The Middle East and British Work Culture

A rather odd concoction to say the least, but bear with me...

In July 2006, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice informed us, in the thick of another round of Israel vs Lebanon, we were witnessing the "birth pangs of a new Middle East." Au contraire Madam Secretary. A rather sadistic description of the death and destruction that was wreaked over Southern Lebanon as well as the death of over a hundred Israeli soldiers one may retort. Quite how the miracle of life has become synonymous with war crimes is beyond any intellectual or reasonable explanation.

It was Franz Fanon who articulated the 'culture of violence' thesis, which has effectively portrayed the developments of post-apartheid South Africa and many other nations, which also seems to have found currency within mainstream political discourse. Recently, an Iraqi lost her parents, her two brothers along with their pregnant wives and four nephews and nieces. Another lost her husband and three children aged six, four and two. A twenty four year old mother watched her 18 month toddler killed by a rocket. Whoever pulled the trigger, it seems the cement between Iraqis and violence has set (see here).

How are such tragedies treated by politicians? "Unfortunate," "unintentional," and most prolifically, "unavoidable." If these events are continually marginalised, outrightly dismissed and even contested in the public arena, is there any wonder that those on the ground behave as equally dismissively, immune to the repercussions (psychological and others) of their actions? More pertinently, are they then justifiable if they see no moral deficit in such actions? (Applying equally to nation states too.. Abu Ghraib, Srebrenica, Qanaa - let us not have amnesia, intentional or otherwise)

Secretary Rice believes it is "an achievable goal to have an agreement between the Palestinians and Israelis by the end of the year." Effective political discourse requires a cohesion of sorts between rhetoric and action, which also serves to espouse intentions. Hence, whilst settlements continue to expand, the wall continues to grow and rights are not fulfilled one is entitled to question this. Apologies Madam Secretary, but US actions are not matching your rhetoric, whose being disingenuous I hear you whisper?

In the local news one comes across a rather interesting assessment of the new British work culture that is gripping us. Apparently we work so hard, we forget to take care of our children prompting schools to remain open office hours, 8am to 6pm. Children receive their breakfast, lunch and probably dinner at the hands of the state. Is this simply work culture? Or is it economic survival? Materialism, consumerism and self-indulgence one may also suggest. Many parents work hard to give their children a more pleasurable life, no doubt, but with the recent spate of child killings (Rhys Jones etc.) one wonders whether we prefer for our children a material life or alternatively, no life at all!

So how does the latter relate to the former, or is this all hopscotch? Family life underpins society, and in both the above cases whilst a strong, morally upright and ethical framework does not exist amongst family relations, one can not expect social cohesion and social rectification to ward off bombs, knives, ASBOs or teenage killings.

"Perhaps the greatest social service that can be rendered by anybody to this country and to mankind is to bring up a family" : George Bernard Shaw

Boris + The Rest of Humanity

After the euphoria over the London Mayoral, it now seems appropriate to turn our attention abroad where, believe it or not, the world has continued to revolve...

Perhaps once the papers can overcome their excitement / intrigue with the election of Boris Johnson, a man to whom a number of 'gaffes' and potentially racist and xenophobic remarks can be attributed to (see here), how is the rest of the world dealing with it I hear you cry?

Iraq is still in chaos, apparently more "militants" have been killed in Sadr city today. I have always wondered at how one differentiates between militants and civilians when conducting air raids from tens of thousands of feet up in the air? I suspect there to be some civilian deaths within that figure, but as US General Tommy Franks said, "We don't do body counts," hence I don't expect any questions to be asked. Where are the humanists when you need them?

When placed in addition to the recent revelations by General Sanchez, whom in his book writes "hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars were unnecessarily spent, and worse yet, too many of our most precious military resource, our American soldiers, were unnecessarily wounded, maimed, and killed as a result. In my mind, this action by the Bush administration amounts to gross incompetence and dereliction of duty." Would it be cynical to dream that any competent commentators of analysts would pick up on this 'minor' statement? Well they brushed of Nobel prize economist Joseph Stiglitz estimation of the cost of war falling between $1-2 trillion dollars (yes - a twelve zeroed sum) and his accusation of Bush misleading the public, so one can not be too hopeful that anyone would pick up on the comments of a three star General (discharged for the Abu Ghraib crimes).

I don't mean to continue the theme of 'anti-Americanism' but that Al-Jazeera cameraman did finally make it back home, after almost seven years of detention. Notice detention is used as opposed to incarceration. No trial was conducted, no evidence was brought forward and he must now rebuild his life without any help - as if he could have expected any - he was after all only bringing a new media perspective of the consequences of a NATO invasion of Afghanistan.

Finally, before I hit the sack, the small issue of a people without a land, for a land - well I don't thinks its empty any more or indeed ever was. A severe water shortage in addition to fuel plus a lack of humanitarian assistance makes one wonder at the civility of those imposing the blockade on Gaza. Did the Gazans bring this on themselves? A poignant question one can not disregard. They do however deserve the basic human right to security, shelter and food one would retort. Continued rocket fire into Israel, I believe is not a conducive long term strategy. But to be fair, diplomacy and democracy does not seem to offer any vantage points either (remember Oslo and the 2006 elections?).

Olmert being questioned by the police on corruption charges does not bode well, it was only recently that Katsav pleaded guilty to sexual harassment charges and Sharon's son, Omri, was indicted on corruption charges.

The result, one may enquire perhaps? Endemic injustice as well as a disproportionate and misdirected foreign and national policy. I'll leave you to decide which nation I'm talking about...

"Politics, as the word is commonly understood, are nothing but corruption" : Jonathen Swift