Monday, January 31, 2011

The Age censors informed comment about Middle East

The Age On-line National Times section has a woeful record of censorship of informed credentialled comments about the Middle East.

Below are some examples of such censorship by what is arguably the most progressive of look-the-other-way Australia's appalling Mainstream media.

1. The Age published an article by UK-based Egyptian writer and lecturer Mona Eltahawy on the current Egyptian Revolution and entitled “All Egyptians are being liberated from the burden of history” (The Age, Melbourne, 31 January 2011: http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/politics/all-egyptians-are-being-liberated-from-the-burden-of-history-20110130-1a9qi.html ). The Age is arguably Australia’s most liberal Mainstream medium, but it apparently declined to publish the carefully researched, informed and credentialled views of Dr Gideon Polya while publishing about 20 views of mostly anonymous bloggers. This is what The Age’s Censor(s) decided that its readers should not read or know:

Excellent article. One hopes that the Egyptian people will throw out the US-backed, pro-Israel Mubarak dictatorship and achieve a genuine democracy, setting an example for the whole Arab world.

A key aspect of the dead hand of Anglo-American and Anglo-American-backed Israeli domination of the Arab world is the deadly deprivation of 300 million Arabs outside the Gulf States. This has a dreadful consequence measured as avoidable mortality (excess mortality, excess deaths, avoidable death, deaths that did not have to happen) that can be measured using UN data as the difference between the actual deaths in a country and the deaths expected fro a decently governed, peaceful country with same demographics.

Annual avoidable mortality in Egypt under Mubarak has been 0.22% (2003 data), this meaning today that each year 180,000 Egyptians die avoidably from deprivation out of a population of 82 million and that about 16 million have died avoidably from deprivation since 1950 (see "Body Count. Global avoidable mortality since 1950").

The annual avoidable death rate of 0.22% for Egyptians under Mubarak can be compared with 0.0% (Arab Gulf States), 0.05% for Western Europe, 0.38% (South Asia), 0.97% (non-Arab Africa) and 1.8% (Indigenous Australians).

Of acute relevance to the Egyptian tragedy is the 50% increase in international cereal grain prices in the last year (Google "World Food Situation").

Anglo-American-backed, genocidal colonization of Palestine, US-backed Israeli occupation of territory of all its neighbours, US backing of Arab dictators and the Anglo-American-imposed Iraqi Holocaust and Iraqi Genocide (4.4 million dead, 1990-2011) has devastated the Arab world.

All decent folk hope that Egypt will arise again.”

Astonishingly by about 11 am The Age removed the article itself which had thus only lasted a few hours for readers who get up at 7am. Is The Age now censoring its own writers on behalf of the Zionists? If so it appears that Mona Eltahawy’s “crime” was to mention the gross and acutely relevant Israeli violation of the Palestinians in an article about the gross violation of Egyptians’ human rights by US-backed, pro-Israel Mubarak dictatorship. This appears to be an extraordinary example of Mainstream media censorship operating at several levels to maintain a pro-Zionist and pro-US narrative in the Western Murdochracies.

2. The Age published an article by UK ME reporter Richard Spencer about the Egyptian Revolution and entitled “”Gambling on life without Mubarak” (The Age On-line national Times, 1 February 2001: http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/politics/gambling-on-life-without-mubarak-20110131-1ab32.html ). By 2 pm The Age had published about 30 comments (all but anonymous) but had evidently decide not to publish the informed, credentialed comment from Dr Gideon Polya made about 6 hours previously – this is what The Age’s Censor(s) decided that its readers should not read or know:

“Decent people hope for removal of the US-backed, pro-Israel dictator Mubarak, flowering of democracy in Egypt and removal of the deadly and malignant legacy of 2 centuries of violent Western colonialism and hegemony in the Middle East.

Anglo-American-backed, genocidal colonization of Palestine, US-backed Israeli occupation of territory of all its neighbours, US backing of Arab dictators such as Mubarak and the Anglo-American-imposed Iraqi Holocaust and Iraqi Genocide (4.4 million dead, 1990-2011) have devastated the Arab world.

Annual avoidable mortality (excess mortality, excess deaths, avoidable deaths) in Egypt under Mubarak has been 0.22% (2003 data) i.e. each year 180,000 Egyptians die avoidably from deprivation out of a population of 82 million. About 16 million have died avoidably from deprivation since 1950 (see "Body Count. Global avoidable mortality since 1950").

The annual avoidable death rate of 0.22% for Egyptians under Mubarak can be compared with 0.0% (Arab Gulf States), 0.05% for Western Europe, 0.38% (South Asia), 0.97% (non-Arab Africa) and 1.8% (Indigenous Australians).

Of acute relevance to the Egyptian Revolution is the 50% increase in international cereal grain prices in the last year (due to increasing meat consumption, mandated biofuel, man-made climate change and urban expansion; Google "World Food Situation" and "Biofuel Genocide").

Of course it is not just Egyptians who cry out for democracy. Of 12 million Palestinians only the adults of the 1.5 million Palestinian Israelis are able to vote for the government that currently rules all of Palestine plus bits of Lebanon and Syria. Hamas which gained 76 out of 132 seats in 2006 Occupied Palestinian elections is holed up in the Gaza Concentration Camp.”

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