Friday, April 30, 2010

What TIME WON'T TELL: the U.S. corporate media magazine names Malalai Joya one of 100 people "who most affect our world". But here's what TIME WON'T TELL you...


Here's the image TIME magazine DIDN'T use:
[this image is from here]

But maybe that one wasn't clear enough--or maybe it's too clear?

Okay, here's another image of Joya ALSO not used by TIME:
[this image is from here]

But that shows her being ACTIVE and OUTSPOKEN, OPPOSING THE U.S. WAR on Afghanistan. So...

Here's the one TIME did use:
Jonathan Evans / Eyevine

Note the rather glaring difference in stance and the muting of her message. I searched, but I couldn't find a more passive image of Malalai anywhere on the Internet. So they really had to search far and wide for that one.

Malalai Joya is a humanitarian, a human rights activist, a feminist, and a revolutionary. She and her people are not just fighting the Taliban. See, it's not just those woman-hating oppressors--the misogynistic men of the Taliban--who are oppressing women in her country. But don't take my word for it...

From the beginning of her autobiography, linked to right here.
For the thirty years I have been alive, my country has suffered from the constant scourge of war. Most Afghans my age and younger have only known bloodshed, displacement, and occupation. When I was a baby in my mother's arms, the Soviet Union invaded my country. When I was four years old, my family and I were forced to live as refugees in Iran and then Pakistan. Millions of Afghans were killed or exiled, like my family, during the battle-torn 1980s. When the Russians finally left and their puppet regime was overthrown, we faced a vicious civil war between fundamentalist warlords, followed by the rule of the depraved and medieval Taliban.
After the tragic day of September 11, 2001, many in Afghanistan thought that, finally, with the ensuing overthrow of the Taliban, they might finally see some light, some justice and progress. But it was not to be. The Afghan people have been betrayed once again by those who are claiming to to help them. More than seven years after the U.S. invasion, we are still faced with foreign occupation and a U.S.-backed government filled with warlords who are just like the Taliban. Instead of putting these ruthless murderers on trial for war crimes, the United States and its allies placed them in positions of power, where they continue to terrorize ordinary Afghans.

You may be shocked to hear this, because the truth about Afghanistan has been hidden behind a smoke screen of words and images carefully crafted by the United States and its NATO allies and repeated without question by the Western media.

You may have been led to believe that once the Taliban was driven from power, justice returned to my country. Afghan women like me, voting and running for office, have been held up as proof that the U.S. military has brought democracy and women's rights to Afghanistan.

But it is all a lie, dust in the eyes of the world.
-- Malalai Joya, pages 1 and 2, A Woman Among Warlords (2009)
This U.S. military-industrially invested and corporate-sponsored TIME WARNER way of honoring of Malalai Joya may be found *here*. Pay close attention to who they don't implicate in the violence against her people--which, as you know, includes violence against women. I mention this because one of the sleazier U.S. media manipulations and propaganda campaigns that has succeeded among people right to left, is to convince us that the Amerikkkan military needs to be occupying and bombing Afhanistan to support WOMEN'S HUMAN RIGHTS. Last time I checked, and this news wasn't in TIME magazine either, KILLING WOMEN wasn't a form of supporting their human rights.

Does TIME require its reporters and writers to really know much about the people they honor, such as by, maybe, taking in the information on the first two pages of her autobiography? I get the sense that, yes, Hirsi Ali DID read her book, and can only ask her to reconsider what she knows to be true: the U.S. is many things to Afghanistan, but "an ally" isn't one of them. Watch how Kirsi Ali negotiates around her position about the U.S., as if the problem is all in her mind. As if, somehow, she's got it all wrong about who is causing the Afghan women and men around her to die young--life expectancy is to age 45. As if maybe she doesn't get that the terror the girls and boys in her country feel when U.S. bombs blow up their homes and families is really the U.S. being a good friend to those in need. If only she could see that! Read on...

The 2010 TIME 100

In our annual TIME 100 issue we name the people who most affect our world

Malalai Joya

To be a woman growing up in Afghanistan under the Taliban and to survive is in itself a major feat. To be so lucky as to become literate in a place where girls are shrouded and denied even fresh air is close to a miracle. To start underground schools and educate girls under the noses of turbaned, self-appointed defenders of virtue and forbidders of vice is truly extraordinary.

But to get a seat in parliament and refuse to be silent in the face of the Taliban and warlord zealots shows true fiber. When Malalai Joya did this, her opponents responded in the usual way: expulsion from parliament, warnings, intimidation and attempts to cut her life short. She has survived all of it.

Malalai, 31, is a leader. I hope in time she comes to see the U.S. and NATO forces in her country as her allies. She must use her notoriety, her demonstrated wit and her resilience to get the troops on her side instead of out of her country. The road to freedom is long and arduous and needs every hand.

Hirsi Ali, author of Infidel, has a book, Nomad, out this month

*          *          *

Now, if TIME magazine wishes to REALLY honor her and all her very hard work, let them put on their cover a call to President Obama to withdraw all troops and work with nations around the world, not just the rich ones, to bring to an international war crimes trial ALL the warlords ruling her country--including those who are fully backed by the U.S. And include on THAT cover the "warlord zealots" named George W. Bush and Barack Obama, named as such.

I wonder: when will that be happening? Any TIME soon?

The U.S. media is like a self-righteous arrogant angry white man in a car in NYC traffic: he'll curse out everyone around him, and think he's never in the wrong.We're very comfortable calling the Taliban woman-oppressors, because they are. But wait... we're their oppressors too! Uh-oh. What to say about that? Let's try nothing, and, god forbid, she actually get those words out, about the U.S. "occupying" Afghanistan in a not-so-helpful way, rest assured, she'll be shut down and shut off. You can witness this happen below.

Below you can see for yourself just how much "freedom of the press" we really have here, on this land of the free! Is this a country where our press can speak out against its leaders in non-bickery Republicratic ways? No. Well then, can we at least let someone from a country we're bombing speak out about what she knows even better than President Obama and his generals? No, we can't have that kind of freedom here. So we don't. But Sandra Bullock secretly adopted a baby boy of color! THAT'S something you're going to hear all about--primarily from a white supremacist perspective.

TIME WARNER and other mega-media have the freedom to speak in favor of what their stockholders want them to say in order to drive up stock prices. That means, in practical terms, there's a lot that can't be said. We are not likely to be hearing a lot more in TIME or out of TIME, from Malalai Joya on U.S. patriarchal and racist corporate imperialism any time soon.

About this we can be sure: women of color do not own U.S. mass media. They just occasionally get honorably mentioned for doing things the U.S. press has no intention of reporting honestly about. Here's more proof.

From this website, antiwar.com, about CNN's interview with Malalai Joya. CNN, you know, is owned by TIME WARNER. All that follows to close this post is from antiwar.com. And with what follows, I say "Your honor, I rest my case."

Malalai Joya and the Tale of 2 CNNs
Eric Garris, October 28, 2009
“The Bravest Woman in Afghanistan,” Malalai Joya did two CNN interviews on Thursday. Joya is an elected member of the Afghanistan parliament who has been suspended for “insulting fellow members of parliament” in a television interview. She is articulate and firm in her position that the Western occupation is feeding the violence.

The first interview was broadcast on CNN (US). In the middle of the interview, as Joya made clear she opposed US occupation, interviewer Heidi Collins said “occupation would certainly be your word, a lot of people would take great issue with you calling the US presence in your country an ‘occupation’.” Joya went on to defend her position as Collins’ interrupted snidely. As Joya tried to respond to Collins, she was cut off.



The second interview took place on CNN International. Joya’s anti-occupation position was highlighted up front and the interviewer was polite and respectful.

11 comments:

  1. Hello, Loga'Abdullah,

    Thanks for your link. I'm putting it here HTML coded, so other folks can also link to it.

    http://loga-abdullah.blogspot.com/2008/11/defending-our-diin-ayaan-hirsi-ali.html

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  2. I thought censorship is nonexistent in the US because of constant claims about 'freedom of speech.' But I forget Malalai Joya criticising US policy and daring to hold US powerful political men accountable must not be shown to US viewers, because such views are too extreme and too radical to be aired.'

    Likewise Time has to 'dredge up' a photograph of Ms. Joya showing her in a passive pose because apparently all non-white women are always passive and submissive are they not in the eyes of white men.

    Mustn't have any photo showing Ms. Joya proving she is not a 'passive female victim' because images showing Ms. Joya proving she is not a puppet of US militaristic policy is too threatening to those white powerful men.

    After all women are passive are they not and not forgetting the racist aspect because white western men and a good few white western women too believe non-western women are either 'exotic' and/or innately submissive to men.

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  3. Jennifer, i absolutely agree with you!
    Julian, i thought you might be interested in this piece. It contains an interview with Malalai Joya (she has so so much integrity, OMG!!!!! wow, I would have broken had i been in her shoes) in which she speaks to the Time article.
    here:
    http://www.alternet.org/world/146714/time_magazine%27s_sneaky_way_of_muffling_the_message_of_an_afghan_peace_activist?page=2

    only love

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  4. Love to you, Katlego.

    I marvel at Ms. Joya's courage as well, with the realisation of what she states clearly in her book: she is a spokesperson for her people, who have had to resist so much invasion and military destruction from mega-powers like the Soviet Union and now the U.S. But I am grateful her voice is out there, and pray she is safe.

    Thank you for that link. I'll repost it here HTML coded so other folks can read it too:

    http://www.alternet.org/world/146714/time_magazine%27s_sneaky_way_of_muffling_the_message_of_an_afghan_peace_activist?page=2

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  5. I am violently opposed to BOTH feminists and their male anti-thesis. Both may be described as racist of a different kind. To me our physical and biological attributes are the ONLY differences between man and woman. Everything else should be the same with no one owning the trophy. Instead of respecting each other as we should as humans, these two seemed hell-bent on subjugating and/or breaking each other's spirit and psyche.

    While I can appreciate your anger and frustration about certain inequalities/injustices and free speech available to women, but to put the blame squarely on the shoulder of men (or white American men) is not a balanced reflection about the truth of the matter. The result could very well be the same if the corridors of power are graced by women.

    There are fine men (almost exclusively) out there, right now, trying to save the lives of all humans from harm's way, sometimes in very hostile environments, across the globe so that we can sleep in peace. These nameless men too, are the unsung heroes, deserving of the same respect and honor bestowed on Joya. They too, do not see their finest moments in glossy mags.

    Just like the men, not EVERY Mother Teresa gets the media attention that she rightfully deserves. Some will live and die as decorated heroes/martyrs while others will die as unknown soldiers.

    Putting a bullet through the heads of man, and man alone - is not something I will just sit back, watch and yield.

    Another Voice

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  6. Hi Little Corgi,

    It will come as no surprise that I disagree with you on many things.

    Exactly how is Malalai Joya racist? For defending her people's right to not be invaded by the U.S.?

    That you hate feminists at all shows a serious sign of misplaced anger.

    I put the responsibility on those with the most institutional power and see nothing ethically wrong with doing so.(Who are the most rich in the U.S.? White men). Do we have a plutocracy? Yes we do.

    You seem to want to pretend there are no systems, structures, institutions, which hold power in certain ways, as social hierarchies, with only some people benefiting at the expense of others, in ways you cannot imagine if you are male and white, unless you make it a point to find out what's going on in the world.

    To support you getting a sense of this, I'm going to recommend some films for you to see. Some are online, for free.

    Please watch these DVDs before responding to this reply to you:

    Darwin's Nightmare,
    Bandit Queen,
    Manufacturing Consent (which I've linked to today in a post on the Press, but will link to here as well),
    Life and Debt,
    Dreamworlds II,
    Blood and Oil,
    Killing Us Softly IV

    The last two may be found *here*.

    You may wish to acknowledge that organisations like the WTO and the IMF have a great deal to do with who lives and who dies globally, far more than the weather's impact. And the U.S. is currently the global bully, seeing any country working to strengthen its own defenses as an act of aggression against the U.S. and terming it that, so as to have an excuse to invade and bomb even more countries, to keep very well-stocked the Swiss bank accounts of wealthy white folks who control ecocidal and genocidal corporations and the military industrial complex.

    Read John Perkins' books if nothing else for an insider's knowledge of what U.S. corporations are doing that is bloody and evil as the alleged Devil in hell. (Have you seen the Omen: the Devil is a white boy who will grow up to be president: like G.W. Bush.) (Not that I think Pres. Obama is doing much better. That he won a Nobel Prize for Peace is a disgrace, given how many civilians he's murdering in Iraq and Afghanistan.)

    Given that the U.S. terms any other country's self-defense as aggression against us, what is our investment in strengthening our military supposed to be understood to be, internationally? We seem to be the largest and richest country illegally invading others', murdering their civilians, raping women, and pretending we're doing it all "for their own good".

    Rather callous and arrogant and horrific, if you ask me. Again, let me know what you think of those films. And, please read my "Comments Policy" in the top right of the blog.

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  7. Hi PF,
    While I do not wish to go into an extended debate on your reply, I do, however, wish to thank you for taking your time to articulate your thoughts. I expected your reply the way you did.

    It is quite obvious that we have serious disagreements "on many things" all of which I do not wish to elaborate. I am not here to say I am right or that you are wrong. I am who I am and you are who you are. You have our own beliefs and so have I, and no one on God's green earth can change that.

    Thank you for allowing me to comment on your platform. And I appreciate you pointing me to the various DVD titles which I'll eventually watch in my spare time.

    Warmest regards

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  8. Hi Little Corgi,

    I have a fondness for nicknames and no one, until now, has called me "PF" so thank you! (It took me waaay too long to figure out it stood for pro-feminist!! lol)

    And your chosen screen name is adorable.

    I once knew someone, or, rather, a family, with two Welch corgis. They seemed to take great comfort in the fact that there were two of them, together, against the world of much larger and meaner dogs.

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  9. Hi PF!
    I'm so glad that you didn't mind that I gave you those initials as I figured that is what wish to be known as.

    It's great to know that we can still be good friends despite our differences. I'm sure there are many other worldly issues that we can both talk about with passion through peaceful discourse and a little wine.

    Woof! Woof!

    Yes. It is LC.

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  10. Hi LC,

    How can anyone, really, object to a corgi coming by for a visit, or to see a new part of the neighborhood?

    Corgis are wonderful!

    And a LITTLE corgi? Even MORE cute!

    Yes, I agree: I'm sure there are many, many subjects we could either find great resonance on, or would find great humor in contemplating.

    ReplyDelete