USA - It's Not Nice

I dedicate this to the people of Tunisia and Egypt and Libya and Bahrain and all the others who have decided that the time to say "Enough!" is now.  

Over a month and. although there has been a lot of news, nothing has come across my desk that fits my definition of weird.  Not wanting to bore my readers (both of you) , I did come across this song by Malvina Reynolds, one of my favourites.  She was a unusual enough to qualify as weird, I think.  She looked like the dried-up sour self-righteous, conservative Church Lady biddy, but was in fact a fiery, outspoken,  socially progressive singer/songwriter/poet whose songs are still widely sung.  Her most well-known are God Bless The Grass and Little Boxes. 

Today I share with you a little gem called It Isn't Nice.  It's a weird sort of song.  Catchy tune, too!

It Isn't Nice 
words and music by Malvina Reynolds; copyright 1964 Schroder Music Company, renewed 1993. This original version of the song was banned from the radio in Japan--in Japanese, but not in English!


It isn't nice to block the doorway,
It isn't nice to go to jail,
There are nicer ways to do it,
But the nice ways always fail.
It isn't nice, it isn't nice,
You told us once, you told us twice,
But if that is Freedom's price,
We don't mind.
 
It isn't nice to carry banners
Or to sit in on the floor,
Or to shout our cry of Freedom
At the hotel and the store.
It isn't nice, it isn't nice,
You told us once, you told us twice,
But if that is Freedom's price,
We don't mind.
 
We have tried negotiations
And the three-man picket line,¹
Mr. Charlie² didn't see us
And he might as well be blind.
Now our new ways aren't nice
When we deal with men of ice,
But if that is Freedom's price,
 We don't mind.
 
How about those years of lynchings
And the shot in Evers' back?
Did you say it wasn't proper,
Did you stand upon the track?
You were quiet just like mice,
Now you say we aren't nice,
And if that is Freedom's price,
We don't mind.
 
It isn't nice to block the doorway,
It isn't nice to go to jail,
There are nicer ways to do it
But the nice ways always fail.
It isn't nice, it isn't nice,
But thanks for your advice,
Cause if that is Freedom's price,
We don't mind.

Additional notes
1. This refers to an injunction limiting pickets to three. Nancy says she now sings "token picket line," as being less obscure and more gender-inclusive.
2. The Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang defines "Charlie" as "white men regarded as oppressors of blacks.--used contemptuously. Also Mr. Charlie, Boss Charlie."

SUDAN - Flogging A Woman

I have come across this vimeo video of a woman in Sudan being flogged.  I apologise for posting three such brutal posts in a row, but what can I say?  This is the world we live in.  I hope my next posting will be pleasantly weird.

Flogging of Sudanese women in Khartoum from Anne Enke on Vimeo.

Sudan investigates case of woman seen being flogged on YouTube clip

Footage sparks international condemnation as police laugh and joke as they administer whipping to screaming woman

• guardian.co.uk, Monday 13 December 2010 15.15 GMT
• 
  



Screengrab from a YouTube clip of a woman being lashed in a carpark by police in Sudan. Sudan's judiciary has launched an investigation into the public flogging of a woman after footage of her being whipped by laughing policemen was posted to the internet. The YouTube video shows an unidentified woman in a long black dress and a headscarf being ordered to sit down in a parking lot (Warning: Video contains graphic images of violence some may find disturbing). [NOTE:  YouTube removed the video saying that it was too graphic.  That's strange.  I remember once watching a beheading on YouTube.] A uniformed policeman proceeds to whip her all over her body as she screams in pain. A second officer laughs when he realises he is being filmed, before joining in the punishment, which lasts a minute and a half. Flogging is relatively common is northern Sudan, where sharia law is often enforced arbitrarily. But the cruel, nonchalant behaviour of the security forces amid the distress of the victim in this case caused a stir in the country and the diaspora, and even attracted condemnation in some pro-government newspapers. Initially Sudan's deputy police chief, Adel Al-Agib, tried to downplay the incident, saying that the footage was circulated in order to damage the image of the country, according to the Sudan Tribune newspaper. But the judicial authority, which oversees the legal system, released a statement yesterday saying it had launched an official inquiry to see if the punishment had been administered improperly. "The investigation was started immediately after the images of the young woman, being punished under Articles 154 and 155 of the 1991 Sudanese penal code, appeared on the internet," the judiciary said in a statement, according to state media. These articles allow up to 100 lashes for adultery and running a brothel, in addition to a jail sentence. In this case the woman's alleged crime is not known, although comments on social media sites suggest it could have been the wearing of trousers, which has in the past been judged to violate a law governing "indecent or immoral dress". In the subtitles on the clip, a policeman can be heard telling the women that her punishment is 53 lashes, and that she will be jailed for two years if she does not submit to the flogging. Another voice says the woman should comply because "we want to go [home]". During her ordeal, which was witnessed by numerous passers-by, the victim shouts repeatedly for her mother and grabs one the whips of one of the policeman in a vain attempt to stop the beating. The case follows the well-publicised trial last year of Lubna Hussein, a UN worker who was arrested with a dozen other women for wearing trousers at a party in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum.

AFGHANISTAN - Two Stonings.

Allahu Akbar!

 Stoned to death with her lover: Horrific video of execution of girl, 19, killed by Afghan Taliban for running away from arranged marriage

• TALIBAN SPOKESMAN: 'Anyone who knows about Islam knows that stoning is in the Koran, and that it is Islamic law. There are people who call it inhuman - but in doing so they insult the Prophet. They want to bring foreign thinking to this country'

WARNING GRAPHIC CONTENT

Horrific video footage has emerged of Taliban insurgents stoning a couple to death for alleged adultery in northern Afghanistan.
Hundreds of villagers can be seen on the video standing around as the woman, Siddqa, is buried up to her waist in a four foot hole in the ground.
Two mullahs pass sentence before the crowd begins to throw rocks at her head and body as she desperately tries to crawl free.

But the 19-year-old collapses to the ground, covered in blood - but miraculously still alive.

At this point a Taliban fighter shoots her three times in the head with an AK-47The crowd can be heard shouting allahu akbar as she is killed.

Her lover, Khayyam, is then marched in front of the crowd with his hands tied behind his back.

He is blindfolded with his own tunic and crouches down close to the ground as he tried to protect his body from the stones.

But he is battered to the floor by a barrage of rocks. He can be heard sobbing before eventually falling silent.

The stoning - the first to be documented on film since the Taliban were ousted from power - took place in the district of Dashte Archi, in Kunduz, last August.

Officials said that Siddqa had run away after being sold into an arranged marriage for $9,000 against her will.

She ran away to be with Khayyam, who was already married and had two children, and the pair eloped to Pakistan.

But it is understand that they returned to their home village after being reassured by leaders that they would be unharmed.


It was a terrible mistake. They were dragged from their families' homes at 2am by Taliban fighters and then put before a kangaroo court before being executed.


The incident took place last October near the Afghan border with Tajikstan, a conservative district with a heavy extremist presence.

The area remains under Taliban control, but regional police have said those behind the stoning will be charged.

Police chief General Daoud Daoud told the BBC: 'Special police investigators will be sent there, we will find them and they will be brought to justice.'

Most of the video has not been shown because it was too graphic.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid defended the stoning.

He told the BBC: 'Anyone who knows about Islam knows that stoning is in the Koran, and that it is Islamic law.

'There are people who call it inhuman - but in doing so they insult the Prophet. They want to bring foreign thinking to this country.'

 Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1350945/Horrific-video-emerges-Taliban-fighters-stoning-couple-death-adultery.html#ixzz1CwhMYGGB


For even more information, see Jihad Watch