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Mexican Students Didn’t Just ‘Disappear’

dorset chiapas solidarity

Mexican Students Didn’t Just ‘Disappear’

Describing them as ‘missing’ is missing the context

By Andalusia Knoll

MexB Large anti-government demonstrations were held across Mexico in the wake of the disappearance of 43 student teachers abducted in Iguala, Guerrero, in September

The forced disappearance of 43 students from a rural teachers college in Mexico has catapulted the security crisis that the US’s southern neighbours are living into northern headlines. However, the majority of English-language news accounts have failed to provide a deeper context concerning the failed war on drugs and the use of forced disappearances as a repressive state tactic, and employ language that often criminalizes the disappeared students.

On the night of September 26, approximately 80 students in the south-western state of Guerrero were travelling through the small city of Iguala in a bus caravan on their way back to their teacher training college in Ayotzinapa. In Iguala they were intercepted by municipal…

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El-Sisi and Human Rights in Egypt

Nervana

Sisi

(Photo via Reuters)

In a change of tune, Egyptian President Abdel Fatah El-Sisi acknowledged on Tuesday that Egypt’s police committed human rights abuses after the overthrow of his predecessor, but said they were expected given the “exceptional” security threats faced by the country.

Here is my brief interview with Radio France Internationale on why El- Sisi has changed his tune and what we should expect from him.

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Rising to Imbolc

Bealtaine Cottage, Ireland

The morning in the garden is bitterly cold.

These are the days before Imbolc.

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These are the photographs of Bealtaine Cottage gardens in the days before Imbolc 2015

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Magical days, filled to the brim with anticipation, a sense of urgency too, as the precious days of sleep and hibernation in the gardens comes to a close.

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As I walk around the gardens this morning, I become increasingly aware of short time left in which to prune and cut back, clear and prepare, the gardens for Spring and Summer.

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Ah, Summer, just the thought of Summer on this cold, white morning of late Winter, comforts the bones.

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The days of walking barefoot in the damp grass lie ahead of me.

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The promise of a warm Summer makes the cold of the day recoil.

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Imbolc heralds Spring here in the West of Ireland.

It is one of the four big Celtic celebrations…

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Once… #martinlutherking #poetry

penned in moon dust

city graffiti

…There were men who dreamed

and spoke of life

like it mattered

color was something you mixed

and children held hands

innocence gathered

…There were steps and leaps

made on the moon

heroes wore khaki uniforms

still made on a loom

and children held hands

while the wind blew

…A flag fluttered in the breeze

no matter the colors

a people saluted

and were proud and believed

and children held hands

knowing the truth

Once there was a vision

equal wasn’t a math sign

people one – red white and blue

who lived for right and wrong

and children held hands

and with crayons they drew

Aug Zeek palm

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.”
Martin Luther King Jr., A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches

One man cannot change a people but his dreams…

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Gayatri Mantra: 108 peaceful chants

uncle zara wrote this long ago and gave to world

Zen Flash

Wiki:

The Gāyatrī Mantra is a highly revered mantra of the Vedic tradition. Just like all the Vedic Mantras, the Gayatri Mantra is considered not to have an author and like all other mantras is believed to have been revealed to a Brahmarshi, in this case Brahmarshi Vishvamitra. This is a Vedic Sanskrit verse from a hymn of the Rigveda (3.62.10). Gayatri is the name of the meter in which the verse is composed.[1] The most interesting aspect of the mantra is that the mantra is considered to be not different from the divine entity that forms the content of the mantra. Thus the name of the divine entity contained in the mantra is also Gayatri. In other words, the Gayatri mantra is not just a means of worship but is an object of worship in itself. The word ‘Gayatri’ is used both in…

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