As a Non-Religious Person...

As a non-religious person living in the U.S. who nonetheless respects religious traditions, I can publicly declare my belief that while all religions may express some aspect of the truth, no single religion contains the absolute truth, without fear of retribution from anyone. If this principle were to be adopted universally, it would allow all of us to get along, no one would have to abandon their religion or convert.

Based on books I've read by Muslim dissidents such as Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Irshad Manji regarding the modern practice of Islam, a Muslim cannot publicly declare the previously mentioned principle in Islamic countries such as Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Iran, without exposing him or herself to the very real possibility of death, at the hands of other Muslims. To express such a principle would be to admit that Islam is not perfect and that the Koran is not infallible. 

It only takes reading a few pages of the Koran or the Bible to realize that neither of these sacred scriptures promote tolerance. While there may be peaceful and tolerant Muslims, Jews, and Christians, this has more to do with the influence of science and humanism than the religions themselves. In fact, religious people who are tolerant and accepting of others are likely to be those who have accepted the above principle, as well as recognized that the sacred scriptures which their religion is based on are not infallible.

Muslims in the west who bask in the freedom afforded to them by secular societies don't risk death by accepting and declaring such a principle, but this may be a difficult and uncomfortable step for them to take, particularly Muslim religious authorities.

If Pope John Paul II could declare that belief in the theory of evolution is not incompatible with belief in God, it demonstrates that religion can accommodate science, and subsequently values such as tolerance and acceptance of others which are fundamental to a 21st century world.

It should be obvious that Muslims are not the only ones who engage in religious chauvinism, otherwise Fox News anchors wouldn't pursue ridiculously hostile lines of questioning when interviewing authors such as Reza Aslan. 

Having said all this, I regard all of the wars and military actions which the U.S. has engaged in since 9/11, from Afghanistan to Iraq to Libya to Syria, as unjust, counterproductive, and a waste of resources.

Venceremos

I am happy for everything he accomplished in life. What I will most miss about him are his colorful speeches. He was a brilliant speaker who could deliver a two hour speech without even glancing at notes. As an American I was fascinated to see a Latin American leader speak about the empire and the history of Latin America. He spoke in an illuminating manner about issues which American media outlets rarely discussed.

Contrary to how he may be depicted in the vast majority of the American media outlets, Hugo Chavez was not anti-American. One of the most quotable things he ever said was, "The U.S. is a great country, and it will always be a great country, but there will come a day when it will no longer be an empire, and the driving force of a hegemonic project. "

To refer to Latin American leaders such as Hugo Chavez, Evo Morales, and Rafael Correa who assert their countries' soveriegnty as anti-American is like referring to black people who assert their civil rights as anti-white.

Among his accomplishments was to assert Venezuelan control over Venezuelan oil resources, an important achievement for any country, to control its own resources. He also diversified the client base for Venezuelan oil. Apart from this, unlike his American detractors who are obsessed with perpetuating their radical oil dependence, he was aware that an oil rich country cannot transform itself without diversifying its economy. He invested in education and provided free healthcare to all of Venezuela's citizens. He also made a commitment to achieving nutritional self-sufficiency within his country.

Yet, perhaps his greatest accomplishment is not any of the foregoing, but the fact that like other men who came before him such as Jesus, Buddha, Ghandi, King, X, Cesar Chavez, etc., he changed the consciousness of the world he lived in. He demonstrated that it is possible to create revolution and challenge the Anglo-Saxon hegemonists of the North American continent.

Salvemos A Mexico

Politicians have the ability to speak positively and confidently about anything, even if the situation is dire. Recently, I watched the Mexican presidential debate on estamosdelachingada.com, which roughly translates to wearefucked.com, and the candidate for the party(PAN) which has turned Mexico into the decapitation capital of the world spoke about creating, security, peace, and economic prosperity. Do such people deserve reelection? 



According to UNESCO statistics, 28% of Mexicans of high school age, actually attend high school. Do the people(PAN and PRI) who have allowed this situation to persist for generations deserve reelection? Is it not farcical for a country to pretend to make strides towards becoming a developed country if 72% of its high school age population does not attend high school? Mexico also has the lowest economic growth in Latin America. 



The leftist candidate, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, aka AMLO, who can make a credible claim to actually having won the election of 2006, told a story-drawing a parallel to how the PRI candidate, Enrique Peña Nieto, is backed by television giant Televisa-about how after Mexico lost half of its territory to the U.S., Santa Ana fled to Colombia, yet the Mexican elites brought him back and installed him as President. They told him, "Don't worry. We own all the newspapers in Mexico City. We control public opinion."

Numerous countries in Latin America have elected leftist presidents who have given real hope to their populations, created real change, and asserted their country's sovereignty. It will be sad to see Mexico stay behind this wave of change for another six years with a government subservient to the U.S. , if either the PAN or PRI candidate wins.

Unfortunately, AMLO is a horrible debater in my estimation; half the time he barely answers the question and returns to his overall message about how Mexico is ruled by elites, and that Mexico must opt for real change. Perhaps the core of his success lies with his campaigning and not debating. He is surging in the polls. 

Hopefully, the wave of change that has swept Latin America will reach Mexico in 2012, the year of the Mayan prophecy. Otherwise, to echo the sentiments of the webpage creator, "Estamos de la chingada!" 



The next debate is June 10th, 2012.

The World According to Thor Halvorson

I was watching CÑÑ recently and the guest for the entire hour was a Norwegian-Venezuelan named Thor Halverson. You may have heard of his son, although I hadn't until I googled this man's name to make sure of his name's spelling and confirm his identity.

They say that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, which in this case is both unfortunate, and cause for mild amusement. I rarely watch television and in fact had been experiencing a media blackout for months, but was quite entertained and amused.

According to this man who is the former drug czar of Venezuela in an adminstration prior to Chavez's, some institute in England concluded that the files found in Raul Reye's computer 3 years ago, confirm the connection between the FARC and Hugo Chavez and the FARC and Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa. He expressed absolute faith in the findings, but acknowledged that it is an issue that both the Columbian and Venezuelan governments have turned the page on.

He further went on to say that the Venezuelan government is involved in drug trafficking, the campaign of Rafael Correa accepted financial contributions from the FARC, the government of Manuel Zelaya was involved in drug trafficking as well, but the current government of Honduras no longer is, however, the Nicaraguan government is involved in drug trafficking , and during the 1980's, Fidel Castro set up the drug lanes for Pablo Escobar Gaviria. This last piece of information is absolutely astonishing. Not only did the government headed by Fidel Castro provide healthcare for all of its citizens during this time, at the very same time Fidel Castro himself set up the drug lanes for PEEG. Wow! That's what I call efficiency. What is the President of Mexico doing wrong?

Furthermore, Hezbollah, Hamas, Palestinian jihadists, Al-Qaeda, and the Taliban are involved in drug trafficking in Latin America as well. Also, all of this drug trafficking is destabilizing governments in West Africa. For his part, Thor expressed that he has always maintained excellent relationships with the CIA and the DEA. Meanwhile, the near non-existant coverage of Latin America by the Los Angeles Times continues. What is a well intentioned resident of Southern California and citizen of the world to believe?

On any given day, there is 2 to 3 times more coverage about Europe or the Middle East than Latin America, and it's been that way for years. How can this lack of coverage be justified, particularly when one considers that half of the population of Los Angeles County is of Latin American origin? Perhaps the Times can justify it by saying that those residents of Latin American origin don't read the L.A. Times, or by citing lack of resources, or by suggesting that what happens in Latin America is less important than what happens in Europe or the Middle East.

I do not criticize its lack of coverage, I merely point it out. However, according to Mr. Halvorson, intriguing, nefarious, criminal events involving governments and terrorists are occurring in Latin America, all with the ultimate aim of delivering lines of white powder to the noses of American consumers, and his claims are the subject of serious discussion on a prestigious cable network.

What can be expected of the average American to know about Latin America considering that major media outlets hardly cover it, and others provide a mainly distorted and biased perspective? Even PBS, in the documentary, The Hugo Chavez Show, referred to Evo Morales, Rafael Correa, and Hugo Chavez, as "anti-American."

Since the turn of the century, numerous Latin American leaders have been elected who have asserted their country's sovereignty and challenged Anglo-saxon hegemony. At one point Cuba was largely ostracized from the rest of Latin America and excluded from the Organization of American States, which it subsequently refused to join. Now the Latin American countries have formed a new regional organization, CELAC, which Cuba is a part of, and excludes Canada and the United States. If Americans were aware of this process, of the unraveling of Anglo-saxon hegemony, perhaps they could relate it to the overall downfall of their empire, and have anticipated the direst recession since the great depression of the 1930s, and have been further along in the process of creating transformative solutions to our ecologically and economically unsustainable society. The reality is that the rest of the world does not depend on the resources of the U.S. to sustain itself, the U.S. depends on the resources of the rest of the world, particularly oil, to sustain itself.

In the year of 2012, when there is so much interest in Mayan culture and civilization, Anglo-saxon hegemony stands to be dealt another blow in Mexico's elections, and the words of an Aymara, Evo Morales when he visited Mexico, may come closer to being realized, that "Mexico too shall be free."

I suppose CÑÑ and other traditional media outlets will keep informing us how full of anti-American, drug dealing, socialists Latin America is.

Obama Come Home!



TelesurTV is reporting that Barack Obama's visit has been the cause of protests in Brasil and is expected to be met with protests in Chile, as well. Friday's protest ended in front of the American consulate and was dispersed by military police using tear gas and rubber bullets according to Brazilian news outlets.

According to the press release cited by Telesur, the protest is against the "imperialism of the United States and the demagoguery of Obama, who practices a militarist and interventionist policy, while he uses a rhetoric of defense of human rights."

Telesur is also reporting that the American consulate has announced that Obama's speech will no longer take place in a central square in the open air, but in an indoor location.

Folha.com has published numerous photographs related to the event and will surely publish many more in the next few days which promise to be very colorful, as well as videos, although their videos don't seem to load.

Poor Imperial Chief.

The Aftermath

California was in no mood to approve short term solutions yesterday as the map demonstrates. Mainstream politicians have not brought before the voters fundamental changes to our socioeconomic structure such as the ones I discussed in yesterday's entry, because they are perceived as politically inviable. Voters have demonstrated that the short term solutions they were asked to approve are not politically viable either. It will be interesting to see how politically viable the cuts in programs and social services which are now being threatened will be, and what effect they will have on the society in the context of a plummeting economy. The opportunity for real changes is the best when the society has collapsed, or is perceived as being on the verge of collapsing. May Californians see the light and transform their socioeconomic structure which is neither ecologically, nor economically sustainable, and which I would characterize as sadomasochistic.

Congratulations Venezuela

The constitutional amendment which will permit Hugo Chavez to be re-elected to the presidency was approved yesterday with 54.85% of the votes in favor.

Hugo Chavez:, "You guys were capable of confronting lies, the attempts at manipulation by the oligarchy and its media. You guys have managed to defeat lies. The truth has imposed itself."

"You guys should study history. The complete history, and diffuse it. Like Bolivar said, history is an immense womb which contains more hopes than past events, and future events will be greater than the past ones. History is a teacher and a mother to the peoples."