July 2012
Vol 12, No.07
RIO FOR PEOPLE: ASIA PACIFIC PEOPLES’ DECLARATION ON RIO+20 The Declaration is the outcome document of the Asia- Pacific Research Network (APRN) Biennial Conference “Rio for People: Strengthening People’s Capacity for Genuine Sustainable Development” on June 4-7, 2012. It was co-organized with IBON International as part of the global Rights for Sustainablity (R4S) campaign. It was held in Hanoi, Vietnam with the assistance of local members SRD, S- CODE, and MSD.
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1 billion are hungry, 1.6 billion have no access to electricity, and over 1 billion have no access to clean water. Clearly, worst affected are the poor in the South who did little in causing them. This is not the world Rio envisioned.
e, 83 representatives of civil society organizations from 18 countries in Asia Pacific gathered twenty years after the first Earth Summit in 1992 fully aware that the world is farther than ever from reaching the goals of sustainable development. Our world today is locked in environmental, social, political, economic, and environmental crises. Resource depletion and biodiversity loss continue at very rapid rates. Air and water pollution from agro-chemical and industrial processes continue to cause serious economic, social, and health problems. Greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise, causing
dangerous climate change. The world’s richest 10 per cent soak up over half of the world’s income, while 2.5 billion people in the South live on less than $2 a day. People in wealthy countries consume as much as ten times more natural resources than those in poorer countries, while in the South,
Rio+20 should learn from the failure of the prevailing system of development multiple crises that our planet finds itself in. We know this system to be one where economic and natural resources are used to accumulate wealth for the few who control them rather than serve the common good of society; a system based on the unrestricted exploitation of the poor, women and the environment for corporate profits; a Turn to next page
STATEMENTS .MASSACRE
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MYANMAR
BY ABDULLAH AL- AHSAN ..............................P 4
ARTICLES .MORSI
EGYPTIAN CONUNDRUM BY CHANDRA MUZAFFAR ......................................P 5 AND THE
.THE HOULA MASSACRE AND THE SUBVERSION PEACE PLAN BY CHANDRA MUZAFFAR ......................................P 7
OF THE
. T ILL D EATH D O T HEM P ART : NATO,
IMPERIALISM AND THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA BY COLIN TODHUNTER .........................................P 9
. C YBERATTACK C LOUDS US- I RAN N UCLEAR
T ALKS BY GEOFF DYER, NAJMEH BOZORGMEHR & JAMES BLITZ ..................................................................P 10
. T HE R EFUGEE S ITUATION
IN
M ALAYSIA :
CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES BY SARAH MADHI & JENNIFER TENNANT..............P 11
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continued from page 1 system where a few powerful countries write the rules of global trade, finance, and environmental action in the interest of their corporations and banks, harming the environment and peoples in the South. We know it to be a failed system from which we need to break. We need system change.
We believe, however, that the Green Economy agenda will not allow us to break from this failed system as it follows primarily the profit-oriented logic of corporate and financial interest. It assumes that solutions to unsustainable development are in the hands of corporations – the main agents of unsustainable development – through their “green” investments, innovations and technologies, systems and policies, and mechanisms such as trading of carbon, forests and biodiversity, and water. Numerous experiences prove that these corporate “solutions” do not solve the problems they purport to address but worsen them. They trample on people’s rights through further privatization, commodification and financialization of nature and ecosystem functions, which lead to the further concentration of control over nature, land-grabs, biopiracy, displacement and marginalization of communities most dependent on access to these resources, and loss of cultural identities, languages, and traditional systems, values, and principles. It also gives rise to violent oppression of people’s resistance. The promise of green jobs in the green economy and corporate social responsibility are being used to deceive workers anew into accepting wage exploitation in new “green” industries,
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obscuring the truth that many of these so-called green businesses are neither ecologically sound nor socially just such as the production of biofuels, nuclear plants, construction of largescale dams, etc. The promotion of green cities takes away the emphasis of equitable development between rural and urban areas and further exacerbates urban drift. We decry attempts by powerful States, especially the North, to whittle down human rights obligations and equity principles in the Rio+20 outcome document in order to avoid concrete commitments to meaningful reforms in social, economic, and environmental policies. On the other hand, they are pushing for corporateled investments and initiatives to fill the gap left by government inaction. We assert that States should not backtrack, but instead uphold and build upon the Rio principles and internationally agreed human rights norms and standards, most importantly, the principle of common but differentiated responsibility, the polluters pay principles, the precautionary principle, and the principle on access to information, public participation and justice. Agenda 21 should be brought up to a binding form of agreement, with strengthened institutions for implementation, monitoring and evaluation that ensure democratic ownership of the process at all levels. National reports have to be made available to the public to allow for informed multi-stakeholder decisionmaking. There should be a special clause on ecological-economic crimes to assure economic, social and ecological justice. We assert that sustainable development must be based on the observance and fulfillment of human rights norms and standards, including the rights to development, to selfdetermination, to food, health and water, to education, the rights of women and children, and the right of people to participate in decisionmaking. We pledge to struggle for genuine sustainable development beyond Rio+20.
L E A D A R T I C L E ANNEX On poverty eradication Poverty is the result of the unequal distribution of power, assets and opportunities within and between countries. Thus poverty eradication is about the empowerment of the poor to claim their rights. They must take ownership and control of their natural resources and productive assets and use them to gear their economies to fulfill their needs and development aspirations. Decision making for sustainable development should be bottom up, decentralized process owned by people. Active participation of people, communities particularly marginalized sector including women and indigenous peoples in decision making and consultative processes should be promoted at all levels. Equal participation of women and men should be ensured through institutionalizing in law and implementation mechanisms. Institutions of global governance must be radically reformed or replaced so that poor countries are equitably represented. Unequal agreements on trade and investment must be renegotiated or abrogated. Food sovereignty All people have the right to safe, nutritious, and adequate food. Countries and communities also have the right to access, control, and protect the means of food production and its outcomes, the right to determine their food and agricultural policies at all levels, and the right to develop and maintain systems of food production and distribution that are ecologically sustainable, socially just and culturally appropriate. Agrarian reform must be carried out in order to secure peasants and rural people’s democratic ownership and utilization of land, water resources and seeds, as well as access to finance and infrastructure, and environmentally sound technological support. Food production and trade policies must prioritize domestic food self-sufficiency and the livelihoods of small farmers, fisherfolk, women, peasants, and indigenous people. Trade policies and commercial/business practices must be modified and designed to further such prioritization. continued next page
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Public institutions must also help develop and encourage the adoption of sustainable methods of agriculture which rely on local ecosystems and locally-based knowledge as well as appropriate technologies. Food sovereignty will not be successful without land reform. Water Water is not a commodity but a vital need to human survival. All people have the right to sufficient, safe, accessible, and affordable water and sanitation services. Countries and communities are also entitled to develop and maintain water resources, management systems, and facilities to satisfy human and development needs and safeguard their sustainability. The management of water resources must be in public and community control. Water use must be primarily for fulfilling human needs and food production. The right to water and sanitation further requires an explicit focus on the most disadvantaged and marginalized, as well as an emphasis on participation, empowerment, accountability and transparency. Protection of biodiversity Biodiversity is essential to the proper functioning of ecosystems and is thus crucial to the right of people to health, food, and a safe and clean environment. The livelihoods of small farmers, fishers, indigenous people, and women also directly depend on biodiversity and their access to genetic resources. They have developed local resource management systems and conserve most of the world’s biodiversity. Biodiversity protection must be based on protecting people’s access to land, water and seeds. The extent of biodiversity’s importance is, however, very poorly understood, and the adverse impacts of changes are thus not properly mitigated. The rapid loss of biodiversity is due mainly to the growing control of corporations over genetic resources as well as over land, water, and forests for industrial agriculture, logging and mining. Thus biodiversity protection must be based on protecting people’s access to land, water and seeds. Biodiversity is a vital
L E A D A R T I C L E The Global North has to take the lead in mitigation efforts by making rapid and drastic emissions cuts, and assist poorer countries pay for the costs of their own transition through finance and technology transfer.
part of human nature. It is also an integral part of the heritage of indigenous people and thus their right to self- determination must be recognized, including their right to free and prior informed consent and right to develop their own social and economic systems and retain control of their ancestral lands, traditional knowledge and genetic resources. These rights must be restored equally to women and men. Natural resources and conservation should be taken care of through community knowledgebased decision making and decentralized eco-system based local systems. Climate change Climate change is worsening environmental damage and is exacerbating the negative effects of poor current practice. It undermines a wide range of human rights both of present and future generations, and threatens to push people deeper into poverty and underdevelopment. The world has to transition away from the fossil-fuel based profit driven economy and abandon unsustainable patterns of manufacture, energy, agriculture and transportation that are behind everrising greenhouse gas emissions. But there is a need to expose not just the economic, social, and environmental impacts of oil and gas exploration and extraction, but also that of alleged alternatives such as large-scale hydropower, nuclear, agro-fuels, clean coal, geo-engineering, and so on. The precautionary principle must be applied and international financing institutions, multilateral and bilateral agencies must remove subsidies and policy support for these projects. In the case of hydropower, Rio+20 must make a strong stipulation that dams should show full compliance to the standards set by the World Commission on Dams, and that large dams should absolutely be kept out of the CDM.
Youth and Children Youth and children are agents of change, and not simply vulnerable victims of social injustices or merely recipients of government welfare. They are the future caretakers of the Earth and the inheritors of the problems we are creating today. But despite being part of the main agenda in the UNCSD 20 years ago, youth and children continue to be marginalized by the unsustainable dominant profit-driven economic system. Lack of access to basic needs and services, such as food, health, education, access to water and sanitation still remain rampant. Although successful advocacies and campaigns on youth and children are already happening in some parts of Asia, there is still a need for their voices to be heard and given greater importance especially with regard to the climate crisis, if we are to realize genuine sustainable development. To increase the influence and impact that the world’s young people can make to the overall goal of changing the current model that the global economy is hinged on, these efforts must be consolidated and supported through continuous education and mobilization. Indigenous People Indigenous peoples of the Asia Pacific reject the corporate green economy and demand the protection and respect of indigenous peoples rights including the affirmation and implementation of the UN declaration of the rights of Indigenous Peoples; the recognition of cultural pillar as the fourth pillar of sustainable development; and the recognition of the distinct contribution of traditional knowledge and diverse local economies to eradicate poverty and promote sustainable development. Sustainable development should support the indigenous peoples’ integrated and holistic framework to sustainable development. continued next page
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Labor and Social Protection Every country should commit to foster the national and local production and enterprises supporting small-scale business and producers for sustainable development. Governments should create equal employment opportunities and ensure decent work for all, gender equality, and participation particularly of marginalized groups. States must be obliged to the international human rights standards and principles to protect the rights of migrant workers and their families. Just and lasting peace Ensuring social justice is a precondition for peace. Just and lasting peace and security of women is a precondition for sustainable development. Systemic military-industry complex should be dismantled. We call for moratorium / fade-out of military expenditure and shift the budget to health and education. SIGNATORIES/PARTICIPANTS A63, Vietnam All Together in Dignity-Asia Arab NGO Network for Development Asia Monitor Resource Center Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development Asia Pacific Mission for Migrants Asia Pacific Research Network Ba Archipelago Biosphere Reserve, Vietnam CCRD, Vietnam Center for Development of Community Initiative and Environment, Vietnam Center for Development Programs in the Cordilleras, Philippines
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Center for Environment and Development, Sri Lanka Center For Human Rights and Development, Mongolia Center for Women’s Resources, Philippines Centre for Community Economics and Development Consultants, India Centre for Sustainable Community Development (S-CODE), Vietnam Centre for Sustainable Development in Mountainous Areas (CSDM), Vietnam Centre for Sustainable Development Policy Studies, Vietnam Centre for Sustainable Rural Development (SRD), Vietnam CERDA, Vietnam China Association for NGO Cooperation Climate Change Resilience Centre, Vietnam Coastal Development Partnership, Bangladesh Consumers International/ CUTS International Consumers International/ VINASTAS Deccan Development Society, India Department for International Cooperation, Vietnam Department of Modeling and Database in Environment, Vietnam Ecumenical Institute for Labor Education and Research, Philippines EquityBD, Bangladesh Farmer Union, Vietnam Forestry Project, Vietnam Forum of Women NGOs of Kyrgyzstan Green Innovation and Development Centre (GreenID), Vietnam IBON Foundation, Philippines IBON International Institute for Agriculture Environment (IAE), Vietnam Institute for Motivating SelfEmployment, Mongolia
S T A T E M E N T Institute for Reproductive and Family Health – RaFH, Vietnam Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas Korean Civil Society Forum for International Development LDC Watch, Nepal Live and Learn, Vietnam Nepal Policy Institute NGO Jahon, Tajikistan Pacific Islands Association of Nongovernmental Organizations PACT, Vietnam PanNature - People and Nature Reconciliation, Vietnam Peoples’ Coalition for Food Sovereignty-Asia Peoples’ Movement on Climate Change Reality of Aid Asia Pacific Roots for Equity, Pakistan SAHANIVASA, India Sustainable Development Foundation, Thailand Tebtebba Foundation, Philippines The Institute for National and Democratic Studies (INDIES), Indonesia The Institute for Social Studies (ISS), Vietnam theIDLgroup (East Asia) Third World Network, Malaysia UBINIG Policy Advocacy for Development, Bangladesh Voices for Interactive Choice and Empowerment, Bangladesh Water for the People Network
28 June, 2012 * Organizations interested to endorse or become signatory to the Declaration may contact APRN at secretariat@aprnet.org
STATEMENTS MASSACRE The Rohingyas in the western Myanmar state of Rakhine, formerly known as Arakan, have again been subjected to a major massacre. The Rohingyas happen to be a Muslim minority living in the Buddhist majority country. They have been victims of discrimination for many decades, particularly under the military junta, which ruled the country on the motto
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of nationalism. Interestingly, one should point out here, that Muslims of Arakan known as Mujahidin, constituted one of the three major forces that fought for the country’s independence in the 1940s. This is not the first time that Rohingyas have been targeted. According to Medecins Sans
MYANMAR Frontieres, approximately 200,000 Rohingyas were expelled to neighboring Bangladesh in 1978, but almost all of them were forcibly repatriated back: about 10,000 died in the process and another 10,000 remained in Bangladesh. In 1982 Myanmar passed a law declaring most Rohingyas non-citizens. In 1991, again continued next page
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continued from page 4 about 250,000 were pushed to Bangladesh. In September 1992 the government of Bangladesh closed down registration of new refugees, and immediately resorted to another round of repatriation. However, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and a number of other international humanitarian bodies strongly protested against the measure. Since then the UNHCR has negotiated with the government of Myanmar to repatriate back the refugees but it has succeeded only partially. Occasionally many of the repatriated refugees would return to Bangladesh. During this period many Rohingyas also migrated to a number of Southeast Asian and West Asian and North African (WANA) countries. But generally speaking, Rohingyas remain stateless people and according to one UN report they are “one of the world’s most persecuted minorities.”
The current influx of Rohingya refugees to Bangladesh began when a rumor was spread that a Buddhist Rakhine woman was raped and murdered by three Rohingyas and a number of Rakhines attacked a bus
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carrying Muslim passengers in early June. Violence spread rapidly and hundreds and thousands of Rohingyas began to flee. Rakhine thugs seem to enjoy the tacit support of the law enforcement agencies. The Myanmar government has banned the media in the area. Neighboring Bangladesh also took a stubborn stand by not only preventing the refugees from entering the country, but also by not allowing the media to interview the refugees. The upshot of it all is a humanitarian disaster. According to one analysis the origin of the current conflict may lie much deeper in the geo-politics of the area. China reportedly has invested heavily in the area and enemies of China are trying to destabilize the situation in order to weaken the country’s economic role in Myanmar. This is part of a larger agenda to thwart China’s economic ascendancy. (see landdestroyer.blogspot.com/ 2012/06/new-front-myanmers-role-ingeopolitics.html) What is shocking in this whole episode is the stand taken by the country’s Nobel Peace Prize winner
A R T I C L E S Aung San Suu Kyi. She doesn’t seem to have been moved at all by this unprecedented humanitarian crisis. Another shocking phenomenon is the statement by the US Charge d’ Affairs in Myanmar who praised the government’s role in the crisis. Has the international community lost its conscience? What should be done to overcome the crisis? Violence should stop immediately. The state government in Rakhine and the central government under Thein Sein have a big role to play in this. The law should be applied without bias and wrongdoers should be punished, regardless of their ethnicity or religion. At the same time, Thein Sein should initiate measures to grant citizenship to the Rohingyas. Myanmar ’s fellow ASEAN states should quietly encourage Thein Sein to move in this direction.
Dr. Abdullah Al- Ahsan, Vice-President, International Movement for Just World (JUST). 26 June, 2012.
ARTICLES MORSI
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By Chandra Muzaffar
The newly elected President of the Republic of Egypt, Dr. Mohamed Morsi, has pledged to establish a democratic, constitutional state based upon the rule of law and the will of the people. The greatest challenge that he faces in realising this goal is the leadership of the nation’s Armed Forces. Even before Morsi’s wafer-thin victory — 52 per cent of the vote as against 48 per cent for his opponent, Ahmed Shafiq— the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) had conducted what analysts have described as a “power grab.” On 14 June 2012, Egypt’s High Constitutional Court (HCC), which like the elite in the Armed Forces, comprises Mubarak loyalists, dissolved the democratically
elected Parliament and curbed the powers of the President especially in relation to security, defence and foreign policy. 75 per cent of the parliamentary seats are in the hands of Islamic parties, led by the Ikhwanul Muslimin (the Muslim Brotherhood). The military elite also has the right to object to any article in the yet to be drafted national constitution and exercises authority over the national budget.
Why the military is keen to retain control over the nation’s finances, it is not difficult to fathom. The military “controls a multi-billion dollar business empire that trades in products not normally associated with men in uniform: olive oil, fertilizer, televisions, laptops, cigarettes, mineral water, poultry, bread and underwear... Estimates suggest that militaryconnected enterprises account for 10% to 40% of the Egyptian economy. It is an opaque realm of foreign investments, inside deals and privilege that has grown quietly for decades, employing thousands of workers and operating parallel to the army’s defence industries.” To dismantle such a complex structure of economic power fused continued next page
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continued from page 5 with political power and military might is not an easy task. Morsi will do well to remember that there is hardly a single instance of a military deeply entrenched in power transferring its authority in a smooth and easy manner to civilian rulers. In Algeria in January 1992, we witnessed the ugly spectacle of a military junta usurping power after the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) had won the first round of elections resulting in a long and bloody civil war which claimed tens of thousands of lives. The military in Myanmar continues to hold the trump card, elections notwithstanding. Pakistan’s civilian rulers are very much aware of the powerful presence of the military partly because of the series of coups it had staged in the course of the last 50 years. This is also true to a great extent of Thailand. In Indonesia and Turkey, the military appears to have withdrawn to the barracks but it remains a strong undercurrent in the politics of the two states. For Morsi to establish a functioning democratic system, he must not only persevere and be principled but also possess superb negotiating skills and clever strategies. His greatest ally in this tussle with military power will be the citizenry of Egypt. Since almost half of the voting population did not endorse his presidency, Morsi will have to redouble his efforts to reach out to all segments of society. Apart from women and Christians which the media has highlighted, he should also seek the support of other Islamic groups, secular and liberal Egyptians, and socialists. In a nutshell, his approach to politics and policies should be inclusive and all-embracing. By resigning from the Ikhwan, and projecting himself as the President of all Egyptians, Morsi has taken the first step in that direction. A truly inclusive President will accord priority to the long neglected, huge underclass in Egyptian society. These are the millions — 40% of the population live in poverty— struggling to eke out a living. 25% of Egypt’s youth, according to some estimates,
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are unemployed. The paucity of decent housing is a chronic problem that has plagued Cairo for decades. It has forced some 1.5 million poor Egyptians to scour for shelter in the cemeteries of the rich outside the capital. The lack of clean water and frequent power outages are some of the other colossal burdens that this congested city of 19 million bears. How will Morsi and his policymakers and planners address these challenges? If they are going to pursue more liberalisation, deregulation and privatisation — as the Ikhwan’s economic programme Al-Nahda seems to suggest — then they are adopting the wrong approach. Such an approach will not help to transform the lives of the disenfranchised and the downtrodden. Neither does the solution lie with the IMF— from whom the Ikhwan hopes to secure a loan soon— with its austerity programme and subsidy cutbacks. A reformed, de-bureaucratised, corruption free public sector will have to take the lead. It will have to raise incomes of the lower echelons of society; emphasise public housing for the homeless; invest in small and medium sized enterprises; focus upon human resource development. People’s cooperatives will have to be established which will help to break existing monopolies in the production and distribution of goods and services. Public entities will have to be reorganised to manage water and energy supply and distribution. Infrastructure development which benefits the poor directly will be given priority. In this and other areas, a socially responsible private sector channelling domestic and foreign capital in accordance with the nation’s goals, will have a key role to play. Analysts have asked if vested interests within and without Egypt will allow such an egalitarian, justice driven economic policy to take root. It is revealing that both Morsi and Shafiq put forward economic ideas which in essence sought to assure the wealthy in Egypt and international capital that their interests would be safeguarded.
A R T I C L E S It was only the candidate who emerged a close third in the first round of the Presidential Election, Hamdeen Sabahy, who offered a genuine alternative that privileged the economically marginalised. It was obvious why the mainstream Western media downplayed his economic agenda. It is not just on the economy that Morsi appears to have adopted a certain stance. On an important foreign policy issue, namely, US military bases in the region and the upgrading of facilities for the US’ 5th Fleet in Bahrain, Morsi and the Ikhwan have been rather quiet. And what is even more critical, the centres of power in the West will watch him closely on his position on Syria and on Egypt’s relations with Iran. But more than anything else, it is on the question of Israel that Washington, its European allies, and Israel itself, will judge Morsi. Morsi has promised all of them that he will
respect all international treaties that Egypt has entered into— which would of course include the 1979 EgyptIsrael Peace Treaty. However, they are not sure if Morsi will at some point in the future, succumb to pressure from the masses to review and rescind the Treaty, especially since Egyptian public opinion has never been in favour of the Treaty. Because Morsi presides over a democracy, he cannot — unlike Mubarak the dictator— afford to ignore popular sentiments. Besides, he himself had campaigned in the election as a staunch defender of the Palestinian cause. How will Morsi’s commitment to Palestine manifest itself now that he is President? Will the new Egyptian continued next page
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President lead the campaign for a just peace for the Palestinians— a peace that will ensure the return of Palestinian refugees to their land, as provided for in international law, a peace that recognises East Jerusalem as the capital of a new, viable Palestinian state with its own army, navy and air force? Since a just peace of this sort is anathema to Israeli leaders and most Zionists and Christian Zionists in the US, what will Morsi do? Will he abandon these fundamental demands of the Palestinian struggle? What will be the consequences if he does? Or
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will he stand up to the Israeli elite and their patrons and protectors in the West? Again, what will be the ramifications? It is because Israel and Western powers are worried about how a democratically elected President in the Arab world’s most important state may move the pieces on the IsraelPalestine/Arab chessboard that they would like the military, with its close ties to Israel and the West, to maintain a grip upon Egyptian politics. That is why these so-called champions of democracy have been somewhat
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A R T I C L E S reticent about the military’s undemocratic dissolution of Parliament and its shackling of the Presidency. This should not surprise us. After all, haven’t they always placed their own hegemonic interests above democratic principles? 2 July, 2012 Dr. Chandra Muzaffar is President of the International Movement for a Just World (JUST).
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By Chandra Muzaffar Anyone with even an iota of conscience would condemn the Houla massacre of 25-26 May 2012. That 49 of the 108 killed were children is what makes that massacre unbearably brutal and barbaric.
and the UN General Assembly, it has ignored or downplayed the views of the Syrian government.
The government of Syria has accused armed terrorists of committing the massacre. It has provided a detailed account of what had happened. Eye witness testimonies have been presented over state media. The armed opposition and its supporters within West Asia and in certain Western capitals have put the blame upon the Syrian government. They allege that a clandestine militia linked to the government - the shabbiha - had done most of the butchering. There is no credible, independent entity that can help reveal the entire truth about the Houla massacre. The United Nations Human Rights Council which has passed a resolution condemning the massacre hastily targeted the Syrian government as the culprit without waiting for reports from the UN-Arab League Observer Mission in Syria. This is one of the reasons why China, Cuba and Russia voted against the resolution. The Council has since the outbreak of the conflict in Syria 14 months ago adopted an antagonistic attitude towards the government. In all its submissions to the UN Security Council
While we hope the truth about Houla would be known soon, our most urgent challenge is to ensure that violence in Syria is brought to an end immediately. This is also the main aim of the Kofi Annan Peace Plan. All the principal perpetrators of violence — the government, the armed opposition, and what has been described as the “third force” comprising groups such as Al-Qaeda and the Salafists— must play their part. The Bashar Assad government and its armed forces should exercise maximum restraint however severe the provocation from its armed opponents. There have been a number of occasions when the State had used excessive force. Syria’s close ally, Iran, Russia and China should also be firm in warning Bashar of the danger of going beyond the limit in trying to
maintain law and order. If it is true Iran is channelling military assistance to the Bashar government, it should cease to do so. By the same logic, Russia should suspend its arms sales to Damascus. At the same time, the armed opposition should lay down its arms. A genuine movement for freedom and democracy will not resort to violence in order to achieve its goal— especially when the government has undertaken some serious reforms including the inauguration of a new Constitution which upholds accountability, legitimises dissent and allows for political pluralism and multi-party competition. The Constitution approved by the majority of the people through a referendum held in February 2012 also sets a two term limit on the presidency, establishes an independent judiciary, an autonomous commission to combat corruption and recognises media freedom. A parliamentary election was conducted in early May under the new Constitution. Western governments such as France, Britain and the United States who often parade the world stage as icons of democracy should encourage both the armed and unarmed opposition with whom they have intimate links to enter into a dialogue with the Bashar government on the implementation of the Constitution. This is fundamental for the success of the political process that the Annan Peace Plan envisages. continued next page
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Instead of responding positively to some of the democratic changes introduced by the government, the US has been coordinating the supply of weapons to the opposition paid for by states such as Qatar and Saudi Arabia. An article in the Washington Post (16 May 2012) reveals this, and admits that as a result of large shipments of arms, the opposition “overran a government base” and “killed 23 Syrian soldiers” on 14 May. It is significant that this intensification of weapons supply to the opposition had occurred after the ceasefire under the Peace Plan had come into effect on 12 April. In fact, there has been a series of horrifying acts of violence since the ceasefire — devastating bomb attacks in Aleppo and Damascus some associated with AlQaeda and Salafist elements— aimed at creating chaos and anarchy. They offer incontrovertible proof that certain governments in the West and in West Asia do not want the Peace Plan to succeed.
Why are they hell-bent on wrecking the Peace Plan? They fear that if the Plan works, it would undermine their agenda which is regime change in Damascus. It is because these and certain other governments are set on regime change that the earlier Arab League Observer Mission to Syria which exposed the lies fabricated by the opposition about so-called government initiated violence was also sabotaged. For the proponents of regime change, the government has to be tarred and tarnished with whatever violence that occurs as a way of destroying its legitimacy and convincing both domestic and international public opinion that it should be ousted.
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If there is so much obsession with regime change it is because it serves the interests of different actors in different ways. For Paris, London and Washington, the Bashar government is that critical conduit that connects Iran to the Hezbollah in their common opposition to Western dominance of the world’s most important geo-economic and geostrategic region. This triumvirate of resistance to Western hegemony has to be broken for yet reason: to enhance the so-called security of its surrogate in West Asia, namely, Israel. Israel in turn is implacably hostile to Bashar Assad mainly because he continues to oppose Israel’s 45 year-old occupation of Syria’s Golan Heights which incidentally supplies one-third of Israel’s water needs. Israel has also been trying to exploit Golan’s oil and gas reserves. The Saudi and Qatari elite, both Sunni, view Bashar as a Shia ( Allawites being a branch of the Shia sect) leader allied to Shia Iran and since the Saudi elite in particular abhors Shia identity and Iran’s growing power, there is no love lost between them. Besides, both Saudi Arabia and Qatar are intimately linked to the US and its other allies. Turkey is yet another Washington ally and NATO member, attempting to spread its influence in the region which now realises that an antihegemony neighbour like Bashar’s Syria linked to a formidable regional player like Iran can be a major obstacle to its ambition. What these regime change proponents who are all part of the Western hegemonic agenda are not prepared to acknowledge is that any attempt to oust Bashar Assad through external interference and military intervention will have horrendous consequences for almost every state in West Asia and beyond. Syria itself will plunge into a long and bloody civil war for Bashar retains the support of the majority of his people especially in the populous cities of Damascus and Aleppo. It is significant that unlike the coterie around Gaddafi not a single major figure in government or the ruling party or the military or the diplomatic corps has deserted him in spite of a concerted 14 month push to
A R T I C L E S dislodge him from power. Lebanon, a country with a deep umbilical cord to Syria— always a tinderbox of intersectarian strife— is already witnessing deadly clashes between pro and antiBashar supporters. If Lebanon is in turmoil, it will almost certainly have repercussions for Israel especially since the latter is perceived as one of the root causes of the conflict in Syria. Jordan is another neighbour with extensive people-to-people relations with Syria that will not be able to insulate itself from a chaotic Syria. Then there are a number of states in the Arab world in which the Shia are either the majority or the minority and a conflict which assumes a sectarian character is bound to impact upon them. In the former category are countries such as Iraq and Bahrain while in the latter category would be Saudi Arabia and Kuwait among others. Iran and Turkey as regional actors who are already involved directly or indirectly in the Syrian crisis will also feel the effects of a worsening situation. So would Russia and China and Western powers such as France, Britain and the US. This is why Kofi Annan has a monumental challenge before him. It is not enough to ask Bashar Assad to do more to curb violence. Appealing to armed groups to abide by the ceasefire of April 12 is only part of the solution. Annan should have the courage to demand that the Western powers and various regional players cease to aid and abet groups that resort to violence in Syria. He should tell them in no uncertain terms that external political actors have no right to seek a regime change in Damascus. That is the prerogative of the people of Syria— a prerogative that they should exercise through peaceful means. 4 June, 2012 Chandra Muzaffar
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TILL DEATH DO THEM PART: NATO, IMPERIALISM MAINSTREAM MEDIA
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By Colin Todhunter
There are lies, more lies and then there is the media. Take the BBC, for instance. As Britain’s national state broadcaster, it is duty bound to provide impartial news coverage - after all, it is the ordinary person who funds it. However, the question to be asked is why folk should pay for a ‘service’ that consistently misleads or lies in order to secure compliance for statecorporate policies? As the West acts to destabilise and intervene to topple Iran’s ally Syria, it is worth looking back to the reporting on events in Libya last year because we can expect more of the same this time around. The BBC and other mainstream media’s reporting on the Libyan conflict was disgracefully onesided. This comes as no surprise, though, given the pious narrative the media and the BBC in particular puts forward at the best of times, which implies the British government and NATO are essentially civilising forces in a barbaric world. During times of war, this narrative becomes even more strident. Picture a different world for a moment, one in which the African Union (AU) had intervened in British affairs on the back of the street riots last year in the UK, in order to ‘protect’ rioters and then ‘liberate’ them from an oppressive regime. With a bit of arm twisting, it managed to get a UN resolution to implement a no fly zone over Britain. The AU media then embed themselves with the British ‘rebels’,
who had been illegally armed with weapons from AU countries, or its allies elsewhere, in order to overthrow the corrupt Cameron regime. The media report the conflict from the rioters-cum-rebels’ point of view, fail to seriously question the legitimacy of the conflict – indeed, tacitly support it - and jump on every utterance from British PM David Cameron with sneering contempt to portray him as an irrational maniac. As Cameron and his cronies flee for their lives, AU countries’ TV channels show images from inside his home and those of his millionaire government associates to highlight the opulent lifestyles they indulged in. The message is implied that all such riches were robbed from the ordinary people of Britain by Cameron and his ilk through the system they presided over. Finally, as a no-fly zone policy morphs into a killing campaign from the air, the deaths caused are largely underreported or downplayed. Substitute NATO for the AU, Gadhafi for Cameron and Libya for Britain, and you get the picture concerning the hypocrisy the mainstream media in Britain has indulged in. It is a media that portrayed those involved in the street riots in a wholly negative light, and a media which glorifies the unjust opulence and the corporate tyranny that has wrecked the economy. Yet, when it comes to events abroad, when it suits, members of the mainstream media all too readily trip over themselves to praise violent uprisings and rant against perceived injustice, tyranny and leaders who live in opulence. Peel back the veneer of ‘objectivity’, and the media’s record on the Libyan conflict is laid bare. How many times did broadcasters fail to focus on the role of Western special forces and
intelligence agencies before and during the conflict or where Libyan rebels were getting their arms from in the face of a UN sanctioned arms embargo on Libya? How many times did broadcasters question NATO’s legal and moral right to attack Libya? And how many times did broadcasters question mission drift, whereby a path for Libyan rebels into the heart of Tripoli was blasted from the air, courtesy of a massive NATO bombing campaign? A compliant, toothless media too often rolled over, peddled the notion of a widespread popular uprising and tended to focus merely on the processes of intervention, rather than the legality or morality of the whole affair. The same is happening now with Syria. The mainstream media could have done a lot better by focusing on a news item that was largely (if not completely) ignored, that of the 200 prominent African figures who accused western nations and the International Criminal Court of “subverting international law” in Libya. The UN has been misused to militarise policy, legalise military action and effect regime change, according to University of Johannesburg professor Chris Landsberg. He says it is unprecedented for the UN to have outsourced military action to Nato in this way and challenges the International Criminal Court to investigate Nato for “violating international law.” Many ordinary people rely on mainstream sources for their ‘news’, which, apart from a brief allusion to oil now and then, forwarded the notion that NATO’s involvement in Libya was perfectly legitimate because it was about removing a crazy man from continued next page
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power who was oppressing his own people. Like the West cares about the plight of ordinary people! The rich and powerful corporations that run the West have complete contempt for their own populations, never mind those in far away places. The portrayal of the Libyan conflict and now the Syrian one along with the absence of reporting on
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western intelligence and special forces involvement on the ground is a damning indictment of a self congratulatory media that continually back slaps itself for being ‘impartial’ and ‘free’. It’s been damning indictment of Western ‘democracy’ too, which continually sets out to fool its people of the need to topple regimes under the outright lie of ‘humanitarian interventionism’ in order to disguise imperialist intentions. 12 June, 2012
A R T I C L E S Colin Todhunter : Originally from the northwest of England, Colin Todhunter has spent many years in India. He has written extensively for the Deccan Herald (the Bangalore-based broadsheet), New Indian Express and Morning Star (Britain). His articles have on occasion also appeared in the Kathmandu Post, Rising Nepal, Gulf News, North East Times (India), State Times (India), Meghalaya Guardian, Indian Express and Southern Times (Africa). Source: Countercurrents.org
CYBERATTACK CLOUDS US- IRAN NUCLEAR TALKS By Geoff Dyer, Najmeh Bozorgmehr & James Blitz
Fresh revelations about US involvement in the “Stuxnet” computer virus which damaged an Iranian nuclear facility are likely to complicate the already tense negotiations over Iran’s nuclear programme. According to a report in the New York Times based on a forthcoming book, President Barack Obama personally ordered the cyberattack on the Iranian nuclear enrichment facility in Natanz in a joint operation with Israel. Although it has long been widely believed that the US and Israel were behind the 2010 Stuxnet virus, the new details about the Obama administration’s role are likely to add to Iranian mistrust of the US ahead of the next round of negotiations with leading nations over its nuclear programme in three weeks’ time in Moscow. “The major barrier to any breakthrough in the talks has been the profound lack of trust between the US and Iran,” said Cliff Kupchan, an analyst at Eurasia Group in Washington. “This description is not a game-changer, but it adds to the existing serious obstacles.”
is increasingly worrying about the abilities of other countries to use the techniques of cyberwar against it. “This is the first attack of a major nature in which a cyberattack was used to effect physical destruction,” Michael Hayden, the former Central Intelligence Agency head, is quoted as saying. “Somebody crossed the Rubicon.” The revelations come in the same week that security experts have discovered a new virus which has infected computers in Iran and other parts of the Middle East. Known as “Flame”, it is designed to collect information rather than destroy equipment. Tehran did not react to the New York Times story on Friday. However, the report of US and Israeli involvement in the cyberattack could give more credibility to Iranian claims that the two countries were also behind the assassination of at least four nuclear scientists.
According to Friday’s article, Mr Obama stepped up a project called “Olympic Games” which was started in 2006 under the Bush administration. A spring 2010 virus targeted the Natanz facility and appeared to damage one-fifth of the centrifuges operating there, but after a few months it leaked out into the internet where it became known as Stuxnet.
It could also strengthen the Islamic regime’s suspicions that the US and Israel are in much closer agreement than is often thought about the possibility of an Israeli strike on Iran. “It is a lie that the US is against an attack on Iran and Israel may do it on its own,” said one former Iranian official this week. “If Israel attacks the nuclear sites, Iran’s retaliation would be first against the US because Israel is in no place to act without the US permission.”
The report underlines the complicated politics and ethics for the Obama administration of launching such an attack at a time when the US
While former president Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani said last week for the second time in recent months that Tehran could not be hostile to the US
for ever, Iranian analysts believe Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, still believes Washington is using the nuclear issue to push the broader goal of regime change. He has urged politicians not to be fooled by “smiles” – a clear reference to Mr Obama. However, Iranian anger over the attack has been tempered by the fact that Stuxnet largely failed in its efforts and the Iranian nuclear programme has quickly made up lost ground. Although the new revelations come at a delicate time for the nuclear talks with Iran, which the Obama administration is keen to continue and would not want to see collapse in the middle of an election campaign, they could offer some domestic political upside. The fact that Mr Obama stepped up the Bush-era cyberwar programme will help counter Republican attacks that his administration has been too soft on Iran. However, they complicate US efforts to criticise the cyber activities of other governments. In an unusually blunt report issued last year by US intelligence agencies, the Obama administration said that massive cyberespionage operations by China and Russia posed a “significant and growing threat” to US national security, yet other countries often view US complaints as hypocritical given its own cyber activities. 1 June, 2012 Geoff Dyer in Washington, Najmeh Bozorgmehr in Tehran and James Blitz in London. Source: The Financial Times
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THE REFUGEES SITUATION IN MALAYSIA: CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES By Sarah Ahmed Madhi & Jennifer Kate Tennant
The refugee situation has been an ongoing challenge for several countries all around the world. Individuals from countries that are not as providing, or as safe as other countries, flee from their nations for several reasons, particularly survival. Majority of the refugees do not flee from their countries unless they see their lives under threat. As of today, the global population of refugees is estimated to be approximately 250 million. Alan Vernon, from the office of the United Nations Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) delivered an address on the situation of the refugees in Malaysia, the challenges the refugees face as well as the opportunities that can be provided to them. Prior to getting into detail with the situation of refugees in Malaysia, Alan Vernon addressed some points that needed to be clarified. Refugees are individuals that have a well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, political opinions and so on. However, despite the clarity of the refugee situation, people still harbor misconceptions about refugees and migrants. Refugees flee from their countries because they feel threatened; migrants for instance, leave their countries for better opportunities. The Refugee Situation in Malaysia Malaysia has had a large population of refugees that have fled from their respective countries to find a better life here since 1976. The estimate of the number of refugees in Malaysia is approximately 100,000. Refugees come from various countries like Somalia, Vietnam and Cambodia among others. However, the largest population of refugees in Malaysia come from Myanmar. Several issues were addressed about the situation of the refugees in Malaysia. The main concern is that the majority of the asylum seekers in Malaysia are not recognized as refugees. These asylum seekers do not receive the necessary documents to keep them safe, and due to that they get arrested and put in jail. The issue in this situation is that if
the refugees are not provided with the necessary documents that prove that they are refugees, they face two possible consequences: 1) Be put in jail and, 2) the possibility of being sent back home. If these refugees are sent back home, they are put in danger since their initial reason for leaving their homes was that their lives were threatened. The other issue with regard to the refugees is that these refugees are treated as illegal migrants simply due to the fact that they have not been provided with documents to prove their stay. Another issue that was addressed in the talk was the education system. The refugees in Malaysia have no access to government schools, and so do not receive the necessary education required for getting a job. The only available education for the refugee children is extremely basic, lacking materials and the teachers are unqualified. These refugees receive their education from NGOs that have put in that effort to send volunteers, and from retired teachers who are not skilled. The UNHCR Key Messages The UNHCR provided several key messages that they consider to being a doorway to providing help to the refugees while at the same time reducing the severity of the situation in Malaysia. 1) The Malaysian government should take greater responsibility in the issue of the refugees. 2) The UNHCR and several NGOs are already supporting and will do more to support the government. 3) Opinion leaders can help sensitize the government and the public. 4) Allow the refugees to work legally. 5) Improve education opportunity for refugee children. The UNHCR should also provide the refugees with the necessary documents that will help them gain refugee status in Malaysia. Solutions for the Refugees in Malaysia The UNHCR has taken several measures to ensure that the refugees are treated
with the utmost respect, and can receive healthcare at a low cost. 1) UNHCR provides the asylum seekers with the necessary documents and registers them in its system. 2) Prior to providing them with the documents, the UNHCR assesses their cases. 3) UNHCR provides assistance for the vulnerable. 4) Since the refugees from Myanmar are particularly in danger if they get back to their countries, they are more likely to get refugee status. 5) UNHCR provides the refugees with health support. If the UNHCR documents are presented in hospitals, refugees only pay 50% of the medical expenses charged to a foreigner. 6) UNHCR provides the refugees with the option of returning to their countries if they choose to return. 7) UNHCR is attempting to facilitate the local integration of the refugees. 8) UNHCR provides the refugees the opportunity for resettlement (moving them to other countries e.g. USA, UK, etc.) What Needs to Happen Now As of today, the UNHCR is attempting to talk with the government about the refugee situation. Particularly, they are trying to make the government allow the refugees to work in Malaysia legally. Without that, the refugees will continue to face the danger of getting arrested or even worse, being sent back to their countries. The UNHCR is also trying to establish pilot programmes for children in the lower primary school category to attend government schools. Apart from the pilot programmes, it is also trying to legalize the refugee community schools under the framework of UNHCR. Finally, the UNHCR is always encouraging NGOs to open more refugee schools so that every child who is a refugee receives the necessary education essential for his or her development. 25 May, 2012 Sarah Ahmed Madhi & Jennifer Kate Tennant were interns at JUST from 26th March 2012 to 6th July 2012.
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The International Movement for a Just World is a nonprofit international citizens’ organisation which seeks to create public awareness about injustices within the existing global system. It also attempts to develop a deeper understanding of the struggle for social justice and human dignity at the global level, guided by universal spiritual and moral values. In furtherance of these objectives, JUST has undertaken a number of activities including conducting research, publishing books and monographs, organising conferences and seminars, networking with groups and individuals and participating in public campaigns. JUST has friends and supporters in more than 130 countries and cooperates actively with other organisations which are committed to similar objectives in different parts of the world.
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