All I want for Xmas is..............

for the United States to...

1. lift the crippling economic blockade that is guaranteeing a miserable Christmas for millions of Cubans suffering food shortages and wretched living conditions following the series of cyclones that devastated Cuba earlier this year;

2. release the five Cuban political prisoners incarcerated in the United States since 1998 for thwarting some 170 terrorist acts;

3. close the illegal torture centre at Guantanamo Bay, and guarantee the safe return of all current residents to their home country;

4. remove all their overt and covert agents from Latin American countries, and cease funding, providing arms, training and support to organisations and governments attempting to overthrow democratically-elected governments such as Bolivia and Venezuela, or to prop up corrupt regimes in others, such as Colombia and Mexico;

5. do the same in the Middle East;

6. recall their military from Iraq, Afghanistan, and every other country whose people have not invited them in;

7. cease the manufacture and use of illegal and inhumane weaponry, especially on civilian populations;

8. cease their gross exploitation of developing nations to cram their voracious consumerist craws;

9. cease their expansionist foreign policy; and

10. stay home for at least the next five decades.

for Israel to...

1. comply with UN Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338, and cease their illegal occupation of Palestinian territories;

2. as per 4, 5, 7, 9 and 10 above;

3. remember what genocide felt like – and stop practising it on others.

for Mexico to...

1. release all political prisoners, especially Ignacio de Valle, Gloria Arenas and other members of social movements persecuted for exercising their fundamental right to freedom of opinion, expression, association, and assembly;

2. end the impunity enjoyed by the murderers, assassins, corrupt public officials and politicians who daily escape justice for their crimes against the Mexican people, including human rights defenders such as Digna Ochoa, local and international journalists such as Armando Rodríguez and Brad Will, and the people of Oaxaca, Chiapas, Guerrero and more;

3. end the militarisation of Chiapas, and State funding and support of military and paramilitary harassment, threats, and murderous attacks against autonomous Zapatista and other indigenous communities;

4. stuff Plan Panama into a pair of shoes – you know what to do next!

and finally, for New Zealanders to...

1. admit they made a BIG mistake;

2. in the absence of a Constitution thus the possibility of a Recall Referendum, take a vote of no confidence in Key ASAP;

3. exercise some political maturity by voting for socially-responsible parties capable of governing by consensus rather than self-interest, and

4. demonstrate their capacity for generosity, selflessness, and compassion, and instead of buying me (or friends or family) a Christmas present, spending the same in a donation to support the development of indigenous health services in Chiapas at http://www.givealittle.co.nz/org/lagarrucha

I wait, and hope…….

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