A Simple Report.

From the Human Rights Watch: ” … Waterboarding. Mock executions. Forced nudity. Shackling wrists and ankles in painful,stress positions. Locking someone for days in a confined, dark,coffin-like box. Threatening people, naked and hooded, with power drills, rape, and death. Exposing human beings to continuous loud music and light. Depriving them of sleep. Threatening to harm a person’s family...”

Why of the 6,000-page report compiled by the US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence only 525-page were released?

A report that detailed the actions of CIA officials.

A report that took over 5 years and 40 Million to be completed. $40 Million of our money.

Why?

Quando non ci saranno più’ Elefanti

Che faremo quando non ci saranno più’ Elefanti?.

Voglio dire completamente. Tutti morti. Uccisi. Distrutti. Annientati. Che faremo allora? Per favore, leggete  il bellissimo articolo (National Geographic) di Bryan Christy con le fotografie di Brent Stirton sui 25,000 elefanti che sono stati uccisi lo scorso anno.

25,000.

Uccisi per nessun motivo valido. Io non considero l’uccidere per l’avorio un motivo serio. A me, che i Cinesi facciano grande uso di avorio non me ne frega nulla. Nel 1979, c’arano 1.3 milioni di Elefanti Africani nel 2007 il loro numero si e’ ridotto a poco più’ di 500,000 esemplari.

In troppi paesi al mondo esiste un mercato illegale per l’avorio. Nelle Filippine, in Cina, in Giappone. Se continuiamo di questo passo tra venti anni non ci saranno più’ elefanti, se non qualche vecchio esemplare, triste, rinchiuso in qualche zoo.

Sono animali splendidi. Forti. Intelligenti. Fanno parte della storia del nostro pianeta.

Per favore, smettiamo di ucciderli. Fermiamo il massacro. Non voglio pensare a quando non ci saranno più’ elefanti.

A proposito, in liberta’ restano 3,200 tigri, 50 Rinoceronti di Java, 200 di Sumatra e 786 Gorilla di Montagna.

Perche’?

I Am A Jew

Today (again) I am a Jew.

I was killed in Denmark and hundreds of my graves where desecrated in France.

Again and again I am a Jew.

Until when?

A Decalogue for Peace (II)

 (Edward Hicks, The Peaceable Kingdom 1826)

1. Say you are sorry
2. Put yourself at the periphery
3. Be courageous
4. Trust. Even if it hurts
5. Be loyal
6. Take a chance
7. Understand who is different
8. Don’t judge
9. Show your hands
10. Again. Talk about Peace

I AM NIGERIAN (Not only Charlie)

Today  I am also Nigerian (Not only Charlie).

Boko-Haram left bodies scattered everywhere in villages around northern Nigeria, killing as many as 2,000 people.

I don’t know their names.

That’s why today I am also Nigerian.

I AM CHARLIE

Aujourd’hui Je suis français.

 

A Decalogue for Peace

1. Listen
2. Accept diversity
3. Learn
4. Learn how to laugh about yourself
5. Give
6. Be the last to leave
7. Break bread
8. Be kind
9. Be strong
10. Talk about peace

9-10 November 1938. Kristallnacht (Vergessen Wir Nicht).

November 9-10, 1938.

Let’s not forget the pain and injustice. They do not age.

Never.

You Are My Sister

REYHANEH JABBARI, today you are my sister.

She was hanged by the Iranian regime for defending herself against who tried to rape her.

You are my sister, like all the women who have suffered because of men.

Considerations of a Tired Man

The world outside seems like a crazy merry-go-around.

Severed heads. Shattered countries. Helpless presidents. Girls are raped like it’s nothing – in India and Sudan it can seem like it’s endemic. And the world is silent.

Chaos. Do we even know what we are anymore?

Everyone’s yelling about something; we’ve learned to bark better than the dogs. And the dogs are abandoned like they are trash.

Suffering. Children are used as human shields; it’s happening now in Syria and not too long ago in Gaza.

The North hate the South. The South swears the North is a plague. The Whites kill the Blacks. The Blacks murder other Blacks -and sometimes Whites, too. Ninety percent of the world is starving. Elephants are nearly extinct and tigers are killed to make throw rugs.

Priests speak of God, but they turn their backs and leave the little nuns in Burundi to do the work that Christ has asked of us: to love one another.

And we’re all waiting for the iPhone 6.