blessed britons

When Indonesia invaded East Timor in 1975, leading to the deaths of around 200,000 people in one of the bloodiest operations in post-war history, Britain in effect supported Jakarta at the UN. Declassified files show that the British planned before the invasion not to condemn the Indonesians and that 'If there is a row in the United Nations... we should keep our heads down and avoid taking sides'. Between 1975 and 1982 there were 2 Security Council Resolutions and 8 General Assembly resolutions condemning the invasion... London abstained on, or voted against, all the General Assembly resolutions, while it provided arms to Indonesia and deepened air, trade and diplomatic relations.

mad world

On one level there is absolutely nothing wrong with importing goods and services to meet our needs; but our eyes are bigger than our planet. If the whole world understandably wanted to copy our levels of consumption, we would need the resources of more than three planets like Earth. And, we only have one. Our economy and way of life need to make contact with the real world before we eat accidentally eat it whole.

— New Economics Foundation

Britain starts eating the planet

normality

Pete

Submitted by antarchi on June 20, 2007 - 02:39.

I had been wondering whether, if those in severe poverty were on our doorstep - slept outside no. 11, went through the dustbins at the end of our tidy drives for the scraps we throw away - whether then the Great British Public, those blessed britains, would sit up. I had been thinking that the problem is that they are out of sight, if we want them to be - and mostly we do want it. We don't have to be confronted by the moral burden of someone - thousands, millions - suffering, starving while we buy ourselves a new CD, ipod, mobile phone, computer, car, holiday ...
But then there's Pete. Pete sits outside Sainsbury's every day, that's his patch. He's clean, come off drugs, has a 1 year old daughter, sells the Big Issue, even has the prospect of a roof over his head. Today he was crying outside Sainsbury's. Sitting on the pavement with his head in his hands, hiding his tears, while people pushed past him in shining new clothes and with bulging shopping bags. He hadn't sold anything today and if he doesn't have the money for the shelter, he gets pushed down the list for housing - his chances fade.
A tiny fraction of those bulging shopping bags would get him in there.

that’s what you do in a combat zone

Submitted by antarchi on March 25, 2008 - 01:23.

As time went on and the absurdity of war set in, [people] started taking things too far. Individuals from my unit indiscriminately and unnecessarily opened fire on innocent civilians as they’re driving down the road on their own streets. My unit—individuals from my platoon would fire into the grills of these cars and then come back in the evenings after missions were done and brag about it. They would say, “Hey, did you guys see that car I shot at? It spewed radiator fluid all over the ground. Wasn’t that cool?” I remember thinking back on that and how appalled I was that we were bragging about these things, that we were laughing, but that’s what you do in a combat zone. That is your reality. That is how you deal with that predicament.

what kind of normal life?

Submitted by antarchi on February 25, 2008 - 23:47.

The year of 2007 was the bloodiest among the occupation years, and no matter how successful the situation looks to Mr. Bush, reality is totally different. What kind of normal life are he and the media referring to where four and a half million highly educated Iraqis are still dislocated or still being forcefully driven out of their homes for being anti-occupation? How can the people live a normal life in a cage of concrete walls, guarded by their kidnappers, killers, and occupation forces? What kind of normal life can you live where tens of your relatives and your beloved ones are either missing or in jail and you don't even know if they are still alive or, after being tortured, have been thrown unidentified in the dumpsters?