Tuesday, July 12, 2005

final fling

just want to do one more little post on the recent bombings. it's gotten under my skin that people don't seem to understand what is going on culturally and politically here.

this morning on the radio [yes daggy old 774] i heard a segment called the world according to scott featuring scott burchill who is a lecturer in international relations at deakin uni [here in melbourne]

after i stopped thinking 'what a great title for a blog - the world according to moi' i listened to what he was saying.

and what he said echoed and reinforced what i have been saying.

[paraphrasing here] basically that the bombings are a result of policy. and that the americans show their self-interest regarding which countries they "get involved in" [ie in a peace-keeping way or an invading way]. that the chances of australia suffering terrorist attacks are greater now because we also became "involved". and that islamic countries are feeling angry due to several things: israel/palestine; atrocities in the US prisons and the occupation of Iraq.

also i mentioned earlier about the insult to muslims worldwide about things that have been reported as happening at abu ghraib and guantanamo. the recent riots in afghanistan [which interestingly lead to newsweek retracting its story - a whitewash i believe] which were caused by reports that korans had been mishandled [understatement]. this is a huge offence to any muslim, moderate or fanatical. and the cultures and customs practised in muslim/islamic countries mean that things like this require revenge. the concept of saving face is one that westerners don't truly understand or share. also the photographs of iraqi prisoners with dog leashes around their necks [dogs are considered very dirty animals by muslims. it is a great insult to call someone a dog], naked prisoners tied up and displayed, made to masturbate in front of women. this treatment is disgusting and it makes me angry and ashamed. imagine how it makes a person whose religion teaches that you must practice modesty [men and women], and remain chaste before marriage [matter of conjecture whether this is followed, anecdotal evidence suggests not].

enough said.

ps can anyone explain to me how no one noticed abandoned items [rucksacks in some articles, parcels in others] left on seats on the bus and trains? when i lived in london in 1990, everybody noticed things like that [because of ira bombings]. you would think that they would still be in the manner of thinking like that, alert [if not alarmed]. it's the way we need to start thinking here too. when i lived in istanbul in the early-to-mid '90s, terrorist bombs were a regular thing. the old part of istanbul didn't have any rubbish bins. they were all taken away because it was too easy to just leave something in there, and it would be hidden from sight. i remember getting nervy standing in lines to use public phones, and not wanting to hang around crowded places, especially if there were soldiers there on leave. they were targets you see, as well as tourist areas. in those days "terrorist" was not an exclusive term reserved for al-qaeda et al. it included the ira, the pkk, hezbollah and other organisations. things have changed and we need to change with the times.

3 comments:

GS said...

Agreed! Finally another blogger who hasn't been sucked in by all the fearmongering pap. (see http://www.mpike.net/guernica/?p=30#comments to understand my current frustration!

Re the bags on the tube. I guess it depends on how crowded it is. Sometimes you couldn't see your own feet.

Melba said...

thanks - you're right about the bags if they were on the ground of the train i suppose. it was peak hour but don't you sense ownership of a bag? i know even here i keep an eye out. you know, match up possessions with people. it's like a game.

Aleks - Anarcho-Syndicalist said...

The sad thing is we have become a target for "terrorists" (which is such a vexed term).

Gareth Evans, for all his flaws, realised Australia was not a major player in international politics. The Howard Government however, have always thought we are a major player in international politics. The result has been that the people who we shouldn't want to be ware of our policies are, but our "allies" and other major powers still view us as insignificant.