The most camp-looking member of AlQaeda?

He could be a boy-servant for a dirty old man somewhere in the far east. He is Jainal Antel Sali and he is now dead.

Signs of authoritarianism in the Phillipines…

An interesting article about scary signs in the US-inspired democracy.

Poor Pilipinos!

Finally an article mentioning the plight of the Phillipines and its constantly travelling people. The Phillipines is a country, like a number of others in which mass Catholic conversions were forced upon its people. After that by a few centuries came the mass Americanization of its people along with a governmental system that is practically a carbon copy of the US one, and an incredibly corrupt and useless set of presidents. The current one Gloria Arroyo is hated by many of the people there. The pervading culture is completely American. Kids at high school know more about the states than they do about their country and more than the US kids know about the states too. US music, clothing, food (marketed edibles) and TV are thrust in the face of all of the people and when you look at many of the older generation you see how tired they feel and how they were robbed of their own unique identity. Because it is a highly skilled workforce within a flagging economy, millions and millions of filipinos leave in search of a better income. The current average is around 3 thousand dollars per year in the phillipines and that is what pushes them to take up jobs in the Gulf states (along with meagre conditions), Africa and Europe. For the younger generation the US is their dream as it is the utopia they have been brainwashed into thinking. But for those who can’t get in (and thats the majority) they keep the constant cycle of family instability going by becoming expats who see their family once every one or two years and who are fathers and mothers by correspondance.

At least here in Britain they have the potential to live better family lives…better than the Gulf states at least.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6194333.stm