The WordPress.com stats system prepared a 2011 annual report for my blog…check the detail below:
Here’s an excerpt:
The concert hall at the Syndey Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 8,600 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 3 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.
Mohamed Bouazizi, a name that made it into history on December 17th 2010. From Tunisia, a man self-immolated himself to defend his dignity, his poverty, his own values and principles. This was enough to ignite an already suppressed, angry and dignified nation.
Tunisia, lead by Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, a dictator for 23 years with full support from the US, France and the so called “International Society”, has been liberated by the people on the 15th of January 2011.
Days after, the light of dignity and sense of empowerment of grassroots revolution reached Egypt, Jordan, Yemen and Algeria.
Egypt’s “Day of Anger”, on the 25th of January 2011, started a wave of protests and demonstrations in the various Egyptian cities asking for the dictator Husni Mubarak to step down. Until this day, the dictator didn’t leave and the protests have not stopped and are infact growing in numbers and power in spite of all the government’s cheap moves.
Husni Mubarak, a dictator that asked his police and secret service to wear civilian clothes and cause chaos, made the police in most cities leave their positions and let the cities be populated with looters and chaos makers to reek havoc in the streets, houses and important historic sites. The government shut down internet and phone connections, turned its back on the jails to let the detained flee to cause more chaos in the streets in an attempt to make the righteous demands and civilized demonstrations of the Egyptians seem more like a war zone. All the attempts to make the people seem like they are thieves and killers, instead of the dignified nation they are demanding for their rights, for democracy, for a government that represents them and their thinking, a nation asking for a leader that works for them and not a corrupt dictator that is failing his country.
Sooner or later, Husni Mubarak will leave, because the Arab Nation is awakening and what started in Tunisia will not end in Egypt.
It is about time that the Arabs shed that old worn-out cloth of humiliation, division, discrimination, dictatorship and so called “leaders” who are puppets in the hands of the US, Europe and Israel.
The sense of dignity, faith in values, and belief in principles will rise again. That once visible and lately invisible line that has always been connecting all Arabs wherever they are on the globe will come back strong and proud.
I am not a fortune teller and definitely not a political analyst. I am a proud Arab, a thinker and an activist that has always been wondering when will this phase of shame in the Arab world depart, and now that flag of dignity, pride and magnanimity is rising… slowly but surely!
May all free men, all the thinkers, all believers in democracy, all supporters of grassroots, all human rights activists stand side by side with the Arab Nations as they stand up and demand for their rights…a new sun is rising!
Time alone will tell…
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Name of Organization: Amnesty International
Date of Origin: July 1961
Founder: Peter Benenson
Motto: It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness
Vision: Amnesty International’s vision is for every person to enjoy all the rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights standards.
Mission: Amnesty International’s mission is to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated.
Objectives & Work:
Amnesty International is a worldwide movement of people who campaign for internationally recognized human rights to be respected and protected for everyone.
They believe human rights abuses anywhere are the concern of people everywhere. So, outraged by human rights abuses but inspired by hope for a better world, they work to improve people’s lives through campaigning and international solidarity.
Their members and supporters exert influence on governments, political bodies, companies and intergovernmental groups. Activists take up human rights issues by mobilizing public pressure through mass demonstrations, vigils and direct lobbying as well as online and offline campaigning.
There are six key areas which Amnesty deals with:
History:
In 1961 a British lawyer, Peter Benenson, launched a worldwide campaign, ‘Appeal for Amnesty 1961’ with the publication of a prominent article, ‘The Forgotten Prisoners’, in The Observer newspaper. The imprisonment of two Portuguese students, who had raised their wine glasses in a toast to freedom, moved Benenson to write this article. His appeal was reprinted in other papers across the world and turned out to be the genesis of Amnesty International.
The first international meeting was held in July, with delegates from Belgium, the UK, France, Germany, Ireland, Switzerland and the US. They decided to establish “a permanent international movement in defense of freedom of opinion and religion”.
A small office and library, staffed by volunteers, opened in Peter Benenson’s chambers, in Mitre Court, London. The ’Threes Network‘ was established through which each Amnesty International group adopted three prisoners from contrasting geographical and political areas, emphasizing the impartiality of the group’s work.
On Human Rights Day, 10 December 1961, the first Amnesty candle was lit in the church of St-Martin-in-the-Fields, London.
In January 1962 the first research trip was undertaken. This trip to Ghana, was followed by Czechoslovakia in February (on behalf of a prisoner of conscience, Archbishop Josef Beran), and then to Portugal and East Germany.
The Prisoner of Conscience Fund was established to provide relief to prisoners and their families. AI’s first annual report was published; it contained details of 210 prisoners who had been adopted by 70 groups in seven countries; in addition, 1,200 cases were documented in the Prisoners of Conscience Library.
At a conference in Belgium, a decision was made to set up a permanent organization that will be known as Amnesty International.
In 1963, Amnesty International now comprised 350 groups – there was a two-year total of 770 prisoners adopted and 140 released. The International Secretariat (Amnesty International’s headquarters) was established in London.
Website: www.amnesty.org
Well I wasn’t planning on publishing a post today, but the current political stance in Lebanon is just too much for me to stay silent.
I ask myself, and all those reading my post, to take a deep breath and reflect on all what is going on and consider the following.
The US, Saudi Arabia, Syria, France, Qatar, Iran and last but not least Turkey are all supporting the Lebanese sovereignty, civil peace and rule of law. Nevertheless they allow themselves, so freely and so publicly, to engage in Lebanese politics, meet politicians, make deals, negotiate, threaten, support one group over the other…etc.
All that just to ensure our SOVEREIGNTY … ironic right?
Well it doesn’t stop there…they even hold meetings in their own countries (ie Saudi/US meeting in US, Turkey/Qatar/Syrian meeting in Syria..etc) to discuss and agree on HOW should Lebanon be governed in the coming phase. After that they exchange agreements, refuse deals, work on others and they come here to discuss it with the Lebanese politicians (not strictly the officials…they visit anyone and everyone they want from heads of political parties to individual parliamentarians to ex-ministers…etc) …so much for sovereignty!!
Mind you I’m not against diplomacy, international affairs and all the care that Lebanon has always had from the fellow Arab nations and the world, yet I don’t think any country EVER has the right to intervene, directly or indirectly, in the internal affairs.
It’s funny and sad at the same time to see nations coming to teach us about diplomacy, democracy, rule of law, what’s right and what’s not…yet most of them just support one party and work with them in a way that ignites polarity in the country, links all the politicians’ decisions and actions with what is agreed on outside the country and put pressure on how should our government and officials act and work to suit the international agenda.
Lebanon..my dear beloved country, is struggling …gasping for a breath …and yet all those countries come in to support its sovereignty, but instead of saving it, they’re strangling us all!!!
Ironic…and very very sad
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