 |
T-SHIRT DESIGNS
POPAGANDA INFO
make your own shirts, check out Iraqi women's & labor
groups, and have a laugh at "W" Ketchup
POPAGANDA QUOTES
from one big mouth to the next
CONTACT US
The flag says: "Liberty or Death"-skull-"Black Guards"
|
|
|
|
USELESS POPAGANDA QUOTES
|
|
|
Gov't shmovernment....
Democrats' New Intelligence Chairman Needs a Crash Course on al Qaeda
Congressional Quarterly, Dec. 8, 2006
By Jeff Stein, National Security Editor
To me, it..s like asking about Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland:
Who's on what side? The dialogue went like this:
Al Qaeda is what, I asked, Sunni or Shia?
"Al Qaeda, they have both," [Congressman] Reyes said. "You're talking about predominately?"
"Sure," I said, not knowing what else to say.
"Predominantly, probably Shiite," he ventured.
He couldn't have been more wrong.
Al Qaeda is profoundly Sunni. If a Shiite showed up at an al Qaeda club house, they'd slice off his head and use it for a soccer ball.
That's because the extremist Sunnis who make up a l Qaeda consider all Shiites to be heretics.
Al Qaeda's Sunni roots account for its very existence. Osama bin Laden and his followers believe the Saudi Royal family besmirched the true faith through their corruption and alliance with the United States, particularly allowing U.S. troops on Saudi soil.
It's been five years since these Muslim extremists flew hijacked airliners into the World Trade Center.
Is it too much to ask that our intelligence overseers know who they are?
American Troops Want Swift Pull-out From Iraq
By Demetri Sevastopulo and Edward Alden
The Financial Times | February 28 2006
http://www.ft.com
"President George W. Bush, whose overall approval rating fell to a new low of 34 per cent this week, has repeatedly said the US would finish the mission in Iraq.
But a Zogby International/Le Moyne College poll found that only 23 per cent of US troops believed they should stay "as long as they are needed".
Seventy-two per cent said the US should withdraw within 12 months, and 29 per cent said they should pull out immediately."
Iraqi Union Leaders Speak About Occupation
By Sonia Nettnin | 21 June, 2005
http://www.scoop.co.nz
"After 27 months of occupation, '...our federation stands for immediate withdrawal of troops immediately,' Aljawhry said.
Awan is president of the Federation of Workers Councils and Unions of Iraq (FWCUI) and Aljawhry is representative of the FWCUI and
the Union of the Unemployed in Iraq (UUI) for North America. Both workers' organizations want independent, democratic unions free of government control."
Leave our country now
By Hassan Juma'a Awad, President of Basra's Oil Workers' Union
February 2005
http://www.guardian.co.uk
"Saddam's secret police used to creep over the roofs into our homes at night; occupation troops now break down our doors in broad daylight.
The media do not show even a fraction of the devastation that has engulfed Iraq. Journalists who dare to report the truth of what is
happening have been kidnapped by terrorists. This serves the agenda of the occupation, which aims to eliminate witnesses to its crimes. "
The Iraqi Resistance
By Joe Black
May, 2005
Anarkismo.net
"From the point of view of the western left simply cheering on the resistance might make a certain sense. But for those interested in freedom for the people of Iraq rather than simply
giving the US army a bloody nose the question is much more complex.
Although it has not received much coverage in either the left or mainstream press there are significant workers struggles taking place within Iraq. There is a real attempt to put forward
a progressive agenda in the interests of Iraqi workers. Independent unions like that of the oil workers in Basra are being built as are organizations of the unemployed and women. Any real
post-occupation hope for the people of Iraq lies in these sort of projects."
Labour the point: the US privatization agenda in Iraq sparks a trade union revival
By David Bacon
New Internationalist, Oct, 2004
New Internationalist
"On 19 September 2003, the Coalition Provisional Authority--headed by US diplomat Paul Bremer as an interim administration in post-Saddam Iraq--published Order 39 to permit 100-per-cent
foreign ownership of businesses. It also listed a host of state enterprises to be sold off, including cement and fertilizer plants, phosphate and sulphur mines, pharmaceutical factories
and the country's airline.
Around the same time, the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) lowered the wage base for Iraqi public-sector employees (the majority of the Iraqi workforce) from the rates set when US
troops first arrived in Iraq--ranging from $60 to $120--to $40 monthly. The CPA also eliminated housing and food subsidies. In addition, it enforced a 1987 law banning unions in public
enterprises and added 'Public Order No 1', which allows the arrest of anyone who 'incites civil disorder'. This course has not materially altered since the CPA handed power over to a
US-appointed Iraqi government in June this year."
|
|
|
|
"There are many signs of movement towards a more repressive authoritarian State and it happens to be extreme in the Bush Administration. They call themselves conservatives, but that's an insult to conservativism. They are right wing, reactionary statists. They want a very powerful State to control personal life, the economic world and international society, and they use force if necessary. There's nothing conservative about that. They have a very narrow hold on political power and they are trying to institutionalize it so it will be very hard to dismantle the changes that they are introducing.
So there's these things on the one hand, there's a lot of improvement towards a more civilized society on the other."
|
|
|
|
"Minimum number of Iraqi civilians killed because of military intervention as of March 16, 2006: 33,638"
As of October 2004:
* Iraq Body Count: 14-16,000
* Brookings Inst: 10-27,000
* UK foreign secretary: >10,000
* People's Kifah >37,000
* The Lancet: >100,000
- BBC News
Occupation troop casualties in Iraq:
Icasualties.org
Cost of Iraq war:
Costofwar.com
|
|
|
|
"The bombers who targeted London on 7 July are anonymous. At the time of writing no statement has been issued, but it is assumed that those who carried out
these attacks are groups/individuals linked to al-Qaeda. We simply do not know. Al-Qaeda is not the only terrorist group in existence. It has rivals within
the Muslim diaspora. On its web-site today The Economist suggested that "it is not impossible that some anti-capitalist or anti-globalisation group caused
the explosions, timing them to coincide with the G8 meeting" but I think that is impossible. There are no currents within the movement for global justice
who believe in targeting civilians. It is, therefore, safe to assume that the cause of these bombs is the unstinting support - political and military - given
by New Labour and its Prime Minister to the US wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
...The real solution lies in immediately ending the occupation of Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine. Just because these three wars are reported sporadically and
mean little to the everyday life of most of Europe's citizens, this does not mean that the anger and bitterness they arouse in the Muslim world and its
diasporas is insignificant. Establishment politicians have little purchase with the young and this applies especially strongly in the Arab world. As long
as Western politicians wage their wars and their colleagues in the Muslim world watch in silence, young people will be attracted to the groups who carry
out random acts of revenge.
At the beginning of the G8 meeting, Tony Blair suggested that 'poverty was the cause of terrorism'. This was advanced thinking for a reactionary politician
like him, but it is not so. The principal cause of this violence is the violence that is being inflicted on the people of the Muslim world. The bombing of
innocent people is equally barbaric in Baghdad, Jenin, Kabul as it is in New York, Madrid or London. And unless this is recognized the horrors will continue."
|
|
|
|
"The farmworkers' [March 2005] win at Taco Bell was impressive because of the unusually precarious nature of their work. As agricultural workers, they are not covered
by the 1935 National Labor Relations Act which makes it illegal for employers to fire employees for union activitiy, certifies union elections, and oversees
collective bargaining. Nor do they enjoy the protections of other basic labor laws in the US, such as federal minimum wage and overtime laws... Lucas Benitez of
the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, believes that the extra penny per pound paid by Taco Bell should substantially improve the wages of about 1,000 tomato pickers
employed by Taco Bell suppliers. Under the new agreement these workers could earn up to 72 cents for a 32-pound bucket, as increase of 80 percent. 'It would mean
almost reaching the poverty level,' Benitez told one reporter."
|
|
|
|
"The term 'anti-American' is usually used by the American establishment to discredit and, not falsely -- but shall we say inaccurately -- define its critics. Once someone is branded anti-American, the chances are that he or she will be judged before they're heard and the argument will be lost in the welter of bruised national pride.
What does the term 'anti-American' mean? Does it mean you're anti-jazz? Or that you're opposed to free speech? That you don't delight in Toni Morrison or John Updike? That you have a quarrel with giant sequoias? Does it mean you don't admire the hundreds of thousands of American citizens who marched against nuclear weapons, or the thousands of war resisters who forced their government to withdraw from Vietnam? Does it mean that you hate all Americans?
This sly conflation of America's culture, music, literature, the breathtaking physical beauty of the land, the ordinary pleasures of ordinary people with criticism of the US government's foreign policy (about which, thanks to America's 'free press', sadly most Americans know very little) is a deliberate and extremely effective strategy. It's like a retreating army taking cover in a heavily populated city, hoping that the prospect of hitting civilian targets will deter enemy fire."
"QUESTION: After releasing your book 9-11, many reporters have said that you are anti-American. Others even suggest that you should pack up and move to another country since you believe America to be a leading terrorist state. How do you respond to such remarks?
CHOMSKY: The concept "anti-American" is an interesting one. The counterpart is used only in totalitarian states or military dictatorships, something I wrote about many years ago (see my book Letters from Lexington). Thus, in the old Soviet Union, dissidents were condemned as "anti-Soviet." That's a natural usage among people with deeply rooted totalitarian instincts, which identify state policy with the society, the people, the culture. In contrast, people with even the slightest concept of democracy treat such notions with ridicule and contempt. Suppose someone in Italy who criticizes Italian state policy were condemned as "anti-Italian." It would be regarded as too ridiculous even to merit laughter. Maybe under Mussolini, but surely not otherwise.
Actually the concept has earlier origins. It was used in the Bible by King Ahab, the epitome of evil, to condemn those who sought justice as "anti-Israel" ("ocher Yisrael," in the original Hebrew, roughly "hater of Israel," or "disturber of Israel"). His specific target was Elijah.
It's interesting to see the tradition in which the people you refer to choose to place themselves. The idea of leaving America because one opposes state policy is another reflection of deep totalitarian commitments. Solzhenitsyn, for example, was forced to leave Russia, against his will, by people with beliefs very much like those you are quoting."
|
|
|
|
"...time to restore chaos and order!"
- George W. Bush
Washington, DC
April 12, 2003
|
|
|
|
"The record of anarchist ideas, and even more, of the inspiring struggles of people who have
sought to liberate themselves from oppression and domination, must be treasured and
preserved, not as a means of freezing thought and conception in some new mold but as a
basis for understanding of the social reality and committed work to change it. There is no
reason to suppose that history is at an end, that the current structures of authority and
domination are graven in stone. It would also be a great error to underestimate the power
of social forces that will fight to maintain power and privelege."
|
|
|
|
"Catholic Worker communities have refused to apply for federal tax exempt status, seeing such official recognition as binding the community to the state and limiting the
movement's freedom.
With its stress on voluntary poverty, the Catholic Worker has much in common with the early Franciscans, while its accent on community, prayer
and hospitality has Benedictine overtones.
|
|
|
|
"But Costco's frugality does not extend to pay and working conditions. The average hourly wage for a full and part-time US employee is $17.41, according to the company.
At Wal-Mart's Sam's Club, the sum for a similar employee is around $12 an hour.
'It's important to pay people a fair living wage," says Mr Galanti, "and if you do, and it's better than everybody else, you're going to get better people - and they're going to stick around longer, and we see that.'"
|
|
|
|
"'You had to attack civilians, the people, women, children, innocent people, unknown people far removed from any political game. The
reason was quite simple: to force ... the public to turn to the state to ask for greater security."
This was the essence of Operation Gladio, a decades-long covert campaign of terrorism and deceit directed by the intelligence
services of the West -- against their own populations. Hundreds of innocent people were killed or maimed in terrorist attacks -- on train
stations, supermarkets, cafes and offices -- which were then blamed on "leftist subversives" or other political opponents. The purpose, as
stated above in sworn testimony by Gladio agent Vincenzo Vinciguerra, was to demonize designated enemies and frighten the public into
supporting ever-increasing powers for government leaders -- and their elitist cronies.
First revealed by Italian Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti in 1991, Gladio (from the Latin for "sword") is still protected to this day by
its founding patrons, the CIA and MI6. Yet parliamentary investigations in Italy, Switzerland and Belgium have shaken out a
few fragments of the truth over the years. These have been gathered in a new book, "NATO's Secret Armies: Operation Gladio and Terrorism in
Western Europe," by Daniele Ganser, as Lila Rajiva reports on CommonDreams.org....
Among the "smoking guns" unearthed by Ganser is a Pentagon document, Field Manual FM 30-31B, which details the methodology for launching terrorist
attacks in nations that "do not react with sufficient effectiveness" against "communist subversion." Ironically, the manual states that the most
dangerous moment comes when leftist groups "renounce the use of force" and embrace the democratic process. It is then that "U.S. army intelligence
must have the means of launching special operations which will convince Host Country Governments and public opinion of the reality of the insurgent
danger." Naturally, these peace-throttling "special operations must remain strictly secret," the document warns.
Indeed, it would not do for the families of the 85 people ripped apart by the Aug. 2, 1980 bombing of the Bologna train station to know that their
loved ones had been murdered by "men inside Italian state institutions and ... men linked to the structures of United States intelligence," as the
Italian Senate concluded after its investigation in 2000.
The Bologna atrocity is an example of what Gladio's masters called "the strategy of tension" -- fomenting fear to keep populations in thrall to
"strong leaders" who will protect the nation from the ever-present terrorist threat."
|
|
|
|
"U.S. Constitution: Fourth Amendment - Search and Seizure
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches
and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or
affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."
"City straphangers submitted calmly Friday as police inspected their bags and briefcases after the latest attacks on
London's Underground. Some were skeptical, some were critical, but most said they were glad for the extra security...
The New York Civil Liberties Union opposed the searches, saying they violated the Fourth Amendment. Mayor Michael Bloomberg
said he hoped the NYCLU would recognize that the city had struck the right balance between security and protecting
constitutional rights. He said the bag-checking program is part of a policy to 'constantly change tactics' and 'may, or may
not, be there tomorrow.' The mayor declined to say how much the program cost. "
NoSubwaySearches.org
|
|
|
|
"I soon came to suspect that, although the political contexts of Spain in the 1930s and the United States in the 1980s differ markedly, there might be some similarity between Mujeres
Libres' refusal to identify as feminist and the hesitation of many working-class women and women of color in this country to adopt the feminist label. Might there be a lesson for
contemporary feminists struggling against the claim that feminism is a white, middle-class movement?"
|
|
|
|
"In August 1931 Brit-Shalom editorial charged that in its quest for a Jewish majority and Jewish state [in Palestine], the Zionist movement had associated itself with
(in Yosef Gorny's paraphrase) 'reactionary and imperialist forces against the resurgent East' (p.194, Zionism and the Arabs, 1882-1948: A Study of Ideology by Yosef Gorny).[25]
Sounding this same theme in a subsequent number
of the association's journal,[26] the distinguished Brit-Shalomist Gershom Scholem suggested that the Zionist movemebt would one day regret the alliance it
had forged with British colonialism against the oppressed peoples in the Arab world: 'either it will be swept away with the imperialist nations or burned
in the furnace of the revolution of the renascent East.' The one alternative was to recast the Zionist project in such a way that the Zionist movement could
identify with the 'forces of revolution.' 'If it must fall,' he admonished, 'it is better to fall with those who are on the right side of the barricades'
(pp. 195-6)
The Zionist movement did not heed the reprovals of its dissidents, with consequences which are all too painfully familiar today."
|
|
|
|
"Nationalism of one kind or another was the cause of most of the genocide of the 20th century. Flags are bits of coloured cloth that governments use
first to shrink-wrap people's minds and then as ceremonial shrouds to bury the dead. When independent, thinking people (and here I do not include the
corporate media) begin to rally under flags, when writers, painters, musicians, film makers suspend their judgment and blindly yoke their art to the
service of the 'nation', it's time for all of us to sit up and worry. In India we saw it happen soon after the nuclear tests in 1998 and during the Kargil
war against Pakistan in 1999. In the US we saw it during the Gulf war and we see it now, during the 'War against Terror'. That blizzard of made-in-China
American flags."
|
|
|
|
"In the case of Argentinašs economic crisis in 2002, the situation brought about a renewal in grassroots democracy. This film covers the social movement that broke out in
Argentina during that crisis, taking the viewer on a wild ride to street protests, worker-controlled factories, barter fairs and a Citibank transformed into a community center.
It discusses the rise and fall of a country that, in a matter of days, went from being one of the richest nations in the region, to one of the poorest. "
|
|
|
|
McNamara on the fire bombing of Japanese civillians during WW2:
"LeMay said if we'd lost the war, we'd all have been prosecuted as war criminals and I think he's right.
He and I'd say I, were behaving as war criminals. [Airforce General Curtis E.]
LeMay recognized that what
he was doing would be thought immoral if his side had lost. But what makes it immoral if you lose and not
immoral if you win?"
|
|
|
|
"As we attempt to reshape the politics of Iraq and reorient its foreign policy to American ends, we must realize that what we are practicing is imperialism.
But, looking back 50 years, Western imperialism has a long record of failure in the Arab and Islamic world."
|
|
|
|
"I wouldn't have even bothered to write anything about these fools and con artists except that their activities are disruptive to any real campaign designed to help people
and fight the state. Further, they are incapable today of organizing anything on thier own of substance due to a distinct lack of social skills and a deep down dislike and
distrust of poor people of all colors; which is self-evident to anyone who has spent any time around them. And like their other white counterparts on the Left, they still
continue to view the white working class as "heroes", themselves as a "vanguard", and us as ignorant savages who must be tamed and molded into their likeness; much in the
same way their Christian ancestors believed."
|
|
|
|
