http://www.irna.ir/en/news/view/line-22/0608075325181431.htm
Iran calls for dismantling of WMD: envoy
Kuala Lumpur, Aug 7, IRNA
Iran-New Zealand-Envoy
Iran's Ambassador to New Zealand Kambiz Sheikh-Hassani said in Wellington on Monday that Tehran calls for dismantling of all weapons of mass destruction in the world.
"(Former Iraqi president) Saddam Hussein used chemical weapons of the US and Europe against the Iranian nation during the Iraqi- imposed war...We called for dismantling of weapons of mass destruction particularly dangerous weapons of the Zionist regime.
"We have followed up this goal at the United Nations and the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) for several years," he said.
Pointing to Iran's peaceful nuclear program, he added that "Iran' just demand for recognition of its rights is based on international law, rules and regulations. Tehran has so far acted within the framework of international regulations and safeguard agreements of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
"We believe the IAEA is the only legal source to study Iran's nuclear case. Interference of the United Nations Security Council has no legal base and just adds more complications to the issue." Referring to ongoing developments in Palestine and Lebanon, the ambassador said the events were indications of evil acts in its most destructive form.
"Ongoing events are not limited to just Hizbollah, Hamas and arrest of three Israeli soldiers because the Zionist regime has imprisoned thousands of Palestinians and Lebanese for several years," he said.
He added, "Tragedies of Gaza and Lebanon are aim to have a control over the regional and the entire world.
"This hegemony is aim to overcome over developing states either through friendly channels or military occupation and economic and trade sanction."
Sheikh-Hassani stated, "We warn that ongoing moves in Lebanon and Gaza can be regarded as a deadly prelude for very greater events at regional and international levels.
"Mass use of military force, blind massacre and destruction will never bring in security, rather it will bear adverse consequences." 2327/2321/1414
---> Iran-New Zealand-Envoy
News sent: 18:14 Monday August 07, 2006
Arline Incidents (G) More Stuff!
All believable, but un-verrified at this time.
22 November 1996 -- Any More Complaints? The controller working a busy pattern told the 727 on downwind to make a three-sixty (do a complete circle, usually to provide spacing between aircraft). The pilot of the 727 complained, 'Do you know it costs us two thousand dollars to make a three-sixty in this airplane?' Without missing a beat the controller replied, 'Roger, give me four thousand dollars worth!'
15 November 1996 -- What the...?! PSA was following United, taxiing out for departure. PSA called the tower and said 'Tower, this is United 586. We've got a little problem, so go ahead and let PSA go first'. The tower promptly cleared PSA for takeoff before United had a chance to object to the impersonation!
8 November 1996 -- Which Exit Did You Say That Was? A DC-10 had an exceedingly long landing roll out after landing with his Approach speed just a little too high. San Jose Tower: 'American 751 Heavy, turn right at the end if able. If not able, take the Guadeloupe exit off of Highway 101 back to the airport.'
1 November 1996 -- Ouch! Western Airlines had a term for its second officers. The term was 'GIB,' which stood for, 'Guy In Back.' The term was strictly unofficial and was actually frowned upon by the management at Western. It seems that some wise-guy pilot had been browsing through a dictionary and had made the discovery that a 'gib' is a castrated tomcat.
A male pilot is a confused soul who talks about women when he's flying and about flying when he's with a woman.
11 October 1996 -- What Is That Thang? It was a really nice day, right about dusk, and a Piper Malibu was being vectored into a long line of airliners in order to land at Kansas City. KC Approach: 'Malibu three-two-Charlie, you're following a 727, one o'clock and three miles.' Three-two-Charlie: 'We've got him. We'll follow him.' KC Approach: 'Delta 105, your traffic to follow is a Malibu, eleven o'clock and three miles. Do you have that traffic?' Delta 105: (long pause and then in a thick southern drawl): 'Well ... I've Got something down there. Can't quite tell if it's a Malibu or a Chevelle, though.'
13 September 1996 -- Mama Didn't Raise No Fools! Unknown Aircraft: 'I'm f--king bored!' Air Traffic Control: 'Last aircraft transmitting, identify yourself immediately!!' Unknown Aircraft: 'I said I was f--king bored, not f--king stupid!'
6 September 1994 -- Mmmm, Mmmm, Good! Tower: 'Eastern 702, cleared for takeoff, contact Departure on 124.7.' Eastern 702: 'Tower, Eastern 702 switching to Departure ... by the way, as we lifted off, we saw some kind of dead animal on the far end of the runway.' Tower: 'Continental 635, cleared for takeoff, contact Departure on 124.7 ...did you copy the report from Eastern?' Continental 635: 'Continental 635, cleared for takeoff ... and, yes, we copied Eastern and we've already notified Eastern's caterers.'
28 June 1996 -- No, That's Not What I Said! O'Hare Approach Control: 'United 329, traffic is a Fokker, one o'clock, 3 miles, eastbound.' United 329: 'Approach, I've always wanted to say this ... I've got that Fokker in sight.'
[The devil made me do it.........granny]
http://www.irna.ir/en/news/view/menu-234/0608080376005519.htm
Official says regional support for Lebanon means Israel's failure
Tehran, Aug 8, IRNA
Iran-Lebanon-Support
Deputy Foreign Minister, Mehdi Mostafavi, said all-out support of regional nations for Lebanon's Hezbollah and condemnation of Israel by the public opinion indicate the failure of the Israeli regime in its war against Lebanon.
Addressing the conference dubbed "Assault of the Israeli Regime:
Regional and Global Consequences", he said recent developments in Lebanon is a clear indication of genocide, war crimes and failure to observe the basic human rights of the Israeli regime.
"The Israeli regime is supported by those who claim to have established democracy and human rights in Iraq and Afghanistan," he said.
Mostafavi noted that killing defenseless people of Lebanon is the evidence of the double standards and incompetency of the West and international organizations.
"The Zionist regime and its western allies, which blame Hezbollah for crisis in Lebanon, have recorded some 2,400 cases of violating the sovereignty of Lebanon," he said.
He noted that the people and political movements in Lebanon have acknowledged that Israel's premeditated assault against Lebanon has failed facing resistance of Hezbollah despite western aid.
"The Middle East, today, is at risk. Americans and Israelis are clearly talking about a Greater Middle East, an initiative which is doomed to failure," he said.
Referring to the draft resolution of the UN Security Council about ending war in Lebanon, Mostafavi said no Lebanese will accept such a draft which extends support for Israeli hostilities.
News sent: 00:55 Tuesday August 08, 2006
http://www.irna.ir/en/news/view/line-17/0608084296000854.htm
Ahmadinejad, Annan discuss draft resolution on Lebanon
Tehran, Aug 8, IRNA
Iran-UN-Lebanon
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called on the United Nations Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, to take " a courageous measure" to establish an immediate ceasefire in Lebanon.
In a telephone conversation on Monday, President Ahmadinejad said the issue of Lebanon can be resolved through ceasefire, punishment of criminals and observing the rights of the Lebanese people.
"The Zionist regime has been attacking Lebanon for 27 days on the pretext of releasing two captured Israeli soldiers and has destroyed its infrastructure and has killed dozens of Lebanese children and women," he said.
President Ahmadinejad said the Israeli regime and its staunch ally, the United States, are not afraid to state their major objectives such as changing the map of the Middle East.
He said it's a shame for humanity that the United States has vetoed the establishment of a ceasefire in Lebanon.
Referring to the extreme anger of regional nations about the indifference of international organizations regarding the continued Israeli attacks on Lebanon, he warned against an "explosion" in the Middle East which can be uncontrollable and spread to other countries.
President Ahmadinejad urged Annan to defend the rights of the Lebanese people.
"You can prevent the continuation of the crimes of Israel and the warmongering of the United States and Britain," he told Annan.
Ahmadinejad said the latest UN Security Council's resolution on Israel's war against Lebanon is in line with the interests of the Zionist regime.
"Lebanon is a sovereign nation and it is not likely to accept a resolution which insures the interests of the Qods-occupying regime," he noted.
UN Chief Annan, who made this telephone call, expressed sorry and regret over the continued Israeli assaults on Lebanon, stressing that he is trying his best to stop these hostilities.
"I hope this crisis will be weathered through long-term measures," Annan said.
Referring to the shame of a majority of the member-states to the Security Council for their failure to stop the war, Annan said they are currently working on a draft resolution to end the war in Lebanon due to the pressures from public opinions.
"I also accept the views of the Islamic Republic about the necessity of adopting a just and basic solution to this issue," he said.
Annan underscored that the United Nations is seeking Iran's help to resolve the crisis in the Middle East.
He added many countries are preparing their views about this draft, saying a delegation from the Arab League is presently in New York to discuss the resolution draft.
News sent: 00:08 Tuesday August 08, 2006
My thanks to Milford421 for this article, see his group link at the end, and join him.
I never get all that he sends posted.
granny............
Freight cars derail in Moriah - NY to Montreal Carried Undisclosed Haz. Mat.
http://www.pressrepublican.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?
AID=/20060807/NEWS/608070318/1001&ts=ts2
By: Suzanne Moore
Staff Writer
August 07, 2006
MORIAH — Twelve freight cars jumped the rails here on Sunday,
closing Mullen Bay Road for a few hours and shutting down train
traffic for an anticipated 24 hours.
The 107-car freight train, traveling from Saratoga to Montreal,
carried some undisclosed hazardous material.
"But nothing involved with the derailment itself," said Donald
Jaquish, assistant director of Essex County Emergency Services.
Some children playing along the CP Rail tracks saw the car tip over
that began the incident, he said.
Another witness who called in the accident described a large dust
cloud erupting from the long line of cars, said a state trooper
based at Westport.
And there was a lot of noise, she added.
"Everybody down there heard it," said Jaquish.
That didn't include the engineer, who needed his gauges to tip him
off. Police said he noticed the train had lost pressure, so braked
to a halt.
That was when the CP Rail dispatcher called with the report of cars
off the tracks. The engineer walked the length of the train,
counting the dozen derailed cars, some of which, said Jaquish,
suffered a great deal of damage.
The mishap occurred between Mullen Bay Road and Woodall Way. No
major vehicular routes were blocked, said Jaquish, but access was
cut off to Mullen Bay, where several camps are situated.
"They had to disconnect the derailed cars then move the train
forward," he said.
Reopening rail traffic would be a far more lengthy task, he
continued.
"There's a lot of track damage," he said, noting CP Rail officials
thought it would be 24 hours before the rail would reopen.
Sections were shifted as much as three feet from the railroad bed,
he marveled.
"It looked as if something failed on the car" that derailed first,
he said, describing deep slices in the railroad ties from the rogue
cars.
And it appeared as if, after the cars left the rails, the train had
continued on for some distance, he said.
State Police said the damage extends about three miles.
Both freight trains and Amtrak passenger service relies on that
single track; Sunday, travelers heading south disembarked at
Plattsburgh and were bused from that point.
An Amtrak representative said late Sunday that while the derailment
was noted, it appeared the trains would be running today.
"All sold out," she said.
No one was hurt in the wreck, Jaquish said, noting the train carried
only two riders, the engineer and conductor.
And most of the cars, 96 of them, rode empty.
One of the 11 loaded cars did rupture in the derailment, spilling
its contents on the ground.
"That was a concern at first, because we didn't know what it was,"
Jaquish said. "(But) it was plasticized pellets."
The tracks running through that part of Essex County seem to have
more than their fair share of train accidents, he noted.
In May 2002, while traveling through an area off Route 9N
called "The Rock Cuts," a locomotive struck a boulder, rupturing its
fuel tank and spilling 700 gallons of diesel fuel.
A derailment south of Westport that August included a chemical
spill — the sodium chlorate ignited small blazes and sparked a
forest fire of about an acre in size.
The most memorable wreck, said Jaquish, was a derailment in 1995
that sent several freight cars through the ice of Lake Champlain
near Port Henry.
Sunday's accident drew response from State Police, Essex County
Sheriff's Department and Emergency Services as well as local fire
departments.
Said Jaquish, "Another day in Essex County."
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/under-investigation/
[Thanks go to Milford for this article. About this time, we were finding jihadi messages that had schools in them.
There was a fire, Canada, Australia, Russia and one other place.
I recall one school fire, that the muslims did not allow the girls to escape, as their heads were not covered.
There was a threat found on a CD and alerts sent to the US schools by the Gov. granny]
Baltimore Hebrew Univ Bombing - Debbie Schlussel column -
http://www.debbieschlussel.com/archives/2006/08/baltimore_hebre.html
August 03, 2006
Today's Baltimore Hebrew U Bombing is NO Suprise; Saudi Muslim &
Convert Wife Cased, Video'd Baltimore Jewish Establishments in ' 03
Printer Friendly
By Debbie Schlussel
Is it any surprise (except to Neil Cavuto) that someone (probably a
Muslim) just bombed the Baltimore Hebrew University? It shouldn't
be.
It just so happens to be located next to a burgeoning Muslim
neighborhood filled with extremists and their mosques.
In 2003, a Saudi Muslim and his American Muslim convert wife cased
out and videotaped a Jewish women's school and several other Jewish
establishments. And yet, clueless federal authorities said they had
no reason to believe that a) anything was amiss; or that b) the
Muslims were targeting Jews by sneaking into Jewish institutions and
secretly videotaping them.
Get a clue, people. Take your heads out of the sand. Wake up,
America!
And by the way, why bomb a Jewish establishment, today? Maybe it's
because many Jews around the world, like me, are fasting today. It's
Tisha B'Av--a Jewish fast day. No food or liquid (incl. water) for
25 hours.
What follows is the not-so-old flashback from my site about the
Muslims casing the Jewish joints of Baltimore (it only mentions the
womens' school, but other Jewish locations were cased and videotaped
by the Muslim couple, too).
****
Why were an Islamic Saudi man and his American Muslim-convert wife
secretly videotaping a Jewish school in Baltimore? And why did they
send the footage back home to Saudi Arabia?
Gee, maybe they wanted to convert to Judaism and start a Jewish
girls' school in the Kingdom of Saud. Fat chance.
A reader sent us this frightening Boston Globe story from late 2003,
which is still relevant and frightening today:
The Saudi man, who came to the United States on a student visa four
years ago, and his wife were seen videotaping an Orthodox school for
girls, Beit Yakov, on Oct. 26 and fled after witnesses wrote down
their automobile's license plate number, officials said. Law
enforcement officials were contacted and later interviewed the
couple, who said the video was intended for the man's parents in
Saudi Arabia.
The couple has not been charged, and law enforcement officials have
declined to identify them.
Federal and local law enforcement officials emphasized that they
have not uncovered any reason to believe the couple was casing the
school.
Hmmm . . . . Maybe they were looking for a soda machine . . . or
doing an "architectural study."
We're less concerned that the feds won't release the names of the
videographer Muslims who've taken a sudden interest in Judaism.
We're more interested in getting the names of the feds.The feds
referred to in the story are Homeland Security and FBI personnel.
Which begs the question: Does one need a negative IQ to get hired by
either of them? A Muslim couple surreptitiously videotapes a Jewish
school and sends the tape back to "philo-Semitic" Saudi Arabia. And
the feds have "not uncovered any reason to believe the couple was
casing the school."
Remind us NOT to hire them as my security consultants. And, oh yeah,
they let the videotape go, too.
[A]uthorities reported that the man and his wife, a Muslim convert,
were not initially asked for a copy of the tape by local authorities
because they had no legal grounds to seize it. But he said officials
at the US Embassy in Saudi Arabia are trying to help the FBI recover
it as part of the investigation.
[DS: We're sure that effort will be really successful. Not.]
"The tape that he had used ended up not being seen by local
authorities," [Baltimore Jewish Community Council Executive Director
Arthur C.] Abramson said. "It ended up in Saudi Arabia." He added
that officials said the Saudi end of the investigation has been
delayed somewhat, in part because American officials there have been
focused on the aftermath of recent terrorist attacks on a housing
complex in the Saudi capital of Riyadh.
Jewish schools (and Christian ones, too) all around America need to
be on the alert. The feds certainly aren't doing it for them.
Posted by Debbie at August 3, 2006 03:40 PM
[I remember finding a muslim list of complaints, most of them was passport / visa violations and wanting to sue, as they had been checked out............]
http://www.adl.org/Anti_semitism/anti-semitism_global_incidents.asp
Global Anti-Semitism:
Selected Incidents Around the World in 2002
Europe
Belgium Belarus Czech Republic Finland
France Germany Greece Ireland
Italy Latvia Lithuania Moldova
Poland Romania Russia Slovakia
Spain Sweden Switzerland Ukraine
United Kingdom
Americas (non-US)
Argentina Brazil Canada Mexico
Uraguay Venezuela
Others
Australia Morocco Tunisia South Africa
Argentina
January 28, 2002 - Mendoza - Swastikas were found painted on the building of the Holocaust Studies Foundation in Mendoza.
January 7, 2002 - Buenos Aires - Two stones were thrown at the Maccabi Club in the San Miguel section of Buenos Aires, damaging two cars.
January 6, 2002 - Buenos Aires - Stones were thrown into the Berazategui Jewish cemetery in the Quilmes section of Buenos Aires, damaging eight gravestones.
Back to Country List
Australia
April 20, 2002 - Canberra - A metal container filled with four liters of fuel attached to a burning rag was thrown at the Jewish community building in Canberra.
April 3, 2002 - Sydney - A Molotov cocktail was thrown at a synagogue in the Paramatta section of Sydney.
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Belgium
November 30, 2002 - Antwerp - A Molotov cocktail was thrown at a synagogue, causing minor damages but no injuries. The explosive was smashed against the center-city synagogue around 3:30 a.m., igniting a fire that was quickly extinguished by firefighters.
April 22, 2002 - Charleroi - During the night, eighteen bullets were fired at a synagogue, but no injuries resulted.
April 19, 2002 - Brussels - Graffiti reading, "Dirty Jew" and "We will burn you," was found on Jewish-owned shops in the Molenbeek section of Brussels.
April 18, 2002 - Brussels - The front window of a Kosher restaurant was shattered by an air rifle.
April 17, 2002 - Brussels -A judaica shop was set on fire.
April 4, 2002 - Antwerp - The word "Juif" was written on houses in a Jewish neighborhood in Antwerp.
April 3, 2002 - Antwerp - A Pro-Palestinian demonstration with approximately 2000 participants included the burning of an Israeli flag as well as vandalism of businesses and torching of automobiles in the Jewish quarter of the city.
April 1, 2002 - Brussels - A synagogue on Clinique Street in the Anderlecht district of Belgium was attacked with firebombs, causing damage to the building but no injuries.
February 4, 2002 - Brussels - Graffiti reading "Death to the Jews" was written on Jewish-owned shops.
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Belarus
July 12, 19, 2002 - Minsk and Borisov, Belarus - More than 70 tombstones were destroyed or damaged by vandals when the Jewish cemeteries was desecrated.
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Brazil
April 10, 2002 - Rio de Janeiro - One week after being attacked with eggs and a bottle of red ink, a synagogue in the Laranjeiras section of Rio de Janeiro had a stone thrown at it.
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Czech Republic
October 22, 2002 -- Domazlice -- An old Jewish cemetery was desecrated in a southwestern Czech town. Five tombstones were toppled at the cemetery in Domazlice, 94 miles southwest of Prague, and five copper lanterns stolen. Copper plaques with Hebrew inscriptions were removed from two tombstones
July 1, 2002 - Karlovy Vary - Red paint and posters denying the Holocaust were found both on a present-day synagogue and on a memorial recently erected in memory of a synagogue destroyed by the Nazis. Although the spa town where the vandalism occurred had a Jewish population of 5,000 before the Holocaust and now receives thousands of Jewish visitors each year, only 95 Jewish residents remain.
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Canada
May 20, 2002 - Quebec City - During the night, a Molotov cocktail was thrown at a synagogue in Quebec City. The resulting explosion made a hole in the building's door and shattered several windows.
April 13, 2002 - Montreal - Pictures of swastikas and graffiti reading, "Six million was not enough," were found on a memorial to Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg behind a synagogue in Montreal.
April 6, 2002 - Saskatoon - An arson attack destroyed one room in the synagogue in Saskatoon, burnt numerous books, and caused significant damage to the property.
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Finland
May 6, 2002 - Helsinki - The Jewish community building was pelted with eggs, and a window was broken on the building's second floor, where the synagogue is located.
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France
Overview
The number of violent anti-Semitic attacks in France increased sharply in 2002, to 193 attacks, up from 32 in 2001. Anti-Semitic attacks accounted for more than half of the total number of racist attacks in France in 2002, according to a report from the National Consulting Committee on Human Rights, an independent watchdog group. In 2002, the total number of racist attacks in France quadrupled to 313, the highest level of incidents in a decade. The group noted a “real explosion” in violent incidents against Jews.
December 4, 2002 – Perigueux – Vandals ransacked a synagogue in southwestern France, destroying holy books, artwork, and stealing money from the synagogue office.
November 14, 2002 – Paris - Three students were beaten at a Jewish school in a suburb of Paris by youths in an apparent anti-Semitic attack. One of the students was hospitalized. Three youths were taken into police custody. (Source: AFP)
April 29, 2002 - Toulouse - A man was attacked as he left the Sha'arei Emet synagogue, and suffered minor injuries.
April 28, 2002 - Sarcelles - Tipheret Israel, a Jewish day school in the suburbs of Paris, was set on fire, destroying a warehouse at the school.
April 14, 2002 - Paris - A Molotov cocktail was thrown inside the apartment of a Jewish family.
April 12, 2002 - Cronenbourg - In the Jewish cemetery, anti-Jewish graffiti and pictures of swastikas were found on about 20 gravestones and a cemetery wall.
April 10, 2002 - Marseille - Anti-Semitic graffiti and pictures of swastikas were found on Jewish-owned shops.
April 10, 2002 - Paris- The Maccabi Jewish soccer team training in a field in the Bondy district of Paris was attacked by youths with baseball bats. One Jewish youth was severely beaten.
April 10, 2002 - Paris - A school bus transporting children from the Gan Menahem school was pelted with stones while students were boarding the bus, resulting in broken windows and injury to one child.
April 9, 2002 - Paris - The Orthodox synagogue Garges-les-Gonesses was set on fire, but students inside the building controlled the fire.
April 7, 2002 - Marseille - The Gan-Pardess school set on fire, some of its windows were broken with stones, and anti-Jewish graffiti was written on the front of the building.
April 7, 2002 - Paris - Four Molotov cocktails were thrown at the door of a synagogue in the La Courneuve section of Paris, but no damage resulted.
April 6, 2002 - Toulouse - Assailants broke into the Maccabee Association Center, a Jewish sports center, and set fire to several rooms.
April 5, 2002 - Nice - Arson was attempted on the Jewish Safra school.
April 5, 2002 - Nice - A Molotov cocktail was thrown at a synagogue.
April 5, 2002 - Strasbourg - A fire extinguisher containing 11 kg of explosives was found near the entrance to the Jewish cemetery but diffused by police.
April 4, 2002 - Kremlin-Bicetre - Two Molotov cocktails were thrown at and damaged a synagogue in this suburb of Paris.
April 4, 2002 - Montpellier - A building was destroyed by a fire from Molotov Cocktails, which were thought to have been aimed at a nearby synagogue.
April 3, 2002 - Montreuil - A garbage can containing flammable material caught fire near the fence of a synagogue on Parmentier Avenue, but was extinguished by police.
April 3, 2002 - Paris - Stones were thrown at worshippers at the Epinay Sous Senart synagogue as they were leaving the building.
April 2, 2002 - Marseille - During the night, stones and Molotov cocktails were thrown at police guarding the Heichal Shlomo synagogue.
April 2, 2002 - Paris - Anti-Semitic graffiti was found on Otzar HaTorah synagogue.
April 2, 2002 - Schieltenheim - The doors to a Jewish cemetery were burned during the night in this suburb of Strasbourg.
April 2, 2002 - Strasbourg - Arson was attempted on the Grande Synagogue of Strasbourg.
March 31, 2002 - Marseille - A fire in the Or Aviv synagogue, believed to be caused by arson, destroyed the religious objects and books.
March 31, 2002 - Nice - During the night, a Molotov cocktail was thrown at a synagogue in the Saint Augustin section of Nice, burning the synagogue's door.
March 31, 2002 - Sarcelles, Val d'Oise - A Jewish day school in this Paris suburb was broken into, and equipment inside the school was destroyed.
March 31, 2002 - Toulouse - Two shots were fired into the window of a kosher butcher shop.
March 31, 2002 - Villeurbanne - A Jewish couple was attacked in this suburb of Lyon and the pregnant woman required hospitalization.
March 30, 2002 - Lyon - Hooded vandals crashed two cars into a synagogue building, damaging the main gate, and set fire to one of the vehicles inside the sanctuary.
March 30, 2002 - Strasbourg - During the night, vandals set fire to a synagogue, leaving charred marks across the front of the building.
March 28, 2002 - Paris - A swastika was found on the wall of a synagogue on Vercingetorix Street.
March 13, 2002 - Lyon - A Molotov cocktail was thrown at the roof of Les Minguettes synagogue, but no damage resulted.
March 11, 2002 - Cronenbourg - A fire extinguisher attached to an explosive device was found near the entrance to the funeral chapel in a Jewish cemetery.
March 10, 2002 - Erstein, Alsace - The windows of a synagogue were smashed.
March 8, 2002 - Bordeaux - The rabbi of the Bordeaux Jewish community received an anonymous threatening letter containing a white powder.
February 5, 2002 - Paris - A statue of Albert Dreyfus was defaced.
February 2, 2002 - Paris - A man was attacked as he left a synagogue on Julien Lacroix Street, and required hospitalization.
January 30, 2002 - Avignon, Vaucluse - During the night, anti-Semitic graffiti and swastikas were painted on the front of the synagogue in Avignon.
January 28, 2002 - Toulouse - A star of David and the word "JUD" were found on the window of a Kosher butcher shop in Toulouse.
January 25, 2002 - d'Aulnay-sous-Bois, Senie-Saint-Denis - Stones were thrown at a synagogue in d'Aulnay-sous-Bois, breaking one window.
January 25, 2002 - La Courneuve, Seine-Saint-Denis - A school bus transporting sixty children from the Jewish Chné Or d'Aubervilliers school was attacked by a group of youths. One window was broken.
January 21, 2002 - Sarcelles, Val-d'Oise - A school bus transporting six children to the Sinai Jewish school was attacked by a group of seven or eight youths. A stone weighing about 2 lb. was thrown at the bus, shattering a window and injuring a six-year-old girl.
January 19, 2002 - Versailles - Red paint was found on the synagogue in Versailles and a nearby building.
January 5, 2002 - Goussinville - During an argument between police and local youths, stones and Molotov cocktails were thrown at a synagogue, breaking several windows.
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Germany
November 18, 2002 – Berlin – Vandals broke apart a brick memorial to victims on Nazi-era crimes in the town of Leegebruch, just north of Berlin. The memorial was erected in 1950 by the East German Organization for the Victims of the Nazi Regime at the site of a satellite camp belonging to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp.
September 5, 2002 - Wittstock - A museum in Germany honoring the victims of the Nazi death march was firebombed. The attack destroyed the main exhibition of the death march museum in the Belower Woods, which detailed how the Nazis drove concentration camp inmates deeper into Germany as the Soviet Army advanced at the end of World War II. More than 45,000 prisoners forced to march from Ravensbrueck and Sachsenhausen, both in Brandenburg state, were gathered in the Belower Woods near Wittstock, 65 miles northwest of Berlin, where 700-800 died of exhaustion and hunger within a few days. Outside the museum, vandals painted a large red swastika and two SS symbols on a memorial, and an anti-Semitic slogan three feet by 18 feet along the base of a large memorial column. German authorities have posted a $10,000 reward for clues leading to an arrest in the worst anti-Semitic attack on a Holocaust memorial in a decade.
April 28, 2002 - Berlin - A Molotov cocktail was thrown at the Frankelhoffer synagogue. No damage was caused to the building.
April 20, 2002 - Dachau - The monument near the site of the Dachau Concentration Camp was desecrated, and between 18 and 24 gravestones in the nearby Jewish cemetery were damaged as well. The attack occurred one day after a ceremony commemorating the 57th anniversary of the camp's liberation.
April 15, 2002 - Herford - Graffiti was found on a synagogue reading, "Six Million is not enough."
April 15, 2002 - Berlin - A young Jewish woman wearing a Star of David necklace was attacked in Berlin's underground rail system.
March 31 - Berlin - Two American Orthodox Jews were beaten, one of them seriously.
March 30 - Berlin - A swastika was painted on a Holocaust memorial.
March 16, 2002 - Berlin - An explosion at the entrance of a Jewish cemetery near Herr Street caused damage to windows and the walls of an office in the cemetery.
March 3, 2002 - Dusseldorf - Swastikas were found painted on the gates of a Jewish school.
January 25, 2002 - Berlin - A Molotov cocktail was thrown at a synagogue on Oranienburger Street; no damage resulted.
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Greece
April 15, 2002 - Ioannina - Four gravestones in a Jewish cemetery were smashed.
April 15, 2002 - Thessaloniki - A monument to Holocaust victims was vandalized with red paint, including graffiti of the word "Falastin."
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Ireland
April 19, 2002 - Dublin - Graffiti equating Jews with Nazis and the star of David with a swastika was found near Dublin's main synagogue.
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Italy
July 17, 2002 - Rome- Forty graves were desecrated in the Jewish section of the historic Verano cemetery in a nightime attack on a the 9th day of Av, Tisha B'Av, a traditional Jewish day of mourning. The perpetrators partially opened one coffin, smashed headstones, and ripped off parts of gravestones with Hebrew writing and Star of David decorations.
March 31, 2002 - Modena - Anti-Semitic graffiti and swastikas were found on the synagogue in Modena, and two arson threats were also received by telephone.
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Latvia
March 31, 2002 - Liepa - During Passover, 13 broken gravestones were discovered in the Jewish cemetery. Although local authorities suggested that the damage was due to the long-term decay of the synagogue, the Jewish community believes that the cemetery was vandalized.
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Lithuania
April 20, 2002 - Siauliai - On this anniversary of Hitler's birthday, swastikas were found painted on almost all of the gravestones of Jews in Kristijonas Donelaitis cemetary.
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Mexico
April 3 - 4, 2002 - Mexico City - During a demonstration by members of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation outside the Israeli embassy, protesters drew swastikas and anti-Semitic graffiti on the road and on cement blocks.
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Moldova
March 31, 2002 - Kishinev - During Passover, and close to the anniversary of the 1903 Kishinev pogroms, a Jewish cemetery in Kishinev was desecrated, including damage to 50 gravestones.
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Morocco
May 21, 2002 - Casablanca - A Jewish doctor was stabbed by an intruder inside the WIZO clinic in the city.
April 9, 2002 - Casablanca - A Jewish man was attacked with an ax. The attack left the man blind in one eye and with permanent facial scars.
April 9, 2002 - Casablanca - A Jewish man visiting Casablanca during Passover was stabbed as he was leaving his hotel.
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Poland
May 11, 2002 - Wroclaw - The courtyard of a synagogue was set on fire during the congregation's Sabbath evening meal, but was soon controlled. The incident resulted in a May 13th ceremony by the town's Jewish community condemning the incident.
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Romania
October 11, 2002 - Bucharest - Swastikas and other Nazi slogans were painted on the walls of the Jewish Theater of Bucharest in Romania. Anti-Semitic slogans were scrawled on buildings and an alleyway in northwest Romania as well. One slogan read "Achtung Juden, "which is German for "Jews beware."
June 28, 2002 - Vatra-Dornei - During the night, a synagogue in this small town was ransacked in an unsuccessful attempt to find Torah scrolls. In order to prevent being detected by the synagogue’s alarm system, the vandals caused a city-wide power outage.
May 18, 2002 - Falticeni, Suceava - A synagogue in the small town of Falticeni, Romania was discovered to have been broken into and vandalized. The incident was believed to have occurred at some point after April 27. The vandals, who called themselves the "Anti-Semitic Battle Front," broke windows of the synagogue, stole Torah scrolls, and covered the walls of the synagogue with pro-Nazi graffiti including the statements, "Heil Hitler," and "Death and Gas Chambers to the Jews." The synagogue, built in 1862, is one of ten national Jewish monuments slated for restoration by the Romanian government. At the time of the synagogue's construction, Jews comprised half of Falticeni's population, but currently only 50 of Romania's 14,000 Jews reside in the town.
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Russia
September 17, 2002 -- Rybinsk -- An old Jewish cemetery in Rybinsk was desecrated. Twelve large monuments were destroyed. No perpetrators have been arrested.
May 27, 2002 - Moscow - On the Kiev highway, near Moscow, a young woman suffered injuries in from explosion while she was attempting to remove a roadside sign reading, "Death to the Jews!"
May 15, 2002 - Rostov - A stone was thrown at a synagogue, breaking a window.
May 5, 2002 - Rostov - Vandals smashed the windows of and set fire to a synagogue in Rostov. The fire was extinguished by a security guard. Later, the synagogue's windows were smashed
April 22, 2002 - Perm - The words "Death to the Jews," was found written on a wall of the synagogue in Perm.
April 22, 2002 - Rostov - A synagogue was desecrated with pictures of swastikas and graffiti reading, "Death to Jews" scrawled on the walls.
April 22, 2002 - Ulyanovsk - The leader of Ulyanovsk's Jewish community was physically attacked.
April 20, 2002 -Kostroma - On the anniversary of Hitler's birthday, three neo-Nazis threw bottles at a synagogue and attempted to enter it, but were arrested by police.
April 20, 2002 - Ulyanovsk - On the anniversary of Hitler's birthday, anti-Semitic graffiti was painted on the walls of a Jewish community building, and anti-Semitic statements including, "Kikes, get out of Russia," were shouted. Vandals also attempted to smash the windows of the building, but were prevented by the windows' heavy shutters.
April 19, 2002 - Krasnoyarsk - One day before the anniversary of Hitler's birthday, a bomb exploded near a synagogue in Krasnoyarsk, with no casualties.
April 16, 2002 - Rostov - The windows of a synagogue in Rostov were smashed.
April 16, 2002 - Taganrog - The building of the Jewish organization Hesed, which is frequently the victim of anti-Semitic graffiti, was attacked by vandals who broke the building's windows and stole plaques from inside the building.
April 16, 2002 - Volgograd - A representative of the Hillel Foundation was attacked and sent to the hospital in serious condition.
April 12, 2002 - Yoshkar Ola - Graffiti reading, "Jews go home" was found painted on the walls of the Jewish community building.
April 6, 2002 - Orenburg - A synagogue was desecrated with a Star of David and a swastika scratched on the door.
February 15, 2002 - Vladivostok - A monument to the Jewish Russian poet Osip Mandelshtam, who died in a labor camp during Stalin's rule, was found desecrated with green paint.
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Slovakia
April 21, 2002 - Kosice - One day after the anniversary of Hitler's birthday, over 100 gravestones in Slovakia's largest Jewish cemetery were found to have been defaced.
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South Africa
December 30, 2002 – Cape Town – Twenty-eight graves in Pinelands' Jewish Cemetery and another 10 graves at the Jewish Cemetery in the Strand in Cape Town were desecrated by vandals. Headstones of the graves were toppled and many were shattered.
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Spain
March 8, 2002 - Seuta - The door of a synagogue was set on fire around midnight.
January 5, 2002 - Madrid - Anti-Semitic graffiti was found on the door of a synagogue.
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Sweden
April 18, 2002 - Stockholm - Following a demonstration organized by the youth movement of the Liberal Party opposing recent anti-Semitic violence worldwide, the participants, including several Holocaust survivors, were physically attacked by a group wearing masks. The attack is suspected to have been linked to a pro-Palestinian demonstration that day.
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Switzerland
April 22, 2002 - Geneva - A window was smashed of the Guirsa Jewish school.
April 17, 2002 - Geneva - Anti-Semitic graffiti calling for the murder of Jews was found near the Jewish community building and outside the Guirsa Jewish school.
March 31, 2002 - Geneva - Anti-Semitic graffiti was found on the walls of a synagogue on Place de la Synagogue on two consecutive nights.
February 25, 2002 - Geneva - Swastikas and anti-Semitic graffiti were found on a memorial to Holocaust victims. A nearby synagogue was pelted with beer bottles and street lamps.
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Tunisia
April 15, 2002 - La Marsa - Vandals broke into a synagogue in the suburbs of Tunis, destroying Torah scrolls and synagogue furniture, and leaving PLO flags and pictures of Arafat around the building.
April 11, 2002 - Djerbia - A gas truck was deliberately exploded near an ancient synagogue on this Tunisian island. Fourteen people were killed, including German tourists, as well as two Jewish synagogue employees. Al-Qaeda later claimed responsibility for the attack.
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Ukraine
April 19, 2002 - Mykolaiv - A stone was thrown into the window of a rabbi's office, landing on a computer keyboard.
April 19, 2002 - Mykolaiv - Swastikas were painted on the walls of a Jewish kindergarten.
April 13, 2002 - Kiev - During the night, a group of about 50 young people attacked the Grand Synagogue of Kiev, throwing stones, breaking windows of the synagogue, and physically attacking both the head of the yeshiva and the 14-year-old son of the synagogue's rabbi.
March 29 , 2002 - Lutsk - During Passover, an elderly Jewish man in a synagogue was stabbed in the face and head when he attempted to prevent a young man from entering the building. After attacking the elderly man, the young man yelled anti-Semitic insults and fled. The elderly man was hospitalized after the incident.
January 27, 2002 - Mykolaiv - Windowpanes were smashed and anti-Semitic signs were left on the walls of the Mykolaiv synogugue.
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United Kingdom
November 26, 2002 - London - Vandals desecrated Jewish graves in a cemetery north of London by daubing red Nazi swastikas on every headstone.
July 11 - Swansea, Wales - The Swansea Synagogue was desecrated by vandals with Nazi graffiti, including a swastika and the phrase "T4 Jewish c*** from Hitler." A 300-year-old Torah scroll was damaged and another was burned. The building was also covered in a flammable material, however, attempts to burn it down were unsuccessful.
May 6, 2002 - London - Following a rally in support of Israel, a boy wearing a shirt with a Star of David was attacked by three youths and hit on the head with a baseball bat.
April 27, 2002 - London - A synagogue in the Finsbury Park neighborhood was desecrated, destroying religious objects and books, shattering windows, and leaving swastikas sprayed on walls. The synagogue had been attacked six months earlier.
April 17, 2002 - London - Three times in the course of one hour, the Wembley United Synagogue was targeted in drive-by attacks during which stones were thrown at the synagogue.
April 6, 2002 - Manchester - The windows of the Shaare Hayim synagogue were smashed.
April 5, 2002 - Glasgow - The windows of the Langside Hebrew Congregation were smashed.
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Uraguay
April 30, 2002 - Montevideo - Anti-Semitic graffiti and pictures of swastikas were painted on the walls of buildings in the Pocitos section of Montevideo, where many of the city's Jews live.
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Venezuela
April 6, 2002 - Caracas - Anti-Semitic graffiti describing the "Palestinian Holocaust" and pictures of swastikas were found on a wall of the Hebraica Club and on nearby buildings.
Back to Country List
Sources:
The Coordination Forum for Countering Antisemitism. www.antisemitism.org.il
JTA - Jewish Telegraph Agency Daily News Bulletin www.jta.org
Union des Etudiants Juifs de France & SOS Racisme. Les AntiFeujs: Le Livre Blanc des Violences Antisemites en France depuis Septembre 2000. Paris: Calmann-Levy, 2002. Back to Country List
e-mail to friend E-Mail This to A Friend
Anti-Semitism in Europe
European Attitudes Toward Jews, Israel and the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict, 361 Kb.
(requires Acrobat Reader)
Selected Questions and Responses about Anti-Semitic Stereotypes
(ADL Survey May-June 2002)
Resurgence of Global Anti-Semitism
ADL Open Letter to the Nations of Europe
ADL 2002 Survey on
Anti-Semitism in the U.S.
Summary of Major Findings!
FULL TEXT!
ADL Survey: Anti-Semitism in America (2002) (.pdf 431Kb)
(requires Acrobat Reader)
Anti-Semitism and Prejudice in America (1998)
Audits of Anti-Semitic Incidents
# Jan-May 2002 Anti-Semitic Incidents Increasing
# 2001
# 2000
# 1999
# 1998
More on Anti-Semitism
ADL Anti-Semitism Home Page
Anti-Semitism in the Arab World
Jews often alone against anti-Semitism
by Art N. Teitelbaum
This article was published in the Miami Herald on Wed, Jun. 19, 2002
Related Press Releases
# Anti-Semitism USA
# Anti-Semitism Int'l
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[Things that I did not know}
5 (words)
Symbol Type
Number Symbol
Also Known As
N/A
Traditional Use/Origins
Number
Hate Group/Extremist Organization
White Supremacists
Extremist Meaning or Representation
"I have nothing to say."
Background/History
This numeral represents the expression,"5 words," which signifies, "I have nothing to say." Alex Curtis, a San Diego-based white supremacist who coined the phrase, believes that white racists in the United States should use the five words to demonstrate a "code of silence" and to help avoid prosecution by law enforcement.
http://www.adl.org/hate_symbols/default_graphics.asp
Interesting, several that I have seen on the jihad sites.
One is muslim and has the letter 7 as part of the design.
7 is G [on my fingers], what would that be for?
There are other year reports on the left of this link, lots of schools here:
http://www.adl.org/PresRele/ASUS_12/audit_2005.htm
Annual ADL Audit: Anti-Semitic Incidents Decline in 2005 but Levels Still Of Concern In U.S.
New York, NY, April 5, 2006 … Despite a slight decline, the number of anti-Semitic incidents in the United States remained at disturbing levels in 2005, according to newly issued statistics from the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). The League's annual Audit of Anti-Semitic Incidents, issued today, reported a total of 1,757 anti-Semitic incidents in 2005, a 3 percent decline from 2004.
"While any decline is encouraging, we remain concerned because too many people continue to act out their anti-Jewish hatred," said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director. "We have always said that America is different, that the Jewish communities here are fortunate to be largely immune from the kind of anti-Semitic violence experienced by some European Jewish communities. The numbers remain sobering because we know from painful experience that it only takes one incident of anti-Semitism to affect an entire community."
The number of anti-Jewish incidents spiked in 2004 at 1,821 – a nine-year high, according to ADL
Several trends continued to serve as a driving force behind the numbers in 2005. These included: Public activity by organized neo-Nazi and other hate groups; anti-Jewish harassment and intimidation in the schools; and anti-Semitic activity on the college campus.
The 2005 ADL Audit comprises data from 42 states and the District of Columbia, including official crime statistics as well as information provided to ADL's 30 regional offices by victims, law enforcement officers and community leaders. The Audit identifies both criminal and non-criminal incidents of harassment and intimidation, including distribution of hate literature, threats and slurs.
Among the most serious incidents reported in 2005:
* An ambulance operated by Hatzolah, a Jewish volunteer emergency service squad in Queens, NY, was defaced with swastikas, a Hitler reference and "death to Jews" (March)
* A total of 64 headstones were toppled in two rural New Jersey Jewish cemeteries (June).
* Local teenagers vandalized and defecated in the synagogue of a rural New York resort bungalow colony, spray-painted religious books and pictures, drew swastikas on a table and elsewhere on the grounds, and set fire to a curtain over the Torah ark (August).
* In Swampscott, MA, three days before the start of the High Holidays, vandals defaced the inside of a synagogue with anti-Semitic graffiti (October).
* A school bus parked on a Phoenix, AZ synagogue's property was spray-painted with swastikas and anti-Semitic obscenities, including "F--- the Jews" (December).
* During the December holiday season, ADL confirmed nine separate incidents of vandalism involving public Hanukkah displays, including large menorahs in Philadelphia, PA; Holbrook, NY; New Windsor, NY; Santa Fe, NM; Orange County, CA; and Haverhill, MA that were damaged or defaced.
The Findings for 2005
Anti-Semitic incidents included in the Audit comprise physical and verbal assaults, harassment, property defacement, vandalism or other expressions of anti-Jewish sentiment. For reporting purposes, the ADL Audit divides anti-Semitic incidents into two categories: Vandalism, such as property damage, cemetery desecration or anti-Semitic graffiti; and Harassment, including threats and assaults directed at individuals and institutions.
Continuing a longstanding trend, states with the most total incidents included New York (381, up from 350 in 2004); New Jersey (266, down from 297); California (247, up from 237); Florida (199, up from 173); Massachusetts (93, down from 128) and Connecticut (57, down from 81).
* Vandalism: Acts of vandalism decreased by four percent to 617 incidents, compared to the 644 reported in 2004 (and also below the 628 reported in 2003). Examples of these incidents range from synagogue vandalism to swastikas and other anti-Jewish graffiti painted at schools, on private homes and public buildings.
* Harassment: Incidents of harassment decreased by 3 percent in 2005, with 1,140 incidents reported, compared with the 1,177 reported in 2004. As in 2004, harassment accounted for 65 percent of the total incidents reported in 2005.
Examples of harassment incidents included:
* The neo-Nazi National Alliance distributed anti-Semitic and racist fliers in six communities in the Sacramento, CA area on the same night (February).
* Message left on an Edison, NJ synagogue answering machine stated, "Dirty f---ing kikes, you will all go down in flames" (March).
* The lettering on a sign board outside a Jewish community center in Dunwoody, GA was rearranged on two different occasions to read, in part, "Hitler is god," and "Adolf is a Jew god" (May and June).
* Proprietors of a Fair Lawn, NJ Jewish funeral home received a violently anti-Semitic phone call, including the statement, "I want to cremate all Jews" (October).
* The principal of a local Illinois school told the parent of a student that the Star of David worn by the parent was a sign of devil worship. When told that it was a Jewish symbol, the principal replied, "If you are a Jew, you should have been gassed with the rest of them" (October).
Anti-Jewish Expressions in the Schools
Another factor that again played a role in both harassment and vandalism incidents was a high number of anti-Semitic acts reported at middle and high schools. In the eight states with the highest overall totals of anti-Semitic acts in 2005, 13 percent of all incidents were school based – the same level reported in 2004. These incidents took the form of swastikas painted or written on desks, walls and other school property, as well as anti-Jewish name-calling, slurs, mockery and bullying.
Some examples include:
* Swastikas and "kill the Jews" found painted on a Redding, CT high school wall (January).
* Students at a Northridge, CA grade school were heard making loud comments including, "Hitler was right," and "Burn the Jews" (March).
* Swastikas carved into classroom doors and other materials at a high school in Ardmore, PA (March).
* Obscenities including, "F--- the Jews" and swastikas scratched into playground equipment used by children on grounds of grade school in Hazlet Township, NJ (April).
* Note left for Staten Island, NY 8th grade teacher read, "Burn in hell, Jew bastard! Hitler Rocks." Swastikas also drawn on desks in classroom (April).
* At a Phoenix, AZ elementary school, a Jewish teacher's property was defaced with swastikas and a death threat (August).
* A teacher at a Los-Angeles area high school returned from the Yom Kippur holiday to find the windows of his classroom painted with swastikas (October).
Harassment by Hate Groups
In the eight states with the highest number of harassment reports, 112 of 871 incidents of harassment – 13 percent – were related to extremist group activity. Due to concerted activity by the neo-Nazi National Alliance early in the year in Montana, that rural state reported an unusually high number of incidents in 2005 (17 harassment, 11 vandalism). (The ADL Audit classifies leafleting reported by numerous recipients within the same neighborhood on the same day as a single incident.)
The continued high level of distribution of extremist fliers and other racist literature reflects ongoing "in-your-face" activity by various hate groups. At the same time, dissention and disarray in the ranks of the National Alliance led to a small decline in such leafleting as a percentage of all harassment incidents in 2005.
The Internet continued to play a substantial role in the dissemination of anti-Semitism, with hate literature being transmitted through hundreds of sites on the Web and through bulletin boards, chat rooms, and e-mail messages. While innumerable Internet messages are not generally counted as incidents of hate in the ADL Audit, specific threats aimed at Jewish synagogues and institutions via e-mail were counted.
Anti-Semitism on Campus
On campuses across the country, 98 anti-Semitic incidents were reported in 2005, an increase of nearly one-third from the 74 incidents reported in 2004. Campus incidents peaked at 106 in 2002.
Some examples include:
* The Hunter College (NY) Palestinian Club posted a sign showing the Star of David morphing into a swastika, and reading: "History Repeats: Look What Hitler Taught Some of His Victims" (February).
* At the University of Colorado at Boulder, swastikas were carved into a residence hall bulletin board (March).
* Swastikas, "Jews" and other racist and extremist symbols carved into the freshly poured concrete at new construction on campus of Atlantic Cape Community College in New Jersey (April).
* Posters advertising a Chicago Friends of Israel event placed in the campus library of the University of Chicago were defaced with swastikas (May).
* Swastikas were found in a dormitory at the University of Oregon and an acidic substance was used to form swastikas on a table top in a campus café (October).
About the ADL Audit
The Audit identifies both criminal and non-criminal acts of harassment and intimidation, including distribution of hate propaganda, threats and slurs. Compiled using official crime statistics, as well as information provided to ADL's 30 regional offices by victims, law enforcement officers and community leaders, the Audit provides an annual snapshot of a nationwide problem while identifying possible trends or changes in the types of activity reported.
The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world's leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry.
Additional Press Release Categories
* Anti-Semitism: Arab
* Anti-Semitism: International
* Anti-Semitism: USA
* Black-Jewish Relations
* Christian-Jewish Relations
* Civil Rights
* Discrimination / Racism / Bigotry
* Education
* Extremism
* Hate Crimes
* Holocaust / Nazis
* Holocaust Denial
* Internet
* Islamic Extremist
* Israel / Middle-East
* Militias
* Miscellaneous
* Nation of Islam
* Neo-Nazi / Skinheads
* Religious Freedom, Church-State
* Supreme Court
* Terrorism: Domestic
* Terrorism: International
* United Nations
* Vatican-Jewish Relations
ADDITIONAL LINKS
• Print This Page
• E-Mail This to A Friend
• Additional Press Releases
• Recent Anti-Semitism: USA Press Releases
• Anti-Semitism: USA Press Release Archive
Contact Information
Press Inquiries
RELATED ARTICLES
•
Past Audits:
2004
2003
2002
2001
2000
1999
1998
•
States with Anti-Semitic Incidents
KEY: HA: Harassment
VA: Vandalism
ST HA VA TOT
AK 13 7 20
AL 2 0 2
AR 1 0 1
AZ 11 14 25
CA 173 74 247
CO 28 8 36
CT 37 20 57
DC 5 1 6
FL 174 25 199
GA 14 12 26
HI 2 0 2
IA 1 0 1
ID 9 5 14
IL 23 7 30
IN 3 2 5
KY 3 0 3
LA 13 2 15
MA 66 27 93
MD 11 3 14
ME 1 0 1
MI 4 5 9
MN 1 0 1
MO 6 0 6
MT 17 11 28
NC 6 1 7
ND 0 1 1
NH 7 1 8
NJ 77 189 266
NM 11 1 12
NV 12 3 15
NY 227 154 381
OH 12 1 13
OR 13 6 19
PA 78 17 95
RI 1 1 2
SC 4 1 5
TN 4 1 5
TX 9 6 15
UT 1 1 2
VA 12 0 12
VT 1 0 1
WA 40 9 49
WI 7 1 8
TOT 1140 617 1757
[I did not check all of these]
Google Alert - fire at airport
Engine Fire Forces Emergency Landing At OIA
Local6.com - Orlando,FL,USA
An engine fire on a Northwest Airlines forced a plane to make an
emergency
landing at Orlando International Airport Monday, according to Local 6 News. ...
http://www.local6.com/news/9642292/detail.html
See all stories on this topic:
http://news.google.com/news?ie=utf8&oe=utf8&persist=1&hl=en&client=google&ncl=http://www.local6.com/news/9642292/detail.html
NTSB's Twin Otter Accident Investigation Focuses on Propulsion
Aero-News Network - FL,USA
... 4,500 feet by 75 feet, dry concrete) at the Sullivan Regional
Airport
(KUUV), near ... a sudden, there was (Poof) sound and the right engine
was engulfed in fire. ...
http://www.aero-news.net/index.cfm?ContentBlockID=d5137f48-cb44-4c81-83ed-42dafeb56f7c
See all stories on this topic:
http://news.google.com/news?ie=utf8&oe=utf8&persist=1&hl=en&client=google&ncl=http://www.aero-news.net/index.cfm%3FContentBlockID%3Dd5137f48-cb44-4c81-83ed-42dafeb56f7c
Thirsty county gets drop of rain as cool front nears
Fort Worth Star Telegram - Fort Worth,TX,USA
... Officially, 0.01 inches of rain fell at Dallas/Forth Worth Airport,
with a high of 103. ... brought 30 to 40 mph winds, which helped fuel
an afternoon fire near US ...
http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/15214334.htm
GCAA soon to undergo restructuring
Joy Online - Ghana
... students how to handle and report on Aviation and Diplomatic issues
as well as narcotics, customs, immigration and fire and other
emergencies
at the airport. ...
http://www.myjoyonline.com/businessarticle.asp?p=4&a=27792
Idaho fire center reinforced with 2 California Guard C-130s
Seattle Post Intelligencer - USA
... Monday at noon, Cocca took off from the Boise Airport and headed
east
to a fire near Craters of the Moon National Monument, northeast of Twin
Falls. ...
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/6420AP_ID_Fire_Planes.html
See all stories on this topic:
http://news.google.com/news?ie=utf8&oe=utf8&persist=1&hl=en&client=google&ncl=http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/6420AP_ID_Fire_Planes.html
Communities: Calendar
The Register-Guard - Eugene,Oregon,USA
... plan; letter from state Department of Transportation asking the
city
to prohibit airport tenant use ... Sanitary District Board - 7 pm, Fire
Hall, 82781 Barbre Road ...
http://www.registerguard.com/news/2006/08/07/c2.cr.rg.calendar.0807.p1.php?section=cityregion
Rain possible in much of Texas, but fire danger remains
Fort Worth Star Telegram - Fort Worth,TX,USA
... 50 diversions out of 1,800 flights at Dallas-Fort Worth
International
Airport, spokesman Ken ... The Texas Forest Service said the fire
danger
remains high in West ...
http://www.dfw.com/mld/startelegram/news/state/15220265.htm
Fire destroys two structures in Denison
Sherman Denison Herald Democrat - Sherman/Denison,TX,USA
... other was a barn of some sort. Denison, Pottsboro, Sherman and the
Airport Fire Departments responded to the fire at about 3 pm. ...
http://www.heralddemocrat.com/articles/2006/08/07/local_news/news01.txt
http://confederateyankee.mu.nu/archives/189644.php
Houla Oops
Read about the "horrific massacre" at Houla, Lebanon while you still can:
Lebanon's prime minister said Monday an Israeli airstrike on the southern village of Houla left 40 people dead.
"An hour ago, there was a horrific massacre in the village of Houla in which more than 40 martyrs were victims of deliberate bombing," Fouad Siniora told Arab foreign ministers in Beirut.
A Lebanese law enforcement source told CNN an estimated 60 people were trapped in the rubble of homes in the Houla area.
Six homes were destroyed, and fires engulfed the area, the source said.
The Israel Defense Forces said it is checking the reports on Houla, noting that it has warned residents for the past two weeks to leave.
Siniora choked back tears, wiping his eyes as he spoke, The Associated Press reported. The ministers applauded.
The deaths Prime Minster Siniora claims as the result of an Israeli air strike haven't materialized to any great extent in the rest of the world's press, an odd circumstance for such a large loss of civilian life. As of now, the only other online mention I can find of the story is from the AP's Sam Ghattis, and no photos or first-hand reporting seems yet available from the scene. As of now, we have only Siniora's word that these deaths took place.
Looking around the various news sites, it seems that few news organizations are willing to give Siniora’s word the benefit of the doubt, indicating perhaps that news organizations snake-bitten by the still unresolved questions about Qana and the quite thoroughly resolved frauds of Reuters photographer Adnan Hajj, are not willing to give the terrorist-friendly Prime Minister the instant credibility they might have eight days ago.
The trust of the people that the media needs to survive has been severely damaged in their often one-sided and occasionally staged and faked coverage of the war in Lebanon and Israel. The western media has been finally forced into looking at the reliability of their foreign reporters, photographers, and even the public pronouncements of government officials, and they do not seem to like what they see. A propaganda war is only effective if people are willing to swallow the information they are given, and at this point, it seems even the media is gagging on the taqiyya that seems to flow so freely in Lebanon's fog of war.
It is of course possible that once reporters reach the scene in Houla that the stories will once again begin to flow lamenting the loss of innocent Lebanese because of indiscriminate Israeli bombing, but that moment has not yet come, and even the tearful display from Lebanon’s Prime Minister seems not enough to sway a skeptical press.
Hezbollah and their allies still retain the support of Iran and Syria, but seem to be losing, temporarily at least, the support of their nominally reliable propaganda allies in the western media, and that might be the most important division of this war so far.
Update: Siniora has retracted his claim.
Digg This
Posted by Confederate Yankee at August 7, 2006 10:50 AM |
[More info on why russia may not like Israel and Turkey]
08 August 2006
PINR Senior Analyst Dr. Michael A. Weinstein was recently interviewed by Voice of America regarding his coverage of Somalia. That report can be read at http://voanews.com/english/2006-08-04-voa52.cfm.
For PINR's latest in-depth assessment of Somalia, please see:
"Conflict in Somalia Moves Toward Confrontation"
http://www.pinr.com/report.php?ac=view_report&report_id=534
To contact Dr. Weinstein regarding Somalia, please e-mail inquiries@pinr.com.
Latest e-mail scam: KGB agent offers JFK secrets
ZDNet Australia Mon, 07 Aug 2006 6:32 PM PDT
Antivirus firm Sophos is warning of a new e-mail scam where the sender pretends to be a terminally ill KGB agent who has secret documents that reveal the truth behind JFK's death.
From: JEpstein@lauramansfield.com [mailto:JEpstein@lauramansfield.com]
Sent: Monday, August 07, 2006 9:45 PM
To: peoplestruthforum@lauramansfield.com
Subject: [America's Truth Forum] Breaking news from Jeffrey Epstein /
America's Truth Forum - LAS VEGAS SYMPOSIUM
Friends:
As most of you realize, America's Truth Forum was chartered with one
clear
objective; to educate the American people on topics of national
security, in
particular, the threat posed by radical Islamist terrorism.
Recently, America's Truth Forum, in association with Basics Project, a
non-partisan 501(c)(3) research and education initiative, produced the
first
ever - and critically acclaimed - national symposium on the underlying
roots
of terrorism and specifically, the threat of radical Islamist terrorism
to
the United States and the world. Among the seventeen speakers
assembled,
those attending heard from former CIA Director James Woolsey, David
Horowitz, Dr. Harvey Kushner, Dr. Whalid Phares, former PLO operative
Whalid
Shoebat, Kenneth Timmerman, and Dr. Bruce Tefft to name but a few.
The event was attended by representatives from government agencies, the
military, law enforcement, the counter-terrorism community, the first
responder community and the general public. The critique from everyone
who
attended was so overwhelmingly positive that we have initiated a second
symposium to take place this November 10th and 11th in Las Vegas.
Event-related information and registration instructions have been
posted on
our website at (http://www.americastruthforum.com/symposium.htm)
We have assembled many of the same panel of globally recognized,
counter-terrorism experts and are in the process of adding a few more.
Most
have appeared as experts on counter-terrorism on a plethora of news
channel
talk shows and each is published on the subject, some numerous times.
Their
areas of expertise range from having provided counter-terrorism
training for
our government agencies to having seen the horrors of radical Islamist
terror first hand. This symposium was designed from the ground up to
provide
an unprecedented opportunity for interaction with the experts. Pending
additions to our panel of speakers will be of great interest to those
in
attendance. One expert, in particular, will disclose first-source
intelligence regarding enemy activities and capabilities - information
that
has yet to be released into the public arena.
These symposiums succeed in delving into the minds of those who use
terror
as a tool. They paint an accurate profile of those who would slaughter
innocents and they educate both the professional and the average
citizen on
how terrorism threatens our way of life today.
Our informational website provides news and commentary from around the
world
on the issue of terrorism in all of its forms. According to feedback, a
number of counter-terrorism units, Sheriff's Departments and military
units
have employed some of the material presented in our publications in
their
training programs, all of them utilizing it as an informational
resource.
Those of us who work daily to create, maintain and advance this mission
have
to date not made a dime in profit; all compensation employed in
covering the
costs of producing the event. We do this because we have been told it
is
necessary and because we truly believe it is the right thing to do -
out of
love for country.
We are sure that we don't have to "sell you" on the fact that there is
a
possibility that we could lose this conflict against radical Islamist
terrorism. If we do the result will be the ever-encroaching loss of
freedom
throughout the world. It will affect region after region until we are
left
standing with scant few allies in a fight to preserve the very freedom
for
which so much blood has been spilled to preserve.
If freedom-loving people both here and abroad are not afforded the
wherewithal to gain the knowledge of the threat we face, a threat that
challenges our very way of life and our very system of government, we
condemn ourselves to inadequate and, eventually, failed protections. As
we
stare down the barrel of World War III, information is one of the most
valuable assets the American people have to combat the evils of a
genocidal
ideology, it is the only chance we have at attaining the cohesiveness
that
our country needs to win this global conflict.
We need your financial support and would appreciate having you in
attendance
at the symposium. This is one event that you cannot afford to miss.
Your support for this endeavor could very well find our grassroots
organization able to offer the American people the tools with which to
embrace the courage of those who founded this great nation, and give
them a
reason to summon the will that would call out the evil facing us,
confronting it in earnest.
Please help us educate our fellow citizens to the very real dangers
posed by
our enemies (both here and abroad) and assist us with our initiative
to
confront them in earnest. We can't continue in our struggle without
your
generous support.
Contributions may be made via the Paypal link
(http://www.americastruthforum.com/donations.htm) (on our website) or
forwarded to the following address:
America's Truth Forum
P.0. Box 802
Glastonbury, CT. 06033
With all of those in Washington working so very had to put politics
ahead of
government, the onus of responsibility for the dissemination of
accurate and
truthful information regarding this looming danger has become the civic
responsibility of We the People, it has become a duty of vigilance
demanded
by the spirit of our Founders for the well being of our nation.
All this being said, please make arrangements to join us in Las Vegas.
I
may be reached at (866) 709-3474.
Respectfully,
Jeffrey Epstein, President
America's Truth Forum
www.americastruthforum.com
[Gunny Bob said that Reuters had pulled 1,000 photos that were fake]
http://www.timeswatch.org/articles/2006/20060807153403.aspx
Disgraced Reuters Photographer Made Saturday's Front Page
Posted by: Clay Waters
8/7/2006 3:40:01 PM
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N07348592.htm Disgraced
Reuters
freelance photographer Adnan Hajj was dismissed by the wire service for
altering a photograph of a Lebanese skyline to make the damage caused
by
Israel look worse (big hat tip to Charles Johnston at
http://www.timeswatch.org/secure/www.littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/weblog.php
Little Green Footballs, who first uncovered the fake photo). More
photos by Hajj are being scrutinized, and at least
http://mypetjawa.mu.nu/archives/184216.php
one other photo has been
proven
to have been digitally altered.
But before his disgrace, Hajj made the front page, above-the-fold of
Saturday's New York Times with a
http://graphics10.nytimes.com/images/2006/08/04/world/04mide_slide7.jpg
photo of what the picture caption claims is a "wounded civilian" (but
with
Hajj we can no longer be sure).
The Times has used him in the
http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2006/07/24/world/20060724_MIDE_SLIDESHOW_3.html
past as well.
Now the question is: Will the Times check the validity of previous work
by
Hajj that has appeared within its pages?
Monday, August 7, 2006 7:16 PM PDT
And now for the important news ....
Jewish World Review Mon, 07 Aug 2006 0:27 AM PDT
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | Osama bin Laden's son Saad left Iran Thursday to go and fight in Lebanon. No one knows how many sons Osama has. He's got so many wives and children that NBA coaches hold him up as an example when they lecture rookies on how not to conduct your life.
THE LOOMING TOWER: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11
Kirkus Reviews Mon, 07 Aug 2006 11:13 AM PDT
Astar is assigned to books of unusual merit, determined by the editors of Kirkus Reviews. A comprehensive and compelling account of the events preceding and causing 9/11, with a tight focus on al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden and on the men who were pursuing him before the attacks.
US marks anniversary of Africa bombings with vow to catch all perpetrators
AFP via Yahoo! News Mon, 07 Aug 2006 3:13 PM PDT
The United States marked the eighth anniversary of the 1998 Al-Qaeda bombings of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania by renewing its vow to capture all those responsible.
US mourns victims of 1998 east Africa embassy bombings
AFP via Yahoo! News Mon, 07 Aug 2006 7:41 AM PDT
US diplomats in Kenya and Tanzania held low-key memorial services for the victims of the lethal 1998 Al-Qaeda bombings of their embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam.
Crucifix antics fail to dampen Madonna mania in Rome
AFP via Yahoo! News Mon, 07 Aug 2006 7:21 AM PDT
Her on-stage antics with religious symbols may have riled believers the world over but Madonna's ticket sales in Roman Catholic Italy appear not to have suffered.
Afghan parliament OKs Karzai's Cabinet
USA Today Mon, 07 Aug 2006 12:52 PM PDT
Afghanistan's parliament approved President Hamid Karzai's choices for the vacant portfolios in his Cabinet on Monday in another step toward democracy, as his U.S.-backed government struggled with a resurgent Taliban and floods in the south.
Afghan foreign minister asks for help
AP via Yahoo! News Mon, 07 Aug 2006 4:33 AM PDT
Afghanistan's foreign minister urged the world to stem the flow of extremists, weapons and terror funding into the country, as a British soldier was killed and the main base of the NATO-led security force came under rocket attack.
David Sirota: The Four Post-Lieberman/Lamont Scripts
HuffingtonPost Mon, 07 Aug 2006 3:02 PM PDT
The movie "Clue" is one of my favorites, in part, because the viewer gets to see three possible endings all in a row. So in that same Clue-like vein, I want to offer my thoughts on the possible outcomes of the Lieberman-Lamont primary. Though the election will take place tomorrow, it's obvious today what will take place under all of the possible outcomes (except, maybe for Florida 2000-style
Deepak Chopra: Selling the Illusion of Victory
HuffingtonPost Mon, 07 Aug 2006 6:17 AM PDT
America leads the world in advertising techniques, and now we'll need every ounce of Madison Avenue's skill to sell a difficult product. That product is victory. From the beginning we were told that victory was the only acceptable outcome in Iraq, and now selling that message has become twice as difficult in Lebanon. Insurgents an terrorists aren't giving up. The Islamic world celebrates
Six for 06
BellaOnline Mon, 07 Aug 2006 6:09 PM PDT
The Democrats have a new agenda, Six for 06. This agenda is different from others, in that it provides a compare and contrast. It shows how the Republicans have taken us in the wrong direction, and the new direction that Democrats will take us in setting the priorities for the 109th Congress.
See more news stories that match my keyword
http://search.news.yahoo.com/search/news/?fr=yalerts-keyword&c=&p=%22Osama+bin+Laden%22&ei=utf-8
[a post for study and research...Davey, this one goes with the Agenda 21 post...]
Slums on the rise as people gravitate to cities
By Mark Turnerat the United Nations
Financial Times
Published: June 16 2006 03:00 | Last updated: June 16 2006 03:00
© Copyright The Financial Times Ltd 2006
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/aa8e0ac4-fcd3-11da-9599-0000779e2340.html
More than half the world's population will live in a city by 2007, but
for one in three people that will mean a crime-ridden slum with
inadequate housing and services.
The United Nations' State of the World's Cities 2006-07 report says
slum management presents one of the developing world's greatest
challenges, as poor countries brace for a rapid expansion in urbanisation.
Cities in the developing world will account for 95 per cent of urban
growth over the next two decades. By 2030 they will be home to 80 per
cent of the world's city dwellers.
In many places, most of that growth will come from slums.
Habitat, the UN agency that compiled the report, concludes slum
dwellers die earlier than the rural poor, are worse hit by natural disasters
and have less access to education.
"Around the world the wealthy have created an architecture of fear by
retreating behind fortified residential enclaves," argues Habitat, which
says the research is the first to separate data from slums and
higher-income city neighbourhoods. It says "gated communities run counter to
the fundamental principles of sustainable urban development".
A new wave of megacities, with more than 10m inhabitants, and
"metacities" - conurbations of more than 20m - are gaining ground across Asia,
Latin America and Africa.
Habitat highlighted the difficulties faced by many poor immigrants in
Paris. It warned that "for refugees from African slums, Paris offers
little relief from the destitution at home".
More than 200,000 people are homeless or living in temporary shelter in
Paris and "some families languish in filthy provisional dwellings for
14 years".
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2006
[a post for study and research...another Agenda 21 ]
Welcome to Megacity...
By Victor Mallet
Financial Times
Published: August 4 2006 14:52 | Last updated: August 4 2006 14:52
© Copyright The Financial Times Ltd 2006
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/599d57a4-22b8-11db-91c7-0000779e2340.html
There is something medieval about the dimly lit alleyways where
migrants from the Chinese hinterland gather in the poorer quarters of
Guangzhou. Makeshift buildings lean precariously over the lanes, and labourers
hurry home through the dirt after 12 hours of toil.
The mobile telephone numbers scrawled on the walls offering forged
identity papers are rather more modern. So are the nearby luxury apartment
blocks, the roar of the city's elevated expressways and the tens of
thousands of high-tech factories churning out Chinese shoes and CD players
for export to America and Europe.
Intrigued by what seems to be one of the turning points of history -
the United Nations has predicted that next year, for the first time, more
of the planet's 6.7 billion people will be living in cities than
outside them - I had come to this district of Guangzhou in search of someone
who could explain why humankind was finally turning its back on the
countryside.
I had imagined comparing urban Guangzhou to the northern English cities
described by Charles Dickens in Hard Times. There are, after all, so
many social and economic similarities between the first industrial
revolution in England and the modernisation convulsing southern China and the
rest of Asia today - even if it is happening on a faster and larger
scale. It is no coincidence that Britain was the first country in which
more than half the population were city-dwellers.
In truth, the fast-growing cities of Asia, including Guangzhou, are not
so much Victorian as an awkward mix of the Middle Ages and the
ultra-modern. Only the coal smoke and the smog are visibly Dickensian, yet the
stories told by the migrants would be familiar to any refugee from the
English countryside a century and a half ago.
"There was no work in the village." With those words, barely audible
over the Chinese soap opera playing on the television in her spartan
concrete apartment, Zhang Dingnan explains why she came to Guangzhou from
rural Hunan seven years ago. She is also telling the larger story of how
hundreds of millions of people like her are moving from the villages of
the world to its teeming cities. She is part of humanity's greatest
mass migration.
I had tried to speak to some of the hordes of rural migrants streaming
in and out of Guangzhou's main railway station that morning, but the
ubiquitous policemen and plainclothes security officers made people too
nervous to talk. Some migrants were sleeping rough in the square. There
were villagers arriving to look for work, ex-villagers leaving to visit
home, grandfathers bringing children to see their mothers, Hunanese and
Sichuanese carrying bulging suitcases or sacks on bamboo poles, and
labour agents hunting for cheap factory employees.
I was lucky to be guided that night to Zhang's clean but crumbling home
on the first floor of a nondescript building. With a shifting
population of relatives and friends moving in and out of Guangzhou - 40 people
from Zhang's village have already come to the city - it is not clear on
any given day how many live in the apartment, which is wallpapered with
posters for bottled water. The rent is Rmb300 (£20) a month, and the
permanent residents include her husband, who works as a security guard,
and her recently arrived 17-year-old daughter. Zhang herself is 35, and
she has three part-time jobs as a maid for foreigners living in
Guangzhou.
Leaving children behind is one of the hardest parts of migrant life,
whether the home village is in southern Africa or east Asia. Zhang
entrusted her son and daughter to her husband's parents in the village, but
her father-in-law was crippled after losing a leg in a tractor accident
and her mother-in-law died. The children ended up living on their own
at the ages of 13 and 14, with the neighbours looking in from time to
time. "Living conditions in the village are much better," says Zhang,
"but there's no money there." Now, in town, things are looking up. The
daughter, He Yong, has landed a job at the Ramada Pearl Hotel and even
speaks a few words of English. Both mother and daughter have their mobile
phones lying on the kitchen table.
China is the most obvious example of the mass migration changing the
face of the planet, simply because its 1.3 billion inhabitants make it
the most populous nation. But that sort of transformation is widespread,
be it in Brazil, Nigeria, Mexico or India, the second most populous
country in the world, with 1.1 billion people.
India is poorer and - so far - less urban than China, but its cities
are as modern-medieval as their Chinese counterparts. In the Greams Road
slum in central Chennai (previously known as Madras), under a vast
billboard advertising a Ford Fiesta, several thousand Tamils live
cheek-by-jowl in shacks and tiny brick dwellings next to the dead, black stench
of the Cooum River and a few thorn bushes fluttering with discarded
plastic bags. Residents are plagued by mosquitoes and fevers as old as
humanity. The wood and palm-leaf homes nearest the water were swept away
when the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami struck the coast at the end of
2004. Yet no one wants to leave, for this slum has existed for decades,
there is plenty of work in Chennai, no rent to pay, and the government
hands out rice and kerosene for cooking.
In these dark and smoky homes live construction workers, servants,
painters and auto-rickshaw drivers - the former villagers who power the
city's expanding economy. "This place feels comfortable," concludes
Komathi, a 34-year-old housewife. She is one of a group of cheerful women
gathering round the strange visitor whose shiny shoes are now spattered
with mud and worse. Her husband is a day labourer, which means he gets
what work he can. Her daughter also lives in Greams Road with her husband
and young son. Of her own two sons, one is studying and the other works
as a mechanic. All the men are out working or looking for work. Life is
difficult but not impossible, and it is getting better as Chennai reaps
the rewards of the Indian economic revival.
The urban migration that is changing our world, however, is a story not
only of villagers becoming servants or factory workers but also of
villagers using the income to finance their children's education. In this
way the children may secure the coveted urban office job that will allow
them to shoulder their way into the ranks of the new middle class.
Not far from Greams Road, in a leafy residential area of south Chennai,
Mariam Ram is racing to recruit more graduates for TnQ Books and
Journals, her high-tech business that prepares international scientific
journals for publication. Publishers in the west have contracted out the
costly and time-consuming job of preparation and editing to companies such
as hers. When I saw her, Ram already had a round-the-clock operation
employing 638 staff in two buildings, and she was looking for 30 more.
"The lowest qualification in this office would be a first-class
Bachelor's degree in science," she says. "The rest would be Masters or MPhils.
We're recruiting so frantically right now. It needs English, it needs
science, it needs IT and it needs low wages, and you can't get it
anywhere except India.
"I think the country's clearly more affluent," she says. "You see
change every time you come. This is a very exciting time to be in India."
Particularly in Chennai. The city is proud of its conservative culture
but also poised for the kind of headlong growth that has exhilarated
and exhausted the residents of Bangalore and Mumbai. A few streets from
Ram's office, cars and trucks vie noisily for road-space with goats,
cows, bicycles and three-wheelers. Outside the city, I saw a farmer using
two bullocks to pull a single ploughshare in a field next to a gleaming
Saint-Gobain glass factory and an IT park, while trucks bearing new
wind turbines drove west towards Bangalore.
"When we started in our company, all of our employees had bicycles and
some had scooters," says Joseph Sigelman, a former Goldman Sachs banker
who seven years ago founded OfficeTiger, a "business process
outsourcing" company that handles back-office work for bankers, lawyers and
publishers. "Today they all have scooters, and some of them have cars." The
average age of the employees - nearly 3,000 are in Chennai - is 26. "As
soon as they get a job offer, they become part of the middle class."
Chennai, like most of urban Asia, boasts a hodge-podge of architectural
styles in which concrete is the common denominator, sometimes bare and
brutal and sometimes dressed in an ill-proportioned neo-classical
facade of polished granite. The streets are heaped with astonishing amounts
of rubbish and unused building materials: piles of sand, bricks and
giant pipes that eventually become part of the urban scenery.
"Clean Values, Clean City" declares a forlorn sign from the public
works department on the wall of the Institute of Child Health and Hospital
for Children in the central district of Egmore. Beneath the sign is raw
sewage and rotting garbage, a glaring indictment of the authorities in
a city where street-cleaners are neither expensive nor unavailable.
Chennai has 1,200 slum districts - a third of the city's 7 million
inhabitants live there - but there are also elegant old houses and comfortable
condominiums, and an "IT corridor" to the south complete with a
six-lane highway under construction and office blocks of blue glass.
Chinese cities such as Guangzhou display the same incongruous
juxtaposition of squalor and luxury, but in China the frenzy of investment,
construction and reckless disregard for the environment exceeds anything
seen in India. As you enter Guangdong province, the air thickens and the
streams turn black. On an otherwise cloudless day with bad smog, you
can look straight at the sun at midday without hurting your eyes.
Earthmoving equipment removes hill after green hill as the concrete tide
advances inexorably over the paddy fields and the fruit orchards. Yet not
far from the sprawling factory complexes and the featureless dormitories
for Guangzhou's migrant workers are bright green golf courses, luxury
condominiums for China's nouveaux riches and the Longcheer Yacht Club on
the South China Sea.
"The central government still judges local government leaders in terms
of how fast their localities are growing and how much money they are
turning over," says Zheng Tianxiang, a professor whose thoughtful views
on city development have apparently failed to make much impact on the
three Guangzhou mayors he has advised in his long career as an
urbanisation expert. "Maybe it's beginning to change, but we haven't seen much
evidence of it yet." Zheng is both proud and regretful - pleased at the
wealth that has been created but sorry about some of the consequences.
He lives in an apartment in a gated community called the Left Bank
Residential Quarters, which comes with a swimming pool and gardens between
the tower blocks. "We used to swim in the Pearl River outside Zhongshan
University," he says. "The environment was great. There was no ash in
the sky. But the people were poor. I made Rmb50 a month." Nowadays, he
says, salaries have multiplied many times over. "At least we have money
- not as much as you westerners - but when we've got enough, we'll sort
out the environment."
That is a typical comment from an urban Asian. In trying to understand
the urbanisation of humanity, I deliberately chose to visit Guangzhou
and Chennai, as well as Chongqing and Bangalore, rather than capitals
such as New Delhi or Beijing or familiar commercial centres such as
Shanghai and Mumbai. These secondary cities may not be household names in
the US or Europe, but they are roughly as populous as New York and Paris.
They also exemplify the momentous process which UN-Habitat, the UN
human settlements programme, describes in its latest report on the state of
the world's cities.
As migrants pour out of their villages in search of work and
prosperity, the number of cities with more than a million people is expected to
rise to more than 350, and the number of "megacities" - 10 million and
up - will increase from the 20 or so today. This is not a purely Asian
phenomenon, or one that moves precisely in step with economic
development - Lagos, Cairo, Sao Paulo and Mexico City rank among the world's
biggest cities. But Asia's massive population means that half of the
world's cities, big and small, will be in Asia. In the next quarter of a
century Asia's urban population is expected to grow by 70 per cent or 1
billion people. There is even talk of gargantuan conurbations of more than
20 million people, dubbed "metacities" or "hypercities" by the UN. Asia
already has one such city, Tokyo-Yokohama, and the next one could be
the increasingly joined-up conurbation of industry and commerce that
includes Hong Kong, Shenzhen and Guangzhou. Cities over 10 million, says
Habitat, "will be vested with such power that at many levels they will
act as city-states independent of national and regional mediation".
Cities are as old as civilisation, or rather, civilisation is as old as
the city, as the origin of both words - from the Latin civis, a citizen
- reminds us. In 1200, Guangzhou, later known to the British as Canton,
was already one of the world's largest cities with a population of more
than 200,000. But the scale and speed of what has been happening over
the past few decades is without precedent. At Indian independence in
1947, Delhi was a city of a million people. Today it is home to 14
million. The population of Bangalore has risen from 1 million in the 1960s to
6 million or more now. Mumbai, with more than 18 million people, is
already one of the most densely populated places on earth, and it
continues to grow. This urban flood has spawned a whole new industry of
consultants, architects, technicians and mass transport experts. Books on
individual cities and on the city as a global phenomenon have proliferated
as fast as urban slums. They include Joel Kotkin's The City: A Global
History, Mike Davis's Planet of Slums, Max Rodenbeck's Cairo: The City
Victorious, Stephen Inwood's City of Cities: The Birth of Modern London
and Suketu Mehta's Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found.
As the title of Davis's book suggests, and as the UN-Habitat report
emphasises, there are grave doubts about whether megacities can survive as
viable societies when millions of the poor eke out a living in fetid
slums and the rich live behind the high walls of luxury gated
communities. More people live in Mumbai's slums, the UN notes, than in the whole
of Norway. Pessimists such as G. Dattatri, the former head of urban
planning in Chennai, do not see cities as generators of wealth and
employment for the rural poor but as refuges of last resort for landless
villagers with nowhere else to go. Villagers are not pulled into town by the
attractions of the city, but pushed into insanitary slums by their
desperate plight at home. "For survival they come here," says a barefoot
Dattatri over coffee at his home. He calculates that construction workers
earn about Rs3,000 (£35) a month when they need Rs7,000-8,000 to
support a family of five; while a barely qualified office worker with a job
in IT could be earning Rs25,000-30,000. "Fortunately, till now there has
not been any revolutionary impact, but this will certainly lead to much
more unrest. Today crime has gone up in Chennai. People live in
miserable conditions, and they feel they are being exploited. So we are
virtually sitting on a timebomb, particularly in the Indian cities. One thing
that has prevented this happening is the whole Indian philosophy of
contentment."
Optimists in the urbanisation debate - and optimism here is a relative
term - argue that India's particular problem is not a surfeit of people
in its cities, but a surfeit of people overall. In the coming decades,
India will overtake China as the most populous nation and will have to
find space for an additional 500 million inhabitants. That does not
change the facts about cities: people want to live in them, and in the
modern age they remain the most efficient way of housing and providing
jobs and services to large numbers of citizens.
It is rare to meet a slum-dweller who wants to move out of free or
low-rent accommodation into improved but more expensive housing, let alone
one who wants to return to a home village to resume the backbreaking
work of growing crops - especially when five, six or seven family members
may have paying jobs in the city. Of course, people do eventually
abandon the slums once that new apartment is within financial reach, or else
they begin to upgrade and gentrify the slum until it is a slum no more.
"I have a relative from Sichuan who came 15 years ago," says Miles Lee,
a senior research fellow at the state-funded China Development
Institute in Shenzhen. "She now earns Rmb3,000-4,000 a month. A farm girl. She
worked her way up to be a frontline manager in a department store. Her
two-room condo costs about Rmb1,500 a month." Shenzhen is a former
fishing village that was transformed into an industrial city of 8 million
migrants in 30 years, as China modernised.
Among newly urbanising Asians, there is little of the sentimentality
about the countryside typically felt by long-urbanised Europeans and
Americans. I knew that Chongqing, the former wartime capital of China on
the Yangtze River, was supposed to be the world's biggest city (although
that is something of a cheat, since the municipality of 32 million
people includes several towns and rural areas) and I knew that it was being
developed at breakneck speed by Communist leaders intent on opening up
the western half of China. But I was still shocked by the almost
megalomaniac scale of building and the casual demolition of rocky mountains
with dynamite and bulldozers. In one place I watched farmland being torn
up to make way for a new commercial park servicing the food industry,
next to luxury housing estates with names such as "Blue-Green Water
Cambridge" and architectural features vaguely suggesting Bavarian towns or
Chinese-kitsch versions of Venice.
A watchman called Zhou, however, was anything but nostalgic when I met
him at the site of yet another new industrial estate. The 50-year-old,
5ft-tall security guard with a wispy beard and crooked teeth mocked the
idea of anyone being upset about the dynamiting of hillsides.
"Levelling the ground is good," he declared. "Chongqing people don't like
mountains. There's too much up and down." He used to farm sweet potatoes, but
his land was bought for development and he is buying a new apartment
with the compensation money. For the moment he sleeps under canvas at the
site, wears plastic sandals, black trousers and a rough blue shirt and
earns Rmb600 a month. "Life is much better," he says.
Even urban enthusiasts cannot deny that the uncontrollable growth of
cities that is a feature of modern Asia brings with it many horrors,
including transport chaos, poisonous air pollution and toxic rivers. "Ten
years ago, I used to go fishing and there was beautiful clean water,"
says Miles Lee in Shenzhen. "Now you go to the same place and all you
catch is shorts and T-shirts and plastic bags."
Bangalore, a cosmopolitan, fast-growing city that sees itself as one of
the IT hubs of India, is choking on its own success. It has become a
byword for a catastrophic failure of urban planning that has left the
city with traffic jams so bad - 900 vehicles a day are being added to the
streets - that investors have started to despair and look elsewhere to
expand. They complain that it took 10 years to approve a new airport,
its design capacity has already been exceeded by the existing number of
passengers, and there will be no viable road or rail link from
Bangalore city even when it opens. "Fundamentally, the government is 100 per
cent incompetent," said Bob Hoekstra shortly before retiring as head of
Philips Software in Bangalore to become a consultant. "The state
government or the federal government?" I asked. "Both," he replied.
The failure of Bangalore and many other cities to manage their own
growth, however, does not mean that urbanisation is bad for humanity. It
simply means that urbanisation is being badly managed. The death in April
this year of Jane Jacobs, the author who analysed and championed cities
as centres of influence and wealth creation, prompted a number of
articles recalling the importance of urbanisation in humanity's advancement
through the ages. Plenty of experts remain eager to further the cause
of urbanisation. "Civilisations have always been urbanised," says K.E.
Seetharam, a water and sanitation expert at the Asian Development Bank
in Manila. "This concept of rural development is something more recent
and in my view doesn't exist." He concludes: "Urbanisation is not a
problem. It's a natural outcome of development."
Indian sentimentalism about the supposed benefits of village life, and
the consequent incompetence in managing cities, contrasts starkly with
the ruthless pragmatism of the central and local authorities in China.
Some Indian politicians and foreign donors remain obsessed with the
problem of rural poverty and therefore spend scarce resources on subsidies
for villagers that would be equally well spent on the nation's
burgeoning towns and cities. One reason for this apparently illogical approach
is politics: India is a democracy. For historical reasons -
urbanisation is recent - the countryside is over-represented in the political
system and power rests with the state government, not with the cities. The
result, says Nandan Nilekani, chief executive of Infosys, the
Bangalore-based IT services group, is "a disconnect between the economic power
and the political power". Bangalore accounts for a 10th of the
population of Karnataka state and about 60 per cent of its gross domestic
product, he says, but has only 7 per cent of the state's electoral seats. "In
China you don't have that problem. India is the only example of
urbanisation [on this scale] happening with universal adult franchise."
A baneful consequence of India's poor infrastructure is that companies
and householders end up providing many of their own services - by
generating electricity, drilling for water in their backyards and even
disposing of their own waste - which eliminates the efficiency gains one
would expect from providing such services in a densely populated area.
Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, who chairs Biocon, the Bangalore-based biotechnology
company, says companies such as hers use the government's unreliable
electricity supply purely as a backup. Successful companies and rich
individuals live cocooned from the hardships faced by others, emerging only
to complain about services such as roads that they cannot provide for
themselves and thus deepening the fears of the pessimists about social
conflict. Yet, as Nilekani points out, it is the skilled and relatively
wealthy incomers to the cities, not the masses of poorer migrants, who
put most strain on the infrastructure by driving private cars and
consuming other goods and services that must be brought into town.
While Indian governments have dithered and delayed in the face of the
incoming tide of urban migrants, Chinese officialdom has prepared for
the inevitable with the sort of ruthless efficiency only authoritarian
regimes seem capable of achieving. Beijing is expecting 300-500 million
rural people, equivalent to the entire population of western Europe, to
migrate to Chinese cities over the next two decades, and it has
encouraged city mayors and local governments to invest in the infrastructure
to deal with this. (Foreigners invariably praise the country's roads and
airports.)
But there is a dark side to the relentless urge to cover the land with
concrete and produce economic statistics that find favour in Beijing.
"There will emerge six big cities, 25 small cities and more than 490
small towns, which will be surrounding the megalopolis-city district, like
many stars encircling the Sun," declares a typically hubristic exhibit
on the 2005-2020 Chongqing master plan at the city's urban planning
museum. China is remarkable for having museums to celebrate the future
rather than the past, but what you will not find out in them is the
environmental and social cost of the country's accelerated city development,
the communities swept aside and dispersed in the name of progress, the
rivers and fields poisoned by chemicals or the skies darkened by
choking smog.
Nor will you hear much about that elusive goal of urban planners known
as "quality of life". For that - and perhaps to understand the ultimate
destination of Asia's younger megacities - one needs to go to Tokyo or
Seoul. While fast-expanding Chennai and Chongqing are forcing motorways
through the city, the South Korean capital is doing the opposite as it
starts to suburbanise and turn green. Lee Myung-bak, who has just
finished his term as mayor of the Seoul Metropolitan Government, says the
amount of green space in the city has trebled in a decade.
Lee made his name by improving public transport and demolishing roads,
not building them. He organised the destruction of a city-centre
elevated highway and replaced it with the Cheonggyecheon stream that had been
buried under the concrete. The stream immediately became a much-used
pedestrian attraction in the heart of the city, and this apparently
anti-urban gesture may help Lee get elected as the next president of South
Korea. "We're in a rather different situation from the cities in India
and China," he says. "About 20 years ago we did undergo a rapid
expansion of population and back then we had our hands full. Now our population
has stabilised and has actually started to decrease. More and more
citizens want a house that better reflects their living standards - one you
don't just live in, but actually enjoy living in."
By the time you read this, the owner of the building where Zhang had
her Guangzhou flat may have carried out his threat to demolish it to make
way for something more salubrious (and probably more expensive). Zhang
planned to search immediately for a new place, even if it was smaller
and costlier. "Of course," she said when I met her, "we want to go back
to the village eventually." I do not believe it for a moment. In cities
such as Guangzhou and Chongqing, Chennai and Bangalore, mayors and
local governments are still making plenty of mistakes as they seek to
grapple with the 21st-century conversion of Earth into an urban planet. But
the biggest mistake of all would be to pretend that humans are destined
to be anything other than city-dwellers.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2006
[a post for study and research...more Agenda 21...as I recall, part of the plan in Gore's book, was that people live in cities, and not have cars or use up the land...granny]
Engine of enterprise in push and pull of rural desertion
By Alan Beattie
Financial Times
Published: August 6 2006 19:05 | Last updated: August 6 2006 19:05
© Copyright The Financial Times Ltd 2006
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/55022f24-2571-11db-a12e-0000779e2340.html
Today, about 180,000 people around the world will leave the countryside
and move to a city. Humans are becoming urban creatures at an
accelerating speed. The United Nations calculates that London's population took
130 years to grow from 1m to 8m. Bangkok in Thailand took 45 years,
Dhaka in Bangladesh 37 and Seoul in South Korea just 25.
Cities are the future. Whether they turn out to resemble the gleaming
perfection promised by the Emerald City in the Land of Oz or the
dystopian chaos of Blade Runner will depend on the technology and governance
of future economic development.
For centuries the move towards a concentration of people in towns was
driven by an unrelenting logic of progress. Crudely put, the profits
needed to drive industrialisation came from greater productivity in
agriculture. More productive agriculture almost always meant bigger farms and
fewer on the land. Factories required workforces both large and close,
which generally meant towns and cities. Trade between them in turn
increased demand for transport hubs. Thus were rural economies urbanised.
Much of the world, especially China and India, is still going through
this process, with a time-scale telescoped by the pre-existence of mass
production technology. But that does not mean cities develop in a
predestined fashion. For the growing number of modern cities that long ago
left behind the industrial reasons for their existence, modern
technology, globalisation and policy create subtle forces that can shape, create
or undermine them.
The effect of government policy on cities can make a dramatic, and
damaging, difference, as much when they are favoured as when they are not.
A striking example is the "copper belt" of Zambia, where the country's
longest-established export is mined. Kenneth Kaunda, Zambia's first
president after independence, calamitously used tax revenue from the
soaring price of copper to fund urban food subsidies and other hand-outs, in
effect taxing the countryside to favour the towns. A mass rural
decampment ensued. Ndola, the copper belt's biggest centre, is today a neat
colonial-era company town of copper miners surrounded by shanty towns of
more than 1.5m desperately poor Zambians trying to live off them.
The lessons of history are clear: cities do better if they prepare for
migrants. And it is easier to deal with people "pulled" towards cities
by the prospect of jobs and better lives than those "pushed" by
eviction from the countryside.
The British Isles contain three models of the move from rural to urban.
As in England, it can be gradual and relatively painless: the
"enclosure" by landowners of small tenant farms and publicly held land into
bigger enterprises took centuries and monarchs in the 16th and 17th
centuries tried to slow the process down to placate protesting villagers.
Later, country-dwellers often voluntarily moved to towns when
industrialisation created better jobs, in textile mills and the like. As in
Scotland, the move can be brutal and abrupt, such as the Lowland and Highland
Clearances - the forced removal of tenant farmers to make way for bigger
and more productive farms - that began in the 18th century. Glasgow and
Edinburgh were inundated with indigent refugees. And as in Ireland, the
change can be achieved in a way that in practice if not intent
resembled genocide - the famine and land evictions of the mid-19th century that
helped to populate Liverpool, Boston and New York.
Thus cities such as Shanghai, to which millions of rural Chinese are
desperate to move but are regulated by internal migration controls, do
rather better than Mumbai, where refugees fleeing drought and crop
failure in the villages of India mean that more than half the city's
population live in shanty towns or slums.
Important though government is, it operates in a landscape shaped by
technology and globalisation. Just as the growth of cities was driven by
one technological revolution, so others can change or reverse it.
Edward Glaeser, a Harvard specialist in the economics of cities, points out
that the original reasons for the existence of cities are disappearing.
The cost of transporting manufactured goods dropped by 90 per cent in
real terms in the 20th century, removing the need for regions to have
their own manufacturing and distribution hub.
"The great force that reshaped the city in the 20th century is the
engine," Prof Glaeser says. "People have increasingly been able to propel
themselves and their goods over long distances."
Cheap transport pushed Americans away from Cleveland and Detroit and
towards the cheap land and warm weather in sprawling low-density sunbelt
cities such as Phoenix, Arizona. Liverpool, the port in north-west
England that handled much of Britain's transatlantic trade, was once the
country's richest city. The decline of its port almost halved its
population from 867,000 in 1937 to 442,000 in 2001.
The revolution of information technology and digitisation ought,
perhaps, to have completed the job, removing the need for a physical
workplace. Yet several of the cities that seemed to be dying in the 1970s - New
York, Chicago, Boston and London - have since had remarkable revivals.
Even those, such as New York, whose populations are still stagnant have
experienced booming property markets and the reclamation of derelict
districts.
The success of the modern city appears to have two features: one, that
digitisation has created a very specialised elite who benefit even more
from clustering together and, two, that people are moving to cities not
just to work but to play. The industries that are most digitised and
computerised - software and financial services - are those that huddle in
small, expensive areas such as Silicon Valley and Wall Street, where
their top-level staff still need the edge of face-to-face contact with
clients and with each other.
Saskia Sassen, a sociologist at the University of Chicago, notes that
Goldman Sachs has removed a lot of standardised work, including basic
trading, to cheaper locations such as New Jersey - but is building a
global headquarters, including six trading floors, in lower Manhattan. "An
industry like finance uses new technologies but is not about them," she
says.
Meanwhile, Prof Glaeser notes that the ratio of housing costs to real
wages in cities has risen sharply, suggesting that people are choosing
to live in cities for reasons other than income. With falling crime
rates, the attractions of some cities - bars, restaurants, theatre, not to
mention the city as a marriage market - have launched their renaissance
as a place of consumption.
Some cities achieve this transformation; some do not. Now that Great
Lakes shipping is no longer a big industry, there is no reason to site
trading and manufacturing cities on the lake shores. But while one,
Detroit, has largely failed to find a new role, another, Chicago, has
thrived.
Managing the post-industrialisation of a city looks to be even harder
than managing its urbanisation. Some, like the southern Indian
information technology city of Hyderabad, have to do the two simultaneously. The
Blade Runner and Emerald cities may end up co-existing. Not all
urbanisations will look the same.
Google Earth imagery reveals entrance to China sub tunnel
