Palestine – Features

More pressing projects to spend on than a mere beauty pageant

by MRN
January 1, 2013July 25, 2013

By Ashraf Patel

(source: The Star – December 17, 2009 Edition 1)

It is disturbing to note that millions of rands were spent by the City of Johannesburg on the Miss World 2009 pageant this past weekend.At a time when the global financial crisis requires modesty and cost savings, the poor and vulnerable look up to the government to support local economic development initiatives and their social welfare. Yet, the City of Joburg went the extra mile to spend on such a frivolous activity.

The R90 million that the Johannesburg Tourism Company invested in the pageant will have very little demonstrable impact on the poor local communities.

As a ratepayer of the Joburg City Council, I would have spent the R90m on the following socio-economic projects:

– Pothole repairs: repair the hundreds of potholes and replace the hundreds of manhole covers that have been stolen. This would create temporary jobs for hundreds of small construction workers and save motorists on inevitable repair bills;

Saudis may allow Isaraels use of air space

by MRN
January 1, 2013July 25, 2013

(source: Rise For The Truth)

Western security sources believe Saudi Arabia will readily let Israel use the country’s airspace to strike neighboring Iran if a war breaks out between the archenemies.

Prominent German news magazine SPIEGEL claimed in a Tuesday article that there exists a strong unity between Israel and Persian Gulf’s Arab states against Iran.

Zapiros freud the non European muhammad

by MRN
January 1, 2013July 25, 2013

Aslam Faroul Alli

(source: Mail & Guardian Online – 2 June 2010)

The Turkish writer, Ahmet Rasim, once said that the beauty of a landscape resides in its melancholy. Obviously not everyone would agree with him, but Rasim does touch upon an undeniable truth:40have the capacity to unlock powerful emotions.

This, too, is one of the main reasons why art is so enchanting; the spell of the image is able to transcend words and resonates deep within our very beings. However, the kind of emotion that an image invokes also ultimately depends upon the eye of the beholder. All of these factors come to bear upon Zapiro’s recent33of the Prophet of Islam.

Reviewing the bbcs coverage of the 2001 attack on the world trade center the pentagon

by MRN
January 1, 2013July 25, 2013

(source: Monitoring Authority…BBC Charter Compliance)

Introduction

How do BBC statements compare with evidence in the public domain? Is the BBC coverage accurate? Does the BBC output divert attention from the most relevant issues and events? Are the key questions addressed?

Monitoring Authority reviews the BBC documentary, "911 Conspiracy File", broadcast in Feb 2007 and July 2008 plus the BBC web site. It asks whether the programme can fairly be seen as deceptive and whether it could condition our minds to reject further inquiry.

The evidence is verified, collated and presented for the reader’s judgement.

After Sept. 11th President Bush declared:

"You’re either with us or you’re with the terrorists"

How did the BBC react to this confrontational statement?

The BBC investigation backs the official theory: 19 Muslims conspired with Osama bin Laden to attack the US, because they "hate freedom".

Is the BBC guilty of misrepresentation of the evidence and "spinning" the phrase "conspiracy theory" in an attack on freedom of expression? Was there censorship of dissent?

Methodology

A deconstruction of the programme [transcript] pointing to information in the public domain contradicting the BBC content. It does not make statements that cannot be substantiated.

It does however examine the frequent repetition of the phrase – "conspiracy theory" – and whether this phrase has been used subliminally to condition us to react, in a predictable Pavlovian manner, to support US & UK government policy.,

This phrase now lights up pathways in our brains that resonate with “paranoid stories by sad souls”, as if asking a question, how? who? when? where? constitutes evidence of psychological disturbance and flawed character. But is this really how the BBC "911 File" spins those who doubt or inquire?

We should consider whether the UK public-financed broadcasting corporation ignored its Charter obligations in a programme about arguably the most important political event of the 21st Century – leading as it did to war in Afghanistan and Iraq with draconian increases in state power at home – all vital, we’re told, to fight terrorism.