Human Rights

September 8, 2014September 8, 2014

From Archbishop Desmond Tutu to Australian Friends of Palestine

“Dear Friends of Palestine in Australia

The people of the world have been shocked and horrified at the recent brutal and disproportionate assault on the people of Gaza. Over 2000 people have died, hundreds of them children. The infrastructure of Gaza, already greatly damaged in previous similar attacks, is now completely degraded, with basics such as water and electricity denied to the vast majority of the population. Thousands are without shelter and medicines and 80% of the population are dependent on UN assistance.

The world waits while representatives of Israel and the Palestinians negotiate a ceasefire and we hope that there will be peace. But peace will not come until the illegal occupation of the Palestinians ends. It will not come to Gaza until Israel and Egypt lift the 8 year siege that has crippled the Gazan economy and squeezed the population, creating enormous hardships for the people there.

Decades of reliance on diplomacy to deliver a just outcome in Palestine have come to nothing. But a new hope lies in the ordinary citizens of the world. This is the worldwide non-violent movement known as the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, or “BDS”. This movement carries the hope of millions of ordinary people who are turning the tide through economic pressure to force Israel to end its occupation of the Palestinians and participate in a just resolution to the conflict between these two peoples who deserve peace.

Many of you in Australia are part of the BDS movement. You are seen every week in different cities and towns talking to other Australians about BDS and informing them about the injustices suffered by the Palestinians. Many others of you participate individually by choosing not to buy Israeli products or the products of companies that support Israel in its illegal occupation of Palestine. Others of you refuse to buy tickets to the Israeli Film Festival, or boycott Israeli academics who come from Israeli Universities that support Israel’s policies of occupation.

Protest outside the Israeli Film Festival, Brisbane — Protest outside the Israeli Film Festival, at the Palace Centro Cinema Brisbane, August 22, 2014. Riot police stood 1 metre in front of demonstrators.

This is the power of BDS.

We in South Africa, who know about oppression and occupation and who know about the power of BDS, salute the Australian BDS movement and we join with you in calling for Israel to end the Occupation; to end the siege of Gaza. We join with you in calling on the Australian Government to demand that the occupation of the West Bank ends; for Israel to stop the illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank; for the siege of Gaza to be permanently lifted.

We in South Africa join with you and we shout “Free Free Palestine!”

God bless you.

Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu (Cape Town – South Africa)”

August 20, 2014December 11, 2020

Sonia Montez – Climbing Fences : The Occupation Song

New York-based singer, songwriter and guitarist, Sonia Montez, expressed her support last year for boycott, divestment and sanctions of apartheid Israel.

Her new song “Climbing Fences : The Occupation Song” is written in solidarity with the Palestinian people and all folks living under occupation, including in Ferguson, Missouri.

Sonia says:

“As a musician/activist, the worlds in which I live are often separated from each other. We are trained in entertainment to not mix in politics because it may alienate a potential audience.

I abhor this idea and always have. From pop culture icons like Roger Waters to John and Yoko, to the great jazz artists of the 40’s and 50’s, politics has been crucial to the evolution of art and culture. It is in this spirit that I release this free demo, rough, faltered, honest, and filled with all of the emotional rage I and many others have felt over the brutalization of our human brothers and sisters.

Download it, share it, cover it, use it, remix it, tweet it, boast it from every speaker in every city. Make these words of solidarity count, we will not close our eyes, we will not be silent, we will witness and the world will know. Let the message ring loud, FROM #FERGUSON TO #PALESTINE: #OCCUPATION IS A CRIME!”

Lyrics:

Climbing Fences : The Occupation Song

Dead night
Fire in the sky
Stars are running shy
Ground bleeds in streams for you

Early little love child
Bore the burden of the hate squad
Someone watched as innocence left your eye
Climbing fences that tear you apart

How golden is our silence now?

When they come in the middle of dead night
When there’s nothing but fire in the darkened sky
Stars run shy from the bullet fight
How the ground bleeds in streams of pain for you

“Listen pretty sister
I got boys with toys to paint you red
I got silence now”

When they come in the middle of dead night
When there’s nothing but fire in the darkened sky
Stars run shy from the bullet fight
How the ground bleeds in streams of pain for you

You bleed as the world closes blinds
You scream as the pressure holds you tight
In this cage, you can’t breathe
When all you need to be is free

When they come in the middle of dead night
When there’s nothing but fire in the darkened sky
Stars run shy from the bullet fight
How the ground bleeds in streams of pain for you

August 8, 2014December 11, 2020

Video: British Jews Against Genocide Protest

Further to the previous written report of the protest held outside the offices of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, the video above captures the testimonies of people from British Jews Against Genocide who participated.

Here’s selections from some of the powerful speeches at the event:

Selma James: “I have to remind people of the stories that Jews told when they came to England to ask for English help because they were being taken to the death camps. And the Foreign Office said that the Jews were hysterical, that it wasn’t really true, that it wasn’t really happening, and when they finally convinced Churchill to bomb the tracks to Auschwitz, the Foreign Office refused to do it and I am reminded of that because today what’s happening to Palestinians is being dismissed by the media, is being demeaned by the media. It’s the same history repeating itself because the people who are being slaughtered are not being listened to, are not being taken seriously.“

Yael Kahn: “Intentionally Israel sees the women and the mothers and children as their main targets. Israel’s fight is not against Hamas, Israel is fighting against the people of Gaza.“

Barnaby Raine: “We’re here to present the other tradition in Jewish history, the tradition of solidarity of standing with the oppressed. Not just standing with Jews but standing with whoever they are when they are oppressed. So that’s why we stand with the Palestinian people and we as Jews and human beings support Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against the state of Israel.“

In Support of Reinstating Professor Steven Salaita & Restoration of Academic Freedom

My email to the Chancellor of the University of Illinois, Phyllis Wise, objecting to the firing of Professor Steven Salaita and demanding his reinstatement is below. You can send one too.

I am shocked and dismayed that you would end the employment of the honourable Associate Professor of American Indian Studies, Steven Salaita, due to pressure from those who place the indefensible – the genocidal actions of settler colonial Israel toward Palestinians whom it occupies, oppresses and sieges in Gaza – before academic freedom and ethical educative values.

Would you have treated Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King similarly for their strenuous public advocacy for attainment of rights for the rightsless because racists objected to their appointments? It is not uncivil nor bigoted to challenge racism.

Should academics be gagged from expressing political analyses and opinions in public so that the tender sensibilities of racists, white supremacists and nationalists are not offended? Surely one of the roles of education is to civilise people through learning to shed their prejudices and ignorance. Further, no state or political ideology should be quarantined from critique. To punish people for critiquing the Israeli regime or any other state undermines the foundations of democracy.

What message are you sending to other academics who oppose injustice and oppression? Why side with and encourage today’s McCarthyite bullies and their witchhunt of dissenters?

Please act judiciously in the spirit of civilised values, academic freedom and democracy – restore your reputation by re-employing Steven Salaita.

Please add your support to the petition demanding Steven Salaita’s reinstatement.

On Solidarity Against Israel’s Attack of the Palestinian People in Gaza – Dr. Mads Gilbert

Dr. Mads Gilbert makes a powerful case for global solidarity against Israel’s callous, criminal attack of the Palestinian people in Gaza.

Some quotes:

‘It was a hell of death and horror and bombing of such brutality as I have never experienced before. A kind of blind, evil rage that that increased forever, day and night.’
…

‘Is it tunnels they hunt? is it terrorists? No, it is the Palestinian people, it is the Palestinian family – it is the Palestinian “sumud”, steadfastness and perservance. “We will not submit to the occupier” they say.’
…

‘We do not want to kill, they say, but we will not surrender and submit to the occupation and become a slave people. We will not be a slave people.’
…

‘This is a racial segregation system implemented with such brutality that it is difficult to understand how it can continue.’
…

‘Obama says “Israel has the right to defend itself”. The US and Israel have taken the words hostage. “Attack” is turned into “defense”, “defense” has become “attack”. “Liberator” has become “terrorist”, “terrorist” has become “liberator”. We have to reclaim the words now, calibrate our language use appropriate words. This is a liberation struggle, it is completely legitimate, and it is a civilian population doing its best to protect itself from one of the world’s most brutal occupation forces.”‘
…

‘This is extermination of whole families … They take them out, family by family just to break the backbone of resistance in the rest of the people. “If you resist we kill not only you, but we will kill your entire family!”‘
…

‘The Heart of the Earth beats in Gaza now. It bleeds, but it beats and it beats for us all. The Palestinian people’s resistance in Gaza is admirable, it is fair, and it is a struggle for all of us. We do not want a world where raw power can be abused, to kill those who struggle for justice. We do not want such a world.’
…

‘Get involved in the BDS – the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement. It is really taking off in the USA. Israel is more isolated than ever politically and it deserves to be. Israel will become more isolated politically. Through legal, peaceful political means, Israel will be compelled to abandon the occupation of Palestine. They should be forced to give the Palestinian people a fair future. Like we all want!’

Category: Human Rights