Welcome to Paradise Acres, Montego Bay again ladies and gentlemen, the season of merriment or folly, brings people flooding to through the streets, clappaz and scribbz(fire-crackers) can be heard every 15 minutes from about six in the evening. The walls of speaker boxs have been strung up on almost every street corner and children are about with star lite an all manner of trinkets that won't last past new year's eve. The sounds of gregory isaac, garnet silk interspaced wid some old mento and calypso waft through the cool blue Christmas nite at ruffly 12 o'clock. Matterhorn and Marijuana seem to be the drugs of choice along with the sorrel at the corner shops. Dominoes and Ludi(ludo or parcheesi) all played by rotating casts and compulsive gamblers intent on making the most of their holiday bonus. I don't which fool invented the myth about roosters crowing in the morning or at sunrise, here they crow from 12:00 am to 9:00 am of course with the choir of crickets, dogs on base and cats on alto. Nature is at high frequency here.
As we proceed into the thoroughfare of human traffic that now congests Montego Bay proper, every Tom, Dickhead and Harry is hussling and peddling his ware. Phone card, clappaz, wata are but ust a few of the items that are available. KFC on the boulevard is packed to capacity and a little more. The hipstrip(Gloucester Ave) is a wash with Pan chicken men, vendors, pedestrians, party goers cars, the lovely chimmer and shine clad prostitutes, the escalades, and evolutions. Jesus I'm sure is turning twice in his grave(seeing this isn't exactly his birthday, and what's teh fat red guy have to do with him, and oh the mass marketing). The street is strung up with lights and RatBats(real Bats, not Moths) are circling fruit trees everywhere just as their friends in flight the birds are in constant chorus at Sam Sharpe Square, and seeming constant diahorrea. Marguerita Ville is popping, the Brewery is popping, Oh and the Coral Cliff full a pickney cyan' done.
Here now is a poem I wrote some years ago a christmas:
One Night In December
The sky is in her deepest blue,
While stars glow bold in the cool of night,
Ackee trees rock as the breeze comes through,
All is peace even the mongrels cease their fight.
Children frolic the street with sparkles in hand,
And old reggae rythms softly scampers across the air,
The spirit of nativity captures the land,
The weary soul can rest without fear.
© Yannick Nesta Pessoa & Azteka Designs MMIV (2004 a.d.) ®
This unique blog is Jamaica's very first blog. It documents the work and thoughts of Jamaican Philpsopher, Yannick Nesta Pessoa. I am an Artist, Graphic Designer, Copywriter, Poet, Social Advocate, Community Activist, Western Mirror Columnist and Legal Student. Follow on Twitter & Instagram @yahnyk. Follow on Youtube @ and Reply to yannickpessoa@gmail.com
Sunday, December 26, 2004
Saturday, November 20, 2004
Some follow up on an article that I posted in the Abeng edition.
This story follows upon an article in my first issue of "Abeng" the article discusses Rasta in Barbados Government... it is taken from the "Barbados Nation" where my friend Amanda Lynch-Foster now works...
Tafari Will Trod On
Friday 19, November-2004
Ikael Tafari: has heard it all before.
by AMANDA LYNCH-FOSTER
Dr Ikael Tafari has heard it all before.
“It’s not the first time I’ve heard that I’m a white man,” says Tafari with a little laugh, referring to the controversy which has swirled around his recent appointment as director of the Pan-African Commission (PAC).
In his office at the commission on Hincks Street, the walls are plastered with posters and pictures celebrating noted Pan-Africanists, such as Marcus Garvey and Haile Selassie and those lesser known such as Rastafari elder Ras Boanerges.
None of them look like the man born Michael Hutchinson, who possesses piercing grey-green eyes, a straight, hawkish nose and silky locks tucked up into a black velvet hat.
“This identity thing has been very difficult for me. I have often been questioned...and asked: ‘what are you? Who are you?’ Sometimes they just look at me and ask, ‘are you’...?” he says, tilting his head quizzically in the way of his inquisitors.
These questions have been shouted in recent weeks since the contract of former director David Comissiong was not renewed and Tafari moved up to head the PAC.
From Rastafari brethren and sistren to cantankerous callers on radio shows to his fellow Pan-Africanists, Tafari’s melanin has been called into question and with it, his ‘right’ to lead the PAC.
“When you’re in the middle, you get this,” says Tafari, reflecting that, at one time or another, he has been told by both sides “you are not one of us.”
But for the university lecturer and sociologist, the question of his race has never been as simple as black or white.
Growing up in an extended family of mixed races, which included black, brown, white, Chinese and Indian elements, Tafari says the specifics of race never mattered to him.
“I always saw all of them as humanity,” he says simply.
In describing his heritage, he is detailed and technical, saying he is black through his mother’s side, “but that also includes the lighter-skinned ones that were on her side of the family” and that his father “could pass for white”.
“I’ve always accepted both. I don’t have a problem with the white in me. I do have a problem with some people’s response to my identification with the black in me. Except for a brief rebellion in my youth, I always admired my father, but I never saw [him] as white,” says Tafari.
Still, he admits that since the days of his youth, he was always drawn to those of a darker hue.
One of his darker aunts and her “very dark Vincentian” husband lived next-door with their son. Tafari, who has a sister, but no brother, in effect grew up with his darker cousin, Ronald Cox - like the brother he never had.
The powerful mould of this early relationship above all others, was to leave a lasting imprint and perhaps was the influence that moved Tafari closer with his African ‘brothers’ further on in his life.
“That was my favourite part of the family,” he reminisces.
When he went to Harrison College, again he was moved to associate with the darker students.
However, it took leaving the “very oppressive society” of his native island for his black consciousness to really bloom.
In 1968, he went to the University of the West Indies Mona campus in Kingston, Jamaica, and in his words “arrived there just to jump into the fire” that was the regional Black Power movement.
Jamaica was a country in upheaval during that time. In October, student protests broke out when the government banned legendary intellectual and university lecturer Walter Rodney.
“Firmly convinced that I was a black man, I marched with them. That was my baptism of fire,” recalls Tafari.
The protests turned violent when the students were brutally attacked by the police with tear gas and batons.
In a strange and turbulent new land, spluttering and eyes watering in the burning vapours of the tear gas, he knew for sure he wasn’t in Barbados anymore.
“My whole life changed... when I went to Jamaica.”
It was not just a pivotal time for young Jamaica, but for the young Michael Hutchinson who was soon to be no more.
“This helped lead me to Rastafari,” recollects Tafari.
Always a student of the Bible, he became captivated and started to explore the religion.
He was particularly fascinated by accounts of Haile Selassie’s character and drawn to the Rastafarian acceptance of all people, particularly because of his own struggles with his identity.
Those were the early “pariah” days of Rastafari before Bob Marley and others brought it closer to public acceptance and when he turned to the movement and started growing locks, “everyone on campus thought I was mad,” remembers Tafari.
Some fellow Barbadians “actually ran” from him, literally sprinting away from the dreadlocked rebel.
“To be rejected by your own really is a hard thing,” muses Tafari, remembering the experiences of that time.
When he moved off campus, he found he could not get a room to rent in all of Kingston and so he built a hut in the shanty town developing outside of the gates of the university in Mona Commons. He recalls with a wry laugh his first incompetent efforts at digging a pit toilet for his new home.
This was in the 1970s, when political passions and political tribalism in Jamaica were peaking and the squatter community – along with Tafari – would eventually be moved to another location in the same Mona area that Tafari and his mentor, Ras Boanerges, were able to develop into a new community called “Goldsmith Villa”, working with the ministry of Housing.
Unfortunately, given the politics of patronage of that time, some of the housing units fell into hands of the “political army” of the ruling People’s National Party and the housing area took on the more militant popular name of “Angola”.
At nights, as he walked across from the university to his home, Tafari would sometimes have to dodge the crossfire from the gunmen rampant in the area.
It was in this harsh, gritty environment that his parents came to visit him and first saw the new religion and life their son had adopted.
“Talk about two worlds meeting!” chuckles Tafari at the memory.
“My family was horrified. My sister and old lady both cried, but they never disowned me,” he says.
When Michael ‘Joshua’ Manley came to power in 1972, Tafari went to work with the government in the Social Development Commission, “one of the first Rastafari” to work with the more radical Manley administration.
He ended up living in Jamaica from 1968 until 1981, and even though he admitted that the country was often in a state of “civil war”, he was reluctant to leave the island.
However, it was a bigger cause that brought him back to the land of his birth – his daughter Nakazzi. Thinking it best that the six-year-old should be raised in a “more wholesome environment” offered by Barbados, he decided to come home.
When he returned, he naturally became involved with the local Pan-Africanist movement which like him, has moved from the fringes to officialdom.
Amidst the storm of controversy swirling around his appointment as head of the PAC, Tafari is calm.
“I think I have some very important work to do because my sense of history tells me when you find those kinds of forces trying to stop the man before he’s even started, it tells me I have something very major to do,” he comments about the opposition to his appointment.
Though he has replaced Comissiong, he says that his relationship with the former PAC director remains solid.
“I have not gotten any evidence that David Comissiong himself believes I have betrayed him. My relationship with David is the same as it has always been. He is my friend, my brother in the Pan-African struggle,” states Tafari firmly.
He says that, while sympathetic to Comissiong because of the note on which his tenure ended, his major concern when he learnt of the non-renewal of Comissiong’s contract as director, was to ensure that the work of the PAC continued.
He says the first six years of the PAC under Comissiong’s leadership “laid the groundwork” for a number of major initiatives that they intend to implement.
He plans to work on developing trade linkages with Africa which he believes is a major untapped market which offers much for local businesses.
Next year, in conjunction with the National Cultural Foundation, the PAC will also be developing the Season of Emancipation to a four-month-long season lasting from early April to late August, which will span most of the major days celebrating freedom from Heroes’ Day to the UNESCO day for the abolition of slavery.
Plans are under way to bring South African president Thabo Mbeki and Kenyan Nobel 2004 Prize Laureate, Wangari Maathai, to Barbados during the season.
Tafari notes laughingly that had he come to his present post when he was 34 instead of the older, wiser 54 he is now, things would have been very different.
“I would have been blazing hot and I would not have lasted two months.”
Now, he says he is “prepared to be strategic” so he can accomplish the goals of the PAC.
“I’ve done a lot of talking in my time. If it came down to a choice between rhetoric which antagonises and getting some crucial things done, right now I’m in my action mode,” he declares.
amandalynch@nationnews.com - someone e-mail her and harass her please...
here is the original link: http://www.nationnews.com/StoryView.cfm?Record=55377&Section=LO&Current=2004%2D11%2D19%2000%3A00%3A00
Tafari Will Trod On
Friday 19, November-2004
Ikael Tafari: has heard it all before.
by AMANDA LYNCH-FOSTER
Dr Ikael Tafari has heard it all before.
“It’s not the first time I’ve heard that I’m a white man,” says Tafari with a little laugh, referring to the controversy which has swirled around his recent appointment as director of the Pan-African Commission (PAC).
In his office at the commission on Hincks Street, the walls are plastered with posters and pictures celebrating noted Pan-Africanists, such as Marcus Garvey and Haile Selassie and those lesser known such as Rastafari elder Ras Boanerges.
None of them look like the man born Michael Hutchinson, who possesses piercing grey-green eyes, a straight, hawkish nose and silky locks tucked up into a black velvet hat.
“This identity thing has been very difficult for me. I have often been questioned...and asked: ‘what are you? Who are you?’ Sometimes they just look at me and ask, ‘are you’...?” he says, tilting his head quizzically in the way of his inquisitors.
These questions have been shouted in recent weeks since the contract of former director David Comissiong was not renewed and Tafari moved up to head the PAC.
From Rastafari brethren and sistren to cantankerous callers on radio shows to his fellow Pan-Africanists, Tafari’s melanin has been called into question and with it, his ‘right’ to lead the PAC.
“When you’re in the middle, you get this,” says Tafari, reflecting that, at one time or another, he has been told by both sides “you are not one of us.”
But for the university lecturer and sociologist, the question of his race has never been as simple as black or white.
Growing up in an extended family of mixed races, which included black, brown, white, Chinese and Indian elements, Tafari says the specifics of race never mattered to him.
“I always saw all of them as humanity,” he says simply.
In describing his heritage, he is detailed and technical, saying he is black through his mother’s side, “but that also includes the lighter-skinned ones that were on her side of the family” and that his father “could pass for white”.
“I’ve always accepted both. I don’t have a problem with the white in me. I do have a problem with some people’s response to my identification with the black in me. Except for a brief rebellion in my youth, I always admired my father, but I never saw [him] as white,” says Tafari.
Still, he admits that since the days of his youth, he was always drawn to those of a darker hue.
One of his darker aunts and her “very dark Vincentian” husband lived next-door with their son. Tafari, who has a sister, but no brother, in effect grew up with his darker cousin, Ronald Cox - like the brother he never had.
The powerful mould of this early relationship above all others, was to leave a lasting imprint and perhaps was the influence that moved Tafari closer with his African ‘brothers’ further on in his life.
“That was my favourite part of the family,” he reminisces.
When he went to Harrison College, again he was moved to associate with the darker students.
However, it took leaving the “very oppressive society” of his native island for his black consciousness to really bloom.
In 1968, he went to the University of the West Indies Mona campus in Kingston, Jamaica, and in his words “arrived there just to jump into the fire” that was the regional Black Power movement.
Jamaica was a country in upheaval during that time. In October, student protests broke out when the government banned legendary intellectual and university lecturer Walter Rodney.
“Firmly convinced that I was a black man, I marched with them. That was my baptism of fire,” recalls Tafari.
The protests turned violent when the students were brutally attacked by the police with tear gas and batons.
In a strange and turbulent new land, spluttering and eyes watering in the burning vapours of the tear gas, he knew for sure he wasn’t in Barbados anymore.
“My whole life changed... when I went to Jamaica.”
It was not just a pivotal time for young Jamaica, but for the young Michael Hutchinson who was soon to be no more.
“This helped lead me to Rastafari,” recollects Tafari.
Always a student of the Bible, he became captivated and started to explore the religion.
He was particularly fascinated by accounts of Haile Selassie’s character and drawn to the Rastafarian acceptance of all people, particularly because of his own struggles with his identity.
Those were the early “pariah” days of Rastafari before Bob Marley and others brought it closer to public acceptance and when he turned to the movement and started growing locks, “everyone on campus thought I was mad,” remembers Tafari.
Some fellow Barbadians “actually ran” from him, literally sprinting away from the dreadlocked rebel.
“To be rejected by your own really is a hard thing,” muses Tafari, remembering the experiences of that time.
When he moved off campus, he found he could not get a room to rent in all of Kingston and so he built a hut in the shanty town developing outside of the gates of the university in Mona Commons. He recalls with a wry laugh his first incompetent efforts at digging a pit toilet for his new home.
This was in the 1970s, when political passions and political tribalism in Jamaica were peaking and the squatter community – along with Tafari – would eventually be moved to another location in the same Mona area that Tafari and his mentor, Ras Boanerges, were able to develop into a new community called “Goldsmith Villa”, working with the ministry of Housing.
Unfortunately, given the politics of patronage of that time, some of the housing units fell into hands of the “political army” of the ruling People’s National Party and the housing area took on the more militant popular name of “Angola”.
At nights, as he walked across from the university to his home, Tafari would sometimes have to dodge the crossfire from the gunmen rampant in the area.
It was in this harsh, gritty environment that his parents came to visit him and first saw the new religion and life their son had adopted.
“Talk about two worlds meeting!” chuckles Tafari at the memory.
“My family was horrified. My sister and old lady both cried, but they never disowned me,” he says.
When Michael ‘Joshua’ Manley came to power in 1972, Tafari went to work with the government in the Social Development Commission, “one of the first Rastafari” to work with the more radical Manley administration.
He ended up living in Jamaica from 1968 until 1981, and even though he admitted that the country was often in a state of “civil war”, he was reluctant to leave the island.
However, it was a bigger cause that brought him back to the land of his birth – his daughter Nakazzi. Thinking it best that the six-year-old should be raised in a “more wholesome environment” offered by Barbados, he decided to come home.
When he returned, he naturally became involved with the local Pan-Africanist movement which like him, has moved from the fringes to officialdom.
Amidst the storm of controversy swirling around his appointment as head of the PAC, Tafari is calm.
“I think I have some very important work to do because my sense of history tells me when you find those kinds of forces trying to stop the man before he’s even started, it tells me I have something very major to do,” he comments about the opposition to his appointment.
Though he has replaced Comissiong, he says that his relationship with the former PAC director remains solid.
“I have not gotten any evidence that David Comissiong himself believes I have betrayed him. My relationship with David is the same as it has always been. He is my friend, my brother in the Pan-African struggle,” states Tafari firmly.
He says that, while sympathetic to Comissiong because of the note on which his tenure ended, his major concern when he learnt of the non-renewal of Comissiong’s contract as director, was to ensure that the work of the PAC continued.
He says the first six years of the PAC under Comissiong’s leadership “laid the groundwork” for a number of major initiatives that they intend to implement.
He plans to work on developing trade linkages with Africa which he believes is a major untapped market which offers much for local businesses.
Next year, in conjunction with the National Cultural Foundation, the PAC will also be developing the Season of Emancipation to a four-month-long season lasting from early April to late August, which will span most of the major days celebrating freedom from Heroes’ Day to the UNESCO day for the abolition of slavery.
Plans are under way to bring South African president Thabo Mbeki and Kenyan Nobel 2004 Prize Laureate, Wangari Maathai, to Barbados during the season.
Tafari notes laughingly that had he come to his present post when he was 34 instead of the older, wiser 54 he is now, things would have been very different.
“I would have been blazing hot and I would not have lasted two months.”
Now, he says he is “prepared to be strategic” so he can accomplish the goals of the PAC.
“I’ve done a lot of talking in my time. If it came down to a choice between rhetoric which antagonises and getting some crucial things done, right now I’m in my action mode,” he declares.
amandalynch@nationnews.com - someone e-mail her and harass her please...
here is the original link: http://www.nationnews.com/StoryView.cfm?Record=55377&Section=LO&Current=2004%2D11%2D19%2000%3A00%3A00
Monday, November 15, 2004
Aluta Continua: Cuban Updates... issue #5
Large UK trade mission in Cuba
AFPTuesday, November 16, 2004
HAVANA (AFP)
Britain's largest trade mission ever to visit Cuba arrived yesterday, one day ahead of a key European Union (EU) meeting in Brussels on future European relations with the communist island.
The 40 visitors include potential investors in tourism, biotechnology, agriculture, education and energy, said Lord Colin Moynihan, the head of the UK- Cuba Initiative.
The common EU policy since 1996 conditioned better political ties on political changes in Cuba.Relations, however, have been strained since a Cuban crackdown on political dissidents in 2003.
However, the Socialist government of Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero is seeking to change the common policy, arguing that the sanctions are not effective. Britain has stated it supports Zapatero's proposal.
The size and scope of the British trade mission clearly shows the strength of ties between Havana and London, said Moynihan upon arrival.
The trade mission will stay until Friday, he said. The British trade mission follows a brief visit to Havana ending November 4 by a group of five EU lawmakers aimed at improving diplomatic ties.
The EU lawmakers met with top Cuban officials, but did not meet with dissidents who represent the outlawed Cuban opposition.
Spain and UK press for a thaw in EU diplomatic freeze on Cuba
EU Seeks End to Diplomatic Freeze in Cuba
DaimlerChrysler fine may damage US-EU relations
By Inígo Moré in Madrid
Published: November 16 2004 02:00 Last updated: November 16 2004 02:00
DaimlerChrysler, the German car manufacturer, has been fined by the US for breaking the embargo on Cuba, it emerged yesterday.
US Treasury officials told Expansión, the Financial Times' Spanish sister paper, that DaimlerChrysler was guilty of "exporting goods to Cuba". The case was settled last month, after the company paid a fine thought to be $30,000 (€23,200, £16,200).
The dispute threatens further to undermine ties between Washington and Berlin, which were strained last year during the Iraq war. Gerhard Schröder, the German chancellor, was one of the strongest critics of the US-led invasion of Iraq.
The penalty was imposed on DaimlerChrysler North America Group, the US subsidiary of the company, because of exports by DaimlerChrysler Vehículos Comerciales, the Mexican subsidiary of the German manufacturer.
The officials said that Daimler had paid the fine, without admitting to any wrongdoing. People close to the settlement said that although the fine was relatively small, it was intended as a warning to other companies against doing business with Cuba.
According to US Treasury documents, Mercedes-Benz México, since renamed DaimlerChrysler Vehículos Comerciales, exported goods to Cuba in 1999. It is unclear why the company was fined five years after the event.
DaimlerChrysler is represented in Cuba by MCV Comercial, a joint venture that supplies spare parts for vehicles on the island.
The penalty follows another high-profile fine, imposed on Iberia, the Spanish airline carrier, which agreed two months ago to pay a fine of $8,000 after the US government accused it of breaking the embargo on Cuba. It had carried a 480kg shipment of Cuban cigars bound for Costa Rica via Florida. The US Treasury has imposed penalties on 60 companies this year for breaking the embargo legislation.
The latest episode could force the European Commission to make a fresh protest to Washington after a confrontation a few years ago over the application to third countries of the US embargo.
DaimlerChrysler was not available for comment last night.
AFPTuesday, November 16, 2004
HAVANA (AFP)
Britain's largest trade mission ever to visit Cuba arrived yesterday, one day ahead of a key European Union (EU) meeting in Brussels on future European relations with the communist island.
The 40 visitors include potential investors in tourism, biotechnology, agriculture, education and energy, said Lord Colin Moynihan, the head of the UK- Cuba Initiative.
The common EU policy since 1996 conditioned better political ties on political changes in Cuba.Relations, however, have been strained since a Cuban crackdown on political dissidents in 2003.
However, the Socialist government of Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero is seeking to change the common policy, arguing that the sanctions are not effective. Britain has stated it supports Zapatero's proposal.
The size and scope of the British trade mission clearly shows the strength of ties between Havana and London, said Moynihan upon arrival.
The trade mission will stay until Friday, he said. The British trade mission follows a brief visit to Havana ending November 4 by a group of five EU lawmakers aimed at improving diplomatic ties.
The EU lawmakers met with top Cuban officials, but did not meet with dissidents who represent the outlawed Cuban opposition.
Spain and UK press for a thaw in EU diplomatic freeze on Cuba
EU Seeks End to Diplomatic Freeze in Cuba
DaimlerChrysler fine may damage US-EU relations
By Inígo Moré in Madrid
Published: November 16 2004 02:00 Last updated: November 16 2004 02:00
DaimlerChrysler, the German car manufacturer, has been fined by the US for breaking the embargo on Cuba, it emerged yesterday.
US Treasury officials told Expansión, the Financial Times' Spanish sister paper, that DaimlerChrysler was guilty of "exporting goods to Cuba". The case was settled last month, after the company paid a fine thought to be $30,000 (€23,200, £16,200).
The dispute threatens further to undermine ties between Washington and Berlin, which were strained last year during the Iraq war. Gerhard Schröder, the German chancellor, was one of the strongest critics of the US-led invasion of Iraq.
The penalty was imposed on DaimlerChrysler North America Group, the US subsidiary of the company, because of exports by DaimlerChrysler Vehículos Comerciales, the Mexican subsidiary of the German manufacturer.
The officials said that Daimler had paid the fine, without admitting to any wrongdoing. People close to the settlement said that although the fine was relatively small, it was intended as a warning to other companies against doing business with Cuba.
According to US Treasury documents, Mercedes-Benz México, since renamed DaimlerChrysler Vehículos Comerciales, exported goods to Cuba in 1999. It is unclear why the company was fined five years after the event.
DaimlerChrysler is represented in Cuba by MCV Comercial, a joint venture that supplies spare parts for vehicles on the island.
The penalty follows another high-profile fine, imposed on Iberia, the Spanish airline carrier, which agreed two months ago to pay a fine of $8,000 after the US government accused it of breaking the embargo on Cuba. It had carried a 480kg shipment of Cuban cigars bound for Costa Rica via Florida. The US Treasury has imposed penalties on 60 companies this year for breaking the embargo legislation.
The latest episode could force the European Commission to make a fresh protest to Washington after a confrontation a few years ago over the application to third countries of the US embargo.
DaimlerChrysler was not available for comment last night.
Wednesday, November 10, 2004
Another New Section Dedicated to the Rest of the Caribbean I Dubbed: Abeng- issue #1
FIRST SERIOUS NEWS ABOUT ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA: This serious ramifications as it pertains WTO, Liberalization of education in the Caribbean, GATS and how we view the WTO and violation of trade acts. I think every one ought to read this.
Antigua beats odds: WTO confirms ruling against US on web gambling
Technology - AFP
WASHINGTON (AFP)
Antigua and Barbuda beat long odds as the World Trade Organization confirmed a ruling that a ban in the United States on Internet gambling violates global trading rules.
The Geneva-based WTO, in a report released Wednesday, held that the US ban on web gambling is effectively an unfair trade barrier that hurts the gaming industry of the tiny two-island Caribbean nation.
US prohibitions on Internet gambling "are inconsistent with US obligations" under the 1995 General Agreement on Tariffs and Services, the WTO panel wrote in Geneva, affirming an interim decision in March.
In a statement, Antigua welcomed the decision and called it "reminiscent of the story of David and Goliath."
But Richard Mills of the office of the US Trade Representative called the decision "deeply flawed" and pointed out that Washington "clearly intended to exclude gambling from US services commitments" when the agreements were negotiated.
"We will vigorously appeal this deeply flawed report to the WTO Appellate Body and remain confident in the basis for reversing this panel report," he said.
A senior US trade official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that if the US appeal fails, Washington may simply revise its commitment under the GATS agreement to exclude gambling. (If uncle sam can revise why can't we revise our commitments as it pertains to the liberalization of education)
"The parties do retain rights to make changes under GATS," the official said.
The WTO panel ruling acknowledged that Washington may have intended to exclude gambling from the treaty but that Internet gambling is covered under the services agreement of global trade agreements.
"We have, therefore, some sympathy with the United States' point in this regard," the WTO panel wrote.
"However, the scope of a specific commitment cannot depend upon what a member intended or did not intend to do at the time of the negotiations."
A patchwork of regulations in US states regulate gambling, while federal laws ban any form of "interstate" betting. US Justice Department (news - web sites) officials contend that any Internet gambling is illegal, but prosecution has been spotty.
Antigua argued that since many forms of wagering are permitted in the United States -- such as casino gambling in Las Vegas and elsewhere and horse track betting -- that a ban on gambling from "remote" gambling from the Internet was unfair.
The senior US official rejected this argument, saying, "I don't think it's fair to say because there's gambling in Las Vegas it undermines a ban on Internet gambling, where you could have minors participating."
The official added that because this ban applies to US and non-US gaming operators, "Antigua and Barbuda is not being treated any differently from any US company."
Washington also maintained that GATS allows each member country latitude in regulating "public morals."
But the WTO wrote that the arguments from Washington carry less weight because of the wide variety of gambling options that are legal in the United States.
Antigua had claimed it lost more than 90 million dollars and 4,000 jobs because of the US ban.
"The United States has taken an aggressive approach to betting services based overseas," the government said in a statement.
"However, the US government raises significant revenue from betting services within its own borders and the Interactive Gaming Council (trade group) suggests the United States is home to at least half the worldwide online gaming market."
"The US says it wants open competition," said Ronald Sanders, Antigua's former WTO ambassador.
"But it only wants free trade when it suits the US."
CARICOM ban remains on Haiti
published in The Dailey Gleaner: Wednesday November 10, 2004
By Lindsay Mackoon, Gleaner Correspondent
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad
CARIBBEAN LEADERS have taken a decision not to readmit Haiti into the fold of the 15-member regional grouping, CARICOM.
A ban was imposed on the French-speaking state following the ousting of former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide earlier this year.
The decision against lifting the ban was made yesterday as regional leaders wound up a two-day special summit at the Hilton Hotel here.
CARICOM chairman, Dr. Keith Mitchell, the Grenada Prime Minister, told reporters the community was sticking to its guns. He said: There will be no interaction with Haiti at the regional level, even though individual countries may wish to do so. But we will continue to provide assistance as promised."
VEHEMENTLY OPPOSED
St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Guyana and St. Lucia are vehemently opposed to the idea of dialogue with Haiti, arguing that the country's democracy was breached when Aristide was toppled in February.
It was also announced that implementation of the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME) has been pushed back. It was scheduled to become operational from the beginning of 2005.
Also last night, Trinidad and Jamaica signed an energy agreement. Trinidad's Prime Minister, Patrick Manning, declined to go into the details of the pact.
However, he did say Jamaica will supply Trinidad with bauxite for a multimillion dollar aluminium smelter plant to be established in South Trinidad next year. Prime Minister P. J. Patterson signed on behalf of Jamaica. The two men inked a similar agreement in Kingston last week.
RASTA APPOINTED TO BARBADOS GOVERNMENT
The Bajan government appointed Ikael Tafari to be the director of the Commission for Pan African Affairs, Prime Minister Owen Arthur's office announced.
Tafari, 54, was a former sociology professor at the University of the West Indies' Cave Hill campus outside the capital. ( When will this ever happen in Jamaica???)
Trinidad sets up loan fund for regional companies
Observer Reporter
Sunday, October 31, 2004
A billion-dollar revolving loan fund aimed at encouraging regional market competitiveness and accessible to qualified businesses was launched in Kingston Friday as part of the region's deeper integration programme.
Trinidad and Tobago is offering the loan facility, and its businesses are exempt.
The fund, which is the main component of the Caricom Trade Support programme (CTS), is an initiative of the T&T government.
Aimed at promoting industry and market competitiveness in the region, CTS will disburse interest-free loans through regional commercial banks.
Traditional and non-traditional sectors, ranging from agriculture, tourism, entertainment and information technology, will have access to the loans which will be disbursed in three annual tranches over the period 2005 to 2007.
At TT$100 million which converts to J$1 billion or US$16 million, the fund represents a fraction of Trinidad's US$600-m trade balance with Caricom for 2002.
And according to Jerry Narace, the CTS head, the loan fund programme is meant to address some of that imbalance.
"Trinidad & Tobago is not comfortable with a Caricom balance of trade that tips so heavily in our favour and we feel that it's our responsibility to try and correct this for the region's long-term development," said Narace.
KD Knight, Jamaica's foreign affairs and foreign trade minister, quoted the Jamaica/TT 2002 trade figures which highlighted the imbalance.
Said Knight: "74 per cent of Jamaica's Caricom imports are from Trinidad and Tobago, while 14 per cent of Jamaica's Caricom export goes to Trinidad and Tobago."
He also made the point that while Jamaica imported more Caricom products in the last decade, deepening regional trade in the process, her Caricom exports declined over the same period.
"Caricom imports have moved from 3.7 per cent of total Jamaican imports in 1992 to 11.2 per cent in 2002, but our exports have declined from US$60m in 1992 to US$48m in 2002," said Knight.
The minister, however, quoted the 2003 foreign direct investment (FDI) figure of over US$720m that flowed to
Jamaica in efforts to temper the negative trade picture.
Under the CTS, eligible loan applicants should be profit-oriented entities based in a Caricom member state, except for Trinidad. They may be private companies, corporations, limited liability or public companies.
Companies without working capital, those at the start-up level of operation and which are void of trade experience and those who engage in harmful environmental practices, will not qualify.
Applicants can expect to have their loans processed within 45 days, once they have fulfilled the requirements.
"Trinidad and Tobago's economic health is linked with that of the rest of the Caribbean and so this is also in their best interest," said Dr Edwin Carrington, Caricom secretary-general.
He also underscored the point that the CTS was not meant for government, but to be used by the regional business sector.
Antigua beats odds: WTO confirms ruling against US on web gambling
Technology - AFP
WASHINGTON (AFP)
Antigua and Barbuda beat long odds as the World Trade Organization confirmed a ruling that a ban in the United States on Internet gambling violates global trading rules.
The Geneva-based WTO, in a report released Wednesday, held that the US ban on web gambling is effectively an unfair trade barrier that hurts the gaming industry of the tiny two-island Caribbean nation.
US prohibitions on Internet gambling "are inconsistent with US obligations" under the 1995 General Agreement on Tariffs and Services, the WTO panel wrote in Geneva, affirming an interim decision in March.
In a statement, Antigua welcomed the decision and called it "reminiscent of the story of David and Goliath."
But Richard Mills of the office of the US Trade Representative called the decision "deeply flawed" and pointed out that Washington "clearly intended to exclude gambling from US services commitments" when the agreements were negotiated.
"We will vigorously appeal this deeply flawed report to the WTO Appellate Body and remain confident in the basis for reversing this panel report," he said.
A senior US trade official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that if the US appeal fails, Washington may simply revise its commitment under the GATS agreement to exclude gambling. (If uncle sam can revise why can't we revise our commitments as it pertains to the liberalization of education)
"The parties do retain rights to make changes under GATS," the official said.
The WTO panel ruling acknowledged that Washington may have intended to exclude gambling from the treaty but that Internet gambling is covered under the services agreement of global trade agreements.
"We have, therefore, some sympathy with the United States' point in this regard," the WTO panel wrote.
"However, the scope of a specific commitment cannot depend upon what a member intended or did not intend to do at the time of the negotiations."
A patchwork of regulations in US states regulate gambling, while federal laws ban any form of "interstate" betting. US Justice Department (news - web sites) officials contend that any Internet gambling is illegal, but prosecution has been spotty.
Antigua argued that since many forms of wagering are permitted in the United States -- such as casino gambling in Las Vegas and elsewhere and horse track betting -- that a ban on gambling from "remote" gambling from the Internet was unfair.
The senior US official rejected this argument, saying, "I don't think it's fair to say because there's gambling in Las Vegas it undermines a ban on Internet gambling, where you could have minors participating."
The official added that because this ban applies to US and non-US gaming operators, "Antigua and Barbuda is not being treated any differently from any US company."
Washington also maintained that GATS allows each member country latitude in regulating "public morals."
But the WTO wrote that the arguments from Washington carry less weight because of the wide variety of gambling options that are legal in the United States.
Antigua had claimed it lost more than 90 million dollars and 4,000 jobs because of the US ban.
"The United States has taken an aggressive approach to betting services based overseas," the government said in a statement.
"However, the US government raises significant revenue from betting services within its own borders and the Interactive Gaming Council (trade group) suggests the United States is home to at least half the worldwide online gaming market."
"The US says it wants open competition," said Ronald Sanders, Antigua's former WTO ambassador.
"But it only wants free trade when it suits the US."
CARICOM ban remains on Haiti
published in The Dailey Gleaner: Wednesday November 10, 2004
By Lindsay Mackoon, Gleaner Correspondent
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad
CARIBBEAN LEADERS have taken a decision not to readmit Haiti into the fold of the 15-member regional grouping, CARICOM.
A ban was imposed on the French-speaking state following the ousting of former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide earlier this year.
The decision against lifting the ban was made yesterday as regional leaders wound up a two-day special summit at the Hilton Hotel here.
CARICOM chairman, Dr. Keith Mitchell, the Grenada Prime Minister, told reporters the community was sticking to its guns. He said: There will be no interaction with Haiti at the regional level, even though individual countries may wish to do so. But we will continue to provide assistance as promised."
VEHEMENTLY OPPOSED
St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Guyana and St. Lucia are vehemently opposed to the idea of dialogue with Haiti, arguing that the country's democracy was breached when Aristide was toppled in February.
It was also announced that implementation of the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME) has been pushed back. It was scheduled to become operational from the beginning of 2005.
Also last night, Trinidad and Jamaica signed an energy agreement. Trinidad's Prime Minister, Patrick Manning, declined to go into the details of the pact.
However, he did say Jamaica will supply Trinidad with bauxite for a multimillion dollar aluminium smelter plant to be established in South Trinidad next year. Prime Minister P. J. Patterson signed on behalf of Jamaica. The two men inked a similar agreement in Kingston last week.
RASTA APPOINTED TO BARBADOS GOVERNMENT
The Bajan government appointed Ikael Tafari to be the director of the Commission for Pan African Affairs, Prime Minister Owen Arthur's office announced.
Tafari, 54, was a former sociology professor at the University of the West Indies' Cave Hill campus outside the capital. ( When will this ever happen in Jamaica???)
Trinidad sets up loan fund for regional companies
Observer Reporter
Sunday, October 31, 2004
A billion-dollar revolving loan fund aimed at encouraging regional market competitiveness and accessible to qualified businesses was launched in Kingston Friday as part of the region's deeper integration programme.
Trinidad and Tobago is offering the loan facility, and its businesses are exempt.
The fund, which is the main component of the Caricom Trade Support programme (CTS), is an initiative of the T&T government.
Aimed at promoting industry and market competitiveness in the region, CTS will disburse interest-free loans through regional commercial banks.
Traditional and non-traditional sectors, ranging from agriculture, tourism, entertainment and information technology, will have access to the loans which will be disbursed in three annual tranches over the period 2005 to 2007.
At TT$100 million which converts to J$1 billion or US$16 million, the fund represents a fraction of Trinidad's US$600-m trade balance with Caricom for 2002.
And according to Jerry Narace, the CTS head, the loan fund programme is meant to address some of that imbalance.
"Trinidad & Tobago is not comfortable with a Caricom balance of trade that tips so heavily in our favour and we feel that it's our responsibility to try and correct this for the region's long-term development," said Narace.
KD Knight, Jamaica's foreign affairs and foreign trade minister, quoted the Jamaica/TT 2002 trade figures which highlighted the imbalance.
Said Knight: "74 per cent of Jamaica's Caricom imports are from Trinidad and Tobago, while 14 per cent of Jamaica's Caricom export goes to Trinidad and Tobago."
He also made the point that while Jamaica imported more Caricom products in the last decade, deepening regional trade in the process, her Caricom exports declined over the same period.
"Caricom imports have moved from 3.7 per cent of total Jamaican imports in 1992 to 11.2 per cent in 2002, but our exports have declined from US$60m in 1992 to US$48m in 2002," said Knight.
The minister, however, quoted the 2003 foreign direct investment (FDI) figure of over US$720m that flowed to
Jamaica in efforts to temper the negative trade picture.
Under the CTS, eligible loan applicants should be profit-oriented entities based in a Caricom member state, except for Trinidad. They may be private companies, corporations, limited liability or public companies.
Companies without working capital, those at the start-up level of operation and which are void of trade experience and those who engage in harmful environmental practices, will not qualify.
Applicants can expect to have their loans processed within 45 days, once they have fulfilled the requirements.
"Trinidad and Tobago's economic health is linked with that of the rest of the Caribbean and so this is also in their best interest," said Dr Edwin Carrington, Caricom secretary-general.
He also underscored the point that the CTS was not meant for government, but to be used by the regional business sector.
Tuesday, November 09, 2004
A new segment know as VERBATIM: issue #1
In this segment I quote people... gee
"Every time I'm around those guys, I feel 'sophicatid'. I need to BREATHE."
- Bounty Killer (from CVM's Onstage. Speaking on OUTRAGE and homosexual)
"Dem a popular guy, we a famous people!"
- Elephant Man
"Every time I'm around those guys, I feel 'sophicatid'. I need to BREATHE."
- Bounty Killer (from CVM's Onstage. Speaking on OUTRAGE and homosexual)
"Dem a popular guy, we a famous people!"
- Elephant Man
Yannick's Quotes- Edition: #4
"Yannick is such a waste of flesh"
-Carla Moore
"Yannick's light skinned, size zero fan club"
-Carla Moore, Shawna Burns, Dania(Kulu) aka F3: Fierce Fullfigured Feminists
"Let's see Yannick is arrogant, full of himself, and in his own little world."
-Dania(Kulu)
"Yannick believes whole-heartedly and bases his relationships in the power of the superglue (sex)"
- Shawna Burns
"Imagine if you used your powers for good and not evil, can you imagine how the world would go Yannick?"
-Carla Moore
-Carla Moore
"Yannick's light skinned, size zero fan club"
-Carla Moore, Shawna Burns, Dania(Kulu) aka F3: Fierce Fullfigured Feminists
"Let's see Yannick is arrogant, full of himself, and in his own little world."
-Dania(Kulu)
"Yannick believes whole-heartedly and bases his relationships in the power of the superglue (sex)"
- Shawna Burns
"Imagine if you used your powers for good and not evil, can you imagine how the world would go Yannick?"
-Carla Moore
Saturday, November 06, 2004
Featuring Mo-Bay's (Montego Bay) biggest artiste...
Well I'm going to start featuring Mobay (Montego Bay) on this blog heavy heavy, so I begin with Mobay's finest artiste out now, well technical incarcerated but out in the streets an on the cds and in the dance dem.... Siccature Alcock a.k.a. JAH CURE
Longing For - Jah Cure
[Intro]
Yea yuh know
Only you
Only you
Only you can make me feel, just like a king
Love you give to me so real
Makes me give in
[Verse 1]
Girl, just like magnet to steel
Your love -- keeps pulling me in,
If its a battle I'll fight for you,
I have to win
To prove to you my love. is so deep within
Its even getting deeper
Since I reach prison
[Chorus]
Longing for
My baby to love me more
What am I longing for?
Babylon release the Cure
What am I longing for?
My baby to love me more
What am I longing for?
Babylon release the Cure
[Verse 1]
When when when when?
Can we see each other again
When when when when?
Can we see each other again
I know there's someone, must be there comforting you
Whenever you need a friend
I'll make you mine, give me some time, I'll surely make you mine
It may be long, now forever.
I vow, to get myself together
I love you baby, always on my mind, No matter the time.
[Chorus]
What am I longing for?
My baby to love me more
What am I longing ..longing..longing...
What am I longing for?
Babylon release the Cure
[Bridge]
Only you can make me feel, just like a king
Love you give to me so real
Makes me give in
[Verse 1]
Girl, just like magnet to steel
Your love -- keeps pulling me in,
If its a battle I'll fight for you,
I have to win
To prove to you my love. is so deep within
Its even getting deeper
Ever since..
[Chorus]
What am I longing for
My baby to love me more
What am I longing for?
Babylon release the Cure
Riddim: Drop Leaf
Producer: Don Corleone
Longing For - Jah Cure
[Intro]
Yea yuh know
Only you
Only you
Only you can make me feel, just like a king
Love you give to me so real
Makes me give in
[Verse 1]
Girl, just like magnet to steel
Your love -- keeps pulling me in,
If its a battle I'll fight for you,
I have to win
To prove to you my love. is so deep within
Its even getting deeper
Since I reach prison
[Chorus]
Longing for
My baby to love me more
What am I longing for?
Babylon release the Cure
What am I longing for?
My baby to love me more
What am I longing for?
Babylon release the Cure
[Verse 1]
When when when when?
Can we see each other again
When when when when?
Can we see each other again
I know there's someone, must be there comforting you
Whenever you need a friend
I'll make you mine, give me some time, I'll surely make you mine
It may be long, now forever.
I vow, to get myself together
I love you baby, always on my mind, No matter the time.
[Chorus]
What am I longing for?
My baby to love me more
What am I longing ..longing..longing...
What am I longing for?
Babylon release the Cure
[Bridge]
Only you can make me feel, just like a king
Love you give to me so real
Makes me give in
[Verse 1]
Girl, just like magnet to steel
Your love -- keeps pulling me in,
If its a battle I'll fight for you,
I have to win
To prove to you my love. is so deep within
Its even getting deeper
Ever since..
[Chorus]
What am I longing for
My baby to love me more
What am I longing for?
Babylon release the Cure
Riddim: Drop Leaf
Producer: Don Corleone
Wednesday, November 03, 2004
A Poem I Saw Today and Liked
I met this poem today and like it, it reminds me of what alot of girls are now and I believe will be later, and it reminds me of how some grown women are today, it's sad in a way, but it seems to mock them as well an I like that.
~Pathedy Of Manners~
At twenty she was brilliant and adored,
Phi Beta Kappa, sought for every dance;
Captured symbolic logic and the glance
Of men whose interest was their sole reward.
She learned the cultured jargon of those bred
To antique crystal and authentic pearls,
Scorned Wagner, praised the Degas dancing girls,
And when she might have thought, conversed instead.
She hung up her diploma, went abroad,
Saw catalogues of domes and tapestry,
Rejected and impoverished marquis,
And learned to tell real Wedgwood from fraud.
Back home her breeding led her to espouse
A bright young man whose pearl cufflinks were real.
They had an ideal marriage, and ideal
But lonely children in and ideal house.
I saw her yesterday at forty-three,
Her children gone, her husband one year dead,
Toying with plots to kill time and re-wed
Illusions of lost opportunity.
But afraid to wonder what she might have known
With all that wealth and mind had offered her,
She shuns conviction, choosing to infer
Tenets of every mind except her own.
A hundered people call, though not one friend,
To parry a hundred doubts with nimble talk.
Her meanings lost in manners, she will walk
Alone in brilliant circles to the end.
by Ellen Kay-1931
~Pathedy Of Manners~
At twenty she was brilliant and adored,
Phi Beta Kappa, sought for every dance;
Captured symbolic logic and the glance
Of men whose interest was their sole reward.
She learned the cultured jargon of those bred
To antique crystal and authentic pearls,
Scorned Wagner, praised the Degas dancing girls,
And when she might have thought, conversed instead.
She hung up her diploma, went abroad,
Saw catalogues of domes and tapestry,
Rejected and impoverished marquis,
And learned to tell real Wedgwood from fraud.
Back home her breeding led her to espouse
A bright young man whose pearl cufflinks were real.
They had an ideal marriage, and ideal
But lonely children in and ideal house.
I saw her yesterday at forty-three,
Her children gone, her husband one year dead,
Toying with plots to kill time and re-wed
Illusions of lost opportunity.
But afraid to wonder what she might have known
With all that wealth and mind had offered her,
She shuns conviction, choosing to infer
Tenets of every mind except her own.
A hundered people call, though not one friend,
To parry a hundred doubts with nimble talk.
Her meanings lost in manners, she will walk
Alone in brilliant circles to the end.
by Ellen Kay-1931
The Bush Party
Imagine a party... we are celebrating the Bush re-election, DYCR's song 'bout "Chop Bush" in the background, lots of go-go girls swaddled in the U.S. flag... hahahaha Bush has won it again (I hope the sarcasm isn't lost on anyone).
Yup this edition celebrates Bush's victory.
As fitting tribute I have for everyone Bob Dylan's "Masters of War"...I', also putting up this song because I'm celebrating the fact that someone actually reads my blog and requested it, yup that's right... someone(Roxanne Burton) reads my blog. And then I'm also putting it up because my brother and I had a conersation today about this song as well.
So here it is...
MASTERS OF WAR
Come you masters of war
You that build all the guns
You that build the death planes
You that build the big bombs
You that hide behind walls
You that hide behind desks
I just want you to know
I can see through your masks
You that never done nothin'
But build to destroy
You play with my world
Like it's your little toy
You put a gun in my hand
And you hide from my eyes
And you turn and run farther
When the fast bullets fly
Like Judas of old
You lie and deceive
A world war can be won
You want me to believe
But I see through your eyes
And I see through your brain
Like I see through the water
That runs down my drain
You fasten the triggers
For the others to fire
Then you set back and watch
When the death count gets higher
You hide in your mansion
As young people's blood
Flows out of their bodies
And is buried in the mud
You've thrown the worst fear
That can ever be hurled
Fear to bring children
Into the world
For threatening my baby
Unborn and unnamed
You ain't worth the blood
That runs in your veins
How much do I know
To talk out of turn
You might say that I'm young
You might say I'm unlearned
But there's one thing I know
Though I'm younger than you
Even Jesus would never
Forgive what you do
Let me ask you one question
Is your money that good
Will it buy you forgiveness
Do you think that it could
I think you will find
When your death takes its toll
All the money you made
Will never buy back your soul
And I hope that you die
And your death'll come soon
I will follow your casket
In the pale afternoon
And I'll watch while you're lowered
Down to your deathbed
And I'll stand o'er your grave
'Til I'm sure that you're dead
While we all celebrate I beg you all to check out this site: http://www.angehr.com/BushBash.htm
Saturday, October 30, 2004
Interesting and lesser known Biblical Quotes
King James Version of the Bible
Book of Proverbs
Chapter
31:6
Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish,and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts.
31:7
Let him drink, and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more.
Book of Isiah
Chapter
45:7
I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.
Book of Proverbs
Chapter
16:4
The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.
Letter to the Thessalonians
Chapter
2:11
And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
2:12
That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
Book of Judges
Chapter
16:13
And Delilah said unto Samson, Hitherto thou hast mocked me, and told me lies: tell me wherewith thou mightest be bound. And he said unto her, If thou weavest the seven locks of my head with the web.
16:17
That he told her all his heart, and said unto her, There hath not come a razor upon mine head; for I have been a Nazarite unto God from my mother's womb: if I be shaven, then my strength will go from me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man.
Book of Revelation
Chapter
1:13
And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle.
1:14
His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire;
1:15
And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters.
Book of Isiah (In reference to Christ)
Chapter
53:2
For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
53:3
He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Book of Revelation
Chapter
19:11
And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.
19:12
His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself.
19:13
And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.
Letter to the Corinthians
Chapter
11:3
But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.
14:34
Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience as also saith the law.
14:35
And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church.
Book of Proverbs
Chapter
31:6
Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish,and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts.
31:7
Let him drink, and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more.
Book of Isiah
Chapter
45:7
I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.
Book of Proverbs
Chapter
16:4
The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.
Letter to the Thessalonians
Chapter
2:11
And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
2:12
That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
Book of Judges
Chapter
16:13
And Delilah said unto Samson, Hitherto thou hast mocked me, and told me lies: tell me wherewith thou mightest be bound. And he said unto her, If thou weavest the seven locks of my head with the web.
16:17
That he told her all his heart, and said unto her, There hath not come a razor upon mine head; for I have been a Nazarite unto God from my mother's womb: if I be shaven, then my strength will go from me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man.
Book of Revelation
Chapter
1:13
And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle.
1:14
His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire;
1:15
And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters.
Book of Isiah (In reference to Christ)
Chapter
53:2
For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
53:3
He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Book of Revelation
Chapter
19:11
And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.
19:12
His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself.
19:13
And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.
Letter to the Corinthians
Chapter
11:3
But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.
14:34
Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience as also saith the law.
14:35
And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church.
Another Poem
The Second Coming
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all convictions, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?
-- W. B. Yeats
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all convictions, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?
-- W. B. Yeats
Friday, October 29, 2004
Aluta Continua: Cuban Updates... issue #4
AND SO THE STRUGGLE GETS DEEPER IN THIS ISSUE LOVELY PEOPLE READ AND YOU'LL SEE...
First I have me here a poster from Trinidad (yup, thats right an authentic TnT poster) care of Alicia Ganess, showing what???
First I have me here a poster from Trinidad (yup, thats right an authentic TnT poster) care of Alicia Ganess, showing what???
Next we have UN resolutions on Cuba... In there favour for a change!!!
UN Condemns U.S. Cuba Embargo
HAVANA, Oct. 28, 2004
(CBS) By CBS News Producer Portia Siegelbaum
The U.S. economic embargo of Cuba jumped to the top of the Castro government’s agenda on Thursday. For the 13th year in a row, the United Nations General Assembly approved a resolution condemning the U.S. embargo. The vote in favor of the Cuba-sponsored resolution was 179-4. The four opposing votes came from the United States, Israel, Palau and the Marshall Islands. The vote last year was almost identical, 179 in favor, 3 against with two abstentions. The embargo has been in effect since 1962. The U.N. condemnation has become an annual event in Cuba. Students and countless workers across the island stopped their regular activities at 1l a.m. to watch a special one-hour feature prepared by Cuba's State-run television and then follow the voting at the General Assembly session. In addition, Cuban TV began broadcasting the U.N. debate live at 9 a.m. In Washington, however, approval of the resolution produced little more than yawns at the Bush White House. "It's true, this is an administration that has proven it doesn't care about it [the vote]," said Gustavo Machin, head of the North America Division of the Cuban Foreign Ministry. But despite what he sees as Washington's disregard for the United Nations, Machin told CBS News: "Every day the United States is more and more isolated by its policy ... It's worth the effort ... just to make clear the opposition to this kind of policies."
OAS head supports Cuba's membership
The Washington Times, October 28, 2004.
Mexico City, Mexico, Oct. 27 (UPI)
The head of the Organization of American States' says it is "inconceivable" Cuba is not a member, El Universal reports.
Luigi Einaudi, who became the interim head of the organization after former Costa Rican President Miguel Angel Rodriguez resigned Oct. 8 amid fraud charges, was in Mexico City Tuesday for a government-sponsored forum on children.
"It's inconceivable in today's world to keep isolated or outside of the organization a nation for reasons of incongruent ideologies," Einaudi said at a news conference. "But the charter of the OAS and the slow process of democratic jurisprudence has changed very little."
Anti-Bush sentiment permeates life in Cuba
Associated PressHavana, October 28
A general dislike of US President George W. Bush permeates daily life in communist Cuba, where the American leader is mocked as a fascist at government rallies and called a belligerent bully by the state-run media.
So it's no surprise that Cubans who follow the US presidential campaign clearly prefer Democratic challenger John Kerry in hopes he would ease the current US administration's hardline policies toward the island.
"Kerry would be better than Bush, any day," 65-year-old textile worker Arnaldo Negrin said in his one-room Old Havana apartment, where he listened to the government's nightly political discussion show on a small radio because his television was broken.
"He is defending the lower classes, working for social issues," Negrin said of Kerry. "And he has a better understanding of developing countries."
The general dislike for Bush heightened on the island this summer when his administration implemented new measures aimed at squeezing the Cuban economy in an effort to undermine President Fidel Castro. US authorized visits by Cuban-Americans to the island were slashed from one annually to one every three years. Limits were placed on how much money the Cuban-Americans can send to relatives here, and to which relatives.
The measures, which critics said pandered to right-wing Cuban exiles in Miami, provoked outrage here and among some Cuban-Americans as well. Negrin, a self-described "militant communist," said he thought Kerry would be more likely to eventually ease US restrictions on trade and travel that date to the 1960s and have been steadily strengthened under Bush.
Summary: Cuba Does Away With Dollars
Tue Oct 26, 4:25 PM ET
By The Associated Press
BUCK STOPS HERE: Cuba announces that as of Nov. 8, U.S. dollars will no longer be accepted in stores and businesses, saying it is trying to regain control of its economy as Washington cracks down on the flow of American currency to Cuba.
SEND EUROS: President Fidel Castro asks Cubans to tell relatives abroad to send them euros, British pounds or Swiss francs instead of dollars.
HARD CASH: Castro legalized the U.S. currency in 1993 to cope with the loss of Soviet aid and trade.
Tuesday, October 26, 2004
Something of note... Grenada commemorates anniversary of US invasion
Grenada commemorates 21st anniversary of US invasion
Tuesday, October 26, 2004
ST GEORGE'S, Grenada (AP) -
Grenada yesterday commemorated the 21st anniversary of a US-led invasion of the island during the Cold War but most residents were invariably focused on rebuilding from the rubble left by Hurricane Ivan.
The commemoration came as residents struggle to recover after Ivan tore through Grenada on September 7, killing 39 people and damaging or destroying 90 per cent of buildings. Many islanders still live in their cars or with relatives or friends.
The former British colony yesterday declared a national day of thanksgiving and prayer.
The Caribbean island became a point of contention in the Cold War after Maurice Bishop led a bloodless coup and installed a Marxist government in 1979. In October 1983, a radical faction of the government staged a coup, and on October 19 a firing squad killed Bishop - who was prime minister - and 10 of his supporters.
Six days after Bishop's killing, US President Ronald Reagan ordered the invasion and US troops led a force that included soldiers from nearby islands.
Reagan said the purpose was to restore order and protect American interests, particularly the lives of hundreds of American medical students.
He also ordered the invasion because his administration suspected Grenada's airport was going to become a joint Cuban-Soviet base. Cuba insisted it was helping build the airport for civilian uses only.
The 1983 invasion remains controversial and some details remain unclear, including the number of Grenadians killed. The US government said 45 Grenadians, 24 Cubans and 19 US troops were killed.
While most residents came together in the face of Ivan's destruction, many remain divided on the issue of the US invasion. Many still consider Bishop a hero while others praise the US intervention.
Sixteen coup plotters remain in prison, sentenced to life, including former Deputy Prime Minister Bernard Coard. Originally, 17 people were sentenced for their role in the 1983 coup, but Coard's wife, Phyllis, was freed in 2000 to undergo cancer treatment and now lives in Kingston, Jamaica.
Coard and the others are awaiting appeals before the Eastern Caribbean Court of Appeal and Britain's Privy Council, saying their life sentences were improperly handed down after the coup. Hearings are scheduled to begin by next month in St Lucia.
Tuesday, October 26, 2004
ST GEORGE'S, Grenada (AP) -
Grenada yesterday commemorated the 21st anniversary of a US-led invasion of the island during the Cold War but most residents were invariably focused on rebuilding from the rubble left by Hurricane Ivan.
The commemoration came as residents struggle to recover after Ivan tore through Grenada on September 7, killing 39 people and damaging or destroying 90 per cent of buildings. Many islanders still live in their cars or with relatives or friends.
The former British colony yesterday declared a national day of thanksgiving and prayer.
The Caribbean island became a point of contention in the Cold War after Maurice Bishop led a bloodless coup and installed a Marxist government in 1979. In October 1983, a radical faction of the government staged a coup, and on October 19 a firing squad killed Bishop - who was prime minister - and 10 of his supporters.
Six days after Bishop's killing, US President Ronald Reagan ordered the invasion and US troops led a force that included soldiers from nearby islands.
Reagan said the purpose was to restore order and protect American interests, particularly the lives of hundreds of American medical students.
He also ordered the invasion because his administration suspected Grenada's airport was going to become a joint Cuban-Soviet base. Cuba insisted it was helping build the airport for civilian uses only.
The 1983 invasion remains controversial and some details remain unclear, including the number of Grenadians killed. The US government said 45 Grenadians, 24 Cubans and 19 US troops were killed.
While most residents came together in the face of Ivan's destruction, many remain divided on the issue of the US invasion. Many still consider Bishop a hero while others praise the US intervention.
Sixteen coup plotters remain in prison, sentenced to life, including former Deputy Prime Minister Bernard Coard. Originally, 17 people were sentenced for their role in the 1983 coup, but Coard's wife, Phyllis, was freed in 2000 to undergo cancer treatment and now lives in Kingston, Jamaica.
Coard and the others are awaiting appeals before the Eastern Caribbean Court of Appeal and Britain's Privy Council, saying their life sentences were improperly handed down after the coup. Hearings are scheduled to begin by next month in St Lucia.
Tuesday, October 19, 2004
A Poem by Fernando Pessoa
I Am Tired
I am tired, that is clear,
Because, at certain stage, people have to be tired.
Of what I am tired, I don't know:
It would not serve me at all to knowSince the tiredness stays just the same.
The wound hurts as it hurts
And not in function of the cause that produced it.
Yes, I am tired,And ever so slightly smiling
At the tiredness being only this -
In the body a wish for sleep,
In the soul a desire for not thinking
And, to crown all, a luminous transparency
Of the retrospective understanding ...
And the one luxury of not now having hopes?
I am intelligent: that's all.
I have seen much and understood much of what
I have seen.
And there is a certain pleasure even in tiredness
this brings us,
That in the end the head does still serve for
something.
(24.06.1935)
I am tired, that is clear,
Because, at certain stage, people have to be tired.
Of what I am tired, I don't know:
It would not serve me at all to knowSince the tiredness stays just the same.
The wound hurts as it hurts
And not in function of the cause that produced it.
Yes, I am tired,And ever so slightly smiling
At the tiredness being only this -
In the body a wish for sleep,
In the soul a desire for not thinking
And, to crown all, a luminous transparency
Of the retrospective understanding ...
And the one luxury of not now having hopes?
I am intelligent: that's all.
I have seen much and understood much of what
I have seen.
And there is a certain pleasure even in tiredness
this brings us,
That in the end the head does still serve for
something.
(24.06.1935)
Friday, October 15, 2004
My Zodiacs... hmm just because my stars seem aligned these days
CHINESE ZODIAC
Rooster: 1981
Hardworking, resourceful, courageous and talented, Roosters are self-assured people. They possess powerful personalities and are notoriously dominant. In groups they are vivacious, amusing and popular. But Roosters can be conceited creatures, vain and boastful, with a strong egotistical need to constantly be the center of attention. Excellent at small talk, they can be the life of any party. Roosters are talkative types, outspoken, frank, open, honest -- but a little too blunt at times. A polished debater and able to cogently refute any opinion, the Rooster is a talented polemicist, and could be an excellent journalist or writer. With the Rooster's dedication to work well done, he or she would also make a good economist or a gifted administrator.
These people are born organizers, refined and elegant. They are tidy-minded and like to keep everything neat and shipshape. Their affairs will be all in order, accounts up to the minute and documents systematically filed away. They function best in an environment where everything is organized and their schedules programmed. When it comes to making decisions of any kind, Roosters prefer to carefully consider all sides of a situation before coming to a conclusion. In conflicts, Roosters will push to the extreme but flee before open hostilities break out. Their reflective and analytical abilities sometimes get the better of them. They must constantly question their point of view to ascertain its validity.
The management of finances is perhaps their strength, both on a private and professional level. When it comes to money, Roosters are prudent and careful. They are brilliant managers of other people's money; financial advisers, bank managers, and accountants would all do well to be born in the Year of the Rooster. The Rooster has the reputation of finding money in the most unlikely places, like drawing blood from a stone. In Vietnam they say that, thanks to the strength of his beak and claws, the Rooster can find a worm in a desert. This metaphor goes a long way to explain the continual and restless activity that characterizes him.
The Rooster man likes to be in the company of women, among whom he can show off, shine, swagger and generally demonstrate what a clever fellow he is. However, he rarely goes out for a night with the boys; men bore him to extinction. His Hen counterpart also likes the company of other women -- that's not to say that men bore her! -- and she chooses those professions which keep her constantly in touch with them.
The Rooster will touch the heights and depths during the three phases of his life, business-wise as well as romantically. He will go from poverty to riches, from ideal love to the most sordid of emotional entanglements. The Rooster's old age will be happy, however.
Legend has it in the East that two Roosters under the same roof make life intolerable for everyone else.
The Dashing Rooster
Roosters see the world as either black or white; when it comes to individual people, they will immediately either love or hate them on sight. Their love life has all the elements of romantic excitement. They like the idea of dominating their partner, but this notion is more for fun and show than it is from real conviction. Emotionally, Roosters are said to be passionate and, though they may possess a very active sex drive, they tend to lack firm personal commitment when it comes to serious relationships. The salient characteristic attributed to these people is their honesty, and Roosters are never backwards in coming forward to speak their mind. Their lack of tact, coupled with a sanctimonious attitude to life, has been responsible for the breaking up of many a Rooster's marriage. Yet Rooster males are dashing, handsome fellows and will have young women flocking to their sides. Their Hen counterparts, stylish in the classical vein, will attract their suitors through their no-nonsense, down-to-earth approach to life.
In love, the Rooster will often do himself harm to gain or to keep the affection of the loved one. He will disappoint her often too, for the reality will never match up to the dreams he would so much like to share with her. There's one thing in his favor, though -- he really is sincere about those dreams!
Neither male nor female Rooster will wear their hearts on their sleeves; they keep even the minutest detail about their sexual exploits and love affairs strictly to themselves. Because of their scrupulous honesty, when happily settled in a permanent relationship, Roosters are highly unlikely to deceive or cheat on their partners.
The Snake, Ox and Dragon understand Roosters. They would gain much from friendship with the Monkey and Boar. The Rabbit does not trust the Rooster and won't put up with his boasting.
_______________________________________
REGULAR ZODIAC
Gemini
May 21 - June 21
Gemini is the third Sign of the Zodiac, and those born under this Sign will be quick to tell you all about it. That's because they love to talk! It's not just idle chatter with these folks, either. The driving force behind a Gemini's conversation is their mind. The Gemini-born are intellectually inclined, forever probing people and places in search of information. The more information a Gemini collects, the better. Sharing that information later on with those they love is also a lot of fun, for Geminis are supremely interested in developing their relationships. Dalliances with these folks are always enjoyable, since Geminis are bright, quick-witted and the proverbial life of the party. Even though their intellectual minds can rationalize forever and a day, Geminis also have a surplus of imagination waiting to be tapped. Can a Gemini be boring? Never!
Since Geminis are a mix of the yin and the yang, they are represented perfectly by the Twins. The Gemini-born can easily see both sides of an issue, a wonderfully practical quality. Less practical is the fact that you're not sure which Twin will show up half the time. Geminis may not know who's showing up either, which can prompt others to consider them fickle and restless.
They can be wishy-washy, too, changing their mood on a simple whim. It's this characteristic which readily suggests the Mutable Quality assigned to this Sign. Mutable folks are flexible and go with the flow. Further, the Twins are adaptable and dexterous and can tackle many things at once. It's a good thing, too, when you consider their myriad interests. The downside of such a curious mind, however, can be a lack of follow-through. How much can any one person do, anyway?
Rooster: 1981
Hardworking, resourceful, courageous and talented, Roosters are self-assured people. They possess powerful personalities and are notoriously dominant. In groups they are vivacious, amusing and popular. But Roosters can be conceited creatures, vain and boastful, with a strong egotistical need to constantly be the center of attention. Excellent at small talk, they can be the life of any party. Roosters are talkative types, outspoken, frank, open, honest -- but a little too blunt at times. A polished debater and able to cogently refute any opinion, the Rooster is a talented polemicist, and could be an excellent journalist or writer. With the Rooster's dedication to work well done, he or she would also make a good economist or a gifted administrator.
These people are born organizers, refined and elegant. They are tidy-minded and like to keep everything neat and shipshape. Their affairs will be all in order, accounts up to the minute and documents systematically filed away. They function best in an environment where everything is organized and their schedules programmed. When it comes to making decisions of any kind, Roosters prefer to carefully consider all sides of a situation before coming to a conclusion. In conflicts, Roosters will push to the extreme but flee before open hostilities break out. Their reflective and analytical abilities sometimes get the better of them. They must constantly question their point of view to ascertain its validity.
The management of finances is perhaps their strength, both on a private and professional level. When it comes to money, Roosters are prudent and careful. They are brilliant managers of other people's money; financial advisers, bank managers, and accountants would all do well to be born in the Year of the Rooster. The Rooster has the reputation of finding money in the most unlikely places, like drawing blood from a stone. In Vietnam they say that, thanks to the strength of his beak and claws, the Rooster can find a worm in a desert. This metaphor goes a long way to explain the continual and restless activity that characterizes him.
The Rooster man likes to be in the company of women, among whom he can show off, shine, swagger and generally demonstrate what a clever fellow he is. However, he rarely goes out for a night with the boys; men bore him to extinction. His Hen counterpart also likes the company of other women -- that's not to say that men bore her! -- and she chooses those professions which keep her constantly in touch with them.
The Rooster will touch the heights and depths during the three phases of his life, business-wise as well as romantically. He will go from poverty to riches, from ideal love to the most sordid of emotional entanglements. The Rooster's old age will be happy, however.
Legend has it in the East that two Roosters under the same roof make life intolerable for everyone else.
The Dashing Rooster
Roosters see the world as either black or white; when it comes to individual people, they will immediately either love or hate them on sight. Their love life has all the elements of romantic excitement. They like the idea of dominating their partner, but this notion is more for fun and show than it is from real conviction. Emotionally, Roosters are said to be passionate and, though they may possess a very active sex drive, they tend to lack firm personal commitment when it comes to serious relationships. The salient characteristic attributed to these people is their honesty, and Roosters are never backwards in coming forward to speak their mind. Their lack of tact, coupled with a sanctimonious attitude to life, has been responsible for the breaking up of many a Rooster's marriage. Yet Rooster males are dashing, handsome fellows and will have young women flocking to their sides. Their Hen counterparts, stylish in the classical vein, will attract their suitors through their no-nonsense, down-to-earth approach to life.
In love, the Rooster will often do himself harm to gain or to keep the affection of the loved one. He will disappoint her often too, for the reality will never match up to the dreams he would so much like to share with her. There's one thing in his favor, though -- he really is sincere about those dreams!
Neither male nor female Rooster will wear their hearts on their sleeves; they keep even the minutest detail about their sexual exploits and love affairs strictly to themselves. Because of their scrupulous honesty, when happily settled in a permanent relationship, Roosters are highly unlikely to deceive or cheat on their partners.
The Snake, Ox and Dragon understand Roosters. They would gain much from friendship with the Monkey and Boar. The Rabbit does not trust the Rooster and won't put up with his boasting.
_______________________________________
REGULAR ZODIAC
Gemini
May 21 - June 21
Gemini is the third Sign of the Zodiac, and those born under this Sign will be quick to tell you all about it. That's because they love to talk! It's not just idle chatter with these folks, either. The driving force behind a Gemini's conversation is their mind. The Gemini-born are intellectually inclined, forever probing people and places in search of information. The more information a Gemini collects, the better. Sharing that information later on with those they love is also a lot of fun, for Geminis are supremely interested in developing their relationships. Dalliances with these folks are always enjoyable, since Geminis are bright, quick-witted and the proverbial life of the party. Even though their intellectual minds can rationalize forever and a day, Geminis also have a surplus of imagination waiting to be tapped. Can a Gemini be boring? Never!
Since Geminis are a mix of the yin and the yang, they are represented perfectly by the Twins. The Gemini-born can easily see both sides of an issue, a wonderfully practical quality. Less practical is the fact that you're not sure which Twin will show up half the time. Geminis may not know who's showing up either, which can prompt others to consider them fickle and restless.
They can be wishy-washy, too, changing their mood on a simple whim. It's this characteristic which readily suggests the Mutable Quality assigned to this Sign. Mutable folks are flexible and go with the flow. Further, the Twins are adaptable and dexterous and can tackle many things at once. It's a good thing, too, when you consider their myriad interests. The downside of such a curious mind, however, can be a lack of follow-through. How much can any one person do, anyway?
Yannick's Quotes- Edition: #3
Well only one quote today... and it was said to me quite arbitrarily... and disrupted my night.
Yannick, when death comes for you embrace him, he is your brother.
--by Robert Morgan
Yannick, when death comes for you embrace him, he is your brother.
--by Robert Morgan
Wednesday, October 13, 2004
Aluta Continua: Cuban Updates... issue #3
World education conference set for Cuba
Observer ReporterWednesday, October 13, 2004
The World Council of Comparative Education Societies will meet in Havana, Cuba from October 25 to 29 for its 12th conference on education.
Held every three years, the current talks will look at the 'vexed' issues of access, equity and cultural justice, the primary focus of the congress, according to Dr Anne Hickling-Hudson, a Jamaican educator and president of the World Council, a non-governmental organisation founded in 1970.
"The discussions will be centred around 14 themes regarding education worldwide," said Hickling-Hudson, among them the emerging area of peace and conflict studies.The theme of the five-day conference is 'Education and Social Justice'.
The educators will enter the talks sensitive to the fact that the links between different education systems worldwide are growing, and require comparative assessment.
Hickling-Hudson, herself a senior lecturer at the Queensland University of Technology in Australia, said: "As countries' seek to understand the challenges, frameworks and issues that link education systems worldwide, a comparative method will assist them to work out solutions that suit their countries needs and aspirations."
Educators, she adds, can only benefit from a global analysis of the systems in which they work.
The conference speakers will include professors Martin Carnoy and Robert Arnove of the United States; Rosemary Preston, Michael Crossley and Madeleine Arnot from the United Kingdom; Crain Soudien of South Africa; Mark Bray of Hong Kong; and Hyacinth Evans of the University of the West Indies.
More than a thousand educators, policy makers and representatives of development agencies and NGOs have registered to attend the congress.
oringinal link: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/html/20041013T000000-0500_67589_OBS_WORLD_EDUCATION_CONFERENCE_SET_FOR_CUBA.asp
Observer ReporterWednesday, October 13, 2004
The World Council of Comparative Education Societies will meet in Havana, Cuba from October 25 to 29 for its 12th conference on education.
Held every three years, the current talks will look at the 'vexed' issues of access, equity and cultural justice, the primary focus of the congress, according to Dr Anne Hickling-Hudson, a Jamaican educator and president of the World Council, a non-governmental organisation founded in 1970.
"The discussions will be centred around 14 themes regarding education worldwide," said Hickling-Hudson, among them the emerging area of peace and conflict studies.The theme of the five-day conference is 'Education and Social Justice'.
The educators will enter the talks sensitive to the fact that the links between different education systems worldwide are growing, and require comparative assessment.
Hickling-Hudson, herself a senior lecturer at the Queensland University of Technology in Australia, said: "As countries' seek to understand the challenges, frameworks and issues that link education systems worldwide, a comparative method will assist them to work out solutions that suit their countries needs and aspirations."
Educators, she adds, can only benefit from a global analysis of the systems in which they work.
The conference speakers will include professors Martin Carnoy and Robert Arnove of the United States; Rosemary Preston, Michael Crossley and Madeleine Arnot from the United Kingdom; Crain Soudien of South Africa; Mark Bray of Hong Kong; and Hyacinth Evans of the University of the West Indies.
More than a thousand educators, policy makers and representatives of development agencies and NGOs have registered to attend the congress.
oringinal link: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/html/20041013T000000-0500_67589_OBS_WORLD_EDUCATION_CONFERENCE_SET_FOR_CUBA.asp
Something to think about
IN VENEZUELA
Venezuelan demonstrators place a rope to topple a Christopher Columbus statue in Caracas, October 12, 2004. Demonstrators protested during Columbus Day, a date which Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has christened as the 'Day of Indian Resistance' to commemorate the Indian people who fought the Spanish colonizers after the discovery of the continent by Christopher Columbus. REUTERS/Jorge Silva REUTERS
While some time ago in JAMAICA
CRISTOBAL COLON de Carvajal, Duke of Veragua, who is the 20th direct descendant of Spanish explorer Christopher Columbus, was honoured yesterday by the St. Catherine Parish Council.
This my friends troubles me, Indians in no way shape or form suffered as much and as long as we did in "Slavery" yet they are conscious and cognizant enough to realize that endorsing Columbus is rubbish, but us on the other hand...
Venezuelan demonstrators place a rope to topple a Christopher Columbus statue in Caracas, October 12, 2004. Demonstrators protested during Columbus Day, a date which Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has christened as the 'Day of Indian Resistance' to commemorate the Indian people who fought the Spanish colonizers after the discovery of the continent by Christopher Columbus. REUTERS/Jorge Silva REUTERS
While some time ago in JAMAICA
CRISTOBAL COLON de Carvajal, Duke of Veragua, who is the 20th direct descendant of Spanish explorer Christopher Columbus, was honoured yesterday by the St. Catherine Parish Council.
This my friends troubles me, Indians in no way shape or form suffered as much and as long as we did in "Slavery" yet they are conscious and cognizant enough to realize that endorsing Columbus is rubbish, but us on the other hand...
Yannick's Quotes- Edition: #2
On speaking about what and who is Azteka designs.
"Well what we is a cultural agenda converging or more like on a crash course collision with multimedia. We are a new Caribbean order, bringing the Caribbean to the fore in media and as a socializing agent, unlearning the Beast's(North American and European Imperialist) values. We are the intellectual vanguard, we are the changing of the guard, and at this the dawning of the 21st century we are the Caribbean Super-Heroes of a sort."
--by Yannick Pessoa
"Yannick, if you are going to talk half truths, at least talk half truth"
--by Robert Morgan
(Really it beats me, so don't ask)
"Well what we is a cultural agenda converging or more like on a crash course collision with multimedia. We are a new Caribbean order, bringing the Caribbean to the fore in media and as a socializing agent, unlearning the Beast's(North American and European Imperialist) values. We are the intellectual vanguard, we are the changing of the guard, and at this the dawning of the 21st century we are the Caribbean Super-Heroes of a sort."
--by Yannick Pessoa
"Yannick, if you are going to talk half truths, at least talk half truth"
--by Robert Morgan
(Really it beats me, so don't ask)
Monday, October 11, 2004
Yannick's Quotes- Edition: #1
This little segment features quotes on Yannick or made by Yannick...
"Professional Pseudo Dread and Browning-Lova. :o) I always thought of Yannick as my big brother- til mi realise he did want to make it an incestuous r/ship. "mi did ah LUST afta yu batty!" - oh, i shall remember that line! Ok, so it's not about me (for once) it's about Yannick. He is a hell of a raconteur (gwan look it up!) In other words- him can chat! So many memories of UWI just liming listening to Yannick chat de must fascinating set of shit. Particular memory- one night Yannick scare me and Leslie SHITLESS wid one set of duppy stories bout Preston Hall. Afterwards, me and Leslie swear we NA sleep on we own that night a so we did fraid. I remember in my first year I thought of him as "Dax's brother" but by de end of de time, he was mi bredren Yannick."
--by Amanda Lynch-Foster
-- I both hate and love this quote about me... Gee and to think I liked Amanda...
"I'm the next best thing since Jesus Christ"
-- by Yannick Pessoa
"You are Belicose and Beligerent"
-- by Juilette Pessoa (my very own mother, I was so hurt)
"Many are called, few are chosen, we are the unchosen"
-- by Yannick Pessoa
"Professional Pseudo Dread and Browning-Lova. :o) I always thought of Yannick as my big brother- til mi realise he did want to make it an incestuous r/ship. "mi did ah LUST afta yu batty!" - oh, i shall remember that line! Ok, so it's not about me (for once) it's about Yannick. He is a hell of a raconteur (gwan look it up!) In other words- him can chat! So many memories of UWI just liming listening to Yannick chat de must fascinating set of shit. Particular memory- one night Yannick scare me and Leslie SHITLESS wid one set of duppy stories bout Preston Hall. Afterwards, me and Leslie swear we NA sleep on we own that night a so we did fraid. I remember in my first year I thought of him as "Dax's brother" but by de end of de time, he was mi bredren Yannick."
--by Amanda Lynch-Foster
-- I both hate and love this quote about me... Gee and to think I liked Amanda...
"I'm the next best thing since Jesus Christ"
-- by Yannick Pessoa
"You are Belicose and Beligerent"
-- by Juilette Pessoa (my very own mother, I was so hurt)
"Many are called, few are chosen, we are the unchosen"
-- by Yannick Pessoa
Sunday, October 10, 2004
A Bob Dylan Song That's Stuck In My Head For Days Now...
TANGLED UP IN BLUE
Early one mornin’ the sun was shinin’,
I was layin’ in bed
Wond’rin’ if she’d changed at all
If her hair was still red.
Her folks they said our lives together
Sure was gonna be rough
They never did like mama’s homemade dress
Papa’s bankbook wasn’t big enough.
And I was standin’ on the side of the road
Rain fallin’ on my shoes
Heading out for the east coast
Lord knows I’ve paid some dues gettin’ through,
Tangled up in blue.
She was married when we first met
Soon to be divorced
I helped her out of a jam, I guess,
But I used a little too much force.
We drove that car as far as we could
Abandoned it out west
Split up on a dark sad night
Both agreeing it was best.
She turned around to look at me
As I was walkin’ away
I heard her say over my shoulder,
We’ll meet again someday on the avenue,
Tangled up in blue.
I had a job in the great north woods
Working as a cook for a spell
But I never did like it all that much
And one day the ax just fell.
So I drifted down to new orleans
Where I happened to be employed
Workin’ for a while on a fishin’ boat
Right outside of delacroix.
But all the while I was alone
The past was close behind,
I seen a lot of women
But she never escaped my mind, and I just grew
Tangled up in blue.
She was workin’ in a topless place
And I stopped in for a beer,
I just kept lookin’ at the side of her face
In the spotlight so clear.
And later on as the crowd thinned out
I’s just about to do the same,
She was standing there in back of my chair
Said to me, don’t I know your name?
I muttered somethin’ underneath my breath,
She studied the lines on my face.
I must admit I felt a little uneasy
When she bent down to tie the laces of my shoe,
Tangled up in blue.
She lit a burner on the stove and offered me a pipe
I thought you’d never say hello, she said
You look like the silent type.
Then she opened up a book of poems
And handed it to me
Written by an italian poet
From the thirteenth century.
And every one of them words rang true
And glowed like burnin’ coal
Pourin’ off of every page
Like it was written in my soul from me to you,
Tangled up in blue.
I lived with them on montague street
In a basement down the stairs,
There was music in the cafes at night
And revolution in the air.
Then he started into dealing with slaves
And something inside of him died.
She had to sell everything she owned
And froze up inside.
And when finally the bottom fell out
I became withdrawn,
The only thing I knew how to do
Was to keep on keepin’ on like a bird that flew,
Tangled up in blue.
So now I’m goin’ back again,
I got to get to her somehow.
All the people we used to know
They’re an illusion to me now.
Some are mathematicians
Some are carpenter’s wives.
Don’t know how it all got started,
I don’t know what they’re doin’ with their lives.
But me, I’m still on the road
Headin’ for another joint
We always did feel the same,
We just saw it from a different point of view,
Tangled up in blue.
by BOB DYLAN
Early one mornin’ the sun was shinin’,
I was layin’ in bed
Wond’rin’ if she’d changed at all
If her hair was still red.
Her folks they said our lives together
Sure was gonna be rough
They never did like mama’s homemade dress
Papa’s bankbook wasn’t big enough.
And I was standin’ on the side of the road
Rain fallin’ on my shoes
Heading out for the east coast
Lord knows I’ve paid some dues gettin’ through,
Tangled up in blue.
She was married when we first met
Soon to be divorced
I helped her out of a jam, I guess,
But I used a little too much force.
We drove that car as far as we could
Abandoned it out west
Split up on a dark sad night
Both agreeing it was best.
She turned around to look at me
As I was walkin’ away
I heard her say over my shoulder,
We’ll meet again someday on the avenue,
Tangled up in blue.
I had a job in the great north woods
Working as a cook for a spell
But I never did like it all that much
And one day the ax just fell.
So I drifted down to new orleans
Where I happened to be employed
Workin’ for a while on a fishin’ boat
Right outside of delacroix.
But all the while I was alone
The past was close behind,
I seen a lot of women
But she never escaped my mind, and I just grew
Tangled up in blue.
She was workin’ in a topless place
And I stopped in for a beer,
I just kept lookin’ at the side of her face
In the spotlight so clear.
And later on as the crowd thinned out
I’s just about to do the same,
She was standing there in back of my chair
Said to me, don’t I know your name?
I muttered somethin’ underneath my breath,
She studied the lines on my face.
I must admit I felt a little uneasy
When she bent down to tie the laces of my shoe,
Tangled up in blue.
She lit a burner on the stove and offered me a pipe
I thought you’d never say hello, she said
You look like the silent type.
Then she opened up a book of poems
And handed it to me
Written by an italian poet
From the thirteenth century.
And every one of them words rang true
And glowed like burnin’ coal
Pourin’ off of every page
Like it was written in my soul from me to you,
Tangled up in blue.
I lived with them on montague street
In a basement down the stairs,
There was music in the cafes at night
And revolution in the air.
Then he started into dealing with slaves
And something inside of him died.
She had to sell everything she owned
And froze up inside.
And when finally the bottom fell out
I became withdrawn,
The only thing I knew how to do
Was to keep on keepin’ on like a bird that flew,
Tangled up in blue.
So now I’m goin’ back again,
I got to get to her somehow.
All the people we used to know
They’re an illusion to me now.
Some are mathematicians
Some are carpenter’s wives.
Don’t know how it all got started,
I don’t know what they’re doin’ with their lives.
But me, I’m still on the road
Headin’ for another joint
We always did feel the same,
We just saw it from a different point of view,
Tangled up in blue.
by BOB DYLAN
Thursday, October 07, 2004
Another Letter To The Editor... by Me(hahaha) dated 7.10.04
Great work, Clovis
Thursday, October 07, 2004
Dear Editor,
I would like to use this space to commend your cartoonist Clovis on his work. Not only has it been consistent and witty, but I have seen what I believe to be improvement in his work that says to me that he has a level of interest in the art form and is not simply doing another job for the money. His work has got progressively better over the years and has become what I consider "eye candy". In years to come he may just be remembered as the pioneer or front-runner of Caribbean and Jamaican cartoons, should the art form get wider recognition and acclaim.
Yannick Nesta Pessoa
http://www.aztekadesigns.com
The original link can be found at: http://jamaicaobserver.com/letters/html/20041006T210000-0500_67220_OBS_GREAT_WORK__CLOVIS.asp
Thursday, October 07, 2004
Dear Editor,
I would like to use this space to commend your cartoonist Clovis on his work. Not only has it been consistent and witty, but I have seen what I believe to be improvement in his work that says to me that he has a level of interest in the art form and is not simply doing another job for the money. His work has got progressively better over the years and has become what I consider "eye candy". In years to come he may just be remembered as the pioneer or front-runner of Caribbean and Jamaican cartoons, should the art form get wider recognition and acclaim.
Yannick Nesta Pessoa
http://www.aztekadesigns.com
The original link can be found at: http://jamaicaobserver.com/letters/html/20041006T210000-0500_67220_OBS_GREAT_WORK__CLOVIS.asp
Monday, October 04, 2004
Aluta Continua: Cuban Updates... issue #2
Manning going to check heart
-Prior Beharry
Wednesday, August 4th 2004
PRIME Minister Patrick Manning leaves the country today for Cuba where he is expected to get a routine medical check-up on his heart -this according to a release from the Prime Minister's Office yesterday.
In April 1998, Manning underwent heart surgery in Cuba. Since then he has regularly gone to Cuba for check-ups.
PACEMAKER FOR MANNING
Manning to get pacemaker
By curtis williams
Friday, August 13th 2004
Patrick Manning...going to Cuba for surgery.
Already under medication for an irregular heart beat, Prime Minister Patrick Manning will now have a pacemaker inserted as doctors try to ensure his heart is not damaged.
Manning will this weekend return to Cuba for the operation, a mere ten days after he last visited the Caribbean island for what was then described as a routine check-up.
PM: I'm in better health
By LOUIS B HOMER South Bureau
Wednesday, September 1st 2004
PRIME MINISTER Patrick Manning, who returned from Cuba last Sunday morning after undergoing laser surgery to his eyes and implantation of a pacemaker, told party members: "I am now in a better health condition than when I left for Cuba."
Manning Article taken from the Trinidad Express... contributed by Alicia Ganess
Fidel visits Venezuelan ship bringing aid to Cuba
BY REYNOLD RASSI—Granma daily staff writer—
“THIS is a gesture of Bolivarian and Latin American solidarity, a gesture of fraternity, which is what we are,” affirmed President Fidel Castro on describing the aid offered by the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela to the Caribbean nations gravely affected by the recent Hurricanes Charley, Ivan and Jeanne.
Fidel was referring to the significance of the new Venezuelan mission Humanitarian Naval Support to the Caribbean Fraternity, which consists of construction materials and equipment, among other resources for repairing housing and other installations in Cuba, Jamaica, Haiti and Grenada.
The Cuban president visited Los Llanos amphibious T-64 craft anchored in the port of Mariel, Habana province, which transported those materials to Cuba, as well as a group of Venezuelans likewise lending their solidarity in the form of construction work in Sandino municipality in Pinar del Río province.
On his arrival at the port, accompanied by Adán Chávez Frías, the Venezuelan ambassador to Cuba, and other Cuban leaders, Fidel was met by Alex Ascanio Palomares, frigate captain and ship commander, head of the task force for aid to our country and Jamaica, and other officers and crew members.
Aboard the boat, he was given a special salute by a company of marines, with various whistles corresponding to the category of president of the Republic in ceremonial naval protocol.
ANIMATED CONVERSATION
In the officer’s chamber, Fidel had an animated two-hour conversation with the officers in charge of the ship and the Caribbean support task force. The Cuban leader asked about the organization of this new Venezuelan mission for aid to Cuba and the other three Caribbean islands.
He expressed gratitude for this noble gesture by the Bolivarian government on behalf of the Cuban people and in particular the population of the westernmost areas of Pinar del Río, most affected by Ivan, where 76 Venezuelans who came on the boat are already working on recovery tasks.
Fidel spoke of the damage wreaked by the recent hurricanes on countries in the region and, in the case of Cuba, explained the measures adopted to avert the loss of human lives and resources, as well as the reconstruction and repair work underway to restore the situation as soon as possible.
-Prior Beharry
Wednesday, August 4th 2004
PRIME Minister Patrick Manning leaves the country today for Cuba where he is expected to get a routine medical check-up on his heart -this according to a release from the Prime Minister's Office yesterday.
In April 1998, Manning underwent heart surgery in Cuba. Since then he has regularly gone to Cuba for check-ups.
PACEMAKER FOR MANNING
Manning to get pacemaker
By curtis williams
Friday, August 13th 2004
Patrick Manning...going to Cuba for surgery.
Already under medication for an irregular heart beat, Prime Minister Patrick Manning will now have a pacemaker inserted as doctors try to ensure his heart is not damaged.
Manning will this weekend return to Cuba for the operation, a mere ten days after he last visited the Caribbean island for what was then described as a routine check-up.
PM: I'm in better health
By LOUIS B HOMER South Bureau
Wednesday, September 1st 2004
PRIME MINISTER Patrick Manning, who returned from Cuba last Sunday morning after undergoing laser surgery to his eyes and implantation of a pacemaker, told party members: "I am now in a better health condition than when I left for Cuba."
Manning Article taken from the Trinidad Express... contributed by Alicia Ganess
Fidel visits Venezuelan ship bringing aid to Cuba
BY REYNOLD RASSI—Granma daily staff writer—
“THIS is a gesture of Bolivarian and Latin American solidarity, a gesture of fraternity, which is what we are,” affirmed President Fidel Castro on describing the aid offered by the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela to the Caribbean nations gravely affected by the recent Hurricanes Charley, Ivan and Jeanne.
Fidel was referring to the significance of the new Venezuelan mission Humanitarian Naval Support to the Caribbean Fraternity, which consists of construction materials and equipment, among other resources for repairing housing and other installations in Cuba, Jamaica, Haiti and Grenada.
The Cuban president visited Los Llanos amphibious T-64 craft anchored in the port of Mariel, Habana province, which transported those materials to Cuba, as well as a group of Venezuelans likewise lending their solidarity in the form of construction work in Sandino municipality in Pinar del Río province.
On his arrival at the port, accompanied by Adán Chávez Frías, the Venezuelan ambassador to Cuba, and other Cuban leaders, Fidel was met by Alex Ascanio Palomares, frigate captain and ship commander, head of the task force for aid to our country and Jamaica, and other officers and crew members.
Aboard the boat, he was given a special salute by a company of marines, with various whistles corresponding to the category of president of the Republic in ceremonial naval protocol.
ANIMATED CONVERSATION
In the officer’s chamber, Fidel had an animated two-hour conversation with the officers in charge of the ship and the Caribbean support task force. The Cuban leader asked about the organization of this new Venezuelan mission for aid to Cuba and the other three Caribbean islands.
He expressed gratitude for this noble gesture by the Bolivarian government on behalf of the Cuban people and in particular the population of the westernmost areas of Pinar del Río, most affected by Ivan, where 76 Venezuelans who came on the boat are already working on recovery tasks.
Fidel spoke of the damage wreaked by the recent hurricanes on countries in the region and, in the case of Cuba, explained the measures adopted to avert the loss of human lives and resources, as well as the reconstruction and repair work underway to restore the situation as soon as possible.
Sunday, October 03, 2004
A Poem I Was Awarded A Bronze Medal for in July 2001
Monochrome/MonaKhroma
She looks out the window,
She is monochrome true.
Her speech is song,
Her soul glows blue.
Her hair frizzles and it frazzles,
She knows and I don't know.
As the sun burns the morning cold,
I must come and I must go.
Zygote of a pregnant miracle
Was, is, she will always be.
Yannick Nesta Pessoa
Copyright ©2004 Yannick Nesta Pessoa
She looks out the window,
She is monochrome true.
Her speech is song,
Her soul glows blue.
Her hair frizzles and it frazzles,
She knows and I don't know.
As the sun burns the morning cold,
I must come and I must go.
Zygote of a pregnant miracle
Was, is, she will always be.
Yannick Nesta Pessoa
Copyright ©2004 Yannick Nesta Pessoa
An Old Letter To The Editor I Wrote [dated 13.8.02]... (stumbled across it on the net)
Are we really independent?
THE EDITOR, Sir:
AFTER 40 years we have not really released our vestiges of the Crown in England. We still have a representative for the Queen as an influential part of the state. We still have British ceremonials in Parliament, we still have appeals to the British courts. We are a part of their Commonwealth, we still have the remnants of their laws. Are we really independent of England?
How are we independent when we are slaves to the foreign media, especially the "mighty" Uncle Sam, when we are dependent on imports from the USA, we depend on their food, their clothes, even their entertainment, we even depend on their dollar.
How are we independent when we subscribe to the neo-liberalist policies of globalisation that insist on lessening the powers and sovereignty of the state, and the continuous breakdown of international barriers. How are we independent when foreigners own our electrical supplies, our airports, our mining plants. What are we independent of?
"Pity the nation that wears a cloth it does not weave, eats a bread it does not harvest, and drinks a wine that flows not from its own winepress.
"Pity the nation that acclaims the bully as hero, and that deems the glittering conqueror bountiful.
"Pity the nation that raises not its voice save when it walks in a funeral, boasts not except among its ruins, and will rebel not save when its neck is laid between the sword and the block.
"Pity the nation whose statesman is a fox, whose philosopher is a juggler, and whose art is the art of patching and mimicking.
"Pity the nation that welcomes its new ruler with trumpetings, and farewells him with hootings, only to welcome another with trumpetings again.
"Pity the nation divided into fragments, each fragment deeming itself a nation." -- Kahlil Gibran
I am, etc.,
YANNICK NESTA PESSOA
cyber_yan@yahoo.com
Via Go-Jamaica
Original link: http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20020813/letters/letters1.html
THE EDITOR, Sir:
AFTER 40 years we have not really released our vestiges of the Crown in England. We still have a representative for the Queen as an influential part of the state. We still have British ceremonials in Parliament, we still have appeals to the British courts. We are a part of their Commonwealth, we still have the remnants of their laws. Are we really independent of England?
How are we independent when we are slaves to the foreign media, especially the "mighty" Uncle Sam, when we are dependent on imports from the USA, we depend on their food, their clothes, even their entertainment, we even depend on their dollar.
How are we independent when we subscribe to the neo-liberalist policies of globalisation that insist on lessening the powers and sovereignty of the state, and the continuous breakdown of international barriers. How are we independent when foreigners own our electrical supplies, our airports, our mining plants. What are we independent of?
"Pity the nation that wears a cloth it does not weave, eats a bread it does not harvest, and drinks a wine that flows not from its own winepress.
"Pity the nation that acclaims the bully as hero, and that deems the glittering conqueror bountiful.
"Pity the nation that raises not its voice save when it walks in a funeral, boasts not except among its ruins, and will rebel not save when its neck is laid between the sword and the block.
"Pity the nation whose statesman is a fox, whose philosopher is a juggler, and whose art is the art of patching and mimicking.
"Pity the nation that welcomes its new ruler with trumpetings, and farewells him with hootings, only to welcome another with trumpetings again.
"Pity the nation divided into fragments, each fragment deeming itself a nation." -- Kahlil Gibran
I am, etc.,
YANNICK NESTA PESSOA
cyber_yan@yahoo.com
Via Go-Jamaica
Original link: http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20020813/letters/letters1.html
A POEM BY---(insert drum roll here)... BOB MARLEY!!!
She's Gone
My woman is gone.
My woman is gone.
She has left me
a note
hanging on my door
said she couldn't
take it
she couldn't take anymore
Pressures around me
just couldn't see
She lived like a prisoner
who needs
to be free.....
Still
I know now
You never see smoke without fire
and everyman you see
has got a heart's desire.
by the hon. Robert Nesta Marley
My woman is gone.
My woman is gone.
She has left me
a note
hanging on my door
said she couldn't
take it
she couldn't take anymore
Pressures around me
just couldn't see
She lived like a prisoner
who needs
to be free.....
Still
I know now
You never see smoke without fire
and everyman you see
has got a heart's desire.
by the hon. Robert Nesta Marley
Thursday, September 30, 2004
Aluta Continua: Cuban Updates (My new segment so IGNORANT people know of Cuban progress)
Cuba, a Model of Hurricane Preparation
Says UN Officialby Prensa Latina
Posted: Sep 15, 2004
20:16 UTCUnited Nations (Prensa Latina)
The head of the UN body that focuses on disaster reduction said Cuba is a model for other countries in the management of hurricane risks, according to UN News Center.Salvano Briceno, director of the International Secretariat for Disaster Reduction, said Cubans are taught in schools, universities and workplaces how to prepare for hurricanes and how to cope with them if they hit the country.Some 1.3 million Cuban people were evacuated from their homes in anticipation of the arrival of Hurricane Ivan. Television and radio stations are used to transmit information to the public and all institutions are mobilized 48 hours in advance of the expected arrival of a serious storm, the official praised.Mr. Briceno said there is also the strong Cuban political desire to minimize the impact of hurricanes on the local population - something that is missing in some other nations. "Leaders of countries around the world have at their disposal the knowledge needed to reduce risk and vulnerability to hazards. Even poor countries are not entirely without options to mitigate or prevent the consequences of hazards," he said. ile/ccs/ima/
Cuban drug to make debut in U.S.
By LEONARD ZEHR
Globe and Mail Update
Tuesday, September 07, 2004
You still can't buy a good Cuban cigar in the United States, but an apparent policy shift in Washington is paving the way for the arrival of experimental cancer treatments from the outcast island country.
In July, the U.S. Department of the Treasury gave CancerVax Corp. of San Diego the green light to license a package of three drugs that were developed at the Centre of Molecular Immunology (CIM) in Havana.
The package included two early stage cancer compounds from YM BioSciences Inc. of Mississauga, which has been CIM's licensing partner since 1995.
CancerVax also picked up a cancer vaccine that YM returned to CIM in 2002 as part of a corporate refocusing.
"This is the first time a Cuban-originated biological product has been licensed by a U.S. company," said YM president and chief executive officer David Allan, referring to CancerVax's two-year lobbying in Congress to drive a wedge in the Helms-Burton Act. The legislation prohibits Americans from any commercial venture that would funnel money to Cuba.
"The astonishing thing to me is that it happened at all."
The shadow of U.S.-Cuban political and trade frictions has hung over YM since it was founded in 1994 to commercialize medical discoveries in Cuba.
Specifically, investors in North America were reluctant to finance development of TheraCIM and several other Cuban cancer treatments because of potential hurdles in winning marketing approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. As a result, the bulk of YM's financing has taken place in Europe, where investors have encouraged the company to diversify beyond Cuba.
While CIM and YM get up-front cash and future royalties if CancerVax's testing succeeds, YM retained ownership of the drug TheraCIM.
TheraCIM is an antibody that targets the epidermal growth factor (EGF) receptor to block tumour growth, a mechanism of action that makes it equivalent to ImClone Systems Inc.'s hot-selling Erbitux cancer drug.
A spokesman for the U.S. State Department said the CancerVax licence was a unique case that recognized the "potential to successfully treat a deadly disease using technology not otherwise available."
As a matter of policy, he said the government will continue to "consider licence requests where there is a potential benefit to U.S. public health."
Mr. Allan said CancerVax's breakthrough is expected to accelerate YM's negotiations to sign a sales and marketing deal for TheraCIM with a U.S. drug company.
"My guess is it will go quite quickly," he said, adding that TheraCIM is the only EGF receptor drug without a marketing partner in the United States. The reason: the U.S. trade embargo against Cuba that prevented companies from even negotiating with YM.
YM has already partnered TheraCIM in Europe with Oncoscience AG of Germany, which is planning several clinical trials this year, including a late-stage study in brain cancer.
The drug has won 10 years of marketing exclusivity if approved, which could help the drug approval process in the United States, analysts say.
"[Brain cancer] is a small market but in oncology, if you get something approved, oncologists tend to use it off-label for other cancers," said Dlouhy Merchant Group analyst Doug Loe.
Sprott Securities analyst David Dean, who initiated coverage of YM in June with a 12-month target price of $7, calls the stock price "dramatically undervalued." It closed Friday at $3.35 on the Toronto Stock Exchange, giving the company a market value of $94.4-million.
"People misunderstand YM because of the early Cuban connection and a so-called failed clinical trial for tesmilifene, and neither of those are applicable any more," he said.
"The YM story has really changed but people are slow to realize it."
YM's flagship tesmilifene drug was discovered at the University of Manitoba and is designed to make chemotherapy drugs work better.
In an earlier late-stage study, the drug failed its primary end point of tumour response in 305 women with metastatic breast cancer.
But after further analysis, scientists found that it had extended patient survival by more than 50 per cent, compared with a control arm, and 143 per cent in women with aggressive breast cancer.
Those results prompted the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to accept the study as one of two needed for approval.
It also gave YM the green light for a second late-stage trial, which only needs to show a 33-per-cent improvement in survival over chemotherapy alone.
Moreover, the FDA gave YM permission to review the test data after 192 deaths, which Mr. Allan figures will occur in mid-2006.
If the drug can show a 50-per-cent improvement in survival, YM can file for approval at that time, setting the stage for a possible 2007 launch. If not, the trial will continue until all 700 patients are studied.
Mr. Dean likes tesmilifene's chances of success and estimates the drug's initial market potential at $300-million (U.S.) a year, climbing to more than $1-billion if it is used with several chemotherapy drugs and also to treat a certain type of prostate cancer.
Mr. Allan said YM is negotiating a co-development deal for the sales and marketing of tesmilifene, with the objective of getting a 50-per-cent share of revenues.
"Our preference is a U.S. biotech company that is ready to launch a cancer product with its own sales force and will need additional products like tesmilifene to sell."
Maradona leaves for drug treatment in Cuba
Mon Sep 20, 1:46 PM ET
BUENOS AIRES (AFP) - Argentinian football legend Diego Maradona left for Cuba to undergo treatment for his addiction to cocaine.
The 43-year-old - who was accompanied by one of his sisters and his doctor Alfredo Cahe - had won a court battle to be allowed to do so after his ex-wife and daughters challenged that believing he would not get the treatment he needed.
Maradona gave an emotional television interview on the eve of his departure saluting his fans.
"I love you very deeply," he said.
"I will do my best to stay alive. I am still with you, whatever happens in the future it will be me who decides and not others.
"I love you all with all my heart....with the heart that remains to me."
Only 10 days ago Maradona had to be rushed to hospital with high blood pressure and a high fever, having almost died earlier in the year because of heart and lung problems.
The Argentinian court though ruled that the 1986 World Cup winner could only be treated in The Mental Health Centre (CENSAM) in Havana and nowhere else on the island.
Director praises Fidel,blasts Bush in Spain
Oliver Stone says president 'will go downin history as one of the great baddies'
Posted: September 25, 20041:00 a.m. Eastern
© 2004 WorldNetDaily.com
Director Oliver Stone ripped President Bush while praising Cuban dictator Fidel Castro
before the premiere of his movie "Looking for Fidel," at the 52nd San Sebastian Film Festival in Spain.
Stone charged that Bush stole the election with the help of anti-Castro Cuban-Americans in Florida, according to a report in Cuba's Granma newspaper.
"When (Vice President Al) Gore lost, or rather, when they stole the elections from him, I sensed that something dirty was going to happen, but the harm has already been done and its extent is very significant," said Stone. "Now, I am praying that something of that sort does not occur once again. George Bush will go down in history as one of the great baddies."
A reporter asked: "What kind of power does the anti-Castro lobby in the United States have?"
"To start with, anti-Castro groups were vital in implementing the dirty business of the butterfly ballots ensuring Bush's victory at the 2000 elections," said Stone. "The right wing is the same everywhere, in Cuba or Viet Nam. It is like an octopus, snatching everything with its tentacles. They control the Internet, radio and TV stations, and newspapers. But above all, they are perfectly organized. Right wingers master the art of negative publicity and are capable of destroying the image of anyone they consider to be their enemy. They annihilate anything opposed to their interests, utilizing mass emailing, articles, and reports. In the United States, censorship is the order of the day. It is really sad to think that Florida may end up deciding the November elections once again, and that the extreme-right wing, including anti-Castro groups, may manipulate the results for a second time. These people are blinded by patriotic fanaticism and are ready to invade any country, and shoot down planes if necessary. They thought that my first movie about Castro, 'Comandante,' was hideous, and they killed it almost before it was even born. They were merely afraid of it."
On the other hand, Stone had nothing but praise for Castro, who has clung to authoritarian power with no elections in Cuba for half a century.
"Street demonstrations in favor of Fidel Castro are not a fake," claimed Stone. "If they were, those demonstrators should win an Oscar for best acting. I can testify to this because I have seen the joy on their faces when people come up to the president."
Stone also said: "President Bush has set the world on fire."
"In Cuba, I observed an openness and freedom that I had not found in any other country in the region, the Caribbean or Central America," Stone said. "I have met many world leaders in Panama, El Salvador, and Nicaragua, but have never seen the kind of spontaneous affection for a leader expressed on the streets as I have seen in Cuba towards Fidel."
A journalist asked Stone if the scenes of popular expressions for Castro in his movie were staged.
"They were totally spontaneous," said Stone. "We have visited several hospitals where they could have been expecting us, but having looked at people’s faces, I know that none of this was a fake. I have directed actors and I know when people are pretending and when they are not. Castro repeatedly asked me where I wanted to go next, and wherever we went, people would spontaneously come up to him. Where else in the world would this happen?"
Stone was effusive in his praise for Castro.
"I admire Fidel because he is a survivor," he said. "He has survived several U.S. presidents who have tried to eliminate him.”
He also said he admired Castro because of "his self confidence and honesty." The filmmaker confirmed that Castro "is one of the few world presidents who does not have one cent stashed abroad, and, at the same time, has brought his people to such a high educational level."
And what's the state of the USA in this presidential election year?
"My country is becoming more violent and negative every day," he said. "Bush has never been interested in consensus. In the year 2000, as we have unfortunately come to learn, a dangerous radical with a huge hidden agenda was hiding behind the mask of a compassionate conservative. This is a shame and a tragedy. The world would be completely different today had Bush not stolen the elections from Gore. Bush is only adding more fuel to the fire. He is a slave and the puppet of the large weapons and oil companies which put him into office."
On the trail of Che
BRUCE KIRKLAND, SUN MEDIA
TORONTO -- Revolutionary Che Guevara is one of the most controversial figures of the 20th century in Latin America. But the filmmakers behind The Motorcycle Diaries came to praise him for his early idealism, not bury him for his historical legacy. "I didn't want to judge those characters, you know," says Brazilian filmmaker Walter Salles, "nor see them as who they became 20 years later. I wanted to try to look at them with innocence."
REVOLUTIONARY FIGURES
Salles is referring both to Ernesto Guevara - the Argentinian doctor who became Che, the iconic rebel - and Alberto Granada - Che's best friend, a scientist who also became a revolutionary. Granada still lives in Fidel Castro's Cuba, the troubled country he and Che helped to shape before Che died in action in a revolutionary war in Bolivia.
In the film, which plays in Spanish with English subtitles, emerging international movie star Gael Garcia Bernal plays Guevara; Rodrigo de la Serna is Granada.
"This is really what interests me in cinema," Salles says of the innocence in The Motorcycle Diaries, "the possibility to look at something in a way that one hasn't looked before."
The film is based on two books, Guevara's The Motorcycle Diaries and Granada's Traveling With Che Guevara, accounts of their epic 1952 road trip from Argentina to Venezuela. It started as a lark on a battered 1939 Norton bike that was badly leaking oil. It turned into a journey of discovery and socio-political transformation. En route, the two became radical idealists.
The film, which won the Ecumenical Prize at Cannes but was shut out of the main awards by Quentin Tarantino's jury, made its North American premiere at the Toronto film fest last month. It opens on Friday as one of the year's intriguing films.
But The Motorcycle Diaries is also stirring up passions and anger, especially in the U.S. where some Cuban exiles are furious that a sympathetic portrait of Che has been made.
"Somebody asked me what Guevara would think of Cuba today," says Salles, a motorcycle enthusiast and left-leaning filmmaker, who was born in Rio de Janeiro in April of 1956.
"I think that's completely out of the frame of this film. I think what's in frame here is his perception of Latin America at that time. It's really about his understanding that things could change - as I think things should change today because, if you look at the continent today, it's pretty similar to what it was. You know, the structural problems are pretty much the same."
The filmmakers, travelling light with a small crew, took the same journey as Guevara and Granada - three times - although not by motorcycle.
Twice was to scout locations, the third time to shoot the movie, mostly in sequence.
"You don't get any younger doing road movies, I can tell you!" Salles says with a wry smile.
"What we tried to do here was not only to adapt the two books but be faithful to the spirit of the journey. And that meant that we had to be accepting of whatever nature was going to bring us."
Nature brought blistering heat and frigid cold, including a freak snowstorm in Patagonia that meant Bernal and de la Serna pushed the heavy bike up a mountain road in snow.
CAN'T FIGHT MOTHER NATURE
"When you live in Latin America, you soon realize as a filmmaker that you have to work in synchronicity with nature and not try to control it," says Salles.
"So what we were aiming to do here is a film with a sense of urgency. We soon understood that what we were framing today was not very different from what existed in 1952.
"And that made us understand that we were doing a film in the present tense and not doing what you would call 'the historical film.' So we tried to move as organically and as rapidly as we could.
"Also, in this film, the human geography was more important to us than the physical geography."
Says UN Officialby Prensa Latina
Posted: Sep 15, 2004
20:16 UTCUnited Nations (Prensa Latina)
The head of the UN body that focuses on disaster reduction said Cuba is a model for other countries in the management of hurricane risks, according to UN News Center.Salvano Briceno, director of the International Secretariat for Disaster Reduction, said Cubans are taught in schools, universities and workplaces how to prepare for hurricanes and how to cope with them if they hit the country.Some 1.3 million Cuban people were evacuated from their homes in anticipation of the arrival of Hurricane Ivan. Television and radio stations are used to transmit information to the public and all institutions are mobilized 48 hours in advance of the expected arrival of a serious storm, the official praised.Mr. Briceno said there is also the strong Cuban political desire to minimize the impact of hurricanes on the local population - something that is missing in some other nations. "Leaders of countries around the world have at their disposal the knowledge needed to reduce risk and vulnerability to hazards. Even poor countries are not entirely without options to mitigate or prevent the consequences of hazards," he said. ile/ccs/ima/
Cuban drug to make debut in U.S.
By LEONARD ZEHR
Globe and Mail Update
Tuesday, September 07, 2004
You still can't buy a good Cuban cigar in the United States, but an apparent policy shift in Washington is paving the way for the arrival of experimental cancer treatments from the outcast island country.
In July, the U.S. Department of the Treasury gave CancerVax Corp. of San Diego the green light to license a package of three drugs that were developed at the Centre of Molecular Immunology (CIM) in Havana.
The package included two early stage cancer compounds from YM BioSciences Inc. of Mississauga, which has been CIM's licensing partner since 1995.
CancerVax also picked up a cancer vaccine that YM returned to CIM in 2002 as part of a corporate refocusing.
"This is the first time a Cuban-originated biological product has been licensed by a U.S. company," said YM president and chief executive officer David Allan, referring to CancerVax's two-year lobbying in Congress to drive a wedge in the Helms-Burton Act. The legislation prohibits Americans from any commercial venture that would funnel money to Cuba.
"The astonishing thing to me is that it happened at all."
The shadow of U.S.-Cuban political and trade frictions has hung over YM since it was founded in 1994 to commercialize medical discoveries in Cuba.
Specifically, investors in North America were reluctant to finance development of TheraCIM and several other Cuban cancer treatments because of potential hurdles in winning marketing approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. As a result, the bulk of YM's financing has taken place in Europe, where investors have encouraged the company to diversify beyond Cuba.
While CIM and YM get up-front cash and future royalties if CancerVax's testing succeeds, YM retained ownership of the drug TheraCIM.
TheraCIM is an antibody that targets the epidermal growth factor (EGF) receptor to block tumour growth, a mechanism of action that makes it equivalent to ImClone Systems Inc.'s hot-selling Erbitux cancer drug.
A spokesman for the U.S. State Department said the CancerVax licence was a unique case that recognized the "potential to successfully treat a deadly disease using technology not otherwise available."
As a matter of policy, he said the government will continue to "consider licence requests where there is a potential benefit to U.S. public health."
Mr. Allan said CancerVax's breakthrough is expected to accelerate YM's negotiations to sign a sales and marketing deal for TheraCIM with a U.S. drug company.
"My guess is it will go quite quickly," he said, adding that TheraCIM is the only EGF receptor drug without a marketing partner in the United States. The reason: the U.S. trade embargo against Cuba that prevented companies from even negotiating with YM.
YM has already partnered TheraCIM in Europe with Oncoscience AG of Germany, which is planning several clinical trials this year, including a late-stage study in brain cancer.
The drug has won 10 years of marketing exclusivity if approved, which could help the drug approval process in the United States, analysts say.
"[Brain cancer] is a small market but in oncology, if you get something approved, oncologists tend to use it off-label for other cancers," said Dlouhy Merchant Group analyst Doug Loe.
Sprott Securities analyst David Dean, who initiated coverage of YM in June with a 12-month target price of $7, calls the stock price "dramatically undervalued." It closed Friday at $3.35 on the Toronto Stock Exchange, giving the company a market value of $94.4-million.
"People misunderstand YM because of the early Cuban connection and a so-called failed clinical trial for tesmilifene, and neither of those are applicable any more," he said.
"The YM story has really changed but people are slow to realize it."
YM's flagship tesmilifene drug was discovered at the University of Manitoba and is designed to make chemotherapy drugs work better.
In an earlier late-stage study, the drug failed its primary end point of tumour response in 305 women with metastatic breast cancer.
But after further analysis, scientists found that it had extended patient survival by more than 50 per cent, compared with a control arm, and 143 per cent in women with aggressive breast cancer.
Those results prompted the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to accept the study as one of two needed for approval.
It also gave YM the green light for a second late-stage trial, which only needs to show a 33-per-cent improvement in survival over chemotherapy alone.
Moreover, the FDA gave YM permission to review the test data after 192 deaths, which Mr. Allan figures will occur in mid-2006.
If the drug can show a 50-per-cent improvement in survival, YM can file for approval at that time, setting the stage for a possible 2007 launch. If not, the trial will continue until all 700 patients are studied.
Mr. Dean likes tesmilifene's chances of success and estimates the drug's initial market potential at $300-million (U.S.) a year, climbing to more than $1-billion if it is used with several chemotherapy drugs and also to treat a certain type of prostate cancer.
Mr. Allan said YM is negotiating a co-development deal for the sales and marketing of tesmilifene, with the objective of getting a 50-per-cent share of revenues.
"Our preference is a U.S. biotech company that is ready to launch a cancer product with its own sales force and will need additional products like tesmilifene to sell."
Maradona leaves for drug treatment in Cuba
Mon Sep 20, 1:46 PM ET
BUENOS AIRES (AFP) - Argentinian football legend Diego Maradona left for Cuba to undergo treatment for his addiction to cocaine.
The 43-year-old - who was accompanied by one of his sisters and his doctor Alfredo Cahe - had won a court battle to be allowed to do so after his ex-wife and daughters challenged that believing he would not get the treatment he needed.
Maradona gave an emotional television interview on the eve of his departure saluting his fans.
"I love you very deeply," he said.
"I will do my best to stay alive. I am still with you, whatever happens in the future it will be me who decides and not others.
"I love you all with all my heart....with the heart that remains to me."
Only 10 days ago Maradona had to be rushed to hospital with high blood pressure and a high fever, having almost died earlier in the year because of heart and lung problems.
The Argentinian court though ruled that the 1986 World Cup winner could only be treated in The Mental Health Centre (CENSAM) in Havana and nowhere else on the island.
Director praises Fidel,blasts Bush in Spain
Oliver Stone says president 'will go downin history as one of the great baddies'
Posted: September 25, 20041:00 a.m. Eastern
© 2004 WorldNetDaily.com
Director Oliver Stone ripped President Bush while praising Cuban dictator Fidel Castro
before the premiere of his movie "Looking for Fidel," at the 52nd San Sebastian Film Festival in Spain.
Stone charged that Bush stole the election with the help of anti-Castro Cuban-Americans in Florida, according to a report in Cuba's Granma newspaper.
"When (Vice President Al) Gore lost, or rather, when they stole the elections from him, I sensed that something dirty was going to happen, but the harm has already been done and its extent is very significant," said Stone. "Now, I am praying that something of that sort does not occur once again. George Bush will go down in history as one of the great baddies."
A reporter asked: "What kind of power does the anti-Castro lobby in the United States have?"
"To start with, anti-Castro groups were vital in implementing the dirty business of the butterfly ballots ensuring Bush's victory at the 2000 elections," said Stone. "The right wing is the same everywhere, in Cuba or Viet Nam. It is like an octopus, snatching everything with its tentacles. They control the Internet, radio and TV stations, and newspapers. But above all, they are perfectly organized. Right wingers master the art of negative publicity and are capable of destroying the image of anyone they consider to be their enemy. They annihilate anything opposed to their interests, utilizing mass emailing, articles, and reports. In the United States, censorship is the order of the day. It is really sad to think that Florida may end up deciding the November elections once again, and that the extreme-right wing, including anti-Castro groups, may manipulate the results for a second time. These people are blinded by patriotic fanaticism and are ready to invade any country, and shoot down planes if necessary. They thought that my first movie about Castro, 'Comandante,' was hideous, and they killed it almost before it was even born. They were merely afraid of it."
On the other hand, Stone had nothing but praise for Castro, who has clung to authoritarian power with no elections in Cuba for half a century.
"Street demonstrations in favor of Fidel Castro are not a fake," claimed Stone. "If they were, those demonstrators should win an Oscar for best acting. I can testify to this because I have seen the joy on their faces when people come up to the president."
Stone also said: "President Bush has set the world on fire."
"In Cuba, I observed an openness and freedom that I had not found in any other country in the region, the Caribbean or Central America," Stone said. "I have met many world leaders in Panama, El Salvador, and Nicaragua, but have never seen the kind of spontaneous affection for a leader expressed on the streets as I have seen in Cuba towards Fidel."
A journalist asked Stone if the scenes of popular expressions for Castro in his movie were staged.
"They were totally spontaneous," said Stone. "We have visited several hospitals where they could have been expecting us, but having looked at people’s faces, I know that none of this was a fake. I have directed actors and I know when people are pretending and when they are not. Castro repeatedly asked me where I wanted to go next, and wherever we went, people would spontaneously come up to him. Where else in the world would this happen?"
Stone was effusive in his praise for Castro.
"I admire Fidel because he is a survivor," he said. "He has survived several U.S. presidents who have tried to eliminate him.”
He also said he admired Castro because of "his self confidence and honesty." The filmmaker confirmed that Castro "is one of the few world presidents who does not have one cent stashed abroad, and, at the same time, has brought his people to such a high educational level."
And what's the state of the USA in this presidential election year?
"My country is becoming more violent and negative every day," he said. "Bush has never been interested in consensus. In the year 2000, as we have unfortunately come to learn, a dangerous radical with a huge hidden agenda was hiding behind the mask of a compassionate conservative. This is a shame and a tragedy. The world would be completely different today had Bush not stolen the elections from Gore. Bush is only adding more fuel to the fire. He is a slave and the puppet of the large weapons and oil companies which put him into office."
On the trail of Che
BRUCE KIRKLAND, SUN MEDIA
TORONTO -- Revolutionary Che Guevara is one of the most controversial figures of the 20th century in Latin America. But the filmmakers behind The Motorcycle Diaries came to praise him for his early idealism, not bury him for his historical legacy. "I didn't want to judge those characters, you know," says Brazilian filmmaker Walter Salles, "nor see them as who they became 20 years later. I wanted to try to look at them with innocence."
REVOLUTIONARY FIGURES
Salles is referring both to Ernesto Guevara - the Argentinian doctor who became Che, the iconic rebel - and Alberto Granada - Che's best friend, a scientist who also became a revolutionary. Granada still lives in Fidel Castro's Cuba, the troubled country he and Che helped to shape before Che died in action in a revolutionary war in Bolivia.
In the film, which plays in Spanish with English subtitles, emerging international movie star Gael Garcia Bernal plays Guevara; Rodrigo de la Serna is Granada.
"This is really what interests me in cinema," Salles says of the innocence in The Motorcycle Diaries, "the possibility to look at something in a way that one hasn't looked before."
The film is based on two books, Guevara's The Motorcycle Diaries and Granada's Traveling With Che Guevara, accounts of their epic 1952 road trip from Argentina to Venezuela. It started as a lark on a battered 1939 Norton bike that was badly leaking oil. It turned into a journey of discovery and socio-political transformation. En route, the two became radical idealists.
The film, which won the Ecumenical Prize at Cannes but was shut out of the main awards by Quentin Tarantino's jury, made its North American premiere at the Toronto film fest last month. It opens on Friday as one of the year's intriguing films.
But The Motorcycle Diaries is also stirring up passions and anger, especially in the U.S. where some Cuban exiles are furious that a sympathetic portrait of Che has been made.
"Somebody asked me what Guevara would think of Cuba today," says Salles, a motorcycle enthusiast and left-leaning filmmaker, who was born in Rio de Janeiro in April of 1956.
"I think that's completely out of the frame of this film. I think what's in frame here is his perception of Latin America at that time. It's really about his understanding that things could change - as I think things should change today because, if you look at the continent today, it's pretty similar to what it was. You know, the structural problems are pretty much the same."
The filmmakers, travelling light with a small crew, took the same journey as Guevara and Granada - three times - although not by motorcycle.
Twice was to scout locations, the third time to shoot the movie, mostly in sequence.
"You don't get any younger doing road movies, I can tell you!" Salles says with a wry smile.
"What we tried to do here was not only to adapt the two books but be faithful to the spirit of the journey. And that meant that we had to be accepting of whatever nature was going to bring us."
Nature brought blistering heat and frigid cold, including a freak snowstorm in Patagonia that meant Bernal and de la Serna pushed the heavy bike up a mountain road in snow.
CAN'T FIGHT MOTHER NATURE
"When you live in Latin America, you soon realize as a filmmaker that you have to work in synchronicity with nature and not try to control it," says Salles.
"So what we were aiming to do here is a film with a sense of urgency. We soon understood that what we were framing today was not very different from what existed in 1952.
"And that made us understand that we were doing a film in the present tense and not doing what you would call 'the historical film.' So we tried to move as organically and as rapidly as we could.
"Also, in this film, the human geography was more important to us than the physical geography."
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