Month: December 2008

Gaza

Engelbreth har sagt en stor del af det, der skal siges. Andetsteds anstiller Fodnoter og Hovedtræk et tankeeksperiment:

Det selvstændige Langeland er en regional stormagt. De har opbygget et betragteligt lager af atomvåben, har den mest moderne (og største) hær i hele regionen, og modtager ENORM militær, økonomisk og politisk støtte fra verdens ubetingede supermagt.

Igennem en længere årrække, har en af Langelands naboer – fx Svendborg – jævnligt sendt hjemmelavede raketter ind over grænsen, og har derved dræbt 20 langelændere de sidste 8 år.

Det sidste halve års tid, har Langeland og Svendborg byråd haft en våbenhvile, som rent teknisk var bestemt til at vare indtil 19. december.

Langeland bryder imidlertid denne våbenhvile d. 4. november, og dræber 6 svendborgensere.
Efter våbenhvilens udløb, d. 19. december, sender nogle svendborggensere med en vis tilknytning til byrådet, nogle af de før omtalte hjemmelavede raketter ind over grænsen til Langeland, og dræber 1 langelænder.

Det store spørgsmål er så, ville vi – Danmark, Det ‘Internationale Samfund’ – mene at Langeland – en civiliseret stat – er berettiget til at slå hundrevis af svendborggensere ihjel i en byge af luftangreb der er rettet mod universitetet, kirker og andre civile mål?

Svaret er naturligvis: Næppe. Men i det her tilfælde evner man ikke at formidle svaret eller situationen så klart – med fodnoteskriverens ord: Det er skammeligt, at danske medier ikke sætter tingene i perspektiv.

Ny israelsk krigsforbrydelse – Gaza brænder, 155 palæstinensere dræbt

Al-Jazeera skriver:

Israel has launched air strikes on Hamas installations across the Gaza Strip, killing at least 140 people and causing heavy damage, according to officials and witnesses.

At least 30 missiles were fired at targets on Saturday, with the head of emergency services in Gaza saying that at least 200 people were also wounded.

Hours after the Israeli strikes Gaza fighters fired rockets into southern Israel, heeding to calls by Hamas and other affiliated Palestinian groups to avenge the attacks, unprecedented in their scale.

Mustafa Barghauthi, former Palestinian information minister, said; “This is not an attack on the Hamas. Its an attack on the whole population and the free will of the people of Gaza.”

He accused Israel of committing “war crimes” and demanded that Abbas and his government stop all relations with Israel.

Bint Battuta bringer en SMS fra et øjenvidne i Rafah:

“They struck the whole Gaza Strip at the same second. Many of the casualties are school children. My colleague told me he has seen 8 cases of death in the street. He picked his son alive. I am in my school now and the horror is everywhere in Gaza”

… og tilføjer for egen regning: “A Palestinian friend here, a relative of friends in Gaza City, just called me distraught because she can’t get through to them. I feel angry, and I feel helpless.”

Mohammad på Kabobfest skriver:

a day after Tzipi Livni threatened, from Cairo, to destroy Gaza, Egypt announced that it was sending reinforcements to its border with Gaza and urging Egyptians in the area to stockpile food in case the border was breached. Again, many saw this as an ominous warning-that Israel had received a green light from the Egyptian regime for a large scale attack on the Strip.

The day before, Ehud Olmert appeared on the Saudi-owned Arabiyah TV channel, urging Palestinians to rise up against Hamas, at the same time saying he would attack the Strip soon with destructive force.

It happened at noon today, December 27th. As the schools let out for the day, Israeli fighter planes, helicopters and warships launched a series of strikes. Within half an hour, 40 Palestinians were reported killed. It is now 2 hours after the beginning of the ongoing strikes.

The death toll is now 155 Palestinians.

Glædelig jul, alle sammen. Og godt nytår. Med hilsen fra den israelske regering og Obama, Inc.

Update, kl. 14:30: Politiken.dk har nu også historien og skriver bl.a.:

Tyk, sort røg stiger op over Gaza By, efter at 30 missiler har ramt især politikontorer.

Mindst 155 mennesker er dræbt i Gaza By og det sydlige Gaza efter et angreb af det israelske luftvåben, skriver Reuters på baggrund af oplysninger fra lederen af Gazas ambulance-service.

Censurfrihedsselskabet

Redaktør Bjarke Larsen rammer plet i et debatindlæg i Jyllands-Posten, hvor han observerer, at Trykkefrihedsselskabet reelt arbejder for censur af anderledes tænkende:

Kritik af jødisk fundamentalisme i form af bosætternes ulovlige fremfærd skal stemples som ”jødehad” og helst ikke trykkes i de pæne aviser. Forhenværende PET-chefer, der er betænkelige ved terrorlovgivningen, og som ønsker dialog med unge muslimer, der er på vej ud i ekstremisme, skal have munden lukket.

Trykkefrihedsselskabet har mistet sit figenblad som »kompromisløse forkæmper for ytringsfriheden« og står afklædt som det kobbel af højrefløjens hylende hunde, man hele tiden har kunnet se bag den idealistiske facade.

Det kan godt være, at Ehud Olmert kan finde på at kalde bosætterne i Hebrons aktion mod palæstinenserne for en “pogrom”, men hvis en dansk progressiv gør det samme, er han antisemit. (Gad vide, hvor det ville placere Herbert Pundik?)

Det kan godt være, at det fagligt mest fornuftige er at få så mange som muligt med frem for at udgrænse og  marginalisere, men hvis en tidligere PET-chef siger det højt, skal han trues til at holde sin kæft – alt sammen fordi, det ikke passer med Lars Hedegaards lille, billige had mod muslimer og islam.

Hvor Orwellsk er det ikke, at alt dette foregår under netop “Trykkefrihedsselskabets” auspicier?

Link: Klædt af til skindet

Staten skal ikke have “værdier”

Lenin’s Tomb rammer hovedet på sømmet i debatten om hovedtørklæder i retssale og andre steder: En “sekulær” stat må betyde en stat, der ikke blander sig i, om dens borgere er religiøse, og hvilken religion de i givet fald har eller ikke har:

[I contest] the state’s right to uphold values of any kind, ‘Western’ or otherwise. The state’s role should be restricted to delivering certain public goods, but it has nothing whatever to do with morality.

Temmelig utroligt, alt andet lige, at det er fra en erklæret leninist og revolutionær socialist, at man skal høre en så elementær afvisning af statens rolle i “værdidebatten”.

Link: Jail that veil

Karen Jespersen træder i karakter – hjemløse dør af kulde

Det er hårdt at være hjemløs i denne søde juletid. Kulden bider ekstra hårdt, og det må betegnes som decideret usundt at sove udenfor i vinterkulde, storm- og regnvejr uden udsigt til at komme ind og få et bad og få tørret sit tøj.

Så er det jo godt, at der i det mindste er herberger og varmestuer, hvor man kan komme ind og få en kop kaffe, en bid brød og måske et bad og en overnatning. Hvilket rejser spørgsmålet: Er en hjemløs altid velkommen på sådan en varmestue?

Det lidt overraskende svar er. Nej, ikke hvis vedkommende er østeuropæer! Siden grænserne blev åbnet er bl.a. nogle få meget fattige polakker søgt til København, hvor de nu lever som hjemløse. Dette har fået “velfærdsminister” Karen Jespersen til at træde i karakter: Ethvert herberg og enhver varmestue, der vover at skænke så meget som en kop kaffe for en hjemøs østeuropæer, vil omgående blive frataget hele sin offentlige støtte.

Mere i Dagbladet Arbejderen:

– Østeuropæerne har ikke ret til at modtage nogen som helst form for sociale ydelser i Danmark lige med undtagelse af helt akut lægehjælp. Men vi kan ikke bare lade mennesker ligge og dø i vores gader. Der er en moralsk grænse, siger Jacob Ørum fra Missionen blandt Hjemløse til Arbejderen.

Sammen med organisationer som Projekt Udenfor og Kofoeds Kælder, tog Missionen blandt Hjemløse sidste uge initiativ til at åbne et nødherberg for de østeuropæiske hjemløse på Nørrebro.

Herberget bliver drevet som selvstændig forening, og udelukkende for private penge og med frivillig arbejdskraft, da organisationerne ellers risikerer at miste deres statslige tilskud.

– Sidste jul sendte Velfærdsministeriet et brev til kommuner og regioner, der gjorde det meget klart, at det ville blive konsekvensen, fortæller Jacob Ørum.

Sidste år frøs to polakker ihjel i Københavns gader. Skal vi antage, at Karen Jespersen nu har to hak i sit skrivebord? Særligt humant er det i hvert fald ikke.

Via VHS.

Menneskerettigheder i det frie, demokratiske Irak


Et samfund skal som bekendt måles på, hvordan det behandler sine oprørere, sine afvigere og sine modstandere.

Så hvad sker der, hvis man i Irak kaster sko efter George W. Bush? Ideelt set kunne man forestille sig, at vedkommende blev anholdt, visiteret og afhørt med henblik på at få klarlagt, om han evt. skulle have været i besiddelse af ting, der kunne tyde på, han var til større fare – f.eks. våben. Når afhøringen er afsluttet ville det være tid til at løslade ham med en advarsel, evt. med mulighed for sigtelse for forstyrrelse af den offentlige orden eller lignende.

Yeah right:

Some of my contacts in Baghdad assured me that the Iraqi Journalist who threw the shoes at bush today was heavily beaten (you can actually hear him scream in pain in this released video)

After beating him, the Iraqi authorities arrested Mr. Al-Zeidi. Here is a statement issued by Al-Baghdadia (the TV channel he works with):

(rough translation)

Al Baghdadia asks the Iraqi authorities to immediately release our employee Montather Al-Zeidi in line with the Iraqi and US promises of democracy and freedom of expression. Any action taken against Montather Al-Zeidi will remind us of the behavior we experienced during the time of the dictatorship era that when we witnessed violence, arbitrary arrests, mass graves and the confiscation of public freedoms and private.

We also call for press and media institutions and the Arab world to stand in solidarity with Montather Al-Zeidi and call for his release.

(end translation)

I started an online petition to ask for the immediate release of Montather. Please visit and sign it here. I’ll print the petition and hand it over to the Iraqi embassy in DC in case he was not released this week.


Klik her for at skrive under på at Montather skal løslades!

Som der står herover, vil underskrifterne blive afleveret til den irakiske ambassade i Washington DC.  Selveste Noam Chomsky har allerede skrevet under, så hvad venter du på?

Muntadhar al-Zaidi er dagens helt i Irak

Marionetregeringen vil anklage ham for “mordforsøg mod statsoverhoved”, og i følge hans familie har han allerede fået sine første bank i fængslet.

Men for mange irakere er al-Zaidi manden, der gjorde, hvad der skulle til og viste Bush, hvor velkommen han er i irak.

Sami Ramadani skriver i The Guardian:

Strip the words away, and his and the Iraqi people’s cry of deep pain, anger and defiance would amount to no more than a shoe-throwing insult. But the words were heard. “This is the farewell kiss, you dog,” he shouted as he threw the first shoe. The crucial line followed the second shoe: “This is from the widows, the orphans and those who were killed in Iraq.” Once those words were heard, the impact of a pair of shoes became electrifying. A young journalist has put aside the demands of his profession, preferring to act as the loudest cry of his long-suffering people. If one considers the torture and killings in Iraqi and US jails that Muntadhar often mentioned in his reports for al-Baghdadia satellite TV station, he was certainly aware he risked being badly hurt.

As the Iraqi and Arab satellite stations switched from the live press conference to reporting reaction to the event, the stunned presenters and reporters were swept away by popular expressions of joy in the streets, from Baghdad to Gaza to Casablanca. TV stations and media websites were inundated with messages of adulation. The instant reply to any criticism of “insulting a guest” was: “Bush is a mass murderer and a war criminal who sneaked into Baghdad. He killed a million Iraqis. He burned the country down.”

al-Zaidi har formået at skære igennem alle religiøse, politiske og etniske skillelinjer i det hærgede og splittede land: Ingen spørger, hvor han kommer fra eller om han er sunni eller shia, alle beundrer ham for at vise George Bush, hvad de mener om ham og hans “befrielse” af landet.

Link: The shoes we longed for

Støt de israelske refuseniks

Refuser Solidarity

En radikal del af den interne opposition i Israel, som vi generelt hører alt for lidt om. Jeg har modtaget dette nyhedsbrev fra RefuserSolidarity.net:

As you no doubt realize, we are coming upon the end of 2008. It has a difficult year in the Middle East, with the Bush “peace process” going nowhere fast, the blockade of Gaza continuing with devastating impact on the many people who live in that largest of all prisons, and settlement construction continuing apace. We all hope that an Obama Administration might be more effective, but will it be any more inclined to achieve a truly just solution that ends the Occupation? Certainly, it will be much more likely to happen with vigorous, well-organized voices of opposition from within Israel.

We, the board members of the Refuser Solidarity Network, continue to believe that refusers offer one of the most effective means of convincing both Israels and Americans (in particular, American Jews) that a different path must be followed, that Palestinians must be given back their freedom, their land, their resources. We hope that you will consider a donation to the Refuser Solidarity Network to help us strenghten the refuser voice. RSN is the only charitable organization established in the United States that provides grants directly to refuser organizations. You can contribute by credit card or by check. All details are available at http://www.refusersolidarity.net. Just press the Donate Now button. If you would like to designate a specific refuser group to receive your funds, please make sure to indicate that in the Refuser Project field of the donation page.

Below you will find short updates on each of the refuser groups. They all offer much more detailed information on their own web pages.

Warm regards, the RSN board of directors.

FREE THE SHMINISTIM, ISRAEL’S YOUNGEST CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTORS

The Shministim are Israeli high school students who refuse induction into the Israel Defense Forces, for the most part out of opposition to the Occupation. A number of the Shministim have been imprisoned recently for refusing to serve. Jewish Voice for Peace is rallying support for the Shministim through a letter-writing campaign. Show your support by contacting the Israeli Minister of Defense using the form provided at http://december18th.org/ (14,000 LETTERS AND COUNTING SO FAR!).

Some background: although Israel mandates universal military service, many graduates avoid service through “gray” refusal: they obtain letters from doctors and psychiatrists excusing them from service, or they leave the country. The Shministim are a group of high school graduates who take a more direct (and braver) approach, refusing induction openly. On June 27 of this year, the latest incarnation of the Shministim (each year, the group must more or less form themselves again, based in the latest set of students about to graduate) invited young men and women considering refusal to a meeting in Tel Aviv, explaining: “Our political and social power depends on our ability to organize. As a group we will be able to make a difference.” The group also sponsored a discussion of the abuse of Palestinian detainees by Israeli soldiers, an event that coincided with the annual UN International Day in Support of Victims of Torture.

NEW PROFILE

RSN has been a major supporter of New Profile for many years. Recently, New Profile has been in the news as the target of a criminal investigation for allegedly encouraging draft dodging-a crime in Israel. Here is an account of the probe from the Israeli press (Amos Harel, HaAretz, September, 2008): http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1020999.html

And a response from New Profile’s Rela Mazali is available here: http://kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=29072

Jewish Voice for Peace recently interviewed Ruth Hiller, one of New Profile’s co-founders. Read that interview here: http://www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org/publish/article_1116.shtml

New Profile is a group of feminist women and men who oppose the militarization of Israeli society. NP works for a truly democratic
civic education, teaching the practice of peace and conflict resolution, rather than training children to enlist and accept warfare. More information is available at New Profile’s websote http://www.newprofile.org/default.asp?language=en

COMBATANTS FOR PEACE

Ory Yassur of CFP sent us this update: Combatants for Peace is an organization that unites Palestinian and Israelis who participated in violent actions on both sides of the conflict, but have now left that circle of violence and are committed to a non-violent solution. In the past year, the activity of Combatants for Peace hasexpanded. Since the founding of our organization, we focused on meeting with the “other side” and listen to each other’s stories, as well as on lectures in various locations both in Palestine and Israel (schools, campuses, private houses etc.). In 2008, we carried on with those activities, and we also launched three local groups of about 10-15 people from each side that meet every 2 or 3 weeks. Besides having the chance of getting to know each other more, those groups generate many non-violent activities against the occupation. For example, Combatants for Peace organized demonstrations against road blocks placed by the Israeli army in the village of Shufa
(around Tul Karem) and next to road 60 (southern to Hebron). We also organized help for Palestinian farmers threw the time of olive harvest. The farmers are often harassed by settlers and the army during this time of the year. One more event that drew a lot of attention from the Israeli media was our second Memorial Day joint ceremony on last May. Around 800 people, most of them Israelis (due to the occupation authorities transfer permissions policy), gathered in Tel Aviv and commemorate the loss of lives in both side of the bloody conflict. The event brought many new coming members of Combatants for Peace. Detailed info about our activity in 2008 can be found here: http://www.combatantsforpeace.org/event.asp?lng=eng

Here are some other specifics about CFP activities:

A-Ram (17.11.2008 )

First meeting of “Ramallah-Jerusalem” Combatants for Peace group. Around 30 people, Palestinians and Israelis,
attended the first meeting of the Ramalla-Jerusalem group of Combatants for Peace was held in A-Ram, in north-east Jerusalem. Around 30 others, who expressed their will to become members of the new group, will have to await the opening of yet another group in the area, hopefully in the near future. The Ramalla-Jerusalem group is intended as a new base for the movement’s activity in this crucial area and we hope it would succeed in initiating actions of various kinds.

Wallaga (12-13.12.2008 )

An activity for supplying running water: A group of Jerusalem based activists has formed around Abed,the land owner, and decided to preserve this oasis by making it an active ecological center, a place were people from both sides of the valley can meet, learn and work together. The first priority is to create a supply of drinking water, as Abed now has to carry water from a spring-filling jerricans and transporting them by donkey or by car. We will build a rainwater collecting
system that will resolve the problem, at least partially. Combatants for Peace will join hands and help promoting this project.

YESH G’VUL

Yesh G’vul (“There is a limit!”) is an Israeli peace group campaigning against the Occupation by backing soldiers who refuse duties in the Occupied Territories. Yesh G’vul arose in response to the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon. It offers counseling to soldiers who wrestle with the painful choice between serving policies they find abhorrent and defying military discipline. The organization provides moral and material backing for those who elect to refuse, ranging from financial support for families of jailed refuseniks to vigils at the military prisons where they are held. The oldest of the refuser groups, Yesh G’vul continues to struggle against illegal military actions in the Occupied Territories.

About the Refuser Solidarity Network

We were formed in April of 2002 to provide support for the growing Refuser Movement in Israel. The initial impetus for the establishment of the RSN was the publication in January 2002 of the Combatants Letter by a group of 52 reserve officers, which later became Ometz Le’sarev or Courage to Refuse. RSN now supports Combatants for Peace, Yesh G’vul, the Shiministim, New Profile and other Israeli organizations advocating peaceful conflict resolution in Israel/Palestine and working to end the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories seized in 1967. A 501(c)3 charitable organization, RSN makes grants to refuser groups to support their work financially. RSN is funded entirely by contributions from individuals in the U.S. and around the world.