POLITICS, POETRY & SATIRE
Professor Noam Chomsky presented a lecture ‘Changing Contours of Global Order’ a look at our drastically changing world, and the implications for domestic and world order on 4 November 2011.
Noam Chomsky – 7th Edward Said Memorial Lecture on November 5, 2011
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Australia/US MOU Links
Palantir, the War On Terror’s Secret Weapon
From the left, Gillard marches to Uncle Sam’s beat
Sweden vs. Assange
Australia Selling Uranium to India Links
Effectively clearing Marange blood diamonds for sale to blood diamond processor, Israel, the US abstained from the Kimberley Process plenary session vote. US and EU sanctions remain in place for Zimbabwe diamonds, yet the lifting of sanctions against diamonds from Marange will permit the diamond sales to bolster the Mugabe and apartheid Israeli regime. The KP Civil Society Coalition of NGOs, led by Partnership Africa Canada (PAC) and Global Witness commented
… the KP has “thrown away” its main point of leverage over the Zimbabwean government by allowing it to export diamonds without first fulfilling previous commitments to reform its diamond trade.
“The KP has effectively given up on Zimbabwe. KP member governments and the diamond industry seem ready to turn their back on the interests of Zimbabwe’s citizens, the public good and the principles on which the Kimberley Process was founded,” said Liberia-based Green Advocates president Alfred Brownell.
Edward Cross, an MP from Tsvangirai’s rival MDC party agrees with the NGOs and human rights organisations that the sanctions should have remained:
“I think it was absolutely wrong to allow the Marange diamonds to be sold,” he said.
“I have evidence that the value and volumes of Marange diamonds are being underestimated and are being used to subvert the democratic process in Zimbabwe.”
Rights groups accuse Mugabe’s ZANU-PF party of funnelling profits from Marange diamonds to senior military officials and party leaders.
More concerns are raised by Tendai Biti, Zimbabwe Minister for Finance and a founding member of the MDC opposition party:
But Zimbabwe’s revenue has not been fully accounted for, prompting Mr Biti to complain bitterly of systematic plundering by authorities. The minister has had several clashes with President Robert Mugabe and Mr Mpofu.
In a document seen by Business Day that Mr Biti presented to the government recently, he complained about the systematic corruption linked to the diamond fields. Mr Biti said the money from diamond sales could go towards paying public servants and other state obligations.
Diamond proceeds mostly bypass the fiscus amid suspicions that Mr Mugabe, his ministers and business allies are diverting the revenue for their own public administration and political activities. Under pressure, the Zimbabwean mines ministry yesterday claimed that it would ensure “minerals are exploited for the people’s benefit”.
Revenue has not been fully accounted for, prompting Mr Biti to complain of plundering by authorities
In the past, Mr. Biti has been arrested and detained for political reasons by the Mugabe regime.
Other diamond processor representative bodies acclaiming the removal of sanctions include India’s Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council.
Next year the US will take over the chairmanship of the KP.
Sean Clinton from Global Palestinian Solidarity writes:
“The agreement to allow the export of blood-tainted diamonds from Zimbabwe sets the Kimberley Process (KP) and the diamond industry on collision course with civil society. On Tuesday, a letter (attached) signed by over 2000 people worldwide addressed to all members of the KP was sent to KP Chair, Mr. Mathieu Yamba and to the NGOs, Global Witness and Partnership Africa Canada. The letter calls for:
1. – an urgent review of the KPCS definition of a “conflict diamond” so all diamonds that generate revenue used by any group or government to commit breaches of international humanitarian and human rights law are classed as conflict or blood diamonds
2. – the ending of the use of the term “conflict free” to describe diamonds that fall outside the existing narrow KPSC definition of a conflict diamond.
3. – the introduction of a universal hallmarking system for all diamonds so consumers can be fully informed where a diamond was mined, cut and polished.
Human rights activists highlighted the fact that despite the Israeli diamond industry being a major source of revenue for the Israeli military which stands accused by the UN Human Rights Council of war crimes, Israeli diamonds are not classed as conflict or blood diamonds and are labeled conflict free by jewellers worldwide.
The decision of the Kimberley Process members to allow the export of diamonds from Zimbabwe demonstrates that the industry is unwilling to end the trade in all diamonds that fund gross human rights violations. As a result, the KP could not legally prevent the export of diamonds from the Marange area. In order to maintain the charade and keep the discredited KP in place, member states have agreed to turn a blind eye to concerns expressed by NGOs, including Global Witness and Partnership Africa Canada. The agreement reached serves only the diamond industry which will once again claim that all diamonds are conflict free – a totally false and misleading claim which must be challenged.”
Related Links
NGOs slam KP decision on Zimbabwe diamond sales
Justice and Diamonds in Zimbabwe: Saving Kimberley from Itself
UNHCR | Refworld | Zimbabwe court drops charges against diamond fields activist
Zimbabwe: Rampant Abuses in Marange Diamond Fields | Human Rights Watch
Document – Zimbabwe: Human rights defender held in Zimbabwe: Farai Maguwu | Amnesty International
Physicians for Human Rights – Background on the Health Crisis in Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe Police Block Art Exhibition On Past Atrocities | Article-27
UN report lashes Mugabe regime
U.S. to Head Kimberley Process, but Meeting Brings Mixed Reactions
“Zimbabwe diamond sales defy U.S.-led sanctions” (Pro-Mugabe regime)
“Imperialists try to block Zimbabwe’s diamond trade” (Pro-Mugabe regime)
Palestine / Israel Links
With superb stealth in order to thwart sabotage by Israel which occurred on the last Freedom Flotilla earlier this year and with plans only alluded to in +972 Magazine last week, two Freedom Waves boats are en route to Gaza. They are attempting like 11 fleets before them to break the hideous illegal blockade of land, air and sea that Israel perpetrates as collective punishment on the people of Gaza.
“The Freedom Waves to Gaza emerged from the Freedom Flotilla initiatives,” says Irish Ship to Gaza organiser Fintan Lane from on board the MV Saoirse. “While the Freedom Waves to Gaza will be delivering some much-needed medicines, our primary goal is to help free Palestinians from their inhumane isolation in what is in effect an open air prison.”
Also on board in this civil society to civil society initiative are delegates from Canada, Australia, the US, Greece, Palestine, Poland and Egypt. “We have just entered international waters and hope to reach the shores of Gaza in a couple of days. The only obstacles in our way are Israel’s military, but international public opinion is behind this effort, and so is civil society in Gaza.”
“The Palestinians living in Gaza want solidarity – not charity. They have made it clear to the world that their primary demand is for freedom. While humanitarian aid is helpful, Palestinians are still prisoners with no freedom of movement,” adds Ehab Lotayef, the Canadian boat organizer. “Israel’s illegal blockade prevents not only imports into Gaza, but exports as well. And the blockade prevents Palestinians from moving freely between Gaza and the West Bank, in violation of fundamental human rights.”
From an October 2011 Report from the UN OCHA, some fast facts help explain why it is imperative to challenge and end Israel’s closure of Gaza:
. The population of Gaza is 1.6 million, with over 50% under 18.
. 38% of Gazans live in poverty.
. 26% of the Gazan workforce, including 38% of youths, is unemployed.
. The average wage declined by over 20% in the past six years.
. 54% of Gazans are food insecure and over 75% are aid recipients.
. 35% of Gaza’s farmland and 85% of its fishing waters are totally or partially inaccessible due to Israeli military measures.
. 50-80 million litres of partially treated sewage are dumped in the sea each day.
. Over 90% of the water from the Gaza aquifer is undrinkable.
. 85% of schools in Gaza run on double shifts.
. About one-third of the items in the essential drug list are out of stock.
. Since the beginning of 2010, 64 Palestinian civilians have been killed and 621 injured by Israeli forces; over 60% of casualties occurred in the access-restricted areas. Another 60 civilians were killed and 137 were injured in tunnel-related accidentsThe Gaza blockade (through the land, air and sea) is a denial of basic human rights in contravention of international law and amounts to collective punishment. It severely restricts imports and exports, as well as the movement of people in and out of Gaza, and access to agricultural land and fishing waters. Gazans are unable to provide for their families and the quality of infrastructure and vital services has deteriorated.
Israel has now beleaguered the civilian population of Gaza, flaunting international law, for 1604 days.
The MV Saoirse from Ireland, sailing under the US flag, and the Tahrir from Canada carry 27 passengers between them. The humanitarians on the Irish boat include Parliamentarians and famous footballer Trevor Hogan while the Tahrir has several Al Jazeera journalists aboard.
After setting sail under the protection of a Turkish Coast Guard vessel from Fethiye in South West Turkey, the boats are now in international waters and expect to arrive at Gaza on Friday. According to Michael Coleman, Australian representative on the Tahrir:
I went home from the last flotilla feeling quite frustrated, as the ministerial edict that stopped us sailing to Gaza had no basis in law, and almost felt cheated out of doing the most meaningful thing I had ever set my mind to. And I’m hopeful that that won’t happen again, but if it does, it doesn’t deter my determination.
The aims of the flotilla are twofold. While we do have a small amount of aid on board—and that’s one of the goals, is to take aid to the besieged Strip—but the other is public awareness. And we’re well aware that the small amount of aid we have is tokenistic. It’s not going to prevent the suffering of 1.5 million people. Only governments and international institutions can do that. But we, as private citizens, can pressure governments and international institutions to do what is right.
According to Haaretz, the IDF ‘plans to intercept vessels, offer them to dock at Ashdod or port in Egypt’.
Yesterday, Israel brandished its phallic military objects as Netanyahu bellowed for a strike on Iran and more illegal racist Jewish colonies in Occupied East Jerusalem. Deceitfully, Netanyahu claimed support from long dead Gandhi, whom zionists have been wont to attempt to coopt in the past.
‘Talking about Gandhi, he said, “Each of us who knew him knows how deeply engraved Jerusalem was in his soul. It was the center of his being, it towered above all else in his world view.”
Yet Gandhi was no friend of zionism.
“My sympathy does not blind me to the requirements of justice. The cry for the national home for the Jews does not make much appeal to me. The sanction for it is sought in the Bible and in the tenacity with which the Jews have hankered after their return to Palestine. Why should they not, like other peoples of the earth, make that country their home where they are born and where they earn their livelihood?”
The Israeli PM appears oblivious to US signals to Turkey of its favoured diplomatic position – Turkey’s recent promotion to co-chair with the US on the Global Counter-Terrorism Forum and 3 deadly new USMC AH-1W Super Cobra attack helicopters with which to assault the PKK along with messages of support from the US attest to this. Further, Turkey insisted boat passenger numbers be reduced prior to departure (this report says only 11 on the Tahrir and 10 on the MV Saoirse).
For these reasons, it’s unlikely that Turkey will send its navy to escort the vessels. In early September, in yet another of its ubiquitous bumbling Turkish affairs reports, Haaretz claimed that Turkish naval vessels would accompany future aid ships, relaying that ‘According to the report, Turkish naval vessels will accompany civilian ships carrying aid to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.’
However, Al Jazeera more reliably reported at the time:
Turkey’s naval forces would escort Turkish humanitarian aid ships bound for the Gaza Strip, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish prime minister has said, following Israel’s refusal to apologise for its deadly raid on an aid flotilla heading to the besieged Palestinian territory in May 2010.
“We have humanitarian aid to be sent there. And our humanitarian aid will not be attacked anymore, as happened to the Mavi Marmara,” he told the Al Jazeera on Thursday.
“Turkish warships will be tasked with protecting the Turkish boats bringing humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.”
Please contact your Federal Parliamentarians and Media Representatives and forward them a copy of the Freedom Waves for Gaza Press Release, explaining why it is important that these boats succeed on their mission. Fair sailing and firm hearts, folks!
BE A WITNESS
Canadian and Irish ships set to challenge Israel’s illegal blockade with Freedom Waves to Gaza
CALL TO ACTION – We Need Waves of Support for Gaza
Related Links
History of Israeli blockade on Gaza
Turkish obstruction on departure outlined by one left behind.
From Tahrir to Gaza: The faces of ‘Freedom Waves’
Gaza flotilla organizers to Haaretz: Plan kept secret until last minute
WEDNESDAY 9:15PM LATEST UPDATE FROM IRISH SHIP
Live time map (password is just the letter ‘a’)
EXCLUSIVE VIDEO: Voices from the Secret International Flotilla Now Sailing to Gaza
BREAKING: New flotilla en route to Gaza Strip reaches international waters
FreedomWaves to Gaza!
The ABC pushes false info about Turkey’s intentions but reveals the US requested Turkey not to accompany Freedom Waves
Palestine / Israel Links
Olympia Food Co-op fights back against Israel-backed anti-boycott lawsuit
The US abstains on the KP vote, effectively clearing Marange blood diamonds for sale to blood diamond producers like Israel. US sanctions prevent them being traded in the US, but as for US cronies – so the US wants to chair the KP process next year? that should smooth its way when it eases in its AFRICOM scam.
Goldstone walks alone on a bridge to nowhere
Dear Oumou Sangaré,
In 2005 Palestinian civil society, almost unanimously, called for international artists to refuse to perform in Israel as part of the BDS (Boycott Divestment Sanctions) campaign which is a non-violent method of holding Israel accountable to standards of equality and human rights that nations such as ours are accustomed to. If you perform in Israel it will be a rejection of that appeal made not just by the Palestinian BDS movement, but by the Global BDS movement.
When you booked your concert in Israel, you probably did not think about the siege of Gaza or the Israeli carpet bombing of the Strip with white phosphorous and other brutal weapons resulting in the death of over 1,400 Palestinians, over 300 of them children, as well as the maiming of thousands.
As a typical piece of Israeli propaganda, people are led into meeting the needs of Israelis and concentrating on the Israeli sufferings, while ignoring the much greater sufferings imposed by Israel, which forces millions of Palestinians into living as refugees and in destitution. The boycott is about turning away from the policy of appeasement of the oppressor and of standing in solidarity with the oppressed.
All artists objecting to the Israeli regime’s actions have justified their booked performances in Israel as acts of support for the Israeli “peaceniks.” Recently, another performing musician, Natacha Atlas, wrote:
“I had an idea that performing in Israel would have been a unique opportunity to encourage and support my fans’ opposition to the current government’s actions and policies. I would have personally asked my Israeli fans face-to-face to fight this apartheid with peace in their hearts…”
Natacha Atlas then confirmed that she decided to cancel, explaining:
“after much deliberation I now see that it would be more effective a statement to not go to Israel until this systemised apartheid is abolished once and for all. Therefore I publicly retract my well-intentioned decision to go and perform in Israel…”
Some of the artists who initially breached the boycott and performed in Israel, believing they would be supporting justice by appeasing so called Israeli “peaceniks,” now wholeheartedly support the cultural boycott.
For example, Roger Waters breached the boycott, then changed his position and later wrote:
“Where governments refuse to act people must, with whatever peaceful means are at their disposal. For me this means declaring an intention to stand in solidarity, not only with the people of Palestine but also with the many thousands of Israelis who disagree with their government’s policies, by joining the campaign of Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions against Israel. This is [however] a plea to my colleagues in the music industry, and also to artists in other disciplines, to join this cultural boycott. Artists were right to refuse to play in South Africa’s Sun City resort until apartheid fell and white people and black people enjoyed equal rights. And we are right to refuse to play in Israel.”
South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu has this view:
“International Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions against the Apartheid regime, combined with the mass struggle inside South Africa, led to our victory … Just as we said during apartheid that it was inappropriate for international artists to perform in South Africa in a society founded on discriminatory laws and racial exclusivity, so it would be wrong … to perform in Israel”.
Oumou Sangaré, your association promotes freedom, justice, and the rights of children and women around the world. For this reason, we feel you are a musician of integrity, and we hope you will also support the oppressed Palestinians. We know you may have felt the pain of Gaza when Israel pounded it with thousands of tons of explosives. You would know that children in Gaza are not just children. As in the heartbreaking short film: “One Family in Gaza”, the children do play in the rubble of their house, but their little souls cannot escape the trauma of being shot at and seeing their home bombed and their brother repeatedly shot, even after his death. Jen Marlowe, made this film showing the children play, she doesn’t show the bombing, but lets their loving parents speak of their anguish:
The Israeli state has a multi-million dollar hasbara [the Hebrew equivalent to propaganda] and thousands of recruits to propagate the hasbara, especially targeting social networks. The Israeli promoters who bring the artists were even invited to the Israeli Knesset to discuss the anti-boycott campaign and the Israeli regime agreed on financial support to those who bring artists from abroad. Israeli ministers have stated the significance of culture in whitewashing the Israel I crimes [though they used different wording but we are happy to send you the quotes].
You don’t need us to tell you how mainstream media in France has been in denial of the Israeli crimes against the Palestinians, starting from the Nakba in 1948, through the current apartheid and racism.
Occasionally we get a big boost to our campaign, when artists choose to make a statement in the media, such as Massive Attack on http://www.newstatesman.com/music/2010/09/israel-interview-boycott-naja
Similarly, when Elvis Costello posted his message on his own website the international and Israeli media published it widely.
Against the massive well oiled Israeli hasbara, all we have is the public sphere, such as blogging and social networks like Facebook. This is how we inform artists like yourself about the boycott. This is how we spread the word of the BDS to all people concerned with human rights.
In honor of Palestinian woman’s rights, freedom, justice and the rights of innocent children like the dear ones in Jen Marlowe’s film, please refrain from performing in Israel.
Sincerely,
We are a group, of 780 members, representing many nations 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. This is essential in order to work towards justice for the Palestinian people under occupation, and also in refugee camps and in the diaspora throughout the world.
Join the Facebook campaign to help persuade Oumou Sangaré to cancel her gig in Israel : Oumou Sangaré : s’il vous plait, ne vous produisez pas en Israël
Palestine / Israel Links
Interactive Map: Escalation of settler violence
Who Are the Palestinians?
which voices are we still not hearing? What are their stories? What unites – and divides – the sometimes mutually antagonistic voices across their society as a whole? Who are these people, the Palestinians?
An appeal from the Greek Association for Solidarity with the Palestinian People – INTIFADA) to Greek singer Haris Alexiou, planning to perform in Caesarea, Israeli Apartheid, on 20 and 22 of October 2011.
Mrs. Haris Alexiou, we Palestinians do apologize, but they are not letting us come to your concert
Dear Mrs. Haris Alexiou
(or, if that’s OK with you) our Haroula
We, all Palestinians, rejoiced at the news that, despite the call from a certain self-proclaimed Palestinian civil society and some Israeli activists for boycotting the Israeli apartheid till it stops committing crimes and complies with the international law, you will not follow the example of other artists (such as Roger Waters, Natacha Atlas, Elvis Costello and others) and you will come to sing in historical Palestine – excuse us, Israel.
We know that you, as well as other Greek artists (Yiannis Kotsiras, Demis Roussos, George Dalaras, Glykeria, and others), don’t mix politics with art and you are coming to sing for peace and for all the peoples of that region, which have common cultural roots, anyway.
Unfortunately our joy for your coming was somewhat mitigated by the fact that we will not be able to attend your concert, as we would like so much to.
More than 1.5 million residents of the Gaza Strip, mostly children, in our majority refugees since the “Nakba” (that means the catastrophe, the ethnic cleansing of 1948), we are under blockade inside the Strip and we are not only not allowed to get out and attend your concert but not even, apart from a few exceptions, go to hospitals or study.
Another 2.5 million approx. of us, including once again many 1948 refugees, we are being blocked (even among us) in the West Bank and we are no more allowed to visit the area where you are going to have the concert, not only to watch it, but not even to go for a day’s work, as we were doing in the past. But even if they would allow us, we would have to pass so many checkpoints as well as the Wall, that it would be uncertain if could make it on time for your concert.
More than 5 million others we are dispersed around the whole world, refugees since 1948 (“this cologne lasts for years” [1]…) and we are not allowed to visit our villages destroyed then (among them Qisarya where you usually perform), our houses, our relatives – but, most of all, we are not allowed to come to your concert. We were thinking of giving it a try, by organizing peaceful demonstrations to return to the area where you are going to sing, but the last time we tried something like this, in May and in June, some ones – obviously not among your fans – welcomed us with live ammunition and we had dozens of people killed.
We were thinking of catching at least a plane and coming just for your concert. But the last time some foreigners tried to do it, last June, they found themselves crammed in the detention centers of Ben Gurion airport. Even by boat would we come, but when some of us, having gained foreign nationality, tried, along with many foreign friends, in 2010, something similar, i.e. to come to Gaza by boats, some Israelis – for sure not among your fans – attacked us, killed 8 Turkish fellow travelers and one American of Turkish origin, injured dozens and, after beating us and tazered us, they crammed us by hundreds in prisons and finally they deported us. Fortunately in 2011, when we tried to do the same crazy thing, the Prime Minister of your country, Greece, Mr. Papandreou (obviously remembering the fraternal friendship of his late father with the late Yasser Arafat) protected us like a father and, with the help of fully armed coast guard policemen, prevented us from suffering the same or worst.
About 5,500 of us, including hundreds of children, are imprisoned in Israeli jails, even in jails-concentration camps in the desert. As you can understand, it is uncertain if we will be given, not of course the permission to leave the jail for 5 days, as it happens in your country, but even a permission to leave the jail for half a day, in order to be able to come to your concert. But, in any case, we will give it a try and we are determined to even have a hunger strike in order to assert a permission for a few hours and be able to watch your concert.
Thousands of us, we found ourselves disabled in our homes (or still in hospitals) after being injured not only by vicious beatings from settlers and soldiers – for sure not some of your fans – but also by not-so-“rubber” bullets, live ammunition, shells, bombs, missiles, white phosphorous etc. We were really dreaming of coming to your concert, but the doctors do not allow us to do so for the moment.
Finally, more than 6,500 of us, about 1/5 of them children, about ¼ of those children under the age of 12, we have been killed during the last 11 years by Israeli fire and as you can understand it’s a little bit difficult for us to attend. Despite that, be sure that we will listen to you “from the edge of sky”. [2]
So, we are sorry that we, all your Palestinian fans, will not be able to come to your concert in the heart of historical Palestine – excuse us, Israel – but we are sure that “your love will find us wherever we are”. [3]
“By the prayers” [4] of:
The “free besieged” [5] people of the Gaza Strip under blockade
The “built in wall” people of the occupied West Bank
The displaced people of occupied East Jerusalem
The exiled – refugees of the Palestinian diaspora
The Palestinian prisoners
The Palestinian injured and disabled people
The Palestinian martyrs
All your Palestinian fans
Freely adapted by the:
Greek Association for Solidarity with the Palestinian People – INTIFADA
P.S. We know how much you, Mrs. Alexiou, are also hit by the economic crisis that your country, and many more, suffer by. And how much you need the profits from this concert. The fact that we will not be able to attend your concert, does not mean that we don’t want to support you in this difficult moment of yours. Please send us the details of your bank account and we will send you the price of the ticket. We don’t want anything in exchange. We just want you to contribute so that, in a future concert in historical Palestine – excuse us, Israel – we will be able, at least some of us, to attend. We thank you in advance.
[1] “This cologne lasts for years”: an old song by Haris Alexiou
[2] Referring to the song “To the edge of your sky”, by Haris Alexiou.
[3] Referring to the song “Love will find you wherever you are”, by Haris Alexiou.
[4] Another song by Haris Alexiou
[5] “The Free Besieged”: one of the most important works of the Greek national poet Dionysios Solomos, about the siege of Messolonghi by the forces of the Ottoman Empire, during the Greek revolution for independence.
