Wednesday, May 21, 2003
Added Transparency International to recommended links.
One of the greatest obstacles to justice, and therefore to peace, around the world is bribery and other cronyist corruption. If the US wants to show a good face to the world
and ameliorate these obstructions to justice, it should subsidize and finance the prosecution of bribe payers and bribe takers in the countries where such crimes occur.
The cost of prosecution is prohibitive in countries of modest resourses. The return on such an investment to the United States could be considerable, especially in regard to the respect of ordinary people toward the US.
Transparency International has focused on the corruption issue.
One of the greatest obstacles to justice, and therefore to peace, around the world is bribery and other cronyist corruption. If the US wants to show a good face to the world
and ameliorate these obstructions to justice, it should subsidize and finance the prosecution of bribe payers and bribe takers in the countries where such crimes occur.
The cost of prosecution is prohibitive in countries of modest resourses. The return on such an investment to the United States could be considerable, especially in regard to the respect of ordinary people toward the US.
Transparency International has focused on the corruption issue.
Sunday, May 18, 2003
James F. Moore has written an excellent essay on the emerging power of an Internet community. We can expect escalating attacks by the corporatist superpower.
The Second Superpower Rears its Beautiful Head
"Second, and ironically, the future of the second superpower depends to a great extent on social freedoms in part determined by the first superpower. It is the traditional freedoms—freedom of the press, of assembly, of speech—that have enabled the second superpower to take root and grow. Indeed, the Internet itself was constructed by the US government, and the government could theoretically still step in to restrict its freedoms. So we need to pay close attention to freedom in society, and especially to freedom of the Internet. There are many moves afoot to censor the web, to close down access, and to restrict privacy and free assembly in cyberspace. While we generally associate web censorship with countries like China or Saudi Arabia, tighter control of the web is also being explored in the United States and Europe. The officials of the first superpower are promoting these ideas in the name of preventing terrorism, but they also prevent the open peer-to-peer communication that is at the heart of the second superpower. We need to insist on an open web, an open cyberspace, around the globe, because that is the essential medium in which the second superpower lives."
Click this link to see the whole essay.
The Second Superpower Rears its Beautiful Head
"Second, and ironically, the future of the second superpower depends to a great extent on social freedoms in part determined by the first superpower. It is the traditional freedoms—freedom of the press, of assembly, of speech—that have enabled the second superpower to take root and grow. Indeed, the Internet itself was constructed by the US government, and the government could theoretically still step in to restrict its freedoms. So we need to pay close attention to freedom in society, and especially to freedom of the Internet. There are many moves afoot to censor the web, to close down access, and to restrict privacy and free assembly in cyberspace. While we generally associate web censorship with countries like China or Saudi Arabia, tighter control of the web is also being explored in the United States and Europe. The officials of the first superpower are promoting these ideas in the name of preventing terrorism, but they also prevent the open peer-to-peer communication that is at the heart of the second superpower. We need to insist on an open web, an open cyberspace, around the globe, because that is the essential medium in which the second superpower lives."
Click this link to see the whole essay.
The destruction of books in several Iraqi libraries is beyond my comprehension.
"The Sunday Herald is appealing to readers to donate vital English-language books."
"Amidst the shock over the plundering of priceless artworks from Iraq's National Museum of Antiquities, relatively little attention has been paid to the destruction of the nation's principal libraries. Now, however, to the despair of scholars around the world, the full extent of the damage is becoming clear."
"English is the medium of instruction in medicine, engineering, and the sciences. Post and undergraduates in the social sciences and the humanities use books in English for their research. Every Iraqi university has a department of English language and literature where the teaching is done in English.
'During the past 10 years, Iraqi academics took to selling their own personal libraries to supplement their incomes. For a scholar, the loss of a library represents a personal blow that strikes at the core of one's identity.'"
Read the full story in the Sunday Herald here
"The Sunday Herald is appealing to readers to donate vital English-language books."
"Amidst the shock over the plundering of priceless artworks from Iraq's National Museum of Antiquities, relatively little attention has been paid to the destruction of the nation's principal libraries. Now, however, to the despair of scholars around the world, the full extent of the damage is becoming clear."
"English is the medium of instruction in medicine, engineering, and the sciences. Post and undergraduates in the social sciences and the humanities use books in English for their research. Every Iraqi university has a department of English language and literature where the teaching is done in English.
'During the past 10 years, Iraqi academics took to selling their own personal libraries to supplement their incomes. For a scholar, the loss of a library represents a personal blow that strikes at the core of one's identity.'"
Read the full story in the Sunday Herald here
Alternatives to War
Added to recommended links:
The Coalition for the International Criminal Court is a network of well over 1,000 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) advocating for a fair, effective and independent International Criminal Court (ICC). http://www.iccnow.org/.
Found this site while doing a search on "Bush American Justice".
"One by one, the terrorists are learning the meaning of American justice."
-- President George W. Bush, State of the Union, 28 January 2003
"American Justice:
War, assassinations, torture, detention without trial: these should not be the hallmarks of "American justice." In the long struggle to grow democracy, freedom, and peace throughout the world, the U.S. should be building up permanent institutions that can hold tyrants accountable before they destroy their countries and decimate their people."
The two quotes above are from a text at The Coalition for the International Criminal Court.
In this text CICC lists several instances stretching back to 1980 when intervention by the International Criminal Court would have been appropriate in response to a tyrant like Saddam Hussein. If George Bush and the United States were truly interested in Justice, they would support the International Criminal Court. Resort to the International Criminal Court should become a process and habit that displaces the habit of war.
When George Bush, and many others, use the term "Justice", I feel they actually mean "vengeance" or "revenge". The confusion of justice and vengeance is a theme I intend to revisit repeatedly in this blog. Dear Reader, if you come across quotable and linkable
examples of this confusion of justice and vengeance, please email me. Especially would like to see quotes of bin Laden which reveal such confusion Osama's mind.
The BBC reported October 9, 2001 that "UK Prime Minister Tony Blair has told an Arabic television station that the US and it allies want "justice, not revenge". " The fact that he addressed the issue explicitly suggests that it is an important issue.
Justice tainted by vengeance becomes injustice. Injustice drives cycles of violence. On a spiritual plane, justice can only be sought in the interests of others, or even the adversary, and not for ego. Ego inevitably converts justice to vengeance, and thus to injustice. This is why issues of injury and injustice must be turned over to impartial courts, judges, and juries rather than being pursued directly by ego.
Added to recommended links:
The Coalition for the International Criminal Court is a network of well over 1,000 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) advocating for a fair, effective and independent International Criminal Court (ICC). http://www.iccnow.org/.
Found this site while doing a search on "Bush American Justice".
"One by one, the terrorists are learning the meaning of American justice."
-- President George W. Bush, State of the Union, 28 January 2003
"American Justice:
War, assassinations, torture, detention without trial: these should not be the hallmarks of "American justice." In the long struggle to grow democracy, freedom, and peace throughout the world, the U.S. should be building up permanent institutions that can hold tyrants accountable before they destroy their countries and decimate their people."
The two quotes above are from a text at The Coalition for the International Criminal Court.
In this text CICC lists several instances stretching back to 1980 when intervention by the International Criminal Court would have been appropriate in response to a tyrant like Saddam Hussein. If George Bush and the United States were truly interested in Justice, they would support the International Criminal Court. Resort to the International Criminal Court should become a process and habit that displaces the habit of war.
When George Bush, and many others, use the term "Justice", I feel they actually mean "vengeance" or "revenge". The confusion of justice and vengeance is a theme I intend to revisit repeatedly in this blog. Dear Reader, if you come across quotable and linkable
examples of this confusion of justice and vengeance, please email me. Especially would like to see quotes of bin Laden which reveal such confusion Osama's mind.
The BBC reported October 9, 2001 that "UK Prime Minister Tony Blair has told an Arabic television station that the US and it allies want "justice, not revenge". " The fact that he addressed the issue explicitly suggests that it is an important issue.
Justice tainted by vengeance becomes injustice. Injustice drives cycles of violence. On a spiritual plane, justice can only be sought in the interests of others, or even the adversary, and not for ego. Ego inevitably converts justice to vengeance, and thus to injustice. This is why issues of injury and injustice must be turned over to impartial courts, judges, and juries rather than being pursued directly by ego.
