Another voice that our babbling brook of bullshit, the media, don't give much publicity to, if any, but it is there, and thankfully, it is getting louder.
September 16, 2012 -- Green Left TV -- Celebrated Israeli historian Ilan Pappe, whose landmark publication The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine documented the removal of 700,000 Palestinians from their lands in 1948, has written a new book, The Forgotten Palestinians.
In the book and at his September 16, 2012, community meeting at Sydney University above, Pappe reveals the situation for Palestinians who still live within Israel's borders.
The meeting was the first event of Pappe's 2012 Australian lecture tour. It was hosted by the Sydney Peace Foundation with the Coalition for Justice and Peace in Palestine and Leichhardt Friends of Hebron. Pappe was in Australia to deliver the annual Edward Said Memorial Lecture at the University of Adelaide.
Although the Marikana massacre hit the headlines in our babbling brook of bullshit, the media, it was soon dropped for other affairs like cabinet re-shuffle and the disability benefit cutting ATOS sponsored paralympics. In South Africa, as far as the general working population is concerned, not much has changed since the days of apartheid. The full horror has still to unfold and what we should never forget, this is not a one of horror, this sort of thing has happened in every country in the world at some point, to a larger or lesser degree. This is how corporate capitalism protects its profits, fear, intimidation and brute force.
The sight of policemen brutally gunning down striking mineworkers at Marikana was truly galling. At the very least 300 rounds of live ammunition were fired at workers (and not only those seen on TV) by the police using automatic assault rifles in a military style operation [1]: the infamous consequences being 34 workers killed and perhaps as many as 87 injured [2], with some workers still unaccounted for [3]. Most of the workers were also reportedly shot in the back [4] and some executed [5]. To add insult to injury, and with what was clearly some relish, the police arrested 260 workers in the aftermath [6]. This often even involved policemen literally sticking the boot into injured workers. Allegations have also subsequently emerged that 190 of these arrested workers were tortured, some for up to 3 days, whilst being held in surrounding police stations [7]. One worker also claims that he was taken to a room on Lonmin’s property, who owns the mine at Marikana, and handcuffed to a chair and beaten with a rubber pipe by police in a bid to extract information about the ‘leaders’ of the wildcat strike [8]. Not to be outdone in callousness, Lonmin issued an ultimatum that unless the rest of the striking workers returned to work by 7am on the 21st of August disciplinary actions would be taken against them [9]. The strikers though have ignored Lonmin’s threats, and at the time of writing, most remained out on strike [10].
I recently posted anarticle on the percentage of children in this country who live insevere poverty. The worst area in Scotland was Springburn in thenorth side of Glasgow, the area where I live and have spent most ofmy life. This district, once the centre of steam locomotive buildingin Britain has seen its entire industrial history wiped out. Thefactories closed and large swaths of the district were demolished tomake way for a dual carriageway. Parts of Springburn are attractivewith trees and greenery and a very pleasant park. However, pleasantscenery on its own doesn't make a life. The area has massiveunemployment with precious few opportunities for jobs. The percentageof children in Springburn living in severe poverty is an outrageous52%. Of course that figure can't be taken in isolation, with childrenliving in severe poverty comes adults living in poverty, teenagersliving in poverty, homes in poverty. Then there are the healthproblems, including mental health problems. Depression and suicidesincrease in relation to poverty and unemployment. These are the samepeople that designed, built and exported the finest steam locomotivesin the world, so we can't blame the people, it is the immoral,unjust, crazy, exploitive economic system that we allow to govern ourlives. These people, because of that system, are priced out ofsociety. It is a system of financial apartheid with subliminal signseverywhere saying, “KEEP OUT IF YOU DON'T HAVE THE MONEY” Thepeople of the world fought hard to rid the world of the South Africanapartheid system based on race, now is the time for the people of theworld to unite and rid the world of this more widespread system offinancial apartheid.
Another post on the Palestinian's fight against the Israeli state's apartheid. Apart from all its other injustices against the Palestinian people, the country that shouts about being the only democracy in the Middle East, doesn't let Palestinians ride on the same buses as Israeli settlers, and those courageous individuals that set about challenging that injustice have been forcibly removed from the buses by the Israeli army and the Israeli police, then arrested. Democracy my arse. This report from the CodePink Group.
Dear John,
I just returned home to Washington after spending 72 hours in Israeli prison. Why? Because I was aboard the Canadian boat that tried to sail to Gaza, part of the most recent “Freedom Waves” flotilla that was intercepted by Israeli forces in international waters, breaking international law. I was the only American civilian delegate* on the boat and am returning to the US with a clear message for our lawmakers: Tell Israel to lift the unlawful blockade on Gaza and stop enabling Israeli war crimes!
There’s another dangerous passage – this time over land – that just happened this morning: six courageous Palestinian activists boarded a settler-only public bus and attempted to sit down and ride it from the Ramallah area into East Jerusalem, in the great tradition of the Freedom Rides that challenged segregation in the South. At approximately 5:15pm in the occupied West Bank today Israeli military forces boarded the buses and violently arrested the Freedom Riders. They were taken to a detention center at Atarot Prison and held for hours. Replay the livestream here.
Want to do more? Palestinian Freedom Riders will be riding Veolia and Egged buses – Veolia is the target of an international BDS campaign. Are there Veolia buses, offices, or SuperShuttle (a Veolia subsidiary) in your city? Click here to download an organizing toolkit from Jewish Voice for Peace and find out how to participate in the Veolia boycott here. You can also make your local bus a vehicle for change: Join DC CODEPINK, Committee for a Just Peace in Israel and Palestine, Sabeel and allies to bring this ad campaign to your public transit.
This courageous action is part of the Week Against the Apartheid Wall. Last week the Russell Tribunal on Palestine, held in South Africa, concluded that the situation in Palestine and Israel is apartheid. Read the findings here. Testimony on Ahava by CODEPINK’s Nancy K and Rae is included in a new book from the Russell Tribunal titled Corporate Complicity in Israel's Occupation.
* Would you like me to speak in your community or school? Email me at marnykit@gmail.com – I’m eager to share my experience on the flotilla, and also during past trips to Gaza with CODEPINK.
Riding the waves of change, Kit Kittredge
… and the CODEPINK Middle East Team: Alli, Kristen, Nancy K, Medea, Rae, Sasha, and Tighe PS: More breaking news: Occupy Wall Street was raided by police last night. Support the national day of action at the Occupy near you Thursday, Nov 17. Follow @womenows for the latest updates.
Day and daily the Palestinian people face the harsh and brutal repression of the Israeli apartheid system. It took many years of struggle by the people of South Africa to dismantle the apartheid sy…
Recently the Israeli government has stated that it will speed up the building of settlements on the occupied territories in the West Bank. This is deemed necessary to show the Palestinian people that Israel will be firm because of the Palestinians' horrible crime of seeking membership of UNESCO. There is no country in the world would get away with treating any other people the way that the Israeli government treats the Palestinian people. Israel seems to put itself outside international law, outside the United Nations, and continually puts two fingers up to its main banker, the United States of America. Is it guilty of apartheid? Is it guilty of ethnic cleansing? It certainly is guilty of some of the most brutal blanket punishment handed out to any people in modern times. It is encouraging to see that there are still people who are trying to bring some form of international condemnation on the Israeli government for its treatment of the Palestinian people. The following is a short extract from an interesting article.
Israel cannot be held accountable for its actions by any international tribunal as it refuses to accept the jurisdiction of either the International Court of Justice or the International Criminal Court. The Russell Tribunal seeks to remedy this weakness in the international system of justice by providing for accountability by a court of international opinion. It does not seek to obstruct the peace process. On the contrary, it wishes to promote it. But there can be no peace without justice. This is a basic principle that Richard Goldstone, who has written an op-ed criticising the Russell Tribunal (Israel and the Apartheid Slander, New York Times, October 31, 2011), has devoted much his life to, as prosecutor before the Yugoslavia Tribunal. READ the full article.
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the target of an international BDS campaign. Are there Veolia buses, offices, or SuperShuttle (a Veolia subsidiary) in your city? Click here to download an organizing toolkit from Jewish Voice for Peace and find out how to participate in the Veolia boycott here. You can also make your local bus a vehicle for change: Join DC CODEPINK, Committee for a Just Peace in Israel and Palestine, Sabeel and allies to bring this ad campaign to your public transit.
