Humanitarians?

This is a post dealing with a very touchy subject atm, the earthquake in Haiti. It is in such a state, for hundreds of thousands of individuals have lost their lives, and millions have ended up homeless, this is extremely tragic. Though this is not really different from discussing the issues in a war torn nation such as Iraq, where millions have been killed, and how many I don´t know, have had their houses destroyed or were forced to evacuate.

Be as it may, let´s start off with the definition of Humanitarian:

In its most general form, humanitarianism is an ethic of kindness, benevolence and sympathy extended universally and impartially to all human beings. Humanitarianism has been an evolving concept historically but universality is a common element in its evolution. No distinction is to be made in the face of human suffering or abuse on grounds of tribal, caste, religious or national divisions.

I have briefly checked the news and saw that the US have given the country of Haiti, $100 million, in so-called humanitarian aid. I am not sure, whether that number has already been increased (or where the money has gone to), though it makes no real difference in the following concepts I am about to raise. Here goes:

1. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie has donated $1 million. If they can give so much in aid money (thanks Brad and Angelina!), where are the mega-rich nations and corporations of the world providing?

2. Obama gave General Motors a total of $100 billion to help them float during the "economic crisis" that they faced. Just shows where his real interests lie, corporations.

3. Trillions are spent on the US occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan. When it comes to humanitarian causes, advocating war and participating in it, is not part of the notion of humanitarianism, which they so proudly proclaim over the media that they are now doing in Haiti. Yes you can be a humanitarian towards Haiti, but what about your track record in this present day and age in war? Come on let´s be honest, war mongerers cannot be humanitarians at the same time, can they? Or am I missing something?

4. Bill Clinton and G.W Bush has now set up a fund, where you can donate your hard earned dorrahs to show that you care about the people in Haiti. Again, how can two war criminals, who allowed the dropping of bombs on innocent civilians, all of a sudden claim to be united for a humanitarian cause? Sounds like they just want to distract us from the real issues, distract us from their crimes, distract us from their war mongering. For Obama, also another war mongerer, to stand with these evil men, is not surprising indeed. They are all pro-war. They are all manipulating the masses to have power and control.

Which brings me to another reason why they rushed so fast to the need of Haiti. Remember G.W and his lack of action towards Hurricane Katrina, and the tsunami in South-East Asia? It was slow, it was appalling, it was not worth mentioning.

Naomi Klein, author of the book The Shock Doctrine (read it!), says this on her site about the Haiti catastrophe:

Readers of the The Shock Doctrine know that the Heritage Foundation has been one of the leading advocates of exploiting disasters to push through their unpopular pro-corporate policies. From this document, they're at it again, not even waiting one day to use the devastating earthquake in Haiti to push for their so-called reforms. The following quote was hastily yanked by the Heritage Foundation and replaced with a more diplomatic quote, but their first instinct is revealing:

"In addition to providing immediate humanitarian assistance, the U.S. response to the tragic earthquake in Haiti earthquake offers opportunities to re-shape Haiti’s long-dysfunctional government and economy as well as to improve the public image of the United States in the region."

Anyway, perhaps Naomi Klein could also consider this possibility (though I am in full agreement with her):

They (the united trio) are only helping there (Haiti) in such haste where investment and greed is not possible, for the country of Haiti is the poorest in the Western Hemisphere first off, and also secondly, the people of Haiti are living in such extreme poverty that it is almost impossible for them to run and support an economy. So the trio is merely helping them because this might be the case where the shock doctrine cannot apply.

Or perhaps it is now, as Klein suggests (the shock doctrine calls for it), since the city had its foundation destroyed, that a new CAPITAL can be raised up according to neo-liberal principles by multi-national corporations and the US government. Only time will tell, I am sure, and perhaps Klein is spot-on, again.

War in Peace?

Perhaps this is too obvious to state (too late as well perhaps), but another Vietnam War has become very apparent in our current day and age. The 'wars' currently fought in Iraq and Afghanistan are manufactured goods coming from the military industrial complex based in The United States.

This is something of great concern, for the world has basically become numb to the concept of war, because of the influential corrupt media mainly, and through that inability to "react" to this reality filled with death and destruction, we have allowed countries like the US to run rampant around the world with their armies. More importantly though, we have lost the ability to understand peace (for what it fundamentally is/was), to instead give it a chance.

A point to consider:

We give Nobel Peace Prizes to people who condone the practise and use of war. Barack Obama, is now sending 30000 more troops to Afghanistan, where there will be additional air support and surveillance as icing on top. The media openly talks about it, as if war should merely be a spectators sport (has it become that?). Celebrities like Oprah (doesn´t every middle class house wife just love her?) fully supported Obama during his presidential campaign, where he openly made a claim to the world that he will start the process of closing down the operations in Iraq and Afghanistan (also Guantanamo Bay), but instead he is still pushing forward. Oprah and her fellow Obama supporters smiled proud and wide saying that hope has finally arrived for a country whose image has gone in tatters (because of its obvious war-like state). They were all deceived.

We have lost the sense of what peace means, for if we really wanted a society of peace then we would not condone any acts of war, even if it´s for supposed freedom. We would not honor those who wage war with prizes of peace. We would not believe that war leads to peace, for peace is the absense of war. We would not let the concept of war be reported on as a mere spectacle, but rather as a critical issue in our age. We should abhor war, yet we don´t.

This issue of peace might come across as utopian/idealistic to many, yet who would want their houses to be bombed, or their sons and daughters to be killed, or their country to be occupied by a standing army? The reality of our age dictates that there are people who have to undergo such tragic events, where their basic human rights has been taken away from them, but where are we to challenge our own fundamental understanding (and therefor practise) of peace and freedom?

This is not even mentioning the approach Obama (champion of Peace), takes towards Palestine. To deny them their basic human rights as well, and allow Israel to maintain their fascist (apartheid) stance is ludicrous, which should start making you wonder how he even understands the concepts of human rights and freedom, or are the "elite" the only ones considered real humans?

"All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood."

Peace is freedom, war is slavery.

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