Animal welfare is usually regarded as a noble concept and a milestone of human civilization. Those living in the insulated reality of the Western world may sincerely believe this. However, my experience as a Bulgarian, i.e. resident of one of the poorest countries in Europe, points otherwise. Animal welfare is a bizarre idea with disastrous consequences, especially for poor people. It is destroying decades of progress concerning human rights and well-being.
Now, as Europeans are preparing for Easter, some are angry at the scarcity and high prices of eggs as a result of the European Union's Welfare of Laying Hens Directive. Egg prices are particularly sky-rocketing in Bulgaria. As a result, "hens get happier while people get unhappier" (in the words of a Bulgarian egg producer quoted by EUBusiness).
To make it clear why, I shall refer to the post Happy Hens and Stupid Minister by well-known Bulgarian blogger Longanlon. The title of the post refers to the Bulgarian agriculture minister Miroslav Naydenov, and it bashes EU bureaucrats and their Bulgarian overzealous followers for elevating hen's happiness to top priority and making consumers and farmers unhappy by forcing on them high egg prices and expensive farming methods, respectively. The post is good, but it is part of the discussion that is a must-read, and I am going to translate it for you.
A commenter asks, "People spend much on junk food, why not pay more for high-quality eggs? If hens are bred in a better way, the nutritive value and the taste of eggs will be different... Why shouldn't eggs be more expensive and of higher quality?"
The blog host replies, "Because for some people priority is not "the high-quality food" but just "the food"... For the poor, eggs used to be the only cheap food of animal origin. I talked to the shop assistant at the corner shop where most customers are modest-income. She said that, after the price of eggs climbed, only I am buying them. She showed me the empty places in egg packages, she had sold only 6 eggs for a week."
(In Bulgaria, when prices go up, shopkeepers begin to sell single items of goods indended to be sold in packages, such as eggs, baby diapers, drug tablets etc. - hence the empty places in the package.)
So you see that the directive banning sale of eggs laid by "unhappy hens" causes harm far beyond interference with a beloved traditional spring festival. It will force many thousands of Bulgarians to restrict their egg consumption, which has been their main source of animal protein. Possibly the champions of animal happiness in the rich countries of "Old Europe" are blissfully unaware that tens of thousands of EU citizens still suffer from protein malnutrition. Someone must inform them of that fact. And if they know it and still think that the welfare of laying hens is more important than welfare (and health) of human beings... - then I fear the problem is very deep and it will not be easy to find a solution to it. At any rate, for the near future humans will continue to be deprived of food in the name of the tentative happiness of laying hens.
Showing posts with label nonfreedom. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nonfreedom. Show all posts
Saturday, March 31, 2012
Thursday, January 05, 2012
Casey Anthony already having followers
Undated photo of Zinah Jennings, copied from AP's report (original source: Richard County Jail).
Let me first copy an Associated Press report from today:
"SC police: Mother won't tell them where son is
by Meg Kinnard
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — It's unknown how long investigators would have gone without any information on a missing 18-month-old South Carolina boy if his mother hadn't crashed her car Christmas Eve.
Twenty-two-year-old Zinah Jennings and her son, Amir, were reported missing by the boy's grandmother, who hadn't seen either of them since Thanksgiving.
The mother didn't turn up until police responding to the single-vehicle accident learned she was listed as a missing person.
She's now in jail, charged with lying to authorities about where the boy is, prompting a search by local, state and federal authorities spanning the Carolinas, Georgia and beyond.
Columbia Police Chief Randy Scott says Jennings immediately began giving conflicting statements about where the boy was."
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — It's unknown how long investigators would have gone without any information on a missing 18-month-old South Carolina boy if his mother hadn't crashed her car Christmas Eve.
Twenty-two-year-old Zinah Jennings and her son, Amir, were reported missing by the boy's grandmother, who hadn't seen either of them since Thanksgiving.
The mother didn't turn up until police responding to the single-vehicle accident learned she was listed as a missing person.
She's now in jail, charged with lying to authorities about where the boy is, prompting a search by local, state and federal authorities spanning the Carolinas, Georgia and beyond.
Columbia Police Chief Randy Scott says Jennings immediately began giving conflicting statements about where the boy was."
This disappearance of a toddler, unreported by the single mother, finally reported by the grandmother, after which the mother started endless lying, immediately brings to mind an earlier similar case - of 2-year-old Caylee Anthony. After Caylee's skeletal remains were found in a swamp, jurors let themselves be persuaded by defence that her mother Casey Anthony was not guilty of murder, manslaughter and child abuse.
At the Frontpage Magazine's symposium on Casey Anthony verdict last year, blogger Rob Taylor was furious: "The idea of “solid proof” is a myth. A child is dead and her mother avoided reporting her disappearance, then tried to frame someone else. Before juries were populated with armchair forensics experts this would have been an open and shut case... The disregard many people have for the victim, for Justice in the philosophical sense and for the truth is what troubles me here. The legal system worked – Anthony had a fair trial in front of a jury of her peers. That doesn’t mean Justice has been served. Caylee Anthony was thrown out like garbage, found with duct tape on her remains. We all know why people duct tape the mouths of children shut. We know why some drugged out party girl doesn’t report her child missing... The connection between who we give our sympathy to and cultural decline is clear. You can pretend that... there’s some reasonable explanation for not reporting your child missing or even that you truly believe that it’s necessary to let guilty people go free to ensure that innocent people aren’t imprisoned. What you cannot pretend is that there aren’t consequences to your pretense, one of which is the corpse of a Caylee Anthony."
Exactly. Commenting the case in my Sept. 6, 2011 post Unreasonable doubt, I wrote, "Seeing Casey Anthony acquitted and commentators praising the verdict as a victory for the US justice system, other people may be tempted to emulate her." I fear that this is what has happened in South Carolina, and while I wish very much for little Amir to be found alive after all, I have little hope that his grandmother will ever hug him again. We'll see what will follow and whether Zinah Jennings will be let, like Casey Anthony, to step over her child and continue her life as a free woman.
Tuesday, September 06, 2011
Unreasonable doubt
Undated photo of the late Caylee Anthony (copied from ABC News, originally provided by the Florida police).
"Caylee's law" is a draft considered by several US states that would make it a felony not to report to authorities the death or disappearence of a pre-teenage child within a short time. It is named after Caylee Marie Anthony (2005 - 2008) from Florida who disappeared shortly before her third birthday. Her skeleton, with duct tape on the facial skull, was found six months later in a swamp. Caylee's mother, Casey Anthony, did not report her daughter's disappearance, enjoyed endless parties, then lied to investigators that the child had been kidnapped by a nonexistent nanny. At her trial, the defense claimed that Caylee had drowned accidentally. The jurors acquitted Casey of murder, manslaughter and child abuse - of everything they could, so she was released only days after the trial. The purpose of Caylee's law is to prevent similar cases to be solved this way in the future.
Opponents to the proposed bill argue that laws voted emotionally in the aftermath of high-profile cases are known to have undesired consequences and that such a law, if enforced, will harm innocent people. Of course it will; most laws do it all the time. The real question to me is whether the pros outweigh the cons or, to put it more emotionally, whether America can afford not having such a law after Casey’s “not guilty” verdict.
I admit I fail to understand the meaning of reasonable doubt in Casey Anthony’s case. My head just whorls when I read the opinions of jurors and legal experts that the burden of proof was on prosecution and the prosecution did not produce enough evidence that Casey had killed her daughter. It seems that the jurors demanded the same amount of evidence as if the defendant had been a stranger to the victim. My opinion, however, is that there are some situations when the burden of proof is on you to prove that you are innocent, and this is when you have accepted certain responsibility beforehand. If you are appointed to guard some property or person and you fail to protect the guarded object, you will be expected to prove that you have done your best. And if you become a parent and accept your parental responsibility by bringing your child home, instead of giving her for adoption, you are to prove your innocence if something bad happens to her. Even if she suffers an accident, you still have to answer questions, because young children cannot protect themselves from accidents – this is the duty of their caregivers.
I think that any doubt in Casey Anthony’s guilt was unreasonable because I cannot imagine any reasonable hypothesis (except insanity) under which she could be not guilty. Let’s believe the defense that Caylee drowned accidentally and her panicked grandfather put duct tape on her face to make the accident look like murder (?!) and threw the body into the swamp. Well, wasn’t Casey obliged to protect her 2-year-old daughter from accidental drowning? Recently, a 1-year-old boy named Joseph drowned in the bath while his mother Shannon Johnson was facebooking. Although his death was undisputed accident, the mother was sentenced to 10 years. The judge told her, “(Joseph) was a human being that had a right to life. And you, as his mother, had a responsibility to make sure he got that chance. That was your responsibility.” I think this judge was right. I also think there are deep flaws in a system severely punishing a negligent mother who generally acts as a good citizen while allowing a negligent or (more likely) murderous mother to be rewarded with freedom for her lies.
Let me repeat – I agree with the opponents of Caylee’s law that it will be costly and will harm innocent parents. However, I fear that its absence may spell death for many young children, viewed by their parents as unwanted burden rather than joy. Seeing Casey Anthony acquitted and commentators praising the verdict as a victory for the US justice system, other people may be tempted to emulate her. Things are bad enough as they are. Opponents say Caylee’s murder is a single, isolated case. This not only makes me ask how many cases must happen before something is done – it is simply untrue. Unfortunately, when a child is murdered, parents are the first suspects, and in two-thirds of cases there is no need to look elsewhere.
If you disagree with me, I can only apologize for wasting your time. But if you agree with me and live in the USA, you can consider signing a petition for Caylee’s law. I cannot sign it myself because I am not an American. It is difficult even to explain why I still have so much interest in this country after my brother's family no longer lives there. Perhaps because I believe that in a world where nothing can undo the evils of the past, our only hope can be for a better future, and our deeds are the only way to make it come true.
Opponents to the proposed bill argue that laws voted emotionally in the aftermath of high-profile cases are known to have undesired consequences and that such a law, if enforced, will harm innocent people. Of course it will; most laws do it all the time. The real question to me is whether the pros outweigh the cons or, to put it more emotionally, whether America can afford not having such a law after Casey’s “not guilty” verdict.
I admit I fail to understand the meaning of reasonable doubt in Casey Anthony’s case. My head just whorls when I read the opinions of jurors and legal experts that the burden of proof was on prosecution and the prosecution did not produce enough evidence that Casey had killed her daughter. It seems that the jurors demanded the same amount of evidence as if the defendant had been a stranger to the victim. My opinion, however, is that there are some situations when the burden of proof is on you to prove that you are innocent, and this is when you have accepted certain responsibility beforehand. If you are appointed to guard some property or person and you fail to protect the guarded object, you will be expected to prove that you have done your best. And if you become a parent and accept your parental responsibility by bringing your child home, instead of giving her for adoption, you are to prove your innocence if something bad happens to her. Even if she suffers an accident, you still have to answer questions, because young children cannot protect themselves from accidents – this is the duty of their caregivers.
I think that any doubt in Casey Anthony’s guilt was unreasonable because I cannot imagine any reasonable hypothesis (except insanity) under which she could be not guilty. Let’s believe the defense that Caylee drowned accidentally and her panicked grandfather put duct tape on her face to make the accident look like murder (?!) and threw the body into the swamp. Well, wasn’t Casey obliged to protect her 2-year-old daughter from accidental drowning? Recently, a 1-year-old boy named Joseph drowned in the bath while his mother Shannon Johnson was facebooking. Although his death was undisputed accident, the mother was sentenced to 10 years. The judge told her, “(Joseph) was a human being that had a right to life. And you, as his mother, had a responsibility to make sure he got that chance. That was your responsibility.” I think this judge was right. I also think there are deep flaws in a system severely punishing a negligent mother who generally acts as a good citizen while allowing a negligent or (more likely) murderous mother to be rewarded with freedom for her lies.
Let me repeat – I agree with the opponents of Caylee’s law that it will be costly and will harm innocent parents. However, I fear that its absence may spell death for many young children, viewed by their parents as unwanted burden rather than joy. Seeing Casey Anthony acquitted and commentators praising the verdict as a victory for the US justice system, other people may be tempted to emulate her. Things are bad enough as they are. Opponents say Caylee’s murder is a single, isolated case. This not only makes me ask how many cases must happen before something is done – it is simply untrue. Unfortunately, when a child is murdered, parents are the first suspects, and in two-thirds of cases there is no need to look elsewhere.
If you disagree with me, I can only apologize for wasting your time. But if you agree with me and live in the USA, you can consider signing a petition for Caylee’s law. I cannot sign it myself because I am not an American. It is difficult even to explain why I still have so much interest in this country after my brother's family no longer lives there. Perhaps because I believe that in a world where nothing can undo the evils of the past, our only hope can be for a better future, and our deeds are the only way to make it come true.
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Questions to the "green" Libyans
On Apr. 14, http://www.libyafeb17.com/ published a post titled Video: State TV claims to show Gaddafi touring Tripoli this afternoon. A "green" Libyan (i.e. a Qaddafi supporter) joined the discussion to put his twopence. Here is a quote from his comments:
"KADDAFI IS A REAL LEADER! AND SIMPLE PEOPLE LOVE HIM! MILLIONS OF LIBYANS LIKE HIM!... I know that Kaddafi makes a lot of mistakes! Specially last years when his son Saif al Islam brought to him the list of reforms he was planning to make but Kaddafi canceled all of them! Also it was no free press. But you have to understand that he is a man of ideology and he was opposing USA! The most powerful country of the world..."
My own comments in that discussion aren't worth a copy-paste, because this guy pushed up my blood pressure and I called him names. This is not a good thing to do in any discussion, though he deserved it well. However, another commenter with the simple nick "a" (the same one who visited my previous post) made better contributions. I am giving a part of them below, advising all my readers - and especially the "green" Libyans - to have a look.
"You know what? I am from Germany. I know this kind of stupid babble from some of our delusional grandfathers, -mothers... In Gaddafi, we only recognize a very poor Mini-Hitler... The “simple people” you speak of, he just betrays them. They are human material for him, he will not shed one tear if you die... It's your own decision: Be part of a past that is despised, attach yourself to a murderer without honor. End up in history's dustbin together with him. Or be part of the future of Libya.
Gaddafi... claims he made a revolution in Libya, and brought direct democracy, and spread the wealth of the oil money. Sounds good. But it is not the truth:
What kind of revolution is this, where only one family rules for 40 years and every opposition voice is silenced? It's like a monarchy. What kind of “direct democracy” is this, where citizens cannot even express their demand that after 40 years they want another government?
Why is no free press and no critizism allowed? If Gaddafi's ideas were so good, he needn't be afraid of competition with other ideas.
What happened to all the money, where is it, why do the Gaddafis own billions and spend Libya's money as they please?
What kind of real revolutionary would buy mercenaries and have them shoot at his own people? Even Mubarak stepped aside, Ben Ali quickly took an airplane. Gaddafi chose to kill people who do not agree to him. This is unacceptable, no matter what ideology he claims behind this.
And I am sick of people putting ideology or religion over human lives and the self-determination of others. Saif had the chance of reforming things, he was weak and lazy, and chose to have lavish parties in Europe instead. He had his chance, now it's Game Over.
But. At least you try to argue, and I try to understand you. That's a good start, isn't it? Instead of hatred. You have already risen above your dictator by doing that.
If you think there is anything good in Gaddafi's ideas, you will always be able to stand up for such ideas and raise awareness for them in a real democracy. Found a party that supports direct democracy and spreading Libya's natural wealth – I have no problem with that. But stop supporting a dictator who will impose only his own ideas over 6 million people and kill anyone who does not agree. Can’t you see that this is fundamentally wrong?"
"KADDAFI IS A REAL LEADER! AND SIMPLE PEOPLE LOVE HIM! MILLIONS OF LIBYANS LIKE HIM!... I know that Kaddafi makes a lot of mistakes! Specially last years when his son Saif al Islam brought to him the list of reforms he was planning to make but Kaddafi canceled all of them! Also it was no free press. But you have to understand that he is a man of ideology and he was opposing USA! The most powerful country of the world..."
My own comments in that discussion aren't worth a copy-paste, because this guy pushed up my blood pressure and I called him names. This is not a good thing to do in any discussion, though he deserved it well. However, another commenter with the simple nick "a" (the same one who visited my previous post) made better contributions. I am giving a part of them below, advising all my readers - and especially the "green" Libyans - to have a look.
"You know what? I am from Germany. I know this kind of stupid babble from some of our delusional grandfathers, -mothers... In Gaddafi, we only recognize a very poor Mini-Hitler... The “simple people” you speak of, he just betrays them. They are human material for him, he will not shed one tear if you die... It's your own decision: Be part of a past that is despised, attach yourself to a murderer without honor. End up in history's dustbin together with him. Or be part of the future of Libya.
Gaddafi... claims he made a revolution in Libya, and brought direct democracy, and spread the wealth of the oil money. Sounds good. But it is not the truth:
What kind of revolution is this, where only one family rules for 40 years and every opposition voice is silenced? It's like a monarchy. What kind of “direct democracy” is this, where citizens cannot even express their demand that after 40 years they want another government?
Why is no free press and no critizism allowed? If Gaddafi's ideas were so good, he needn't be afraid of competition with other ideas.
What happened to all the money, where is it, why do the Gaddafis own billions and spend Libya's money as they please?
What kind of real revolutionary would buy mercenaries and have them shoot at his own people? Even Mubarak stepped aside, Ben Ali quickly took an airplane. Gaddafi chose to kill people who do not agree to him. This is unacceptable, no matter what ideology he claims behind this.
And I am sick of people putting ideology or religion over human lives and the self-determination of others. Saif had the chance of reforming things, he was weak and lazy, and chose to have lavish parties in Europe instead. He had his chance, now it's Game Over.
But. At least you try to argue, and I try to understand you. That's a good start, isn't it? Instead of hatred. You have already risen above your dictator by doing that.
If you think there is anything good in Gaddafi's ideas, you will always be able to stand up for such ideas and raise awareness for them in a real democracy. Found a party that supports direct democracy and spreading Libya's natural wealth – I have no problem with that. But stop supporting a dictator who will impose only his own ideas over 6 million people and kill anyone who does not agree. Can’t you see that this is fundamentally wrong?"
Thursday, April 07, 2011
Free world coming to rescue
My last post about the situation in Libya is dated March 17. So much has happened since then. On that same evening, the UN Security Council approved a resolution authorizing a no-fly zone and "all necessary measures to protect civilians". The draft was prepared by Lebanon, backed by France and Britain and approved by a total of 10 states. Five states abstained: China, Russia, Brazil, India and Germany. Bravo to Russia and China - they could impose a veto but they didn't. As for the other 3 - let me not call names but I don't want to hear a word about any of them becoming a permanent Security Council member in the foreseeable future, OK?
By the way, my Bulgaria also behaved in a shameful way. Our Prime Minister Borisov said that the intervention in Libya was a "reckless adventure" (avantyura) and he would never send Bulgarian military pilots to join it - as if anyone would want our Russian MiG planes that couldn't be reliably distinguished from Qaddafi's air force. Happily, Bulgaria is not in the Security Council now, so few people noticed; but we Bulgarians have to remember this next year when we go to the ballots.
Qaddafi declared a ceasefire almost immediately after the resolution, but it was only for external consumption. His troops, on the contrary, intensified fighting in an apparent attempt to win before anyone managed to implement the resolution. I remember how in the morning of March 19 I saw Benghazi shown in the Wikipedia map with the yellow colour of "ongoing fighting", and Al Jazeera reported that Qaddafi's tanks were entering the city.
Mohammed Nabbous was ready to meet them. This 28-yr-old blogger and citizen journalist had founded Libya Al-Hurra (Free Libya) TV in the early days of the protests. With his wife pregnant for first time, he had every justification to take shelter behind a thick wall. However, he decided to report what was going on in order to expose Qaddafi's lies to the world. As he was recording the attack with his cellular phone, he was shot in the head. Either Qaddafi's soldiers realized what he was doing, or - more likely - they simply regarded every human-shaped object as a target. Mohammed died several hours later.
Meanwhile, the coalition formed to implement the UN resolution finally stepped in. The first strike came from a French plane. Benghazi was saved, but in Musrata and some smaller towns the situation is still dire, people have ran out of everything and are being murdered by Qaddafi's mercenaries every day. I have no idea how this will end, I hoped for a swift and happy ending, but apparently things are not proceeding quite this way.
I am not going to describe the war in detail, let me just mention that I am disappointed both by the Coalition and by the rebel army. It seems, unfortunately, that the "Happy Arab" is right to call the operation "a mess" and "likely the most mismanaged operation in NATO's history". Indeed, this could be expected after the bitter experience of Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq made Western powers so reluctant to intervene in Muslim countries that now everyone is trying to hide behind his allies' backs. However, this is nothing compared to the armed forces of the Libyan opposition. Most of the foot soldiers are civilians turned into combatants overnight. They lack weapons, training and discipline. The commander, General Abdul (Abdel) Fatah Younis, was Qaddafi's interior minister until February. Let's leave aside his involvement with the regime - it is clear that you cannot begin anew and appoint 18-yr-olds to all positions. What is more worrying is his military experience and expertise, or the lack of it. Nobody says whether Gen. Younis prior to February 2011 had ever fought an enemy actually able to shoot back. We do not know anything about his military education and service, if any. He is not trying to build infrastructure of defence, so Qaddafi's tanks roll, roll, roll gently down the roads as they wish and advance hundreds of kilometers per day. Instead of thinking how to retake the lost territory, Gen. Younis is delivering press conferences, telling how NATO is a problem rather than an asset for not fighting all the Libyans' battles for them. He is apparently the sort of buraucrat who, instead of doing his job, will produce a brilliant explanation why it is your fault that his job has not been done. I hope somebody soon reappoints him to organize the traffic lights or do some other job where he would be less harmful.
The good news is that my blogger friends in Tripoli gave a sign that they are OK.
Let me finish with a quote from the post Libya and the International Moral Question by Libyan-British writer Ghazi Gheblawi: "Libya didn’t come into existence as a nation until after 1943 when the allied forces of WWII occupied the country, and with the help of many nations and the newly formed United Nations, declared its independence in 1951. It was through the help of the international community that Libya was liberated from the horrors of Italian colonialism, and as the Libyan representative to the UN said few weeks ago on the floor of the security council ‘Libya was established through a United Nations resolution, now once again it needs the United Nations help’." Let's hope this help will become more effective.
By the way, my Bulgaria also behaved in a shameful way. Our Prime Minister Borisov said that the intervention in Libya was a "reckless adventure" (avantyura) and he would never send Bulgarian military pilots to join it - as if anyone would want our Russian MiG planes that couldn't be reliably distinguished from Qaddafi's air force. Happily, Bulgaria is not in the Security Council now, so few people noticed; but we Bulgarians have to remember this next year when we go to the ballots.
Qaddafi declared a ceasefire almost immediately after the resolution, but it was only for external consumption. His troops, on the contrary, intensified fighting in an apparent attempt to win before anyone managed to implement the resolution. I remember how in the morning of March 19 I saw Benghazi shown in the Wikipedia map with the yellow colour of "ongoing fighting", and Al Jazeera reported that Qaddafi's tanks were entering the city.
Mohammed Nabbous was ready to meet them. This 28-yr-old blogger and citizen journalist had founded Libya Al-Hurra (Free Libya) TV in the early days of the protests. With his wife pregnant for first time, he had every justification to take shelter behind a thick wall. However, he decided to report what was going on in order to expose Qaddafi's lies to the world. As he was recording the attack with his cellular phone, he was shot in the head. Either Qaddafi's soldiers realized what he was doing, or - more likely - they simply regarded every human-shaped object as a target. Mohammed died several hours later.
Meanwhile, the coalition formed to implement the UN resolution finally stepped in. The first strike came from a French plane. Benghazi was saved, but in Musrata and some smaller towns the situation is still dire, people have ran out of everything and are being murdered by Qaddafi's mercenaries every day. I have no idea how this will end, I hoped for a swift and happy ending, but apparently things are not proceeding quite this way.
I am not going to describe the war in detail, let me just mention that I am disappointed both by the Coalition and by the rebel army. It seems, unfortunately, that the "Happy Arab" is right to call the operation "a mess" and "likely the most mismanaged operation in NATO's history". Indeed, this could be expected after the bitter experience of Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq made Western powers so reluctant to intervene in Muslim countries that now everyone is trying to hide behind his allies' backs. However, this is nothing compared to the armed forces of the Libyan opposition. Most of the foot soldiers are civilians turned into combatants overnight. They lack weapons, training and discipline. The commander, General Abdul (Abdel) Fatah Younis, was Qaddafi's interior minister until February. Let's leave aside his involvement with the regime - it is clear that you cannot begin anew and appoint 18-yr-olds to all positions. What is more worrying is his military experience and expertise, or the lack of it. Nobody says whether Gen. Younis prior to February 2011 had ever fought an enemy actually able to shoot back. We do not know anything about his military education and service, if any. He is not trying to build infrastructure of defence, so Qaddafi's tanks roll, roll, roll gently down the roads as they wish and advance hundreds of kilometers per day. Instead of thinking how to retake the lost territory, Gen. Younis is delivering press conferences, telling how NATO is a problem rather than an asset for not fighting all the Libyans' battles for them. He is apparently the sort of buraucrat who, instead of doing his job, will produce a brilliant explanation why it is your fault that his job has not been done. I hope somebody soon reappoints him to organize the traffic lights or do some other job where he would be less harmful.
The good news is that my blogger friends in Tripoli gave a sign that they are OK.
Let me finish with a quote from the post Libya and the International Moral Question by Libyan-British writer Ghazi Gheblawi: "Libya didn’t come into existence as a nation until after 1943 when the allied forces of WWII occupied the country, and with the help of many nations and the newly formed United Nations, declared its independence in 1951. It was through the help of the international community that Libya was liberated from the horrors of Italian colonialism, and as the Libyan representative to the UN said few weeks ago on the floor of the security council ‘Libya was established through a United Nations resolution, now once again it needs the United Nations help’." Let's hope this help will become more effective.
Thursday, March 17, 2011
About the situation in Libya
Unfortunately, things are not developing well in Libya. Qaddafi's mercenaries have retaken a number of cities and are now threatening the very capital of the opposition, the valiant city of Benghazi. You can check libyafeb17.com and Wikipedia for the actual state on the battlefields.
I am outraged by the so-called international community. Indeed, France has recognized the opposition Council as legitimate government of Libya and, together with Britain, pressed for a no-fly zone. However, USA was reluctant, and Germany openly supported the Libyan dictator.
In fact, now may be too late for a no-fly zone. Different people are repeating this, including Saif al-Islam, the most disgusting offspring of Qaddafi. “It’s too late,” he said in an interview with EuroNews television, according to a transcript on its website. “In 48 hours, we will have finished our military operation. We are at the gates of Benghazi.” (Source: Business Week.) I wonder, why didn't all free people of the world press their governments to help the free people of Libya?
Azarmehr has written a very good post explaining why he backs military intervention against the Libyan regime, let me quote from it:
"If Gadaffi and his clan regain the control of the rest of Libya, there will be a massacre. If the world sits by and allows Gadaffi to bombard its own people in order to survive, it will send a devastating message to other dictatorships, use maximum brutality, do not give any concessions and you will survive."
Will he indeed be allowed to survive?
I am outraged by the so-called international community. Indeed, France has recognized the opposition Council as legitimate government of Libya and, together with Britain, pressed for a no-fly zone. However, USA was reluctant, and Germany openly supported the Libyan dictator.
In fact, now may be too late for a no-fly zone. Different people are repeating this, including Saif al-Islam, the most disgusting offspring of Qaddafi. “It’s too late,” he said in an interview with EuroNews television, according to a transcript on its website. “In 48 hours, we will have finished our military operation. We are at the gates of Benghazi.” (Source: Business Week.) I wonder, why didn't all free people of the world press their governments to help the free people of Libya?
Azarmehr has written a very good post explaining why he backs military intervention against the Libyan regime, let me quote from it:
"If Gadaffi and his clan regain the control of the rest of Libya, there will be a massacre. If the world sits by and allows Gadaffi to bombard its own people in order to survive, it will send a devastating message to other dictatorships, use maximum brutality, do not give any concessions and you will survive."
Will he indeed be allowed to survive?
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Greeting to Libyan rebels
This is The Song of the Rebels of (the town of) Panaguirishte, a popular song from the 1870s - the age of Bulgarian struggle for independence; lyrics by Ivan Vazov, the author of music is unknown. Below is a slightly compressed translation:
The fight is starting and hearts beat loud.
Our oppressors are coming now.
Courage, my loyal friends, show the world
We are no longer submissive herd!
Show we have broken the dirty chains
And we are free men, rather than slaves!
Let us begin the glorious fight
And God will help us with all His might.
Chorus:
Come on, brothers, all like one - to the fight we rush!
Come on, brothers, all like one - enemy to crush!
Oh you my mother, dear my homeland,
Lovely as Eden on this earth you stand.
Tuesday, March 01, 2011
Libya still struggling for freedom
Top: An opposition supporter at a rally in Benghazi. Photo Asmaa Waguih/Reuters.
Bottom: Map showing the current disposition of forces in Libya. Source: Wikipedia.
This post is an update to my Feb. 22 post Libya struggling for freedom.
The political situation in Libya, after starting as classic tyrannical crackdown on the peacefully protesting citizens, escalated into civil war when some units of the Libyan army took the side of protesters, and some rebels apparently managed to arm themselves. The opposition fairly quickly established control over the eastern part of the country around the city of Benghazi and some western regions. At one time, the situation was unclear even in Tripoli -Qaddafi's stronghold. Now, he is attempting to retake the country but I think his efforts are doomed and can only bring more deaths and inflict more damage. (The southern regions are desert, so the green dots there are not as important as they seem.)
The regime continues to shoot ruthlessly unarmed people wherever it can and to abduct injured protesters from hospitals.
The Q-man said in a speech, "If I were president, I would have resigned, but I have no position to resign from." Indeed, he is not a President, not a Prime Minister, he occupies no normal position in a government - he is "just Leader of the revolution". More and more often, I am thinking of this "leader" as translated to German - "Fuehrer". Other people also make the same parallel. Let me quote Sky News: "Libya's ambassador to the United Nations, Abdurrahman Shalgham, a childhood friend of Gaddafi and former foreign minister who has turned against the regime, pleaded with the Security Council to act against the 'atrocities' by Gaddafi.
He spoke of... Nazi leader Adolf Hitler... Now Gaddafi was telling his people, 'either I rule over you or I kill you, destroy you,' the ambassador added. 'Please, the United Nations, save Libya...,' he said."
The world, however, has been too slow to react. The first concern of various countries, of course, was to evacuate their nationals from Libya. Now, several powers are discussing a no-fly zone to prevent Qaddafi from air attacks on Libyan citizens, but Russia ruled out this idea. Indeed, how could we expect Russia to be against killing protesters, after this has always been a tenet of its own policy?
I keep paying worried visits to Libyan blogs, notably those of Highlander and Khadija-Teri who are in Tripoli. Below, I am copying a small poem Khadija-Teri posted on Feb. 27:
"Day and night we are not safe in Tripoli
Helicopters
There have been helicopters today
up over head.
More than ever before.
All of them are moving
toward the coast.
I'm afraid to go outside to photograph them,
in case I turn into a target.
The dogs growl and bark.
The sun is setting now.
Tripoli is a nocturnal place.
Day or night,
we are not safe
in Tripoli."
Let me try to end this post in a more optimistic mood - quoting from the Happy Arab's Feb. 24 post:
"The unforgettable show this blog was promising to the readers in Libya has surpassed all expectations. In a spectacular outburst of madness Gaddafi ordered his air force and navy to bombard Libian cities. The death toll is running in thousands. Now it seems to be only a matter of time before the opposition storms Tripoli and dangles the Brother Leader from a lamp post. The opposition will have no other choice as attempting to try Gaddafi is risky of leading to hours long orations that would decimate the court and audience and overwhelm translators from Arabic assigned an impossible task... As the time to bid Shalom is approaching, let me praise the Brother Leader by saying that he was one of those rare individuals who could either bore the living daylights out of his audience or leave you rolling on the floor laughing for hours. There seemed to be little left between these two options."
Of course, for the unfortunate people under Qaddafi's rule the show has not been so funny. Let's hope for an end, the sooner the better.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Libya struggling for freedom
This flag of the kingdom of Libya with the inscription "Free Libya" is taken from Anglo-Libyan's Feb. 18 post. As he wrote earlier, most freedom-loving Libyans still identify with this pre-1969 flag and do not recognize the "all green rug" Qaddafi forced on them.
The bottom photo is again taken from Anglo's blog - Libyans reacting to the speech of Qaddafi's son Saif.After Tunisians and Egyptians and other Arab nations, Libyans also rose up, demanding freedom.
But Muammar Qaddafi (Gaddafi) is far worse than your average Mideast dictator. Not only is he 100% unscrupulous - many people, including me, have thought for years that he is mentally ill.
Yet, after he surrendered his employee Megrahi to be tried for the Lockerbie bombing and the sanctions against Libya were lifted, Western countries rushed not only to buy oil from Libya and to supply it with foods and textiles and photo cameras, but also to sell arms to it. Why? Isn't it clear that selling arms to a crazy dictator like Qaddafi is the equivalent of selling a gun to a psychopath like Jared Loughner, and that in both cases you can expect the same lethal result, just on a different scale? Now, as Qaddafi is committing a massacre on his people, the Independent reports, "Britain halted military exports to Libya last week but sniper rifles, which may have killed protesters yesterday, were amongst equipment exported to Tripoli last year".
It is difficult to know exactly what is happening in Libya now, because the regime keeps international media out and does its best to prevent its own citizens from reporting any information. Today, Reuters cites witnesses that "Muammar Gaddafi used tanks, helicopters and warplanes to fight a growing revolt". The uprising began in Benghazi - the residents of this city are among the most valiant people on Earth! - and then spread to Tripoli where, according to reports, there are now bodies of scores of killed protesters lying on the streets.
Libyans appeal to the world for help, but what can we, what can even our governments actually do? I just check the media and Libyan blogs time and again, hoping to find some good news.
What we hear sound all but comforting, yet I think that Qaddafi has lost control beyond the point of no return and his days as ruler are counted.
Update (several hours later): Qaddafi gave a hysterical speech in which he said, "I am not going to leave this land. I will die here as a martyr."
Come on, sir! Please do it! Do your nation and the world a favour!
Update (March 2): Unfortunately, Bulgaria has also supplied Qaddafi with weapons. A report by the Guardian reveals that in 2009, we sold to Libya ammunition and fuses for EUR 3,730,000. I recommend you to visit that page and shed a tear or two over Europe's travesty. As a commenter has written below, "Gaddafi laughed when asked if he would step down.
"As if anyone would leave their homeland," he replied, accusing western leaders of betrayal and of having "no morals". And he is absolutly right, we are the people who wanted to be his friend so we could buy his oil and sell him arms knowing full well that he was an unhinged tyrant - but it didn't matter, there were guns and oil!"
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Well done, Egypt!
Top: Egyptian protesters, many days before their victory. Copied from Feb. 1 post of Jordanian blogger Roba, original source Reuters. For other beautiful photos of the protests see Roba's Feb. 6 post.
Bottom: One of the fallen Egyptian freedom fighters - 23-yr-old
Sally Zahran. Copied from msn.com, original source unnknown.When East-European countries, including my Bulgaria, suddenly freed themselves of communism in the "Autumn of the Nations" of 1989, I enthusiastically thought that my adult life would coincide with a global reign of freedom.
Some years later, I started to think exactly the opposite - that 1989 was not a dawn but a rare spark in a realm of darkness, and I would not live long enough to witness another similar spark.
But it is here and now - the so-called "the Arab Spring" is sweeping the North Africa and the Middle East, and it seems that nothing there will ever be the same again.
All began in Tunisia by a hitherto unknown man, 26-yr-old street vendor Mohamed Bouazizi. For many years, he had been harassed, humiliated and blackmailed by arrogant and corrupted police and municipality officers during his overwhelming work to feed his family. When they confiscated his goods and beat him in December last year, this was the straw that broke his back, and he publicly set himself on fire. And then, the whole country caught the fire. Protests escalated, until the dictator Ben-Ali was forced to resign and flee to Saudi Arabia on Jan. 14.
This was an awakening for other Arab nations who suddenly realized that their dictators were not invincible. In one country after another, protesters filled the squares. The events are still ongoing and the balance of forces uncertain, with one honorary exception - Egypt, where the protests beginning on Jan. 25 on the Tahrir ("Liberation") square in Cairo and in other cities forced the dictator Hosni Mubarak to resign on Feb. 11.
I wish I could welcome the Egyptian Revolution with my whole heart but, to be honest, I must admit that my feelings are mixed. I admire the courage of the protesters and their love for freedom, and I wish them and their whole nation all the best. However, I am afraid that events may take an unfortunate turn - and I am not alone. Because the main opposition force in Egypt is the infamous Muslim Brotherhood, many Western commenters see the shadow of the 1979 Iranian revolution - which also began with striving for freedom, and ended with establishment of a grotesque theocracy and slaughter of freedom-loving people. Tunisia is a tiny country, so nobody seems too bothered by the rumours that a motley crew of Islamists and Communists is heading for the elections there. However, Egypt is an important state, a regional power; and while the threats/promises of the Muslim Brotherhood to make a war with Israel may well be empty words, nobody is willing to bet on it.
Of course, I feel uneasy with this opinion, as a supporter of a wrong cause. Any statements that a nation is not yet ready for democracy and could not apply it correctly smell of racism and are usually voiced by enemies of mankind and civilization. Which, unfortunately, does not always guarantee that they are untrue... My opponents may ask, and will be right - how could a nation under a dictator teach itself to master democracy? How can you ban a person to immerse his foot in water, and then claim this is for his own good because he cannot swim? As the Benghazi Citizen (I hope he is OK) said, "No nation throughout history was ready for democracy, because those who ruled made sure that their people (or their subjects) are never ready."
In the particular case of Hosni Mubarak, he presented himself as a friend of Israel and the USA (enjoying a nice $1.5 billions of aid per year; as someone commented in the Ha'aretz forum, "real friends don't need to be bribed"). At the same time, he used his goverment-controlled media to enhance the antisemitic and anti-American feelings of Egyptians. Sandmonkey, who himself took part in the Egyptian revolution, wrote on Feb. 3: "A veiled girl with a blurred face went on Mehwer TV claiming to have received funding by Americans to go to the US and took courses on how to bring down the Egyptian government through protests which were taught by Jews... State TV started issuing statements on how the people arrested Israelis all over Cairo engaged in creating mayhem and causing chaos." So, whatever happens, I am not going to miss Mubarak. I cannot even call him what Paul Johnson called the former Nicaraguan dictator Somoza, "a loyal if disgusting ally of the West". Mubarak was disgusting but did not come anywhere near being a loyal ally. The best I can say of him is that he did not order a crackdown on his people and stepped down when the number of victims was "only" in the three-digit range (365 as currently reported by Wikipedia). However, I have all reasons to think that this was not Mubarak's merit; rather, the military sensed the direction of wind (as we say) and forced him to resign in time.
To continue the analogy with the swimming - normally, people are trained to swim under the supervision of skilled swimmers. When some country is stepping on the path to democracy, someone else must keep watch, give directions and be ready to intervene if things go terribly wrong. Outside Europe, this "someone" can be only the USA. What a pity that the Arab Spring had to happen exactly when the White House is occupied by a man able only to talk. As a person who makes her living almost entirely by talking, I know very well the limitations of what you can achieve this way.
But let's leave all these worries for another day. When a tyrant is oustered, it is time to celebrate. Well done, Egypt, congratulations! I remember a poem, by an unknown author, written in the unruly days of late 1989:
"Не бой се, народе, в тебе е силата,
днес си изграждаш нова съдба.
Добри или лоши - Бог знае ги новите,
но старите трябва да паднат сега!"
Translation:
Don't be afraid, people, you have the strength
To build your new destiny today.
God knows, good or bad the new rulers will be,
But the old ones must step down now!
Monday, June 14, 2010
Economic crisis? Take from disabled children
In my previous post Bulgarian children with cerebral palsy to be deprived of therapy, I wrote how the best Bulgarian facility for treatment of children with cerebral palsy and heart defects will be shut down (or deprived of funding, which is effectively the same thing). This decision was justified by reminding that "it is economic crisis now". An official, talking to a mother, said in plain text that "there is no profit from the children, on the contrary - there is loss".
A week ago, an American father of an autistic child blogging as Club 166 wrote a disturbingly similar post titled An Inconvenient Truth. Here are quotes from it:
"Unfortunately, one of the things that has become obvious to me over the years is that the general public doesn't have a clue what it's like to raise a special needs kid, has no real desire to know what it takes, and when times are the least bit tough the public is especially willing to throw our kids under the bus if it will help their own situation in any way. This is true, whether it's a smaller, relatively well off district like the one we live in, or a large one such as Los Angeles... When L.A. schools Superintendant Ramon C. Cortines was talking about a school for the blind in the LA Unified School district he recently said,
"Some of those are very, very severe cases, but you have to look at it in perspective. When you fund some of the special ed things, you're taking from regular kids."
Aside from it being blatantly against the law for economic considerations to be driving who gets what services, there is the whole "attitude" thing... The attitude that while "regular" education is a right in this country, that special education is a privilege that can be easily revoked at the first sign of money trouble. The attitude that my kid (and millions like him) just aren't worth it.
...Such attitudes are not limited to uneducated or poor people. Indeed, my personal feeling is that such attitudes get worse, the higher up the socioeconomic scale one is on. It doesn't matter what overall political viewpoint you hold. Platitudes regarding equality rapidly fall apart when it comes to spending a dime on special needs education instead of the football team..."
The problem seems to be universal. I hope, however, that none of my readers will fall into the trap of fallacies common in Bulgaria and other backward countries - namely, that any phenomenon existing in a developed country is necessarily a nice thing. Or if it is not nice, then it is such a colossal problem that it is impossible to find a local solution and we should not even bother to try.
A week ago, an American father of an autistic child blogging as Club 166 wrote a disturbingly similar post titled An Inconvenient Truth. Here are quotes from it:
"Unfortunately, one of the things that has become obvious to me over the years is that the general public doesn't have a clue what it's like to raise a special needs kid, has no real desire to know what it takes, and when times are the least bit tough the public is especially willing to throw our kids under the bus if it will help their own situation in any way. This is true, whether it's a smaller, relatively well off district like the one we live in, or a large one such as Los Angeles... When L.A. schools Superintendant Ramon C. Cortines was talking about a school for the blind in the LA Unified School district he recently said,
"Some of those are very, very severe cases, but you have to look at it in perspective. When you fund some of the special ed things, you're taking from regular kids."
Aside from it being blatantly against the law for economic considerations to be driving who gets what services, there is the whole "attitude" thing... The attitude that while "regular" education is a right in this country, that special education is a privilege that can be easily revoked at the first sign of money trouble. The attitude that my kid (and millions like him) just aren't worth it.
...Such attitudes are not limited to uneducated or poor people. Indeed, my personal feeling is that such attitudes get worse, the higher up the socioeconomic scale one is on. It doesn't matter what overall political viewpoint you hold. Platitudes regarding equality rapidly fall apart when it comes to spending a dime on special needs education instead of the football team..."
The problem seems to be universal. I hope, however, that none of my readers will fall into the trap of fallacies common in Bulgaria and other backward countries - namely, that any phenomenon existing in a developed country is necessarily a nice thing. Or if it is not nice, then it is such a colossal problem that it is impossible to find a local solution and we should not even bother to try.
Tuesday, June 01, 2010
Bulgarian children with cerebral palsy to be deprived of therapy
Today is June 1, marked in many countries as Children's Day. It is devoted to all children - not only to those who win A grades and sport races without much effort and allow Mommy to make a career, but also to children with disabilities. So little is done for them in Bulgaria, and even that little is taken away when government wants to tighten its budget. The Sanatorium (therapy facility) for children with cerebral palsy in the town of Bankya near Sofia is being closed down. Below I am translating a letter of a mother published by two other bloggers - Lyd and Yana. The information in it is confirmed also by the Darina's memorial site and by a group of parents and activists starting a petition to save the facility.
You can sign the petition here. The top line (field in grey) is for your full name. Next two lines are for your city and country. The large field is for your comment and is optional. Below you must write your e-mail and the anti-spam code and press the button "подпиши" (sign). You will soon receive an e-mail with a link you must click to confirm your signature. It is too complicated indeed, and I doubt how efficient such petitions are. I advise you to do whatever else comes to your mind - give publicity to the case, write directly to Bulgarian and EU institutions etc. Because nothing ever improves in Bulgaria without foreign pressure.
Now, the letter of Daniela Peneva:
"Dear readers, I am a mother whose son has cerebral palsy. The only treatment for him is the physical and occupational therapy he has received for 6 years at the Children's Sanatorium (Therapy facility) in the town of Bankya. Under the care of the professionals working there my son already can walk on his own and becomes more independent every day. And he is not the only case - the therapy at the Bankya Sanatorium has helped many children to improve and start walking.
Unfortunately, the Sanatorium will no longer be a place for therapy of children. It has been the only facility in Bulgaria for therapy of children with heart problems. And the children with other problems will be redirected to other facilities where the therapy is of lower quality and gives poorer results. Therefore, closing down the Bankya facility is a clear violation of the rights of our children under national law and the UN Convention...
8 years ago, the Bankya Sanatorium was thoroughly renovated by a German foundation (Kaiser's Fund). Appropriate equipment for children's therapy was bought... The problems began 4 years ago when the Sanatorium was closed for first time during the winter (presumably to spare the money needed for heating - M.M.). Unheated and unused, it began to deteriorate. This situation continued for 3 years. Then, last year the health minister changed the affiliation of the Sanatorium... Two months later, in October (2009), the Sanatorium was closed and the personnel was given unpaid leave until June 1, 2010. We, the children's parents, all awaited and planned the therapy for June.
On April 16, 2010 I called the director responsible for therapy facilities and asked him when the Sanatorium would be reopened so that we could enlist our children for therapy. They answered me that it is economic crisis now and the Sanatorium would not be a facility for treating children anymore. There said that there are two Sanatoria for children in Bulgaria (the other one is in the town of Momin Prohod) and it is impossible to sustain both because there is no profit from the children, on the contrary - there is loss (emphasis mine - M.M.) Because of the long period when the Sanatorium was closed, some professionals have left and have not been replaced. The officials did not tell me what purpose the building would serve in the future, but said that surely it would no longer be used for children's therapy...
Because my son has cerebral palsy and not a heart problem, there are still some facilities where he can receive treatment and somebody would say that I should bring him there. We have tried other facilities but no one was as good as the Bankya Sanatorium. Professionals there have real attitude to the children, their parents and the problems. They worked in order to help, and achieved results. Their therapy spared surgery to some children - 2 operations to my son alone. Also, they trained parents how to work with their children at home, because children need daily therapy and the Health Fund pays only for 10 days.
These are children, human beings. We have not abandoned them in care homes, although this has been suggested to many of us. On the contrary, we try to make our children as independent as possible... For that purpose, we need high-quality therapy and we insist on it!
The building of the Sanatorium has been donated under the condition that it would be used for children's therapy.
We, the parents of children treated at the Bankya Sanatorium and several disability rights organizations, are starting a campaign to save this therapy facility. We are asking for your support! Help the children!"
Update from June 3: Yana reports that the Sanatorium will be reopened these days but only for several months because it will not be heated. Guess how many therapists will remain on "payroll" to survive with 3-4 monthly salaries per year. The other bad news is that no contract with the Health Fund has been signed for 2010, which means that families will have to pay all therapies - 40-50 leva (EUR 20-25) per day. I call this adding insult to injury, because my net salary, which is above the average for Bulgaria, is about EUR 450, and most of the mothers of these disabled children stay at home in order to care for them. Forcing them to pay for therapy is a crime. My guess is that authorities are pretending to keep the Sanatorium open, maybe because of the outcry, and will close it the minute public opinion looks somewhere else. And meanwhile they are imposing outrageous conditions on families of children treated at the Sanatorium, and on the personnel.
You can sign the petition here. The top line (field in grey) is for your full name. Next two lines are for your city and country. The large field is for your comment and is optional. Below you must write your e-mail and the anti-spam code and press the button "подпиши" (sign). You will soon receive an e-mail with a link you must click to confirm your signature. It is too complicated indeed, and I doubt how efficient such petitions are. I advise you to do whatever else comes to your mind - give publicity to the case, write directly to Bulgarian and EU institutions etc. Because nothing ever improves in Bulgaria without foreign pressure.
Now, the letter of Daniela Peneva:
"Dear readers, I am a mother whose son has cerebral palsy. The only treatment for him is the physical and occupational therapy he has received for 6 years at the Children's Sanatorium (Therapy facility) in the town of Bankya. Under the care of the professionals working there my son already can walk on his own and becomes more independent every day. And he is not the only case - the therapy at the Bankya Sanatorium has helped many children to improve and start walking.
Unfortunately, the Sanatorium will no longer be a place for therapy of children. It has been the only facility in Bulgaria for therapy of children with heart problems. And the children with other problems will be redirected to other facilities where the therapy is of lower quality and gives poorer results. Therefore, closing down the Bankya facility is a clear violation of the rights of our children under national law and the UN Convention...
8 years ago, the Bankya Sanatorium was thoroughly renovated by a German foundation (Kaiser's Fund). Appropriate equipment for children's therapy was bought... The problems began 4 years ago when the Sanatorium was closed for first time during the winter (presumably to spare the money needed for heating - M.M.). Unheated and unused, it began to deteriorate. This situation continued for 3 years. Then, last year the health minister changed the affiliation of the Sanatorium... Two months later, in October (2009), the Sanatorium was closed and the personnel was given unpaid leave until June 1, 2010. We, the children's parents, all awaited and planned the therapy for June.
On April 16, 2010 I called the director responsible for therapy facilities and asked him when the Sanatorium would be reopened so that we could enlist our children for therapy. They answered me that it is economic crisis now and the Sanatorium would not be a facility for treating children anymore. There said that there are two Sanatoria for children in Bulgaria (the other one is in the town of Momin Prohod) and it is impossible to sustain both because there is no profit from the children, on the contrary - there is loss (emphasis mine - M.M.) Because of the long period when the Sanatorium was closed, some professionals have left and have not been replaced. The officials did not tell me what purpose the building would serve in the future, but said that surely it would no longer be used for children's therapy...
Because my son has cerebral palsy and not a heart problem, there are still some facilities where he can receive treatment and somebody would say that I should bring him there. We have tried other facilities but no one was as good as the Bankya Sanatorium. Professionals there have real attitude to the children, their parents and the problems. They worked in order to help, and achieved results. Their therapy spared surgery to some children - 2 operations to my son alone. Also, they trained parents how to work with their children at home, because children need daily therapy and the Health Fund pays only for 10 days.
These are children, human beings. We have not abandoned them in care homes, although this has been suggested to many of us. On the contrary, we try to make our children as independent as possible... For that purpose, we need high-quality therapy and we insist on it!
The building of the Sanatorium has been donated under the condition that it would be used for children's therapy.
We, the parents of children treated at the Bankya Sanatorium and several disability rights organizations, are starting a campaign to save this therapy facility. We are asking for your support! Help the children!"
Update from June 3: Yana reports that the Sanatorium will be reopened these days but only for several months because it will not be heated. Guess how many therapists will remain on "payroll" to survive with 3-4 monthly salaries per year. The other bad news is that no contract with the Health Fund has been signed for 2010, which means that families will have to pay all therapies - 40-50 leva (EUR 20-25) per day. I call this adding insult to injury, because my net salary, which is above the average for Bulgaria, is about EUR 450, and most of the mothers of these disabled children stay at home in order to care for them. Forcing them to pay for therapy is a crime. My guess is that authorities are pretending to keep the Sanatorium open, maybe because of the outcry, and will close it the minute public opinion looks somewhere else. And meanwhile they are imposing outrageous conditions on families of children treated at the Sanatorium, and on the personnel.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Monster mosque to be built next to Ground Zero
(The expression in the title borrowed from Atlas Shrugs blog.)
First, I am copy-pasting below most of the article Plan for mosque near World Trade Center site moves ahead, by Joe Jackson & Bill Hutchinson, published earlier this month in NY Daily News, but for the moment just follow the link and read.
"A proposal to build a mosque steps from Ground Zero received the support of a downtown committee despite some loved ones of 9/11 victims finding it offensive.
The 13-story mosque and Islamic cultural center was unanimously endorsed by the 12-member Community Board 1's financial district committee.
The $100 million project, called the Cordoba House, is proposed for the old Burlington Coat Factory... just two blocks from the World Trade Center site.
"I think it will be a wonderful asset to the community," said committee Chairman Ro Sheffe.
Imam Feisel Abdul Rauf, who helped found the Cordoba Initiative following the 9/11 attacks, said the project is intended to foster better relations between the West and Muslims...
Daisy Khan, executive director of the American Society for Muslim Advancement and Cordoba Initiative board member, said the project has received little opposition.
"Whatever concerns anybody has, we have to make sure to educate them that we are an asset to the community," Khan said.
Khan said her group hopes construction on the project will begin by the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.
Once built, 1,000 to 2,000 Muslims are expected to pray at the mosque every Friday, she said.
No one at last night's meeting protested the project. But some 9/11 families said they found the proposal offensive because the terrorists who launched the attacks were Muslim.
"I realize it's not all of them, but I don't want to have to go down to a memorial where my son died on 9/11 and look at a mosque," said retired FDNY Deputy Chief Jim Riches - whose son Jim, a firefighter, was killed on 9/11.
"If you ask me, it's a religion of hate," said Riches, who did not attend last night's meeting.
Rosemary Cain of Massapequa, L.I., whose son, Firefighter George Cain, 35, was killed in the 2001 attacks, called the project a "slap in the face."
"I think it's despicable. That's sacred ground," said Cain, who also did not attend the meeting.
"How could anybody give them permission to build a mosque there? It tarnishes the area."
Frankly, I find it unbelievable. After some Muslims sacrificed their lives in order to destroy the Twin Towers together with the people inside, now other Muslims are keen to build a giant mosque almost on the cleared spot. As I wrote in my post about Samir Kuntar two years ago, "if we remove the fragile frame of civilization, what remains from the human? A Darwinian creature who will happily kill other people's children in order to make more space for his own progeny."
I am only slightly surprised that Muslims have come with such an idea. It is just the umpteenth piece of evidence about the nature of Islam. I am, however, surprised that the city is giving green light to this insanity.
The same NY Daily News page offers an opinion poll:
"Do you think it is appropriate to construct a mosque near Ground Zero?
- Yes, it will encourage tolerance.
- No, if the 9/11 victims' families are opposed.
- I'm not sure."
I cannot take part in such an opinion poll; I can just wonder at its authors' dhimmitude and stupidity. The first symptom of these is their priority of problems - regarding the intolerance to Islam as a more important problem than the deaths and suffering caused by Islam at Ground Zero and elsewhere. Following the same logic, we should build Nazi and Communist propaganda centers near the former extermination camps in order to encourage tolerance to these doctrines.
Second, I find it wrong beyond description that opposition to the plan is justified not with the need to regard Islam as the doctrine of supremacy, oppression and genocide it is, but with political correctness - not to hurt the feelings of 9/11 victims' families. So, if the Islamists had killed the whole families, there would be no problem at all, right?
I am outraged because the grieving relatives, instead of being allowed to devote themselves to the memory of their loved ones and the challenges of life, are now forced to fight against the trivialization of their loss and the planned building of an actual memorial to the murderers. We have observed the same in Bulgaria and other former Communist countries - the pressure put on the surviving victims of the regime, and on the relatives of dead ones, to put their hard feelings aside and embrace the Communists for the sake of "peace" and "reconciliation". It was wrong here, and it is wrong in New York now.
Another similarity is that Communists filled East-European cities with their landmarks and actively struggled for their preservation, because they knew the importance of architectural environment for shaping the collective mind. Russia successfully pressed Bulgaria to preserve the numerous memorials to Soviet occupiers. When a landmark of evil is standing, growing young people walk in its shadow and think, "How powerful they are - to kill so many of us, to do us so much evil and still to make us keep their monuments. We must always give them what they want, then they probably will leave us alive." The same is planned to happen in New York.
Disclaimer: I do not advocate any action against Muslims. I am against Islam, not against Muslims, as I am against AIDS, not against AIDS-infected people. And I do not like the fact that I feel obliged to include such a disclaimer. When I write against Nazism or Communism, I do not feel obliged to disclaim that I do not advocate any action against individual supporters of these doctrines.
Update from May 27: I voted with "no" in the above mentioned opinion poll, mainly to see the results. They are: 68% "yes", 31% "no", 2% "not sure".
First, I am copy-pasting below most of the article Plan for mosque near World Trade Center site moves ahead, by Joe Jackson & Bill Hutchinson, published earlier this month in NY Daily News, but for the moment just follow the link and read.
"A proposal to build a mosque steps from Ground Zero received the support of a downtown committee despite some loved ones of 9/11 victims finding it offensive.
The 13-story mosque and Islamic cultural center was unanimously endorsed by the 12-member Community Board 1's financial district committee.
The $100 million project, called the Cordoba House, is proposed for the old Burlington Coat Factory... just two blocks from the World Trade Center site.
"I think it will be a wonderful asset to the community," said committee Chairman Ro Sheffe.
Imam Feisel Abdul Rauf, who helped found the Cordoba Initiative following the 9/11 attacks, said the project is intended to foster better relations between the West and Muslims...
Daisy Khan, executive director of the American Society for Muslim Advancement and Cordoba Initiative board member, said the project has received little opposition.
"Whatever concerns anybody has, we have to make sure to educate them that we are an asset to the community," Khan said.
Khan said her group hopes construction on the project will begin by the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.
Once built, 1,000 to 2,000 Muslims are expected to pray at the mosque every Friday, she said.
No one at last night's meeting protested the project. But some 9/11 families said they found the proposal offensive because the terrorists who launched the attacks were Muslim.
"I realize it's not all of them, but I don't want to have to go down to a memorial where my son died on 9/11 and look at a mosque," said retired FDNY Deputy Chief Jim Riches - whose son Jim, a firefighter, was killed on 9/11.
"If you ask me, it's a religion of hate," said Riches, who did not attend last night's meeting.
Rosemary Cain of Massapequa, L.I., whose son, Firefighter George Cain, 35, was killed in the 2001 attacks, called the project a "slap in the face."
"I think it's despicable. That's sacred ground," said Cain, who also did not attend the meeting.
"How could anybody give them permission to build a mosque there? It tarnishes the area."
Frankly, I find it unbelievable. After some Muslims sacrificed their lives in order to destroy the Twin Towers together with the people inside, now other Muslims are keen to build a giant mosque almost on the cleared spot. As I wrote in my post about Samir Kuntar two years ago, "if we remove the fragile frame of civilization, what remains from the human? A Darwinian creature who will happily kill other people's children in order to make more space for his own progeny."
I am only slightly surprised that Muslims have come with such an idea. It is just the umpteenth piece of evidence about the nature of Islam. I am, however, surprised that the city is giving green light to this insanity.
The same NY Daily News page offers an opinion poll:
"Do you think it is appropriate to construct a mosque near Ground Zero?
- Yes, it will encourage tolerance.
- No, if the 9/11 victims' families are opposed.
- I'm not sure."
I cannot take part in such an opinion poll; I can just wonder at its authors' dhimmitude and stupidity. The first symptom of these is their priority of problems - regarding the intolerance to Islam as a more important problem than the deaths and suffering caused by Islam at Ground Zero and elsewhere. Following the same logic, we should build Nazi and Communist propaganda centers near the former extermination camps in order to encourage tolerance to these doctrines.
Second, I find it wrong beyond description that opposition to the plan is justified not with the need to regard Islam as the doctrine of supremacy, oppression and genocide it is, but with political correctness - not to hurt the feelings of 9/11 victims' families. So, if the Islamists had killed the whole families, there would be no problem at all, right?
I am outraged because the grieving relatives, instead of being allowed to devote themselves to the memory of their loved ones and the challenges of life, are now forced to fight against the trivialization of their loss and the planned building of an actual memorial to the murderers. We have observed the same in Bulgaria and other former Communist countries - the pressure put on the surviving victims of the regime, and on the relatives of dead ones, to put their hard feelings aside and embrace the Communists for the sake of "peace" and "reconciliation". It was wrong here, and it is wrong in New York now.
Another similarity is that Communists filled East-European cities with their landmarks and actively struggled for their preservation, because they knew the importance of architectural environment for shaping the collective mind. Russia successfully pressed Bulgaria to preserve the numerous memorials to Soviet occupiers. When a landmark of evil is standing, growing young people walk in its shadow and think, "How powerful they are - to kill so many of us, to do us so much evil and still to make us keep their monuments. We must always give them what they want, then they probably will leave us alive." The same is planned to happen in New York.
Disclaimer: I do not advocate any action against Muslims. I am against Islam, not against Muslims, as I am against AIDS, not against AIDS-infected people. And I do not like the fact that I feel obliged to include such a disclaimer. When I write against Nazism or Communism, I do not feel obliged to disclaim that I do not advocate any action against individual supporters of these doctrines.
Update from May 27: I voted with "no" in the above mentioned opinion poll, mainly to see the results. They are: 68% "yes", 31% "no", 2% "not sure".
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Bulgarian authorities outlaw innocent immigrant
In my April 20 post, I wrote about candidate immigrant Arevik who came from Armenia to Bulgaria to unite with her boyfriend David but ended up imprisoned in the Busmanci detention facility. Arevik has been there already for 2 months, about to complete the crucial 1st trimester of her pregnancy. The personnel reportedly treats her well, but conditions are not suitable for a woman with a difficult pregnancy, and the mere fact of being imprisoned has its toll. This post will be about David Arutyunyan, Arevik's beloved and father of their unplanned but wanted and cherished baby. It is based mostly on Lyd's May 13 post and this post by David himself in a Bulgarian law forum, but the information is confirmed by other numerous sources.
Some readers coming from traditional cultures with strict views on family may say that David and Arevik are irresponsible people because they have conceived a child without being married. I wish to clarify immediately that they wish very much to marry but cannot because David has no identity papers, and in the 21st century it is impossible to marry without such papers. It is also impossible to study, work, or have property. By refusing to issue him ID papers, Bulgarian state (with the help of Armenian state) has made him a non-person.
When somebody is in such a difficult situation, people tend to think that he is to be blamed for it, that he has made something wrong. David, now 24, was only 6 when his family moved from Armenia to Bulgaria. They wished to remain but had difficulties because the residence fee of 1000 lv. per person was too high for them. They protested and even made a hunger strike. I think they were not right - after they were not refugees but candidate immigrants, they had to pay what Bulgarian law prescribed without grumbling or look for another country offering better conditions. Anyway, even if the actions of David's parents had annoyed Bulgarian authorities, no civilized government would revenge against a young child for his parents's deeds.
David went to primary school, which is mandatory under Bulgarian law. When he was 14, Bulgarian authorities finally allowed his family to obtain Bulgarian ID papers, provided that Armenian authorities would also do their part of the paperwork and give them a go-ahead. So David's parents obtained ID documents for themselves and for their daughter (David's sister). However, Armenian authorities refused to give a go-ahead for David because, according to them, he had to return to Armenia to serve 3 years in the army. David of course did not wish to return to a country which was just a vague memory to him. Meanwhile, he was denied permission to study in secondary school. Secondary education is not mandatory in Bulgaria and school authorities said that they "did not know" who David was. (Bulgarian citizens first obtain ID card at that age, 14. In my post about Busmanci, a young candidate immigrant from Nigeria named Olatodun Ibitui is mentioned. He is almost in the same situation as David, having lived in Bulgaria since age 5 but not allowed to study in secondary school. Now he is job-seeking but, despite being very intelligent, he will have giant difficulties. Labour market in present-day Bulgaria kicks back people without high school diplomas.)
To this day, David is living outlawed, his only ID paper being his Armenian birth certificate. He cannot obtain a work permit, so he just helps his parents in their family business. Several times per year, David is subpoenated to the police department in his town of Montana. They tell him that he is living here illegally and must leave his family's home and Bulgaria. They are also consistently trying to obtain a deportation order for him.
On May 5, David was ordered to go to the police department again. Natasha Filipova, head of the local Migration service of the police, gave him to sign a document in Armenian. David refused to sign a text written in a language he does not speak. When his parents came to translate the document, it turned out to be an application by David to be allowed to go to Armenia. The Armenian ambassador declared that this document had not been prepared by the Embassy. Apparently some bright head at the Montana police department has written it and got it translated to Armenian at taxpayers' expense in order to press David to "request" his own deportation.
In an April 29 Mediapool article by Irina Nedeva titled Arevik and David - a love story between Montana, Erevan and Busmanci, the head of the Young Armenians' Charity Union Victor Baramov is quoted to say that his organization has many other examples of people without a legal status in Bulgaria despite having lived here for 20 or more years.
Our domestic civil society is weak and is only now awakening to this problem; but where are the EU institutions and international human rights organizations looking?
If you want to tell our Ministry of Interior and the Montana Police Department what you think about their treatment of David Arutyunyan, their contact details are given in my previous post Help Arevik - innocent, pregnant, imprisoned.
Some readers coming from traditional cultures with strict views on family may say that David and Arevik are irresponsible people because they have conceived a child without being married. I wish to clarify immediately that they wish very much to marry but cannot because David has no identity papers, and in the 21st century it is impossible to marry without such papers. It is also impossible to study, work, or have property. By refusing to issue him ID papers, Bulgarian state (with the help of Armenian state) has made him a non-person.
When somebody is in such a difficult situation, people tend to think that he is to be blamed for it, that he has made something wrong. David, now 24, was only 6 when his family moved from Armenia to Bulgaria. They wished to remain but had difficulties because the residence fee of 1000 lv. per person was too high for them. They protested and even made a hunger strike. I think they were not right - after they were not refugees but candidate immigrants, they had to pay what Bulgarian law prescribed without grumbling or look for another country offering better conditions. Anyway, even if the actions of David's parents had annoyed Bulgarian authorities, no civilized government would revenge against a young child for his parents's deeds.
David went to primary school, which is mandatory under Bulgarian law. When he was 14, Bulgarian authorities finally allowed his family to obtain Bulgarian ID papers, provided that Armenian authorities would also do their part of the paperwork and give them a go-ahead. So David's parents obtained ID documents for themselves and for their daughter (David's sister). However, Armenian authorities refused to give a go-ahead for David because, according to them, he had to return to Armenia to serve 3 years in the army. David of course did not wish to return to a country which was just a vague memory to him. Meanwhile, he was denied permission to study in secondary school. Secondary education is not mandatory in Bulgaria and school authorities said that they "did not know" who David was. (Bulgarian citizens first obtain ID card at that age, 14. In my post about Busmanci, a young candidate immigrant from Nigeria named Olatodun Ibitui is mentioned. He is almost in the same situation as David, having lived in Bulgaria since age 5 but not allowed to study in secondary school. Now he is job-seeking but, despite being very intelligent, he will have giant difficulties. Labour market in present-day Bulgaria kicks back people without high school diplomas.)
To this day, David is living outlawed, his only ID paper being his Armenian birth certificate. He cannot obtain a work permit, so he just helps his parents in their family business. Several times per year, David is subpoenated to the police department in his town of Montana. They tell him that he is living here illegally and must leave his family's home and Bulgaria. They are also consistently trying to obtain a deportation order for him.
On May 5, David was ordered to go to the police department again. Natasha Filipova, head of the local Migration service of the police, gave him to sign a document in Armenian. David refused to sign a text written in a language he does not speak. When his parents came to translate the document, it turned out to be an application by David to be allowed to go to Armenia. The Armenian ambassador declared that this document had not been prepared by the Embassy. Apparently some bright head at the Montana police department has written it and got it translated to Armenian at taxpayers' expense in order to press David to "request" his own deportation.
In an April 29 Mediapool article by Irina Nedeva titled Arevik and David - a love story between Montana, Erevan and Busmanci, the head of the Young Armenians' Charity Union Victor Baramov is quoted to say that his organization has many other examples of people without a legal status in Bulgaria despite having lived here for 20 or more years.
Our domestic civil society is weak and is only now awakening to this problem; but where are the EU institutions and international human rights organizations looking?
If you want to tell our Ministry of Interior and the Montana Police Department what you think about their treatment of David Arutyunyan, their contact details are given in my previous post Help Arevik - innocent, pregnant, imprisoned.
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Help Arevik: innocent, pregnant, imprisoned
Arevik with her beloved David (photo copied from Svetla Encheva's blog).
I know Arevik's story from Bulgarian bloggers Svetla Encheva (here and here) and Lyd (here and here).
Briefly, Arevik Shmavonyan is a young Armenian woman. 5 years ago, she met on Skype David Arutyunyan, a young man of Armenian origin living in the city of Montana, Bulgaria. They fell in love and about 3 months ago Arevik came to Bulgaria to unite with her beloved. They could not marry because Bulgarian bureaucracy refused to clear their paperwork, but started living together. After Arevik's 1-month visa expired, she obtained a permission to remain for additional 14 days. However, despite this permission she was sent to the infamous detention facility in the Sofia district of Busmanci, where refugees and candidate immigrants are kept indefinitely without clear reasons (I have blogged about this facility in my earlier post Prison by any other name).
In Busmanci, Arevik found out that she was pregnant. Her pregnancy is problematic, causing cyclic vomiting and severe eating and sleeping problems. Arevik has been in Busmanci already for one month, and for this time has been taken twice to hospital unconscious. Nevertheless, she is still kept there, in a room with about 10 other women and without adequate care. Although Arevik has done nothing wrong, her release is not in sight, and her life is in peril as well as the life of her unborn child.
I appeal to you to try to help Arevik. Svetla Encheva in her April 18 post gives a beautiful model letter citing appropriate quotes from Bulgarian and European legislature, as well as the addresses of the Montana Police Department whose orders have led to Arevik's imprisonment. I shall not translate the letter - knowing the English proficiency of our average law enforcer, I think a short note comprised of simple words would do a better job. In fact, I think that the police will be more impressed by the mere obtaining of messages from abroad written in English than by their text.
Here are two e-mail addresses of the Montana Police Department: rdvrmon@net-surf.net, police@net-surf.net. You can also fill this form. At the top line, you must select "MBP - област Монтана" (Montana Police Department). The lines below are, respectively, for your first name, family name, e-mail, postal address, subject of your message and then comes the field for the text of your message. You are also advised to send a paper letter at the following address:
Comissar Valeri Dimitrov
Police Department - Montana
2 Aleksander Stamboliiski Blvd
BG-3400 Montana
Bulgaria
I also advise you to turn to the Ministry of Interior in the capital Sofia. Its contact form is here. The lines are (from top) for your first name, family name, address, telephone, e-mail and below is the field for the text of the message. The postal address is as follows:
Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov
Ministry of Interior
29, 6th of September Street
BG-1000 Sofia
Bulgaria
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Bulgarian police intimidating a blogger, again
The title reminds my 2007 post Bulgarian police intimidating a blogger, and the two cases are distressingly similar. Now, however, we are not seeing the wide publicity and the blogger solidarity we saw in 2007. It seems that Bulgarians are in apathy after seeing in more and more detail the logical consequences of electing a cop to the position of Prime Minister, and after losing hope that EU would not tolerate a Third World situation in a member state. I learned about the present case from Svetla Encheva's blog.
The air of the Bulgarian city of Stara Zagora has been regularly polluted with high doses of sulphur dioxide for years. This pollution even has its own article in the Bulgarian Wikipedia. The presumed pollution sources are two large old-fashioned power stations located nearby. Some people, including blogger Genadi Mihaylov from Stara Zagora, also suspect a local military training square. Residents of the city have protested many times, to no avail.
Below, I am translating Genadi's Jan. 21 post Come to talk at the police station:
"'Hello, Mr. Mihaylov?'
'Yes, I am.'
'Good morning, I am calling you from the Stara Zagora Police Department.'
'Oooo...'
'I am calling you in relation to something that happened. Can you come to us to talk today?'
'Has something serious happened?'
'No, nothing, I just want to talk with you. When can you come here?
'In an hour or two, I suppose.'
(...)
When such a gentleman with extremely polite voice wakes you up, the wake-up is truly effective - like a laxative.
(...)
'Have you used Internet to announce the date of the protest?'
'Yes, in several Web forums.'
'And you have mentioned the word 'eggs'?'
'Yes, but I meant something entirely different. I have not appealed to anybody to spit on the minister...'
'This turned out to be a media speculation... You have attended the (Jan.) 18 protest (for clean air), haven't you?'
'Yes, I have.'
'And you haven't thrown eggs, have you?'
'No, I haven't.'
'And you do not know who has?'
'I only heard about it later from the news. I have no idea.'
'Have you seen any masked boys?'
'Yes, there were some.'
'Do you know who they were?'
'No, I don't. They were masked, how could I recognize them, even if I knew them?'
'Oh... One egg was thrown and the media reported it was raining eggs... so (superiors) called from (the capital) Sofia (emphasis by Genadi - M.M.)... anyway. Write down your full name and what we talked here...'
At that point, that uncle policeman (who was quite heavily built) opened at his computer a folder named 'eggs'. There were two my photos, this and this one. The next file was a text downloaded from the Web. Everything was of course absolutely serious.
I guarantee with my honour that everything I have written above is true.
...
Gas pollution poisoning hundreds of thousands of human beings vs. a bird embryo thrown at the local authorities by a gang of teenagers - nice, really nice.
Welcome to Absurdistan.
********
Of course that was not the entire conversation. In reality, it lasted half an hour, possibly an hour. The reason they called me to the police station was that I had posted the subject (on the forum) by copying the announcement for the protest which was already distributed all around the Web. Apart from the announcement, I really mentioned taking eggs (to the protest), but how could I know that someone would really take (and use) them? The basic idea was whether I could name the culprits. The policeman told me that at least several more people from the same forum had been called for questioning the previous day..."
The air of the Bulgarian city of Stara Zagora has been regularly polluted with high doses of sulphur dioxide for years. This pollution even has its own article in the Bulgarian Wikipedia. The presumed pollution sources are two large old-fashioned power stations located nearby. Some people, including blogger Genadi Mihaylov from Stara Zagora, also suspect a local military training square. Residents of the city have protested many times, to no avail.
Below, I am translating Genadi's Jan. 21 post Come to talk at the police station:
"'Hello, Mr. Mihaylov?'
'Yes, I am.'
'Good morning, I am calling you from the Stara Zagora Police Department.'
'Oooo...'
'I am calling you in relation to something that happened. Can you come to us to talk today?'
'Has something serious happened?'
'No, nothing, I just want to talk with you. When can you come here?
'In an hour or two, I suppose.'
(...)
When such a gentleman with extremely polite voice wakes you up, the wake-up is truly effective - like a laxative.
(...)
'Have you used Internet to announce the date of the protest?'
'Yes, in several Web forums.'
'And you have mentioned the word 'eggs'?'
'Yes, but I meant something entirely different. I have not appealed to anybody to spit on the minister...'
'This turned out to be a media speculation... You have attended the (Jan.) 18 protest (for clean air), haven't you?'
'Yes, I have.'
'And you haven't thrown eggs, have you?'
'No, I haven't.'
'And you do not know who has?'
'I only heard about it later from the news. I have no idea.'
'Have you seen any masked boys?'
'Yes, there were some.'
'Do you know who they were?'
'No, I don't. They were masked, how could I recognize them, even if I knew them?'
'Oh... One egg was thrown and the media reported it was raining eggs... so (superiors) called from (the capital) Sofia (emphasis by Genadi - M.M.)... anyway. Write down your full name and what we talked here...'
At that point, that uncle policeman (who was quite heavily built) opened at his computer a folder named 'eggs'. There were two my photos, this and this one. The next file was a text downloaded from the Web. Everything was of course absolutely serious.
I guarantee with my honour that everything I have written above is true.
...
Gas pollution poisoning hundreds of thousands of human beings vs. a bird embryo thrown at the local authorities by a gang of teenagers - nice, really nice.
Welcome to Absurdistan.
********
Of course that was not the entire conversation. In reality, it lasted half an hour, possibly an hour. The reason they called me to the police station was that I had posted the subject (on the forum) by copying the announcement for the protest which was already distributed all around the Web. Apart from the announcement, I really mentioned taking eggs (to the protest), but how could I know that someone would really take (and use) them? The basic idea was whether I could name the culprits. The policeman told me that at least several more people from the same forum had been called for questioning the previous day..."
Monday, March 15, 2010
International Women's Day in Iran, 2010
The text below was written by Saba Sobhi, Iranian freedom-loving university student, and posted on the WIP site. I advise you to read it, no matter what opinion you have of March 8 in general.
"We were returning from university talking with my friends about International Women's Day in last year and in years before, we wondered what should we do this year. On our way before we reach Vali-e-Asr intersection we saw a young girl maybe a high school girl.
Three surly women wearing chador and two bearded men with guns were surrounding her like hyenas surrounding their bait. They were harassing her and the poor innocent girl was horrified; her eyes looking for help.
She was quiet at first but talking with her eyes she asked: what have I done? What have I said?
When we got closer we noticed that they have searched her back and had found some posters with the picture of a woman on it crying in protest.
These street searches are executed in any time of the day and anywhere.
On the posters one could read this poem:
I will strike on the roots of the henchman,
You miserable you are the hay I am a woman!
(Pointing to Ahmadinejad’s calling the brave youths of Iran as hays).
And then;
the Iranian women honor the universal Women’s Day.
One of the Pasdar women (Revolutionary Guards) repeated the sentences and said: what else you wanted to do? This is striking at the structure of the state. To whom are you taking these posters? Do you want to distribute them among the school girls so that they would take into the streets on Women’s Day? Don’t you think we know what you intend to do? People like you have sunk the country into chaos. Moreover this so-called Women’s Day belongs to Moharebs, to seculars, this is an Islamic country and we don’t have a Women’s Day. This is none of your business. Just study your lessons and watch your veil!
People gathered there and protested: let her go. What has she done? What’s your business with her?
But while people were shocked with the act the Pasdars threatened her with gun and made her to get into their car and drove away.
I and my friends, while choked even more with our everyday tears were very sad because we couldn’t do anything for that innocent girl.
The girl was shouting: what have I done? It is only written that I am not hay I am a woman, what’s wrong with that? But her cries and our protest didn’t help.
These scenes are seen a lot in the sad streets of the city. Of course by Women’s Day coming up, street arrests have increased too..."
"We were returning from university talking with my friends about International Women's Day in last year and in years before, we wondered what should we do this year. On our way before we reach Vali-e-Asr intersection we saw a young girl maybe a high school girl.
Three surly women wearing chador and two bearded men with guns were surrounding her like hyenas surrounding their bait. They were harassing her and the poor innocent girl was horrified; her eyes looking for help.
She was quiet at first but talking with her eyes she asked: what have I done? What have I said?
When we got closer we noticed that they have searched her back and had found some posters with the picture of a woman on it crying in protest.
These street searches are executed in any time of the day and anywhere.
On the posters one could read this poem:
I will strike on the roots of the henchman,
You miserable you are the hay I am a woman!
(Pointing to Ahmadinejad’s calling the brave youths of Iran as hays).
And then;
the Iranian women honor the universal Women’s Day.
One of the Pasdar women (Revolutionary Guards) repeated the sentences and said: what else you wanted to do? This is striking at the structure of the state. To whom are you taking these posters? Do you want to distribute them among the school girls so that they would take into the streets on Women’s Day? Don’t you think we know what you intend to do? People like you have sunk the country into chaos. Moreover this so-called Women’s Day belongs to Moharebs, to seculars, this is an Islamic country and we don’t have a Women’s Day. This is none of your business. Just study your lessons and watch your veil!
People gathered there and protested: let her go. What has she done? What’s your business with her?
But while people were shocked with the act the Pasdars threatened her with gun and made her to get into their car and drove away.
I and my friends, while choked even more with our everyday tears were very sad because we couldn’t do anything for that innocent girl.
The girl was shouting: what have I done? It is only written that I am not hay I am a woman, what’s wrong with that? But her cries and our protest didn’t help.
These scenes are seen a lot in the sad streets of the city. Of course by Women’s Day coming up, street arrests have increased too..."
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Prison by any other name
The above videos are from the documentary The Bulgarian Guanatanamo, by Bulgarian journalist Ivan Kulekov. It was aired on Jan. 5, 2009 during the Slavi's Show on BTV Channel. I learned about the documentary and these videos from Svetla Encheva's post The Bulgarian Guantanamo - the silence of media and bloggers. If you are a person concerned with human rights in the EU, I strongly advise you to watch the videos. The documentary highlights the arbitrary detenion of foreigners, and human rights problems in Bulgaria are solved either by strong outside pressure or not at all. Most of what is said is not in English, so for readers who speak no Bulgarian, and also for those whose connection does not allow watching videos on the Web, I am providing below a sort of a transcript.
In the beginning of the first video, the caption "Slavi's Show" appears. The host of this TV show, Slavi Trifonov (bald, with glasses, in a suit), introduces Ivan Kulekov (with grey hair, in black jacket and black T-shirt). Kulekov talks about documentary he has made: "In a beautifully-looking from outside building in the Busmanci district of Sofia, people are kept imprisoned on an order by the secret services. These are people whose visas and identity documents are lost or expired, or who are in Bulgaria illegally, or are concerned a threat to national security. In this facility, the laws valid for Bulgarian citizens are not valid."
Then the documentary begins. A label appears, "Ministry of Interior, Immigration Directorate". The camera moves backwards and shows a tall fence with barbed wire on top. Kulekov's voice-over clarifies that this is the so-called Home for temporary accommodation of foreigners (Bulg. Dom za vremenno nastanyavane na chuzhdentsi) in the district of Busmanci.
We see a room overcrowded with men. One of them complains that the room is kept locked all night, then is unlocked at 7 AM, but only for a short time. The inmates want to urinate and defecate, they are told to urinate in a bottle. The strain leads to quarrels and even fights.
The camera shows a grey-haired man in a suit - Yotko Andreev, the director of the home. He says that there are foreigners from many countries in the home and the personnel tries to distribute them in rooms in a way minimizing the strain between them, but these efforts are not always successful.
A young black-haired inmate, Javed Nuri, says, "I have seen many poor countries, poor not economically but legally, yet I have nowhere else experienced such a poor law - to be imprisoned together with people who have served sentences for murder, and with sick people."
The camera shows a room overcrowded with men. Andreev admits that in the corresponding institutions in Belgium there are 2-4 people in a room and it is supplied with running water and toilet, while in his Home there are 10-18 people in a room with no water and toilet.
An old woman with glasses says in Russian that she has been caught at the airport with a false Lithuanian passport. Kulekov asks her whether she had known it was false and she answers, "Yes, I bought it". The camera shows two younger women flanking her, each hugging a child; one of them is wearing a headscarf. The Russian woman complains that there are no conditions in the Home. Asked what conditions she had expected, she answers, "(I wish) at least that they give people toilet paper!"
The camera shows a dark-haired woman - Valeria Ilareva, a lawyer. She says, "These are people who are de facto banned from work, who cannot even leave our country. There are many persons from the former Soviet Union who now have nowhere to return - no country would accept them. There is a man who have been kept in Busmanci for 3 years and has now been detained there for a second time. They have nowhere to deport him to, he has no country to return. He has come to Bulgaria back in the days when there was Soviet Union."
Andreev says, "Another group of foreigners who are sent to the Home are those who have served prison sentences but owe money to Bulgarian government. Until their cases are clarified, we keep them in the Home."
A black, bald man says in English, "Even if we have offended and maybe we have no documents to be in the country, at least they could listen to us and consider us. Now, we are here for almost one year. I came legally with a visa but the visa expired, so I cannot go back to my country. That is why I am here, and most of people are here."
A man from Syria (I think, the same who complained from the locked room) says, "I am here because my passport expired." Asked for how long he has lived in Bulgaria, he answers, "For 15 years. Married, with four children."
The camera shows him behind a window with bars, holding two of the children - boys who look about 3 and 1 year old, the younger one holding a rattle. Then we see four children in a room. I am not sure whether they are all his children - they seem too close in age to be from one family. They are three boys and a girl, all look younger than 5. There are matresses and toys scattered on the floor. A toddler is playing with a large cardbox, going into and out of it.
Then a headscarved woman talkes, with a 5-6-year old boy by her side. I cannot say whether she is the Syrian man's wife, and whether she is the same whom we saw earlier next to the Russian woman. She says in English, "No, I don't know how much I will stay here. Why we are here... We have children here. They want to help us, I see. They make a room for the children, they ask "What do you want?", they give clothes now. But I don't know. May be (to) live here (is) nice, the best for our (children?), I don't know." A toddler waves his rattle to the camera.
A middle-aged man - Dr. Ibrahim Dogmush, asks, "What is the fault of this child, the one you have photographed, to be in prison?"
The camera shows Nuri again. Kulekov's voice over, "Motivated by desparation and as a sign of protest against his arbitrary detention by the secret services, on Aug. 24, 2006 Javed Nuri covered himself in bedsheets and set himself on fire."
Nuri continues the tale himself, "I decided that death is better than living in such suffering. The deputy director of Busmanci came and said, "We cannot forget (?) people who have set themselves on fire." And then they threw me into the isolator. I was injured, my legs were black. It was called Three days had passed from my surgery and they threw me into that room without a bed, without bedsheets. To throw there an ill person - this doesn't happen even at Guantanamo."
The camera shows a man behind bars; his name is Tariq Adilsami. He talks in English.
"Where do you come from?", Kulekov asks.
"Palestine."
"Why are you here?"
"Because I don't have documents... I do not know why they brought me here. I have (made) no problems, I do not have any problems here. They keep me here for more than a month. Why?"
"Why did you choose to come to Bulgaria?"
"Somebody told me Bulgaria is a country in Europe."
Here, the first video ends and the second one begins.
"For how long will you stay here?"
"I don't know. People don't give me how long time I'll spend here, don't speak with me... I want my rights here, in Bulgaria. I want my rights, but they don't give me my rights."
"Have you a lawyer?"
"I speak with somebody for a lawyer, but I'm waiting now for months and no one comes to see me."
Andreev: "The idea is not to keep the person long in this building, but to achieve the (authorities's) goals, to talk with the foreigner in the meantime (while he is detained) so that he realizes he has made a mistake."
Ilareva: "In countries that have rule of law, it provides efficient guarantees against abuse of power. Decisions are not left to the discretion of those who hold power, but must be inside clear frames given by the law."
Andreev: "The case with Sid Kazdoev, who identifies himself as a Chechen, is very sensitive for our Home. He has been kept at Block No. 3 (presumably a punitive isolator - M.M.) for a long period. I have been Director of this Home for 3 months (and I cannot be responsible for what has happened before). The reason to keep Kazdoev in this block for so long is that my predecessor has decided so. He thought it was best for security of other inmates and of Kazdoev himself to hold him there for a longer time. (Kulekov asks for how long.) More than 7 months.
Ilareva reminds that the maximum length of isolation as a disciplinary measure in prisons is 14 days.
A young black man with glasses in an orange jacket, whose name is Oladotun Ibitui, says, "They say it is not a prison, but unfortunately it is a prison. I was ready for everything, even to die there. Because they do not tell you for how long they will keep you there."
Ilareva: "In Spain, illegal immigrants cannot be detained for more than 40 days."
A middle-aged black man with a blue hat named Qassim Usi Machanoh, in a very muserable shelter: "I have been in Busmanci for 2 years and 5 months... as a prisoner, and worse than a prisoner. I have been here for a year and a half. I have no right to work, no right at anything... No help from anywhere. Should I become a thief? (Asked whether he believes) I used to believe, I don't know anymore... I lose my faith... I was born Muslim but I realized that everybody has the right to choose his religion. I don't know anymore whether I am a Muslim or a Christian. I go to churches, I go everywhere, people pray to one and the same God..."
Ibitui again: "I was there for 1 year and 4 months. The authorities only waited until I turned 18 to say that I was illegal, have no right to live in Bulgaria and must go back to the monkeys in Africa. "We will send you back to Africa where the monkeys are." In my country - Nigeria, there are 1500 Bulgarians."
Nuri: "If somebody is a threat for national security, he must be charged. Evidence must be presented, and he must be tried. And then go to prison, not to a Home for temporary accommodation of foreigners."
Ibitui: "My father - what happened to him? A healthy man, never had any problems, never complained of anything. They kept him detained for 7 months. Then the doctor measured high blood pressure. They did not want him to die at their hands, so they released him. They released him at the 8th month, and he died at the 9th month. One month later, a Syrian man died at their hands."
Andreev (apparently commenting the Syrian's death): "It was the result of (stomach) ulcer hemorrhage - a natural death."
A bearded man named Ahmed Bethaush talking from behind bars in English, "I am here because I am ill. This is a hospital. I have been here for 4 months, because I don't have money to go to my country..."
"Have you made any offence?"
"No, I have done nothing, just don't have any documents."
"For how long will you stay in Busmanci?"
"One year, two years..."
"Why did you escape from Algeria?"
"I need to go to Algeria. I like Algeria. I speak to the boss that I need to go to Algeria. But they say there is no plane or no money, I don't know... This is a problem of Busmanci."
Ilareva: "It is not about the Arabs at all. It is about basic human rights to which every human beings is entitled just because of the fact of being human. Regardless of whether he has documents or not, to what religion or nationality he belongs... If we allow foreigners to be detained withour court, maybe in the near future the same will happen to Bulgarian citizens."
Nuri: "The word "dom" (home) is a nice word, everybody wants to be at home, but for me it now means things so terrible that I do not want to remember them, so I would wish never to hear this word again."
The last footage from the Busmanci institution is the face of a toddler looking close at the camera.
Closing words of Kulekov: "Dear viewers, it turns out it is legal to imprison somebody just because he has contracted tuberculosis. Everything happening at Busmanci is legal. It is legal to send a person behind bars just because one or two secret service officers have suggested so, and to keep him imprisoned for years. It is legal to keep immigrants and refugees for 15-20 years without permit to work and study because buraucrats have not solved their cases. Bulgaria is the only European country without provision for amnesty of immigrants, but this is legal here. There are such antihuman laws in action."
Update Feb. 20: Svetla Encheva reports that the inmates in Busmanci are now protesting, at least 25 of them are on hunger strike. Her Feb. 19 post includes a video showing the protest from outside. Allegations of corruptions are discussed - foreigners claim to have been told that they must give bribes to obtain favourable decision on their status, identical cases are solved differently and nobody explains why.
Saturday, January 23, 2010
In Bangladesh, women must be virtuous, not alive
Below, I am copying a part of the article A Hidden Truth Behind Climate Change, by Riane Eisler.
"Studies show that women are 14 times more likely to die in natural disasters. One heart-rending study of a Bangladesh flash flood found that 90 percent of casualties were female. Many factors contributed to this high casualty rate which were all avoidable. A woman's role in this Southeast Asian nation, as in most of the Middle East and parts of Africa, is one of dependency - so of course, these Bangladeshi women were not taught to swim. But perhaps the most important factor was that they lived and died in a culture where women are so rigidly controlled that they aren't permitted to leave their homes without being accompanied by a male family member. When the flash flood occurred, they sadly stayed and drowned."
"Studies show that women are 14 times more likely to die in natural disasters. One heart-rending study of a Bangladesh flash flood found that 90 percent of casualties were female. Many factors contributed to this high casualty rate which were all avoidable. A woman's role in this Southeast Asian nation, as in most of the Middle East and parts of Africa, is one of dependency - so of course, these Bangladeshi women were not taught to swim. But perhaps the most important factor was that they lived and died in a culture where women are so rigidly controlled that they aren't permitted to leave their homes without being accompanied by a male family member. When the flash flood occurred, they sadly stayed and drowned."
Tuesday, January 05, 2010
Happy New Year 2010 to Enercon
Enercon E-112 prototype with two REpower 5M prototypes at Cuxhaven test field (image cropped from Wikipedia).
Our likes and dislikes may have different bases - some are rational, some are not. My pro-americanism, which is no secret for those who know or read me, is rational. It is based on what the USA do and don't do. And as soon as they do things that seem to me bad, I will attack them. I have already done this (and I intend to do it again) in relation to the Judge Rotenberg Center. This will also be a fiercely anti-American post, featuring another event.
Let me begin with a quote from Wikipedia:
"Enercon GmbH, based in Aurich, Northern Germany, is the third-largest wind turbine manufacturer in the world and has been the market leader in Germany for several years... Enercon was prohibited from exporting their wind turbines to the US until 2010 [1] due to alleged infringement of U.S. Patent 5,083,039 [2]. Recently a cross patent agreement was agreed with its competitor General Electric. Enercon claims their intellectual property was stolen by Kenetech (US Windpower, Inc.) and patented in the US before they could do so. Kenetech made similar claims against Enercon. However, solid evidence has been presented that shows there was espionage against Enercon... According to a National Security Agency employee, detailed information concerning Enercon was passed on to Kenetech via ECHELON.[1][3] According to this report, the aim of the espionage against Enercon was the forwarding of details of Wobbens wind wheel to a US firm. The consequence was that the US firm patents the wind wheel before Wobben, resulting in a breach of patent rights."
So US intelligence agencies devoted their time, resources and infrastructure to intellectual property theft and then the US court issued a verdict against the victim company, inflicting more damages on it. Need I comment this disgusting abuse of power? I think not. I wonder, however, what US people are thinking about this. Are they aware? Do they think that "national interests" justify everything? If so, then Americans will lose their moral superiority over their enemies. Do they worry that preoccupation of US intelligence agents with theft may jeopardize national security? I would worry about this.
Despite stealing innovations it could not develop itself, Kenetech company did not do well. Maybe evil deeds are indeed punished by God, as religious people claim, or bring bad luck, as superstitious people say. Anyway, Kenetech went bankrupt as early as 1996. Here are some relevant quotes from the European Tribune forum:
"Moon also references why Enercon turbines, the best in the world, are not available in the US. And that's only the surface of the sordid story. I fought Kenetech most of my career, because of precisely these kinds of actions. Their bankruptcy was a vindication of sorts for me personally, and my credibility in the industry. In actuality, GE now holds the old Kenetech patents, which expire in 2010, and Enercon has already made a royalty deal with them. But for political reasons, they have no wish to do business in the US... As someone formerly involved in the Aerospace industry, (I know that) this is standard practice for US firms and the US government. That's why I tend to make with the hollow laughing at a lot of the claims about "allies" and US innovation and various other topics."
This story touches me even more because of my soft spot for alternative energy. As I wrote once on Anglo-Libyan's blog, "at high school, I used to go to the university library and read books and articles about photosynthesis. I wanted to construct a chlorophyll-based solar battery. Such plans to save the world, the details varying according to personal areas of interest, seem to be usual at that age - though rarely talked about :-)." Several books on alternative energy sources (including wind power) bought at that time can still be found in my mother's library - the usual location for the books of a married woman.
In the summer of 1996, I saw live for the first time wind turbines, and they must have been Enercon's. I was on my way to my first (and only so far) international congress with several other Bulgarians, our participation being made possible by the enormous generosity of the German host. Soon after we crossed the Czech-German border, a colleague who had travelled the same path before said to me, "Look through the window and you'll soon see three wind turbines". And indeed, after a short time their beautiful giant silhouettes appeared in the blue evening sky, like something out of this world.
Later, I saw wind turbines on Bulgarian land. On our way to the sea resort town of Primorsko (described in my Aug. 2, 2006 post), we spotted several turbines near Sliven, a city famous for its winds. We had no sea vacation the following year because our younger son was still a baby. The next year (2008), we put both children in the car and set out for Primorsko, again, despite our slight dislike for its over-development. As we approached Sliven, I kept my eyes open for the wind turbines. However, I saw only one! Being a malignant pessimist, I immediately started thinking that something terrible had happened to the rest. But this was not the case. Several minutes later, the old group of turbines appeared in sight; it turned out that I had not remembered their proper location and the lonely turbine we had seen first was in fact a new addition. As we passed near them, I read the inscription "Enercon" on them. A year later, I first heard about the espionage story from the Explorer TV channel.
Now, as 2010 has arrived, I am glad that the ban that should never have been imposed is to expire. I wish more profits and less troubles to Enercon owners and employees. Will there be any reaction from the USA? Ordinary Americans could tell the story to those who don't know it yet and write about it in their blogs. Posslibly also e-mail their representatives in Congress that US security agencies should protect Americans from their enemies, rather than rob other countries. And President Barack Obama could welcome Enercon on US soil and say how sorry he is for what happened. After all, he is good at speeches (if not at anything else) and is always happy when he can bash his country.
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