lies exposed

Remember when teachers, nurses, doctors and lollipop ladies crashed the stock market, wiped out banks, took billions in bonuses and paid no tax? No, me neither.


But I do remember reading about the Greek DEBT! and wondering how could such a country owe so much money?! 


Here is an explanation:



Debtocracy International Version by BitsnBytes


If you watch it together with another documentary called "The Inside Job" then, you start recognising some names, and even some faces.


Goldman Sachs comes up so often you start wondering how come you've never read about anybody from that bank facing a court of justice......


Even if you don't care about Greece, it is worth watching, it could happen to you too....

10 Things You Can Do to Stop Violence Against Women

1.Approach gender violence as a MEN’S issue involving men of all ages, socioeconomic, racial and ethnic backgrounds. View men not only as perpetrators or possible offenders, but as empowered bystanders who can confront abusive peers.


2.If a brother, friend, classmate, or teammate is abusing his female partner – or is disrespectful or abusive to girls and women in general – don’t look the other way. If you feel comfortable doing so, try to talk to him about it. Urge him to seek help. Or if you don’t know what to do, consult a friend, a parent, a professor, or a counsellor. DON’T REMAIN SILENT.

3.Have the courage to look inward. Question your own attitudes. Don’t be defensive when something you do or say ends up hurting someone else. Try hard to understand how your own attitudes and actions might inadvertently perpetuate sexism and violence, and work towards changing them.

4.If you suspect that a woman close to you is being abused or has been sexually assaulted, gently ask if you can help.

5.If you are emotionally, psychologically, physically, or sexually abusive to women, or have been in the past, seek professional help NOW.

6.Be an ally to women who are working to end all forms of gender violence. Support the work of campus-based women’s centres. Attend “Take Back the Night” rallies and other public events. Raise money for community-based rape crisis centres and battered women’s shelters. If you belong to a team or fraternity, or another student group, organise a fundraiser.

7.Recognise and speak out against homophobia and gay-bashing. Discrimination and violence against lesbians and gays are wrong in and of themselves. This abuse also has direct links to sexism (e.g. the sexual orientation of men who speak out against sexism is often questioned, as a conscious or unconscious strategy intended to silence them and a key reason few men do so.)

8.Attend programmes, take courses, watch films, and read articles and books about multicultural masculinities, gender inequality, and the root causes of gender violence. Educate yourself and others about how larger social forces affect the conflicts between individual men and women.

9.Don’t fund sexism. Refuse to purchase any magazine, rent any video, subscribe to any Web site, or buy any music that portrays girls or women in a sexually degrading or abusive manner. Protest sexism in the media.

10.Mentor and teach young boys about how to be men in ways that don’t involve degrading or abusing girls and women. Volunteer to work with gender violence prevention programmes, including anti-sexist men’s programmes. Lead by example.
 
By The Pixel Project

29 ways to stay creative

East Jerusalem, by its residents

"Five Palestinians and two Israelis used cameras provided by the Guardian and B'Tselem human rights organisation to record video diaries about their lives and experiences in East Jerusalem"

un analisis muy acertado, de lectura casi obligada

¿A quién importa en Oriente Próximo lo que dice Obama?

Este mes, Oriente Próximo ha visto a un presidente de Estados Unidos degradado. Más que eso, ha corroborado el prestigio más bajo de EEUU en la región desde que, en 1945, Roosevelt se reuniera con el rey Abdul Aziz en el barco USS Quincy en el Lago “Great Bitter”
Mientras Barack Obama y Benjamin Neranyahu representaban su farsa en Washington con Obama tan servil como siempre – los árabes seguían adelante con la seria tarea de cambiar su mundo, manifestándose, luchando y muriendo por las libertades que nunca tuvieron. Obama divagó sobre el cambio en Oriente Próximo y el papel de EEUU en la región. Estuvo patético. “¿Que es esta cosa de ‘papel’?”, me preguntó un amigo egipcio el fin de semana: “¿Todavía se creen que nos importa lo que piensan?”
Y esto es verdad. El fracaso de Obama en apoyar las revoluciones árabes hasta que estuvieron casi terminadas, hizo que EEUU perdiera la mayor parte de su crédito restante en la región. Obama estuvo callado en el derrocamiento de Ben Alí, solo se unió al coro de críticas contra Mubarak dos días antes de su salida, condenó al régimen sirio, que ha matado más personas que cualquier otra dinastía en esta “primavera” árabe a excepción del espantoso Gadafi, dejando claro que desearía la continuidad de Assad, moviendo su débil puño ante la crueldad del pequeño Bahrein y manteniendo un absoluto, asombroso silencio sobre Arabia Saudí. Anda de rodillas ante Israel. Por tanto, ¿Resulta extraño, que los árabes den la espalda a EEUU, no desde la furia o la ira, ni con amenazas o violencia, sino con desprecio? Son los árabes y sus congéneres musulmanes de Oriente Próximo quienes están tomando las decisiones por sí mismos. [..]

Uno de los más frívolos elementos de la política exterior de EEUU hacia Oriente Próximo se funda en la idea de que los árabes son de alguna forma más estúpidos que el resto de nosotros, desde luego que los israelíes, más alejados de la realidad que los occidentales, que no entienden su propia historia. Así ellos tenían que estar rezando, disertando y halagando a Clinton y su estirpe, tanto como sus dictadores hicieron y hacen, figuras paternas guiando a sus hijos por la vida. Pero los árabes son mucho más ilustrados que lo fueron ellos hace una generación; millones hablan un perfecto inglés y pueden entender muy bien todo, la debilidad de la política y la irrelevancia de las palabras del presidente. Escuchando el discurso de 45 minutos de Obama este mes, (el “comienzo” de cuatro días enteros de declaraciones ambiguas y autobombo por el hombre que trató de llegar al mundo musulmán hace dos años en El Cairo y a continuación no hizo nada), uno pudiera haber pensado que el presidente de EEUU había iniciado las revueltas árabes en vez de quedarse al margen por temor. [...]

Dudo mucho si los palestinos permanecerán en silencio. Si hay una “intifada” en Siria, ¿Por qué no una tercera intifada en “Palestina”? No una lucha de bombas humanas suicidas, sino de masas, protestas enormes de millones. Si los israelíes disparan a unos pocos cientos de manifestantes que trataban (y en algunos casos lo consiguen) de cruzar la frontera israelí hace casi dos semanas, que harán si se enfrentan a miles o millones. Obama dice que el estado palestino no debe ser declarado por Naciones Unidas. ¿Pero, por qué no? ¿A quién importa en Oriente Próximo lo que dice Obama? Parece que ni siquiera a los israelíes. La primavera árabe pronto llegará a ser un verano cálido y también habrá un otoño árabe. Para entonces, el Oriente Próximo puede haber cambiado para siempre. Lo que Estados Unidos diga no importará nada.

El original es de Robert Fisk para The Independent (y es el post anterior)
La traduccion y el articulo al completo aqui

for a spot on analysis

he could also be talking about Ashton.....

Who cares in the Middle East what Obama says?

President Obama has shown himself to be weak in his dealings with the Middle East, says Robert Fisk, and the Arab world is turning its back with contempt. Its future will be shaped without American influence

This month, in the Middle East, has seen the unmaking of the President of the United States. More than that, it has witnessed the lowest prestige of America in the region since Roosevelt met King Abdul Aziz on the USS Quincy in the Great Bitter Lake in 1945.

While Barack Obama and Benjamin Netanyahu played out their farce in Washington – Obama grovelling as usual – the Arabs got on with the serious business of changing their world, demonstrating and fighting and dying for freedoms they have never possessed. Obama waffled on about change in the Middle East – and about America's new role in the region. It was pathetic. "What is this 'role' thing?" an Egyptian friend asked me at the weekend. "Do they still believe we care about what they think?"

And it is true. Obama's failure to support the Arab revolutions until they were all but over lost the US most of its surviving credit in the region. Obama was silent on the overthrow of Ben Ali, only joined in the chorus of contempt for Mubarak two days before his flight, condemned the Syrian regime – which has killed more of its people than any other dynasty in this Arab "spring", save for the frightful Gaddafi – but makes it clear that he would be happy to see Assad survive, waves his puny fist at puny Bahrain's cruelty and remains absolutely, stunningly silent over Saudi Arabia. And he goes on his knees before Israel. Is it any wonder, then, that Arabs are turning their backs on America, not out of fury or anger, nor with threats or violence, but with contempt? It is the Arabs and their fellow Muslims of the Middle East who are themselves now making the decisions. [..]

One of the vainest elements of American foreign policy towards the Middle East is the foundational idea that the Arabs are somehow more stupid than the rest of us, certainly than the Israelis, more out of touch with reality than the West, that they don't understand their own history. Thus they have to be preached at, lectured, and cajoled by La Clinton and her ilk – much as their dictators did and do, father figures guiding their children through life. But Arabs are far more literate than they were a generation ago; millions speak perfect English and can understand all too well the political weakness and irrelevance in the president's words. Listening to Obama's 45-minute speech this month – the "kick off' to four whole days of weasel words and puffery by the man who tried to reach out to the Muslim world in Cairo two years ago, and then did nothing – one might have thought that the American President had initiated the Arab revolts, rather than sat on the sidelines in fear.[...]

But now the narrative has been twisted out of all recognition. Hamas are the super-terrorists, the "al-Qa'ida" representatives in the unified Palestinian leadership, the men of evil who will ensure that no peace ever takes place between Palestinians and Israeli. If only this were true, the real al-Qa'ida would be more than happy to take responsibility. But it is not true. In the same context, Obama stated that the Palestinians would have to answer questions about Hamas. But why should they? What Obama and Netanyahu think about Hamas is now irrelevant to them. Obama warns the Palestinians not to ask for statehood at the United Nations in September. But why on earth not? If the people of Egypt and Tunisia and Yemen and Libya and Syria – we are all waiting for the next revolution (Jordan? Bahrain again? Morocco?) – can fight for freedom and dignity, why shouldn't the Palestinians? Lectured for decades on the need for non-violent protest, the Palestinians elect to go to the UN with their cry for legitimacy – only to be slapped down by Obama.

Having read all of the "Palestine Papers" which Al-Jazeera revealed, there is no doubt that "Palestine's" official negotiators will go to any lengths to produce some kind of statelet. Mahmoud Abbas, who managed to write a 600-page book on the "peace process" without once mentioning the word "occupation", could even cave in over the UN project, fearful of Obama's warning that it would be an attempt to "isolate" Israel and thus de-legitimise the Israeli state – or "the Jewish state" as the US president now calls it. But Netanyahu is doing more than anyone to delegitimise his own state; indeed, he is looking more and more like the Arab buffoons who have hitherto littered the Middle East. Mubarak saw a "foreign hand" in the Egyptian revolution (Iran, of course). So did the Crown Prince of Bahrain (Iran again). So did Gaddafi (al-Qa'ida, western imperialism, you name it), So did Saleh of Yemen (al-Qa'ida, Mossad and America). So did Assad of Syria (Islamism, probably Mossad, etc). And so does Netanyahu (Iran, naturally enough, Syria, Lebanon, just about anyone you can think of except for Israel itself).

But as this nonsense continues, so the tectonic plates shudder. I doubt very much if the Palestinians will remain silent. If there's an "intifada" in Syria, why not a Third Intifada in "Palestine"? Not a struggle of suicide bombers but of mass, million-strong protests. If the Israelis have to shoot down a mere few hundred demonstrators who tried – and in some cases succeeded – in crossing the Israeli border almost two weeks ago, what will they do if confronted by thousands or a million. Obama says no Palestinian state must be declared at the UN. But why not? Who cares in the Middle East what Obama says? Not even, it seems, the Israelis. The Arab spring will soon become a hot summer and there will be an Arab autumn, too. By then, the Middle East may have changed forever. What America says will matter nothing.

mas sabe el diablo por viejo que por diablo

y a los 94 anos de sabiduria aprendida, vivida se dicen cosas como:
 Nuestro tiempo es para mí, esencialmente, un tiempo de barbarie. Y no me refiero solo a violencia, sino a una civilización que ha degradado los valores que integraban su naturaleza. Un valor era la justicia. Dígame si Guantánamo o lo que pasa en China es justicia. Se juzga a la gente en virtud de la presunción de culpabilidad. Todo eso del ataque preventivo, un nombre eufónico para hablar de la ley de la selva. En 2000 años, la humanidad ha progresado técnicamente de forma fabulosa, pero nos seguimos matando con una codicia y una falta de solidaridad escandalosas. No hemos aprendido a vivir juntos y en paz.


Una cosa es la vida espiritual, incluso el sentimiento de que hay más allá, y otra las religiones con funcionarios que las explotan. Cuando el hombre se cree por encima de la naturaleza, piensa que puede transformarla, iluso.


Para determinar nuestra conducta, las creencias son más importantes que la verdad. Y los que creen en esa inmortalidad hacen bien en comportarse según ella. Lo que hacen mal es exigir que los demás lo hagan.


El desarrollo está pensando en la rentabilidad. Lo importante no son esas tres palabras que ahora todo lo mandan: productividad, competitividad e innovación. En vez de productividad, propongo vitalidad; en vez de competitividad, cooperación, y frente a esa innovación que consiste en inventar cosas para venderlas, creación. Esa es otra. El arte es mercancía. Esos artistas como Hirst, que cogen una cabeza de vaca, le ponen un diamante y se forran. Perdonen, pero eso no me parece desarrollo. El desarrollo humano sería el que condujera a que cesaran las luchas y supiéramos tolerarnos. Y ser libres, pero todos, porque la libertad es de todos o no es.


El mercado no da la libertad. La libertad es como una cometa. Vuela porque está atada a la responsabilidad del que maneja. Lo sabían los revolucionarios franceses: libertad, igualdad, fraternidad. Hay que tener el pensamiento libre y crítico. Para ser yo, la poca cosa, la neurona que sea, necesito pensar con libertad. 


Los titulares de los periódicos son efímeros, tienen muy poca importancia frente a cosas como Guantánamo, un insulto a la justicia y a la inteligencia. ¿Y de Japón? ¿Y de Haití? Del sida en África, o de la falta de educación, no habla nadie porque no interesa al poder, que es el que dispone de los medios, que dicen lo que al poder le interesa. Contra eso hay que indignarse, reaccionar y decir no.


toda la entrevista con Jose Luis Sampredro

history + technology = beautiful pictures

Jerusalem | Filmed in Imax 3D from JerusalemGiantScreen on Vimeo.

learn french:you just need one word!

y tu que coño hacias antes de esto??

Españistán

 

Españistán, de la Burbuja Inmobiliaria a la Crisis (por Aleix Saló)