Comments on issues raised by BBC WHYS

The suicide of Guantanamo detainees should be seen a moment to reflect upon the raison d’être of this detention centre. It’s a reminder of former Japanese detention centres in the US during the WWII where the Japanese were detained because their country was at war with the US. If the principle is “a suspect is innocent until proven guilty”, the US should publish the other charges against the detainees apart from being caught in Afghanistan fighting for Bin Laden.
The US had better start their trial on its soil or in an international court. The world must know the specific charge of each detainee. Keeping them in detention without trial will just tarnish the image of the US, which set itself as the champion of human rights. Further suicide by the detainees should be prevented not to let their brothers in terror exploit it to their advantage and before rising voices from influential governments and humanitarian organisations for its definitive closure tarnish the image of the US as defiant of international agreements on human rights.
More suicide will cause more embarrassment and damage to the US, fuelling more suicide attacks in countries like Iraq and Afghanistan.

Situation in Iraq
Iraqis had the hard luck of being in constant crises from the start of the Iran-Iraq War, the economic embargo following Kuwait invasion by Saddam. Their economic hardship has become coupled by continuous violence, which replaced Saddam’s repressive measures. Iraqi need security. Without it, any economic project like electricity or water pipes can be vandalised by insurgents or criminals.
The situation in Iraq is everybody’s responsibility. People in responsibility from top to bottom should have clean hands. All must do away with corruption and violence. The wealth of Iraq, especially, oil must equitably be shared by the Iraqis regardless of geographical situations. National security can be achieved through national trust between the different sections of Iraqi society. As Iraq is made of Shiva, Sunni and Kurds, these sections should have practical autonomy within national unity. But continuing to wrangle about the style of government indefinitely will make Iraq permanently unstable.
As we say, God helps he who helps himself. Iraqis can’t continue depending utterly on outside help – foreign forces for their security or the good intentions of their neighbours. They should have good intentions towards one another and defend their security as one nation.

Situation in Afghanistan
Afghanistan has been a difficult country to rule at least since the soviet invasion in the 80’s. Throughout those years of occupation, the Afghan were manipulated by foreign forces, mainly the Mujahidin under the military support of the US. After the withdrawal of the Russian and the dismantling of the Soviet Union, the Afghans were left under the rule of the Taliban who brought Afghanistan ages back, culturally and economically. So a whole generation of Afghans had little exposure to modern ways but to continuous fighting for leadership or the monopoly of drug trade. The US intervention after 9/11 did little to change the face of the whole of Afghanistan as more importance was given to particular regions like Kabul. The rest of the country kept its awkward pace in development. So it’s no wonder if there are riots – spontaneous or orchestrated -as different periods of rule – Soviet, Taliban, current American backed government – did little to make Afghanistan a stable country. It is enough to know it is one of the poorest countries with GNI per capita not exceeding US $400 where it is dangerous for foreigners to go about without being under escort.
So to fight the spread of terrorism from Afghanistan is to better the livelihood of ordinary afghan instead of letting them subject to runaway Taliban, drug lords and inefficient government that can’t survive a day without the protection of foreign forces.

PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES
The tragedy of the Palestinians is that they are at crossfire from all sides. After more than 50 years of resistance for independence, their leaders of different factions didn’t manage to come up with a national agreement of what political system they should have that preserve their unity and put them in a strong position to negotiate with the international community about the future state they should have. Isreal, which has a wide influence, especially, in Western Europe and the United States of America exploits this division to delay the setup of a Palestinian state. What has aggravated their cause is the coming of Hamas to power. But Hamas is powerless since it is not recognised by the US and Israel because of its refusal to recognise Isreal and its adopting terrorist attacks against it. This has led to the cut of help to the Palestinians, who unfortunately will continue to pay for the division between Fatah and Hamas and the refusal of Israel to recognise them as a people worthy of full independence. But the international community should consider the Palestinian territories as a disaster zone in view of the state in which it is now and send them humanitarian aid – for them not to fall in famine which can turn into a human catastrophe in the region.
Tuesday, 09 May 2006 23:19

LOVE & POLITICS
Nothing can unite the Israeli and the Palestinians but mutual recognition and cooperation on all side. They have a long shared history with hate and love. Intermarriage can cement the relations between the two people as shared blood can attenuate hatred. But in view of the situation in Isreal and the Palestinian authorities, there is still mutual suspicion about the act of marriage between the two sides . Even the Muslim hardliners don’t like this kind of marriage due to the ancient feud they have with the Jews. The only thing that can eradicate this law is when the Jewish state becomes constitutionally secular. But as Judaism is the basis for Isreal laws, it can be hard to see an end to this act, especially, when there are Palestinian factions threatening to blow up Isreal off the world map and continuously planning attacks.
So this act is more politically than racially motivated. After all Arabs and Jews are Semitic. Only politics make them think and act differently.
Like religion and state that should be set apart, so should love and politics. Even married couples of the same race can have different political views and vote differently. In the case of mixed marriage in Israel, especially, between Palestinians and Israelis, the risk of terrorism shouldn’t be used as an excuse to stand between human relationships. Isreal has enough means to detect woul-be terrorists. On the contrary, lovers on both sides should be allowed to enjoy their passion without obstruction.
So Isreal by standing between genuine lovers from the Palestinians and Israelis sides is building another wall between them. Outlawing such relations is another form of its attempt of disengagement from Palestinian affairs. But people have the right to the pursuit of happiness. Love will make people peaceful. Standing in their relations makes them violent. So the law is groundlessly motivated. It is based on xenophobia and it can have the adverse effect in the long run.
Blog Wednesday, 17 May 2006 12:15

SEX AND AGE
The launching of a political party for allowing child pornography and bestiality is a threat to human values. Children should be trained to be mature adults and not to be exposed to sex when they need education in ethics. If such is allowed, we may in the future hear about preschools preparing children for prostitution at the age of 12. There can be calls for parents to marry their children or legally have sex with them. Children should be protected and not exposed to facts of life until they are old enough to decide for their sexual orientations. They should not be used for the sexual satisfaction of adults.
For bestiality, we may, in the future, hear calls to legalise marriage between humans and animals with the possibility of ceremonies taking place in church.
In short, this prospective party is calling for an all-out anarchy where there can be no notion or separation of right and wrong. Are the Dutch heading for a new brave world if the ideas of this party take a firm hold on their society?
Wednesday, 31 May 2006 13:53

GAY MARRIAGE
The US was founded on religious basis. There are incidences in which morality was a big issue, especially during the Prohibition era. Many presidential campaigns were based on the return to moral values. Bush is trying to establish moral values that are likely to be supported by the Right, which has been at odd with the liberals on many issues like abortion. So Pt Bush opposition to gay marriage is an attempt to revive conservative attitudes that seem to be eroding under the spread of liberal ones.
But even banning gay marriage can’t stop open gay relationship, especially, among influential stars who can set the example for gay rights. Gays still can have free relationship like heterosexuals who live together. But gay marriage practice is the natural consequence of the freedom enjoyed by gays so far. To ban homosexuality, which has led to gay marriage in some American states, is like trying to turn the clock back – before the birth of Pt Bush when gays couldn’t go public. It remains to see how convincing George Bush will be to win public and congressional support on this issue.
Tuesday, 06 June 2006 15:27

On Sundays, churches in the Christian world used to be packed by believers to have inspiration and guidance. Today soccer has become the new religion for many as they take more pain to get to see their favorite teams at whatever cost. Stadiums are packed with supporters chanting for their teams instead of the halleluiah. Players have become idol. Fans know the great fortune they can get from the game. They don’t envy them for that. They want them to go on entertaining. Their lives become mixed with their favourite players because they believe in their honest play.

But when a club like Juventus lowers itself to cheat for the sake of winning matches, the game loses its appeal. Fans find no reason to go wild in case of victory or to get bitter in case of loss. Cheating in such a game is an attack on the feelings of fans and making little of their regard for their favourite team.
Sport in general should remain noble. It should not be commercialised to the point of having insiders who totally spoil the pleasure of the game.

Monday, 05 June 2006

World Football Cup has become a big business. Gone the days when it was possible to watch matches on national TV without paying a cent. Now the game is monopolised by cable channels that make a great profit from the great enthusiasm of football fans who can’t have access to stadiums. In the past, it was a privilege to go to the host country and watch the game. But even this has become difficult even when one has the financial means as seats are subject to quota.

For viewers in many developing countries where the purchasing power isn’t so high, watching the game on TV has become a privilege as they need subscription to a cable channel. In Morocco, people won’t’t have the chance to watch the matches in full and live as the Moroccan channels RTM and 2M didn’t’t reach an agreement with ART (a cable Arab channel) which monopolises the match transmissions in the Arab world. ART charged a very high price to both channels. They can watch the game on ADSL TV. But only a few have Internet connection at home. So like miserable fans, they will be watching just highlights of this tournament TV daily reports or on free sport channels.

Friday, 09 June 2006 13:48
In a previous message, I mentioned the hard luck of the Moroccans who Can’t watch the World Cup on the Moroccan channels RTM and 2M because of ART which charged a high price for the match transmissions. Now after the intercession of King Mohamed VI, they can watch part of it: the opening match, semi final matches, and the final match. The BBC published an article on the website entitled: North Africa world cup fear. In this article, there are explanations why North Africans can’t watch the 64 World Cup matches on their national TV channels. Now with the last minute change there is just a partial World Cup TV Blackout in Morocco.

June 16th, 2006
Finally, the Moroccans managed to do without ART lucrative demands to watch the World Cup. They got plenty of satellite channels which are transmitting the matches free of charge. ART made this exuberant change because the commentary is in Arabic. However, the Moroccans are multilingual. They can adapt to any commentary. After all the beauty of football is the game, not the sweet voice of the commentator.

Despite the quantity of the news with which we are bombarded everyday, it is hard to get the whole truth about all matters we want to know about. There are matters that are considered as state secrets. We can see, for example, heads of states holding press conferences, answering media questions but they will never divulge what has gone behind doors. Journalists can find it difficult to reach the truth of what is going on. However informative and objective they try to be, they can’t report about the inside and outside of everything if they can’t access the information they need without hindrance. But the media isn’t all about politics. There are other aspects they can report about – for example those about society, sport, science etc.
As long as there is no total freedom of the press – as it is the case in many government controlled media- the news become just mere propaganda in which there is no space for free reporting. The media become just a form of bureaucracy in which the journalists have to abide by directives, otherwise they would risk dire consequences.
The other negative aspect of the media is the commercialisation of the news channels in which advertisements and the constant worry to keep a high viewing rate decide the quality and quantity of the news. The news become more an entertaining show than an informative one.
Personally, I trust the BBC for its balanced reporting. It has “hard” means to squeeze information as in its famous program “Hard Talk”. It has renowned reporters who are good at breaking the news without breaking their level of objectivity for which the BBC is known since its creation.

Today some say that there is too much news, as there are too many news channels. Some say that news organisations are owned by commercial companies whose aim is not to give facts but to attract the audience to the news just to show them advertised products. In some channels the news are broken in at least every 10 minutes to present a commercial. Some channels are politically biased especially those owned by governments. They do not present the two sides of the story. There are biased channels whose aim is not to report facts but to interpret them in line with the ideology they represent. The BBC has been the avant-garde in many aspects. It has given a voice to its audience through interactive programmes like Have Your Say editions. The rules for participating are based on expressing opinions without hurting the other side because for example of racial or sexual differences. Its website is one of the richest in the world. The BBC has been trustworthy since its creation and it will surely continue as long as it keeps its strategy to satisfy all tendencies without seeking to attract one at the expense of the other.