Video: Black History Special: Jazz Legend Randy Weston on His Life and Celebration of "African Rhythms"

20 February 2012 — Democracy Now!

Black History Special: Jazz Legend Randy Weston on His Life and Celebration of “African Rhythms”

In a Black History Month special, today we spend the hour with the legendary pianist and composer Randy Weston. For the past six decades, Weston has been a pioneering jazz musician incorporating the vast rhythmic heritage of Africa. His most famous compositions include “Little Niles,” “Blue Moses” and “Hi-Fly,” and his 1960 album, “Uhuru Afrika,” was a landmark recording that celebrated the independence movements in Africa and the influence of traditional African music on jazz. The record, which began with a freedom poem written by Langston Hughes, would later be banned by the South African apartheid regime, along with albums by Max Roach and Lena Horne. Continue reading

VTJP Palestine/Israel Newslinks 19 February 2012: Palestinians Foil Settlers Attack On Al-Aqsa Mosque

19 February 2012VTJP

News

International Middle East Media Center

PCHR Calls upon the International Community to Save the Life of the Detainee Khader Adnan
IMEMC – The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) is concerned for the life of Khader Adnan, a detainee in Israeli jails, who has been on hunger strike for more than two months. PCHR calls upon the international community to pressurize Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) to release Adnan, who has been placed under administrative detention without trial. …

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Bradley Manning Newslinks 20 February 2012

20 February 2012williambowles.info

Free Bradley Manning!
World Socialist Web Site
As the Socialist Equality Party’s candidate for US president, I condemn the persecution of Bradley Manning and demand his immediate release. Manning’s formal arraignment is scheduled for Thursday, where he will be charged with 22 counts, including that …
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/feb2012/mann-f20.shtml

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Israeli High Court of Justice Schedules Hearing for 23 February While Khader Adnan Continues to Be in “Immediate Danger of Death”

20 February 2012Prisoner Support and Human Rights Organization

Ramallah, 19 February 2012Israel’s High Court of Justice has today scheduled a petitions hearing regarding the case of Khader Adnan to take place Thursday, 23 February 2012 at 11:30am. The petition was filed by Khader Adnan’s lawyers on 15 February. The High Court of Justice was provided with a detailed medical report prepared on 14 February by an Israeli-accredited doctor on behalf of Physicians for Human RightsIsrael (PHRIsrael). Despite the elaborate medical report, which confirmed that Khader Adnan “is in immediate danger of death,” and that “a fast in excess of 70 days does not permit survival,” the Israeli High Court appointed the petition session for 23 February with no guarantees that a decision will be made on the same day. By then, Khader Adnan—if alive—will have reached the 69th day of his ongoing hunger strike.
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Palestine: Hackney PSC’s Catastrophe Club presents a film and discussion

Tuesday 28th February, 7 for 7.30 start:

Catclub.jpeg

on “Defamation” (dir. <strong class=’StrictlyAutoTagBold’>Yoav Shamir, 2010, 93 mins)
Plus: Q&A with <strong class=’StrictlyAutoTagBold’>Miri Weingarten

This fascinating film looks at the political use of <strong class=’StrictlyAutoTagBold’>Holocaust memory and anti-semitism claims. In his exploration of modern Israeli life, the filmmaker travels the world in search of the most modern manifestations of the “oldest hatred” and comes up with some startling answers. In this irreverent quest, he tacks onto a class of Israeli school children on a pilgrimage to Auschwitz and follows <strong class=’StrictlyAutoTagBold’>American Jewish leaders to the capitals of Europe where they warn government officials of the growing threat of anti-Semitism.

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It’s time we recognised the Blair government’s criminality By John Pilger

16 February 2012 — John Pilger

In the kabuki theatre of British parliamentary politics, great crimes do not happen and criminals go free. It is theatre after all; the pirouettes matter, not actions taken at remove in distance and culture from their consequences. It is a secure arrangement guarded by cast and critics alike. The farewell speech of one of the most artful, Tony Blair, had “a sense of moral conviction running through it”, effused the television presenter Jon Snow, as if Blair‘s appeal to Kabuki devotees was mystical. That he was a war criminal was irrelevant.

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Hardhitting, Dissenting Journalism — Without the Hardhitting, Dissenting Part By Arthur Silber

18 February 2012 — Power of Narrative

In a recent essay, I mentioned Matt Taibbi as one of the examples of a phenomenon I call “The Obedient Dissenter,” and said I would be examining that phenomenon in further detail soon. This isn’t that lengthier analysis, but more in the nature of a sneak preview.

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Video: ‘The biggest imperialist bullies get slammed first’ — RT

18 February 2012‘The biggest imperialist bullies get slammed first’ — RT

Iran decided not to wait until July 1, when the EU oil embargo comes into effect, instead imposing its own ‘boycott on the offending powers, starting with the two biggest imperialist bullies on the schoolyard,’ journalist Webster Tarpley told RT.

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Information Clearing House Newsletter 19 February 2012: Greece Shows Us How to Protest Against a Failed System

19 February 2012Information Clearing House

Does AIPAC Want War?
By Robert Naiman
If a bill pushed by Lieberman passes, it could give the US “political authorisation for military force” against Iran. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article30584.htm
 
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“We Are Drowning” On A Road To Nowhere: New War on the Horizon By Danny Schechter

20 February 2012 — The News Dissector

“At a time like this, scorching irony, not convincing argument, is needed. Oh had I the ability, and could reach the nation’s ear, I would, pour out a fiery stream of biting ridicule, blasting reproach, withering sarcasm, and stern rebuke.” — Frederick Douglass, 1852 (From Military Resistance)

Oil prices are rocketing. Iranian warships are moving into the Mediterranean to shadow the US warships already there. Propaganda news is growing with rumors of Al Qaeda links with Iran, and, then, less speculative news about real links between the terror groups and the armed opposition in Syria.

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