What are our rights as disenfranchised citizens of the world producing most of its resources?

This is an article that reads and that contains links that explain why and how the corporations are married to any government on the planet and for what reason.  TRAWL through it or PLOUGH through it but GET through it anyhow you can, please:

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/nov/13/tr
ans-pacific-partnership-intellectual-property

Figure out how it affects us and write to me.  I'll throw light on the relevant questions if you engage me.

@kirimba (on twitter)

The persona of government is being abused and has become a reluctant malaya but the corporations are very patriarchaic, if you'll forgive the corruption of that word and they are banging away.



From The Guardian direct - Why doesn't the link open?  Trying to redirect here.

3:43 PM 11/15/2013

Taken from The Guardian because their link does not open for some reason for some of us:

Dan Gillmor: On digital being

Thanks to WikiLeaks, we see just how bad TPP trade deal is for regular people
The more you know about the odious Trans-Pacific Partnership, the less you'll like it. It's made for corporate intellectual property and profits
SOPA protest
A protester demonstrates against the proposed Stop Online Piracy Act (Sopa) in New York. It might be time to do the same against the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Photograph: Mario Tama/Getty Images
Among the many betrayals of the Obama administration is its overall treatment of what many people refer to as "intellectual property" – the idea that ideas themselves and digital goods and services are exactly like physical property, and that therefore the law should treat them the same way. This corporatist stance defies both reality and the American Constitution, which expressly called for creators to have rights for limited periods, the goal of which was to promote inventive progress and the arts.
In the years 2007 and 2008, candidate Obama indicated that he'd take a more nuanced view than the absolutist one from Hollywood and other interests that work relentlessly for total control over this increasingly vital part of our economy and lives. But no clearer demonstration of the real White House view is offered than a just-leaked draft of an international treaty that would, as many had feared, create draconian new rights for corporate "owners" and mean vastly fewer rights for the rest of us.
I'm talking about the appalling Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement, a partial draft of which WikiLeaks has just released. This treaty has been negotiated in secret meetings dominated by governments and corporations. You and I have been systematically excluded, and once you learn what they're doing, you can see why.
The outsiders who understand TPP best aren't surprised. That is, the draft "confirms fears that the negotiating parties are prepared to expand the reach of intellectual property rights, and shrink consumer rights and safeguards," writes James Love a longtime watcher of this process.
Needless to say, copyright is a key part of this draft. And the negotiators would further stiffen copyright holders' control while upping the ante on civil and criminal penalties for infringers. The Electronic Frontier Foundation says TPP has "extensive negative ramifications for users' freedom of speech, right to privacy and due process, and hinder peoples' abilities to innovate". It's Hollywood's wish list.
Canadian intellectual property expert Michael Geist examined the latest draft of the intellectual property chapter. He writes that the document, which includes various nations' proposals, shows the US government, in particular, taking a vastly different stance than the other nations. Geist notes:
    [Other nations have argued for] balance, promotion of the public domain, protection of public health, and measures to ensure that IP rights themselves do not become barriers to trade. The opposition to these objective[s] by the US and Japan (Australia has not taken a position) speaks volumes about their goals for the TPP.
The medical industry has a stake in the outcome, too, with credible critics saying it would raise drug prices and, according to Love's analysis, give surgeons patent protection for their procedures.
Congress has shown little appetite for restraining the overweening power of the corporate interests promoting this expansion. With few exceptions, lawmakers have repeatedly given copyright, patent and trademark interests more control over the years. So we shouldn't be too optimistic about the mini-flurry of Capitol Hill opposition to the treaty that emerged this week. It's based much more on Congress protecting its prerogatives – worries about the treaty's so-called "fast track" authorities, giving the president power to act without congressional approval – than on substantive objections to the document's contents.
That said, some members of Congress have become more aware of the deeper issues. The public revolt against the repugnant "Stop Online Piracy Act" two years ago was a taste of what happens when people become more widely aware of what they can lose when governments and corporate interests collude.
If they become aware – that's the key. One of TPP's most abhorrent elements has been the secrecy under which it's been negotiated. The Obama administration's fondness for secret laws, policies and methods has a lot to do with a basic reality: the public would say no to much of which is done in our names and with our money if we knew what was going on. As Senator Elizabeth Warren pointed out, in a letter to the White House:
    I have heard the argument that transparency would undermine the administration's policy to complete the trade agreement because public opposition would be significant. If transparency would lead to widespread public opposition to a trade agreement, then that trade agreement should not be the policy of the United States. I believe in transparency and democracy and I think the US Trade Representative should too.
Thanks to WikiLeaks, we have at least partial transparency today. The more you know about the odious TPP, the less you'll like it – and that's why the administration and its corporate allies don't want you to know.
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More from On digital being
Dan Gillmor is director of the Knight centre for digital media entrepreneurship at Arizona State University's Walter Cronkite school of journalism and mass communication. His most recent book is Mediactive (2010), also a blog of the same name, about how people can be empowered as new media users. This series focuses on technological developments, especially as they affect media, and aims to show how people can move from being passive consumers of media to active users. Follow Dan on Twitter @dangillmor
WikiLeaks publishes secret draft chapter of Trans-Pacific Partnership
WikiLeaks publishes secret draft chapter of Trans-Pacific Partnership
13 Nov 2013
The Trans-Pacific Partnership, negotiated in secret between 12 Pacific Rim nations, "would trample over individual rights and free expression" according to Julian Assange
    11 Nov 2013
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    11 Nov 2013
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Julian Assange may get chance at Senate seat in Western Australia
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    © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved.

Towards clarity about who is on whose side in Israel and how Israel influences the degree of instability in the Middle East

Do you want a quick overview of the reality regarding Israel, Zionism, Israeli anti-Zionists, apartheid against the Palestinians and the general condition of this part of the world that has changed the planet into a war zone?  Don't look further:

Here are the links you need:

http://www.truthdig.com/search/results?q=blumenthal+goliath&x=0&y=0&cx=007550919732032875355%3Albmkk4fviak&cof=FORID%3A11

but this is my favourite one among them:

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/imploding_the_myth_of_israel_20131103 

All students in Grades 11 and 12 and above must attempt a read and crunch this article for an incisive view of the reality by Max Blumenthal.  For other comments refer to @kirimba on Twitter.

Try to find ways of better understanding how events in one part of the world can innocuously affect us here, for example, in Kenya.

Try to see how the ICC hearing for Uhuru and Ruto will come to practically nothing and why, and why they won't make a call until the Syria situation has been sorted conclusively.

Try to understand why Iran and Russia are in control of the negotiations at Geneva 2 and in general.  Our children have to be made to understand the realities of these geopolitical forces. Here is a link for the USA's worry about nuclear war if they don't come to a fair agreement about Iran:

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/11/13/334544/global-nuclear-war-likely-if-iran-talks-fail/

Only America has the right to do that!

Here is an email exchange between Janis and me:

Human Rights Watch is pointing at Iran as follows in the article linked here:

Iran:  Set an Immediate Moratorium on Executions!

In 2012 Iran remained one of the world’s foremost executioners, with more than 500 prisoners hanged either in prisons or in public. The Iranian government has announced at least 260 executions in 2013, with rights groups alleging or documenting an additional 160 or so unannounced executions. At least 15 of these executions have been carried out in connection with terrorism-related charges such as moharebeh. The vast majority of executions carried out in Iran during the past few years are for alleged drug-related offenses including trafficking, which are crimes not considered “most serious” under international law.

Here is Janis's reply:

My subject heading:  More on Iran executions comparative (eg drone strikes) 

Well, obviously only the United States has the right to do that.  We have the right to execute heads of state and install our own version of government that you should have.  That is common knowledge.  You should know that.

And my apology:

I am sorry.  I thought they were here to protect us.  I was ready to argue about this with a friend whose family are potentially targeted terrorists.  The(ir)y job is to get killed and ours is to bury them.  When it happens, now, I can tell him, "I told you so!  The American(s) are doing this to protect us from people like your parents!"

Janis:

absolutely!

I tweeted and asked tweeps to compare this to the drone executions and come up with some differences between them and what Iran is being accused of doing


Pakistan's figures on drone strikes (tweeted by @kirimba)

@McKGraKucPauNad @cinnamon_carter #drone just read that Pakistan's take on figures - much lower: http://t.co/6XZMR6g4U6 I just don't get it

Figures from The Bureau of Investigative Journalism

While on the subject of drones   http://t.co/3ERE1mVmfa

http://t.co/NgcMpW5xTI mind-tearing figures on drone war @McKGraKucPauNad #war (March 2013) @cinnamon_carter #drone 

RT @TheRealKeori: A graphic of all US global #drone strikes through January 2013. Look. Really look. http://t.co/8vcnvi3ClM  (http://stats.areppim.com/stats/stats_dronewar_global.htm)

Mohamed Jiwa
www.habaripoacoolnews.blogspot.com

I noticed a "Do You Know Islam" ad down below my work.  Welcome to click on it but it may not have all the information anyone would need about Islam so do refer any questions to me, if you are studying it?  Remember that the world of Islam suffered from schisms right from the start.

Some Elephant and Elephant Torture Links

From InvisionFree  (Vision of Edward Berry)

October 4th, 2013

http://z13.invisionfree.com/Elephant_Commentator/index.php?s=abf6048c04f53295eae22c6e813c5531&showtopic=68&st=270&#entry22590124


November 9th, 2013

http://z13.invisionfree.com/Elephant_Commentator/index.php?showtopic=68&st=270&#entry22605956

Nice lines from Tagore sent by my Pen-friend, Taherali

I recently received an email from Taherali on a discussion of what religion is about and he included this beautiful, simple poem which is so clear and refreshing. 

My response:

Nice lines from Tagore.  I learned my Islam in a Christian school and may well have learned it in Tagore's Ashram and been better equipped to address the problems surrounding me today. 

My problems today are nothing to do with Islam. Mostly they are to do with inhumanity and inhumanity caused by the brainwashing by the media.

Most if not all of my problems are political.  If I look in Kenya, I find that my progress is stymied by tribalism, corruption and deception by the ruling classes who have given a new definition to the word, 'class'. 

What has Islam got to do with the root of the problem, the cause of the Westgate debacle?  Any terrorist from any persuasion might have achieved a similar effect, the way the Israelis can do it to the Palestinians, or Modi's followers did to Muslims in India or, indeed, what the Shabab did to us here without discrimination.  Yes, without discrimination.  They also killed Muslims after which the KDF is now being accused of having razed the place like safari ants.  If this report turns out to be true as it probably will, if it is not covered up, I would ask, what has the sequence of events to do with Islam?

If you look in your own country you will find that these are the real problems:  Class definition by those who occupy the highest classes, rule by an establishment that keeps a government in place as an agency, corruption in high places that is not easy to stop (see what is happening in India), deception by the rulers who have their own culture and way of life, anger in sectors of the population who have reached a point of exasperation and about to go over the brink and take the law into their own hands (anarchy), the definition of one's own set of beliefs hijacked and broadcasted by ignorants in the media, (the way Fox News will broadcast, "Islam is a terrorist religion.", which is, if you ask opinion leaders of an Islam that is being practiced to the benefit of all communities around, like Yusuf Islam, Aga Khan, scholars like Reza Shah Kazemi and hundreds of others, just not true.)  The moment you turn to means that are beyond intellectual and peaceful to solve problems, you are crossing the bounds of what Islam is, and now working from outside its ethic. Period.  It is true of any faith.

No, Islam is not about going to the mosques and doing namaaz. That is a personal routine that affects individuals and, in some respects, congregations, in a manner that no one else can judge.  It might be just knee-bends to some and to others a deep expression of adoration and worship and submission to a recognisable power that is conceivable.

I would say that media is a diabolical instrument of brainwashing populations and providing definitions that are tempting to swallow, for the express purpose of the furtherance of war and diversion of resources into the hands of the banksters and their agents, like politicians and country leaders.  There is very little that is nationalistic or patriotic about the rulers today.

Peace

Mohamed Jiwa

 

 

 

In parentheses...

 

The question that Taherali brought up was whether we should be worried about how the world looks today.  Pictures are shown under the introduction, "Makes you think!" of people living in Iran, Afghanistan, Egypt and Netherlands in the 1960's and 80s, juxtaposed against the way people are dressed there today, focusing on women being covered from head to toe, in 2012.  In the early days everyone simply looked relaxed and open, dressed in western clothes.  The pictures of today show everyone (women, mostly) in burkha, and all covered up.  This was followed by the question, "...and some people still do not see reason to worry?" 

 

Here are the pictures:

 

8 Pictures = 1000 Words

 

 

Iran 1970

Imitation westerners?

 

Iran 2012

(Not a very fair example of Iranians as it shows them not having fun, which they do)

 

Afghanistan - Is this a fair picture, then?

 

Egypt:  Cairo University 1959

 

Cairo University 2012

 

Amsterdam 1980

 

Amsterdam 2012

 

 

The pictures say a lot, yes, when put together in this way:  They suggest that the world was once a beautiful, relaxed place when not many people were concerned about whether there was a killing to be made in oil, or not.  This is, of course, entirely untrue.  The only people who were happy with the world the way they found it were the affluent and the middle class.

 

While there may not have been much in the back of the mind of the children of affluent families in these countries there is no image of what the poor and the village people were doing at the time.  What was their lifestyle?  Were people being oppressed in the background?  Was Israel not being established as the ruler of the Middle East?  Who was making most of the money from the oil in Iran?  What were the reasons that the Taliban erupted?  Who was ruling Egypt before Nasser and what was he doing?  How did the world emerge as a playground for puppet royalty into an environment that has been destroyed?  What have we left for our children?  Are these people in the burkhas to blame then?

 

Was not the SAVAK all over the place when Iran was like this? Where is their picture?

 

The argument is worth taking on in full.  I hope I get the time to do it.