Enjoy about 30 minutes long
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Friday, February 06, 2009
Pity The Nation
Pity the nation that is full of beliefs and empty of religion.
Pity the nation that wears a cloth it does not weave, eats a bread it does not harvest,
and drinks a wine that flows not from its own wine-press.
Pity the nation that acclaims the bully as hero, and that deems the glittering conqueror bountiful.
Pity a nation that despises a passion in its dream, yet submits in its awakening.
Pity the nation that raises not its voice save when it walks in a funeral, boasts not except among its ruins, and will rebel not save when its neck is laid between the sword and the block.
Pity the nation whose statesman is a fox, whose philosopher is a juggler, and whose art is the art of patching and mimicking.
Pity the nation that welcomes its new ruler with trumpeting, and farewells him with hooting, only to welcome another with trumpeting again.
Pity the nation whose sages are dumb with years and whose strong men are yet in the cradle.
Pity the nation divided into into fragments, each fragment deeming itself a nation.
By Khalil Gibran (1934)
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Who Cares??
In 1997 I read a book called Amusing Ourselves to Death, the premise of the book was that Aldous Huxley’s book Brave New World, was becoming true. I didn’t care for the book at all, but recently I have been thinking about its theory again. The thought is that the government doesn’t need to control information or the media, because there will be such an information overload that officials will be able to lie, while the truth lays in plain sight. What sparked my rethinking about this the war on Gaza. President Obama gave his first substantial statements on the conflict on Thursday the 22nd of January. He was able to mislead in plain view of the truth, no one seemed to notice, no follow up stories in the press.
Obama repeated the same old tired line that all US presidents since LBJ have said, “Let me be clear: America is committed to Israel’s security.” Once it would be nice to hear “America is committed to the security of the Arab population.” Actually, Eisenhower was the only US president to not support Israeli aggression against the Arabs and he seems like he will continue hold that position alone. Obama refused to acknowledge that Israel, not Hamas, violated the cease-fire agreement (November 4th 2008, Israeli special forces invaded Gaza and killed 6 men.) Obama also refused to acknowledge that the rockets, that he claims “started” the conflict were not fired by Hamas. He also said nothing about the UN run schools bombed by Israel, despite the fact the UN had given Israel the GPS location of the schools to their military. Nothing was said about 1/3 of the Palestinian victims who were children, while 1/3 of Israeli victims were the result of “friendly fire.” President Obama said the Palestinians need to renounce violence. This is the part of the speech that made my face grow bright red with anger. Renounce violence? How about Israel? Or the US? What a completely stupid thing to say, no country ever would renounce violence. The US refuses to see Hamas as a resistance force practicing self-defense. In the same breath Obama can say “we will always support Israel’s right to defend itself against legitimate threats” and “Hamas must meet clear conditions…renounce violence.” Truly amazing that these things can be said and no one bats an eye. Americans knowledge on the Israeli-Arab conflict is truly depressing, especially because without massive US support none of it could happen. When I talk to people about the conflict, I have to repeat so many of the same basic facts, “yes Hamas is religious but is not fundamentalist… Hamas democratically won the elections… Israel is withholding money taken from the Palestinians to punish them for voting in Hamas… Hamas is a creation of the Mossad and the CIA… Hamas has a military wing, and a wing that runs schools, a wing that feeds the poor, a wing that builds people’s homes… Hamas does get some money from Iran but it is a Sunni organization… Israel has blockaded Gaza for over a year because of the election of Hamas… yes Hamas has tunnels into Egypt, and some weapons come through, also fuel for hospitals, food, medicine and other basic supplies because of the blockade…Hamas does not use suicide bombers, hasn’t for nearly 5 years… Hamas is not Fatah or the PLO or Hezbollah or Al-Qaeda or Black September or any other group…the founder of Hamas was killed in an Israeli missile strike launched as he left a mosque after Friday prayers killing him and 9 civilians, Kofi Annan condemned the killing and the UN sought to a resolution to condemn the attack, the United States vetoed it…”
These things are not things I discovered after lengthy research. I read most of them in the mainstream media (CNN, New York Times, NPR etc…). They are there and easily accessible for anyone to find out. Its information overload, look at the dates Israel violated the cease-fire November 4th, the day of the US elections, when does it end, a day before Obama takes the oath of office. Hidden in plain sight, right under our noses. In fact, the best piece I read in all of 2008 on Hamas and the blockade of Gaza appeared in the April issue of Vanity Fair, the story didn’t even appear on the cover. I suppose an article titled “Who Says Women Aren’t Funny?” about Sarah Silverman, Tina Fey and other women comics is far more important then “The Gaza Bombshell” a detailed account of Hamas election and the US role. It is a brave new world, but who cares?
Obama repeated the same old tired line that all US presidents since LBJ have said, “Let me be clear: America is committed to Israel’s security.” Once it would be nice to hear “America is committed to the security of the Arab population.” Actually, Eisenhower was the only US president to not support Israeli aggression against the Arabs and he seems like he will continue hold that position alone. Obama refused to acknowledge that Israel, not Hamas, violated the cease-fire agreement (November 4th 2008, Israeli special forces invaded Gaza and killed 6 men.) Obama also refused to acknowledge that the rockets, that he claims “started” the conflict were not fired by Hamas. He also said nothing about the UN run schools bombed by Israel, despite the fact the UN had given Israel the GPS location of the schools to their military. Nothing was said about 1/3 of the Palestinian victims who were children, while 1/3 of Israeli victims were the result of “friendly fire.” President Obama said the Palestinians need to renounce violence. This is the part of the speech that made my face grow bright red with anger. Renounce violence? How about Israel? Or the US? What a completely stupid thing to say, no country ever would renounce violence. The US refuses to see Hamas as a resistance force practicing self-defense. In the same breath Obama can say “we will always support Israel’s right to defend itself against legitimate threats” and “Hamas must meet clear conditions…renounce violence.” Truly amazing that these things can be said and no one bats an eye. Americans knowledge on the Israeli-Arab conflict is truly depressing, especially because without massive US support none of it could happen. When I talk to people about the conflict, I have to repeat so many of the same basic facts, “yes Hamas is religious but is not fundamentalist… Hamas democratically won the elections… Israel is withholding money taken from the Palestinians to punish them for voting in Hamas… Hamas is a creation of the Mossad and the CIA… Hamas has a military wing, and a wing that runs schools, a wing that feeds the poor, a wing that builds people’s homes… Hamas does get some money from Iran but it is a Sunni organization… Israel has blockaded Gaza for over a year because of the election of Hamas… yes Hamas has tunnels into Egypt, and some weapons come through, also fuel for hospitals, food, medicine and other basic supplies because of the blockade…Hamas does not use suicide bombers, hasn’t for nearly 5 years… Hamas is not Fatah or the PLO or Hezbollah or Al-Qaeda or Black September or any other group…the founder of Hamas was killed in an Israeli missile strike launched as he left a mosque after Friday prayers killing him and 9 civilians, Kofi Annan condemned the killing and the UN sought to a resolution to condemn the attack, the United States vetoed it…”
These things are not things I discovered after lengthy research. I read most of them in the mainstream media (CNN, New York Times, NPR etc…). They are there and easily accessible for anyone to find out. Its information overload, look at the dates Israel violated the cease-fire November 4th, the day of the US elections, when does it end, a day before Obama takes the oath of office. Hidden in plain sight, right under our noses. In fact, the best piece I read in all of 2008 on Hamas and the blockade of Gaza appeared in the April issue of Vanity Fair, the story didn’t even appear on the cover. I suppose an article titled “Who Says Women Aren’t Funny?” about Sarah Silverman, Tina Fey and other women comics is far more important then “The Gaza Bombshell” a detailed account of Hamas election and the US role. It is a brave new world, but who cares?
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
The Inauguration of Barak Obama
I watched only a small amount of the inauguration of President Obama, just the speech he gave. Which was very disappointing, a cut and paste of his stump speeches and a hodgepodge of past inaugural speeches, quite forgettable. I was forced to discuss the inauguration in each class throughout the day. In every class I was the pessimist, the one unmoved.
I had supported Obama very early on in the primary race, voting for him the Massachusetts primary round. However when November came, I was now supporting the candidate who wanted to increase the size of the military, threatened cross border strikes on Pakistan, wanted to increase troop presents in Afghanistan, no longer supported a quick withdrawal from Iraq, and wanted an undivided Jerusalem. I wasn’t voting my ideals anymore, I was voting against McCain. It is not lost on me the significance of the countries first African-American President. It is equal to France voting for an Algerian. Its was totally unthinkable 20 years ago and totally illegal further back in time. Although that moment where I saw the country move beyond race was on November 4th. That was the moment for me. The inauguration is a celebration of “American exceptional-ism”. The notion that America can control the world, because it is the exception to the rules and the election of Obama is the reaffirmation of this concept. Another “great” Democratic President, who also ran on a platform of peace in the world and promised never to enter World War I, first laid out this concept. Woodrow Wilson was clear on what American exceptional-ism allowed: “Since trade ignores national boundaries and the manufacturer insists on having the world as a market, the flag of his nation must follow him, and the doors of the nations which are closed must be battered down … Concessions obtained by financiers must be safeguarded by ministers of state, even if the sovereignty of unwilling nations be outraged in the process. Colonies must be obtained or planted, in order that no useful corner of the world may be overlooked or left unused." This is what American foreign policy will continue to be under President Obama the export of capitalism, in the form of corporations under the protection of marines bayonet. Obama has already said he will continue to use Blackwater forces in Iraq; He will not suspend Bechtel’s monopoly over Iraq’s water resources and Halliburton will continue to control the flow of oil. For me these were part of the greatest outrages committed in Iraq by President Bush, and to know they will transition smoothly under an Obama Presidency is unnerving.
My biggest fear of this “love-fest” for Obama is that the left and others will become pacified. No need to take to the streets, or pay close attention. As I watched CNN cover every gift, every ball, every breath Obama took, I longed for some real news. The world has not stopped so we could watch him dance. The country is transfixed in a glassy-eyed love affair, meanwhile cities burn and babies are starved. Here is a list of stories that happened on the day of the inauguration they were cut from CNN so we could watch our new President twirl his bride around on million dollar stages: Chinese laborers are deported from Saudi Arabia for considering a strike; Rwandan soldiers enter the Democratic Republic of Congo more then one million have been displaced by the fighting; The UN demands goods and humanitarian aid be allowed to enter into the Gaza strip; The US stock Market declines sharply; Amnesty International accuses Israel of war crimes for using white phosphorus munitions in densely populated area (white phosphorus burns through the skin, into the muscle and to the bone); 22 suspected Taliban fighters are killed in Afghanistan; Stanislav Markelov a Russian lawyer who exposed army abuses in Chechnya is assassinated in broad daylight in down town Moscow; a leading activist in Thailand is arrest for “insulting the king”; power sharing talks between Tsvangirai and Mugabe in Zimbabwe collapse; 25 people killed in fighting in Somali; the Arab league fails to agree on what to do about Gaza; Pakistan kills 60 “hardcore militants” according to a paramilitary official; and finally 5 killed in Iraq in several car bombs, three being civilians and two US soldiers were wounded.
I had supported Obama very early on in the primary race, voting for him the Massachusetts primary round. However when November came, I was now supporting the candidate who wanted to increase the size of the military, threatened cross border strikes on Pakistan, wanted to increase troop presents in Afghanistan, no longer supported a quick withdrawal from Iraq, and wanted an undivided Jerusalem. I wasn’t voting my ideals anymore, I was voting against McCain. It is not lost on me the significance of the countries first African-American President. It is equal to France voting for an Algerian. Its was totally unthinkable 20 years ago and totally illegal further back in time. Although that moment where I saw the country move beyond race was on November 4th. That was the moment for me. The inauguration is a celebration of “American exceptional-ism”. The notion that America can control the world, because it is the exception to the rules and the election of Obama is the reaffirmation of this concept. Another “great” Democratic President, who also ran on a platform of peace in the world and promised never to enter World War I, first laid out this concept. Woodrow Wilson was clear on what American exceptional-ism allowed: “Since trade ignores national boundaries and the manufacturer insists on having the world as a market, the flag of his nation must follow him, and the doors of the nations which are closed must be battered down … Concessions obtained by financiers must be safeguarded by ministers of state, even if the sovereignty of unwilling nations be outraged in the process. Colonies must be obtained or planted, in order that no useful corner of the world may be overlooked or left unused." This is what American foreign policy will continue to be under President Obama the export of capitalism, in the form of corporations under the protection of marines bayonet. Obama has already said he will continue to use Blackwater forces in Iraq; He will not suspend Bechtel’s monopoly over Iraq’s water resources and Halliburton will continue to control the flow of oil. For me these were part of the greatest outrages committed in Iraq by President Bush, and to know they will transition smoothly under an Obama Presidency is unnerving.
My biggest fear of this “love-fest” for Obama is that the left and others will become pacified. No need to take to the streets, or pay close attention. As I watched CNN cover every gift, every ball, every breath Obama took, I longed for some real news. The world has not stopped so we could watch him dance. The country is transfixed in a glassy-eyed love affair, meanwhile cities burn and babies are starved. Here is a list of stories that happened on the day of the inauguration they were cut from CNN so we could watch our new President twirl his bride around on million dollar stages: Chinese laborers are deported from Saudi Arabia for considering a strike; Rwandan soldiers enter the Democratic Republic of Congo more then one million have been displaced by the fighting; The UN demands goods and humanitarian aid be allowed to enter into the Gaza strip; The US stock Market declines sharply; Amnesty International accuses Israel of war crimes for using white phosphorus munitions in densely populated area (white phosphorus burns through the skin, into the muscle and to the bone); 22 suspected Taliban fighters are killed in Afghanistan; Stanislav Markelov a Russian lawyer who exposed army abuses in Chechnya is assassinated in broad daylight in down town Moscow; a leading activist in Thailand is arrest for “insulting the king”; power sharing talks between Tsvangirai and Mugabe in Zimbabwe collapse; 25 people killed in fighting in Somali; the Arab league fails to agree on what to do about Gaza; Pakistan kills 60 “hardcore militants” according to a paramilitary official; and finally 5 killed in Iraq in several car bombs, three being civilians and two US soldiers were wounded.
Wednesday, December 03, 2008
Israeli Reporter Amira Hass Forced Out of Gaza by Hamas, Detained by Israeli Police For Entering Gaza Without Permit
Israeli Reporter Amira Hass Forced Out of Gaza by Hamas, Detained by Israeli Police For Entering Gaza Without Permit
Israel has imposed a tightened blockade over its million and a half residents for nearly a month. Last month, award-winning Israeli journalist Amira Hass defied the blockade and entered Gaza on a boat with international peace activists. But on Sunday, Hamas officials told Hass they could no longer guarantee her security and forced her to leave. Hass was briefly detained by Israeli security officials upon re-entering Israel Monday because she did not have a permit for Gaza. Amira Hass joins us on the phone from Ramallah [includes rush transcript].
Guest:
Amira Hass, correspondent for the Israeli newspaper Haaretz and one of Israel’s leading journalists. She has spent much of the last decade living in Palestinian communities of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. Hamas recently told her to leave Gaza. She joins us on the phone from Ramallah.
AMY GOODMAN: We turn now to the Middle East, to the Gaza strip where Israel has imposed a tightened blockade over its million and a half residents for nearly a month. The Israeli navy blocked a Libyan ship carrying 3,000 tons of food and medical aid from entering Gaza on Monday. It was the first attempt by a foreign government to break the siege of Gaza. Last month award-winning Israeli journalist Amira Hass defied the blockade and entered Gaza on a boat with international peace activists. She reported for Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz from Gaza while being accompanied by Hamas. But on Sunday Hamas officials told Amira Hass they would no longer guarantee her security and asked her to leave. Hass was briefly detained by Israeli security officials upon re-entering Israel Monday because she did not have a permit for Gaza. The Israeli army officially barred its journalists from entering Gaza after the 2006 kidnapping of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. Amira Hass is a correspondent for Israel’s Ha’aretz. She’s the author of “Drinking the Sea at Gaza: Days and Nights in a Land Under Siege” .She joins me now on the telephone from Ramallah, the West Bank, where she lives. Welcome to Democracy Now!
AMIRA HASS: Hi Amy.
AMY GOODMAN: Tell us what happened to you in Gaza. Why were you kicked out by Hamas.
AMIRA HASS: I don’t know, they just got tired of me, I guess. They insisted from the start to follow me, to escort me 24 hours a day, which of course, did not make my work very easy, but I took it ok. They said there the wanted to avoid any slightest chance that someone might hurt you. All of the sudden Sunday, they told me circumstances has changed—all of the seven on Sunday, the circumstances have changed, there is more tension in the region. And there is also some information that my life might be in danger. As a principle, I do not take such threats or what any security apparatus tell me, whether it is Israeli, whether it is Arafat or Hamas. But they left no option, they were very strict about it. I have some friends in Hamas they tried very hard to put sense into some people, but it was in vain. The only thing we managed was to postpone the decision by- less than one day so I could see friends of mine because the main sense that I have is that Gaza is going to be isolated for so many years and that people won’t be able to leave anywhere, not to the West Bank, not abroad, not for a vacation, for so many years. Who knows when I would see friends again? This was also – apart from the frustration, the professional frustration, that I felt. You know, I had planned to stay three months now in Gaza, there was a much more to do.
AMY GOODMAN: Amira Hass, describe life in Gaza right now. It is very hard to get information out. In the last few weeks, executives from Associated Press, New York Times, Reuters, CNN, BBC and other news organizations sent a letter to the Israeli Prime Minister Olmert, saying, well criticizing the government’s decision to bar journalists from entering Gaza with Israel virtually sealing it off. Its very hard to get a picture of what is going on inside.
AMIRA HASS: It is even very hard to describe it in 10 minutes or 30 minutes. It is complete isolation, I feel its like a black hole., Everybody, this isolation, this blockade reduces people’s lives in to basic concern. Will there be electricity? Will there be water? Will we find candles in the shop? Is there gas for cooking? People are still offended by the very needs to be preoccupied all the time by those needs. At the same time, there is a lot as always, there is the spirit of defiance that you find among Gazans. And the ability to make humor. So this has has not been lost at all. I actually was upset with some of the reports that only focused on how Palestinians are miserable, Gazans are miserable, completely overlooked the ability to maneuver, and to, the creative abilities of Gazans. So you have, then you have the blockade imposed on Gaza on the part of the Palestinian Authority. They still hope to make a Hamas government collapse by obstructing the regular work of main ministries in Gaza: Education and Health. This is very, this is really nasty. It is a chance for Hamas to employ its own people, but its own people especially in Health, are very much less experienced. There has always been a problem with the health system, there has always been but it is deteriorating very fast.
The same is true of the education system it is really heartbreaking to see how it is not only the blockade and the siege, which as you remember started in 1991 and not just four months ago, it is an ongoing process from Israeli policy. But the Ramallah authorities and Palestinian authorities add to it, add to it pressure. This is very, people are- it doesn’t weaken Hamas, the contrary, people say, ok, so Hamas is one of us. We are all targeted by Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
And the third point is that Hamas is not unhappy with the isolation right now because it enables it to establish its own regime in this small part of the world. It is a kind of independence from Israeli—a strange as it may sound—far away from Israeli control. There are attacks, there are military attacks, but inside, it is much more free from Israeli interference than the West Bank. So they can experiment their Islamic rule there, even though they say all the time this is not their goal. In practice, this is what is happening. So what is happening is that you have this miserable enclave with people who are imprisoned in it for so long and who are yearning for the world to open for them. For studies, for [unintelligible], for books, you know, it is difficult to send books to Gaza. It is almost impossible. Olmert has placed some few thousands of books at Erez waiting to bring into one of its libraries. And it cannot because of Israeli restrictions. So, but somehow, the three parties, the three powers concerned, unequal as they are, participate in this growing isolation of Gaza.
AMY GOODMAN: Let me ask you, Amira Hass, let me ask you, in the protests of the news organizations to being banned from Gaza, an Israeli defense ministry spokesperson said that there were displeased with international media coverage because it “inflated Palestinian suffering and did not make clear that Israel’s measures are in response to Palestinian violence”.
AMIRA HASS: Yes. Should I comment?
AMY GOODMAN: Yes.
AMIRA HASS: Israeli officials have the talent always to reverse everything. I mean, it is to occupation that starts. That is the first thing. Israeli policies of occupation, which are the beginning. And then everything is the response, the Palestinian response. Whether it is clever or not is a different question. It is really amazing—I mean, this has ever been given as a reason to prevent journalists from entering Gaza. I mean, it seems there really passing their own borders or red lines. They used to say there was a danger to your life, but now they’re even there to intervene in the content of your report. And besides, it is not true. I think the world knows much more about the Israeli city which suffers from attacks of Palestinian rockets then they know the names like Sderot, Beni Suhayla, Abbasan al Sagheera, where people, localities in Gaza which have almost daily incursions’. So, these names are not known in the world. So its not even true what he claims.
AMY GOODMAN: I wanted to ask about the statement of the lame-duck Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, recently said to the surprise of many that he felt that Israel should withdraw from the territories. I wanted to get to you his exact quote. He said that “We are gravely concerned about the prolonged and unprecedented denial of access in the Gaza for the international media." he also talked about—
AMIRA HASS: Olmert?
AMY GOODMAN: He said, that Israel should withdraw from nearly all territory captured in the 1967 Middle East war in return for peace with the Palestinians and Syria, I am saying what no previous Israeli leader has ever said: we should withdraw from almost all of the territories, including in East Jerusalem and in the Golan Heights. Well he still is Prime Minister.
AMIRA HASS: Well, I mean, this is ridiculous- if you are why don’t you do it, now? Where were you five months ago, or a year ago. It’s probably not new thinking. So you could say great, he’s been influenced a bit and got sense. It is useless. I do not know what made him say that, but it is totally useless if you don’t—if it is not your policy, if its only words.
AMY GOODMAN: Why can’t he? Even as a lame-duck Prime Minister, why can’t he enforce it, why can’t he move in that direction since he’s already said this?
AMIRA HASS: He created this monster of the settlements, settlers who oppose any such idea and they created this tradition that you do not touch the settlers when the object to any legal action against them. Of course he could not even start it in the few months the he has or the one month he has til he has to leave. This is not realistic right now. The question is, where did he start to change his mind? Where did he think that return to 67 is the only solution. So does he want to gain some popularity, since he has lost so much because of all the scandals, popularity among certain echelons—I do not know. It is a riddle. But of course he cannot do it, not only that because right now Israeli society is profiting directly from the occupation, more than ever before.
This one of the achievements of the Oslo agreements, and the Oslo process, that the settlements could extend direct economical company—economical companies that are directly connected to the settlements and to the occupied territories, has grown. More Israelis see the settlements as an natural phenomenon. And also, in, in the popular mind, Palestinians have a state. It does not matter it has no sovereignty, no land or water or borders. But in the mind of the Israelis, Palestinians have the state because they’re in control of the administrative affairs. So..
AMY GOODMAN: Amira Hass—
AMIRA HASS: If he wanted now, he could not. The general sentiment in Israel is very since the whole occupation is something normal.
AMY GOODMAN: We have to leave it there. I want to thank you for being with us. Are you going to court on Thursday, in an Israeli court?
AMIRA HASS: Its only procedural, because I was released on bail. I was arrested and Ha’aretz worked hard so I would not be sent to jail for one night. So now, we have to discuss the terms of my release. And then they say they might charge me with breaking the military commanders order.
AMY GOODMAN: We will keep people posted. Amira Hass, correspondent for the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz, she’s talking to us from Ramallah, from her home in the West Bank. She was kicked out of Gaza. This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, the War and Peace Report. The quote before, “We’re gravely concerned about the prolonged and unprecedented denial of access to the Gaza strip for the international media” was from the news executives complaining to the Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. This is Democracy Now! back in a minute..
Tuesday, December 02, 2008
Action Alert: Oppose Hate Crimes at UC Berkeley
Statement from the Arab-American and Muslim Community of the San Francisco Bay Area on Hate Crimes at UC Berkeley
On Thursday November 13th, 2008, three Palestinian students were attacked near a Zionist supremacist concert labeled "Israeli Liberation Week" at the University of California , Berkeley . Two young Palestinian-American women and one man, all students, entered a building near the event, and unfurled two Palestinian flags off of a balcony overlooking the concert. Shortly after they displayed the flags, members of the right-wing supremacist groups Tikvah and the Zionist Freedom Alliance (ZFA) entered the building, climbed the stairs to the second floor, isolated the Palestinian students on the balcony, and then proceeded to assault them. Witnesses identified the assailants as three members of the Zionist Freedom Alliance, including one current student, one alumnus, and one performer for the ZFA event.
During the attacks, anti-Arab racial epithets were used repeatedly. Despite numerous accounts indicating that the students were attacked by outside members, the police and administration treated the assaulted students as suspects. The incompetence of the UC Berkeley administration and severe mishandling of the situation by the police department further exacerbated the hate crime, which took place on the heels of the 60th anniversary of Zionism's displacement of the Palestinian people. Though it was the responsibility of the university to protect its students from hate crimes, protect the freedom of speech of its members, and to work diligently against an atmosphere of hate and supremacy, the university failed these tasks, and did not take precautions to protect the attacked students. Instead, in a statement to the campus community, it drew parity between the segregator and the segregated, the attackers and the attacked.
Rather than counteract rising anti-Arab sentiment in the United States and on UC campuses, the administration has either exacerbated those sentiments or stood idly by, its role proving to be an abomination in this matter. It has taken no significant steps to protect the rest of the Arab and Palestinian student population, or to apprehend or restrain the attackers. Moreover, Palestinian students have been questioned as if they were suspects in the matter, and members of the administration have told them that they "should have known better" than to exercise their free speech rights by holding a flag. Worse, the Chancellor's letter to the campus community took five days to reach the student body, and it barely addressed the incidents, providing no support for the attacked students' rights to freely challenge hate speech, or to attend campus without fear of being victimized by hate crime, let alone their rights to be safe from physical attack on campus. The administration's failure to learn from decades of racist history is astounding, and yet these are the educators of the next generation.
The Palestinian people have just commemorated 60 years of forceful displacement. In 1948 two-thirds of the indigenous population was forced out at gunpoint during the military occupation of Palestine and the subsequent establishment of the State of Israel. Palestinians were denied reentry and labeled as an indigenous and demographic threat to the colonial and ethnic supremacist nature of the State of Israel. Over 500 villages and towns were erased and many massacres were committed by the then Zionist militias of the Haganah and the Irgun and later the Israeli army. In a speech given June 15, 1969 former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Maier said, "There was no such thing as Palestinians, they never existed." Menahim Begin, another former prime minister said, "[The Palestinians are] beasts walking on two legs." Israeli prime minister in 1988 Yitzhak Shamir said, "The Palestinians would be crushed like grasshoppers ... heads smashed against the boulders and walls." Unfortunately, as this incident shows, Zionist hatred and violence has followed Palestinians to wherever they live in the world.
Universities are supposed to be places of intellectual engagement; places where opposing opinions, views, rationalizations and justifications may be voiced without fear of censorship, intimidation, or threat of violence. Cal 's most important marketing gimmick is its history of the free speech movement; it is the "free speech campus," after all. It is the place where Mario Savio stood up and rallied students to empower themselves and one another by raising their voices in declaration of their right to express their views. But let us remember that these events during Savio's time were the result of censorship by the administration, not a spontaneous enlightenment that drove students to begin suddenly expressing their opinions. Today, it is the university's implicit support of war policies and tacit nod and wink to hate speech that is resulting in a climate of fear and intimidation. The educational administrators of our youth seem to have internalized little from the free speech, anti-war and civil rights movements. They think that appointing a token person of color for a clerk's position can hide racist policies that have led to a decline in the admission of students of color to the University, just as naming some stairs after Mario Savio succeeds in placating the oppressed into silence, allowing hate-based violence to be viewed as commonplace.
We ask every responsible person in our community not to allow the defenders of apartheid in Israel , advocates for genocide and displacement, to drive fear into the hearts of our youth. On behalf of the communities and organizations signing this letter, we commend the Palestinian students for their courage and call for:
The campus community to rise to this historical moment, at a time when the US elects an African-American president, racial attacks against Arabs and Palestinians should not continue or go unchallenged. We urge all students to unite behind the statement:
"RACIST ATTACKS WILL NOT SILENCE US, WE ARE ALL PALESTINIAN"
The Berkeley DA to act on witness reports and prosecute the attackers for hate crimes.
The campus and Berkeley police to immediately apprehend the attackers and execute its responsibility to protect women, Arab and Palestinian students from hate attacks.
Chancellor Robert Birgeneau and Vice Chancellor Harry LeGrande to issue an apology to the Arab community for not recognizing the attack as a hate crime rather than a dispute caused by differing opinions.
The UC administration to execute immediate and swift corrective actions so that the university security forces handle advocacy for supremacist speech and defense of racial segregation by exile or other violent means as a potential threat to the community at large.
Please FAX the chancellor or write per the address below to voice our collective demands. Faxing is more effective than email.
Please call the Berkeley District Attorney and ask for the office to investigate the racial attacks and press hate crime charges against the ZFA and Tikvah assailants.
Office of the Chancellor
200 California Hall # 1500
University of California
Berkeley, CA 94720-1500
Phone (510) 642-7464
Fax (510) 643-5499
chancellor@berkeley.edu
Berkeley District Attorney
2120 Martin Luther King Jr Way, Berkeley, CA 94704
(510) 644-6683
SIGNED:
SJP-Students for Justice in Palestine , UC Berkeley
Al-Awda, Palestine Right to Return Coalition
American Muslims for Palestine
ANSWER-Act Now to Stop War and End Racism-Coalition
Arab American Legal Services
Arab American Union Members Council
Arab Cultural and Community Center of San Francisco
Arab Resource and Organizing Center
Break the Silence Mural Project
General Union of Palestine Students, San Francisco
NCA-National Council of Arab Americans
Palestine Solidarity Group (PSG)-Chicago
Palestine Youth Network
Palestinian American Women's Association (PAWA)
SJP-Students for Justice in Palestine-University of Illinois at Chicago
Taller Tupac Amaru
The Middle East Children's Alliance (MECA)
Xinaxtli , La Mexa de UCB
On Thursday November 13th, 2008, three Palestinian students were attacked near a Zionist supremacist concert labeled "Israeli Liberation Week" at the University of California , Berkeley . Two young Palestinian-American women and one man, all students, entered a building near the event, and unfurled two Palestinian flags off of a balcony overlooking the concert. Shortly after they displayed the flags, members of the right-wing supremacist groups Tikvah and the Zionist Freedom Alliance (ZFA) entered the building, climbed the stairs to the second floor, isolated the Palestinian students on the balcony, and then proceeded to assault them. Witnesses identified the assailants as three members of the Zionist Freedom Alliance, including one current student, one alumnus, and one performer for the ZFA event.
During the attacks, anti-Arab racial epithets were used repeatedly. Despite numerous accounts indicating that the students were attacked by outside members, the police and administration treated the assaulted students as suspects. The incompetence of the UC Berkeley administration and severe mishandling of the situation by the police department further exacerbated the hate crime, which took place on the heels of the 60th anniversary of Zionism's displacement of the Palestinian people. Though it was the responsibility of the university to protect its students from hate crimes, protect the freedom of speech of its members, and to work diligently against an atmosphere of hate and supremacy, the university failed these tasks, and did not take precautions to protect the attacked students. Instead, in a statement to the campus community, it drew parity between the segregator and the segregated, the attackers and the attacked.
Rather than counteract rising anti-Arab sentiment in the United States and on UC campuses, the administration has either exacerbated those sentiments or stood idly by, its role proving to be an abomination in this matter. It has taken no significant steps to protect the rest of the Arab and Palestinian student population, or to apprehend or restrain the attackers. Moreover, Palestinian students have been questioned as if they were suspects in the matter, and members of the administration have told them that they "should have known better" than to exercise their free speech rights by holding a flag. Worse, the Chancellor's letter to the campus community took five days to reach the student body, and it barely addressed the incidents, providing no support for the attacked students' rights to freely challenge hate speech, or to attend campus without fear of being victimized by hate crime, let alone their rights to be safe from physical attack on campus. The administration's failure to learn from decades of racist history is astounding, and yet these are the educators of the next generation.
The Palestinian people have just commemorated 60 years of forceful displacement. In 1948 two-thirds of the indigenous population was forced out at gunpoint during the military occupation of Palestine and the subsequent establishment of the State of Israel. Palestinians were denied reentry and labeled as an indigenous and demographic threat to the colonial and ethnic supremacist nature of the State of Israel. Over 500 villages and towns were erased and many massacres were committed by the then Zionist militias of the Haganah and the Irgun and later the Israeli army. In a speech given June 15, 1969 former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Maier said, "There was no such thing as Palestinians, they never existed." Menahim Begin, another former prime minister said, "[The Palestinians are] beasts walking on two legs." Israeli prime minister in 1988 Yitzhak Shamir said, "The Palestinians would be crushed like grasshoppers ... heads smashed against the boulders and walls." Unfortunately, as this incident shows, Zionist hatred and violence has followed Palestinians to wherever they live in the world.
Universities are supposed to be places of intellectual engagement; places where opposing opinions, views, rationalizations and justifications may be voiced without fear of censorship, intimidation, or threat of violence. Cal 's most important marketing gimmick is its history of the free speech movement; it is the "free speech campus," after all. It is the place where Mario Savio stood up and rallied students to empower themselves and one another by raising their voices in declaration of their right to express their views. But let us remember that these events during Savio's time were the result of censorship by the administration, not a spontaneous enlightenment that drove students to begin suddenly expressing their opinions. Today, it is the university's implicit support of war policies and tacit nod and wink to hate speech that is resulting in a climate of fear and intimidation. The educational administrators of our youth seem to have internalized little from the free speech, anti-war and civil rights movements. They think that appointing a token person of color for a clerk's position can hide racist policies that have led to a decline in the admission of students of color to the University, just as naming some stairs after Mario Savio succeeds in placating the oppressed into silence, allowing hate-based violence to be viewed as commonplace.
We ask every responsible person in our community not to allow the defenders of apartheid in Israel , advocates for genocide and displacement, to drive fear into the hearts of our youth. On behalf of the communities and organizations signing this letter, we commend the Palestinian students for their courage and call for:
The campus community to rise to this historical moment, at a time when the US elects an African-American president, racial attacks against Arabs and Palestinians should not continue or go unchallenged. We urge all students to unite behind the statement:
"RACIST ATTACKS WILL NOT SILENCE US, WE ARE ALL PALESTINIAN"
The Berkeley DA to act on witness reports and prosecute the attackers for hate crimes.
The campus and Berkeley police to immediately apprehend the attackers and execute its responsibility to protect women, Arab and Palestinian students from hate attacks.
Chancellor Robert Birgeneau and Vice Chancellor Harry LeGrande to issue an apology to the Arab community for not recognizing the attack as a hate crime rather than a dispute caused by differing opinions.
The UC administration to execute immediate and swift corrective actions so that the university security forces handle advocacy for supremacist speech and defense of racial segregation by exile or other violent means as a potential threat to the community at large.
Please FAX the chancellor or write per the address below to voice our collective demands. Faxing is more effective than email.
Please call the Berkeley District Attorney and ask for the office to investigate the racial attacks and press hate crime charges against the ZFA and Tikvah assailants.
Office of the Chancellor
200 California Hall # 1500
University of California
Berkeley, CA 94720-1500
Phone (510) 642-7464
Fax (510) 643-5499
chancellor@berkeley.edu
Berkeley District Attorney
2120 Martin Luther King Jr Way, Berkeley, CA 94704
(510) 644-6683
SIGNED:
SJP-Students for Justice in Palestine , UC Berkeley
Al-Awda, Palestine Right to Return Coalition
American Muslims for Palestine
ANSWER-Act Now to Stop War and End Racism-Coalition
Arab American Legal Services
Arab American Union Members Council
Arab Cultural and Community Center of San Francisco
Arab Resource and Organizing Center
Break the Silence Mural Project
General Union of Palestine Students, San Francisco
NCA-National Council of Arab Americans
Palestine Solidarity Group (PSG)-Chicago
Palestine Youth Network
Palestinian American Women's Association (PAWA)
SJP-Students for Justice in Palestine-University of Illinois at Chicago
Taller Tupac Amaru
The Middle East Children's Alliance (MECA)
Xinaxtli , La Mexa de UCB
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
What do I think of Hilary?
People always ask what do I think of Hilary Clinton as Sec. of State.
We'll I don't care for her too much. The woman gave Bush authority to attack Iran, the same kind of authority she gave to Mr.Bush just before he invaded Iraq. SO, she's a hawk and I don't care for hawks. However, lets look at it this way, Mr. Obama will have three vacant seats in the senate that will be filled due to his win. SO, that is three potential loyal allies in the senate. Second, he will be Hilary's boss, so he gets to call the shots. On the other hand the Clinton's are unstoppable power-hungry politicians, and if they get some juicy story on Mr. Obama, they will most likely leak it to the press, clearing the way for 2012. Can Obama balance that kind of people in his White House? We'll just have to wait and see...
We'll I don't care for her too much. The woman gave Bush authority to attack Iran, the same kind of authority she gave to Mr.Bush just before he invaded Iraq. SO, she's a hawk and I don't care for hawks. However, lets look at it this way, Mr. Obama will have three vacant seats in the senate that will be filled due to his win. SO, that is three potential loyal allies in the senate. Second, he will be Hilary's boss, so he gets to call the shots. On the other hand the Clinton's are unstoppable power-hungry politicians, and if they get some juicy story on Mr. Obama, they will most likely leak it to the press, clearing the way for 2012. Can Obama balance that kind of people in his White House? We'll just have to wait and see...
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Friday, November 07, 2008
Looking at the Numbers
The numbers people use to describe the election are some times misleading. Certainly the turn out of the registered voters was higher then normal (about 62%.) But this is an election of a President of all of the American people. People under 18 can't have their say, so I took them out. And what you get is an Obama president elected by only 23% of eligible voters. It makes the term "landslide" and "majority" seem hallow. Now I'll show my math:
O= 65,285,166 people voted Obama.
M= 57,317,302 people voted McCain.
V= 227,059,520 people are over the age of 18. (P*.246)
P= 301,139,947 people live in the USA.
R= 122,602,468 people voted on election night 2008 (O+M)
24.6% of the population is under 18. (from the US census)
40.7% of people who could vote, actually voted. (P/V)
That means out of the population that can vote:
21.68% voted Obama (O/V)
19.03% voted McCain (M/V)
(this was done with information from a census done in 2006 and polls from Nov. 7, 2008; all poll results have not come in. Only 99% are in so, these numbers are a bit off, but only a little.)
O= 65,285,166 people voted Obama.
M= 57,317,302 people voted McCain.
V= 227,059,520 people are over the age of 18. (P*.246)
P= 301,139,947 people live in the USA.
R= 122,602,468 people voted on election night 2008 (O+M)
24.6% of the population is under 18. (from the US census)
40.7% of people who could vote, actually voted. (P/V)
That means out of the population that can vote:
21.68% voted Obama (O/V)
19.03% voted McCain (M/V)
(this was done with information from a census done in 2006 and polls from Nov. 7, 2008; all poll results have not come in. Only 99% are in so, these numbers are a bit off, but only a little.)
A Palestinian refugee's open letter to Obama
A Palestinian refugee's open letter to Obama
Abdelfattah Abusrour writing from Ramallah, occupied West Bank, Live from Palestine, 6 November 2008
Dear President-elect Barack Obama,
I would like to congratulate you on this victory, a victory that is not only yours, as you said in your speech, but also for those who believed in you, and who are full of hope for the change you promote and the wish that it comes through you and your efforts to lead your country and the world for a legacy and a heritage that is meaningful, and plant hope in a time of despair.
I have been fortunate and blessed in my life. I received a scholarship to continue my studies in France where I stayed nine years. I returned to my occupied country with a PhD because I believed that I could make a change and that I am a change-maker in breaking cultural stereotypes, and could show another image of my people and their beauty and humanity through nonviolent resistance against the ugliness and violence of the Israeli occupation. This was my goal in creating the Al-Rowwad Center with a group of friends, to allow our children to use theatre and the arts for social change and nonviolent means of self-expression to keep them alive, instead of becoming a number on a list of martyrs, or handicapped for the rest of their lives, or perish in prison.
I believe that everybody is a change-maker, and nobody has the right to say, "I can't do anything" or stay neutral at a time when injustice is committed every day. I believe, like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. believed, that travel breaks cultural stereotypes, and if people have the opportunity to meet with each other as human beings, they will have no reason to go to war against each other. I believe in change, exactly like you, and hope that change will come with all the efforts we are doing. And because of this, I was rewarded as the first Ashoka Fellow-Social Entrepreneur in Palestine.
When I first visited the United States, in 2004, the immigration authorities asked me about my name, date of birth, place of birth, etc. Because there is no Palestine listed as a country in their computers, I was Jordanian -- because I was born in 1963 in Jordanian-controlled Bethlehem. My father was Israeli, because he was born in 1910 in his village of Beit Nateef under the Ottoman Empire, even though it was called Palestine at that time, because this village was occupied and destroyed and became part of present-day Israel, which was created in 1948. What would be the feeling of anyone who only exists as a "terrorist," but not as a "human being?"
I believe in human values and human rights. I believe in freedom, justice, peace, democracy and equality. You mentioned opportunity. I believe that occupied people have the right to defend their country against the occupation, in a time when the occupied victim is represented as the oppressor and the terrorist, and the occupier as the victim who defends himself. I believe that people who fight for justice and against oppression are heroes, like you. I believe that you are a role model, and you will affect generations to come.
My name is Abdelfattah Abusrour. I was born in Aida Refugee camp, on land rented for 99 years by UNRWA, the UN Agency for Palestine refugees, from Palestinian landowners of Bethlehem. My family originates from Beit Nateef, one of 534 destroyed Palestinian villages in 1948 by the Zionist bandits.
I grew up in Aida refugee camp, as a refugee in my own country. I remember the 1967 War which broke out when I was four years old. I remember the sky full of planes, and all of the young children covered by black blankets, and cherished by their mothers. I remember the field around the camp, where we used to play, to perform our theatre plays in the open fields. I remember the big holes in the ground, when they were filled with water, they were our swimming pools.
A segregation fence was built in 2002 which was transformed into a 30-foot-tall apartheid wall in 2005, encircling the camp from the east, the north and part of the west.
Like you, I was fed the love of my country. Like you, I remember my past and present, and remember the rusty keys of my parents' home in Beit Nateef, keys for doors that exist no more, but keys that have their doors in our hearts and our imaginations. These rusty keys are still with me. I remember that we were brought up with this eternal belief that right is right, and nothing can justify ignoring it. I remember that our right of return to our original villages and homes is eternal, and nothing can change it, neither realities on the ground nor political agreements, because it is a right which is also granted in international law and UN resolutions.
Day after day, week after week, month after month, and year after year, we were living in lies and broken promises of change, and when change comes; it is for the worse and not for the better. Nothing improves with all the negotiations. No promise of independence for Palestinians was fulfilled, even after 60 years.
I believe in peace and nonviolence, in hope and right and justice. I believe in the values that make humanity what it is. I have never hated anyone. My parents were full of love and peace. They never taught me or my brothers anything other than respect of others and endless love to give and help others. They taught us that when you practice violence you lose part of your humanity. But at the same time, they taught us to defend what is right and to stand against what is unjust and wrong. Therefore, I do dare to say that you have great challenges facing you, and you are fully aware of that. But what remains after all is what you have said, the values you defend, and the heritage you want to leave to your two daughters and the generations to come. I do fear the day when my three sons and two daughters, or any child in my occupied country or in any other country comes to me tomorrow or in ten or twenty years from now, asks: "What did you do to make a change in this world?" This is why I continue to work to make a positive change and work for a better tomorrow at a time when every day that comes is worse than the day before. This is why I continue, so I may respond and say I did something to make a change.
I don't know if you will read these words or not, but I do hope that such words that come from my heart will reach yours, and you can find the hope and strength our people still have in them. I do hope that you will fulfill your promise of change, that your daughters will remain proud of their father and his achievements. Right is right, and justice is justice. All people are equal, and no race or color is superior above the others.
I wish you strength and power to carry the big burden you inherited from the previous government and the courage to keep hope and force through the change you want to make, and the ability to keep inspiring people that it is never too late for a change to come.
Hope is alive as long as we are the change we want to see. And my hope is that our children can enjoy a peaceful, safe, clean and just world. My sons Canan (9), Adam (7) and Ahmad (5), and my daughters Rafa (3) and Safa (4 months), my wife and I wish you the best in bringing to the world the change we need.
Abdelfattah Abusrour, PhD is the Director of the Al-Rowwad Cultural and Theatre Training Center, an independent center for artistic, cultural, and theatre training for Palestinian children in the Aida Refugee Camp. The Center provides a "safe" and healthy environment to help Palestinian children creatively discharge stress in the war-time conditions in which they live.
Abdelfattah Abusrour writing from Ramallah, occupied West Bank, Live from Palestine, 6 November 2008
Dear President-elect Barack Obama,
I would like to congratulate you on this victory, a victory that is not only yours, as you said in your speech, but also for those who believed in you, and who are full of hope for the change you promote and the wish that it comes through you and your efforts to lead your country and the world for a legacy and a heritage that is meaningful, and plant hope in a time of despair.
I have been fortunate and blessed in my life. I received a scholarship to continue my studies in France where I stayed nine years. I returned to my occupied country with a PhD because I believed that I could make a change and that I am a change-maker in breaking cultural stereotypes, and could show another image of my people and their beauty and humanity through nonviolent resistance against the ugliness and violence of the Israeli occupation. This was my goal in creating the Al-Rowwad Center with a group of friends, to allow our children to use theatre and the arts for social change and nonviolent means of self-expression to keep them alive, instead of becoming a number on a list of martyrs, or handicapped for the rest of their lives, or perish in prison.
I believe that everybody is a change-maker, and nobody has the right to say, "I can't do anything" or stay neutral at a time when injustice is committed every day. I believe, like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. believed, that travel breaks cultural stereotypes, and if people have the opportunity to meet with each other as human beings, they will have no reason to go to war against each other. I believe in change, exactly like you, and hope that change will come with all the efforts we are doing. And because of this, I was rewarded as the first Ashoka Fellow-Social Entrepreneur in Palestine.
When I first visited the United States, in 2004, the immigration authorities asked me about my name, date of birth, place of birth, etc. Because there is no Palestine listed as a country in their computers, I was Jordanian -- because I was born in 1963 in Jordanian-controlled Bethlehem. My father was Israeli, because he was born in 1910 in his village of Beit Nateef under the Ottoman Empire, even though it was called Palestine at that time, because this village was occupied and destroyed and became part of present-day Israel, which was created in 1948. What would be the feeling of anyone who only exists as a "terrorist," but not as a "human being?"
I believe in human values and human rights. I believe in freedom, justice, peace, democracy and equality. You mentioned opportunity. I believe that occupied people have the right to defend their country against the occupation, in a time when the occupied victim is represented as the oppressor and the terrorist, and the occupier as the victim who defends himself. I believe that people who fight for justice and against oppression are heroes, like you. I believe that you are a role model, and you will affect generations to come.
My name is Abdelfattah Abusrour. I was born in Aida Refugee camp, on land rented for 99 years by UNRWA, the UN Agency for Palestine refugees, from Palestinian landowners of Bethlehem. My family originates from Beit Nateef, one of 534 destroyed Palestinian villages in 1948 by the Zionist bandits.
I grew up in Aida refugee camp, as a refugee in my own country. I remember the 1967 War which broke out when I was four years old. I remember the sky full of planes, and all of the young children covered by black blankets, and cherished by their mothers. I remember the field around the camp, where we used to play, to perform our theatre plays in the open fields. I remember the big holes in the ground, when they were filled with water, they were our swimming pools.
A segregation fence was built in 2002 which was transformed into a 30-foot-tall apartheid wall in 2005, encircling the camp from the east, the north and part of the west.
Like you, I was fed the love of my country. Like you, I remember my past and present, and remember the rusty keys of my parents' home in Beit Nateef, keys for doors that exist no more, but keys that have their doors in our hearts and our imaginations. These rusty keys are still with me. I remember that we were brought up with this eternal belief that right is right, and nothing can justify ignoring it. I remember that our right of return to our original villages and homes is eternal, and nothing can change it, neither realities on the ground nor political agreements, because it is a right which is also granted in international law and UN resolutions.
Day after day, week after week, month after month, and year after year, we were living in lies and broken promises of change, and when change comes; it is for the worse and not for the better. Nothing improves with all the negotiations. No promise of independence for Palestinians was fulfilled, even after 60 years.
I believe in peace and nonviolence, in hope and right and justice. I believe in the values that make humanity what it is. I have never hated anyone. My parents were full of love and peace. They never taught me or my brothers anything other than respect of others and endless love to give and help others. They taught us that when you practice violence you lose part of your humanity. But at the same time, they taught us to defend what is right and to stand against what is unjust and wrong. Therefore, I do dare to say that you have great challenges facing you, and you are fully aware of that. But what remains after all is what you have said, the values you defend, and the heritage you want to leave to your two daughters and the generations to come. I do fear the day when my three sons and two daughters, or any child in my occupied country or in any other country comes to me tomorrow or in ten or twenty years from now, asks: "What did you do to make a change in this world?" This is why I continue to work to make a positive change and work for a better tomorrow at a time when every day that comes is worse than the day before. This is why I continue, so I may respond and say I did something to make a change.
I don't know if you will read these words or not, but I do hope that such words that come from my heart will reach yours, and you can find the hope and strength our people still have in them. I do hope that you will fulfill your promise of change, that your daughters will remain proud of their father and his achievements. Right is right, and justice is justice. All people are equal, and no race or color is superior above the others.
I wish you strength and power to carry the big burden you inherited from the previous government and the courage to keep hope and force through the change you want to make, and the ability to keep inspiring people that it is never too late for a change to come.
Hope is alive as long as we are the change we want to see. And my hope is that our children can enjoy a peaceful, safe, clean and just world. My sons Canan (9), Adam (7) and Ahmad (5), and my daughters Rafa (3) and Safa (4 months), my wife and I wish you the best in bringing to the world the change we need.
Abdelfattah Abusrour, PhD is the Director of the Al-Rowwad Cultural and Theatre Training Center, an independent center for artistic, cultural, and theatre training for Palestinian children in the Aida Refugee Camp. The Center provides a "safe" and healthy environment to help Palestinian children creatively discharge stress in the war-time conditions in which they live.
Thursday, November 06, 2008
Cambridge MA Reaffirms Palestanian rights.
Obama Picks Emanuel
Rahm Emanuel: Israeli citizen; served in the Israeli Army; the only one out of Illinois' nine congressmen who voted for the invasion of Iraq in 2002. Obama chooses him to head the White House Staff
It's a military Hawk for this new President, and maybe a sign of things to come. I have Hope that Obama will not be as bad as President Bush. Although, I know that American Foreign Policy is something each President transitions into, to carry on our countries legacy: "American Exceptional-ism". That is, we as the USA have the right to police the world; throw around our weight to shape the geopolitical ground work. Obama confirmed this desire last night. We are the exception to the rule. American Exceptional-ism was laid out by president Woodrow Wilson, who also spoke of free markets "Since trade ignores national boundaries and the manufacturer insists on having the world as a market, the flag of his nation must follow him, and the doors of the nations which are closed must be battered down … Concessions obtained by financiers must be safeguarded by ministers of state, even if the sovereignty of unwilling nations be outraged in the process. Colonies must be obtained or planted, in order that no useful corner of the world may be overlooked or left unused." This is the American way, A way of Force for our own benefit. While I think Obama will help in some much needed areas that have been left behind, he is not the exception to the rule. He the reaffirmation of this rule. Change can and will happen, but for us who would like to see an end to a foreign policy that judges human life over material gain, should all know that is not what Obama will bring. No president can bring that change. Not one person. It will be an effort for the majority of human kind. It's a Hope, but it just might be realistic.
It's a military Hawk for this new President, and maybe a sign of things to come. I have Hope that Obama will not be as bad as President Bush. Although, I know that American Foreign Policy is something each President transitions into, to carry on our countries legacy: "American Exceptional-ism". That is, we as the USA have the right to police the world; throw around our weight to shape the geopolitical ground work. Obama confirmed this desire last night. We are the exception to the rule. American Exceptional-ism was laid out by president Woodrow Wilson, who also spoke of free markets "Since trade ignores national boundaries and the manufacturer insists on having the world as a market, the flag of his nation must follow him, and the doors of the nations which are closed must be battered down … Concessions obtained by financiers must be safeguarded by ministers of state, even if the sovereignty of unwilling nations be outraged in the process. Colonies must be obtained or planted, in order that no useful corner of the world may be overlooked or left unused." This is the American way, A way of Force for our own benefit. While I think Obama will help in some much needed areas that have been left behind, he is not the exception to the rule. He the reaffirmation of this rule. Change can and will happen, but for us who would like to see an end to a foreign policy that judges human life over material gain, should all know that is not what Obama will bring. No president can bring that change. Not one person. It will be an effort for the majority of human kind. It's a Hope, but it just might be realistic.
Tuesday, November 04, 2008
Monday, November 03, 2008
Election Eve
Obama 321 McCain 195 Toss-up: 22
Let's see how this pans out tomorrow.
How wrong will these polls be?
Swing States. Polls on the eve of the election (CNN poll of polls):
Let's see how this pans out tomorrow.
How wrong will these polls be?
Swing States. Polls on the eve of the election (CNN poll of polls):
Saturday, November 01, 2008
The Yankee Republican
Some stories on the death of the "Yankee Republicans". Yankee Republicans are those of you out there that live in New England and vote Republican. I know who you are, here are some stories about you...
Monday, October 27, 2008
Charles Krauthammer declares: "A SOCIALIST FOR PRESIDENT!"
A response to Mr. Krauthammer's piece "McCain for President" published October 24th 2008. Mr. Krauthammer declares "I'd rather lose an election then lose my bearings." This is in response to the a flood of conservatives that have endorsed Senator Obama. First Mr.Krauthammer labels each of the players,(Ken Adelmen, Colin Powell, Chris Buckely, and Chris Hitchens) second he chides them for supporting "the most liberal and inexperienced presidential nominee in living memory." Now my living memory is not as long as Mr. Krauthammer, but I can think of three Governor Bill Clinton, Governor Ronald Reagan, and Governor George W. Bush. None of these candidates had any foreign policy experience before they assumed office. The only one of the bunch that has the edge is Bush, only because of his father's foreign policy experience. There is one Governor that was absent in Krauthammer's piece, one that is the lynch pin in why these "conservatives" are not backing McCain. That is of course Mrs. Sarah Palin. If Krauthammer shinned his analytical light on Governor Palin, the case of inexperience is overwhelming. Krauthammer can easy dismiss the inexperience of a governor (who has some 20 months of time in office), with the phrase "she has executive experience." Which again, is true but one would have to ignore that if "executive experience" is needed, John McCain has none. Would Krauthammer say McCain is lacking in executive experience, therefore unqualified? I think not. Any reality based looked at the experience of the two tickets would have to conclude Mrs. Palin is the most inexperienced of the four. Krauthammer successfully ignored any mention of the governor in his piece. Yes, McCain has more experience then Obama, I would never argue otherwise. But they are not the only ones running. Like it or not there is about a 20% chance that the Vice-President will become president. Harry Truman, Lydon Johnson, and Harald Ford are three recent VP's thrust into the Oval Office. Krauthammer seems unwilling to accept this reality and thoroughly vet Palin. Another point of annoyance for Krauthammer is the lack of media (and McCain's) attention to Obama's relationship to William Ayers and Rev. Wright. Again Krauthammer refuses to turn his analytical light to the McCain/Palin ticket. What of Palin's connections to the Alaskan Independence Party, whose founder was killed as he made c2 plastic explosive in his basement? Now, I have not seen much of this story in the Media, does that disturb Mr. Krauthammer? What of Mr. McCain's relationship with Rev. Jerry Falwell who declared "9/11 occurred because of the feminist" and that "Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans because of Gay Pride parades"? What about McCain's vote against freeing Nelson Mandela in the 1980's? Or what about McCain's ties to Ronald Reagan who sold weapons to Iranian terrorist to pay for Nicaraguan terrorist (the Iran-Contra affair.) Or McCain's ties to Barry Goldwater (who McCain replaced in the Senate) who said he would bomb Vietnam "back into the stone age." Again, no mention, why? because these can be easily brushed off and demised because McCain is a Conservative Republican. Which leads me to my point, Mr. Krauthammer has "lost his bearings." Krauthammer's article is not a rational support for McCain, it is an appeal to ignorance. It is an appeal that McCain is conservative therefore "we must endorse him." Krauthammer is unwilling to apply his cirques of Obama to McCain. Now, if Mr. Krauthammer wanted to have a reasoned debate on the policy positions that McCain/Palin have versus Obama/Biden; he could, but he decided to throw substantial reasoning away in favor of this appeal to ignorance. The very fact that Mr. Krauthammer can level the charge of socialism at Obama and not McCain is down right absurd. The United States has passed the most socialist bill in "living memory" several weeks ago. The $700 billion bailout was not only endorsed by McCain, he voted for it, and even suspended his campaign to urge fellow republicans to support the bill. Mr McCain likes to point out his leadership role in the bill's passage, Mr. Krauthammer see this leadership quality and chides Obama for "not lifting a finger." Well, Mr. Krauthammer you can not have it both ways, clearly McCain is willing to accept socialist legislation. Mr. Krauthammer has "lost his bearings" by supporting a senator that has worked with Ted Kennedy, and Russ Feingold; Who rejected Bush's tax cuts; Who said "it is unfair that people who make more money should get a tax cut" (McCain in 2000.) If Mr. Krauthammer truly believes his own words he should be supporting Bob Barr the Libertarian candidate not this socialist McCain.
READ THE KRAUTHAMMER STORY IN THE WASHINGTON POST
READ THE KRAUTHAMMER STORY IN THE WASHINGTON POST
Sunday, October 26, 2008
The Arab Peace Initiative
The Arab Peace Initiative
(translation by Reuters).
The Council of Arab States at the Summit Level at its 14th Ordinary Session, reaffirming the resolution taken in June 1996 at the Cairo Extra-Ordinary Arab Summit that a just and comprehensive peace in the Middle East is the strategic option of the Arab countries, to be achieved in accordance with international legality, and which would require a comparable commitment on the part of the Israeli government.
Having listened to the statement made by his royal highness Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, crown prince of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, in which his highness presented his initiative calling for full Israeli withdrawal from all the Arab territories occupied since June 1967, in implementation of Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338, reaffirmed by the Madrid Conference of 1991 and the land-for-peace principle, and Israel's acceptance of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, in return for the establishment of normal relations in the context of a comprehensive peace with Israel.
Emanating from the conviction of the Arab countries that a military solution to the conflict will not achieve peace or provide security for the parties, the council:
1. Requests Israel to reconsider its policies and declare that a just peace is its strategic option as well.
2. Further calls upon Israel to affirm:
I- Full Israeli withdrawal from all the territories occupied since 1967, including the Syrian Golan Heights, to the June 4, 1967 lines as well as the remaining occupied Lebanese territories in the south of Lebanon.
II- Achievement of a just solution to the Palestinian refugee problem to be agreed upon in accordance with UN General Assembly Resolution 194.
III- The acceptance of the establishment of a sovereign independent Palestinian state on the Palestinian territories occupied since June 4, 1967 in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, with East Jerusalem as its capital.
3. Consequently, the Arab countries affirm the following:
I- Consider the Arab-Israeli conflict ended, and enter into a peace agreement with Israel, and provide security for all the states of the region
II- Establish normal relations with Israel in the context of this comprehensive peace.
4. Assures the rejection of all forms of Palestinian patriation which conflict with the special circumstances of the Arab host countries
5. Calls upon the government of Israel and all Israelis to accept this initiative in order to safeguard the prospects for peace and stop the further shedding of blood, enabling the Arab countries and Israel to live in peace and good neighbourliness and provide future generations with security, stability and prosperity
6. Invites the international community and all countries and organisations to support this initiative.
7. Requests the chairman of the summit to form a special committee composed of some of its concerned member states and the secretary general of the League of Arab States to pursue the necessary contacts to gain support for this initiative at all levels, particularly from the United Nations, the Security Council, the United States of America, the Russian Federation, the Muslim states and the European Union.
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Egypt in the middle
Hamas kidnapped Gilad Shalit in 2006. Hamas is now demanding Egypt release prisoners that Hamas claims is innocent. Egypt was in a moderator role in the Shalit talks, now Hamas is demanding a prisoner from them. Not to mention hundreds from Israel as well. Hizbolla's media wing reposted an Al-Jeezera report on Hamas' demands. Egypt's push to bring Hamas and Fatah together is becoming tricky and could fail. I wish the candidates would address this.
- Israel mass pushiment for Shalit Kidnapped.
- Egypt Trying to unite Hamas and Fatah.
- Hizbolla re-post of Hamas demands.
- France delivers a card to Shalit.
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