UK Newswire Archive
Walrus Bulls Bellowing on a Beach
22-08-2009 16:29
August 22, 2009WALRUS BULLS BELLOWING ON A BEACH
John Chuckman
I am disappointed with the view of some knowledgeable commentators over Scotland’s release of the dying man who was convicted of the Lockerbie-airline bombing.
From a purely power-politics point of view, of course, they are right: judging by the ugly noises echoing across the oceans from America, Scotland has done itself no favor.
But if all affairs are to be carried on in every country from that point of view, it seems to me that it is acceptance of America's right to dictate every matter over the planet, including such intimate matters as how individual countries interpret justice and the government of laws.
This is the acceptance of a de facto aristocracy running the world since American voters - and only about half of eligible Americans bother to vote - represent only a percent or so of the planet’s population. It is remarkable how many Americans do not understand the basic point that not everything a democracy does is democratic or decent or even acceptable, especially things done outside its borders.
Democracies abuse power just as surely as any other form of government, and a democracy with the immense military power of the United States – a power virtually cancerous to genuine democratic values - provides a case study in the inexorable workings of Lord Acton’s dictum.
It would also represent a repression of all the better motives from which individuals and societies act now and then, surprising us and raising the standard of human behavior from the violent-chimpanzee standard that tends to hold for much of humanity and is especially notable in America’s international affairs.
That is unacceptable to most people who are not Americans or who are not dedicated flatterers of America seeking leftovers being dropped from its groaning table.
You only have to ask yourself how Americans themselves would react to others telling them how they should run their court system. The sound would be deafening, like the bellowing of walrus bulls on a stony beach in mating season, which is actually pretty close to the sound of some of America’s professional-victim families today.
Mercy is never misplaced, and I think Scottish justice has reached an admirable decision despite the bellowing of the unthinking American families we have heard from for years.
Apart from that, and a very important consideration, it is almost certain that al-Megrahi is innocent, having been fitted up by American intelligence desperate for a scapegoat with the relentless political pressure of the walrus-bull families.
I have to say, also, I always find it troubling to read the press repeating the lines about 270 victims for the thousandth time. It is an American mantra, emphasizing the special and precious nature of American lives over all others, at least, that is, the lives of upper middle-class Americans.
Rarely do we read an accurate perspective on the Lockerbie event.
The United States Navy stupidly shot down an Iranian airliner with 300 souls aboard as it observed the devastation of the Iran-Iraq War, a devastation America had an important hand in extending.
Those 300 innocent men, women, and children received no mercy, and their horrible deaths certainly never saw any justice. Their families never received compensation. And no apology was even offered by Americans, a disgusting set of behaviors, entirely.
Lockerbie was absolutely clearly revenge, but no one knows who actually committed
the act of revenge.
I might offer the observation, too, that it is the same bellowing Americans always ready to use capital punishment or torture and assassinate opponents or, indeed, to invade the lands of those with whom they disagree, bombing and killing countless innocents – three million just in Vietnam, another million or so in the Cambodia they de-stabilized, and another million or so in Iraq.
The whole pattern of the two acts of wanton destruction explains the basis for the so-called War on Terror. It is simply America's saying, “I can do to you, but you can't do to me.”
Abahlali baseMjondolo in Hackney on 4 September 2009
22-08-2009 15:44
BENEFIT Fri 4 Sept 7.30pm-2am@ the Belgrade Social Centre, 2a Belgrade Rd, London N16 8DJ
Bath Vegan Fayre 2009
22-08-2009 15:43
Controlling the Global Economy: Bilderberg, the Trilateral Commission and the Federal Reserve
21-08-2009 19:33
The New World Order was meant to represent a new phase in the global political economy in which world authority rested in one place, and for the time, that place was to be the United States.
Mainshill Update - increase in police surveillance
21-08-2009 18:09
The Mainshill Solidarity Camp was set up in June to stop an open cast coal mine from being built next to the village of Douglass in South Lanarkshire. Two weeks ago it hosted the Camp for Climate Action Scotland. The camp has treehouses, towers and tunnels all built to resist eviction.Since the end of Climate Camp Scotland we've been sorting out left over tat and continuing building defences. This week we have had an increase in Police surveillance with early morning visits on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. Both times two police officers walked around the site taking video footage of defences.
RBS glued shut
21-08-2009 18:04
The Royal Bank of Scotland is one of the largest investors and profiteers of environmental destruction and the international arms trade. They destroy natural habitats, therefore unbalancing the ecosphere, by using genocidal methods against the species populating the Earth.Climate camp benefit @ Rampart tonight!
21-08-2009 17:14
a swoopercalifragelisticexpialidocious night at the last chance saloon- yeehaDemonstration against the BNP Event in Derbyshire : Surveillance Operations
21-08-2009 16:55
This Week in Palestine -Week 34 2009
21-08-2009 16:53
Welcome to This Week in Palestine, a service of the International Middle East Media Center, www.imemc.org, for August 15th to 21st, 2009
Demonstration against the BNP Event in Codnor, Derbyshire 2
21-08-2009 16:13
Demonstration against the BNP Event in Codnor, Derbyshire 1
21-08-2009 16:07
Nuclear New Build Blessed by Bishop of Carlisle
21-08-2009 14:36
Radiation Free Lakeland sent an open letter to the Bishop in June - there has been no reply. Today representatives from Carlisle Action on Climate Change and Radiation Free Lakeland delivered a letter direct to Carlisle Cathedral.
Greece, Lefkada Island: police brutality against a Roma
21-08-2009 14:35
Breaking news: Two charged with leaking BNP membership list
21-08-2009 14:26
Oops...French police exploit scabies epidemic to clear migrant camps
21-08-2009 13:54
calaisolidarity@gmail.com FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE : 21.08.09
A squat in Calais, occupied by dozens of Afghan migrants, was destroyed yesterday morning by the French authorities under the pretext of an anti-scabies operation.
Intelligence agencies develop ‘terrorist Facebook’ to find links
21-08-2009 13:47
From signalfire.orgDissident Island Radio - August 21 transmision from 9pm
21-08-2009 13:25
Battle the Banks - Call for Actions against Barclays and RBS - Investors in arms
21-08-2009 11:40
Smash DSEi, Smash the Arms Trade, Battle the Banks...
