Reflections on “Columbus” Day
8 October, 2012 – By Johnny Barber – Truthout

An illustration of Christoper Columbus arriving in America.An illustration of Christoper Columbus arriving in America. (Photo: L. Prang & Co., Boston)I love Columbus Day. Each year, I recall the simple song I learned as a child about the man who “discovered” America. I still recall the innocent boy whose imagination was taken by the story of adventure and discovery.

In fourteen hundred and ninety two
Columbus sailed the ocean blue.

On Columbus Day, I reflect on the facts of that fateful discovery. Hispaniola at the time of Columbus’ arrival was home to as many as 300,000 people. On seeing the Arawak people Columbus wrote in his journal, “At daybreak great multitudes of men came to the shore, all young and of fine shapes, and very handsome. Their eyes are large and very beautiful.” In the same entry he wrote, “It appears to me, that the people are ingenious, and would be good servants and I am of opinion that they would very readily become Christians, as they appear to have no religion.” Columbus kidnapped up to 25 people, although only seven or eight survived the journey back to Spain. By 1496, it is estimated that one third of the population had been killed or taken as slaves. In 1592, fewer than 200 Indigenous people remained. By 1555, none survived.

I realize every lie and distortion I hold of my country began in that classroom all those years ago.

I love Columbus Day. It reminds me that often, even the most God-fearing individuals are the most self-deluded. In the spring of 1493, Columbus wrote to a sponsor, “They are artless and generous with what they have, to such a degree as no one would believe but him who had seen it. Of anything they have, if it be asked for, they never say no, but do rather invite the person to accept it, and show as much lovingness as though they would give their hearts.” Later in the letter Columbus went on to say, “Their Highnesses may see that I shall give them as much gold as they need … and slaves as many as they shall order to be shipped.” Though he was aware of their generosity and selflessness, rather than emulate them, he decided he would subjugate them. Columbus was the first slave trader in the Americas.

Columbus Day reminds me that my country’s origin was based on violence, subjugation, racism and genocide. As the native population was decimated, it was deemed necessary to bring slaves from Africa to the “New World” for cheap, disposable labor. Throughout the years when America was a slave republic, the wealthiest Americans were those who owned the most human beings. But we should not forget that slave owners spanned all classes. This, from America, the country founded on the idea that all human beings have equal intrinsic worth, value, and rights. The “land of the free, home of the brave,” indeed.

…more

Leonard Peltier Columbus mass murderer of Indigenous Peoples
By Leonard Peltier – 8 October, 2012 – Censored News

Greetings my relatives and friends, supporters!

I know I say this same line all the time but in reality you all are my relatives and I appreciate you. I cannot say that enough. Some of our people, as well as ourselves have decided to call today Indigenous Day instead of Columbus Day and it makes me really think about how many People who still celebrate Columbus, a cruel, mass murderer who on his last trip to the Americas, as I have read, was arrested by his own people for being too cruel. When you consider those kinds of cruelty against our People and his status, it makes you wonder to what level he had taken his cruelty. In all of this historical knowledge that is available people still want to celebrate and hold in high esteem this murderer.

If we were to celebrate Hitler Day, or Mussolini Day, or some other murderer and initiator of violence and genocide, there would be widespread condemnation. It would be like celebrating Bush Day in Iraq. It’s kind of sad to say that even mentioning Columbus in my comments gives him more recognition that he should have.

So I agree wholeheartedly with all of you out there that have chosen to call this Indigenous Day. If I weren’t Native American or as some of have come to say – Indigenous, I would still love our ways and cling to our ways and cherish our ways. I see our ways as the way to the future, for the world. Where as I and others have said over and over, and our People before us, this earth is our Mother. This earth is life. And anything you take from the earth creates a debt that is to be paid back at some time in the future by someone.

In speaking of our ways I can’t help but think of times that our sweat lodge that I feel that we could be anywhere, that we are with the Indigenous People, in that time, those moments in our prayers and in our hearts there is no distance between us. I am no longer in a prison in Florida. I can be on the prairie in South Dakota or in a lodge in British Columbia or in a lodge in South America. Or even with some of my children in a family lodge. We all need to be thankful for what we have but we cannot afford to forget what has been taken from us.

There is no amount of freedom that I could personally receive that would be restitution enough for what they have taken from me. But if in some way my incarceration and sacrifices for our People who came before me and throughout our Indigenous history serves as a pathway to a brighter future, a healthier earth, and for life of all mankind; if it would bring us together to be of one mind in protecting the future of our People, our children, and all the future generations upon the earth, then it will have been well worth it.

Indigenous Day should become a way of life that embraces all that promotes life and not just a few days out of the year. If you’re standing or sitting or whatever with whoever lives around you, give your loved ones a hug for me. Guard your freedom zealously. Rescue Mother Earth where you can. Sweat often and know that this common man, Leonard Peltier, will always be with you in the struggle, one way or another.

May the Great Spirit bless you with the things you need and enough to share.

In the Spirit of Crazy Horse, Osceola, Geronimo, Chief Seattle and all those many others who stood for what was right and tried to right what was wrong.

Mitakuye Oyasin.
Leonard Peltier

…source

Dennis Banks: Palestinian Suffering Under U.S.-Backed Occupation Recalls Plight of Native Americans
8 October, 2012 – Democracy Now

Dennis Banks, the legendary Native American activist and co-founder of the American Indian Movement, was in New York City this weekend to serve as a jurist at the Russell Tribunal on Palestine, an international people’s tribunal created in 2009 to bring attention to the responsibility other states bear for Israel’s violations of international law. Banks says, “What is happening to [Palestinians] is what we went through during the last century. Unfortunately, it is the same, same people [backing it]: it is the U.S. government, which funnels money to Israel, and then it goes to hurt the Palestinian people.” [includes rush transcript]

Saad Hariri’s Future Party supplying Saudi arms to Syrian rebels: NYT
8 October, 2012 – Shia Post

Saad Hariri’s Future Party is chief supplier of Saudi weapons to the Syrian rebels, it is reported in the U.S. daily newspaper New York Times.

At the Turkish border town of Antakya late last month, Syrian rebels spoke openly of the Saudi and Qatari intermediaries who dole out weapons on behalf of their governments.

The chief Saudi supplier is said to be a Lebanese figure named Oqab Saqr, who belongs to the political coalition of Saudi Arabia’s chief ally in Lebanon, Saad Hariri.

Maysara, 40, a lean rebel commander from the northern town of Saraqib, who withheld his last name for safety reasons unveiled that “they deliver weapons once every few weeks.” In one recent shipment, he said, a 200-man fighting brigade received six Russian-made AS Val assault rifles, and thousands of rounds of ammunition.

Maysara added that “Saqr seemed to struggle with supply issues; he once saw Saqr asking rebels for the name and contacts of a weapons dealer from the former Yugoslavia that he was hoping to meet.”

“The Saudi government appears to be trying to finance more secular rebel groups,” Maysara said, “while the Qataris appear to be closer to the Muslim Brotherhood.”

But these distinctions are slippery, in part because rebel groups adapt their identities to gain money and weapons. One group, in an almost comical bid for support, named itself the Rafik Hariri brigade, after the former Lebanese prime minister and Saudi ally, and whose son Saad is influential in doling out Saudi support to the rebels. …source

NATO Terrorists Mass Slaughter Civilians in Aleppo, Syria
Voltaire Network – 7 October, 2012

NATO-backed terrorism swept the northern Syrian city of Aleppo this week, killing and maiming scores of civilians. Al Qaeda-style car bombings targeted public squares throughout the city in a coordinated attack the Western press has attempted to claim was “targeting government forces.” CNN in their article “Syria: Dozens killed in blasts at Aleppo public square” [1], bases this conclusion on the discredited Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a single man, Rami Abdelrahman, who is admittedly a biased member of the so-called “Syrian opposition,” based not in Syria but in Coventry England disingenuously posing as an entire “human rights organization [2].

But even Abdelrahman’s baseless claims state that “most of the casualties were government forces” meaning that the remaining victims were indeed civilians. Attacking public squares populated with civilians using indiscriminate explosive devices in such attacks is a brazen war crime, one made possible by Western cash, armaments, and political support supplied to sectarian extremist groups starting as far back as 2007 [3].

The city of Aleppo has suffered heavily at the hands of NATO-backed terrorists, entire battalions of which consist of Libyan terrorists [4], not Syrian “freedom fighters” as the Western media attempts to repeatedly state. Libyan militants from the listed terror organization, The Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) [5], are stationed, armed, and funded in NATO-member Turkey by Western and the Persian Gulf states of Qatar and Saudi Arabia, before crossing into northern Syria to carry out atrocities against the Syrian people under the guise of the so-called “Free Syrian Army.” …more

West using terror to plunder oil resources of Nigeria
7 October, 2012 – nsnbc.com

Nigeria, Africa’s top oil producing nation, is witnessing a surge in sectarian violence that is destabilizing the central government and threatening to split the country in two.

On the surface, a militant group known as Boko Haram appears to be the protagonist. But some believe that powerful Western interests are using the violence to consolidate foreign control over Nigeria’s vast oil wealth.

With a population of 160 million, Nigeria is the known as the “giant of Africa”. In addition to crude oil, Nigeria has also the biggest reserves of natural gas among Sub-Saharan nations. Western energy companies are gearing up to tap this wealth even further in the coming years. Balkanising the country into North-South entities would undermine the central government in Abuja and bolster exploitation by these corporations.

Recent national security concerns by the US government and its Western allies, Britain and France, have featured West Africa as a new global priority. These powers have warned against the rise of so-called terrorism in the region and are citing this threat as a reason for expanding their military presence in Burkino Faso, Cote D’Ivoire, Mali and Niger. Britain’s former colony Nigeria is emerging as a supposed top Western security concern.

The cold-blooded slaughter last week of 25 students and staff at a college dormitory in northern Nigeria has been linked to the militant group, Boko Haram.

The secretive sect is blamed for nearly 1,400 killings since 2009, involving a campaign of terror that has seen bomb and gun attacks on government buildings, police stations, communication facilities, churches and even mosques.

On the country’s Independence Day last Monday night, a group of unknown armed men entered the Federal Polytechnic premises in the northeastern town of Mubi. The attackers called out students by name, according to local police, and then proceeded to execute the victims by gunshot or by slitting their throats with knives.

The killings have since sparked a desperate exodus of students from the town, and the region has become gripped by heightened fears of further bloodshed.

Boko Haram seems the most likely culprit. The reclusive network is said to want to impose a strict version of religious law and to ban all symbols of Western influence, including the central government of President Goodluck Jonathan. Western commentators have labeled the group “Nigeria’s Taliban”.

However, some Nigerian analysts believe that the organization is being used by powerful external forces as a conduit for destabilizing Nigeria. Political analyst Olufemi Ijebuode says: “The upshot of this latest massacre is to destabilize the state of Nigeria by sowing sectarian divisions among the population. The killers may have been Boko Haram operatives, but Boko Haram is a proxy organization working on behalf of foreign powers.”

“The bottom line is that this murderous attack, as with many, many others in recent years, is saying that the Nigerian government is not in control of its own country,” adds Ijebuode.

A timeline of Boko Haram’s insurgency shows a remarkable increase in violent capability. The group was first formed in 2002 in the city of Maiduguri, the northeast most state of Borno. However, it was not until mid-July 2009 that it adopted violent tactics, apparently following a heavy-handed crackdown by Nigerian security forces that involved extrajudicial killings of leading members.

In these initial violent clashes, supporters of Boko Haram were armed with rudimentary means, such as attacking police stations with motorcycles laden with fuel and even using bows and poison-tipped arrows.

Within two years, the group had acquired assault rifles and was able to mount bomb attacks in the capital Abuju, including one on the police headquarters in June 2011. Two months later, in August 2011, the United Nations headquarters in Abuja was bombed, killing 24 people.

In the following months, the group carried out a wave of coordinated bomb and gun attacks in several cities across the north of the country that resulted in hundreds of deaths. As well as government buildings, churches and mosques have been targeted in a deliberate attempt to provoke sectarian hate. …more

Bahrain: Rajab on Hunger Strike, Forces Use Hot Water against Protesters
8 October, 2012 – ABNA

Bahraini Human Rights activist Nabeel Rajab began hunger strike in prison to protest against preventing him from participating in the all 3-day funeral of his mother who died last Thursday.

Bahrain: Rajab on Hunger Strike, Forces Use Hot Water against Protesters(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) – Bahraini Human Rights activist Nabeel Rajab began hunger strike in prison to protest against preventing him from participating in the all 3-day funeral of his mother who died last Thursday.

“Nabeel Rajab called me Friday and informed me that he would stop eating food, drinking water and taking his medicine until he’s allowed to attend his mother’s funeral,” his wife Soumaya Rajab appealed via “Twitter”.

She added: “I spoke with the doctors and they told me that Rajab’s health would collapse after 24 hours without water and his body organs will stop from working after just three days.”

Several rallies were held in Bahraini cities in loyalty to the martyrs of the popular uprising who died recently. Some villages also saw demonstrations in solidarity with Nabeel Rajab. Rallies were met with tear gas and hot water, which is a newly used weapon by the Bahraini forces against peaceful protesters.

Rajab was set to be freed for 3 days to attend his mother’s funeral. He was freed but then arrested in the first day because of a speech he delivered which the authorities claimed as “provocative.”

In the same context, a Bahraini medic was freed on Sunday for time served in jail, just five days after he was sentenced with five colleagues in connection with last year’s anti-regime protests in the Gulf state, his lawyers said.

They said Mahmud Asghar, who was sentenced to six months, was released for time served before his conviction.

The six medics were jailed on Tuesday, a day after their convictions were upheld by the kingdom’s highest court.

The medics were among 20 doctors and nurses who worked at the Salmaniya Medical Complex in Manama during the popular uprising against the oppressive rule in the kingdom. …source