Israeli General on 'security fencing': "it is indeed a monster"

Israel has recently completed its 'security fence' along its border with Egypt. This line snakes ominously through the Negev Desert.

Q: beside Israel, what other nation is entirely physically fenced in?

True, the US has built a separation wall on its border with Mexico, but it does not yet have a physical wall on its northern border with Canada, although it had been suggested by some. That plan was scrapped; instead, drones, "boots on the ground and greater integration with Canadian law enforcement" will be manning the border (and I think 'manning' is not sexist in this usage as most of those "boots" will be male and the ideology of militarism and security come firmly from militarised masculinity and the power of the male military hierarchy, even though there are women eager to perform hegemonic masculine militarism).  

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu said the fence [through the Negev]

"was a sign of improved Israeli security. He has called the fence evidence of his efforts to insulate Israel from the turmoil of the Arab Spring revolutions and the influx of mostly Eritrean and Sudanese migrants, which he has portrayed as a national-security threat. ... Israeli security officials say Sinai has increasingly become a haven for militants from the Gaza Strip, local Bedouin tribes and global jihadist groups. Israel is also building a fence on the border with Syria, the prime minister's office said."

Netanyahu's rationale echoes the security apparatus and Islamophobic discourse common in Western nation states such as Canada and the US, a discourse embedded with racism of which Israel has its own multiple forms.

Ironically, the workers who have been building the barrier along Israel's border with Egypt are the very people that Israel wants to keep out of the country and one of the reasons it is building the 'fence': the Sudanese.

Israel already has a 'fence' along most of its border with Syria, but Israel is adding to it as well as fortifying it (appropriate word, 'fortifying' as it is linked to settler colonials building forts against the so-called natives).

Below is a photo of part of the Israeli security wall along what Israel defines as its border with Syria.

After finishing the 'security fence' along the Egyptian border, Israel will then build a 'security fence' along its border with Jordan.

Also, Israel has been busy fortifying its 'fence' along its border with Lebanon:

I wonder if these are "Arab Isreali" workers building the 'security fence'?

Of the 'security fence' being built along Israel's border with Egypt, deputy director general of the Israeli Defense Ministry, Brig. Gen. (res. ) Bezalel Treiber states:"It is indeed a monster...Seen from the Egyptian side, the fence overall is quite frightening."

Mice may well burrow their way to the other side, but will other desert animals pass in their migratory routes? And what of the Bedouin, whose traditional migratory land this is?

The 'fences' mapping out the borders of Israel are part of its system of segregation, of which the Apartheid Wall is its most heinous human rights abuser. It not only appropriates Palestinian land, but causes untold suffering to Palestinians caught in its oppressive encircling through restricting and preventing access to lands, education, health, recreations, community, religious institutions and is a formidable military tool of death, injury, and humiliation to Palestinians. 

image source: Tear Down the Wall 

This image is very gothic. I'm reminded of Frankenstein. It is dystopian. The wall is, of course, horrifically detrimental to the Palestinians, but what must it be like for the Israeli soldiers who go inside this dungeon? 

$10 million & 9 million of Canadian taxpayer dollars

The Canadian government wastes exorbitant amounts of taxpayers' money on security and corruption. In an example that has recently come to light, Canadians don't even know exactly how much was spent! Meanwhile, those on social assistance or employment insurance (which used to be called 'unemployment insurance') are accountable for every last red dollar--including getting 'home visits' if the feds think you're lying.

For the dam --or should I say, damn-- project, we only know that about 10 million dollars was paid to a private security firm--and we know that this company is well known for its links to crime and corruption. Interesting, but not surprisingly, one of our own Canadian crime-and-corruption firms, SNC-Lavalin, is again caught up in scandal and, most likely, illegal actions. SNC-Lavalin, a powerful Canadian engineering firm/military contractor, is part of yet another outrageous mis-use of funds, and no doubt corruption and paying off powerful elites plays a role in the Dahla dam case in Afghanistan, as they did in Lavalin's corrupt dealings with repressive power lords in Libya:

Canada spent about $10 million on security in Afghanistan at its $50-million Dahla dam project, where private security contractors were linked to allegations of corruption and involved in an armed standoff with Canadian security officials.

One of Canada’s signature projects in Afghanistan, the Dahla dam was guarded in part by Watan Risk Management, a controversial Afghan security firm with alleged ties to crime and corruption. How much they were paid remains secret.

The Canadian International Development Agency contracted the project to SNC-Lavalin, which was responsible for security.

There's no other word but outrageous for this disgusting abuse of taxpayers' money. Where are the regulations and overseers to prevent this kind of crime? Seems our neoliberal government supports "security" and paying off foreign firms with terrible records of criminality. Maybe $10m is a drop in the bucket, as it seems $9 million was also spent covering up crime: this time on greenwashing environmental destruction:

 The Canadian government's ad campaign hid the gutting of environmental laws.

Great Grandmother Whitefish

Whitefish

A couple of Sundays I go when I was out for a walk along the waterfront, I stopped to read one of the new 'history posts' that are scattered along spots on the walkway. On this one overlooking the boat slips, I read about the start of the lake fishing industry in the early days when this Traditional Territory was speeding along into a settler community and economy. I was saddened to read that huge schools of large old whitefish were quickly depleted. There are no longer any huge schools of nine kilo whitefish.

When I got home, I wrote a poem about the whitefish. The poem is still rough around the edges, but here it is.

Angling for Whitefish

By 1920

the rainforest of fish

inland sea of pale-green

brown-backed silver white

deer of the Lakes—

Whitefish,

Sister of Salmon—

was exhausted.

Yet, before the settlers,

Whitefish,

ancient underwater

understory of the forest

of water swam and swam

in a never-ending cycle, 

collecting wisdom in 

the hump on her back.

Seeking cold silence in summer,

Great Great Grandmother

Ancestor Atikamek

swam along the depths

but when Freezing Moon called

She returned to swim

closer to sky.

Sister of Salmon

swam in the underwater bountiful

Her nine kilos of silvery scales

flashed white

in a slow dance

above the dark stones.

Circling through the seasons,

Ancestor Deer

collected great age 

and animal wisdom,

stored them in the hump

on her back. 

Then, the captain

of commerce came

from Chicago

with his nets of profit

and offers of jobs –

jobs for hungry settlers.

In a language

that had no sacred grammar for

Ancestor Atikamek

newsboys on Cumberland Street

cried “Free Trade!”

before the term was even invented

by neo-cons in the 1980s.

Whatever the term,

the terms are clear:

The captains of industry

fished out the forest

cut down the 800 year old Ancestors

swimming in the glacial waters

at the bottom of the Lake.

Above,

the Thunderbirds

circled.

 

protective eye

A few years ago, on a road trip up into the mountains of north Lebanon, we traveled along the holy Qadisha Valley, up Mount el-Makmel, passed the village of Bcharre, and stopped at the Horst Arz (The Forest of the Cedars of God) where the artisans sell their souvenirs.

The cedar trees and grove at Horst Arz is a remnant of a once magnificent and huge sacred forest of cedars. The cedars that are left are survivors of thousands of years of travelers and takers. From building ships, temples, and palaces, to using its resin for Egyptian mummification and its wood for sacred fires, the cedars of the holy Qadisha Valley have been prized. 

This particular tree, to me, is symbolic of the destruction of this once magnificent and holy forest. It has been mutilated. The small remnant forest on the side of Mount Makmel is a protected area. There is a path through the cedars that you pay to enter. Last year when I visited Lebanon, we went on different road trips. The cedars I saw at Tannourine, to me, were much more impressive. Traveling to Lebanon right now, however, is not practical. 

the dangerous mathematical formula of finance

This is not an inkblot test but if it was a Rorschach Test what might this waterscape on a misty morning say about your emotional state? Calm? Depressed? Dismal? Soft? What? I took this photo from the overpass looking down at the breakwater in Lake Superior.

People see different things in the landscape around them, and read things differently. Some read way too much into what's before them. For example, in Toronto, an artist's mural on a railway underpass wall, which he was paid by the city to paint, was erased this Monday by the same city, which "used grey and white paint to completely blot out the mathematical formula incorporating Morse code symbols and grim-faced businessmen with yellow halos" because, because why?

Because one person complained that it was a political message with an anti-Stephen Harper message:

Elyse Parker, a director in [Toronto] city’s transportation services department, said the artwork was erased after a resident complained it was political. City records suggested the older north wall mural was commissioned, but not the one on the south wall, she said.

“This was not approved by the city and we would not endorse any kind of mural with political messaging,” she said. “There was some discussion that the mural referred to Stephen Harper. That’s the suggestion, that’s what it looked like to us.”

Richardson [the artist] says the mural “had nothing to do with Stephen Harper” — while it is “subversive and anti-freewheeling capitalism” — and his friend Benjamin Blais was the model for the businessman.

Good grief. What sort of censorship is this? Isn't art supposed to provoke reactions? Get people to think? Shouldn't we have MORE art like this that challenges people to think about what they're living inside of? Participating in?

This over-reaction says something about the conservative mindset that is in power in Toronto's municipal government. See the "offensive" artwork below:
which now looks more like this:
Seriously, I think some folks working for Toronto City Hall need to have their heads examined. Either that or someone needs to make some art about it.....maybe Joel Richardson, the artist of the dangerous math of capitalism will get paid to make more art now thanks to the city's really stupid move that's sure to create quite the buzz........

a walk on Mother's Day

Question: What do you suppose this is? Can you guess? I walk by it each Sunday when I pick up Tassu on my way down to walk over the overpass and along the shore of Lake Superior.
I have been out for my morning walks, although I have been leaving a bit later than usual because I have been staying up too late working. I pass quite a few anglers on the shore of McVicar's Creek these days trying to catch rainbow trout. Although the creek is long, they seem to bunch up in the same place, where the rapids are. Yesterday I passed the police who had driven their cruiser up the path to stop and question two Anishnawbe folks, Victor and his new friend, who were standing by the creek. The cops said, Morning, Ma'am, to me; I was not stopped for being on the path. I don't know how many times Victor gets questioned by the cops as this is not the first time I've seen them stop him. I will tell you my story about Victor later.

On Mother's Day, before I went over to have cake and coffee with my Mother and bring her the hanging basket I had bought her, I picked up Tassu and walked down to the lakeshore, where the water was still as glass. There wasn't a breath of wind to be found anywhere. You could see the morning sky reflected in the waters of Lake Superior.

My Mother had made a lovely whipped cream cake, which we, my Mother, my sister, Katja, and I, ate with yogurt ice cream. Later, I made a coffee crunch cake and brought it over to some friends who had invited my husband and me over for a visit. They had bought cake with whipped cream to share with us. Later on Mother's Day, my son brought over a New York style cheesecake that he had baked, with blueberry topping. At this point, all caked out, I said I think I'll eat a slice of that cheesecake tomorrow.
I saw the mink running along the rocks, close to the water's edge, and earlier I saw a groundhog pop up its head out of the rocks, but I have noticed that there are less ducks around because of the ongoing construction at the marina.
Answer: melted plastic in the window (see it on the right) of someone's old trailer that sits in a lot I cut through on my way down to the lake. Some Finlander could make a good sauna out of this old unused trailer (scroll down for instructions to get you started!)

Tomorrow I will tell you about my travelling sauna.

snow scenes in my city

There are few houses with icicles as long as the icicles dripping down from the roof of my home. When it is brilliantly sunny, as it is today and has been for the last few days, regardless that it is -20c something, the sun still manages to do its magic. Behind the rooftops of homes and garages in my neighbourhood you can see an imposing looking old brick institution. That was a high school that has since shut down, so it sits empty.
Here is a photo from my walk yesterday. We had a lot of light snow fall all day long, making everything look clean, white, and pure. As you know if you are a regular reader of my blog, I like to walk down back lanes. Walking down back lanes is great in the winter as you are protected from the winds and, as well, there is next-to-no vehicle traffic. So it's quiet, except at times for barking dogs that growl at you as they run back and forth behind fences. Also, in back lanes the ground is earth, not paved, so it is more forgiving on the feet, ankles, and knees. Of course, this doesn't make as much difference in the winter as the snow underfoot cushions your step.
Here is a photo taken from the parking lot at Lakehead University, after I stepped out of my car. Along one edge of the parking lot, there is a strip of old tall spruce and tamarack, among other trees. Last month, I saw a lynx run into this strip of wood, on its way to somewhere else as this is not a wild spot. Indeed, in the area around the university, more and more urban forest is being taken down for "development." Thunder Bay is more a car culture than a place of public transit, so the university has a lot of parking lots. I am one of those car culture folks who takes her car to work rather than wait for public transit. This is a pretty edge of one of the lots. I will show you other photos later; I will go up to the fifth floor of the ATAC building and take some photos of our parking lots.

a happy ending for one horse

horse rescued from flood waters in Australia.

When she was a girl, my sister had a love affair with horses, especially Palaminos. This love probably came from some tv show we used to watch, possibly Roy Rogers. She still has the china Palamino that she got to replace getting a real horse. Today, my sister has a love affair going with a blackbird. However, she has expressed her lament for his return on her blog.

Well, bird numbers plummet due to a number of reasons, including:

1. our love of plantation (i.e. inexpensive) coffee (birds lose their habitat);
2. use of pesticides (pesticides can kill birds directly, poison them without killing them directly, or affect them by reducing their food or habitat resources);
3. demand for new homes (More than 50 percent of all wetlands in the contiguous U.S., and many of the wetlands in Canada, have been drained or filled since the time of European settlement);
4. and demand for cheap industrially produced food (10 million blackbirds killed over the years as crop pests, as I wrote about some time ago).

I wonder why few news reports about the recent sudden bird deaths explore reasons of corporate capitalism? Even the argument that perhaps weather is the culprit cannot be blamed in isolation. Haven't we humans been playing havoc with the weather through our consumer lifestyles and demand for leisure, efficiency, and cheap prices NOW?

And Martha Rosenberg asks, isn't it a bit ironic that "The Blackbird Killers [are] Sent to Investigate [the recent] Blackbird Deaths"?

"Do wildlife officials feel just a little hypocritical answering media questions about the New Year's Eve blackbird "rain" when they know they kill 200 times that amount a year as "pests"?

In 2009 the US Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), part of USDA, says it poisoned 489,444 red-winged blackbirds in Texas and 461,669 in Louisiana. It also shot 4,217 blackbirds in California, 2,246 in North Dakota and 1,063 in Oregon according to its posted records.

We won't even talk about the starlings, crows, ravens, doves, geese, owls (yes owls) hawks, pigeons, ducks, larks, woodpeckers and coots our tax dollars annihilated to benefit ranchers, farmers and other private interests. Or the squirrels, rabbits, badgers, bobcats, beavers, woodchucks, coyotes, opossums, raccoons and mountain lions.

The he-men at the Wildlife Service also shot 29 great blue herons, 820 cattle egrets and 115 white-faced ibises in 2009, despite the known dangers of approaching shore birds."

the blue glow of Earth

"the soft blue glow" of Earth below the Moon. photo by Douglas Wheelock, NASA astronaut.

A necessary diversion from my shopping story: the wonder of our beautiful Earth. I stumbled upon these amazing photos and I wanted to share their magic with you. They are Douglas Wheelock's photos and words from space. He tweeted images and words from space this past fall. I have spent most of the last hour going through his photos, dumbstruck by the sheer wonder and sacredness they evoke. The peace and awe that Wheelock shares through his words is tangible. You can find more of his incredibly beautiful and stirring images here.

"On this sacred night, when the aurora looked like rain, I reflected back on my childhood dreams of flying a spaceship through the infinite expanse of space... to be among the mosaic of billions of stars, and visit other worlds. Now as I look from space at our planet I realize that had I been born and spent my childhood here in space... how much greater and more vivid my dreams would have been to visit this blue planet."

"Another breathtaking sunset…we get 16 of these each day in Earth orbit, each one a treasured moment. That beautiful thin blue line is what makes our home so special in the cosmos. Space is cool…but, the Earth is a raging explosion of life in a vast sea of darkness."

night view of the Nile River

"An explosion of color, motion, and life painted on the canvas of our wonderful world. This is a section of the Great Barrier Reef off the eastern coast of Australia, captured through a 1200mm lens. I think even the great Impressionists would be awestruck with this natural display."

"My 100th Tweet!...Of all the beauty of our planet, I am completely awestruck when I get a chance to watch the dance of Aurora …simply breathtaking… “Surrounded by Your glory, what will my heart feel?... I can only imagine…”