No photos, nothing pretty: a witness to devastation in Lebanon

Hiba Bou Akar is a friend in Beirut that graduated from MIT and was planning on returning to the US this fall to pursue her PhD at Cal. She's been displaced from her home and her family is now in a shelter, along with the thousands of other innocent Lebanese that are being brutalized by the indescriminate, disproportionate and unjust revenge that Israel is taken out in response to the kidnapping and murder of Israeli soldiers by Hezbollah. Hiba's letter, copied below, is her firsthand experience in Beirut.

While Hezbollah is clearly a terrorist group that is a proxy for Iranian interests, and the murder and kidnapping of Israeli soldiers is a hateful and unacceptable crime, Israel's victimization of the entire country of Lebanon, targeting soldiers, civilians, women, children and core infrastructure necessary to sustain a viable nation, is unconscionable. Israel's brutal exercise of military power against innocents betrays any claim to a moral high ground. Democratic Party leaders like Dianne Feinstein and Nancy Pelosi have moral consciences that are short circuited by their allegiance to various lobbies, and the Lebanese people are being hung out to dry. The rest of us are not so morally dysfunctional.

Please examine your conscience and do what you can.

International Red Cross Bulletin
Lebanese Red Cross
Web site of Dianne Feinstein
Web site of Nancy Pelosi


From: hiba.bou.akar@gmail.com Hiba Bou Akar
To: Undisclosed-Recipient
Date: Sat, 15 Jul 2006 14:49:09 -0700
Subject: Lebanon is under Attack- A Humanitarian Crisis

Dear all,

Many thanks to all of you who asked about me and showed their support. I really appreciate it and need it to cope with all the destruction and death surrounding me. I need your support to stop the mass massacre that my people are facing as a result of the Israeli attacks on my country that have been non-stop for 4 days.

My country is under attack with a level of aggression that I have not seen in my entire life. Barbaric acts against civilians, with no attention paid to the difference between children, women, elderly, and the handicapped on one hand, and fighters on the other. Everybody is a target for the bombs that are falling on us like black rain, like fire balls, from military planes that have not left our air since Wednesday July 12th, 2006. Their horrific noises have deafened our ears. Children's cries of horror are tearing our hearts. We asked for the international community's help to broker a cease fire. They did not care. All they care about are their regional interests. Israelis did not stop the bombs! Did not stop deaths! Continued their mass destruction! We are under attack without hope for an end.

The aggression is not only against people, but against infrastructure. All the bridges, tunnels, roads, electricity plants, fuel tanks, IT networks, water dams, and every other aspect of infrastructure has been or is being destroyed. Thousands of people have been displaced. We are currently helping people to settle in schools and other public facilities, and trying to supply them with minimum survival amenities. The entire relief effort is through personal initiatives since there is not yet an aid organization helping with the crisis.

It all started 4 days ago, when Hezbollah took two Israeli soldiers as hostages. We as Lebanese citizens condemned this act. We were surprised by this military operation. We did not want war, but they did not ask us. We Lebanese people are tired of war, we want peace. Too many loved ones have died over 20 years of wars. I was born in war, grew up in war, lived through wars, through Israeli occupation, through assassinations, through horror, through displacements, and I had enough, we had enough, Lebanese people had enough, Lebanon had enough! Enough Destruction..enough!

Unfortunately, two Israeli hostages were taken and three were killed, an operation which I am deeply sorry that we could not stop. But does this justify a barbaric attack that has up until now killed at least 160 people, injured hundreds, displaced thousands, and ruined an entire country? Israel bombed today a bus with 21 women and children fleeing from their village. Innocent people, running for their lives, not terrorists, not military people but women and children were burnt. Today Israel bombed three such buses! The international community remains silent.

This summer was our summer. We were happy to show our beautiful small country to the entire world after we have been rebuilding it for 15 years. We invited friends, family, business people and promised them a lovely time. We were so proud of what we accomplished. In four days Israel shattered our dreams in an unbalanced, crazy, sad, barbaric act of aggression; high-tech military planes high in the air bombing unarmed and defenseless people on the ground. In 4 days, Israel destroyed our country, killed our people. Blind Unjustified Aggression!

We are under siege! We are under attack from the air, from the water, and from land. We are cut off from the entire world, without any form of aid or support. Medical and food supplies are limited. Hunger is already creeping into those villages that have been isolated from the rest of the country. Injured people are stuck under ruins. Lebanon is officially facing a humanitarian crisis. Please help us in spreading the word. I and all Lebanese people need your support.

Thank you very much for your help!

Best Regards,

Hiba

Pt Reyes

A few pics from a recent trip to Pt Reyes...



The falls near our campsite...cool, crisp, wicked cold water...


















Colorful deposits from a stream that trickled down the rockface down to the pacific.



















Cow parsley reaching for the sun.

Gradumicated!

The last 2 weeks have been a whirlwind as final projects were wrapped up, written up and then served up. Here's a couple of photos of dear friends and family from the final project presentations and graduation.


This is my final project team, Sarai, Sarita and myself. I could not have imagined a more relaxed, talented and smoothly running team. Sarita has been my collaborator throughout grad school, and I'll miss her dearly when we goes off to GA Tech for her PhD. I hope those folks at GA Tech realize what a prize student they're getting! And Sarai, who is quiet, but always cool and intelligent, is going to Google to use her slick design skills to make Google even more usable and cool looking.

Here's Ben, myself, Mano and Judd - not only are they three of the smartest and nicest guys you'll ever meet, they're also incredibly cool, dynamic and interesting people that demonstrate the academic diversity of the SIMS department: engineer, historian and anthropologist - all in the same program.

How cool is that!?





Here's my family and close friends from outside of SIMS. To my left is Uppeka, and going across are Stan, Mariko, mom, dad, Andrea, Alvin, baby athena and Corrina.

My parents came to see me graduate, but I'm not entirely sure they understand what it is that I've been studying the last 2 years :-)





Here's a big chunk of my original project group from the first semester IS202 class, plus one extra person is also happens to be a good friend. Irina, Melissa (not actually my daughter), Sarah (not actually my neice) and Kavita (not actually Melissa's mom)

Random photo...

Well, the last photo was in a church, how about one in a Buddhist Monastery this time?

Happy Belated Easter?!

Just a quick photo from the Easter Vigil held at UC Berkeley's Newman Hall.

SF Treasure Hunt!

A bunch of friends from school went on a treasure hunt in SF Chinatown the other day. All of us were equiped with cameras so it was just about the most well documented excursion I've ever been on.

I offer 2 photos from it, the Blue....

....and the Red...

Back from Belize

Got back from Belize a few days ago, and after being badgered by a friend, I've decided to post something on the blog!

This is my friend and travelling partner, Sarita, in front of the main structure at Xunantunich - a Mayan site near San Jose Succotz, where we stayed in the Cayo.

Here is a macro shot - some kind of flower loving bug coming in for a landing...

This was on the way to the Actun Tunichil M[mumble] tour (commonly referred to as the ATM tour). A spelunking "adventure tour" into a Mayan sacred cave.





At the end of the ATM tour is the skeleton of a young woman who was a human sacrifice. There were a total of 15 sets of human remains in the cave, of which this was the best preserved.

If I remember correctly, the Mayan civilization was experiencing a crisis, possibly due to climate and ecological changes - the evil part of me suggests that sacrificing Texas Energy Barons may help our current climate change problems...but that's not really the right thing to do...












This was the view from my balcony while staying at Ruby's in San Pedro (Ambergris Caye). San Pedro is kind of busy, with lots of golf carts buzzing around. Less busy than many other resort-like areas, but I personally preferred the quiet of Caye Caulker.






Sunsets in Belize were quite pretty - this was at the San Pedro airport.












Sarita took this photo, of a little boy and his mother in Caye Caulker - nicely done!



















The final image is a sunset at Caye Caulker, captured from the dock outside my room at the Leeside Apartments (Caye Caulker Rentals).

Spiritual Activism and Senseless Violence: 6 blocks of separation

During lunchtime today, the Spiritual Activism Conference held a rally in Sproull Plaza. Jim Wallis spoke, as well as Rabbi Michael Lerner (pictured here on the steps of Sproull Hall).

The demographics of the conference attendees was very interesting - a friend of mine asked if there was some kind of aging hippy conference today, and I guess that is as accurate a characterization as any other. There seemed to be relatively few college age attendees, and the workshop that I visited had many people of middle age and beyond.

They had a good lineup of speakers and performers. I thought that the folk singer, David Rovics had a very pointed and entertaining song "Who Would Jesus Bomb"
For the afternoon speakers, I was particular impressed with Rick Ufford-Chase's concrete approach to activism.

A few blocks away from the conference was this temporary shrine to Meleia Willis-Starbuck. On a scholarship at Dartmouth, she had come back to Berkeley for the summer to work at a shelter for homeless women and children. In what looks like a case of "friendly fire", one of her best friends accidentally shot and killed her, perhaps thinking he was protecting her from a group of men that had argued with her earlier.
At the conference, speakers spoke to us about nations making war on each other for no good reason, while in our own neighborhoods, friends kill their best friends for no good reason.

Babies! Babies! Babies! Everyone around me is coming down with parenthood!!!

I saw this today on a car in Oakland and had to laugh!!!

Buddha spent 50 years telling everyone that he was just a man, and a teacher of Dharma, not a God and that once he was gone, he was outta here!

Dead. Finito. Don't pray to me, Argentina! I'm not supposed to be immortal!!

His dying words were to the effect that each person had to work out their salvation on their own.

So of course, you get a bumper sticker conflating Buddha with God and asking for his blessings.

Strange indeed. Strange indeed.

I got there a little late to explore the tidepools, but I still managed to find this starfish in shallow water!

Lots-o-crabs at Salt Point, pretty shy though.

Sunset at Salt Point State Park

Inside St. Paul's Cathedral - a pretty cathedral that balances old school, busy catholic decor against modernistic styles. Somewhere in their Book of the Elect is yours truly.

Inside Heinz Chapel. Flare, specular highlights, so many technical flaws - but I like the shot!

The mighty Cathdral of Learning at the University of Pittsburgh - a 42 story academic phallic symbol!

Somewhere in the skies between Oakland and Pittsburgh

A friend trying to put out the candles on his Birthday cake using the mighty Buddha's Palm(tm) technique

Some friends jumping for joy in Mt. Diablo Park

Old photo - on the way to Joshua Tree in December 2004