Lutte de Classe n°206 | Au sommaire : ▻https://mensuel.lutte-ouvriere.org
– #Irak : cinq mois de révolte
– Les apprentis sorciers du #Brexit
– #Chine : les nouvelles routes de la soie
– #Honduras : les migrants fuient le désastre provoqué par l’#impérialisme américain
– Des listes de LO aux #municipales2020
To Hell with Good Intentions - Ivan Illich
▻http://www.swaraj.org/illich_hell.htm
An address by Monsignor Ivan Illich to the Conference on InterAmerican Student Projects (CIASP) in Cuernavaca, Mexico, on April 20, 1968.
...
By now it should be evident to all America that the U.S. is engaged in a tremendous struggle to survive. The U.S. cannot survive if the rest of the world is not convinced that here we have Heaven-on-Earth. The survival of the U.S. depends on the accep- tance by all so-called “free” men that the U.S. middle class has “made it.”
The U.S. way of life has become a religion which must be accepted by all those who do not want to die by the sword - or napalm. All over the globe the U.S. is fighting to protect and develop at least a minority who consume what the U.S. majority can afford. Such is the purpose of the Alliance for Progress of the middle-classes which the U.S. signed with Latin America some years ago. But increasingly this commercial alliance must be pro- tected by weapons which allow the minority who can “make it” to protect their acquisitions and achievements.
But weapons are not enough to permit minority rule. The marginal masses become rambunctious unless they are given a “Creed,” or belief which explains the status quo. This task is given to the U.S. volunteer - whether he be a member of CLASP or a worker in the so-called “Pacification Programs” in Viet Nam.
Ils n’ont rien appris depuis sauf une mauvaise fois plus avancée. Les volontaires un peu naïfs de ’68 se sont mués en troupes d’intervention des révolutions de couleur et leurs patrons ont cédé leur place aux experts de marketing qui travaillent sans scrupules à la fois pour la #CIA et Procter & Gamble.
Heureusement ceci n’a pas la moindre importance. On ne se bricole pas des lois de l’histoire parce que ces forces majeures agissent aussi implacablement sur l’histoire humaine comme la gravitation le fait dans le domaine de la physique.
Vous avez des vacances ? Vous voulez partir au soleil ? Vous en rêvez ? Mais avez-vous déjà pensé au tourisme en période coloniale comme outil de légitimation de la puissance impériale ? ►https://sms.hypotheses.org/5023
#tourisme #Maghreb #impérialisme #colonialisme #congés
Travailler sur le tourisme, passe encore. Le thème a aujourd’hui, avec ses corollaires comme l’étude des loisirs et des vacances, trouvé sa place parmi les champs de l’histoire. Mais travailler sur le tourisme en situation coloniale, est-ce vraiment sérieux ? La domination impériale a généré tant d’injustices, d’iniquités et de violences qu’on peut considérer le tourisme comme un épiphénomène dont l’analyse n’ajoute rien à la compréhension des sociétés concernées.
Par ailleurs, pourrait-on nous objecter, les géographes et les sociologues qui, depuis de longues années, se sont intéressés au phénomène touristique, considèrent que celui-ci démarre avec les années 1960, voire après, au moment où se met en place une économie du tourisme de masse. Alors, pourquoi s’entêter à traquer le touriste dans l’Algérie du XIXe siècle, ou au Maroc et en Tunisie des années 1920 ? Les raisons en sont toutes simples (...)
Dossier : #Irlande_du_Nord
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“It’s Now or Never”: Bolivian Elite Destroying the Country | Opinion | teleSUR English
▻https://www.telesurenglish.net/opinion/Its-Now-or-Never-Bolivian-Elite-Destroying-the-Country-20191107-0023
Published 7 November 2019, by Edu Montesanti - To the Bolivian upper classes, President Evo Morales has to resign even if forced by extreme violence, or through a civil war.
“It’s now or never!”, said a family in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, gathered close to Christ the Redeemer statue where thousands of demonstrators and road blockers stay seven days of the week, night and day.
That statement was in response to this reporter’s observance, that circumstances in Bolivia were getting out of control leading to a civil war. Answering that, the family laughed and did not hesitate in declaring: “We want things to get out of control. This is the only way to overthrow this president, once and for all.”
Violence, Our Daily Bread
For almost 20 days, the South American country is economically stopped, as opposition groups are blocking roads and preventing trade, in the last case with exceptions some short times for markets.
However, if one walks by The Ramada, commercial center in downtown Santa Cruz de la Sierra, sees almost every trade with open doors, an act of disobedience to the rebel leaders of the national strike. This author has talked to some local merchants.
“Nobody in this area supports the strike,” said to this author a woman merchant. “In the city, generally, not everybody opposes the President, on the contrary, I could say people are divided,” added the old woman, who owns a large store in The Ramada.
The owner’s daughter added: “Nobody did for Bolivia what President Evo Morales has done. He has granted several rights to workers, as no president did before. This is one thing that angers the elite.”
Everybody has been afraid to publicly speak, given the uncertainty and virulence in the essence of the current protests that take the nation. Recently, in this area, a woman spoke out against the strike saying people want and need to work as there is no money nor food anymore. She was beaten and obliged to kneel and ask demonstrators for forgiveness.
In regions like Cochabamba, Potosi, and La Paz, the situation is more tense, with frequent clashes between pro-government and opponent groups, and several wounded. In Cochabamba, a 20-year old man was killed last Wednesday, a victim of severe head injury, skull base fracture and brain death due to confrontations, which grow more and more. The civil war is fastly advancing in Bolivia.
Fury without Rationality
The following has been a rule in Bolivia, before the last presidential election: the opposition spills their hate against the local government, especially against President Evo Morales but when confronted with some official data, internationally recognized in favor of the first indigenous president of the nation, criticism change its direction.
What had seen strong condemnations against the “situation of the country”, quickly changed to “a future dictator if many years in power.” So they start to explain their political theories about more than two or three mandates in the Presidency. And so, they create their conjectures.
Angela Merkel has been the German Prime-Minister since 2005, as her country has a solid democracy not questioned in Bolivia nor nowhere around the world. What determines a strong democracy in a country, is the solidity of its institutions.
Last Monday evening, the biggest demonstration against President Evo Morales since the elections on Oct. 20, took place in Santa Cruz de la Sierra.
“We will siege every government institution including tax collectors ones, and national borders, so the government won’t collect one cent. Evo is going to be a president without a State!”, said in the demonstration Luis Fernando Camacho, the leader of the current national strike based out in Santa Cruz de la Sierra.
Camacho’s biography and ancestry, outlined below in this report, is another serious indication that what is advancing in Bolivia is a Color Revolution, idealized by the American Gene Sharp to overthrow governments all over the world, not aligned to the Washington regime.
President Evo Morales has challenged the opposition to give evidence of fraud to the Organization of American States (OAE), which has been auditing the Bolivia election. So far, nobody presented any piece of evidence of fraud regarding the last presidential election; the opposition claim, since OAS arrival to audit the elections, they do not want any audit nor a runoff anymore, but Morales’ resignation and new elections.
This reporter has checked people lost in their observances, as emotions overflowed. One of the features of a Color Revolution. It has been this way in Syria, Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, Brazil, and other countries lately.
There are other features in these protests is in Bolivia, clearly pointing to a Color Revolution.
Paying for Demonstrators
There have been witnesses that road blockers have gotten 200 bolivianos (US$29) per day. A woman confirmed that information to this author, who says she has met a road blocker who has spoken to her about it.
Camacho has recognized that he paid 1,200 bolivianos (US$174) to a Cruceñista Youth Union member to burn the Electoral Tribunal in Santa Cruz de la Sierra on Oct. 23.
The businessman also speaks out when telling he funds all kinds of demonstrations against the current government, “and always did [before the elections],” which included the attacks against several official party’s head offices across Santa Cruz de la Sierra, on Sept.12.
U.S.-Backed Groups
Recent revelations point to a U.S.-backed plan of shaking the nation. The Radio Education Network of Bolivia (Erbol) has released 16 audios, which uncover talks between U.S. officials, Bolivian opponents, and former military.
In a three-part plan outlined by U.S. officials, former President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada (2002-2003) is mentioned. Lozada had Carlos Mesa (the principal opponent of Morales in the last election) as his vice-president and currently lives in the U.S.
U.S. senators Bob Menendez, Ted Cruz, and Marco Rubio are some of the American officials mentioned in the audios, linked to the Bolivian opposition planning a coup against President Evo Morales.
Officials of the State Department accredited in the country, such as Mariane Scott and Rolf A. Olson, have been meeting with high level diplomatic officials from Brazil, Argentina, and Paraguay, in order that they organize and plan destabilization actions against the Bolivian government, as well as delivering the U.S. funds to the Bolivian opposition.
(...) Parallel, in the month of July a private meeting between the opponents Jaime Antonio Alarcón Daza, Iván Arias and other members of the civic committees was carried out, in which it was agreed to acquire “machines for fast vote-counting” for the coming presidential elections, for the sake of manipulating public opinion on the electoral results.
“These machines would altogether have a cost of US$300,000. The U.S. Embassy and the representation of the European Union in the country would contribute to financing the purchase, which they would provide through the Jubileo Foundation and the Evangelical Church. With that specific aim, they have already managed to gather more of US$800,000, from which the payment to the people participating in the fast count of votes would also come out.”
An attack against the Cuban Embassy in Bolivia has also been planned.
All the audios, which include the three-part plan to achieve a regime change in Bolivia, can be read here.
Touching Emotion through the Mainstream Media of Propaganda
Demonstrations in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, according to the Bolivian mainstream media, have been held “at the feet of Christ” strongly touching people’s emotions, especially the people’s faith. In Bolivia’s biggest city, demonstrators are used to gathering, as mentioned above, around Christ the Redeemer statue.
So the virulent and anti-democratic demonstrations which are shaking the South American country, leaving many people without food, have an aspect of sacrosanct manifestations by the media - who is against them, is against God and in favor of the Devil. Or something like that.
Religious leaders have used people like puppets for so long in Bolivia. Which of course requires using imagination. It has been so very strong, that this reporter had predicted exactly what is going on these days in Bolivia, months ago.
Speaking out loud and clear, to the fundamental participation of religious leaders who have dedicated most of their time to spread lies, discrimination, and hate among the Bolivian people, with clear aims. They are mute now, before too much violence in the country.
Such misuse of people’s emotions is not only a Color Revolution feature these days, but was a pillar to the ascension of Germany’s Nazism in the 1930s.
In these dark and too tense days in Bolivia, the mainstream media of propaganda is playing a fundamental role in the demonstration’s favor. It has been a bombardment by what can be denominated a war media. No investigation, no impartiality, only propaganda.
Fighting the Wrong Enemy
Oct. 31 evening, when the situation aggravated in Bolivia, this reporter checked one of the main crossroads in the highly tense Santa Cruz de la Sierra, blocked 24 hours per day by demonstrators.
That day in the city, a policeman had been severely beaten by opponent civilians to the Morales administration. One day before, two men had been killed in Santa Cruz de la Sierra outskirts (Pravda reported).
When this investigation crossed the blocking, under the surveillance of its controllers, a so very loudly radio was saying: “We are reporting multitudinous demonstrations taking place right now in Potosi! Multitudinous demonstrations taking place right now in Cochabamba! Multitudinous demonstrations taking place right now in Santa Cruz de la Sierra! Multitudinous demonstrations taking place right now in La Paz!”.
Suddenly, in a much more touching way, the narrator said: “In La Paz, the multitude shout, ’No more Cubans, get out Cubans! No more Russians, get out, Russians! No more Chineses, get out Chineses!”. A saying started to be spread in Santa Cruz, that “Vladimir Putin has already sent his men to kill everybody in Bolivia.”
So the popular claim in Bolivia changed from recounting the votes to a runoff, no matter the results of the election; another election; Evo Morales’ resignation; combating the “big enemies” of the nation, the nightmare of the Bolivian elites, Cubans, Russians, and Chinese.
Needless to address the absurdities of these remarks. Not to mention the absence of the U.S. in the memory of that same elite given the military coups Uncle Sam has perpetrated against democracies in the region - including Bolivia -, and the plunder of the natural resources of the Bolivian nation (before Evo Morales years in the Presidency).
Luis Fernando Camacho is based-out in Santa Cruz, and most of his public appearances against the Bolivian president, are in his native city. An entrepreneur, he is the president of Committee Pro-Santa Cruz, devoted to advocating justice and progress to Santa Cruz de la Sierra.
The billionaire has not been voted president of the Committee by the “cruceño” (original from Santa Cruz de la Sierra) people, but by the committee summit. It is widely said in the city that the tycoon won the presidency of the organization through millionaire bribes. Which coincides with the Bolivian too corrupted reality.
Camacho’s committee has a long history of spreading racism, discrimination, hate, and violence in Bolivia. In 2008, the organization took part in the violent attempt of separate Santa Cruz de la Sierra from Bolivia. At the time, in response to a false denouncement by the Committee Pro-Santa Cruz against the Morales administration, International Federation for Human Rights seriously rebuked the organization now presided by Camacho, for attacking indigenous people, State institutions, and speech and acts for secessionism (read Open Letter).
Camacho is 40 years old; he and his family are part of Grupo Empresarial de Inversiones Nacional Vida S.A., a synergy insurance company, His father, José Luis Camacho Miserendino, founded Sergas, a gas company which, in 1989, had contracts with the neoliberal state linked to insurance companies and pension funds.
Sergas owes 20 million de bolivianos (US$2,890,173) to the Bolivian State for tax evasion, when the company supplied gas to Santa Cruz de la Sierra city. So what is at stake is possibly debt forgiveness if a neoliberal government takes again the power in the South American country. It is said and makes sense that if Carlos Mesa takes the power, substituting Evo Morales in a coup or a resignation, the once Lozada’s vice-president will immediately forgive Sergas debt with the State.
Camacho’s committee acts close to Cruceñista Youth Union, widely known for fascist sayings and doings - also for having led the violent and failed project of separating Santa Cruz de la Sierra from Bolivia, in 2007.
Last Wednesday, Jorge Fernando Quiroga Ramírez, alias Tuto Quiroga, landed in Santa Cruz de la Sierra to meet and support Camacho. Quiroga was vice-president of Hugo Banzer (1971-78, 1997-2001), a bloody dictator pro-Washington regime.
Most recently and closest to Bolivia, Brazil in the world scenario of Color Revolution overthrew President Dilma Rousseff in 2016, to give place to Michel Temer who paved the way for fascist Jair Bolsonaro. Since the coup against Dilma Rousseff, the mainstream media, the upper classes, and the political opposition has said that once the first woman president in Brazil’s history was toppled, the South American country would find its way back to democracy and economic growth.
Needless to address the Brazilian situation since then. Just worthy to mention: those Brazilian segments do not care about corruption anymore, nor have been seen in that too loud strong state of hysteria for economic growth as in 2016.
If the planned coup succeeds in Bolivia, this country will surely have the same fate as Brazil, economically and politically saying.
A Long Process Based on Misinformation and Hate
“I hate Evo Morales!” said in July last year in a talk to this reporter, a Santa Cruz de la Sierra-bases out hairdresser woman - without any political justification to that deep sentiment. A white professional at 40 years of age, only hates. She openly hates the first indigenous president in Bolivia’s history.
Cochabamba’s Lawmaker Norma Pierola has been prosecuted for racism for not greeting President Evo Morales in an official activity, late last year. Norma alleged that Morales does not respect women as a president, without any justification for that. On the contrary, the Morales administration is well-known including among critics for granting rights for women, the LGBT community, and indigenous people.
At that time, Santa Cruz de la Sierra Governor Ruben Costas called indigenous people “dumb and stupid,” so rekindling the fire of deep racism that used to shame Bolivia in the years previous to Evo Morales.
This video shows strong acts of racism and discrimination Evo Morales is suffering since took power in 2006, and strong violence against innocent and unarmed indigenous people and peasants, “a damn race.” Shocking images taped especially in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, before Evo Morales in the Presidency, who has, with the Congress mostly composed of its partisans, passed bills that severely punish acts of discrimination.
But the deep hate has been kept inside hearts, even growing in many people’s sentiments through the years. It has been strongly realized by talking to people, who do not tolerate a “red skin,” a peasant, or a different accent. Or even an Evo voter.
“If Camacho gets his aims, this atmosphere of discrimination, racism, hate, and deep violence will be back to Bolivia, as he is allied to Ruben Costas,” said to this journalist a Bolivian from La Paz, who has been living in Santa Cruz for several years.
Among many non-sense lies spread in Bolivia, both by the opposition and religious leaders (the latter have played a fundamental role in discrimination and diffusion of slanders campaign), could be highlighted that “Evo had an airplane arrested in the U.S. years ago, loaded with cocaine.”
Personally talking to Catholic leaders of Knights Templar in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, this reporter asked them, well aware that was a lie: “So why did Evo was not arrested in the U.S., then?”. The ridiculous answer was, “he has immunity as president of Bolivia [in U.S. ground!].”
Another spread lie is that Evo Morales owns the air company Boliviana de Aviación (BoA) - a state company created in 2007 a year after Evo took power.
“I have been surprised that they [religious leaders] first pray and then they hate, what is that?” Evo asked last week. “They pray [then] kick poor people,” the president of Bolivia denounced, well-aware that such a segment is behind the dirty war of hate and lies across the country.
Social Confusion
Leaving the demonstration “at the feet of Christ” last Monday, this reporter talked to some people. A couple’s reaction to some of this journalist’s observations is a hallmark of the current state of mind among the opposition voters in Bolivia.
After explaining the reasons why the young guys were requiring Evo Morales to be overthrown, this report presented some little data about Bolivia’s economy in recent years, comparing to the years previous to the current president.
The couple then repeated a posture commonly seen by this author when talking to people by the streets of Santa Cruz de la Sierra: they firstly withered to later change the subject. The problem was not the economy, but a president being many years in power. Which is at least arguable, as pointed out above.
Another strong feature of these protests in Bolivia, a hallmark of Color Revolutions, is the spread of lies among people which is previous to the current mess: the scenario of social confusion based on an inversion of facts has been advancing long ago in the South American country.
Last Tuesday, this reporter got a WhatsApp message from a lawyer based out in La Paz, who works in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, too. “This is the beginning of strong social movements in Bolivia. (...) So starts a social movement, first the group manifests, later elaborate the ideology,” he said. Which is an absurd, and another Color Revolution strong feature, as social movements’ process is the inverse: they first have a direction, then they organize themselves, and fight for their ideals. Any movement or group without an ideal is artificial.
Fighting for something without a clear path to be pursued is ridiculous, leading nations victims of Color Revolutions, unavoidable to chaos, generally to fascist politics, a worse situation the respective nations used to live before such artificial movements.
There is no project by the opposition. They want the justice system, controlled by the current government, it is true, to be under their control again, not to reform it. And they aim to collapse every Morales administration gains.
Uncle Sam’s Sharp, Cruel Claws
In 2014, Jacob Ostreicher, a Jewish businessman funded by local drug trafficking and the CIA disguised as a diplomatic mission to destabilize Bolivia, illegally, and protected by the CIA, left the South American country not to be arrested. Who provided Ostreicher’s escape was “diplomat” Larry Lamont Memmott, a CIA agent operating in Bolivia.
Who is behind protests in Bolivia are dark powers, the stingy, destructive Bolivian elite that in the two centuries before Evo Morales, used to sell local natural resources to get in return Empire’s crumbs - the U.S. deep State who is, once again, using the old puppet Bolivian elite as its tool for geostrategic and economic purposes.
All this seems impossible to be argued with many people in Bolivia right now. Their minds have been confused by the daily mainstream media’s bombardment and religious leaders.
The current chaos, with the local economy stuck for almost 20 days, has no forecast to finish. Who is destroying Bolivia is not surely Cuba, nor Russia, nor China. But in the deeply troubled Bolivia these days, Joseph Goebbels’s teachings reigns: “A lie told once remains a lie, but a lie told a thousand times becomes the truth.”
Lie, something the most terrorist Empire in history is an expert in spreading. And in the destruction of nations, another thing that, for so long, Latin America disgracefully knows very well.
It’s Bolivia turn, again...
#Boivie #USA #putsch #impérialisme
Warum es in Bolivien einen Putsch gab
▻https://www.heise.de/tp/features/Warum-es-in-Bolivien-einen-Putsch-gab-4584644.html?seite=all
In westlichen Medien ist gemeinhin vom „Rücktritt“ des bolivianischen Präsidenten Evo Morales die Rede. Das ist falsch
#Bolivie #impérialisme #USA #coup_d_état #Amérique_latine #Evo_Morales
Monsieur le président ...
https://static01.nyt.com/newsgraphics/2019/10/16/white-house-letter/assets/thumbnails/page-0-800.png THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
October 9, 2019
His Excellency
Recep Tayyip Erdogan
President of the Republic of Turkey
Ankara
Dear Mr. President:
Let’s work out a good deal! You don’t want to be responsible for slaughtering thousands of people, and I don’t want to be responsible for destroying the Turkish economy — and I will. I’ve already given you a little sample with respect to Pastor Brunson.
I have worked hard to solve some of your problems. Don’t let the world down. You can make a great deal. General Mazloum is willing to negotiate with you, and he is willing to make concessions that they would never have made in the past. I am confidentially enclosing a copy of his letter to me, just received.
History will look upon you favorably if you get this done the right and humane way. It will look upon you forever as the devil if good things don’t happen. Don’t be a tough guy. Don’t be a fool!
I will call you later.
Sincerely,
Donald J. Trump
Jake Tapper : I thought this Trump letter was a joke ... it’s real
▻https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eL-NcBxYnfg
L"armée étatsunienne previent la population allemande qu’il y aura des perturbations suite aux exercices prochains.
▻https://www.nachdenkseiten.de/?p=55037
Holocaust versus Nakba ? | Telepolis
▻https://www.heise.de/tp/features/Holocaust-versus-Nakba-4533266.html
Cet article décrit l’idéologie sioniste et sa justification du nettoyage ethnique de la Paestine depuis 1948. Le texte est remarquable parce qu’il cite les auteurs sionistes d’aujourd’hui qui reconnaissent et justifient chaque crime commis contre les Palestiniens. Leurs arguments ne tiennet pas debout quand on les soumet à une critique systématique. La conclusion s’impose que l’État d’Israël poursuit une politique illégale et meurtrière dont les acteurs méritent une inculpation pour de nombreux crimes dont la définition est le résultat des procès de Nuremberg.
Les positions sionistes décrites ici constituent une des raisons d’être de la Bundesrepublik Deutschland où on prend souvent des mesures draconiennes contre les personnes qui osent critiquer l’État d’Israël et les crimes commis par ses agents.
Zur Tiefenstruktur des sogenannten Israel / Palästina - Konflikts
Es gibt Umstände in der Geschichte, die ethnische Säuberungen rechtfertigen.
Benny Morris
Und der Genozid an den Juden ist ein solcher Fall.
Mit der Staatsgründung Israels im Jahre 1948 ist die Vertreibung von etwa 750.000 Palästinensern untrennbar verbunden. Wie ist diese Vertreibung aus heutiger Sicht zu beurteilen?
Darüber macht sich bei uns, in Übereinstimmung mit der israelisch/zionistischen Strategie der Ablehnung der Nakba als solcher (d.h. als einer Katastrophe), kaum jemand Gedanken. Dieser Beitrag versucht es zumindest.(1)
1 Der Palästina-Konflikt
1.1 Worum geht es im Palästina-Konflikt, dem Nahost-Konflikt? Nicht einmal darüber gibt es Konsens. Außer vielleicht darüber, dass zwei Gruppen von Menschen Anspruch auf ein und dasselbe Land erheben: auf das ehemals britische Mandatsgebiet Palästina.
1.2 Unter beiden Gruppen gibt es solche, die das Land ausschließlich für die eigene Gruppe beanspruchen (Maximalisten); und solche (die Nicht-Maximalisten), die bereit sind, das Land mit der anderen Gruppe zu teilen, entweder durch Teilung des Landes (Zweistaaten- Lösung) oder in einem gemeinsamen Staat (Einstaaten-Lösung).
1.3 Die erhobenen Ansprüche auf das Land sind unterschiedlichster Art: religiös (das Land selbst als Geschenk Gottes), historisch, rechtlich, ökonomisch, politisch (global wie lokal) und auch moralisch. Miteinander verbunden sind diese verschiedenartigen Begründungen für den Anspruch auf das Land in Form von so genannten Narrativen (Kollektiv-Geschichten), mit deren Hilfe sich die Identitäten der Gruppen und Untergruppen bilden und festigen.
1.4 Ein gemeinsames, den bisherigen Konflikt transzendierendes (israelisch-jüdisches / palästinensisch-arabisches) Narrativ ist bislang nicht in Sicht. Im Gegenteil: Ein wesentlicher Effekt der zunehmenden medialen Inszenierung des Konflikts scheint der zu sein, dass sich die einander widersprechenden Narrative weiter verhärten. Fast hat man den Eindruck: an einem diese Widersprüche auflösenden gemeinsamen Narrativ hat so gut wie niemand echtes Interesse.
1.5 Die Folge ist: Keine Seite ist derzeit imstande, die Welt aus der Sicht der anderen Seite zu sehen. Und so ist sie dazu in der Regel auch nicht willens. Solange dies so bleibt, ist der Konflikt nicht lösbar. Jedenfalls nicht einvernehmlich.
1.6 Bei der Begründung der Ansprüche auf Palästina spielen quer über die verschiedenen (religiösen, historischen etc.) Kategorien hinweg auf israelischer Seite vor allem die Erinnerung an die Shoa (den Holocaust) und auf palästinensischer Seite die an die Nakba (die ethnischen Säuberungen von 1948/49) eine wichtige Rolle. Diese Erinnerungen (als historische Reminiszenzen wie auch als Imperative) bilden das Herzstück der konkurrierenden Narrative.
1.7 Diese Erinnerungen begründen auch eine der wenigen Gemeinsamkeiten: Beide Seiten sehen sich primär als Opfer. Und beide Seiten sind das auch. Aber, und vielleicht liegt genau darin die zentrale Tragik des Konfliktes: Beide Seiten sehen - auch in ihrem gegenseitigen Verhältnis - fast ausschließlich nur sich selbst als Opfer.
2 Die Nakba
Vor diesem allgemeinen Hintergrund nun zur Nakba selbst.
2.1 In keinem Punkt divergieren die beiden Narrative stärker als in diesem. Verständlicherweise. Denn bei diesem Thema geht es für beide Seiten (bisher) um alles oder nichts.
2.2 Der einzige Konsens - ist dieser: Im Kontext des 48er Krieges kam es zu einem erheblichen Bevölkerungs-Transfer, von dem etwa eine ¾ Million Palästinenser betroffen waren. Punkt. Ende des Konsenses.
2.3 Die israelische Seite wollte diesen Transfer anfangs - und will das unter den letzten Rechts-Regierungen zunehmend wieder - am liebsten so verstanden wissen: Diese Flucht war großteils eine Reaktion auf entsprechende Aufforderungen von Seiten der Führung der angreifenden arabischen Armeen; diese sollten freies Schussfeld haben. Nach dieser Auffassung hätten die Palästinenser demnach ihre Dörfer freiwillig verlassen; ihre Flucht war, von wenigen Ausnahmen abgesehen, nicht die Folge einer Vertreibung.
2.4 Die Forschungen der sogenannten Neuen Historiker aus den 80er und 90er Jahren widersprechen dieser Darstellung.2 Die Vertreibungen waren von langer Hand - von speziellen Transfer-Kommittees - geplant, fanden zum Teil bereits vor dem Kriegsbeginn statt, waren ersichtlich gut koordiniert, etc.
2.5 Als die zwei bedeutendsten historischen Pionierarbeiten zur Nakba können gelten: Die 1987 erschienene Arbeit The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem 1947 - 1949 des israelischen Historikers Benny Morris; und das von Walid Khalidi 1992 hrsg. Buch All That Remains: The Palestinian Villages Occupied and Depopulated by Israel in 1948, ein Almanach der zerstörten Dörfer, „unverzichtbar für jeden, der die ungeheuren Ausmaße der Katastrophe von 1948 begreifen möchte“.3
2.6 Was man wissen könnte, deckt sich, sobald es um Macht geht, freilich selten mit dem, was man (auch öffentlich) wissen will. Im politischen Diskurs zur Nakba wird jedenfalls auch jetzt noch oft weiterhin so gesprochen, als hätte es den durch Khalidi und Morris definierten Erkenntnisstand zur zionistischen Planung und Durchführung der Nakba gar nie gegeben.
Angesichts dieser Lage empfehle ich Ihnen dringend: Machen Sie, ehe Sie sich auf eine Diskussion mit einem angeblichen Nakba-Experten einlassen, bei diesem unbedingt vorher den Khalidi/Morris-Test: Ignorieren Sie den betreffenden Experten, wenn dieser noch nicht auf deren Erkenntnisstand aus den 80er/90er Jahren ist. Sie werden sehen: Dieser Test erspart Ihnen sehr viele nutzlose Diskussionen.
2.7 Auch der Morris-Forschungsstand ist nicht mehr der neueste. Wer sich für dieses Thema überhaupt zu interessieren getraut, wird auch das neue, bereits 2010 bei Zweitausendeins auch auf Deutsch erschienene Buch von Ilan Pappe kennen bzw. sollte es kennen. Es hat den geradezu ungeheuer klaren Titel: Die ethnische Säuberung Palästinas.
Die Differenz zu Morris ist diese: Während sich die ethnischen Säuberungen für Morris primär durch die Notwendigkeiten des 48er Krieges erklären lassen, hebt Pappe in seinem Werk auf den weit über die damaligen Kriegsnotwendigkeiten hinausgehenden eigenständigen Charakter dieser Säuberungen ab.
Sie können sich vielleicht vorstellen, wie heftig über die Details dieser Differenz zwischen Morris’s Kriegsparadigma einerseits und dem Pappe’schen ethnische Säuberungen-Paradigma andererseits gestritten wird - derzeit und gewiss auch noch lange. Wobei daran zu erinnern ist, dass viele Dokumente auch heute noch nicht zugänglich sind.
2.8 Wäre es in dieser Lage nicht angezeigt, auch hier das zu tun, was wir in anderen vergleichbaren Kontexten - z.B. gegenüber Türken und Armeniern - doch sonst so gerne tun? Nämlich: zur Klärung der offenen Fragen die Einrichtung gemischter (in diesem Fall also: israelisch/palästinensischer) Forschungskommissionen zu empfehlen?
2.9 Und natürlich ist auch dieser Streit kein bloß akademischer. Schließlich geht es bei diesem Thema, wie oben schon gesagt, ums Ganze. Wie man die Nakba sieht bzw. wie man die Nakba zu sehen hat, das bleibt schließlich nicht folgenlos. Insbesondere nicht ohne Folgen dafür, wie man mit den direkten Folgen der Nakba umzugehen hat: mit den vertriebenen palästinensischen Flüchtlingen.
3 Die Nakba und das Rückkehrrecht
3.1 Aus der Sicht des Völkerrechts ist die Sache klar. Die Vollversammlung der UNO hat in der Resolution 194 vom 11.12.1948 den Palästinensischen Flüchtlingen grundsätzlich das Recht auf Rückkehr in ihre Heimat und/oder auf Entschädigung zugesprochen, wobei sich diese Resolution auf die (einen Tag zuvor verabschiedete) Allgemeine Erklärung der Menschenrechte (insbes. Art 13.2 und 17.2) stützt. Diese Rückkehr-Resolution wird seit 1948 Jahr für Jahr bekräftigt.
Aber wer kümmert sich im Kontext des Palästina-Konflikts schon wirklich darum, was das Recht sagen würde? Die Umsetzung der Resolution 194 von 1948 wurde bis heute verhindert.
3.2 An dieses Rückkehr-Recht klammert sich bei den Palästinensern, nachdem sie alles andere verloren hatten, der Rest an Hoffnung. Dieses Recht gehört zum Kern ihrer Identität. Es ist für sie prinzipiell unverhandelbar.
3.3 Dasselbe gilt exakt für die Negation dieses Rechts durch das zionistische Israel. Eine Rückkehr der vertriebenen Palästinenser würde die Transformation Israels in einen binationalen Staat bedeuten - und damit das Ende des gerade dank der Nakba 1948 zum Erfolg geführten zionistischen Projekts.
3.4 Genau aus diesem Grund fordert Israel immer wieder die Anerkennung seiner Existenz als jüdischem Staat, womit primär einfach ein Staat gemeint ist, in dem eine (möglichst große) jüdische Mehrheit garantiert ist.
Wer das Existenzrecht Israels (in diesem Sinne) anerkennt, sollte also wissen, was er damit tut: Er bestreitet damit eo ipso genau das, was die UNO-Rückkehr-Resolution fordert. Woraus folgt: Zur deutschen Staatsraison gehört derzeit auch … genau: auch die Nicht-Umsetzung dieses Rückkehrrechts!4
3.5 Es ist schlicht die Angst vor dem Ende des zionistischen Projekts, woraus sich im Kontext der palästinensischen Flüchtlingsproblematik das ganze Spektrum der so genannten israelischen Ablehnungs- bzw. Verweigerungs-Politik (The Politics of Denial)5 erklärt. Wie das offizielle Israel anfänglich
– Das Vorkommen bzw. das Ausmaß bzw. die Intentionalität der Vertreibungen ja sogar (man erinnere sich an Golda Meir’s entsprechendes Diktum „Es gibt keine Palästinenser“)
– Die Existenz von Palästinensern bestritten hat, so lehnt es über
Das Recht auf Rückkehr bzw. Entschädigung der vertriebenen Palästinenser hinaus auch
– Jegliche (moralische) Verantwortung für die Nakba schlechterdings ab.
3.6 Die Argumente, auf die sich diese zionistische Position der eigenen Unverantwortlichkeit stützt, sind die üblichen. Sie sind ziemlich platt - und eigentlich gar keiner näheren Betrachtung würdig. Aber leider gilt ja nur allzu oft: Je schwächer (oder noch einfacher: je blöder) ein Argument ist, desto wirksamer ist es. Das „selber-schuld“-Argument etwa, das besagt: Es waren die Palästinenser, die, anders als die Yishuv, den UN-Teilungsplan abgelehnt und mit dem Krieg angefangen hatten - und darum seien sie für alles, was in diesem Krieg passiert sei, schließlich selber verantwortlich - einschließlich der Vertreibungen und der mit diesen verbundenen Massaker. Oder dass die jüdischen Massaker nur Vergeltungsreaktionen auf palästinensische Gewalttaten gewesen seien. Oder das sogenannte na und?- bzw. was soll’s?-Argument, nach dem die Vertreibung der Palästinenser im Vergleich zum Holocaust doch nur ein Klacks gewesen sei.
3.7 Der Politikwissenschaftler Saleh Abdel Jawad von der Birzeit Universität hat Recht, wenn er sagt, dass diese Argumentations- bzw. Ausweich-Strategien nichts anderes als „Versuche“ seien, es "Israel zu ersparen, das an den Palästinensern begangene Unrecht [auch nur] zu thematisieren."6
3.8 Der Gipfel der zionistischen Verdrängungs-Politik manifestiert sich in dem schon 2011 beschlossenen Gesetz, wonach all jenen Gemeinden Finanzhilfen der Zentralregierung verwehrt werden, die die israelische Staatsgründung von 1948 öffentlich als Nakba (als Katastrophe) bezeichnen. Noch weitaus schärfere Gesetzesvorhaben sehen vor, dass sogar die öffentliche Benennung der israelischen Staatsgründungs-Vorgänge als Nakba generell unter Strafe gestellt wird.
4 Prolegomena zu einer Ethik der Nakba
Betrachten wir zum Schluss noch jene Position, die gerade keine Ausweichposition ist, vielmehr eines der härtesten Beispiele für eine aggressive Vorwärts-Strategie. Der Fall mag Sie schockieren; aber vielleicht dient gerade dies der nötigen Klarheit.
4.1 Die große Figur unter den israelischen Neuen Historikern habe ich oben schon herausgehoben: Benny Morris. Es dürfte niemanden geben, der die aus den bisher zugänglichen israelischen Quellen ermittelbaren Fakten zur Nakba besser kennt. Wenn es um die von den jüdischen Milizen verübten ethnischen Säuberungen um 1948 herum geht, so weiß Morris genau, worum es geht.
Und ausgerechnet dieser Mann wirft heute Ben Gurion, dem Hauptverantwortlichen für diese Säuberungen, vor, diese ethnischen Säuberungen nicht radikal genug durchgeführt, sie nicht konsequent genug zu Ende gebracht zu haben.
4.2 Ich zitiere aus dem Interview jetzt etwas ausführlicher.7 (Die fett-Hervorhebungen in diesem Interview stammen von mir. Es sind die zentralen Stellen, auf die ich gleich noch besonders eingehen werde.)
Ari Shavit: Sie sind ein Experte für die Greueltaten des Jahres 1948. Rechtfertigen Sie letztlich all das? Befürworten Sie den Transfer von 1948?
Benny Morris: […] unter bestimmten Bedingungen ist Vertreibung kein Kriegsverbrechen. Ich denke nicht, dass die Vertreibungen von 1948 Kriegsverbrechen waren. Du kannst kein Omelett machen, ohne Eier zu zerbrechen.
Ari Shavit: Wir sprechen über die Ermordung von tausenden Menschen, der Zerstörung einer gesamten Gesellschaft.
Benny Morris: Eine Gesellschaft, die droht, Dich zu zerstören, zwingt Dich, sie zu zerstören. Wenn die Wahl besteht zwischen Zerstören oder selbst zerstört zu werden, ist es besser zu zerstören. […]
Ari Shavit: Wenn also die Kommandeure der Operation Dani dastehen und den langen und schrecklichen Flüchtlingsstrom der 50.000 Menschen, die aus Lod vertrieben wurden, auf seinem Weg nach Osten beobachten, stehen sie dann dort gemeinsam mit ihnen? Rechtfertigen Sie sie?
Benny Morris: Ich kann sie zweifellos verstehen. Ich verstehe ihre Motive. Ich glaube nicht, dass sie irgendwelche Gewissensbisse hatten und an ihrer Stelle hätte ich auch keine gehabt. Ohne diese Tat hätten sie den Krieg nicht gewonnen und kein Staat wäre entstanden. […] Es gibt Umstände in der Geschichte, die ethnische Säuberungen rechtfertigen. Ich weiß, dass dieser Begriff im Diskurs des 21. Jahrhunderts völlig negativ ist, aber wenn die Wahl zwischen ethnischer Säuberung und Genozid - der Vernichtung deines eigenen Volkes - besteht, dann ziehe ich ethnische Säuberung vor. […]
Ari Shavit: Sie haben eine interessante Wandlung durchgemacht. Sie zogen aus, Ben- Gurion und das zionistische Establishment kritisch zu erforschen, aber letztlich identifizieren sie sich sogar mit ihnen. Ihre Worte sind so hart wie deren Taten.
Benny Morris: Da mögen Sie Recht haben. Weil ich den Konflikt intensiv erforscht habe, war ich genötigt, mich mit den tiefgehenden Fragen auseinanderzusetzen, mit denen diese Leute fertig werden mußten. Ich verstand die problemat ische Situation, in der sie sich befanden und vielleicht habe ich einen Teil ihrer Weltsicht übernommen. Aber ich identifiziere mich nicht mit Ben-Gurion. Ich glaube, er hat 1948 einen schwerwiegenden historischen Fehler gemacht. Obwohl er das demographische Problem und die Notwendigkeit, einen jüdischen Staat ohne große arabische Minderheit zu errichten, verstand, bekam er im Verlauf des Krieges kalte Füße. Letztlich hat er gezögert.
Ari Shavit: Ich bin nicht sicher, ob ich richtig verstehe. Sagen Sie, Ben-Gurion hätte zu wenige Araber vertrieben?
Benny Morris: Wenn er schon die Vertreibung begonnen hat, hätte er sie vielleicht auch zu Ende bringen sollen. Ich weiß, dass das die Araber und die Liberalen und all die politisch Korrekten sprachlos macht. Aber mein Gefühl sagt mir, dass dies hier ein ruhigerer Ort wäre und weniger Leid herrschen würde, wenn die Sache ein für alle Mal zu Ende gebracht worden wäre. Wenn Ben-Gurion eine große Vertreibung durchgeführt und das gesamte Land gesäubert hätte: das ganze Land Israel bis zum Jordan. Es mag sich noch zeigen, dass dies sein fataler Fehler war. Wenn er eine vollständige Vertreibung durchgeführt hätte - und keine teilweise - , hätte er den Staat Israel auf Generationen hinaus stabilisiert.
Und dann folgt der Absatz:
Ari Shavit: Ich kann kaum glauben, was ich höre.
Benny Morris: Wenn sich das Ende der Geschichte als düster für die Juden erweist, wird dies daran liegen, weil Ben-Gurion den Transfer 1948 nicht vollendet hat. Weil er eine große und unberechenbare demographische Reserve in der Westbank und Gaza und in Israel selbst beließ. […].
4.3 So schockierend dieses Interview für einige von uns auch immer sein mag, so kommt ihm doch das Verdienst zu, genau die Fragen aufzuwerfen, die man sich stellen muss, wenn man sich über die Nakba ein eigenes moralisches Urteil bilden will. Und selbst wenn man, wie ich, diese Position von Morris keineswegs teilt - seine Sichtweise zumindest zu kennen und zu verstehen, ist schon deshalb wichtig, weil er mit seinen Antworten in brutaler Offenheit nur das ausdrückt, was auch viele anderen denken.
4.4 Wir werden mit diesem Interview auf die härteste aller denkbaren Fragen gestoßen, die es in dem Bereich der so genannten Kriegsethik bzw., allgemeiner, in dem sehr weiten Berich der Ethik der Gewalt überhaupt gibt. Diese Frage, ich bezeichne sie im Folgenden kurz als die Omega-Frage, lautet: Kann es gewisse extreme Ausnahme-Situationen geben, in denen sogar die schlimmsten Kriegsverbrechen bzw. sogar die schlimmsten Verbrechen gegen die Menschlichkeit erlaubt, ja sogar geboten sind?
4.5 Churchill stand im 2. Weltkrieg genau vor dieser Frage. Seine Antwort kennen wir: Das Terrorbombing deutscher Städte. Seine Begründung war die gleiche wie die von Morris vorgebrachte: Das Terrorbombing war notwendig. Notwendig, um den worstcase zu verhindern: die Weltherrschaft Hitlers.
4.6 Michael Walzer, der Klassiker der modernen Theorie des gerechten Krieges, hat die Omega-Frage genau anhand dieses Churchill-Beispiels diskutiert - und mit einer differenzierten Antwort versehen. Solange der Omega-Fall, die drohende Weltherrschaft Hitlers, wirklich gegeben war, war auch jenes Terrorbombing vertretbar. (Und dies, obgleich diese Bombardierungen ohne diesen Omega-Kontext ein extremes Kriegsverbrechen darstellen.) Sobald diese Gefahr nicht mehr bestand, nicht mehr. Also nicht mehr nach der deutschen Niederlage von El Alamain, 1942, bzw. nach Stalingrad, 1943. Die Bombardierung Dresdens im Februar 1945 war demnach, da nicht mehr durch die Omega-Regel gedeckt, ein klares Kriegsverbrechen.
4.7 Das große Problem dieser ganzen Debatte ist natürlich dieses: Wann genau ist eine Situation derart schlimm, dass sie als relevanter extremer Ausnahmefall - als Omega-Fall - gelten kann? Und wer entscheidet darüber? Und lässt sich ein Omega-Fall überhaupt objektiv definieren? Schließlich unterscheidet sich, was jeweils als „schlimm“ gilt, von Person zu Person, von Gruppe zu Gruppe, ja von Kultur zu Kultur.
Das sind für den engen Rahmen dieses Beitrags freilich viel zu große Fragen. Hier reicht aber die Feststellung, dass ein Genozid, ein laufender oder auch nur mit hinlänglicher Sicherheit bevorstehender, das allgemein anerkannte Paradigma für einen Omega-Fall darstellt.
4.8 Und das ist genau der Fall, auf den auch Morris abhebt. Seine Kernthese besagt (wörtlich - siehe das oben schon Fettgedruckte): "Es gibt Umstände …, die ethnische Säuberungen rechtfertigen" Und ein Genozid ist (auch für ihn) so ein Fall. In unsere eigene obige Redeweise übersetzt - bzw. präzisiert - besagt diese Kernthese:
Wenn ein Genozid in Gang ist oder mit hinreichender Sicherheit bevorsteht, dann ist - als ultima ratio, versteht sich - gegen ihn sogar eine ethnische Säuberung erlaubt.
4.9 So weit, so vielleicht richtig - wie wir im Folgenden der weiteren Argumentation wegen einfach mal annehmen wollen.
Aber, und das ist ein großes ABER: Reicht diese Wenn-Dann-Basis bereits als Rechtfertigung für die von Morris verteidigten ethnischen Säuberungen im israelischen Teil Palästinas?
Mit Sicherheit nicht. Aus WENN-A, DANN-B alleine folgt nicht schon B. Es fehlt noch der Nachweis, dass A, das heißt der Nachweis dafür, dass im Kontext der Vertreibungen der Palästinenser tatsächlich ein Genozid vorlag oder bevorstand.
4.10 Von welchem Genozid ist in diesem Morris-Interview überhaupt die Rede? Von welchem Genozid, zu dessen Beendigung bzw. Verhinderung die Vertreibung der Palästinenser tatsächlich notwendig war?
4.11 Für Morris reicht freilich, wie das obige Interview zeigt, bereits das Postulat einer solchen genozidalen Omega-Situation, um die Haupt-Akteure der in dem Interview erwähnten Säuberungen, d.h. die Kommandeure der Operation Dani, zu verstehen. Was voraussetzt, dass Morris zumindest glaubt, dass diese Akteure ihrerseits glaubten, dass sie es mit einem Omega-Fall zu tun haben.
4.12 Frage an die Historiker: War dem wirklich so? Glaubten das die Dani-Kommandeure - und auch deren Befehlsempfänger - tatsächlich?
4.13 Und falls sie das tatsächlich geglaubt haben sollten - wäre das dann auch schon eine hinreichende Basis nicht nur für ein Verstehen, sondern auch für ein Rechtfertigen ihres Tuns? Wiederum: mit Sicherheit nicht.
Ihr entsprechender Glaube würde zwar in der Tat erklären, warum sie, was sie taten, „ohne jede Gewissensbisse“ getan hatten. Aber wie gerade wir Deutschen aus unserer eigenen Vergangenheit, genauer: aus den Versuchen einer ‚Bewältigung’ unserer eigenen Vergangenheit her wissen: Fehlende Gewissensbisse sind mit den schrecklichsten Taten verträglich. Und spätestens seit dem Eichmann-Prozess könnte das doch wirklich jederman wissen.
4.14 Noch einmal: Von welchem Genozid spricht hier Morris eigentlich?
Ich vermute: Von keinem realen, insbesondere von keinem damals realen in Palästina. Morris „Genozid“-Bezug hebt vielmehr lediglich auf einen fiktiven Genozid ab, auf einen lediglich potentiellen.
Dafür spricht die weitere Fettdruck-Stelle des Interviews. Dort heißt es, dass sie, die damaligen Akteure, ohne diese Vertreibungen bzw. Säuberungen "den Krieg nicht gewonnen [hätten] und auch kein Staat … entstanden [wäre]."
4.15 Welche Relevanz hat das für das Morris’sche Genozid-Verhinderung-durch-ethnische Säuberungen-Argument? Die für den schlüssigen Zusammenhang notwendige Prämisse scheint für ihn so selbstverständlich zu sein, dass er sie gar nicht erst aussprechen zu müssen glaubt. Nämlich: Vor einem weiteren Genozid schützt uns nur ein eigener starker Staat.
4.16 Morris’s Position ist also, aus der 48er Perspektive formuliert, diese:
1. Um vor einem weiteren Genozid sicher zu sein, brauchen wir Juden einen eigenen möglichst starken jüdischen Staat.
2. Einen solchen Staat gibt es nur dann, wenn Israel (a) im Unabhängigkeitskrieg als Sieger hervorgeht und (b) auch weiterhin nicht von Palästinensern in seinem Inneren bedroht ist.
3. Und beides - der Sieg im Krieg wie die innere Sicherheit - erfordert die möglichst vollständige Säuberung Israels von den Palästinensern. Konklusion : Um vor einem weiteren Genozid sicher zu sein, ist eine möglichst vollständige Vertreibung der Palästinenser aus Israel notwendig - und, so glaubt Morris, insofern auch gerechtfertigt.
4.17 Ich gehe auf diese Argumentation von Morris nicht nur deshalb so ausführlich ein, weil ich generell ein großer Fan von Offenheit bin - selbst dann, wenn diese Offenheit einigen weh tut; sondern vor allem deshalb, weil Morris mit dieser Argumentation radikal- zionistischen Klartext spricht. Mit seiner brutal expliziten Argumentation hat uns Morris so etwas wie einen ersten klaren Einblick in die andernorts meist nur implizit zum Einsatz kommende Software der radikal zionistischen Denkungsart verschafft.
4.18 Nun ist diese Software zwar, was den Notwendigkeitsaspekt der Vertreibungen angeht, auf der Basis der angeführten Prämissen in sich perfekt logisch schlüssig, hat dafür aber zwei erhebliche Defizite.
Zum einen sind alle drei Prämissen alles andere als evident, ja sogar höchst zweifelhaft. Und zum anderen hat diese Argumentation jetzt wirklich nichts mehr mit dem obigen Omega-Rechtfertigungsschema zu tun. Denn dieses bezieht sich bisher nur auf bereits vorliegende oder mit großer Wahrscheinlichkeit unmittelbar bevorstehende Omega-Situationen. Durch die von Morris vollzogene Erweiterung dieses Schemas auch auf aus heutiger Sicht bloss potentielle spätere Omega-Fälle verliert dieses Schema aber jegliche Überzeugungskraft.
4.19 Das tut der weiten Verwendung dieses erweiterten Schemas freilich keinerlei Abbruch. Im Gegenteil: Rechtfertigen lassen sich mit dieser Erweiterung, wenn man diese akzeptiert, schließlich alle möglichen Arten von sogenannten präemptiven Verteidigungen. Und so verwundert es überhaupt nicht, dass Morris unter Rekurs auf dieses erweiterte Omega-Schema auch für einen möglichst baldigen Präemptionsangriff auf den Iran plädiert.
4.20 Wie Sie sehen: Schon ein kurzer Blick auf Morris’s Versuch einer moralischen Rechtfertigung der jüdischen ethnischen Säuberungen in Palästina eröffnet ein sehr weites Feld. Ein für jetzt zu weites, klar.
Deshalb jetzt nur noch dies: Ich habe Ihnen eine Reihe von Unterscheidungen und Fragen vorgestellt, die wir beachten müssen, wenn wir uns über das Problem der Rechtfertigungen der Vertreibungen der Palästinenser selber ein klares Urteil bilden wollen. Wie Sie mit diesen Unterscheidungen umgehen, das ist und bleibt jetzt Ihre Sache.
Georg Meggle ist Analytischer Philosoph. Seit seiner Emeritierung (2009) lehrt er jeweils abwechselnd in Kairo (Winter) und Salzburg (Sommer).
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Fussnoten
1
Dieser Beitrag geht auf einen Vortrag zurück, den ich bereits 2011 zur Eröffnung der von Ingrid Rumpf betreuten Wanderausstellung Die Nakba. Flucht und Vertreibung der Palästinenser 1948 in der VHS Heidelberg gehalten hatte - und der bis heute nicht veröffentlich war. Der folgende Paragraph 1 entspricht dem Paragraph 2 meines 2010 verfassten Entwurfes für ein neues Grundsatzpapier der Nahostkommission von Pax Christi, unter dem Titel Menschenwürde und der Palästina-Konflikt, abgedruckt als 13. Kapitel in: Georg Meggle, Philosophische Interventionen, mentis Verlag, Paderborn, 2011, S. 197-201, nunmehr auch in dem eBook: Georg Meggle, Über Medien, Krieg und Terror (2019).
2
Von israelischer Seite vor allem: Simha Flapan, Benny Morris, Ilan Pappe und Tom Segev. Und von palästinensischer Seite: Whalid Khalidi, Rashid Khalidi, Sharif Kana’ana und Nur Masalha.
3
So Ilan Pappe, Die ethnische Säuberung Palästinas, Zweitausendeins, 2010, S. 15.
4
Diese Argumentation ist so noch nicht ganz wasserdicht (schreit also, wie diese Reflexionen generell, nach weiteren Differenzierungen): Denn auch wenn das Rückkehrrecht (nach der UNO-Resolution) umgesetzt würde, müsste das nicht auch schon das Ende der jüdischen Mehrheit in Israel bedeuten - denn die Palästinenser könnten sich ja statt für die Rückkehr für eine bloße Entschädigung entscheiden! Um genau dies zu erreichen, müssten die angebotenen Entschädigungen aber wohl entsprechend hoch sein. Was sicher auch ein dickes finanzielles Engagement anderer Länder beinhalten müsste.
5
Dazu: Nur Masalha, The Politics of Denial. Israel and the Palestinian Refugee Problem, London (Pluto Press), 2003.
6
So in seinem Beitrag in INAMO 54, S. 18.
7
Das von Ari Shavit durchgeführte Interview erschien am 09.01.2004 in der Zeitung Ha’aretz; die folgende deutsche Übersetzung findet sich in INAMO 49, 2007, S. 32
#Israël #Paestine #Nakba #Shoa #Holocaust #idéologie #crimes_de_guerre #crime_de_guerre #génocide #impérialisme
Opinion | The Original Evil Corporation - The New York Times
▻https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/04/opinion/east-india-company.html
A propos de la Compagnie britannique des Indes orientales
Although it has no exact equivalents, the Company was the ultimate prototype for many of today’s corporations. The most powerful among them these days do not need their own armies: They can rely on governments to protect their interests and bail them out.
The history of the East India Company shows that Western imperialism and corporate capitalism were born hand in hand, the dragons’ teeth that spawned the modern world. As Baron Thurlow remarked in the late 1700s, when the Company was being criticized for its misdeeds and its governor-general, Warren Hastings, was on trial, “Corporations have neither bodies to be punished, nor souls to be condemned. They therefore do as they like.”
#impérialisme #capitalisme #pillages #crimes #impunité #multinationales
How Slavery Shaped American Capitalism
▻https://jacobinmag.com/2019/08/how-slavery-shaped-american-capitalism
En Allemagne la raison pour la forme dogmatique et extrémiste de la définition du droit à la propriété et du droit d’y appliquer un contrôle total est dû à l’influence des Etats Unis depuis la création de l’état allemand occidental. Les réactions énervés des propriétaures dans l’actuel débat autour de la limitation des loyers à Berlin en est l’expression. L"intérêt commun compte peu quand il est l’expression des besoins immédiats de personnes physiques contrairement aux capitalistes et personnes juridiques dont les droits individuels sont rarement contestés. On comprend l’importance de la lutte contre le racisme.pour chacun de nous. Il ne faut jamais céder à la discrimination raciale ou sexiste.
Slave-owners were particularly afraid of allowing democratic control over property because they were literally afraid of their property. They were haunted by the threat of slave insurrections, as well as foreign armies turning their slaves into enemy soldiers through offers of freedom (as the British had recently done). Einhorn concludes that “if property rights have enjoyed unusual sanctity in the United States, it may be because this nation was founded in a political situation in which the owners of one very significant form of property thought their holdings were insecure.”
L’article du Jacobin continue en décrivant les conséquences des normes constitutionnelles.
The resulting balance of strong property protections and weak regulatory and taxing power ... helped shift American capitalism onto the low road . In addition to the profound effect of slavery on America’s enduring racial inequality, slavery’s legacy for American capitalism may thus be found more in the structural constraints on US politics than in its direct contributions to the nineteenth-century American economy.
Aujourd’hui ce problème touche de plus en plus de nations à cause de l’influence qu’exerce l’impérialisme étatsunien par sa stratégie déstructrice. Les techniques du state building censés éliminer le chaos laissé par les « guerres des peuples immatures » comprennent bien sûr l’extension des définitions juridiques étatsuniennes de la propriété privé aux pays à pacifier.
#USA #Allemagne #racisme #constitution #propriété_privée #esclavage #impérialisme
John Chau, American Missionary, and the Uncontacted Tribe | GQ
▻https://www.gq.com/story/john-chau-missionary-and-uncontacted-tribe
When a 26-year-old American missionary set out for a lush island in the Indian Ocean last year, it was with one objective in mind: to convert the uncontacted Sentinelese tribe, who had lived for centuries in isolation, free from modern technology, disease, and religion. John Chau’s mission had ambitions for a great awakening, but what awaited instead was tragedy.
By Doug Bock Clark, August 22, 2019
1. First Contact
For 11 days in November 2018, John Chau lived mostly in darkness. While a cyclone thrashed the Bay of Bengal, Chau quarantined himself inside a safe house in the tropical backwater of Port Blair, India, never stepping outside to enjoy sunlight. The 26-year-old American missionary was hoping his body would finish off any lingering infections so that he wouldn’t sicken the Sentinelese, a hunter-gatherer tribe that he dreamed of converting to Christianity. They’d been isolated on their remote island for enough centuries that they’d never developed modern antibodies. Even the common cold could devastate them.
During this retreat Chau kept his mountain climber’s body hard with triangle push-ups, leg tucks, and body squats. But it was his soul that he primarily fortified, with prayer and by reading a history of the tribulations faced by pioneering American missionaries in Southeast Asia, who were an inspiration to him. “God, I thank you for choosing me, before I was even yet formed in my mother’s womb, to be Your messenger of Your Good News,” he wrote in his diary. “May Your Kingdom, Your Rule and Reign come now to North Sentinel Island.”
After the storm finally passed, a crew of local Christians hid Chau on their 30-foot open wooden boat and struck out under darkness for the most extreme outcrop of the Andaman archipelago, on a route presumably meant to resemble that of a normal fishing expedition. As they dodged other craft, Chau recorded, “The Milky Way was above and God Himself was shielding us from the Coast Guard and Navy patrols.” The Indian government bans contact with the Sentinelese as a way of protecting them from outsiders—and outsiders from them. The Sentinelese have maintained their independence by frequently repelling foreigners from their shoreline with eight-foot-long arrows.
Bioluminescent plankton illuminated fish jumping “like darting mermaids” as the boat motored more than 60 miles. Sometime before 4:30 a.m., the crew noted three bonfires on a distant beach and then anchored outside the island’s barrier reef. While resting, eyes shut but not asleep, Chau had “a vision as I’ve never had one before,” of a meteorite—possibly representing himself—streaking toward a “frightening city with jagged spires,” seemingly Sentinel Island. Then “a whitish light filled [the city] and all the frightening bits melted away.” He couldn’t help wondering in his diary: “LORD is this island Satan’s last stronghold where none have heard or even had a chance to hear Your Name?”
Dawn soon revealed a hut on a white-sand beach, backed by primordial jungle. Chau off-loaded from the fishermen’s boat a kayak and two waterproof cases jammed with wilderness survival supplies. He paddled a half mile in shallow water over dead coral, and as he approached shore, he heard women “looing and chattering.” Then two dark-skinned men, wearing little, if anything, ran onto the beach, shouting in a language spoken by no one on earth besides their tribe. They clutched bows, though they hadn’t yet strung arrows onto them.
From his kayak, Chau yelled in English: “My name is John. I love you, and Jesus loves you. Jesus Christ gave me authority to come to you.” Then, offering a tuna most likely caught by the fishermen on the journey to the island, Chau declared: “Here is some fish!” In response, the Sentinelese socketed bamboo arrows onto bark-fiber bowstrings. Chau panicked. He flung the gift into the bay. As the tribesmen gathered it, he turned and paddled “like I never have in my life, back to the boat.”
By the time he reached safety, though, his fear was already turning to disappointment. He swore to himself that he would return later that day. He had, after all, been planning for this moment since high school. It was his divine calling, he believed, to save the lost souls of North Sentinel Island.
2. The Calling
On the surface, John Chau enjoyed a normal 1990s childhood in a suburb of Portland, Oregon, playing soccer and performing charitable work with his church. Family photos show a chubby-cheeked boy grinning with his Chinese psychiatrist father in national parks, his American lawyer mother presumably behind the camera. But it wasn’t just those vacations that inspired his love of the wild. One day, while still in elementary school, Chau found a book in his dad’s downstairs study and wiped dust off its cover to reveal: Robinson Crusoe. The story of a solitary castaway on a tropical island hooked him on adventure tales.
As Chau matured, he mastered the skills necessary to strike off on his own adventures in the rugged mountains just outside Portland, earning the equivalent of an Eagle Scout award from an evangelical version of the Boy Scouts. It wasn’t just a love of exploration that drove him. Wandering through mossy forests caused him to marvel at “the beautiful creation around us that we are all called to care for” and connected him to God, like the Old Testament prophets who found the Lord while alone in the wilderness.
As posted on Instagram: Chau took public ferries to several outlying islands to test his kayak for his final trip to North Sentinel Island.
Chau grew up Pentecostal, a charismatic Christian movement that is generally considered intensely evangelical and conservative. His mother wrote that she worked as a fund-raiser for organizations like Jerry Falwell’s Moral Majority and the Ethics and Public Policy Center, which describes itself as “Washington, D.C.’s premier institute dedicated to applying the Judeo-Christian moral tradition to critical issues of public policy,” and then for many years on the faculty at Oral Roberts University, a historically Pentecostal institution. It was during his junior year at a small Christian high school that he underwent that American evangelical rite of passage: a mission trip to Mexico. Sermonizing months later, as seen in a video uploaded to YouTube, Chau said the trip helped him realize, “We can’t just call ourselves Christians and then the next day just be like, Yeah, you know, let’s go to a party and get drunk and get high, whatever, get wasted, and live a lifestyle that’s totally against what Christ has called us to do. We actually have to do something.” The skinny teenager in an American Eagle polo reminds his listeners that one of Jesus’s commands was: “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” This passage comes from what is known as the Great Commission, and it is a primary biblical justification for missionary work.
Though overseas missions might seem a relic of the British Empire, America dispatches a significant number of missionaries abroad each year—approximately 127,000 in 2010, for example, according to the Center for the Study of Global Christianity. This number grew for decades because of American Protestantism’s emphasis on every believer’s responsibility to proselytize and the increasing ease of air travel, which has meant that spreading the Word internationally can be done over spring break. These factors have contributed to an explosion of self-regulated missionary groups that can seem practically freelance compared with the bureaucratized Catholic missionary orders of old. Chau would have likely believed missionary work “to be a divine obligation,” said Joshua Chen, a friend raised in a household with similar beliefs.
Among some evangelicals, few missionaries are as celebrated as those who work with remote tribes. After returning from his high school trip to Mexico, Chau was surfing JoshuaProject.net, a website that catalogs unconverted peoples, and stumbled upon an entry for the Sentinelese. Today the site describes them as a “hostile” tribe that “need to know the Creator God exists.” Before long he was conjuring the islet on Google Maps, promising that he was going to bring the Sentinelese the Good News. His father, Patrick Chau, overheard him telling others this was his “calling,” but Patrick later wrote, “I hoped that he would be matured enough to rectify the fantasy before too late.”
Indian anthropologists pass coconuts to the Sentinelese in 1991—one of the most notable attempts at contact to date.
3. Satan’s Last Stronghold
The Andamanese tribes, of which the Sentinelese are one, are “arguably the most enigmatic people on our planet,” according to a team of geneticists who published a paper in 2003 about trying to track their origins. The scientists found some evidence that they were part of the first wave of humans to reach Asia, more than 50,000 years ago—which makes sense, as their appearance is similar to that of Africans. But if that theory holds true, Asiatic peoples, who arrived later, eradicated their forebears, except for a remnant in the Andamans. This would mean that the estimated 50 to 200 surviving Sentinelese have been refugees since prehistory.
Records from Roman, Arab, and Chinese traders, dating from the second century A.D., tell of Andamanese murdering sailors who put to shore looking for fresh water. In the 13th century, Marco Polo passed nearby and recorded from secondhand accounts that “they are a most cruel generation, and eat everybody that they can catch, if not of their own race,” though he was almost certainly wrong about the cannibalism. Consequently, most people who even knew about the Sentinelese were happy to avoid them until the British Empire established Port Blair, a penal colony for rebellious Indians, on nearby South Andaman Island.
In 1879, the 19-year-old aristocrat Maurice Vidal Portman was charged with overseeing the Andamanese and—drawn by whatever impulse has moved young men across the ages—soon led an expedition to Sentinel Island. At first he and his soldiers freely roamed a jungle that was “in many places open and park like,” he wrote, and filled with “beautiful groves of bullet-wood trees.” Eventually they discovered some recently abandoned lean-tos and evidence that their inhabitants survived by hunting sea turtles, wild pigs, and fish, as well as by foraging fruits and roots. Portman, however, was not satisfied.
After scouring the Manhattan-size island several times, and having glancing contact with the Sentinelese, the outsiders finally stumbled across an old Sentinelese man with his wife and child. The old man was tackled before he could fire his bow, and the whole family, along with three other Sentinelese children captured about the same time, was abducted back to Port Blair where Portman kept all of them in his house. (Over two ensuing decades of ostensibly civilizing the natives, Portman habitually photographed naked Andamanese captives, though it doesn’t seem that any of the disturbing pictures that survive are of the Sentinelese.) The old Sentinelese man and his wife rapidly died of sickness, and Portman eventually released the surviving children back to the island with gifts—and, perhaps, pathogens. “This expedition was not a success,” Portman wrote. “We cannot be said to have done anything more than increase their general terror of, and hostility to, all comers. It would have been better to have left the Islanders alone.”
Some have speculated that Portman turned the Sentinelese against outsiders. Certainly his misadventures couldn’t have helped. But historical records suggest that the Sentinelese had isolated themselves long before Portman, perhaps because Southeast Asian kingdoms had raided them for slaves. Regardless, the Sentinelese violently maintained their independence until the British Empire collapsed, shortly after World War II, and the new Indian government eventually realized that some of its citizens didn’t even comprehend they were Indian.
Consequently, in March 1974, a team of Indian anthropologists attempted to befriend the Sentinelese. As they approached the island, the anthropologists were guarded by policemen equipped with shields and shadowed by a film crew. The Indians had brought three Andamanese from a friendly tribe to interpret. “We are friends!” they shouted through a loudspeaker from a boat offshore. “We come in peace!” Evidence suggests the Sentinelese’s language has diverged from those of nearby tribes so much they are mutually unintelligible. But from about 80 yards away, one archer bent so far back that he seemed to aim at the sun, then launched an unmistakable reply. In a recording of that moment, an eight-foot bamboo shaft, with an iron nail lashed to its tip, plunges out of the heavens, ricochets off the boat’s railing, and into the water. When the camera refocuses, a Sentinelese man is pumping both fists in what is obviously a victory dance as the boat retreats.
The anthropologists then motored up the coast, leaving coconuts, bananas, and plastic buckets on a deserted beach, and later watched as the Sentinelese carried away the offerings. But even that did not win over the tribe: The expedition was halted when the film director was wounded in the thigh by an arrow. When the anthropologists subsequently tried to leave even more gifts, the tribe immediately speared a bound live pig with their long arrows and buried it in the sand. A cotton doll left to test if they would let a human-shaped object cross their beach into the island’s interior suffered a similar fate.
After that, anthropologists continued to make intermittent and unsuccessful visits to the island, and sometimes the outside world washed up on its shores. In 1981, a Panamanian freighter ran aground on the barrier reef during a storm. A few days later, a lookout spotted about 50 naked “wild men” waving bows and arrows on the beach. As described in The American Scholar, the crew then radioed the Regent Shipping Company’s Hong Kong office and begged for an airdrop of guns: “Worrying they will board us at sunset. All crew members’ lives not guaranteed.” Robert Fore, an American pilot who was working nearby, ended up landing a helicopter on the ship’s deck in high winds and plucking more than 30 sailors and their dog to safety. Fore had flown combat missions in Vietnam, he said, “but this was unique.” They left behind a ship’s worth of iron to be hammered into arrowheads, as well as tons of less useful chicken feed.
The most recent contact of note was in 2006, when two Indian fishermen, believed to be drunk on palm wine, drifted ashore. Other poachers watched from outside the barrier reef as the Sentinelese hacked them to death with what were probably adzes, which an anthropologist has speculated that the tribe “must have endowed with magical power, to keep away the evil spirits.” When a helicopter investigated the deaths, archers drove it away, but not before rotor wind whipped sand off shallow graves—revealing a pair of corpses. After some time, the bodies were reportedly dug up and hung like scarecrows on bamboo poles, facing the sea.
4. God’s University
Chau learned this violent history while researching the tribe on his laptop. As he read on a missionary’s blog the summer after his freshman year of college: “The Sentinelese may be the greatest missions challenge anywhere!” Instead of being daunted, though, he appears to have tried to strike up a correspondence with the missionary, writing, “Hi! I genuinely believe that God has called me to go to the Sentinelese.”
Chau was attending Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Oral Roberts, nicknamed “God’s University,” has the stated goal of fostering “evangelistic capability” in its students. In 2018, the school sent about a seventh of its student body abroad on missions. Chau enrolled in History of Missions, a course in which he learned, as a syllabus put it, “a people-to-people strategy working from within the culture” for proselytizing. According to Dan McCarthy, a friend who said he took the class and later went on a mission overseas with him, this meant: “You learn the culture of those people. You learn their language. You blend in, and then you hope you get a chance to share Jesus because they ask questions about how you’ve been modeling His love. You don’t go in and force it down their throats.”
Putting theory into practice, Chau worked with the university’s Missions and Outreach department, under Bobby Parks, a boyishly handsome and enthusiastic 30-something. Chau helped Parks coach refugee children in soccer for Park’s not-for-profit organization and perform local missions. Parks would later describe on social media his mentorship of Chau as similar to how the older apostle Paul guided the younger Timothy. While at Oral Roberts University, Chau traveled twice to South Africa—once with Parks’s department and later to coach and teach “life values” at a Christian soccer academy, one of the countless institutions that accept short-term missionaries in the world-spanning evangelical travel industry. Chau also represented his faith closer to home. Nicole Hopkins, a university friend, said that when her sister was in the hospital for a year, John provided her with daily support but “never pushed the gospel on her during that season.” Hopkins said that a couple of years later “my sister became a Christian and she says John’s actions were a big part of her believing God is real.” Despite his conviction, Chau doesn’t seem to have been an in-your-face proselytizer; secular friends said he barely discussed religion with them. After these experiences, Chau wrote, “ORU missions gave me direction in my life.”
Other than his dedication to missions, Chau was basically a typical college student, albeit at a school without frat parties. He had an affinity for root beer, discussed Jesus for hours, and signed a pledge to abstain from “unscriptural sexual acts, which include any homosexual activity and sexual intercourse with one who is not my spouse.” Even in such a God-fearing environment, Chau stood out for his piety, making Hopkins “question whether or not I was as sold out for Christ as I claimed to be,” as she later wrote on social media. Despite his conservative background, he was “hardly the stereotypical, Bible-thumping ‘fundamentalist,’ ” said a friend, who came out to him as homosexual. In a message responding to that revelation, Chau wrote, “I see people as people, sons and daughters of God as their identity,” and said he would be willing to bless his queer brothers as much as his straight brothers. Chau was “an introverted social butterfly,” said another friend—reserved at first, but forging many deep relationships over time. Hopkins wrote me: “I’ve never met a man who loved others so selflessly.” And yet whenever Chau could, he left the city of Tulsa—which he described as “relatively devoid of natural beauty”—for the spiritual solitude of the woods. He cultivated a backpacker vibe, sprinkling his speech with “stoked” and “rad,” and bulked up through constant athletic activity.
Upon graduating with a degree in exercise science, in 2014, Chau led a third mission trip to South Africa for the department run by Parks. Then, according to his personal blog, it was on to an autonomous region in northern Iraq to organize soccer games in refugee camps for Parks’s organization. After the high of adventures like these, Chau settled into a one-year AmeriCorps contract on a disaster-preparedness team back in Oklahoma. Staring at the gray felt walls of his workspace in October, he Instagrammed, “Never thought I’d be working in a cubicle. #reallife #whereisthebreeze #tooquiet.” But as he waited out the dreary winter, Chau laid plans for the following summer that would eventually take him to the Andaman archipelago.
When June arrived, Chau road-tripped across the States, anthems from the likes of Angels & Airwaves shaking his rattletrap car. In California he passed a month-long course to become a wilderness emergency medical technician that involved simulations with actors employing “tons of (fake) blood” and actual helicopters, which jazzed him with a “flood of adrenaline,” he wrote.
Then, in August, as a final test to harden himself before India, he embarked on an ambitious 120-mile trek through the Northwest’s Cascade mountains with two friends. Chau had plotted a route through backcountry that proved impractical, so they ended up trailblazing for two days over mountains—until they found themselves with no way forward except downclimbing a dry yet slippery waterfall. He later said that as he descended, “I remember thinking about how strong the contrast was between the vibrant beauty and life seen in view,” referring to the mountainous panorama below, “and the stark potentiality of death lingering at every misstep.” It was the “scariest” thing he had ever done. But the realization of “how fragile life is” inspired his personal motto: “Make the most of every good opportunity today because you don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow!”
Soon after making it out of the woods, Chau boarded a plane for the Andaman archipelago.
5. Giant Seeds
Improbable as Chau’s calling seemed, there was an outside chance that he might befriend the Sentinelese, for it had almost happened once before. In 1967, Triloknath Pandit became the lead government anthropologist for the Andamans and promptly started depositing gifts on Sentinel’s beaches. Pandit said his project “wasn’t idle curiosity. Whatever knowledge we were able to obtain could help us protect [the Sentinelese]” and fight ignorant myths.
For years the Sentinelese had remained hostile, as in 1974, when the film director was struck by the arrow. But after more semi-annual offerings, Pandit observed, in 1988, a “Sentinelese [who] started dancing with an adze in his hand” after presents were left on the beach. The next month, as Pandit and other anthropologists deposited bags of coconuts, some Sentinelese approached as close as ten yards. “All the Sentinelese took the gifts and expressed their joy through gestures,” he later wrote. “We reciprocated in kind.”
In January 1991, expecting nothing unusual, Pandit dispatched a junior anthropologist, Madhumala Chattopadhyay, to help lead a gift drop—and was stunned when she reported that Sentinelese had waded out to the boat to accept the offerings. Perhaps, she suggested to me, her female presence had signaled that the researchers didn’t have warlike intentions. The next month, the horn of Pandit and Chattopadhyay’s boat echoed at dawn. Later that day, about a dozen Sentinelese splashed out to them. Soon, Pandit and others were standing in the water and passing out coconuts. There exists a photo in which Pandit, in sunglasses and a tank top, holds out a coconut to a naked Sentinelese man, who accepts it with a single hand. For a moment, modern citizen and hunter-gatherer, both, held the giant seed.
Pandit was so exhilarated that he didn’t notice the lifeboat drifting off, making it look as if he intended to stay. Suddenly a Sentinelese youth pulled a knife from his bark belt and drew a circle with his other hand, as if saying, “I’m going to carve out your heart.” Pandit retreated and threw back an ornament of green leaves that had been given to him. The Sentinelese man tossed him a lifeboat oar that was floating nearby. The two worlds had once more separated. But Pandit was greatly encouraged and wrote in a trip report, “We felt we must carry a lot more coconuts on our future visits.”
The next year, however, Pandit says, he struck mandatory retirement age. Perhaps feeling the Sentinelese were more trouble than they were worth, the government decided to forgo any future visits. “I regret not visiting them again,” Pandit told me in his apartment on the mainland. He was now in his 80s, and health problems meant that he was unlikely to ever return. “I think had we continued for another year or so, maybe they would have extended an invitation to come ashore.”
6. An Incredible Adventure
“My life becomes an incredible adventure when I follow the call of God,” Chau captioned an Instagram photo of himself riding a motorbike down a hectic street in October 2015, soon after arriving in the Andaman Islands. “I’m excited to see where He leads!” Foreigners are primarily allowed to shuttle between seedy Port Blair and a handful of resort beaches, as much of the island chain is reserved for four hunter-gatherer tribes, including the Sentinelese. But Chau quickly began testing the archipelago’s security. “John knew it was illegal,” said John Ramsey, a friend. “His facade was just that he was a traveling adventure tourist.” As Dependra Pathak, the director general of the Andaman police said, “He built the logistical support and friendships he needed during those trips.”
Chau stayed in a $13-a-night hotel, with only a fan to stir the tropically hot air, and rode packed public buses to scuba-diving excursions, where he would question guides for more information that might help him get to Sentinel. Acquaintances of Chau’s—whose identities I have withheld, since the Indian police have asked them not to speak to journalists—described him as “enthusiastic” and “friendly.” He cultivated a wide network of contacts, from tourist guides to fishermen, and strove unsuccessfully to learn the Hindi language. Most importantly, he connected with the local Christian community, a minority in the Hindu nation. He preached at a local church and in social media posts thanked Oral Roberts’s Missions and Outreach department for teaching him to always have a sermon handy, tagging one of them “#relationshipbuilding #missions.” Parks, his former boss there, responded: “Praying for you Chau boy. Proud of you. Keep loving big.” (Parks did not respond to multiple requests for comment.) Chau was correct in his assumption that locals would eventually show him the way to Sentinel Island, but after several weeks his path there wasn’t yet clear. He would have to return the next year.
For four years, Chau made annual visits to the Andamans, bringing gifts for a widening circle of friends until it felt like a “home away from home.” According to the Indian police and two local sources, he became close to “Alex,” a 28-year-old engineer who lived in Port Blair. Alex is Keralese, descended from a small sect of intensely Christian Indians who, tradition has it, were converted about two decades after the Crucifixion by the apostle Thomas, who’d sailed on a spice trader to southern India. At first, Alex warned Chau against his mission, but according to Indian police, Chau eventually won him over. (A lawyer for Alex said that charges had not yet been proven in court, and so the narrative of him helping Chau was “false for now.”) Alex introduced Chau to a small community of Karen, an ethnic minority from Myanmar who’d been converted to Christianity by American missionaries. During Chau’s second visit to the Andamans, in late 2016, he likely bused through the jungle reserve of a friendlier hunter-gatherer tribe, the Jarawa, to reach the remote Karen village on its outskirts. There lived the fishermen who would eventually ferry him to Sentinel Island. On returning home, Chau had an argument with his father about whether he was following the Scriptures in pursuing his missionary work. After that, they decided to “agree to disagree.”
Now that he had an idea about how to get to Sentinel Island, Chau began to prepare with characteristic relentlessness for what he might do once he set foot on shore. A list written by Chau shows that in 2017 he read 47 missionary and anthropological books. In 2018 he read 65. He contacted several missionary organizations with reputations for supporting attempts to reach uncontacted peoples and missionaries who had actually done so, plumbing them for information. Chau even discussed with a missionary engineer using a drone to make contact, but he eventually decided it had to be done face-to-face. Any plans to make an attempt in 2017 may have been scuttled when he stepped too close to a large rattlesnake near the cabin he lived in while working at an environmental-science school in the California mountains. From his hospital bed he Instagrammed numerous shots of his grotesquely swollen foot, smeared in blood, tagging one of them #selfrescue.
Chau was still rehabbing when he arrived that summer at the Canada Institute of Linguistics, which runs an intensive two-month training in how to translate the Bible into new languages. Fellow participant Kaleb Graves remembered, “[Chau] was the center of just about every conversation when he was comfortable,” and other aspiring missionaries were drawn to his “sense that every second was an adventure.” And yet Graves remembered that Chau also seemed “outside the norm” of the class, and they bonded while avoiding communal chapel and discussing how “all chapels feel exactly the same—you’ve heard that sermon, you’ve sung those songs—and you know time alone is the best way to encounter God.” Graves noted that Chau would often take long solitary hikes. “He seemed sort of lonely, despite everything,” Graves said. “If you think you have this one monumental divine task, but you can’t share it, you’ve got to cover up that loneliness, and maybe that’s why he was so friendly with everyone.” Chau’s friend Ramsey said, “John received a fair amount of attention from girls,” but “he didn’t want any romantic attachments because he was focused on his mission—and he was afraid that a heart could get broken.”
Since Chau had acquired some basic tools to try to crack the Sentinelese language, there was just one more form of training he would undergo. Later that summer, when Chau visited Ramsey’s home, the two friends had a heart-to-heart. Ramsey asked him, “What are you going to do with your life, bro?” Though Chau had previously described his missionary hopes in general terms, now he explained his specific calling to the Sentinelese. Even more, he asked Ramsey and Ramsey’s mother, who was a trained editor, to look over his application to All Nations, an organization that supports missionaries targeting “neglected peoples” in places where such work can be illegal or dangerous. Chau had long known of All Nations: His first Oral Roberts mission trip to South Africa had also been supported by All Nations. Ramsey said there wasn’t any point in trying to dissuade Chau from going: “He’d already made the decision.”
In the fall of 2017, Chau attended an All Nations program, one of the many unregulated missionary courses in America. As the New York Times reported, Chau’s training culminated with him hiking several hours through an area south of Kansas City. When he managed to track down a mocked-up tribal village, Americans dressed in secondhand clothes threatened him with spears and babbled an unintelligible language to simulate what he might experience on Sentinel Island. Chau distinguished himself as “one of the best participants in this experience that we have ever had,” the international executive leader of All Nations told the Times. (All Nations disputed the Times’ description of the event, explaining that no weapons were used and that it trained participants “to share the Good News of Jesus in a way that is cross-culturally sensitive,” but said that it had not raised its concerns directly with the newspaper.) Then he took one more preparatory trip to the Andamans, in early 2018.
Finally, as autumn arrived that year, Chau said goodbye to his siblings and parents, knowing it could be for the last time. Since he first began to speak of going to Sentinel Island while in his teens, his parents had encouraged him to pursue medicine instead, or, failing that, to save souls in a less dangerous location. His father, Patrick, wrote in an essay about him, the existence of which was first reported by Outside, “John became the victim when my [influence],” of a more moderate Christianity, “failed to counter the irrational religious and glamorized ambition of adventures of exploration.” Patrick blamed John’s immersion in the “fanatical evangelical extreme” on professional troubles that damaged his ability to be a role model for John during his high school years. John’s elder brother and sister seem to have happily followed their father’s path into medicine and a moderate Christianity, but Patrick noted that John was always different from the more obedient pair. John may have also sought his own path outside the home because of his parents’ disharmony. Elkanah Jebasingh, an Indian friend, said that during visits John prayed for his parents’ strained marriage. John’s social media was replete with pictures of him hiking with his mother and fishing with his father, along with loving testimonies about both—but by the time of his final visit, after years of arguments, parents and son had become entrenched in their views. Patrick wrote me that before saying goodbye, John “did not have a sustained argument with me, but only a few words.” Then Patrick cited a Chinese proverb that translates as “When words get sour, adding words is useless.”
On his way to India, Chau stopped in South Africa to see Casey Prince, an American ex–pro soccer player who ran the academy where Chau had coached during his first Oral Roberts missions. Chau had stayed in Prince’s house on two previous visits to South Africa, and the two became so close that Casey’s wife, Sarah Prince, claimed him as “family.” He admired the Princes for spending nearly a decade living in and ministering to Cape Town’s poorer communities, and now he sought their advice on integrating with the Sentinelese. When Chau had described his calling during previous visits, Casey had privately doubted whether his plan was possible, but “I now saw [John] was totally serious,” he said. They discussed how Chau would need to spend years learning the tribe’s language and culture, and then sensitively introduce them to the gospel. “The best-case scenario would be ‘I’ll see you and all my friends and family in ten years,’ ” Casey said. “Success would still be a huge sacrifice.” Chau also received counsel from a South African missionary, whom he calls “Pieter V.” in his diary, who regaled him with stories of eluding Indian authorities and who, Chau suggests elsewhere, successfully preached to the Jarawa tribe in the Andamans from 1997 to 2003.
Chau’s final plan probably looked similar to a 27-step one laid out in a document that he had shared with confidants earlier that year. In the section “Initial Contact (2018),” Chau wrote he would overcome the Sentinelese’s mistrust with gifts and then communicate “my desire to stay with them…using pictures, drawings in sand, and/or drawings in waterproof notebook.” Once he had sufficiently learned the language and culture, he explained in section “Long-Term Contact (2018-?),” he would use “oral storytelling” to find “culturally applicable stories” that would “translate the Gospel into a context [the Sentinelese] can understand without Western cultural additions.” He hoped to identify and then convert a few influencers in the tribe, who would help him win over everyone else and lead an indigenous church. He even envisioned eventually dispatching them as missionaries to the Jarawa. “After all of the evangelism and discipleship has been passed on to local tribal believers,” he wrote in his “Exit Plan” section, he might paddle a “dugout canoe/kayak” to a beach near Port Blair. But if leaving the tribe seemed too likely to get him caught and expose everything, “I could potentially reside for the rest of my life on the islands.”
Soon, Chau’s month of respite was finished. He sent a final email to a select group of supporters, saying goodbye, asking for prayers, and offering updates on his plans. Signing off, he described seeing outside of Cape Town a “horrific car crash” that had resulted in several corpses. “It was a stark reminder to me of how fragile our lives on earth are,” he wrote. Then he paraphrased Ephesians, “Use your time carefully…. Understand what the Lord Jesus wants you to do, and do it.” Throughout the letter, he sounds like a man who is confident he is fulfilling his destiny.
“It was weird, to have your hugs and part ways with him saying, ‘I could arrive on the island and get shot with arrows,’ ” Casey said. “It makes you think of what it was like for people going off to war in the past.” Before Chau left, Sarah said, they had several conversations about how he had tried to “check his motives with God, asking ‘if I’m just being an adventure junkie, or rebelling, or a religious extremist.’ But he just kept feeling that this is what God was calling him to do.” They also discussed the fact that though “he loved and respected his family,” he was going against the wishes of his parents. “He knew they weren’t at peace,” said Sarah, “but he had peace at the end, leaving them—he had given it to God in his heart.” When they separated, Sarah felt divinely inspired to share a psalm with Chau: “I will not die, but live, and will proclaim what the Lord has done.”
When Chau landed in Port Blair, in October, he likely already carried with him most of what he needed to go all the way: a collapsible kayak, two waterproof cases full of equipment—including fishing gear, medicine, multivitamins, and picture cards to help communicate—as well as gifts, like safety pins, that the Andaman police believe he chose by researching what offerings other hunter-gatherers had appreciated. Shortly after Chau’s own arrival, Parks, Chau’s former boss at Oral Roberts, and another evangelical friend from college met him at Alex’s “safe house” apartment.
Police director Pathak believes the other Americans were there to “encourage [Chau] to feel enthusiasm” about the mission. They had timed their trip to see Chau off to North Sentinel, but once the cyclone spun up, they had to leave before the seas calmed. Chau waited out the bad weather. According to Pathak, Chau then paid the five Karen fishermen about $350, a windfall in a country where a billion people survive on less than $5.50 a day, to sneak him out to sea at night. The next morning the Sentinelese rebuffed Chau’s first attempt to save them.
7. The Biblical Shield
“I felt some fear, but mainly was disappointed they didn’t accept me right away,” Chau wrote in his diary on returning to the Karen’s boat. But after a quick meal of fresh-caught fish, rice, and dal, he paddled about a mile up the coast. Once he was out of sight of the Sentinelese, he buried his larger waterproof case so he would have a secret stash of supplies should the tribe accept him. Then he returned to the fishermen’s boat and outfitted his kayak with two more gift fish; his waterproof Bible; his second, smaller waterproof case; and his “initial contact response kit”—which included dental forceps, to pull arrows from his body, and a chest-seal bandage. Then he paddled back to the island.
As he neared the beach, he heard shouts and drumming. From the sand, about six Sentinelese began yelling at him in a language full of high-pitched b, p, l, and s sounds, seemingly led by a man wearing a crown of flowers and standing on a tall coral rock. Chau stayed offshore, trying to keep out of arrow range, and parroted their words. They burst out laughing most of the time, meaning the phrases were probably bad or insulting, Chau thought.
Eventually, two men traded their bows for paddles and approached him in a dugout canoe. He dropped the fish into the waves and backed away. The men detoured to grab them. Chau discerned increasing friendliness from the tribespeople, and so he paddled very close to land as more Sentinelese arrived—most unarmed, though one boy wielded a bow with a nocked arrow. Chau kept waving his hands to signal, unsuccessfully, for the kid to disarm. The wind had nudged Chau’s kayak into the shallows. The canoe slid in behind Chau, cutting off his escape. Chau threw the two paddlers a shovel as a gift, but one of them still clutched his bamboo knife. The kid with the bow and nocked arrow approached. Chau figured this was it. So he disembarked to show that he, too, had two legs. Then he preached to them from Genesis, likely reading from his waterproof Bible.
Chau found himself inches from the Sentinelese man who didn’t have a knife. The hunter-gatherer stood about Chau’s height—five feet six—and had yellowish clay smeared in circles on his face. Chau noted a fly land on the man’s cheek. Hastily, Chau handed over his gifts and, in his rush, gave the tribespeople essentially everything he had. Surely, the Sentinelese couldn’t help but be moved by his good intentions?
Then things started happening confusingly fast. The men grabbed the kayak and made off with it. The boy suddenly fired his bow. Miraculously, the arrow struck the waterproof Bible that Chau was holding, saving him.
Chau grabbed the arrow and felt the sharpness of the nail-like arrowhead. He retreated, shouting and stumbling. The Sentinelese let him wade over the submerged dead coral. He swam nearly a mile back to the boat, thinking in his panic that rocks in the bay were pursuing canoes. Back on board, he confronted the fact that he had lost his kayak and had no access to any of his supplies. Though, he journaled, “I’m grateful that I still have the written Word of God.” Chau now had to make a momentous choice alone. “It’s weird—actually no, it’s natural: I’m scared. There, I said it,” he wrote in his diary, his handwriting becoming increasingly agitated. “I DON’T WANT to Die! Would it be wiser to leave and let someone else continue?”
8. The First One to Heaven
The sun smoldered on the waves. Chau prayed. Practically anyone else would have asked the fishermen to return to Port Blair, but judge the situation from Chau’s point of view. He considered the Sentinelese to be living in “Satan’s last stronghold” and destined for hell unless he rescued them for heaven. To him, there could have been no greater act of love than risking his life to save them from eternal torment. Even more, according to police director Pathak, he indicated to the fishermen that the arrow striking the Bible was a sign of God’s protection. “John assumed that they wouldn’t automatically welcome him and that the only way to win them over was to be like, ‘I’m here, and I’m not going away,’ ” said Casey Prince, his mentor in South Africa. And if Chau gave up now, he was unlikely to get another chance.
Chau knew he could perish if he returned to shore, and he was prepared for that. As Jim Elliot, a missionary whom Chau idolized, said, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” Like many evangelicals, Chau grew up celebrating Elliot, whose widely publicized story helped launch, in the late 1950s, the missionary boom that is still ongoing today. It is uncanny how closely Chau followed Elliot’s footsteps. They grew up miles from each other, hiked the same mountains, and formed convictions as teenagers that they were called to uncontacted tribes. Shortly after graduating from college, Elliot was lanced to death by an Ecuadoran tribe infamous for killing outsiders. However, after a few years, Elliot’s widow and other missionaries converted some of the tribesmen who slew Elliot—leading many evangelicals to declare the original mission a success. Should he die at the hands of the Sentinelese, Chau may have reasoned, he would simply be following Elliot’s example—and that of the original missionary, Jesus Christ.
But it’s also doesn’t seem that Chau viewed confronting the Sentinelese again as seeking martyrdom. “I can say explicitly that John wasn’t on a suicide mission,” said Jimmy Shaw, who taught the History of Missions Class taken by Chau at university, remained close to him, and was privy to his plans. “He was a person of faith. If he died, then he died. But he was a believer, and he believed he was going to get the chance to share the gospel with those who’d never otherwise have a chance to hear it. And that was the risk worth taking.” The mission plan he had shared with supporters also included his return. And not long before, he had told Sarah Prince that he hoped one day to have children and a family like hers, “if God wants it for me.”
Though the odds of success may have seemed daunting, after overcoming so many previous challenges, Chau may have thought he could beat this one, too, by himself. Or he may have hoped for a miracle. Pentecostalism, the Christian movement Chau grew up in, gets its name from the miracle of the Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit empowered the apostles to convert foreigners by preaching in their languages. After baptism, many Pentecostalists speak in what they believe are similarly divinely inspired “tongues,” and they celebrate stories of modern missionaries performing Pentecost-like miracles. Chau’s friend McCarthy, who is now a Pentecostal minister, said, “He definitely had the gift of speaking in tongues,” though it is unclear if Chau thought that gift would manifest in this context.
And, ultimately, converting the tribe may have been only of secondary importance to Chau. For many evangelicals, trying to discern every twist and turn of God’s master plan is impossible and presumptuous. Instead, the best a believer can do is follow what directives they can grasp. “To John, the measure of success has always been obedience,” said Hopkins, his friend. And Shaw described a video, which he believed was likely meant to be shared only if Chau did not return, in which Chau declared that the measure of a person was their obedience to Christ. So if John had felt God wanted him to go, then he would have gone.
Whatever Chau’s final reasoning, as afternoon descended into evening, he wrote in his diary, “LORD let Your will be done. If you want me to get actually shot or even killed with an arrow, then so be it. I think I could be more useful alive though, but to You, God, I give all the glory of whatever happens.”
Watching the sun burn out, Chau was moved to tears and wondered if “it’ll be the last sunset I see before being in the place where the sun never sets.” He described intensely missing his family, friends, and Parks, and wished there was “someone I can talk to and be understood.” He finished his thoughts for the day: “Perfect LOVE casts out fear. LORD Jesus, fill me with Your perfect love for these people!”
The next morning, after a “fairly restful sleep” on the boat, he wrote, “I hope this isn’t my last notes but if it is, to God be the glory.” He stripped down to his black underpants, as Pandit had taken off his clothes so as not to spook the naked Andaman tribes. Then he stroked toward land.
The fishermen motored out to sea, as Chau had requested. Pieter V., the missionary whom Chau had consulted in South Africa, had told him that he believed that the Jarawa tribe didn’t kill him when he landed because he had no boat. Chau also didn’t want the fishermen to have to witness him possibly being slaughtered. The fishermen carried away Chau’s diary and two letters, one of which was to Alex. “I think I might die,” Chau confessed in it. But he comforted his friend: “I’ll see you again, bro—and remember, the first one to heaven wins.”
The next day, the fishermen returned to the island. They motored along the coast, searching for signs of Chau.
Eventually they spotted something on the beach. They looked closer. It was a body in black underpants. And it was being dragged by the Sentinelese, with a rope tied around its neck.
9. A Strenuous Case
When I met police director Pathak in his office this summer, he described the situation as “a very, very strenuous case.” According to him, after discovering the body, the fishermen had rushed back to Port Blair and, crying, turned over Chau’s journal and letters to Alex. Alex then contacted Parks, who in turn informed Chau’s mother. Chau’s mother then alerted the U.S. Consulate General in India, which contacted the Andaman police. In the subsequent investigation, Pathak had to decide: Could a people who didn’t recognize laws be prosecuted under them? Should Chau’s remains be recovered? Chau had written, “don’t retrieve my body,” and Chau’s family posted on his Instagram account, “We forgive those supposedly responsible for his death.” So Pathak decided the rights of the “uncontacted group needed to be respected.”
But though Chau was beyond the laws of this world, the fishermen and Alex were soon imprisoned, before being released on bail. The lawyer representing them said that the punishment of his clients was “not fair,” as Chau went to the island of his own free will, and noted that Chau must not have thought about how the subsequent legal troubles would “badly affect” their lives. According to Pathak, the Indian police had also begun the bureaucratic process to request American assistance to talk to Parks.
The sufferings of Alex and the fishermen was the last thing that Chau would have wanted: He worried deeply that they could be harmed should his mission go awry. In his final email to supporters, he directed that if he perished they should tell the media, “I am simply an ‘adventurer’…and please do not mention the real reason for why I went to the island.” This was to lessen the chances of “persecution of local area Christians, [and] the imprisonment of the local team members.” He explained that he had built a website and Instagram account that looked like those of an adventure bro to throw people off the trail. Instead of desiring posthumous Elliot-like fame, he preferred to be remembered as a fool.
As Chau had predicted, when the story of his death spread worldwide, in November 2018, the criticism of him was fierce. Much of it followed the red herrings he had left, but information about his missionary purpose came out soon enough, once the fishermen confessed. Pandit, the anthropologist, said, “I felt sad that the young man should lose his life, but this was a foolish thing to do.” In the news, some commentators characterized his attitude as “puritanical, prejudiced, and patronizing.” Survival International, an NGO that advocates for uncontacted tribes, declared, “The Sentinelese have shown again and again that they want to be left alone, and their wishes should be respected.” The organization warned that by supposedly saving the tribe, Chau might have ended up destroying them.
The Andaman tribes numbered about 5,000 people when the British arrived, but today only a few hundred remain. These survivors are wracked with measles and consumed by alcohol, subjected to “human safaris” by tourists, and have increasingly become dependent on government handouts. When I joined a hundred-car convoy through the jungle reserve of the Jarawa tribe, crossing between Port Blair and another town, I saw 11 Jarawa squatting on the roadside and staring at the traffic as if watching TV.
This was “the danger of contact” that had made Pandit “worried about the future” when he first handed the coconut to the Sentinelese back in 1991, despite his simultaneous excitement at the meeting. Pandit knew the poisonous fruit that seed could bear, because he had already led the acculturation of a Jarawa clan. In the mid-1970s he felt he had no choice; they were fatally ambushing settlers on the outskirts of Port Blair. He won their trust with gifts and then lived with them for stints before imposing government oversight. When I interviewed him this year, however, he clearly thought they had suffered from the decades of contact. “Once, they laughed so much more than us,” he said. He thinks that the Sentinelese probably have had a happy life, similar to that of the Jarawa, before his arrival, easily fulfilling their needs in their tropical Eden. Hunter-gatherers are often called “the original affluent society,” as anthropologists have found they average only three to five hours of work a day, are more egalitarian, and have fewer mental health issues. (Although it is important not to romanticize their shorter life spans and other disadvantages.) Ultimately it’s not that Pandit thinks the Sentinelese should be barred from modernizing, only that they have the human right to choose whether to do so—and they have conscientiously objected. “Change should be for the better,” Pandit said. “But if we as an external force bring the change, are we sure we are helping?”
Though the Sentinelese have no knowledge of what has happened outside their barrier reef, they seem to have intuited Pandit’s fears. And they have adopted a defensive strategy that has preserved them as one of the approximately 100 uncontacted groups still abiding on earth.
10. A Rebellious People
As harshly as some individuals criticized Chau, I was struck by how often people who knew him described him as a considerate, capable young man. Even those who didn’t agree with his final actions grieved. As Nathan Fairchild, his boss at the environmental camp in California, told me through tears: “There’s a tendency when people pass away to knight them, but even when John was living, everyone would have praised him the same way.”
Many evangelicals were outspoken in celebrating his sacrifice. “There was no colonial intention,” said Ramsey, Chau’s friend. “[John’s] motivation was love for these people.… I think he’s up there in heaven.” Oral Roberts University released a statement that concluded: “We are not surprised that John would try to reach out to these isolated people in order to share God’s love. We are deeply saddened to hear of his death.” Parks, Chau’s boss, wrote on social media that Chau was “one of the best and most selfless human beings there ever was.” Many Christians spoke of being inspired to do missions themselves—missions that might reach all the way to Sentinel Island. On the Facebook page “I Admire John Allen Chau,” a post described a young American declaring at a missionary conference, “I am called to go to the people JOHN Allen Chau tried to reach.” Ramsey said, “I could see John as a modern Jim Elliot, someone who made a greater impact in death than life.” At All Nations’ annual fund-raiser in April 2019, the organization celebrated Chau and featured as the keynote speaker the grandson of a missionary pilot who perished alongside Elliot.
And yet not all Christians supported Chau’s actions, including many prominent evangelicals, such as the president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. “Christian missionary work has evolved over the ages, and it is now profoundly important for missionaries to be sensitive to the culture of the people they are sent to,” said Ben Witherington III, a professor at Asbury Theological Seminary in Kentucky. “Chau is a pretty classic example of how not to do missions in the 21st century.” Some field missionaries criticized Chau as insensitive, ineffective, and even ignorant of biblical directives. As Mark 6:11 commands: “And if any place will not welcome you or listen to you, leave that place and shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.” The detractors and supporters of Chau often seemed to be screaming past one another about different realities. Where some people saw a sensitive missionary prepared by years of training, others saw an overconfident, underprepared young American cheered to his death by his mentors.
One recent afternoon, while pondering all this, I flipped open an edition of the waterproof Bible that had stopped the arrow the Sentinelese boy had fired at Chau. He recorded the verses that the shaft broke on, which conclude in Isaiah 65:1–65:2: “I am sought of them that asked not for me; I am found of them that sought me not: I said, Behold me, behold me, unto a nation that was not called by my name. I have spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious people, which walketh in a way that was not good, after their own thoughts.”
While Chau didn’t record if he interpreted the “rebellious people” as the Sentinelese or if the verse impacted his decision to return to the island once again, it’s telling he swam ashore the next morning. And yet Witherington, the Asbury seminary theologian, who has written a book about deciphering Isaiah, said, “I don’t dismiss Chau’s sincerity or sacrifice, but the question is whether he interpreted Isaiah rightly—and the answer for that, I think, is clearly no.” Two more theologians confirmed that in the above passage, the “rebellious people” are actually those inside the church, as God is criticizing the Israelites for worshipping false idols.
In all my months of reporting, I never found any evidence that Chau even once questioned his calling. His certainty was so absolute that he was willing to bet not only his life on it but the lives of the Sentinelese. (Multiple doctors have stated that his self-quarantine wouldn’t have worked.) But one inscrutable thing about religion is that while it offers definitive answers, believers draw different answers from the same words, and often different answers throughout their lives.
Patrick Chau, John’s father, was born in China, endured six years of forced labor harvesting rice during Mao’s Cultural Revolution, escaped to the United States, studied medicine at Oral Roberts University, which John would attend, and eventually brought John up evangelical. But during a weeks-long correspondence with me, Patrick described how over the past decade he had begun to find biblical truths in the Confucianism of his youth. He came to believe that the commonalities undergirding world religions meant that people “not following Western religious terms could still be following the teachings of the Bible.” In this context, he decided, “the theology of the Great Commission”—of missions—“is the byproduct of Western colonization and imperialization, and not Biblical teaching at all.” He wrote, “I have no common opinion in faith with my youngest.” John “was not there yet.”
I wrote back: “But it seems you think that he would have come to that realization, in time?”
“Eventually,” Patrick answered. “I hoped.”
The central message of Jesus and Confucius that he tried to get his son to accept was: “Fairness. Do unto others as you would have done unto you. It is the only standard of right and wrong in the whole Bible.”
The morning of his death, Chau wrote his final letter, addressed to his parents and siblings: “You guys might think I’m crazy in all this but I think it’s worth it to declare Jesus to these people. Please do not be angry at them or at God if I get killed.” He concluded: “I love you all and I pray none of you love anything in this world more than Jesus Christ.” He signed it with a scrawl that looks a lot like “JC.”
11. Christlike Love
We can’t know precisely what happened when Chau encountered the Sentinelese for the final time. Shortly after reports of Chau’s death, his mother told the Washington Post that she still believed he was alive because of “my prayers.” She later declined my interview requests, explaining to acquaintances that she preferred to let Chau tell his own story when he returned. Patrick concluded his essay memorializing John: “This is [the] riddle of life I cannot see through now,” and then paraphrased a verse from the Book of Job: “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.”
Chattopadhyay, the anthropologist, speculated that when Chau emerged from the lagoon, the tribe would have likely warned him with “utterances and hand gestures” to go away, fearing “he would try to enslave them.” Pandit added, “The Sentinelese don’t go out of their way to do violence.… But of course he couldn’t understand.”
And so Chau crossed the line in the sand that the Sentinelese hadn’t even let a foreign doll transgress all those years ago. And of course they shot him.
A skilled hunter doesn’t aim for an instant kill with a relatively fragile bamboo arrow tipped with an iron nail—the human brain and heart are small targets and encased in bone.
No, the projectile would have been aimed at Chau’s large and soft gut. Once he was crippled, the Sentinelese would have charged in, wielding their long arrows like spears.
But before then, Chau would have had time to confront the fact that he was going to die.
And I have faith that he welcomed his killers with Christlike love.
Doug Bock Clark is a GQ correspondent.
A version of this story originally appeared in the September 2019 issue with the title “Contact.”
#christianisme #mission #proselytisme #impérialisme #USA #Inde
Joshua Project
▻https://joshuaproject.net/get_involved/learn_more
Après l’éradication dans l’holocauste américain des peuples indigènes par les envahisseurs catoliques les chrétiens étatsuniens tentent d’éliminer toute forme de paganisme africain. Pour le moment ce fléau est passé à côté de l’Europe surtout à cause de la résistance des bolchéviques et de leurs héritiers illégitimes. Le laïcisme européen et d’abord français a également contribué à la limiter l’influence des fondamentalistes qui naviguent dans les eaux polluées du néolibéralisme comme des crustacés néophytes dans le ballast de la marine marchande.
En France comme en Allemagne il reste du travail à faire pour les missionaires qui considèrent plus de 60 % des peuples comme chrétiens. Cette estimation exagérée nous préserve de la ferveur des pires des missionaires dont l’ambition les pousse à se dévouer aux « petits » peuples dans des contrées loin de nous. Heureusement parfois même les tribus les plus éloignées de la civilisation « chrétienne » ont compris que ces missionaires mettent en danger leur existence. L’acceuil des fanatiques se passe en conséqunce.
The Kurd, Turkish-Speaking in Turkey are an example of a unreached people group.
Missions is all about God. God acting to save His creation and bring it back in to a relationship with Himself through Jesus Christ. Learning about missions starts with learning about God through the Bible and seeing how He used men and women to fufill His purposes on earth. Missions is also about what God is doing today around the world to build Christ’s Church.Datasets
To download data for a specific continent, region, country, religion, affinity bloc, people cluster or people group, click the “Download Data” link below the listing. Use the search tool to find the data set you wish to download or go to the People Group Lists page.
All people groups by country CSV / Excel
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On ne sait rien sur le jeune homme de la photo. Les missionnaires ont décidé d’en faire le symbole pour les Kurdes à christianiser.
#christianisme #mission #proselytisme #impérialisme #USA #France #Allemagne #Europe #holocauste
American With No Medical Training Ran Center For Malnourished Ugandan Kids. 105 Died
▻https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2019/08/09/749005287/american-with-no-medical-training-ran-center-for-malnourished-ugandan-kids-105-
A l’aise...
105 bébés morts en Ouganda : une humanitaire américaine poursuivie pour exercice illégal de la médecine
▻https://www.nouvelobs.com/monde/20190814.OBS17187/105-bebes-morts-en-ouganda-une-humanitaire-americaine-poursuivie-pour-exe
Article en lien dans l’ Obs :
Ouganda : une Américaine poursuivie pour exercice illégal de la médecine - RFI
▻http://www.rfi.fr/afrique/20190627-ouganda-une-americaine-poursuivie-exercice-illegal-medecine
Des mères, qui avaient entendu dire qu’on y nourrissait les enfants malades, s’y sont rendues dès son ouverture, en 2009. Les soins qu’on y dispensait étaient d’une qualité plus que contestable puisque, jusqu’à sa fermeture par les autorités sanitaires en 2015, au moins cinq enfants y mouraient chaque semaine, allègue la plainte, laquelle se fonde sur les témoignages d’anciens employés.
Nombre potentiel de décès d’après la plainte : 6x52x5 = 1560.
Eva_Joly balance tout sur la Françafrique La Rédaction - 23 Juillet 2019 - Investigaction
▻https://www.investigaction.net/fr/eva-joly-balance-tout-sur-la-francafrique
Nous ne résistons pas à l’envie de publier pour nos lecteurs ces extraits du dernier livre de la députée française Eva Joly, détaillant les « crimes » de la France en Afrique en général et au Cameroun en particulier ; elle parle notamment du massacre des #Bamilékés par son pays.
Je n’avais rien compris à ce que l’écrivain #Slimane_Zeghidour appelle « le secret de famille de la République ». Lorsque j’ai pris en charge l’instruction de l’affaire #Elf, j’avais en face de moi les puissants du pétrole français, je n’aimais pas leur arrogance, la façon qu’ils avaient de se servir dans les caisses, mais lorsqu’ils invoquaient les intérêts supérieurs du pays, j’étais prête à les croire.
Je sortais de plusieurs années en détachement au Ministère des Finances, entourée de hauts fonctionnaires intègres, d’une compétence absolue.
J’avais confiance dans les institutions de mon pays d’adoption. Je n’imaginais pas que la finalité des dirigeants des sociétés nationales du #pétrole fut autre chose que le bien commun. Je traquais les dérives et non le système lui-même.
Pourtant au fil de mon enquête, j’ai découvert un monde souterrain. Magistrate, limitée par le cadre de ma saisine et des compétences nationales, je devais m’arrêter sur le seuil de certaines portes, qui menaient vers l’étranger.
Je découvrais des chemins qu’il aurait été passionnant de remonter, des connexions qui m’ahurissaient. Avec des chiffres, des comptes, nous avions sous nos yeux le déchiffrage d’un vaste réseau de #corruption institutionnalisé, dont les fils étaient reliés en direct à l’#Elysée.
Ce n’était pas mon rôle d’en tirer les conclusions politiques, mais j’en ai gardé l’empreinte. Nous avions dessiné alors un vaste schéma, que j’ai toujours avec moi. Il fait huit mètres une fois déplié.
Il serpente depuis le bureau d’un directeur des hydrocarbures d’Elf, jusqu’à des comptes obscurs alimentés par le Gabon, aux mains d’#Omar_Bongo : quarante ans de pouvoir et une difficulté récurrente à distinguer sa tirelire et sa famille d’une part, le budget de l’Etat et le Gouvernement d’autre part.
J’emporte souvent ce schéma avec moi, au fil des rendez-vous. Je l’étale sur les tables, un peu comme un capitaine au combat sort ses vieilles cartes.
Les positions ont sans doute varié, les techniques de camouflage se sont sophistiquées, mais le système est là : les tyrans sont des amis que la France a placés au pouvoir et dont elle protège la fortune et l’influence par de vastes réseaux de corruption ; en échange ils veillent sur les intérêts et les ressources des entreprises françaises venues creuser le sol. Tout ce beau monde a intérêt à ce que rien, jamais, ne stimule ni les institutions ni l’économie des pays.
La France aide à appauvrir le Gabon.
Et si je m’arrête un instant au Gabon, qu’est-ce que j’y vois ? Un pays riche qui exporte plus de treize milliards de dollars de pétrole brut par an et affiche un PIB par habitant largement au-dessus de la moyenne africaine (6 397 $) ? Ou un pays pauvre où l’espérance de vie est estimée à 55 ans pour les femmes et 53 pour les hommes, ce qui leur laisse un an de moins que les Malgaches nés sur un sol sans pétrole ? Le taux de mortalité infantile est au Gabon particulièrement élevé, le taux de vaccination contre la rougeole est de 40% contre une moyenne de 79% dans les pays en développement.
Voilà où en est le Gabon, chasse gardée de la France, fournisseur des trésors du pétrole et de l’uranium, fief de #Total-Elf, la première capitalisation boursière française.
Si les habitants de Libreville n’ont pas bénéficié de la richesse de leur pays, c’est parce que la France s’est accaparée ses ressources minières, avec la complicité d’un Président, enrôlé dès son service militaire par l’armée française et ses services secrets, placé à la tête du pays à 32 ans par Paris, il était alors le plus jeune Chef d’Etat du monde. La France contrôle son armée, ses élections et protège sa fortune.
En retour, Omar Bongo fait table ouverte plusieurs fois par an, Avenue Foch ou l’Hôtel Crillon, où il reçoit les hommes politiques, des publicitaires et les journalistes français qui comptent. Chacun se presse à ces audiences.
Dans les années 1990, un homme politique français de premier plan, alors en fonction, bénéficiait en parallèle d’un contrat de « consultant » signé par Omar Bongo et largement rémunéré. De #Roland_Dumas, le Président gabonais dit qu’il est un « ami intime ». Prévoyant, il apprécie aussi #Nicolas_Sarkozy, venu « prendre conseil » en tant que candidat à l’élection présidentielle.
Lorsqu’au cours de l’instruction, nous avons perquisitionné au siège de la #FIBA, la banque franco-gabonaise, nous avons consulté le listing des clients qui paraissait tenu à la plume sergent-major. C’était une sorte de Who’s Who de la France en Afrique, qui en disait long sur l’envers de la République et des médias.
La France fait semblant d’aider des pays qui sont riches en matières premières.
A ceux qui croient encore à l’aide désintéressée de la France en Afrique, il suffit de consulter les chiffres du #PNUD (Programme des Nations Unies pour le Développement). La corrélation est régulière entre le montant de l’aide française et la richesse en matières premières.
En clair, celui qui n’a rien dans son sous-sol ne doit pas attendre grand-chose de Paris. Il n’est pas étonnant de retrouver le Gabon comme l’un des premiers bénéficiaires de l’aide publique française au développement. Le résultat est affligeant en termes de système de santé et d’éducation. L’argent s’est perdu en route. Il est justement fait pour cela.
Il ne s’agit pas d’une dérive mais d’une organisation cohérente et raisonnée. Dans chaque audition durant notre instruction, nous entendions parler de pressions physiques, d’espionnage permanent et de #barbouzes.
Les perquisitions dans la tour Elf à la Défense livraient une moisson de documents révélant la confusion des genres, nous les transmettions au Parquet de Nanterre, qui se gardait bien d’ouvrir des enquêtes.
Car #Elf hier, Total aujourd’hui, est un Etat dans l’Etat, conçu par #Pierre_Guillaumat, un ancien Ministre de la Défense, patron des services secrets et responsable du programme nucléaire français afin de servir les intérêts géopolitiques de Paris.
La Norvège a utilisé son pétrole pour construire et assurer le paiement des retraites futures. La France se sert d’Elf Total pour affirmer sa puissance.
La compagnie intervient dans le Golfe de #Guinée, au #Nigeria, au #Congo-Brazzaville, en #Angola… Tous ces pays ont connu la guerre civile et la dictature, derrière laquelle la main française s’est fait sentir. Le chaos, lorsqu’il se produit, ne trouble pas le système. Il n’est qu’à voir l’Angola en guerre pendant des dizaines d’années, mais dont aucune goutte de pétrole, jamais, n’a raté sa destination.
Pendant la guerre, les affaires continuaient…les banques françaises, #Bnp-Paribas en tête, ont même profité de l’occasion pour élaborer des montages financiers destinés aux pays en guerre, à des taux affolants, tout en sachant qu’elles ne prenaient pas le moindre risque. L’argent, là aussi, n’a pas été perdu pour tout le monde. C’est un miroir dans lequel il ne faut pas trop souvent regarder les élites françaises.
Depuis que j’ai ouvert le dossier Elf dans mon bureau de la galerie financière, j’ai voyagé physiquement et intellectuellement bien loin de la Seine et de ses quais gris et bleus…j’ai appris en marchant. A l’arrivée, le tableau est effrayant.
L’Afrique a refait de moi une Norvégienne, fière de l’être. Mon pays est riche, mais, il se souvient avoir été pauvre, un peuple d’émigrants regardant vers le nouveau monde américain.
Son esprit de conquête, ses allures vikings sont des traces d’un passé très lointain, vinrent ensuite les tutelles danoise puis suédoise, dont il fallut se libérer, Il envoya vers l’Afrique des missionnaires protestants, personnages austères au visage buriné, taillé par la parole chrétienne et l’œuvre humanitaire, plutôt que des nouveaux colons, comme on les croise encore dans les quartiers d’expatriés blancs.
Pendant que la France fondait Elf, la Norvège mettait en place l’exploitation des ressources de la mer du Nord, accumulant un fonds de réserve, aussitôt placé pour les générations futures et soigneusement contrôlé. Ce petit pays des terres gelées est devenu la première nation donatrice en dollars par habitant.
Bien sûr, les pétroliers norvégiens ne sont pas des enfants de chœur. De récentes enquêtes ont montré que certains d’entre eux ont versé des commissions et que la tentation d’abuser de leur pouvoir est permanente. Mais la Norvège n’a pas à rougir de ce qu’elle a fait de son pétrole. Ce que j’ai vu, les rapports internationaux qui l’attestent, est une œuvre d’espoir.
La République française, à la même époque, a mis en place en Afrique un système loin de ses valeurs et de l’image qu’elle aime renvoyer au monde. Comment des institutions solides et démocratiques, des esprits brillants et éclairés, ont-ils pu tisser des réseaux violant systématiquement la loi, la justice et la démocratie ? Pourquoi des journalistes réputés, de tout bord, ont-ils toléré ce qu’ils ont vu ? Pourquoi des partis politiques et des ONG, par ailleurs prompts a s’enflammer, n’ont-ils rien voulu voir ?
L’Occident a fermé les yeux sur les #crimes de la France.
Je ne condamne pas. J’ai partagé cet aveuglement. J’étais comme eux, avant de glisser l’œil dans le trou de la serrure et de prendre la mesure de ce secret de famille : la France reste un #empire et ne se remet pas de sa puissance perdue. L’indépendance politique a été largement une mascarade en Afrique de l’Ouest.
L’Occident a fermé les yeux, car la France se prévalait d’être le « gendarme » qui défendait la moitié du continent contre le communisme. Les Français ont laissé faire, car astucieusement, De Gaulle et ses successeurs ont présenté leur action comme un rempart contre l’hydre américaine. Elf était l’une des pièces maîtresses de cette partie géopolitique.
Le double jeu a été facilité par la certitude, ancrée dans les mentalités, que « là-bas, c’est différent ». Là-bas, c’est normal la corruption, le #népotisme, la #guerre, la #violence. Là-bas, c’est normal la présence de l’armée française, les proconsuls à l’ambassade ou à l’état-major, les camps militaires. Là-bas, c’est normal l’instruction des gardes présidentielles. Là-bas, c’est normal la captation des richesses naturelles.
D’ailleurs, « tout le monde fait pareil ». Jeune ou vieux, de gauche ou de droite, nul Français ne songe à s’offusquer de voir nos soldats mener, presque chaque année, une opération militaire en Afrique, au #Tchad, en Côte_d_Ivoire, au #Rwanda, quand tous se gaussent de cette Amérique venue faire la police en Irak, en maquillant d’un fard démocratique les intérêts géopolitiques et pétroliers de Washington. Il y a pourtant bien des symétries.
J’ai vu récemment un documentaire sur la guerre du #Biafra, quatre ou cinq demi-heures de témoignage brut des principaux acteurs, sans commentaires. Je suis restée sans voix. A ceux qui sont nés après 1970, le Biafra ne dit rien. Dans cette région du #Nigeria, riche en pétrole, une ethnie, chrétienne et animiste armée par la France, réclama l’indépendance. S’ensuivit une guerre meurtrière de trois ans, révolte financée depuis l’Elysée via des sociétés #suisses.
La télévision française aimait alors montrer les enfants affamés que les militaires français ramenaient par avion pour les soigner, jamais elle ne laissait voir la cargaison de l’aller, remplie d’armes. A l’image maintenant, les anciens collaborateurs de #Jacques_Foccart, repus dans leurs fauteuils Louis XV, détaillent sans émotion ces montages illégaux. Les officiers, lieutenants d’alors, généraux d’aujourd’hui, racontent ce bon tour le sourire aux lèvres. Fin du documentaire. Pas un mot, pas une ligne dans les livres d’histoire.
La France au cœur de la guerre du Biafra et du massacre des #Bamilékés au Cameroun
Des drames comme celui-ci, l’Afrique en contient des dizaines, soigneusement passés sous silence. Les massacres des Bamiléké au Cameroun par la France du Général De Gaulle, le génocide des #Tutsi commis par un régime soutenu par #François_Mitterrand, les assassinats d’opposants, les manipulations d’élections.. Le passif de la France sur le continent africain n’a rien à envier à l’#impérialisme américain en Amérique latine ou au Moyen-Orient.
Il est à la mode parmi les intellectuels français de se plaindre du mouvement de repentance qui s’est répandu depuis quelques années. Les bienfaits de la colonisation, à inscrire dans les manuels scolaires, ont même fait l’objet d’une proposition de loi, largement soutenue par les députés.
Bien sûr, l’histoire de la France en Afrique ou en Asie du sud-est a compté aussi des aventuriers sincères, exportateurs, instituteurs ou pionniers, qui ont fait corps avec les pays qu’ils ont découverts. A Madagascar, les #Vazas, ces pieds noirs malgaches, ne cessent de louer devant moi l’état des routes et des infrastructures françaises au moment de l’indépendance.
Mais les peuples sont comme les familles. On ne peut pas faire le tri de la mémoire. Il est des secrets soigneusement cachés dont l’onde portée va bien au-delà d’une ou de deux générations. Les enfants héritent de tout : du malheur comme du bonheur, de la richesse comme des dettes.
La République française paie aujourd’hui la facture de son passé. Il suffit de dérouler la liste des appellations officielles des Maghrébins nés dans un département français avant 1962 ou sur le sol hexagonal depuis les années 1970. Par la loi, ils furent et sont des Français comme les autres.
Les gouvernements successifs n’ont pourtant cessé d’inventer des périphrases : « indigène musulman », « sujet africain non naturalisé », « JFOM » (Jeune français originaire du Maghreb), « jeune issu de l’immigration », « fils de harkis », « jeune des quartiers », « Arabo-musulman », « Français d’origine arabe », « Français musulman »…
La France vit encore comme si en Afrique, elle était chez elle, et comme si, ses enfants d’ascendance africaine n’étaient pas Français. Le développement de la Françafrique, notre tolérance vis-à-vis des réseaux, tout ramène à ce secret colonial, cet empire qui hante les esprits comme un fantôme. Oui, Total, la première entreprise française, est riche et prospère.
Mais la manière dont la firme s’est bâtie fait partie de l’héritage. Qui osera un jour rendre au Nigeria, au Cameroun, au Gabon, au Congo-Brazzaville ce que la France leur doit ? Qui contestera les contrats conclus par #Areva pour l’#uranium du #Niger ou ceux des mines d’or de #Sadiola au #Mali, deux pays parmi les plus pauvres du globe, qui ne touchent qu’une part dérisoire des richesses prélevées dans leur sol ? La République a contracté une dette qu’il lui faudra bien honorer.
Notre prospérité est nourrie de #richesses que nous détournons. A certains de ces sans-papiers qui risquent leur vie pour gagner l’Europe, il pourrait-être versé une rente au lieu d’un avis d’expulsion. Je rêve pour ce pays que j’aime, d’un réveil collectif.
Une France digne de son idéal et de son héritage de 1789 est incompatible avec la Françafrique : ce qu’une génération a fait, une autre peut le défaire. C’est possible.
Extrait de : La force qui nous manque. Eva Joly. Editions des Arènes (Paris) 190 pages. ▻https://www.jmtvplus.com/eva-joly-balance-toutmeme-sur-le-cameroun-40110
#françafrique #afrique #france #colonialisme #tchad #armée_française #centrafrique #francafrique #armée #guerre #Livre #Eva_Joly #Femme
La Corée du Sud liquide un fonds créé avec le Japon pour les femmes de réconfort AFP - 5 Juillet 2019 - Le figaro
▻http://www.lefigaro.fr/flash-actu/la-coree-du-sud-liquide-un-fonds-cree-avec-le-japon-pour-les-femmes-de-reco
La Corée du Sud a liquidé un fonds créé conjointement avec le Japon en 2015 pour indemniser les femmes enrôlées dans les bordels de l’armée nippone durant la guerre, une décision unilatérale que le gouvernement japonais juge inadmissible.
Le ministère sud-coréen pour l’égalité des genres, chargé d’administrer ce fonds, a confirmé ce vendredi que l’organisme était en liquidation. Le président sud-coréen Moon Jae-in avait prévenu fin 2018 qu’il avait l’intention de dissoudre cette organisation qui avait été mise en place pour répondre aux demandes de dédommagements de victimes des soldats japonais durant la guerre.
https://www.humanite.fr/sites/default/files/styles/1048x350/public/images/54745.HR.jpg?itok=ZC5b69kZ
« Nous n’accepterons jamais » une telle décision, a réagi ce vendredi le secrétaire-adjoint du gouvernement japonais, Yasutoshi Nishimura. L’accord signé en 2015, sous la précédente présidence sud-coréenne, était censé régler de façon « définitive et irréversible » le contentieux sur les « femmes de réconfort » grâce à ce fonds conjoint, auquel l’Etat japonais a contribué à hauteur d’un milliard de yens (8,2 millions d’euros).Toutefois, le fonds n’a jamais bien fonctionné et une partie de l’opinion sud-coréenne a beaucoup critiqué cette entente jugeant que le Japon s’en tirait à trop bon compte, en payant mais sans assumer une pleine responsabilité juridique. « Nous devons encore décider du sort de l’argent venant du Japon », a précisé un fonctionnaire sud-coréen à l’AFP.
La question des Sud-Coréennes forcées de se prostituer pour les soldats japonais durant la guerre empoisonne les relations bilatérales depuis des décennies, nombre de Sud-Coréens y voyant le symbole des abus et violences commis par le Japon pendant sa domination coloniale de 1910 à 1945.
Le Japon et la Corée du Sud entretiennent des relations très houleuses, particulièrement ces derniers mois. Outre ces disputes autour des femmes de réconfort, la décision de tribunaux sud-coréens d’ordonner à des entreprises japonaises de dédommager des ouvriers forcés de travailler dans leurs usines durant le conflit a récemment envenimé la situation.
Tokyo a répliqué cette semaine en durcissant les conditions d’exportations de produits chimiques aux firmes sud-coréennes et menace d’élargir ces sanctions.
#japon #armée #Corée #femmes #femmes_de_réconfort #bordels #viols_organisés par l’#armée_japonaise #irresponsable #abus #violence #impérialisme #esclaves #esclaves_sexuelles #crimes_de_guerre #armée
Michael Müllers Hartz IV-Alternative in Berlin : Jobs für 1000 Berliner Langzeitarbeitslose | Berliner-Kurier.de
▻https://www.berliner-kurier.de/berlin/kiez---stadt/michael-muellers-hartz-alternative-jobs-fuer-1000-berliner-langzeita
Le parti socialdémocrate tente de redorer son blason social. On ne renonce pas à l’infâme système Hartz IV mais on récupère des notions à la mode pour vendre une solution qui n’en est pas une. Sous l’appelation salaire de base solidaire (solidarisches grundeinkommen, SGE) on prétend tester une solution générale en sachant qu’elle naura pas de suite. Au lieu d’abolir les sanctions contre chômeurs pour qui le marché du travail n’offre pas de solution, on leur propose un millier de jobs sans raison d’être payés au SMIC, à savoir 9,19 Euros/heure.
Le SPD mise sur l’effet placebo afin de brouiller les trace de son péché originel qu’il a commis en collaboration avec le parti vert . Dans ce contexte il est utile de rappeller que le gouvernement qui a introduit Hartz IV a également donné l’ordre en 1999 à l’armée de l’air allemande de participer à la guerre d’agression contre la Yougoslavie connue sous le nom guerre du Kosovo .
Après 1945 les armées allemandes demeuraient sous surveillance étroite des gagnants de la Seconde Guerre mondiale. L’agression militaire contre la Yougoslavie marque le début de la transformation de l’Allemagne dans une nation impérialiste autonome et particulièrement agressive.
Les défenseurs de ce système se doivent de ne pas diminuer même d’une nuance la pression excercée sur son plus important ennemi intérieur. C’est un ennemi potentiel pour le moment qu’il faut maintenir dans cette position. On ne veut pas de gilets jaunes en Allemagne.
▻https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosovokrieg#Vorwurf_der_V%C3%B6lkerrechtswidrigkeit_von_Seiten_promine
Guerre juste, guerre d’agression et droit international humanitaire - CICR
▻https://www.icrc.org/fr/doc/resources/documents/misc/5fzjsh.htm
De François Bugnion - Cet article retrace l’histoire des règles et normes mises en place pour limiter la violence ainsi que celles interdisant le recours à la guerre. L’auteur explique qu’en cas de guerre, même s’il s’agit d’une guerre d’agression, l’application du droit international humanitaire reste indépendante des causes de la guerre et son application discriminatoire ne peut pas être admise.
Die Freude war dem Regierenden Bürgermeister Michael Müller (SPD) durchaus anzusehen: Sein Solidarisches Grundeinkommen (SGE), Müllers Alternative zu Hartz IV, ist am Dienstag vom Senat beschlossen worden. Trotz Gegenwind, Kritik und Bedenken ist der Startschuss für das Modellprojekt nun gefallen. Noch im Juli, so hofft man, sollen erste Verträge abgeschlossen sein.
„Ich will nicht zugucken, dass Menschen jahrelang von einer kurzfristigen Maßnahme in eine andere geschickt werden und am Ende doch perspektivlos dastehen“, sagt Müller. Rund 1000 Berliner Langzeitarbeitslose bekommen nun die Chance, wieder eine unbefristete, sozialversicherungspflichtige Beschäftigung zu finden. Angestellt werden sie bei öffentlichen Verwaltungen oder landeseigenen Unternehmen und Trägern.
Tätigkeiten: Arbeiten in Schulen, im Quartiersmanagement, in Kitas
Die Bezahlung erfolgt nach Tarif- oder Landesmindestlohn. Das Projekt ist auf fünf Jahre angelegt. Insgesamt kommen rund 42.000 Menschen dafür in Frage. Das SGE richtet sich an Menschen, die mindestens ein Jahr arbeitslos waren und es höchstens seit drei Jahren sind.
„Ich möchte ihnen ein gutes Angebot machen“, sagte Müller. Gleichzeitig betonte er, dass es immer erstes Ziel sein müsse, Erwerbslose in den ersten Arbeitsmarkt zu integrieren. „Das Solidarische Grundeinkommen beginnt dann, wenn man diesen Anschluss nicht gefunden hat“, erklärte Müller. Zudem sollen die Beschäftigten der neuen Jobs innerhalb der Laufzeit des Modells gecoacht und weiterqualifiziert werden.
Nach Ablauf des Projektes verspricht das Land eine Weiterbeschäftigung
Die Tätigkeiten reichen von Arbeiten in Schulen, im Quartiersmanagement, in Kitas, über City-Lotsen, die im ÖPNV aushelfen, Mobilitätshelfern bis hin zur Umweltbildung. „Die Jobs sind zusätzliche“, betonte Müller, „sie sollen niemandem den Arbeitsplatz wegnehmen.“ Nach Ablauf des Projektes verspricht das Land eine Weiterbeschäftigung, wenn die SGE-Bezieher bis dahin nicht in den Arbeitsmarkt integriert werden konnten. -hartz-alternative-jobs-fuer-1000-berliner-langzeitarbeitslose-32794190
Die Freude war dem Regierenden Bürgermeister Michael Müller (SPD) durchaus anzusehen: Sein Solidarisches Grundeinkommen (SGE), Müllers Alternative zu Hartz IV, ist am Dienstag vom Senat beschlossen worden. Trotz Gegenwind, Kritik und Bedenken ist der Startschuss für das Modellprojekt nun gefallen. Noch im Juli, so Die Freude war dem Regierenden Bürgermeister Michael Müller (SPD) durchaus anzusehen: Sein Solidarisches Grundeinkommen (SGE), Müllers Alternative zu Hartz IV, ist am Dienstag vom Senat beschlossen worden. Trotz Gegenwind, Kritik und Bedenken ist der Startschuss für das Modellprojekt nun gefallen. Noch im Juli, so hofft man, sollen erste Verträge abgeschlossen sein.
„Ich will nicht zugucken, dass Menschen jahrelang von einer kurzfristigen Maßnahme in eine andere geschickt werden und am Ende doch perspektivlos dastehen“, sagt Müller. Rund 1000 Berliner Langzeitarbeitslose bekommen nun die Chance, wieder eine unbefristete, sozialversicherungspflichtige Beschäftigung zu finden. Angestellt werden sie bei öffentlichen Verwaltungen oder landeseigenen Unternehmen und Trägern.
Tätigkeiten: Arbeiten in Schulen, im Quartiersmanagement, in Kitas
Die Bezahlung erfolgt nach Tarif- oder Landesmindestlohn. Das Projekt ist auf fünf Jahre angelegt. Insgesamt kommen rund 42.000 Menschen dafür in Frage. Das SGE richtet sich an Menschen, die mindestens ein Jahr arbeitslos waren und es höchstens seit drei Jahren sind.
„Ich möchte ihnen ein gutes Angebot machen“, sagte Müller. Gleichzeitig betonte er, dass es immer erstes Ziel sein müsse, Erwerbslose in den ersten Arbeitsmarkt zu integrieren. „Das Solidarische Grundeinkommen beginnt dann, wenn man diesen Anschluss nicht gefunden hat“, erklärte Müller. Zudem sollen die Beschäftigten der neuen Jobs innerhalb der Laufzeit des Modells gecoacht und weiterqualifiziert werden.
Nach Ablauf des Projektes verspricht das Land eine Weiterbeschäftigung
Die Tätigkeiten reichen von Arbeiten in Schulen, im Quartiersmanagement, in Kitas, über City-Lotsen, die im ÖPNV aushelfen, Mobilitätshelfern bis hin zur Umweltbildung. „Die Jobs sind zusätzliche“, betonte Müller, „sie sollen niemandem den Arbeitsplatz wegnehmen.“ Nach Ablauf des Projektes verspricht das Land eine Weiterbeschäftigung, wenn die SGE-Bezieher bis dahin nicht in den Arbeitsmarkt integriert werden konnten. hofft man, sollen erste Verträge abgeschlossen sein.
„Ich will nicht zugucken, dass Menschen jahrelang von einer kurzfristigen Maßnahme in eine andere geschickt werden und am Ende doch perspektivlos dastehen“, sagt Müller. Rund 1000 Berliner Langzeitarbeitslose bekommen nun die Chance, wieder eine unbefristete, sozialversicherungspflichtige Beschäftigung zu finden. Angestellt werden sie bei öffentlichen Verwaltungen oder landeseigenen Unternehmen und Trägern.
Tätigkeiten: Arbeiten in Schulen, im Quartiersmanagement, in Kitas
Die Bezahlung erfolgt nach Tarif- oder Landesmindestlohn. Das Projekt ist auf fünf Jahre angelegt. Insgesamt kommen rund 42.000 Menschen dafür in Frage. Das SGE richtet sich an Menschen, die mindestens ein Jahr arbeitslos waren und es höchstens seit drei Jahren sind.
„Ich möchte ihnen ein gutes Angebot machen“, sagte Müller. Gleichzeitig betonte er, dass es immer erstes Ziel sein müsse, Erwerbslose in den ersten Arbeitsmarkt zu integrieren. „Das Solidarische Grundeinkommen beginnt dann, wenn man diesen Anschluss nicht gefunden hat“, erklärte Müller. Zudem sollen die Beschäftigten der neuen Jobs innerhalb der Laufzeit des Modells gecoacht und weiterqualifiziert werden.
Nach Ablauf des Projektes verspricht das Land eine Weiterbeschäftigung
Die Tätigkeiten reichen von Arbeiten in Schulen, im Quartiersmanagement, in Kitas, über City-Lotsen, die im ÖPNV aushelfen, Mobilitätshelfern bis hin zur Umweltbildung. „Die Jobs sind zusätzliche“, betonte Müller, „sie sollen niemandem den Arbeitsplatz wegnehmen.“ Nach Ablauf des Projektes verspricht das Land eine Weiterbeschäftigung, wenn die SGE-Bezieher bis dahin nicht in den Arbeitsmarkt integriert werden konnten.
The New York Times and its Uyghur “activist” - World Socialist Web Site
▻https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/05/09/uygh-m09.html
9 May 2019 - The New York Times has furnished a case study of the way in which it functions as the conduit for the utterly hypocritical “human rights” campaigns fashioned by the CIA and the State Department to prosecute the predatory interests of US imperialism.
While turning a blind eye to the gross abuses of democratic rights by allies such as Saudi Arabia, the US has brazenly used “human rights” for decades as the pretext for wars, diplomatic intrigues and regime-change. The media is completely integrated into these operations.
Another “human rights” campaign is now underway. The New York Times is part of the mounting chorus of condemnation of China over its treatment of the Turkic-speaking, Muslim Uyghur minority in the western Chinese province of Xinjiang.
In an article on May 4 entitled “In push for trade deal, Trump administration shelves sanctions over China’s crackdown on Uyghurs,” the New York Times joined in criticism of the White House, particularly by the Democrats, for failing to impose punitive measures on Beijing.
The strident denunciations of China involve unsubstantiated allegations that it is detaining millions of Uyghurs without charge or trial in what Beijing terms vocational training camps.
The New York Times reported, without qualification, the lurid claims of US officials, such as Assistant Secretary of Defence Randall Schriver, who last Friday condemned “the mass imprisonment of Chinese Muslims in concentration camps” and boosted the commonly cited figure of up to a million to “up to three million” in detention. No evidence has been presented for either claim.
The repression of the Uyghurs is completely bound up with the far broader oppression of the working class by the Chinese capitalist elites and the Chinese Communist Party regime that defends their interests. The US campaign on the Uyghurs, however, has nothing to do with securing the democratic rights of workers, but is aimed at stirring up reactionary separatist sentiment.
The US has longstanding ties to right-wing separatist organisations based on Chinese minorities—Tibetans as well as the Uyghurs—that it helped create, fund and in some cases arm. As the US, first under President Obama and now Trump, has escalated its diplomatic, economic and military confrontation with China, the “human rights” of Uyghurs has been increasingly brought to the fore.
Washington’s aim, at the very least, is to foment separatist opposition in Xinjiang, which is a crucial source of Chinese energy and raw materials as well as being pivotal to its key Belt and Road Initiative to integrate China more closely with Eurasia. Such unrest would not only weaken China but could lead to a bloody war and the fracturing of the country. Uyghur separatists, who trained in the US network of Islamist terrorist groups in Syria, openly told Radio Free Asia last year of their intention to return to China to wage an armed insurgency.
The New York Times is completely in tune with the aims behind these intrigues—a fact that is confirmed by its promotion of Uyghur “activist” Rushan Abbas.
Last weekend’s article highlighted Abbas as the organiser of a tiny demonstration in Washington to “pressure Treasury Department officials to take action against Chinese officials involved in the Xinjiang abuses.” She told the newspaper that the Uyghur issue should be included as part of the current US-China trade talks, and declared: “They are facing indoctrination, brainwashing and the elimination of their values as Muslims.”
An article “Uyghur Americans speak against China’s internment camps” on October 18 last year cited her remarks at the right-wing think tank, the Hudson Institute, where she “spoke out” about the detention of her aunt and sister. As reported in the article: “I hope the Chinese ambassador here reads this,” she said, wiping away tears. “I will not stop. I will be everywhere and speak on this at every event from now on.”
Presented with a tearful woman speaking about her family members, very few readers would have the slightest inkling of Abbas’s background, about which the New York Times quite deliberately says nothing. Abbas is a highly connected political operator with long standing ties to the Pentagon, the State Department and US intelligence agencies at the highest level as well as top Republican Party politicians. She is a key figure in the Uyghur organisations that the US has supported and funded.
Currently, Abbas is Director of Business Development in ISI Consultants, which offers to assist “US companies to grow their businesses in Middle East and African markets.” Her credentials, according to the company website, include “over 15 years of experience in global business development, strategic business analysis, business consultancy and government affairs throughout the Middle East, Africa, CIS regions, Europe, Asia, Australia, North America and Latin America.”
The website also notes: “She also has extensive experience working with US government agencies, including Homeland Security, Department of Defense, Department of State, Department of Justice, and various US intelligence agencies.” As “an active campaigner for human rights,” she “works closely with members of the US Senate, Congressional Committees, the Congressional Human Rights Caucus, the US Department of State and several other US government departments and agencies.”
This brief summary makes clear that Abbas is well connected in the highest levels of the state apparatus and in political circles. It also underscores the very close ties between the Uyghur organisations, in which she and her family members are prominent, and the US intelligence and security agencies.
A more extensive article and interview with Abbas appeared in the May 2019 edition of the magazine Bitter Winter, which is published by the Italian-based Center for Studies on New Religions. The magazine focuses on “religious liberty and human rights in China” and is part of a conservative, right-wing network in Europe and the United States. The journalist who interviewed Abbas, Marco Respinti, is a senior fellow at the Russell Kirk Centre for Cultural Renewal, and a board member of the Centre for European Renewal—both conservative think tanks.
The article explains that Abbas was a student activist at Xinjiang University during the 1989 protests by students and workers against the oppressive Beijing regime, but left China prior to the brutal June 4 military crackdown that killed thousands in the capital and throughout the country. At the university, she collaborated with Dolkun Isa and “has worked closely with him ever since.”
Dolkun Isa is currently president of the World Uyghur Congress, established in 2004 as an umbrella group for a plethora of Uyghur organisations. It receives funding from the National Endowment for Democracy—which is one of the fronts used by the CIA and the US State Department for fomenting opposition to Washington’s rivals, including so-called colour revolutions, around the world.
Isa was the subject of an Interpol red notice after China accused him of having connections to the armed separatist group, the East Turkestan Liberation Organisation, a claim he denied. East Turkestan is the name given to Xinjiang by Uyghur separatists to denote its historic connections to Turkey. None of the Western countries in which he traveled moved to detain him and the red notice was subsequently removed, no doubt under pressure from Washington.
Bitter Winter explained that after moving to the US, Abbas cofounded the first Uyghur organisation in the United States in 1993—the California-based Tengritagh Overseas Students and Scholars Association. She also played a key role in the formation of the Uyghur American Association in 1998, which receives funding from the National Endowment for Democracy (NED). Last year its Uyghur Human Rights Project was awarded two NED grants totaling $320,000. Her brother Rishat Abbas was the association’s first vice-chairman and is currently the honorary chairman of the Uyghur Academy based in Turkey.
When the US Congress funded a Uyghur language service for the Washington-based Radio Free Asia, Abbas became its first reporter and news anchor, broadcasting daily to China. Radio Free Asia, like its counterpart Radio Free Europe, began its existence in the 1950s as a CIA conduit for anti-communist propaganda. It was later transferred to the US Information Agency, then the US State Department and before being incorporated as an “independent,” government-funded body. Its essential purpose as a vehicle for US disinformation and lies has not changed, however.
In a particularly revealing passage, Bitter Winter explained: “From 2002–2003, Ms. Abbas supported Operation Enduring Freedom as a language specialist at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.” In the course of the interview with the magazine, Abbas attempted to explain away her involvement with the notorious prison camp by saying that she was simply acting on behalf of 22 Uyghurs who were wrongfully detained and ultimately released—after being imprisoned for between four to 11 years!
Given the denunciations of Chinese detention camps, one might expect that Abbas would have something critical to say about Guantanamo Bay, where inmates are held indefinitely without charge or trial and in many cases tortured. However, she makes no criticism of the prison or its procedures, nor for that matter of Operation Enduring Freedom—the illegal US-led invasion and occupation of Iraq that resulted in the deaths of a million civilians.
It is clear why. Abbas is plugged into to the very top levels of the US state apparatus and political establishment in Washington. Her stints with Radio Free Asia and at Guantanamo Bay are undoubtedly not the only times that she has been directly on the payroll.
As Bitter Winter continued: “She has frequently briefed members of the US Congress and officials at the State Department on the human rights situation of the Uyghur people, and their history and culture, and arranged testimonies before Congressional committees and Human Rights Commissions.
“She provided her expertise to other federal and military agencies as well, and in 2007 she assisted during a meeting between then-President George W. Bush and Rebiya Kadeer, the world-famous moral leader of the Uyghurs, in Prague. Later that year she also briefed then First Lady Laura Bush in the White House on the Human Rights situation in Xinjiang.”
It should be noted, Rebiya Kadeer is the “the world-famous moral leader of the Uyghurs,” only in the eyes of the CIA and the US State Department who have assiduously promoted her, and of the US-funded Uyghur organisations. She was one of the wealthiest businesswomen in China who attended the National People’s Congress before her husband left for the US and began broadcasting for Radio Free Asia and Voice of America. She subsequently fled China to the US and has served as president both of the World Uyghur Congress and the American Uyghur Association.
The fact that Russan Abbas is repeatedly being featured in the New York Times is an indication that she is also being groomed to play a leading role in the mounting US propaganda offensive against China over the persecution of the Uyghurs. It is also a telling indictment of the New York Times which opens its pages to her without informing its readers of her background. Like Abbas, the paper of record is also plugged into the state apparatus and its intelligence agencies.
#Chine #Xinjiang_Weiwuer_zizhiqu #USA #impérialisme #services_secretes
新疆維吾爾自治區 / 新疆维吾尔自治区, Xīnjiāng Wéiwú’ěr zìzhìqū, englisch Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region
Der heimliche/offene Aufmarsch (every version)
▻https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3re36wBHq0M
“Der heimliche Aufmarsch” (The Secret Deployment) was a poem by Erich Weinert, originally set to music by Vladimir Vogel in 1927. In 1931 Hanns Eisler arranged the song, making it seemingly more badass, for the movie Niemansland, in the finale of which it was sung by Ernst Busch. This version is the most popular. After WW2, Weinert changed the lyrics of the song to suit the Cold War, and even the title was changed to “Der offene Aufmarsch” (The Open Deployment)
0:00 Der heimliche Aufmarsch Version 1 (E. Weinert-V. Vogel 1927)
3:35 Der heimliche Aufmarsch Version 2 (E. Weinert-H. Eisler 1931)
5:58 Der heimliche Aufmarsch Version 3 (E. Weinert-H. Eisler 1950s)
8:06 Der offene Aufmarsch (E. Busch-H. Eisler 1960s)
Wladimir Rudolfowitsch Vogel
▻https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wladimir_Rudolfowitsch_Vogel
*17. Februarjul./ 29. Februar 1896greg. in Moskau; † 19. Juni 1984 in Zürich - Wladimir Vogel war der Sohn einer russisch-jüdischen Mutter und eines deutschen Vaters. Im Ersten Weltkrieg wurde seine Familie aufgrund ihrer Abstammung im Ural interniert, aber Wladimir durfte ausreisen. Er ging nach Berlin, wo er zwischen 1918 und 1924 bei Heinz Tiessen und Ferruccio Busoni studierte. Er war als Komponist, Kompositionslehrer am Klindworth-Scharwenka-Konservatorium und Musikkritiker tätig. Er stand dem Expressionistenkreis um Herwarth Walden nahe und war als Mitglied in der Musiksektion der Novembergruppe von Max Butting und Hans Heinz Stuckenschmidt aktiv. Wegen seines Engagements für den deutsch-sowjetischen Kulturaustausch und für die Arbeiterbewegung musste er 1933 Deutschland verlassen. Seine Musik wurde von den Nationalsozialisten als entartet diffamiert. Später ging er über Strassburg, Brüssel und Paris nach London. Zwischen 1936 und 1939 war er in Zürich und lernte Aline Valangin kennen, die er 1954 heiratete, diese Ehe hielt bis 1965. Vogel und Valangin lebten ab 1939 und in den 1940er Jahren in Ascona, wo er die 1946 gegründeten Settimane Musicali di Ascona unterstützte. Ab 1964 war Vogel wieder in Zürich. In die Schweiz eingebürgert wurde er 1954 mit seiner Heirat. Zuvor war er mit einem Berufsverbot belegt, das ihm eine Lehrtätigkeit unmöglich machte. Auch durfte seine Musik nicht aufgeführt werden.[1] 1948 fand auf Veranlassung Vogels in Orselina ein «Dodekaphonischer Kongress» statt. Unter anderem nahmen Luigi Dallapiccola, Hermann Meier, Gian Francesco Malipiero, Karl Amadeus Hartmann, Rolf Liebermann und Erich Schmid teil. Seine sterblichen Überreste ruhen auf dem Friedhof Witikon.
Der offene Aufmarsch (english subtitles)
▻https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EByAEp3Dw9Q
This is a 1957 east german march and there is not so much to add it here
Paroles
Es schreien die NATO-Minister
Hört, hört ihr es nicht?
Ihr Schreien ist nicht mehr Geflüster
Hört, ja hört ihr es nicht?
Sie schreien nach Profit ihrer Kriegsindustrie
Und rüsten zum Kreuzzug, erneut wie noch nie
Ihr Heer steht bereit für die Aggression
Gegen dich und die Sowjetunion
Arbeiter, Bauern, fester die Waffen
Heut’ ist das heilige Pflicht
Das sind die Verbrecher, Verbrechen beginnen
Das heut’ ihre Waffe zerbricht
Heut’ ist der Sozialismus Weltmacht
Heut’ stehen die Völker nicht mehr allein
Drum fester die Einheit, der Kampf wird sich lohnen
Dann wird in der Welt immer Frieden sein
Drum fester die Einheit, der Kampf wird sich lohnen
Dann wird in der Welt immer Frieden sein
Es schreien die US-Strategen
Hört, hört ihr es nicht?
Sie schreien nach neuen Raketen
Hört, ja hört ihr es nicht?
Vom Rhein wird mit Abschreckungslärm gedroht
Mit Superwaffen, Neutronen und Tod
Das ist die moderne Inquisition
Gegen dich und die Sowjetunion
Arbeiter, Bauern, fester die Waffen
Heut’ ist das heilige Pflicht
Das sind die Verbrecher, Verbrechen beginnen
Das heut’ ihre Waffe zerbricht
Heut’ ist der Sozialismus Weltmacht
Heut’ stehen die Völker nicht mehr allein
Drum fester die Einheit, der Kampf wird sich lohnen
Dann wird in der Welt immer Frieden sein
Drum fester die Einheit, der Kampf wird sich lohnen
Dann wird in der Welt immer Frieden sein
Aus Washington schreit es Sanktionen
Hört, hört ihr es nicht?
Embargo, Bestrafungsaktionen
Hört, ja hört ihr es nicht?
Das alles im Namen der Menschlichkeit
Sie sind für Profit zu allem bereit
Es rüstet die schwärzeste Reaktion
Gegen dich und die Sowjetunion
Arbeiter, Bauern, fester die Waffen
Heut’ ist das heilige Pflicht
Das sind die Verbrecher, Verbrechen beginnen
Das heut’ ihre Waffe zerbricht
Heut’ ist der Sozialismus Weltmacht
Heut’ stehen die Völker nicht mehr allein
Drum fester die Einheit, der Kampf wird sich lohnen
Dann wird in der Welt immer Frieden sein
Drum fester die Einheit, der Kampf wird sich lohnen
Dann wird in der Welt immer Frieden sein
Musique de Hanns Eisler , paroles d’ Erich Weinert
Bibel, Mammon & Regime Change – Der evangelikale Feldzug in Lateinamerika – Teil 1: das Fußvolk und die Milliardäre
▻https://www.nachdenkseiten.de/?p=52406
Im Jahr 2018 wurden in Lateinamerika drei Präsidenten mit überwältigender Unterstützung und zig Millionen Stimmen evangelikaler Kirchen und Sekten gewählt. In Brasilien der rechtsradikale Jair Bolsonaro, in Costa Rica der Fernseh-Prediger Fabricio Alvarado und in Mexiko selbst der Mitte-Links-Kandidat Andrés Manuel López Obrador, mit Beteiligung der evangelikal dominierten Partido Encuentro Social (Partei der Sozialen Begegnung). Ein Bericht von Frederico Füllgraf.
Eines steht fest und ist Gegenstand vielfacher Untersuchungen und Überraschungen: Die Präsenz evangelikaler Kirchen im politischen Leben der verschiedenen lateinamerikanischen Länder hat in den letzten Jahren erheblich zugenommen. Zu den Hintergründen und Erklärungen gehört zweifellos der abnehmende Einfluss der Katholischen Kirche. In Lateinamerika verlassen stündlich 400 Menschen die seit der Conquista nahezu hegemonial wirkende Kirche Roms.
Teil 2: Nelson Rockefeller und die Anfänge
▻https://www.nachdenkseiten.de/?p=52707
Wie in Teil I dieser Artikelserie dargestellt, dient die sogenannte „Theologie der Prosperität“ weltweit als pseudo-religiöse Heilslehre und Tatort der Bereicherung selbsternannter, betrügerischer Bischöfe wie dem Brasilianer Edir Macedo.
Ein ähnlicher Fall ist der des US-amerikanischen Fernseh-Predigers und Multimillionärs Pat Robertson. Einige der vernichtendsten Vorwürfe gegen ihn stammen von ehemaligen Freiwilligen von „Operation Blessing“. Sie beschreiben, wie Mitte der 1990er Jahre Notverpflegungsflüge zur Rettung von Flüchtlingen in Ruanda hunderte von Kilometern von ihrer Flugroute abwichen, um in Wahrheit Ausrüstungen für eine Diamantenabbau-Konzession des Tele-Evangelisten zu landen. Ein Dokumentarfilm behauptete, Robertson habe Millionen Dollar von Spendengeldern auf Kosten der ruandischen Flüchtlinge veruntreut.
Capitalism did NOT generate the West’s wealth; colonialism & imperialism did. (Asia should be in this cartoon too.)
ping @reka
via @albertocampiphoto source : ▻https://twitter.com/BenjaminNorton/status/402642060768845825
Excellent dessin. C’est suffisamment rare d’en voir passer pour le noter. Simple dans sa mise en œuvre plastique, si évident qu’on se demande comme il n’a pas été déjà posé sur le papier, inactuel, muet (@philippe_de_jonckheere ça nous change des interchangeables séries de créatures bavardes qui n’existent que par les bulles qui les surplombent, ou des derniers rejetons de l’allégorie si impuissants à signifier quoi que ce soit que leurs auteurs et autrices doivent écrire partout qui est qui et quoi symbolise quoi). De qui est-il ?
#dessin_de_presse
l’auteur : Polyp, comme le laisse apparaître la version non tronquée de son dessin
vu sur ce site :
Sans l’Afrique la France serait un pays pauvre (juillet 2016)
▻http://www.imagiter.fr/2016/07/sans-l-afrique-la-france-serait-un-pays-pauvre.html
avec dans le même esprit
et un paquet de ressources sur la page de blog ci-dessus.
L’original sur le site de Polyp est en couleurs
@simplicissimus le deuxième (la becquée) est nettement plus médiocre, même si l’idée qui le sous-tend méritait d’être mise en image ; il tombe précisément dans l’impuissance de l’allégorie surchargée d’indications (alors que le texte est inutile pour que la proposition passe), et il est alourdi par de laborieux moyens de caricature, affaiblis par des manques évidents de savoir faire technique. Ces savoirs faire sont inutiles (on ne le dit jamais assez) dès lors qu’on n’essaie pas de les mettre en oeuvre si on ne sait pas le faire. Quand au dessin de Polyp, les couleurs sont aussi inutiles que laides (c’est à dire : insignifiantes et inexpressives). Savoir s’arrêter sur la crête de ses moyens d’expression est le principal marqueur d’un bon dessinateur.
L’oligarchie s’amuse
Le bal masqué de Dior à Venise, échos d’un Fellini contemporain - Godfrey Deeny - traduit par Paul Kaplan - 19 Mai 2019 - fashion network
▻https://fr.fashionnetwork.com/news/Le-bal-masque-de-Dior-a-Venise-echos-d-un-Fellini-contemporain,10
Pietro Beccari, le PDG de Christian Dior, et Elisabetta Beccari - Photo : Virgile Guinard Maria Grazia Chiuri ne prend jamais vraiment de vacances. À peine deux semaines après le défilé de la collection Croisière 2020 de Christian Dior, organisé à Marrakech, la créatrice italienne a dessiné les costumes d’une performance fantasmagorique donnée samedi soir, juste avant le bal Tiepolo organisé par Dior à Venise, qui faisait écho aux revendications politiques et à l’ambiance générale de la Biennale.
Des dieux et des déesses dorés, plusieurs Jules César, des comtesses aux proportions divines, des courtisanes cruelles, des dandys coiffés de plumes géantes, une Cléopâtre majestueuse, et diverses figures célestes - dont une qui a passé la soirée perchée au sommet d’une grande échelle à pêcher un globe argenté parmi les célébrités... Karlie Kloss jetait des oeillades fatales derrière son éventail, vêtue d’une robe corset imprimée. Sienna Miller est arrivée sous une gigantesque cape en soie beige et une robe moulante et scintillante, pendue au bras de son nouveau cavalier, Lucas Zwirner. Tilda Swinton était sanglée dans un costume en soie bouclée et Monica Bellucci et Dasha Zhukova resplendissaient dans leurs robe et cape à fleurs. 100 % Dior.
Samedi soir, après un véritable embouteillage nautique, des dizaines de bateaux de luxe Riva ont débarqué les invités sur les marches du palazzo, tandis que la troupe de danseuses Parolabianca se produisait sur une terrasse au bord du canal. Trois d’entre elles étaient juchées sur des échasses pour donner encore plus d’ampleur aux motifs étranges de Maria Grazia Chiuri - imprimés pêle-mêle d’animaux mythologiques, de cieux nocturnes, de crustacés géants, de taureaux en plein galop et d’amiraux de la Renaissance. « Des voyages célestes et ancestraux à travers le ciel », résume la directrice artistique des collections féminines de Dior.
« Je pense que nous, Italiens, avons oublié que nous sommes une nation de navigateurs, surtout les Vénitiens. Que nous avons fini par nous intégrer dans des centaines de cultures et de pays. Et que nous sommes une nation d’immigrés sur toute la planète depuis de nombreuses générations », rappelle-t-elle.
Des images dignes de cette Biennale, marquée par l’appel de nombreux artistes en faveur de frontières plus ouvertes . Cet après-midi-là, l’artiste aborigène australien Richard Bell a fait remorquer une péniche autour de Venise, transportant un pavillon factice enchaîné sur le bateau pour critiquer l’#impérialisme et le #colonialisme de son pays. Dans l’Arsenal, centre névralgique de la Biennale, l’artiste suisse Christoph Büchel a installé Barca Nostra, un bateau de pêche rouillé de 21 mètres qui a coulé au large de Lampedusa en 2015, entraînant la mort de près d’un millier de #réfugiés.
Dans le cadre de l’exposition principale, nombreuses étaient les images puissantes d’exclusion et de dialogue des cultures - on retient surtout les photos nocturnes de Soham Gupta qui représentent des étrangers indiens errant dans les décombres de #Calcutta, les films d’Arthur Jafa sur les droits civiques et les superbes collages autobiographiques de Njideka Akunyili Crosby, artiste américaine née au Nigeria. Sans oublier la Sud-Africaine Zanele Muholi qui a fait un autoportrait quotidien pendant un an pour dénoncer les crimes de #haine et l’#homophobie dans son pays natal, tandis que le pavillon vénézuélien n’a pas ouvert en raison des troubles politiques dans son pays.
De l’autre côté de la ville, le bal avait lieu au Palazzo Labia, célèbre pour les fresques sublimes de Giambattista Tiepolo, notamment dans l’immense salle de bal aménagée sur deux étages, ornée de scènes légendaires de la vie d’Antoine et Cléopâtre. La somptueuse soirée de Dior rappelait le célèbre bal oriental de 1951, organisé dans le même palais par son propriétaire mexicain de l’époque, Charles de Beistegui, qui avait redonné à l’édifice sa splendeur d’origine. Entré dans l’histoire comme « le bal du siècle », l’événement est resté dans les mémoires grâce aux nombreux costumes et robes dessinés conjointement par Salvador Dali et Christian Dior.
C’est Dior qui a financé le bal, qui a permis de récolter des fonds pour la fondation Venetian Heritage, qui soutient plus de 100 projets de restauration du patrimoine vénitien et dont c’est le 20e anniversaire cette année. Le président américain de l’organisation internationale, Peter Marino, est un architecte qui a dessiné des boutiques parmi les plus remarquables du monde, pour des marques comme #Louis_Vuitton, #Chanel et, bien sûr, #Dior.
« Les temps changent. Le bal de Beistegui était un événement fabuleux organisé pour les personnes les plus fortunées de la planète. Celui-ci aussi est un grand bal, mais il a pour but de récolter des fonds pour nos projets », précise Peter Marino, vêtu d’une veste, d’une culotte et de bottes Renaissance entièrement noirs, comme Vélasquez aurait pu en porter s’il avait fréquenté les bars gays de New York. Après le dîner, une vente aux enchères a permis de recueillir plus de 400 000 euros pour protéger le patrimoine vénitien.
Comme pour sa collection Croisière - qui contenait des collaborations avec des artisans marocains, des fabricants de tissus perlés massaï et d’imprimés wax ivoiriens, des artistes et des créateurs de toute l’Afrique et de sa diaspora -, Maria Grazia Chiuri a travaillé avec des acteurs locaux de premier plan pour son bal Tiepolo.
Les tables joliment décorées, en suivant des thèmes variés selon les salles - jungle, sicilienne et chinoise - comportaient des sphinx égyptiens, des œufs d’autruche géants, d’énormes candélabres en verre, des perroquets en céramique et des nappes sur mesure du légendaire fabricant de tissus et peintre vénitien Fortuny. Les invités ont pu déguster un pudding de fruits de mer composé de caviar, de homards et de crevettes, suivi d’un délicieux bar, préparé par Silvio Giavedoni, chef du restaurant Quadri de la place Saint-Marc, étoilé au guide Michelin.
Pour ses costumes de bal, Maria Grazia Chiuri a également fait appel au fabricant de soie Rubelli, ainsi qu’à Bevilacqua, le célèbre spécialiste du velours et de damas « soprarizzo », dont le siège se trouve de l’autre côté du Grand Canal, en face du Palazzo Labia. Une demi-douzaine de danseuses de la troupe Parolabianca ont clôturé la soirée en dansant sous les fresques maniéristes de Tiepolo, au son d’une harpe malienne et de violons.
Un événement vif, effronté, licencieux et provocateur... comme tous les grands bals masqués. Le #masque donne la liberté d’être poliment impoli - si on croise quelqu’un qu’on préfère éviter, il suffit de prétendre qu’on ne l’a pas reconnu. La soirée s’est déroulée dans une ambiance digne d’un film de Merchant Ivory ou de #Fellini et de son Casanova. Personnage que Sienna Miller a d’ailleurs côtoyé dans un de ses films...
« Monsieur Dior a toujours adoré Venise. Ses artistes, ses artisans et son art font donc partie du patrimoine de Dior. Une raison de plus pour laquelle j’ai adoré mettre à contribution le savoir-faire vénitien pour organiser le bal », confie Maria Grazia Chiuri.
Geste gracieux, Dior a offert un éventail à chaque invité, imprimé d’une célèbre phrase de son fondateur : « Les fêtes ont ceci de nécessaire qu’elles apportent de la joie ».
The Power Elite
▻https://www1.udel.edu/htr/Psc105/Texts/power.html
Thomas Dye, a political scientist, and his students have been studying the upper echelons of leadership in America since 1972. These “top positions” encompassed the posts with the authority to run programs and activities of major political, economic, legal, educational, cultural, scientific, and civic institutions. The occupants of these offices, Dye’s investigators found, control half of the nation’s industrial, communications, transportation, and banking assets, and two-thirds of all insurance assets. In addition, they direct about 40 percent of the resources of private foundations and 50 percent of university endowments. Furthermore, less than 250 people hold the most influential posts in the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of the federal government, while approximately 200 men and women run the three major television networks and most of the national newspaper chains.
Facts like these, which have been duplicated in countless other studies, suggest to many observers that power in the United States is concentrated in the hands of a single power elite. Scores of versions of this idea exist, probably one for each person who holds it, but they all interpret government and politics very differently than pluralists. Instead of seeing hundreds of competing groups hammering out policy, the elite model perceives a pyramid of power. At the top, a tiny elite makes all of the most important decisions for everyone below. A relatively small middle level consists of the types of individuals one normally thinks of when discussing American government: senators, representatives, mayors, governors, judges, lobbyists, and party leaders. The masses occupy the bottom. They are the average men and women in the country who are powerless to hold the top level accountable.
The power elite theory, in short, claims that a single elite, not a multiplicity of competing groups, decides the life-and-death issues for the nation as a whole, leaving relatively minor matters for the middle level and almost nothing for the common person. It thus paints a dark picture. Whereas pluralists are somewhat content with what they believe is a fair, if admittedly imperfect, system, the power elite school decries the grossly unequal and unjust distribution of power it finds everywhere.
People living in a country that prides itself on democracy, that is surrounded by the trappings of free government, and that constantly witnesses the comings and goings of elected officials may find the idea of a power elite farfetched. Yet many very intelligent social scientists accept it and present compelling reasons for believing it to be true. Thus, before dismissing it out of hand, one ought to listen to their arguments.
#politique #théorie_politique #USA #États_Unis #gouvernement #idéologie #impérialisme
Absolute Power : How the Unitary Executive Theory Is Undermining the Constitution
▻https://vimeo.com/10906096
Unitary executive theory - Wikipedia
▻https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unitary_executive_theory
Cet article n’a de traduction qu’en chinois. Va savoir pourquoi. Pourtant ce n’est pas une notion ésothérique mais un élément essentiel pour comprendre la position du président actuel et de ses prédecesseurs.
The unitary executive theory is a theory of American constitutional law holding that the President possesses the power to control the entire executive branch. The doctrine is rooted in Article Two of the United States Constitution, which vests “the executive power” of the United States in the President. Although that general principle is widely accepted, there is disagreement about the strength and scope of the doctrine. It can be said that some favor a “strongly unitary” executive, while others favor a “weakly unitary” executive. The former group argue, for example, that Congress’s power to interfere with intra-executive decision-making (such as firing executive branch officials) is limited, and that the President can control policy-making by all executive agencies within the limits set for those agencies by Congress. Still others agree that the Constitution requires a unitary executive, but believe this to be harmful, and propose its abolition by constitutional amendment.
Plural executives exist in several states where, in contrast to the federal government, executive officers such as lieutenant governor, attorney general, comptroller, secretary of state, and others, are elected independently of the state’s governor. The Executive Branch of the government of The State of Texas is a textbook example of this type of executive structure, also referred to as a plural executive. Another type of plu#politique #théorie_politique #USA #États_Unis #gouvernement #idéologie #droit #constitution
ral executive, used in Japan, Israel, and Sweden, though not in any US state, is one in which in which a collegial body comprises the executive branch – however, that collegial body does not comprise multiple members elected in elections, but is rather more akin to the US Cabinet or UK Cabinet in formation and structure.
Die unbeschränkte Macht des US-Präsidenten | Telepolis
▻https://www.heise.de/tp/features/Die-unbeschraenkte-Macht-des-US-Praesidenten-3404384.html
Schon Dutzende Mal hat US-Präsident Bush sein ihm angeblich verfassungsmäßig zustehendes Recht bei der Unterzeichnung von Gesetzen oder Anordnung von Anweisungen in Anspruch genommen. Eigentlich sieht die Unitary Executive Theory vor, dass der Präsident die Exekutive beaufsichtigt. Die Bush-Regierung hat allerdings diese Kontrolle so interpretiert, dass der Präsident diese praktisch alleine und ohne die Zustimmung des Kongresses oder der Legislative ausführen kann. Er würde damit sogar über dem Obersten Gericht stehen.
Rechte des amerikanischen Präsidenten : Macht macht Mißbrauch - Feuilleton - FAZ
▻https://www.faz.net/aktuell/feuilleton/rechte-des-amerikanischen-praesidenten-macht-macht-missbrauch-1302370.html
31.01.2006 Katja Gelinsky - Dammbruch durch Terror: Amerikas Juristen streiten über die Rechte des Präsidenten.
Zwei Wochen waren seit den Terrorangriffen auf das World Trade Center vergangen, da schrieb John Yoo, Jurist im amerikanischen Justizministerium, folgende Zeilen in einem Vermerk für das Weiße Haus: „Die Zentralisierung von Vollmachten allein in der Person des Präsidenten ist besonders entscheidend in Angelegenheiten nationaler Verteidigung, des Krieges und der Außenpolitik, bei denen eine einheitliche Exekutive mit weit größerer Geschwindigkeit und Energie als jeder andere staatliche Zweig Bedrohungen bewerten, politische Reaktionen erwägen und nationale Ressourcen mobilisieren kann.“
Yoo, der mittlerweile Juraprofessor an der Universität Berkeley ist, umriß damit eine staatsrechtliche Theorie, auf die die Regierung Bush seit dem 11. September 2001 kontroverse Maßnahmen im Kampf gegen den Terrorismus stützt, etwa das Wegsperren „feindlicher Kämpfer“ in Guantanamo oder auch seine umstrittene Anordnung von Abhöraktionen durch den Nachrichtendienst „National Security Agency“ (NSA) ohne richterliche Genehmigung. Ferner hatte das Justizministerium die sogenannte „Unitary Executive Theory“ für eine extrem enge Auslegung des Folterverbots herangezogen. Von dem Foltervermerk, an dem Yoo mitgearbeitet hat, ist das Weiße Haus später abgerückt, nicht jedoch von der Überzeugung, daß der amerikanische Präsident weitreichende Befugnisse habe, da die Verfassung eine geschlossen operierende einheitliche Exekutive ("unitary executive") verlange.
Yoo ist zwar nicht Erfinder der „Unitary Executive Theory“, doch gilt er als Architekt des Rechtsgebäudes, das zur Legitimierung von Bushs Antiterrorpolitik geschaffen wurde. Ein Pfeiler dieses Rechtsgebäudes ist die Lehre von der einheitlichen Exekutive. Ohne diese gäbe es keine Möglichkeit, Maßnahmen wie die Abhöraktionen der NSA verfassungsrechtlich zu rechtfertigen, stellte vor kurzem der konservative Staatsrechtler Steve Calabresi von der Northwestern University gegenüber dem „Wall Street Journal“ fest. Calabresis Stimme hat Gewicht. Schließlich zählt der Mitgründer und Mitvorsitzende der einflußreichen konservativen Juristenvereinigung „Federalist Society“ zu den geistigen Vätern der „Unitary Executive Theory“. Calabresi arbeitete damals unter Präsident Reagan in der Brutstätte der kontroversen Theorie, im „Office of Legal Counsel“ des Justizministeriums.
Christopher Kelley, Politikwissenschaftler an der Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, erinnert daran, daß der Kongreß nach dem Watergate-Skandal Reformen beschlossen habe, um die Macht des Präsidenten zu begrenzen, etwa das Gesetz zur Kontrolle von Abhörmaßnahmen, den „Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act“ (FISA). Im Gegenzug hätten „sehr kreative“ Köpfe in der Regierung auf Maßnahmen zur Sicherung präsidialer Macht gedrungen. Ein Ergebnis ihrer Bemühungen sei die „Unitary Executive Theory“ gewesen, aus der die Regierung Bush nun ableite, daß sie sich bei den Abhöraktionen der NSA nicht an das FISA-Erfordernis richterlicher Genehmigung zu halten habe.
Kleinster gemeinsamer Nenner der „Unitaristen“, deren Ansichten über die Kontrollbefugnisse des Präsidenten nicht so nah beieinanderliegen, wie ihre Bezeichnung vermuten läßt, ist die Annahme, der Präsident habe die Oberaufsicht über die gesamte ausführende Gewalt - also auch über traditionell unabhängige Institutionen wie die amerikanische Notenbank und die Börsenaufsicht. „Der Präsident hat nicht nur einige Vollmachten, sondern die Exekutivgewalt - die ganze“, erläuterte der Supreme-Court-Richter-Kandidat Samuel Alito im November 2000 in einer Rede vor der „Federalist Society“. Auch Alito hatte im Justizministerium der Regierung Reagan gearbeitet, während dort an der „Unitary Executive Theory“ gefeilt wurde. Damals wie heute sei er überzeugt, daß die Lehre von der einheitlichen Exekutive der Verfassung „am besten“ gerecht werde, bekannte Alito vor der „Federal Society“.
Die politische Linke befürchtet deshalb, Alito werde am Supreme Court darauf dringen, dem Präsidenten weitgehend freie Hand zu lassen. Diesen Verdacht hat der künftige Oberste Richter mit dem Hinweis zu zerstreuen versucht, daß die Lehre von der „unitary executive“, so wie er sie verstehe, nichts zum Umfang präsidialer Befugnisse sage. Die Theorie befasse sich lediglich mit der prozedual-hierarchischen Frage nach den Kontrollbefugnissen des Präsidenten innerhalb der Exekutive; zu dem, was die ausführende Gewalt dürfe, sage sie nichts. Alito distanzierte sich damit von Unitaristen wie Yoo, nach dessen Konzept der Präsident und Oberbefehlshaber der amerikanischen Streitkräfte die Kontrolle in Fragen der nationalen Sicherheit praktisch allein und ohne die Zustimmung des Kongresses oder sogar gegen Gesetze der Legislative ausüben kann.
Prominente amerikanische Verfassungsrechtler wie Laurence Tribe von der Harvard University haben diese Variante der „Unitary Executive Theory“ als schlecht getarnten Versuch kritisiert, die Grundsätze der Gewaltenteilung auszuhebeln. Selbst Calabresi hat gewisse Bedenken: Auch wenn er als Richter wahrscheinlich „das meiste“ von dem billigen würde, was die Regierung im Namen einheitlicher Exekutivgewalt beanspruche, sei er sich „keineswegs sicher“, daß er alle Maßnahmen aufrechterhalten würde.
#politique #théorie_politique #USA #États_Unis #gouvernement #impérialisme #idéologie #droit #constitution