The Subversion of Democracy
The concept of “demonstration election” is a useful one for describing the elections staged by the U.S. occupation regimes in Iraq and Afghanistan, with a much longer history of practice in Latin America and the Caribbean. The concept came into usage with the publication in 1984 of Demonstration Elections: U.S.-Staged Elections in the Dominican Republic, Vietnam, and El Salvador, by Professor Edward S. Herman and Frank Brodhead.
Elections have been used by the United States as an instrument of management in Third World client states since the turn of the century. The functions which they have served, however, have changed in accordance with the shifting demands placed upon the managers.
The aim in holding such elections has always been to ensure 'stability'.
In the first half of this century the threat to stability came almost exclusively from within the client states, which were subject to internal turmoil and thus threatened with a loss of 'independence.'
In recent decades, serious challenges have arisen from within the United States itself. It is this shift in functional need that has led to the emergence of elections oriented to influencing the home (U.S.) population, which we designate 'demonstration elections.'
A demonstration election depends largely on the cooperation of the mainstream media. The patriotic media's role is to include in its reporting certain information or visuals while excluding others.
For example, off the media agenda are discussions of the right of government opponents to campaign (without being killed);
the absence of large-scale financing of favored candidates by foreign governments or patrons; the presence of meaningful freedoms of speech, the press, and assembly;
the ability of voters to cast their ballots freely and safely without intimidation by domestic or foreign military forces or "death squads";
the existence of a truly secret ballot; an honest counting of the ballots;
and the assurance that the person who gets the most votes will win the election.
On the agenda for a patriotic mass media are primarily election-day items:
a large turnout (indicating voter support for the election itself and thus identifying the election with "democracy");
statements by political leaders and "ordinary people" that they are voting because they want freedom;
and ineffective opposition to the election, perhaps even military attacks, by opponents of the government.
(In an election that the United States opposes, such as the Nicaragua election in 1984, the media's priorities are reversed: on the agenda is the question of the pre-requisites of democracy; meaningless and thus off the agenda are the election-day events, the long lines of voters, etc.)
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UN says Israel should face war-crimes
link to report
link to press release
link to UN
Israel targeted "the people of Gaza as a whole" in the three-week military operation which is estimated to have killed more than 1,300 Palestinians at the beginning of this year, according to a UN-commissioned report published yesterday.
A UN fact-finding mission led by the Jewish South African former Supreme Court Judge Richard Goldstone said Israel should face prosecution by the International Criminal Court, unless it opened fully independent investigations of what the report said were repeated violations of international law, "possible war crimes and crimes against humanity" during the operation.
Using by far the strongest language of any of the numerous reports criticising Operation Cast Lead, the UN mission, which interviewed victims, witnesses and others in Gaza and Geneva this summer, says that while Israel had portrayed the war as self-defence in response to Hamas rocket attacks, it "considers the plan to have been directed, at least in part, at a different target: the people of Gaza as a whole".
"In this respect the operations were in furtherance of an overall policy aimed at punishing the Gaza population for its resilience and for its apparent support for Hamas, and possibly with the intent of forcing a change in such support," the report said. It added that some Israelis should carry "individual criminal responsibility."
The 575-page document presented to yesterday's session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva was swiftly denounced by Israel. The foreign ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said the UN mission had "dealt a huge blow to governments seeking to defend their citizens from terror", and that its conclusions were "so disconnected with realities on the ground that one cannot but wonder on which planet was the Gaza Strip they visited".
The Gaza war began on 27 December 2008 and ended on 18 January 2009.
The UN report found that the statements of military and political leaders in Israel before and during the operation indicated the use of "disproportionate force", aimed not only at the enemy but also at the "supporting infrastructure". The mission adds: "In practice this appears to have meant the civilian population."
The mission also had harsh conclusions about Hamas and other armed groups, acknowledging that rocket and mortar attacks have caused terror in southern Israel, and saying that where launched into civilians areas, they would "constitute war crimes" and "may amount to crimes against humanity".
It also condemned the extrajudicial killings, detention and ill-treatment of Palestinian detainees by the Hamas regime in Gaza - as well as by the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank - and called for the release on humanitarian grounds of Gilad Shalit, the Israeli corporal abducted by Gaza militants in June 2006.
While the Israeli government refused to co-operate with the inquiry - or allow the UN team into Israel - on the ground that the team would be "one-sided", Cpl Shalit's father, Noam, was among those Israeli citizens who flew to Geneva to give evidence.
That said, the much greater part of the report - and its strongest language - is reserved for Israel's conduct during the operation. Apart from the unprecedented death toll, the report says that "the destruction of food supply installations, water sanitation systems, concrete factories and residential houses was the result of a systematic policy by the Israeli armed forces". The purpose was "to make the daily process of living and dignified living more difficult for the civilian population".
The report also says that vandalism of houses by some soldiers and "the graffiti on the walls, the obscenities and often racist slogans constituted an overall image of humiliation and dehumanisation of the Palestinian population". Hospitals and ambulances were "targeted by Israeli attacks."
Amid a detailed examination of most of the major incidents of the war - albeit an examinations carried out five months after the incidents took place - it says that:
* The first bombing attack on Day One of the operation when children were going home from school "appears to have been calculated to cause the greatest disruption and widespread panic".
* The deaths of 22 members of the Samouni family sheltering in a warehouse were among ones "owing to Israeli fire intentionally directed at them", in clear breach of the Geneva Convention.
* The firing of white phosphorus shells at the UN Relief and Works Agency compound was "compounded by reckless regard of the consequences", and the use of high explosive artillery at the al-Quds hospitals were violations of Articles 18 and 19 of the Geneva Convention. It says that warnings issued by Israel to the civilian population "cannot be considered as sufficiently effective" under the Convention.
* On the attack in the vicinity of the al-Fakhoura school, where at least 35 Palestinians were killed, Israeli forces launched an attack where a "reasonable commander" would have considered military advantage was outweighed by the risk to civilian life. The civilians had their right to life violated as under Article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). And while some of the 99 policemen killed in incidents surveyed by the team may have been members of armed groups, others who were not also had their right to life violated.
* The inquiry team also says that a number of Palestinians were used as human shields - itself a violation of the ICCPR - including Majdi Abed Rabbo, whose complaints about being so used were first aired in The Independent. The report asserts that the use of human shields constitutes a "war crime under the Rome statute of the International Criminal Court."
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Gaddafy UN Speech 2009 - Summary
video link : http://webcast.un.org/ramgen/ondemand/ga/64/2009/ga090923am1.rm?start=01:52:40&end=03:28:40
MUAMMAR AL-QADHAFI, Leader of the Revolution of Libya, speaking also on behalf of the African Union, said he hoped this gathering would be a historic one. He also congratulated United States President Barack Obama on his first address to the General Assembly. This year’s debate was being held in the midst of many challenges and the world should unite and defeat these challenges, which included climate change, the economic crisis and the food crisis.
He said many Member States were not present when the United Nations was created by three countries years ago. They created the Charter but the Preamble was different from the provisions and articles. No one objected to the Preamble, but he rejected everything that came after. The Preamble of the United Nations Charter said nations were equal, whether large or small. The veto power bestowed upon the five permanent members of the Security Council was, therefore, against the Charter, and he neither accepted nor recognized it.
Continuing, he said the Charter’s Preamble stated that military force should not be used unless there was a common interest. But 65 wars, with millions of victims, had broken out since the creation of the United Nations. Moreover, the Preamble said if there was aggression against any country, the United Nations together would check such actions. Despite that, countries which held the veto used aggressive force against “the people”, even as the Charter said no nation had the right to intervene in the internal affairs of another.
He went on to express concern that right now, calls for reforming the Organization focused only on increasing the number of Member States. That would only make things worse. For instance, adding more Security Council seats would “give rise to more super-Powers, crush the small people and create more poverty”. Such an impractical move would also generate more competition among countries. In any case, the Council should act according to the rules of the United Nations. The solution was to close the admission of new Member States and provide equality among those already belonging to the Organization, he said.
Currently, the Assembly was like a decor without any substance. “You just make a speech and then you disappear...that’s who you are right now,” he said. Setting that right would mean that the Security Council could serve as a tool for implementing resolutions adopted by the Assembly. The Council should represent the interests of all countries, through individual seats or seats held by unions that represented each region of the world. There were equal votes in the Assembly and there should be equal votes next door in the Security Council, he declared, adding that ultimately, for a united and peaceful world, serious Organizational reform was needed. Keeping his focus squarely on Security Council dynamics, he said that the 15-member body practised “security feudalism” for those who had a protected seat. “It should be called the terror council”, he said, underscoring that terrorism could exist in many forms. The super-Powers had complicated interests and used the United Nations for their own purposes. Indeed, the Security Council did not provide the world with security, but gave it “terror and sanctions”. He was not committed to adhere to the Council’s resolutions, which were used to commit war crimes and genocides. He reiterated that the Council did not provide security and the world did not have to obey the rules or orders it decreed, especially as it was currently constituted.
Regarding Africa, the African Union deserved a permanent seat in the Security Council for the suffering it had endured for many years. This had nothing to do with reform, he said, declaring that Africa deserved compensation, amounting to some $77.7 trillion for the resources and wealth that had been stolen in the past. Colonization should be criminalized and people should be compensated for the suffering endured during the reign of colonial power.
Africans were proud and happy that a son of Africa was now governing the United States of America and it was a great thing -- it was a glimmer of light in the dark of the past eight years, he said.
However, he noted the money spent by the United States and the city to secure United Nations Headquarters during the annual Assembly. While thanking the United States for its efforts in hosting the Organization for the past 50 years, he said the United Nations should hold its annual debate in another hemisphere for the next 50 years. He complained about the trouble some diplomats and their staff had in securing visas from the United States Government.
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Ahmedinejads UN Speech - Sept. 24 2009
President Ahmadinejad, who began his address thanking Almighty God for having granted him the chance to attend the “important global assembly”, said that he had already spoken to world leaders about the major challenges with which the world nations have been entangled during the past four years.
He added, “I have also referred to such problems’ roots and causes and the need for reviewing and revising the mentality of the world powers and the need for devising new strategies aimed at solving them.
“I have also reiterated the need for a drastic change in type of viewing and dealing with the human beings and the world developments and to establish new justice seeking and humane systems aimed at constructing a bright future.”
Ahmadinejad said that “today” he wished to continue that discussion.
“It goes without saying that continuation of the status quo of the world is quite impossible. The present unsatisfactory unilateral conditions are against the innate nature of the human beings and in direct contrast against the goal behind the creation of the human beings and the universe.
“It is no longer possible to increase wealth artificially by printing paper money, amounting up to tens of billion dollars without real baking for it, and to inject it into the veins of the world economy and to transfer severe budget deficits into the other countries’ economies by transferring their wealth to certain countries.
“The unleashed economy machine of capitalism that had been unjustly set has now reached the end of its way and is now out of order and this unilateral equation does not work any longer.”
….
“Time is now over for some people to present their own definitions of democracy and freedom and to consider themselves as the meter sticks for the authenticity of such definitions, under such conditions that they themselves are breaching the same norms before anyone else. They play the roles of the judge, the prosecutor and the executioner all by themselves and meanwhile they act against the countries where true democracy is observed.
“Expansion of freedoms around the globe and the awareness of the world nations will not permit them to keep on pursuing the same wrong path any longer and that is the reason why most world nations, including the Americans, are longing for drastic, deep, and real changes and welcome the change motto.”
…
“Who thinks the continuation of the inhumane policies in Palestine is still possible? Chasing away a nation from its own motherland for over 60 years and launching brutal attacks against them using the entire forbidden weapons, while blocking the path for legitimate defense for them, and more amazingly, doing so before the wide open eyes of the amazed world nations calling the aggressors ‘peace lovers’ and calling the oppressed people ‘terrorists’.
…
“It is not possible to chant friendship and cooperation mottos with the world nations and meanwhile establish larger military barracks in various parts of the world, including in Latin America.
….
“It is not acceptable that the United Nations and its Security Council that should be the representatives of the nations and the governments and decision makings at them should be based on most democratic, most egalitarian methods, would be under the reign of a few governments, serving merely their interests and obeying their orders.
“Basically, in a world where logic, culture, and public opinion count, continuation of such a status quo is impossible and emergence of a drastic evolution is an inescapable necessity.
“The second point;
“Changes and evolutions need to take place both at theoretical sphere and in practice, in structures and in methods, basically and at grass-root level.
“The hegemonic liberalist and capitalist mentalities that detach the human beings from their ethical systems and from the heaven, not only present them no salvation, but also lead them towards misery, including wars, poverty and various types of deprivation.
…
“The political and economic structures emerged from the aftermaths of World War II that are among the bodies established aimed at strengthening the foundations of hegemony over the entire world have failed in harbingering sustainable justice and security.
“Those leaders whose hearts do not beat with love for the mankind and have sacrificed the idea of justice in their souls can never be the harbingers of peace and friendship for the mankind as gifts.
“By grace of God, just like Marxism that has become a memory in the history, the expansionist capitalism, too, will soon have to be found only in history books, because based on one of the divine traditions, referred to in Glorious Qur’an as a rule, ‘trickery would float over the water like bubbles, and the only thing that would remain (after a flood) is that which would benefit the people.’
…
“The third point;
“The main secret and mystery behind the entire problems with which the global community is entangled is that a group of the world leaders have been distanced from ethical values and the teachings of divine prophets.
“Unfortunately in many major global relations instead of love and self-sacrifice aimed at saving the others, working for their well beings, and justice seeking, what is observed is selfishness, unquenchable thirst for more and more (wealth), and individuals’ (pursuing of) unlimited hedonist (objectives).
…
“The fourth point;
“I believe there are a number of important tasks before each one of us, and the UN Secretary General can be the pioneer and do the necessary planning accordingly:
1. Reforming the apparatus of the UN and changing it into an up-dated, popular, neutral, free, just and effective organ acting in global relations; reforming the structure of the Security Council and annulling the discriminatory veto right;
granting the Palestinians their denied rights fully and immediately after organizing a comprehensive, free referendum and paving the path for peaceful coexistence among the Muslim, the Christian and the Jewish citizens of Palestine, while ending interferences in the affairs of the peoples in Iraq, the Middle East, in Africa, in Latin America, in Asia and in Europe.
….
2. Reforming the global economic structure and establishing ethical, humane economic relations in the world, so that they would be at the service of the human beings based on true justice.
…
3. Reforming the international political relations; structuring the new relations based on sustainable peace and friendship, uprooting the devastating arms and political races, as well as the atomic, chemical and biological weapons, and paving the path for everyone to be benefited from peaceful advanced technologies at the service of the advancement of the entire mankind.
4. Reforming the cultural structures, respecting the indigenous cultures of nations, promoting ethical values, spirituality and the warm foundations of fortunate and sustainable families as the backbones of auspicious societies.
5. Collective endeavor for preservation of the human environment and abiding by the international rules and regulations aimed at safeguarding the non-renewable natural resources.
“The fifth point;
“The Iranian nation has left behind a very glorious, totally free election, and marked a new chapter of national blossoming and broad global interactions with their landslide votes, putting the heavy weigh of responsibility on my shoulders.
…
Long live justice and freedom!
And may Allah’s greetings and blessings be upon you all.
2329**2329
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