Kultur, natur og modstand
Jfr. The Guardian:
Responding to a question about whether evil exists and “if it exists, should we negotiate with it, contain it or defeat it”, McCain had a Dr Strangelove moment, almost shouting: “Defeat it! If I am president of the United States, my friends, I will follow Osama bin Laden to the gates of hell and I will get him.”
Hvis nogen var i tvivl om, hvorvidt McCain er skingrende vanvittig den rette mand til jobbet.
Den britiske terrorlovgivning, der tillader fængsling uden sigtelse i flere måneder, har kostet den britiske statsborger Hicham Yezza adskillige uger i fængsel over en gansle absurd anklage, der dybest set var baseret på tilstedeværelsen på hans computer af et åbenbart meget farligt dokument, der ellers er offentligt tilgængeligt og var downlaodet fra CIAs hjemmeside, som han skriver i dagens Guardian:
These laws have destroyed my life.
On May 14 I was arrested under section 41 of the Terrorism Act – on suspicion of the “instigation, preparation and commission of acts of terrorism”: an absurdly nebulous formulation that told me nothing about the sin I had apparently committed. Once in custody, almost 48 hours passed before it was confirmed that the entire operation (involving dozens of officers, police cars, vans, and scientific support agents) was triggered by the presence on my University of Nottingham office computer of an equally absurd document called the “al-Qaida Training Manual”, a declassified open-source document that I had never read and had completely forgotten about since it had been sent to me months before.
Rizwaan Sabir, a politics student friend of mine (who was also arrested), had downloaded the file from the US justice department website while conducting research on terrorism for his upcoming PhD. An extended version of the same document (which figures on the politics department’s official reading list) was also available on Amazon. I edit a political magazine; Rizwaan regularly sent me copies of research materials he was using, and this document was one.
Within hours of my incarceration I had lost track of time. I often awoke thinking I had been asleep for days only to discover it wasn’t midnight yet. My confidence in the competence (and motives) of the police ebbed away. I found myself shifting my energies from remaining cheerful to remaining sane. In the early hours, I was often startled by the metallic toilet seat, crouched in the corner like some sinister beast.
Men er det ikke det værd, hvis det så engang ender med, at vi får fanget nogen tæoister? Yezza advarer om, at vi ikke må undervurdere den tortur det er, pludselig at blive indespærret uden grund:
I’m constantly coming across efforts being made to give detention without charge the Walt Disney treatment: the crushing weight of solitary confinement is painted as a non-issue; the soul-sapping nothingness of the claustrophobic, cold cell is portrayed as a mild inconvenience. Make no mistake: the feeling that one’s fate is in the hands of the very people who are apparently trying to convict you is, without doubt, one of the most devastating horrors a human being can ever be subjected to. It is (to misquote Carl von Clausewitz) the continuation of torture by other means.
“Those who have nothing to hide, have nothing to fear,” goes the tautological reasoning of the paranoia merchants calling for harsher, ever more draconian “security” measures – as we saw throughout the 42-days debate. They should read Kafka: nothing is more terrifying than being arrested for something you know you haven’t done. Indeed, it is the innocent who suffers the most because it is the innocent who is tormented the most. The guilty calculates, triangulates, anticipates. The innocent doesn’t know where to start. The answers and the questions are absolute, unbreachable, towering conundrums.
Men er det ikke at gøre for meget ud af det – han bliver anholdt, kendt uskyldig, renset og løsladt, og så er den potte ude. Har det ikke været det hele værd, så, hvis den samme procedure kunne forhindre et angreb eller to? Hicham Yezza, der betegner sig selv som en intellektuel, der pludselig så hele sin eksistens mistænkeliggjort (“a vocal opponent of the Iraq war yet owns all of Christopher Hitchens’ writings; admires Terry Eagleton yet defends Martin Amis; interviews Kazuo Ishiguro, listens to Leonard Cohen, goes to Radiohead concerts”), tegner et noget mere dystert billede af den grundløse isolationsfængslings konsekvenser:
Outside, lives are shattered, jobs are lost, marriages are destroyed, minds are damaged, friends and families are traumatised – often irrevocably so. My parents, whom I wasn’t allowed to call, could barely get any sleep throughout the ordeal. Many of my Muslim university friends were, and still are, worried about being targeted themselves. For most of my loved ones, despite my innocence, nothing will ever be the same again. I’m now jobless, facing destitution and threatened with deportation from the country I’ve called home for nearly half my life.
Dystert, og desværre kun alt for overbevisende. Go read!
Online-leksikonnet Wikipedia kritiseres ofte for ikke at være helt pålideligt og for ikke at vægte sit stof rigtigt, fordi det ikke har nogen egentlig redaktion.
Den danske udgaves opslag om Jyllands-Posten er dog særdeles informativt hvad avisens historiske rødder angår:
Historisk er avisen kendt for at indtage en klar højrekonservativ linje. I 1920’erne og 30’erne vakte avisen opsigt med dens udtalte sympati for fascismen og forståelse for det tyske nazi-diktatur. Da Benito Mussolini i 1922 blev leder af en fascistisk koalitionsregering i Italien, skrev avisen: “Den meget stærke mand, som Mussolini ubetinget er, er netop, hvad det misregerede italienske folk trænger til” [1]. I 1933 argumenterede avisen sågar for indførelse af diktatur i Danmark: “Nu ved vælgerne, at folkestyret er forvandlet til et rent partistyre, uden hvilket saglige hensyn skubbes til side for de partipolitiske. Og derfor kan man gå ud fra, at et flertal af vælgerne oprigtigt ønsker diktaturet som den eneste udvej til sunde forhold i statsstyret”.
Avisen var også meget positiv over for Adolf Hitlers magtovertagelse i Tyskland og Weimar Republikkens fald. Avisen skrev således i marts 1933: “Der vil også kun blive grædt tørre tårer ved Weimar-forfatningens grav . . . Hvor ejendommeligt det måske end kan lyde, er den kun 12-årige tyske forfatning med dens enkammersystem, dens lave valgretsalder – 20 år – og forholdstalsvalgmåden nemlig allerede forældet…” og senere samme måned: “Det tyske diktatur betyder således både en fordel og en fare for Europa. En fordel, fordi der derved er rejst et stærkt bolværk mod kommunismen, og socialdemokratiet på samme tid er blevet sat grundigt på plads. Og en fare, fordi det foreløbig ikke kan undgå at forøge spændingen og nervøsiteten for en ny krig.”
I juni 1933 skrev avisen yderligere blandt andet: “Mussolini reddede Italien fra den kommunistiske syndflod, som et udueligt parlamentarisk styre havde gjort det modent til, og ingen kan vel bestride, at hans diktatur har været en velgerning for det italienske folk. Tyskland stod foran en lignende katastrofe, da Hitler banede sig vej til magten, og det kan derfor ikke undre, at han foretager en kraftig udrensning i de marxistiske partier, der har hovedansvaret for den skæbnesvangre udvikling . De partipolitiske godtfolk, der bavler mest om demokrati og frihed, er her som alle andre steder de sletteste statsstyrere, og de må følgelig sættes helt ud af spillet, inden genrejsningen kan gennemføres…” [2]
(…)
Den 15. november 1938, blot få dage efter krystalnatten, hvor nazisterne i Tyskland ødelagde mere end 1000 synagoger, flere tusinde jødiske forretninger og hjem, og fordrev omkring 30.000 jødiske mænd til koncentrationslejre, bragte Jyllands-Posten en leder hvori man udtrykte sympati for aktionen og for det nazistiske syn på jøderne. Avisen skrev blandt andet: “Naar man har fulgt Jødespørgsmaalet i Europa i Aartier, kan man til en vis Grad forstaa Tyskernes Animositet overfor Jøderne, ogsaa hvis man ser bort fra de Raceteorier, der betyder saa meget i den nationalsocialistiske Verdensopfattelse […] Vi ved, at Titusinder af Jøder fordømmer de jødiske Forretningshajer, de jødiske Pornografispekulanter og de jødiske Terrorister. Men alligevel kan det ikke benægtes, at de Erfaringer, som Tyskerne – som mange andre Fastlands-Folk – har gjort med Hensyn til Jøderne, danner en vis Basis for deres Forfølgelser. Man maa indrømme Tyskland, at det har Ret til at skille sig af med sine Jøder.” [5]
Og tiderne har ikke ændret sig meget siden da – ser man på avisens lille stunt med Muhammed-karikaturerne og på avisens ledere om emner som arbejdsløshed, indvandring og muslimer eller integration, ser man at Jyllands-Posten har været hundrede procent på linje med de allermest rabiate høge på den internationale højrefløj – en slags Dansk Folkepartis menighedsblad i tiende potens.
Og ser man på avisens historie, opdager man altså, at det ingenlunde er tilfældigt: Også i trediverne var Jyllands-Posten fascisternes og medløbernes avis. Carsten Juste og Flemming Rose kommer ikke ud af intet, men følger en stolt tradition.
… det er i hvert fald det indtryk, man kan få efter at have læst de danske aviser.
The Guardian fortæller som en slags modvægt om, hvordan det ser ud for øjenvidner i den syd-ossetiske hovedstad:
“The Georgians could not get tanks through these narrow streets. So first they turned it to ruins with a Grad attack and tried to punch through here to the centre of the city. There was heavy fighting in the streets. I think more than 500 bodies were pulled out of this part of town.”
Asked if there had been atrocities against civilians the Colonel replied: “I personally saw one man beheaded lying in the street and others say they witnessed civilians who had been finished off with a shot to the back of the head.”
Hvis man har så travlt med at holde orden i sit “eget land” – hvorfor så en sådan brutalitet overfor civile?
Georgiens “demokratisk valgte” præsident (som i virkeligheden kom til magten ved et kup, hvorefter hans styre blev blåstemplet ved et valg, hvor han fik 96% af stemmerne – lyder mere bekendt, end godt er) er nu i øvrigt i selvsving over, at USA ifølge ham vil overtage landets lufthavne og havne og tage sig kærligt af russerne derfra.
Noget tyder dog på, at det ikke kommer til at ske sådan foreløbig (man har da altid lov at håbe).
Last year US embassy employees in the heart of the Green Zone complained that they were ordered not to wear body armour and helmets if they were photographed or filmed standing beside John McCain because their attire might seem to contradict his claim that Baghdad was a safer place than was being reported. When Vice President Dick Cheney visited there was a ban in the Green Zone on sounding the siren which normally gives a few seconds warning of incoming rocket or mortar rounds. Cheney’s staffers thought the sirens’ menacing wail might suggest to American television viewers that all was not as well in Iraq as the vice president was claiming. In the case of Barack Obama’s visit on 21 July much of central Baghdad was closed down to guarantee his safety, deep though he was within the Green Zone. A friend called Gaylan had taken his car out to get its air conditioner fixed in the Karada district of east Baghdad when US troops stopped all traffic at 12.15pm. Caught in the torrid heat of the Iraqi summer, he and other drivers were not allowed to move again until six in the evening.
Ingen rører sig, mens operation photo op er i gang! I grunden utroligt, at det amerikanske militær vil lade sig misbruge til den form for “tryghedsteater”; mindre utroligt, at irakerne er trætte af en så arrogant besættelsesmagt og gerne vil have dem hjem.
Gary Brecher har et tankevækkende lille stykke om krigen i Georgien/Grusien på Exiled Online:
Hard people on every side in that part of the world. No quarter asked or given. No good guys. Especially not the Georgians. They have a rep as good people, one-on-one, but you don’t want to mess with them and you especially don’t want to try to take land from them.
The Georgians bided their time, then went on the offensive, Caucasian style, by pretending to make peace and all the time planning a sneak attack on South Ossetia. They just signed a treaty granting autonomy to South Ossetia this week, and then they attacked, Corleone style. Georgian MLRS units barraged Tskhinvali, the capital city of South Ossetia; Georgian troops swarmed over Ossetian roadblocks; and all in all, it was a great, whiz-bang start, but like Petraeus asked about Iraq way back in 2003, what’s the ending to this story? As in: how do you invade territory that the Russians have staked out for protection without thinking about how they’ll react?
Exiled Online er russisk-baseret og gør sædvanligvis en del ud af at forklare, hvorfor Rusland ikke nødvendigvis er så slem, som koldkrigere ynder at gøre det, blandet med betydelige mængder af sarkasme og kynisme. Deres syn på konflikten i Kaukasus kan ikke undgå at være interessant.
Link.
Rami bringer nogle interessante observationer fra den georgiske journalist Nino Zhizhilashvili, som naturligt nok er on-site i Tbilisi:
South Ossetian autonomous republic was established by the USSR on the territory of Georgia in 1921. Georgians and Ossetians lived there together but Georgians were in absolute majority there. When the USSR collapsed the government of the South Ossetia declared the Independence and stated its desire to join Russia but of course, Georgian population and the government of the country refused. The wide escalation started then and it was the severe war there in early 90th.
But Georgia loose the war as Russian military forces went to the country and supported minority. We had a lot of Georgian refugees from the region which gained the status quo but stayed as a non-recognized republic until now. There never been the peace in the region during the years but the situation tensed last weeks when the massive shootings from both sides took place, because city Tskinvali – the center of the region, was circled by Georgian villages.
Do not ask me now, who started.
Status ser ret mørk ud – Nino Zhizhilashvili håber af gode grunde ikke på hjælp fra USA eller Vesten i det hele taget, men omvendt betyder det også, at den georgiske regering og befolkning ikke har en chance mod Rusland:
We are really in serious troubles. The Russian tanks are coming to the whole territory of Georgia – from all sides… there were a lot of air attacks during the two last days also. No idea what will be the future of my country. Even if the USA will decide to help Georgia by its military forces there would be the end of the country – it could become the land of the war of two empires…
Russian tanks blocked the autobahn connected the Western and Eastern parts of Georgia and wide intervention has started. They are attacking the country from the western and northern boarders. Troops are already at the capital Tbilisi. Nobody knows what are they aiming. The ultimatum was fulfilled by the Georgian government but they are going ahead – the international society is helpless to stop them. SAD! We are expecting the turning off the Internet so I don’t know whether I would be able to contact you soon.
Som Rami siger, lad os håbe det bedste, for Ramis veninde såvel som for området i almindelighed. Som andre har gjort opmærksom på, ser det ud til, at Georgiens populistiske præsident begik en uhyggelig fejltagelse, da han lod sine tropper bombe Syd-Ossetien.
(og så en parantes, med spørgsmål til kommentarfolket: Plejede “Georgien” ikke at hedde “Grusien” på dansk? Er brugen af “Georgien” endnu et eksempel på analfabetiske journalisters afskrift af engelske bulletiner, eller er der et argument for navneskiftet?)
Kilde, en anmeldelse af en tilsyneladende lidt for ukritisk bog om Web 2.0-fænomenet:
Flickr recently deleted a picture by the Dutch photographer Maartin Dors that showed a Romanian street kid . Why? Because it violated a previously unknown, unpublished rule against depicting children smoking! What’s the rational of this rule? As a spokesperson explained, Flickr and Yahoo! ‘must craft and enforce guidelines that go beyond legal requirements to protect their brands and foster safe, enjoyable communities’. Jonathan Zittrain points out that the ‘ever-increasing usability [of Web 2.0]has been accompanied by the deliberalising of user rights’.2 Of course, users can revolt against overt manipulation as they did when the aggregation site digg.com tried to suppress postings with the code to crack HD DVD encryption in May 2007. The management had to reverse its policy, though I wonder if they would have had they been a subsidiary of a large conglomerate.
Hvis virkeligheden ikke er “safe and enjoyable” har den ingen plads på en side som Flickr. Og efterhånden som alle lægger deres personlige data på Web 2.0-sider som Flickr, Facebook, Myspace og hvad har vi – kan alt, hvad der ikke er “safe and enjoyable” og appellerer til, hvordan aktionærerne og den juridiske afdeling synes, en præsentabel virkelighed skal se ud, let gå hen og forsvinde.
Keine hexerei – eller blot en nødvendig og uheldig konsekvens af den centralisering, der følger med Web 2.0?
Den canadiske forfatter Cory Doctorow taler i et længere interview med Chicago Tribune blandt meget andet om, hvorfor han har droppet Mac og er gået helt over til Ubuntu og fri software:
They say a conservative is a liberal who’s been mugged. You know, a free software advocate is a Mac user who’s found his data locked in. I’m now a full-on free software person. I don’t use proprietary stuff.
As a philosophical point?
But as a philosophy that arose from self-preservation. I have Logo programs on my laptop that I wrote on 1979 on an Apple II Plus that can still be read and executed. But I have data from a period later when I started using proprietary systems that can’t be read at all. There’s material I produced in Ready, Set, Go! for the Mac that’s locked in pretty much forever because I had forgotten the lesson of open file formats.
There’s the famous Franklin quote: Those who would give up freedom to win security deserve neither. And some friends of mine repurposed it as: Those who would give up openness for a little eye candy deserve neither. There is something to that. And im a full time Linux dude now. It matters.
Læs også om overvågning, borgerrettigheder og om hvad, der i Doctorows optik kan/skal gøres ved den vej, vinden blæser i disse år. Link.
Vi holder ferie en uge eller to, og hverken denne blog eller moderskibet kan forventes at blive opdateret de kommende to uger. Brug de gode blogs i min blogroll indtil da! 🙂