Politics

July 24, 2011August 24, 2022

“The Answer to Violence is Even More Democracy”

How to defeat racism, prejudice and bigotry? Education for respect of all humans, for equal rights for everyone, for the intrinsic worth of each human, while challenging discrimination where it manifests is essential. Racism, prejudice and bigotry are political acts, defined by the relations of the individual to others. They are not religious beliefs conditioned by one’s relationship with the unknowable, to be tolerated lest our own beliefs not be tolerated. Free speech is limited in our own interests when the rights of others are infringed upon, for example with slander and incitement to crime, and in Australia, with racial vilification laws. Disparate beliefs are forged into a newspeak newculture. These syncretised beliefs are decoration and padding, obscuring an underlying drive for power. In a dark soil of forbearance and silent assent composted with racism, violence and hatred builds, fertilising the poisonous flower of fascism.

Racism, prejudice, bigotry, sexism and able-ism are diseases of the point of view, yet cannot be seen in isolation from the cultures in which they grow. To heal them, it is the whole community organism which must be treated.

The white supremacist attacks in Norway show how dangerous nationalist racism is and how racism, prejudice and bigotry are the common enemies of humanity. Breivik’s major hatreds were for multiculturalism, marxism and Islam, irrationalising that the pure culture, including Protestantism which he re-mythologises and syncretises with the Knights Templar myths, of Norway and Europe was being diluted with invading genes and ‘non-European’ culture, facilitated by the newspeak ‘culture marxists’. In fascist ‘blut und boden’ tradition, he formulates a glorious ‘pure’ past, all the better to point to a glorious purified future in an effort to incite populism to fuel his cause. For him, his targets represented the traitors within.

As Robert Lambert says:

‘Instead, by choosing to attack a government building and a Labour Party summer school, Breivik is drawing attention to what many fringe nationalists see as the political failure of mainstream and left-wing politicians to confront the Muslim threat. So-called appeasers of the “Islamification of Europe” have become as hated as Muslim activists and therefore face the same kind of attacks.’

The pervasive global nature of white supremacism is demonstrated monotously – a political ‘cultural conservative’ massacred children from the Norwegian Labour Party and bombed the PM’s office, and the white media STILL doesn’t call it terrorism or neo-fascism, let alone both.

Other symptoms of fascism besides those mentioned above which Breivik’s pseudo-philosophy includes are sexism and machismo, attack of intellectuals, contempt for the weak and parliamentary democracy; violence, militarism (his Knights Templar schemata), censorship of opposing ideas, disagreement is treason, propaganda, social darwinism, expansionism (of his movement throughout Europe), indoctrination, strategic victimhood, a sense of besiegement, scapegoating and promotion of a cult of unity and heroism.

Respect to the people of Norway.

From the Prime Minister of Norway:

We must never cease to stand up for our values.

We have to show that our open society can pass this test, too,

And that the answer to violence is even more democracy,

even more humanity, but never naïveté.

@Dr_Ulrichsen Oslo Mayor Stang asked whether Oslo needs greater security – “I don’t think security can solve problems. We need to teach greater respect” #

Comment on islamophobic rightwing blog Jihadwatch: “OMG plz don’t tell me he’s one of us. This would deal a serious blow to our cause.”

New Related Links

At Songwriter’s Songbook, Davic Rovics ruminates on the significance of the terrorict incident Massacre in Norway
Israelis Debate on the Web: Did Norway Get What It Deserved?
Some EDL vids extolling the Knights Templar – looks like the dragnet will be widening

http://www.youtube.com/wat?ch?v=2ek3IA8ARIw&feature=y?outu.be
http://www.youtube.com/wat?ch?v=GGyyBn3Lmjc&feature=y?outu.be
http://www.youtube.com/wat?ch?v=18PcaGQVtYM&feature=y?outu.be
And from the founder of the EDL in 2007 : Knights Templar – 21st Century Christian Crusaders

Loony rightwing interpretation : Whether He Knows It Or Not, Breivik Is A Member of al-Qaida
Loony rightwing racist commentator on the WSJ of all places which should be ashamed of itself giving oxygen to this drivel Inside the Mind of the Oslo Murderer
The Oslo massacre and violent video games: The Facts
I hope they throw the book at The Sun. Idiots.
left flank: Australia’s Islamophobes & right-wing ideologues praised in Breivik’s manifesto
Sick Zionists find way to damn Muslims and racial diversity in wake of Norwegian tragedy
Norway gunman claims a London connection and links to the EDL
Hitchens misses the point about Breivik’s fascist syncretisation of Freemasonry and the Knights Templar, and fails to note the fascist and anti-semitic nature of political zionism which he supports. Fascist doctrine chooses myths often from disparate sources, melds them into a new mythology, nostalgic for a glorious past & hoping through purification, for a glorious future. Political zionism, for example, uses Judaeic myth & pseudo-history, to promote its fallacious ‘historic’ entitlement to ‘all the Land of Israel’. This mechanism supports the racism inherent in political zionism and its fascistic drive for power and expansionism.
Don’t blame us! – Foust attempts to ‘normalise’ rightwing #racism, populism, ultranationalism and xenophobia
Nationalists pose bigger threat than al-Qaeda : Contrary to popular belief, most terrorist attacks in Europe are the work of extremist nationalists.
The rightwing ultra-nationalists are rabidly trying to cover up:

‘When you preach bigotry and fear on a daily basis, don’t be surprised when one of your followers takes the next logical step. But Robert Spencer has a reason to feign surprise and indignation over what his hatred has incited, as the link between his hate-writing and this act of terrorism becomes clear: Richard Silverstein notes that the right-wing terrorist Anders Behring Breivik cited Robert Spencer 46 times in his manifesto.’

Norway gunman claims a London connection and links to the EDL
Faces of hatred: Norway mass killer’s life laid bare
Terrorism is not a Religion…it is not Islam
Norwegians Petition Media To Blackout Court Appearance Of Gunman Anders Breivik

Norway Attacks: Anders Behring Breivik Reported as Suspect

Police believe the 32-year-old, six-foot-plus Norwegian acted alone in the bombing of government offices in Oslo and an assault with firearms on a island youth camp less than a hour from the capital.
…
Norwegian television said that Breivik belongs to right-wing circles in Oslo, and a Swedish newspaper has reported the Breivik has posted on right-wing forums in Norway.

Norwegian media has linked Breivik to a Facebook account in which the poster described himself as a Christian conservative.

Anders Breivik, Norwegian Terror Suspect, Admirer of Israel, Avigdor Lieberman

Not long after the blast, the shooting rampage began on Utoya.

Media reports said the gunman, wearing a police uniform, beckoned bystanders over to him, on the pretense that he wanted to speak to them about security measures in the wake of the bombing in Oslo. He then opened fire.

Emilie Bersaas, 19, told Sky News that she heard shooting, saw people running and screaming, then ran herself to a building to take cover. She and a friend piled clothes and a mattress onto a desk and hid under it.

Oslo attacks suspect profiled

On his Facebook page, which appears to only have been started July 17, Breivik mostly posted music videos and said his interests include hunting and bodybuilding.

Under education, Breivik wrote he studied independently, noting he has “approximately 14,500 hours of study” equivalent to a bachelor of business administration and masters in history, as well as “3,000 hours of study in micro and macro finance, religion .”

His profile also says he’s a director at a company called Breivik Geofarm.

He lists himself as single and has five profile photos – four of which are headshots, and one of him at a wedding with two women, one of which is the bride.

A Twitter account is also being linked to Breivik, although there is just one tweet on July 17.

“One person with a belief is equal to the force of 100,000 who have only interests,” he wrote.

The television station TV 2 in Norway reported Breivik had right-wing extremist tendancies and had two guns registered under his name.

Anders Behring Breivik – Europe 4 Europeans

“The alleged offender is a member of the John lodge St. Olaus TD Three pillars of the Norwegian Masonic Order. He has 3 degree status, where the peak is ten degrees. – We have no way to express an opinion on individuals or incidents related to any members, said spokesman of the Norwegian Freemasons order Helge Qvigstad told Dagbladet.

Another stereotype by the media : ‘Breivik appears to evade the stereotype of being influenced by metal music.’
Perhaps today the neo-Nazis in Europe count Muslims among the problems that drive their madness. But to a large degree, these right wing extremist views shaped 20th century Europe. It’s time for a European reckoning of its own history of violence that has bled into the present in such painful ways.

How’s that again? Are the only terrorists in the world Muslim?

If so, what do we call a right-wing nationalist capable of planting major bombs and mowing down scores of people for the sake of the greater glory of his cause? If even a liberal newspaper like the Times can’t call this guy a terrorist, what does that say about the mindset of the western world?

The Fjordman Files
The Political Thinking of Anders Behring Breivik
How a clueless “terrorism expert” set media suspicion on Muslims after Oslo horror
Christian Jihad? Why We Should Worry About Right-Wing Terror Attacks Like Norway’s in the US
The Norway Attacks – Great cartoon
Fjordman Speaks Out on far right Gates of Vienna
Why did so many “experts” declare the Oslo attacks to be the work of Islamic terrorists?
Faces of hatred: Norway mass killer’s life laid bare

Palestine / Israel Links

America’s attempted Quartet sophistry
Everything in this land is about real estate: Understanding the tent protests
Foreign Ministry says Norwegian authorities funding anti-Israel film, exhibition, and play. Norway: We support freedom of expression
Coop Sweden stops all purchases of Soda Stream carbonation devices
Twilight Zone / Blood on the tracks
Desmond Tutu, Israel and U.S. pensions
The Anti-Boycott Act on Cynical Arab

Australia Links

Phone tapping in Australia the highest in the world – ‘The number of phone-tappings is out of control in Australia’, but Israel might be higher
The Questions Harto Won’t Answer
Trust in Australian media has dropped in all the types of media
Framing The Narrative: Murdoch v. Assange
Police unions demand inquiry covers tapping by agencies

Other Links

Who Owns America? Hint: It’s not China America owes foreigners about $4.5 trillion in debt. But America owes America $9.8 trillion.
Rupert Murdoch shirking responsibility over phone hacking, says police chief

July 21, 2011December 11, 2020

No Normalisation of Apartheid in Marrickville, Thanks

Say NO to normalisation of apartheid through visits by Israeli/Palestinian AFL teams under the guise of ‘peace’. Eleanor Kilroy writes at Mondoweiss:

A ‘Peace Team’, co-sponsored by the Peres Center and Al Quds Association for Democracy and Dialogue, will take part in the Australian Football League (AFL) Cup this August. In preparation, a delegation from the Australian Football League visited Israel this month to meet with the Peace Team, accompanied by Australian media, (which might explain why one of the Team’s sponsors is Sydney’s Israel Travel Centre). The Team will also participate in a welcome function at Marrickville Town Hall on 18 August. This is in spite of the fact that Marrickville Council voted to “in principle” support a Green Party-led boycott of cultural and sporting exchanges with Israeli institutions. Archbishop Desmond Tutu sent a letter praising the Council for taking a stand, noting that ‘Ten Marrickville councillors – five Greens, four Labor and one independent – voted to support the boycott campaign against Israel last December, provoking condemnation from federal and state politicians, Jewish groups and media commentators. The motion was overturned in April, when all the Labor and two Green councillors withdrew their support.’ Ziyaad Lunat, a member of the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) National Committee (BNC), told me “Al-Quds Association are part of a program that includes a stop-over at Marrickville, Australia, participating in anti-BDS propaganda set up by pro-occupation groups.” As ‘Merc’ says in the post Foul Play, ‘all it took was a little email from a Zionist, and the Victorian Greens (‘we’), without any discernible thought or research, threw caution to the winds and embraced a cheap little Zionist BDS-busting PR stunt.’ I asked Australians for Palestine’s Public Advocate, Samah Sabawi, to comment and she said, “What can be more appealing for those of us in Australia who are passionate about peace in Israel/Palestine than to welcome the AFL Peace Team? The answer: the idea that when members of this team return to their homes, the Palestinian players would not have to go through dehumanising checkpoints, around high barbed wire walls and into Bantustans surrounded and suffocated by a matrix of Jewish-only roads, settlements and security zones.”

The Al Quds Association for Democracy and Dialogue “AFDD” has a facebook page – let them know what you think about their efforts to obscure Israeli apartheid.

Omar Barghouti – BDS (Boycott Divestment Sanctions) – The Global Struggle for Palestinian Rights
Filmed at Socialism 2011 in Chicago
http://haymarketbooks.org

“It is not a Jewish It is an Israeli, colonial apartheid issue and it should stay within those parameters.”

“Any one who says ‘all Jews are …’, anything that comes after ‘are…’, is an antisemite. … Zionism treat Jews as super-human, Nazis treat Jews as sub-human. But both dehumanise Jews.”

“Saying BDS is antisemitic is antisemitic.”

Palestine / Israel Links

Barghouti urges Palestinian march to back UN bid
Turkey building hospital in Gaza despite difficulties

Randa Abdel-fattah in The Age:

‘Time and again, I met Israelis who exhibited an unashamed sense of entitlement that seemed justified by a deeply held belief that Palestinians deserve their situation because they refuse to recognise Israel’s right to be a state that legally discriminates against them, granting differential legal rights and privileges to its own Jewish citizens and to Jews anywhere in the world. This model of racial division is entrenched.’

Peter Wertheim executive director, Executive Council of Australian Jewry’s drivelly, prevaricative reply
MELBOURNE Jewish Radio (MJR), which ran defunct community station Lion FM, breached several aspects of its licence conditions, according to the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA).
Samah Sabawi’s interview along with David Shoebridge on SBS Arabic news on Sylvia Hale and Vivienne Porzsolt’s victory in Israel

Bad news for Murdoch can only be good news for Palestinians

“As far as the Palestinians are concerned, bad news for Murdoch can only be good news for them. Murdoch’s deeply held sympathy for Israel and his enmity towards the Palestinians is clear for all to see. His tabloid press have a track record of Islamophobia and of stirring up hatred against Palestinians.”

When the Marrickville BDS resolution was up against the wall, Marduk’s The Australian gave virtually no coverage to Palestinian voices, or BDS voices at all. Instead Marduk published a procession of zionists, spinning crap.

July 19, 2011December 11, 2020

Human Rights Solidarity Trumps the Indefensible Zionist Nightmare

Balad Party MK, Palestinian Haneen Zoabi, has been suspended from Knesset discussions till the end of the summer session in fascist Israel’s latest move to punish those who speak out against its injustices. The Kafkesque Knesset ‘Ethics’ Committee decided upon this action, which Haneen will appeal.

Ms Zoabi, a vociferous critic of Israeli policies towards the Palestinians, was a passenger on the Mavi Marmara, attracting fury in Israel. She was branded a traitor by colleagues and stripped of some parliamentary privileges. But the latest move to sanction her demonstrates the extent to which the flotilla affair still rankles in Israel. The Knesset’s ethics committee voted to bar Ms Zoabi from parliamentary debates until the current session ends next month, declaring that her actions had “harmed national security and were inconsistent with the legitimate conduct of a lawmaker”.

Haneen responded honestly to the spurious ‘Ethics’ Committee decision:

“This was not an Ethics Committee decision, it was the decision of an automatic racist, right-wing majority in this committee. Therefore, it was a completely political decision.”

“Who decides what is politically legitimate? The right-wing majority that makes up the government? A political majority? Then what is the meaning of my immunity, which is meant to protect me from the tyranny of the majority?”.

“I upheld my human, moral and political obligation by participating in the struggle to break the illegitimate and inhumane blockade on Gaza”.

In arresting and persecuting those whom it perceives are leaders of the non-violent resistance against its crimes, Israel can’t understand the nature of its ‘adversary’ – human rights supporters aren’t a hierarchy, but a broad-based global Palestinian-led movement for justice.

At Nabi Saleh demonstrations against the illegal Israeli occupation, Nariman Tamimi films and documents along with providing medical aid to those whom the Israeli occupation forces injure:

Definitely, the protests have caused a lot of awareness and the evidence is that we have Palestinian youth coming from different districts in the West Bank who are committed to going to Nabi Saleh every week. Activists from Israel and the international community are part of the popular resistance that is key to forming the awareness that leads others to denounce Israel as an occupying force and a military state, which is why our war is against the media.

It is a good sign to see more and more people getting convinced and exposing Israel’s crimes and atrocities in a way in which the world can understand them. This current resistance is inclusive of all the members of society, much like the first intifada, which was a true popular uprising, and I do believe that the current protests will spread because of their result of undermining the state of Israel and attracting international responses. The more that increases, the better it is for us.

Israel is continuing its outrageous crimes against Palestinians with construction of another 336 illegal Jews-only settlement dwellings in the Occupied West Bank.

Meanwhile, the French vessel, Dignite-Al Karame, with 10 human rights activists on board prepares to face the Israeli forces at sea, on its attempt to break the illegal Israeli blockade on Gaza.

Thomas Sommer-Houdeville, a French national and flotilla spokesperson, said Sunday the boat was carrying a message of peace, hope and solidarity with the people in Gaza. He hoped the Israeli Navy would not intercept the boat and let it complete its civic mission. He believes that the boat must get near as possible to the destination, as it represents the “determination and will” of the people who were on board other boats and all those who have been involved in raising awareness about the blockade on Gaza.

Ali Abunimah: “The difference now between us and zionists … is that we can put forth a positive vision based on universal values without betraying any Palestinian rights. Our vision is rooted in one that views all human beings as equal. Their vision is rooted in one that sees some human beings as garbage.”

‘I expected that activists will challenge the anti-Boycott law and chant for BDS or call for Settlement boycott as well as chanting for a Palestinian state, I was wrong. It turned out to be a march organized by Zionist leftists calling for a legitimate Palestinian state next to the state of Israel.’

Where are the Palestinians?
Palestinian students tell South African counterparts: Boycott Israeli tour on your campuses

We urge our South African peers to boycott and challenge this intended tour of South African universities in Johannesburg, Pretoria and Cape Town, which we view as a part of a campaign launched to whitewash the crimes of Israel’s apartheid policies.

BDS activists to TIAA-CREF: We divest from Israel’s occupation

Eva Bartlett reports on the way Israel’s collective punishment extends to exports from Gaza, denying its citizens economic security.
Flotilla activist: ‘The people of Gaza just want their freedom’ Michael Coleman:

‘“I just hope we can shift public opinion in Australia and that [the government and media] stop being so apologetic towards Israel. My detention in Greece got more news in Greece than it did here — where criticism of Israel seems to be ‘off limits’ to a lot of the media.

“I spent two to three months in Nablus, in the Occupied West bank in 2008-2009. I received a lot of support [for the flotilla protest] from my friends in Nablus. They and the people of Gaza don’t want hand-outs: they just want their freedom.”’

13th July – and yes, still in prison – UK citizen Pippa Bartolotti writes on her stint at the Israel entity’s request in Givon prison for the terrible crime of wanting to visit the West Bank :

Why does my government allow me to be held for 5 days without papers, or explanation, or charges?

Why does my country accept Israel as a sovereign state when it has no borders?

Why does the UK and EU give Israel special rights when its Human Rights position is untenable?

Why can Israel sing in the Eurovision Song Contest and take part in UEFA football champioships whilst being an apartheid state?

Why are British police ordered to act on Israeli paranoia and lies and interrogate British citizens before they go to Israel?

Why were the British the last to leave Givon prison?

Why did the British Consul allow our conversations to be recorded?

Why does the British Consul in Israel say that no visitors are allowed to visit the West Bank, when the FCO website says no such thing?

Why does the British Government collude in the inhumane and cruel treatment of the Palestinians?

How can we leave when we have never been?

Sheikh Raed Salah is released but gagged – Israel’s vile influence on its British political shills appear to be behind his attempted ban from the UK.

‘The Home Office listed as another example of “unacceptable behavior” an interview with MEMO in which Salah advocated the Palestinian right of return and the boycott divestment and sanctions movement’.

Zioshill Glick argues that Israel should annex ‘Judea and Samaria’ or else the Palestinians will form another ‘terror state’. Of course, the real terror state is Israel.
Israel and Israeli weapons in Karachi
Former State Department spokesman: Israel will not attack Iran anytime soon
Israel’s nuclear spies: Hollywood producer gave Israel sketches of centrifuges for Dimona nuclear reactor’

Turkey Links

Report: Turkish firm to sign gas deal with Iran
Iran seizes bases belonging to PKK offshoot in Iraq

July 19, 2011December 11, 2020

Aboriginals Are 13 Times More Likely To Be Incarcerated

Prison rates down, but not enough

Australia’s prison population is decreasing. But it’s a little too early to break out the champagne. The huge regional differences reveal that imprisonment is not based on the crime you commit, but the preferences of your local politicians.

The latest statistics from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows that 4% fewer people are locked up now than last year.

At first sight, this finally looks like some good news, as the general trend since the mid-eighties has been one of relentlessly rising imprisonment rates. But we need to take stock of the mad ride we have been on over this period in which the number of people behind bars increased exponentially from 86 per 100,000 adult population in 1984 to 165 in 2011.

A costly and unequal policy

And it’s an expensive business: according to the Productivity Commission, the real net operating expenditure per prisoner per day was $207 in 2009-10. There seems to have been no brake on the enthusiasm for imprisonment and it has sometimes been argued that rich western countries like Australia simply imprison as much as they do because they can.

And there seems to be no substantial sign of good news on one of the most important and intractable problems in regard to imprisonment in Australia. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander prisoners remain grossly over-represented making up a quarter (26%) of all prisoners while they only constitute 2% of the total Australian population.

Australia is not alone in this dangerous imprisonment spending spree – we are part of a global wave spreading across most of the developed world with only a few exceptions.

Around the world

The US is the unconquerable winner of this race: the rate of imprisonment in the US has increased seven fold since 1973 and stands at present at 743 per 100,000 of the total population. From here on we will use this more standard measure of imprisonment rates which uses total population as the denominator (and not just adult population).

Increases have also been substantial in other Anglo-Saxon countries such as England and Wales (152), and New Zealand (199). The Australian rate when measured per 100,000 population is 128.

Although there have also been increases in imprisonment in several mainland European jurisdictions, their imprisonment rates fluctuate around 100 and remain relatively stable (France: 102, Belgium 97), or are even decreasing (Germany 85). The Netherlands are a particularly interesting case as they witnessed a rapid increase of their imprisonment rates over the last decades – from a rate of 49 in 1992 up to 123 in 2004 – but recently experienced a significant fall of their prison numbers (decline to 94). This resulted in overcapacity in their prisons, which they have rented out to accommodate Belgian prisoners; haven’t they always been smart traders, these Dutch men?

Further, the Scandinavian countries remain the poster child in this field managing to keep their prison populations consistently low (Finland 59, Sweden 78) even in our current era characterised by punitive populism.

These differences clearly demonstrate that imprisonment rates are not just a fait accompli, but that they result out of choices, made at several levels of the criminal justice process.

What is the point of prison?

So it is time to ask ourselves – and our governments – what do we have to show for it? Or how effective is our imprisonment policy? Although crime rates are also going down, can this drop in volume crime be attributed to the enthusiasm to put people behind bars?

Over the last decade, and in reaction to David Garlands’ publication of the “Culture of Control” (2001), in which he analyses crime control and criminal justice system in the UK/US over the last 30 years, various wise people have looked into this question.

There seems to be a consensus that imprisonment rates vary independently from crime rates, and that in many countries the increases in the prison population have started during a period of sustained decrease in crime rates, or when crime rates remained stable.

So, if this is the case, what can explain this extraordinary expenditure of public funds on a somewhat medieval remedy to the many and varied forms of crime in modern society?

According to many scholars focusing on this issue over the past decade, higher imprisonment rates can be linked to a combination of the following variables: the lack of a strong welfare model; a bi-partisan political model; a common law system; fear of crime; lack of trust in the government and; the presence of minorities who are considered as being problematic.

Regional differences

While one could state that some of these characteristics apply to Australia, why then are there such differences between the states? How is it that, according to the most recent figures, the Northern Territory ends up with an imprisonment rate of 719, Western Australia with 262, New South Wales with 179, while this is only 105 in Victoria?

The states in Australia appear to reflect in microcosm the variety of imprisonment rates observed across the rest of the developed world bearing no particular relation to underlying crime rates but rather policy preferences.

The way ahead

So where do we go from here? Interesting in that respect is the recent popularity of Justice Reinvestment initiatives, originating in the US, and using the funds that are normally spent on imprisoning people, to improve local services addressing the underlying causes of crime.

This might be worth considering and has clearly caught the imagination of many who are pushing for meaningful improvements in this area.

At the very least we should be asking whether we are getting value for money out of imprisonment when it comes to preventing crime, presumably its primary justification.

We need to perhaps review the “open cheque book” approach and look at what we get as a return on our investment.

However outrage over crime means that there will never be any shortage of demand for imprisonment. It then becomes a question of restraint.

But selling the benefits of that in today’s heady emotive media-dominated political environment, provides the proverbial challenge of selling refrigerators to Eskimos.

Hilde Tubex, Future Fellow, Crime Research Centre at University of Western Australia and David Indermaur, Associate Professor, Crime Research Centre at University of Western Australia

This article was originally published at The Conversation.
Read the original article.

July 13, 2011December 11, 2020

Israel Reveals Its Pathological Fear of BDS with Passing of Fascist Boycott Law

In Haaretz, Alon Idan writes:

The Boycott Law is Fascism: it is a categorically anti-democratic law whose goal is to annul any possibility of legitimate protest.
…
Not only anti-democratic, the Boycott Bill is also a degrading: It represents an advanced stage of parliamentary hegemony which does now allow a critic to charge himself with the energy needed to wage an opposition struggle. The Boycott Law sends a clear message: there’s no longer any point in arguing.
…
The citizen in a democracy is essentially a dialectical creature: he understands that any thesis, no matter how well-rooted it seems to be, will at some stage be challenged by an antithesis, one which is no less logical; and the fusion of the two leads to a synthesis which at some point turns into a thesis, which in the future will also beget an antithesis.

Not internalizing the foundations of such a dialectic leads to the annulment of democracy, and the creation of some other form of governance in its stead.

The 18th Knesset will be remembered as the one which nullified the tradition of parliamentary dialectics. This is the Knesset which, in a deliberate, consistent fashion institutionalized faith in one policy path, one political position, one acceptable public viewpoint. It adopted as an overriding goal the need to penalize and harm anyone who casts doubts on the veracity of the one accepted path, who wonders about the rectitude of the one accepted public viewpoint, and who dares to challenge the country’s hegemonic perception.

The widely held view that the slew of anti-democratic laws legislated by the 18th Knesset is a slippery slope to Fascism in the future is disingenuous. The Boycott Law is Fascism: it is a categorically anti-democratic law whose goal is to annul any possibility of legitimate protest.
…
One of the most conspicuous signs of Fascism is an assumption laden within any discussion or argument: it is assumed that all debate is a mere formality. Debaters who take positions are nothing other than puppets, devoid of free will; their discussion is a mere showcase, an appealing picture covering an ugly reality.

Read here for the complete diagnosis of symptoms of Israel fascism.

Leadership of Palestinian boycott campaign responds to new law

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The Israeli parliament (Knesset) last night passed a new law criminalizing support for the Palestinian civil society campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel, penalizing Israeli persons and organizations active in the campaign, or indeed in any other partial boycott of Israel or any of its institutions. The repressive legislation also bars companies that refuse to to deal with Israel’s illegal colonies built on occupied Palestinian land from receiving government contracts.

Hind Awwad, coordinator with the Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC), the largest Palestinian civil society coalition comprising all major political parties, trade unions, NGOs and mass organsations, said:

“Israel is once again taking draconian measures to criminalize civil resistance to its system of apartheid, colonialism and occupation over the Palestinian people. But so long as Israel continues its illegal siege of the Gaza Strip, brutal occupation, denial of Palestinian refugee rights and system of instituionalized discrimination against Palestinians, repressive acts such as these will only offer further evidence of the undemocratic and oppressive nature of Israeli political life and motivate even more people of conscience to join our global BDS movement for freedom, justice and equality.”

“This new legislation, which violates international law, is testament to the success of the rapidly growing global BDS movement and a realisation within political elites inside Israel that the state is becoming a world pariah in the way that South Africa once was.”

Prof. Gabi Baramki, former head of Birzeit University and currently a Steering Committee member of the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI), reacted to the new law saying: “The boycott bill is but a continuation of the Knesset’s decades-old pivotal role in legislating Israeli apartheid, colonialism, and other forms of oppression of the Palestinian people.”

Ms. Awwad also stated: “We stand in solidarity with all principled Israeli citizens and organizations who are the primary target of this law, and whomay be fined and even imprisoned for exercising their fundamental right to speak out and act non-violently in order to bring their state into compliance with international law..”

ENDS

For more information:

www.bdsmovement.net

NOTES TO EDITORS

1. The Palestinian civil society campaign for BDS calls for applying broad boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) initiatives against Israel, similar to those applied to South Africa during the apartheid era, until Israel meets its obligations under international law by respecting the basic right of the Palestinian people to self determination by ending its occupation and colonization of the 1967 territory, ending racial discrimination against Palestinians inside Israel, and granting Palestinian refugees their UN-sanctioned right to return.

2. Key BDS movement successes include the divestment campaign against French multinational Veolia, which has cost the company billions of dollars in lost contracts due to its ongoing involvement in the illegal Jerusalem Light Rail and the decision taken by the Norwegian government to exclude Israeli companies involved in the construction of illegal settlements and the wall from its national pension investment fund. Earlier this year, the University of Johannesburg severed links with Ben Gurion University because of its complicity in human rights violations. Numerous artists have heeded the Palestinian cultural boycott call against Israel, including Roger Waters, Jello Biafra, the Pixies and Faithless. Carmel Agrexco, a partially state owned agricultural export company targeted by the BDS movement, recently announced record losses.

Like such repressive practices, the newly approved Israeli law, which specifies fines and the payment of ‘compensation’ by Israeli citizens or residents, who initiate or encourage a boycott of Israel – is also bound to fail.

Knesset Passes Boycott Law; ACRI Plans to Appeal
Full translation of the Boycott Prohibition Law [.doc]
Sign On Today: Statement Condemning the Anti-BDS “Boycott Law” from US Groups
Amid Uproar, Israeli Lawmakers Vote to Punish Boycotters

“This law will serve as a weapon in the hands of those people who claim that Israel is not a democracy and does not respect human rights,” Amnon Rubenstein, a legal expert and winner of the esteemed Israel Prize, wrote in the daily Ma’ariv. “It will also increase Israel’s isolation in the academic world and among Western liberal democracies. Paradoxically, this law increases the danger of anti-Israel boycotts. That’s the polar opposite of what Israel needs at the moment.” Commentator Ben Caspit in the same pages: “There is no reason that Haredim [ultra-Orthodox] should be able to boycott stores that sell pork (or that are open on the Sabbath), that masses of Israelis can boycott cheese producers and marketers, but left wingers cannot boycott the produce of the settlements, which they view as a cancerous growth in the state’s meager body.

Rights groups: anti-boycott law “effectively a legal annexation of W. Bank”
Knesset study: No democracy has similar anti-boycott laws
When the State places itself above the law, we have totalitarianism.
The law might be overruled by Israel’s Supreme Court, but this will only spur the fascist coalition to curb the court as it has been eager to for years.
Going to the HCJ, which may take up to 12 years to consider the case, is putting a Band Aid on a gangrenous limb. What we need is an amputation.

Palestine / Israel Links

A wedding under Apartheid
Israeli airstrike hits eastern Gaza – a 19-year-old girl was injured in the attack and dozens of people, including children, were treated for shock.
‘Seven years after the Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice on the Barrier: The Impact of the Barrier in the Jerusalem area’
Australian Human Rights Campaigners Detained by Israeli Authorities
Four Welsh activists remain in Israel as first captured campaigners return to UK
After witnessing Palestine’s apartheid, Indigenous and Women of Color feminists endorse BDS
Was New York Times’ Ethan Bronner duped by an Israeli Facebook fraud?
Former MP fights deportation from Israel
Will Jello Biafra play in Tel Aviv after all?

Other Links

Getting Away with Torture

This 107-page report presents substantial information warranting criminal investigations of Bush and senior administration officials, including former Vice President Dick Cheney, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, and CIA Director George Tenet, for ordering practices such as “waterboarding,” the use of secret CIA prisons, and the transfer of detainees to countries where they were tortured.

A new law-enforcement tool: Facebook searches