Showing posts with label Vladimir Putin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Vladimir Putin. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 8, 2014

If U.S. Fracks Gas For Europe, How Much Sooner Will We Poison Our Water Supply ?

The foolish drive to export liquefied natural gas to Europe overlooks the environmental hazards to the United States

Congressional pressure is building on the Obama administration to "quicken gas exports to Europe," The New York Times is reporting, in order to reduce the continent's dependence on dirty fossil fuels from Russia. Instead, U.S. oil companies want Europe to increase their dependence on dirty fossil fuels from the U.S.

For the U.S. to ship its gas to Europe won't solve the fossil fuel dependency problem in any permanent sense, but it will hasten the day when the U.S. poisons its groundwater supply as a result of fracking and may foreseeably force the U.S. to, as a consequence, import clean drinking water from Europe, if European nations are willing to sell it that precious commodity to us in the future.

Sunday, February 23, 2014

Uganda To Sign Anti-Homosexuality Law ; Justifies Discrimination On Obama Silence On Arizona's Discrimination Bill

Ofwono Opondo, the Executive Director of the Uganda Media Centre and the Spokesperson of the Government of Uganda, authored a series of tweets, confirming the signing of Uganda's anti-homosexuality law today. Among his tweets was an attack on U.S. President Barack Obama for not speaking out to denounce the law allowing "businesses to deny services to gays on religious grounds."

While it seems that Mr. Opondo was trying to justify Uganda's sexual orientation discrimination on the GOP's sexual orientation discrimination in Arizona, Mr. Opondo does make a point : the Obama administration can't really denounce discrimination against the LGBT community in a foreign country if it does nothing to denounce similar discrimination right here at home.

The Obama administration hasn't done much to stand up against anti-LGBT human rights abuses around the world. President Obama hasn't been able to bring to a stop the violent anti-LGBT crackdown taking place in Russia, Uganda, or Nigeria. Here at home, LGBT activists are still waiting for President Obama to sign the employment non-discrimination executive order referred to as ENDA.

Friday, February 14, 2014

In Twitter exchange, NYTimes reporter admits he looks the other way on human rights abuses

LGBT rights activists upset with NYTimes reporter over incomplete article

Sam Borden, a reporter for The New York Times, wrote an article about some American Olympic athletes being upset with LGBT activists, who are calling attention to the violent anti-LGBT crackdown taking place in Russia under President Vladimir Putin ("American Lugers Annoyed by Group’s Gay Rights Video," 11 Feb 2014).

Christian Niccum and Preston Griffall, both American Olympic athletes competing in Sochi, said they were ruffled by some of the social media activism of LGBT supporters and allies. In particular, the pair of athletes objected to a YouTube video by Canadian Institute of Diversity and Inclusion lampooning the savage heterosexism now sweeping Russia.

In the article, the American athletes bemoaned stereotypes that they now felt that they must endure because of the CIDI video, but The New York Times reporter never asked the athletes what they thought about the violence that LGBT Russians must face in the current oppressive crackdown atmosphere in Russia.

Sam Borden The New York Times Sochi Olympics Luge Article violent anti-LGBT crackdown in Russia Twitter - See more at: http://s203.photobucket.com/user/maslow25/media/ScreenShot2014-02-14at173101_zpse18d7bb5.png.html#sthash.9zUlhY4v.dpuf

Perhaps if Mr. Niccum and Mr. Griffall had been able to have empathy for the plight of LGBT Russians, the Sochi Olympics might garner them some additional fans. But the silence from American Olympic champions and even from reporters from The New York Times seems to suggest that there's an unofficial attitude of appeasement toward President Putin's violent crackdown.

Here is the CIDI video, which ridicule only scratches the surface of the brutal heterosexism in Russia. Even this small amount of humorous criticism triggers painful cognitive dissonance for athletes and media, who'd apparently want to keep the extreme violence locked up in a closet. This video has now been viewed over 5 million times on YouTube :

Saturday, February 8, 2014

Vladimir Putin Violent Anti-LGBT Crackdown Mockumentary Facebook Movie Going Viral

The parody video, styled on the recent spree of data-mining movies that Facebook has been pushing to promote its 10 year anniversary, shows dramatic images of anti-LGBT violence in Russia under its president, Vladimir Putin.

The video says that President Putin joined Facebook in 1975, an impossible feat, but not impossible if the Russian president is advancing propaganda. Interspersed with official-looking photographs, like of the Russian president signing decrees, are depictions of state-sponsored violence of LGBT Russians. Whereas authentic Facebook movies end with the iconic Facebook like button of the "thumbs up" facing upwards, the Putin parody video ends with the "like button" turned upside-down, expressing growing worldwide dissent on Russia's draconian enforcement of its anti-LGBT law.

This latest video adds to the growing digital backlash from LGBT and ally activists playing out on social media now during the Sochi Winter Olympics.

Thursday, February 6, 2014

Google Changes Sochi Olympics Home Page To Protest Russia's Violent Anti-LGBT Crackdown

Google has symbolically changed its home page to draw attention to the controversial enabling of the violent anti-LGBT crackdown in Russian by the International Olympic Committee.

Google Sochi Olympics Gay Pride Rainbow Colors Home Page Smacking Russia's Violent Anti-LGBT Crackdown photo ScreenShot2014-02-06at200958_zpse0490b89.png

Google's Olympics home page cited a section from the Olympic Charter that forbids discrimination :

"The practice of sport is a human right. Every individual must have the possibility of practicing sport, without discrimination of any kind and in the Olympic spirit, which requires mutual understanding with a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play." – Olympic Charter

The change of the "doodle" was also made by Google to its Russian homepage.

Google Changes Russian Sochi Olympics Home Page To Protest Russia's Violent Anti-LGBT Crackdown photo ScreenShot2014-02-06at202044_zps5ae8ec7d.png

Google's digital action came on the day when activists in New York orchestrated their latest protest against the violent anti-LGBT crackdown in Russia. Activists acting in solidarity with the group Queer Nation NY staged a protest outside the Russian consulate in Manhattan one day before the opening ceremonies of the Sochi Olympics.

Ever since Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a violent anti-LGBT crackdown in Russia, LGBT activists have been staging protests world-wide in the time leading up to the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics.

Sunday, February 2, 2014

"Putin" protest song by Dolly Bellefleur adds to global LGBT YouTube campaign against Russia's violent anti-LGBT crackdown

The performer Dolly Bellefleur sang a protest song "Putin" in Amsterdam last year mocking the violent anti-LGBT crackdown taking place in Russia. The song, with lyrics set to the music from the hit song "Rasputin" by the world-famous European band Boney M, substitutes Putin for Rasputin using some clever turns of phrases. Nobody can bring ingenuity and creativity to protest songs like the LGBT community.

Ever since Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a violent anti-LGBT crackdown in Russia, LGBT activists have been staging protests world-wide in the time leading up to the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics.

I think some santorum is leaking out of Vladimir Putin's Sochi !

A musical act calling itself "Potpourri of Pearls" has released a song and an accompanying music video that sets to appropriate a gay sex definition to the term "Sochi," the Russian resort town site of the controversial Winter Olympics. Makers of the music video apparently hope to bring media attention to the violent anti-LGBT crackdown taking place in Russia under President Vladimir Putin in a fashion similar to how LGBT activists used the Internet in a neologism campaign to appropriate a new meaning to the word "Santorum," the latter in an effort of Internet protest against anti-LGBT bigot Rick Santorum, the former U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania.

Makers of the video now hope to redefine the name of the host Olympics city as :

Sochi (sô′chĭ) n. A delightful anus v. To do butt sex

Ever since President Putin launched a violent anti-LGBT crackdown in Russia, LGBT activists have been staging protests world-wide in the time leading up to the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics.

Friday, January 24, 2014

New Activist Video Mocks Coca-Cola's "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing" Over anti-LGBT Russian Sochi Olympics

LGBT activism group Queer Nation NY release protest video attacking Coca-Cola's sponsorship of the anti-LGBT Russian Sochi Olympics

The pop culture touchstone that was once Coca-Cola's advertising jingle, ''I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing (In Perfect Harmony)'' has been juxtaposed over snippets of video showing the violent anti-LGBT crackdown taking place right now in Vladamir Putin's Russia.

The irony of the disturbing images in this protest video is that this theme song originated from one of Coca-Cola's most effective advertising campaigns ever -- an advertising jingle, ''I'd Like to Buy the World a Coke (And Keep It Company),'' a little ditty of "hope and love sung by a multicultural collection of teenagers on the top of a hill" -- has been transformed to reveal how morally bankrupt Coca-Cola's brand really is.

If Coca-Cola cared about diversity and the respect and dignity that every person deserves, irrespective of how people may be "different," then Coca-Cola should fully address the violence now taking place in Russia since President Putin enacted legislation that bans the dissemination of so-called "gay propaganda."

Perhaps the LGBT community should begin protests outside of businesses that serve Coca-Cola and sing a new interpretation of "I'd Like to Buy the World a Coke (And Keep It Company)," one whose lyrics more accurately reflect the disturbing images of violence and brutality in Queer Nation NY's new protest video.

Thursday, January 23, 2014

After LGBT Twitter Bombs, Is Sochi Olympics Social Media Marketing Dead ?

LGBT Activists Twitter Bomb McDonald's Olympic Hashtag Campaign Until McDonald's Apparently Gives Up.

The Sochi Olympics corporate sponsors, who have been coldly indifferent to President Vladimir Putin's violent crackdown on LGBT Russians, have become targets of online protests by LGBT activists.

Ever since the fastfood chain McDonald's announced a Twitter hashtag campaign around #CheersToSochi, LGBT activists have been reappropriating that hashtag for messages about McDonald's callous response to the ongoing state-sponsored violence and discrimination against LGBT Russians by their very own government.

LGBT activists have been challenging Olympic sponsors, like McDonald's, to break their silence around the violent crackdown against LGBT Russians. When multiple users coordinate tweets with the same hashtag on Twitter, it's called Twitter bombing, a term used to describe either activism or a form of guerrilla advertising, as a way to increase visibility about connotations surrounding a particular hashtag. In the case of McDonald's, activists were trying to convert the commercial aspect of McDonald's Twitter hashtag into a protest about cold, corporate callousness.

The effort of some LGBT activists to challenge McDonald's gained the attention of one prominent openly gay media figure, Michelangelo Signorile, who has been following the LGBT Twitter bombing.

After about three days of the Twitter bombing campaign, McDonald's has appeared to have ceased using #CheersToSochi on Twitter, leading LGBT activists to believe that the large fastfood giant had seen its online goodwill deteriorate beyond salvation.

The damage that McDonald's is doing to its own reputation following it's deadly silence on the violent Russian LGBT crackdown comes at a time when the world's largest hamburger chain is losing customer loyalty and is facing an embarrassing sales slump. "We've lost some of our customer relevance," CEO Don Thompson told Wall Street analysts during a conference call this week.

Activists from around the world are questioning why the media and people in the media are refusing to acknowledge the human rights abuses taking place against LGBT's in Russia. Last year, the French pop superstar Mylène Farmer was in Russia when anti-LGBT violence broke out in Saint-Pétersbourg. Ms. Farmer, who enjoys a huge LGBT fan base, remained mum about each of the violent attack and the over-all crackdown that claims as victims her very own LGBT Russian fan base.

LGBT activists have also been targeting special NBC Olympics commentator Johnny Weir, the former figure skater. Mr. Weir has been using many media appearances to deny that the violent LGBT crackdown is taking place in Russia -- leading activists to label Mr. Weir as a "Putin apologist."

Thursday, January 16, 2014

Queer Nation NY Protests Outside NBC's The Today Show Over Olympic Coverage And Silence On Russian LGBT Crackdown

Members of the LGBT direct action group, Queer Nation NY, protested at the exterior set used by NBC's The Today Show on Rockefeller Plaza. Activists unfurled a huge banner and heckled The Today Show co-host Matt Lauer over the network's controversial one-sided reportage of Russia in the time leading up to the Winter Olympics in Sotchi. LGBT protesters demand that the network fully report about the violent crackdown against Russian LGBT's ordered by the dictatorial leader, Vladamir Putin.

In a statement posted on Facebook, an online administration of Queer Nation NY communicated :

RELATED : Queer Nation NY protests against Russian LGBT discrimination enablers continue, this time at Carnegie Hall

Activists from around the world are questioning why the media and people in the media are refusing to acknowledge the human rights abuses taking place against LGBT's in Russia. Last year, the French pop superstar Mylène Farmer was in Russia when anti-LGBT violence broke out in Saint-Pétersbourg. Ms. Farmer, who enjoys a huge LGBT fan base, remained mum about each of the violent attack and the over-all crackdown that claims as victims her very own LGBT Russian fan base.

RELATED : London gay rights protest over Coca-Cola Sochi sponsorship

RELATED : If Mylène Farmer were a real gay icon, she would denounce the Russian government's violent crackdown against LGBT community

LGBT activists have also been targeting special NBC Olympics commentator Johnny Weir, the former figure skater. Mr. Weir has been using many media appearances to deny that the violent LGBT crackdown is taking place in Russia -- leading activists to label Mr. Weir as a "Putin apologist."

Sunday, November 10, 2013

Man Nails Ball Sack To Red Square Cobblestones To Protest Government's Political Crackdown

The Russian artist Pyotr Pavlensky was hospitalised Sunday after stripping naked and nailing his ball sack to the crevice between cobblestones in Moscow's Red Square in protest against the Kremlin's crackdown on political rights. The following video shows Mr. Pavlensky sitting naked outside Lenin's Mausoleum when police officers arrive and take Mr. Pavlensky into custody.

"The state-run RIA Novosti news agency said Pavlensky was taken to a police station after being treated in a central Moscow clinic," The Huffington Post is reporting.

See also : Naked artist nails his scrotum to square in anti-Putin protest

If Mylène Farmer was a real gay icon, she would denounce the Russian government's violent crackdown against LGBT community

Mylène Farmer is one of the most successful French singers in recording history. She's a widely followed "gay icon" amongst the LGBT community around the world. Yet, she took her most recent tour to Russia, and, whilst there, she never denounced the Russian government's crackdown on LGBT civil rights.

One of her Russian fan clubs has expressed ambivalence about whether Mylène has any responsibility to her Russian LGBT fans, describing the plea by activists to hold the Russian government accountable for the violence and discrimination as "squabbles" of Mylène's LGBT fans.

Friday, October 11, 2013

Queer Nation NY protests against Russian LGBT discrimination enablers continue, this time at Carnegie Hall

Activists from the LGBT group Queer Nation NY organized a demonstration at Carnegie Hall on Thursday night, October 10. Activists demonstrated outside of the famed concert hall while some activists jeered Putin supporter Valery Gergiev, who was conducting an orchestra that evening. LGBT advocacy groups like Queer Nation have been organizing boycotts and protests of Russian businesses and other interests ever since Russian President Vladimir Putin has begun a crack-down on LGBT's in Russia.

See Also : WQXR Blog : Gay Rights Protesters Follow Gergiev to Carnegie Hall

The protest at Carnegie Hall last night was preceded by another protest a few weeks ago at the opening night gala at the Metropolitan Opera in Lincoln Center.