Today's LA Times notes the death of Susan Sontag on A-1 plus another article from a close friend in Calendar. And please read Steve Lopez' column, p1, B-2 for a reliable article on disaster relief for sunami victims. And, of course, the most comprehensive view of both will undoubtably be on Democracy Now! this morning, kpfk 90.7fm, at 6 and 9 AM. Indeed, she's doing just that as I write. Ed
R.I.P. Susan Sontag (1933-2004) by Doug Ireland I was quite pained to learn just now of the death of Susan Sontag, who left us this morning at 7:00 AM in New York. I first encountered Susan on the page when I was a teenager, through her groundbreaking essays in the Partisan Review--where she helped introduce Americans to European intellectuals of the first rank. . . . We became friends, and I passed many agreeable hours in her company in the years before I left for France. On several occasions we shared a joint together--although I felt rather guilty about giving one to her, as she had already had lung problems and bouts of cancer. Most of the obituaries will undoubtedly speak of Susan's brilliance. But I also remember her humor and wit, her love of gossip, her openness to the new, her capacity for lucid self-analysis, her ravishing smile, and her distinctive laugh.... *** Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit The Sunday Herald (Australia) - Dec 25, 2004 US admits the war for hearts and minds in Iraq is now lost Pentagon report reveals catalogue of failure THE Pentagon has admitted that the war on terror and the invasion and occupation of Iraq have increased support for al-Qaeda, made ordinary Muslims hate the US and caused a global backlash against America because of the "self-serving hypocrisy" of George W Bush's administration over the Middle East. The mea culpa is contained in a shockingly frank "strategic communications" report, written this autumn by the Defence Science Board for Pentagon supremo Donald Rumsfeld. On "the war of ideas or the struggle for hearts and minds", the report says, "American efforts have not only failed, they may also have achieved the opposite of what they intended". "American direct intervention in the Muslim world has paradoxically elevated the stature of, and support for, radical Islamists, while diminishing support for the United States to single digits in some Arab societies." Referring to the repeated mantra from the White House that those who oppose the US in the Middle East "hate our freedoms", the report says: "Muslims do not 'hate our freedoms', but rather, they hate our policies. The overwhelming majority voice their objections to what they see as one-sided support in favour of Israel and against Palestinian rights, and the long-standing, even increasing support, for what Muslims collectively see as tyrannies, most notably Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Pakistan and the Gulf states. "Thus when American public diplomacy talks about bringing democracy to Islamic societies, this is seen as no more than self-serving hypocrisy. Moreover, saying that 'freedom is the future of the Middle East' is seen as patronising ? in the eyes of Muslims, the American occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq has not led to democracy there, but only more chaos and suffering. US actions appear in contrast to be motivated by ulterior motives, and deliberately controlled in order to best serve American national interests at the expense of truly Muslim self-determination." The way America has handled itself since September 11 has played straight into the hands of al-Qaeda, the report adds. "American actions have elevated the authority of the jihadi insurgents and tended to ratify their legitimacy among Muslims." The result is that al-Qaeda has gone from being a marginal movement to having support across the entire Muslim world. "Muslims see Americans as strangely narcissistic, " the report goes on, adding that to the Arab world the war is "no more than an extension of American domestic politics". The US has zero credibility among Muslims which means that "whatever Americans do and say only serves 'the enemy'". The report says that the US is now engaged in a "global and generational struggle of ideas" which it is rapidly losing. In order to reverse the trend, the US must make "strategic communication" - which includes the dissemination of propaganda and the running of military psychological operations - an integral part of national security. The document says that "Presidential leadership" is needed in this "ideas war" and warns against "arrogance, opportunism and double standards". "We face a war on terrorism," the report says, "intensified conflict with Islam, and insurgency in Iraq. Worldwide anger and discontent are directed at America's tarnished credibility and ways the US pursues its goals. There is a consensus that America's power to persuade is in a state of crisis." More than 90per cent of the populations of some Muslims countries, such as Saudi Arabia, are opposed to US policies. "The war has increased mistrust of America in Europe, " the report adds, "weakened support for the war on terrorism and undermined US credibility worldwide." This, in turn, poses an increased threat to US national security. America's "image problem", the report authors suggest, is "linked to perceptions of the US as arrogant, hypocritical and self-indulgent". The White House "has paid little attention" to the problems. The report calls for a huge boost in spending on propaganda efforts as war policies "will not succeed unless they are communicated to global domestic audiences in ways that are credible". American rhetoric which equates the war on terror as a cold-war-style battle against "totalitarian evil" is also slapped down by the report. Muslims see what is happening as a "history-shaking movement of Islamic restoration" a renewal of the Muslim world (which) "has taken form through many variant movements, both moderate and militant, with many millions of adherents - of which radical fighters are only a small part". Rather than supporting tyranny, most Muslim want to overthrow tyrannical regimes like Saudi Arabia. "The US finds itself in the strategically awkward - and potentially dangerous - situation of being the long-standing prop and alliance partner of these authoritarian regimes. Without the US, these regimes could not survive," the report says. "Thus the US has strongly taken sides in a desperate struggle ? US policies and actions are increasingly seen by the overwhelming majority of Muslims as a threat to the survival of Islam itself ? Americans have inserted themselves into this intra-Islamic struggle in ways that have made us an enemy to most Muslims. "There is no yearning-tobe-liberated-by-the-US groundswell among Muslim societies" The perception of intimate US support of tyrannies in the Muslim world is perhaps the critical vulnerability in American strategy. It strongly undercuts our message, while strongly promoting that of the enemy." The report says that, in terms of the "information war", "at this moment it is the enemy that has the advantage". The US propaganda drive has to focus on "separating the vast majority of non-violent Muslims from the radicalmilitant Islamist-Jihadist". According to the report, "the official take on the target audience [the Muslim world] has been gloriously simple" and divided the Middle East into "good" and "bad Muslims". "Americans are convinced that the US is a benevolent 'superpower' that elevates values emphasising freedom." Deep down we assume that everyone should naturally support our policies. Yet the world of Islam - by overwhelming majorities at this time - sees things differently. Muslims see American policies as inimical to their values, American rhetoric about freedom and democracy as hypocritical and American actions as deeply threatening. For two years the jihadi message - that strongly attacks American values - is being accepted by more moderate and non-violent Muslims. This in turn implies that negative opinion of the US has not yet bottomed out Equally important, the report says, is "to renew European attitudes towards America" which have also been severely damaged since September 11, 2001. As "alQaeda constantly outflanks the US in the war of information", American has to adopt more sophisticated propaganda techniques, such as targeting secularists in the Muslim world - including writers, artists and singers - and getting US private sector media and marketing professionals involved in disseminating messages to Muslims with a pro-US "brand". The Pentagon report also calls for the establishment of a national security adviser for strategic communications, and a massive boost in funding for the "information war" to boost US government TV and radio stations broadcasting in the Middle East. The importance of the need to quickly establish a propaganda advantage is underscored by a document attached to the Pentagon report from Paul Wolfowitz, the deputy defence secretary, dated May. It says: "Our military expeditions to Afghanistan and Iraq are unlikely to be the last such excursion in the global war on terrorism." *** Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit sent by Simon McGuinness [Wonderful article on Cuba's gift of medical training to poor communities around the world. The complete antidote to everything we are reading about Iraq, Afghanistan, etc. Enjoy ... and think - think what the US could achieve if it spent 1 billion a week bringing medical training to the world's poor, instead of war. Dr David Hickey is an Irish surgeon who is visiting lecturer in transplant surgery at the Havana School of Medicine. He famously displayed a tee-shirt calling for the end of the Blockade of Cuba on live television at an All-Ireland Football Final. Watched by most people in Ireland this is the biggest media event for Irish diaspora and is beamed via satellite to over 80 countries around the world.-Simon] The Irish Times, Tue, Dec 21, 04 http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/health/2004/1221/355636704HS21HICKEYMAIN.html Medical training Cuban-style The Latin American School of Medicine in Havana is renowned for its contribution to third world healthcare. by John Moran "One of our Cuban doctors working in Ethiopia performed 800 major operations, countless minor ones and, in some cases, even gave his own blood," says Victor Diaz Feran, offering one extreme example of his country's commitment to world medical aid to a group of young visiting physicians from Ireland led by Beaumont Hospital consultant renal transplant surgeon, Mr David Hickey, the former Dublin GAA football star. The group is on a visit to the Latin American School of Medicine on the outskirts of Havana. At present, the school has 8,400 students from impoverished backgrounds in South and Central America, the Caribbean, Africa and even from disadvantaged areas of the United States. Perhaps the most remarkable thing about the school is that there is absolutely no charge for the degree in basic medicine. Cubans take great pride in the work of the school, and many visiting heads of state and other dignitaries are brought here to see the school for themselves. Standing in the reception area of the former naval cadet training academy under large paintings of two revolutionary leaders - one, South America's founding father Simon Bolivar and the other, Cuban poet and revolutionary Jose Marti - is Feran, director of international relations at the school. Through an interpreter, Gladys, Feran welcomes the visitors and, after formalities, leads them to the conference centre where he outlines the school's origins. Lining the walls along the way are numerous cultural artefacts from the 24 countries represented among the school's 8,400 students. It comes as something of a surprise to see the stars and stripes of the US standing proudly in the centre of the 23 other national flags. When jokingly asked by one of the Irish party about the US flag's prominence, Feran laughs, "They are in alphabetical order." There are actually 80 students who have come from the US to study here. These are mainly black, Latino and native Americans from deprived backgrounds. Despite a scare earlier this year over new US travel restrictions, the students now have a special dispensation - secured in part by former US Secretary of State Colin Powell - which allows them to circumvent their government's embargo and other punitive measures to study in Cuba. The attraction for US students is clear. While the cost of becoming a doctor here is free, in the US the average cost is more than $200,000. To qualify for entry, US students must be physically and mentally fit, have appropriate qualifications, have no criminal record and must promise to return to practise in poor neighbourhoods such as the ones they came from. Apart from the absence of fees and full board, Feran says all course textbooks and ancillary materials are provided free. Furthermore, students receive pocket money of 200 Cuban pesos a month, and each year they are sent home for a 40-day holiday. Outlining Cuba's commitment to world medical aid, Feran tells the Irish party that Cuba still has a standing offer that it made to the United Nations in 2001 to send 4,000 doctors to Africa, but it needs international assistance in providing resources to support them, which, as yet, has not been offered. "It is our duty to help the sick in the neediest parts of the world," says Feran, "but particularly in Africa with the terrible problem of Aids. Of the 40 million affected worldwide, he says, "30 million are in Africa. We are offering the most costly and important element, the doctors." Feran says the idea for the school came after Hurricane George and Mitch laid waste to great swaths of the Caribbean and South America in 1998. Haiti and the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Belize, Guatemala and, in particular, Honduras were devastated and 12,000 people lost their lives. Cuba sent doctors to the worst affected areas, but when the initial crisis had passed they realised the extent of the difficulties facing the survivors, in particular, the lack of a basic medical infrastructure and information. Hickey tells the group that Irish Army personnel volunteered for a special humanitarian mission to Honduras and were highly praised for their dedication and commitment by the government there. He says that when they returned to Ireland, soldiers commended the work of the Cuban doctors who stayed on to fight the diseases that followed and to help promote basic hygiene, water purification, vaccination and good medical practice. "After six years," says Feran, "some Cuban doctors are still there, but they will have to return home some day. Yet, at the same time, people cannot be left without basic medical care and be vulnerable to disease and infections so we decided to set up a medical school specifically to train people from the poorer countries so that they can then return to their home and continue with the work started by the Cuban doctors." In 1999 the first students arrived and 1,929 were registered. "Because countries vary in their educational levels, we do a pre-med course so that everyone can begin the course on an equal level," Feran says. "In the first two years, the basic sciences are covered. In year three and four, students are sent to medical facilities around the country. "In the fifth, they go to hospital clinics where they link up with Cuban doctors and nurses. "In their final year, students do internships in various hospitals where they cover internal medicine, surgery, gynaecology, obstetrics, paediatrics and general basic medicine. They then receive their medical degrees in primary medicine and will go back to their home countries," Feran says. What they will have learned here is unique. Of all the world's healthcare systems, none is better placed than Cuba's to understand the needs of people in desperately poor countries as over the past 35 years some 25,000 Cuban doctors, nurses and paramedical specialists have worked voluntarily among the poor in places as far apart as Asia, Africa and Latin America. When each volunteer returns to Cuba, they are welcomed home as heroes and heroines in their towns and villages. Feran says the Cuban people believe it is their duty to share their resources, however meagre, with those in their world who are less well off. Students are preferred from poorer communities in the countries of origin. Applications are processed through local Cuban diplomatic delegations. Feran stresses that the teaching of medicine is not the only consideration. "We are not satisfied with just creating doctors, and we place heavy emphasis on moral values in the course. Respect for the human being is stressed, rather than any income gained from being a doctor. "While working in our healthcare system, students see every day the practice of this value. Treating the person with great personal care is vitally important." The cultural interchange is also important, he says. "We have lots of beautiful cultural artefacts and projects here where the students learn to enjoy and respect each other's culture. But of course it is not perfect, there are problems and people can behave in strange ways." He says some students did not return to the school after their holidays. Others did not meet the standards required, though rather than sending them home they were placed on less demanding paramedical and ancillary courses of study. Asked by The Irish Times whether after their return home next year there would be ongoing contact with the newly qualified doctors in order to evaluate progress and monitor the project's effectiveness, Feran says there would be a structured contact. It will be a challenge, he adds. Later, as the group from Ireland walk around the school's grounds in brilliant sunshine not far from the bright blue sea, a group of young Peruvians gather playfully around Dr Feran, whose great dignity and warmth was remarked upon by many in the Irish group. And it is clear that his students feel the same. Next year should be a time of great satisfaction for all at the Latin American School of Medicine when the first student cohort - the class of '99 - graduates and returns to put what they have learned here into practise. © The Irish Times ^^^ Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit sent by Andy Pollack - Dec 28 2004 The day after the earthquake The New York Times ran an abysmal editorial whose tone was "that's Nature, couldn't have done anything." The very next day they said: (http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/28/opinion/28tue2.html) "No human power could have stopped the wall of water that washed over low-lying coasts from Indonesia to East Africa on Sunday. But human foresight could, and should, have mitigated the resulting tragedy.. That death toll could have been cut at least in half if the affected region had had the same kind of international warning network the United States has set up to protect the adjacent Pacific basin. "Of all the world's vulnerable regions, only the Pacific has such a warning network in place. Sunday's events suggest the value of extending such a system. Within 15 minutes of the earthquake, the Pacific warning center in Honolulu issued alerts to its member countries. These included Thailand and Indonesia, which were unfortunately so close to the original epicenter that towering walls of water were already claiming their first victims. But another two hours remained before 40-foot seas crashed into Sri Lanka, and three to four hours before the huge waves reached southern India. That could have given people in danger time to escape to high ground - if they had been told in advance and evacuation plans were in place. Such an avoidable tragedy should never be allowed to happen again. "In a 21st-century age of global Internet, satellite and cellphone communications, there can be no excuse for failing to make sure that lifesaving information reaches everyone in the path of these killer waves. Once a strong earthquake has been detected and analyzed, the waves' trajectories can be reliably predicted, and timely and specific warnings can be transmitted to those areas lying in their expected paths. "There are certain to be additional tsunamis in this region in the future, although the historical record suggests that it may be several decades before the next one strikes. That time should be used to create a reliable warning system that reaches all coastal areas. Washington, which has already offered "all appropriate assistance" to the affected countries, is uniquely qualified to provide the needed technical and humanitarian help." (end of Times quotes) Will such changes occur? Well, look at the total lack of changes since the August 2003 blackout in the US. We can only be sure nothing will change unless people take up this cause - unions, farmers' groups, etc. make common cause and demand across borders that data -- and resources to act on that data -- be shared and used for planning to save lives and homes. Let the newly reunited world union federations, the Social Forums on every continent, the antiwar movements, raise their voices together and demand an end to the genocidal policy of economic and environmental anarchy (i.e., of capitalism)! To subscribe: http://olm.blythe-systems.com/mailman/listinfo/nytr ======================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ======================================================= ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Make a clean sweep of pop-up ads. Yahoo! Companion Toolbar. 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