.au/playlist/5740/


Mittwoch, 1. Juni 2011

O Banqueiro Anarquista



Wir hatten das Abendessen beendet. Mir gegenüber saß mein Freund, der Bankier, ein großer Händler und namhafter Schieber; er rauchte wie einer, der nicht denkt. Die Unterhaltung war allmählich ins Stocken geraten und erstarrte schließlich ganz. Ich versuchte auf gut Glück, sie wieder in Gang zu bringen und bediente mich dabei der erstbesten Idee, die mir durch den Kopf ging. Lächelnd wandte ich mich ihm zu:

"Richtig! Mir wurde erzählt, Sie seien früher Anarchist gewesen."

"Ich bin es nicht nur gewesen, ich bin es noch immer. In dieser Hinsicht habe ich mich nicht geändert. Ich bin Anarchist."

"Was Sie nicht sagen! Sie und Anarchist? Und wieso wären Sie Anarchist? ... Sie verstehen das Wort vielleicht anders..."

"Anders im gewöhnlichen Sinn? Nein, keineswegs. Ich gebrauche es ganz im gewöhnlichen Sinn."

"Sie wollen also sagen, Sie seien Anarchist im selben Sinne wie diese Typen von den Arbeiterorganisationen? Es gäbe also keinen Unterschied zwischen Ihnen und diesen Bombenlegern und Gewerkschaftstypen ?"

"Daß ich nicht das Leben der Bombenleger und Gewerkschaftstypen führe, stimmt. Doch deren Leben spielt sich jenseits des Anarchismus, jenseits ihrer Ideale ab. Meines nicht. In mir - jawohl, in mir, dem Bankier, dem großen Händler und Schieber, wenn Sie es so hören wollen - in mir vereinigen sich beide, Theorie und Praxis des Anarchismus, auf's genaueste. Sie haben mich mit diesen Idioten von Bombenlegern, mit denen von der Gewerkschaft verglichen, um zu beweisen, ich sei anders als sie. Das bin ich auch, nur ist der Unterschied folgender: die da (jawohl, die da, nicht ich) sind nur in der Theorie Anarchisten, ich bin es in der Theorie und in der Praxis. Die da sind Anarchisten und Dummköpfe, ich bin Anarchist und gescheit. Darum mein Guter, bin ich der wahre Anarchist!"

- Fernando Pessoa, Ein anarchistischer Bankier (1922)









***

Die deutsche Übersetzung von Reinold Werner erschien 1986 als Quartheft 146 im Berliner Verlag Klaus Wagenbach.

Freitag, 13. Mai 2011

Don't do it, Ameneh !




Ameneh Bahrami is an Iranian woman blinded and badly disfigured in an acid attack by a fellow student at Tehran university in October 2004, after she had rejected his romantic advances. In the following trial she informed the court that she desired "to inflict the same life on him that he inflicted on me". In February 2009, the criminal court ordered qisas (retaliation) on her attacker and entitled her to blind him with acid as well. This sentence was reportedly set to be carried out on Saturday the 14th May 2011; it was postponed at the 11th hour on Saturday, the ISNA news agency reported.








Freitag, 22. April 2011

The Trial of Jesus





The trial of Jesus (Christ before Caiphas)

Scrovegni Chapel, Padua, Italy, painted 1304-1313 by Giotto





"Again the high priest asked him, and said unto him, Art thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed? And Jesus said, I am: and ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven. Then the high priest rent his clothes, and saith, What need we any further witnesses? Ye have heard the blasphemy: what think ye? And they all condemned him to be guilty of death."

- The Holy Gospel according to Mark, Chapter 14, 61-64

See also this story according to Matthew, Chapter 26, line 63-66. The essential difference between both texts is that Marc says the high priest tore his shirt (in biblical Greek: tous chitônas), while Matthew identifies him expressingly as Caiphas and says he tore his cloak (tà imátia). Luke and John do not report this gesture. The rending or tearing of one’s clothes (as a sign of intense grief and anger) is a common mourning practice in historical Mediterranean & Near Eastern cultures and other parts of the world. In Jewish tradition it is known as Kriah.








Freitag, 25. Februar 2011

The Arab Revolution

On February 21st protesters gather in Libya's second-largest city, Benghazi, where the uprising against the regime of Col. Muammar el-Gaddafi began the 16th February. The protesters made their own flags to replace those representing their dictator's regime (Photo via Public Broadcasting Service, USA)



On February 25th, the first Friday prayer service since Benghazi declared itself free from Colonel Gaddafi, was charged with emotion, both triumph and anger. Worshipers cried as an imam, on a stage and through loudspeakers, gave a defiant, impassioned speech about liberating Tripoli, and the fight for justice and freedom. Benghazi is now being run by committees of citizens (Photo: Suhaib Salem/Reuters via Boston Globe; with text from NYT)




In Benghazi, a relative mourns the death of Ahmed Sarawi, 36, who was killed in recent clashes. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said today that reports indicated that "thousands may have been killed or injured" during the regime's bloody attacks against the uprising. (Photo: Suhaib Salem/Reuters via Boston Globe)



Migrant laborers and other expatriates prepare to board a ship going to Greece from the Libyan harbor in Benghazi. (Photo: Asmaa Waguih/Reuters via Boston Globe)


The Libyan uprising and brutal counterattacks by forces still loyal to Muammar el-Gaddafi have prompted tens of thousands to flee, including these Chinese evacuees arriving on the Greek part of the island of Crete. Many of those fleeing were able to take Greek ferries to safety; others were stuck in Libyan ports waiting for ships to arrive and seas to calm. The main airport in Libya has been overrun with people desperate to leave, witnesses say. (Photo/text: Aris Messinis/AFP/Getty Images via Boston Globe)



Libyan protesters shout slogans against Libyan leader Muammar el-Gaddafi in front of the Libyan embassy in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (Photo: Getty Images via New Statesman, UK)


Anti-government protesters attend a rally in Taiz, Yemen, on February 25th. It was the biggest pro-democracy protest day in Yemen's recent history. Local media reported 30,000 demonstrators in Sana'a and more than 100,000 nationwide. In Saana where also 10,000 government loyalists took to the streets the protestors called for an end to the 32-year reign of President Ali Abdullah Saleh. The protest was peaceful, though at times tense. Protesters want better living conditions as well as political reform. One banner read simply: "Look at the gap between rich and poor." In the southern port city of Aden with more than 10,000 people on the streets two people were killed and thirty-four wounded, mostly by live bullets, witnesses said. (Photo: Reuters via Time, USA; text from The Guardian, UK, and The Peninsula, Qatar)



Sana'a, Yemen, 25 February: An anti-government protester chants slogans demanding the resignation of President Ali Abdullah Saleh. The president ordered security services to protect protesters. (Photot/text: Muhammed Muheisen/AP via The Guardian, UK)



Iraqi anti-government protesters confronting the riot police during a demonstration in Baghdad on Friday 25th, billed as "day of rage". Thousands marched on government buildings and clashed with security forces Friday in cities across Iraq in an outpouring of anger that left eleven people dead — the largest and most violent anti-government protests in the country since political unrest began spreading in the Arab world weeks ago. (Photo/text: AP via Arab News, Saudi-Arabia)


Bahraini protesters thronged Manama on Friday to demand the end of the ruling Sunni regime, as top US military officer Admiral Mike Mullen reaffirmed Washington's commitment to embattled King Hamad. "The people want to topple the regime!" roared tens of thousands of demonstrators in Pearl Square, which has become the epicentre of protests that began on February 14th (Photo: Associated Press; text: Agence France-Presse)



Today, February 25th, protesters, not satisfied with only ridding Egypt of Mubarak, protested the new cabinet. Tens of thousands rallied in Cairo's Tahrir Square, keeping the pressure on Egypt's military rulers to carry out reforms and calling for the dismissal of members of the Mubarak regime who are still in place. (Photo: Khalil Hamra/AP; text: Axis of Logic)


Tunisians chant slogans as they hold Tunisian and old Libyan flags during an anti-Gaddafi protest at the Tunisian-Libyan border crossing of Ras Jdir. Weighed down with suitcases, blankets, and, for some, horrific memories, people fled into Tunisia by the thousands. (Photo/text: Zohra Bensemra/Reuters via Boston Globe)



Freitag, 11. Februar 2011

Tunisia's and Egypt's Revolution

Tarek el-Tayyib Mohamed Ben Bouazizi, known as Basboosa, the street vendor who set himself on fire on December 17, 2010, in protest of the confiscation of his wares and sparked the Tunisian Revolution




An Egyptian woman cries as she celebrates the news of the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak, who handed control of the country to the military, Friday night, in Tahrir Square, Cairo





Freitag, 4. Februar 2011

On Revolution

Cairo, Friday night: Several thousand demonstrators remained in Tahrir Square, for the Night Prayer and Protest, after curfew (Photo: Ed Ou for The New York Times)


From the writings of Ruhollah Khomeini:

"All governments in the world are based on bayonets. We do not know any monarchy or republic in the contemporary world that is founded on justice and reason. They all maintain themselves only by repression."


From the New York Times, USA (by Anthony Shadid):

" 'We decided on eliminating all businessmen', Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq said Friday of his cabinet in an interview with Al Arabiya, an Arabic satellite channel, in a gesture toward protesters who have made Mr. Ezz a symbol of everything corrupt about the state."


From the Press Trust of India via Hindustan Times:

"A failed assassination bid against Egyptian Vice President Omar Suleiman has left two of his bodyguards dead, according to a media report. The incident was reported by Fox News which said, "Such an attempt on the life of Omar Suleiman would mark an alarming turn in the uprising against the government of President Hosni Mubarak, who only recently named Suleiman as Vice President in an effort to quell the unrest and possibly line up a successor." White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, however, refused to comment on the issue."


From the Indo-Asian News Service via Deccan Herald, India:

"Protesters stand their ground in Cairo square

Cairo, Feb 5, (IANS):

Defiant protesters continued to camp in Cairo's Tahrir Square to seek the ouster of Hosni Mubarak, a day after tens of thousands of Egyptians held a ''day of departure'' for their president who has ruled for the past 30 years.

Demonstrators stood their ground in Tahrir Square, the focal point of the unrest that has swept through the country. Massive protests also took place in Alexandria, Mahalla and Giza. The protests entered the 12th day Saturday.

Mubarak is under intense pressure to quit as the protests gained momentum. He said he is willing to step down at the end of his term in September, but refused to quit now. He has even warned that if he leaves now, there will be chaos in the country.The protesters are unimpressed with Mubarak's statement and have kept up their demand for his immediate ouster.

Al Jazeera reported Saturday that protests continued into the night as the demonstrators defied a curfew. The newly relaxed curfew now runs from 7 p.m. to 6 a.m. local time.

The protesters have made it clear that they would not budge till Mubarak steps down.

"It's either death, or freedom," a protester said.

'Go Mubarak!' chanted the protesters.

Egypt's Defence Minister Mohamed Hussein Tantawi was a surprise visitor to ground zero Tahrir Square Friday. He met his military commanders and a few protesters [see photo below].

The square has been encircled by the army with checkpoints at a few entrances and the soldiers have been trying to keep the pro-Mubarak supporters away from the anti-president demonstrators [see also this Tahrir square protest diagramm].

The unrest had turned violent Wednesday when bloody clashes took place between the pro- and anti-government supporters, leaving 13 people dead and over 1,000 injured. It has been estimated that around 300 people have died across Egypt.

On Friday, there was a huge cheer when a rumour went around that Mubarak had stepped down. The protest leaders quickly said it was false. The protesters became even more upbeat, saying it will be true the next time around.

An Egyptian journalist died Friday of a gunshot wound suffered while covering the unrest a week ago in Cairo, the Committee to Protect Journalists said in New York.

Ahmad Mohamed Mahmoud, who was working for the newspaper al-Ta'awun, was hit by what the newspaper described as sniper fire while filming a confrontation between security forces and protesters Jan 28 near Cairo's Tahrir Square, DPA reported.

His death Friday was the first by a journalist covering the unrest in Egypt, according to CPJ. A number of journalists have been detained or assaulted while covering the protests in Egypt.

Hosni Mubarak said he doesn't care what people say about him and was fed up of being president.

"I don't care what people say about me. Right now I care about my country, I care about Egypt," said Mubarak. Mubarak, 82, told ABC News that he was fed up of being president.

He said he would like to leave now, but can't as he fears that the country would sink into chaos, ABC News reported."

A natural gas pipeline exploded on Saturday in El Arish in Egypt's North Sinai, after mass protests broke out in the country more than a week ago (Photo: Xinhua)

See also

Iranian leader links risings in North Africa to Iran's revolution (CNN, USA)

Egyptian Journalist Dies of Gunshot Wounds (A roundup on violence against journalists, from Associated Press via New York Times)

Saboteurs attack Egypt gas pipeline to Israel (Agence France-Presse via Ma'an News Agency, Palestine, see also Jerusalem Post, Israel)

Anti-Mubarak protests staged in Mauritanian capital (trend, Azerbaijan)

We Are All Egyptians (New York Times' Nicholas Kristof reporting from Tahrir Square on Thursday)

Mubarak's Hired Thugs - Rural Poor Paid To Attack Opposition Supporters (Der Spiegel, Germany, via Free Interned Press, USA)



Egypt's defense minister, Mohamed Tantawi, center (with cap), spoke with demonstrators on Friday in Cairo. (Photo: Khaled Desouki/AFP- Getty)


Source:

Ayatollah Khomeini, Meine Worte. Weisheiten-Warnungen-Weisungen (Auszüge aus Valayat-e Faqih, Kaschfol Asrar und Touzih-ul Masa'el), München 1980, Seite 19 (Original title: Principes politiques, philosophiques, sociaux et religieux, Paris 1979)




Donnerstag, 3. Februar 2011

Growing concerns over rise in killings - UN urges Iran to halt executions

Undated photo of Zahra Bahrami, an Iranian-Dutch citizen, who was executed under dubious circumstances in Tehran on Saturday, January 30

While there seems to be no change in the cases of Sakineh Ashtiani and Habibollah Latifi (who are still supposed remaining on death row), there are now growing concerns not only in Western media over a dramatic rise of executions so far in 2011 in Iranian prisons. Expressing alarm at the increase, United Nations human rights chief Navi Pillay said on Wednesday at least 66 people were executed in January in Iran, while Ms Pillay’s aides said they had recorded about 300 executions for the whole of last year.

Two Iranian opposition leaders, Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, have also condemned the growing number of executions in Iran, while expressing support for the popular movements that are shaking up countries in the Arab world.

On Monday, the U.S. State Department had urged the Iranian government to halt executions after Tehran hanged Zahra Bahrami, a Dutch-Iranian woman, saying she was a drug smuggler. The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran has said the drug charges were only a pretext to execute Bahrami, and the Netherlands froze all ties with Iran on Sunday, a day after the hanging. According to Reuters news agency her family said the charge was fabricated after she was arrested for participating in anti-government protests in 2009.

According to the United Nations Office for Human Rights (Geneva), there are at least three known cases in which Iranian political activists were executed in January. The three persons, Jafar Kazemi, Mohammad Ali Haj Aqaei and another man whose name was not disclosed, were affiliated with banned political parties. Kazemi and Aqaei were arrested in September 2009 during protests. All three were convicted of mohareb or "enmity against God", and hanged last month.

In the United States there were forty-six executions in 2010 and four executions so far in January 2011 (and more than 3.000 prisoners are actually waiting on death row).


At least 66 executions in Iran's death penalty in January - UN says (BNO News, Netherlands, via New Kerala, India)

Iran: UN Human Rights chief concerned about recent spate of executions (United Nations Office of the Commissioner for Human Rights, Geneva)

UN experts call for a moratorium on death penalty in the Islamic Republic of Iran (United Nations Office of the Commissioner for Human Rights)

Concerns grow over fate of Political prisoner in Iran after disappearance (National Council of Resistance in Iran, an organisation linked to the People's Mujahedin of Iran)

Iranian opposition leaders speak out against surge in executions (Payvand, San Francisco)

Message of Zahra Bahrami's execution to the world (Radio Zamaneh, Netherlands, via Payvand, San Francisco)

Zahra Bahrami Executed in Iran (Rohama.org, Union of Islamic World Students, Tehran)

2 Terrorists Jafar Kazemi and Mohammad Ali Haj Aqaei Executed in Iran (Rohama.org)

Death Row Prisoner's Father: Confessions After 17 Months of torture (International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, Netherlands, via Payvand, San Francisco)

Dutch gov't seeks return of hanged woman’s body (Reuters via cnews, Canada)

No change in Ashtiani case, says Iranian judiciary (Roundup) (DPA, Germany, via Monsters & Critics, UK & USA)

Judiciary still examining Sakineh Ashtiani case (Tehran Times, Iran)

Iran: 103 Hinrichtungen seit Beginn des Jahres 2011 (Weblog von Ali Schirasi, Germany)

Alle 8 Stunden wird im Iran ein Mensch hingerichtet (Weblog von Ali Schirasi)

Iran: Elf Jahre Gefängnis für Nasrin Sotoudeh (Weblog von Ali Schirasi)

Feuer unter der Asche - Wo ist die iranische Frauenbewegung? Man hört nichts mehr und sieht nichts mehr (Frankfurter Rundschau, Germany)

Women, Islam, Egypt and Iran (The Huffington Post, USA)

Iran urged to drop prison sentences against human rights activists (Amnesty International)

Die Menschenrechte im Iran als Herausforderung für die Weltgemeinschaft (IranAnders.de, Germany)

USA Executions 2011 (as of 01/25/11) (Website of Rick Halperin, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, USA)


Iranian Lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh was arrested in September 2010 on charges of spreading propaganda and conspiring to harm state security. In January 2011, she has been sentenced to 11 years in prison in addition to barring her from practicing law and from leaving the country for 20 years.

To help Ms Sotoudeh, write letters to the Iranian authorities. More information is here (in German, with English summary).