Watch the new video on Southern Thailand:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seSIT8nfPg0
and
Stop Lese Majeste <http://www.youtube.com/user/StopLeseMajeste>
[FACT found this accessible today via CAT but seems to have been blocked. You may need to proxy.]
The case For Tibet-AlterNet
15-05-08
The Case For Tibet
By Bill Weinberg
AlterNet: May 14, 2008
http://www.alternet.org/rights/85353/?page=entire
Indigenous people around the world see in the struggle for Tibet their own struggles for recovery of land and autonomy…Over the past two months since the March 10th uprising, the Chinese security forces have carried out sweeps and “disappearances,” occupied monasteries and villages, and opened fire on unarmed protesters. When such actions are carried out by U.S. allies such as Israel or Colombia — or in occupied Iraq and Afghanistan — we don’t have to ask ourselves who’s side we are on. Like the Palestinians, the Tibetans have been pushed into exile, denied self-government in their homeland, and overwhelmed with settlers sent by the occupying power. We have a greater responsibility of solidarity to the Palestinians, because our government funds their oppression. But the fact that U.S. imperialism is attempting to exploit their struggle does not mean we have no responsibilities to the Tibetans…The Dalai Lama is not demanding independence for Tibet. He wants autonomy for Tibet within a unified People’s Republic of China. His demand is essentially the same as that of the Zapatistas, who demand local Maya autonomy within Mexico…If we are going to speak up on these and other such struggles in our own hemisphere, tactical considerations as well as moral imperatives demand that we not remain silent now about Tibet — or loan comfort to its oppressors and occupiers.
Kavi on the South-Bangkok Pundit
14-05-08
Kavi on the South
Bangkok Pundit: May 5, 2008
http://bangkokpundit.blogspot.com/2008/05/kavi-on-south.html
The present situation in southern Thailand resembles what occurred in territories once controlled by Indonesia. Before the current autonomous administrative region in Aceh was created and before East Timor became an independent state, arbitrary arrests of suspected insurgents and harming them “with extreme prejudice” during interrogations was common in these areas…As the situation on the ground deteriorated, affected civilians in conflict areas were given weapons and ammunitions to protect themselves and their communities. Subsequently, armed civilians became a problem, as it was difficult to control their actions and ensure that they used their arms lawfully and in good faith…With growing abuses and violations of human rights, pressure from the international community, including Western countries and UN-related agencies, augmented and attracted all kinds of involvement from third parties wanting to assist in the peace process.
Olympics: Waving the Tibetan Flag May Bring Untold Consequences for Athletes, warns IOC
Article 19: May 7, 2008
Athletes who wave the Tibetan flag or wear traditional dress while at the Beijing Olympics, could find themselves sanctioned under Article 51 (3) of the Olympic Charter according to guidelines issued in April by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The penalties for such a “crime” however, remain unknown…“In keeping with the conduct of China, the current Olympic host country, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has taken it upon itself to quash even the slightest sign of political expression,” said ARTICLE 19 and Reporters Without Borders, “The free expression of athletes is being denounced and silenced before our very eyes.”…Article 51 (3) of the Olympic Charter affirms that “No kind of demonstration or political, religious or racial propaganda is permitted in any Olympic sites, venues or other areas.”
ANCHORMAN: The politics of fear that is the Thai matrix
ML NATTAKORN DEVAKULA
Bangkok Post: May 1, 2008
http://www.bangkokpost.net/News/01May2008_news20.php
Our Land is a Convoluted Matrix of Misinformation and Propaganda…The “politics of fear” strategy is something that exists only in the minds of conspiracy theorists, is the very reason why the strategy has perpetuated itself from the ancient days of the Roman empire to the modern day of the American empire.
It is one of the most credulous methods to keep an entire population at bay. Information sedation paves the way for mental numbness, and as a by-product, a society of normally educated individuals is unable to tap its rational and operable mind…In effect, the victims of the “politics of fear” are rendered mere occupants of matrix-like (yes, the movie The Matrix) tubes and are force-fed propagandistic-based values until they voluntary seek it to survive.
[FACT comments: This is what happens when minorities are kept in poverty and not allowed a voice. Sound like Patani? Sound like Alcatraz?]
Occupation of Palace Area Invigorates Native Hawaiian Movement
By JANIS L. MAGIN
The New York Times: May 3, 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/03/us/03hawaii.html?ref=todayspaper
A Native Hawaiian independence group laid claim this week to the United States’ only royal palace and the state land surrounding it, raising anew the issue of self-determination for the islands’ native people…The group believes it has the right to take back from the government more than one million acres in the Hawaiian Islands it claims were illegally seized during the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy in 1893, 11 years after the palace was built.
