Immigrants are Here...Because Big Business is There...

The Global Village is evolving into a Better Place...But this evolution will be painful and at times bloody...

Tariq Ali has gained a reputation as one of the English-speaking world's most

forceful political thinkers, speaking out consistently against imperialism, religious

fundamentalism, and, most recently, the misguided Anglo-American war on terror,

including the disastrous fiasco in Iraq. Ali's most recent books, The Clash of

Fundamentalisms and Bush in Babylon have been widely praised and read.

Exiled from Pakistan in 1960s for his activism against the                                                                             military dictatorship

I met Tarig Ali years ago in Toronto, Canada.

He was on a lecture tour and I listened to him at University of Toronto... He is eloquent and very interesting...His logic and perspective made sense and charmed me...

Among others things he mentioned: "They ask me in London, England....'Why you are here?'... and my answer to them is...'I am here, because you were there...' "

He was referring to British colonialism in India and Pakistan...

This idea still resonates in me...

Below are the photos of African migrants in Calais, France... They are waiting for the opportune moment to cross the channel into England...To join Tariq Ali...

The misery and brutality of their travel from Africa to Europe is evident...and full of dangers... 

African migrants....on the boat... and then it capsized...

African Migrants in Calais, France...

African migrants waiting ... for the moment when they will cross the channel into London, England...

The colonial legacy is still with us...Africa and the Middle East and Asia...are still under occupation...albeit... of a very different kind...

Example:

Bangladesh is independent and supposedly a "free" country ...

They have a garment industry... American and Canadian and European firms have established their clothing factories there... because of cheap...VERY cheap labour...

I have investigated Canadian department stores...T-shirts with "made in Bangladesh" tags are sold for 4-5 Canadian dollars... In this there is the profit of the store, the profit of the company and the cost...

The workers -women and man- are paid few sects for their daily work...!

So, if they cannot survive on their daily work...what will they do...? 

Like most Canadian and U.S. and European immigrants they will try to migrate...

…And if they cannot not emigrate legally what will they do...?

I am sure ALL of you know the answer... 

After all, survival is a very basic human instinct...

Indeed...We are here...Because they are there...

Migrants from Central American countries of El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala...moving to U.S. border...

 Central American Children in U.S. Border Detention Center

WASHINGTON — The government said Monday it will soon close three

emergency shelters — in California, Texas and Oklahoma — it established

at U.S. military bases to temporarily house children caught crossing the

Mexican border alone. It said fewer children were being caught and other

shelters will be adequate.

 The children are rushing to the us border…They dream of a better life…Their countries are infested with poverty and gangs paddling drugs…and most of the drug consumers are in North America…

They are escaping the drug violence in their countries…

They are escaping the hunger and poverty in their country…

Example:

The banana plantations in Central America pay minimal, few dollars, 

to the works who pick the fruits… They will not be able to survive 

and raise families in that money…

We buy those fruits in our supermarkets very cheap… And at times 

we complain that they are very expensive too…But the workers in 

the Central American countries cannot survive on what they are 

paid…

They are not paid enough…So as WE may have cheaper fruits in 

the supermarkets…So as importers and big business make big profits…

Indeed, they are here…because we are there…

We all have experience with "made in China" tags... 

The Chinese elite is imitating the ways and means of the Global Big Business...

They say capital,meaning money, has no boundaries and no nationality...

The Big Brother is the same whether in China or Russia or Canada or U.S. or Europe...

We are aware of child labour in Asia ... Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia...and Bangladesh, and India...where your running shoes are manufactured...

Yesterday Europe and Canada and the U.S. remembered WW I and its atrocities...

But,

Yesterday...They did not mention Ukraine, and Iraq, and Afghanistan, and Somalia, and Nigeria, and Pakistan, and India, and Bangladesh... and West Africa struck by Ebola virus... 

Yesterday no one remembered Gaza...Palestine and Israel...

Yesterday Manchester City in England blacked out ... in memory of the victims of WW I...

Manchester City blacked out ...in memory of WW I victims...

Yesterday the migrants waited in Calais to cross into London, England...

Yesterday the children slept in the detention centers at U.S. borders...

A Minute of Silence ---For the Guys on BOTH sides...

A Minute of Silence...FOR BOTH SIDES...

Abhishek, one of my students just before I retired from four-walled traditional teaching, emailed me... with the video link... 
I added a short note to it to explain the content...and asked him whether he is willing to add his thoughts to it...

Warsaw...August 1... "A Minute of Silence..."

Every August first, everyone in Warsaw stands still for a full minute to remember 200 000 dead

The Warsaw Uprising  began on August 1, 1944. For the next 63 days, Poland’s army fought the Nazis, trying to liberate their capital. The rebellion was timed to coincide with the Soviet Union’s advance that should have left the Germans vulnerable, but…

…various military and political miscalculations, as well as global politics — played among Joseph Stalin, Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt — turned the dice against [Warsaw].

The effort lasted nine weeks and failed, leaving 200,000 Polish dead, mainly civilians. 

Every year, Warsaw commemorates this horrific tragedy with a minute of stillness. It is tremendously moving, needless to say…

I also found this sir:
                                  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykBTvP6ZX9s.
Abhishek

I provided the note in the box above...and Abhishek provided the link

Poland's "Minute of Silence" on Aug. 1....

Abhishek, and ALL the Youth of the World...

I am indeed apprehensive about these remembrance events... I am at times sickened with the tenor of the speeches... They essentially boil down to “Our boys were the good guys and their boys were the bad ones...We fought for high ideas like democracy and freedom, while they were the aggressors and the tyrants and evil...”

This one sided approach is disheartening to say the least...and demonstrates that we never comprehended that wars kill the boys from BOTH sides... and that our side is human, and believe it or not, the other side is human too...

But this is the logic...

•      We initiate a propaganda war...
•        We dehumanize the other side...
•       The rah-rah is elevated to insanely fever pitch...levels...
•       Then, only then, we militarize the conflict...
•       We bomb the hell out of the other side...
•       We kill...and we mutilate...and we rape...and we burn...and we        destroy...and we brutalize entire cities...and their civilian population...
•       ...And then we look at our achievement...We are content of “our six day toil”...
•       We look at our achievement... ALL IS BEAUTIFUL...ALL IS GOOD...
•      ...and we initiate REMEMBRANCE DAYS...

Remember..and Reflect on PEACE..

  We remember...and by remembering we “educate” the youth and the population at large for the NEXT WAR... After all our side is the “GOOD” side...and the “other side” ... (which we still do not know and cannot identify YET)...but definitely is the “BAD” side...

Every November 11 I was depressed and sick... The Remembrance Day essentially was another form of war mongering...It dismayed me... A cadet – essentially, a soldier scout, approached me in front of a supermarket asking for donation...                 

“I do not support wars...” was my answer...                                              

“We do not fight...,”said the cadet...                                                           

“But you are part of the army...” I said and walked away...

Remember... Both sides are HUMAN BEINGS

Remembering one side defies logic...Every Remembrance Day I wore a poppy ... My classroom was full of poppies...edging the blackboard... But I posed the question ... 
“what about the boys on the other side...?”

The poppies on top of the blackboard... 

We remembered the guys on BOTH SIDES...

After all, I know that Germans died too... After all I love to listen to Wagner too... 

Wagner and Bolshoi...Side by side... 

Also, I know that the Bolshoi exists ... I know that St. Petersburg is a beautiful place to be... I know that Kiev is a superb city ... Just like London, just like Paris, just like Washington...

                              St. Petersburg            and               Kiev...

Side by side...

Every Remembrance Day ... I remembered humans inhumanity to fellow humans ... regardless of the side, regardless of the faith, regardless of the 
creed ...

After all, remember...                                 

                                                                                 

The world is not flat... the world is sort of round and has NO SIDES...     

That’s the math for you...                                                                                        

There is no “our side” and there is no “there side"....                                                     There is ONE HUMAN COLLECTIVE...                                                                and,

 There is one Global Village...

And now, Abhishek                                                                                     

ALL the youth of the world...                                                           

May PEACE be with you...

 ***

                              

Hillary Clinton: War is “coercive diplomacy” ... She said the other day when I as listening to her... War is the extension of diplomacy...another  diplomat reiterated... 
But,
I will argue that war is the failure of diplomacy... par excellence... It is an uncivilized way of resolving conflicts and solving contradictions...

It is brutish where the animal instincts overwhelm the person...

When one nation honours the war victims...automatically and with the extension of simple logic... they are justifying their "cause" and degrading the other side...
I have witnessed Remembrance Days over and over again... When the soldiers of one side were honoured...It always bothered me...

What does the other side do...? Do they honour their soldiers too...?

If both sides do honour their soldiers as heroes...Can we truly say that the war is over...?

French and German presidents hug...But should we believe them....?
and read the news item below...

Former Enemies Unite for World War I Commemoration

LIEGE, Belgium — Aug 4, 2014, 7:22 AM ET

By VIRGINIA MAYO and RAF CASERT Associated Press

Former enemies united Monday to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the start of World War I, with Belgium, France, Britain and Germany standing together in a spirit of reconciliation.

***

The honest and logical truth... War is killing....and GOOD people SHOULD NOT KILL... 

“Thou shall NOT kill...” and “kill” does not have adjectives before or after... and “kill” does not have any qualifiers...following it...

There is no such thing...“Thou shall NOT kill...” but when... or “Thou shall not kill...” only if...

All We NEED Is a HEART and a BRAIN too...

It is Sunday...

We have a saying..."For fools everyday is a holiday..."

Well, I am retired from four-walls teaching, so everyday is a rest day for me...now....

My sincerest apologies, God...! 

...And God looked at his creation...and all was GOOD...and He rested on the seventh day...

Here the rules are very archaic and mundane... I worked hard ... for so many years ... and now Big Brother thinks that I deserve a long...long...rest...till such time that we meet, You and I ...           

My apologies again...

...Observe and feel the energy in your finger ... 

God created US GOOD ... We have to act on that GOODNESS...

Let me repeat it...I apologize for retiring... from work which has "money-value"... 

But,

Writing the blog post takes considerable time...My wife complains that I am on the computer for  3-4 hours and working on the blog...and then I am on the computer writing my own stuff... few emails and my books... So I am on the computer for about 6-7 hours per day... 

But, oh God, I apologize for not working...I am retired and it is like Sunday...every day...

***

For the past three days I was working with Abhishek (refer to the previous three blog posts...) on his thoughts and posts...It was fun...I got re-acquainted with the bright young man...and as he refers to it in one of his lines..."He opened up a bit..." and indeed, he even declared..."I don't believe in God...!" and it reminded me of my youth and yearnings and turmoils and intellectual wanderings ... as a young man ...

Abbe, does not believe in God...Well I do not blame him... Ross, my dear friend and the chaplain in my last four-walled teaching post, always reminded us..."The churches in Montreal are empty... and the diocese is selling them..."

God LOVES Abee as he is...Because he is GOOD...The smile and the hands attest to that...

...And the ice cream is the icing on the cake...

God definitely works in mysterious ways....

I do not blame Abee...

Many of us are abandoning the traditional way of  spirituality ...                              

Let me explain...

Look at the luxury dwellings below ... they are the abodes of cardinals and archbishops...

They are wallowing in luxury...

This is the Vatican "Guest House" that Pope Francis Decided to use as his daily abode...

He decided to live more modest than the previous "Princes of the Church"...

Pope Francis lives here...They say it is a "small suite in the Vatican guesthouse...."

...And then here are the rest...

These are all residences of U.S. Cardinals and Archbishops...

... and the spiral continuous...

These are "the Princes of the Church..." and I will not blame anyone...when they abandon the churches... and I fully understand when a bright young man declares..."Sir, I do not believe in God..." 

For a long long time I have also seized attending churches... I am tired of listening to the "homilies" and the admonishes of the priests... 

The priest remind me of the time when the Church was fighting against the printed Bible...They were arguing that the people, that is you and I, are ignorant and will misinterpret the "Holy Book"... So they wanted a ban on printing the Bible ... They did not want the people to read the Holy Book...They wanted to have MONOPOLY on the PATH to SALVATION...

The priests annoy me...They act like the Big Brother... 

The Big Brother knows it all...

The Priests, the saintlier than thou crowd, know even more than the Big Brother...After all, they are in "direct communication with God."

And when an intelligent person, like the Abee of the previous three blog post, declares: "Sir, I do not believe in God..." I understand him absolutely... After all,

• We do not need the God of the churches to be GOOD...
• We do not need the semi-literate priests to show us the way...
• Don't they live in mansions worth millions... when there are homeless people living on the benches in the gardens in front of the churches ...?

Their mansions and...his bench...

• We do not need the priests, the mullahs, the rabies, the monks, the Dalai Lama ... to be GOOD ...or to do GOOD...

Abee, does not believe in God...

I don't attend church services...any more...

But, every Sunday...with my morning coffee...I listen to Holy Mass - Mozart, Rachmaninoff ... and the rest...I listen to the Armenian Holy Mass - The Badarak...meaning sacrifice...

At times I have incense too...

My spirituality is not defined by the Church... by any church... I believe ALL of them are the same..I believe it is a business...I believe as universities paddle knowledge, the churches paddle religion and God...

I am not attempting to be blasphemous... After all, I am not going to follow their lead and live in mansions and forget about the homeless in front of the churches...

That is why Liberation Theology makes much more sense...

Indeed,

It is Sunday... and I am listening to church music...It is heavenly...

I am looking at the rising cloud of the incense...It is raising my spirits up...to heaven...

I am inhaling the aroma of the incense...and meditate about the wars in Ukraine and Gaza ... and all the rest...

It is indeed Sunday...but, today of all days,  I think of World PEACE ... I do not need to shake my neighbors hand which is full of germs ... and let him wish "Peace be with You..." to me...

I hope my neighbor goes out and does some GOOD deeds today... 

I hope my neighbor promotes PEACE in the Global Village....

I hope my neighbor Stands UP and THINKS...and ACTS...

It is Sunday...

I wish we will have a world in harmony and peace... and indeed, we do not require the churches and synagogues and mosques and temples for that...
What we need is JUST A HEART and A BRAIN too...

Evolution of Ideas....and I

Evolution of My Ideas...and Myself....

Note: After I posted the last two blog post – about Abhishek, that he initiated – I received couple of thank you e-mails from him…See below…

Thank you so much, sir.

I was agnostic; I thought that religion, in the grand scheme of things, was not important in my life and have never shared my feelings of atheism with anyone until now.

I am thankful and grateful that my beliefs are respected by you. :)

I responded to him and opened up about my thoughts a bit…Then I decided to expand it and post it on the blog…for today…

Spirituality has been always part of me…I have written in the blog that I always dreamed of monasteries and the peaceful halls in them…I guess it comes from my father…He was the church musician, the choir master and composer too…I still listen to Divine Liturgy every Sunday morning…That is the music in my house…My wife appreciates it too…Sometimes I burn incense too…I love the aroma and I love the atmosphere that it brings with it…

I always wanted to be in a monastery…By myself…with peace and my thoughts…That has always been both necessary and sufficient for me…But it happened only intermittently, for few days or weeks…

While growing up, I was sort of religious …Not religious in the traditional sense…But rather religious as defined by myself…

When I was young…Religious meant to rebel against every and all kinds of injustice…I wanted to speak freely and I wanted everyone to love and respect each other…That never happened…People were selfish  and jealous of each other…And also it landed me in hot water over and over again…So much so that I got used to it…It became part of me…

                Sartre ... "The Exit..."

In my early 20s I got enchanted with Dostoevsky, Sartre, Camus, Andre’ Gide, Andre’ Malraux ...and the rest…like philosophers Kierkegaard and Nietzsche … And that lead me to espouse “existentialism”…

Existentialism is a term applied to the work of certain late 19th- and 20th-century philosophers who, despite profound doctrinal differences, shared the belief that philosophical thinking begins with the human subject—not merely the thinking subject, but the acting, feeling, living human individual. In existentialism, the individual's starting point is characterized by what has been called "the existential attitude” or a sense of disorientation and confusion in the face of an apparently meaningless or absurd world. Many existentialists have also regarded traditional systematic or academic philosophies, in both style and content, as too abstract and remote from concrete human experience.

All along math and sciences were part of my existence and thoughts … Everything should be well reasoned and logical…But that lead me into trouble too…

The world did not make sense…

·        The Soviet Union was a prison of nations and aspirations…Did not allow any freedom of thought and action…Dogma replaced Marxism and Stalinism was suffocating everything and anything…

·        The U.S. was mired in its Vietnam adventure and wanted to subjugate …. of course they said “liberate” and introduce “democracy”, very similar to Iraq and Afghanistan …whatever they were unable to supress by the might and glory of the dollar…

·        The West was wallowing in post-WW II decadence and the Soviet Union in dogmatic idiocy…

·        The “Thirst World” was trying to liberate itself from both decadent absurdity of the West and the doctrinaire and inflexible and infallible diktat of the East…

The youth was in a quandary and the impasse generated the existential allure of philosophy…

The youth rebelled…I was euphoric and got involved…

                          Paris - 1968                                    ....and Montreal...

·        French youth led the way…Paris was illuminated by the spirit of the French Revolution once more…

·        The U.S. youth inspired the world with the anti-Vietnam movement … University at Berkeley was were to be…

·        The “Third World” was in a rebellious mood…and rejected both – Soviets and U.S. hegemony alike…

·        The Czech Spring was stimulating and encouraging…motivating and exciting…

                                 Prague - 1968                                                 ... and the hope...

                           Chicago convention                                ...  U.S. Youth had a "dream"...

A NEW WORLD was in the offing…But not so fast… The Soviet tanks crushed the Czech Spring…Trampled the freedoms and hopes of so many on the left…The U.S. police killed students at Kent university and beat the demonstrators in Chicago…The bullets killed Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King…The bullets assassinated the aspirations and the hope of the youth…

The birth of the NEW WORLD was aborted…

Math remained an intrinsic part of myself…In whatever I did…logic and reason had to exist…Math was fun, but never and end in itself… At one point I just got bored with imagining “n-dimensions” …Imagining infinity and n-dimensions depressed me… at times it even bored me… ennui began to set in… I indeed got jaded, exhausted, at times … Math was beautiful … logical … but it was never enough…Math had to be related to my everyday existence and life…

I found solace in “Liberation Theology”…I found a new path…

Camilo Torres - Revolutionary priest..."Let the Children Come to Me..."

Liberation theology is a socio-political movement in Roman Catholic theology which interprets the teachings of Jesus in relation to liberation from unjust economic, political, or social conditions. It has been described as "an interpretation of Christian faith through the poor people’s suffering, their struggle and hope, and a critique of society and the Catholic faith and Christianity through the eyes of the poor" …

I abandoned writing and agitating and started teaching…  

 He said it perfectly well... That's what I meant when I insisted that "you kids are not an empty bag that I have to fill in facts...That's just knowledge...I want you to be educated...That is thinking critically..."                          

I was hoping for a New World…but the system crushed my hopes…and now with so much agitation and turmoil and killings and despair around the globe …So many wars and confusion…in the Global Village ... It reminds me of 1968…

We tried…and we changed…just a bit…The Soviet Union is not around anymore…The West and the U.S. are confused and decadence is reigning supreme again…

May be it is time for a new attempt…But I am not young anymore…May be it’s YOUR turn now…and I will be with you 100%...

Throughout my experience I learned … I am still learning…and at present I insist that ALL of us are created GOOD…but the “GOOD” is just like money in the bank…

·        Money in the bank is just colourful paper…

·        Goodness is just like colourful paper…

·        If you take that money out of the bank…and spread around…It will do so much good…It will benefit so many communities…the world.

·        If you ACT on your goodness…then things will be so much better…The world will change… and ALL will be happier…

Abhishek, Doing GOOD and spreading GOODNESS is what counts … Remember, we had an Einstein plak...He was riding the bicycle...in front of my classroom...and he said...

That's exactly what I mean when I insist that people should "take the money out of the bank and spread it around..."
Spreading the goodness is what counts...and in that sense... God becomes irrelevant, in a sense...So you "not believing is NOT A BIG DEAL...Who cares...DO THE GOOD... and ACT...
After all, listen again to the Big Man...