Occupy Your Rights: OWS: Occupy Buffalo Eviction

On February 2, 2012, OccupyBuffalo was forcefully evicted from Niagara Square in Buffalo, New York after peacefully occupying without a single infraction since October of 2011.

This eviction was a result of a disagreement between OccupyBuffalo and the City of Buffalo. Originally, the City offered to extend a prior approved joint agreement from 2011 to occupy until March 8th, 2011. OccupyBuffalo wanted the agreement to run until the end of the March in order to find another location and to serve the needs of the community.

Occupiers had until Wednesday [Feb 2] night as a deadline to leave, after 4 months of peaceful occupation. The occupation wished to further discuss this with the city. OccupyBuffalo denied the sudden and unexplained choice by the city to vacate dependent upon the cities actions to not renew the
prior contract until end of March.

The First Amendment of the Constitution provides for ‘the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
That is exactly what OccupyBuffalo did. That is not what occurred. The permit to stay [that need not be obtained under the First Amendment yet was] in the square expired at midnight. Crews [Buffalo Police Department, bulldozers, dump trucks, and the SWAT team in riot gear] moved in to dismantle all structures in Niagara Square. The City and OccupyBuffalo have always worked together. This is a model occupation.

The raid occurred around 2:30am Thursday. 10 were arrested. All equipment, save for one or two items, were destroyed.  I watched live on Ustream in abject horror. I thought: I cannot believe this is occurring in my city.

This abuse of power was an immense shock as witnessed on Ustream by BootsofSolidarity because it occurred when people were sleeping. Peaceful resistance technique was again taught [on video] by a seasoned community leader when the raid began. It is heard on the stream: “The Buffalo Police Department said they will not destroy anything.”

Occupiers were also educated on possible arrest, meaning if they did not wish to take a chance, then to go across the street and for those that chose to exercise their legal, civil and human rights, then to stay put, peacefully.
There were no misunderstandings within the occupation.

SWAT Team members and Buffalo Police officers moved in on OccupyBuffalo with dump trucks, bulldozers and scooped the tents, equipment and all private and personal property into the dump trucks to be picked up at a “location” and sorted through.

Nearly everything was destroyed. This was not part of the agreement to vacate. Occupiers were simply told they may need to vacate.
OccupyBuffalo has melded into a community of teach ins, education, free food for the hungry, information on war, diversity of all faith, government, politics and true democracy.

Before this illegal raid, OccupyBuffalo was and is currently nominated for Top 20 out of 157 nominated occupations for a “community activist” award through FDL Action, coordinated by Jane Hamsher [HuffPost, Alternt, American Prospect, CNN, MSNBC, PBS, and producer of Natural Born Killers.

Mayor Brown told Channel 2 News there was nothing but positive discussions between the two parties and: "As part of their contract there is the potential for renewal, but again we are talking. The talks are going very well. There has been a very positive communication with the City's Law Department, special events division and the occupiers from the very beginning and we feel that this will go forward in a very positive fashion."

Buffalo Police Commissioner Daniel Derenda stated: "We did not anticipate violence but we prepared for the worst and hoped for the best."

When speaking to Channel 2 News, Mayor Brown said the peaceful protest in Buffalo has been a model for other protest movements around the county. He told a reporter "there is a chance the protesters will be allowed to stay."

In court on Thursday morning [VIDEO HERE] the 10 arrested [that never needed to be] were charged with disorderly conduct and trespassing, yet dismissed with restrictions: no occupying in a 3 mile radius to Niagara Square.
The City has offered an abandoned house, at this point, to the occupation. Why was the house not offered before the raid and arrests? Before the destruction of private property? Is that any different than what government bodies and police forces blame occupiers for doing?  Destructing governmental and city property by occupying it?

OccupyWallStreet has recognized this violation, as well as the world. OccupyBuffalo will continue with or without a place to occupy in order to continue to serve the community as they have been.

In the meantime, are you aware of your legal, civil and human rights?

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We have failed you Sir Abdus Salam

Yesterday marked the 85th Birthday of Dr.Abdus Salam, theoretical physicist and the only Pakistani Nobel Laureate. He is not our national hero, his name is rarely ever mentioned, in his life the only befitting ‘honour’ we could provide him was a life in self exile, in his death however we went a step ahead by blanking out the term ‘Muslim’ from his epitaph. A member of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission, a member of the Scientific Commission of Pakistan and the Chief Scientific Adviser to the President, Salam was one of the most prolific researchers in theoretical elementary particle physics. No minister or high government official attended his funeral.
He was an Ahmadi.

Happy Birthday Salam Sahab, we have failed you.
Over 5,000 gathered in Rawalpindi yesterday, blaring witness to the systematic hate, prejudice that has been curtailed by a whole series of ordinances, acts and constitutional amendments against the Ahmadiyya community, that had been the cause of Salaam’s self exile four decades ago. Nothing has changed since, for the Ahmadis it has only gotten worse.
The rally called out by traders’ associations was attended by activists of Jamaatud Dawa, Jamaat-i-Islami, Sipah Sahaba (banned organisation) and Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat in Rawalpindi,  claimed that a ‘worship place’ belonging to the Ahmadiya community was built without permission, The irony of protest on land encroachments by parties who themselves have been involved in extortion and land encroachments is immeasurable. But it was not long until the real incentive became clear.  A few weeks ago anti-Ahmadi banners had appeared in the same area, threatening the residents to leave, claiming their existence was unconstitutional and any restraint from them could lead to ‘repercussions’.
Terrified, no one spoke.
If you are Pakistani passport holder chances are you have signed a declaration claiming Qadianis as non-Muslims, this means that you declare them prohibited from calling themselves ‘Muslim’, to call their ‘places of worship’ mosques, to pray in ‘Muslim mosques’ or ‘public prayer areas’, to give azaan, to greet others with salaam, to publicly quote from the Quran – these amongst others could get one up to three years in prison.
Now they want to take away their right to worship. Through intimidation and hate mongering, speakers at the conference yesterday blatantly announced that there will be a 100,000 Qadri’s raging against the Ahmadis, issuing an ultimatum to the Ahmadiyya community to stop praying.
If they do and if the authorities fail to take action against the open call for aggression and violence, you and I will be responsible for authorising prejudice, for remaining silent in the face of aggression, for letting the hatred breed within our society, for not standing up for one of our own and for allowing men driven by their convoluted faith kill in the name of God.
If being party to vigilantism burdens your conscience, voice your concern, stand up and be counted.
Our state reminds me of Faiz’s words that he had scribbled in Dr. Abdus Salam’s diary when they met at an airport.
‘Nisar mein teri galiyon kay aye watan kay jahan
Chali hai rasm kay koi na sar utha kay chaley’
(My salutations to thy sacred streets, O beloved nation!
Where a tradition has been invented- that none shall walk with his head held high)
jo koii chaahanewaalaa tawaaf ko nikale 
nazar churaa ke chale, jism-o-jaan bachaa ke chale
(If at all one takes a walk, a pilgrimage
One must walk, eyes lowered, the body crouched in fear)

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An imaginative angle to Pakistan’s English white wash

Once upon a time Pakistan cricket ruled the world. In eighties and early nineties they challenged the very best. After an agonizing period of underachievement in best part of late nineties came the worst phase when they became pariahs of the cricketing world. But then fortune changed as success started to smile upon them again.
Pakistan, often, can do what others only dream of – in both success as well as failures. A whole decade from 1999 to 2010 was marred by controversies, shocking defeats and underachievement. The young generation will remember that era like ‘once upon a time we were so rubbish’, but a true fan or a chronic follower of Pakistan cricket will only give it a passing reference though in a sad and touching way. There is so much in Pakistan cricket that it cannot be ignored as a product. The brand has always been attractive and will always be.
By thrashing and ‘green-washing’ England, Pakistan has signaled return back to the golden days. Tomorrow’s historian will remind his readers by saying ‘once upon a time World’s number one team was rolled over by Pakistan who were isolated to the edge of the cricketing fraternity’. That will be the time when true merits of this huge success would be realized. They say when we are too close to a thing we cannot appreciate its true value.  Today we can celebrate this victory and term it a huge one but its grandiosity will continue to increase with each passing day. The reason being this win is a harbinger of something special to come. As a cricket lover and follower I can sense that.
It is team Misbah. Misbah has surprised even his biggest fan by becoming the central figure of Pakistan’s success. The man who enjoys love and hate relationship with his fans has come out as a messiah for his beleaguered team. Merely two years ago, after being overlooked in the squad of 35, he was contemplating retirement and wanted to burn his kit out of frustration. After the manic events of 2010 in which spot-fixing saga shook the cricket world, he became the logical choice, and the only reasonable one, for captaincy. His calmness, friendly nature and strong mind turned a bunch of individuals into a fighting unit.
The task has just begun. We have seen enough desolation. Now is the time to rise and shine. The victory achieved in the Arabian Desert should not go to waste. Under Misbah, the team will achieve more and continue its ascendancy. But the test is what next after Misbah and the current bunch. We need to plan a smooth transition in the next two years. If we can mastermind that effectively, we would be able to say proudly somewhere in the future, ‘we were invincible once upon a time’!

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Humsafar terrible appeal

Ashar stares at his love interest with desire that would give school girl goose bumps. PHOTO: PUBLICITY

The appeal of Humsafar is obvious. You could cut through the weird chemistry between Khirad and Ashar, the hero authors of romance novels would be envious of. Eye candy, nakedly sexual, he stares arduously at his love interest with desire that would give the Grammarian and the Aisha Bawany schoolgirl goose bumps. He is clean cut. He smiles infrequently and when he does, it seems as if it were a gift. Physical contact is at a minimum. Sex is implied, and there is a chastity reminiscent of Zia-era dramas that drives people insane with tension.

Khirad on the other hand, played by the cherubic Mahira with bright makeup, and translucent skin, appears surprisingly asexual — the recipient of the man’s desire, derision, and disdain – not interfering too much with the screen appeal of Ashar, with nice beauty, but insipid enough to not be threatening to female viewers. She is also surprisingly silent, when all you want is for her to sit him down and feverishly explain the terrible misunderstanding the entire infuriating play is constructed on, over a cup of coffee or a glass of vodka.
If Khirad’s father taught her such great values, why was her marriage into an affluent family (mild protestations notwithstanding) and its inevitable accompaniments – an abusive mother-in-law, and a passive aggressive unpredictable husband — the only way to material security?
Her mind that works faster than a calculator could also have landed her a PhD stipend at the University of Punjab where she could have raised her daughter modestly, but well. If not, then perhaps a junior analyst position at Engro where she would have adequate medical coverage for her child. And if not that, there could be situations around inflation and lack of opportunities. Eventually, she could have met a man less verbally challenged than Ashar and they would have actual conversations instead of old words reverberating in their heads like bipolar memories. In fact, what Khirad’s father taught her was the hegemonic values – where honesty is inextricably entwined with being a good wife and a submissive, self-denying woman whose moral sexuality is her ticket to livelihood.
The house is central to the play. It is luxurious. It has a swimming pool (virginal) in the background, and tasteful art. It is sterile, hotel-like, and it’s the woman’s object of ultimate attainment. Khirad got thrown out, and in a scene that played cruelly on all women’s insecurities, we are shown that what capitalist patriarchy giveth, it taketh if you can’t abide by bourgeois society’s moral ethics. Underlining Khirad’s dramatic eviction from the house is the fact that she did abide by these ethics and is of unblemished character. It is she of moral purity who deserves the house rather than the manipulative mother-in-law.

In an earlier episode, it is the mother-in-law who is threatened with eviction if she does not agree with her husband’s decision to respect his dying sister’s wish. But the mother-in-law’s non-nuanced evil aside, isn’t it troubling that women despite age, motherhood and having maintained homes are always on the verge of losing it all — always at the whim of later apologetic, yet unapologetic men? Sadly, after this they have to rely on puppeteering their sons for personal fulfillment. Note that the mother-in-law has a possibly satisfying career in an NGO – but this worldly fulfillment fades in comparison to the infinite delights of tormenting her child.
If Khirad had not submitted happily to Ashar’s gradual advances, and had asserted sexual autonomy or indifference, then what? When she does give up on him, it is because he is weak and could not protect her. But imagine a Khirad who is coming of age and is actually exploring multiple, conflicting sexual emotions towards her cousin-husband and maybe even her classmate, and later, raising her child as a single mother and meeting a man of her choice? But this would, of course, mean complexity and a screenplay that does not rely on overly simplistic archetypes. Functioning within the confines of patriarchy, Khirad cannot lose her chance of reunion with Ashar by responding to any other man in her four and a half years as a single woman. Playing on scenes in Bollywood, where the woman’s purity is depicted through devoted, childlike prayer as the male voyeurs, here too in Episode 19, Ashar is shown after Khirad has vulnerably bared it all before her God.
Ashar, too, stays pure. But promiscuity will not cost him a home. His celibacy (and virtual impotency) is affirmation of his unattainability. No wafer (think vamp) like Sara sink her claws in him. Sara’s character, again, is monosyllabic evil. And the fact that she runs the show at corporate HQ when Ashar is in the doldrums is not commendable, but rather evidence of her manipulative abilities. That she uses yoga to keep herself grounded in her evil designs is yet again weird social commentary as is her always western attire. And since the drama is PG, we never see Ashar succumbing to Sara’s advances (though it would add a twist and a moral dilemma) despite being in hotels together and constantly in each other’s homes.
The terrible appeal of Humsafar is that it confirms characters and stories set in deeply patriarchal frameworks. It is sexist justice that soothes the hearts of patriarchal vigilantes, and keeps us on because we want to see the mother-in-law shamed, humiliated and thrust out, and moral purity rise to the top in the reunion of Khirad and Ashar. 
It is a modern day fairy tale, better than Cinderella, worse than Shrek; the born again revival of TV drama in a tweeting world.

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Foreign policy of Pakistan is too narrowly focused

One thing that bothers me about how Pakistan conducts its foreign policy is how narrowly it is focused on a few states. The four horsemen of Pakistan’s foreign policy are: the U.S., China, Saudi Arabia, and India. These states take an overwhelming and disproportionate level of our government’s interest, time, money, effort. Almost everything we do is run through the prism of relations with one or more of these states.
Now, it’s trivially true that some partners and/or rivals will be more important than others, depending on history, geography, the distribution of power, and so on. This much is true for all countries.
What’s unique, or at least noteworthy, about the situation in Pakistan is the near-absence of other areas and regions of the world. Think about it: when’s the last time you heard about an important state visit to/from Brazil? Or Australia? Or South Korea?
I don’t know the first thing about investment and money, but I’ve always heard the phrase “diversifying your portfolio”. Well, Pakistan’s portfolio is not very diverse at all. It puts us at a disadvantage, in that we are more vulnerable to small changes in each of the four aforementioned states.
Furthermore, we leave a lot of potential gains on the table by ignoring different parts of the world. Consider textiles. Pakistan’s textile industry constitutes about sixty percent of its exports. It is a massive, massive part of our economy. So with good reason, we have approached the U.S. (unsuccessfully) and the EU (successfully, it seems) to loosen tariffs and trade barriers on textiles.
Now, with respect to our successful lobbying with the EU, this is great news. The reason this is great news is that there are a number of countries in the EU which, presumably, would very much like our textiles. The following is a list culled from the CIA World Factbook, with countries whose “main” imports include textiles. The EU countries are shaded orange.

Source data: CIA World Factbook

Of course, there happens to be another region of the world that would, presumably, very much like our textiles. Here’s the list from above again, but this time with African countries shaded blue.

Source data: CIA World Factbook

Now, it’s perfectly plausible that we have, in fact, engaged in a lot of lobbying efforts for more trade with Africa, and I just haven’t heard about it. But I’ve never really heard anyone else talk about it either. My guess is our economic, political and diplomatic relationships with African countries, particularly the non Arab ones, are essentially dormant.
I’m only using textiles (and Africa, for that matter) as an illustration of a broader point. Pakistan needs to do a better job of engaging with states out there on the basis of mutual interests. Maybe it’s not trade, but rather cultural exchange programs. Or student scholarships, or sports tours, or whatever. There’s a whole lot of foreign policy beyond drones, war, terrorism, and oil, and there’s a whole lot of countries out there not named the U.S., China, Saudi Arabia, and India. I hope the new power team from LUMS in charge of our foreign ministry grapples with this issue a little bit.

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Army chief accountable for drone attacks: Dr AQ Khan

ISLAMABAD - Renowned nuclear scientist Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan on Wednesday said that the army chief was answerable for the US drone attacks inside Pakistan because he has taken an oath for safeguarding the borders of the country.
"If India attacks Pakistan then will the army chief retaliate or wait for the permission of the rulers," Dr AQ Khan questioned.
Talking to media persons here, he said Pakistani rulers are virtually the slaves of the US, adding that Pakistan People's Party (PPP) while voting against Syria in the United Nation Security Council (UNSC) even did not consult China.
DR. AQ Khan lamented that the PPP has forgotten that Basharul Assad's father was the only person who supported Bhutto when the entire world left him alone.
Commenting on the distribution of laptops by the Punjab government among the students, he said that this scheme will face the fate of Yellow Cabs Scheme, adding that laptops will be found more in markets and less with the students.
DR AQ Khan said that if Punjab government wants computerization then Shahbaz Sharif should open new computer centres in the province.

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