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.
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.
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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.
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.’
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.
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.”’
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.”
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
‘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. ‘
Pictured against the backdrop of the illegal apartheid wall, Jazz singer/guitarist Carmen Souza (center), bassist Theo Pas’cal (right), pianist Filipe Melo (not pictured) and percussionist Mauricio Zottarelli (left) are all being asked to take a stand for justice.Dear Carmen Souza, Theo Pas’cal, Filipe Melo and Mauricio Zottarelli,
We are a group of over 900 members, representing many nations around the globe, who believe that musicians and other artists can play a role in ending apartheid by heeding the call of Palestinian civil society and joining in the boycott of Israel. We also believe that by playing in Israel, artists are condoning the suffering of millions of Palestinians through conducting business as usual with that state.
All we are asking you to do is to first do no harm – to stay home, and refrain from playing. It is up to you, and would be highly appreciated, if you would like to support and join the boycott movement by making a statement in support of universal human rights. Although some artists try to remain apolitical, surely you could not make the conscious choice to endorse the crimes of Israel’s government by playing in Israel despite the boycott, thus becoming a propaganda trophy on its shelf.
Carmen Souza, Theo Pas’cal, Filipe Melo and Mauricio Zottarelli, you are on the schedule to play on August 1 and 2 at the Kaminsky in Eilat for the 26th Red Sea Jazz Festival. Many people are unaware of the gravity of the Israeli oppression of the Palestinian people under occupation, the suffering of Palestinians in refugee camps and the severely curtailed rights of Palestinians within Israel. We hope you’ll do some research before you board your plane for Tel Aviv and that you will decide that human rights are not selective, they are universal, and you will want to choose to be artists of conscience.
Two days prior to her gig headlining the Holon Women’s Festival, Grammy-winning jazz artist Cassandra Wilson cancelled. Regarding Palestine, Wilson tweeted back to human rights volunteers:
Wilson’s tweets indicate that mainstream media have played a role in censoring human rights violations by Israel. Media also is to blame for shaping a false positive view of the apartheid state. Wilson was informed about Alice Walker’s youtube video taken in Gaza, ‘Alice Walker – The Palestinian Spirit,’
Wilson cancelled her performance in Holon, Israel. The woman’s festival she was expected to headline, claimed to empower women, yet it was selective empowerment, ignoring Palestinian women.
The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) which represents almost all of Palestinian civil society, reminds us that:
Human rights are universal, they are not selective. Principled boycott by leading artists such as yourself worked against South African apartheid. As governments have failed or been unable to implement international law to end Israel’s crimes, boycotts can work today to help bring justice, rights and freedom to Palestinian people. Carmen Souza, Theo Pas’cal, Filipe Melo and Mauricio Zottarelli, please boycott the 26th Red Sea Jazz Festival in Eilat.
The Barrier consists of concrete walls, fences, ditches, razor wire, groomed sand paths, an electronic monitoring
system, patrol roads, and a buffer zone.
The Barrier’s total length (constructed and projected) is approximately 708 km, more than twice the length of
the 1949 Armistice (‘Green’) Line, which separates Israel from the occupied West Bank.
Approximately 62.1% of the Barrier is complete, a further 8% is under construction and 29.9% is planned but
not yet constructed.
When completed, some 85%, of the route will run inside the West Bank, rather than along the Green Line,
isolating some 9.4% of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem
71 of the 150 Israeli settlements in the West Bank and over 85% of the total settler population are located on
the ‘Israeli’ side of the Barrier’s route.
Palestinians with West Bank ID cards who are granted special permits can only enter East Jerusalem through
four of the 14 Barrier checkpoints around the city.
Around 7,500 Palestinians who reside in areas between the Green Line and the Barrier (Seam Zone), excluding
East Jerusalem, require special permits to continue living in their own homes; another 23,000 will be isolated if
the Barrier is completed as planned.
There are about 150 Palestinian communities which have part of their land isolated by the Barrier and must
obtain ‘visitors’ permits or perform ‘prior coordination’ to access this area.
Access to agricultural land through the Barrier is channelled through 80 gates. The majority of these gates only
open during the six weeks olive harvest season and usually only for a limited period during the day.
During the 2011 olive harvest, about 42% of applications submitted for permits to access areas behind the
Barrier were rejected citing ‘security reasons’ or lack of ‘connection to the land.’
Despite the presence of the Barrier, Israeli sources estimate that some 15,000 Palestinians without the required
permits smuggle themselves from the West Bank to look for employment in Israel every day in 2011 (Israeli
Government Special Committee).
The UN Register of Damage (UNRoD) has to date collected over 26,000 claims for material damage caused by
the construction of the Barrier in the northern West Bank.
Many black South Africans have traveled to the occupied West Bank and have been appalled by Israeli roads built for Jewish settlers that West Bank Palestinians are denied access to, and by Jewish-only colonies built on Palestinian land in violation of international law.
Black South Africans and others around the world have seen the 2010 Human Rights Watch report which “describes the two-tier system of laws, rules, and services that Israel operates for the two populations in areas in the West Bank under its exclusive control, which provide preferential services, development, and benefits for Jewish settlers while imposing harsh conditions on Palestinians.” This, in my book, is apartheid.
Yousef Abu Maria, coordinator of the Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements in Beit Ummar, stated that the army violently attacked and clubbed the protests leading to several injuries.
Abu Maria added that the army also closed the area and declared it a military zone in an attempt to prevent the peace activists from holding their protest and to prevent them from reaching the lands that became isolated behind the Annexation Wall, in addition to the lands Israel intends to steal for settlement construction and expansion.
Similar to other villages and towns in the West Bank, Beit Ummar holds weekly protests against the wall and settlements; Israeli and international peace activists join these protests, Israeli soldiers continuously resort to the use of excessive force to stop these protests.
Israel’s land heist must be reversed, the apartheid wall torn down and the rights of Palestinians to their lands preserved.
The Committee is particularly appalled at the hermetic character of the separation of two groups, who live on
the same territory but do not enjoy either equal use of roads and infrastructure or equal
access to basic services and water resources. Such separation is concretized by the
implementation of a complex combination of movement restrictions consisting of the Wall,
roadblocks, the obligation to use separate roads and a permit regime that only impacts the
Palestinian population (Article 3 of the Convention).
The Committee draws the State party’s attention to its General Recommendation 19
(1995) concerning the prevention, prohibition and eradication of all policies and
practices of racial segregation and apartheid, and urges the State party to take
immediate measures to prohibit and eradicate any such policies or practices which
severely and disproportionately affect the Palestinian population in the Occupied
Palestinian Territory and which violate the provisions of article 3 of the Convention.
Israel’s cruel imprisonment of Akram Rikhawi continues despite 94 days on hunger strike. Reclaiming the PLO: an urgent call to unite all Palestinians Reasons for optimism and answers to BDS critics. ‘This book is about much more than answering the critics of BDS, however. Hind Awwad, a coordinator with the BDS National Committee, makes a powerful argument for why BDS not only unites Palestinians but also unites the Palestinian struggle with other popular struggles, including those in the US that seek reforms in education, healthcare, and social justice. “The BDS movement,” she writes, “has provided a way for us to break our collective chains.”’ American Carolyn Cicciu after a visit to Palestine: “Why should we be sending money to a country that is enslaving a people?” she said. “We make it too easy for Israel to follow a military solution when they don’t get their way.” Nutanyahoo bars access to sites of inquiry to an all female UNHRC panel set up to probe illegal Jewish settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories. Zionist now supports BDS ‘Last night in Tel Aviv, during the social justice #J14 demonstration, a 57 year old man set himself on fire and is currently in the hospital. According to his letter, he was about to become homeless after going bankrupt and not receiving state assistance. In Israel, a person over the age of 55 is not eligible for housing assistance; a person who owned an apartment in the past 5 years – regardless of his current economic situation – is not eligible for rent assistance. These are the results of the continuous decline in eligibility for any form of social aid – this is part of the tragedy of the ongoing draining of social services, described by ACRI in this recently published report.’ (See ‘Crushing the opposition by delegitimizing labor unions and workers’ struggles’ – this is what fascist governments do.) Juan Cole examines five key areas where Israel’s image is cracking like an old dry creek bed. Perhaps add another – institutionalised racism and bigotry which ridiculous mountains of hasbara highlight, rather than obscure. Lecture in Melbourne, Victoria with Dr. Virginia Tilley
