Justin Raimondo – USA

Linked with Why war with Iran is likely, with Antiwar.com, and with Just foreign policy.org.

Justin Raimondo (born Dennis Raimondo on November 18, 1951) is a libertarian / paleoconservative author and the editorial director of the website Antiwar.com.
Recent Activities: In the 1996 U.S. congressional elections, Raimondo ran as a Republican candidate in California’s 8th district against Nancy Pelosi. While championing conservative and libertarian causes in general, the main emphasis of his campaign was his opposition to the deployment of U.S. troops in the Balkans and, in particular, Pelosi’s vote to that effect. Raimondo received 13% of the vote while Pelosi got 85%. (full long text).

He says: « The warlords of Washington don’t care about international public opinion, and that goes double for what Americans think. The politicians, the bureaucrats, the policy wonks, and the lobbyists (both foreign and domestic) could care less that the people of this country, and the world, have a very low opinion of their deadly antics: all the elites know or care about is that they have the power – and the will to use it. Do Americans overwhelmingly disapprove of the Iraq war? Well, isn’t that tough: they’ll just have to grin and bear it, because – guess what? – we know better ». (full text).

Wars to Watch Out For 2008.

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Justin Raimondo – USA

His book: AntiWar.com, behind the headlines.

Justin Raimondo is a policy analyst at the Center for Libertarian Studies, in Burlingame, California; he is also an adjunct scholar with the Ludwig von Mises Institute, which is based in Auburn, Alabama. Raimondo is the author of RECLAIMING THE AMERICAN RIGHT: The Lost Legacy of the Conservative Movement (1993), as well as numerous pamphlets, such as In the Flames of Waco (1995), in addition, he contributes regularly to well-known conservative periodicals; his articles have appeared in the Washington Times, the Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Examiner, Reason magazine, Chronicles magazine, the Free Market, and the Rothbard-Rockwell Report, among many others. He is also the author of COLIN POWELL AND THE POWER ELITE, to be published early in 1996. Raimondo has lived in San Francisco for 25 years, originally hailing from upstate New York. During the 1970s and 80s, he was active in the Libertarian Party, and ran for public office under that party label. In 1985, he joined the Republican Party, and has been active ever since. (About the Candidate).

Why Are They So Afraid of Ron Paul?

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Lea Ngaïdana – Central African Republic

Linked with Literacy Volunteers, and with Outreach International in Africa.

She is one of the 1000 women proposed for the Nobel Peace Price 2005.

She says: « To educate a woman is to promote the culture of peace ».

She is registered as a political heroe.

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Lea Ngaïdana – Central African Republic

She works for the Association of Central African Women for the Fight Against Illiteracy

Ngaïdana Lea, is the founder and chairlady of the AFCLA, the Association of Central African Women for the Fight Against Illiteracy (Association des Femmes Centrafricaines pour la Lutte contre L’Analphatisme). Since 2000 the association has promoted women to become partners with. She says, “More than ever before women are resolute to eliminate illiteracy. Illiteracy is the principal obstacle to the improving their lives. They are conscious of their role in the country’s development.”

Since 2000, the association has promoted literacy for women at all levels as the basis for fighting injustice, discrimination, violence, politico-military crisis and establishing long-lasting peace.

Lea studied in Bangui where she obtained a technical and professional diploma, then joined the public service in 1984. She trained to become a literacy officer and in 2002 became the head of the literacy service. She has been awarded several distinctions for her contribution, including Knight and Officer of the Order of Academic Palms in 1997 and 2004, respectively.

She uses Information, Education and Communication (IEC), advocacy and negotiation to fight for the emancipation of rural women. Women of diverse backgrounds are organized into specific working, such as businesswomen, gardeners, food processors, farmers.

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iFaqeer – Pakistan & USA

Linked with Friends of South Asia FOSA, .

He is … a writer, blogger and journalist who currently makes his living as a technical writer based in Silicon Valley.

He says: « I have lived in Nigeria (including Sokoto and Gusau), Pakistan, and both coasts in the US. As a journalist, I have been editor of « The Teenager, Pakistan »; a Columnist for « Mag » (an English weekly in Pakistan); and have edited various newsletters, in Pakistan and in the US. Amongst recent publishing credits are « Spider, » Pakistan’s Internet magazine …  » (full text).

This Wiki is part of my website. As of now, this Wikispace is more up to date than the rest of the site … (full text).

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iFaqeer – Pakistan & USA

Talk to him on ‘User talk, iFaqeer on FFXICLOPEDIA‘.
He writes:

  • I blog extensively at iFaqeer.blogspot, and WadiWallah.blogspotRickshaw.blogspot (by Vijay Kumar Madugula), and contribute to Urdu-ke-Naam.blogspot (with poesy of Zaheer « Zak » Kidvai), a blog focused on the Urdu language, Sufi poetry, mysticism and the culture around that mix, as well as PakistanFutures.blogspot, which is devoted to Pakistan. I hope to bring a synthesis of all of that to this space;
  • My professional life has included technical writing and journalism in both the US and Pakistan. Technical writing assignments have included a Pakistani electronics manufacturer, an offshore software house; Cisco, Mentor Graphics and Cadence in the US;
  • I am the founder (or one of the founders) of the Human Rights Project at ProgressiveIslam.org, the Genealogy Wiki and WikiPakistan;
  • Work in the Human Rights field started as a Working Committee member of the War Against Rape in Karachi and try to keep himself aware and involved in Human Rights and political issues in Pakistan the US and around the world;
  • I am also a co-founder/early member of the Friends of South Asia FOSA, an organization focused on peace and human rights in South Asia (India, Pakistan and the rest of that region).
  • A life-long current affairs-and-politics geek (runs in the family), I have been following current affairs generally, and Pakistani, Indian and American politics in particular for most of my life – and just starting to get involved in the US (about life, technology).

… (full text).

Technology, Society and We, The People (Pilot) – iFaqeer: I am starting a regular commentary segment on WBT-TV, a Business and Technology program on Comcast Channel 15 in San Jose, California … (full text).

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Binayak Sen – India

Linked with People’s Union for Civil Liberties PUCL, and with RUPANTAR.
Dr Binayak Sen is a paediatrician, public health specialist and national Vice-President of the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) based in Chhattisgarh state, India. Dr Sen is noted for extending health care to the poorest people, monitoring the health and nutrition status of the people of Chhattisgarh, and defending the rights of indigenous tribal people. In May 2007, he was detained in connection with his human rights work, raising global concern about his welfare. In a statement immediately preceding his arrest, Dr. Sen said, « For the past several years, we are seeing all over India – and as part of that in the state of Chhattisgarh as well – a concerted programme to expropriate from the poorest people in the Indian nation, their access to essentials, common property resources and to natural resources including land and water… The campaign called the Salwa Judoom in Chhattisgarh is a part of this process in which hundreds of villages have been denuded of the people living in them and hundreds of people – men and women – have been killed » … (full long text).

See video: protest against PUCL activist’s arrest, 2.40 min., Nov. 17, 2007.

His CV, July 2007.

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Binayak Sen – India

He says: … « I was not doing anything secret. Whatever I did was in the cause of human rights and not to further the interests of CPI (Maoists) ». (full text).

Dr Sen says he was treating the ailing 70-year old prisoner Sanyal. But the government thinks otherwise. Sen has been charged with “criminal offense” for visiting the ailing terrorist in the jail. (full text).

Binayak Sen: Victim of State vendetta, summer 2007.

Meanwhile, a few new sites have appeared dedicated to publicizing my brother’s work. Apart from the Save Binayak campaign from a group of doctors in the UK, there is also a blog and a wikipedia entry on him. This must be somewhat embarrassing to Dada, who would much rather talk about the issues and the institutions than his own work. This is one of the reasons why I am only beginning to find out about the extent of the work he and his wife Dr. Ilina Sen (a demographer and social analyst who also founded a NGO called Rupantar in Raipur) have done in the area of public service. (full text).

IAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION – URGENT APPEALS PROGRAMME, June 26, 2007.

Read articles published through PUCL: PUCL seen by Pushkar Raj; Peoples Union for Democratic Rights; Binayak Sen arrested, by Rajendra K. Sail, November 2, 2007; Legal delays result in a standstil: Dr. Binayak Sen’s case: At the trial court, Raipur, October 8, 2007; State repression in M.P. is politically motivated, Oct. 5, 2007.

Background information on Dr. Binayak Sen: His name is Binayak Sen. He had a distinguished academic career in Vellore, graduating in Medicine and later acquiring an M.D. in Paediatrics. From 1976 to 1978, he was a faculty member at the Centre for Social Medicine and Community Health at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.

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Xinlan Ma – China

She is one of the 1000 women proposed for the Nobel Peace Price 2005.

She says: « I have tried to use my own example to educate and inspire children and their parents. The force of knowledge is great and I hope to change the extent of poverty in my home village through knowledge ».

Read: Education in China: Reforms and Innovations, page 111.

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Xinlan Ma – China

She works for the Weizhou Hui Women’s Primary School.

In 1952, Ma Xinlan was born in a Muslim family in Weizhou, Tongxin County, Ningxia Autonomous region.

Most of the residents in Weizhou are of Hui nationality, and believe in Islam. Apart from the geographical remoteness of the area and its lack of educational resources, the native popular custom was that girls older than nine could not show their faces in public, or make contact with strangers, or go to school with boys. Thus few girls went to school there. When Ma Xinlan was six years old, a young woman teacher came to the township. Ma’s father, who was a traditional doctor, happily agreed to send her to the school where the woman was teaching. This teacher became a model for the young Ma. “When I grow up, I will become a teacher too,” she made up her mind.

In 1965, Ma graduated from the primary school. At that time, only four girls in the township, including her, finished primary school. Ma was accepted by Tongxin county middle school with high scores. Though there was a long distance of 80 km between her home and the township, she never found it tiring or hard. With the Cultural Revolution reaching even her village, this dream was broken. She had to leave the school for the poor yellow soil of home. Probably being blessed by her strong wish of being a teacher, in 1971, she was lucky to find employment as a village teacher, with a monthly income of five yuan, when positions were available in the county. She was 19 that year.

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Amina Afzali Safi – Afghanistan

She is one of the 1000 women proposed for the Nobel Peace Price 2005.

She says: « Peace is the environment of trust and confidence that people need in life ».

Together with the European Women’s Lobby, Equality Now, the Center for Strategic Initiatives of Women, and the Feminist Majority, V-Day served as one of the Co-conveners of the Afghan Women’s Summit held in Brussels in December 2001. The Summit provided a forum for Afghan women in the Diaspora from all areas of the world, including Pakistan, Iran, the Central Asian Republics, the United States, Canada and Europe and from different ethnic and linguistic backgrounds and also Afghan women from within Afghanistan. Afghan women leaders from around the world gathered to create a working dialogue on the role of women in post-Taliban Afghanistan. Hosted in Brussels, December 4-5 at the European Commission, the prime focus of the Summit was to introduce the voices of Afghan women into the current international political discourse with officials from the European Union, United Nations, and women’s rights activists from around the world, including the three women delegates to the concurrent Bonn meeting: Seddighe Balkhi, leader of the Afghan Women’s Political and Cultural Activities Center in Iran, Northern Alliance representative Amina Afzali, an Iran-based activist, and Sima Wali, president and CEO of Refugee Women in Development and coordinator for the Afghan Women’s Summit. (full text).

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Amina Afzali Safi – Afghanistan

Amina Safi Afzali was born in Herat where she completed her early education. She subsequently attended the Kabul University where she obtained a BSc from the Faculty of Sciences.

For 23 years, she has been advocating women and human rights. She has also taught at the Faculty of Science, Kabul University. After the Russian invasion of Afghanistan, Afzali fled to Iran. Her husband, who was part of the resistance movement, was killed by the Russians.

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Pascal Boniface – France

Linked with Institut de Relations Internationales et Stratégiques IRIS, and with Disarmament and development.

Dr. Pascal Boniface is the Founder and Director of IRIS, the Institut de Relations Internationales et Stratégiques (Institute for International and Strategic Relations), France. He is also a consultant on strategic issues for the French Department of Defense and Department of Foreign Affairs … Dr. Pascal Boniface has published or edited more than thirty books on international relations, nuclear deterrence and disarmament, European security and French international politics. He frequently writes articles on international politics for national newspapers (Le Figaro, Libération, Challenges). He also publishes regular analyses in international newspapers, such as Al-Ittihad (United Arab Emirates), La Vanguardia (Spain) and Al-Raya (Qatar). (full text).

Dr. Boniface is a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour (scroll down).

He says: « The spectators of a football match can enjoy the mythical excitement of battles taking place in the stadium, and they know that neither the players nor they will suffer any harm ». (full text).

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Pascal Boniface – France

Ecoutez sa video: ‘PASCAL BONIFACE: L’ANTISEMITISME DE CHANTAGE‘, 8.06 min., Nov. 3, 2007.

He says: « There are more black faces in the national side, than in the whole of the Assemblee Nationale ». (full text).

Those who the gods may destroy, they grant their wishes. Zinedine Zidane may be pondering that bit of ancient Greek wisdom today. Having announced that he would end his professional career with the World Cup, Zidane had his wish fulfilled. After France barely survived the tournament’s first round, Zidane performed at the top of his game and led the team to the brink of a second World Cup championship. But instead of finishing his career in triumph, or at least with an ovation, he was ejected from the final for head-butting an Italian player. There have been few such tragic moments in football history. (full text).

The French Left and political Islam, secularism versus the temptation of an alliance, September 2006.

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Régis Debray – France

Linked with Institut Européen en Sciences de Religions IESR.

Jules Régis Debray (born 1940) is a French intellectual, journalist, government official and professor. He formerly engaged in Che Guevara’s activities, especially in Bolivia where he was arrested and jailed in 1967. He is today better known for his theorization of mediology, a critical studies of signs and transmission of signs in human society, and was a member of the 2003 Stasi Commission, named after Bernard Stasi, which was at the origins of the 2003 French law on secularity and conspicuous religious symbols in schools. (full text).

Philosopher Alain Badiou and writer Régis Debray are among the numerous other French intellectuals attacked by BHL for their views on international affairs. (full text, Nov. 1, 2007).

Son site internet en français.

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Régis Debray – France

Endnote: Jean-Pierre Chevènement resigned as Defense Minister in 1991 in protest against President Mitterrand’s decision to take France into the first U.S. war against Iraq; he ran as an independent candidate for President in 2002 and supported Ségolène Royal’s candidacy in 2007, serving as an advisor. Born in Jerusalem, Rony Brauman was president of Médecins sans frontières from 1982 to 1994; he has become a sharp critic of Israel and of the Kouchner-BHL line on « humanitarian intervention » by military means. (full text).

Then a few more steps – reading Franz Fanon and Regis Debray on the liberating potential of revolutionary violence, for example, and wondering whether it might ever apply in the United States. Before you know it, friends have created a bomb factory in your basement. But this does not happen overnight – and it involves really complicated and unstable combinations of deep seriousness and self-delusion. (full text, Nov. 11, 2007).

He writes:  » … The guerrilla force is independent of the civilian population, in action as well as in military organisation; consequently it need not assume the direct defence of the peasant population. The protection of the population depends on the progressive destruction of the enemy’s military potential. It is relative to the overall balance of forces: the populace will be completely safe when the opposing forces are completely defeated … By restricting itself to the task of protecting civilians or passive self-defence, the guerrilla unit ceases to be the vanguard of the people as a whole and deprives itself of a national perspective … By choosing to operate at this level, it may be able to provide protection for the population for a limited time.

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Joel S. Hirschhorn – USA

Linked with The Grand Delusion, and with Friends Of the Article V Convention FOAVC.

He writes: Essay Painful 9/11 Truth 9/4/07: « Many technical analyses cast doubt on the official explanation of the collapse of three World Trade Center buildings, including those presented by an impressive new group: Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth. More difficult than discovering the truth, however, is convincing most of the public to accept the bitter truth. When it comes to 9/11, we face the strong belief that only al-Qaeda caused 9/11. But analyses by many experts reveal the collapse of the three WTC buildings was not caused by the two airplanes exploding into the twin towers. Without getting into details that one can spend many hours examining on a number of websites, the general view is that the buildings were brought down by controlled demolition.. (full text, scroll down).

Sprawl Kills, Joel S. Hirschhorn’s website, including commentary, news, book excerpts, consulting, and a newsletter.

TPM café, Joel S. Hirschhorn’s blog.

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Joel S. Hirschhorn – USA

Read: Voting As Political Narcotic, by Joel S. Hirschhorn, Nov. 08, 2007.

He is Professor of Metallurgical Engineering, University of Wisconsin, Madison 1965 – 1978. Senior Staff Member, Congressional Office of Technology Assessment 1978 – 1990. Testified more than 50 times before Congress on technology, science, and environmental issues. Former Director of Environment, Energy and Natural Resources, National Governors Association. Dr. Hirschhorn has been a consultant to industrial and chemical companies, DOE laboratories, state governments, and public interest organizations. Co-founder of Friends of the Article V Convention. Member, Board of Directors, National Foundation for Environmental Education. Member, Board of Directors, Sustainability Now! Author of more than 150 papers, articles, guest editorials, and book chapters on environmental science and technology. Author of Delusional Democracy: Fixing the Republic Without Overthrowing the Government (2007), Sprawl Kills (2005), New Community Design to the Rescue (2001), Growing pains: Quality of Life in the New Economy (2000), Prosperity without Pollution (1991), Materials Science (1975), Introduction to Powder Metallurgy (1969). (full text).

Does Larry Sabato Really Want A Constitutional Convention? October 21, 2007.

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Hu Jia – China

Hu Jia (Chinese: ooo; pinyin: Hú Jiā; original name ooo; born July 25, 1973 in Beijing), with online name Freeborn, is one of China’s most prominent environmental activists and AIDS activists, was involved as an auxiliary member of the team to save the Tibetan Antelope and served as the Executive Director of the AIZHI Institute of Health Education, one of the founders of the AIDS NGO Loving Source. (wikipedia).

Gao Zhisheng’s First Contact with Outside World Since His Unlawful Secret Arrest, Nov. 3, 2007.

He says: “They listen to my phone, they read my emails. They know everything. There is no avoiding it” … “I will become a full time democracy activist” … “In the past 20 years and more China’s economy has developed immensely. But the political system remains the same: it’s still just the one party in power. That is why there is conflict in the society” … “I believe I have been born to fight for justice. I can’t stand injustice. Even at school I was always the one who defended girls who were teased or bullied” … (more texts in this article).

China To Face UN Human Rights Body’s Scrutiny in 2009, Nov. 12, 2007.

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Hu Jia – China

China crackdown on dissidents before congress, Oct. 16, 2007.

2007/11/9 ooo June 4 disabled Qi was again restricted exit (automatically translated by google from chinese): June 4 Adams Qi is disabled, he is suffering from diabetes, hypertension and hepatitis C. ooo … As he is suffering from high amputation and a number of chronic diseases肢残, if not healed skin left, prosthetics need very high technical standards, ooo … The Chinese mainland’s enterprises failed prosthetics. ooo … Australia churches and friends for a part of the donor resources Qi, Qi arrangements
Zhiyong to Hong Kong to check and the production of artificial limbs … (more text).

Web dissent on the rise in China, Oct. 16, 2007.

The Year of the Dog – A Chinese activist’s story – Hu Jia spent 168 days under house arrest in 2006. This year promises to be little different. FEBRUARY 7, 2006: Today Hu Jia is free. No one stops him as he walks into a restaurant in downtown Beijing. The small, bespectacled man in his 30s who sits down at the table is one of China’s most prominent dissidents, and in the last couple of weeks Hu has been so closely monitored by the state security apparatus that it has been difficult to arrange a meeting with him.

Continuer la lecture de « Hu Jia – China »