Monday, March 5, 2012

Alive in a Time of Dying




The days meld into nights into days of unrest to rest, my voice. I'm guessing the full moon rising, she may speak on my behalf.

SisterMoonChild shall bat her eyelashes spiderlike to each constellation as they sparkle and dim upon the backdrop of this grand stage.

This place we call Earth, it is a Hell birthing breathing dragons of denial and greed and in between, beauty. The blooming of new life.

The irony that existence is dependent upon black vs. white, good vs. evil, night vs. day, man vs. woman, sun vs. moon, and you vs. me.

Where are the ones standing and speaking for us all, we're outnumbered. Where is the golden chalice, my cup of poison, the holy altar?

I shall gladly drink my share to elevate me from a state of betrayal. Hand me a crudely chiseled cup made only by the hand of man.

Bring it to my lips, love. My eyes shall close, breathing cease, yet my spirit shall soar as pure divine energy.

Oh, what silly creatures to dream a dream upon dreams that may or may not exist according to each of our own waking states.

I shall attempt to reach a state of being and non being, of living while dying alive, of pure esoteric flight, of thinking without thought.

How grand it is to be alive in a time of dying. The fresh buds shall bloom when the frost sleeps during Springtimes coming of age. And Summer shall welcome Fall, prepare her for Winter. 

Drink, friends, this cup of mine is yours. 

It is sweet, oh, yet it is bitter.


© Susan Marie 2012 

Sunday, March 4, 2012

lines finely sketched



I raise both palms in supplication to that which is more immense than the feeble human mind and cry as thunder for the ills of society.

Voices reverberate in my skull bones causing me to question:  Is it I, solitary human, that has fallen backwards on her own insight?
 

Are we all not sane and insane? Are we all not greater and lesser? Who has the absolute right to judge such a notion? 

Such answers elude me. Raising my weary and shaking palms to the fiery boisterous sky. Waiting for answers only I have the answer to.

The thin line that separates us all is oh, so very fine. Like cracks in fault lines, the smallest disturbance, a chain reaction.
 
I seek answers to questions that have no answers. I must be insane to imagine that fine line, erased, and the middle way, my berth.




 The Valkyrie's Vigil (1906) by Edward Robert Hughes

Thursday, March 1, 2012

"Nightingales Perched Upon Knots of Mother Nature" For Syria


 
The dead speak in tongues known only to nightingales perched upon rheumatic knots of Mother Nature trilling: What fresh hell is this? 

Their voices echo in crisp cold eves, melding with wind's fierce breath. She welcomes them, wind, embracing martyrs, one by one.

Dear Earth, how short life is. We pay homage to those who travel to better places more so than precise moments of our own existence.

We cannot fully experience what death holds dear. Pure and absolute energy, alive and aligned divine with the universe, whole.

There's no reason to fear existence nor death. They are similar, yet this is the playground, the game board, the poker chip.

Each breath of ours mimics movements elsewhere. Do not think that you do not matter. For every fallen soul, there is birth.



Hassan Saad, 13, who fled Idlib in Syria, flashes a victory sign while walking outside the refugees camp near the Turkish-Syrian border in the southeastern city of Yayladagi, on February 16, 2012. Hassan said that his father was killed by the pro-Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad army five months ago.   

© photo Zohra Bensemra

© Susan Marie 2012

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Firewall Looming in Pakistan: URL Filtering and Blocking


First published: 




By March of 2012, The Pakistani Telecommunication Authority (PTA), may have succeeded in deployment of an Internet URL Filtering and Blocking system unless we, global citizens, along with the people of Pakistan, help prevent this from occurring.

As people become more aware and active globally, governments have begun to attempt to increase online censorship. Online censorship or filtering can be seen as justifiable when it may involve harmful content to children in educational systems, however, to censor or filter Internet usage in any fashion to adults, is in direct violation of constitutions and amendments that exist, against 14 of 30 Universal Human Rights, and the Constitution of Pakistan, as seen in the preamble alone.

America, with help from worldwide activists, citizens, businesses and Internet networks, fought back against two proposed bills SOPA [Stop Online Piracy Act] and PIPA [Protect IP Act] through petitions, calling state and government legislation, with businesses and online networks blacking out their websites in protest. 


Internet censorship is the control or suppression of the publishing of, or access to information on the Internet. 

The PTA is asking institutions [business, organizations, education, communication, media, etc] to submit a proposal allowing the PTA to block URL's [universal resource locaters] aligned with The National RCT & RD Fund

THE RCT states the URL blocking will
"Transform Pakistan’s economy into a knowledge based economy by promoting efficient, sustainable and effective ICT initiatives through synergic development of industrial and academic resources."

This is not the first time Pakistan has experienced online censorship in the current Federal Parliamentary System [Executive branch with support of legislation] however, with help, it can very well be the last. 


On 24/7OnlineTV, broadcast journalist, Faisal Kapadia speaks with Sana Saleem, activist/journalist and Yusra Askari, correspondent with NDTV in Part One of "Out of Bounds" on the Firewall Looming in Pakistan. All three explain and address how the government has invited proposals to private and semi-private companies to block 5 to 10 million URLS.



Why is the government doing this?

In Part Two of "Out of Bounds", Faisal addresses the online community for reaction inside and out of Pakistan as to how this issue is viewed using varied comments from activists, journalists and citizens.


In May of 2011, The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights General Assembly in Article A/HRC/17/27 focused on freedom to access online content, access to the physical and technical infrastructure online, the increase in censoring information online, namely through arbitrary blocking or filtering of content, and criminalization of legitimate expression as human rights abuses under the right to freedom of expression and opinion.

Universal access to the Internet is not only freedom of expression and opinion as a human right, it is part of the Constitution of Pakistan. Blocking of URLS will hamper international business inside and out of Pakistan, as well as further damaging the cross border communications already in dire need of repair between people.


Business owners may not be able to promote their services, as well as global access to each business. Media will be hampered immensely due to not being able to access the global online network in order to tell the world what is occurring in Pakistan. Global aid for disaster relief, disease, hunger and medical care will not be able to reach those in need. The world will continue to operate as usual, however, to assume according to the RCT statement aligned with the Government of Pakistan that this filtering is solely to enhance the economy and education of Pakistan is preposterous at most.


On the
US State Website after a 2010 visit to China, where the government controls the Internet, President Obama held a meeting with an online component to highlight the importance of the Internet. He defended the right of people to freely access information, and said that the more freely information flows, the stronger societies become. Obama spoke about how access to information helps citizens hold their own governments accountable, generates new ideas, encourages creativity and entrepreneurship.

In 2011, SOPA and PIPA were introduced to the American public.

Condemnations of this action, along with information regarding this initiative have already begun by: The Electronic Frontier Foundation, The Civil Society Against Blanket Ban of the Internet and Freedom House.Org. 

Censorship, in any form, is to silence.