Comments on: FDL Film Salon: David Montero For “Pakistan: State of Emergency”

By: bigbrother

bigbrother — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 05:43:47 +0000

Do yuo see a parrallel between the chronic poverty in America by race that was identified in the 60’s civil rightd struggle?
The Ten Point Program
We want power to determine the destiny of our black and oppressed communities.
We want full employment for our people.
We want an end to the robbery by the capitalists of our Black Community.
We want decent housing, fit for the shelter of human beings.
We want decent education for our people that exposes the true nature of this decadent American society. We want education that teaches us our true history and our role in the present-day society.
We want completely free health care for all black and oppressed people.
We want an immediate end to police brutality and murder of black people, other people of color, all oppressed people inside the United States.
We want an immediate end to all wars of aggression.
We want freedom for all black and oppressed people now held in U. S. Federal, state, county, city and military prisons and jails. We want trials by a jury of peers for all persons charged with so-called crimes under the laws of this country.
We want land, bread, housing, education, clothing, justice, peace and people’s community control of modern technology.[21]
The Mazlow hierarchy of needs identifies human needs. In most cases when those needs are left unfulfilled violence seems to fill the void. Or a very ugly oppression exists. In Pakistan the oppressors are being resisted. Why not find a more humane solution. We know oppression leads to social revolution at least and violent reaction.
Education and opportunity like the micro loans:
Yunus is also the founder of Grameen Bank. In 2006, Yunus and the bank were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, is a different approach to using force to achieve cooperation.

By: Maddy

Maddy — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 23:08:19 +0000

My daughter spent six months in Spain going to school at the university there being taught in Spanish, immersed in the culture, two of her friends from high school both joined the peace corp and worked in South America. One of them is a political science major.
These are the kind of people we need and the ones who give me hope, I know them personally and would be honored to have them represent us.

By: QuakerGirl

QuakerGirl — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 23:07:19 +0000

I know several Peace Corp people from many years ago. They are incredible. The experience truly made them wiser and more involved citizens later in their lives. They keep me sane.

By: TexasEllen

TexasEllen — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 23:00:04 +0000

Quakergirl & Maddy, wouldn’t it make sense to encourage young people with an interest in the foreign service to serve in the Peace Corps first. For some it might be the sort of immersion that leads to wisdom. For others, it might just do a little good in the world on the way to doing something completely different.

By: Christy Hardin Smith

Christy Hardin Smith — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 22:57:02 +0000

Agree completely there. I spent a little over a week — back when it was stil the Soviet Union — in Moscow, staying with students from all over the world at a Model UN conference and it was wonderful in terms of the interaction we all got to have. We stayed at a Soviet student hostel, and I would not have traded it for the luxury accommodations of a Western-tourist hotel for anything. (Well, maybe for the breakfast the morning we had warmed Vienna sausages and peas — or at least, what looked like that. blech. But otherwise… *g*)

By: eCAHNomics

eCAHNomics — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 22:56:44 +0000

If the Pashtuns had more political autonomy within Pakistan, and greater participation in the Afghan central government (considering they’re the largest ethnic group within Afghanistan), would the Taliban problem diminish? Also, the recent Pakistani elections gave a trouncing to the religious fundamentalists in NWPF. Significiance?

By: QuakerGirl

QuakerGirl — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 22:56:21 +0000

Sander this is so true. Nothing was more impressive to me when I lived in Java than the layers of invaders who came through this island for thousands of years, all leaving some small remnant of ever having been there. The jungle swallowed them up.

But the most impressive to me was the Dutch. After 350 years there by 1970, 23 years after the Indonesians threw them out, there was barely a trace they had ever been there so minor was their cultural impact. However, the one lasting legacy of the Dutch, was the extreme poverty they left the country in which their lands were stolen and replaced with large coffee and tea plantations.

By: Maddy

Maddy — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 22:56:19 +0000

TexasEllen @ 80
My email wbree at bendcable dot com

By: Maddy

Maddy — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 22:54:46 +0000

Would you please post it, I have been looking for it and haven’t found it, I would love you forever 707

By: Maddy

Maddy — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 22:53:48 +0000

My small experience in traveling is the joy of meeting a new culture head on, and it has never made sense to me why one would travel and stay somewhere that has only those you see everyday of your life, great point, that I took to heart long ago.

Sitting in Mecca, beside some swimming pool talking about the great deal you got on a widget Home Depot. Blech