.
She's back...in the USA. One step closer to home. And saying maybe it's corny but she's glad to be back in the land of the free.
Friends in her north Fargo neighborhood have already planted flowers at the family home to welcome them all back.
Need we mention the quiet heroism of her parents? Leaving the safety and relative obscurity of their quiet life in Fargo for the harrowing challenge of flying to Iran and resolutely staying and speaking out until Roxana Saberi was released.
On this Memorial Weekend, we salute all the men and women who work in every facet of our American government, military, State Dept., intelligence services, diplomatic corps, Congressmen and Senators and their staffs...working in public service for us all. Led by a White House working to restore the honor and dignity of this nation in the eyes of the world...and ourselves.
Working to assure, most days in obscurity, that we all truly live in the land of the free.
We have much to celebrate...and reflect on...this Memorial Day weekend.
.
crossposted at firedoglake's Oxdown Gazette
Showing posts with label journalists. Show all posts
Showing posts with label journalists. Show all posts
Friday, May 22, 2009
Friday, May 15, 2009
Roxana Speaks for Herself....Meanwhile
.
In Vienna, Roxana Saberi briefly talked with reporters near the baggage carousel. She made only brief comments, and said that in recent days many had been saying things about her, but she would be speaking for herself in the future.
For all those who reported on or blogged or rallied for her release, there couldn't be a better wrap on this story.
I'm tempted to ask all the media who are circling around now eager for comments, where were you the long weeks she was imprisoned. What did you do to tell her story? Was it enough?
And where are you now about the two women journalists imprisoned in North Korea about to go on trial. What about their story? Who advocates for them? Who keeps people mindful of their dangerous circumstances? Who knows about them as people?
Who will speak for them until they are free?
Who knows their names?
.
crossposted at firedoglake's Oxdown Gazette
In Vienna, Roxana Saberi briefly talked with reporters near the baggage carousel. She made only brief comments, and said that in recent days many had been saying things about her, but she would be speaking for herself in the future.
For all those who reported on or blogged or rallied for her release, there couldn't be a better wrap on this story.
I'm tempted to ask all the media who are circling around now eager for comments, where were you the long weeks she was imprisoned. What did you do to tell her story? Was it enough?
And where are you now about the two women journalists imprisoned in North Korea about to go on trial. What about their story? Who advocates for them? Who keeps people mindful of their dangerous circumstances? Who knows about them as people?
Who will speak for them until they are free?
Who knows their names?
.
crossposted at firedoglake's Oxdown Gazette
Monday, May 4, 2009
Roxana Saberi's Persistent Murmur
.
When the Iranian government denied that Roxana Saberi was on a hunger strike last week, she increased the intensity of her protest against imprisonment by refusing, as well, the sweetened water which has sustained her.
As a result, says Reporters Without Borders, she was briefly treated in the prison clinic.
We don't know whether that means she was coerced or cajoled into drinking water. Or whether that means she was forcibly re-hydrated by use of intravenous saline-water solution.
We do know that global voices are raised supporting her. Here in America, over there in Iran where her parents work for her release, in her mother Akiko's heritage land of Japan whose diplomats, too, seek her freedom.
We do know that Roxana Saberi is still confined in prison.
Some may not understand the point of a hunger strike. A local talk radio host had to have it explained to him by one of Roxana's professors, according to Fargo newspaper reporting.
Here's the point.
When your life is totally out of your control, when you are a captive, imprisoned, in despair, there is little you can control except whether you eat, whether you live.
We see this play out in countless ways, if we only will look. Suicide rates among Native Americans—where unemployment is extreme and alchoholism and meth addition are rampant—is woefully high in this country. Jihad and the appeal of suicide bombings rely in part on the despair of people like those living in Gaza and other impoverished swaths of the globe. When the politics of apartheit are practiced, the politics of hate and division and profiteering on war, then despair flourishes. We see it, too, in the rise of membership in internet hate groups.
In the era of selfishness which still clenches its tentacles deep in the fiber of the country, it is all too easy to let these realities stay mysterious, and just walk on by. Or continue to listen to the preachers of hate and division for vulgarian ratings and greed without asking anything of ourselves.
The lessons that would steer us in a new direction are before us all the time. For those who profess their Judeo-Christian values, the lessons are as close as "do onto others..." or the Good Samaritan. Yes, they hear those on Sunday but do not listen, turning instead to the venomous vulgarians who make an epithet of Samaritan, spitting it out as "socialist."
Sometimes the lesson is as close as a hometown girl choosing to starve herself. Will we look? Will we see? Will we speak out?
The persistent murmur of global voices that has risen against hate, and greed, and division, and selfishness in the era of the blogosphere must not be silenced, and must be heard by all of us. But that's not the end, that's only the beginning.
One woman's hunger strike—an act of despair. Or an act of defiance? We only know that even in a remote Iranian prison, she has still chosen to act.
We can, too. Whatever you care passionately about...you can act. Call your Congressman or Senator. Talk to your neighbors and friends. Write letters to the editor. Volunteer for social justice. Be the difference.
Be part of the persistent murmur that will break through the status quo, the selfishness, the lobbyist control, the Republican hardwiring, the concern trolling...be the mover of mountains.
By carrying away small stones, one murmur at a time.
.
crossposted at firedoglake's Oxdown Gazette
When the Iranian government denied that Roxana Saberi was on a hunger strike last week, she increased the intensity of her protest against imprisonment by refusing, as well, the sweetened water which has sustained her.
As a result, says Reporters Without Borders, she was briefly treated in the prison clinic.
We don't know whether that means she was coerced or cajoled into drinking water. Or whether that means she was forcibly re-hydrated by use of intravenous saline-water solution.
We do know that global voices are raised supporting her. Here in America, over there in Iran where her parents work for her release, in her mother Akiko's heritage land of Japan whose diplomats, too, seek her freedom.
We do know that Roxana Saberi is still confined in prison.
Some may not understand the point of a hunger strike. A local talk radio host had to have it explained to him by one of Roxana's professors, according to Fargo newspaper reporting.
Here's the point.
When your life is totally out of your control, when you are a captive, imprisoned, in despair, there is little you can control except whether you eat, whether you live.
We see this play out in countless ways, if we only will look. Suicide rates among Native Americans—where unemployment is extreme and alchoholism and meth addition are rampant—is woefully high in this country. Jihad and the appeal of suicide bombings rely in part on the despair of people like those living in Gaza and other impoverished swaths of the globe. When the politics of apartheit are practiced, the politics of hate and division and profiteering on war, then despair flourishes. We see it, too, in the rise of membership in internet hate groups.
In the era of selfishness which still clenches its tentacles deep in the fiber of the country, it is all too easy to let these realities stay mysterious, and just walk on by. Or continue to listen to the preachers of hate and division for vulgarian ratings and greed without asking anything of ourselves.
The lessons that would steer us in a new direction are before us all the time. For those who profess their Judeo-Christian values, the lessons are as close as "do onto others..." or the Good Samaritan. Yes, they hear those on Sunday but do not listen, turning instead to the venomous vulgarians who make an epithet of Samaritan, spitting it out as "socialist."
Sometimes the lesson is as close as a hometown girl choosing to starve herself. Will we look? Will we see? Will we speak out?
The persistent murmur of global voices that has risen against hate, and greed, and division, and selfishness in the era of the blogosphere must not be silenced, and must be heard by all of us. But that's not the end, that's only the beginning.
One woman's hunger strike—an act of despair. Or an act of defiance? We only know that even in a remote Iranian prison, she has still chosen to act.
We can, too. Whatever you care passionately about...you can act. Call your Congressman or Senator. Talk to your neighbors and friends. Write letters to the editor. Volunteer for social justice. Be the difference.
Be part of the persistent murmur that will break through the status quo, the selfishness, the lobbyist control, the Republican hardwiring, the concern trolling...be the mover of mountains.
By carrying away small stones, one murmur at a time.
.
crossposted at firedoglake's Oxdown Gazette
Friday, May 1, 2009
Roxana Saberi Vigil on Saturday
.
Fargo-area journalists have organized a vigil for Roxana Saberi slated for Saturday, May 2, at 2 p.m. CT. The vigil will be on the Veterans Memorial bridge on Main Avenue, which links Fargo with Moorhead, North Dakota with Minnesota.
Roxana is in her second week of a hunger strike, her father has recounted. Iranian officials deny that. Last Sunday, she was allowed an additional visit by her parents, Akiko and Reza, because it was her 32nd birthday.
Details are frustratingly scant about Roxana these days. The national news media seem to have forgotten her story amid the "story of the day" overkill. You'd think they'd be more concerned about one of their own.
But Fargo has not forgotten. North Dakota has not forgotten. Her journalist colleagues have not forgotten. And Saturday, folks will gather, and wear yellow like the yellow ribbons that now flutter in her home neighborhood.
And we are mindful, also, that two journalists are held in North Korea. Their story, too, needs remembering...and reporting.
That's why I'm thinking that even if you can't participate right here in Fargo, on Saturday at 2 pm, wherever you are, pause and reflect on how important responsible journalism
Fargo-area journalists have organized a vigil for Roxana Saberi slated for Saturday, May 2, at 2 p.m. CT. The vigil will be on the Veterans Memorial bridge on Main Avenue, which links Fargo with Moorhead, North Dakota with Minnesota.
Roxana is in her second week of a hunger strike, her father has recounted. Iranian officials deny that. Last Sunday, she was allowed an additional visit by her parents, Akiko and Reza, because it was her 32nd birthday.
Details are frustratingly scant about Roxana these days. The national news media seem to have forgotten her story amid the "story of the day" overkill. You'd think they'd be more concerned about one of their own.
But Fargo has not forgotten. North Dakota has not forgotten. Her journalist colleagues have not forgotten. And Saturday, folks will gather, and wear yellow like the yellow ribbons that now flutter in her home neighborhood.
And we are mindful, also, that two journalists are held in North Korea. Their story, too, needs remembering...and reporting.
That's why I'm thinking that even if you can't participate right here in Fargo, on Saturday at 2 pm, wherever you are, pause and reflect on how important responsible journalism
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Three Critical Days for Roxana Saberi
.
News of any kind has been scant in the imprisonment in Iran of Roxana Saberi. Today, her father has told Fargo's Forum newspaper that the next three days will be critical toward the goal of her release.
Roxana Saberi grew up and attended schools in Fargo-Moorhead and began her journalism career here, one she continued while studying for her master's degree in Tehran. Now, that reporting may have led to her imprisonment these past six weeks.
The Saberi family attorney will be trying to determine if any actions have been taken in her case by Iranian officials. The Iranian New Year is approaching and Saberi's father says if no action is taken before that, she will be spending at least two more weeks in the prison.
Human Rights Watch and professional journalists' organizations as well as global media have appealed for her release. The family is also trying to work through the Japanese Embassy (Roxana's mother is Japanese).
For the Saberi family, the waiting is not idle...but it continues....
.
crossposted at firedoglake's Oxdown Gazette
News of any kind has been scant in the imprisonment in Iran of Roxana Saberi. Today, her father has told Fargo's Forum newspaper that the next three days will be critical toward the goal of her release.
Roxana Saberi grew up and attended schools in Fargo-Moorhead and began her journalism career here, one she continued while studying for her master's degree in Tehran. Now, that reporting may have led to her imprisonment these past six weeks.
The Saberi family attorney will be trying to determine if any actions have been taken in her case by Iranian officials. The Iranian New Year is approaching and Saberi's father says if no action is taken before that, she will be spending at least two more weeks in the prison.
Human Rights Watch and professional journalists' organizations as well as global media have appealed for her release. The family is also trying to work through the Japanese Embassy (Roxana's mother is Japanese).
For the Saberi family, the waiting is not idle...but it continues....
.
crossposted at firedoglake's Oxdown Gazette
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