On Al Jazeera’s Riz Khan : Walls of division – Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters adds his voice to Palestinian people and others demanding Israel to remove its illegal separation wall.
Roger Waters from Pink Floyd calls for solidarity with the BDS campaign against apartheid Israel.
The Sheikh Jarrah Solidarity protest, comprised of Israelis and Palestinians, takes place in East Jerusalem each week. This week’s action was met with violence as the police sought to shut down the protest. Three activists were taken into police custody. Sheikh Jarrah is a Palestinian neighborhood in East Jerusalem subject to house evictions and increased illegal settlement.
While the recent earthquake shook the bones of Christchurch in New Zealand, an earthquake of another kind rippled briefly through the Australian landscape. I want to make sure it is not ignored. The results of the 12 year nationwide Challenging Racism survey from the University of Western Sydney shocked me to the bone. Download the national results here, state comparisons here, and click on the map here to find out further information about racism in your region, which is where you are able to compare the different groups who are the main targets of racists with the state and national averages.
The results for Wide Bay-Burnett (my area in Queensland) confirm decades of personal observation, demonstrating the existence of significantly more racism than the state or national averages with US racial target of choice, Muslims at the top of the polls, a trend which is consistent from region to state to nation. Queenslanders are more prejudiced toward Aboriginal folks than Asians, a trend which is reversed in my region by a whisker. There are more equal opportunity haters in my neck of the woods it seems as there’s a scant couple of percent between the antipathy toward Indigenous folks, Asians and Jews.
% of Wide Bay respondents
Total QLD survey %
Total Australia survey %
Anti-Asian
36.4
27.9
23.8
Anti-Indigenous
35.8
29.0
27.9
Anti-Italian
17.0
12.7
11.0
Anti-British
8.5
7.5
7.8
Anti-Muslim
57.0
50.1
48.6
Anti-Semitic (Jewish)
33.9
23.5
23.3
Anti-Christian
14.5
9.0
9.7
Anti-Black African
–
–
27.0*
* Note: Responses for ACT, SA, Perth, NT and TAS only.
However, it doesn’t matter which shade of bigotry folks project, their carbon footprint is more related with their faith and participation or lack thereof in the modern idolatry of consumerism and its theoretical underpinnings in economic irrationalism.
Concerned about the carbon tax and its effect on your much abused budget? Are you not incensed you have voluntarily adopted a simpler less consumerist lifestyle for years and you will now be punished further by price rises because of the irresponsible behaviour of the rest of the wretches with whom you share these colonial shores? Gillard’s vaunted “educative” spanking effect from the carbon tax on consumer habits may be short-lived and very quickly, the population will resume its profligate ways, as with the GST, another notable government tax grab. We need a broader vision, with a widet more-effective brush, and not the the faux “Billy Tea Party” offered by Cory Bernardi, one must quickly add.
Here’s an idea to substitute for the carbon tax which would have a multiplier effect elsewhere, by encouraging holiday makers to less polluting relaxation.
End the cruise ship industry now – it is an anachronism which mainly benefits a tiny fraction of the population, the ruling elite. If Australia closed down all cruise ship industries, a good proportion of our carbon tax would be paid in advance. Noone would be screaming except rich boaties, cruise ship companies,.gluttonous tourists and their class allies, the politicians whom they pamper with campaign donations and dinners at yacht. Who *really needs* to go on a cruise ffs … end the cruise shipping industry now, do the planet and everyone but the rich and/or stupid and their enablers a favour. For those who simply must have a ‘cruise’, the ships can be permanently based ashore where waste can be disposed of properly and fuel impact removed. My favourite whiners against my stellar idea thus far are self-labelled greenies who have taken Alaskan cruises so they can say they’ve seen the result of the Exxxon Valdez oil spill disaster. These folks must do better. There’s plenty of room for productive extension also, by cutting back on defence force ship size and number, and on commercial shipping generally. At the very least, tightening of pollution regulations across the oceans would contribute greatly to the reduction of the human carbon AND pollution footprints.
For more positive climate change impact, consider this simple two pronged approach: (1) Lower the population by removing incentives for breeding by ensuring adequate pensions and care for aged folks, and (2) Educate women since educated women choose to breed less overall, “except for women who pursue the most advanced degrees. . Women with professional degrees and Ph.D.’s are slightly more likely to have had children than their counterparts with just master’s or bachelor’s degrees”.
Now, for some other climate saving ideas which anyone except the completely decrepit, lazy or unimaginative middle class twit can implement:
Climate savers #1 : Instead of *driving* to gym or sports club in your big shiny 4WD, walk or take a train; form a neighbourhood walking group
Climate savers #2 : Eat less, you corpulent middle class wankers
Climate savers #3: Don’t overbreed, it only viralises your existent pollution and ignorant consumerist mindset
Climate savers #4: If you really must breed, instead of buying little Georgina a puppy or the latest Nintendo, buy her a pet rock.
Climate savers #5: Instead of burning fossil fuels, burn politicians in a non-polluting furnace. Or use as mulch for your garden.
Climate savers #6: If there are no politicians left to feed the non-polluting furnace, throw in the farting cows. Consider drilling down the pollutant gas-producing food chain.
Climate savers #7: Surprise the husband and kids! experience the unexpected and stay HOME for the holidays. Talking with each other makes a novel, relaxing change so for added benefit, send your iPads, iPods and iPhones television, computers, wiis and xboxes on a holiday to a friend’s shed and/or for a jaunt through Australia Post snail mail so you are not tempted.
Climate savers #8: Instead of planning your next boastful debt to be for a below ground pool, plant a rainforest in your backyard.
Climate savers #9: Learn from 40,000 years of indigenous habitation of Australia – your white colonial consumerism and capitalism are unsustainable, planet and people unfriendly. Contrary to questionable popular beliefs, humans are more likely to survive as a species if they cooperate and live within the garden in balance rather than attempting to dominate and subdue it for the benefit of an insatiable ruling elite. Don’t vote against your own interests. The elite are relying on the fact that you have done this in the past.
Climate savers #10: Economic rationalism is irrational. Never trust a smiling politician or any other member of the ruling elite and if they are telling you to do something it is quite often something which they will not do themselves. Insist any politician or pundit who asks you to change your habits by going without something, practise what they preach and demonstrate how to do it themselves first. You might also remind them that carrots taste much better than sticks and are healthier for you and the planet too.
A US scientific study is pointing the finger at the global shipping industry as a major contributor to climate change.
The study has found that the one hundred thousand commercial ships which travel the world’s oceans emit almost half as much particle pollution as the world’s 600 million cars.
The findings have been published in the Journal of Geophysical Research.
And the lead author is calling for an improvement in the quality of shipping fuels.
In the past, ships running under flags of convenience have been exposed in reports like the Ships of Shame inquiry as being unsafe for crews and polluting the ocean.
Now scientists have put a figure on exactly how much air pollution is emitted by the world’s shipping fleet.
US-based scientist Daniel Lack, who works for a US government agency called the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, has found every year commercial ships emit 1 million kilograms of particle pollution into the air.
The cruise ship industry is largely a North American phenomenon, and more than 80 percent of the approximately seven million passengers traveling are North Americans. The cruise ship market has expanded slightly in the Mediterranean and very slightly in the Far East. In Europe there are a large number of smaller passenger vessel services operating in the domestic or car ferry markets, but these vessels tend to provide transportation rather than entertainment and tourism.
Given their lucrative ties to the United States market, it is hardly surprising that the major cruise lines all maintain their principal offices in the United States. For example, Norwegian Cruise Line Ltd. has its corporate headquarters in Miami and employs approximately 1200 personnel throughout the United States. Carnival Corporation, the largest cruise line company in the world, has several offices in the US, as well as personnel and properties scattered throughout the country. Carnival owns twelve cruise brands, including Carnival Cruise Lines, Holland America Line, Princess Cruises, and Windstar Cruises, all of which operate in North America. Royal Caribbean has its principal executive office in Miami.
The cruise line industry will exhibit strong growth throughout the next two decades. The average annual growth of the industry has been almost eight percent since 1980, and with the world fleet of 230 cruise ships operating at 90 percent capacity, there are no signs of this growth slowing. North America is the largest market, and surveys indicate that 56 percent of Americans want to take cruises, while only 11 percent have done so. The number of cruise line passengers worldwide is projected to triple to 15 million by 2020, according to one industry expert.
Experiencing the stupidity of high density high consumption human living on the high seas – New York on the waves!
When she launches in 2010, Allure of the Seas will share the title of the world’s largest and most revolutionary cruise ship with sister-ship Oasis of the Seas. An architectural marvel at sea, Allure of the Seas will span 16 decks, encompass 220,000 gross registered tons (GRT), carry 5,400 guests at double occupancy, and feature 2,700 staterooms. Allure of the Seas, and Oasis of the Seas, will be homeported at Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Allure of the Seas will tout the cruise line’s new neighborhood concept of seven distinct themed areas, which will offer guests of every age the widest array of onboard vacation experiences that cater to their personal styles, preferences or moods. Guests will enjoy lush and tropical grounds open to the sky in Central Park, located in the center of the ship and spanning more than the length of a football field. Central Park will be lined with boutiques and specialty restaurants, ranging from casual to fine dining, and introduce balcony staterooms rising five decks above the storefronts and overlooking the park – one of a few new categories of onboard accommodations made possible by the ship’s revolutionary design.
For a quick digression, here’s what happened when bigots took flight against Muslims in Orange County, California, recently.
A quarter of Australians describe their personal attitude towards Muslims as negative or very negative, according to a detailed national survey on social cohesion and immigration.
People who are most likely to be highly intolerant towards Muslims include those who are over 65, educated to year 11, work in trades and intended to vote Liberal/National or independent.
Why not call out Beyonce, Usher, Mariah Carey, and so many other artists, all of whom have performed in Israel, a state which practices a form of apartheid worse than anything the South African apartheid government had ever done? In 1973, the United Nations General Assembly defined the crime of Apartheid as “inhuman acts committed for the purpose of establishing and maintaining domination by one racial group of persons over any other racial group of persons and systematically oppressing them.” As Israel’s official policy privileges Jewish nationals over non-Jewish citizens, creating de facto and de jure discrimination against the indigenous Palestinian people, it is hard to dispute that this supposed “democracy” is in reality an apartheid state.
Jewish stabber not charged with murder. Other teens involved in murder of Arab man to stand trial for aggravated assault, obstruction of justice. Father of victim: ‘My son brutally murdered for speaking Arabic’
When urged at the start of January by Assange’s publisher to help him write his memoirs I said I was ready to assist, but only if I had strong editorial input and that no subject was off-limits. This, I was told, was not acceptable. Roughly at the same time our organisation started asking questions about Israel Shamir, a man accused of Holocaust denial and of being a close associate of Belarus’s autocratic leader Alexander Lukashenko. Index is one of the founders of the Belarus Committee. Despite repeated but polite requests to WikiLeaks, our team was stonewalled, so we went public with our concerns.
Assange’s reported conspiracy remarks to Private Eye magazine about me and senior figures in the Guardian do not help his cause. With so many genuine adversaries, why seek more? His approach has reinforced a view that whistleblowing is the preserve of irresponsible eccentrics – playing into the hands of malign forces in the US seeking to prosecute him for “terrorism” or under the espionage act.
Thanks in large part to WikiLeaks, no matter how hard the authorities try, it will be impossible in future to prevent conscientious whistleblowers from passing on material that seeks to cast a light on the actions of the powerful – information that might otherwise remain secret. Due to the published documents, people around the world – notably in the Middle East and north Africa – have a better sense of what others thought of their autocratic leaders. All this is the positive legacy. The rest is soap opera or, dare I say it, Tinseltown.
Apartheid rogue entity, Israel, insinuates its association with western imperialism through football, traditionally a sport where racists are banned or ostracised as with apartheid South Africa. While Israelis enjoy carte blanche on the world football scene, Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza are lucky to play at all, and are barred from competing in international sporting competitions.
Please sign the petition here so the UEFA recants its decision to allow apartheid Israel to host the U21 Football Championship in 2013.
Find more information on the Palestinian call to boycott apartheid Israel until it obeys international law at http://bdsmovement.net and http://pacbi.org
The Jewish community in Sydney’s Inner West is calling for funds to finance its campaign against Marrickville Council who have plans on the table to boycott Israeli made goods. The Inner West Jewish Community and Friends Peace Alliance is a local …
Diamonds processed in Israel fund war crimes and crimes against humanity yet they are sold worldwide as conflict free diamonds.
Israel is the world’s leading diamond exporter, with exports valued at nearly $20 billion in 2008, accounting for over 30% of Israel’s exports. Revenue from the Israeli diamond industry generates approximately $1 billion annually in funding for the Israeli military/security industry, a military which stands accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
According to the UN based Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS) only “rough diamonds used by rebel movements or their allies to finance conflict aimed at undermining legitimate governments” can be classed as conflict or blood diamonds. The KPCS classifies all other diamonds as “conflict free” regardless of what human rights violations they may be funding. Approximately 50% of all gem-quality diamonds in dollar terms are processed in Israel. Diamonds from Israel finance war crimes and crimes against humanity in Palestine yet they are sold worldwide as conflict free diamonds to unsuspecting consumers.
Sean Clinton of Global Palestinian Solidarity describes how critical trade in conflict diamonds is to Israel’s economy.
Israel’s total diamond exports in 2008 were valued at $19.4 billion. This figure includes polished diamonds and rough diamonds.
Israel’s total diamond imports in 2008 were va…lued at $9.7 billion. This figure includes rough diamonds and cut & polished diamonds that were returned – not sold.
The Kimberley Process (KP) deals only with rough diamonds and by using the KP statistics we find the value of Israel’s rough diamond imports in 2008 was $5.4 billion. Israel re-exported $4.2 billion of this, to China and India mainly. So in 2008 Israel’s net rough diamond imports were $1.2 billion. https://kimberleyprocessstatistics.org/static/pdfs/AnnualCharts/2008Charts.pdf)
By subtracting the rough diamond exports ($4.2) from the total diamond exports (19.4) we determine that Israel exported €15.2 billion of polished diamonds in 2008.
Subtracting the KP value ($5.4) of Israel’s rough diamond imports from the total (rough +polished) import figure of $9.7 billion we get the value of cut & polished diamond returns – $4.3 billion
Subtracting this $4.3 billion of returns from the Israel’s total polished diamond exports of $15.2 billion gives the actual value of polished diamonds exported – $10.9 billion in 2008.
Finally from this $10.9 we abstract the value of the net rough diamond imports 1.2 billion to get the net value of Israel’s diamond exports in 2008 = $9.7 billion dollars.
The added value to the Israeli economy from the diamond industry in 2008 was $9.7 billion.
If you look at the graph of Israel’s exports for 2008 ( http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8654956/Israel%27s%20Top%2030.jpg) you see that the gross value of Israel’s second most important export commodity, electronics, was just $7 billion.
The point I’m making here is that even the net value of Israel’s diamond exports is significantly greater than the gross value of it’s second most important export commodity.
‘The WDC fails to mention that the much more lucrative, high-value end of the diamond industry is the main artery of the Israeli economy, accounting for more than 30 percent of Israel’s total manufacturing expo…rts worth nearly $20 billion in 2008 (“Trade Performance HS: Exports of Israel” accessed 25 March 2010) (See Figures 3 and 4). By comparison, the budget for Israel’s Ministry of Defense was $16 billion in 2008.’
Never say never 🙂 After playing in a deceptive virtual rally for the greenwashing Israeli Arava Institute which partners with the state land-grabbing device, the Jewish National Fund, Pete Seeger has had an epiphany, altered his stance and now supports BDS!
During a January meeting at his Beacon, NY home with representatives from the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) and Adalah-NY, Pete Seeger explained, “I appeared on that virtual rally because for many years I’ve felt that people should talk with people they disagree with. But it ended up looking like I supported the Jewish National Fund. I misunderstood the leaders of the Arava Institute because I didn’t realize to what degree the Jewish National Fund was supporting Arava. Now that I know more, I support the BDS movement as much as I can.”
Applaud Pete’s reversal in favour of justice and human rights by liking his facebook fan page and posting a message of approval.
the Israeli government may deport children from the Bialik Rogozin school, including one of the stars of “Strangers No More”:
Just a week after the Israeli media runs its hip-hip-hooray! reports of the win, the Oz Unit will start rounding such kids up. And one of the children is the 10-year-old star of the film. According to the Association for Civil Rights in Israel:
…10-year-old Esther who starred in the movie is facing a probable deportation alongside an estimated 120 pupils from her school. Esther fled from South Africa and arrived in Israel with her father four years ago – thus missing the five-year mark set as a condition to remaining in the country.
Interview with Omar Barghouti and Hind Awwad on the Palestinian BDS Campaign
The government will immediately dismantle all illegal settlement outposts built on privately-owned Palestinian land, with the sole exception of the house owned by slain Israel Defense Forces officer Eliraz Peretz, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decided on Monday in consultation with the defense minister and the attorney general.
The decision, which will be submitted to the High Court of Justice in response to 15 petitions demanding the outposts’ demolition, will apply to at least three outposts inhabited by about 100 families.
Some DC pundits have been repeatedly on satellite TV stations claiming the Egyptian revolution had nothing to do with Israel or the US. Some even go as far as claiming this was “purely an internal affair.”
Those self described “ME experts” tend to neither know a word of Arabic nor visited Tahrir Square during the mass protests. The roots of this Egyptian revolt date back to September 2000, when street activism was revived again following a decade of dirty wary between the regime and the Islamist militants. There is a chain reaction linking those protests which broke out in solidarity with the Palestinian intifada to the current revolt.
Why a king’s ransom is not enough for Saudi Arabia’s protesters : King Abdullah’s offer of bribes to his country’s alienated youth is no substitute for genuine reform Saudi Arabia woke up on Wednesday to the announcement of thirteen Royal Orders that preceded the much-anticipated return of Abdullah by a few hours. The King’s “gift to the nation” signaled a major push for the improvement of everyday life of all Saudis by pumping $35 billion into comprehensive development projects in every region and corner of the Kingdom.
The imperial elites’ success depends to a large extent on a shared belief among the western public both that “we” need them to secure our livelihoods and security and that at the same time we are really their masters. Some of the necessary illusions perpetuated by the transnational elites include:
– That we elect governments whose job is to restrain the corporations;
– That we, in particular, and the global workforce, in general, are the chief beneficiaries of the corporations’ wealth creation;
– That the corporations and the ideology that underpins them, global capitalism, are the only hope for freedom;
– That consumption is not only an expression of our freedom but also a major source of our happiness;
– That economic growth can be maintained indefinitely and at no long-term cost to the health of the planet; and,
– That there are groups, called terrorists, who want to destroy this benevolent system of wealth creation and personal improvement.
These assumptions, however fanciful they may appear when subjected to scrutiny, are the ideological bedrock on which the narratives of our societies in the West are constructed and from which ultimately our sense of identity derives.
Act for justice today –