Africa News
Apr 11, 2007, 17:59 GMT
Zooming in on Darfur: Google teams up with Holocaust Museum
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Older Talkback
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.. can we please have one for Zimbabwe as well ?
Maybe someone could spot one of the camps where some of my friends are held - if they are still alive and haven't been massacred like countless others.
... And we should really be able to see the destruction that occurs in Iraq and Palestine, too.
Dear Sirs,
A new service which no doubt is trying to be apolitical. Already comments revert to OLD expression - bullshit-hypocrisy, biased etc. Some mention palestine -since 1947 - they've had long enough to sort it out???? Overlooked the fact the Holocaust Memorial Museam sponsored the item On the recent trouble with Darfur . Well, now we know about Darfoe, and what are these 'naysayers' doing about it. What are they doing about the Mid-East problem in Palestine come to that. Nothing I expect. Dare one mention Zimbabwe??? So far, we can keep the faith in Google. Let's hope it remains apolitical and honest.
Sincerely..John T. Portugal.
I agree with John. The Palestinian crisis indeed deserves no less attention. However, each man has a burden on their heart for all sorts of hurt. Google apparently cared enough about this crisis in Darfur to invest in bringing the world's attention to it. Rather than calling them hypocrites, I would say that it is their critics that are the hypocrites since they themselves aren’t acting on their own convictions, to help the people they care for. And who’s to say, now that Google has prototyped this medium, won’t use it to the benefit other hurts in the world. Darfur just happened to be the first.
This is a terrific idea. I only wish other companies in the world, public or private, would take such a strong interest in critical world issues. -carter.sterling@gmail.com
' Iraq and Palestine ' This focus on ' Iraq and Palestine ' is the problem , you are the problem . And when something else is mentioned you revert to same behavior , ' well , what about Iraq and Palestine Iraq and Palestine Iraq and Palestine .
' I only wish other companies in the world, public or private, would take such a strong interest in critical world issues '
They do , open your eyes and look .
This is a great idea and just the start of something that could really do some good. Entertainment is the best way to involve the complacent couch potato that, for some reason, holds the power.
Palestine. Zimbabwe. Somalia. Ethiopia. Iraq. The insanity seems not only limited to the US, it seems instead limited to - humans. Good to know, bad to know. Google connecting with the Holocaust Museum? Whatever it takes, in this case, to get it done. More is better, expose, uncover. Too long we have been asleep, with our nightmares hidden from view by press and governments and partisan lunacy.
Next - be prepared, all, for reality checking. Any schoolchild can photoshop a fire, a body, an explosion.
Still - more is better.
'Zooming in on Darfur: Google teams up with _Holocaust Museum_'(4/11/2007):
Reference _Holocaust Museums_: 'Usama bin Laden Says Israeli Regime is Behind the 9-11 Attacks KABUL, Afghanistan (Ummat): Prominent Arab mojahed (freedom fighter) Usama bin Laden or the Al-Qaida group has nothing to do with the 11 September attacks on the Bush Administration, according to an Usama bin Laden interview with Ummat, the Karachi-based Pakistani daily newspaper. In his interview, Usama bin Laden pointed out that the Israeli regime is behind the 9-11 attacks'[Bin Laden: AUTHENTIC INTERVIEW by Carol A. Valentine
Curator, Waco Holocaust Electronic Museum, October, 2001 ].
This is not an apolitical move. Darfur is located on top of some large oil reserves that a Chinese oil company currently has dibs on. Sudan geography alone makes it an important strategic point. (it's connection to the read sea, important rivers, relation to Mideast and Africa etc.) The US government wants the ability to create a pretense to get its hands in Darfur, just as it did in Iraq. The demonstration against the genocide last year included speakers from congress and the state department. The amount of people killed is really quite smaller than those killed in Iraq. (about 200,000 vs. 655,000-900,000 deaths) Genocide has only been an issue for our government when money and power are at stake. The Sudanese government is supporting the massacres in order to push rebels and the communities that support them off the oil rich land. Given our government's record, there's no reason to think this would stop if they stepped in to get the oil themselves. Most likely the violence would increase because the political pressure to stop the killing would disapear. That a holocaust museum is involved isn't suprising. Most holocaust institutions (not to mention Jewish institutions) have been taken over by a leadership that actively collaborates with American imperialism. Instead of drawing real lessons from the holocaust that could prevent another one (such as the need for a working class movement, the threat a collapsing capitalist system poses, and the need Jews have to align ourselves with workers and oppressed nationalities (including and especially Palestinians) in order to build a new world etc.) Holocaust rememberance has been primarily used to bolster the image of American imperialism and shield it's junior parters in the Israeli government from attack. (Just one instance: The entire justification for war in Iraq was basically: Saddam=Hitler) This Darfur propaganda is only the latest installment.
How are you supposed to locate Palestine on a map? It doesnt exist.
Hey Piper. You say with such authority that the number of Black African
deaths is much smaller than the official nummber. Have you been there?
Talked to people who have been there? How comes you by your great knowledge?
In fact, closer to 1 million people have been murdered in the most hideous
fashion; by way of torture, mutilation, starvation, hacking to death, huts
bombed, and babies thrown routinely into bon-fires. This litany does not
include the business as usual gang rapes of little girls and their mothers. It's a brutally racist genocide as the perpetrators call their victims 'slaves'
as they rape, torture, and murder them. The janjaweed (evil men on horseback)
are not only backed by the Sudanese government, they are backed by China who
owns much of the rights to the oil in Darfur, and by the Arab Countries, who
don't seem to mind a bit when the Black Muslims are slaughtered. That goes
for the Israel/Palestine obsessed progressives in this country who also don't
seem to mind a bit when Black Africans are slaughtered. Are these lives not
important because you can't hold Jews responsible? Your hypocracy is painful.
Perhaps google is trying to shine its image after its Chinese partnership debacle by seizing a chance to be proactive in combatting the abuses in Darfur; fair enough, except in this case their choice of the crisis, one among many in the world, can raise some questions regarding their neutrality as a source of information. Yes, google, why for example don't we zoom in on Palestine? There is a wealth of sobering visual evidence to be contemplated: a massive wall stretching hundreds of miles that cuts into people's lands and lives; expanding Jewish settlements and exclusive highways across the tiny landscapre of the west Bank; and hundreds of Israeli check points where humiliation and absue of Palestinians is a daily routine. I'd say, let's have some new high resolution images for some of this stuff for a change!
Jesus Christ. You people are difficult to please. Google does X; you respond with, 'Well why didn't Google do Y, too?'
Maebe Googles can make difference. I hope. For now, have to convince the Islams that killing is bad. Good luck with that.
Despite their undoubtedly noble intentions, Googles' rather naive management does not realize that in fact, by logging and storing everyones personal details, behavior and habits they have created the ultimate foundation for the next Holocaust.
The reason why the identification of Jews in some European countries like the Netherlands was so effective was because of the quality of the (paper)archives with personal records. With the electronically available and very detailed records that Google maintains, identification of people to be prosecuted will be a matter of days, not years. Weather it is about Jews, Arabs, 'terrorists', anti-republicans or any other group of people that share characteristics that are disliked by the people with power.
Assuming that future governments or hackers can be fully trusted to respect current copyright and privacy legislation is a complete denial of history.
Larry and Sergey, maybe it is an idea to sit down in your library and read this book that you have scanned yourselves: 'National Identification Systems: Essays in Opposition'
I am from sudan, and this sound really scary to me !
Please we wont more war here, stay away, go away !!
How about putting up a link to this 'overlay' thing? Where do we find it?
You hypocrites disgust me. Do you think some google maps will change anything? You idiots are acting like this is the first you are hearing about this.
Just like the reporter in Hotel Rwanda said, 'People just look at it on TV and say 'That's Horrible!', and then go back to eating their dinner.'
We've known about this forever and have done nothing, just talk, talk, talk.
The only way this could make any difference for these poor folks is if those Google maps happen to show some new, major oil deposits. Then we can go and 'liberate' them.
@ Larry People Rank:
Google did not ask me for my race or parents background. Your reference to personal record misuse should not be aimed at Google, but at IBM whose databases were indeed instrumental in the identification of un-arians in WW2.
But that's 60 years ago, how long can the israelis claim their victim role, when actually they themselves are now the bad guys against Palestine. If only there was some oil in Palestine, then the US could liberate them too. Since there is none, it remains the playground of the Israeli government to sow the seed of terror. Oh wait, Israel has Weapons of Mass Destruction, and has not complied to UN resolutions for longer than Iraq, Iran, Sudan, and Zimbabwe combined... Let's invade Israel!
To further capture our hearts, maybe Google can set up a survey where we can vote for the next human disaster witness project. So far this is a promising start and a worthwile initiative. War and terrorism cannot be fought with weapons, they need to be fought with visibility, education, democracy and wealth. If Google can point to an independant online survey for their choice of projects they are freed from the unthankful accusations earlier in the comments.
Cas
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