Khaled el-Masri, unjustly imprisoned and tortured by American CIA

The video above provides a background on the case and a personal account from the victim of false imprisonment and abduction. This crime has been ceaselessly ignored by the American government. The government has been denying any culpability of the incident and refusing to hear the case, but that time has ended.

This morning, the cover-up ended. The European Court of Human Rights held that Mr. Masri’s forcible disappearance, kidnapping and covert transfer without legal process to United States custody nine years ago violated the most basic guarantees of human decency. Notably, the court found that the treatment suffered by Mr. Masri in 2003 “at the hands of the special C.I.A. rendition team,” at an airport in Skopje, the capital of the former Yugoslav republic of Macedonia, “amounted to torture.”

Violence and Activism at the Border: Gender, Fear, and Everyday Life in Ciudad Juarez by Kathleen Staudt

“Between 1993 and 2003, more than 370 girls and women were murdered and their often-mutilated bodies dumped outside Ciudad Juarez in Chihuahua, Mexico. The murders have continued at a rate of approximately thirty per year, yet law enforcement officials have made no breakthroughs in finding the perpetrator(s). Drawing on in-depth surveys, workshops, and interviews of Juarez women and border activists, “Violence and Activism at the Border” provides crucial links between these disturbing crimes and a broader history of violence against women in Mexico. In addition, the ways in which local feminist activists used the Juarez murders to create international publicity and expose police impunity provides a unique case study of social movements in the borderlands, especially as statistics reveal that the rates of femicide in Juarez are actually similar to other regions of Mexico. Also examining how non-governmental organizations have responded in the face of Mexican law enforcement’s “normalization” of domestic violence, Staudt’s study is a landmark development in the realm of global human rights.”

Hannah Arendt: “Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil”

Hannah Arendt’s authoritative report on the trial of Nazi leader Adolf Eichmann includes further factual material that came to light after the trial, as well as Arendt’s postscript directly addressing the controversy that arose over her account. -From Amazon

 

No Hope for Humanity: A Somber Observation Paralleling Khan and Arendt by A.Cownan

No Hope for Humanity

            In Sacred Violence: Torture, Terror, and Sovereignty, Paul Khan dives into the realm of torture and sacrifice. Both have become poisonous elements within the societal construct, found in war and peace, in politics and everyday life. This fascination with torture echoes back centuries, as an innate instinct of man. People desire the inhumane glorification of the sacrificed and the tortured, for “torture occupies a special place” in the moral and political compasses of men (Khan 20). But, perception is key. It is that imagination and muddled perception of reality that dehumanizes the brutality of torture and sacrifice. In the biblical sense, sacrifice was seen as a glorified act of service in favor of the sovereign, embellishing in the grandeur of such. Sacrifice is now a tool, a weapon geared to blind the masses from the abuse of power the state commits.

Hanna Arendt parallels the cautionary tale of torture and sacrifice within her controversial book, Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil, depicting an objective representation of Adolf Eichmann’s trial and subsequent publicity. Eichmann showed no inclination toward anti-Semitism, desiring the development of his military career; Eichmann simply followed the orders of the state, without question, for he was a law-abiding citizen. Bar-none, he was the “banality of evil” for his cruel and horrific crimes against humanity, specifically the Jewish rite, but he is merely one man. He cannot be used as a scapegoat for the crimes and horrors committed by the political regime of the Nazis. The trials served to publicly display the Jewish declaration of Zionism and their innate right to protect and endure their own. It crucified Eichmann as the root of evil, rather than appealing to the many individuals responsible for the atrocities of the Holocaust. The trials essentially punished Eichmann for what the “Jews had suffered, not what Eichmann had done” (Arendt 6). Just as Khan chastises the progression of torture from a source of inhumane glorification to a weapon for political control and abuse, Arendt highlights the Eichmann trials as a means of torture, directing all the suffering, sins and crimes of the many on one man. Also, the Jewish hierarchy is accused of being just as guilty as the perpetrators. Inaction is equally guilty as action. But, after such grueling and terrible experiences, how can one place any blame on the victims of genocide? As a result, the Jewish people took full advantage of their disposition, allowing the trial to become a stage for humiliation and punishment.

And to think, after so much progress, history continues to repeat itself. We are a naïve and flawed species. Bad habits do not change. We enjoy stripping away our humanity, exposing the deepest darkest corners of our psyche, exploring and glorifying the inhumanity within us all. There really is no hope for humanity.

Paul Kahn: Sacred Violence: Torture, Terror and Sovereignty (Law, Meaning and Violence)

“In Sacred Violence, the distinguished political and legal theorist Paul W. Kahn investigates the reasons for the resort to violence characteristic of pre-modern states. In a startling argument, he contends that law will never offer an adequate account of political violence. Instead, we must turn to political theology, which reveals that torture and terror are, essentially, forms of sacrifice. Kahn forces us to acknowledge what we don’t want to see: that we remain deeply committed to a violent politics beyond law.”

Trevor Project 2012 Event

Each year Trevor Project Live raises awareness for the cause of suicide and crisis prevention for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and questioning youth. The Trevor Project offers a 24/7/365 lifeline, safe forums, live online help and social networking. Trevor Live this year is on December 2 and celebrities will be performing to raise awareness and show support! A live stream will be available online.

New Favorite Website? Umm…Pretty much.

Check it out. 

United Nations Population Fund

Expect to see many more posts from this one, it’s a gem.

What Happened at Dos Erres

CNN article on Conversion Therapy Lawsuit

The conversion therapy techniques included having them strip naked in group sessions, cuddling and intimate holding of others of the same-sex, violently beating an effigy of their mothers with a tennis racket, visiting bath houses “in order to be nude with father figures,” and being “subjected to ridicule as ‘faggots’ and ‘homos’ in mock locker room scenarios,” the suit said.”

The article focuses on the false promises made by conversion therapists and the lawsuit formed to hold them liable. Alan Duke incorporates evidence from the “converters” and attempted converted to form a thoughtful and provocative piece detailing the controversy.

Free Pussy Riot!

Free Pussy Riot!

Pussy Riot is a Russian feminist performance art group formed in late 2011. Three alleged members of the group were detained for “hoolaganism”, now only two are imprisoned. They face 2 years prison time for their protest for human rights. More information can be obtained from this awesome website and their About page.