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Please go vote in sabotabby's awesome Roman Polanski poll!!!

Also, you probably know by now that Whoopi Goldberg said that it wasn't rape-rape. That is now my rape tag.

Fucking celebrities. What's next, getting away with murder? Wait, that was Ted Kennedy. NEVERMIND.

ETA:


Whoopi is so off-based here that even her conservative co-host Sherri calls her out on it. That Sherri is often way out of whack but there she's right. BECAUSE IT'S SO OBVIOUS.

ETA2:
There's also a petition from the movie industry condemning Polanski's arrest at a film festival, because film festivals are extra-territorial spaces. The petition site is swamped right now, so you can check the Google-cached version.

ETA3: I originally Whoopi's description as "rape" rape. After a comment, I decided to write it rape-rape. This explains why the first commenters use the quote marks version.

ETA4: Detailed description of the rape.

You can read an English version of the petition, along with a signatories' list.

Let's retranscribe this list here, separating the rotten wheat from the rotten chaff:

Pedro Almodovar
Jean-Jacques Annaud
Wes Anderson
Darren Aronofsky
Asia Argento (twice?)
Monica Bellucci
Costa Gavras
Wong Kar Waï
Emir Kusturica
Jeanne Moreau
Claude Lelouche
Tilda Swinton
Wim Wenders

Fanny Ardant
Olivier Assayas
Gabriel Auer
Christophe Barratier
Gilles Behat
Jean-Jacques Beineix
Marco Bellochio
Patrick Bouchitey
Jacques Bral
André Buytaers
Christian Carion
Henning Carlsen
Jean-Michel Carre
Patrice Chéreau
Elie Chouraqui
Souleymane Cissé
Alain Corneau
Jérôme Cornuau
Miguel Courtois
Alfonso Cuaron
Jonathan Demme
Alexandre Desplat
Georges Dybman
Betrand van Effenterre
Jacques Fansten
Michel Ferry
Stephen Frears
Thierry Frémaux
Sam Gabarski
Tony Gatlif
Jean-Marc Ghanassia
Christian Gion
David Heyman
Laurent Heynemann
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu
Gilles Jacob
Just Jaeckin
Pierre Jolivet
Nelly Kaplan
Jan Kounen
Harmony Korinne
John Landis
Claude Lanzmann
Patrice Leconte
Michael Mann
François Margolin
Mario Martone
Radu Mihaileanu
André Larquié
Claude Miller
Michel Ocelot
Alexander Payne
Michele Placido
Jean-Paul Rappeneau
Yasmina Reza
Laurence Roulet
Walter Salles
Jean-Paul Salomé
Marc Sandberg
Julian Schnabel
Barbet Schroeder
Ettore Scola
Abderrahmane Sissako
Paolo Sorrentino
Radovan Tadic
Danis Tanovic
Bertrand Tavernier
Cécile Telerman
Alain Terzian
Pascal Thomas
Giuseppe Tornatore
Serge Toubiana
Nadine Trintignant
Tom Tykwer


Actually, that list must be impartial because I have already heard multiple reports that Woody Allen and David Lynch are also on it.

I'm a day early, but whatever. Maybe it'll be the 4th by the time you read this.

Burmese military arrests more dissidents [from CBC]

I posted a note on my Facebook, linking to various articles providing background on the big international players in this struggle (or rather, against this struggle).

avaaz.org has a petition. Schmetition, I say, but I signed it anyway.

It's interesting that it's aimed at China (at least, it's aimed at Hu Jintao in particular, not "the Chinese"). Ahh, China, the easily found source of all our troubles. Why not India (partnership on Nagaland insurgency)? Thailand (largest source of external income for Burma)? even Russia? Russia has vetoed the UNSC motion of Burma along with China. Also, there already are rumours that China is weighing behind the scenes on the Burmese generals, whereas Russia is probably doing jack all. Anyway. Don't fall in the easy [China = Evil] trap. It's not paradise, but it's not hell either. One must take into account that China's relationship with Burma has largely to do with the threat that the U.S. creates for China around the Strait of Malacca, its only sea passage for oil and goods. It is because of this choking threat that China has sought a safe passage though Burma for oil and goods.

Once again, I'll be working during the next Toronto protest (Oct. 6, 6pm, Chinese consulate, 240 St. George St.), so I won't be going. Maybe you will? Please post pictures.