Holocaust in Gaza - Breaking the walls

“Those responsible for such cowardly action are guilty of serious war crimes and should be prosecuted and punished for their crimes,” Dugard said.

When U.S. government offices are closed, and the media is not paying attention, during special holidays-in this case Dr. Martin Luther King’s Birthday-Israel often takes full advantage to attack the people whose land it surrounds and occupies. Call your local news desk or the telephone numbers below. Don’t let Israel continue to get away with war crimes.

WRITE OR TELEPHONE THOSE WORKING FOR YOU IN WASHINGTON AND DEMAND THAT THIS CARNAGE STOP-AND THAT YOUR TAX DOLLARS NO LONGER BE USED TO MAKE IT POSSIBLE:

BREAKING DOWN THE WALLS

Tens of thousands of Palestinians today poured into Egypt from Gaza after militants blew up part of the wall between the two territories in protest at an Israeli blockade.

On foot, in cars or riding donkey carts, Gazans burst into the Egyptian border town of Rafah to buy cigarettes, plastic bottles of fuel and other supplies that have become scarce and expensive after months of economic isolation.

“I have bought everything I need for the house for months. I have bought food, cigarettes and even two gallons of diesel for my car,” Mohammed Saeed told Reuters. via Kameelah Writes

END THE SEIGE OF GAZA

International Day of Action

Protest Saturday 26th January

4-6pm

Opposite No10 Downing Street

Whitehall, London

PALESTINIAN SOLIDARITY CAMPAIGN FOR MORE UK VENUES

LINKS: SABBAH’S BLOG

Tags:

Gaza siege
Palestine

Sphere: Related Content

Via Sabbah’s Blog

Links: Anthem For Someone’s Child

Tags:
Palestine
Gaza
Israel

The Sudanese government are holding 27 men believed to be “prisoners of conscience”. Amnesty International believe the men have been tortured and may be sentenced to death. The men are:

* Abdel Jalil al-Basha (m), Umma Reform and Renewal Party General Secretary
* Yaqoub Yahya (m), former army officer
* Kabbashi Khater Mohammed Ahmad (m), trader
* Tawer Osman Tawer (m), aged 58, former army officer
* Ahmad Salman (m), aged 35, secretary to Abdel Jalil al-Basha
* and 22 others held in Kober prison, Khartoum North, Sudan

The five men named above and 22 others are being held in the main section of Kober Prison in the capital, Khartoum. They were arrested on or soon after 14 July 2007 and have been tortured or ill-treated during prolonged incommunicado detention. A number of them have also been denied access to medical treatment.

All 27 defendants have been charged with a number of offences against the State including charges under Article 50 (Undermining the Constitutional System) and Article 51 (Waging War against the State) of the 1991 Penal Code. Both charges carry the possibility of the death penalty.

The so-called leader of the group, Mubarak al-Fadel al-Mahdi, President of the opposition Umma Reform and Renewal Party was released from prison on 1 December after charges against him were dropped. The General Secretary of the Party Abdel Jalil al-Basha remains in detention……….Continue

The men are all Sudanese and they are all Muslims. Who will come to their rescue? Will Muslim leaders from Britain’s Muslim community come to save them? Will Muslims stand outside the Sudanese embassy and carry placards saying “NOT IN OUR NAME”? Will the BBC, The Guardian and the The Sun print daily stories about what is happening to these men? Will thousands of British people march through the streets of London asking for their release? Will Friday prayers in Khartoum be followed by hundreds shouting for the release of the innocent? Will CNN make false reports about the numbers of people on the march eg hundreds instead of thousands or if it suits them, thousands instead of hundreds? - it doesn’t matter as long as the report serves the interest of the masters.

Who will save these men? Who will end death in Darfur?

Tags:
Darfur
Sudan
Prisoners of Conscience

Israeli army shooting Palestinian journalists in Gaza caught on camera. The soldiers continue shooting even though the journalists are down. One of the journalists lost both his legs and is in a critical state.

Via No Longer At Ease

Tags: GAZA; Palestine; Israel;

We Must Kill the Bandits

Watching this film I began to see some similarities between Haiti and Palestine. The fact that a democratically elected government has been subverted by the US and it’s allies because the winners were not acceptable as leaders. In Palestine it was Hamas and in Haiti it was Aristide - both winning with huge majorities - Aristide at 92%. The film covers the period 1990 to 2006 - the election of Aristide the US back coup of 1991, Aristides re-election up to the forced removal of Aristide following an intense campaign by the US, Canada and France of disinformation and destabilisation by stopping loans to Haiti and using thugs to terrorize the people. Once Aristide was literally forced out by the US marines, UN troops [MINUSTAH] were sent in following a UN resolution that the film implies was decided well before Aristide’s forced removal. The film reveals how the UN (with the backing of the US, Canada and France) and the Haitian police systematically rounded up members of the Lavalas (Arstide supporters) murdered and imprisoned them. Thousands of ordinary poor citizens were killed by the UN forces (led by Brazil and including Jordan) in a period of 22 months alone. The film directed by Kevin Pina is a powerful documentation of UN abuses in Haiti shown through the eyes of the Haitian people who despite the brutality and atmosphere of fear continued to protest against the unelected government and demand the return of the Aristide.

I caught the tail end of the Zimbabwean debate and again very rushed notes. The debate was very polarised between those that supported Muagabe and felt he was essentially a victim of Western lies and disinformation because of his land policy and Western neo-liberalism policies. On the other side were those who felt very strongly that we as Africans must condemn not just Mugabe but other African leaders who are denying their citizens democracy and justice. We Africans need to care more about democracy and freedom.

Instead of speaking about socialism or any other ideology there needs to be more focus on democracy, freedom, accountability. We need to be more critical of our own governments and civil society / social movements must become more vocal at challenging the present status quo. This is especially in the case of the African Union which is at the early stages of discussing how to implement a United States of Africa. Whose US of Africa is it to be - civil society needs to get in there now and campaign for transformational change which is citizen centered and underpinned by human rights. Otherwise the AU and the US of Africa will be a mirror image of the US neo-liberal and neo-conservatism. One person stood up at the end of the session and said that we need to wake up. That if she had believed the US on Cuba or Venezuela etc she would have been wrong and that we need to stop believing US propaganda about Zimbabwe. The response to that is was we don’t need to listen to the US just listen to the voices of Zimbabweans. What do they have to say!

Tags: Haiti; Zimbabwe