VivirLatino

Hugo Chavez Tells Venezuelan Jews to Denounce Gaza Attacks

14:20 H | Topics: Gaza - Religion - Venezuela

More verbal than Barack Obama and forever willing to comment on anything that's going on in the world, Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez has put a call out to Jews in his country: denounce the Israeli military actions in Gaza. Rather surprisingly, he did so with good taste and decorum

"A Palestinian community lives here with us which we adore and love and there are also Jews that live here who we love as well, but I wish the Jewish community would declare themselves against this barbarism. Do it. Don't you strongly denounce any act of persecution and the Holocaust? What do you think we are looking at [in Gaza]? Put your hand on your heart and be fair."

Of course, he had other things to say, which fit well into his typical spiel, like how Fidel is called a tyrant but he has never invaded a country like Israel is doing now. And how Irani president Ahmadineyad is equally vilified, yet he has never taken action against any country.

What do you think? Are the comparisons fair?

Via / El Universal (Venezuela)

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• Pitiyanquis: Hugo Chavez's Definition of Sellouts (Friday, Sep 05 2008)

Landslide in Guatemala Lead to Workers Deaths

14:15 H | Topics: Guatemala

Reuters is reporting on the deadly consequences of landslides in Guatemala occurring off season. Landslides in Guatemala are common, but they usually occur between June and November.

The victims were laborers returning home from coffee farms in a nearby department. They had apparently ignored warnings not to use the road, which was closed in December after a smaller rockfall killed two people.

"I was watching when it started. I thought it was an earthquake but the rocks just fell and fell and fell," said laborer Leandro Salam, 26, who was working in a nearby cornfield at the time and ran over to help dig out bodies.

The mayor of San Cristobal Verapaz, Leopoldo Ical, told Reuters around 80 farmworkers had been traveling in two trucks when they reached the closed road near the hamlet of Los Chorros and continued on foot.

"The trucks stopped and the workers got out and continued on foot. They are the dead and disappeared," Ical said.

I live in a region where tornadoes are common, but usually in early spring. There was a horrible wind storm the other night that woke the whole family up and left me terrified that we were in the middle of a tornado. I think we need to ask ourselves why all these normal weather events keep happening off season. Is there really nothing called Global Warming?

May the workers rest in peace.

Today Show Nixes Coulter Last Minute

12:48 H | Topics: Controversia - Media - Politics - TV

Ann Coulter, after Condaleezza Rice and Michelle Malkin, comes in third place on my list of ladies I don't love (I'm, of course, being classy in my classification). And according to Ann, someone at NBC's Today Show feels the same way, as the Republican polemicist was bumped from today's broadcast at the last minute. As would be expected, Coulter cried foul and blamed it all on -- who else -- the liberal media agenda:

I guess this ends the 'they just want to get ratings' argument about liberal media bias," Coulter grouses on her website.

Coulter was due to appear on the first and fourth hours of Today to promote her new book, Guilty: Liberal 'Victims' and Their Assault on America, and while the Drudge Report yesterday upped the conspiracy ante, breathlessly reporting that Coulter has been permanently banned from the show, NBC News says hooey.

NBC says that increased coverage of the situation in Gaza led to Coulter's bump, to which Anita, in classic style, replied:

"I know the whole thing was a setup to block me from other TV shows," she said. "I think if my book does well I can buy NBC."

What a payasa!

Via / Yahoo! News

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Why Obama Remains Silent

12:47 H | Topics: Palestine

Following up on Mala's post about the relative silence from Obama about Gaza comes this article by the BBC News which explains possible reasons why Obama may be staying silent on this issue--at least for now:

Gaza is a political minefield for Mr Obama.

If he makes a statement that suggests he would pursue a different Middle East policy from that of the Bush team, it would pull the rug from under the current administration's diplomatic efforts in the region.

It would also cost him Republican goodwill at home if he were to undermine President Bush in that way.

If he issues a statement which puts him in lock step with the Bush team's approach, then he loses flexibility when the issue arrives in his in-tray in two weeks time.

Whatever he says now will be regarded as policy, but the political landscape in the Middle East could be quite different when he is sworn in.

I think the essay offers some really great reasoning--but I also think that it's vitally important to question why so many people seem to think that there are no connections to be made between Gaza and Puerto Rico. Does taking different paths on the road of resistance make situation of colonialism less present? Does a colonial country "giving" your country to another country really make colonialism "ok"? In a more abstract sense--does Puerto Rico (or Mexico or any other (former) colonial outpost) really not suffer from the effects of colonialism today as we speak? Is there a reason why so many former colonial outposts in Latin America are so unconscionably poor, politically unstable, and chronically dealing with guerrilla warfare? Is it really because Latin@s (along with Gazans/Arabs apparently) are inherently violent and unable to civilized? Or are the effects of colonialism perhaps more devastating than we are willing to admit?

Israel's Assault on the People of Gaza: Cluster Bombs, White Phosphorous, and Depleted Uranium

11:00 H | Topics: Gaza - Israel - Palestine

Israel, with United States sponsorship is now using chemical weapons against the people of Gaza, including white phosphorous.

From Kabobfest:

What did Saddam Hussein use in his Halabja poison gas attack, along with other chemical weapons?

White phosphorous.

The US used this very same chemical weapon in the attack on Falluja in 2004.

The Geneva Conventions make the use of white phosphorous as a chemical weapon illegal and when you read the effects of it, it's easy to see why.

It ignites on contact with oxygen. Particles on a person can be temporarily extinguished with water, but as soon as they are dry they will recombust. Longer-term exposure causes poisoning, which leads to wounds of the mouth and eventual destruction of the whole jawbone.

Exposure to white phosphorus smoke in the air can also cause liver, kidney, heart, lung or bone damage and even death.

Israel insists that it is using white phosphorous as a smoke screen.

Read more...

Related

• Latin America Speaks Out For Gaza (Monday, Jan 05 2009)
• Obama Wants to Resolve Puerto Rico's Colonial Status While Saying Nothing on Assault on Occupied Palestine (Sunday, Jan 04 2009)

Navidad Isn't Over : Hoy es Dia de Reyes

07:20 H | Topics: Culture - New York City

Despite growing up in the U.S., I was gifted with childhood Navidad seasons in the patria of Puerto Rico and that meant not just Santa Clos pero also the three kings! The tradition based on the Epiphany, when three kings following a star gave gifts to the baby Jesus. Claro que when children put grass and water out for the camels of the kings, they don't want gold, frankincense, or Myrrh (or socks and panties as my abuela Lila always used to give us, although I will accept cute socks and panties now, go figure).

So Feliz de de Reyes. If you're in NYC you should head up to el barrio to catch the Three Kings Parade sponsored by el Museo del barrio, featuring community members, artists and activists. Deatils for the parade can be found after the jump.

Read more...

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Music Monday

13:45 H | Topics: Music

Because now that the kids are back in school and I can actually hear my own damn thoughts--now is the perfect time to not be able to get motivated to do anything right?

Thus, I curl up with a tragic Mexican song and go back to sleep.

Gaza Update From Al Jazeera

12:03 H | Topics: Palestine

This is so awful, so disturbing. I am just sick watching it.

I got this video from Huffington Post, which did a really nice job of showing why independent media (or media that is not supported by mainstream corporations) is so vitally necessary.

I Am Sean Bell : A Film By Stacey Muhammad

11:27 H | Topics: Activism - Movies - New York City - Race

I remember being pregnant with my first child when Abner Louima was assaulted by the NYPD and feeling worried that I would have a boy, a boy in a city where brown boys grow up feeling that they can be shot at a moment's notice. That bullet can come from generic street crime or from the police.

I gave birth to a girl but 12 years later the fears are the same.

I AM SEAN BELL, black boys speak from Stacey Muhammad on Vimeo.

Via / No Snow Here

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Latin America Speaks Out For Gaza

09:27 H | Topics: Activism - Gaza - Latin America - Palestine

People across Latin America are crying out against the Israeli attack on the people of Gaza.

In Oaxaca, Mexico, Mexican police arrested at least 20 people as they went to the U.S. Consulate to protest.

In the middle of the day, today, Saturday the 3rd of January, 2009, a massive detention took place of over 20 compañeros and compañeras who set out to peacefully protest in front of the U.S. Consulate in Oaxaca, repulsed by the genocide perpetuated by Israel against the Palestinian people.

From the information we have received, these detentions took place as the protestors headed toward the Consulate, located in Santo Domingo de Guzmán, in Oaxaca City. Without warning, the police forces, through unproportionable and unjustified force, launched an assault against them before the protest was even able to take place.

Read more...

Related

• Obama Wants to Resolve Puerto Rico's Colonial Status While Saying Nothing on Assault on Occupied Palestine (Sunday, Jan 04 2009)
• Ways to Help Gaza (Thursday, Jan 01 2009)

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