From Granny: Battle Won

Battle Won!

Into the misty dawning,grandmother sun comes smiling,a burst of molten
golden glory bringing joy to the hearts that are watching,and a song lifts to
fill the valley.
Day after day the battle rages,dust choked air surrounds us,pain has
become our constant companion as we watch our children dying,put up our heads
and keep fighting.
Through the fog thick as cotton,floats a sound that makes our hearts go
soaring,thin but strong voice of an Elder saying,remember why you are
fighting.
Hope that one day we will find peace,prayers that these others
leave,belief in what our ancients taught us,a way of life we have lived forever.
So hard,our peoples tried to teach them,to learn as well what they were
saying,to understand the changes,but we will not accept them as our betters.
We are,a People strong and true,warriors born to lead and guide,gentle
loving and filled with hope,keepers of our Mother Earth.
Once more the cannon thunders and we fall before it,once more their guns
rain death and destruction,once more they claim our hearts to walk on.
This is a morning filled with wonders,as those who battle find their
spirits renewed,the urging of those gentle voices,telling us to fight on
children.
Dead and dying lay around us,mangled bodies torn by their
weapons,brother,sister,father

,cousin,these are our kin and we love them.
In the village that waits behind us,grandmothers gather the young for
running,slipping away into the mountains,finding safe places to hide them.
The war we can not win in one battle,the loss here will stagger minds
forever,that we continue at all is due to the teachings of our ancestors.
As the face of Father Sky clears, a sight to freeze hearts appear,massed
upon the valley floor are thousands,death waits here on this hillside,and we
accept it.
Will they ever see the beauty that is our world,those who take what is
not theirs,will they understand it is not for using,but for sharing?
Silence,Grandmother Sun is setting,blood red,swirled with rainbow
colors,the days dust has finally settled,a ragged cheer is sent up,as the last of
the People falls in death.
A day has passed,of freedom fighting,of the desperate cry of a defending
People,watching,crying,fighting,as their lives,their future,their hearts,are
stolen.
And do those who do the killing,understand or regret the slaughter,do
they see the blood soaking,into the lands that birthed us,and know,they have in
truth lost more than they gained?
That they shut one more door to their Creator,block one more path to
truth and learning,that the voice they try so hard to silence is ancient beyond
the knowing?
Those little ones and grandmothers hiding,they make to each other a
blood promise,we will not forget,we will not forgive,but we will live,we will
survive,and one day,we will no more cry,but will bring justice!

as told by my grandmother

granny

12.03.2007 03:19 NYM Warriors Targeted & Arrested At Anti-olympic Protest

Once again colonial fascism rears its ugly head as the colonial brownshirts (vancouver police) arrested three Native Warriors on February 13, 2007 for protesting the 2010 winter olympic games, scheduled to take place in unceded Squamish Territory (whistler re: vancouver). In yet another example of colonial terrorism, the kops arrested NYM Warrior Tselletkwe, of the Secwepemc Nation, Gord Hill of the Kwakwaka'wakw Nation, and Lynn Highway of the Anishnabe Nation. The kops, well known for the terrorism they inflict on Indigenous Peoples, also arrested members of the Indigenous Resistance Organizing Committee (IROC).

As the vancouver olympic organizing committee and the vancouver board of trade (businessmen) were celebrating their unveiling of a "3 year countdown clock" in the downtown business district in vancouver, one Native Warrior stormed the stage and took over the microphone, yelling "Fuck the olympics" until the kops managed to capture him and haul him away.

read more >>

We are all created equal ... it is SELF EVIDENT

Miscarriage Of Justice

{ December 30, 2007 @ 10:53 pm } · { Poems }
{ Tags: captured, Guantanamo bay, justice, Miscarriage, poem, prison }

How many Muslims have they Captured,
Miscarriages of Justice Manufactured.

Depriving them of the freedom they Deserve,
Separating them from the ones they Love.

Injustice in the name of Democracy,
In truth it’s nothing but Hypocrisy.

Illegally tortured in their secret Prisons,
The price we pay for being Muslim Citizens.

From your dependant children you’re taken Away,
For the agenda of oppressors they must Pay.

You only ever live life Once,
Now imagine it in a cell without a Chance.

An issue we choose to ignore Today,
Whilst people still suffer in Guantanamo Bay.

What will it take for you to Realise?
Their racist plots have begun to Materialise.

Restrained and confined by control Orders,
A developing police state over shadows Us.

Invasion of privacy at their Discretion,
Call it a security measure; yet another Deception.

God is on the side of the Oppressed,
So never let this issue get you Depressed.

Now is the time that we are being Tested,
Or will we truly realise when we’re also Arrested?

Written by Silent Wind

• Supplication Du'aa

  O Allah! For You is all praise - You are the Light of the Heavens and the Earth and all that is in them. O Allah raise the standing of Islam and the Muslims, and degrade the standing of kufr and the kaafireen and shirk and the mushrikeen. Destroy the enemies of the Deen and protect the lands of Islam. O Allah! Grant victory to Your religion, Your book and the sunnah of Your Prophet and Your slaves. To You we complain of our weakness, our failure and our shame before the people. O Most Merciful, You are the Lord of the weak and oppressed. O Allah America came with her army and iron, with her oppression and arrogance, she came to challenge You and deny Your Messenger and to slaughter the weak and oppressed believers in Iraq and Afghanistan. O Allah bring about what You promised them! O Allah we seek Your protection and Your promise. O Allah bring down Your help and support, You are our Helper and Supporter. O Allah grant aid and victory to the Mujahideen wherever they are. Our Lord pour upon them patience! O Allah! Break free the shackles of our prisoners and return them to their families safely. O Allah! They are in urgent need of Your Mercies, so send upon them Your Mercies! O Allah! Whoever has harmed them, then harm him, and whoever has shown enmity to them, then show enmity to them. O Allah! Rectify the affairs of the Muslims in Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan, Sheeshan and wherever they may be. O Allah! Do not grant a disbeliever any way to harm us. O Allah! We seek refuge in You from a bad decree, being taken over by misery, the gloats of the enemies, and the pains of afflictions, and we seek refuge in You from the disliked manners, deeds, desires and diseases. O Allah! Grant us security in our lands, and continue to bless us with peace and settlement there. O Ever-Living! O Self-Subsisting and Supporter of all! By Your Mercy we seek assistance, rectify for us all of our affairs and do not leave us to ourselves ever for the blink of an eye or less than that. All praises are to Allah Lord of the worlds and send Your prayers, peace and blessings upon our Prophet Muhammad and on his family, companions and followers. ALLAHUMMA AMEEN ALLAHUMMA AMEEN ALLAHUMMA AMEEN

Catapault that propaganda, DoD!! Catapault it good!
You are bankrupting our future, you really are ..
If you are reading, have a friggin look: http://www.defenselink.mil/home/features/gitmo/facilities.html
Why do they leave their victims FACELESS?
Why do we send Muslims to lie about the conditions
and put lies in the US press when the answer is JUSTICE?
Have we lost all respect for human life?
Why do we not speak with those who pray within the barbed wire,
who have already been tortured long enough?
What is true torture?
Is it not justice to let a man pray in PEACE,
surrounded by his loved ones when
he has done nothing wrong?

HOW IS THIS COMFORT??
When will the wait for real justice be answered?
What future is there for anyone when this goes on day after day ..

Where are the "black sites"? All of them.
How can the PR guy at the CIA actually say in the NYT
publically so to speak that
torture is just a small, well-run program?
Who supervisers the torturers? Other torturers?
Will the meek inherit the earth?
Are we all created equal or are we NOT.

crosspost: about US war "deserters" ..

Other Items: From commonills.blogspot.com

In justifying the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the Bush administration concocted a new and patently illegal doctrine of "preventive war," under which the US gave itself the right to attack a state if it believed it could constitute a threat to the US at some point in the future. As for the various justifications Washington gave for the war, from weapons of mass destruction to the reputed ties of the regime of Saddam Hussein to al Qaeda, they have all been exposed as lies.

The war has, moreover, resulted in untold violence and countless atrocities. According to studies by reputable agencies, the war and the accompanying destruction of Iraq society have caused the death of over one million Iraqis and the flight of millions of people from their homes and Iraq altogether.

If the Canadian government intervened in the Hinzman and Hughey cases to prevent their raising the illegality of the war, it wasn’t just to save the Bush administration from embarrassment. Ottawa feared Canada would become a haven for "war resisters" and a pole of resistance to the war. Given a different decision on Hinzman's and Hughey’s refugee claim, thousands more might well have joined them.

According to the Pentagon’s own figures, most likely underestimated, desertion is a growing phenomenon. The US army admits that 4,700 soldiers deserted in 2006 alone, an increase of over 40 percent compared to 3,300 soldiers in 2005, and up by 80 percent compared to 2003. These figures do not include personnel from the Air Force, Navy, or the Marines. (See: US Army reports rising desertion rates)

The attitude of the Canadian government and state to the Iraqi war resisters is in sharp contrast to that which it adopted in the 1960s and early 1970s during the Vietnam War. Then some 50,000 young Americans fled the military or obligatory conscription and were given refuge in Canada.

If the decision of the Supreme Court did not hit the front pages, neither did it pass unnoticed. It was the object of articles in daily papers all over the world.

The above is from Guy Charron's "Canada's Supreme Court opens door to deportation of US 'war resisters'" (WSWS). Jeremy Hinzman and Brandon Hughey are the two most immediately effected along with Robin Long. But if the Canadian legislature does not address the situation it could effect many -- not all -- war resisters who went public in Canada. Not all? Kyle Snyder is an example of "not all." He is married to a Canadian citizen. In addition, there are those who have not gone public. On December 11th, the Canadian Parliament will hold hearings on the issue.

In the US more and more are walking away. On Sunday, we noted this:

Is Julie Ann Stendahl a war resister? No one knows. We ignored her reported e-mail because there was no way to prove that it was from her. What is known is that she was supposed to deploy October 31st to Iraq and did not. What is know is that she went missing. Now, The Olympian's Joseph Rose reports, US military flack Holly Blevins has announced, "Friends and family said she told them she wasn't going back to Iraq." That is all that's known. And certainly because the US military says something is true doesn't make it so.

AP notes that "she turned herself in on Monday morning" and that "Army officials say she'll be returned to her unit, and disciplinary action will be up to her commanding officer." That is all that is known specifically about her case. What is known in the big picture is that Stendahl is far from alone. Matthew Fewox self-checked out the military. Florida's NBC2 News speaks with his father Dave:

He left without permission and he was arrested for military desertion.
"It's a decision he made and ultimately he's going to have to suffer the consequences," said Fewox.

Whatever those consequences are, Matthew's father insists they can't be worse than the anxiety attacks his son suffered while in the Army.

"From what I understand he actually collapsed at the military base," said Fewox.

He says doctors diagnosed his son with depression, but despite continuing attacks - he couldn't get a medical release.

"They just kept sending him to the doctor and sending him back to the barracks," said Fewox. "Where the depression came from or the anxiety came from - I don't know."

But he thinks the danger of war may have finally hit home for his 20-year-old son.

"It's a good possibility you're going to Iraq. There are 99 chances out of 100 you're going to go. Maybe it got close and it freaked him out," said Fewox.

Note that in addition to the text, the link also contains video. Naomi Spencer's "US Army Reports Rising Desertion Rates" (WSWS via CounterCurrents):

For the Army, the desertion rate for 2007 is 42 percent higher than that of the previous year, when 3,301 deserted. In 2005, 2,011 Army soldiers deserted, representing the lowest annual rate of the war period. In 2001 and 2002, the number of desertions was similar to the most recent figures for the Army (4,597 and 4,483, respectively) before they began to decline.

Historically, the military has not actively pursued deserters. Troops who leave their posts are denied veterans benefits and their names are permanently added to a national database of fugitives. If they are picked up by civilian law enforcement, they are handed over to military police for court martial.

However, Army prosecutions of desertions and other unauthorized absences have greatly increased over the past four years in an attempt to deter other would-be deserters, according to Army lawyers in interviews with the New York Times earlier this year. In a report published April 9, the Times noted that from 2002 through 2006, the average annual rate of Army prosecutions for desertion was triple the preceding five-year period, and prosecutions of similar absences have doubled. This increase in disciplinary action is an unmistakable acknowledgment by the chain of command that the rise in desertions represents not a fluke but a sign of things to come.

Pointing to the far higher Vietnam-era desertion rates, which rose as high as 5 percent, the military has insisted the current rise in desertion rates has nothing to do either with the so-called war on terror or with mass antiwar sentiments.

The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.