[24 July 13] Critics slam Harper govt. Economic Action Plan ads - English
Almost every Canadian will have encountered at some point the Harper government\'s eye-catching Economic Action Plan advertisements. The government...
Almost every Canadian will have encountered at some point the Harper government\'s eye-catching Economic Action Plan advertisements. The government claims the advertisements are necessary to educate Canadians on various government initiatives. But a newly released poll indicates that the ads have been ineffective.
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US buys ads in Pakistan to counter anti-Islam video - 20SEP12 - English
The US government has spent $70,000 to buy airtime on the Pakistani airwaves in hopes of countering fervor around an anti-Islam video created by a...
The US government has spent $70,000 to buy airtime on the Pakistani airwaves in hopes of countering fervor around an anti-Islam video created by a California producer. The ad features Barack Obama, the US president, and Hillary Clinton, secretary of state, saying the government of the United States had absolutely nothing to do with the video. Running on seven networks, the department of state hopes the TV messages can reach up to 90 million
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Anti Anti-Islam-Campaign Activist Arrested in US - 25SEP12 - English
Freedom of speech became under attack in the United States Wednesday when New York cops arrested the American writer and human rights activist Mona...
Freedom of speech became under attack in the United States Wednesday when New York cops arrested the American writer and human rights activist Mona El-Tahawy because it sprayed the pro-Zionist and offensive poster against Islam pasted in New York subway stations.
“I’m expressing myself freely against hate and racism,” she told an anti-Islam activist while trying to prevent her from spraying the offensive poster.
Anti-Islam posters campaign was launched Tuesday in New York metro, describing Muslims as \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"savages\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" and Zionists as “civilized.”
New York Times posted Wednesday a video showing the arrest of Tahawy, 45. She is active in women’s rights and a commentator in the US New York Times and Washington Post dailies, alongside the Zionist Jerusalem Post newspaper.
Anti-Islam poster in New York subway stations“In any war between the civilized man and the savage, support the civilized man,” the offensive poster read.
It concludes with the words, “Support Israel. Defeat Jihad,” wedged between two Stars of David.
The city council first rejected the ads would be publicly displayed given reasons that the ad’s language was ‘demeaning’.
But after losing a federal court ruling on First Amendment grounds, the MTA said the ads were expected to appear next week at 10 subway stations.
“Our hands are tied,” said Aaron Donovan, a spokesman for the authority.
Tahawy has repeatedly rejected in public violent practices committed by some groups under the banner of Islam and Muslims.
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Miniature Earth - English
Friends, let this not come as a surprise to you. This is the reality we are living in where it is ‘estimated that one billion people in the world...
Friends, let this not come as a surprise to you. This is the reality we are living in where it is ‘estimated that one billion people in the world suffer from hunger and malnutrition. That’s roughly 100 times as many as those who actually die from these causes each year. About 24,000 people die every day from hunger or hunger related causes… Three-fourths of the deaths are children under the age of five.’
--HOW YOU CAN HELP --
Don’t waste natural resources. Be thankful to God for His gifts and blessings. Be mindful of your responsibility toward other human beings. Think about what the Prophet (saws) would do. Have mercy and compassion toward all humankind. Next time you spend money on those unnecessary luxuries of your life, think for a moment about the plight of the poor and oppressed around the world. Be aware of the materialistic forces and the contradictions of the dominant economic systems that are at the roots of global inequality. Don’t become a part of this system. Don’t become a slave of consumerism and endless materialistic competition.
Understand that it is not enough to just keep yourself from engaging in consumerism. It's not always easy to protect yourself and your family against the multi-billion dollar industry of marketing. Join forces with other like-minded people. Strengthen your communities that can serve as a buffer against corporations. Engage in collective action. Transform people's consciousness and hyper-consumeristic lifestyles. Among other things, join a local organization that is working against subtle forms of oppression, like hunger, poverty, illiteracy, domestic violence, anorexia and bulimia, perfect body images, and endless materialistic competition. If there isn’t any, start one today!
For ideas, you can look into doing online activism. Check out moveon.org’s work. Some online organizations also invite web surfers to click on their sites regularly. They say every click earns them revenue to support their causes. The Hunger Site is an example. Some may also invite you to buy their T-shirts and other souvenirs. I guess, you can buy these items if you think they can help spread the word and encourage people to join a good cause. But, in general, more shopping and more consumption cannot be a solution to human suffering. Selling consumers to products through clicks or ads is exactly what we need to shun. Because that feeds into the same loop of consumerism. My suggestion: Donate directly! And, encourage others to do the same!
Lastly, remember the advice Imam Ali gave in his Last Will:
“My advice to you is to be conscious of Allah and steadfast in your religion. Do not yearn for the world, and do not be seduced by it. Do not resent anything you have missed in it. Proclaim the truth; work for the next world. Oppose the oppressor and support the oppressed.”
Become a friend and supporter of oppressed people and an enemy of oppressors and all forms of oppression."
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The smell in the air of supermarkets - Raj Patel - English
A related story from LA Times: How businesses coax shoppers into buying....
A related story from LA Times: How businesses coax shoppers into buying.
http://www.latimes.com/health/la-he-shopping-psychology-20101122,0,1283284,full.story
This is a good summary of the tactics that businesses use to coax shoppers into spending. The article also illuminates how the ideology of 'choice' can be illusionary. I may think that I am buying this particular item out of my personal, independent choice, but in reality that choice or preference is conditioned by a number of stimuli, both within the store and from outside (ads, culture, media).
An important question that Raj Patel raises in the full speech is to what extent conscious buying can really help solve the problems of global economy, social justice, and the environment. Raj Patel's full speech:
http://fora.tv/2008/05/16/Raj_Patel_Discusses_Stuffed_and_Starved
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