Animator versus Animation

Animator vs Animation

Israeli FM and her weird logic

Israeli FM Tzipi Livni recently made a preposterous declaration about how she figures out any solution to the Israeli-Palestinian problem and what amount of land the state of Israel is ready to give the Palestinians to build their state . FM Livni made it clear that the Palestinians have no right to make any claims on the territories that were occupied by Israel before 1967. Her argument for such a misleading claim is that there was no Palestinian Authority and as a matter of fact no Palestinian state before that date. FM livni seemed to be oblivious of the fact that before 1948 there was no State of Israel in Palestine,either. Therefore, if she were to deprive the Palestinians of building their state on the land of their forefathers, a land that belongs to them by force of law, then the same logic is to be applied to the state of Israel itself; and logically enough, the International Community and the UN should interfere to put back the entire region to its status-quo before 1948. This state of affairs is a clear-cut evidence to anyone who supports Israeli occupation of Palestinian land that they had better reconsider their position on this issue and try as much as possible to be fair towards Palestinians and their just cause.

Mohamed Chhilif

Child Abuse

The problem of child abuse has become very serious
Wafaa Al-Kredia
guest contributor

CHILD abuse is a worldwide problem and not only in Saudi Arabia. We unfortunately don't like to talk about the problem and so too often ignore it. In the United States, on the other hand, the problem receives attention from many authorities and organizations for children's rights. Between 1985 and 1992, the problem of child abuse has become very serious, increasing by 50 percent - from 30 children abused per 1,000 to 45 per 1,000.

I have recently received a briefing about this problem in Saudi Arabia; it was sent to me by Dr. Huda Abdullah Qattan, chairperson of the Committee for Protecting Children's Rights at King Faisal Specialist Hospital. Dr. Huda affirms that the problem is real, horrifying and hushed-up. This is due to a number of factors, such as the difficulty of finding clear evidence of an alleged abuse, the possibility of harming the reputation of the child's family as well as other personal, social and legal considerations.

Since doctors who might go public with cases of child abuse fear being harassed by the authorities or concerned families, they decide to drop the case. This doesn't mean that the problem doesn't exist; it does - as Dr. Huda confirmed - but we lack corroborating figures or reliable statistics.

According to the report sent to me, violence in the family is due to three principal reasons: the parents' psychological state, the existence of an aggressive child in the family or some event which has caused tension and stress within the family. Violence increases in such circumstances and, the report continues, are represented by the existence of disabled children or children suffering from malnutrition, unwanted pregnancy and families who are socially isolated or run financial troubles. Violent accidents occur, first and foremost, to the females in the family, said Dr. Huda.

King Faisal Specialist Hospital has established an unprecedented program, the aim of which is to uncover cases of child abuse in the Kingdom, channels for reporting the cases and ways to avoid such cases in the future. In support of these aims, the Committee for Protecting Children's Rights was established in 1994.

IN Columbia, the police arrested a young man accused of stabbing a woman. It was not difficult to arrest him since the assault did not kill the woman and she lived to describe the defendant to the police and identify him in a lineup. The young man, curiously, confessed to the investigator that he had killed three women in the past year.

He described his three crimes in full detail. In light of his confessions, he was given the death penalty. The story should have ended here, but it did not. There was another surprise for the court when the young man calmly stated that he had killed 35 women over the past two years. Although the judge laughed when he heard the number, the young man did not flinch. When the judge asked him why he had committed such crimes and against women in particular, the young man replied that he was avenging himself for a mother who had ill-treated him when he was a child. When he married, his wife treated him the same way.

My advice to mothers and wives, 'Don't be tough. Treat your husbands and children nicely. Beware violence and ill-treatment.'

Say No To Child Abuse( click here to read more )

George Galloway Savages SKY NEWS!

The interview of Sky News with George Galloway

About the war in Lebanon.

- Question of Sky news: How can you justify your support to Hizbullah and his leader Sheikh Hassan Nasralla?

- Answer from Galloway: What a preposterous way to introduce me and a preposterous question. 24 years ago and on the day my daughter was born, I had to dash to the maternity hospital. There was a mass demonstration in London against the Israeli occupation to Lebanon. Israel was invading Lebanon all the 24 years of my daughter's life. Hizbullah are a part of the Lebanese national resistance, who have successfully driven out most of Israeli troops out of Lebanon in the year 2000 and trying to get back the thousands of Lebanese prisoners who are kidnapped by the Israelis under the terms of their illegal occupation to Lebanon. It's Israel that is invading Lebanon; it is Israel that is attacking Lebanon and Lebanon attacking Israel. You have been showing a report of Israeli soldiers getting ready to invade Lebanon and you are asking us to moan this operation as if it were some kind of a war crime. Israel is invading Lebanon and has killed 30 times more Lebanese than have died in Israel. So it is you who should be justifying the evidence bias which is written on each line of your face and in every nuance of your voice and loaded in each question you ask.

- Sky news: You put your finger on the button, didn't you? When you said that Hizbullah was set in the 1980s in order to remove every Israeli soldier from Lebanon and its soil and you said that they achieved that?

- Galloway: No, I didn't, this is a key point that you are concealing from your viewers. Israel was forced out of most of south Lebanon in 2000. It is still occupying a part of Lebanon and it has thousands of Lebanese prisons in Israeli jails.

- Sky news interrupting: According to Israeli draft, there are 3 Lebanese prisoners that were taken to court of law.

- Galloway: Please, have a slight longer memory than 4 weeks; I am talking about the thousands of Lebanese that were taken during the 18 years of Israeli illegal occupation of south Lebanon. These are the prisoners that have to be released in exchange for the Israeli soldiers that have been captured at the beginning of this wave of the crises.

- Sky news: can I ask you about a report that was today on the Sunday telegraph, which said that Iran has given Hizbullah long range missiles capable of targeting any part of Israel. Iran according to this Iranian NP who helped to establish Hizbullah who said that Iran is giving the organization authorization to attack Tel Aviv. Can you blame Israel for wanting to destroy these missiles?

- Galloway: too preposterous, America is giving Israel missiles that can target every part not only in Lebanon, but every city in the Arab and Moslem world including Iran. Why should America be allowed to give long range missiles to Israel including hundreds of nuclear missiles and Iran is not allowed to give to Hizbullah?

- Sky news, but they are a terrorist organization!

- Galloway:They are not a terrorist organization. Only in the mind of sky news, the sun, the times etc.

- Sky news, I will have to stop you there Mr Galloway, one man's terrorist, is another man's freedom's fighter. You know this perfectly well. In most people's eyes, (like the IRA), they had a choice,

- Galloway: They had nothing to do with the IRA, you are totally wrong to say that in most eyes, Hizbullah is a terrorist organization. In most people's eyes, Israel is a terrorist state. You cannot comprehend that fact that leads to the bias that's running through all your reports and every question you have asked me in this report.

- Sky news, hmm, can I ask you one more question, I was relating to the IRA that have decided to embrace politics. Hizbullah had the chance to embrace politics. They have 2 representatives in the cabinet, why did they capture 2 Israeli soldiers?

- Galloway: Because Israel occupies their country and hold thousand of their compatriots as kidnapped hostages in their dungeon. It is very simple unless you think in a clock that goes back only 4 weeks. If you know and you are old enough to know better, the origin of this conflict are not 4 weeks, 4 month or 4 years old, but decades old. You want people to think that the crises started when it started to tick on sky news?

- Sky news: No I don't, I wanna ask you one final question, do you think that the 4 weeks has set back Hizbullah's ambitions. Not only that Israelis are across the borders in sizable numbers, their claims to be a democratic organisation .... etc seems to blows now.

- Galloway: Silly question, what a silly person you are, Hizbullah is winning the war, you can see on the other half of the screen (clip of Israeli soldiers casualties was shown in the other half of the screen) . Hizbullah is more popular today in Lebanon amongst Christians, Sunni, shias and amongst all Arabs and Moslems than it has ever been. It is Israel who has lost the war and Bush and Blair for politically organizing the war, they have lost politically. It is a defeat for Israel and Bush and Blair. Everyone but you can see it.

- Sky news, Let me separate out that question then, set it in another way, Hizbullah was trying to get Israelis of their soil, aren't there more Israeli soldiers now than it was 25 days ago?

- Galloway, They seem to be having a very good hiding on the screen that I am watching, maybe you can see it, but I am watching them getting a bloody good hiding. So, if that is a success, I am not sure what a failure would look like. The reality is, that this conflict will go on. The UN resolutions solve nothing, give Lebanon nothing, give the prisoners in Israeli Dungeons nothing. Israel has even kidnapped more Palestinian politicians, members of parliament and thousands of prisoners are sitting there in Israel. This war will continue until an overall settlement is reached. This settlement must mean, Israelis must withdraw from occupied territories that it currently holds since the war in 1967. The release of all political prisoners, and a state for the Palestinians with east Jerusalem as its capital. NO JUSTICE NO PEACE. You are not going on a job as a news caster in Jerusalem soon believe me,

- Sky news, I must say, that some families will find it offensive when they moan their dead to hear you say it was a bloody good hiding.

- Galloway: You don't give a Damn, you don't even know about the Palestinian families, you don't even know that they exist. Tell me one name of the 7 family members slaughtered on the beach of Gaza by an Israeli warship. You don't even know their names, but you know the name of each Israeli soldier who was taken prisoner in this conflict, because you believe ,whether you know it or not, that the Israeli blood is more valuable than the blood of Lebanese or the Palestinians. That is the truth and the majority of your viewers already know it.

An Old Man

To his secluded nook he remains confined
Pressing his rosary bead after bead,
Chanting psalms for Him Whose Name is Glorified
And his Messenger the holder of the creed.
His face is all wrinkles and his body all through.
Each wrinkle tells the story of a painful and toilsome life.
Palsy shakes his frail body and his grey hair,
And lethe retards his perplexed brain.
Little lads and lasses we were when squatting around him
He told us wonderful stories of a bygone time.
"Glamourous was mine time ,lads, while thine is dim.
And cheerful were mine men with noble hearts
That were never grim."

Mohamed Chhilif

Like a Stargazer

Like a stargazer I spend my nights
Recalling a bygone time.
A genuine time oozing hours by hours.
Fading away and dissolving
Into the abyss of eternity.
"No time to waste," They say
In these folly-stricken days.
And nobody cares a straw about the destiny of humanity.
Of wisdom ancient philosophers spoke
And so did all the bards of the world.
Yet wisest is him who does not easily believe.
Belief nowadays is so hard an enterprise.
And likewise doubt is in no way a relief.
Forlorn am I in this world of hatred
Where kinship is forsaken
And bloodshed is the motto.
No love, no tolerance, no humanity
And man to man is for life an enemy.

Mohamed Chhilif

The life of Rosa Parks

Martin Luther King - I Have A Dream Speech - MLK

Say No To Child Labour ( click here to watch the video )

Samira M.

Sixteen-year-old Samira M. has worked in “four or five houses” in Casablanca, Fes, Meknes, and Rabat since she began working as a domestic at about fourteen. She told Human Rights Watch that she has never stayed long in one job because “all of the women I worked for treated me badly,” adding, “I would go home for the `Eid [holiday] and not come back because of the bad treatment. When I would go home they wouldn’t give me all the salary owed me, for example they wouldn’t give me the last month or two months or one-and-a-half months.”

Samira M. summed up her most recent job, where she said she worked eighteen hours a day, without rest breaks or days off: “When you finish something you start something else—even sitting you have to be doing something, cleaning vegetables, something.” She said she especially disliked childcare responsibilities in this and some other jobs she has had: “They would go out and leave me with young babies and tell me to make bottles for them but I didn’t know how, and the babies would cry and keep me up at night.”

Samira M. told Human Rights Watch that her mother received 400 dirham (dh) per month (about U.S.$44) for Samira’s work, from which her mother paid 100 dh (about $11) to the broker who placed Samira, but that she herself received nothing. Samira said she was not sure of any other details of her parents’ agreement with the broker because her mother hadn’t taken her with her when the agreement was made: “My mother made the agreement and the broker took me to the house.” She told us that she didn’t object to working since her family needed the income, “but I wish it would be work that would be good work.”

Samira M. told us her last employer was often abusive: “She used foul language. She would say bad things about my mother or she would say she would bring the police to beat me. Sometimes she would hit me with her hand or choke me…. [I]f I didn’t bring things to [the employer’s mother] quickly enough [the mother] would complain and the employer would hit me.” She added that the employer kept her inside, and excluded her even from socializing with the other members of the household. “I would eat in the kitchen, whatever was left over. It wasn’t enough but I was afraid to complain lest she hit me or something. I slept in a small storage room under the stairs. It had been a bathroom and had a bad smell coming from the drain. It was very small, my feet would hit the door when I slept…. I didn’t go out except to take out the garbage.”

Samira M. might have tolerated these abuses until, as with her previous jobs, a religious festival gave her an excuse to go home, but she told Human Rights Watch that the hard work and lack of sleep became too much for her to bear. “I left without permission. I left because I was working from 6 a.m. to midnight and it was hard work, scrubbing, and when I would be sleeping [the employer] would come and wake me up roughly. The work there was more than a lot.”

Because she left without permission, and without money or a way to get back home, Samira M. put herself at risk of arrest for vagrancy or, if her employer had wished to punish her with a false accusation, arrest for theft, as well as risk of recruitment into prostitution, or rape if she was forced to spend the night on the street. She was lucky. She told Human Rights Watch that police at the Casablanca train station found her crying and asked her whether she wanted to return to the house where she worked. When she said no, they searched her “to see if I had stolen anything,” and when they found she only had one loaf of bread with her, they took her to a local nongovernmental organization (NGO) working with street children, including former child domestics.

Is it me standing here at the sill of your door?
Or is it some transparent shadow
Returning aghast from the hollow pit of time?
I cannot know whither I belonged ere this time.
Nor do I know who on earth I am.
Time is the disease of the flesh
And life is so transient and so slippery.
What on earth could I do in your awesome presence?
And what could I possibly say?
Words crowding at the tip of my tongue,
I cannot, to my disgrace, utter your name.
Benumbed am I and to your pitiying looks
I am damn naught but an eccentric fool.
Fools are no foolish were not there
Mortals to assume they are fool.
And beauty is no beautiful
Were not there eyes to behold.
There, in front of me you are standing
And your frail body ashaking
I can see millions of querries
In the lustrous glow of your eyes
Querries I know and others I know not.
Perchance you are wondering what brought me here.
And whither was my shelter after all this gloom.
Or haply your little heart is throbbing
Bewildered at this unexpected turn of doom.

Mohamed Chhilif

Iraqi Plight

It was dark as darkness could be
Smells of gunpowder and human flesh
Permeating the air to form a stench
As ugly as any unholy alchemy
Cries of pain and agony
Bodies scattered in every street and alley
Disfigured, rotten and swollen!
Feverish soldiers in a hell of a frenzy
Shooting in all directions, shooting to kill
Any living soul: man, woman, boy and lassie
Hovering planes launched bombs
To flatten to earth any desolate house or shanty
Explosions here and explosions there
Innocent souls silenced to death
Hateful GI's armed to the teeth
Entered mosques and slayed worshippers
Kicked, trod and spat on holy books
And like dirty swines urinated all over the place.

Mohamed Chhilif