Author: Kanayan Tamar

Al-Ahram Weekly, Egypt
Sept 9 2004
The limits of loyalty
Amending Lebanon’s constitution by Syrian dictate has thrown the
country into political turmoil, writes Mohalhel Fakih
Lebanon’s government is in crisis after four ministers tendered their
resignation in protest over a vote in parliament that amended the
constitution to extend President Emile Lahoud’s mandate for another
three years. The legislative move changed Lebanon’s political
landscape and intensified domestic and international pressure on
Syria, putting both Beirut and Damascus on a collision course with
the United Nations Security Council, the United States and Europe.
But Syria’s allies, especially President Lahoud, made clear they will
only deepen ties with Damascus and warned that the Lebanese face the
choice of either supporting Syria at this “dangerous” period or
backing US plans in the Middle East.
“I tendered my resignation,” Environment Minister Fares Boueiz told
reporters after a Monday meeting with Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. He
had voted on Friday against a bill in parliament to amend the
constitution and extend the former Lebanese Army commander’s mandate,
a poll that the US charged was a result of a campaign of “threats”
and intimidation by Syria and “its agents”, drawing immediate denials
from Syria’s Information Minister Ahmed Al-Hassan. He told a news
conference in Damascus that “the most important thing of all is that
brotherly Syrian and Lebanese relations take the path of more
cooperation, coordination and congruity.”
Hariri, a long time rival of Lahoud, had sent clear signals that he
would not stay in office if the president remained. But after a
meeting with senior Syrian officials, Hariri himself proposed an
amendment of the constitution to annul elections, citing Middle East
tensions. Now, the fate of Hariri’s government looks uncertain.
“We are quitting the government,” Economy and Trade Minister Marwan
Hamadeh told a gathering. Hamadeh and two of his colleagues,
representing Druze leader MP Walid Jumblatt, had voiced vocal
dissatisfaction with the parliamentary vote. Jumblatt, an ally of
Syria, had rejected the decision to extend Lahoud’s term, claiming
the country was moving closer to military rule.
Hariri, an ally of Jumblatt, who conceived and implemented plans to
reconstruct Lebanon following the 1975-1990 Civil War, confirmed on
Monday that consultations will soon be held “on the fate of Boueiz’s
resignation and other resignations that could occur, as well as the
general situation of the government after returning from a series of
visits that will end on the 17th of this month.” Hariri is scheduled
to visit Cairo, Madrid and Brussels, but has reportedly cancelled a
trip to New York.
His bloc in parliament voted in favour of amending the constitution,
despite earlier condemnations. One of the deputies, Ghattas Khoury,
cast a ballot against electing Lahoud. His colleague MP Nabil de
Freij supported the amendment but said Khoury did not want to give in
to threats that he had been allegedly receiving. De Freij described
the parliamentary session as a “sad masquerade” but justified his
vote as a sign that he would not “give up on [Hariri]”.
Fresh from a resounding victory, Lahoud promised to launch new
development programmes across the country and give an added push to
the agriculture sector, clearly sending a signal as to who is in
charge. Beirut is rife with reports that Lahoud is planning to form a
mixed government of technocrats and politicians. The post-war
constitution, which distributed power on confessional basis, gave the
prime minister executive authority, but Hariri has on several
occasions complained that Lahoud was blocking his policies including
internationally backed privatisation plans.
The president should expect tough opposition not only from a
fragmented Christian community that opposes Syria’s military presence
in Lebanon, but also from some Muslim politicians and Druze leader
Jumblatt, whose 16 allies in parliament, along with the Christian
opposition Qornet Shehwan gathering, voted against amending the
constitution. Nevertheless, Lahoud told hundreds of visitors at the
Baabda Palace, congratulating him on staying in office, that: “this
sort of arrangement [ties with Syria] will continue with the aim of
achieving just and complete and lasting peace, which spreads the
stability which Lebanon and Syria enjoy over other countries in the
region.”
The head of state received unequivocal support from Hizbullah.
Casting ballots for Lahoud in the 96-20 vote, with three not
attending the parliamentary session, were a large array of deputies
and legislators belonging to Hizbullah. The Shia group warned the
Lebanese that the next 30 days set out by a UN Security Council’s
resolution, which was passed hours before parliament voted to keep
the president, were fraught with “danger”. Hizbullah Secretary-
General Sayed Hassan Nasrallah, a top ally of Syria, said Syrian
troops, who entered Lebanon at the onset of the Civil War, should
remain, crediting Damascus for stability and unity in the country.
Nasrallah was a target of the US-French backed resolution calling for
the withdrawal of “foreign troops”, in reference to Syria, disarming
“militias” and sending Lebanese Army soldiers to the south. He
rejected the Security Council decision, as did Lebanon and Syria, and
accused the UN body of “lying” about wanting to protect Lebanon’s
sovereignty and independence, citing Israel’s almost daily breaches
of Lebanese airspace and its previous military invasions. Nasrallah
told a rally in Beirut’s southern suburbs that army garrisons were
sent to the south following Israel’s May 2000 pullout, but the aim of
the resolution was to protect US and Israeli interests, and to
permanently settle Palestinian refugees in Lebanon.
Hizbullah remains the only armed group following the end of the
Lebanon war on grounds that it continues to fight Israel’s occupation
of the Shebaa Farms region, a region the UN ruled was Syrian, but
Beirut and Damascus insist is Lebanese. Hizbullah has been branded a
terrorist group by Washington, which blames Syria for the influence
it holds. The organisation is hailed throughout the Arab world as a
resistance force to Israeli aggression.
This regional angle of Hizbullah and a Syrian struggle with the US
and France, and eventually the United Nations, turned the extension
of the former Army General’s mandate into a regional power tussle,
with Syria declaring victory. Syrian officials have said the fact
that Washington and Paris had to water down the Security Council
resolution that they drafted, not mentioning Syria by name, and a
nine-vote minimum possible approval at the world body, showed that
the US “failed”. But the resolution warning against intervention in
Lebanon’s presidential election also gave UN chief Kofi Annan 30 days
to ensure implementation and warns of “additional measures”.
Hizbullah’s leader urged the Lebanese to rally behind Lahoud.
Meanwhile, Syria’s strong ally and Maronite political heavyweight,
Health Minister Sleiman Franjieh, said Lebanon was now “either with
Syria or against Syria”. Franjieh had initially opposed extending
Lahoud’s mandate but told a news conference he agreed with the
official justification that regional tensions and Israeli “threats”
were behind amending the constitution, a decision that the US dubbed
“crude mockery” by Syria.
Hizbullah Deputy Mohamed Raad, who leads the nine-member bloc of
Hizbullah in parliament, said they voted to amend the constitution
“to support Lahoud and to reject the policies of the American
administration in the region”.
There were many who disagreed with Raad and Franjieh, including the
Maronite Church, to which the health minister and the president
belong. And the head of the Progressive Socialist Party, MP Jumblatt,
backed the Church’s condemnation of the amendment although he was
cautious not to publicly attack Syria.
“Syria gives orders, appoints leaders, organises parliamentary and
other elections, brings in whoever it wants and drops whoever it
wants and interferes in all aspects of life: in the administration,
the judiciary, the economy and particularly politics, through its
representatives here and its aides,” Maronite bishops, led by
Patriarch Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir, said. They added that Damascus
“compromises Lebanese interests in international forums and protects
the corrupt and the corrupters, while some of its nationals and some
Lebanese share the spoils and trade in power.”
The amendment provoked several campaigns to oppose an extension of
Lahoud’s mandate and Syria’s role in Lebanon, including from a
multi-confessional gathering of some 200 leading intellectuals and
opposition groups participating in what they called the “Petition to
Defend the Republic and the Constitution”. They lashed out at
Damascus for “imposing” its will on Lebanon and “endangering” both
countries.
At the same time, representatives of some 25 political factions and
parties, including Hizbullah, the Baath Party, Armenian Tashnak
Party, and House Speaker Nabih Berri’s Amal Movement, converged on
the United Nations headquarters and protested against an alleged
French-US effort “to separate the Syrian- Lebanese attachment” which
they said “is impossible”. They warned that international pressure
only “endangers civil peace”.
The current divisions were described as menacing by the highest
authority of Shia Muslims in Lebanon Sheikh Abdul-Amir Qabalan and
were blamed by top Sunni religious leaders, headed by the Mufti of
the Republic Sheikh Mohamed Rashid Qabbani, on the US, while
attributing stability in Lebanon to Damascus. Both clerics had
reportedly earlier rejected an amendment of the constitution though
their statements were withdrawn. They have now said in one statement
that they support the amendment, “to stand up against Israeli threats
and the American diktat”.
US moves had put those opposing Syria in a corner. They insist that
they do not support foreign intervention in Lebanon but that Lahoud
should have gone. Sunni Muslim MP Mosbah Ahdab declared allegiance to
strong strategic ties with Syria but said he opposed an extension of
the president’s mandate, which would in his words “extend the crisis
for another three years”. Furthermore, he raised charges of threats
made against him to modify his position.
Ahdab appeared to be referring to a power struggle between Lahoud and
Hariri that virtually paralysed the state due to their economic
policy differences. Hariri refused to form a government when Lahoud
first came to office in 1998, and stayed in the opposition ranks
until he and his allies scored an unprecedented parliamentary victory
in 2000.
“There is no winner and no loser,” Lahoud declared. He said the
differences of opinion that emerged following the constitution’s
amendment were at the core of Lebanon’s democracy. He called for
opening a new page. Yet although Lebanon is accustomed to rancorous
politics, and despite calling US and French condemnations of amending
the constitution “interference in internal affairs”, Lahoud and the
Lebanese have to face up to the fact that Washington appears to have
its eyes focussed on the country.
“We are gravely concerned that the will of the people has been
circumvented by Syrian actions that led to this vote,” Tom Casey,
State Department spokesman told reporters.

Armenian, Polish defence ministers discuss cooperation
PAP news agency
6 Sep 04
Warsaw, 6 September: Security in the Caucasus, Iraq and Afghanistan and
military cooperation dominated Monday’s [6 September] talks in Warsaw between
Armenian and Polish defence ministers Serge Sargsyan and Jerzy Szmajdzinski.
Szmajdzinski described Poland’s experience with NATO and UN peace missions in
the Mideast and the Balkans, both politicians also discussed a defence
cooperation agreement sealed today in the presence of both countries’ presidents.
Sargsyan also announced the inclusion of a 50-strong Armenian military unit
in the Polish led stabilization force in Iraq.

Armenian President Arrives In Poland After Promising Troops To Iraq
Agence France Presse
Sept 5 2004
WARSAW, Sept 5 (AFP) – The president of Armenia, which is to contribute
troops to the Polish-led multinational force patrolling central and
southern Iraq, arrived in Poland on Sunday for a three-day official
visit.
During the visit by President Robert Kocharian, Armenia and Poland
are expected to sign a bilateral military cooperation agreement.
Polish Defence Minister Jerzy Szmajdzinski announced on Friday that
the former Soviet republic of Armenia was to send 50 soldiers to the
6,500-strong multinational force that Poland commands in Iraq.
Armenia is to send “several dozen military personnel, specialists in
logistics, bomb disposal experts and doctors” to Iraq in late November
or early December, Polish deputy chief of staff, General Mieczyslaw
Cieniuch, said on Friday.
The Polish government has been a key US ally in Iraq but it has faced
strong domestic public opposition to the deployment of its troops
in Iraq and is now planning to significantly reduce its 2,500-strong
contingent there.
Kocharian was met in the northern port city of Gdansk on Sunday by
his Polish counterpart Aleksander Kwasniewski. The two heads of
state visited the historic part of the city before travelling to
Kwasniewski’s residence in Jurata, a resort on the Baltic coast.

The Cincinnati Post
Gold medalist out at U.S. Open
By Diane Pucin
Los Angeles Times
EZRA SHAW/Getty Images
Sargis Sargsian celebrates after defeating Nicolas Massu in five sets.
NEW YORK — All day, all night, all around the grounds of the United States
Tennis Center, emotions overflowed.
An Olympic gold medalist howled in despair.
Nicolas Massu, who played a four-hour, five-set match against Mardy Fish in
Athens, Greece, to win that gold, played the second-longest match in U.S.
Open history and lost Thursday night.
On Court 11, packed with cheering Chilean fans for him and noisy Armenian
fans against him, the 10th-seeded Massu was upset by 31-year-old Sargis
Sargsian, 6-7 (6), 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (6), 6-4. It took 5 hours 9 minutes, and at
the end Massu bent over, exhausted and disgusted. Sargsian was serenaded by
rooters who had chanted in Armenian all during the match. Only once, in a
1992 semifinal, had a match here gone longer when Stefan Edberg took 5:26 to
beat Michael Chang 6-7, 7-5, 7-6, 5-7, 6-4.
Massu broke rackets and carried on a 10-minute argument with chair umpire
Carlos Ramos after being penalized a game in the fifth set for his third
broken racket, one that was bounced so hard it caromed as high as his head.
Massu’s rant to Ramos was profane. His tirade an hour after the match was
angry.
“I can’t believe I lost the match,” Massu said. “It’s hard to believe that
this guy (Ramos) didn’t use the head a little bit. This guy come here, put
to me two, three warnings. If I have to pay something I pay, no problem. But
the third one? Unbelievable.”
The first warning for equipment abuse had come to Massu at 4-4 in the first
set after he wrecked a racket. Ramos gave Massu a point penalty in the 10th
game of the second set before taking away a game from him to start the fifth
set.
In a statement, tournament referee Brian Earley explained why Massu was
penalized a game. “There were three code violations for racket abuse,”
Earley said. “Following the Grand Slam code of conduct, the first code
violation resulted in a warning. The second violation resulted in a point
penalty. The third violation resulted in a game penalty.”
Three crushed rackets had been discarded by Massu, stark proof of his anger.
The Olympic silver medalist didn’t have a good day either. Fish, seeded
26th, quarreled about line calls and hung his head after bad shots instead
of fighting to hit better ones until he left a 6-3, 3-6, 1-6, 6-3, 6-3 loser
to Czech qualifier Michal Tabara.
French Open champions grumbled and groaned as well.
Anastasia Myskina, seeded fourth, was dismissed, 7-6 (3), 6-3, in the second
round by a fellow Russian, 17-year-old Anna Chakvetadze who is ranked 175th.
And Gaston Gaudio of Argentina, seeded ninth, was a mostly passive
participant in his 6-3, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 loss to Thomas Johansson of Sweden.
Myskina considered the performance “a pretty bad match for me,” then said
she was all done in. “I’m really empty right now,” the 23-year-old said. “I
didn’t want to fight. I didn’t want to run. I didn’t want to do anything.”
Paying customers should love hearing that.
Gaudio, too, just shrugged and muttered, “Too bad,” as he walked away from
the court.
But there were sounds of joy around the grounds.
Shikha Uberoi, an Indian American with an infectious laugh, embraced the
gargantuan Arthur Ashe Stadium court, clapped for herself and for her
opponent Venus Williams after good shots for both, giggled with glee when
Williams ended an enthralling rally with a winning passing shot and later
spoke with awe about the way the lights made her racket sparkle.
Uberoi, ranked 275th, fought hard against 11th-seeded Williams before losing
a second-round match, 7-5, 6-1.
Publication Date: 09-03-2004
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Diamanda Galás
Portland Tribune, OR
Sept 3 2004
Don’t be put off by Diamanda Galás’ image as a real-life Cruella
de Ville, a diva (a word she hates) ever ready with a withering
put-down. She’s a lot of fun on the phone, cursing her way through a
series of topics from the trivial to the grim. Galás, who lives in
New York’s East Village, will perform “Defixiones: Will and
Testament,” which is about genocide everywhere, with particular
reference to Turkish atrocities against the Armenians and Anatolians
in 1915 and 1922, and “La Serpenta Canta,” her more user-friendly
collection of blues and folk covers.
Screaming Jay Hawkins is easy to get, but the audience will
benefit from reading the English translation of the amazing texts
that make up “Defixiones.” (They are in the liner notes and on her
Web site, )
“It’s a mass, and masses have been described as bloodthirsty, they
are the protests of large groups of people,” she says. “Mine are not
passive masses; they are for people who have not been able to find
peace or apology.”
Having said that, she accepts her responsibility to communicate
though music and foreign language, as is standard in opera.
Galás is a classically trained pianist who as a teenager played
with her Greek Orthodox father in a hotel bar band. (She says that
when you’ve played the Carpenters’ “On Top of the World” 15 times a
night, you have a right to reinterpret it). She’s not afraid to drag
her operatic voice through the mud in the spirit of making the crowd
feel something.
And she loves Portland. “I feel like I am coming home whenever I
play there,” she says. “The freaks are genuine freaks.”
— Joseph Gallivan
“Defixiones: Will and Testament,” 9 p.m. Friday, Sept. 10, Newmark
Theatre, 1111 S.W. Broadway
“La Serpenta Canta,” 9 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 12, Newmark Theatre,
1111 S.W. Broadway
For both shows, advance reservations are required for pass
holders; call PICA, 503-242-1419.

–Boundary_(ID_Oyg3T8fNwh9sUyIKjyOWdA)
Content-typ e: message/rfc822
From: KM
Subject: ASBAREZ Online [08-30-2004]
MIME-version: 1.0
Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT
ASBAREZ ONLINE
TOP STORIES
08/30/2004
TO ACCESS PREVIOUS ASBAREZ ONLINE EDITIONS PLEASE VISIT OUR
WEBSITE AT <;HTTP:// 1) Armenian Genocide To Be Observed in Israel 2) US Plans to Increase Aid to Georgia 3) Karabagh To Celebrate 13th Anniversary 1) Armenian Genocide To Be Observed in Israel YEREVAN (Yerkir)--Yuri Stern, a member of the Armenian Caucus in the Israeli Knesset, said that the 90th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide should be observed in Israel. A government sponsored celebration dedicated to Komitas will be held jointly with local Armenian organizations in the country. 2) US Plans to Increase Aid to Georgia YEREVAN (Yerkir)--US Senator Richard Lugar, Chairman of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, is expected to sign an agreement with Georgia on increasing financial aid to the country. The increased resources will be spent on destroying weapons of mass destructions, particularly biological weapons. Lugar, who is currently on a working visit to Georgia, is expected to meet with top government officials including President Mikhail Saakashvili, Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania, and Foreign Minister Salome Zurabishvili, among others. 3) Karabagh To Celebrate 13th Anniversary STEPANAKERT (Noyan Tapan)--In celebration of the 13th anniversary of the Mountainous Karabagh Republic (MKR), a number of festive events are scheduled to take place in Stepanakert and various regions of the country on September 2. MKR was established on September 2, 1991 and declared its independence on January 6, 1992. According to Karabagh's Foreign Ministry, government officials, as well as guests from Armenia and Russia will visit the Stepanakert Memorial Complex. Famous musicians from Armenia will be performing. All subscription inquiries and changes must be made through the proper carrier and not Asbarez Online. ASBAREZ ONLINE does not transmit address changes and subscription requests. (c) 2004 ASBAREZ ONLINE. All Rights Reserved. ASBAREZ provides this news service to ARMENIAN NEWS NETWORK members for academic research or personal use only and may not be reproduced in or through mass media outlets. --Boundary_(ID_Oyg3T8fNwh9sUyIKjyOWdA)--

Armenia to host NATO exercises in 2006
Mediamax news agency
27 Aug 04

YEREVAN
Armenian Defence Minister Serzh Sarkisyan said today that “most likely
Armenia will not host exercises within the framework of NATO’s
Partnership for Peace programme in 2005”.
Serzh Sarkisyan said that “to all appearances, we shall start
preparations in order to host exercises on our territory in 2006”.
Addressing the Summit of the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council in
Istanbul on 29 June, Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan said
that Armenia offered NATO to host Cooperative Partner 2005 military
exercises within the framework of the Partnership for Peace programme.

Agence France Presse
Aug 26 2004
In Equatorial Guinea Coup Trial, Armenian Accused Give Evidence
MALABO, Aug 26 (AFP) – The trial of 18 men charged with plotting to
oust Equatorial Guinean President Teodoro Obiang Nguema went into a
fourth day Thursday, with an Armenian pilot accused of being a hired
gun for the coup bid giving evidence.
Samuel Darbinyan, 41, told the court in Malabo that he did not know
why he had been held in prison since March along with five other
Armenian crew members and eight South Africans.
A German suspect died in detention, officially of cerebral malaria,
but with rights groups saying he was tortured to death.
The 14 foreign suspects are on trial alongside four Equato-Guineans,
all accused of complicity in a plot to topple Obiang, who has been in
power in the tiny, oil-rich central African country since 1979.
Obiang announced their arrests on March 9, saying: “A group of
mercenaries entered the country and was studying plans to carry out a
coup d`etat.”
Without going into details, Obiang said interrogation of the suspects
revealed they were financed by multinational companies and “countries
that do not like us.”
The arrests came days before some 70 men were detained when their
plane stopped off in Zimbabwe, allegedly en route to Equatorial
Guinea for the coup.
The Equato-Guinean attorney general has called for the death penalty
for the alleged ringleader of the group on trial here, South African
Nick du Toit.
Du Toit is so far the only one of the 18 defendants on trial in
Equatorial Guinea to admit any involvement in a coup plot.

Dissident Voice, CA
Aug 24 2004
Vive la Difference
by Zbignew Zingh

Najaf. Where have we seen this before?
American tanks surround the holy site of a religious sect. Troop
commanders and government officials issue bombastic orders to an
inferior, out-gunned, faith-fueled adversary to surrender or die. The
guardians of the site are armed and determined to fight rather than
surrender their charismatic leader. The pusillanimous press
obediently label the surrounded ones as dangerous fanatics led by a
fiery rebel. The Americans claim that the rebels have rigged the holy
site to burn it to the ground. The soldiers demand that the rebels
surrender, disarm and submit to `an arrest warrant.’
Is this Najaf… or is it Waco?
Again.
Not that David Koresh and the Branch Davidians would have appreciated
the comparison to Moqtada Al-Sadr and his Mehdi Militia, but the mad
dog reaction of the United States is very similar. The difference is
that in Waco, the U.S. Government was hellbent to slaughter American
resisters and in Najaf it is hellbent to wipe out the Shi’a
resisters.
This author does not share any particular intersection with the
Branch Davidians or with the Shi’a. Nor does this author wear a
Libertarian or Liberal or Progressive label, for each creed has its
merits and its deficiencies, and no single suit of political clothing
is good for every season. The common point of interest between Waco
and Najaf, however, is the American cultural and political reaction
to The Resistance. Any Resistance.
In fact, regardless who has been in power, America’s historical
reaction to any form of organized resistance has been violent,
overwhelming, bloody, head-cracking violence. Contrary to common
belief, America does not countenance anything except docility,
meekness and submissiveness. The country that mythologizes pluralism,
has a tradition of intolerance toward resistance.
Think Ruby Ridge and the FBI’s murder of Randy Weaver’s wife and son.
Remember Mayor Richard Daly and the 1968 Democratic Convention.
Recall the 1916 Wobbly Massacre in Everett, Washington. Think 1890
and the massacre of Native Americans at Wounded Knee. The Tulsa
Massacre of Black Americans in 1921. The coalfield labor slaughter of
1914 in Ludlow, Colorado. The genocide committed by the American
military on the Philippine people in the Insurrection of 1899 – 1902.
Henry Kissinger’s carpet bombing obliteration of millions of
Cambodians between 1969 – 1973. The American attack and
destabilization of the elected government of Guatemala, 1954. And
Vietnam, Haiti, Chile, Panama. It is not a pretty history we have.
Notwithstanding our mythology, Americans do not stand up for the
underdog. We are Top Dogs. We eat underdogs for breakfast. We chew
them up and spit out their bones. In short, we are Bullies. Muscle
beach, thick-skulled, in-your-face-sand-kicking closed-minded
bullies. Our economic system rewards Bullies. Our political and
cultural systems encourage Bullies. Our history confirms that we have
been, and we continue to think and act like Bullies.
However, lest we unduly criticize America, let us remember that no
civilization to date has ever done anything differently. All big,
powerful empires have been bullies, and we are no different. In big
and small societies, those who have power will, if necessary, beat
the weak into the pavement to preserve that power. It even happens on
the micro level of the father who abuses his wife or children because
They Disobey Him. It is a common theme of the Angry God who
corporally punishes his rebellious backsliders. Everywhere,
Disobedience and Resistance are severely beaten down by the strong
and insecure. It is a very ugly human trait. But it is not uniquely
American.
The French government slaughtered the under-armed thousands who
rebelled and barricaded the Paris Commune in 1848. Again, in 1954-62,
the French violently oppressed the Algerians who fought a guerrilla
war of independence. The Chinese keep a tight noose on the Tibetans
and are squeezing the life out of their culture. The Turks committed
genocide against the Armenians in 1915 and millions died. The Soviets
crushed the Hungarians in 1956. The Israelis decimate the
Palestinians who resist their hegemony. The Spanish fascists, with
American and British help, annihilated the Republican resistance in
the Spanish Civil War. The British have spread death and cultural
disintegration as a matter of policy wherever they went ever since
The Hundred Years War with France in the 13th -14th Centuries. In
1994, the Hutu in Rwanda slaughtered the Tutsi by the hundreds of
thousands. During the Second World War, the Nazis exterminated as
many as a million Roma and six million Jews throughout Europe in an
orgy of `race purification’. The Japanese raped China in 1937-38. The
Dutch wasted Indonesia in 1947 in a `police action’ to put down a
rebellion for independence. In 1965-66, the Indonesians, with
America’s blessing, murdered millions of Indonesian `communists’ and
later, beginning in 1975 (and again with America’s blessing) they
wiped out much of the population of East Timor. The Vatican
exterminated the Cathars in the 13th Century in what is now southern
France, and the Crusaders killed anyone and everything in Europe and
the Middle East from 1095 to about 1300.
Polish rebels in Warsaw rose up in rebellion in 1944. The Germans,
with Russian, British and American acquiescence, jackbooted the
Warsaw resistance fighters and killed them by the thousands and
thousands.
Warsaw. Falluja. Warsaw. Wounded Knee. Falluja. Gaza. Jakarta.
Warsaw. Waco. Najaf. Warsaw. Warsaw. Warsaw. Powerful Humans always
have and always will try to squash resistance because if one act of
resistance succeeds, then it will encourage other acts of resistance
which will, ultimately, lead to the overthrow of those who Wield the
Power. That is the brutal reality of how People in Power retain their
Power. They mercilessly squash you if you resist. They squash you
mercilessly to demonstrate to other wannabe rebels that they, too,
will be mercilessly squashed if they utter a peep of dissent. Those
who have attained the pinnacles of power in their world – in
Washington, D.C., in Moscow, in London, in Riyadh, in Jerusalem, in
Islamabad, in Baghdad, in Australia, and in Rome – not only know this
rule, but they have proved themselves quite willing to apply it.
It is not completely dismal, however. On this brutal globe, in our
blood-stained world history of the progression of bullies, America
does stand out as someplace special, notwithstanding its sordid past.
The problem is that most Americans, and certainly the majority of
American political, religious and business leaders completely
misunderstand why.
Ours is not a land more beautiful than any other. Other lands, too,
have forests, mountains, gorges and lakes. Our difference is
certainly NOT our capitalism for, in reality, our economic strength
depends exclusively on our ruthless exploitation of mineral and
energy resources that are not inexhaustible and that will soon peak.
What makes us special is certainly NOT our political system because
it has historically sought to strangle every infant political
movement in its crib. We are definitely no better or different
because of our Judeo-Christian heritage – in fact, America in the
21st Century more strongly resembles today’s Iran or yesterday’s
Afghanistan or medieval Europe before the Enlightenment.
We are not better because of our multi-cultural heritage because, as
any minority in America knows, multiculturalism is tolerated in
America only on reservations, in ghettos, in museums and in movies.
We are, generally speaking, a Culture of Sameness. From sea to
shining sea, we are the same television shows, the same baseball
stadiums, the same Gap and McDonald’s and Walmart and Starbucks and
Krispy Kremes, the same cars, the same clothes, the same radio talk
shows, the same, the same and more of the same. And we punish,
ridicule and beat those who resist that culture of Sameness.
America is, in short, just like every other place on earth, no better
and no worse. Except in one respect.
We have a few pieces of paper: the Declaration of Independence; the
Constitution; the Bill of Rights; and a few short documents like the
Gettysburg Address.
The Constitution is a flawed document. It was written by land-owning
slave-holding white men determined to preserve their power. However,
it also contains the kernel of a principle of good governance: a
strong system of checks and balances intended to restrain unbridled
power. The Constitution also contains the essence of a free society –
it describes a militia of the people rather than a standing army; it
includes basic and necessary restrictions on the power to declare
war, limitations on intellectual property and prohibitions on the
creation of an aristocracy.
The two bookends around the Constitution are much more radical and
enlightened documents: The Declaration of Independence and the Bill
of Rights. You should read these documents again. And again. They are
revolutionary. They are the types of writings which, if proclaimed by
any Lesser People in the world today, we Americans would grind them
mercilessly into the ground.
One bookend, The Declaration of Independence, was the trumpet call
for the American Revolution. It is an unequivocal Declaration of
Resistance. It is not a `progressive’ document; it is not a `liberal’
document. It is a radical, In-Your-Face, Finger-In-Your-Eye King
George, revolutionary, incendiary manifesto. It holds that whenever
the Government tends to destroy the Peoples’ inalienable rights of
Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness, then the People have the
right to Rise Up and Abolish the Government. Imagine! Our Founders
actually encouraged the People to rise up in revolt and abolish the
Government that oppressed them! Perhaps Maqtada Al-Sadr had similar
thoughts, and for thinking which the PNAC Government of the 21st
Century United States determined to crush him.
The other bookend to the Constitution is the Bill of Rights. It links
to the Declaration of Independence in that the Bill of Rights
specifies the the People’s inalienable rights. It is very clear.
Number One: `Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment
of religion… or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press;
or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the
government for a redress of grievances.’ In short, the First
Amendment stands opposed to everything George Bush and his cohorts
and the buy-partisan Congress have shoved down our throats, and it
prohibits the restraints on freedom of speech and freedom of assembly
that the two parties seem so determined to gag us with. A Government
that violates the First Amendment invites the remedy ordained by the
Declaration of Independence.
Amendment Number Two is the teeth for the First. It is a historically
necessary companion to the Declaration of Independence that asserts
the People’s right to abolish an unjust government: `A well regulated
Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right
of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.’
Curiously, Mr. Al-Sadr would understand this amendment to our own
Constitution, as would those who stormed the Bastille in
Revolutionary France. Even as the Iraqi resistance struggles to throw
off its occupiers, by force of its own arms and the sacrifice of
their own lives, our own citizens lose the thread of the argument of
the Second Amendment, as we debate absolute non-violence versus
absolute gunophilia, and fail to appreciate the political implication
of the Amendment’s words.
The Third, the Fourth, the Fifth, the Sixth, the Seventh, the Eight,
the Ninth and the Tenth Amendments to the Constitution, to a greater
or lesser degree, all serve to strengthen the liberties proclaimed by
the Declaration of Independence and reinforce the people’s defenses
against the aggregation of Power.
In 1863, on the Battlefield of Gettysburg, Abraham Lincoln reminded
us that the United States was `a new nation, conceived in liberty and
dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.’ Lincoln
further told us that we were then engaged in a great war, `testing
whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can
long endure.’ It was for us, Abraham Lincoln said, to resolve `that
this nation shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of
the people, by the people, and for the people shall not perish from
the earth.’ Lincoln was talking as much to his generation as to ours.
The test of our resolve is the same now as it was for the people in
the midst of the Civil War.
These few documents, therefore, vestiges of an 18th Century
Enlightenment, are the only things that mark The United States of
America as anything better or different than any other bully empire
that has ruled before us. These documents and ideas alone mark us as
`different’ from all others – not our capitalism, not muscular
Judeo-Christianity, not our resources or our culture or our laws or
our two party political system, They are truly remarkable documents.
They contain very powerful ideas. These ideas mark the United States
of America as someplace different from any other nation on earth, but
only so long as they remain potent, living ideas. They are the things
that make this country worth fighting for. The only things. Without
them, America is no different than any other nation on earth.
May they survive this administration and both political parties.
May they survive Us and our bullying ways.
May they survive Warsaw. Falluja. Wounded Knee. Gaza. Jakarta. Haiti.
Waco. Tulsa. Najaf.
May we continue to sustain the difference that is America. Vive la
difference.
Zbignew Zingh can be reached at [email protected]. This Article is
CopyLeft, and free to distribute, reprint, repost, sing at a recital,
spray paint, scribble in a toilet stall, etc. to your heart’s
content, with proper author citation. Find out more about Copyleft
and read other great articles at
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

NEXT PANARMENIAN FESTIVAL WILL BE HELD IN 2006: PRESIDENT
YEREVAN, AUGUST 23. ARMINFO. A ceremonial closing of the First
Pan-Armenian Festival of Culture “One nation, one culture” was held at
the center of Yerevan yesterday. The festival was held in Armenia and
in Nagorny Karabakh on August 14-23.
In Abovyan street, fairs were held, where craftsmen from all Armenian
regions displayed articles of their art. Dancing and singing groups
gave performances in Charles Aznavour square. The most entertaining
event was a gala concert in Republic Square, which ended in
fireworks. Welcoming the participants, RA President Robert Kocharian
pointed out that the festival will become a tradition. The next
Pan-Armenian festival is to be held in 2006.
Over 2,000 people from Austria, France, Great Britain, USA, Syria,
Lebanon, Russia and other countries took part in the
Festival. Concerts were given by the winners of the Sayat-Nova contest
for vocalists and of the “Pomegranate seed” theatrical festival for
children and youth. The festival, which was initiated by the
Armenia-Diaspora forum, was held under RA President Robert Kocharian
patronage. The RA Ministry of Culture and Youth Affairs and the
“Alfael” producing center carried out preparatory work. According to
official data, Armenian businessmen allocated about 100mln. AMD for
the organization of the festival. However, one of the members of the
organizing committee, Levon Abramyan, pointed out that 10 times as
much was actually spent.
Each guest will take along pleasant impressions, diplomas and
souvenirs. The images of the symbol of the festival, Nare and Narek, a
boy and a girl in national costumes of the colors of Armenia’s
national flag, (authored by the well-known cartoon-producer Robert
Sahakyants) were in the greatest demand during the festival.