KADAITCHA

August 8, 2012December 11, 2020

In Memoriam – Robert Hughes

Blow the Winds

Five years gone since my mate left home
he purchased his ticket to slavery
consigned him to the southern land
to wait for me in purgatory.
His pretty girl cried silken tears
sent to the gallows with cotton in her ears
they said she lied by the Rule of Law
born and bred a gypsy woman.

I’ll be going now, and I’ll see you soon
Sailing beneath the rising moon,
I’ll look for you in Melbourne town,
and there’s never been a heart so torn.

I stole an heiress in a field one morn
My heart’s in tatters and my hopes are gone,
In 1825, cold and wet and barely alive
I miss my woman and the babes she’s borne,
Fated to hang by a weeping judge,
Now sailing on the winds of scorn.

Blow the winds and fill the sails
take us to hell in New South Wales
The hulks are full in England
of many more like me
Bound to be Australians
with ironclad guarantees.

Me life’s not me own, I’m a Government man,
don’t remember when me term began,
the squatter’s chains rattle in me bones
to please the whims of the English throne.

Thrown into the white man’s cell
for laughin’ late and givin’ ‘em hell,
grabbed by the coppers, ripped from the land
no migaloo can understand.
In 1985 another Murri suicides,
There’s plenty more in store
from white settlers such as we,
The land would be far better off
without colonial greed.

Jinjirrie
1993
[Inspired by Robert Hughes’ master work “The Fatal Shore”, and republished to commemorate his passing over. Hughes is among the few who removed the scales from my eyes painlessly, to reveal beauty and truth.

Robert Hughes 28 July 1938 – 6 August 2012]

The New Shock Of The New

August 4, 2012December 11, 2020

Plan Bibi C – Plan Dalet Is Still Being Implemented

Plan Bibi C, a refinement of Nutanyahoo’s Bar Ilan speech, highlights the moral and political bankrupty of two state idealism:

‘Israel has already de facto annexed Area C. The route of the separation barrier is no longer relevant. Creeping annexation is taking place deep within the West Bank, coming right up against Palestinian population centers in Ramallah, Nablus and Hebron. Israel is investing billions of shekels in land in Area C and deliberately preventing the development of Palestinian infrastructure there. At the same time, a sophisticated campaign is under way to change the way the public regards Area C, and the Levy report is part of that. Also, in light of proposals to apply Israeli sovereignty to “all the communities in Judea and Samaria,” Netanyahu will be able to portray his plan as relatively moderate.’

Plan Dalet is still being implemented in the West Bank – expansionism – settler colonialism – remains Israel’s strategy, tactic and aim; apartheid, strangulation and dispossession of Indigenous Palestinian people the desired outcome.

The limp protestations of the new NIF director, Brian Lurie display the hollow contradictions of ‘Jewish and democratic state’ hasbara and the racism underlying the liberal zionist response to the voracious Likud vision.

‘To me, the occupation is like a cancer. It’s eating us. Forget about them [the Palestinians]: It’s about what it’s doing to us.’

As long as the cry of Indigenous Palestinians for basic human rights, justice and freedom is ignored, there can be no claim of democracy or morality. Israel continues to delegitimise itself.

Related Links

Time to expose the duplicitous morally bankrupt hasbara behind this malicious attempt to submerge the rights of Palestinian people behind the impact of ziocolonialism had throughout the ME region after zionists invaded Palestine where emigrants were often enticed to emigrate in order to boost cheap Jewish labour and numbers to colonise Palestinian land. Palestinians are not to blame for their own invasion and their rights as invaded, dispossessed people are not secondary to the claims Jewish people in the ME might make against Mossad for its false flag ops and the zionist elite who encouraged and often bribed them to emigrate to the ziocolony. Jewish folks who have legitimate claims can pursue their cause through the appropriate bodies, but Palestinian rights are not contingent upon fulfillment of these claims, despite what the US congress might think.

Do not criticise Australia! it is a personal attack on my aussiehood!
That zionists feel the need to project this submergence of the self into the nation is probably symptomatic of the end phase of Israel. On National identity

When, as I shall eventually argue, the idea of the individual as “inherently limited and sovereign” collapses, the nation is doomed to follow suit, since its very conceptualisation feeds on the concept of the individual. If the individual can be shown to have several histories, so can the nation — and the two concepts collapse simultaneously when the consequences are fully worked out.’

August 4, 2012December 11, 2020

Don’t Bring Your Blues to Apartheid Israel, Robert Belfour

Dear Robert Belfour,

We have discovered you are scheduled to play in Israel on 23 August at the Barby in Tel Aviv.

The fact that there is a cultural boycott of Israel is not something of which all musical artists are aware when they schedule to play Israel. After becoming aware, many cancel. (See http://www.pacbi.org/etemplate.php?id=1788)

We are writing to let you know more about this global movement, and we hope you will decide to be a part of it.

Israel has claimed authority over the lives and land of millions of Palestinian people. What began in 1948 in Palestine has now escalated into what South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu and many others call apartheid. Racism runs deep in the streets of Tel Aviv, Africans seeking asylum and living as refugees are filled with fear as Israelis demonstrate on the streets against their presence. Last May brought fear to Africans in Israel as a series of fire bombings of apartments and a day nursery were set off in an area where African migrants live. Shops run by or serving migrants were smashed up and looted in violent demonstrations in which several Africans were attacked. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu stated

“We’ll start by ejecting the infiltrators from South Sudan…and then move on to other groups.”

Israel’s Minister of the Interior, Eli Yishai said chillingly:

“The infiltrators [African immigrants] along with the Palestinians will quickly bring us to the end of the Zionist dream…we don’t need to import more problems from Africa…[they] think the country doesn’t belong to us, the white man”.

A heinous series of walls, checkpoints, and sniper towers dot the landscape for millions of Palestinians. Brutal military might is flaunted daily and children in Gaza are regularly targeted to demonstrate the “effectiveness” of new weapons. Armed soldiers raid homes, fire into schoolyards, maiming and killing children.

While some liberal “peacenik” Israelis will tell you they want you to play because they will be your audience, please know that the most effective tool to end the oppression is an unequivocal stand against the injustice by saying no. Instead listen to the brave Israelis from “Boycott From Within” who have asked many artists to stay away from the failing Zionist state. (See http://boycottisrael.info/ )

Artists who do play for apartheid are being used to promote Israel as a false democracy. The Israeli government has an official twitter and uses its position to let the world know which artists lend their name to promote Israel’s false image. Just three of many examples are Bobby McFerrin, Gun N Roses and Sister Bliss.

Please don’t allow your name to be used to whitewash racism, apartheid, and the horrible illegal annexation wall (pictured here in this recent video). http://youtu.be/pxZrUIctF5A

Join the boycott for justice, equality, freedom and human rights.

Yours truly,

DPAI

Don’t Play Apartheid Israel (DPAI) seeks to inform musicians of the Palestinian call to boycott Israel, and the extent to which their decision to play in the apartheid state will be instrumentalized – against their will – as propaganda for the maintenance of a horrifying status quo in Israel/Palestine: that is a brutal, decades-long occupation, ongoing ethnic cleansing, continual land theft, passing of over 20 racist laws within Israel/’48, and the crackdown on human rights groups. We represent over 900 members from around the globe who believe that it is essential for musicians & other artists to heed the call of the PACBI, and join in the boycott of Israel.

For more information:
http://972mag.com/israeli-coalition-members-speak-about-refugees/47455/

SOURCE

Robert Belfour on Facebook
Robert Belfour on Myspace

July 29, 2012December 11, 2020

Great Words From Three Little Birds

Three Little Birds, an all-female trio from Canada came under fire recently from the censorious Canadian zionist lobby after their song “Apartheid” was aired on CTV Morning Live.

Courageously, these harmonious women of principle released a statement/letter affirming their stance in support of Palestinian rights:

Censored Carleton University poster

Re: CTV Defends Giving Band Airtime to Slur Israel as an “Apartheid” State (July 16, 2012)
(http://www.honestreporting.ca/news_article_name/CTVDefendsGivingBandAirtimetoSlurIsraelasanApartheidState7162012.aspx)

To whom it may concern/interest,

We’d like to thank HonestReportingCanada for writing about our TV clip on CTV. They attempted to censor CTV’s airing of our song “Apartheid,” but it now has almost 2,000 views. We sincerely thank HonestReportingCanada for the free promotion.

Our song “Apartheid,” was originally written in response to the banning of a poster at Carleton University that depicted the bombardment of Gaza in 2008-2009, which killed over 1,400 Palestinians. A year later, we learned that the Carleton University pension fund invests in and profits from the very weaponry that is depicted in the poster (breakdown on the attached image). Three Little Birds is deeply disturbed that the university pension fund profited from the Gaza bombings and continues to profit from the weaponry and other infrastructure of occupation that oppress Palestinian people. The song is our reaction to attempted censorship. With great poetic irony, HonestReportingCanada is currently asking its subscribers to censor CTV coverage of music and politics by calling upon CTV executives to never again present anyone on the air who criticizes the current actions of the state of Israel through use of the term “apartheid” like we did with our song.

We don’t use the term “Apartheid” lightly. It is the current actions of the state of Israel that necessitated the use of the term. According to the definition of apartheid under international law, the Russell Tribunal on Palestine, and the Human Sciences Research Council of South Africa Report, Israel is currently operating as an apartheid state.

The Wall that Israel is building in the West Bank, which was declared illegal by the International Court of Justice in 2004, has annexed Palestinian territory, appropriated Palestinian water resources, and destroyed thousands of orchards, homes and communities. Furthermore, Israel currently has over 500 checkpoints in the occupied West Bank, which restrict the movement of virtually all Palestinians living there, and subjects them to violence and humiliation on a daily basis. Additionally, Palestinians living within the boundaries of Israel proper have their citizenship restricted, as they are legally discriminated against. (Check out link to the Adalah Inequity Report: http://www.adalah.org/upfiles/2011/Adalah_The_Inequality_Report_March_2011.pdf). This institutionalized racism has led people such as Desmond Tutu, anti-apartheid activist to state in his Guardian article, “Apartheid in the Holy Land,” that “I’ve been very deeply distressed in my visit to the Holy Land; it reminded me so much of what happened to us black people in South Africa. I have seen the humiliation of the Palestinians at checkpoints and roadblocks, suffering like us when the young white police officers prevented us from moving about.” Israel, as any other country or individual, must be held accountable for its actions, and we are therefore proud to stand against apartheid, and with the struggle for freedom, justice, and equality for all those living in Israel and Palestine.

In light of HonestReportingCanada’s attempted censorship of the term “Israeli apartheid,” we find their slogan to “promote fairness” and “ensure accuracy,” laughable. While we understand that we are little more than a “fringe musical group” next to the magnitude that is HonestReportingCanada, we nonetheless suggest that they stop promoting censorship and ensure the accuracy of their own information. For example, they assert that Gay Pride Toronto has banned the term “apartheid.” This is false, and only requires the simple use of a search engine to confirm this. Or just follow this link!
(http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/pride/article/827793–pride-toronto-reverses-israeli-apartheid-ban)

Thanks again for the free promotion, HonestReportingCanada!

We invite our supporters to send their own thoughts to CTV’s Regional Vice-President Richard Gray at the following address: . Let’s ensure that CTV knows that we want to hear more about this topic!

Warmly,
Three Little Birds

For more information about these issues, we recommend visiting:

Our Sources:

Russel Tribunal on Palestine: http://www.russelltribunalonpalestine.com/en/sessions/south-africa
UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) report from December 2011: http://www.ochaopt.org/documents/ochaopt_atlas_barrier_affecting_palestinians_december2011.pdf
http://www.ochaopt.org/documents/ocha_opt_MovementandAccess_FactSheet_September_2011.pdf
International Court of Justice decision: http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/index.php?pr=71&code=mwp&p1=3&p2=4&p3=6&ca
B’Tselem facts about the Wall: http://www.btselem.org/separation_barrier
B’Tselem info on checkpoints: http://www.btselem.org/freedom_of_movement/checkpoints_and_forbidden_roads
Checkpoint Watch (Israeli NGO): http://www.machsomwatch.org/en/daily-reports/checkpoints
Adalah- The Inequity Report: http://www.adalah.org/upfiles/2011/Adalah_The_Inequality_Report_March_2011.pdf
Desmond Tutu, “Apartheid in the Holy Land” –http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2002/apr/29/comment
Israel and Apartheid: A fair comparison?http://rabble.ca/news/2010/03/israel-and-apartheid-fair-comparison
Human Sciences Research Council of South Africa Report, “Occupation, Colonialism, Apartheid?: A re-assessment of Isreal’s practices in the occupied Palestinian territories under international law,” 2009.

Background Info:

http://www.ochaopt.org/
http://jewishvoiceforpeace.org/
http://www.adalah.org/eng
http://www.stopthewall.org/
http://www.hrw.org/news/2010/12/18/israelwest-bank-separate-and-unequal
http://www.pacbi.org/
www.bdsmovement.net

Three Little Birds Facebook

Noticing that their statement contained no direct affirmation of boycott, divestment and sanctions of apartheid Israel, I commented:

You have a brand new fan – thanks for your courage in standing up for truth, justice and human rights. Hopefully you will make a statement at some point to support boycott, divestment and sanctions of apartheid Israel. All the best!

Three Little Birds responded:

We support boycott, divestment and sanctions of apartheid Israel. There’s your statement Sylvia Posadas!!! ♥ thank you for your wonderful words of support.

While some musicians still may not have heard of the call of Palestinian civil society for BDS to be implemented by the global community until Palestinian people obtain their just rights guaranteed by international law, it is encouraging that Three Little Birds are way out front with their conscientious vocal support. Singer Angela Schleihauf has also contributed narration and voiceovers for the Carleton University Students Against Israeli Apartheid Divestment Campaign.

Find out more about this exciting band and their stunning music on their facebook page and follow them on twitter at @TLBtheband

July 23, 2012December 11, 2020

Landmark Victory for Political Protest in Victoria – BDS Leads the Way

In what has been described as a landmark case, 16 protesters against Israeli oppression and apartheid supported by the Strauss group’s Max Brenner franchise in Australia, have been cleared of the majority of charges against them. They were arrested at a protest in QV Square, Melbourne, in July last year.

Defence lawyer Rob Starry, ‘who acted for some of the accused, said the decision had wide-ranging ramifications.

“This case is really a landmark case in the annuls of the criminal justice system because what it represents is people have a right to express themselves politically.”‘

The court said when they exonerated some of those people who engaged in peaceful protest they’ve got a right to express that view.”

Mr Starry said the decision could affect similar Occupy Melbourne protests and current industrial protests including the Toll blockade.

“The Toll blockade is an industrial dispute, it should not involve the police unless there is a breach of the peace or other criminal behaviour but that has not been the case,” he said.

“Police should not get involved in political protest or industrial disputes of this nature, (protests) shouldn’t be criminalised.

“We don’t live in a totalitarian regime. This is Australia where we should be able to engage in robust debate.”

Protestor Vashti Kenway said the decision was a victory for freedom of speech.

“It’s a victory for our capacity to protest in places where corporations have previously said they controlled,” she said.

“It’s also useful for us to know that the QV management have no right to say we are not allowed to express our political opinions within that space.”

The Strauss group which owns the Max Brenner chain sponsors the Israeli Occupation Forces’ Golani and Givati brigades, responsible for war crimes and human rights abuses against Palestinian people in the Occupied Territories.

UPDATE 25/7/12

For all Melbournites:

Be there at the QV Square this Friday and exercise the right of public political protest.

Remembering Vic Alhadeff, the CEO of the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies’ words from August 2011 which have been brought to fruition:

‘Australian zionist organisations coordinate with politicians and police in pushing the hasbara agenda of Israel against BDS.

Arguing against any Zionist-organized BDS “counter” protest, Alhadeff writes: “It is important for the community to be aware that our response to BDS forms part of [a] coordinated national strategy. Furthermore, this strategy is endorsed by counterparts abroad and Israel’s Foreign Ministry.”

Alhadeff outlined this coordinated national strategy in response to BDS, stating that it “included, but is not limited to, engagement with civil society and politicians, patronage of boycotted outlets, cooperation with police, shop owners and center managers and exposure of the motives behind the BDS movement.” According to Alhadeff, Zionist policy in response to BDS should be one which seeks to “speak softly” but to also carry “a suggestion of a big stick.”’

NOTE

Max Brenner is boycottable not because it’s an Israeli-owned business, but because it’s owned by the Strauss group, which is profiteering off of and taking part in occupation in several ways
http://www.whoprofits.org/company/krashin-shalev-metal-industries
http://www.whoprofits.org/company/koralek-almog-sifting-machines-and-production-systems
http://www.whoprofits.org/company/adir-plastic-packaging

Not to mention “adopting” occupation army military units
http://blog.endtheoccupation.org/2011/11/depaul-university-students-declare.html
http://www.inminds.com/article.php?id=10538

(Thanks @TaliShapiro)

It provides a salutary lesson to the authorities as to why police should not be engaged where people are simply exercising their democratic right of peaceful protest.

It’s a fundamental right in any tolerant and civilised democratic society.

And this episode raises the question of why scarce police resources were invoked at the behest of a large commercial interest in dispersing lawful peaceful protesters.

The management of QV should indemnify Victoria Police for the costs of this operation. It should not be borne by the general public.

The legal costs that will be ordered against Victoria Police as a result of this case should also be borne in part by the Victorian Government Solicitor’s Office, as a result of its advice as to what might constitute wilful trespass or besetting of premises.”

BDS victory in Australia
Brenner using the publicity to launch new hotel partnerships
Examining the encroachment of neoliberalism onto the public commons – we don’t know what we’ve got even when it isn’t gone.
Victory for Australia’s boycott campaign as charges of blockading chocolate store dropped : ‘Reports in the Australian Jewish News also confirmed that in April 2011, the Jewish Community Council of Victoria had made representations to the Victorian police and had called on them “to stamp down harder on aggressive protesters”’

Palestine / Israel Links

The Israeli occupation and theft of the Old City of Jerusalem :

With no Palestinian representative on the city council — since the illegal annexation of the Old City to Israel in 1967, the Palestinian population of East Jerusalem has been boycotting municipal elections

Awakening to the fascist nature of Israel? :

‘And, worst of all, we have lost the capacity to see how profoundly shocking the situation has become, because we have adjusted to so many inequities of so many different shapes and kinds that a moral language to evaluate this situation is slowly disappearing. This unease has no name because it is beyond “inequality,” “occupation,” or “racism.” It is about a deep and massive corrosion of the very meaning of what it means to be a citizen of Israel today. ‘

Israel orders demolition of 8 Palestinian villages, claims need for IDF training land
Built-in racism: Israeli real estate article lauds “desirable” Arab-free neighborhood
The NYTimes has it wrong: Israel’s roots are not liberal