Bombs Falling/Nowhere To Go is set in Gaza – I take a neutral political position on Israel/Palastine and honour all civilian victims of war.

Bombs Falling/Nowhere To Go

A Gaza Bombing Sound Collage

Bombs Falling/Nowhere To Go – (4:01)
Music by David Archer. (Unauthorized) text by Jawad Harb

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Lyrics/Notes

On January 14/ 09  I read an article entitled The Bombs Came Today – There Is Nowhere to Go  written by Jawad Harb who lives with his family in Rafah, Gaza and was there during the bombing.  As any parent -  any feeling person – would be, I was horrified at this harshest of realities and stunned by the powerful writing of a parent in an anguish of fear and concern over their children’s safety.

I had to react to what was happening but I was not certain how to go about it. Not wanting to let that stop me, I began to work with the vague idea of a sound collage involving my usual sounds plus some found sound effects from around the web.

Once I had a few loops and sound ideas going, it occurred to me that the actual words of  Jawad Harb  himself would express what I was searching for far better than I ever could. After realizing that my first choice of having Harb read them himself over the phone was not likely to happen – I tried reading and chanting the words myself.  Bad idea. My voice had no place in this sound.  A few days earlier, I had stumbled on a browser based news reader that actually reads HTML text aloud with a Microsoft Sam style computer voice.  I thought I had my solution but the voice sounded all wrong. I surfed around the net for a while and tried several other text readers of various types until I finally pieced together a workable version using a female Asian/Indian sounding voice and managed to record it.

It’s weird but sometimes, given the power of the words as written, the computer voice actually seems to carry human feeling and on at least one occasion it sounds as if the speakers voice is breaking with emotion.

Most of the other sound effects came from The Freesound Project, except the explosions, which are actually from a recording of the bombing of Baghdad.

Although the Gaza bombings and the experience of Jawad Harb and his family are the source and catalyst for this project, I hope it can serve as a memorial to all innocent war victims anywhere, anytime and a reminder to the aggressors that the real victims of war are always, always children.

Here is the original text. 

GAZA (January 13, 2009, 6:15 p.m) – The leaflets came yesterday, telling us our neighbourhood would be attacked. The whole population of the area is terrified. We have nowhere to go. My neighbour checked at the UNRWA shelter but it was full. Overflowing. There is nowhere to go. We waited to be bombed. My children have seen the dead bodies of children on television. They cry, they are crying now, they are terrified. When will this end? There was screaming. It is dark and cold but most of us are still outside. My family is outside next to the house. We are terrified to go inside.

The bombs came today. It was terrifying. We have nowhere to run. There was an air strike every five minutes. Thick black smoke 100m-150m away from us. People were scared, ran outside of their houses and gathered together in the street. 300-350 people in the street. The street was the safest place. If our house is bombed, we’ll get trapped and die like the people we saw on television.

It is quiet for 20 minutes now but we don’t know if it will start again. What if it is just a short break? We can’t take the risk. My children are shivering. It is getting so cold. Some neighbours went back inside, but they are staying on the first floor, next to the door so they can run outside. We don’t know what will come next. This is the closest it has come to our house. The neighbourhood next to ours was bombed. What do we do? We don’t know. We have nowhere to go. Nowhere to go.

Update:

Bombs Falling/Nowhere To Go became international in nature in a rapid and ineveitable way as it was being assembled and could not exist at all were it not for that fact.

The words – and to be honest, the entire emotional content -  are from Gaza.

 But I truly believe that same emotional content could be from anywhere. 

The voice – though computer generated with an Indo/Asian accent –  is meant to be anyone and indeed becomes the voice of a Universal Motherhood as well as fear, love and acceptance, anger and courage. That fear, love, acceptance, anger and courage all belong to Jawad Harb, his family and neighbours and all those who have lived and died these same ways.

 The first sound – the bass drum –  is the impossible violence of what can be –  but will not be altered from it’s white hot, black heart of despair and anger and hatred and destruction.

The guitar is the onlooker, alternately relentless and hesitant, charging forward and pulling back,  but determined, for once, to stand witness to the truth.

 The child’s cry is from a train station in North America and by its very sound represents something we all know in our hearts.

The air raid sirens are from Israel and are the voices of warning coming from all those who have experienced the history of terrible violence and oppression.

 There is an unknown Turkish man reading poetry way back in the mix toward the end. He represents the voices of people that no longer have names and will never be heard.

Then the awful, terrible sound of explosions – lifted from a YouTube  copy of CNN’s live coverage of the bombing of Baghdad - like  murderous, demonic laughter ripping darkness into your soul, stealing fire from heath and heart and blazing hatred and anger, hatred and anger, hatred and anger across the sky and the flesh and the bones of innocent children. Deafening, hideous, sickening thunder and lightning  torn from humanity’s darkest recesses, dripping bloody, putrid venom and poison onto everything that means anything to anyone.

The bottom end of the piano is the rock of the earth, the heat of technology and science, mankind through our collective history, evolution and religion, and the hope and hopelessness of time moving on. The high end of the piano represents the tears of the witnesses, the sorrow, the sadness, the pain of knowing, the guilt and remorse and the anger at helplessness in the face of such an storm, such an onslaught.

And it’s when I go back and listen, when it’s late and I’m alone and my ability to resist is at it’s lowest, and the acceptance and the understanding of why the wolf must tear at the throat of the deer stares back at me from the mirror,  I ask myself  ”how can such things as this come to be?” And I fear that as I say those words out loud, someone else will say to me “How dare you presume to create such a thing, you who know nothing of this.”

Bombs Falling/Nowhere To Go is set in Gaza – I take a neutral political position on Israel/Palastine and honour all civilian victims of war.

A Man Of No Illusion P Mix 1 Archer by David Archer

This is a demo of my latest song: A Man Of No Illusion. It’s just the bare bones at the moment. Eventually, I imagine the song will be lengthened to about four and a half minutes with addition of  intro, bridge, guitar instrumental and likely a final verse and ending. Harmony vocals too.

The song is about a personal journey out of the shadowy world of spiritual illusion and into the pure magic found in the light of day and the love of a child.

At least, that’s what it means to me. It can mean anything to you.

I hope you enjoy it in all its low fidelity glory.

Update: So to clarify, what we really have here is two sections, or two verses, or two verses and two refrains…. you know what? I don’t know what we have here : ) 

Just finished the bridge – it’ll be on the next version.

Distorted gtrs for power would be nice toward the end - or perhaps in emphasis spots.

Got an ending in mind – Also have  ideas for the intro and that empty middle bit.

I always think it’s clever to leave spaces to build in later, and maybe it is. 

I dream of real drums at night.

Update 2:  Imagining many arrangement ideas – I love thinking on this – I could get lost forever in variations….

Like to hear a good piano player weave a line in relation to the acoustic gtr.

The Tanglewood acoustic gtr always maintains essential organic root sounds

Okay, the strings idea sounds a bit cheesy…but it works, it works … OK, maybe an octave down

Oh man, do I ever want to play some lead on this

Oops, I broke a few rules with bass line -  I still play bass like a lead player… but I like it

I think the bridge and lead sections will take the song on a bit of a journey before returning to core section again– that could be really dramatic

It all barely hangs together in the air.. but hang together it does

Update 3: Ironic, that line about “find your real voice”.

Equipment List:
My trusty Tanglewood acoustic guitar
Fender Squire P bass
Cheap Casio keyboard (piano and strings etc)
Ancient Sure SM 58 mic
Obsolete computer
M-Audio Fast Track Pro
Cubase

  A Man Of No Illusions

Toronto Oct. 09

Loon Theory is on the edge of morphing into something else….maybe.

We’ll see.

Aside from the occasional Tweet, there will be no fresh posts at Loon Theory for the foreseeable future. As always, there is some original music mp3’s available for download if you’ve wandered by and would like to check them out.

Thanks for swinging by. Feel free to leave a comment or send me an e-mail if you are so moved. I can be reached at:

 davearchermusic AT yahoo.ca

Thanks and take care.

Anonymous art under a bridge in Toronto.

If Michael Ignatieff and the Liberal Party of Canada want my vote in the next federal election, they are going to have to prove to me that they are not the party of corporate interests, corporate globalism and Clinton/Chretien style neo-liberalism.

I have little confidence in their ability to do this.

If this were only about speeches, they might well win my vote. But this is 2009 and we unwashed are no longer so easy to fool with platitudes and ponies. With awareness that the Power Corp. type backroom lobbying and cronyism that has dominated Liberal Party history is bubbling up to the surface, there appears – as some have said all along – to be only cosmetic differences between the two traditional powerhouses of Canadian politics.

The mining industry’s recent wholesale purchase of key players in the Chretien government - including the former Prime Minister himself – has served only to add to the cynical distrust with which the public now customarily views the antics of our so called representatives.

I was initially drawn to Ignatieff because of his intellect (I like the idea of smart leaders) and I do not doubt the integrity of his personal quest. But there are stories out there suggesting he was lured or convinced to enter Canadian politics at the behest of the same backroom operators who rely so heavily on their anonymity and the child-like trust and lack of curiosity evidenced repeatedly by the Canadian electorate.

I like Ignatieff. I am proud that one with such accomplisments is a a fellow Canadian and I am open to anyone with new ideas for governing this land.

But I want those ideas to come from Ignatieff’s experience as a teacher, traveller and human rights scholar and not from the Power Corp boys.

Maybe you trust the shady backroom players. Maybe – through ignorance – I once gave them my trust. No more.

Drag it all into the light.

The party that can demonstrate it is truly beholden to the citizens of Canada and not to special interest groups -  corporate or otherwise -  will get my vote.

Irreplaceable

 

Surrounded

By all possible realities

We wait, breathlessly

For one, or another

 

And which one

Matters not

 

As this life

Or that death

This moment

Or that

 

Bleed on

 

Each one

Meaningless

 

Yet each one

The center

Through which all else

Must pass

 

And therefore

Irreplaceable

Up until recently – at least for the food stores referenced in this CBCNews article by Alison Crawford - you could buy a jar of store brand pickles made in Indonesia but you could not buy locally farmed meat. I have nothing against Indonesian pickles or the people who produce them but something sure seems off kilter when corporate policy dictates that a food store cannot sell from local production.

Some stores have broken off from Soebys, the parent company, and have formed the independent Hometown Growers Co-Op to free them from these restrictions.

Canadians are increasingly subscribing to the “buy local” and “100 mile diet” philosophies due to concerns over imported food, Kropf adds. “The pressure was always mounting — the more recalls, the more bad press from China or wherever the product was coming from. I know that in our case, our private label pickles are made in Indonesia. I couldn’t believe that.” As a franchisee for a large grocery chain, Kropf says, corporate policies stipulating that he only buy federally inspected meat prevented him from stocking local products. Most federally inspected meat in Canada comes from large corporations such as Maple Leaf, Cargill and Tyson.

“Most of our beef was Alberta beef. Chicken and pork could be U.S., so to me, that was a concern that, you know, we’ve got all these farmers in our back yard,” Kropf says.

 Mmmm.  “all these farmers in our back yard,” Kropf says. So what is it about the owners and decision makers of the parent company (however high that goes) that they would arrange such a situation? Only some unholy mix of government policy and business manipulation all wrapped up in Free Trade and delivered with a Corporate Globalism singsong mantra could possibly lead to such a bizarre scenario.

Could this be an example of Forced Trade? 

Whatever the accumulated reasons, I see the creation of the Hometown Grocers Co-Op as a shot across the bow of Big Food and the Neo -Liberal government mind set that buys into the Corporate agenda of Free Trade/Globalism without realizing – or realizing all too well – that Corporate Globalism and Peoples Globalism are often two very different and opposing forces. 

I hope that the people living in those areas will support the Hometown Grocers Co-Op .

 Wanna buy a used government? Some of the parts are a little rusty, but the influence peddling and boardroom style personal money laundering components are as strong as ever. Prime Ministers - Ministers - high ranking civil servants,  political aides and advisors are all available for your latest eco- stripping, resource destroying Capitalist Dream Project.

Former Prime Minister Jean Chretien has joined the ranks of those who appear to believe that Canadian Politics and the spirit of this great land can also be a great quid pro quo back scratcher between the money/business/corporate class and the former servants of the people.

From The Canadian Press via The Globe and Mail:

The Canadian Press Last updated on Wednesday, Jul. 08, 2009 02:12PM EDT

Former prime minister Jean Chrétien has been named as senior international adviser to Ivanhoe Mines (IVN-T9.350.384.24%) and its affiliated companies, the Vancouver-based international mineral developer said Wednesday.

Mr. Chrétien will provide advisory services to Ivanhoe Capital Corp.’s affiliates through a contract with Global Mining Management, a private service company based in Vancouver.

Global Mining is jointly owned by several companies, including: Ivanhoe Mines Ltd. and its subsidiaries, SouthGobi Energy Resources Ltd. (SGQ-X12.00––%) and Ivanhoe Australia Ltd.; as well as Ivanhoe Energy Inc. (IE-T1.440.010.70%) and the privately held Ivanhoe Nickel & Platinum Ltd.

Mr. Chrétien has been active in Canadian and global development circles as a lawyer with the Canada-based international law firm, Heenan Blaikie, since retiring from politics in 2003.

“Jean Chrétien was instrumental in advancing relationships between many Canadian businesses and rapidly industrializing China and its neighbour nations through his hands-on, prime ministerial leadership of a series of successful Team Canada trade development missions,” said Ivanhoe executive chairman Robert Friedland.

“We believe that Mr. Chrétien’s experience and knowledge will be a prime asset in assisting the Ivanhoe companies to continue to build their businesses through opportunities that will be encountered in the energy and mineral resource sectors around the world during what is becoming the Asian Century,” Mr. Friedland added.

Ivanhoe Mines, an international mining and exploration company, is focused on mining, development and exploration projects in the Asia Pacific region, including Mongolia, China, Australia, Indonesia, Kazakhstan and the Philippines.

The Brian Mulroney model of used government is still available at fire sale prices but its lost a little luster and influence over the years. No one is interested in the Mulroney version these days, because – as is obvious – influence and access is the name of this game.

For the record, I have no doubt that Mr. Chretien will conduct himself in a manner above reproach as he involves himself in this unseemly activity.

Also for the record – a former Prime Minister of Canada has no business acting as a paid lobbyist for anyone.

Read Loon Theory posts Firewall The Lobbyists (O5/02/09) and Our Leaders Have Always Been Fools… (06/24/08)

Update: This is the link to the Ivanhoe Mines Ltd. website. As is usual with these resource stripping corporate websites, the pictures and images are superb – sometimes breathtaking – and you could be forgiven if you thought you’d stumbled onto a Eco or spiritual site. Enjoy the pictures but recognize you are being manipulated and don’t be fooled.

Update: Here is the Wikipedia page on Robert Friedland, the owner of Ivanhoe Mines Ltd. I can’t vouch for Wiki accuracy but I find it both amusing and unsurprising that Friedland is apparently known as “Toxic Bob” and “The Ugly Canadian”. Figures.

Click on image for full size version.

A Wordle Word Cloud of the lyrics to What’s Done Is Done (New Reality)

Canadian flag courtesy of 4 International Flags

This picture is one of the Icons used by the Iranian source of these messages.

Quotes from an Iranian demonstrater via Twitter:

Today we are lions in the face of tyranny

I think Rafsanjani will make a move soon, this is like chess, he has the next move, what will he do? little change? semi-secular?

We have to give info, there is no other way to get news out, some are affraid,i am ready to hurt, if thats the price for freedom

Close friend released mngd to get out save and clean,no info leak,only some injuries beaten up,said he was just bystandr,suffered alot

Reason i post more at night and every 24 hrs is for reasons i can’t tell, I was among our ppl again Shouted brave karoubi! Very brave

Our youth is 50 years ahead of Goverment clerics, we are at the level of U.S youth regarding music, movies, creation, know-how science

I have also books from David Icke,who’s books are controversll in West, let stand here, so don’t ask how i got the books

We in Iran are very well aware of the world, space,history,science,but islam goverment is not democratic,strict,we have to hide info 4rm gov

Reading Zacharia Sitchin’s book,”The Lost Book of Enki”about Annunaki sky gods coming from planet x to Earth”almost lost life for this book

When mass arrests are reported in a despotic, theological, totalitarian state such as Iran, human rights abuses will assuredly follow as the veil of secrecy and fear slowly suffocates awareness of the dire situation for the individuals under detention.

Allegations of brutal beatings designed to elicit made for TV confessions implicating both American and British governments are surfacing as the list of those killed, detained or missing grows longer everyday.

As of this writing, no word could be found about Iranian/Canadian journalist Maziar Bahari who has reportedly been arrested by the Iranian government. Bahari – who works for Newsweek among others -  holds both Iranian and Canadian citizenship and because of this Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon is meeting with the Iranian charge d’affaires:

Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon called in the Iranian charge d’affaires to meet with Canadian officials “to express our grave concern about the arrest of a Canadian journalist and about the general situation,” said Foreign Affairs spokesman Andre Lemay.

For what it’s worth (which could be Bahari’s life), Canadians must – through their Members of Parliament - pressure Minister Cannon and Prime Minister Harper to intensify pressure and use any finance/ trade sanctions and diplomatic avenues available to free Bahari and other detainees.

Update : (12/07/09) - Via impolitical on Twitter – Canadian New Democrat Party leader Jack Layton does the right thing in agitating for a high level delegation to demand Iran release Iranian/Canadian citizen and journalist Maziar Bahar:

“It’s not just about a Canadian,” Layton said Sunday afternoon on CTV News Channel. “It’s about the whole issue of journalists around the world who are trying to report the truth being imprisoned and, in some cases, held for long periods of time and some of them have not survived.”

Keep up the pressure, Jack.

The Last Parade

Such a memory, not here, but never gone.

The Last Parade (5:31) Underground Sun (2004)
Music and Lyrics by David Archer

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Lyrics/Notes

The Tide is Turning by Roger Waters

I’m not saying that the battle is won
But on Saturday night all those kids in the sun
Wrested technology’s sword from the hand of the war lords
Oh, oh, oh, the tide is turning
Oh, oh, oh, the tide is turning

The Tide Is Turning

Music and Lyrics by Roger Waters

I used to think the world was flat
Rarely threw my hat into the crowd
I felt I had used up my quota of yearning
Used to look in on the children at night
In the glow of their Donald Duck light
And frighten myself with the thought of my little ones burning
But, oh, oh, oh, the tide is turning
The tide is turning

Satellite buzzing through the endless night
Exclusive to moonshots and world title fights
Jesus Christ, imagine what it must be earning
Who is the strongest
Who is the best
Who holds the aces
The East
Or the West
This is the crap our children are learning
But oh, oh, oh, the tide is turning
Oh, oh, oh, the tide is turning
The tide is turning
Oh, oh, oh, the tide is turning

Now the satellite’s confused
‘Cause on Saturday night
The airwaves were full of compassion and light
And it’s silicon heart
Warmed to the sight of a billion candles burning
Oh, oh, oh, the tide is turning
Oh, oh, oh, the tide is turning
The tide is turning Billy

I’m not saying that the battle is won
But on Saturday night all those kids in the sun
Wrested technology’s sword from the hand of the war lords
Oh, oh, oh, the tide is turning
Oh, oh, oh, the tide is turning
The tide is turning Sylvester
Oh, oh, oh, the tide is turning
Oh, oh, oh, the tide is turning
Oh, oh, oh, the tide is turning

Bombs Falling/Nowhere To Go became international in sound and nature in a rapid and ineveitable way as it was being assembled and could not exist at all were it not for that fact.

The words – and to be honest, the entire emotional content -  are from Gaza.

But I truly believe that same emotional content could be from anywhere. 

The voice – though computer generated with an Indo/Asian accent –  is meant to be anyone and indeed becomes the voice of a Universal Motherhood as well as fear, love and acceptance, anger and courage. That fear, love, acceptance, anger and courage all belong to Jawad Harb, his family and neighbours and all those who have lived and died these same ways.

The first sound is the the bass drum, representing the impossible anti-human violence of what can –  but will not – be altered from it’s white hot, black hearted depths of despair, anger, hatred and destruction.

The guitar is the onlooker, watching on television, alternately relentless and hesitant, charging forward and pulling back but determined, for once, to stand witness to the truth.

The child’s cry is from a train station in North America and by its very sound represents something we all know in our hearts.

The air raid sirens are from Israel and are the voices of warning coming from all those who have experienced the history of terrible violence and oppression.

There is an unknown Turkish man reading poetry way back in the mix toward the end. He represents the voices of people that no longer have names and will never be heard.

Then the awful, terrible sound of explosions – lifted from a YouTube copy of CNN’s live coverage of the bombing of Baghdad - like murderous, demonic laughter ripping darkness into your soul, stealing fire from hearth and heart and blazing hatred and anger, hatred and anger, hatred and anger across the sky and the flesh and the bones of innocent children. Deafening, hideous, sickening thunder and lightning torn from humanity’s darkest recesses, dripping bloody venom and poison onto everything that means anything to anyone.

The droning low-mid synth is the spine and the spirit of human compassion, empathy and the horrified muted moaning, keening and crying pulled out from the center of the very soul of a Mother’s grief and yearning. Like history, it spans hope and human time in the past and present but ventures into pure unknown in the future and the final fade.

The bottom end of the piano is the rock of the earth, the heat of technology and science, mankind through our collective history, evolution and religion, and the hope and hopelessness of time moving on. The high end of the piano represents the tears of the witnesses, the sorrow, the sadness, the pain of knowing, the guilt and remorse and the anger at helplessness in the face of such an storm, such an onslaught.

And it’s when I go back and listen, when it’s late and I’m alone and my ability to resist is at its lowest, and the acceptance and the understanding that the wolf must tear at the throat of the deer stares back at me from the mirror,  I ask myself ”how can such things as this come to be?”

And I fear that as I say those words out loud, someone else will say to me “How dare you presume to create such a thing, you who know nothing of this.”

This picture is one of the Icons used by the Iranian source of these messages.

Quotes from an Iranian demonstrater via Twitter:

Today we are lions in the face of tyranny

Iranian on CNN :”Policestate has changed in Terror state”

Urgent: Turkey has (lightly) condemmd Iran crackdown on ppl and desired peacfull solution soon to contribute to more democratic institutions

Rafsanjani poised to step in, possibly to make statement On Friday as Khamenei tales Friday Prayers again

MOUSAVI: Gun V greatness of God, armed forces V mobile phones, baton V mourners, national TV V twitter, who wins?

State TV said today 50 to 100 people protested in Baherestan, Eyewitness to Voa News: “3000 to 5,000 people in Baherstan alone”

We saw some people being shot in the head some beaten so hard their bones we could hear crack, where is god in this time where is the world!

made sm more protectn getting high lvl help from friends to protect id, one friend of us still with us in high risk lost lot blood

only leg injury, cut places with knife? i dont know how, much chaos,but some people i was with died, it was a black day #neda

Where is the help, we can’t survive more than one week, two week, everybody is killed, prisoned, tortured, beaten, help after genocide?

Photo from Payvand Iran News

So far, I can find no information – or even opinion – on when or if food and water supplies will become a major issue for the protesters Heroes of Democracy in Iran, especially in Tehran or other urban areas.

Is the besieged Iranian government trying to control access in and out of Tehran as Iraqui and American troops tried in Baghdad? Is it even possible to do?

Surely such vital and vulnerable choke-points as food, water, electricity, transport and road or rail access would be a high priority for a repressive authoritarian government and presumably strategies for control would have been worked out long ago.

Considering much of the region is apparently in the grip of drought and the resulting poor crop yields and grain shortages, I have to wonder.

Messing with basic and essential life requirements is a long and storied tactic from historical sieges of towns and cities from the outside to more recent versions including Lebanon and Gaza.

A government laying siege to it’s own Capital and people from the inside as part of the larger crack-down may still be in the cards.

Included in a statement released in 2005  by Jean Ziegler, Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food under the banner of  The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights:

 13. International law prohibits the use of food and water as weapons of war or as instruments of political or economic pressure, in order to safeguard the right to food of all people.

I’ll keep digging around and something should turn up on this subject soon.

Update: A Twitter message earlier today from from Iran:

all shops was closed – nowhere to go – they follow ppls with helicopters – smoke and fire is everywhere

#Iranelection  about 9 hours ago from web

Certainly not yer average rock song, Communicate (All The Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes 1982) has more in common with audio performance art, emotional reductionism or a sort of staccato, static laced lyrical abstractism emphasizing the randomness and the incompleteness of the lonely island of individual communications at the far end of modern technology that is yet forced to bend to the wheel of all original forms of human interaction. It also highlights the constant assault of information that WILL breakthrough in one form or another – comprehensible or not – wanted or not.

Opening with a fast paced, frantic yet irrepressible beat, the song has many of the usual Townshend sounds including high energy but smooth as silk acoustic strumming (best right arm in the guitar biz) basic song structure and a “pop art” solo section (intentional, controlled disaster by guitar) reminiscent of the Tommy plane crash sequence.

The somewhat abstract, poetic spoken word sections  – reduced musically to a trademark repetitive synth line over a drone bass and bass drum - suggests a conflation point where truth, beauty, poetry, history, mis-information, image and technology collide.

There are obviously clues all over this piece but where they might lead is just as obviously open to interpretation and it’s quite possible that, for example, the opening lines are themselves purposeful misdirection. (Selbstdarstellung -  Gay Talese -  Euthanasia -  I find nothing on Google about Ronald Rocking – maybe it’s Ronald Reagan)

In the video, Townshend is holding a phone yet he is not speaking into it. So perhaps it is a broadcast of a private conversation meant to be overheard, or an acknowledgement that in this modern time there is no such thing as private communication or private lives. The man in the suit doing sign language, the studio meters and screens showing flashes of info all add to our awareness yet also establish the theme of broken comprehension – of words and meanings that are beyond our control.

I post this song today in light of the vital but fractured universe of communication coming out of Iran (and everywhere else) involving Television, cell phones, the Internet, Google, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter etc.

Live the communication age, step right up, everyone’s a winner, you might as well, you have nothing to lose and more importantly - if you want to be in the loop – you may have no choice.

Never, Never Hesitate.

Communicate

Lyrics and Music by Pete Townshend

Comma comma comma comma
Commai commai commai commai
Commu commu commu commu
communi communi communicate

Selbstdarstellung
Gay Talese
Ronald Rocking
Euthanasia

Use the words like flowing river touches
Embraces parting hard steel surfaces reveling pages
Beneath the water skin broken like ice flows
Smashed by iron bows on the back of a whale

Comma comma comma comma
Commai commai commai commai
Commu commu commu commu
Communicate

Selbstarstellung
Open hearted
Soon forgotten – never parted

Com com communicate
Communicate communicate
Communicate communicate
Via satellite and solid state
Never never hesitate
Communicate communicate
Communicate communicate
Never never hesitate

Reaching leaning scratching vainly
Faces dancing locked lipped and between thigh secret
Briolette tears drip from frozen masks
As all those death row questions don’t get asked

Comma comma comma comma
Commai commai commai commai
Commu commu commu commu
communi communi communicate

Communicate communicate
Communicate communicate
Via satellite and solid state
Never never hesitate
Communicate communicate
Communicate communicate
Never never hesitate

Overall, I am reasonably satisfied with Loon Theory’s tenor and tone during the Embassy story fiasco. We moved with an important breaking story, made our first foray into Twitter, tried to glean real news from multiple sources and (hopefully) coined the term Twitter Burn.

But let’s face it, although Loon Theory was miles away from the hysterical foaming at the mouth we saw some places – and though we advocated caution with rumours, and restraint regarding government policy and the tactical Embassy situation on the ground – we nonetheless passed on erroneous information and in an honest attempt to both learn and inform we likely muddied the waters to some extent.

This comment from an earlier post still best represents my view during the weekend and it continues to be my view today:

Of course we can’t know the situation and logistics on the ground – or even the specific policy involved but if at all possible, I believe we should open our Embassy doors for injured people seeking help.

It’s not as if the current Iranian government has a deep love and respect for Canada as I understand it, so fallout from this is perhaps not such an issue.

Besides, from here in Toronto, and with the above considerations in mind, it looks like the right thing to do.

Perhaps Former Canadian Ambassador to Iran Ken Taylor, in his well documented heroics during the U.S./Iran Hostage crisis, inadvertently created an over romanticised view of what an Embassy can and should do.

Here is Wikipedia’s background on Embassies or Diplomatic Missions.

So my position remains the same: if we are possibly able to help those in need of humanitarian assistance, then we should do our best to do that.

For some, the over-riding position seems to be fear of the reaction from a disputed and possibly completely dis-credited Iranian government leading to an “international dispute” caused by our actions.

When there is a crisis and people need medical assistance, a Canadian citizen does not ask “What does the rulebook say?” or “What are others doing?”

A Canadian offers any help they can reasonably and safely provide and though the safety of Embassy staff is a very serious concern, our own Ambassador Taylor has shown that sometimes we do the right thing regardless of perceived consequences.

Over the years I have very rarely agreed with former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney on anything, but during a so called “Boat People” situation that occurred on his watch, he went against policy and furious dissent and allowed those seeking refuge to come to our shores.

 I believe he paid a political price within his own party and with many Canadians for this action, but he made this Canadian proud when he stated that:

“We don’t want people jumping to the head of the line . . . (but) if we err, we will always err on the side of justice and on the side of compassion“. (bold added)

When Mr. Mulroney said that, he had his hand directly on the pulse of our shared Canadian identity.

He did the right thing.

So too, with our Embassies in Iran and around the world.

Now What?

Well, the  Embassy story gets crazier by the hour and shows us that modern communication (maybe all communication) is a wild, perhaps ultimately uncontrollable beast at the best of times and worse than that in times of crisis and high traffic.

Throw in human nature –  and what do you expect? 

On Sunday morning, in the second last update on a previous post I wrote that:

Kameel Ahmady, a freelance journalist interviewed on CBC suggested that the Canadian Embassy in Iran is accepting a limited amount of demonstrators in need of medical assistance. He also posited that the Embassy’s refusal and/or inability to accept those seeking aid was on Saturday was simply based on policy in-place.

Mr. Ahmady, who  I’m sure is a fine sort, spoke with such conviction in his report and I wanted too much to believe it, but I’m now of the rather uninformed opinion that our Embassy in Tehran is likely not taking in any who seek help and is, as noted several times, possibly not currently staffed or set up to be of any assistance.

Mr. Ignatieff has chimed in with his statement suggesting he believes we are able to – or should be able - to offer at least some assistance on the ground:

“Canada should join other countries in keeping our embassy open for the humanitarian needs of the people of Iran.”

Now a Sullivan post entitled “Twitter Fraud” points to an article by Steve Clemons (highly recommended) on Twitter’s role in the mis-information overflow that also mentions the Canadian Embassy issue and appears to be the final word (yeah, right) on whether or not the British Embassy was, as reported, taking in Iranian protesters. They were not. I’ll probably be correcting that in a few hours.

From the sublime to the ridiculous is just a starting point when it comes to communications of any description between crazy humans in a crazy world.

I know there are Foreign Affairs statements and other informed opinions out there but it’s late so I’ll update as needed tomorrow.

UPDATE: Two words – Twitter Burn

While surfing around, I came upon Iran Watch Canada  and news of a public assembly in support of the Iranian Protesters at Queens Park (111 Wellesley St. W) in Toronto at 2:00pm Sunday June 21 2009.

Quotes from an Iranian demonstrater via Twitter:

Today we are lions in the face of tyranny

 We are not affaid anymore, the demon of khamenei has shown its face, now we are witnessing the exorsism of the Islamic Republic

A man may die, nations may rise and fall, but an idea lives on. John F. Kennedy

“Even if you are a minority of one, the truth is the truth.” M. Gandhi  

 

if i am among the ones that dies today for the sake and symbol of freedom then remember my last words:” only love lasts eternity”

 

I will show my face i will name my name i will chant death to khamenai!  Tehran, i am ready martyrdom im ready for eveything!

From a secular Canadian in Toronto – let this be my rooftop.

I respectfully add my voice in honour of the brave people in Iran.

 Aloha Akbar.

بدنبال غذا اطلاعات / آب / برق در تهران ، جاده مسدود شده و یا دسترسی به راه آهن؟ بازار مواد غذایی را باز؟ آیا این / از این به عنوان صادر شود؟

I have had a Twitter account for approximately 12 hours and though I am blown away by the first hand info I see and the things I have learned, I am also already overwhelmed by the unconfirmed, the unsubstantiated and even the personally confirmed (but how do I really know) rumours, guesses and other forms of intentional and unintentional mis-information coming at me at a rate I have never experienced before.

I believe I have unwittingly passed on a few myself, though like many others I try to emphasize that they are indeed unconfirmed.

I have no doubt the the next ramp up by the embattled Iranian government – if it hasn’t already happened –  would be to send the tanks into the city.

And of course, now the rumours of tanks in Tehran are everywhere.

I’m not putting anyone or any particular message down – I am too new to this and simply do not know enough about how Twitter works to make an informed judgement.

So I will sit back on this (unlike on the Embassy issue) and wait for confirmation.

That’s not so hard to do, is it?

(5:45 pm  est) CNN just showed an unconfirmed Twitter message stating that the Canadian Embassy is attempting to locate Doctors so they can offer help to injured Iranian citizens.

Latest updates here

A list of Embassies in Iran that are said to be accepting injured protesters via ElderCato’s Blog  and Nico Pitney at Huffington Post.

For whatever reasons, Canada is not on this list.

Australian Embassy : No. 13, 23rd Street, Khalid Islambuli Ave – Telephone+98 21 8872 4456

-Belgian Embassy No.3,Babak Alley, Shabdiz St.,Shahid Fayyaz Bakhsh Ave.

-British Embassy 198, Ferdowsi Avenue Tehran 11316-91144

Dutch Embassy – Onbol Street #7, Farmanieh

-Finnish Embassy-  Qeytariyeh in Haddadian 2, Mirzapour St. (prev. Soheil St.), Dr. Shariati Ave., Tehran.

-German Embassy: Avenue Ferdowsi 320-324 -

-Irish Embassy – North Kamranieh Avenue Bonbast Nahid Street, No. 8 19369  (98 21)-22 80 38 35

-Italian Embassy accepting injured at 81, Neauphle Le Chateau Ave.

-Norway: No. 201 Dr. Lavasani St. (Ex. Farmanieh St.) Corner of Sonbol St. Tehran, Iran – (0098 21) 22 29 13 33

-Polish Embassy: Ambasada Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej w Teheranie
No. 1/3, Pirouz St., Africa Expressway,
Tehran, Iran, PO Box 11155-3489
tel: +98 (21) 8878 7262 do 64
fax: +98 (21) 8878 8774
Sekcja Konsularna – fax: +98 (21) 8887 2627

-Portugese Embassy No.30, Nezami St., Abbas Pour St., Valy-e-Asr

-Embassy of the Republic of Slovenia Tehran No 30, Narenjestan 8th Alley Pasdaran Avenue

-Swiss Embassy – Elahieh Ave. Sharifimanesh  Yasaman Street No. 2  P.O. Box 19395-4683  19649 Tehran – 98 (0)21 22 00 83 33

And a reprint of my comment from another post:

Of course we can’t know the situation and logistics on the ground – or even the specific policy involved but if at all possible, I believe we should open our Embassy doors for injured people seeking help.

It’s not as if the current Iranian government has a deep love and respect for Canada as I understand it, so fallout from this is perhaps not such an issue.

Besides, from here in Toronto, and with the above considerations in mind, it looks like the right thing to do.

 

Latest updates here

A twitter message on Protesterhelp:

ProtesterHelp Canadians – call Foreign Office to request opening of Embassy 1-800-267-8376  3 minutes ago from web

 The phone number is valid (Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada) but there is no one answering and voice mail boxes appear to be full.

The Foreign Affairs  website shows an error message when attempting to send email through their  system.

UPDATE: Andrew Sullivan shows a twitter message saying it is confirmed that Canadian Embassy is “rejecting” injured protesters.

2.31 pm. Canadians, call your foreign office. It’s confirmed Canadian Embassy rejects injured protesters

Bill, in the comments section of the previous post, notes the same thing.

UPDATE:  Email address for Canadian Embassy in Tehran is tehran@international.gc.ca

UPDATE:  The embassy email address is returned undeliverable.

Canadians call or email your Member of Parliament.

UPDATE: Sunday June 21:   Kameel Ahmady, a freelance journalist interviewed on CBC suggested that the Canadian Embassy in Iran is accepting a limited amount of demonstrators in need of medical assistance.

He also posited that the Embassy’s refusal and/or inability to accept those seeking aid was on Saturday was simply based on policy in-place.

Latest updates here

There are lots of reports – some saying confirmed – that Embassies in Tehran including the British and Dutch are taking in wounded and injured protesters who are unable to access hospitals.

If this is true, I commend the decision makers in the Embassies and their home countries.

That is the right thing to do.

I’ve seen nothing of the Canadian Embassy – shown on the map above – but I hope to find out and update here later.

UPDATE: As noted in the next post Canadian Embassy In Tehran, several sources are suggesting that our Embassy is refusing injured protesters.

Latest updates here

Twitter messages from Iran. I believe these are authentic but no one really knows.

 PPL chanting ” Death to khamenai” “We don’t believe the goverment!” they beat everyone to death, ppl are angry and affarid ” #GR88about 1 hour ago from web

What the hell is this idiot saying on CNN , how many dollar has the islamic republic paid mr..ahmadi?about 1 hour ago from web

 Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei – who appears poised to confirm his totalitarian credentials as a lying, murderous thug – has thrown down the challenge to the brave citizens of Iran in a speech given Friday in Tehran. Distancing himself from the will of the people and from any form of reality that might be recognizable to the mostly sane among us, the deeply deluded, heavenly entitled and egocentric crazy man posing as a world leader has decided the best route for saving his repressive regime of lunacy from the angry hordes of dust and debris in the streets of Iran is to turn to the favourite weapons of brutal, cowardly, frightened men throughout history – The Big Lie and The Big Threat.

Khamenei’s beautifully loony, nut-bar logic holds that the sheer size of the election fraud proves that there has been no fraud and Ahmadinejad is the President because that is the peoples choice; the peoples victory.

 As is always the case with the authoritarians of any so called political stripe, hot is cold, black is white, up is down and The Big Lie is one of the few things they have left to protect themselves and most importantly, their privileged position of power.

The will and the best interests of the Iranian people simply do not enter into such equations.

 The Big Lie is then followed by The Big Threat. This supposedly religious man (I don’t think that term actually applies to this power mad political despot) has threatened direct bodily harm and death to those thousands of Iranian citizens who have the nerve to disagree with his ugly, benighted rule. And if violence, bloodshed and death are visited upon the innocent, this then is the fault of the people and the will of God.

Because of men like Khamenei, the pages of history are stained and bloody from the tortured bodies and souls of millions of innocent people.

Today, my heart remains with the people of Iran.

An English translation of Khamenei’s delusional threats to the Iranian people can be found here. 

There’s very little out there regarding Ahmadinejad’s status though I expect that will change shortly.

 A Google search result leading to a Captaindemocracy.wordpress.com blog (though it’s titled Architecture & Environmental Design) includes the words “C.I.A. confirms the escape to exile by President Ahmadinejad to Russia” from June 16/09 but the link leads to a page not found notice.

I tried digging around the blog a bit but could not find anything of further interest. I didn’t spend much time there and I vouch for nothing found on the site in question or Captain Democracy himself who I’m sure is a fine sort and appears to be an architect working out of California.

The Google cache is no more illuminating.

A dead end, I’m sure, but an interesting one nonetheless.

Update :  This Guardian article (via Nico Pitney) says that the Iranian press has reported that Ahmadinejad is back in Iran but there is speculation on his location. 

Speculation is intensifying about the whereabouts of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who claimed victory in the Iranian presidential election but has not been seen in public since Monday, when he was in Russia for a conference.

Iranian media have reported only that the president was greeted by a number of senior government officials when he arrived home late on Tuesday.

 

Update : CNN has just shown recent footage of Ahmadinejad apparently giving an interview in Iran.

So, to answer my title question, no, Ahmadinejad is not in exile.

My guess is that the protesters in Iran have indeed passed the point of no return as I suggested in response to a comment by a Loon Theory visitor :

Well, if things begin to calm down a little I would then likely agree with your assessment, BraveJ.

Looks to me like the people on the ground are seeking to push this past the point of no return. We’ll soon know because this can’t continue indefinitely and something will break one way or another.

We know these folks are intelligent, brave and determined. I believe they are fully aware of the concept of the point of no return in this regard and are doing their level best to get there before this chance slips through their hands.

They may have reached that point already.

I also find it totally bizarre that Ahmadinajad is out of the country right now.

Totally. Bizarre.

I try to be aware that hope and wishful thinking is colouring my views green right now.

Still, I see the situation as too unstable for any obvious route back to a sort of a pre-election status-quo with penalties as you suggest.

Amazing times.

I find myself wondering about three things this morning: How long can the urban demonstrators hold out if the government blocks food delivery, why does there appear to be a News blackout on the subject of Ahmadinajad’s absence from Iran and when is he due to return?

I’ve done a quick search around and can find little to no information on these issues.

I will continue to urge Loon Theory visitors to check in with Andrew Sullivan for a clearinghouse source and quality analysis on the Iran uprisings.

Today Loon Theory proclaims solidarity with the good people of Iran.

Depending on which of many inscrutable lines the situation in Iran will follow, Ahmadinejad’s arrest – or flight - may be a real possibility.

Loon Theory’s foolish prognostication is Ahmadinejad in exile or under house arrest this time next week.

UPDATE:  June 29/09

Yes, well, I was completely wrong on not only Ahmadinejad but also wrong on how things seem to be generally trending.

So I ammend my prognostication (big word for guessing wrong) to Ahmadinejad’s eventual ouster and the eventual collapse of a badly weakened and discredited government.

I believe Nostradamus was smart enough not to place specific dates and time frames on his predictions.

Very smart and lesson learned. ( Til the next time)

 The more I watch the videos of events in Iran, the more I read the Twitter messages and hear the cries and the voices of freedom rising up from a beleaguered populace, the more the Iranian people appear to me as brothers and sisters.

What I really mean is: They are us, we are them.

Not much difference at all.

For Iranians, it is a very visible extremist theocratic government. For Westerners it is the very slippery and often well hidden Corporate/Military/Industrial interests who clearly control our politicians and bend and warp our minds via the most effective propaganda dissemination system ever devised.

In the west we have more in common with the protesters on the streets of Tehran than we have ever had with politicians, lobbyists and the damned “Captains of Finance and Industry” who infest Washington, Ottawa, Paris or London.

My heart swells with pride at the courage and passions of our Iranian brothers and sisters.

As thousands of Iranian people take to the streets in pursuit of justice and democracy, I am once again stunned by the courage and passion of those who must take such risks as they seek to attain that which we in the West seem to have forgotten we possess.

Loon Theory humbly supports the students and people of Iran as they strive to take their rightful place in this world.

Imagine how the entire world would benefit if one of history’s greatest cultures were able to free themselves from the parasitic and dangerous yoke of religious and totalitarian oppression.

UPDATE:  As usual, excellent coverage of events in Iran can be found at Andrew Sullivan’s “The Daily Dish”.